Shirley Collier, C.E.O. of Optemax, LLC, is a nationally known speaker, author and technology entrepreneur. For over 25 years, she has worked in the technology, university, government, and financial services industries in a variety of technical and managerial positions. She was co-founder and CEO for 15 years of Paragon Computer Services, Inc and all of its subsidiaries which was acquired in 2004. Shirley has an undergraduate degree in Marketing with a Master’s degree in Management. She has published over 50 articles and spoken extensively on aligning business and Information Technology, IT security/governance, strategic planning and e-commerce. She serves on an advisory board of BB&T Bank, is the past chair the Board of the Howard County Economic Development Authority, and is a founding member and past President of the International Alliance of Technology Integrators. She formerly served on the Boards of the Howard County Chamber of Commerce (chairing the Education and Nominating Committees), and the Domestic Violence Center of Howard County (and recipient of their Spirit Award). Shirley serves on the Howard County Superintendent's Advisory Council for Educational Partnerships, and on the Board of the Center for Women in Information Technology at UMBC, chairing the International Committee. She also sits on the Board of Trustees of the Horizon Foundation, which focuses on community health.

Shirley has served on numerous commissions and committees including the County Executive and County Council’s Compensation Committee, the Columbia Town Center Rotary annual fundraisers (for 7 years), The Heart Ball (chair for two years), the EDA’s Incubator Committee (chair for 2 years) and Technology Leadership Consortium, and the Howard Community College’s Commission on the Future. She is a graduate of Leadership Howard County and was named Alumnus of the Year in 1997 and received the Children’s Advocate Award in 2004.

Shirley received the 1999 Woman of the Year award from the Business Women's Network of Howard County. She was awarded the EBO Outstanding Woman in Business award in 1997. Shirley was named one of Maryland's Top 100 Women in 1996, 2000 and 2005 and inducted into the “Circle of Excellence” by The Daily Record. She was named as one of the Arthritis Foundation's Women of Distinction, and in 1995 founded "Computer Mania,” a free computer symposium for girls in the public school system to foster confidence in technology, mathematics and science. Computer Mania is now being funded by major corporations in conjunction with UMBC to reach middle-school girls throughout the region. In 2003, Shirley was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame by the Howard County Women’s Commission. In 2004 Shirley received a Distinguished Leader Award from the YWCA at their first annual Women’s Leadership Luncheon. In 2005 she was named economic development Volunteer of the Year by the Northeast Economic Developer’s Association. Shirley and her company also were awarded the Torch Award for ethical business practices by the Better Business Bureau of Greater Baltimore.

Thomas Collier, Chief Technology Strategist, who co-founded Optemax and Paragon Computer Services and all of its subsidiaries, holds technical and professional certifications from a number of institutions including IEEE, CISCO, AOPA and BICSI. Over the last 25 years he has focused on network design, multi-vendor systems integration, remote communications and control, advanced network diagnostics, data center design and avionics. Since 1984 Tom has designed, installed and supported a wide variety of networked environments in the medical, research, financial services, engineering, legal, real estate, aviation and education industries.

A technologist at heart, Tom keeps his skills sharp and knowledge current by performing research and design work in the Optemax labs and most recently designed the technology prototype for utilizing BeamNet in un-manned aerial systems. His work focuses primarily on advanced network design, and he speaks and writes frequently on technology issues. A tested and proven leader throughout his life, Tom held a number of management positions in the computer industry including Service Manager of a national franchise, General Manager of a national computer retailer and Managing Partner of a systems engineering firm in Owings Mills. Tom holds a B.S. degree in Engineering Technology.