Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, a national brand of restaurants, is rebranding. The only Maryland location is in Garrett County’s McHenry, but did you know that there used to be a Perkins in Gaithersburg?
The Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) will hold an in-person public meeting to discuss the Shady Grove Road Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety Improvement Feasibility Study on Tuesday, July 9 from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the Nancy H. Dacek North Potomac Community Recreation Center Social Hall located at 13850 Travilah Road in Rockville.
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?”
The Montgomery County Government, and programs that impact County residents, will have holiday schedule and program changes for the observance of Independence Day on Thursday, July 4.
MCPS recently shared important dates for the 2024/2025 school year, including holidays, professional days, and more. They can be seen below:
When I moved back to Northern Virginia after several years in New York, most of my old friends had moved away. I found myself rebuilding a social circle from scratch.
I had plenty of people I could connect with online, but that wasn’t translating into anyone to grab a beer with after work, play trivia with, or text when I wanted to get out of the house. Making new friends as an adult required far more deliberate effort than I remembered.
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Olney, MD Art Gallery and Studio to present a Pop-Culture themed group Art Exhibit and Artists’ Alley event.
Highly Animated is a 2-month long celebration of the vibrant world of fan art. From classic JRPG nostalgia, to the latest anime obsessions, to amazing original characters, this exhibition will highlight the passion, creativity and talent within fan communities.
The Washington Post’s Tom Sietsema has been the newspaper’s food critic for nearly 25 years. In his latest dining guide, highlighting “5 great affordable restaurants in the D.C. area”, he includes two Maryland restaurants– both located in Montgomery County.
Metro is rolling out a major customer improvement on all its buses: vinyl seats. Nearly 40 buses have had their cloth seats replaced with modern, easier-to-clean and maintain vinyl, similar […]
Lil’ Sumthin’ Sweet is coming to 8563 Fenton St, the former home of Smoothie King which closed permanently a couple years back.
Some airlines have issued travel advisories for flights flying to or from the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast United States on Wednesday, June 26 due to forecasted weather conditions. The following advisory by Southwest Airlines can be seen below:
The National Weather Service (NWS) has stated that an “active weather day looms ahead” amidst hot temperatures rising into the mid/upper 90s (heat indices of 100-105).
Starting Sunday, June 30, Metro customers will see a slight fare increase, which Metro says will “help keep fares in line with cost of living adjustments and allows us to keep running our current levels of service.”
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A Montgomery Village woman is $50,000 richer after purchasing a winning lottery scratch-off ticket at Rodman’s Discount in Silver Spring. Full story below courtesy MDLottery: (more…)