Maryland Companies

As Molotov cocktails, rocks and gunshots filled the streets of Cairo last week, executives at ARINC Inc. in Annapolis fixed on their employees' safety and getting them out of Egypt. The company, which outfitted Cairo's international terminal with electronics systems and maintains U.S. Air Force jets there, decided Thursday after days of anti-government protests and clashes to pull employees, contractors and their families out. It was a harrowing time — there and here. "This is what we've been living and breathing 24/7," said Alice Lao, ARINC'S director of international human resources.

Maryland's largest gun manufacturer has decided not to leave the state just yet. Beretta USA threatened to abandon its home on the Potomac if Maryland passed a strict new gun-control law, but after the law was signed the company announced that its operations would remain in Prince George's County for now. However, Beretta added, it would look elsewhere for future expansions. Beretta and another Maryland gun maker have taken a wait-and-see approach to leaving the state, balancing the risk of a customer backlash against the cost and difficulty of a possible move, while keeping up with unprecedented demand for guns of all kinds.

A story in Wednesday's Business section on Maryland companies in the Fortune 500 omitted Geico Corp. of Chevy Chase, which ranked 418th among U.S. companies in 1994 sales. The insurance company uses a Washington mailing address, but its headquarters are in Maryland.The Sun regrets the error.Seven Maryland companies appear on the new Fortune 500 list released yesterday, but some familiar manufacturing names are gone as the magazine merged its lists of top industrial and service companies to reflect the U.S. economy's "convergence."

It is with a heavy heart that after living here for 40 years, my husband and I must bid Maryland farewell. We can no longer afford to support fiscal and social programs with which we do not agree. We moved here in 1973, bought a home we could afford, sent our children to Maryland public schools, worked for Maryland companies, paid our share of property and income taxes, and lived within our means. And now that we have retired, the state of Maryland feels it is entitled to increase the tax burden on our hard-earned retirement income.

Maryland's largest gun manufacturer has decided not to leave the state just yet. Beretta USA threatened to abandon its home on the Potomac if Maryland passed a strict new gun-control law, but after the law was signed the company announced that its operations would remain in Prince George's County for now. However, Beretta added, it would look elsewhere for future expansions. Beretta and another Maryland gun maker have taken a wait-and-see approach to leaving the state, balancing the risk of a customer backlash against the cost and difficulty of a possible move, while keeping up with unprecedented demand for guns of all kinds.

Maryland companies are finding it ever harder to find qualified workers, and that is affecting the companies' ability to do business in the state, according to a work survey released yesterday.Forty-five percent of the responding companies said the shortage affected their business, up from 38 percent in 1997, the last time the Maryland Workforce Needs survey was conducted.The lack of enough qualified workers led to lower productivity, not meeting deadlines and lower quality of business products and services, among other issues, the companies said.

The campaign that won last month's referendum on expanded gambling spent almost $48 million, its share of the most expensive political fight in Maryland's history. But it but didn't provide much of a direct cash infusion to the state's economy. "For Maryland Jobs and School – Vote Yes on 7," the ballot committee backed by pro-expansion casino companies led by MGM Resorts International, spent only 4 percent of that money on companies, nonprofits and individuals with Maryland addresses, according to its post-election report to the State Board of Elections.

The venture capitalists at Accel Partners fly around the world to find hot companies ripe for investment. The Silicon Valley-based firm was the first major investor in Facebook years ago, and its portfolio is a Who's Who of fast-growing technology enterprises. But a few years ago, a little company in Columbia called Tenable Network Security Inc. caught the eye of Accel's executives. They followed Tenable closely as it steadily emerged as a top player in cybersecurity. Then, in September, the bombshell: Accel decided to pump $50 million into Tenable, a staggering amount even by venture capital standards and the biggest investment that Accel has ever made in a North American company.

Your next smartphone screen or TV display might be brighter, the synthetic oil in your car might perform better and computer chips might be more durable — all thanks to minuscule particles that are starting to be manufactured in Baltimore. Startup company Pixelligent Technologies is ramping up production of a pair of nanocrystal additives made with zirconia and hafnia, which promise to boost the performance of products in a wide range of industries, from electronics to plastics. "We're the first in the world to make these materials at this scale," said Craig Bandes, the company's CEO. Pixelligent's nanomaterials can be used to strengthen plastics.

A story in Wednesday's Business section on Maryland companies in the Fortune 500 omitted Geico Corp. of Chevy Chase, which ranked 418th among U.S. companies in 1994 sales. The insurance company uses a Washington mailing address, but its headquarters are in Maryland.The Sun regrets the error.

The author of the article, "5 reasons buyers don't charge ahead on electric vehicles," (Dec. 4) is clearly unaware of the numerous steps Maryland has taken under Gov. Martin O'Malley's leadership to create incentives and facilitate the adoption of electric vehicles in our state. In 2009, Governor O'Malley and the legislature worked together to require Maryland to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020. Widespread adoption of electric vehicles is one of many strategies designed to help us reach that goal.

A 48-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced to five years in prison for fraudulently claiming hundreds of thousands of dollars in unemployment benefits from the state using false identities, a scheme he conducted in part while already behind bars on unrelated charges, according to the Maryland U.S. attorney's office. Kevin Bernard Smith, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit access device fraud and aggravated identity theft, will also have to serve three years of supervised release, prosecutors said.

The campaign that won last month's referendum on expanded gambling spent almost $48 million, its share of the most expensive political fight in Maryland's history. But it but didn't provide much of a direct cash infusion to the state's economy. "For Maryland Jobs and School – Vote Yes on 7," the ballot committee backed by pro-expansion casino companies led by MGM Resorts International, spent only 4 percent of that money on companies, nonprofits and individuals with Maryland addresses, according to its post-election report to the State Board of Elections.

Grotech Ventures will be the first venture capital firm to invest in Maryland startup companies using $12 million in state money as part of the InvestMaryland program, state economic development officials said Wednesday. The firm was selected based on its history of investing in Maryland companies and its overall track record, said Maryland Venture Fund Authority Chairman Peter Greenleaf, who is also CEO of Gaithersburg pharmaceutical research giant MedImmune. Grotech was once based in Timonium and maintains an administrative office in Hunt Valley, along with its Northern Virginia headquarters.

The venture capitalists at Accel Partners fly around the world to find hot companies ripe for investment. The Silicon Valley-based firm was the first major investor in Facebook years ago, and its portfolio is a Who's Who of fast-growing technology enterprises. But a few years ago, a little company in Columbia called Tenable Network Security Inc. caught the eye of Accel's executives. They followed Tenable closely as it steadily emerged as a top player in cybersecurity. Then, in September, the bombshell: Accel decided to pump $50 million into Tenable, a staggering amount even by venture capital standards and the biggest investment that Accel has ever made in a North American company.

Your next smartphone screen or TV display might be brighter, the synthetic oil in your car might perform better and computer chips might be more durable — all thanks to minuscule particles that are starting to be manufactured in Baltimore. Startup company Pixelligent Technologies is ramping up production of a pair of nanocrystal additives made with zirconia and hafnia, which promise to boost the performance of products in a wide range of industries, from electronics to plastics. "We're the first in the world to make these materials at this scale," said Craig Bandes, the company's CEO. Pixelligent's nanomaterials can be used to strengthen plastics.

It is with a heavy heart that after living here for 40 years, my husband and I must bid Maryland farewell. We can no longer afford to support fiscal and social programs with which we do not agree. We moved here in 1973, bought a home we could afford, sent our children to Maryland public schools, worked for Maryland companies, paid our share of property and income taxes, and lived within our means. And now that we have retired, the state of Maryland feels it is entitled to increase the tax burden on our hard-earned retirement income.

Robert James Mitchell, a retired Baltimore County building contractor and a one-time trainer for the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, died Wednesday of a cerebral hemorrhage at his home, "Dogwoods," in Glen Arm. He was 81. Aside from a stint at Fort Benning, Ga., Mr. Mitchell spent his whole life in Maryland. Born in the Forest Park section of West Baltimore. Mr. Mitchell was the son of Robert John Mitchell and Leona Edna Brooks. His mother was a descendant of John West, a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, the first government of English colonists in North America.

Northrop Grumman Corp.'s plan to eliminate as many as 800 jobs — the second steep reduction for the Linthicum-based Electronic Systems division this year — could presage cutbacks by other federal contractors and further blows to the state's economy. Federal deficits — and a budget-cutting mood in Washington — have left Maryland companies less and less able to rely on government work, analysts said Thursday. Defense giants such as Northrop Grumman are particularly vulnerable, they said.