Exhibit 31(a)



Certification of Principal Executive
Officer

(Exchange Act Rule 13a-14(a))



I, Mary Ann Scully, President and Chief Executive Officer, certify
that:



| | (1) | I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of
Howard Bancorp, Inc.;
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| | (2) | Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain
any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the
circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
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| | (3) | Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and
other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results
of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
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| | (4) | The registrant’s other certifying officer and
I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e)
and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the
registrant and have:
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| | (a) | Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to
the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during
the period in which this report is being prepared;
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| | (b) | Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s
disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls
and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and
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| | (c) | Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s
internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s
fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect,
the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and
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| | (5) | The registrant’s other certifying officer and
I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s
auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
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| | (a) | All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in
the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s
ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and
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| | (b) | Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management
or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.
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|Date: June 27, 2012                   |  |  |  | 
|------------------------------------- |  |  |  | 
|                                      |  |  |  | 
|                                      |  |  |  | 
|/s/ Mary Ann Scully                   |  |  |  | 
|Mary Ann Scully                       |  |  |  | 
|President and Chief Executive Officer |  |  |  |