As a special addition to our member promotion services, the Chamber is now offering a free Featured Member Profile, which will be printed in the Chamber View and posted on the website for a month, then moved into a prominently-placed online archive for the remainder of the year.  To win this free publicity, just drop your business card into the Featured Member Fishbowl at each monthly Networking Mixer and be present for the drawing.  For more information, call the Chamber, 410-719-9609.

Featured Member

July 2010

Lynn Gardner, Clean Currents:
Supporting Catonsville’s Potential as a Green Leader

There’s no question – brand-new Chamber member Lynn Gardner of Clean Currents sees Catonsville as a green leader among Maryland communities.

And she’s on a mission to support the Chamber’s initiative to help local businesses go green.

It started three years ago, when 300 local residents signed up for green energy in response to a Clean Currents presentation. “That was pretty remarkable,” says Lynn. ““It’s appropriate that Clean Currents chose to set up our office in Catonsville, because of the commitment this community has shown to being green.”

Now, her Business Development job for the company is to raise an equal level of excitement for green energy in Catonsville’s business community. “We’re not just supplying energy at a lower price,” she says, “but also making businesses aware of their ability to choose their energy sources (not just their distributors). It’s our goal to get a critical mass of Catonsville businesses signed on for green power.”

To get the ball rolling, the company is forming a Catonsville Clean Energy Buying group, essentially a co-op in which a group of businesses  join together to save money on energy costs by pooling their kilowatt hours and  purchasing clean energy at prices below standard utility rates,  with no additional fees assessed. Clean Currents then invites bids from energy suppliers to provide a fixed rate to the group for a term of up to three years.

While businesses will continue to receive energy through BGE’s distribution system, and will be billed by BGE, their bills will reflect the new energy supplier and rate.

But providing clean energy through the grid is not Clean Currents’ only service. The company also provides solar energy installations and consults on energy-saving green building improvements or new building plans.

With a track record of over 100 commercial installations, Clean Currents' solar team has handled projects ranging from large corporate facilities to private residences. And with LEED Accredited Professionals such as Lynn on staff, the company is capable of consulting on additional green energy options such as renewable energy credits.

Originally from Ohio, Lynn grew up seeing her father working for an energy co-op, “so it’s in my blood, you might say,” she says wryly. She achieved her LEED-AP certification, allowing her to consult on green projects.

She’s worked in Catonsville, off and on, since 1986, with the greater part of her work being in real estate and property development, including the remodeled Paradise Assisted Living facility on Frederick Road, the Almost Family Adult Day Care (now Active Day) in Arbutus, and affordable housing for low- to middle-income families.

The greater part of her work, however, has been in facilitating personal and professional transformation. In her 25-year-old private consulting practice, Community Market Services, Inc., she has coached sales managers and development teams in introducing new products and initiatives.

And as a 2004 graduate of the Tai Sophia Institute M.A. program in Applied Healing Arts, she created a program called Radical Sabbatical, a one-on-one coaching intensive to support clients in conscious living in balance with their family, their community, and the natural world.

The bottom line for Lynn? Supporting professionals, businesses and communities in achieving their full potential as leaders. 

“I am excited and determined to continue supporting Catonsville in becoming a green community that is recognized as outstanding in Baltimore County and in the state of Maryland,” she says. “This community has demonstrated tremendous ability to come together in a good cause, and my goal is to support that potential.”

 Past Featured Members