B-CC Chamber Reveals New Name
Over the last 90 years, the Chamber of Commerce in Bethesda has had many names. It started as the Bethesda Chamber in the 1920s, morphed into the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber in the 1950s and the Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber in the 1980s.
Now it has a new name: The chamber announced Tuesday morning that from now on it will be known as the Greater Bethesda Chamber of Commerce.
Chairwoman Heather Dlhopolsky said the chamber changed the name so that it was more inclusive of new commercial districts in the Bethesda area, especially The Pike District, the emerging mixed-use stretch along Rockville Pike. “Bethesda is the geographic center of our chamber territory,” she said, “but the ‘Greater’ implies the inclusion of all of the exciting areas in our territory, from the D.C. line up to the City of Rockville line, and from the Potomac River to Rock Creek Park.”
Dlhopolsky added: “The chamber’s name had also become quite the mouthful…and the length of it was not particularly in keeping with the modern era of character limits…” on electronic devices.
The name change was announced at a County Council ceremony recognizing the 90th anniversary of the local chamber.
The Greater Bethesda chamber has more than 600 members.
Lockheed Martin announces layoffs of 200 IT workers
The Bethesda-based defense contractor said Friday it would lay off the 200 workers as it prepares to merge its information technology services with Virginia-based Leidos. The employees who were laid off were informed this month, according to the company. The layoffs come about six months after the company laid off 500 workers in its IT division in November.
Washington Business Journal reported Lockheed is scheduled to complete its $5.7 billion merger with Leidos, which will create the largest government services contractor in the U.S., later this year.
Rockville’s Brain Biosciences signs deal with Ohio veterinary tech distribution company
Brain Biosciences, a biotechnology company that got its start as part of the Rockville Innovation Center, announced this month it has partnered with Ohio-based Universal Medical Sciences to launch the distribution of the piPET PET scanner. The device was designed to bring PET images to veterinary medicine to help diagnose injuries in animals—particularly lameness in horses.
“PiPET scanner allows you to scan and visualize disease-related changes in metabolism on a molecular level, in 3D, with high resolution and contrast,” David Beylin, president of Brain Bisciences said in a statement.
The company hopes the portable scanner, which weighs less than 50 pounds, can be used in a wide variety of veterinary facilities.
