harford county leaders WoMen In BusIness WoMen In BusIness

I N S I G H T I N TO T H E FA S T L A N E
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The American Tax Relief Act . . .
what it means to you.
Congress has finally acted, leaving us with new
legislation that, at long last, makes at least parts of
the tax law permanent for the foreseeable future.
How will this affect you and your business?
Immediately all employees discovered the impact of the
payroll tax holiday that was allowed to lapse at December
31, 2012 giving everyone a 2% pay cut on their first check
in 2013.
After much discussion, Congress identified the
wealthy Americans that needed to pay their fair
share as those single people whose taxable income
exceeds $400,000 and married people whose
taxable income exceeds $450,000.
For them, a new tax bracket was created at 39.6% for
income over these thresholds. Capital gains and qualified
dividends are now taxed at 20% for these taxpayers.
For all other taxpayers the current 2012 rates were made
permanent.
Experience counts.
Certified Public Accountants
& Business Consultants
www.wcscpa.com/I95
While the tax rate changes seem fairly simple and
straightforward, there are other provisions that
add complexity to your tax return.
Itemized deductions and personal exemptions are now
subject to phase out provisions. These provisions apply to
single taxpayers with taxable income over $200,000 and
married taxpayers with $250,000 of income, making many
more households affected by the changes.
Additionally, ObamaCare legislation now creates
new Medicare related taxes and surtaxes that are
applied to capital gains, interest and dividend
income, and even rental income.
Many popular business provisions have been extended
including bonus depreciation and expanded Section 179
deductions as well as the research tax credit and the work
opportunity tax credit. Unfortunately, these only received
one-year extensions through the 2013 tax year.
LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER
Champions
We are the Champions!
Vicki Franz,
President, CEO
Stone House Publications
410-584-9960
vfranz@i95business.com
Congratulations
To the RAVENS,
XLVII Super Bowl
CHAMPIONS!
CONNECT WITH VICKI
Vicki Franz
CONNECT TO BUSINESS
PROFESSIONALS
Depending on the context of that statement, it could mean
many different things to different people. Of course, I am
still feeling the adrenaline rush of watching our Ravens win
the Super Bowl in New Orleans. Watching the players speak
after the win, it is clear that their spirit never waivered, their
mission never faltered and they all sang the same song – it
was a team that faced challenges and met them together. It
has truly been a remarkable championship run.
Based on the recent election results, women are the
new Champions in Congress. History was made when a
record 98 women – 20 in the Senate and 78 in the House
– took their place in the new 113th Congress. Our very
own Senator, Barbara Mikulski, has earned a chairman’s
position and takes over as the first woman to head the
Appropriations Committee, which allocates federal
spending for nearly all programs. Wow. The list of firsts goes
on, with several women heading up committees of power
and influence in both the House and Senate, the first AsianAmerican woman elected to the Senate, and the first HinduAmerican in Congress. The House has a record 28 women
of color, with 13 African-American women, nine Latinas, six
Asian Americans, plus two women military veterans, one of
which is a double amputee, and the first openly gay Senator,
Tammy Baldwin. Women are contributing at both the
national and local level in all kinds of positions.
Locally, women hold many of the key executive positions
of power and leadership. While often responsible for huge
budgets, huge numbers of employees and huge programs,
they lead lives that also contribute to the betterment of
their communities. They are mothers, mentors, wifes,
volunteers and we are better because of their dedication to
professionalism.
And, they are Champions!
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subscribers. To subscribe, visit i95business.com.
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INSIGHT INTO THE FAST LANE
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Women
STACEY REBBERT
Editor
editor@i95business.com
UPCOMING ISSUES
APRIL/MAY
EDITORIAL TOPICS
• Healthcare & Healing
• Medical Practice Profiles
• Army Appreciation
Month
ADV DEADLINE
March 29
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July 26
Institute)
• According to recent U.S. census data, the number of men who left
the workforce entirely to raise children has more than doubled in
the last 10 years.
• In 2011, businesses where women own 51% percent or more of
the stock or equity, generated $1.2 trillion in receipts.
• Since 1971, the number of women serving in state legislatures
has more than quintupled. Center for American Women and Politics,
OCT/NOV
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february / march
There’s a conversation in the movie Mona Lisa Smile starring Julia
Roberts as Katherine, a progressive college professor at 1950s era
Wellesley College, that I believe illustrates the true power that women
in society possess. When Roberts confronts her student Joan, played
by Julia Stiles, about her decision to forgo law school after graduation
to stay home and start a family and support her husband’s career
path, Joan exposes the hypocrisy in her judgment:
Joan: It was my choice, not to go. He would have supported it.
Katherine: But you don’t have to choose!
Joan: No, I have to. I want a home, I want a family! That’s not
something I’ll sacrifice.
Katherine: N
o one’s asking you to sacrifice that, Joan. I just want
you to understand that you can do both.
Joan: Do you think I’ll wake up one morning and regret not being
a lawyer?
Katherine: Yes, I’m afraid that you will.
Joan: Not as much as I’d regret not having a family, not being
there to raise them. I know exactly what I’m doing and it
doesn’t make me any less smart. This must seem terrible to
you.
Katherine: I didn’t say that.
Joan: Sure you did. You always do. You stand in class and tell us to
look beyond the image, but you don’t. To you a housewife is
someone who sold her soul for a center hall colonial. She has
no depth, no intellect, no interests. You’re the one who said I
could do anything I wanted. This is what I want.
“This is what I want.” That’s the choice that women have –
deciding what they want. To work? To have a family? Stay single or get
married? Women today benefit from a changing societal perspective
about where they belong and what they can do:
• Earlier this year, the Pentagon lifted its ban on women serving
in combat opening up front-line positions after generations of
limits on their service.
• Women-owned businesses will account for one-third of the
new jobs created by 2018. (Guardian Life Small Business Research
2013
As you read the pages in this issue focusing on women, you will hear
about challenges, about struggles, about hard decisions. But you will
also hear about determined success, unwavering compassion and the
courage to hope.
In a future continuously moving to unfettered choice, today’s
woman is at the helm.
www.i95business.com
www.i95business.com
february/march 2013
Vol. 2, Number 4
publisher
Vicki K. Franz
executive editor
Gregory J. Alexander
editor
Stacey A. Rebbert
contributing writers
Emily Barbo
Kelsey Carper
Mary Paramore
Kathy Mignini Walsh
brand builder consultants
Cindy Jacobson, 410-666-8254
Robert Buden, 443-995-7999
Tim Kolarik, 410-935-4113
print / web design
Sequel Design Associates, Inc.
art director
Kathleen L. Minacapelli
cover photography
J. Thomas Photography
I95 Business is published bi-monthly, with
monthly updates online at i95business.com.
Stone House Publications is a womanowned independent, local publishing
company also publishing Mason-Dixon
ARRIVE.
Copyright 2013 Kemper Franz
Marketing Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of any portion of this
publication without written permission
from the Publisher is forbidden. While
great care has been taken to publish
accurate and reliable information,
Publisher assumes no responsibility for
omissions and/or errors. Printed in USA.
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INSIGHT INTO THE FAST LANE
inside
INNOVATION
INFLUENCER
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INNOVATION
INFLUENCER
INTEGRITY
Connecting people,
ideas and business in
Maryland’s strategic
Northeast Corridor.
IDEAS
24INTEGRITY
COVER STORY
IDEAS
IMAGINATION
INFO TECH
IMAGINATION
INFO TECH
INTERSECTION
IN CHARGE
Cover
Kathyrn Hewitt,
Arden McClune,
Mary Chance,
Deborah Henderson,
Elizabeth Hendrix
INSIDE
Meet 5 Harford County Leaders and
INSIDE
INSPIRATION
some of the most influential women in
INTERSECTION
the I95 Business corridor.
Photo by
J. Thomas Photography
I-TECH
DEPARTMENTS
INSPIRATION
I-TECH
DEPARTMENTS
FEATURE
SPECIAL FOCUS
IN DEFENSE
women
in business
34 Mary Doak
WOMEN
IN DEFENSE
Edgewood Chemical and
WOMEN
IN BUSINESS
Biological
Center, APG
FEATURE
10
integrity
SPECIAL FOCUS
Deborah Williams:
IN “Integrity
DEFENSEis doing the right thing ...
WOMEN
even if IN
no DEFENSE
one is watching.”
35 S
heryl Davis Kohl
Beacon Staffing Alternatives
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
13
influencer
Looking for an Advantage in
Digital Marketing?
36 Renée A. McNally
HR Solutions
37 S
usan Kemen
APG Federal Credit Union
Meet Hollis Thomases
32
16 innovation
A Greener Way to Garden
Flowers by Bauers
18 i-tech
Mapping Out a Successful
Strategy
The Map Factory
20 inside
10
Translating into Success
18
Reliable Language Services
22 ideas
Mentoring Tomorrow’s
Leaders
32 in defense
Women Inspiring Innovation
through Imagination
ECBC Celebrates Women in STEM
20
9
inbox
42 Business news
BUSINESS EVENTS
38 NMTC Visionary Awards
from around
the region.
TM
39 EXPO 2013
40 Athena Awards
13
8
february / march
2013
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32
22
TM
A College-to-Career
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Children
Connecting College, Careers, Communication
A new type of event for college-bound high school children!
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Learn the connection between careers and degree choice
Model behavior for successful networking
Develop their own network of professional contacts
Powerful communication and etiquette skills
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Includes business cards and gift for students, dinner, door prizes.
HARFORD County sessions
BALTIMORE County sessions
Mothers Mentoring Daughters
February 20, 2013, 6:00-9:00 pm
Moderator: Marlene Lieb
Maryland Golf & Country Club
Mothers Mentoring Daughters
March 5, 2013, 6:00-9:00 pm
Moderator: Marianne Banister
Hunt Valley Golf Club
Mothers Mentoring Sons
February 27, 2013, 6:00-9:00 pm
Moderator: Rob Weinhold
Maryland Golf & Country Club
Mothers Mentoring Sons
March 12, 2013, 6:00-9:00 pm
Moderator: Boh Hatter
Hunt Valley Golf Club
Sponsored by
Harford County Department of Community Services
Events will be held bi-monthly. For information about sponsorships, serving as a
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february / march
2013 9
INFLUENCER
INTEGRITY
IDEAS
IMAGINATION
INFO TECH
Deborah Williams:
INSIDE
“Integrity is doing the right thing … even if no one is watching”
INTERSECTION
B y S t a c e y A . R e bb e r t
INSPIRATION
I-TECH
DEPARTMENTS
FEATURE
SPECIAL FOCUS
IN DEFENSE
WOMEN IN DEFENSE
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Deborah Williams, Vice President
Business & Professional Banking
M & T Bank
Williams’s Community Involvement
Harford Community College Foundation
Board – Vice Chair
Bel Air Rotary – President Elect
Upper Chesapeake Health Foundation Board
Harford County Chamber of Commerce Board
Harford County Economic Development
Advisory Board
Harford United Charities Board
Women’s Giving Circle
Arc Northern Chesapeake –
After D’Arc committee
Greater Harford Committee
Bel Air Alliance
Harford County Community Action Agency
Harford Leadership Academy Alumni –
Ambassador
10
february / march
2013
www.i95business.com
Bankers have had to suffer through quite an
image problem in recent years. The bail out
of big banks with taxpayer money and the
subsequent scrutiny of all things financial
has many whispering their occupation in
public and keeping a low profile. Not so for
Harford County resident and Vice President
of Business and Professional Banking at
M&T Bank, Deborah Williams. Not about
to be lumped in with her headline-grabbing
counterparts, Williams is proud of the
company she works for and what it and she
does for the community it serves.
“At M&T Bank, we recognize that our
corporate success is directly related to the
health and vitality of the communities we
serve,” explains Williams. “So, as a corporate
citizen, we believe in providing resources to
not-for-profit organizations that make our
communities better places to live and work.
“Through our philanthropic arm, The
M&T Charitable Foundation, we support a
diverse range of civic, cultural, health and
human service organizations with financial
grants, employee volunteerism and in-kind
services. Doing this kind of community
work has provided me an affiliation
with a network of women and men who
work together for the betterment of our
community and society as a whole. In short,
it enabled me to meet a lot of people that
I otherwise might never have crossed
paths with.”
Born in Massachusetts, Williams’s family
relocated to Harford County when she
was just 4 years old. She moved away after
graduating from Bel Air High School, but
found her way back in 1991 and has been
here ever since. “One of my first experiences
volunteering was when I was in high school
going to Perry Point Hospital and working
with the veterans,” Williams recalls. “I also
volunteered with Johns Hopkins Children’s
Center and the March of Dimes before
settling into the organizations in and
around Harford County.”
Williams works with an array of
organizations providing help to the
community in various forms including
direct giving, economic stabilization and
service support. She serves in a board
member capacity for foundations like
Upper Chesapeake Health and Harford
Community College and as a committee
member for Arc Northern ChesapeakeAfter D’Arc and the Greater Harford
Committee among others. Williams points
out, “I try to choose organizations whose
mission I believe in. Quite often, this lends
itself to helping those less fortunate. I
always try to remember that there by the
grace of God go I. I also like to work with
organizations that are striving to provide
the tools necessary to make people selfsufficient and independent.” While all the
work done by local non-profits and agencies
is to be commended, it’s not surprising that
a few have managed to sneak into Williams’s
heart. “I enjoy my affiliation with all of the
organizations that I am associated with
and feel that they all do stellar work in the
community,” Williams assures. “That said I
do have a soft spot for one or two. The Bel
Air Rotary is a wonderful group of people
that try, on a consistent basis, to help their
community. With a motto of ‘Service Above
Self,’ the Rotary looks for ways to quietly
help organizations within our community.
For example, raising money to award
annual scholarships for high school seniors,
working at the homeless shelter, bell ringing
for the Salvation Army, the pantry project
at SARC, providing dictionaries to Harford
County third graders, aid for victims of
Hurricane Sandy, helping an Eagle Scout
raise funds to build a playground at an
orphanage in Russia as well as supporting
initiatives of Rotary International mostly
widely known for its work in eradicating
polio worldwide. I treasure my association
with this group and its members, many of
whom I consider friends.”
Many of the projects Williams
contributes to involve large fundraising
efforts. However, it is often the smaller, more
personal moments that resonate with the
busy professional. “There are several and
most occur when you feel that you’ve made a
difference or touched a life even if for only a
brief moment,” admits Williams. “I enjoyed
being a ‘big sister’ for an elementary school
student. Every week when I went to the
school to visit her, I felt that I was making a
small difference in her life. One year a group
of local women hosted some female clients
from SARC (Safety-Awareness-ResourceChange). We spent the morning getting hair
and nails done followed by a luncheon. Even
though it was a small gesture, for a couple
hours, these ladies were able to forget their
situation and we were all just a bunch of
girls hanging out together. Every time I go
to the FCCAU (Faith Communities and
Civic Agencies United) shelter and help
prepare meals I am moved by the gratitude
of the residents.”
One fundraising project that required
a different sort of skill for Williams was
raising money for the Center for the Arts in
2011. In a hat tip to the popular “Dancing
with the Stars” reality competition show,
the “Dancing for the Arts” contest pits local
“celebrities” against each other in a race to
raise the most money. At the annual fall
gala, the celebrities then deliver a prepared
performance with a professional dancer
from Churchville-based Dancing with
Friends. Was convincing the professional
banker to unveil her inner Ginger Rogers
difficult? “It was not a tough sell,” admits
Williams. “Several of my friends had
participated, and I never heard a single
person say they regretted it. In addition, I
love the arts and being able to help try to
build a Center here in Harford County made
the proposition that much more attractive.
Despite being a little fearful of embarrassing
myself, I have to say I absolutely loved every
minute of the experience. The people at
Dancing with Friends were wonderful to
work with and it was fun pushing myself
outside my comfort zone. Unfortunately, I
am not still dancing. It’s one of the things
that I keep saying I’m going to go back to
because it was so much fun, and I felt great
while I was involved.”
“I have worked with Debi
through the Women’s
Business Program of
The Small Business
Development Center, as
well as the local ATHENA
Award program. As Director
for Community Education
at HCC, I have counted on
Debi as a ‘go to’ resource,
not just in banking matters,
but for all community based
questions. She is a font of
knowledge, and always
responds with information
and a smile.”
– Pat Hogan, Director for
Community Education,
Harford Community College
Save the Date!
12th Annual ATHENA Award Presentation
Women’s Leadership Breakfast
March 8, 2013 • 8:00 – 9:45 AM
Richlin Ballroom, Edgewood, MD
Tickets: $35
Tables of ten available for $320
Sponsorship and Event Information:
443-412-2176 or 443-412-2173
or www.harford.edu/community/Athena
ATHENA Recipients:
• Personify the highest level of professional excellence
• Promote leadership opportunities for women
• Provide valuable service to the community
The ATHENA Award is a program of the ATHENA Foundation, an international nonprofit organization
dedicated to creating leadership opportunities for women.
13-0192
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february / march
2013 11
INFLUENCER
INTEGRITY
IDEAS
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TECH
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Garry L. Wilson, CIC, RHU
INTERSECTION
Williams may not see herself as a profesINSPIRATION
sional dancer any time in the future, but
she isI-TECH
seen as a true role model for women
in the County. In 2005, Williams won the
DEPARTMENTS
coveted
ATHENA Award presented to a
woman who personifies a high level of
FEATURE
excellence in her business or profession, has
devoted
time and energy
to the community
SPECIAL
FOCUS
in a meaningful way, and has opened doors
IN DEFENSE
of leadership
opportunity for other women.
“Winning
the
ATHENA
Award was a very
WOMEN
IN DEFENSE
special time for me for several reasons,”
Williams
remembers.
recognized
WOMEN
IN“Being
BUSINESS
in that company gave me validation that I
was making and could continue to make a
difference in my community. Overall the
award encourages women to mentor and
get involved in their community, and I was
proud to be a part of that message. On
the personal side it was a very special day
because my mom and my son, along with a
bunch of my friends, attended to show
their support.”
Williams continues that dedicated focus
with her participation in the Women’s Giving Circle of Harford County. As a founding member of the group, the Women’s
Giving Circle of Harford County is now
in its third year of providing grants to assist a wide range of organizations, whose
programs benefit women, children, and/
or families. “I think the WGC is special because it’s all about women helping women,”
says Williams. “Its main goals are to make a
difference in Harford County by contribution of time, talents, and financial resources
to women and family needs and educate
and increase awareness of local needs. It appeals to a diverse group and provides support for a variety of organizations through
its grants. You can be as active as you want,
but at the end of the day you know that the
organization and the work it does has made
a difference in the lives of women and their
families here in Harford County.”
What does Williams want people to take
away from her philanthropic efforts? “I
think I serve as an example that everyone
has something to offer and everyone can
make a difference. It’s not always about
writing a big check. Sometimes, it’s offering
your time and talent.” I95
INNOVATION
INFLUENCER
INTEGRITY
IDEAS
IMAGINATION
INFO TECH
Looking for an
Advantage in
Digital Marketing?
INSIDE
INTERSECTION
INSPIRATION
I-TECH
DEPARTMENTS
FEATURE
Meet
Hollis Thomases
B y SPECIAL
K a t h y W aFOCUS
lsh
IN DEFENSE
WOMEN
DEFENSE
For 15
years, digitalIN
marketing
strategist
Hollis Thomases has been at the forefront
IN BUSINESS
of herWOMEN
industry, amassing
impressive
credentials along the way. Yet many people
who come to her business, Web Ad.vantage,
still aren’t sure exactly what she does, and
Thomases admits her elevator speech is
“in perpetual movement” thanks to the
constantly shifting nature of her industry.
But, at the business’s core is a consultative
approach that allows her and her staff to put
into practice her notion that tactics without
strategy is a recipe for disaster.
So what is it that Web Ad.vantage really
does? Thomases explains, “If I’m meeting
with business leaders outside of the tech
space and say I’m a digital marketing strategist, I get a lot of blank stares. So I just say, I
help businesses figure out how to use more
of the online marketing channels they are
using already to grow their sales and leads.”
Finding Her Path
Before she could get to the top of her game,
Thomases had to figure out exactly what
that game was. After graduating from
Cornell University, she spent 10 years in
marketing communications for the food
industry, during which time the Internet
was really starting to take off. She had always
wanted to own her own business, and one
day when flipping through a magazine,
she noticed a section that promoted the
websites of its advertisers. That was when
the light bulb went off. Thomases says, “I
realized each of those websites needed to be
marketed as their own little businesses.”
While her original concept was to use
print ads to promote websites, there was
much greater interest from companies
interested in other website marketing tools,
including email marketing, banner ads and
site linking. Realizing that was where the
opportunity was, Thomases took a hiatus
from her original business plan, bought
a couple of books including “Internet
Marketing for Dummies” and taught herself
everything she needed to know, using
her own website as her guinea pig. Web
Ad.vantage got its first official client at the
end of 1998, and Thomases was off and
running.
Navigating the Information
Superhighway
Success came quickly, and by 2000
Thomases had moved from her home office
into the HEAT Center in Aberdeen and
then into a rental space before moving to
her current Havre de Grace offices in 2004.
Today, Web Ad.vantage has a staff of eight
and a portfolio of local clients that have
included Johns Hopkins University, Harford
Community College, Crews Control and
Top 5 Digital Marketing Mistakes:
IS YOUR BUSINESS GUILTY OF ANY OF THESE?
Being a Google Analytics
“front page” user. Think
you’re savvy for using Google
Analytics? Thomases says
most businesses look at
front page metrics and don’t
delve any deeper. Without
benchmarks, Thomases
says you’re spending money
without understanding the
data you’re reading.
Taking one person’s
advice at face value. Ever
been contacted by a web
developer who says he or
she “SEO’d” your website
and can help you improve
your search rankings?
Thomases says it’s
malarkey – SEO is not a
once and done thing.
Announcing “We need to
be on XYZ social media
platform.” “Stop following
bright, shiny objects just
because everyone else
is,” Thomas orders. Step
back and consider your
bigger strategy and which
platform – if any – is right
for you.
Not having a company
LinkedIn page. Don’t
underutilize LinkedIn,
advises Thomases, who
points out that while
most employees have
good LinkedIn profiles,
the business owner or
company may not.
Being out to lunch
when it comes to
mobile. In this day
and age, if you don’t
have a mobile-enabled
website or it’s not
mobile friendly, “that’s
just stupid,” says
Thomases.
1 2 3 45
www.i95business.com
february / march
2013 13
INNOVATION
INFLUENCER
INTEGRITY
Glass Jacobson, and national and global
clients
such as SafeNet, DAP Products, Inc.
IDEAS
and UNICEF Canada.
IMAGINATION
Thomases
built quite a resume for
herself
along
the
way, including authoring
INFO TECH
the book “Twitter Marketing: An Hour a
Day,”INSIDE
writing a weekly column for Inc.com,
and racking up a host of awards including
INTERSECTION
Maryland’s
Top 100 Women of 2012.
She has
also
appeared on local, regional
INSPIRATION
and national television and radio and
I-TECH
in national
print publications including
BusinessWeek and Advertising Age.
DEPARTMENTS
So how did she get from there to here?
In short,
by keeping up with the times.
FEATURE
Says Thomases, “By being adaptable and
SPECIAL
FOCUS
informed,
we can stay
on top of what’s
happening
in our industry and not only
IN DEFENSE
present opportunities to clients and
WOMEN
IN DEFENSE
prospects,
but also communicate
how these
changes will impact them.”
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14
february / march
2013
www.i95business.com
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Staying at the Front of the Pack
As to how exactly Thomases and her team
keep up to speed in an industry where
technology changes almost on a daily basis,
she says that while they do attend training
at conferences or online, the majority
of their learning comes through “news
curation.” If you’re not familiar with the
term, it’s the idea of gathering information
from multiple sources and aggregating
them to share in one convenient vehicle
– and it forms the basis for how the Web
Ad.vantage staff has operated for more
than a decade.
“Staying on top of every single technology,
especially with the wide swath of things we
do, is impossible,” says Thomases. Instead,
she keeps up with areas that interest her
and delegates other topics to specialists
on her staff member who filter and share
relevant items with the appropriate parties.
Personally, she relies heavily on Twitter and
LinkedIn discussion groups to keep up with
the latest trends, as well as email because
it’s “in my face.” And, Thomases says, she
doesn’t just report a news item, but first
asks, “Why do we care about this, what
should we be looking at that is relevant,
and how do we report that to the client?”
Thomases also makes it a priority to
develop and nurture her staff so that they
can be better at what they do and Web
Ad.vantage can be better at serving clients.
“Clients do come and go, strategies change,
and technology changes, so I find myself
INNOVATION
INFLUENCER
INTEGRITY
f
First
Thoughts on Facebook Search
IDEAS
At press time, online chat rooms were buzzing over Facebook’s latest initiative – a search
IMAGINATION
function
that will allow users to search their own news feed and friends’ as well as public
status updates, links and notes. When asked for her thoughts on this development,
INFOshared
TECH
Thomases
the following:
“The implication is Facebook is doing this to strengthen itself as an advertising platform,
byINSIDE
doing all it can to retain eyeballs. But from the user’s perspective – and I try to listen to
early adopters who also tend to be early leavers – every time Facebook encumbers itself to
INTERSECTION
make
itself more viable as an advertising platform, it turns them off.
“I’m just not sure if we’re ready for ads appearing related to a search. You go to Google
toINSPIRATION
do a search, and we are used to seeing ads there. If Google were to all of a sudden change
its home page to banner ads, people would be turned off, too.”
I-TECH
DEPARTMENTS
beingFEATURE
way more evaluative of business
processes than I would have been as a startSPECIAL
up,” she
comments. FOCUS
IN DEFENSE
Along for the Ride
WOMEN
DEFENSE
The Web
Ad.vantageIN
website
lists numerous
examples of how the firm’s work has
WOMEN
IN BUSINESS
benefitted
clients, including
saving one
client nearly $750,000 in annual paid search
expenses by revealing that the majority of its
business came from organic search.
Of the firm’s current clients, Thomases
says she is really enjoying working with
Visit Baltimore. Web Ad.vantage handles
all digital marketing and advertising for
them, from general promotion of Baltimore
City to micro campaigns for events such
as Restaurant Week and the Grand Prix.
“Because of all the creativity going on, we
are looking at new ways to reach the same
target audience plus niche target audiences
– we’re very good at that. This client lets us
explore and test things because we have a
very collaborative and trusting relationship.
That’s the best kind of client for us,” says
Thomases.
Web Ad.vantage is also working with
the Baltimore Museum of Art to develop a
diverse digital advertising campaign to help
relaunch its contemporary wing, using what
Thomases calls “lots of different vehicles
than traditional banner advertising.”
In addition to these well-known
consumer names, approximately half of
the firm’s portfolio is made up of B2B
clients, including a plastics manufacturer,
technology companies and a business that
provides Six Sigma procedural training
among others.
Staying the Course
While some things change, one battle
Thomases has fought since the beginning
is convincing clients to put strategy before
tactics. Thomases says, “People still tend to
lump us into some specific tactical bucket,
like SEO, social media or online media
planning.” And clients often try to hire
Thomases to help with a specific tactic,
despite her philosophy that she says is “to
always be thinking in a consultative fashion
so we can present relevant opportunities
and steer clients away from things they
think they need but really may not be better
opportunities.”
In fact, get her going and Thomases
jumps on her self-professed soapbox, saying,
“Tactics without strategy is a recipe for
disaster. Too many businesses think they
have to do something because everyone else
has, but they haven’t done the basics. It’s
like building a house, roof first.” Instead,
she advocates that businesses spend more
time auditing, assessing and analyzing
things they have already done, either well or
poorly. Often, she says, “The information
may be right in front of their face, but they
don’t know what to look for. It’s the ‘a-ha
moment’ when they see it, but we have to
present them with the analysis in order for
them to understand it.”
One thing Thomases is confident she’s
done right for her own firm is maintain
its Havre de Grace office to retain her
talented staff despite moving her residence
to Wilmington, Del. Despite the commute,
which she calls her biggest challenge,
Thomases tries to make herself accessible
to everyone who needs her, from clients
and staff to up-and-coming women in the
local business community. As for the future,
while no one can predict what it holds, it
seems a safe bet that Thomases and Web
Ad.vantage will continue to be leading the
way to the new digital marketing strategies
of tomorrow. I95
www.i95business.com
february / march
2013 15
INNOVATION
INFLUENCER
A Greener Way to Garden
INTEGRITY
IDEAS
IMAGINATION
Flowers by Bauers
INFO TECH
B y S t a c e y A . R e bb e r t
INSIDE
INTERSECTION
Hydroponic gardening dates back thousands of
years to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and
the Floating Gardens of China. However, in
starting to germinate.
I-TECH
Jarrettsville, Md., it only goes back to 1996.
Bottom: The greenhouse
By definition, hydroponics is composed of
where the magic is done.
DEPARTMENTS
two Greek words – “hydro” meaning water and
“ponics” meaning labor. It is used to reference
FEATURE
a method of growing and farming plants –
SPECIAL FOCUS
flowers, vegetables, and grains – in a water-based
solution without soil. Flowers by Bauers, a local
IN DEFENSE
florist with a retail store in Jarrettsville and a
WOMEN IN DEFENSE greenhouse and wholesale operation in White
Hall, has been using hydroponic techniques to
WOMEN IN BUSINESSsupply its busy floral shop and the surrounding
region with snapdragons for over 16 years.
While there are several variations to
hydroponic growing systems, Flowers by Bauers
uses a perlite mixture substrate in its system.
Perlite is a mined material and one of the best
hydroponic growing mediums around. “With
a perlite supplier less than 28 miles away from
here,” explains Charles Bauer, the chief grower
and one of the owners, “we save money on
transportation expenses, and it’s easy to get when
we need it.”
Bauer, his brother Richard, and his son
Matthew own and operate the retail and
wholesale flower business. “Matthew is a secondgeneration owner of Flowers by Bauers and
a seventh-generation farmer on his mother’s
side of the 100-acre farm known as Garnet
Anderson Farm,” explains
Bauer as he introduces his son
during the greenhouse tour.
With farming in their blood,
the Bauers obtained college
degrees in horticulture from
the University of Maryland,
with Matthew adding business
classes to help round out his
future plans. “I want to grow
the wholesale and greenhouse
side of the business,” says
Matthew. “There are a lot more
interesting things we can try.”
Innovation seems to be a
natural by-product of these
curious growers. “We’ve been ahead of the
industry for years,” boasts Charles Bauer. “We’re
Below: Matthew Bauer holds
INSPIRATION
a tray of snapdragon seedlings
16
february / march
2013
www.i95business.com
very hands on and are always tweaking things to
see the result. We developed an inventory control
program for the retail side that allowed us to
manage our ROI in real time through software
my brother wrote. We are also one of the only
growers in the world harvesting snapdragons
this way. Practically anywhere else you go, they
are using soil. We even have people from the
Netherlands calling us about our methods.”
Why all the fuss over snapdragons you
may wonder? Snapdragons are a very popular
spike flower in floral arrangements – especially
sympathy work – yet are not easy to ship. When
laid flat for shipping, the stems will respond with
negative geotropism, causing them to turn away
from gravity, resulting in stems that are curved
when delivered – an undesirable outcome. Bauer
grows his own supply and enough to provide
snapdragons to over 130 flower shops in and
around Maryland, Delaware and Washington,
D.C. “We produce about 500,000 stems a year,”
explains Bauer. “During the winter we supply
our main markets of Baltimore and Delaware
but reach out to include Washington, D.C., in
the summer when production is at its highest. In
the past we’ve even supplied snapdragons to the
White House.”
Once a seed germinates – at approximately
four to six weeks – it is planted in the
hydroponic troughs and then 100 percent grown
and controlled by the computer program that
operates the delivery systems. An elaborate
arrangement of pumps and pipes gathers
nutrients and water from large reservoirs and
delivers the intricately balanced mixture to the
roots of the plants at precise intervals. Sensors
placed throughout the greenhouse feed neverending data to the computer program that
makes adjustments to the nutrient mix based
on variations in temperature, hours of light,
humidity and transpiration rates. Any water that
is not used by the plants is gathered in gutters
and fed back to the reservoirs for measuring and
remixing to be used again. “The people from
the Chesapeake Bay Foundation love us,” smiles
Bauer. “There is no run-off or impact to the Bay.
Zero.”
Zero impact on the Bay is a substantial benefit
considering the effects of soil erosion, waste
water management and water conservation
on our environment. Traditional farming
requires an abundance of land and water
– two fixed resources – and the addition
of pesticides and physical controls to
mitigate animal, insect and weather factors.
Needing only 1/20 to 1/30 of the amount of
water as traditional soil-based gardening,
hydroponics conserves one of our most
precious resources, especially in arid
climates where the lack of water directly
relates to the incidence of hunger and
famine. “We use less water in a day than a
family of four,” states Bauer.
“We are trying to reduce labor costs
and the handling of materials like perlite,
so we are experimenting with another
hydroponic technique called NFT –
nutrient film technique. This method
would eliminate the substrate all together,
but may require us to use a nursery
environment to germinate plugs instead
of the bare-root system we currently use.
We can fit many more snaps in the same
space with our current system, but could
cut labor costs with NFT. However, the
NFT system is also less forgiving under
stress requiring more alarms and backups
to retain product quality. Sometimes you
have to look at other systems and methods
to prove that you are still using the right
one for your circumstances and desired
outcome.”
Innovation attracts other innovators.
For the last three years, Flowers by Bauers
has been participating in a $5 million
research project centered on saving water,
increasing efficiency and reducing the
environmental impacts of ornamental
plant production practices. Research and
development teams from the University of
Maryland, Cornell University, University
of Maryland-Center for Environmental
Science, Carnegie Mellon Robotics
Institute, University of Georgia, and
Colorado State University, along with
Decagon Devices and Antir Software, have
been collecting and analyzing data from the
greenhouse plants located in Jarrettsville
over the Internet and
during in-person
visits. Bauer tells us
that “the hydroponic
system is a very
fluid system. We can
make changes today
and the R&D teams
can see the effects
tomorrow. It’s fast
data and immediate
results. We get alerts
on our smartphones,
or we can go to the
computer portal and
look at any one of a
thousand readings
on what is happening
in real time. We can’t
change the weather,
but we can be
anticipatory of what
may happen and program the computer
to make the necessary adjustments to the
delivery of the nutrients.”
Staying out in front and trying new
things is what being innovative is all about.
“We are now working on a new project
where we are trying to grow lettuce in the
space above the snapdragons. So instead
of just producing in square footage, we are
utilizing cubic feet. We had local Amish
farmers design and make these hooks to
suspend the planting troughs above the
rows of snaps. We think we can produce
about 40,000 heads of lettuce in this space
that we can turn around and sell to our
flower customers. We’ll test for about a
year before we dedicate any more capital
investment to a full blown system.” By
2050, scientists are estimating that the
world’s population will increase to 9.3
billion people from the current estimate
of 6.9 billion. With the static and possible
loss of farmable land due to degradation,
hydroponics is no longer just innovative
and interesting but important as a means
to feed the additional 2.4 billion people
projected to inhabit the earth. I95
Above: Bauer can see thousands of data cells in
an instant and make any necessary changes to
maintain optimum growing conditions.
Below: Popular as a “stick” flower, snapdragons
are the crop of choice for Flowers by Bauers’
wholesale growing operation.
Dr. Jongyum Kim, Ph.D., a research associate with the Department
of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture at the University of
Maryland College Park, has conducted moisture studies at the Flowers
by Bauers greenhouse, estimating water use of snapdragons within
a hydroponic system. He presented his findings at the conference for
Southern Nursery Association in Mobile, Ala., last year.
www.i95business.com
february / march
2013 17
INSPIRATION
I-TECH
DEPARTMENTS
FEATURE
Mapping Out A
Successful Strategy
SPECIAL FOCUS
IN DEFENSE
WOMEN IN DEFENSE
WOMEN
IN BUSINESS
The Map
Factory
B y M a ry Pa r a m o r e
A textbook about ancient Rome would be
less effective if there were no map to show
the Empire’s annexation of provinces over
time.
A museum exhibit about Arctic weather
patterns would be perplexing without a map
illustrating airflow.
A magazine article about a remote island
with unusual flora and fauna would be
lacking without a map to show where it is
situated and the geographical features that
shaped their evolution.
Enter The Map Factory, a Bel Air
business with global reach. In a digital age
when pixilated Internet maps are setting a
new (low) consumer standard, Tracy and
Justin Morrill produce finely detailed maps
and illustrations that adhere to the timeless
traditions of cartography.
“We are doing traditional cartography.
These are not Google maps. There is a
human element of a map that people
like to look at,” says Justin. He and Tracy
hold geography degrees and cartography
certificates from the University of Maryland,
Baltimore County (UMBC).
“We love mapping. People don’t
appreciate the artistry that goes into a map.
It’s a perfect mix of art and science,” adds
Tracy. “Yes, we use a computer to produce
our maps, but we design them
by hand, decide what towns to
include, what typefaces, where to
add shading.”
The couple met in the UMBC
cartography lab where Justin, a
Columbia native, was working
part-time while he pursued his
degree. He, like Tracy, stumbled
Tracy and Justin Morrill with family
onto a career path that would
become their passion.
the artistic element, but I thought I’d have a
“I was a liberal arts major
hard time making a living at it.”
working at an ice rink when I noticed
Following her family, this time to
another guard filling out her course
Maryland,
she enrolled at UMBC and took a
requests. She was taking advanced
geography
course to fulfill core requirements
cartography. I had always loved maps. We
for any bachelor’s degree.
always drove on our family vacations, and
“I talked with someone in the
I was always the navigator. Maps have been
cartography
department and I was like,
around almost since the dawn of time,”
‘Wow.
I
can
use
what I learned about
Justin says. “It became my effective major,
photography
and
fonts, but with a set of
although I was taking the courses for a
rules.’
It
felt
safer,
and
I saw that I could
geography degree.”
make
a
living
at
it,”
Tracy
says.
Tracy, a York, Pa., native, was
The
Map
Factory
counts
among its
reconsidering the photography and
clients
–
past
and
present
–
publishers
HRW,
applied arts major she started at California
WW
Norton
and
the
National
Geographic
Polytechnic State University, San Luis
Society. Corporate clients include
Obispo campus, while her father was
PetroChem Wire, Collette Vacations and
temporarily transferred to California. She
Blount Small Ship Adventures. They have
says, “There were guys taking pictures of
produced maps for the Chesapeake Country
cracks in sidewalks and getting A’s. I enjoyed
art meets science
18
february / march
2013
www.i95business.com
(L-R): McGraw-Hill book map; Chesapeake Country National Scenic Byway Brochure; “Living
with Earth: An Introduction to Environmental Geology” book excerpt ; PetroChem Wire map.
INSPIRATION
I-TECH
DEPARTMENTS
National Scenic Byway, the National Park
FEATURE
Service,
the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail and the
Maryland State Highway Administration.
SPECIAL FOCUS
The Map Factory’s illustrations and
mapsIN
haveDEFENSE
appeared in National Geographic
books and Saveur magazine, educational
WOMEN
IN DEFENSE
textbooks
and in a museum
exhibit designed
by Washington, D.C.-based FasterKitty, LLC,
WOMEN
INNational
BUSINESS
for the
Smithsonian’s
Museum of
Natural History (NMNH).
“I’ve collaborated on a variety of projects
with Tracy and Justin. Our first was the
Arctic and Atmosphere exhibits at NMNH.
We collaborated on a children’s book about
soil for the Soil Science Society of America,”
says Katherine Lenard, owner of FasterKitty,
LLC. “They have produced cartography,
diagrammatic art, illustrations, 3D art …
almost anything I can think up, they can
produce.”
When asked why she has come to rely
on The Map Factory, Lenard says, “They’re
really good, very accommodating and have a
wicked sense of humor. I also appreciate that
they are local.”
The Map Factory is a small, womanowned, MDOT-certified enterprise. Justin
is an employee, which gives the couple
flexibility during lean times, in case he needs
to work outside the business to support the
family.
“We do have lean times. The economy
has hit us hard,” says Tracy. “People aren’t
buying as many coffee table books. School
districts aren’t buying new textbooks. It’s
cyclical.”
In November of this year, the mapmaking duo will be married 20 years and
have a combined 40 years of experience in
cartography. Because they operate from their
home, they are able to be full-time parents
to two school-age sons, Ian, 9, and Jack, 6.
“We’ve seen every single developmental
milestone of our children’s lives. Our oldest
son was born with two heart defects and had
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two surgeries before he was six months old.
I didn’t have to ask to take off,” Justin notes.
“Of course, the downside is that when we
are not working, we don’t have the revenue
to cover the time off.”
Tracy and Justin transitioned their
UMBC cartography lab jobs into full-time
employment with Maryland Cartographics,
at the time an ardent supporter of UMBC’s
cartography program. Their employer was
purchased by GeoSystems, which in turn
became MapQuest.
“This was at the end of the Internet IPO
craze and we all had visions of being instant
millionaires, but the bubble was busting,”
Justin says of the 25 or so staff members
affected by the purchase. “After a year, AOL
bought MapQuest and, although we were
profitable, decided to close the office due to
their internal metrics formula. About half of
the staff was offered jobs. Tracy and I were
two of them.”
In September 2000, after eight years
of working for other people, the couple
launched The Map Factory. “We could
see the writing on the wall,” Tracy says.
“We would never be out from under the
control of people who knew nothing about
mapping.”
At that time, the couple had no children.
“We made good money the first several
years. We started our company and doubled
our salaries because AOL expected the staff
to do the same work with half the people,”
Justin says. “We began to grow.”
Although the Morrills’ bubble is far
from bursting, changing technology and
the economic recession have the couple
rethinking their business.
The Map Factory is at a crossroad.
“We get out or we push our services, and
we’ve rarely had to do that, or we devise
new products that utilize today’s technology
but generate something that harkens to the
traditional map form,” Justin says. “We have
a new product we are developing that we
will offer as a retail product. We expect to
launch this year.”
“We love our life and are looking forward
to what the future holds,” Tracy says,
noting the long-term plan is to move The
Map Factory from the couple’s home to
accommodate their growing boys. “We’d
like to have employees who generate income
for us.” I95
The Map Factory
1300 Moonshadow Road
Bel Air, 410-420-8032
www.themapfactory.com
www.i95business.com
february / march
2013 19
INFO TECH
INSIDE
INTERSECTION
INSPIRATION
I-TECH
DEPARTMENTS
FEATURE
SPECIAL FOCUS
Translating
IN DEFENSE
into
Success
WOMEN IN DEFENSE
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Reliable Language
Services
B y M a ry Pa r a m o r e
Rosa Long, owner of
Reliable Language Services
RLS clients include:
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Chesapeake Urology Associates, PA
Mercy Hospital
Drayer Physical Therapy
Harford Lower Extremity Specialist
MedStar Health
Walls Reporting
Susquehanna OB/GYN
20
february / march
2013
www.i95business.com
Imagine you’re on vacation in Central
America, there to explore lush rain forests
and pre-Columbian ruins. You take a
tumble down a hillside and later, take a taxi
to the hospital. Or, maybe your teenager
asks to walk to a nearby store. Two hours
later you cannot find him at the hotel, the
store, nor anywhere along the canopied
road between.
Now, imagine yourself at the hospital
or police station, unable to communicate
beyond gestures and the simple guidebook
Spanish you practiced on the plane. You’d
feel helpless, perhaps hopeless.
Not so, for visitors to the United
States. By law, persons with Limited
English Proficiency have the right to a
translator when seeking services provided
by the federal government or provided
by organizations receiving federal funds.
Citizens as well as visitors rely on these
laws to ensure their voices are heard – and
that they comprehend what is being said to
them – in medical offices, police stations,
courts, immigration offices and schools.
When it comes to language, the great
melting pot is more of a stew. Businesses
eager to extend their reach into the cultural
microcosms that comprise the nation often
provide interpreters for their customers and
clients.
Finding a certified translator or
interpreter isn’t as hard as one might
think. Reliable Language Services, situated
in a converted house at the corner of
Maitland Street and Fulford Avenue in Bel
Air, provides onsite and telephone-based
interpretation and translation services
in more than 90 languages. A boutique,
woman-owned business, RLS serves scores
of contract-based clients throughout
Maryland, providing help and hope 24
hours a day, seven days a week.
Peruvian-board Rosa Long opened
Reliable Language Services in 2009, after
serving as a certified freelance interpreter
for more than 10 years. As her business
grows, so does her network of interpreters
and translators.
“Once the website was up, translators
and interpreters contacted us,” Long
says. “They send me a CV of their work,
I confirm their certifications and review
their work, then send them an agreement.
For some languages, I have constant work.
For others, it is rare. I continuously secure
interpreters to offer more languages and
provide immediate service when it is
needed.”
Long’s business acumen has grown
along with her business. To ensure Reliable
Language Services is competitive, she offers
a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee and
charges the same rate for all languages,
Spanish to Swahili, Thai to Twi. Reliable
Language Services also offers American
Sign Language Interpretation.
Long’s American journey is one that
inspires as well.
She met her husband, John, during a
visit to the United States. First came love,
then came marriage, then came two sons
and citizenship. It was John Long’s job
with Sun Products that brought the family
to Maryland. The young mother secured
a part-time job with the Harford County
Health Department.
“She came in initially as clerical, but it
was because she was bilingual that I hired
her,” says Carol Knight, the now-retired
HCHD nurse program supervisor for the
Administrative Care Coordination Unit.
“The Latino population was moving into
Harford County rapidly and she was a
motivated part-time employee, willing to
go the extra mile. She really cared about the
clients and even took calls after-hours.”
Before long, Knight became Long’s
mentor. She sent Long for interpreter
training and ensured she sat for
credentialing exams.
“I told her, ‘You are very good at this.’ I
saw an article about people starting their
own businesses and I brought it in and said,
‘Rosa, this is your future,’” says Knight.
Long used her certified interpreter
skills in clinics throughout the HCHD. She
secured contracts to provide interpretation
services for others as an independent
contractor. She left the health department
and cobbled together full-time employment
by offering freelance services through
companies just like the one she now
operates.
“I found my passion,” Long says, noting
she personally does not provide translation
services, nor does she speak languages other
than English and Spanish. Opening her
business, though, enables her to “bridge the
gap and provide documents for legal and
immigration purposes. When a patient is in
pain and suffering, we ensure there is good
communication.” I95
Reliable Language Services
221 Maitland Street, Suite B4
Bel Air, MD
410-838-6689
www.rlanguageserv.com
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www.i95business.com
february / march
2013 21
INTEGRITY
IDEAS
IMAGINATION
INFO TECH
Mentoring Tomorrow’s Leaders
INSIDE
B y M a ry Pa r a m o r e
INTERSECTION
INSPIRATION
I-TECH
DEPARTMENTS
FEATURE
SPECIAL FOCUS
IN DEFENSE
WOMEN IN DEFENSE
David Brown
WOMEN
IN BUSINESS
Jennifer Carroll
Tim Palmer
Sarah Voskuhl
22
february / march
2013
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines
a mentor as a trusted counselor or guide.
After speaking with our expert panel about
mentoring programs in Harford and Cecil
counties, I95 BUSINESS discovered this
definition falls woefully short of describing
the impact of pairing subject matter experts
with students eager to follow in their
footsteps.
This month, four experts weigh in on
how to support mentoring in your business
and why time invested in mentoring
youth is a wise investment: Mentors David
Brown, Ph.D., Consulting Engineer, MITRE
Corporation and Institute for Defense
Analyses and retired Army Senior Executive
Service; and Tim Palmer, Group Leader
Specializing in Geographic Information
Systems Chesapeake Environmental
Management, Inc.; as well as Mentoring
Program Coordinators Sarah Voskuhl,
Program Specialist, Science and Math
Academy, Aberdeen High School; and Jennifer
Carroll, Outreach Specialist, Community
and Educational Outreach Program, U.S.
Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center,
RDECOM.
Scientists Shape the Experience
Engineer and retired senior executive Army
civilian David Brown sounds almost giddy
when he describes projects undertaken by
Aberdeen High School Science and Math
Academy students he has mentored.
One student, “phenomenally artistic,
musically inclined,” merged arts and
engineering when he programmed a
computer with the harmonies and personality
traits of Johann Sebastian Bach. Under
Brown’s tutelage, the student programmed
the computer to compose music that sounded
like Bach.
Another one of Brown’s students explored
alternative energy. The student understood
the science behind why phonograph records
produce sound when the needle moves within
the grooves: when crystals are distorted they
create an electrical current. The student
wondered if electric current could be
produced if this crystalline material were
produced as flags and placed on the rooftops
of houses.
“No sun, no ugly turbines, no bird kills, no
www.i95business.com
irritating the neighbors,” Brown says. “To my
knowledge, this had never been thought of
before. It worked.”
A third student drew upon his knowledge
of new 3D printing techniques and of
capacitors used in all electronic devices.
“Capacitors are not easy to make and most
methods are hard to control. A capacitor is
of metal, a nonmetal and a metal,” Brown
explains. “The student thought, ‘Why not
3D print a capacitor?’ He did. This also is
research that has never been done before, and
the exciting thing is, it is being done by high
school seniors.”
Tim Palmer’s mentoring experience is
different, but equally exciting. The students
he mentors support and expand research
that is part of Palmer’s work as a group
leader specializing in geographic information
systems at Chesapeake Environmental
Management.
Whereas Brown views his role as a
manager of expectations and arbiter of
sound scientific method, Palmer harnesses
the energy, creativity and inquisitiveness of
students to enhance and expand projects he
works on for real-world clients who come to
CEM for GIS services.
Last summer, Palmer supervised
students enrolled in Joppatowne High
School’s Homeland Security and Emergency
Preparedness Program to use GPS to map
public utilities for the city of Havre de Grace.
This school year, a Science and Math Academy
(SMA) student is adding a GIS layer for storm
water management.
“The CEO of CEM, Stephanie Hau, fully
supports all our endeavors with mentoring
and community outreach. I am thrilled to
volunteer my time as well as CEM resources
to support this effort,” Palmer says. About the
commitment, “One week, it may be six hours,
one week, it may be nine. My student comes
to CEM to work mostly.”
Palmer described the student’s work as
crucially important. He says, “The task is
to achieve high accuracy ... water inlets for
storm water runoff, drainage areas, looking
at properties to determine where to put
filtration systems to clean water before it gets
to the Bay.”
About the experience, he adds, “The kids
in the SMA are phenomenal. It’s inspiring to
see the level of determination. Anything I
can do to foster that determination, I am
willing to do.”
Programs Vary Among Businesses
Just as mentoring experiences differ,
school needs and how businesses set up
infrastructure to support a mentoring
program vary widely.
Take the Army’s Research Development
Engineering Command’s Edgewood
Chemical Biological Center. Jennifer
Carroll, an outreach specialist in ECBC’s
Community and Educational Outreach
Program, describes a formal program
backed by Partnership in Education
agreements negotiated with the schools.
“The agreements allow us to focus on
Cecil and Harford counties and provide a
mechanism to exchange materials,” Carroll
says.
ECBC has at least 20 active mentors as
of press time. In Harford County, eight
scientist-mentors work with Edgewood
Middle School’s A.M. Academic Club, six
with Science and Math Academy students,
two with Bel Air High School’s Biomedical
Sciences Program, one with Joppatowne
High School’s Homeland Security and
Emergency Preparedness Program, and one
with the Army’s Youth Services program. In
Cecil County, one engineer-mentor works
with students at Bohemia Manor High
School, with more gearing up to mentor
Cecil County students as the second half of
the school year commences.
Additionally, ECBC sponsors an
Adopt-a-SME (subject matter expert)
initiative to link teachers with scientists to
ensure students have access to real-world
applications of the STEM principles they
learn in the classroom.
While certain CEM employees are
expected to mentor and such relationships
are nurtured onsite and during the
workday, ECBC asks interested SMEs to
check their work requirements through
their supervisors before they can
participate. Although some situations
permit students to work onsite, most ECBC
mentorships involve scientists meeting
students at their schools.
Mentors Crucial at SMA
Sarah Voskuhl is the program specialist who
makes mentorships happen for students
at the Science and Math Academy. She is
in her third year of recruiting the 50 or so
mentors needed each year to work with
senior students who are required to devise,
research, complete and report on what
many experts call graduate-level capstone
projects to graduate.
“It is a struggle every time we do it. We
have a core group who come back year
after year, but there are work movements,
post transfers, people move,” Voskuhl says.
“Sometimes their boss changes and that
person says no to the time commitment.”
Making a good match is critical to the
success of any mentor-student relationship.
“It’s project dependent. Some students go to
a mentor’s worksite, others email back and
forth, with the mentor coming to the school
once a week. With engineering projects, a
mentor can tell a student what to do. They
don’t need to watch them. With chemistry,
the mentor needs to be there in the lab.”
Pardon the pun, but Voskuhl has making
these matches down to a science. Each
spring, she hosts a Mentor Night, which
she describes as speed dating for mentors.
Potential mentors set up booths, and
students rotate to chat about themselves,
their research interests and what they think
they need in terms of support. At the end,
students and mentors fill out interest forms
describing whom they think they might like
to work with. Voskuhl makes matches from
there.
This year’s Mentor Night is scheduled
for March 21, 6:30-8:30pm at AHS. RSVPs
are expected by Feb. 25. Interested scientists
can email her at sarah.voskuhl@hcps.org.
To establish a company-mentoring
program, Carroll and Voskuhl offer this
advice:
• Identify within your organization SMEs
whose expertise should be shared and who
have a passion to excite others
• Involve leadership to ensure mentoring
program goals are in sync with
organizational objectives
• Review legal, security and safety concerns
before students are invited onsite
• Be willing to give time to the student
during the workday
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www.i95business.com
february / march
2013 23
IN5CH
B y S t a c e y A . R e bb e r t
C
harfor
oordinating the schedules of five active directors from the Harford County
government and scheduling them into one room without a declaration
from the County Executive is not an easy feat. But, with the help of Carole
Boniface in the Office of Community Services, I95 BUSINESS was able
to do just that. With little more than some direction regarding wardrobe
choice and assurances of amenability to put them at ease, I95 BUSINESS
was offered a unique glimpse into what brought these professionals to the
top of their game with County government.
24
february / march
2013
www.i95business.com
HARGE
rd county leaders
Power Players
(Left to right):
Arden C. McClune
Director of Parks and Recreation
Kathryn L. Hewitt, CPA
County Treasurer
Mary F. Chance
Director of Administration
Deborah L. Henderson
Director of Procurement
Elizabeth S. Hendrix
Director of Community Services
J. TH O M AS P H O TO GR AP H Y
I95: So when I told a male colleague of mine that I was interviewing
five of the top level positions in Harford County Government –
including the County executive’s 2nd in command – and that they
were all women, his reaction was this: “That tells me they are low
paying positions.”
[After a sigh and some muffled chuckles ...]
Debbie Henderson: Interesting. The director of procurement has
been filled by both men and women, so ...
Kathryn Hewitt: Typically in state and local governments, the
treasury position, which is my position, or the controller, whatever
the name is in each jurisdiction, is one of the highest paid positions
in the County. To me, since I’ve been in government, it doesn’t signify
low pay to me at all. And, I can assure you that over the years, I’ve
pretty much had equal pay to men in similar positions.
Mary Chance: I can’t speak about government across the board but
at one time we were fortunate enough to have a woman as County
Executive and since then it’s never been a question of man or woman
but who the County Executive wanted in his or her cabinet. And,
because of that, we’ve never felt like it had to be a man or a woman
specifically, but who does the County Executive want in those
positions of leadership.
I95: Do you think women are attracted to public service? To jobs with
the perception of more security?
Arden McClune: Well that’s some of the difference between private
and public sector. You can make more money in certain fields in the
private sector, but there’s a lot more risk and more expectation of
www.i95business.com
february / march
2013 25
Mary F. Chance
Director of Administration
As the Director of Administration since
January 2011, Chance provides overall
management and support services to
all County Departments and Agencies.
Within the department are six divisions,
including the Director’s Office, Budget
and Management Research, Risk
Management, Facilities and Operations,
Central Services, and Information
Systems. Each Division’s supervisor
reports to Chance, who also serves as
the County’s chief budget officer. After
working as an office manager for five
years for a busy dental office in Forest
Hill, Chance began her career with
Harford County in 1987 as a Volunteer
Coordinator in the Office of Aging. She
went on t0 become the Community Resource Coordinator and Director of Community
Services before being appointed to her current position. She has served on the Harford
Leadership Academy Board of Directors and for the Court Appointed Special Advocates for
Children Board. Chance was presented the Joseph Bond-Martin Luther King Humanitarian
Award in 2004 and the SARC Good Neighbor Award in 1999. She attended Harford
Community College studying Human Services Administration.
work beyond reasonable hours. There is some feeling that if
we’re going to put the work in, we want the benefit. Now as
directors, we all serve at the pleasure of the County Executive.
So, we are taking a certain amount of risk with that.
Chance: That’s correct, we currently serve at the pleasure of
the County Executive. In two years, there will be a new County
Executive and, the people sitting here at this table ... are maybe
sitting here thinking, “Will I be retiring? Leaving, not of my
own choice but at the pleasure of the County Executive.” For
us, it’s a little bit different than the rank and file employees.
I think there are a lot of benefits to being a government
employee – especially for women, and I appreciate that.
Elizabeth Hendrix: I came from the private sector to County
government and it helped having that work/life balance. Not
to say that all private sector companies don’t offer that, but
there’s definitely ... you are allowed to go home at night, or
make the special school play when it’s important. And, that’s
really important particularly when you have a family.
Henderson: And that’s exactly why I came here as well initially.
Chance: I think each of us with families and children came to
work at the government as a rank and file employee and could
go home, but now, that’s different than where we are sitting
today, because we don’t go home and the balance is different.
But initially, and I came from a place where you had to be
dead or dying to take a sick day if you had any sick days, for
someone who wants to have the security of the government
position and wants to try and balance the family life with a
work life, this is a good mix. Now, of course, we are in the
position now that we don’t have that security that we had at
one time ...
I95: Because of your director level?
Chance: Yes, because we’re at the director level, and we truly
26
february / march
2013
www.i95business.com
... these women sitting at this table are not working from 8 till
5. We are working long hours, weekends, evenings, trying to
get the job done. And I have a wonderful team of people who
really get it ... that’s it isn’t an 8 to 5 job. The salary is better
than when we were classified employees for sure, and that’s a
nice benefit.
Henderson: But there’s a lot more responsibility and the
buck stops with us.
Hendrix: The buck does stop with us, and we have a lot
more bosses than just the County exec and the director of
administration. You have the public. And you’re responding on
a regular basis to what’s going on.
Henderson: And the County Council.
Chance: And I do think it’s important to recognize that
citizens are paying our salary, that they expect service from us
and that’s what we’re supposed to do.
I95: In your time working for the government, in your observation what has been one of the biggest changes you’ve see?
McClune: Technology. When I came, we had one computer,
one personal computer in the County, and it was located at the
secretary to the director of administration’s office, and if you
wanted to do work with a computer program, you had to call
and talk to that lady and get time to work on that computer.
Now everybody has a computer at his or her desk. And the
ease of communicating with and to the public through the
Internet, the County’s website, the number of comments and
requests we get, we have the ability to use that and go out
and solicit input. That is probably the biggest change, the
move to technology and how connected everyone is. And the
connection of those lovely Blackberries, which means you are
on call seven days a week.
Hewitt: Well I’ve only been here in Harford County for
two years, but I’ve been in government for 26-27 years, and
I have to second what Arden said, technology is the biggest
thing that has changed. But I think here in Harford County
the difference that I’ve seen in just the two years is trying
to improve that technology to get input from the citizens
themselves. Our SPIGOT program gets ideas and information
from the public over our website. Treasury webmail where
citizens can write us questions directly with regard to their
taxes and the program where you can text a picture of a
pothole and send it in. It’s the technology to not only help
us communicate with each other but to better service the
citizens.
Chance: The need for us to communicate to the citizens and
the citizens to know they can communicate directly with us,
that’s really important and we do a pretty good job with that.
One of the things that I will talk about it is our CTY Program
that allows us to reach out to our citizens very quickly to tell
them about a storm that is coming, emergency preparedness.
We are way ahead of many counties throughout the nation in
the way we communicate to our citizens to prepare or even
in the middle of a storm about what’s happening or that they
may experience a loss of power. I think the other thing in the
25 years that I’ve been here to see is how we’ve been able to
react to the economic climate. There used to be a time when
2012 female population in Harford County estimated at 124,133 or 50.4%
Source: ESRI, www.harfordbusiness.org/index.cfm?ID=147( accessed 1/30/13)
we had money. We had projects and we did them. Today, how
do we make sure we are serving citizens with less money and
less staff – that’s a big change. But we’re doing it, and I think
we are doing it well.
Henderson: I’ve been here about 28 ½ years. I don’t interact
with the citizens as much as the other departments. I do
more internally and with contractors because we do the bids,
and when I came here, every department was in this building
or 45 S. Main up the street. Today, we are spread out up and
down Main Street and we lease a lot of the space. We really
expanded, because we had to. We have a lot more services;
citizens are looking for more from us. Especially in tough
times, they look to the government for assistance.
Hendrix: I’ll be here 15 years in June, and one of the surprises
for me, with all the growth of Harford County, is how much
we haven’t changed in that, at the end of the day, not only
internally in County government but also as a community,
that we pull together when there’s an issue to work on.
Whether we agree or disagree, everyone puts down his or her
fiefdoms or walls to come together to solve it. Whether its
something like homelessness, or something where someone
says we don’t have enough resources so let’s pull together, or
maybe something more controversial ... it’s amazing to me
that this community comes together repeatedly – that’s very
unusual compared to other counties. For example, with the
economy so tight, human services are often the first to go
on the chopping block. But instead of everyone saying just
give us more because we deserve it, everyone came together
and said, ‘OK, there’s less money – how can we work to still
provide the necessary services with less money and revenue?
How do we make it work so our most vulnerable citizens are
still OK?’ It’s looking at our senior services and saying these
folks still need services, how can we find solutions?
Chance: And it’s not just the non-profits, but also the civic
organizations, the churches, all those groups are working
together on human services in particular. These groups are
coming together to solve a problem that government can’t
do alone nor can the non-profit community just take it over.
This community has the ownership and is giving and will
solve these problems. We are very blessed.
Henderson: And we can understand our female staff and
what they’re having to juggle every day with their families.
I think we can sympathize and empathize with the trials
and tribulations they have to deal with on a daily basis. Kids
home sick, day care closed. Whatever.
McClune: And in today’s world that just isn’t our female
staff. This younger generation is more equitable in that
sense. Those in their twenties or thirties grew up seeing both
parents always work so those young women aren’t giving the
guy the pass like we did. We were still conflicted enough to
not know if we were supposed to work or stay home, we felt
guilty. [Everyone nods in agreement].
Deborah L. Henderson
Director of Procurement
As the Director of Procurement, Debbie Henderson oversees three operating
divisions: Procurement Operations, Fleet Management and Property Management.
The Procurement Operations Division purchases supplies and contractual services
(including capital projects and consultant services) needed by all agencies of the
county – or by other public or quasi-public agencies that elect to use its services.
Fleet Management provides oversight and administers contract fleet management
and maintenance of the County’s inventory of over 900 automobiles, light trucks,
heavy equipment and lawn care items. Property Management is responsible for the
acquisition, sale or lease of real property for Harford County, ranging from commercial
office buildings to park land and sites for bridges, utility lines and roads. Functions
include title examination, contract and deed preparation, appraisal, negotiation and
property settlement. Henderson has worked in the Department of Procurement for
26 years – 20 years as a Purchasing Agent and the last six years as its Director.
I95: What unique qualities do women bring to a position
government?
Hendrix: We juggle better. I think we handle multiple
priorities better. I think we have to. It’s just the nature of
being a woman.
Chance: I agree with that. I would always say that a woman
wakes up in the morning and before her eyes are open,
she’s thinking about packing the lunches, picking up the
prescriptions, dropping off the dry cleaning, and getting the
kids to school in time. It’s just in their nature. I think men get
up, have their coffee and say, ‘See ya!’ [Group laughter]. I just
think if you’re trying to juggle it all, we do it well.
Hendrix: I’m not in my twenties or thirties, but I am in
the generation that had a working mom and I learned some
lessons from that, but I also think the men are a different
breed with this generation. They know they need to be equal
partners. When my child was younger, we had the whispered
conversations at 6 o’clock in the morning, ‘It’s your turn to
stay home, no it’s your turn.’ We both had careers and they
www.i95business.com
february / march
2013 27
were both important. It was
a juggle instead of ‘you’re the
girl you stay home.’
Hewitt: I think too that
women having middle level
and above positions in corporate America over the last
20 years, has significantly
changed the dynamics of
the workforce and has created companies that are much
more conducive to work/life
balance. So the men want that
work/life balance as much as
the women. We were interviewing for a high-level position last year and some of
the men readily admitted that
they were willing to come to
government because they felt
they could have a better work/
life balance in an organization they would look the
same at both men and women and what they expected from them.
Kathryn L. Hewitt, CPA
County Treasurer
The Department of Treasury
manages all financial aspects of
the County government through
the Office of the Treasurer,
the Bureau of Accounting
and the Bureau of Revenue
Collections. As Director since
January 2012, Hewitt directs
the management of the office
including accounting, accounts
payable, accounts receivable,
payroll, water and sewer billing
and collections, investments,
debt management, real and
personal property tax billing and
collection, and tax sale. She is
a former director of GFOA and
is President-elect of Maryland
GFOA. She is also on the
Advisory Board for the Maryland
Local Government Investment
Pool and the Certification Council
for the CPFO professional
designation. She was recently
appointed to the GFOA
Committee on Retirement and
Benefits Administration.
Hewitt holds a Bachelor of
Science from the University of
Maryland in Business Education
and a M.B.A. concentration in
Finance from Loyola University
Maryland. She is also a Certified
Public Accountant licensed
in Maryland, a Certified Cash
Manager and a Certified Public
Finance Officer. She also sits on
the Harford County Economic
Development Advisory Board,
the Spending Affordability
Advisory Committee, the Route
40 Business Association and
the Adequate Public Facilities
Advisory Board.
28
february / march
2013
I95: Do you think women can have it all?
Hendrix: Yes, but not all at once.
McClune: You have to decide what that balance
will be because in reality you can’t do everything. I
don’t know that young women today have the same
expectations. We thought you had to go to work
full time and still make the handmade Halloween
costumes. In general they balance out better. We
thought we had to keep house like our mothers did
when they stayed at home – that level of domestic
life. None of them have that expectation.
Henderson: You’re right. They’ve figured out that
the world doesn’t stop turning because you didn’t
clean the toilet.
Chance: We can each choose the life we want. Do
I want to be married? Do I want to have children?
Then what you choose becomes your priority. I
chose to get married and have children and never
saw myself working as I am today. Now I’m single
and, I don’t have children at home, and fortunately,
I don’t have someone waiting for me at home now
because some nights I don’t get home until 10:30, or
nagging me to eat if I work late at home.
Henderson: [Laughing] That’s why my husband
cooks.
McClune: We as a generation, we went to college,
but we had children and didn’t expect to be working
a long time. Not until my thirties, did I realize that
I would probably be working the rest of my life
depending on how much I wanted to provide. The
world had changed. Living on one income wasn’t
feasible. I survived early on with one income with
www.i95business.com
five children, and we were poor as church mice. I
didn’t want to spend the rest of my life being that
poor.
Hewitt: I chose a career that I expected to be able to
work in and I chose it for work/life balance. I started
as a schoolteacher. I chose it to have work hours the
same as the children. I expected to work and be able
to have children, but be home when they were. I
changed careers and decided not to have children,
but that’s how I began.
Hendrix: I think that’s interesting. I think a lot of
women have careers that don’t go straight up. They
curve and turn and go all over. I think they are
responding to what happens in their life – they take
steps back or they take steps forward depending on
what’s going on. But I also think that women are
more able to say to themselves that this isn’t a fit for
me. Men are sort put on their track – I’m supposed
to make partner, I’m supposed to be an executive,
and don’t allow themselves to say ‘I hate this job.’
Women allow ourselves to say I don’t like this, I
want to move, I want to change careers.
McClune: That’s true. We see that with our female
staff. They work, have babies, come back to work. But
when it comes time to apply for a promotion, they
aren’t always applying for that upper management
opportunity right now. I may be well qualified, but
this isn’t the right time. They make the decision.
I95: So your observation is that women have not
only been the victim of lower expectations but have
also benefited from them as well? It’s given women
the choice to be career-minded or not depending on
their individual preferences or circumstances.
Hendrix: Yes, and I think the younger generation
gets that, too.
Henderson: [Interrupting] They’ve gained that
from us.
Hewitt: They haven’t lost that understanding of
having choices even as we’ve evolved with our own
abilities. They still get it.
Henderson: When I was 18, I didn’t think ‘career.’
Chance: You didn’t think about being where you
are today?
Henderson: Absolutely not. I started out as a
receptionist. Luckily, I had a plant manager in
private industry who believed in women. I was
the first woman in management in this company
… back in the seventies. They just didn’t do that.
I worked with all men and the only women were
secretaries. That’s how I got started in purchasing. I
was going to be a secretary to the purchasing agent.
But because I had a forward-thinking plant manager
who saw my potential and gave me an opportunity,
I’m here today.
Hendrix: I think we are all very hard workers. I
think we all benefitted from great mentors in our
lives who said, ‘This one is smart.’
Chance: I never saw myself as a director of administration.
I never said, ‘Oh that’s the job I want. That’s my career path.’
So when David [Craig] asked me to take the position, I had
to go home and really think about it. So I think it’ different
for women. We have that ability to say, ‘Is this where I
belong?’ rather than, ‘Oh, I have to climb that ladder.’
I95: What would be the advice you would give to your
younger self ? Your 20-year-old self ? Or your newly graduated
self ? Your newlywed or new mom self ?
McClune: Expect that you are going to be in this for the
long haul. What skills do I need? What should I do? I never
dreamt I’d be in the workforce for 40 years.
Henderson: My advice would be: Go for it.
Hewitt: Relationships are incredibly important. I don’t
think you get that until you’re in the thick of it, but it’s
beyond the transactional relationships or project. You
never know where the next opportunity is going to happen
in your life.
Hewitt: I would recommend to my younger self to not
stop, to continue to grow. Education is for a lifetime and
changing skills are necessary in this fast world. What you
need at 18 or 24 is not the same you’ll need 20 years from
now because the world will be different. Also, take care of
yourself. I was engaged in my senior year of high school,
and was planning on skipping college to work and support
my husband’s career goals. But I had a female guidance
counselor who said the best way for me to help my future
husband was to stay in school and get an education so that
he didn’t have to worry about how I would provide for
myself if something ever happened to him.
Chance: The thing I would want my younger self to hear
over and over again is ‘Be at peace.’ Sometimes you have to
make a decision that‘s really, really hard, but be at peace
with it so that you can face the next one that comes along.
I think our daughter and granddaughters need to know
they should depend on themselves. A partner would be a
wonderful thing, but it’s not your security blanket.
I95: What unique women qualities do women bring to a
position in government?
Chance: I think we are better communicators. I think we
try hard to make sure we are talking to each other. It’s not
always easy, but I do think women are better communicators.
I think we are more compassionate, too. We get it about
pain and suffering better than most. I just feel that there’s
a kinder and gentler feel about where we are because of us.
Hendrix: And because of what Mary said, I think our
version of working out situations that are difficult isn’t ‘if I
win that means you lose.’ I think we’re able to try and make
it work out for everyone to the best possible degree.
Chance: It’s not a competition.
Hendrix: Right, it’s not as competitive.
Hewitt: Yeah, I don’t think we have the turf wars among us
that I’ve seen in my career.
Hendrix: It’s not just internally; it’s also the issues that are
raised in the newspaper, out in the community. It’s not an
‘Us Against Them’ thing. It’s more let’s talk about it and see
if we can come to a decision that we can all live with vs. ‘I
win you lost.’
McClune: Sometimes a man wants to get in there and
just solve the problem, but all that was really needed was
to listen.
Hendrix: People often just need to say how they feel about
the issue. And you have to let that happen. In a public forum
or whatever, you need to let them talk.
Chance: And in government that’s really important.
That the citizens have their input, that the non-profit
community, whoever is trying to work on the problem, that
they have the opportunity for input to solve the problem, I
think that’s what we do well.
Hewitt: We really work hard to get buy in to the issues
so that everybody is okay with the result. It may not be the
result that any one person wanted but everyone was heard
and we come out with a plan. I will say that when I started
in the workforce, it was often brought up that women didn’t
Elizabeth S. Hendrix
Director of Community Services
The Community Services Department of Harford County is comprised of five separate
but interrelated divisions – the Harford Transit, the Office on Aging, the Office of
Drug Control Policy, the Office of Human Relations, and the Community Development
Division. It also has oversight of five commissions and three boards: the Commission
for Women, the Commission on Disabilities, the Harford County Human Relations
Commission, the Harford County Youth Commission, the Harford County Community
Mediation Commission, the Advisory Board on Aging, the Local Management Board,
and FACE-IT. As the Director of Community Services, Hendrix serves as a liaison with
agencies within and outside of government to meet the needs of our seniors, youth,
persons with disabilities and those struggling with addiction.
Hendrix began her career with Harford County Government in 1998 as the
Community Development Coordinator advancing to Manager, Deputy Director and
now Director. Hendrix is active on various boards and associations and is intimately
involved in the community through organizations like the Harford County Public
Library Foundation, the YMCA Community Advisory Board, the Community Foundation
of Harford County-Women’s Giving Circle, and many others. Hendrix earned a Masters
of Arts in Business and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and is a
graduate from the Harford Leadership Academy.
www.i95business.com
february / march
2013 29
Arden C. McClune
Director of Parks
and Recreation
know how to work on a team because we didn’t
play as many sports like the men, so we didn’t
know how to work with others or in groups.
There wasn’t equality back then with sports,
so we were told that we didn’t understand that
each person was important and that the team
mattered. But younger girls today have much
more opportunity to participate in sports, so
hopefully that criticism has disappeared.
McClune: You’re right, girls didn’t have the exposure to sports that men did. One thing that I
think men did get from that was they learned to
make a mistake and just keep moving. You missed
the basket, but you just kept going. You make a
decision and keep moving forward. We as women
tend to agonize the decisions and revisit it.
I95: Describe the dynamics of your team. I
know you cover the breadth of the County
government, but ...
The Department of Parks and
Recreation operates and maintains
passive and active space intended to
provide a comprehensive program of
leisure opportunities and activities for
all segments of our population. Citizens
express their needs and interests to
their local Parks & Recreation Citizen
Advisory Boards and Recreation
Councils, and the Department works
with the Recreation Councils to ensure
that the expressed needs of the public
are adequately addressed. Partnerships
formed between the 20 local Recreation
Councils and joint use agreements
with the Board of Education enable the
Department to lessen the burden on taxgenerated revenues while maximizing
the return to taxpayers. Appointed
Director in February 2010, McClune has
served 28 years with Harford County,
13 in the Department of Parks and
Recreation. She graduated from the
University of Illinois with a Bachelor’s
degree in Planning and began working
as a planner in the Harford County
Department of Planning and Zoning,
becoming Director in 1995. In 1999,
she transferred to the Department of
Parks and Recreation as a planner/
project manager using her extensive
knowledge of Harford County and its
regulatory processes in the development
and implementation of capital projects.
She was promoted to Chief of Capital
Planning and Development for P&R
in 2002. McClune is a member of
the Maryland Recreation and Parks
Association and the American Institute
of Certified Planners. She is also a
board member of the Greater Bel Air
Community Foundation.
30
february / march
2013
Hendrix: We’re definitely a team. We interact
on a regular basis. Arden and I talk weekly if not
more, and we are always coming together on
specific issues.
Chance: Every other week we have a brown bag
lunch. It’s not a mandatory meeting, but more
of an informal gathering of cabinet members
when they are available to come and sit down to
communicate what’s going on in their respective
area of responsibility. Hearing the ideas as they
are developing is helpful. And I hope that it
builds a close camaraderie among the team of
directors. It started as once a month, but with so
much going on we now do it twice a month.
Henderson: We have a lot more challenges
today with less staff and less money, so to bounce
ideas off each other to try and get something
accomplished has really helped us find solutions.
It’s really a good mix of directors. They each have
a unique perspective. I look forward to discussing
situations with the different people.
Hewitt: Sometimes you see that something you
are working on in your department will have
an impact elsewhere that you never would have
thought of until you brought it up in the meeting.
Suddenly another department head says, ‘Well
wait a minute!’ Otherwise you work in silos and
you don’t see the impact, and we shouldn’t be
working in silos. We have our departments and
missions, but we are here to work and serve the
citizen and provide the best for our community.
McClune: The community is always ready to
hold us collectively responsible. They don’t want
to hear that you don’t know what’s going on.
They want you to know at least why something is
happening a certain way even if you don’t know
the details.
www.i95business.com
I95: How do you respond to assertions from
neighbors, friends, family, strangers and the
media that it’s the government’s fault? Being “the
government,” how do you respond?
McClune: Sometimes you get into it and
sometimes you let it roll. Certainly, 99 percent of
the people who work for Harford County work
as hard as they can and go above and beyond to
get out and help the citizens and find a solution.
We have a tremendous cadre of people who work
for the County who do work hard – as do the
people at the state and federal level. Government
workers didn’t get into government to get rich
– certainly there are some advantages, but most
people work above and beyond what they are
required to do.
Hewitt: My office gets a lot of calls about fees
and tax dollars. Sometimes you point out what
their tax dollars go toward, sometimes they don’t
care and don’t want to pay. But I listen to my staff
patiently explain and handle those situations all
day long.
Hewitt: What people don’t realize is that the
real place where they will see the most impact on
their daily lives is at the local government level
– their County, their city, their town. Their local
government has the biggest impact on their dayto-day lives – whether they have schools, if their
trash gets picked up, whether they have a park to
go to. Certainly, national makes laws and things
flow down, but your daily life is decided at the
local level.
I95: Has anyone around the table given any
thought to an elected office as the next step in
their career?
Henderson: I want to enjoy my grandchildren.
Hendrix: I want to be able to go to the grocery
store. Being an elected official is truly 24/7 – you
take the call in the middle of the night about
someone’s taxes. It’s a tough job to be a politician
or elected official. You have many bosses.
Henderson: Your family is on the line as well.
You don’t do that all by yourself, you’re including
your whole family on that journey. It’s difficult.
Hewitt: A friend of mine in County government
in another County commented that in order to
have a private dinner with her family, she had to
leave the County.
I95: Why do you think more women don’t run?
How can we change that?
Chance: What keeps people from running for
office is the relentless criticism from the public,
the media. The general population doesn’t
understand how hard it is to do the job. You are torn
apart and after a while it takes a toll on your heart.
Hewitt: I think women move into the political side
with an issue at the local level – solving a problem or
situation or focusing on a particular advocacy. They
then move on to a state or national level.
McClune: Joann Parrott got into politics because
of her involvement in a particular zoning issue that
affected her community in Fallston.
Hewitt: I think women can look at elected positions
that aren’t as polarizing such as clerks, my position in
many jurisdictions or school board positions.
Chance: Instilling in our young women the joy of
service, because I do think that our jobs are all about
service, that’s where it starts. Help them realize they
can and should want to make a difference in their
community.
McClune: I think women in business need to be more
involved and supportive of female candidates. Politics
is still largely about money. The people in charge are
still men putting money toward PACS. Men will still be
supporting men.
Hewitt: I have seen some women’s groups that are
supportive of female political candidates, but they
were issue driven. Litmus test type situations where the
support is contingent upon the issue being pushed.
I95: What do you say to the notion that Harford
County is still a ‘good ole boys’ club?
Hewitt: I attended a retirement dinner for a Harford
County employee while I was contemplating taking
the job here. At the event I only noticed the men, and
I thought it was a very male-dominated organization
and was worried that there would be no room for me
as a woman. I was so wrong! I was so incredibly wrong.
I’m so glad I took the opportunity to come here.
Chance: I think that is the perception among male
business owners, but seriously, it’s not that way at all
inside this building.
Hendrix: We’re all coming together to get the job done.
We’re discussing issues and business with everyone.
McClune: Look at the private sector with two of the
major construction companies in the County being
owned by women – Comer and Dixie.
Hendrix: We get developers every day of the week who
think they’re going to come up here and show us how’s
it’s done. But their projects don’t get done because we
don’t work that way.
Chance: And when you take a look at the ATHENA
Awards candidates and their bios, and if that doesn’t
impress you, I don’t know what does. I95
Harford
County
Government
employs
1,938 people
making it the
4th largest
employer in
the County
after APG,
Harford
WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP
In addition to top-level positions in Harford Co. government, women are providing catalytic
leadership all over the region as they head up economic development agencies and chambers
of commerce. Below, are some of the most influential women in the I95 Business corridor.
County
Public
Schools,
and Upper
Chesapeake
Health.
Denise Carnaggio
Trish Heidenreich
Mary Jo Jablonski
Jeanette Lucas
Laura Mayse
Deputy Director
Harford County Office of
Economic Development
410-638-4735
dbcarnaggio@
harfordcountymd.gov
Director Economic
Development
Town of Bel Air
410-838-0586
theidenreich@belairmd.org
Executive Director
Elkton Chamber & Alliance
410-398-5076
maryjo@elktonalliance.org
Director
Aberdeen Chamber of
Commerce
410-272-2580
jlucas@aberdeencc.org
Executive Director
Cecil County Chamber of
Commerce
410-392-3833
laura@cecilchamber.com
Vanessa Milio
Tari Moore
Meghan Simmons
Cathy Vincenti
Lisa Webb
CEO
Harford County Chamber of
Commerce
410-838-2020
ceo@harfordchamber.org
Cecil County Executive
410-996-5202
tmoore@ccgov.org
Economic Development
Manager
City of Havre de Grace
410-939-1800 x 1119
meghans@havredegracemd.com
Executive Director
Havre de Grace Chamber of
Commerce
410-939-3303
hdegchamber1@comcast.net
Director of Economic
Development
Cecil County
410-996-6292
lwebb@ccgov.org
www.i95business.com
Source: Harford County
Office of Economic
Development website
www.harfordbusiness.org
february / march
2013 31
SPECIAL FOCUS
IN DEFENSE
WOMEN IN DEFENSE
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Women Inspiring
Innovation through
Imagination:
ECBC Celebrates Women in STEM
The Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) is
working to shatter the notion that Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math (STEM) career fields are dominated
by men. With personnel and programs committed to
inspiring the females of today and tomorrow’s workforce to
pursue career paths in the STEM fields, ECBC continually
puts equality and employee development at the forefront.
Nichole Mortin, a civilian chemical engineer with the U.S. Army
Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, and her colleagues travel to
military installations across the United States to field, test, maintain
and repair chemical detectors for all services.
32
february / march
2013
www.i95business.com
“As a senior leader at ECBC, it energizes me
to see women succeed here at the Center,”
says ECBC Director of Program Integration
Suzanne Milchling. “ECBC’s goal is to attract
and retain talented STEM professionals, and
therefore we strive to help female workforce
members excel in their careers and to ensure
their jobs are meaningful.”
In 2011 and 2012, ECBC delivered
engaging and educational Women’s History
Month activities, with the purpose of
providing a forum where female peers and
leaders across generations and career levels
shared their occupational experiences within
the science and engineering fields. These
events earned the Center recognition from
the Federal Women’s Program (FWP) in
2011 and 2012. ECBC earned the Activity
Most Supportive of FWP Goals Award for
implementing programs and initiatives that
give women guidance on career development
and long-term training as well as the
opportunity to prepare for supervisor or
manager roles in high visibility projects.
For the third year, ECBC will host its
annual Women in Science and Engineering
(WISE) Leadership Event during March
National Women’s History Month. In past
events, influential females from across the
Center’s workforce levels were selected to
answer questions about their experiences,
challenges and career development in a panel
setting to an audience of more than 100
employees. This year, however, ECBC plans
to extend the discussion beyond their usual
single-day panel event. Instead, the Center
is hosting a series of guest speaker forums
throughout March, featuring women leaders
from across the Aberdeen Proving Ground
community. Additionally, ECBC plans to
launch a Center-wide program for women
that will provide various support and
networking forums year round.
For 2013, the national theme for March
National Women’s History Month is,
“Women Inspiring Innovation through
Imagination: Celebrating Women in Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.”
As the nation’s principle research and
development center for non-medical
chemical and biological defense, ECBC has
both the opportunity and responsibility
to provide its workforce of scientists and
engineers with meaningful activities to
commemorate Women’s History Month,
and honor the women of ECBC who have
palumbo insurance associates
inspired innovation through imagination.
The speaker series gives the workforce
a chance to have deeper conversations
about several specific topics, while offering
employees several dates to attend. Some
of the proposed topic ideas include
“Women in Defense,” a discussion on
growing a career in the defense industry;
“Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” a
discussion on the superhuman expectations
for females; “Sponsoring for Success,”
a discussion about the importance of
sponsorship in seeking leadership roles, as
well as other topic areas.
In addition to the speaker series, ECBC
plans to establish an ECBC WISE Online
Resource Center where employees can
continue the conversation on the Center’s
intranet. The site will serve as an online
community featuring personal blogs from
females within ECBC, links to relevant
articles, discussion boards and other
helpful resources.
Since 2008 the number of women
working at ECBC has increased roughly
1.3 percent. As of July 31, 2012, nearly 36
percent of the 1,224 civilian employees at
the Center are female. Of the 144 supervisor
and team leader positions, 30 are filled by
women. As these numbers within ECBC,
and in the greater STEM community,
continue to grow, it remains imperative for
ECBC to continue to provide support and
networking opportunities for both men and
women of the organization to appropriately
work within an increasingly diversified
workforce.
Article contributed by ECBC, the Army’s
principal research and development center for
chemical and biological defense technology,
engineering and field operations. ECBC has
achieved major technological advances for the
warfighter and for our national defense, with
a long and distinguished history of providing
the Armed Forces with quality systems and
outstanding customer service. ECBC is a
U.S. Army Research, Development and
Engineering Command laboratory located
at the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving
Ground. I95
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The Region’s ‘Go To’ Business Organization
Greater Baltimore
informed
Executives
in CentralCommittee
Marylandmembers
join onestay
organization
during
the
General
Assembly
session
with
a
weekly
email,
to build business relationships, connect to corporate,
The GBC State House Update. Join today!
civic, and political leaders, and to stay informed about
Executives in Central Maryland join one organization to build business
business
climate issues...the Greater Baltimore Committee.
relationships, connect to corporate, civic, and political leaders,
and to stay informed about business climate issues.
To join: Liz Pettengill
410-727-2820
TO JOIN THE
GBC: contact Liz Pettengill,
lisbethp@gbc.org
410-727-2820
or lisbethp@gbc.org
Edgewood Chemical
Biological Center
www.ecbc.army.mil
Visit www.gbc.org
www.i95business.com
february / march
2013 33
IN DEFENSE
WOMEN IN DEFENSE
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Mary Doak
Saying Goodbye After 40 Years
Supporting the Defense Community
Mary Doak, ECBC’s program manager
for community and educational outreach,
has worked for 40 years in the federal
government, the past seven years inspiring
future scientists and engineers across Cecil
and Harford County Public Schools. She
has led the Center’s Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math (STEM) educational
outreach efforts since 2007 and significantly
expanded the program since then. The
program grew from less than a dozen
educational outreach activities in its first
year to more than 300 STEM activities in
2012. The program reached nearly 9,000
students and more than 1,000 teachers in
Kindergarten through 12th grade last year.
However, at the end of March, Mary is
retiring from her job, one she loves dearly.
“I’m proud to count myself among the
many women who have served this great
country as U.S. Army civilians,” Doak says.
“The contributions of female workforce
members are critical to the success of our
organization, and ultimately to the defense
and security of our nation.”
In her current position, Doak established
two formal Partnership in Education
Agreements with Harford and Cecil County
Public Schools to help enhance their
STEM curricula. These agreements have
enabled scientists and engineers at ECBC
to address the needs of local school systems
by complementing traditional science
and math lessons with experiences that
convey the real-world application of STEM
concepts.
As a result of Doak’s dedication and
commitment to STEM education in the
local community, ECBC – nominated by
Harford County Public Schools – won the
Governor’s Service Award for Excellence in
the Community two years ago. In 2011, she
also established an Edgewood Area STEM
Working Group to join forces with seven
other agencies in the Chemical, Biological,
Radiological, Nuclear and high-yield
Explosives (CBRNE) defense community
and collaboratively increase awareness
and interest for STEM career pathways. In
the same year, she led an inaugural Team
CBRNE STEM Educational Outreach Day
with the Edgewood Area partners, where the
CBRNE defense community came together
to engage 400 local middle and high school
students in 35 different hands-on STEM
experiences. Due to the success of this event,
ECBC was selected to assist the U.S. Army
Research, Development and Engineering
Command with the execution of last year’s
APG STEM Expo in Edgewood. This
Mary Doak (center)
annually holds
an appreciation
ceremony where
ECBC employees
are recognized
for their efforts in
support of STEM
education.
34
february / march
2013
www.i95business.com
Mary Doak
Program Manager for Community
and Educational Outreach
Edgewood Chemical and Biological
Center, APG
www.ecbc.army.mil
event took place at three different locations
across Aberdeen Proving Ground, to
include the C4ISR campus, the Army
Research Laboratory and the Edgewood
Area. For Doak’s exceptional leadership
and contributions to the local community,
she was nominated for the 2013 Athena
Award as well as the Northeastern Maryland
Technology Council’s Visionary Award.
Looking to give back to the community
and to share their passion for STEM careers,
females across the Center have contributed
to the success of ECBC’s educational
outreach efforts. For the second consecutive
year, Doak held an appreciation ceremony
where ECBC employees were recognized for
their efforts in support of STEM education.
Female scientists and engineers like Jadey
Pareja have supported various educational
outreach initiatives, such as ongoing
mentorship programs, career explorations,
hands-on scientist-in-the-classroom
experiences, summer camps, guest lectures,
career fairs and professional development
trainings for teachers.
“Sharing my passion for STEM with
our younger generation has truly been
rewarding, as we rely on today’s students
to develop the cutting-edge solutions for
tomorrow’s challenges,” Pareja says. “And,
it has truly been a pleasure to support
Mary Doak in conducting initiatives that
inspire students to pursue STEM career
pathways.” I95
WOMEN IN DEFENSE
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Sheryl Davis Kohl
Beacon Staffing Alternatives
B y k e l s e y c a rp e r
Fallston native Sheryl Davis Kohl is the
co-founder and owner of Beacon Staffing
Alternatives, a privately held, woman-owned
strategic staffing company that is located
in Aberdeen. Beacon Staffing Alternatives
works with clients and employers to place
administrative, clerical, light industrial, and
technical temporary employees, permanent
full-time employees, and direct hire workers.
The firm, which was originally founded
and owned by Sheryl’s father, Wilson Davis,
began as a consulting practice for full-time
career placements in the late 1970s. By 1985,
the company had grown into a temporary
staffing business that operated under a
national franchise. It was at this time that
Sheryl joined the family business, serving
as the vice president for operations while
working to earn her master’s degree from the
University of Baltimore. Sheryl continued
to work for the franchise-operated Uniforce
Staffing Services for 14 years.
In 1999, Sheryl and her mother,
Patricia Davis, acquired a small business
administration loan and were able to buy
out their franchise agreement, forming
Beacon Staffing Alternatives shortly after
and returning the company to its original
family-run standing. The firm currently
provides temporary staffing, placement
services, employee evaluations, payroll
administration, and managed services to
clients and employers. Since the founding
of Beacon Staffing Alternatives, the business
has grown and with this expansion and
higher payroll, the firm is now able the serve
a much larger population of people in the
Baltimore Metro Area.
Sheryl’s previous work and education
experiences lend a unique flavor to her
background. She spent her summers as a
greens keeper for the Hunt Valley Golf Club
while she earned her undergraduate degree
in political science from Albright
College in Reading, Pa. Sheryl also worked
in a criminal court as a data entry clerk in
Towson while she was earning her master’s
in public administration from the University
of Baltimore. It was only after graduation
that that she turned to the family business
as a career, feeling that the opportunity
to work with her father was a natural
progression from college into the workforce.
Sheryl faces a number of challenges in
the workplace every day, particularly with
regard to the effects of the economy and
local legislation on her business. She also
works hard to remain competitive among
similar staffing companies, emphasizing
the care and commitment of the staffing
personnel. Despite these difficulties, she
finds her career to be very fulfilling. She
enjoys the successes of her employees and
her company, and she loves having the
opportunity to work with other womenowned small businesses, mentoring and
encouraging them to be successful and live
their dreams. Furthermore, the flexibility
and diversity of her career are very fulfilling
for Sheryl, who enjoys that each day in
the workplace is different from the next.
She is particularly proud that her business
helps create a bridge between temporary
Sheryl Davis Kohl
Owner, Beacon Staffing Alternatives
410-297-6600
www.beaconstaffing.com
a moving billboard for the business that is
often recognized and commented.
Sheryl has been married for 17 years,
and she feels that God blessed her with the
freedom to give back to her community in
the Harford County area. She believes that
in order to have a successful business it is
necessary to be involved in the community,
and as a result she currently serves on
the board of a number of organizations,
including the Boys & Girls Club of
Harford County, the Harford Community
Action Agency, and the Aberdeen Rotary
“In order to have a successful business it is
necessary to be involved in the community... ”
staffing and full-time employment, and she
is happy to report that about 70 percent of
her clients go on to full-time positions in the
companies where they are placed.
Buzzwords like reliability, dependability,
quality and integrity often float around
the Beacon Staffing Alternatives office,
and it is clear that this is a direct result
of the influence Sheryl has had on her
company. The family- and service-oriented
atmosphere ensures that these words are
kept in mind every day. There is also room
for fun within Beacon Staffing Alternatives.
Sheryl’s car, a 2011 GMC Arcadia, is
wrapped in yellow and blue colors and
decorated with the company logo, serving as
J. T H O M A S PH O T O G RA PH Y
Club. She also works with the Harford
County Chamber of Commerce and the
Susquehanna Workforce Network. Each of
these organizations holds a special place in
Sheryl’s life, and she dedicates a great deal of
time to service in her community.
Sheryl is a dedicated, hard-working,
and family-oriented woman who is
passionate about her community and
her firm. Her recognition of those that
support her business is admirable, and it
is through her involvement in giving back
to her community that Beacon Staffing
Alternatives is set apart from similar
companies. I95
www.i95business.com
february / march
2013 35
WOMEN IN DEFENSE
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Renée A. McNally
HR Solutions
B y k e l s e y c a rp e r
Renée A. McNally is the founder and
President of HR Solutions, a successful
human resources consulting firm that is
located in Bel Air. The firm works with small
businesses across Maryland and Delaware in
order to assist them with in-house human
resources issues. This includes recruitment
and hiring, benefits administration, training,
performance issues, terminations, policies,
and other matters. HR Solutions also helps
businesses with strategic planning and
coaching, and HR
Solutions encourages
its clients to achieve
a balance of smart
business practices
and highly valued
employees. As President
of HR Solutions,
Renée is involved in a
variety of areas of the
company, including business development,
marketing, sales, and direct client work.
Renée worked in the human resources
field for over 20 years before founding her
own firm nine years ago. She started her
career as a trainer for T.G.I. Fridays before
moving on to the health care industry for
a number of years. She also has experience
working with corporations such as Comcast
and Amazon.com. Her passion for human
resources work is so strong that when she
decided to look for work outside of the
corporate world, she experienced an easy
transition.
HR Solutions was founded nine years
ago after the birth of Renée’s third child. She
originally intended to become involved in
some part-time human resources projects
so that she could spend more time with her
family, but after being steered toward the
Chesapeake Professional Women’s Network
and the Harford County Chamber, she
decided to start her own human resources
business.
While the King of Prussia, Pa., native
never planned on a career in human
resources, Renée finds that her B.A. in
Communication and Rhetoric and her
Master’s in Counseling have suited her
career path well. The communication and
counseling skills that she acquired through
her education have become an attribute to
her career, assisting her in working with a
variety of people, delivering messages, and
resolving issues in the workplace.
Renée is incredibly passionate about her
job and the people she encounters through
her profession. She
enjoys building
relationships with
new clients and
networking with
people as much as
possible. She also
enjoys the challenges
and continual
learning that occur
in the human resources industry. The
diversity of every issue and situation helps
challenge Renée to find the best resolutions
possible, and the new trends and focal
points of human resources continually teach
her new things about her profession. One
trend that she is particularly excited about
at this time is “Positive Psychology.” “It’s
an entirely different approach to managing
people and how they work,” Renée explains,
and she hopes to help bring this trend into
the organizations that she works with at HR
Solutions.
Renée finds her career very fulfilling as a
result of the challenges, continual learning
and new people she is able to meet, as well
as the flexibility and control of having her
own company. She also appreciates the
constant excitement of the human resources
industry. The situations she deals with can
be as simple as employee attendance issues
or as difficult as an employee who is stealing
from his or her company, but each situation
is unique and interesting. As Renée explains
it, “I have seen so many crazy situations that
nothing surprises me anymore.”
“Positive
Psychology. It’s an
entirely different
approach to
managing people... ”
36
february / march
2013
www.i95business.com
Renée A. McNally
President, HR Solutions
443-243-4031
www.hrsolutionsllc.com
One of the benefits of being the founder
of her own business is the ability she has
to create flexible work hours. Renée is a
single mother with three children, and the
control she has over her own schedule helps
her immeasurably. She is able to support
her children’s needs by adapting her work
schedule to fit their lives, either by working
nights and weekends or through working
from her home. As a result, she is able to
dedicate more time to her children than she
could have while working in the corporate
world.
Renée has a very active interest in
her community, and she participates in
a number of volunteer organizations
throughout her county, serving both
individually and through her firm. She is
currently the President of the Chesapeake
Professional Women’s Network, works with
the Boys & Girls Club of Harford County,
sits on the Advisory Board of Anna’s
House, and does pro bono work in the area
frequently while also offering discounted
prices for non-profit organizations.
Renée’s affinity for her business and
volunteer work is largely due to her
enthusiasm and zeal for interaction and
problem solving. Her passion for helping
others is evident both in her career and in
her service work, and it is as a result of this
passion that her business is so successful. I95
WOMEN IN DEFENSE
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Susan Kemen
APG Federal Credit Union
B y Em i l y B a rb o
Susan Kemen is a Maryland native. She
graduated from Aberdeen High School and
received her associate’s degree in business
from Harford Community College. Like
many students, Susan worked a few parttime jobs through school, including as a
teller for Aberdeen Proving Ground Federal
Credit Union (APGFCU). She has since
moved her way up the ranks to Senior Vice
President of Consumer Lending, a new
role she started in January of this year. “I
became a part-time teller not ever thinking
that it would become a full-time career,”
says Kemen. She progressed from teller
to collector, from accepting deposits to
collecting delinquent loans. It was in this
capacity that Kemen says she learned the
most about the people in her community,
their struggles and stories. She also learned
about herself and how to find a balance
recommend doing it the way I did; it was
tough,” but it was what she needed to
do. With the support of her family and
the network at APGFCU, she was able to
achieve her goal and continue to better
her position within the company. When
asked why she was so passionate about her
job the conversation quickly turned to the
community. In her new role in lending
it is her mission to help people succeed;
APGFCU is a financial cooperative and is
dedicated to improving the economic and
social position of its members. Kemen is
consistently working to get the message out
to the community that she is there to help.
The credit union is the solution.
Her devotion to the community doesn’t
stop at the office. Kemen is on the board of
directors of the Arc Northern Chesapeake
Region Inc. The goal of the Arc is to give
“When you’re passionate about
something, it’s easy to succeed...”
between sympathizing with a neighbor
and accomplishing her job. Kemen was
promoted to collection department manager
and then to consumer loan manager. Later
she became the credit union’s first financial
counselor and then was promoted to senior
vice president of operations, a position she
held for six years.
Kemen knew that if she wanted to
further progress in the business world, she
would need to go back to school. Ten years
after getting her associate’s degree, she
enrolled part-time at the College of Notre
Dame Maryland. As a full-time professional,
a wife, and mother of two – her son works
at Aberdeen Proving Ground and her stepdaughter (recently graduated high school)
will be attending Marine Corps boot camp
in September – it took Kemen 11 years,
one class a semester, to earn her bachelor’s
degree in business management. “I wouldn’t
adults with developmental disabilities
the education and training they need to
enter the job market successfully. Kemen
particularly enjoys her work with the Arc
because of the overwhelming gratitude and
appreciation she receives from those she
helps.
So what keeps this highly successful
businesswomen, wife, mother and volunteer
going? Running. Her passion in life is to
be outside with her husband and a group
of distance runners training for their next
event. Kemen started running after her son
was born 20 years ago to get back into shape.
She and her husband joined the Leukemia
and Lymphoma Society of Maryland. The
organization facilitates training for an event,
like a marathon or triathlon, in exchange
for fundraising. She started out small, but
after watching her husband complete the
Marine Corps Marathon she decided long-
Susan Kemen
Senior Vice President of
Consumer Lending
APGFCU
www.apgfcu.com
distance events were for her. More than
the physical benefits, it is the camaraderie
and companionship that Kemen finds
fulfilling. She is currently training for her
fifth ultra-marathon (a race over 26.2 miles,
typically 31 miles), which will take place
in March. In 2012, Kemen served as race
director and helped to raise $4,000 for the
Boys and Girls Clubs of Harford County.
When she isn’t on a run, she is volunteering
at her small church where she was the
youth group coordinator for eight years.
She recently passed on this role to another
willing member of her faith community as
her daughter graduated from the program.
Well, except for one last annual mission trip.
This July she will be taking a group of young
adults to areas of Pennsylvania to repair
houses. She came into these roles while
her kids were in school and the previous
coordinator resigned. She saw a need and
filled it.
“When you’re passionate about
something, it’s easy to succeed,” says Kemen.
She certainly has a lot on her plate;
however, she is dedicated completely to
meeting, if not exceeding her goals. She
knows better than to pile on too much
because for Susan Kemen, mediocrity is
not an option. I95
www.i95business.com
february / march
2013 37
BUSINESS EVENT
Feb 28
5:30-8pm
Richlin Ballroom
Aris Melissaratos
Keynote Speaker
VISIONARY OF THE YEAR
Dr. Diane Lane
Vice President of Student
Services and Institutional
Effectiveness, Cecil College
2013
Visionary
Awards
NMTC Visionary
Awards
By Vicki K. Franz
On February 28, NMTC (Northeastern Maryland
Technology Council) will hold its Annual Meeting
and Visionary Awards program at Richlin Ballroom
in Edgewood. This is the only regional event in
Maryland that celebrates the individuals driving
STEM Education and Technology Advancement
in our communities. The accomplishments and
impact of the recipients are far reaching, and their
efforts are contributed on a voluntary basis.
NMTC is Maryland’s fastest growing technology
association with over 200 regional members and
supporters in the fields of technology, industry,
academia, defense contractors and the Army,
and government leaders. The focus on Science,
Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) has
always been a core mission for NMTC. A “grow
your own” employment philosophy is key to the
future success of the region and the members
of NMTC are deeply invested. Their members
contribute to growing STEM programs in area
schools, and support the Science Café, which offers
lectures and programs to students and the public,
held at venues throughout the region.
The Visionary Awards Gala attracts 250
attendees, including senior APG leaders, NMTC
industry leadership, leading educational institutions
and other distinguished attendees. This year’s
keynote speaker is Aris Melissaratos, a visionary in
Maryland’s growth through technology and STEM
education. Founder of The Aris Institute and Sr.
Adviser for Technology Enterprise Development
to the President of Johns Hopkins University, Aris
served as Secretary of Business and Economic
Development for the State of Maryland from
LEADER
INNOVATORS
RISING STAR
MENTORS
Joseph Wienand
Mary Doak
Kimberly Williams
Dr. Dave Brown
Edgewood Chemical
and Biological Center
APG
Edgewood Chemical and
Biological Center, APG
Dr. Nina Lamba
CCL Biomedical and Initiator
of NMTC’s Science Café
Marty Healy
W.L. Gore
38
february / march
2003 to 2007. He is also the author of “The Key to
Prosperity – Technology and America’s Role in the
21st Century Global Economy.”
The Visionary of the Year award is the highlight
of the evening and is given to the person who most
exemplifies having the big picture on advancing
technology opportunities in the region. This year’s
recipient, Dr. Diane Lane, is recognized for her
years of collaborative efforts in higher education
and the technology community. Her leadership
has led to the establishment of STEM Nights in
Cecil and Harford counties, which has introduced
thousands of students and parents to careers in
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.
Other awards are given to individuals who
are involved in STEM Education and Technology
Advancement to benefit the community. Awards are
given in the following categories: Rising Star Award
given to individuals on the rise; Innovator Award
for developing ideas that cause a change; Leader
Awards for taking initiative and setting the pace for
success; and Mentor Awards for being an mentor
and role model to students.
The event’s Gala sponsor is Harford Community
College; Sapphire sponsors are Harford County
Office of Economic Development, Cecil County
Office of Economic Development and SAIC. Media
sponsor is I95 BUSINESS.
Register for the Visionary Awards by February
14, www.nmtc.org. For more background on
NMTC, read Editor Stacey Rebbert’s story in
I95 BUSINESS, June 2012, page 16, available online
at www.i95business.com/archives. I95
2013
www.i95business.com
Cecil Co. Public Schools,
Biomedical teacher,
STEM Lead teacher
MITRE and Johns Hopkins
University professor
Dr. Sandra Young
Army Research Laboratory
and Harford Community
College professor
Ted Welsh
SURVICE Engineering and
Parent Volunteer, Harford
Co. Public Schools
BUSINESS EVENT
APRIL 3
9am-3pm
EXPO 2013
Showcasing Regional Businesses and Emerging Technologies
B Y V IC K I K . F R ANZ
EXPO 2013 SEMINARS & Presenters
For seminar times & registration,
visit www.harfordchamber.org
Spectrum of Energy Management | Exelon
Bridging the Gap in Office Innovation | Whiting Turner
Measuring Online Marketing Results | Web IXI
Photo by Leo Heppner
Public Safety in the Workplace | Sheriff Jesse Bane
In addition to the
large indoor exhibit
area, this year’s
Expo will feature
exhibit space
positioned in a tent
on the parking lot.
PRESENTED BY
Personal Energy Management | Good Ground Consulting
Healthcare Reform & Workplace Compliance |
Innovative Insurance
Customer Service | TBD
The 2nd Annual EXPO 2013 will be held on April 3,
at Mountain Brand Christian Church, New Life
Center from 9am until 3pm. Admission to all
exhibit halls is free with a business card.
This year’s Expo builds on last year’s success
and introduces several new interesting elements.
Harford County Chamber of Commerce, the state’s
largest member-driven Chamber, joins forces
with the Harford County Office of Economic
Development and the Harford County Green
Business Network to present EXPO 2013, with
a new focus on emerging technologies. The
Green Business Network strives to promote
sustainability through the promotion of energy
efficiency, resource management or environmental
stewardship.
To accommodate the types of exhibitors that will
be attracted to the show, there will be additional
exhibit space positioned in a tent on the parking
lot. “By adding the tent, we greatly expand
the capability to house exhibitors in emerging
technologies, showcasing solar panels, wind
turbines, electric cars or hydrogen fuel cells,” says
Vanessa Milio, CEO of the Chamber. “This new
exhibit area, in addition to our strong B2B trade
show in the Center, will accommodate large and
small exhibits.”
Inside, the Center can accommodate 75
exhibitors, plus offers conference seminar space.
“The seminars have been greatly expanded this
year,” says Bob Bloom, Chair of the Business
Development Committee. “We had a dedicated
Seminar Planning Committee to develop eight
seminars, led by the region’s top companies. The
Committee thanks Patrice Ricciardi, Pat Chambers
and Paul Beaulieu for their work to bring a wide
variety of topics of critical interest to the Expo.”
Eight seminars will be held congruently during four
time slots: 9:30, 10:45, 12:30 and 1:45. The cost is
$15 per session and includes a lunch coupon for
a visit to a food truck vendor onsite. Seminars are
listed on the Chamber website, and registration is
best done in advance, as space is limited. Day-of
registration will be on a space-available basis.
Also new this year is a sit-down luncheon in the
Café area from 11:30 to 1:30. This event features
a Keynote Speaker, an industry expert from the
emerging technology field. While the speaker had
not been confirmed at deadline, the topic will be
“New Technology, New Materials & Emerging
Research and Development.” Register in advance on
the Chamber website; tickets are $20.
The EXPO Planning Committee includes Bob
Bloom, Chairman, Mary Ann Bogarty, Randy
Brunkhorst, Keith Daw, Ploumi Salarious, Erin
Ferriter and Laura Dahl. Media Sponsors are
I95 BUSINESS Magazine and WXCY 103.7 FM.
Promoting Sponsors are Harford Community
College and the Harford Mall. Additional sponsors
include Harford Business Network for lunch and
Business Resource Network for door prizes.
If your company would like to exhibit at EXPO
2013, contact the Harford County Chamber of
Commerce at 410-838-2020. I95
www.i95business.com
february / march
2013 39
BUSINESS EVENT
1 2 th Annual
ATHENA
AWARD
Women’s Leadership Breakfast
March 8
8-9:45am
Richlin Ballroom
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Sheela Murthy
Murthy Law Firm
By Vicki K. Franz
2013
ATHENA
NOMINEES
Mary Ann Bogarty
PNC Bank
Mary Lynn Doak
Edgewood Chemical
Biological Center
Joyce Duffy
Harford Family House
Mary Hastler
Harford County Public Library
Jayne Klein
Klein’s ShopRite
Patrice Ricciardi
Freedom Federal Credit Union
Tami Zavislan
Community Foundation
of Harford County
40
february / march
2013
Harford Community College’s Continuing
Education division is hosting the 12th Annual
ATHENA Award, which will be presented at
the Professional Women’s Leadership Breakfast
on Friday, March 8, 2013, 8am, at the Richlin
Ballroom in Edgewood. Since 1999, the
ATHENA Award has been presented annually to
a local, exceptional individual who has achieved
excellence in her (or his) business or profession,
has served the community in a meaningful way,
and has assisted women in reaching their full
leadership potential. By honoring exceptional
leaders, the program seeks to inspire others
to achieve excellence in their professional and
personal lives.
The award, begun in 1982 in Lansing,
Mich., is now presented in hundreds of cities
in countries throughout the world including
the United States, Canada, Russia, China, India,
the United Arab Emirates and the United
Kingdom. It was inspired by the goddess of
Greek mythology known for her strength,
courage, wisdom and enlightenment. The
values underlying the ATHENA Foundation’s
philosophy support incorporating the talent
and expertise of women into the leadership of
businesses, communities and government.
This year, over 25 women connected to
Harford County were nominated for the award.
From that, seven were selected as the finalists
who will be on the dais at the event on March 8.
Upon hearing their selection, initial reaction
of the finalists was categorically and consistently
one of humility. “I am truly honored to be
included with such a wonderful group!” says
Mary Hastler, who has been director of the
www.i95business.com
Harford County Public Library system since
December, 2010. “I am also honored, but truly
humbled, to be included with such amazing
women,” concurs both Jayne Klein, a registered
dietician with Klein’s ShopRite, and Patrice
Ricciardi of Freedom Federal Credit Union.
Marlene Lieb, retired Assistant Vice President
from the college’s Continuing Education and
Training Division, was one of the people who
initially helped bring ATHENA to the county.
She notes, “When Harford Community College
resurrected the ATHENA Award 12 years
ago, Harford County embraced the event by
recognizing the outstanding contributions
women in our community make both
professionally and personally. Congratulations to
this year’s candidates whose names will be added
to the ATHENA women of influence who have
come before them.”
Denise Carnaggio, last year’s ATHENA Award
recipient, notes that “by focusing on so many of
our women leaders’ accomplishments in Harford
County, the ATHENA Award encourages
mentorship of other women and young people,
so they too can achieve and make a difference.
Supporters of this legacy program are inspiring
excellence in our community.”
The program will be emceed by WJZ’s
Kristy Breslin, a Harford County resident. The
keynote address will be given by Sheela Murthy,
an immigration attorney and Principle of the
Murthy Law Firm in Owings Mills. Murthy’s
biography includes mention that it is her
mission to “help people achieve their American
Dream to live and work in this great country.”
This year’s platinum sponsor is the Small
Business and Technology Development
Center, located on the community college
campus. Other key sponsors include Booz
Allen Hamilton, Women in Defense, Boyle
Buick, M&T Bank, the Chesapeake Professional
Women’s Network, and PNC Bank. The media
sponsor is I95 BUSINESS.
Recent Harford County ATHENA Award
recipients include Denise Carnaggio, Harford
County Office of Economic Development
(2102); Tamera Rush, STG Inc. (2011); Lucie
Snodgrass: Office of Senator Barbara Mikulski
(2010); and Content McLaughlin, McLaughlin
Law Group (2009).
Seating for the breakfast is limited. For
ticket and sponsorship information, call
443-412-2173. I95
NMTC
ANNUAL MEETING
VISIONARY
Awards
Celebrating Individuals in STEM
Education and Technology...
Connect with APG and Corporate leaders
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Richlin Ballroom
1700 Van Bibber Road, Edgewood, MD
5:30-8:00pm
Gala Sponsor
Harford Community College
Limited Seating
Sapphire Sponsors
Harford County Economic Development
Cecil County Economic Development
SAIC
Register by February 14, 2013
www.nmtc.org
Strategic Location
Skilled Workforce
Fast Track Permitting
Enterprise Zone Tax Credits
Premier R&D Institutions
Waterfront Locations
Tax Credits & Other Incentives
World Class Golf Courses
harford’s
Edge
Entrepreneurs
.
.
Stop by your LOCAL
LIBRARY and register
for Entrepreneurs Edge,
your Harford County
business development
network.
www harfordbusiness org
We want YOU...the Entrepreneur!
For more information go to www.harford business.org and click on Entrepreneurs Edge.
www.harfordbusiness.org
1.888.I95.SITE
David R. Craig, County Executive
James C. Richardson, Director of Economic Development
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february / march
2013 41
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Connecting people,
ideas and business in
Maryland’s strategic
Northeast Corridor.
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New VA Clinic Open at Fort Meade
More than 80,000 veterans living in
Anne Arundel and Howard Counties now
have access to VA health care services
at the new Fort Meade VA Outpatient
Clinic, which opened on Jan. 14. The
new clinic, which is located at 2479
5th Street adjacent to the Kimbrough
Ambulatory Care Center on the Fort
George G. Meade installation, will be the
sixth community based outpatient clinic
throughout the state that is operated by
the VA Maryland Health Care System.
Designed by Nutec Group of York, Pa.,
in collaboration with the Department of
Defense, the 13,300-square-foot facility
features 21 spacious exam rooms, one
audiology booth, comfortable patient
waiting areas, and state-of-the-art
medical technology. Services at the
Fort Meade VA Outpatient Clinic will
include general outpatient medical
care, preventive health and education
services, various medical screenings,
TeleHealth services, and referrals to
specialized programs and inpatient
services available throughout the VA
Maryland Health Care System. It’s also
the first VA outpatient clinic in the
country to be Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) Certified.
University Research Park
May Come to APG
The Harford County business community
and area universities have launched
a feasibility study for a potential
university research park at Aberdeen
Proving Ground. The potential facility
would bring doctorate-level educational
research closer to Aberdeen Proving
Ground’s growing business and defense
communities.
The Prime Rib Opens At
Maryland Live! Casino
The Zagat-rated No. 1 Steakhouse,
The Prime Rib, has opened its fourth
location at Maryland Live! Casino.
42
february / march
2013
www.i95business.com
For the first time, guests can savor
the exquisite flavors of The Prime Rib
menu, paired with an irresistible side
of non-stop gaming action on a stateof-the-art casino floor. “We established
this partnership with The Prime Rib
with a focus on creating a distinct and
unforgettable dining and entertainment
experience,” says Robert J. Norton,
President and General Manager,
Maryland Live! Casino. “At this location,
customers can enjoy exceptional
cuisine at The Prime Rib; then, catch a
show at Rams Head Center Stage, or
try their luck on the casino floor. With
free parking and direct elevator access
to the main entrance, it’s a winning
combination.”
Hero2Hired Mobile Job Store at APG
Hero2Hired, a Yellow Ribbon-funded
program to connect job-seeking veterans
and family members with potential
employers, will visit Aberdeen Proving
Ground’s Post Exchange Parking Lot on
March 4, 10am-2pm. The mobile unit
will have job listings, career education,
training resources and a variety of
networking opportunities.
Gov. O’Malley Receives National
Honor for Arts Leadership
Americans for the Arts (AFTA), a leading
national arts advocacy organization,
along with the U.S. Conference of
Mayors, awarded Maryland Gov.
Martin O’Malley the prestigious Public
Leadership in the Arts for State Arts
Leadership Award in Washington, D.C.
The annual award honors governors
that have demonstrated outstanding
leadership in the advancement of the
arts. Gov. O’Malley, who also received
the Local Arts Leadership Award
from AFTA as Mayor of Baltimore in
2004, says, “I am honored to receive
an award that recognizes the arts
continue to move Maryland forward.
The arts support Maryland’s identity as
a dynamic, cultural and vibrant place to
live, learn and visit. But most of all, they
have a significant economic impact on
our State’s economy, supporting jobs for
Maryland families.”
Spa On The Boulevard to
Open in Box Hill
The Salon by Debbie Corporation,
owners of Spa in The Valley in Hunt
Valley and Spa on The Avenue in
White Marsh, will open a third spa
in Box Hill, at the Boulevard at Box
Hill in Abingdon. “We are so excited
to bring Spa on The Boulevard to
Harford County,” says Founder Debbie
Nazelrod. “The community surrounding
Box Hill is growing and that makes
it an ideal location for a spa that will
offer something new and unique – an
indulgent, tranquil and unparalleled spa
experience that detoxifies, relaxes and
rejuvenates clients.”
Freedom Federal Credit Union
Recognizes “Core Values Award”
Recipient
Freedom Federal Credit Union has
announced Meghan Rafferty, Assistant
Branch Manager of its Park Avenue
branch in Bel Air, as the winner of
Freedom’s quarterly “Core Value Award,”
which recognizes Freedom employees
who serve members, fellow employees
and the Harford County community.
Raise Maryland seeks to raise
minimum wage to $10 by 2015
Nearly 100 community, labor, business,
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immigrant, civil rights and faith leaders
recently gathered at Lawyer’s Mall in
Annapolis today to officially launch the
Raise Maryland campaign, an effort
to raise the state’s minimum wage to
$10 by 2015. “Maryland workers are
in desperate need of a raise,” says
Senator Robert J. Garagiola, the Senate
sponsor of the legislation. “Our people
are working harder but aren’t earning
more, and it’s time to give a much
needed boost to our economy. Raising
the minimum wage would not only put
more money in the pockets of these
workers but also increase business
activity in our state.”
The measure will raise Maryland’s
minimum wage to $10 per hour by 2015
in the following three steps: July 1,
$8.25 per hour, July 1, 2014, $9 per hour,
and July 1, 2015, $10 per hour. It will also
raise the minimum wage for tipped
workers, like waitresses, carwash
attendants and nail salon workers,
from 50 percent of the minimum wage
to 70 percent.
Promotions Announced at Ellin
& Tucker, Chartered
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Sarah Lee
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Matthew Kutcher,
Owner of Affinity
Mortgage, located in the
heart of Downtown
Bel Air, refinanced his
commercial property with
Sarah Lee (left) and Michelle
Wells (right) of the Business
Service Department at
Point Breeze.
Michelle Wells
410.584.7228, ext. 1242
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Hunt Valley · Golden Ring · Bel Air
I95 Women in Business Lunch
Connecting Professionals Doing Business
March 20 • 11:45-1:30
GUEST SPEAKER
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Innovative Insurance Solutions
Health Care Disclosure & Compliance:
Top Issues Impacting Small Business
Ellin & Tucker, Chartered, a leading
regional certified public accounting
and business consulting firm, has
promoted Aileen M. Eskildsen, CPA
to Director and Mary S. Brown, CPA
to Principal. Eskildsen has more than
17 years of experience with Ellin &
Tucker, most recently in the area of
Professional Development, while
Brown has more than 14 years of
experience in the Audit, Accounting,
and Consulting Department at Ellin
Meet I95Business Team
Vicki Franz, Publisher
Stacey Rebbert, Editor
Kathleen Minacapelli, Art Director
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Brand Building Consultants
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$35, March 20 • Bellissimo, Bel Air
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february / march
2013 43
Solutions for
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& Tucker, which represents clients
throughout the United States and abroad
from its offices in Baltimore, Belcamp,
Frederick, and Washington, D.C.
Southern Harford Rotary Awards
Check to Edgewood Middle
SEQUEL DESIGN ASSOCIATES, INC.
Print and Web Design
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From logo design to website
development, we create the
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Southern Harford Rotary recently
awarded Edgewood Middle School
a check for $850 to enhance the
school’s extra-curricular program, EMS
University. The check was presented to
the school principal, Patrice Brown. Also
in attendance were Dr. Robert Tomback,
Harford County Superintendent of
Schools; Dr. Jonathan Brown, Director
of Community Engagement, Equity,
and Cultural Proficiency; and Barbara
Canavan, Executive Director of Middle
School Performance. EMS University is
program designed to help students who
struggle to score at the proficiency level
in reading and mathematics.
Women’s Giving Circle
Awards 11 Grants
CALL FOR A FREE
CONSULTATION TODAY
410.893.9800 ext. 14
SEQUELDESIGN.COM
INFO@SEQUELDESIGN.COM
44
february / march
2013
www.i95business.com
In its second year, the Women’s Giving
Circle of Harford County has awarded
11 grants totaling nearly $36,000 to
nonprofits in the county that assist
women and children. Last year, the newly
established group gave out $20,000 in
grants. The most recent grant recipients
are: The Arc Northern Chesapeake
Region, $4,000 for the Assisting Single
Parents in Poverty Program; Boys & Girls
Clubs of Harford County, $4,000 for
SMART (Skills, Mastery and Resistance
Training) Girls Program; CASA of
Harford County, $4,000 for volunteer
training and supervision; SARC, $4,000
for the Safehouse Program; Upper
Bay Counseling and Support Services,
$3,850 for the Parenting With Love and
Logic Program; Harford Community
Action Agency, $3,500 for the Road to
Success Program; Habitat for Humanity
Susquehanna, $3,000 for Women Build
2013; Family & Children’s Services of
Central Maryland, $2,500 for support of
the Harford County Visitation Center;
Harford Family House, $2,500 for the
Family Steps to Independence Program;
Upper Chesapeake Health Foundation,
$2,500 for the C.L.I.M.B. Program
supporting children of cancer patients;
and The Highlands School, $1,696 for the
Read Naturally Program.
McGladrey Continues Expansion
McGladrey LLP, a
provider of assurance,
tax and consulting
services focused
on the middle
market, recently
announced the
continued expansion
of its risk advisory services practice by
naming Dan Whelan as a partner in the
practice. In his new role, Whelan, will
lead McGladrey’s risk advisory services
consulting practice in Baltimore, and will
focus on client service delivery and new
growth.
Bel Air Resident Named
President of FranNet
Bel Air resident Richard Bock has
been named president of FranNet of
Maryland, which assists individuals
Submit press-worthy
Business Briefs to
I95business.com,
Submit News link.
Making Connections and
Reaching the Right People
Business Owners, C-Level Executives, Decision Makers, Influencers
interested in exploring self-employment
as a career option through franchised
business ownership. Bock knows
firsthand about franchise ownership; he
owns two Huntington Learning Center
sites, one in Bel Air and the other in
Perry Hall.
Niles, Barton & Wilmer Appoints
New Managing Partner
Baltimore-based Niles, Barton
& Wilmer, LLP has named a new
Managing Partner, Craig D. Roswell,
who has served as Chairman of the
firm’s Litigation Department. Roswell’s
appointment completes the transition
of management duties from Jeffrey A.
Wothers, who will continue to focus
on his practice primarily in areas of
insurance coverage litigation, property
insurance law, and commercial
litigation.
Greta Brand Honors Two Local
Companies for Nutrition
Greta Brand has honored Middle River
Aircraft Systems and Sister Marie Seton
Walsh and Northwest Hospital System
for their exceptional commitment
to improving employees’ health
through worksite wellness programs.
The local award was designed to
recognize employer customers that
have implemented successful wellness
programs. The Blue Ribbon Awards
were for Employee Health Education,
Support of Tobacco Avoidance and
Improving Heart Health.
Bel Air Photography
Business Transfer
Positive Images by Rettberg, owned
by Bill Rettberg Jr., a photographic
service in the Baltimore region, has
completed a transfer of operations
of photographic services to Robin
Sommer, owner of Images of Sommer
based in Bel Air. Rettberg will continue
in his capacity as a wedding and
Oct/Nov 2012
Oct/Nov 2012
NINA LAMBA, CEO
CCL Biomedical, Inc.
WES GUCKERT, President
The Traffic Group, Inc.
“I was truly thrilled with the article
and how Stacey Rebbert focused
on the problems that we are trying
to tackle and the technology we
are developing. It has been very
energizing for me, and those
around me, to receive so much
positive feedback. The whole
issue, focused on Protecting the
Warfighter, was tremendous.”
“Thank you for the great
article, Stacey, we have had
tremendous feedback. In fact, a
person in Harford County’s Law
Department saw it, and it led to
a proposal in Baltimore County.
We’re just waiting to see if it gets
approved! Thank you and again,
great work!”
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410-584-9960
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I95Business
INSIGHT INTO THE FAST LANE
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february / march
2013 45
inbox
Submit press-worthy Business Briefs to I95business.com, Submit News link.
commercial photographer. This husband
and wife team have worked together
for 17 years to create a comprehensive
photographic service focusing on
lifestyle photography including
weddings, maternity/newborn, child and
family photography.
Merritt Properties Announces
Latest Tenant at Lansdowne
Industrial Park
Ghanem Forwarding, LLC, a freight
forwarder, has signed a lease at
Lansdowne Industrial Park in Baltimore
County. The company will utilize a
7,200-square-foot warehouse space.
advanced communications, electronic
warfare, signal intelligence, cyber,
avionics, training systems, satellite
communications, weapon control
systems and unmanned technologies.
“ACET’s decision to move to
The GATE continues the trend of
organizations that have relocated
from competitive business parks and
expanded their businesses within The
GATE at APG,” says Matt Holbrook,
Regional Partner for St. John Properties,
Inc. “We continue to experience strong
interest from government contractors
and other agencies that want to join
the APG community and co-locate with
their federal customers.”
ACET Moving to The GATE
Adams Communication & Engineering
Technology (ACET) has signed a lease
with St. John Properties, Inc. for
26,500 square feet of space at 6190
Guardian Gateway, a new three-story,
75,000 square foot Class “A” office
building under construction within The
Government and Technology Enterprise
(The GATE) project, a 416-acre business
community located inside APG.
ACET is a growing company providing
innovative systems, products and
solutions in information systems,
healthcare systems, aerospace,
electronics and technical services to
government and commercial customers
worldwide. The company’s office space
at The GATE serves as headquarters
for its Defense Solutions and Software
& Systems Divisions, with more than
200 employees internationally and
engaged in the areas of intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance,
sensor technologies, security,
46
february / march
2013
www.i95business.com
AAACCVB Nationally
Recognized as Sports Leader
The Annapolis & Anne Arundel County
Conference and Visitors Bureau
(AAACCVB) has received national
recognition for providing exceptional
service to sporting events organizers.
SportsEvents Media Group, the
leading industry publication focused
exclusively on helping sports event
planners produce quality competitions
in the United States and Canada, has
announced that the AAACCVB is a
member of its 2013 class of Readers’
Choice Award winners.
AAACCVB President and CEO Connie
Del Signore says she’s pleased that
so many sporting events organizers
from across the country have given the
destination a thumbs up for a job well
done. “It takes a solid team to deliver
a successful sporting event. Our team
consists of representatives from the
AAACCVB, county and city Recreation
and Parks, the Maryland Office of
Sports Marketing, and the U.S. Naval
Academy Athletic Association. Add to
that our ever-growing inventory of wellmaintained, centrally located fields and
facilities, and you have a combination
that’s hard to beat.” I95
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APRIL/MAY
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Army Appreciation Month
Real Estate & Construction
Energy, Environment | Green Industry
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Adv Deadline: Mar 15
Editorial Contribution Deadline: May 3
Adv Deadline: May 10
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february / march
2013 47
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