Ori Reiss Installed as Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce Chairman of the Board

Ori Reiss, the President and CEO of GlobalNet Services, Inc., started his term as the new Chairman of the Board of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce (MCCC) at the 2012 MCCC Annual Dinner. Reiss, the former Chair-elect, took the reins from outgoing Chairman, Tom McElroy of Hughes Networks, in a ceremony that included the passing of a torch.

In his inauguration speech, Reiss put forth his goal of broadening the business development focus in the county internationally by leveraging its proximity to the Nation’s capital and the many foreign embassies located there. He added that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology are present in the county and have missions with a global impact.

Reiss added that Montgomery County is an international microcosm with over 160 nationalities represented and nearly half of the state’s international population. The county is also home to a vibrant biotechnology industry, world-renowned education institutions such as Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, and a school system ranked amongst the best in the nation. The MCCC is at the nexus and will help guide members to expand into the global marketplace by bringing in experts in the U.S. and foreign markets.
Georgette Godwin, President and CEO of the MCCC, stated, “Ori Reiss is a visionary CEO who understands that connecting locally through the Chamber opens global growth opportunities for our member companies.”

The 2012 MCCC Annual Dinner event was held on June 6, 2012, at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Bethesda, Maryland. MCCC hosts the annual dinner to celebrate the extraordinary leaders on the MCCC Board of Directors as well as the visionaries and partners who contribute to the organization’s mission. Distinguished awardees for 2012 included Clifford “Cliff” Kendall, who is the recipient of the MCCC Visionary Award. The MCCC Public Sector Partner of the Year Award was presented to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and accepted by the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM.