Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services (MCFRS) responded to a fire in Burtonsville at approximately 12pm on Friday, March 29.
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The Metro Board of Directors is seeking members of the public to serve on its public advisory body that makes recommendations to the Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD) to enhance training and policies.
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 Montgomery County Commission on Veterans Affairs has announced it will join the national celebration of “National Vietnam Veterans Day” on Friday, March 29. (more…)
Go to Gaithersburg Neighborhoods and HOA’s are Invited to Apply For Matching Grant Program
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Bring your family and friends to our free , all-day outdoor Oktoberfest celebration. These will be an outdoor craft fair featuring local artisans and professional woodworkers, a chainsaw carving, woodworking and tool demonstrations by Festool, Montgomery Wood Turners and Carvers. There will also be lots of delicious food provided by El Parente Tacos, El Jeffe Wood-fired pizzas, Bruster's Ice cream and seasonal craft brews from Saints Row Brwsing Company.
A $50,000 Bonus Match 5 lottery ticket was sold for the Thursday, March 28 drawing at a Rockville Giant. Full story below courtesy of the Maryland Lottery: (more…)
Montgomery Parks has released its schedule of events and programs that will take place in April. (more…)
A Germantown woman is $100,000 richer after purchasing a winning lottery scratch-off ticket from the 7-Eleve at 12301 Middlebrook Rd. Full story below courtesy of the Maryland Lottery:
Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPD) Homicide Branch are searching for the suspects involved in a fatal shooting during an armed robbery of a business. The decedent has been identified as 41-year-old Philip Prendergast, of Silver Spring, MD. A video has been released by MPD and can be seen below.
City of Rockville Receives $4M in Earmarks for Emergency Ops, Storm Drains, Water Mains, Sewer Lines
The City of Rockville recently received more than $3.9 million in federal earmark funding for a new emergency operations center, police radios, water main and sewer line rehabilitation, and storm drain improvements in the Potomac Woods neighborhood.
Chief Antonio DeVaul from the Takoma Park Police Department has announced the arrest of Antonio Thompson, 29, of no fixed address, for stolen auto, theft from auto and 1st degree assault.
A Rottweiler puppy has been reunited with its owner after a good samaritan found the dog in a dumpster near her Silver Spring apartment on Thursday morning.