On any given day in Baltimore, you can find Carrie LeBow doing what she has done for more than three decades — bringing people together, building partnerships, and creating opportunities for kids who need them most. Today she serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation, a national nonprofit dedicated to helping underserved youth through character education, sports, and STEM learning. She is also deeply guided by the personal mentorship and organizational vision of Steve Salem, President and CEO of the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation, whose leadership continues to shape and elevate her work. But Carrie’s path to this moment wasn’t a straight one — and that’s part of what makes her story shine.
Carrie spent the first part of her 34year career in fundraising, events, marketing, and resource development. Five years ago, she stepped into the COO role — a shift she welcomed, driven by a desire to grow, learn, and deepen the impact she could create. Connecting with the business community has always been at the heart of her work, and few partnerships demonstrate that impact more clearly than the one between the Ripken Foundation and BGE, which began in 2013 and continues to transform communities across Baltimore.
One of the most meaningful collaborations came in 2016, during BGE’s 200th anniversary celebration. Together, they built and gifted Eddie Murray Field at BGE Park, a beautiful turf baseball field in West Baltimore designed to give kids a safe, clean, and inspiring place to play. The field quickly became home to the historic James Mosher Baseball League — the oldest continuously operating African American youth baseball league in the country. On that field, young athletes learn sportsmanship, communication, teamwork, and respect. Carrie calls it transformational, not just for the kids, but for the entire neighborhood.
The success didn’t stop there. BGE went on to support the Foundation’s 100th multipurpose field at Reed Bird Park in Cherry Hill, as well as Brooks Robinson Field at Frederick Douglass High School in West Baltimore. These spaces aren’t just fields — they’re community anchors, places where pride is built right alongside athletic skills and life lessons.
To Carrie, that’s what Good Energy looks like. It’s the spark that begins when partners say “yes” to supporting a mission bigger than themselves. It’s the excitement of cutting the ribbon on a new STEM Center — something BGE has helped make possible for the last six years as a key partner in opening hands-on learning spaces across Central Maryland. And it’s the ripple effect created when kids step into those spaces, explore robotics or engineering for the first time, and realize they’re capable of more than they imagined.
The Ripken Foundation now has over 820 STEM Centers in 28 states and DC, with more to come — including the growing expansion into high schools. Carrie sees the joy firsthand: kids solving problems, collaborating with classmates, lighting up as they learn. She also sees the “good energy” that comes from hosting youth from across the country at the Ripken Foundation’s summer camp, where many experience travel, teambuilding, outdoor adventure, and mentorship for the first time.
Carrie’s impact stretches far beyond programs or fields. She’s a leader shaped by empathy and authenticity — someone who understands challenges, especially the balancing act of being a working mom. She encourages her team to find their own healthy balance too, passing forward the support she was given along the way.
Her career is filled with milestones: launching the Women’s Initiative at United Way of Central Maryland in 1998, joining the Ripken Foundation in 2008 when it was still growing, and helping transform it into a national leader that now impacts 1.6 million kids annually. But ask her what she’s most proud of, and she’ll list something much simpler: being a mom to her two children, Ben and Jamie.
As she looks ahead, Carrie is energized by the future — expanding STEM opportunities, updating centers with the latest technology, strengthening youth programming, and ensuring more kids have access to safe fields and meaningful experiences. Personally? She hopes to spend more time playing pickleball — an “addiction,” she laughs.
What makes Carrie LeBow a Bright Spot is the way she turns vision into action. She and her team build places where kids feel safe, curious, connected, and proud. She empowers communities with resources and hope. She creates momentum — the kind that inspires others to join the mission.
Most of all, Carrie lives Good Energy every day: by believing in what’s possible, investing in young people, and bringing partners like BGE along to help change lives, one field, one classroom, and one child at a time.
