Kahn eyes taking chamber "to next level"
New president focuses on problem-solving
by Steve Monroe | Gazette.Net

GAITHERSBURG, MD - Jan. 17, 2008 - Aaron Kahn majored in sociology at Western Maryland - now McDaniel - College in Westminster because he wanted to help people and at one point thought he would go into social work.

Kahn, the new president of the Greater Mt. Airy Chamber of Commerce as of Jan. 1, ended up worked for the state on juvenile justice and crime prevention issues, specializing in helping companies and other organizations, such as school systems, so he’s still focused on improving society.

‘‘I was working with the governor’s office and going around the state training police officers and business leaders in security issues, crime prevention issues,” Kahn said.

‘‘For the business leaders, I was working on helping them decide how and where they were losing money, and how to control that. I realized I liked meeting with people and helping them to solve problems, to relieve them of their headaches.”

So three years ago Kahn, with partner Jim Braccille, started Eclipse Security Inc., originally in Ellicott City and now in Baltimore. The company works in the commercial and government sectors, providing security, access control and surveillance services.

Kahn said the company, with seven full-time employees, is projecting revenues of $3 million to $5 million as early as this year, with clients all around the state, and out of state from New Jersey down to Virginia Beach, Va.

A desire "to give back"

Kahn, a New Market resident, is also helping people, including small businesses in the entire Mount Airy community, as the chamber president. His chamber work resulted from a decision he made a few years ago.

A New Jersey native, Kahn’s family moved to Maryland when he was a boy and he grew up in Carroll County, graduating from Francis Scott Key High School.

‘‘I started doing things with the chamber,” Kahn said, ‘‘just because, since I was from Carroll County and went to school there, I felt if I was going to give back to the community, I wanted to do it close to my roots. I enjoy working with the people in the town and the small businesses.

‘‘And I’m one of those people who, when, if I’m going to jump in, I do it with both feet.”

Kahn became first vice president of the chamber a couple of years ago, then was elected last fall as the new president, succeeding Carol Cahall. As the new president, Kahn has plans to take the chamber ‘‘to the next level.”

‘‘A lot of what we do is networking events and providing our membership help with advertising and marketing,” said Kahn, 33, ‘‘and we’re strong with event support, fundraisers.

‘‘I want to take that a step further. I’d like to see us provide more professional development seminars, on things like business plans, guerrilla marketing ... I think that kind of information is very valuable for small-business owners. My goal is to provide 40 hours of classes for business owners in 2008.”

‘‘Aaron is a very dynamic leader who has already brought a lot of energy and new ideas to this position,” said Dennis Emerson, chamber membership director and owner of Sherman-Emerson Insurance in Mount Airy.

‘‘He is making good things happen at the chamber and I believe that 2008 will prove to be a very good year under his leadership. I’d like to see continued growth for the chamber ... we’re hoping to reach 400 members this year.”

Kahn said another goal is making the chamber even more of a voice in the town.

‘‘With more than 300 members, we should be able to do that,” Kahn said. ‘‘I want to see us increase our community involvement and get more involved in making decisions in the town.”

Providing ‘green’ solutions for security products

Kahn also is working on taking Eclipse Security to another level by focusing on the company being more environmentally conscious in its own office and in its work for clients.

As a member of the U.S. Green Building Council on the local and national level, Eclipse Security works on customizing environmentally conscious security products for clients, he said.

‘‘With an increasing amount of our clients asking us to design green solutions, it was only appropriate for us to take a look at how we do things ourselves,” said Kahn, the company’s director of business development.

In addition to offsetting its carbon usage, the company uses recycled paper for all proposals and marketing. Kahn said the company is handling its payroll all electronically. There are no ‘‘pay stubs,” he said, because employees must use direct deposit where pay stubs can be downloaded and printed when needed. ‘‘We really took a hard look at all of our business processes and chose to do as much as possible,” he said.

Braccille, director of operations, has also required Eclipse technicians to recycle all possible materials from customer sites, including batteries, electrical components and, most importantly, cardboard.

‘‘Almost 100 percent of security equipment comes in individual cardboard boxes, and when we are installing hundreds of cameras at just one location, the amount of waste is beyond belief,” Braccille said.

The company also helps clients cut energy use.

‘‘When building access security systems for clients, we can eliminate the risk of too much [heating, ventilation and air conditioning] use by controlling the system according to when people come in,” Kahn said. ‘‘When you use your card to enter a building the system can be turned on, then when you leave, the system can be turned off automatically.”

Aaron Kahn
Age: 33.
Position: Director of business development, Eclipse Security Inc. of Baltimore.
Organizations: President, Greater Mt. Airy Chamber of Commerce; member, American Society for Industrial Security and Baltimore County Police and Private Security Association.
Education: Bachelor’s in sociology, Western Maryland College.
Residence: New Market.
Family: Wife; son, 19 months.