Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) are asking for the public’s assistance in locating Yordanos Amdetsyon, a missing 16-year-old. (more…)
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A high school freshman has won a top prize in this year’s C-SPAN 2024 Student-Cam documentary competition. Dermott Foley, a 9th grader at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, won $3,000 as a first-place winner for his documentary, “The Promise of Langley Park: The Purple Line, Climate Change and Reimagining the Future of America’s Suburbs.”
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 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced that officers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) stopped a North Carolina man from carrying his loaded handgun onto a flight on Monday, March 18.
Gaithersburg’s 12,300 square foot skate park will open for Spring Break on Saturday, March 23. The park will be open all week from 12pm until sunset and will close again on Sunday, March 31st. It will them be open on weekends only in April before opening again in August. Additional information and schedule below:
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BETHESDA, YOUR SATURDAY MORNING PLANS JUST GOT MORE CREATIVE.
Join Craft Cart at Coffee Republic on Saturday, September 26, from 11:00 AM–1:00 PM for a beginner-friendly faux stained glass experience filled with creativity, coffee and connection.
Montgomery Parks has released a list of events and activities taking break during spring break. (more…)
A Montgomery County Department of Transportation employee was recently recognized as “Soldier of the Year.” (more…)
The Montgomery County Agricultural Fair returns this Friday, August 9th and will run through Saturday, August 17th. This will be the 75th annual fair and its fourth year back after having to cancel for the first time in its 70+ year history in 2020 due to Covid restrictions. Additional information about specific vendors/concessions and activities at this year’s fair will be made available later this spring.
High school summer school registration will begin on Friday, March 22. Regional Summer High School Programs will be offered in-person at Montgomery Blair, Seneca Valley and Richard Montgomery high schools. Classes begin at 8 a.m. and end at 12:30 p.m.
“Slow down so you can take it all in.. but if you scare easily, you might want to run…as we welcome you into this new world of Paranormal Cirque!”
Montgomery County Police has shared a video of one of Detective Petty discussing the gold bar scam and other scams that police say are affecting our area (video available below).