Many people in the business community in Montgomery County probably knew of Verl Zanders as the founder and CEO of Z-Tech of Rockville, an information technology systems and engineering consulting company.
As a former contracting specialist with the federal government, he turned government contractor himself and in six years grew a company from an idea into a $34 million business with more than 300 employees in several locations, before selling it last year.
But Zanders, a 61-year-old Burtonsville resident who died of a heart attack Monday night, had another side shown by his community work as a board member of many organizations, including the National Philharmonic Orchestra.
‘‘Verl displayed his passions through a generous commitment of time and personal financial resources,” said Todd R. Eskelsen, a lawyer and chairman of the National Philharmonic board. ‘‘Most recently, he sponsored the National Philharmonic’s performance of Gershwin’s ‘Porgy & Bess’ [at the Music Center at Strathmore] in February. ... When I saw him at intermission of that concert, his excitement could hardly be contained at the great music and his part in making it happen.
‘‘Verl’s service on our board was a great example that will have a tremendous impact on the National Philharmonic for years to come,” Eskelsen said. ‘‘We are all going to miss his insightful comments and his zest for life at our meetings.”
Zanders, former board member of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, was a board member of Rockville Economic Development Inc. at the time of his death.
‘‘Verl Zanders had a smile and a personality that lit up a room as soon as he walked in the door,” said Georgette ‘‘Gigi” Godwin, the Montgomery chamber president and CEO, in a chamber statement. ‘‘He is a shining example of what is possible here in Montgomery County.”
‘‘First of all he grew a wonderful company here,” said Sally Sternbach, executive director of Rockville Economic Development. ‘‘He was one of the more generous people I’ve known, not only with financial resources, but with his time and expertise. A great person and a huge loss ... it hurts especially when the good ones go young.”
The chamber statement said, ‘‘The Board of Directors and membership of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce express our deep sorrow at the sudden death of Verl Zanders.”
Survivors include his wife, Brenda; his father, Jerry Zanders Sr., and stepmother, Pam; his children, Zenita, Zachary and Zared Zanders, and Stephanie Hightower; four brothers; one sister; and one grandson.
‘‘Verl Zanders was a real leader in our community, acting as a mentor to many small business owners and supporting education through his work with the Montgomery College Foundation and the Universities at Shady Grove,” James S. Whang, chamber chairman and chairman and CEO of Germantown technology company AEPLOG, said in the statement.
‘‘His dedicated service on the chamber’s Board of Directors and on the chamber’s professional staff had a tremendous impact on Montgomery County’s vibrant business climate,” said Edward Hall Asher, immediate past chairman of the Montgomery chamber and president and COO of Chevy Chase Land Co.
A native of Florida who came to this area as a boy when his father was in the Army, Zanders served in the Air Force and worked at the Defense Department as a procurement specialist, eventually becoming a contracting officer and director of small-business programs during his 28-year federal career. Along the way he earned a bachelor’s in business from Antioch College of Washington, D.C.
After retirement, he decided to start his own company that would specialize in government contracting in the IT space and it grew fast, making Washington Technology’s Fast 50 in 2005. The next year, it was named the Tech Council of Maryland’s Government Contract Firm of the Year and the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce’s Emerging Business of the Year.
Zanders discussed his company’s specialties in an interview last year.
‘‘We have evolved over time into a health IT company,” he said. ‘‘When you look at the core competencies of what we are about, probably 75 percent of our revenue comes in the health arena ... with agencies like [the Department of] Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control [and Prevention], National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration ... We have contracts in each of those areas for providing IT services, building systems for them.”
When Zanders sold the company to ICF International of Fairfax, Va., for $27 million in June 2007, it also had offices in Baltimore, Atlanta, New Jersey, Michigan, North Carolina and Arkansas, and was providing IT, systems engineering, consulting, training and other services.
Zanders then became the Montgomery chamber’s director of business development before retiring this year. He had served on the chamber’s board for two years as founder and vice chairman of its small-business committee.
Sterling Crockett, chairman and CEO of Sterling Construction Services, which has offices in Rockville, Baltimore and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was brought into the chamber by Zanders and is now vice chairman of the small-business committee.
‘‘Verl embraced that responsibility of the fact the he believed we are put here to be in service to others,” Crockett said. ‘‘He did that with his community work, support of local colleges, and his mentoring of young businessmen like myself. [He] had a very keen interest in our business, what we were doing, and his guidance was invaluable. I consider him a very dear friend, and he will be dearly missed.”
Arrangements are being handled by Marshall Funeral Home of Washington, D.C. Viewing will be from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday, with the funeral immediately following at The People’s Community Baptist Church, 31 Norwood Road, Silver Spring. Interment will be in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring.
