Brew House Kentlands has closed at 325 Main Street in Gaithersburg, little over a year after the coffee shop opened in March 2023. It took over the previous home of Clear Skies Meadery, which opened its new meadery at 15201 Display Ct in Rockville.
The Montgomery County Planning Board voted unanimously on Thursday, June 13, 2024, to make permanent modifications to the Montgomery Parks Open Parkways program. The permanent open parkway will be reduced by .7 miles, now spanning from Knowles Avenue to Cedar Lane.
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?”
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UPDATE: Khayla Kent has been located safe and unharmed.
Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) are asking for the public’s assistance in locating Khayla Kent, a missing 13-year-old from Burtonsville. (more…)
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services (MCFRS) responded to a collision involving a work truck rolling over at Oaks Landfill on 6001 Olney Laytonsville Rd late Monday morning. MCFRS and Montgomery County Police are on the scene.
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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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.
Montgomery County Police have released additional information regarding a fatal hit-and-run collision that occurred on June 3 in Takoma Park. (more…)
Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) are asking for the public’s assistance in locating Angie Nicole Aguirre-Miranda, a missing 13-year-old from Silver Spring. (more…)
Mia Cane Juicery and Açaí is coming soon to 785-I Rockville Pike at the Ritchie Center in Rockville. (more…)
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Per Imagination Stage: “Imagination Stage™, the metro DC region’s largest professional theatre dedicated to young audiences, announces five shows for 2024-2025–the first led by new Chief Artistic Programming Officer Joanne Seelig Lamparter.
Readers Digest has scoured the country to find the “absolute best ice creams in the U.S.A.” and has put together a list that consists of their best ice cream spot in each state. The Maryland winner now has locations across the state.
Many here in Montgomery County have enjoyed some aspect of The Maryland SoccerPlex since it opened nearly 25 years ago. The SoccerPlex is a 24-field complex that welcomes more than 1 million visitors a year. Opened in 2000, the Maryland SoccerPlex was built with a public-private partnership between the Maryland Soccer Foundation and the Maryland National-Capital Park and Planning Commission (MNCPPC) and is located at 18031 Central Park Circle in Boyds, MD.
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services (MCFRS) responded to a town house on Elm Grove Circle in Cloverly for the report of a person suffering from a medical emergency/chest pain. (more…)