Ernesta, the home design brand offering custom-sized rugs for both customers and designers, has opened its second showroom in downtown Bethesda’s Bethesda Row.
Maryland and DC attorneys general, along with Everytown Law, have filed a lawsuit against three Montgomery County gun dealers for allegedly facilitating illegal straw purchases, leading to gun trafficking and increased violence in the region. (more…)
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?”
On Wednesday, Sept. 4, the second season of girls’ flag football in Maryland will commence with the Kick-Off Classic – a 26-game slate across eight different statewide locations. A ceremony will be held at each of the eight locations, while Ravens Cheerleaders, Poe and Legends, including Femi Ayanbadejo, Bryan Hall, Trevor Pryce, Ray Rice and Torrey Smith, will be on hand at several of the game sites to take in the action. The Washington Commanders will also support the initiative with appearances from their spirit squad, legends and mascot at each of the four Montgomery County locations (specific names and locations not available yet for Commanders).
To celebrate National Fried Chicken Day earlier this summer, popular restaurant review website Yelp released its list of the best friend chicken spots in each state. The list was created by the “Yelp Elite Squad” which is comprised of reviewers who have reached elite status in the website’s tier system. The restaurant chosen for Maryland is BRD.
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.
Add to Calendar
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 County Police has released additional information regarding a shooting that occurred on Monday, September 2. (more…)
Comptroller Brooke E. Lierman will announce Maryland’s participation in the IRS Direct File program, a new free online tax filing system, at a press conference joined by state and federal leaders on Wednesday, September 4, 2024 in Annapolis. (more…)
Gambero Rosso, an Italian food and wine magazine that was founded in 1986, has been publishing its restaurant guide since 1990. The guide, Ristoranti d’Italia, describes the best Italian restaurants across the world. For each place it attributes a rating from 60 to 100 and, only for the best restaurants, a number of forchette (‘forks’) ranging from 1 to 3. Only one Italian restaurant from Maryland has ever earned a forchette (fork)— IL Pizzico in Rockville earned una forchetta/one fork (video of the experience available below).
A jury in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, MD, found three men guilty of first-degree murder and other charges related to a fatal shooting on Colony Road in Silver Spring on November 9, 2022, marking the first time a conviction for participation in a criminal organization resulting in death has been secured in the county. (more…)
The City of Rockville is seeking military members to serve as keynote speakers for its annual Veterans Day and Memorial Day ceremonies, where they can share their experiences and reflections on service. (more…)
|
The community is supporting the family of Chase Lancaster, a Seneca Valley High School (Germantown) student who was shot on August 9th while shielding a teenage girl he had never met before when gunshots broke out at a party in Urbana, according to an interview with NBC4’s Aimee Cho. Chase has since undergone 14 surgeries and recently opened his eyes for the first time.
The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) is hosting its 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb in Gaithersburg as a way to honor and remember the FDNY firefighters who selflessly gave their lives so that others might live on September 11, 2001. The event will take place at Sportrock Climbing Center (9811 Washington Boulevard) in Gaithersburg’s Rio Lakefront on Wednesday, September 11th with an 8am opening ceremony.