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One year and counting: Coons expanding Tech Council’s sphere

Friday, Sept. 23, 2005

Click here to enlarge this photo Rachael Golden⁄The Gazette ‘‘We are part of a very vibrant technology region. If you are doing business in Maryland, you should be aware of us,” says Julie Coons, president of the Tech Council of Maryland.

The native southern Californian is an outgoing leader with a gift for advocating for strong business support from state and local governments, while enabling council members to find new educational and business opportunities, said Rick Harris, the group’s vice president of marketing. He said Coons’ prior work with national trade associations and international industry and media has helped her teach the council’s 10-person staff and volunteers to think beyond Maryland’s boundaries.

Coons, often a featured event speaker on Maryland technology, manages the 600-member council’s programs and business operations, working closely with a cadre of volunteer leaders from Maryland’s high-technology communities.

‘‘Julie has taken the council to a whole new level by reaching out to other tech councils in the state and region,” said Christopher C. Foster, assistant secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development.

Coons frequently uses the word ‘‘teamwork” to describe her new influence on the council.

‘‘In life’s experiences, you never know it all,” she said. ‘‘You have to always be attentive and flexible and rely on others.”

Such a tenet of networking may be central to the council, but it first became clear to Coons when she was 19. She spent her sophomore year in college in Japan, living with a family and helping them on their farm in the Konsai region.

‘‘One day they suddenly told me they were leaving for the weekend,” she said. ‘‘I didn’t know the language well yet. That was about all I could make out!” They left her alone for a couple of days.

Coons later become fluent in Japanese and earned a bachelor’s in Japanese language and literature and a second bachelor’s in economics at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif.

After graduating, she worked in Tokyo for Seibu Department Stores, the ‘‘Bloomingdales of Japan,” she said. In the late 1980s, she worked in the Washington, D.C., bureau of a Japanese television network. As part of the Japanese press corps reporting back to Japan, she learned both sides of the hot U.S.⁄Japanese trade issues at that time, she said.

Before joining the Tech Council, Coons was executive vice president of national wireless group, the Personal Communications Industry Association. And she served for two years as an international trade specialist with the Office of Japan International Trade Administration in the U.S. Commerce Department.

Lawrence Cunnick, president of Biocon in Rockville, a biotech service company and council member, sees a ‘‘maturing of the council” under Coons.

‘‘Julie came in as a seasoned association professional” who is continuing the council’s tradition of representing both science and industry, he said. ‘‘It is a very unique synergy. When I have needed help or advice concerning competitors or IT, anything, I can call them and get a number of points of view. I have never been refused.”

At the council, Coons said, she wants ‘‘to ensure that every time a member contacts the council, they get a return on investment, that they become energized by new contacts, learn something new about their industry or gain new ideas.”

Business at Robin Jones Consulting, a marketing agency in Frederick that has been a Tech Council member for nine years, has benefited from Coons’ leadership, said Jones, company president.

‘‘Julie has brought a personable touch to the organization,” said Jones, adding that her company has its ‘‘share of high-tech clients as a marketing firm.” She said Coons has ‘‘made it easier for companies to be involved in new and different ways. It is not just the CEO-friendly organization; it is for everyone.”

At the Coons-led council, there will be fewer all-day council-sponsored events and more that will be co-sponsored with technology associations in other states and Maryland counties.

When she arrived at the council last year, Coons said, she noticed that its networking and educational events were held almost exclusively in only four counties: Montgomery, Frederick, Howard and Prince George’s.

Coons and Harris said the Tech Council and Greater Baltimore Tech Council have formed a partnership to coordinate efforts on education, networking and legislative advocacy. She has also initiated working collaborations with the Greater Washington Board of Trade, Northern Virginia Technology Council and technology councils in Washington and St. Mary’s counties. She said the idea is to cross-pollinate ideas in the technology industries throughout the mid-Atlantic region. For example, Foster said the council’s Federal Marketplace series of lectures by federal agency decision-makers is especially effective in bringing Maryland business leaders into relationships with the agencies.

At the council’s annual Maryland Technology Awards dinner in May, Coons introduced a new format for its events: more networking and less ceremony. Each award presentation and speech, except for one by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), was shortened from past years. The new format left more time for networking. Harris said each of the 875 attendees had an assigned seat and received a seating map to help find and mix with colleagues and potential business partners.

Coons said the council stacks up well against technology associations in other states, as it is among a small number whose members come from a wide range of companies, not just biotechnology and information technology. ‘‘We are part of a very vibrant technology region. If you are doing business in Maryland, you should be aware of us. We say to people, these are the leaders here,” she said, referring to council members.

Council membership includes 125 biotech companies, plus representatives of aerospace, telecommunications, manufacturing, legal services, clinical research, management consulting, federal laboratories, universities and colleges.

Coons also said that merger talks are ongoing with MdBio Inc., the trade organization of bioscience with a membership of 351 companies.

Harris and Coons were not surprised when they recently met senior managers for Apple Computer Inc. at a networking event and they asked to join the council. Harris explained that the council’s new emphasis on collaborating with neighboring states and counties is ‘‘directly leading to an influx of outside businesses joining.” For example, companies from Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, California and Florida attended a council event in April called ‘‘The Business of Stem Cell Research.” From now on, said Coons, every all-day TCM conference will carry a theme of ‘‘The Business of....”.

Coons succeeded Dyan Brasington, who was president of the Tech Council for 10 years.

Cunnick, a 17-year member of the council, said the council actually began as an advocacy group that advanced the cause of graduate education in Montgomery County by helping establish campuses for Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland on Shady Grove Road in Rockville.

The council gets 15 percent to 20 percent of support from DBED and counties, with the rest from private donations and members’ dues, Harris said.