R. Karl Aumann, Secretary of State, February 2003. Photo by Richard Lippenholz.
Member, Governor's Executive Council, 2003-. Chair, Governor's Subcabinet for International Affairs, 2003-; Governor's Commission on Maryland Military Monuments, 2003-. Member, Board of State Canvassers, 2003-; Advisory Committee for the Jefferson Patterson Historical Park and Museum, 2003-; Governor's Interagency Council for the Nonprofit Sector, 2003-.
Counsel and senior policy advisor, Appalachian Regional Commission, 1991-94. Chief Administrator and District Director to U.S. Representative Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., 1994-2003.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, May 17, 1960. Calvert Hall College High School; Loyola College in Maryland, B.A. (political science), 1982; University of Baltimore School of Law, J.D., 1985. Admitted to Maryland Bar, 1986. Attorney. Former member, Maryland State, Baltimore City and Baltimore County Bar Associations. Former associate, Power & Mosner; Miles & Stockbridge. Former president, Loyola College Republicans. First vice-chair, Maryland Federation of College Republicans, 1981. Member, North Central Republican Club of Baltimore County, 1983- (founder, former president & vice-president). Member, Republican State Central Committee, Baltimore County, 1986-91. Member, National Association of Secretaries of State, 2003- (chair, standing committee on international relations, 2004-). Member, Maryland Historical Society; Sons of the American Revolution; Wakefield Improvement Association. Former board member, Community Assistance Network; Historic Hampton; Boy Scouts of America, Dulany District. Member, Cathedral of Mary Our Queen (parents' association; men's choir; founder, friends of cathedral music). Married; two children.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, May 17, 1960, Mr. Aumann attended the School of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen and Saints Phillip and James School, graduating from Calvert Hall College High School in 1978. Mr. Aumann graduated from Loyola College in Maryland with a B.A. in political science in 1982. He received his J.D. in 1985 from the University of Baltimore School of Law.
Mr. Aumann was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1986. As an attorney, he was an associate with the Towson firm of Power & Mosner (now Bodie, Nagle, Dolina, Smith & Hobbs) and later with the Baltimore office of Miles & Stockbridge. During his five years with those firms, Mr. Aumann specialized in toxic tort, product liability and medical malpractice litigation.
In 1991, Mr. Aumann was appointed by President George Bush as counsel and senior policy advisor to the Appalachian Regional Commission. When Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994, Mr. Aumann became his Chief Administrator and District Director, a position he held until 2003. Mr. Aumann's responsibilities included office oversight and policy development, with special focus on international relations.
Secretary Aumann chairs the Governor's Subcabinet for International Affairs, the Commission on Maryland Military Monuments and is the Governor's representative on the Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum Advisory Board.
A member of the Maryland Historical Society, Sons of the American Revolution, and the Wakefield Improvement Association, Mr. Aumann previously served on the boards of the Community Assistance Network, Historic Hampton, and the Boy Scouts of America (Dulaney District). A communicant at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen parish, Mr. Aumann is a member of the Parents' Association, belonged to the Men's Choir, and helped found the Friends of Cathedral Music.
Long active in Maryland's Republican Party, Secretary Aumann was president of the Loyola College Republicans for two years and was elected First Vice-Chairman of the Maryland Federation of College Republicans in 1981. In 1983, he helped found the North Central Republican Club of Baltimore County where he served as president and vice-president. He was elected a member of the Republican State Central Committee for Baltimore County in 1986, and again in 1990.
Mr. Aumann is married to Delegate Susan Langley Mueller Aumann, an accountant and auditor who represents the 42nd Legislative District (Baltimore County). They have two school-age children - Lang and Catherine.
© Copyright Maryland State Archives