The Montgomery County Board of Education approved the following administrative appointments on Tuesday, June 25:
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?”
Plan amendment revisits the implementation-related recommendations of the 2017 Bethesda Downtown Plan
The Montgomery County Planning Board approved the scope of work for the Bethesda Downtown Plan Minor Master Plan Amendment at its June 27, 2024 meeting. The scope of work outlines the focus of the plan amendment and retains the boundary of the 2017 plan.
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services (MCFRS) responded to a large field fire White Ground Road and Darnestown Road in an area between Boyds and Poolesville around 4:30pm.
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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Come enjoy the day at our annual Washington Grove Arts and Craft Festival in a beautiful outdoor setting. This festival highlights local artisans including wood creations, pottery, visual art, household products and so much more. We also have food trucks from El Parente Tacos, El Jeffe Wood-fired pizzas, Bruster’s Ice Cream and beverages from Saints Row Brewery. Bring the whole family because we have a kids activity area too. Pets on a leash are welcome too!
In a digital world, the otherwise technology-forward local public school system has lagged in the timesheet department– requiring employees to fill out physical timesheets and leave requests. Those days now appear numbered, according to the latest issue of MCPS’ “IT Wire” newsletter.
Headed to Olde Towne Gaithersburg? The City of Gaithersburg recently shared parking tips to make your visit as easy as possible. More below:
Montgomery County residents with combined household incomes of $64,000 or less can now schedule free virtual and in-person tax appointments with the Community Action Agency’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program for prior years, amended and current year (2023) returns. VITA services are available by appointment through Thursday, Oct. 24.
Earlier this year we let you know that First Watch signed on to open a new location in the upcoming White Oak Town Center development (12345 Columbia Pike). It will be taking over a corner space with a large outdoor patio, across from the future grocery store anchor that remains to be determined (but appears to be Amazon Fresh again).
The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) State Highway Administration (SHA) has released its major lane closures for this weekend (June 28, 29, and 30, 2024). They can be seen below, by county:
Last October we let you know that Kusshi Sushi officially signed on to take over the space that was home to popular sushi restaurant Sushi Damo at 36G Maryland Ave […]
The Montgomery County Board of Education will formally install the 47th Student Member of the Board (SMOB), Praneel Survarna, on July 1.