Andy Fraser

"I like to move quickly and get things done."

By Kaukab Jhumra Smith

Andy Fraser is barely seated for a moment outside the Starbucks on Ellsworth Street in Silver Square when a young boy, about 14 years old, approaches his table with plastic basket in hand.

"I'm sorry to disturb you," the boy begins apologetically. He is selling chocolates to raise funds for a program aimed "to keep youth out of trouble." Would Fraser be interested?

Six dollars later, a box of caramel chocolate chews on the seat next to him, Fraser settles back in his chair. The outgoing president of the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce sips soda from a glass bottle.

Around him, the street bustles with packs of girls in flip-flops and workers in crisp shirts and slacks. Two stores down, Chipotle Mexican Grill is doing a brisk business. Across the street, an empty glass storefront announces a Borders Books and Music store on its way.

Downtown has sprung, and Fraser, a 37-year-old entrepreneur with an open, friendly charm, couldn't be more upbeat about business in Silver Spring. After his term as president of the chamber of commerce ended on June 30, Fraser, who is half Ecuadorean, cites two particular accomplishments.

The first of these is his outreach to the Latino business community. He appointed Carmen Camacho, a small-business owner active in Montgomery County's Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, to the Silver Spring chamber's board of directors. And with Camacho's help, he hopes to attract more Latino participation, Fraser says.

The second source of pride for Fraser is proud of is a ten percent increase in chamber membership, up from 450 members a year ago to more than 500 members now.

Plenty in Silver Spring seems to have changed recently. For example, Fraser says, sitting outside on the sidewalk like this would have been impossible last year. A former construction site, Ellsworth Street has transformed in front of his eyes.

"If I was a retail store [owner], I'd love to be down here," he says. "This is an amazing opportunity for business."

Fraser sounds a positive note even when asked about smaller businesses that may be struggling in the new hyperactive downtown environment. The chamber of commerce is gearing up to launch a fall training program for small businesses to work on their business plans and practice financial planning, he says. Program details will be announced by the end of this month.

Fraser has spent his adult life seizing opportunities. Eight years ago, he co-founded an Internet company, Sandglass Systems, to host and build corporate Web sites, and soon branched into developing applications for academic clients. Initially based out of the downstairs den of his parents' home, Sandglass is now a five-employee, million-dollar outfit in Kensington.

Cherub-faced and energetic, Fraser is personable, an inquisitive conversationalist, and a seasoned world traveler. His need to see the world links to his professional success–traveling has helped him understand multiple perspectives, including those of his clients, he says.

"The more people he can meet and learn about, the happier he is," says Suzanne Ryan, Fraser's fianc e and a research associate with the nonprofit organization Child Trends. "He finds something interesting about everybody he meets."

Fraser is also a compulsive volunteer, serving on three different alumni boards, his condominium association, and the chamber of commerce, where he will continue as a board member after stepping down as president. Somewhere in between, he finds time to coach a master class at the Olney Swim Center every week.

This mix of empathy, curiosity, and enthusiasm for staying involved means that he often jumps at chances to try new things–a personality trait that has led him to seek partners, such as his fianc e and former business partner Geng Chan, whose analytical approach to business balances Fraser's more impetuous ways.

"I like to move quickly and get things done," Fraser says. "Sometimes I don't take enough time to think about it."

In 1992, after finishing his MBA, Fraser was faced with a tight job market and volunteered for five months for a committee working on the transition from the Bush Administration to the Clinton Administration. As part of his work, he sold memorabilia, including saxophone lapel pins, from a little store inside the Omni Shoreham Hotel near Adams-Morgan.

Next, Fraser took a job as a computer salesperson–primarily to get a discount on a new computer. He was miserable during his entire two years there. (The company, Accel, is no longer in business.) Bad quality control on its custom-built computers meant that machines kept coming back for repairs, but rigid customer service policies meant that Fraser couldn't do anything to help his customers.

"I'd be dealing with people who'd brought this computer back four or five times," he says, grimacing. "It was horrible! And I had to say, 'I can't give you your money back.'"

Unable to cope with such unprofessional practices, Fraser quit his job in 1995 and left to spend six months in Europe.

He landed in Amsterdam with only $3,000 in sales commissions. He hitched a ride on an 18-wheeler truck to Copenhagen rather than taking the train, so that his 21-day Eurail pass would last longer. He traveled to Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and the south of France, spending the night in youth hostels and living on $20 to $30 a day. His money ran out by the time he reached Spain.

Fraser wanted to stay in Spain so badly that he arranged for his brother to sell his car back home. Using the $3,500 from the sale, he took classes at the University of Malaga to fulfill a long-held wish to learn Spanish. Though it was his mother's native tongue, he'd never learned it as a child.

"At that time, the thought was that English was the language everyone should know," Fraser says.

Born in Philadelphia, Fraser was raised mostly in Wheaton and Silver Spring, aside from a year in Ecuador when he was two. He graduated from Northwood High School in 1985 in the last senior class before the school closed for budget reasons. In 1990, he received a bachelor's degree in economics from St. Mary's College of Maryland and continued his education at the University of Baltimore, where he earned his MBA.

Despite his love affair with Spain and his own Latin American roots, Fraser doesn't necessarily consider himself Latino.

"That's half of what I am, but I can't entirely identify with it," he says. "I think I've been thoroughly melted into American culture."

When he returned from Europe in 1995, Fraser moved back in with his parents and started a business called Fraser Communication Networks. At a time when the internet was gaining popularity, the company worked at translating web sites into foreign languages. Within a year, Fraser was ready to move on to a different venture with Chan. In 1996, they founded Sandglass Systems.

Fraser is a whirlwind of activity these days. He and Ryan will close soon on an old four-bedroom house in Kensington Heights. They're planning a 200-guest wedding in August in Pennsylvania. And they're going to honeymoon in Hawaii, where Fraser will get a chance to try out his new scuba-diving certification.

True to character, Fraser's jumped right into wedding planning. "From what I understand, most men don't get involved, but I'm involved pretty heavily," he says, admitting it's driving him a little nuts.

Ryan and Fraser met at a single volunteers function in December 2002 and were engaged ten months later. Ryan, who holds a doctorate in sociology, shares Fraser's volunteer zeal and coaches gymnastics at MarVaTeens, a Rockville-based teen training center, every week.

So where does someone who's bungee jumped in New Zealand and been snorkeling in Australia go next?

"Possibly Africa," Fraser says, munching on a chocolate caramel chew. "Maybe Kenya."