Gordon Haas

Gordon Haas, who has been the Executive Director of the Greater Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce (GECC) since 1997, has a distinguished and eclectic series of professional credits. The list of accomplishments he has accrued while running the Chamber is, likewise, distinguished and eclectic.

Holder of a Ph.D. in Human Anatomy, Haas worked as an academic and as a marketing executive prior to his arrival in Elizabeth. He was a postdoctoral fellow in hyperbaric medicine at Livingston’s St. Barnabas Medical Center, an assistant professor of human anatomy at the City College of New York as well as at NJ’s University of Medicine and Dentistry and a full professor and department chair at Touro College’s Department of Anatomy-Physician’s Assistant Program. After his professorial stints, he was a medical systems consultant for Edison’s Prodigy Systems, Inc. and later became president of Elizabeth’s HAASCO
Marketing, LLC. He is obviously the kind of man who loves a challenge and is very highly adaptable to change. Haas calls his role at the Chamber one of being a “matchmaker”. “We are out to attract, enhance and protect the city’s businesses,” said Haas about the work he does at the GECC.

The GECC, which began operation about a dozen years ago, is the 23rd largest of New Jersey’s 165 chambers of commerce. It boasts a membership of approximately 500 businesses and has been instrumental in
working with the business community and the city to transform Elizabeth from an aging port city into a vibrant community that is attracting new residents, commercial enterprises and even an influx of tourists.

“We have 3,000 hotel rooms now and we’ll be adding more,” said Haas who points out those tourists from such places as Ireland are making Elizabeth a destination point. “They fly into Newark Liberty Airport, head over to Jersey Gardens for some mega-shopping sprees and then spend the night here with great accommodations that cost significantly less than what hotel rooms are going for across the river in New York City.” He points out that the city doubly benefits from being a shoppers’ haven: Jersey Gardens employs about 5,000 people, and serves local customers as well as those from the greater New York area and those coming from across the ocean. “We all benefit from all the money being spent locally. It’s win-win.”

Haas is always on the lookout for win-win situations and has been involved in quite a few campaigns and initiatives geared to make such situations possible. “To help bring the tourists here from the airport (last October alone, over 6,000 came from just Ireland), there’s a shuttle bus every half hour. We’re planning for a ferry connection next year that will link Elizabeth and New York City.”

There are other transportation projects on the horizon that has Haas excited. “We’re trying to help implement the construction of two new bridges that will replace the Goethals and not have the truck traffic on our
local streets. There is also a plan for a light rail to reach from the midtown Elizabeth train station to the planned for ferry terminal, the Jersey Gardens/Ikea area and then on to a connection with the airport’s monorail.”

Haas is a wealth of ideas. In 2003, he spearheaded a campaign called Shop, Play and Stay at Exit 13-A – a marketing concept that called for a self-effacing approach to enriching Elizabeth. “People joke that New
Jersey’s geography is often fixed in their minds by exit sign numbers on the Turnpike. We took what was a joke, had fun with it and turned it into something serious and effective.” Grants were obtained from the
city and the state to help funnel traffic from the Turnpike to Elizabeth’s 13-A shopping and hotel districts.

Among other innovative moves is a “wayfinding” project, involving a state grant of $300,000 (scheduled to be realized this month) that will fund color-coordinated signage, making it easier for people to find their way around the city. Groundwork Elizabeth – a program facilitated by Haas that called for the planting of 2,000 trees – received a grant from the federal government that is beautifying the city and plans call for a
bicycle/hiking trail to be added to Elizabeth’s amenities as well.

Haas always has his eye on new directions being taken by commercial interests. To that end, he took a leading role in helping to bring the new company Fuel:Bio, to Elizabeth. Located beneath the Goethals Bridge, on the city’s waterfront, the plant produces 100 gallons of bio-diesel fuel a minute. That is 52 million gallons of new fuel a year made from a blend of soybean oil and diesel in a facility that produces no black smoke or toxic stink. “It’s helping to change Elizabeth from being on a chemical coast to being on a green coast,” said Haas. Now, he’s looking forward to the day when its plans for making algae into a fuel source are realized.

The Greater Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce has accomplished a great deal under Gordon Haas’ leadership. The city’s future, benefited by his enthusiasm and expertise, looks brighter than ever.