June 01, 2007 Laurel, Maryland

Sixty business and government leaders attended the Inaugural President’s Forum of the Innovation and Leadership Institute on May 30 to hear David Edgerley, Maryland’s secretary of business and economic development, talk about the importance of entrepreneurship in creating jobs and building a strong economy.

The luncheon event in the William G. McGowan Academic Center marked the official establishment of the Innovation and Leadership Institute, which Edgerley praised for forming an important link between academia and the private sector. “With the launch of this institute, Capitol College is standing on the bridge connecting businesses of the future with the workforce of tomorrow. It is through initiatives like this that we will find the next plateau for collaborative efforts between the business, government and education communities,” he said.

Edgerley helped establish a business incubator in Silver Spring and the biotech corridor in northern Montgomery County, while serving as the county’s director of economic development from 1995 to 2006.

President Michael Wood gave a brief overview of the institute’s objectives and presented an honorary Doctor of Science degree to Capitol alumnus Richard Zuschlag, co-founder and CEO of Acadian Ambulance Service. “Richard’s great achievements [are] a preview of what the new leadership institute will help to produce for America,” Wood said.

Zuschlag’s experience shows what can be accomplished by an entrepreneur with both technical and leadership skills. After Hurricane Katrina destroyed most of southern Louisiana’s infrastructure in August 2005, Acadian had the only working radio system, thanks to Zuschlag’s attention to reliability and redundancy. “The principles that I learned at Capitol College became an integral part of my company and helped save lives. My engineering education at Capitol College stressed the overwhelming importance of backup technology, and this was the key to getting people out of danger,” Zuschlag said.

The collaborative programs of the new institute will merge the college’s technology and business disciplines to prepare individuals to be leaders and entrepreneurs in a technology-based economy. “Whether we are coping with terrorism, health care, the global economy, our natural environment, the next wave of electronic communication, or other as yet undefined challenges, it seems clear that a combination of better technology, people and organization is going to be required,” Wood said. “Solving the problems of our world and of our towns demands innovation, leadership and collaboration. Solutions will only occur at the intersection of technology, business and society.”

“As I look at alumnus Kelly Brown, whose entrepreneurial company developed software that General Motors uses to design all of its vehicles; and as I look at alumnus Richard Zuschlag, whose passion, creativity and foresight rescued thousands of hospital patients from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, it is a natural extension from a Capitol engineering and telecommunications education to the new Innovation and Leadership Institute that we begin today,” Wood said.

A Leadership Advisory Council will guide the institute’s programs. In addition to a speaker series and a business resource center already underway, programs being developed include courses on entrepreneurship and leadership topics, an information assurance summit, leaders-in-residence, outreach programs for minorities and women, and best practices research.