A founding member of The Open Church, Marco K. Merrick was the first chair of the church’s Board of Directors. He has volunteered, since its inception, as organist/pianist and director for ensembles and vocalist in worship services and special events. He has collaborated in ministry with Dr. Brad Braxton for the past 20 years, when Braxton engaged him at Douglas Memorial Community Church to augment the music ministry and implement the Gospel Choir. A lasting and remarkable brotherhood has yielded many fruitful experiences on their journey to The Open Church. This fellowship’s mission and visionary leadership compels Marco’s ongoing commitment to service, justice and diverse inclusion everywhere.
A Baltimore native, Marco is a product of the Baltimore City Public School System and president of the Northern High School Class of 1980, where he held such distinctions as National Honor Society member, Who’s Who Among High School Student in the Nation, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Scholar Honoree and Student Council Member. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communication (Journalism and Public Relations) from Towson University and a Masters degree in Communication Studies from The University of Baltimore.
Currently the Chief of Equity and Environmental Justice for Baltimore City's Dept. of Public Works, Marco deems his professional DEI efforts as a way of living, which easily comports with the Open Church's mission and vision. Prior to joining Baltimore City government, he was a Civil Rights Officer (Education & Outreach Associate) in the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. His career spans a gamut of professional capacities, including News and Programming Producer in television and radio in Baltimore, Boston and Washington, D.C. He has been Communication Director in several Maryland State agencies, including The Departments of Labor, Licensing and Regulation; Planning; and Business and Economic Development. He was Chief Deputy for the Register of Wills in Baltimore City before joining faculty at Morgan State University’s School of Global Journalism and Communications and Coppin State University’s Department of Visual and Performing Arts. World renown choral director Dr. Nathan Carter commissioned Mr. Merrick as Coordinator of the Performing Arts Series at Morgan State University. He was the Expert Consultant in Personnel for the Social Security Administration on a White House initiative during Pres. Barrack Obama’s administration.
His music career spans an array of congregations in the Baltimore/Washington area and in Boston. Marco is the Founding Director of the Community Concert Choir of Baltimore, a nearly 200 voice ecumenical choir. He is a member of the Choir Directors and Organists Guild of the Hampton Ministers Conference and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the nation’s oldest music fraternity. He served on the piano faculty at the Nathan Carter School of Music and is called upon as a music consultant and to facilitate workshops and retreats, including directing the National ACT-SO Chorus during the NAACP Convention. He’s been published in the African American Pulpit Lectionary.
A life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Marco is President of Delta Lambda Chapter, member of the Chorale and National Chorus. He’s a member of the Pi Eta Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia; and active in the President’s Committee for the Morgan State University Choir, past chair of the Bannister, Lewis, Tanner Circle at the Walters Art Museum, The Ashe’ Circle at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, the Board of Directors for the Maryland State Boychoir, a member of the Nathan Carter Foundation’s Board of Directors; a former board member of the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland, the Central Maryland Ecumenical Council and advisory board for the Singing Sensations. Marco produced and hosted a weekly radio public affairs program, "On The Pulse” on Baltimore’s WCAO-AM Heaven 600 radio several years. As a mentor to high school students, he helps to furnish scholarships through his fraternity’s Beautillion Program and the Nathan Carter Foundation.
Marco Merrick has received numerous awards and commendations from community, professional, religious, social and fraternal organizations, including an honorary Doctoral Degree in Sacred Music from Eastern Theological Seminary.