The Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) is reminding Maryland residents to update their drivers license/identification cards by May 7, 2025.
The Prince George’s County Fire and EMS Department (PGCFD) responded to a crash involving a school bus for the Sandy Spring Friends School on Wednesday afternoon.
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?”
A Silver Spring man was sentenced today for a murder that occurred in February 2022 in Rockville.
School Nutrition Employee Appreciation Week concluded on May 3, with a ceremony honoring 12 distinguished school nutrition heroes. Each of these recipients has been with MCPS at least five years and exemplifies service to students.
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Bring your family and friends to our free , all-day outdoor Oktoberfest celebration. These will be an outdoor craft fair featuring local artisans and professional woodworkers, a chainsaw carving, woodworking and tool demonstrations by Festool, Montgomery Wood Turners and Carvers. There will also be lots of delicious food provided by El Parente Tacos, El Jeffe Wood-fired pizzas, Bruster's Ice cream and seasonal craft brews from Saints Row Brwsing Company.
Three Blair High School teachers were surprised with $5,000 from the National Education Association (NEA) and National PTA, and a visit from the Lt. Governor Aruna Miller to kick off […]
This weekend, May 11 – 12, the Morgan Boulevard and Downtown Largo stations will be closed on the Blue and Silver lines for weekend construction. Free shuttle buses will replace trains to/from the closed stations connecting to the Metrorail system at Addison Road. Additional maintenance is also scheduled on the Red and Green lines with trains single tracking through the work zones. More weekend updates below:
Governor Wes Moore released the following statement on the conclusion of the Francis Scott Key bridge collapse recovery mission, conducted by Unified Command:
The Maryland Attorney General’s Office issued the following news release on Tuesday, May 7: (more…)
Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) are asking for the public’s assistance in locating Elkin Herrera-Suazo, a missing 14-year-old from Rockville. (more…)
The Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) issued the following news release regarding this morning’s “Bike and Roll to School Day.”
The City of Gaithersburg is celebrating and honoring Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May with exhibits and a proclamation highlighting the “culture, heritage, and achievements of our Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander neighbors.”