Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services (MCFRS) responded to fire in the 1200blk of Gladstone Dr, near Baltimore Rd in Rockville on Tuesday, November 26. (more…)
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A 22-year-old Gaithersburg man has been charged with criminally negligent manslaughter after striking and killing bicyclist in a high-speed collision on August 30, 2023, on Frederick Rd, where Flores was found to be traveling at 72 mph in a 40-mph zone.
Talent is one of the most important factors influencing where companies choose to invest, expand, and grow. As competition for skilled workers intensifies, employers are embracing a broader talent strategy: one that leverages partnerships. Last week, almost 120 business leaders, elected officials, and members of Montgomery County’s business community attended the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation’s (MCEDC) panel, “The Talent Advantage: A Growth Strategy for Companies in Montgomery County, Maryland,” to hear how local businesses are capitalizing on the County’s world-class academic institutions, innovation ecosystem, quality of life, and economic development resources to attract and retain top talent.
Moderated by Dr. Anne Khademian, Executive Director at The Universities at Shady Grove (USG), the panel included executives from businesses and institutions across industries, including Lockheed Martin, TrilliumBIO, Thales Defense & Security, Johns Hopkins, Montgomery College, and AstraZeneca, who discussed their companies’ strategies for developing their workforce.
Talent as a Business Strategy
For companies competing in highly specialized industries like the defense industry, access to talent directly influences where they choose to locate and grow. For Lockheed Martin, which employs nearly 1,000 people in Montgomery County, talent is one of the primary reasons the company chose to be headquartered here.
“Talent is in the top one or two reasons why we are in the County,” said Todd Cohen, Senior Lead of Strategic Workforce Development, Lockheed Martin.
According to Cohen, Lockheed Martin begins working with partners to develop their talent pipeline well before students enter the workforce, including partnering with Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) on programs such as coding challenges. Lockheed Martin also maintains close relationships with local higher education institutions, including the Universities at Shady Grove (USG).
That local talent pipeline is also an important factor for AstraZeneca, which employs more than 5,000 employees and contractors in Montgomery County. According to Tiffany Lukis, Director of STEM and Community Engagement at AstraZeneca, the company often taps into its alumni base from Montgomery College (ranked #26 nationally among community colleges) and USG (which offers nine different public universities onto one campus), and other local institutions to fill highly technical roles.
Local Companies Are Developing Talent and Not Just Finding It
According to the panelists, investing in existing employees is just as important as recruiting new ones.
At Suburban Hospital, workforce development is closely tied to talent retention. The hospital partners with local educational institutions to provide employees with opportunities to gain new skills and advance their careers. Programs include a Certified Nursing Assistant program through Montgomery College and English as a Second Language classes.
“A huge part of our talent strategy is to prioritize holding on to our top tier talent,” said Corey Lewson, MSW, Program Manager, Workforce Development, John Hopkins Medicine.
For smaller companies, developing talent internally can be especially valuable. Lane Edwards, Vice President of Operations, TrilliumBIO, a biomarker discovery company with fewer than 20 employees based in Rockville, described the challenge of balancing the need for highly specialized expertise with the realities of building a team at an early-stage company.
“When it comes to hiring, we have to be very strategic,” Lane said. “Do we have someone who has the expertise or someone that we can build on?”
Knits ‘N Purls, a new knitting and crochet shop, is now open at 816 Muddy Branch Rd in the Muddy Branch Square shopping center in Gaithersburg (photos below).
Metro’s Board of Directors voted to approve the Better Bus Network Redesign, the first major overhaul of the Metrobus network in its 50-year history.
We’ve Got the Ticket to Every Sunday Showdown! 🏈🔥
Catch every live out-of-market Sunday game with NFL Sunday Ticket this football season at Lucky Strike Rockville!
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October 10 & 11, 2026
The MoCo Epic is a festival celebrating mountain biking, natural surface trails, and the community that makes this region a great place to ride! 2026 marks the 16th anniversary of the MoCo Epic.
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Below is the latest information on the operational status of the red-light cameras installed across the City of Takoma Park:
Back in May we let you know that Dirty Dough is coming to 36B Maryland Ave in Rockville Town Square. The cookie shop will be taking over the location that was the longtime home of Berry Cup, which closed in the summer of 2022. According to an announcement the company posted on our website, Dirty Dough is currently hiring and preparing for a December opening.
‘Khana a Claypot Grille’ closed permanently at the end of September after approximately ten years at 15616 Old Columbia Pike in Burtonsville. Its replacement did not take long to sign on at the once again fully leased Burtonsville Town Square shopping center with Quickway signing a lease to open a new restaurant.
Paris Baguette at 21030 Frederick Rd in the Milestone Center in Germantown is scheduled to open Saturday, November 30.
The Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) has arrested a federal agent accused of sexual assault. Detectives believe there may be additional victims. The agent, Eduardo Valdivia, was previously found not guilty of attempted murder by a jury in 2022 after he was charged for an off-duty shooting that occurred on a Metro train in Bethesda on December 15, 2020.
In the early hours of the morning, a resident in the Bethesda area alerted authorities to a potentially dangerous situation unfolding in their neighborhood. While many were settling in for the night, the midnight shift officers received a call about a suspicious individual attempting to break a window at a local business. This timely tip-off would soon lead to a series of events culminating in the arrest of the suspect, according to a social media post by District 2 Commander Amy Daum of the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD).
Montgomery County has announced it is advancing its zero waste goals through expanded recycling and composting programs, improved waste diversion technologies, and community engagement, achieving a 45% recycling rate—significantly above the national average of 32%. The County plans to implement advanced waste processing technologies, close its Resource Recovery Facility, and transition to more sustainable systems while maintaining current operations through a short-term contract extension. (more…)