On July 14, 2021, the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce Legislative Affairs Committee welcomed guest speaker Richard Madaleno, Chief Administrative Officer for County Executive Marc Elrich.

Madaleno focused his remarks on COVID-19, the County's budget, and the County Executive's policy priorities. He shared that Montgomery County has vaccinated 91% of eligible residents with at least one dose, which is vital to economic recovery. The unemployment rate in Montgomery County prior to the pandemic was hovering around 3.1%. It peaked at 8.6% after the start of the pandemic and now sits at 5.6%.

On November 2, 2020, the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce Infrastructure and Land Use Committee held a meeting featuring a briefing on the Thrive Montgomery 2050 Plan.

​Guest speakers were Montgomery County (MD) Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson and Montgomery Planning staff. A discussion regarding the future of Montgomery County followed.

On Wednesday, August 26, 2020, the MCCC Board of Directors hosted a Health System CEOs Panel, joined by:

• Norvell V. Coots, MD, President and CEO, Holy Cross Health
• Terry Forde, President and CEO, Adventist HealthCare
• Jacqueline "Jacky" Schultz, R.N., M.S.N, President, Suburban Hospital, Johns Hopkins Medicine
• Thomas J. "TJ" Senker, FACHE, President, MedStar Montgomery Medical Center & SVP, MedStar Health
• Andrew Catanzaro, MD, Infectious Disease and Hospital Epidemiology, Adventist HealthCare

This panel was moderated by MCCC Board Member Bridget Plummer, Director of Operations for Urgent Care Services, Adventist HealthCare. 

MCCC's Infrastructure & Land Use Committee was pleased to host Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) Executive Director Chuck Bean and Deputy Executive Director for Metropolitan Planning Kanti Srikanth. These guests speakers led a robust discussion on the future of transportation and housing in our region, including transportation and future initiatives to support our region's growth over the next 25 years.

View this PowerPoint presentation here.

On Thursday, December 12, MCCC’s Small Business Committee – headed by Vice-Chair Erin Allen (CONTEMPORARIES, Inc.) and Co-Chair Kal Attia (CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield) hosted the final Business EXCELerator of the year. The topic was “Meet the Award Winners and Learn From the Best!” and featured the following guest speakers who were recently recognized at MCCC’s 2019 Business Awards Dinner:

• Bruce Lansdowne, President & CEO, Trinity Technology Partners, Inc. and 2019 Business Partner of the Year; and,
• Lou Boland, Executive Vice President, BOLAND, 2019 Corporate Social Responsibility Award Winner.

On November 6, MCCC's Infrastructure & Land Use and Economic Development Committees hosted a joint meeting featuring a special presentation by Catherine Buell and Stephen Harrington from the Greater Washington Partnership (GWP). The focus of the presentation was housing in the Washington Metropolitan Region. In September 2019, GWP along with the Urban Institute and JP Morgan Chase, released a research report about the Washington Region facing serious housing challenges that undermine residents well-being.

GWP presented an overview of their study and a discussion and Q&A followed. Interesting insights included the need for housing at all levels, the need for different kinds of housing, and how accessible/affordable housing relates directly to employee attraction/retention. 

View their PowerPoint presentation here.

Our October Business EXCELerator featured Montgomery County Office of Procurement Director Ash Shetty and Division Chief Grace Denno. While Director Shetty and Division Chief Denno provided attendees with information about new and updated processes within Montgomery County Procurement, they dedicated much of the time to fielding questions from attendees.

Some of the key takeaways:

The MCCC Business EXCELerator meeting on Wednesday, June 12, 2019 focused on "Proposal Writing - Strategies on How to Respond to Opportunities." The presentation was made by Tina Patterson, Principal, Jade Solutions.

Following an introduction by MCCC Small Business Vice-Chair Erin Allen (CONTEMPORARIES, Inc.) and Co-Chair Kal Attia (CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield), Tina shared first-hand experience and highlighted the best practices to win contracts.

Some of the key takeaways from the presentation were:

• Compliance is key; solicitation responses ware subject to disqualification if instructions are not followed.
• Make relationships: get to know the procurement officers, other government contractors and professional service providers to strengthen your network. 
• Follow-up: be persistent and active in staying in front of the customer.
• Manage the process: build the best team and identify milestones and procedures to respond accurately and on-time. Bring value to the table.
• ​​Prepare:  Register your business in the System Award Management (Federal), eMaryland Marketplace Advantage (eMMA), and Central Vendor Registration System (Montgomery County). Update your vendor records, document past performance, update executive summaries, etc. Be aware of Federal Government procurement trends such as Category Management (Best In Class). Get on a GSA schedule. Do market research.
• If your company is not awarded a contract, request a debrief. This will help you prepare for the next opportunity. 

Missed the June Business EXCElerator? Click here to view Tina Patterson's presentation.