Board & Staff

Aaron joined The Chamber as President and CEO in 2001 after working at his alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as Coordinator of Local Relations. In his role at the Chamber, Aaron serves a membership network of nearly 1,000 enterprises employing more than 95,000 people throughout our region.  

In support of The Chamber’s mission to build a sustainable community where business thrives, Aaron is a successful advocate for local business and community interests.  Aaron also acts as Executive Director for the Partnership for a Sustainable Community, The Chamber’s charitable economic and community development arm. Aaron has served on the Board of Directors for more than 20 local, state, and national nonprofits.  Currently, he serves on the boards of the national Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives, the Carolinas Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives and the Carolina Club.  In 2011, Aaron co-founded the national Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy, which he now chairs. 

As a Leadership Chapel Hill-Carrboro Fellow and a Ford Foundation Fellow for Regional Sustainable Development, Aaron has deep roots in and commitment to his community. Aaron speaks both nationally and internationally on economic and community development strategy, but what he loves most is his local and regional collaboration that helps keep the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community one of the best places in the world to live, work, play, and raise a family. A 1997 graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in philosophy, Aaron also served as the elected student body president.  Aaron leaps at each day enjoying all Greater Chapel Hill has to offer with his wife, Sonja, and their children, Maxwell and Atlee.