Business

The Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) Monday announced a new podcast, “Something to Talk About,” hosted by award-winning journalist Bob Levey and business leader Kelly Leonard, the CEO of Taylor-Leonard Corp. The podcast will feature top Montgomery County business leaders sharing their successes, advice for other businesses, county resources and reasons why thousands of businesses call Montgomery County home.

As the number of jobs unfilled in Maryland’s cybersecurity industry continues to grow, Maryland leaders are looking for ways to meet the demand for skilled workers. In the 2023 legislative session, the Cyber Maryland Program was established for this exact purpose, and to support the development of a highly skilled and diverse cybersecurity workforce. There are currently 30,000 unfilled cyber jobs in the state of Maryland.

idfive is moving into new office space in Mount Vernon as the local advertising agency looks to permanently downsize its space and offer a flexible work schedule to its 50 employees. The agency has signed a seven-year lease for 4,500 square feet at 800 N. Charles St. in the Park Plaza Professional Building near the Washington Monument and plans to move in on Oct. 2, said founder Andres Zapata. The group has been in offices facing the busy Jones Falls Expressway for five years and is leaving a Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)-owned building so the school can reclaim the space for classroom and administrative space.

Bethesda’s Eat the Change, Seth Goldman’s 3-year-old healthy snack company is now all in on beverages. Its Just Ice Tea line, which launched in September 2022, is already pulling in $2 million a month in sales, according to Goldman, achieving in less than a year what his previous beverage company, Honest Tea, took eight years to accomplish. Goldman attributes its early success — Just Ice Tea already accounts for 85% of Eat the Change’s sales — to his connections with distributors and grocery stores and a void in the organic tea market since Coca Cola Co., which acquired Honest Tea from Goldman in 2011, discontinued the line in May 2022.

Federal legislation that would extend the District’s lease on the RFK Stadium campus and allow more development there — including perhaps a new stadium for the Washington Commanders — received bipartisan approval from the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability on Wednesday. But the bill still faces some obstacles to get to a vote in the House, and two sources familiar with discussions of the legislation said it was unclear if it would make it to the floor.

The Frederick-based Maryland Tech Council (MTC), the largest technology and life sciences trade association in the state, and Georgetown University Medical Center Friday announced a collaboration to offer MTC members access to Biomedical Graduate Education programs to advance their careers. MTC’s 730 members are now eligible for 15 percent tuition savings on courses in Georgetown’s Biomedical Graduate Education program.