Join city of Rockville staff and the Rockville Environment Commission for a tour of the recently completed Northeast Pond and Stream Restoration Project from 6-7 p.m. Thursday, April 25 at […]
Earlier this year, five MCPS students–two at Montgomery Blair High School, two at Poolesville High School and one at Winston Churchill High School–were named Regeneron Science Talent Search scholars.
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?”
AECOM announced earlier this month that an AECOM-led joint venture with Jacobs has been selected by Amtrak to serve as delivery partner for the $6 billion Frederick Douglass Tunnel Program that will upgrade a ten-mile section of the Northeast Corridor (NEC), America’s busiest passenger rail line.
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The Commanders have the second pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and it’s almost certain that the team will be drafting its future quarterback with the pick. With less than two weeks until the draft, ESPN’s NFL insider Adam Schefter seems to believe the pick will be Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels out of LSU.
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We ❤️ Teachers 5K celebrates educators through movement. On race day, runners and walkers across the country will participate in host city races, school celebrations, and virtual events — all in support of teachers and educator wellness. We'll be in beautiful Wheaton Regional Park, Join Us!
Walk it. Run it. Move for the teacher who moved you.
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Updated on 4/14 with additional information
MCPS recently shared that seven of its students from seven different schools attended the High School Girls Policy Leadership Academy, hosted in partnership with Discovery Education, Voice4Equity, the U.S. Department of Education and the White House Initiative for Black Americans.
Moby Dick House of Kabob, the local restaurant group that is currently expanding, has signed on to open a new restaurant in Potomac’s Cabin John Village. The new location will be adjacent to Colony Grill on the back side of the shopping center.
MCPS announced that two seniors have been named Cooke College Scholars by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. Mariel Arevalo Ballon of Wheaton High School, and Melat Ghebreselassie of Springbrook High School, are two of 60 students being recognized across the entire country.
In this article we take a look back at the upcoming restaurants that have created the most buzz on our website and associated social media accounts in the last month. Today we’re going to highlight the five (in no particular order) that have generated the most buzz in the last few months in terms of views, likes, and shares:
