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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday January 24, 2009 - 3 Local business champion NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER NEW CHAMBER CHAIR: Aby Alameddine, of Core Marketing Strategies, joined the Oakville Chamber of Commerce in 2004 in order to make business contacts and is now the new chair of the organization. New Chamber of Commerce chair ready for challenges By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF by Alameddine is a man of contradictions. He's a financial expert who co-founded a marketing company. He attended a private school, but operated an ice cream cart, then a hot dog stand. At just 18 years of age, he bought a house to operate as a student residence. Two years after 9/11, the Lebanon-born Arab and Muslim, joined the Canadian Armed Forces. During tough economic times, he's taken on the challenge of chair of the Oakville Chamber of Commerce -- at a youthful age 36. The Oakville resident, who makes his home with his wife, Tasleem and sons Zayd, 7 and Kian, 3, came to Canada in 1985 to finish high school as a boarding student at St. Catharines' Ridley College. After moving to Canada, Alameddine finished his undergraduate degree in biology at McMaster University before realizing his forte was really business and completing his Master of Business Administration (MBA) at McMaster's Michael G. DeGroote School of Business. It was through the birth of their first A "There is very serious concern about the future of the economy and the country. There is very serious disappointment with how government is handling the situation." Aby Alameddine, Oakville Chamber of Commerce chair child in 2003 that both Alameddine and his wife were earning their Chartered Financial Analyst designation -- shared by only approximately 100,000 people worldwide. "We have, I believe, the distinction of being the only husband and wife to earn the title at the same time," said Alameddine during an interview with The Oakville Beaver at the office of his company, Core Marketing Strategies, at Church and Navy streets. The birth of their first son, however, actually put their three-level, three-exam achievement on hiatus for a time. An exam a little more than a month after their son's birth was neatly fitted into their schedule -- that is, until their son was born, Alameddine laughed. "We went right into a daze after his birth on April 23. We skipped writing the exam that year (in early June) because we were so busy, we could barely put two words together," he laughed. Today, amid his business, military and chamber commitments, Alameddine makes family time a priority and said his own love of reading gets about 10 minutes a day -- between the time his kids stop jumping on him and the time he drifts off to sleep. He has, however, managed to squeeze in many high profile meetings in his capacity as a chamber director, executive member, vice-president, president-elect, and since last fall, president. His entrepreneurial spiritbus began at an early age. Despite attending a private school, Alameddine said his family was not that well off financially, so grants helped put him through school. At age 15, he was working an ice cream cart. "I would ride it all around the streets of St. Catharines," he said. Then he sold hot dogs in front of the GM plant in the city. It was during his time at McMaster that he bought, "with a lot of debt" and some family members co-signing loans, a house, which he operated for student rental. "I learned a lot of things the hard way, but which, in the end, taught me some good lessons in life," he grimaces. "Don't buy real estate at the top of the market" he advises, and remember to manage your cash flow strictly. "I was young and foolish," he said, noting though some co-op placements put him in companies like Pepsi Cola Canada, HewlettPackard and Corel Corporation, his first job upon graduating was with Dylex. "I managed to bail just before it went under," he said. After that came employment in finance roles with BMO where he was involved in the launch of several new businesses including BMO Life, the Bank of Montreal's life insurance subsidiary. He was working on setting up his own company when, just months after the birth of his son in 2003, he quit "cold turkey" his job -- with his wife's support, though she was also between jobs at the time. "Looking back, I must have been crazy. It was a significant risk, but I felt very strongly about it and my wife supported me," he said. See Commerce page 8 SHUTTERS Shop at Home Service CALIFORNIA & PLANTATION FREE SHUTTERS ETC.