BizBeat | August 2008

After giving five years of his extraordinary best, Chuck Hahn, Acting Small Business Coordinator for the city of Aurora, decided to step down at the end of June and take on a few independent projects with his own Hahn Consulting Group (and to enjoy the summer with his family).

Just to name a few of his many accomplishments, the versatile Chuck Hahn helped coordinate an international outreach program for Aurora small businesses under the guidance of Council Member Molly Markert; helped develop a bonding initiative for small construction companies under the leadership of Council Member Ryan Frazier; served on the marketing committee for Aurora's Home Ownership Fair; helped develop marketing strategies for several clients; undertook the challenges of the city's RLF loan program in a waning economy; helped coordinate the 10th and final Aurora Asian Film Festival, held at the Aurora Fox Arts Center. These, among many other responsibilities at the Aurora BDC, earned him the Aurora Sentinel Critics' Choice as Best Government Employee in their recent "Hot Stuff" Guide to Aurora's Best.

We already miss Chuck's extreme customer service orientation and "No worries!" managerial style. Nevertheless, we've roped him into teaching two of our exceptional classes here at the Aurora BDC: "Smart Marketing" and "Getting Results from Your Web Site", where he extends dozens of secrets for marketing and optimizing your web strategies. Taking a class from Chuck Hahn is well worth it!

Taking Chuck's place on a temporary part-time basis is a familiar face and name, Nancy Webster McKinney. Nancy (pictured here at the Aurora Fox Arts Center in 2006) is no stranger to the center, as she was the former coordinator for the center from 2002-2007. She and her husband, Bill McKinney, caught the “entrepreneurial bug” themselves and started a medical staffing agency in Aurora, MEDployee Staffing. In February, they celebrated the company's first year anniversary.

Prior to the Aurora Business Development Center, Nancy 's career has included marketing management and sales positions with corporations such as Information Handling Services, Kaiser Permanente, and Merck & Co.
In addition, she covered a 10-state region for the 2000 Census to minimize the undercount of the Asian/Pacific Islander population. Her passion for the small business community started back in 1990 when she launched the area's first SBDC in Kingsville Texas, followed by joining the Denver Small Business Development Center when she relocated back to Colorado in 1992. Nancy and her husband have a four-year-old daughter, Skylar, who is a budding entrepreneur herself, with her own desk and supplies at their staffing agency.

For more information on the above seminars and programs, please call the Aurora BDC at (303) 326-8690 or visit our web site.