Talent in Maryland, D.C. Brings
New Meaning to Smart Growth

In January, Gov. John Ehrlich — the first Republican governor in Maryland since Spiro T. Agnew in 1966 — tabbed longtime Westinghouse executive and venture capitalist Aris Melissaratos of Baltimore as his director for economic development. But even before that, the new sheriff in town feeling came through loud and clear, as various transition team officials intimated that the "smart growth" agenda of the previous administration might have had parts that weren't so smart.
        "Economic development can be complicated or simple," said James T. Brady, the transition team chief, at a January meeting of MIDAS, the state's economic development association. "Companies want to be in a place where they feel their presence is valued, where they can grow and prosper in collaboration with the government."
        Now Brady says progress will be built on a three-legged stool: balanced regulations, work force development and keeping costs competitive. In a thinly veiled jab, Brady said, "You deal with customers differently than you do with victims."
        In December 2002, the Maryland Advisory Commission on Manufacturing Competitiveness (MACMC), drawing on input from more than 120 firms throughout the state, issued a report outlining 10 recommendations to expand and strengthen the manufacturing base in the state. Among them were several touching on work force development funding and promotion, others devoted to infrastructure needs in both information technology and transportation, and still others devoted to a more collaborative model for both attracting and keeping companies, and for regulating them once they're there.
        Indeed, government is not only a valued corporate partner in Maryland, but an economic driver all its own, with some 45 federal facilities throughout the state having served to help stabilize the state's economy as others have foundered. Even the northern part of the state, battered by the IT letdown, is faring substantially better than other IT clusters around the country.
        "The importance of professional and technical workers cannot be understated in an information-driven economy," says Melissaratos. "It means Maryland is better able to compete for the best companies and it means those companies are better able to compete in the global marketplace."

Robert T. Barnes Northrop Grumman Corp.

        Perhaps the most prominent corporate citizen in Baltimore is Northrop Grumman, which operates an Electronic Systems sector there. Robert T. Barnes, Manager of Lean Initiatives and Best Manufacturing Practices for that sector, is also the chai rman of MACMC. He says that the regional meetings that produced the report brought several issues to the surface.
        "In every region, there was a significant understanding of the value of manufacturing to the community," he says. "Likewise there was a uniform opinion statewide that manufacturing really isn't what an awful lot of people think it is. A lot look at it as smokestacks and dirty hands, but in Maryland it's a high-tech business."
        Barnes sees areas both west and east of the state's urban center that might serve as homes to more industry, provided the proper technical and work force development infrastructure is put in place. To that end, there is no better example than Northrop Grumman's relationships with area institutions of higher learning, embodied in its program with Anne Arundel Community College (AACC), funded by Anne Arundel Economic Development Corp. It helped the school win the honor of 2002 Community College of the Year from the National Alliance of Business. Barnes says that the willingness of the school to tailor programs was paramount, especially given deadlines brought on by new technology.
        "We needed to train or retrain in the range of 10,000 people, and needed a focal point for the implementation and training of that type of technology," he says. "They came through in very good form. We and others have been real benefactors in that they have transported that learning experience to other agencies in the state"
        With security on everyone's mind these days, Anne Arundel County is taking the lead and creating one of the first business incubators in the U.S. to focus on homeland security. The Chesapeake Innovation Center (CIC) in Annapolis will develop partnerships with federal agencies, universities and corporations as it seeks to develop new companies in the communications and IT sectors.
        The CIC will provide business start-up services and flexible facilities to accelerate the formation and growth of early-state technology ventures. The Anne Arundel Economic Development Corp. is the lead agency of the initiative and expects 15 firms to locate in the CIC's 24,000-sq.-ft. (2,230-sq.m.) facility during the first year.
        The lure of potential government customers is also bringing the headquarters of e-Security Inc. to Tysons Corner, in the southern metro D.C. area. The four-year-old cybersecurity company, moving from Rockledge, Fla., develops security event management software.
        SBI Technologies Corp., an information technology and engineering services company, is expanding its Columbia offices in a move that will create 150 jobs by 2006. Much of the company's work is with intelligence and Department of Defense programs.