PLATTSBURGH — As President and CEO of Champlain Technology Group/LayerEight, Trent Trahan has been a driving force in the North Country’s business community for decades.
So it’s fitting Trahan is the North Country Chamber of Commerce’s choice for Business Person of the Year in 2025.
Since joining the company as general manager in 1989 and becoming President and CEO in 1995, Trahan has led the independent telecommunications company through significant industry advancements, ensuring continued growth and innovation while maintaining a commitment to personalized service.
Trahan jokingly said he’s been around since “Al Gore invented the internet.”
“That’s a joke … but we were there when it started,” he said.
Trahan said his company built fiber networks, with their first big network being from Montreal to Albany.
“Then we started filling in Plattsburgh, Glens Falls and Champlain with fiber,” Trehan said.
“We ended up selling that part of the company, but we still are in the construction business. So we are currently building a pretty large project in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, which means we’re putting in telephone poles or hanging fiber and connecting it to the internet. So that’s a pretty big project, and we do a lot of those projects all over Vermont and Northern New York,” he continued.
“Another part of our business is the telephone business, and that’s in Champlain, Mooers, Altona, Rouses Point and there we deliver landline and internet service. At LayerEight (a subsidiary of Champlain Technology Group in Plattsburgh), we really manage individual networks for businesses. So we will monitor upgrades to businesses. We will replace their computers, their servers and their software and then we manage and monitor all that stuff for them.”
Trehan said the success of his business is due to the people who work there.
“We always pride ourselves on having really good employees,” he said.
“We just hired three people, and they’re obviously the youngest, but most of our people have been with us for 10 to 20 years. We pick and choose our employees. We try to make it a career move for them.”
Beyond his professional achievements, Trahan’s dedication to community service has impressed those around him.
Trehan has served as chairperson of the Clinton County Industrial Development Agency (CCIDA), a member of the CVPH Board and chairperson for the SUNY Plattsburgh Foundation’s Annual Business Partner’s Campaign, contributing to economic growth, healthcare and education.
“Trent is truly one of the most accomplished and distinguished business leaders in the North Country,” Garry Douglas, President/CEO of the North Country Chamber, said.