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Austin J. Slater Jr., president and CEO of the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, will be installed as chairman of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce board during the annual membership meeting and Business Hall of Fame awards dinner April 29 at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore. He will succeed Betty Buck, president of Buck Distributing Co.

Slater has been a director since 2003. He is also a director of the College of Southern Maryland and the Community Bank of Tri-County. He previously was a director of the Consumer Federation of America, National Cooperative Business Association and Cooperative Development Foundation.

Hiring: Verizon Wireless seeks 250 workers

Verizon Wireless in Hanover is seeking to hire 250 customer service representatives this year and will hold an open house from 2 to 6 p.m. on April 3 and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on April 25 at its customer call center at 7401 Coca Cola Drive.

Strong demand for Verizon Wireless products and services continued last year, as the company said it added 1.2 million net new customers in the fourth quarter and became the wireless industry's largest carrier with more than 80 million customers nationwide.

Fourth-quarter revenues rose 12 percent from a year ago to $12.8 billion, and 2008 sales were also up 12 percent to $49.3 billion.

Reductions in expenses, work force at Arbitron

Columbia media research company Arbitron will cut its full-time work force by about 10 percent and is reducing non-employee-related expenses.

The company, which recently moved its headquarters from New York City, anticipates that it will incur pre-tax expenses of between $8 million and $9 million in the first quarter related to severance and benefit expenses. But the cuts are expected to yield at least $10 million in savings.

Aberdeen businesspeople win SBA award

Randy Rippin, Reed Rippin and Earl Thies, principals of RTR Technologies in Aberdeen, have been named Small Business Persons of the Year by the Small Business Administration's Baltimore-area office.

They and other winners will be honored at a breakfast May 15 at Martin's West in Woodlawn.

Charles M. Baker, president of MCB Lighting & Service in Owings, was named Veteran Champion of the Year. He also received regional and national recognition.

Bankrupt Silver Spring company sold for $28M

WorldSpace, the financially troubled Silver Spring satellite radio company that provides news, sports and entertainment programming for a global audience, is being sold for $28 million — essentially to its CEO.

The company announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware has approved the sale of substantially all of the assets related to the satellite radio business of it and its U.S. subsidiaries, WorldSpace Systems Corp. and AfriSpace Inc., to Yenura Pte. Ltd.

Yenura, a company controlled by WorldSpace founder, chairman and CEO Noah A. Samara, is purchasing the assets for $28 million in cash, the assumption of certain liabilities, and the subordination and release of certain claims, according to WorldSpace information.

The parties expect the sale to close following the issuance of the necessary regulatory approvals.

Facing significant losses and a heavy debt load, WorldSpace filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October, at that time listing liabilities of $2.1 billion and assets of $307.4 million.

There are 37 employees at the headquarters, and current plans are for them to stay, said Shefali Srivastava, vice president of corporate development.

Bomb threat prompts evacuation at MedImmune

Hundreds of employees at MedImmune in Frederick returned to work Tuesday after they were sent home Monday following a bomb threat at the biotech.

An employee early Monday found a note written on a restroom wall that warned a bomb would explode at 1 p.m. inside the Solarex Court building, according to Frederick police. Roughly 300 MedImmune workers and 350 construction workers working on the company's new manufacturing plant were sent home, said MedImmune spokesman Tor Constantino.

Bomb-sniffing dogs from the state police and Montgomery County Police Department and Sheriff's Office searched the area but did not find explosives.

Bozzuto Management wins national honor again

The National Association of Home Builders has named Bozzuto Management Co. of Greenbelt its Property Management Company of the Year for the second time. The award, which Bozzuto Management first received in 2000, recognizes "superior leadership" in multifamily housing property management.

"This award belongs to all Bozzuto Management Company employees, whose passion for excellence translates into top-notch customer service, creative marketing, outstanding resident retention and satisfied clients," Julie Smith, president, said in a statement.

Bozzuto Management is part of The Bozzuto Group, which has developed, acquired and built more than 31,000 homes and apartments since 1988.

Businesses involved in first Go Green America Expo

Standard Solar, Chesapeake Solar, Clean Currents, Green Earth Travel, Calvert, Honest Tea and Mom's Organic Market will be among the exhibitors at the first Go Green America Expo this weekend at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Gaithersburg.

The expo will include speakers on green building principles, recycling and other topics. There will be a recycling center, organic food fair, green building expo area and an Eco-kids Zone with recycled art displays, hunts for buried natural treasures and a live reptile show. Media partners include The Gazette.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Cost is $12 at t the door and $10 online. Children 12 and younger and seniors are free. Tickets are $5 for students, bike riders and public transit riders.

Montgomery, Chinese city ink pact to foster relations

A memorandum of understanding to improve economic relations between Montgomery County and Suzhou, China, was signed recently at a meeting in Bethesda between county officials and Suzhou representatives.

The agreement calls for further cooperation and exchanges in economic development, trade, science, technology, culture and education. It also aims to increase visits to and from each area to continue communication for development opportunities.

Suzhou, home to Suzhou Industrial Park, is one of China's most economically developed cities, with 53 of the top 500 foreign-invested enterprises in China, according Suzhou information. Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) visited Suzhou in the fall on a trade mission.

Montgomery College gets biotech funds

The biotechnology program at Montgomery College's Germantown campus has received $4.2 million, including $3.2 million in state and federal grants, to partially fund infrastructure design and construction at its planned Science and Technology Park, a planned partnership between the college and private industry that will create 1 million square feet of office space on 40 acres adjacent to the campus.

The funding comprises three grants: $1.4 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, $282,000 from the U.S. Small Business Administration and $1.5 million from the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development. Of the state grant, $500,000 will go to the county's Department of Economic Development for its Germantown Innovation Center business incubator in the college's Science and Technology Park.

The College also received $1 million from Virginia philanthropist Paul Peck to create the Paul Peck Center for Applied Science and Technology at the Germantown campus. Peck has donated $2.75 million to the school since 1998, not including the most recent gift.

Incubator company establishes excellence center

Solvern Innovations, a company at the bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park in Catonsville that specializes in research and development products and services, training and technology development, has established a Center of Excellence, the first for federal government employees to focus on business management, according to Solvern information.

The center will provide training for Pentagon employees and contractors in business management, acquisition, logistics and procurement processes.