Key Leaders Series Focuses on
How to Thrive During a Pandemic
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From supporting national security missions, business success and talent development in the midst of a pandemic to helping elementary school children improve their reading, the latest FMA Key Leaders Series provided a wealth of insights on how to create healthy companies and communities during a very challenging year.
Kathy Warden – Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Northrop Grumman Corporation – and Chris Van Hollen – U.S. Senator for the State of Maryland – fielded a range of questions from FMA members during the hour-long virtual gathering.
At the outset of the pandemic, Northrop Grumman set up a war room to determine how to safely continue its mission-essential work, Warden said. Heightened communications with customers, business partners and employees generated crucial, ongoing insights into what everyone needed to thrive in this new environment.
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FMA Continues to Probe
Cyber Workforce Challenges and Solutions
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Included in the September 2020 Community Report was the introduction to the top five challenges in acquiring CS/IT Talent in the Fort Meade Region, beginning with causes and solutions for lack of diversity in the cyber workforce. This month, we continue the discussion with two new challenges. |
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Digital Age Challenges
Schools to Widely Change K-12 Education
The growing need for cybersecurity and information technology (CS/IT) professionals in homeland security, healthcare, finance, energy and numerous other sectors has saddled America’s K-12 education system with a profound challenge. Grade schools which only started to dabble in teaching computer science roughly 15 years ago, now need to provide a larger amount of IT education, more advanced classes and expand tech training throughout nearly all subject areas and grade levels.
When members of FMA’s Education and Workforce (E&WF) Steering Committee drafted a white paper on “Top Challenges in Acquiring CS/IT Talent in the Fort Meade Region,” they identified one of the primary challenges as “aligning K-12 education with cyber opportunities, expanding CS/IT education to all students and reaching outside traditional STEM programs.”
Many different efforts will be needed to address that challenge.
Grade schools “are the beginning of the pipeline of the STEMists of tomorrow,” said Maureen McMahon, Deputy Superintendent of Anne Arundel County Public Schools. “Professionals in math, computer science, engineering and data science all have to fall in love with those areas some time much earlier than their 20s. We are very interested in keeping that pipeline wide open, and really exciting and engaging students in the study of science, math and engineering at an early age.”
To accomplish that, teachers need training, information and industry support.
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How Gamers Could Be a
Prime Source of Cyber Professionals
A key opportunity to grow the nation’s ranks of cybersecurity and information technology (CS/IT) professionals exists among a smattering of children with unexpected potential. They may not be A students, math whizzes, STEM-focused or even college-bound. But outside of class, they wile away hours gaming, coding, building robotics or toying with other technology-based challenges.
During a series of high-level discussions, the Fort Meade Alliance’s Education and Workforce (E&WF) Steering Committee identified engaging and fostering those types of students as one of the five main challenges to expanding CS/IT talent in the region. The Steering Committee’s full findings are outlined in a white paper entitled “Top Challenges in Acquiring CS/IT Talent in the Fort Meade Region.”
“These are the students who are incredibly good gamers or coders. They do it for fun. But they don’t see a connection between that activity and a career, and they don’t have people in their lives to show how their interest could extend beyond a game,” said Penny Cantwell, Chair the FMA Education and Workforce Committee.
Those students typically exhibit high levels of curiosity, specific interests and passion, said Maureen McMahon, Deputy Superintendent of Anne Arundel County Public Schools. “They want to solve puzzles. They have a little intuitiveness when it comes to problem solving and they approach challenges like they are games.”
The CS/IT profession could potentially attract hundreds to thousands of talented new professionals locally if education and industry leaders could strengthen and expand efforts to identify those students, engage them in STEM activities, show them career opportunities and help them overcome academic challenges.
To date, extracurricular activities involving industry professionals have proven to be one of the most effective measures.
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MBC Talks About Reconstituting the Workforce |
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Debbie Mobley, Head of Human Resources at Praxis Engineering, and David Stevens, Partner at Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, brought their collective experience of human resources management and law to the October 21st MBC Virtual Meet-Up to help business owners sift through the myriad of questions about reconstituting their workforce in a COVID-19 context.
After offering an overarching perspective, participants brought their many questions to the virtual table to gain expert insights, as well as swap notes with peers. The group discussed tips about checking-in with current employees who are remotely weathering the storm, human resources policies, updates about governmental compliance and regulations and preliminary information about what may or may not be coming down the pike. While Mobley and Stevens acknowledged there is still so much left to be revealed as COVID-19 continues to write its story into our culture, attendees appreciated another opportunity to talk about the business implications with those who understand. Everyone was also reminded that, indeed, we are all in this together.
The MBC committee is currently brainstorming topic ideas for our 2021 Meet-Ups and will continue to keep a pulse on the needs of the local business community as the year ends. Feel free to send your ideas to [email protected].
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Virtual Networking for Young Professionals |
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The FMA Rising Stars joined together with the Young AFCEANs to provide young professionals with valuable networking opportunities — despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The groups held two joint virtual meetings featuring Kay Hill, Director State & Local Government Relations and Community Partnerships for U.S. Cyber Command and Roxanne Wood, Chief Executive Officer and President of Boeing Intelligence & Analytics.
The first event, held this summer, featured a breakout session focused on professional development by Young AFCEANs Tiffany Tong and Jon Stresing. Another breakout session featured Daniel Messeca, owner of Crooked Crab Brewing. The keynote session, moderated by FMA Rising Star Tabitha Seiler, included a candid conversation with Hill, who provided valuable career advice.
The October session kicked off with professional development tips from Stresing and Rising Star Mark Cruz. Wood’s keynote session, moderated by Young AFCEAN Victoria Scriba, inspired the group as she shared her career insights and stories.
The Rising Stars would like to thank our keynote speakers for providing such valuable information and for taking the time to speak with our young professionals.
The two groups plan to continue these joint sessions and bring together young leaders in our industry for professional development and networking.
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Welcome to Our Newest
FMA Partners and Members
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Patriot Partner
IndraSoft
Members
Advanced Systems Development, Inc.
Assured Information Security
Cymertek Corporation
Integrated Computer Solutions, Inc.
RedZone Team of the MD Real Estate Brokerage
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Amazon Web Services
Anne Arundel Community College
AAEDC
ASRC Federal
BAE Systems
Boeing Intelligence & Analytics
CACI
Chugach Government Solutions
Ciena Government Solutions, Inc. (CGSI)
Corporate Office Properties Trust
Deloitte LLP
Denovo Solutions
HCEDA
LG-TEK
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ManTech International Corporation
M.C. Dean
Nominet
Oceaneering International, Inc.
Parsons
PCI
Perspecta
Praxis Engineering
Raytheon
SAIC
Tower Federal Credit Union
Vision Technologies
Whiteford, Taylor & Preston
The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
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Aronson, LLC
Capitol Technology University
ClearEdge
Focal Point Data Risk
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Howard Community College
IndraSoft
National Instruments
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