alexander blass has revolutionized charitable givingvishkin/xmt/innovator 2007 lo.pdf · social...

2007 RESOURCE GUIDE

A supplement to

Alexander BlassRealityCharity.com

Alexander Blass has revolutionizedcharitable giving

See profile on page 3

2007

INNOVATORS OF THE YEAR

1

JudgingGauging originality, power, challenge and value ..........................Page 2

Top Innovator of the Year AwardAlexander Blass RealityCharity.com ..........................

Sponsor Profiles ..........................Page 27

22000077 IINNNNOOVVAATTOORRSS OOFF TTHHEE YYEEAARRBob Ward Companies ............................4

Dr. Ken BradyJohns Hopkins Children’s Center ............5

Steve ButzSocial Solutions Inc. ..................................6

Catalogixx LLC ........................................7

Dr. Suzanne Sysko CloughWellDoc Communications Inc. ................8

Lisa FlaxmanmusiKares....................................................9

Millennial Media ....................................10

Andy MonfriedLotame ......................................................11

Andrew MurdzaOyster King 1 ............................................12

Powered by ME!St. Joseph Medical Center ......................13

Joshua ReiterApplicationsOnline LLC ..........................14

Rovion Inc. ..............................................15

Dr. Eduardo Alexis SalcedoSalmon Medical Innovations ..................16

St. Agnes Hospital & EricksonRetirement Communities ..................17

Maureen SilberDeWalt Industrial Tool Co. . ....................18

Jay SteinmetzBarcoding Inc. ..........................................19

Shelonda StokesgreiBO Media ............................................20

Dr. Scott StromeUniversity of Maryland School ofMedicine ....................................................21

TeleBright Corporation ......................22

Maurice ToséTeleCommunication Systems Inc...........23

Brian TrustyAdventure Sports Center ........................24

Uzi VishkinUniversity of Maryland, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering ..............................................25

Thomas WilcoxBaltimore Community Foundation ........26

The Daily Record’s 2007

Innovator of the Year is published as asupplement to The Daily Record.

How to reach usSubscriptions: 1-800-451-9998

News: 410-752-3849Advertising: 410-752-1717

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Christopher A. Eddings.................................Publisher and President

Suzanne E. Fischer-Huettner ......................Associate Publisher,Vice President Sales

Rebecca Snyder ............................................General Manager, Vice President

Tom Linthicum...............................................Executive Editor

Emily J. Arnold ...............................................Special Publications Editor

Francis Smith.................................................Assistant Editor

Doug Puller.....................................................Design Director

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Maximilian Franz ...........................................Staff Photographer

Gail Clough.....................................................Director of Business Development

Erin Young.......................................................Advertising Director

Alexandra Druhan .........................................Account Manager

CCOONNTTEENNTTSS

INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR

JUDGING PROCESS

The Daily Record initiated the Innovator of the Yearprogram five years ago to seek out and recognizeMaryland organizations and individuals who have

demonstrated the spirit of innovation by creating prod-ucts, services or programs that benefit their businesses,industries or communities.

Nominations for the award were solicited from thepublic and judged by a panel of business and communityleaders. The judging criteria were as follows:

Originality: Is the idea truly creative and unique? Is it a “wow”?

Power: What is the impact of the innovation on the busi-ness, industry and community? Does it solve a problem?Challenge: How difficult was the idea to implement?Were there major obstacles? What resources had to becommitted?Value: Can the results of the innovation be measured interms of new revenue, cost savings or other intangibleways, such as health, quality of life, etc.?

The 24 winners, including the “Top Innovator of theYear,” were honored at an awards dinner held Oct. 10 atthe American Visionary Arts Museum.

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• Event concepts

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Video AndMultimedia Production

A Sampling Of The EventsWe’ve Produced In Baltimore.

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Total Event ManagementVPC can take your project to the next level. Our services range frombroadcasting to large video screens to world-wide satellite broadcastsand everything in-between. We also specialize in single-cameravideography, non-linear editing and computer graphics. It doesn’t matterif it’s a live event or quality produced multimedia, we have the resourcesand the talent to enhance the experience of your audience.

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• Daily Record’s Innovator of the Year

• Maryland’s Top 100 Women

• Baltimore County Hall of Fame Dinner

• Baltimore County Teacher of the Year

• Ed Block Courage Awards

• GBC 50th Anniversary

• GBC Lunch with the Orioles

• Big Brothers/Big Sisters Gala

• AIRS Oscar Night

SportseventsSince 1992, VPC Inc. has been getting the

job done. From hospitality functions tocorporate meetings; from sporting events toconcerts; from grand openings to productlaunchings, our work is our “On-Air”resume. In a field where an audience canreach thousands or even millions of people,perfection is essential.

AndAn

Torin EllisPresidentSecond Motive

Judy GreenOwner and CEOGreen & Associates

Steve KozakExecutive DirectorGreater BaltimoreTechnology Council

Ed WaldmanManagingEditor/BusinessThe Daily Record

2007 Innovator of the Year Judges

3

Alexander Blass, RealityCharity.com

TOP WINNER

Educated by Wharton andOxford, venture capital-ist turned entrepreneur

Alexander Blass grew up in afamily that knew the impor-tance of giving and helping oth-ers in need. Because he grewup in a religious neighborhoodin Pikesville, people who hadcome from overseas wouldoften go door to door for dona-tions to feed their family. Hisparents never turned anyoneaway, sometimes inviting themin for dinner and always givingthem money.

During a backpacking tripthrough nearly 40 countries,Blass had a chance to seesome of the world’s mostimpoverished areas. And aftera trip to Auschwitz in 2004 topay respect to his ancestors,Blass knew that life was trulya gift and decided to use hisbackground in technology andfinance to “pay it forward.”

RealityCharity.com wantsto revolutionize charitable giv-ing by making “doing good”more socially rewarding.Lauded as the “eBay of Giving”since its public launch in April2007, RealityCharity.com is theworld’s first direct-giving Website and philanthropy commu-nity.

RealityCharity cuts out themiddleman between donorand recipient in a fashion simi-lar to eBay and a concept notunlike FaceBook. The Web sitehas a centralized fund-raisingplatform to help individuals inneed by providing a voice tothose who may not have one.For example, individuals whohave been left destitute byHurricane Katrina no longerhave to wait for huge charita-

ble organizations to find them.For organizations, Reality-

Charity’s platform helps themdramatically lower their fund-raising costs and engage moredonors by leveraging theirbase of supporters. Otherdonors prefer to give this waybecause they can see their giftgoing directly to someone inneed. Though its platform ispatent-pending, the Web sitehas a partnership with Equifaxfor real-time identity verifica-tion of fund-raisers, and a part-nership with PayPal to per-form instant deposits of dona-tions received.

RealityCharity.com notonly provides easy tools forpeople to pitch in financiallyand provide momentum for afund-raiser but it also allows

users to post words of encour-agement and support on a vir-tual Donor Wall. This canenhance the social network ofthe individual in need and cancreate what Blass calls a “viralgiving” effect, reaching morepeople more quickly and, ide-ally, raising more money.

Blass believes that every-one has a story worth hear-ing and respecting, andRealityCharity.com is provid-ing the megaphones.

— Elizabeth Stocklin

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Lauded as the “eBay of Giving,”RealityCharity.com is the world’s first direct-giving Web site and philanthropy community.

4

Bob Ward Companies


WINNER

The Zero Energy Home?It’s not quite here, butBob Ward Companies’

Maximum Efficiency Green-land model (MEG) is a ground-breaking new home built in conjunction with theDepartment of Energy’s ZeroEnergy Home program, theNational Association ofHomebuilders Research Centerand the Maryland EnergyAdministration.

“The goal of the MEG housewas to determine if it was pos-sible for a production home-builder to transition fromENERGY STAR constructionpractices to building homeswith over 50 percent energysavings above a typical home inthe region,” says Linda Veach,president of Bob WardCompanies. “We thought it wasand set out to test that hypothe-sis in 2005.

“This prototype homeshowcases advanced energy-

efficient building technologiesthat will lower utility bills andincrease the home’s value andquality.”

After the data were calcu-

lated, the numbers crunchedand the cost of implementingthese new home features werecompared to the monthly ener-

gy savings, thetechnologies paidoff: MEG isexpected to useless than half theenergy of a stan-dard code-compli-ant home.

Combiningstate-of-the-art,energy-efficientconstruction tech-niques with renew-able energy sys-tems, such as solarpower, the MEG

home is unlike any other todate in production building. Afew additional features includeframing techniques that reduceconstruction costs and improve

energy efficiency, insulatingand air sealing details thatreduce air leakage, and solarwater heating systems com-bined with a tank-less waterheater that offers an unlimitedsupply of hot water.

“MEG and its constructionare also helping to provide vitalinformation and educationabout how to build homes thatare ultra-energy efficient,” saysVeach. “In fact, builders fromall over the region are visitingand touring this home so thatthey may incorporate the build-ing methods and materials intotheir own houses.

“Homebuyers are alsobecoming acquainted with thelatest innovations and excitingpossibilities for more efficiencyand comfort.”

— Mary Medland

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Dr. Ken Brady, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center

WINNER

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Ken Brady, M.D., an assis-tant professor of criticalcare and pediatrics at

the Johns Hopkins Children’sCenter, led the researcherswho designed a novel brain-flow monitor that tracks poten-tially fatal fluctuations in bloodpressure/oxygen in brain-injured children. The new sys-tem, which used softwaredeveloped at CambridgeUniversity’s Addenbrooke’sHospital in England and whichadapts this software for usewith devices in the IntensiveCare Unit, has shown promis-ing results in baby pigs and 10children with brain trauma.

Currently in the testingphase, the monitor wouldallow doctors to spot and pre-vent changes in the brain’s abil-ity to cope with spikes anddrops in blood pressure thatcan cause life-threateningstrokes and bleeding in the

brain. To this end, the monitorwould help doctors preventbrain death and permanentbrain damage.

“Although monitors havelong been able to track bloodpressure and blood flow to thebrain, this system can for thefirst time precisely determinethe ‘breakpoint’ at which thebrain begins to lose its abilityto cope with changes in bloodpressure,” says Brady. “Theimplications of this novelapproach to monitoring injuredbrains are clear: prevention ofpermanent brain damage anddeath in the most vulnerablepatients.

“This technique is continu-ous, non-invasive and simple toapply. Other methods to mea-sure this function of the brainare either invasive, require aspecialized technician or canonly be done as isolated, dis-continuous measurements.”

As a parent of two daugh-ters, Brady notes that nothingis as important to him as hischildren. “I cannot imaginehow much pain the parents ofmy patients have to endure tosee their children suffering andin peril,” says Brady. “This isthe driving force in my work.”

— Mary Medland

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WINNERSteve Butz, Social Solutions Inc.

Government agenciesand funders arealways asking non-

profit organizations, “Howmany did you serve?” and“How often?”, and areincreasingly requiring grant-ees to demonstrate theimpact of their servicesthrough outcome-basedreporting. Steve Butz andhis team saw the need andsaw the solution — SocialSolutions Inc.

Born and raised inMaryland, Butz’s career ascounselor, teacher and casemanager always focused onimproving data collection,outcome achievement andaccountability for his stu-dents and his programs —skills that were a natural fitwhen founding SocialSolutions.

Social Solutions providescost-effective solutions forthe human services industrythat enable nonprofit orga-nizations to better track,manage and demonstratethe impact of their work andincrease their funding.Through its patent-pending

Efforts-to-Outcomes (ETO)Software, Social Solutionsenables front-line serviceworkers at nonprofit organi-zations to clearly measureresults of their efforts overtime.

With the latest develop-ment, ETO Information andReferral+, a single call canenable an individual or fami-ly in need to be connectedand referred electronicallyto one or multiple area ser-vice providers. The stan-dards-based system lever-ages an XML taxonomy ofservice providers and callsi t the Human ServicesTaxonomy — a format forcategorizing community-based research such asdomestic violence centers,shelters, food pantries and

counseling centers. The tax-onomy is maintained by theAlliance of Information andReferral Systems.

By creating electronicreferrals to local serviceproviders, ETO Softwareincreases the likelihood thatthose in need will receivehelp in a timely fashion. Andby capturing key informa-tion, the referrals speed upthe intake process and cre-ate an automated feedbackloop to improve quality andfocus. After launching ETOSoftware, in just a few shortyears Social Solutions grewinto a nationwide companythat now serves more than1,200 organizations in all 50states and Canada.


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In just a few short yearsSocial Solutions grew into a

nationwide company thatnow serves more than 1,200

organizations in all 50states and Canada.

WINNER

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Catalogixx LLC

Over the past few years, costs of paper, printing and mail have all increasedsubstantially while the number of competitors in the mail-order businesshas reduced the opportunities for each company to be unique and increase

its share of the market. Customized catalogues offer a unique way out of this dilem-ma as they offer high-volume stores a way to effectively market to very small sub-sets of their customer base.

“My goal was to develop a way to ensure radically increased response rates formail-order catalogues and other direct-marketing pieces,” says Sidney L. Bursten,CEO of Catalogixx LLC. “Catalogixx has developed and patented a unique way ofmultiplying sales and profits for direct marketers, such as mail-order and catalogue-shopping companies.

“This innovation consists of using information already held by the marketerabout each customer’s individual prior purchase patterns and personal preferencesto create a unique mailing piece for each customer with the correct products pre-sented the right way at the right time to maximize response and sales.”

After leaving IBM in 2002, Bursten and Ron Agronin (current CFO of Catalogixx) began develop-ing a software product capable of using data about each customer to create an individual mail-ordercatalogue. At the same time, the team began the process of getting its invention — which was namedVariCat from the phrase “variable catalogue” — patented.

“In 2005, our original company, VPiColor LLC, joined with Lexigraph Inc., a leading developer ofvariable-digital-printing software, to form a new company — Catalogixx — to pursue our original mis-sion with enhanced resources, manpower and industry stature,” says Bursten. “The U.S. Patent Officeissued the patent for VariCat on July 24, 2007.”

VariCat is the only known system capable of automatically selecting products for a mail-order cat-alogue individually calculated to be most attractive to the individual recipient, formatting a completecatalogue without human intervention and driving an industrial-strength printing press at full speed.

— Mary Medland

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“My goal was to developa way to ensure radicallyincreased response rates for mail-order catalogues and otherdirect-marketing pieces.”

Sidney L. Bursten, CEO of Catalogixx LLC

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WINNER

When Dr. SuzanneSysko Clough leftthe University of

Maryland School of Medicinelast year to pursue an entre-preneurial venture, she knewshe was taking a significantrisk. Her vision for improv-ing patient care for thosewho had been diagnosed

with diabetes was the maindriver for founding WellDocin 2005. Her passion, dedica-tion and talent attracted suc-cessful business and medicalprofessionals to get onboard.

WellDoc CommunicationsInc. is an endocrinologist-owned and operated compa-ny focused on developingand implementing a revolu-tionary diabetes managementplatform. With 21 millionpeople in the U.S. with dia-betes and only 4,000 practic-ing diabetologists, there is ashortage of the specializedresources required to effec-tively manage the disease.

Clough recognized thatpatients’ diabetes health out-comes have suffered, in part,because medical resources

are overwhelmed. WellDoctransforms the devices thatpatients carry every day, suchas cell phones and blood glu-cose meters, into a virtualdiabetes coach that incorpo-rates testing reminders,physician-prescribed medica-tion regimens and diabetesmanagement treatment algo-rithms. WellDoc’s data analy-sis creates a virtual endocri-nologist for primary carephysicians, helping to opti-mize patients’ therapy regi-mens. Clough and her teamhave designed WellDoc topromote patient autonomy,simplify data collection andanalysis, assist health careproviders to be more efficientand effective, and reduce sys-tematic health care costs.

Since its inception,WellDoc has successfullyraised more than $5 millionin angel funding and hasbeen awarded the TEDCOMTTF and MIPS grants.Based on the success ofWellDoc’s init ial pi lot,Clough and her team aremoving forward with a 300-patient trial sponsored byleaders in the telecommuni-cations, medical device andhealth insurance providerindustries. It has been pre-dicted that one in three chil-dren in the U.S. after theyear 2000 will develop dia-betes. With Clough’s dedica-tion and leadership, WellDocis striving to provide a solu-tion to reverse that trend.


Dr. Suzanne Sysko CloughWellDoc Communications Inc.

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Lisa Flaxman, musiKares

WINNER

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Most anyone beingtreated in a hospitalwill attest that anxiety,

fear and pain are part of theregular day … all too oftenpatients may find themselvesstaring at the walls as they sit insilence. But Lisa Flaxman hasbegun a unique program tochange that.

“I launched musiKares inApril 2006 as a direct result ofmy experiences as a breastcancer patient over the lastfour years,” says Flaxman,executive director ofmusiKares. “musiKares’ mis-sion is to recycle used CDs bycollecting them from the pub-lic, which no longer usesthem due to MP3 and otherdigital technology.

“My goal was to relieve thesilence and anxiety of hospitalwaiting rooms in a simple way,

involving little to no cost.”Collected CDs are then

donated with new individualCD players and portable play-ers purchased by musiKids(an early childhood musiceducation company that hasFlaxman as its CEO) to hospi-tals and patient centers,which in turn create musiclibraries that have volunteersto make the music available toadult and pediatric patients touse before, during and afterprocedures.

Flaxman proposed a pilotprogram to Nancy Morgan,director of the GeorgetownUniversity’s Lombardi Compre-hensive Cancer Center’s Arts &Humanities Program. Morganagreed to accept and facilitatemusiKares at Lombardi, stock-ing the library, inpatient floorsand infusion rooms. With volun-

teers and $1,000 that Flaxmanreceived for winning theMontgomery County WomenBusiness Owners SapphireAward, patients on three floorscan choose music from aneclectic collection and receivesterile players. To date, morethan 2,500 CDs and 35 individ-ual portable CD players havebeen donated to the LombardiCancer Center and toGeorgetown Hospital’s ChildLife.

“We have received num-erous testimonials from fam-ilies of dying patients andfrom patients who were indespair,” says Flaxman, “thatmusiKares made a tangibledifference in the quality oflife of both patients and theirfamilies.”

— Mary Medland

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WINNERMillennial Media

“As traditional marketing channels lose their effectiveness, the mobile phone is poised to becomethe most personal and persistent marketing channel ever created,” says Paul Palmieri, CEO ofMillennial Media. “Our Millennial Marketplace pairs a network of premium mobile publishers

with engaging advertising by using proprietary ad-serving technology.”Palmieri estimates that 30 million people access Internet data services on their mobile phone

every month in the United States alone. The combination of faster networks, powerful mobile proces-sors and rich, colorful displays have sparked user interest.

Millennial Media’s innovation breaks down the technical and business barriers thathave prevented the growth of advertising on the mobile Web. The company branchedout in March 2007 with the launch of two additional technologies: Decktrade.com, aself-service performance-based auction for mobile advertising, and Millennial Motion,a technology for delivering rich media mobile campaigns to build brand engagement.

Put another way, Millennial Media’s technology creates opportunities for advertis-ers to drive consumer engagement, generate leads, enroll subscribers and “build thebuzz.”

After founding Millennial Media in July 2006, Palmieri put together a world-classteam and has seen the company grow from four people to 28 in the first year of oper-ation. And he is quick to give credit to his staff, saying, “My most significant accom-plishment is building teams of people who have a common purpose and consistently

exceed business goals. … Our goal was to provide advertisers the unprecedented opportunity toreach consumers when they are on the go. We achieved this while offering mobile content publishersthe opportunity to build new revenue streams from advertising.”

He adds that Baltimore is a hotbed when it comes to technology jobs, largely because of the quali-ty of talent that lives and works here. “Our goal is to focus that talent in areas that further Baltimore’sreputation as a technology-friendly city,” says Palmieri.

— Mary Medland

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provide advertisers the unprecedented

opportunity to reach consumers when

they are on the go.”

Paul Palmieri, CEO

Andy Monfried, Lotame

WINNER

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Less than two years ago,Andy Monfried, founderof Lotame, developed

new software — LotameCrowd Control — that allowspublishers to track the onlinehabits of individual users onsocial networking sites suchas MySpace.com andFacebook.com.

Lotame was founded withthe vision of building theindustry’s premier technologydriven by performance-guid-ed marketing solutions forsocial media. “Lotame’s mis-sion is to connect every mem-ber of the online world byorganizing the interactionsbetween people and theInternet,” says Monfried.“Social networks are full ofusers who generate their owncontent, and our technologycan target ads by analyzingthe users’ actions (verbs) andinterests.

“The publisher of a socialnetworking Web site will beable to track its members asthey post comments, travel todifferent online communities

and surf the Web. Using thatinformation, the site can thendesign ads targeting thosemembers.

“Our data will be storedand shared only in the aggre-gate and strictly according toprivacy policies.”

Monfried adds that thesoftware does not track spe-cific users to create advertis-ing for them. Instead, the soft-ware tracks and compiles the usage ofgroups andtargets themas a whole —a practiceknown asb e h a v i o r a ltargeting.

For exam-ple, the tech-nology willtrack a My-Space userand noticewhere thatperson leavesc o m m e n t s ,d o w n l o a d smusic, spends

the most time on which sitesand what communities theuser visits. “Then a publishercan develop aggregate usagenumbers to present to poten-tial advertisers who willdesign ads for the groups,”says Monfried. “With Lotame,publishers’ CPM can expectto increase anywherebetween 10 percent to 40 per-cent within three months ofimplementing the CrowdControl technology.” (CPMmeans cost per mille, or thou-sand, and reflects what itcosts to show an ad to 1,000viewers.)

“In addition, brand adver-tisers will find new ways totarget consumers,” Monfriedsays.

When looking to thefuture, he expects to expandhis business to work withinthe international social net-work market.

— Mary Medland

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WINNERAndrew Murdza, Oyster King 1

Andrew Murdza is on amission. At the age of72, he works seven days

a week to ensure thatMaryland’s youth will have achance to experience theChesapeake Bay. And he does itwith the help of a small staffand a lot of oysters.

Founder ofOyster King 1,Murdza estab-lished a com-pany dedicat-ed to therestoration ofthe nativeChesapeakeBay oysterand the clean-ing of theChesapeake’swaterways.He inventedand patented

Oyster Hotel, which houses andgrows baby seed oysters andkeeps them safe and healthy onthe top 18 inches of water untilthey reach maturity.

Inventing an OysterHotel isn’t the only unusualaspect of Murdza’s company.Oyster King 1 is an environ-mental organization that isfor profit. Unlike nonprofitorganizations, Oyster King 1has a strict budget and a fis-cal plan to maintain. It doesnot rely on governmentgrants, or individual or cor-porate donations. Rather, itsrevenue comes solely fromproviding outstanding ser-vice and the only real solu-t ion to improving waterquality in the Chesapeake —the oyster.

The Oyster Hotel is anattractive, environmentally

friendly cage that is designedto withstand the test of time.Barley grass is used to help fil-ter contaminants and provideother water organisms —whose close proximity helpsthe oysters — a natural habi-tat. Special mesh bags areused to protect the oystersfrom being eaten by othermarine life.

And Oyster King’s oystersare not for commercial harvest-ing or human consumption —they are strictly there to savethe bay.

Murdza believes that everyoyster put back into theChesapeake Bay brings us onestep closer to cleaner water. Hesays, “We just need to keepdoing what we’re doing andwe’ll be fine.”


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Powered by ME!, St. Joseph Medical Center

WINNER

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Powered by ME! is aneducational campaigndesigned to provide

information to parents, teach-ers, coaches and health careprofessionals about the sideeffects of anabolic steroidsand performance-enhancingsubstances (PES) on youth. Itsgoal is to encourage healthy,safe and fair physical and ath-letic development. The ongo-ing work is guided by anexpert panel of advisors,including physicians, athletictrainers, and current and for-mer athletes.

In late June of 2007,Powered by ME! was awardeda three-year, $450,000 grantfrom Catholic HealthInitiatives, the parent companyof St. Joseph Medical Center.In addition, the Maryland StateDepartment of Educationrecently awarded the programa $27,000 grant under theDrug-Free Schools program.

One of the guiding princi-ples of Powered by ME! is toprovide a comprehensive andholistic approach to dealingwith the issue of anabolicsteroids and PES. It acknowl-edges the societal pressuresfor athletes to become bigger,stronger and faster, and itacknowledges that these sub-stances are effective — in theshort term. Admitting thatthese substances often achievetheir desired result in the shortterm establishes credibilitywith the audience and givesPowered by ME! the ability toeducate about the many long-

term consequences of usingthese substances.

Due to a tremendous focuson outreach, Powered by ME!has emerging partnerships withmajor health and fitness cen-ters, professional sports teams,county recreation and parksdepartments, county schoolsystems, youth sports leagues,major local universities, localmedia companies and parent-teacher organizations.

The complementary med-ical and community panelsstructured and governed byPowered by ME! providebroad-based support for all ofthe organization’s efforts, bring-

ing together medical profes-sionals, educators, coaches,trainers, elected officials andmany more. These panels ofdedicated volunteers meet sev-eral times a year to guide theefforts of Powered by ME! tokeep our youth steroid andPES-free.


One of the guiding principles ofPowered by ME! is to provide a comprehensive and holisticapproach to dealing with the issueof anabolic steroids and PES.

14

Joshua J. Reiter, ApplicationsOnline LLC


WINNER

After nine years of success providing support to Common Application (a single application thatallows would-be freshmen to submit one application to multiple private campuses via theWeb), ApplicationsOnline LLC lost its contract with the nonprofit. In 2007, Joshua J. Reiter

Ed.D., a Johns Hopkins University professor, launched a competing product — the Universal CollegeApplication — with the hope of building a better, more inclusive network of colleges and universities.

While most public institutions do not use Common Application, as the consortium only acceptscampuses that require personal essays or teacher recommendations, they often do rely on grades andstandardized test scores. The Universal College Application uses the same software and interface that

ApplicationsOnline created for Common Application, but it now allows public col-leges and universities to share in the same consortium as private institutions.

Under the guidance of CEO Reiter, ApplicationsOnline has turned a potentially dev-astating business experience into an opportunity to create a better product for itsusers. Its creation of the Universal College Application provides would-be freshmenthe ease of applying via one application to a broader mix of public and private institu-tions, including Harvard University, Johns Hopkins, Washington University in St.Louis and others. The product launched in June 2007 with 13 founding college mem-bers, and by mid-September had seen that number rise to 38. Consortium membersmust be accredited institutions that abide by the National Association of CollegeAdmission Counseling’s Statement of Principles of Good Practice.

Now colleges no longer have to host and maintain their own applications, appli-cants do not have to pay to mail or overnight their applications, and students save a

tremendous amount of time by not having to complete redundant information on multiple forms.When Reiter looks to the future, he notes, “While we have always enjoyed a multinational appli-

cant base, we are now also reaching out to colleges and universities outside the United States.”

— Mary Medland

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Application provideswould-be freshmen the

ease of applying via oneapplication to a broader

mix of public and private institutions.

Rovion Inc.

WINNER

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Rovion’s product, In-Person, removes the“pop-up” ad approach

to Internet advertising andreplaces it with a personspeaking directly to site con-sumers. The spokespersonappears seamlessly on top ofother Web site content andoutside of the four walls ortraditional video players,bringing messages closer totarget audiences.

For example, Rovion tookonline advertising to anotherlevel of portal experiencewhen Charm City Cakesowner Duff Goldman —below a banner touting theFood Network’s “Ace ofCakes” program — introducedhimself on VH1’s Web site.

While InPerson was intro-duced in 2005, the companymade substantial innovationsto the product in 2006 and2007 — innovations that cre-ated a more personal experi-ence for consumers andincreased practical manage-ment tools for customers.Rovion further enhanced itsInPerson product by enablingit to have infinite scalability,

a real-time reporting systemfor customers that provides awide range of reporting met-rics. For example, rather thanwaiting for weekly or month-ly reports, the new systemgives clients a current look atthe product’s effectiveness orappeal to Web viewers.

InPerson also added third-party auditingintegration forcompanies whomanage andmarket onlineadvertising cam-paigns, such asD o u b l e C l i c k ,Atlas Solutions,and 24/7. Add-itionally, Rovioncreated the tech-nology to en-able multiplevideos to appear

depending on whether theviewer is a first-time orreturning visitor, which cre-ates a more personal experi-ence between the consumerand the product that is beingpromoted.

Rovion’s goal has alwaysbeen to “humanize” the deliv-ery of online content and pro-vide its clients with the abili-ty to control their messages.Its audience is worldwideand its ever-growing clientlist includes television net-works ABC, NBC, CBS, HBOand Showtime, auto manufac-turers Toyota, Pontiac, Dodgeand GMC, and internationalpowerhouses like Microsoft,Cisco, Sony Pictures andUniversal Pictures.


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WINNERDr. Eduardo Alexis SalcedoSalmon Medical Innovations

Every year, there areapproximately 30 mil-lion general anesthetics

performed, and according tothe Physician InsurersAssociation of America, toothinjury is the most commonreason for suing an anesthesi-ologist. Dr. Eduardo Salcedohas invented a device called

D e n t a S a f ethat aids inthe preven-tion of toothdamage dur-ing directlarygoscopy.Direct laryn-goscopy is aprocedure inwhich ananesthesiolo-gist or nurseanesthet istplaces alaryngscopeinside the

mouth of the patient in orderto facilitate the insertion of abreathing tube. After thepatient is put to sleep, thelaryngoscope blade is careful-ly inserted in the mouth. Theblade lies very close to theteeth, and in some casescomes in contact with theteeth and could cause damage.

Dr. Salcedo inventedDentaSafe to prevent thisunfortunate occurrence.

DentaSafe adds one sim-ple step to the laryngoscopyprocedure. Once the patientis put to sleep, a DentaSafestrip is removed from itspackage and simply appliedto the flange of the laryngo-scope blade. Once DentaSafehas been applied to theflange, the blade can then beinserted into the mouth.DentaSafe will prevent theupper teeth from coming into

direct contact with the steelblade, thereby avoiding dam-age being inflicted on thepatient’s teeth. The strip alsohas a strong adhesive thatwill not slide or fall off duringthe procedure and is made ofa durable, elastic, latex-freematerial that cannot, in mostcases, be penetrated by thepatient’s teeth.

Currently, there is onlyone other device available forprevention of tooth injuryduring laryngoscopy, and thatis a generic tooth guard simi-lar to the one used for sports.But since DentaSafe isapplied to the blade directly,it is less cumbersome and willnot obstruct the anesthesiolo-gist or nurse anesthetist dur-ing the procedure. As of yet,no other device offers this.


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WINNER

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St. Agnes Hospital & Erickson Retirement Communities

For the first time inMaryland history, a hos-pital and a continuing-

care retirement provider havejoined resources in a researchand development project. St. Agnes Hospital (SAH) and Erickson RetirementCommunities (ERC) haveformed a strategic partnershipresulting in the real-timeexchange of patient databetween their electronic med-ical records systems.

The health informationexchange system allows resi-dents from CharlestownRetirement Community, a cam-pus developed and managed byErickson, to be referred to St.Agnes for inpatient services oremergency care, with theirmedical records sharedbetween the two institutions.The technology facilitates theexchange of information such

as patient demographics, aller-gies, medications, dischargesummaries and clinical sum-maries. It allows for both view-ing as well as importing of stan-dards-based clinical documentsbetween the Meditech clinicalinformation system at St. Agnesand the GE Centricity electron-ic medical system used byErickson Health. Caregiverswill be fully informed abouteach patient’s medical historyin real-time.

The system demonstratesthe feasibility of efficient andsecure health care data inter-change while proving the valueof a Regional HealthInformation Organization(RHIO). The RHIO solutionprovides a set of software andservices that enable secure con-nectivity between ERC andSAH. The real-time exchange ofpatient data benefits ERC resi-

dents tremendously when theyare treated at St. Agnes.

The partnership betweenSt. Agnes and Erickson is abouttwo business leaders comingtogether with a shared vision ofa better way of doing business.The development of this tech-nology has the potential to rev-olutionize medical care inMaryland and could be the tip-

ping point for the statewideadoption of electronic medicalinformation transfer, resultingin an overall system that savesmoney and improves the quali-ty of medical care for all stateresidents.


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The development of this technology has the potential to revolutionize medical care in Maryland.

18

Maureen Silber, DeWalt Industrial Tool Co.


WINNER

Construction sites havealways been vulnerableto high-cost theft, with

the average break-in costing acontractor between $10,000and $20,000 per incident.

But DeWalt — known forits quality power tools —recently conducted a nation-wide survey that demonstrat-ed that construction-site theftis the No. 1 cost and concernfor approximately 60 percentof sites. Lost and stolen equip-ment accounts for approxi-mately $1 billion in annualconstruction costs in theUnited States.

However, Maureen Silber,a product manager withDeWalt Industrial Tool Co., setout to change all that. “TheMOBILELOCK GPS Locatorwith Anti-Theft Alarm usesGlobal Positioning System(GPS) technology andMicrosoft Virtual Earth map-ping to locate lost or stolen

assets,” says Silber. “Built-insensors include vibration,temperature and door-openingtrigger alarms.”

An alarm notificationalerts the user via phone call,text message or e-mail whenthe protected piece of equip-ment has been disturbed or if someone tries to remove the MOBILELOCK unit. Additional products include other powersources forthe MOBILE-LOCK. Thedevice uses arechargeablebattery, anda d d i t i o n a laccessor iesallow the bat-tery to becharged froma 12V/24Vvehicle bat-tery or alka-line batteries.

“As DeWalt is a power toolcompany, we often heardwhen researching other tools,‘I want a tool that won’t walkoff the job,’” says Silber.“Because of our desire to finda solution, jobsite securitybecame a new division forDeWalt.”

Silber readily acknowl-edges that she has had hershare of career challenges.“Transitioning from an engineering background into a marketing role has been a challenge,” she says.“However, knowing that Ibring something different tothe table has allowed me todraw from past experiencesand add a new dynamic to theteam.

“Being product managerfrom the research phase tothe product launch has taughtme to appreciate taking a verytechnically complex product,fitting it with the needs of theend user and developing acommercial plan that pro-motes sell-through on theproduct.”

— Mary Medland

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Jay Steinmetz, Barcoding Inc.

WINNER

19

Imagine a library or book-store being able to performa full inventory of every-

thing that is on the shelves inthe building in less than 15 min-utes. While current inventorycontrol systems might showlibrarians or retailers that theyhave a book in stock, if it is outof place or on a different shelfit’s pretty much lost. And inorder to find it, one would haveto go through every book, oneby one.

But with Barcoding Inc.’sActive Shelf System, that bookcan be located instantly.

“We developed an RFID-enabled Active Shelf Systemthat provides constant inven-tory management for goodsthat are kept on the shelf,”says Barcoding CEO JaySteinmetz, who introduced thesystem at the American LibraryAssociation’s annual meeting inJune 2007. “Barcoding’s ActiveShelf System conducts continu-

ous inventory counts in retailstores, stockrooms, pharma-cies, libraries and warehouses.

“A single RFID reader iscombined with an array ofantennas placed within theshelves to create inventoryzones, which can be divided byracks, shelves or segmentswithin each shelf. The zonesare continuously monitored bythe system so you know theactual status of your retailinventory at all times.”

What makes this unique,says Steinmetz, is that theActive Shelf System uses onereader to read multiple loca-tions and that the shelves them-selves act as the antenna. Someshelves use a reader for eachshelf system, but Barcoding’ssystem uses a multiplexingdevice to read many shelves atone time.

In spite of his innovation,Steinmetz still faces challenges.“The acceptance of this new

technology for many libraries isslow,” he says. “Many librarieshave small budgets, so imple-menting a newer technologythat is not universally adoptedcauses hesitation.

“But the Active ShelfSystem was very well receivedat the recent American LibraryAssociation meeting inWashington, D.C.”

— Mary Medland

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Shelonda Stokes, greiBO Media


WINNER

When it comes to obesi-ty in this country, thenumbers are quickly

getting out of control. “With concerns for the

health of our own children, wedecided to getinvolved,” saysS h e l o n d aStokes, presi-dent and CEOof greiBOMedia. “Theresult of ourcreativity andpassion to giveback to thec o m m u n i t y

was developing ‘Letz Kick It.’”This comprehensive cam-

paign aims to prevent child-hood obesity, as well as pro-mote overall health. A fitnessrobot (animated/mascot), KiR7,along with Bart Scott of theBaltimore Ravens, leads the

campaign by combining theexcitement of having fun withsimple daily fitness activitiesand low-cost healthy eatingtips. Through a fitness DVD, aweekly television show, interac-tive Web site, school chal-lenges, one-minute vignettesand a radio program, “Letz KickIt” promises to engage familieswith fun exercises, healthy eat-ing tips and a realistic roadmapfor living a healthier life.

“greiBO Media wanted tocreate a movement — an inter-nal desire within kids and theirfamilies to be healthy bothphysically and emotionally,”says Stokes. “We’ve designed aroadmap with several ways toreach the same goal.

“It is not one-size-fits-allstrategy or even a single eventto change behavior in one day.Instead it’s a series of simpledaily, weekly and monthly

activities intended to make kidsand their families more activeand to make smarter foodchoices resulting in overallhealth.”

Part of the program realizesthat in today’s society with bothparents working, it can be time-consuming to eat healthy andget exercise, not to mention thehigh costs associated with con-suming healthy food alterna-tives. Yet “Letz Kick It” is alsoabout empowering youth tomake better choices.

“greiBO Media is on a mis-sion to make a difference in thelives of today’s youth,” saysStokes. “And we are partneringwith organizations committedto preventing childhood obesityso that there is a unified mes-sage through Maryland toincrease resource sharing.”

— Mary Medland

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“greiBO Media wantedto create a movement —an internal desire within

kids and their families to be healthy both

physically and emotionally.”

Shelonda Stokes, President & CEO

Dr. Scott StromeUniversity of Maryland School of Medicine

WINNER

21

Improvement in survivalfor those diagnosed withadvanced head and neck

cancer has not occurred dra-matically within the past 30years. As a head and neckcancer surgeon, Dr. ScottStrome found it difficult toface his patients with theknowledge that significantstrides had not been made toboost their survival and quali-ty of life. But that could nowchange.

Strome has developed aTrojan peptide vaccine forthe treatment of patientswith HPV-16 and MAGE-A3associated with malignan-cies. These Trojan peptidevaccines are novel agentsthat, if proven effective, willbroaden the medical arsenalof the head and neck cancerteam and potentially improvesurvival rates. The peptidevaccines could also preventdisease recurrence inpatients with head and neckcancer, as well as other HPV-16 and MAGE-A3 relatedmalignancies.

The development and

implementation of this clini-cal trial began about fouryears ago when, after intenseeffort, Strome and his teamreceived funding from theNational Institutes of Health.They then had the drug

manufacturedand received anInvestigationalNew Drug (IND)a p p l i c a t i o nfrom the FDA.The develop-ment of thedrug was trulytranslational —taking an ideaand bringing itall the way tocl inical tr ialsindependent ofindustrial sup-port.

As a clinician scientist,Strome built a team includ-ing basic scientists, regula-tory personnel, clinical trial-ists, drug design specialistsand his patients to develophis innovation, bring hisvision to l i fe and restorehope for his patients.

To date, 31 patients havebeen screened for the trial,three have been treated witha 300ug dose of the MAGE-A3 vaccine on study and onehas been treated with the300ug dose of the HPV-16vaccine as a single subjectexemption. Two of the threepatients treated with theMAGE-A3 Trojan peptidehave developed enhancedrecall responses.

— By Elizabeth Stocklin

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TeleBright Corporation


WINNER

TeleBright, a Rockville-based minority-ownedbusiness, has been devel-

oping software solutions since1988. Led by CEO Chet Thaker,TeleBright’s recent innovationsin wireless solutions giveclients a single platform tomanage their wireless service— a platform that “talks back”with timely alerts when anom-alies are detected. These inno-vations, PlanGuard andManageRight Wireless, help

bus inessesgain controlover escalat-ing costs andimproper useof businessequipment.PlanGuard isan automatedusage-moni-toring systemfor mobiled e v i c e s ,designed to

help businesses lower theirwireless cost-per-minute ratios,prevent exorbitant overagecharges, reduce personal callsand save 20 percent to 40 per-cent on monthly bills. It worksby providing users with instan-taneous overage text messagealerts, monitoring users whosignificantly underutilize theirmonthly minutes, and providingusage-level reports to bettermatch users to cost-saving call-ing plans.

ManageRight Wirelessstreamlines operational work-flow by taking a fully integrat-ed approach to wireless ser-vice, including plan anddevice comparisons, procure-ments, asset inventory, policyenforcement, invoice process-ing, expense allocations andinstant usage alerts.

Thaker and his teambelieve that proactive notifica-tions of impending cost penal-ties sent to users and their

managers help them take cor-rective actions while it canmake a difference, and that dis-ciplined wireless life-cycle costmanagement requires thatmany elements work together.Having it all in a single data-base on the Web can be veryhelpful in aggressive cost man-agement — particularly in con-trolling fraud, waste and abuse.And for a monthly investmentof about five dollars a phone,business owners and operatorscan have TeleBright’s completewireless life-cycle managementservice.

TeleBright is now lookinginto addressing the consumermarket, targeting parents whoare getting surprises in theirwireless bills from their kids’text messages and folks whoare constantly running overtheir plan allowances.


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Maurice Tosé, TeleCommunication Systems Inc.

WINNER

23

Maurice Tosé, chairman, president and CEO ofTeleCommunication Systems Inc. (TCS), knows that safe-ty always comes first. TCS’ enhanced 911 solutions enable

VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) providers to supply the samelevel of emergency services as wireless and traditional landlineproviders.

Its technology allows VoIP device users to make emergencyphone calls from wherever they are physically located, connectingthem with the appropriate Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) torespond to the caller’s request for help. The caller’s precise latitudeand longitude coordinates are sent to the visual screen at the call-takers’ terminals, thereby allowing public safety personnel todeploy the appropriate emergency services personnel to the correctlocation of the caller. In many instances, the ability of call-takers todispatch the appropriate emergency assistance to the correct loca-tion in a timely manner is crucial to saving lives. This year, TCS’ technology has routed and deliveredcallers’ location information for nearly 203,000 VoIP E9-1-1 calls across the United States.

While Tosé and TCS are committed to helping wireless carriers meet both their obligations forwireless E9-1-1 and the accessibility guidelines under Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act,they are also committed to meeting the FCC’s 2005 mandate requiring VoIP service providers to sup-ply E9-1-1 service to their suppliers.

In October of 2006, TCS tested all of Maryland’s 24 primary PSAPs — the recipients of all incomingemergency wireless, landline and VoIP 9-1-1 calls — for their VoIP E9-1-1 emergency call capability.

TCS assisted PSAPs throughout the state by successfully deploying VoIP E9-1-1 call routing withdelivery service, and Maryland passed with flying colors. Today, TCS provides E9-1-1 service to morethan 100 million subscribers in the United States for more than 35 wireless carriers, resulting in over85,000 life-saving calls daily.


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24

Brian TrustyAdventure Sports Center International


WINNER

In 1993, Brian Trusty formedSierraQuest Corp. and quick-ly gained a wide range of

experience as a recreation andresource management profes-sional. Since he also had experi-ence managing six nature parkfacilities for the LowerColorado River Authority inAustin, Texas, it made perfectsense that Adventure SportsCenter International (ASCI), anonprofit organization char-tered in Maryland for communi-ty and economic development,tapped him in 2005 to overseecompletion of a man-made,recirculating whitewater coursein Garrett County.

“When I arrived, the secondand final contract had complet-ed the bid process and hadresulted in the low bid totaling$9 million over the capitalmonies raised for the project,”says Trusty, ASCI’s executivedirector. “At that time, Ibecame responsible for the re-

engineering aspects of a white-water course with unprece-dented design qualities toachieve $4 million in costavoidance (coupled with anadditional $5 million raised forcapital development) whenannual inflation in the con-struction industry was reach-ing 11 percent to 13 percent.”

When the course opened on

June 28, 2007, it was the mosttechnologically advanced white-water facility in the world. Notan easy feat considering thatconstructing a facility on amountaintop involves tremen-dous subterranean excavationand finishing — and it ultimate-ly has to be water-tight.

Nonetheless, Trusty and histeam were successful, andtoday visitors can enjoy acourse that is fully adjustablefrom Class II to Class IV white-water and is 1,700 feet long with24 feet of vertical drop through-out its length; a boat conveyorat the end that transports partic-ipants in their boat back to thebeginning for a seamless experi-ence; a station that pumps up to250,000 gallons per minute intothe start pool; and a 600-personoutdoor amphitheater.

When he’s not in the office,Frostburg-based Trusty can befound outdoors rock-climbingor spending time accommodat-ing his 4-year-old son’s infatua-tion with cars and trains.

— Mary Medland

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Uzi Vishkin, University of Maryland,Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

WINNER

25

Professor Uzi Vishkin,currently working forthe University of

Maryland Institute forAdvanced Computer Studies,the Department of Electricaland Computer Engineering,and the Department ofComputer Science, identifiedthe importance of parallelprogrammability in 1979.And unlike his colleagues,who proceeded directly tobuilding parallel computers,Vishkin spent the next 15years inventing parallel algo-rithms.

Simply put, Vishkin hascreated a prototype of thenext generation of personalcomputers — a prototypecapable of computing speeds100 times faster than currentdesktops.

The technology is basedon parallel processing on asingle chip that allows thecomputer to perform many

tasks simultaneously, whileallowing the processors towork in conjunction withone another. Parallel pro-cessing is also a way to pro-vide faster completion timeof an application by per-forming many different tasksconcurrently. Basically, thistechnology makes program-ming practical and simplefor software developers.

While there has beenconsiderable experiencewith paral le l processingover the last four decades,all parallel processors todayhave had limited success,namely because it was noteasy enough to programthem. The original theorywas developed within anabstract mathematicalmodel , but pract i t ionershave deemed its implemen-tation impractical. Vishkinand his team have com-bined this older theory withnew software and user real-

ities, addressing both theneeds for fast parallel pro-cessing and ease of pro-gramming.

A faster computer doesn’tjust mean ease and speed.Vishkin says that this tech-nology can enhance drug dis-covery efforts, help nationalsecurity and enhance virtualreality. And, if and when seri-al computing runs out ofsteam due to physical limita-tions, parallel computingwould be the natural avenuefor growth in computer per-formance.


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WINNERThomas Wilcox, Baltimore Community Foundation

“The inspiration for ‘Invest in Baltimore’ cameout of a Baltimore Community Foundation(BCF) board retreat in 2001,” says Thomas E.

Wilcox, BCF president and CEO. “The trusteesindicated that they wanted BCF to be more than aphilanthropic broker; they wanted us to be achange-maker.”

At the same retreat, two points of viewemerged about how to help Baltimore move for-ward. One coalesced around the mission andvision of what was then known as the GreaterBaltimore Alliance, with the central idea beingthat economic development was the driver thatcould turn the city and region around. Others feltthat addressing the needs of those suffering themost — from poverty, drug addiction and lack ofaffordable housing — had to take priority.

“That’s where the central idea of Invest inBaltimore was born, later expressed in the Investin Baltimore goal or vision: Baltimore boasts agrowing economy in which all have the opportuni-

ty to thrive,” says Wilcox.With Wilcox leading and with support

from the BCF trustees and staff, communi-ty leaders and the Schaefer Center forPublic Policy at the University ofBaltimore, Invest in Baltimore was intro-duced to BCF supporters in the summer2007 issue of the foundation’s newsletter.

Invest in Baltimore is driven by BCF’sconviction that there is necessary interde-pendence between efforts to break thecycle of poverty and initiatives to restoreBaltimore’s role as an economic engine forMaryland. “Invest in Baltimore knitstogether objectives and strategies withinnine program areas, or ‘paths,’” saysWilcox. “The paths range from human ser-vices to education, from arts and cultureto the environment. Each is supported bya fund, which acts like a philanthropicmutual fund for donors who wish to makecharitable investments in a particular area.

“Invest in Baltimore not only provides astrategic framework for the grants we dis-tribute from our discretionary endowmentbut also offers individual donors an oppor-tunity to invest together in addressing theissues they find most compelling.”

— Mary Medland

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Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development

TITLE SPONSOR

The Maryland Department of Businessand Economic Development’s mission is toattract new businesses, stimulate privateinvestment and create jobs, encourage theexpansion and retention of existing compa-nies, and provide businesses in Marylandwith work force training and financial assis-tance. The department promotes the state’smany economic advantages and marketslocal products and services at home andabroad to spur economic development,international trade and tourism. Becausethey are major economic generators, thedepartment supports the arts, film produc-tion, sports and other special events.

The department is organized into sev-eral key divisions. The Division of RegionalDevelopment operates several local officesthroughout Maryland that serve as the“feet on the ground” to DBED’s partnersand businesses across Maryland. They sup-port the expansion and retention ofMaryland companies by linking them tostate services and providing hands-on tech-nical assistance, information and referralservices to help companies increase grosssales, enhance employment stability and

improve worker productivity. The Division of Business Development

attracts new businesses to the state,expands global commerce and positionsMaryland as a leader in technology andinnovation. Business development teamsfocus on cultivating target industry sectorsincluding advanced technologies (fromaerospace to information technology), bio-sciences (from vaccines to medical

devices) and traditional industries (finan-cial services, insurance, manufacturing anddistribution). The division also includes theInternational Operations team, which pro-motes Maryland as a premiere U.S. busi-ness location and valued trading partner.The Site Consultants team works with realestate professionals and site consultantsaround the world to provide site locationassistance and support business relocation

or expansion decisions. The Division of Finance Programs

extends financial and training assistancethrough a variety of programs to business-es of all sizes. Assistance is targeted tostrategic industries and growth areas thatpromote job retention, job creation andcapital investment, with emphasis on high-quality positions and family-supportingwages and benefits. The state’s innovativeinvestment fund, the Maryland VentureFund, makes direct equity investments inMaryland’s promising technology andbiotechnology companies.

The newly created Division of SmallBusiness advocates for and assistsMaryland’s small and minority businessesthrough numerous development initiativesand programs, including the StrategicAssistance Consulting Fund and theMaryland Procurement TechnicalAssistance Program. DBED’s Division ofEconomic Policy, Research andLegislative Affairs conducts business andeconomic research and monitors tax poli-

SEE TITLE SPONSOR PAGE 32


AWARDS SPONSOR

Whiteford, Taylor & Preston’s Technology andIntellectual Property attorneys blend vision and pas-sion with knowledge and experience. We work withcompanies of all sizes to protect and leverage theirideas and innovations, find and negotiate financing,and plan future expan-sions.

The Legal 500, a review-er of the strengths andstrategies of law firms inover 90 countries inEurope, the Middle East,Asia, North and SouthAmerica and the Caribbean, ranked our 20-person sec-tion as one of the leading IT practices nationwide –one of only 18 firms selected in the United States.

It’s because we see ourselves as more than legaladvisors; we act as a trusted partner in our clients’growth. We represent national and internationalclients in a variety of sectors, ranging from biosciencesto artificial intelligence to energy conglomerates.

Our experience includes: advertising screening andprotection; computer software licensing and hardware;copyright registration and protection; global intellectu-al property protection, IP litigation; IP auditing andrisk mitigation planning; intellectual property analysis

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tration, and litigation; publicity and privacy protectionand compliance; strategic planning; technology startups;trade secret protection; trademark, domain names, andbrand protection; and Web site audits.

With offices in Maryland, the District of Columbia,Virginia and Delaware, we have 160 attorneys on staffto better serve you. For more information, please visitus at www.wtplaw.com or contact us at 800.987.8705.

Whiteford, Taylor & Preston

Comcast

WELCOMING SPONSOR

SHOWSPONSOR

VPC Inc. is a multimedia produc-tion and technology consulting firm.As an event management company, wecreate unique ideas that will motivateand inspire your audience. Productionis our specialty utilizing a powerfulcombination ofscripting, sound, andimage. VPC also pro-duces marketingvideos and publicservice announce-ments. VPC manageslive events and quali-ty produced videos like Maryland’s Top100 Women program, Health CareHeroes, awards banquets, annual fund-raising events, corporate meetings andcommencement exercises.

VPC

Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq:CMCSA, CMCSK) (http://www.com-cast.com) is the nation’s leadingprovider of cable, entertainment andcommunications products and services.With 24.2 million cable customers, 12.1million high-speed Internet customers,and 3.0 million voice customers,Comcast is principally involved in thedevelopment, management and opera-tion of broadband cable systems and inthe delivery of programming content.

Comcast’s content networks andinvestments include E! EntertainmentTelevision, Style Network, The GolfChannel, VERSUS, G4, AZN Television,PBS KIDS Sprout, TV One, ComcastSportsNet and Comcast InteractiveMedia, which develops and operates

Comcast’s Internet business. Comcastalso has a majority ownership inComcast-Spectacor, whose major hold-ings include the Philadelphia Flyers

NHL hockey team, the Philadelphia76ers NBA basketball team and twolarge multipurpose arenas inPhiladelphia.


KAWG&F

VISION SPONSORS

Founded in 1969, KAWG&F P.A. isheadquartered in Timonium, Maryland,and serves the mid-Atlantic region withadditional offices in Columbia, Bel Air,Annapolis and Easton. The firm provides tax andaccounting servicesincluding cost seg-regation studies,business valuations,litigation support,forensic account-ing, technologysolutions, estate planning and adminis-tration, and personal financial planning.

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As one of the top 10 accountingfirms in Maryland and one of the 125largest accounting firms in the UnitedStates, the firm’s staff of over 100

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AdventureSports CenterInternational

Adventure Sports CenterInternational is a completelyunique adventure habitat featuringstate-of-the art facilities and ser-vices for people of all skill levels,

interests and backgrounds. ASCI ishome to the most unique and tech-nologically advanced whitewaterfacility in the world, as well as theFork Run Recreation Area - a 550-acre wilderness tract featuringmiles of trails and multiple devel-oped rock climbing areas.

ASCI is the world’s only moun-tain-top whitewater facility. Fortymillion pounds of boulders and nat-ural materials were excavated andreused to craft the 1,700-foot longchannel to look, feel and performjust like a real river. ASCI’s “wave-shaper” technology is the first of itskind and can dial up Class II toClass IV whitewater in a matter ofminutes. The result is the mostreliable and versatile whitewater inthe world.

ASCI is a nonprofit organizationchartered in the state of Marylandwith a mission to make adventuresports an accessible experience for

all, as well as provide facilities thatadvance the adventure sport indus-tries. For more information on ourfacilities and services, please callus at 1-877-300-ASCI, or visit usonline at www.adventuresportscen-ter.com.

KaiserPermanente

Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States Inc. provides care tomore than 500,000 people inWashington, D.C., Maryland andVirginia. We understand that choos-

ing a health plan is one of the mostimportant decisions you can makefor the life of your business, organi-zation or yourself. That’s whyKaiser Permanente delivers carethat focuses as much on preventionas it does on chronic illness. Wefocus on your total health.

Whether you are looking for anindividual plan for you and yourfamily or a suite of products that isright for your business, KaiserPermanente offers many options.Today’s Kaiser Permanente offersmore choices than ever before – inhealth plan solutions and providerchoice.

Kaiser Permanente’s cutting-edge information management sys-tem revolutionizes the way wedeliver health care to our members.Convenient, time-saving 24-houronline access to personal healthinformation helps our memberstake a more active role in their ownhealth.

Based in Rockville, Maryland,Kaiser Permanente is comprised ofKaiser Foundation Health Plan ofthe Mid-Atlantic States, a nonprofithealth care organization, and theMid-Atlantic Permanente MedicalGroup, a multi-specialty group prac-tice of approximately 900 physicianswho are dedicated to helping mem-bers live well, get well and thrive.

When Excellenceis Essential …

For Your Next Meeting or Conference.

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• Online Registration • e-Commerce • Real-time reporting • e-Marketing • Badge Printing • On-site Services • Follow Up Surveys

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Find out whyThe Daily Recordchose Epsilon

CONGRATULATORYSPONSORSBaltimore Community FoundationBaltimore County Department of EconomicDevelopmentEpsilon RegistrationJohns Hopkins Medicine TeleCommunication Systems Inc.University of Maryland School of Medicine

cies and programs.The Division of Tourism, Film and the Arts

promotes Maryland as a highly desirable traveland convention destination. OTFA also worksto strengthen the arts and make them accessi-ble to all Marylanders while promoting artis-tic, cultural, sports and special events fortourism. The Maryland Film Office marketsMaryland as an excellent location for featurefilm, television and commercial production.

To learn more about the MarylandDepartment of Business and EconomicDevelopment, visit our Web site atwww.choosemaryland.org or call 1-888-ChooseMD.

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