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It was a call from a journalist, asking, again, what was the latest on this large company that was thinking about relocating because the rumor was the company's lease was up soon and it was leaning toward going to Northern Virginia.

Steven A. Silverman, Montgomery County Director of Economic Development, could have not returned the call, returned it and curtly said no comment, or returned it by saying a lot but saying nothing at all, as government officials often do.

Silverman was patient and to the point. "To our knowledge, their lease is not up for a few years, and we've been in constant contact with them," he said. "They are looking at several options, and we have made an offer to them, in conjunction with the state and are awaiting their response. But to our knowledge nothing is imminent." The company's response was about the same. One small fire put out, for Silverman.

Silverman, only several months into the job, manages a deft touch, though he's in the hot-seat position of trying to create economic development in a down economy. Maybe it's because of his years as an attorney mediating issues between various opposing parties, his long experience as a county councilman, or his time spent as a state official working on aging, health care and consumer protection issues.

Or, it could be rooted in his having his eye on a political career way back as a youngster, having learned all about handling the media and politics from his father, a radio newsman and talk show host.

When the Maryland Biotechnology Center opened in Rockville in September — days after its companion Baltimore office opened — prompting commentary on whether the state is pushing Baltimore more as a biotech center, Silverman said, "Maryland has to have a biotech center in Montgomery County. We're the heart of life sciences. And we're working in partnership with Johns Hopkins. We need to make sure that the message that's being sent, with the MedImmunes and others that we have here, that Montgomery County is going to be a hub for life sciences for the foreseeable future.

"If it was just located in Baltimore or another part of the state [several sites were considered] I think it would create a challenge for us here in Montgomery. The fact that it's here is an important statement by the governor that we are serious about biotech."

Thursday in Rockville, Silverman presided over the announcement of the county's Biosciences Task Force report, which called for, among other things, an accelerator program to boost bioscience companies and a county biotech tax credit program, similar to the existing state program.

"This is a blueprint for the future for Montgomery County life sciences ... now we have to go implement it," said Silverman.

The Business Gazette talked to Silverman recently about economic development issues.

You said the accelerator program — the idea of involving venture capital firms, top entrepreneurs and other industry experts to help grow companies — has worked in Seattle?

Yes, it has worked there and in other places, like Pennsylvania, Delaware ... and has been well received. It's something [the] private sector here has talked about. We do an excellent job of supporting early stage companies, and we think the accelerator program and using a public/private partnership to help will do a good job in supporting them and moving them to the next level, which is what we need here to help create jobs and increase the tax base.

There are a lot of ideas out there, good ideas, but the key is execution. This report is not going to sit on a shelf, we have to move it forward now with actual implementation.

As far recruiting companies, you think the opening of the biotechnology centers in the fall will help when you talk to companies about expanding or relocating?

It's a very important message to the life science community that Maryland and Montgomery County care about biotech. It's just part of the package that we can show that we want companies to come here, we want companies to expand here.

And your experience working on those issues included being a councilman back when Marriott was persuaded to stay in the county?> Yes, and you have to remember that the decision to support Marriott financially, which we made jointly with the state, was coming on the heels of a very anti-business decade here, both in terms of perception and reality. You had a county executive before Doug Duncan who had publicly said, when General Dynamics was looking to come to the area, that we didn't need General Dynamics to locate their corporate headquarters here because, after all, it was "only" 200 jobs. So we were in a downturn because of the recession then, just coming out of it, and here Marriott, an existing employer that was looking to expand was basically saying look, ‘We don't actually have to be in Montgomery County, we could be across the river.'

We knew then that it was important to try to reshape the perception of Montgomery County as being anti-business and if we did not manage to keep Marriott and assist them in their expansion plans that that was going to set this county back decades in terms of creating a tax base.

And you were involved long ago in work on the redevelopment of Silver Spring?

One of the things working on that was that because there was such an extraordinary need for the creation of a downtown, we were able to work together with the private sector, civic leaders, PTA activists and faith-based leadership to support downtown revitalization. I was disappointed when I got to the [county] council to find that model was not the model countywide [on development projects]. That you were either on one side or another, which remains disappointing to me today.

How did you get interested in public service for a career?

When I was growing up, that's where my interest in politics came from, because we were in New Hampshire, the first in the nation primary [for presidential elections] and my Dad would be out there interviewing all these presidential candidates. So that was a tremendous influence on my life.

So later I knew I was going to be a lawyer. So I went to the University of New Hampshire for my first year, it was 10 minutes from my house. ... Then when I was there, I really wanted more of a focus on government and politics and somebody said you ought to look at American [University], and I came down here in fall of '73 and never left.

Then in politics, after a long time on the council, you had a big defeat when you lost to Isiah Leggett for county executive, how did you handle that?

I was on the wrong side of the major issue of the day, growth, and I didn't take it personally. I thought we ran a good campaign, but sometimes you can run a good campaign and if you're on the wrong side of a major issue, that's what happens. I was fortunate to able to take advantage of an opportunity with the state attorney general's office, and stay working with the public, and that was key for me, to stay in public service.

Now that you've been back working in the county, what grade would you give yourself for your first eight months in office?

An incomplete! We have a long way to go. I'm happy about being part of the Leggett team, I think Ike clearly gets the need for a strong tax base. I think the economy locally will be in rough times for the foreseeable future, and I'm pleased that I'm part of helping to reshape the focus on innovation and job creation, away from the traditional growth, no growth [perspective] which is historically what it is has been.

You know, economic development is a misnomer. What it really is is producing a tax base to pay for the services like education and parks and libraries that we all want, and it's producing job opportunities for people. It just happens to go under an umbrella called economic development, which is really dry. I wish I could rename our department the department of jobs and innovation, because that's really what we are trying to do.

Steven A. Silverman

-Age: 55

-Position: Director, Montgomery County Department of Economic Development

-Previous positions: Director for Aging, Healthcare and Special Projects in the Office of Maryland Attorney General; Chief, Consumer Protection Division, Office of Maryland Attorney General; Staff Assistant Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division, Office of Maryland Attorney General; Montgomery County Councilman.

-Education: Bachelor's degree, political science, American University; law degree, George Washington University

-Organizations: American ORT, Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, Non-Profit Village, Washington Area Housing Trust Fund

-Residence: Silver Spring

-Family: Son, Jordan.

-Hobbies: Golf, mystery novels