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Daily News

HOLYOKE — PeoplesBank announced the appointment of Christine Phillips as vice president, Human Resources. In her new position, Phillips will monitor and administer the bank’s human-resources policies and recruitment plan, oversee employee relations, administer employee benefits, and serve as the bank’s EEO/AAP officer.

“PeoplesBank is focused on top talent recruitment and employee engagement as a strategy for organizational success,” noted Janice Mazzallo, executive vice president and chief human resources officer at PeoplesBank. “Christine’s experience in human-resources management over a wide spectrum of job functions and organizations will be extremely valuable to us in our efforts to find, onboard, and keep the best associates in banking in this market.”

Phillips brings more than 15 years of human-resources experience including recruiting, performance analysis, and compliance. She not only helped a variety of organizations recruit top talent, she also helped operate a successful human-resources company.

A member of the AIM Human Resources Group, Phillips holds a bachelor’s degree from UMass Amherst. She is a member of the South Hadley School Committee, the PTA president of Plains School, and a board member of St. Patrick’s CYO Basketball.

Daily News

NORTHAMPTON — Following nationwide searches, Cooley Dickinson President and CEO Joanne Marqusee announced that two healthcare executives, Katherine Bechtold and Anthony Scibelli, have joined the organization’s senior leadership team.

Bechtold has been selected as Cooley Dickinson Health Care’s vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer.

“I am very excited to have someone with Kate’s depth of experience, clear commitment to quality care and service excellence, collaborative style, and ability to inspire staff at all levels join the senior leadership team,” Marqusee said.

Added Bechtold, “I am excited about this wonderful opportunity to lead nursing and patient-care services at Cooley Dickinson. I was impressed with the commitment to patient care that I heard from staff and medical staff alike and look forward to being part of the new leadership team that Joanne Marqusee is building.”

Most recently, Bechtold served as the senior vice president and chief nurse executive for MultiCare Health System in Tacoma, Wash., where she oversaw system-wide nursing and clinical policies, case management, social work, and quality care for the five-hospital system and its primary-care, urgent-care, and specialty clinics.

She also served for eight years as chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care at Centura Health Systems in Englewood, Colo., and Saint Anthony Hospital System. She counts among her accomplishments leading Saint Anthony Central Hospital to one of the highest scores in the nation for nursing quality indicators and significantly reducing nursing-management turnover rates.

Scibelli has joined Cooley Dickinson Health Care as vice president, operations and chief administrative officer. He will supervise a number of departments, including Facilities, Housekeeping, Transport, Security, Nutrition, Lab, Imaging, and Human Resources.

“I am very excited that a leader with Tony’s range of experience, dedication to service excellence, and ability to lead teams and promote teamwork has accepted this important position. He will add much to the new senior leader team we are building,” Marqusee said.

Scibelli has most recently served as senior vice president, Human Resources, Support Services, and Post Acute Operations at Mohawk Valley Health System in Utica, N.Y., which resulted from the affiliation of Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare and St. Elizabeth Medical Center. He oversaw a range of functions, including Human Resources, Facilities Management, Support Services, Home Care, and Long-term Care. Scibelli joined Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare in 2004 as vice president, Human Resources and was promoted several times there.

Before joining Faxton-St. Luke’s, Scibelli worked in the food industry, where he got his start at Big Y Foods in Springfield. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Worcester State College and master’s degrees from Lesley College in Cambridge and SUNY Albany.

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield College Strength and Conditioning Graduate Program has again received acceptance into the National Strength and Conditioning Assoc. (NSCA) Education Recognition Program (ERP) for the next three years.

“The graduate strength and conditioning program provides challenging academic coursework combined with internship opportunities that in many instances lead to student employment,” said Tracey Matthews, dean of the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. “Dr. Brian Thompson has built a stellar program, and this achievement is evidence of the commitment and passion our faculty place in our graduate programs. We are extremely proud of this recognition. This further affirms the strength of our program.”

A new benefit of having ERP acceptance will be the opportunity for Springfield College to host an Exam Prep Live Clinic providing students a comprehensive review of information most relevant to the certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) and the national strength and condition association-certified personal trainer (NSCA-CPT) exams. As a NSCA Exam Prep Live Clinic host school, Springfield College students would be able to take advantage of a discounted rate when registering for the exam, as well as discounted rates on all CSCS and NSCA-CPT exams.

Additional benefits for the college resulting from the ERP acceptance include a strong presence on the NSCA’s official website, a listing in the NSCA membership newsletter that is distributed to professional and associate members, and the opportunity for the college to receive up to three complimentary career postings on the nsca.com career-resources page for the three-year period.

The Springfield College Strength and Conditioning Graduate Program prepares students to work with athletes as strength and conditioning coaches in secondary-school, collegiate, professional, and private settings. Students develop the skills and knowledge needed to design physiologically sound programs that enhance athletic performance, as well as the coaching skills needed to implement the programs. Coursework is both practical and research-based, and all students will complete multiple field-work experiences.

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. announced strong consolidated statutory financial results for 2014, including a substantial increase in earnings and net income, record sales in key businesses, and highest-ever levels of assets under management, statutory surplus, and total adjusted capital.

The company reported that, for the year ended Dec. 31, 2014, sales of whole-life insurance were $418 million, up 20% from the prior 12 months — representing the ninth consecutive year of record highs — while retirement-plan sales rose 23% to $9.1 billion, also a record. The net gain from operations before policyowner dividends and taxes — the company’s primary earnings measure as a mutual company — was up 27% to $2.2 billion.

Further, MassMutual’s highest-ever levels of statutory surplus and total adjusted capital — both key indicators of the company’s overall financial stability — were $14.2 billion and $16.4 billion, respectively, and continued to provide the company with substantial financial resources that help deliver long-term financial confidence and security to policyowners and customers.

“I am pleased to report that 2014 was another tremendous year for MassMutual,” said Roger Crandall, MassMutual’s chairman, president, and CEO. “By delivering record results, outpacing growth in our industry, and increasing our financial strength, we performed favorably against the backdrop of a U.S. economy that continued a slow but steady rebound in 2014. Our results further illustrate our powerful momentum and have positioned the company for another great year in 2015.”

He added, “through our people, products, and solutions, we continued to take steps to build a better company for our policyowners and customers, and deliver on our purpose to help people secure their future and protect the ones they love.”

While dividends are not guaranteed, MassMutual’s board of directors approved an estimated 2015 dividend payout of $1.6 billion, which reflects a dividend interest rate of 7.10% on eligible participating life-insurance policies, highest among its mutual competitors.

Also driving MassMutual’s 2014 success was its growing network of financial professionals, who help people gain confidence by bringing clarity and solutions to some of the biggest financial challenges they face. MassMutual expanded that network by 6% over 2013 to more than 5,500 financial professionals at the end of 2014, an all-time high.

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — The Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield (ACCGS) will present a Pastries, Politics, and Policy program on Tuesday, March 24 called “Riding the Rails: High-speed Rail Service from Springfield to Boston,” from 8 to 9 a.m. at the TD Bank Conference Center, 1441 Main St., Springfield.

State Sen. Eric Lesser and Tim Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC), will discuss Lesser’s recently filed feasibility bill requiring the Mass. Department of Transportation to conduct a study on the viability of high-speed rail access between Springfield and Boston. They will also address the need for this service and how it can positively impact Western Mass. economies.

While running for Senate, high-speed rail was the top priority in Lesser’s campaign platform, and, since being elected, has worked extensively on this issue. Brennan is an advocate for the high-speed east-west rail and, with the PVPC, is involved heavily in preparation for its possible implementation.

The program cost is $15 for chamber members, $25 for general admission. For more information, contact Sarah Mazzaferro at [email protected] or (413) 755-1313.

Daily News

FLORENCE — Florence Bank, a mutually owned savings bank serving the Pioneer Valley through nine branch locations, will host its fifth annual Adopt-a-Pet Day for Dakin Humane Society on Wednesday, March 4, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the bank’s main office lobby at 85 Main St., Florence.

Staff and volunteers from Dakin will be on hand at the bank for what Dakin Executive Director Leslie Harris calls a “meet and greet with animals” — dogs, cats, and possibly even a rabbit or two — all of whom are in need of good homes. Visitors can then complete the adoption process at the Dakin Adoption Center in Springfield later in the day. Florence Bank will also provide gift certificates toward the purchase of pet supplies for all who, that day, are approved to adopt.

“We have always had good luck with the adoption event at Florence Bank, not only with placing of animals through adoption but also raising awareness about the other animals available in Dakin’s adoption centers,” said Harris. “The opportunity to take our animals to the community is one that we love to do. Not only do people get to snuggle with some warm animals, and perhaps even find a new best friend, but it gives us the chance to tell people about the other things that Dakin does. That includes low-cost spay/neuter services, vaccines, dog-training classes, and more. We love meeting other people who love animals.”

Florence Bank has a history of partnering with and supporting Dakin. The organization has been a recipient of the Bank’s $5,000 Customers’ Choice Community Grant program, and has used the funds to support an effort benefiting pet owners who cannot afford to feed their dogs and cats.

“We always look forward to the Adopt-a-Pet Day with our friends from Dakin,” said John Heaps Jr., president and CEO of Florence Bank. They provide a great service for our region, and our customers tell us that they really enjoy the event. We encourage everyone to come by, whether you’re thinking of adopting a pet or just want to visit with a few.”

For additional information on pet adoption though Dakin, call (413) 781-4000 or visit www.dakinhumane.org.

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Just four days after the birth of their son at Baystate Medical Center, Harold and Kristin Coles learned that Joe had mosaic Down syndrome and a blood disorder called transient myeloproliferative disorder found almost exclusively in newborn babies with Down syndrome. At age 2, Joe was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia, which involved an aggressive treatment plan including chemotherapy lasting 72 consecutive treatments. It was during his care at Baystate Children’s Hospital that his appendix also burst, sending him into emergency surgery.

Joe’s story is just one of many to be heard during the often-emotional annual 94.7 WMAS Radiothon, benefiting Baystate Children’s Hospital, to be broadcast for three days beginning Thursday, March 5, and ending Saturday, March 7. There will also be a live Radiothon remote broadcast indoors at Holyoke Mall at Ingleside on March 7 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. During last year’s Radiothon, sponsors and listeners pledged $254,341 in support of local healthcare programs for children at Baystate Children’s Hospital.

“Joe and other children cared for at Baystate Children’s Hospital truly benefit from the generosity of those pledging their support to the only comprehensive children’s hospital in western Massachusetts,” said Jane Albert, vice president of Development, Baystate Health, and executive director of the Baystate Health Foundation.

On-air personalities at 94.7 FM WMAS — led by the Kellogg Krew of Chris, Dina, and Lopez — will again continue this year with their regular radio formats throughout the day, interspersed with live and taped interviews featuring young patients and their families, as well as community donors and staff from Baystate Children’s Hospital. They will be asking listeners to pledge their support by calling in donations to phone banks at the hospital.

Broadcast hours for the Radiothon will be from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. Listeners will have an opportunity during the Radiothon to join the Miracle Maker Club, requiring a pledge of at least $15 per month on a credit card or a one-time donation of $180 or more. When listeners become a member of the club, a toy or game from Hasbro Inc. — the Radiothon’s Miracle Maker sponsor — will be delivered in their name to a young patient in Baystate Children’s Hospital.

Those wanting to become a Change Hero to raise funds for the Radiothon can create their own fund-raising web page by visiting www.baystatehealth.org/radiothon. Change Heroes who turn in their funds by March 31 and raise $100 or more will have an opportunity to win a special prize.

As for how Joe is managing today, some 10 years later, the good news is that he is flourishing. Joe is lovingly referred to as the “mayor of Baystate” and is a fixture at fund-raising events such as the upcoming Radiothon.

Baystate Children’s Hospital is one of 170 fund-raising Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. All money raised through the Radiothon goes directly to Baystate Children’s Hospital in Springfield, Baystate Mary Lane Hospital in Ware, Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, and Baystate Visiting Nurse Assoc. & Hospice to support children’s health programs and services.

The presenting sponsor for this year’s Radiothon is Health New England. The Change Hero program sponsor is Pioneer Valley Credit Union. Giggle Break sponsors are Freedom Credit Union and Gleason Johndrow Landscaping. For more information on the Radiothon, visit www.baystatehealth.org/radiothon or call (413) 794-1486.

Daily News

CHICOPEE — The Small Plates Chef Fund-raiser to benefit the Gray House has been rescheduled to Monday, March 2. It was originally scheduled for Jan. 26, then Feb. 9, but was postponed both times due to a snowstorm. The Gray House is hoping “the third time is the charm,” said Dena Calvanese, executive director at the Gray House.

Chef Hubert Gottschlicht of the Munich Haus in Chicopee will hold a cooking class and demonstration at the Munich Haus from 6 to 8 p.m. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased through PayPal at bit.ly/1AciOLh. Tickets must be purchased in advance, as seats are limited. Participants can watch the master chef prepare several German delicacies and join in or sit back and enjoy the presentation. A light buffet will be provided in addition to a cash bar.


“This is a great way to enjoy a night out with friends and eat some fabulous food, all while benefiting a good cause,” said Dena Calvanese, executive director of the Gray House. “We’re planning on holding these events on a monthly basis, if possible, with different area restaurants. We held our first Chef Fund-raiser in November with Samuel’s Sports Bar at the Hall of Fame, which sold out quickly.”


The Gray House is a small, neighborhood human-service agency located at 22 Sheldon St. in the North End of Springfield. Its mission is to help neighbors facing hardships to meet their immediate and transitional needs by providing food, clothing, and educational services in a safe, positive environment.
 For more information about the Chef Fundraiser, visit www.facebook.com/thegrayhouseinc or call Calvanese at (413) 734-6696, ext. 100.

Daily News

AMHERST — Margaret Riley, an evolutionary biologist at UMass Amherst and pioneer in fighting antibiotic-resistant bacteria, announced this week that she is partnering with a Chinese scientist to develop a new drug platform, pheromonicins. The Chinese government is committing $400 million per year to support the newly created Pheromonicin Institute of Beijing. Riley plans to open a sister institute in the Amherst area.

“At this point, I will be doing the work in Beijing,” Riley says. “Later, as we sort out details and opportunities for U.S. funding support, we may be able to bring some of the work to the Pioneer Valley.”

After trying unsuccessfully for years to find funding to study and develop a more effective method of treating catheter-related urinary-tract infections (UTIs) that are resistant to current antibiotics, she was contacted by Dr. Xiao-Qing Qiu, the inventor of pheromonicins, who asked if she was interested in collaborating with his government-supported lab. Riley now plans to collaborate with Xiu to develop his powerful new drugs there instead of in the U.S.

“I want to solve the problem, and if I have to fly to Beijing to do my animal trials, that’s what I’ll have to do,” she said.

The short-term goal is to focus on a new treatment for UTI, but the ultimate goal is to increase the number of effective therapeutic drugs and strategies to combat drug resistance in quickly evolving diseases such as HIV, TB, malaria, cancer, and cystic fibrosis. “One of the things that people don’t realize is how significant drug resistance is in the disease process. It’s only in the past 10 or 15 years we have begun to understand the way drug resistance arises at the molecular level,” Riley noted. “Drug resistance is at the core of many of these diseases, and their ability to stay ahead of and stymie our efforts at eradicating them is extremely serious.”

Antibiotics are the primary weapons against harmful bacteria like those that cause strep throat, but they have become less effective in recent years because the bacteria can evolve into ‘superbugs,’ new strains resistant to most antibiotics. A recent pledge announced by President Obama to give $1.2 billion across a half-dozen agencies to classify and monitor antibiotic-resistant bacteria, discover new antibiotics, and improve prescribing methods highlights the importance of such efforts.

“I think the president’s initiative is phenomenal and long overdue,” Riley said, adding that the biggest chunk of money allotted to the effort as part of the 2016 budget proposal, nearly $1 billion, will go to the Department of Health and Human Services, which will effectively double the agency’s funding over 2015 levels, she notes.

Many observers in recent years thought that new antibiotics would be discovered in time so doctors wouldn’t need to worry about resistance, Riley acknowledges. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that antibiotic-resistant bacteria now cause 2 million illnesses and 23,000 deaths a year in the U.S. Riley feels that’s a conservative estimate, and the real number of deaths is likely double or triple that. The economic price is high as well, she added, as much as $20 billion a year in healthcare costs and $35 billion in lost worker productivity.

Further, the antibiotics doctors employ now use a “shotgun approach,” she explained, that targets healthy as well as harmful bacteria. “With this method, when people take antibiotics, the drugs also kill beneficial bacteria in our bodies that we need for good health. This can do more harm than good, especially for children who take antibiotics while young and may carry long-term damage to their microbiome.”

Daily News

LUDLOW — Renaissance Advisory Services, LLC announced its expansion and relocation to Ludlow. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held recently with staff members, invited guests, and representatives of the East of the River 5 Town Chamber of Commerce in attendance. State Rep. Thomas Petrolati (D-Ludlow) performed the ceremony. According to managing director Werner Maiwald, Ludlow was selected due to the convenient access to current clients.

Renaissance Advisory Services, LLC is a fully independent financial-advisory firm that works with individual and corporate clients. The firm offers portfolio services such as 401(k), IRA, personal retirement, and distribution-planning services. It also offers gas and oil syndication, fixed income accounts, corporate buy/sell, corporate executive insurance, high-income disability planning, long-term care planning, and charitable giving plans.

The firm consists of two primary advisors, Werner Maiwald and Michael Hurst, who have a total of 65 years combined experience. The firm is presently seeking a third advisor. Gail Sherman, past president for the Greater Chicopee Chamber of Commerce, is the executive marketing director; Christine Maiwald serves as corporate administrator; and AnnMarie Gaudette is the receptionist.

“We are unique because we are long-term advisors; we are not day traders,” said Maiwald. “We only bring on a limited number of new clients each year, which allows us to fulfill our investment philosophy and maximize our service capabilities. The financial well-being of our clients is our ultimate goal.”

For more information, visit www.renadvisorysvcs.com.

Daily News

WILBRAHAM — FloDesign Sonics Inc. announced it has added Mike Harsh to its board of directors. Harsh served as vice president and chief technology officer for GE Healthcare until December 2014 and led its Global Science and Technology Organization.

“The addition of Mike to our board will have a profound impact on our company,” said founder and CEO Stanley Kowalski III. “Mike has personally been involved with the research and development of acoustic-based products in life sciences. He has the ability to get into the details while envisioning our global strategy. We are delighted to have him join our team.”

Added Harsh, “I am really excited to be part of FloDesign Sonics. Their entrepreneurial sprit is contagious, and the convergence of this unique and innovative application of acoustics to filtration will unleash a new tool in healthcare that can also be leveraged into other industries.”

FloDesign Sonics is currently commercializing its first products — a system to separate and clarify cell culture used in the manufacturing of protein-therapeutic drugs. FloDesign Sonics closed a $10 million Series A round in March 2014. It has also been awarded multiple grants from both the National Science Foundation and National Institute of Health totaling more than $2 million. It has used the proceeds to perform more than 100 trials with leading biopharmaceutical companies while building six prototypes.

Harsh led the global Science and Technology Organization for GE Healthcare, a $18 billion business unit of General Electric focusing its research on the development of innovative diagnostics, healthcare IT, medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient-monitoring systems, biopharmaceutical-manufacturing technologies, and technologies that facilitate new drug discovery.

Harsh began his career at GE in 1979 as an electrical design engineer in nuclear imaging, and subsequently held numerous design and engineering management positions with X-ray, ultrasound, MRI, patient monitoring, and information technologies. He was also the global technology leader of the Imaging Technologies Lab at the GE Global Research Center, where he led the research for imaging technologies across the company, as well as the research associated with computer visualization/image analysis and superconducting systems. He was named an officer of General Electric Co. in November 2006.

Harsh earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Marquette University, and he holds numerous U.S. patents in the field of medical imaging and instrumentation.

Daily News

HOLYOKE — The seventh annual Difference Makers award program, staged by BusinessWest, will be held at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House. Difference Makers is a program, launched in 2009, that recognizes groups and individuals that are, as the name suggests, making a difference in this region.

The class of 2015 — Katelynn’s Ride, MassMutual Financial Services, Judy Matt, Valley Venture Mentors, and the new ownership group of the Student Prince and the Fort — was profiled in the Feb. 9 issue and on businesswest.com.

Tickets cost $60 per person, and reserved tables of 10 are available. To order tickets, call (413) 781-8600, ext. 100, or e-mail [email protected].

Daily News

HOLYOKE — Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C. announced the hiring of three new associates — Kayla Helitzer, MSA, Joseph Vreedenburgh, MSA, and Brandon Mitchell, MSA, CPA.

Helitzer began her career at MBK as an intern before acquiring her current position. She holds a master’s degree in accounting from the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst. In her free time, she participates in the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield, volunteers at the Knesset Israel synagogue, and enjoys skiing and snowboarding.

Vreedenburgh comes to MBK with a background as a corporate accountant and experience with small to medium-sized businesses, as well as government entities. This experience provides him with a unique perspective as an auditor at the firm. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Washington and a master’s degree in accounting from UMass Amherst. He is a member of Northampton Area Young Professionals and enjoys hiking and mountain biking.

Mitchell specializes in audits of commercial and not-for-profit entities, reviews and compilations of financial statements for small businesses and individuals, and tax-return preparations. Before joining the firm, he worked as a business manager for a locally owned business. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business management and a master’s degree in accountancy from Westfield State University and devotes much of his spare time to his alma mater’s Mentoring Program.

“Kayla, Joseph, and Brandon each bring unique experience and expertise to their positions at the firm,” said MBK partner Howard Cheney. “But among the things they have in common are integrity, professionalism, and a strong dedication to customer service.”

Features
WNEU Students Tackle Crowd-funding Project for Russian Robotics Firm

discuss online marketing

From left, John Garvey, Harlan Spotts, Mark Manolakis, Matt O’Connor, and Dan Koval discuss online marketing.

John Garvey is in the business of making connections, which is how a small team of marketing students at Western New England University wound up launching an online fund-raising campaign for a small, Russian robotics firm.

“I work pro bono as a mentor with an organization called MassChallenge,” said Garvey, president of marketing agency Garvey Communication Associates, referring to the Boston-based startup accelerator program. “They contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in working with a variety of Russian startups.”

The one that interested him was a company called xTurion, led by CEO Sergey Kolyubin, which had developed an intriguing, multi-faceted home-security system that roves around the house like a Roomba.

“They were looking for digital marketing help,” Garvey said, and that brought to mind two people: Dan Koval, a Great Barrington-based marketer and inventor, who has some experience with online fund-raising campaigns through the crowd-funding site Kickstarter, and Harlan Spotts, a professor of Marketing in the College of Business at Western New England University, who is always looking for educational, real-world projects for his students.

“Harlan is a long-time friend of mine,” Garvey said, “so I thought it would be a neat project to get him together with the Russian startup to work on a Kickstarter campaign.”

Dan Koval

Dan Koval offered his expertise with marketing and crowd funding to the xTurion/WNEU project.

Spotts and two students in a class called Marketing Seminar — Mark Manolakis and Matt O’Connor — recently met with Koval to pick his brain on developing such a campaign, and the pitch is expected to go live in April.

But back up a moment — what, exactly, is Kickstarter? And why is crowd funding the latest buzzword in digital marketing and fund-raising?

“In the past, entrepreneurs with ideas for businesses relied on venture capital or raised seed funding from friends and family,” writes Amanda Barbara in Forbes. “Crowd funding offers an advantage traditional methods don’t by providing validation as well as money. A successful campaign shows that there’s a market for what you offer. Getting additional funding is easier once an idea is proven viable.”

Crowd-funding sites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and other, smaller entities essentially generate funds from the public to complete projects, from books, music, and movies to high-tech gadgets. Kickstarter is especially strong with cutting-edge inventions, Barbara notes. In return for their support, donors are offered rewards depending on their level of giving. The catch? The beneficiary sets a monetary goal and a time deadline; if the goal isn’t reached, no money is collected.

Kickstarter alone boasts that 8 million people have visited the site to back a project, while 284,000 people have backed 10 or more enterprises. In other words, crowd funding has reached the big time in the world of startups.

“In years past, crowd funding as a means of financing a business was a novelty, a rare exception to the traditional methods of bank loans, venture capital, and borrowing money,” writes Nicole Fallon, assistant editor of Business News Daily. “Today, announcing your crowd-funding campaign is just as common as any of these other options, if not more so.”

Spotts and his students, as well as the innovators at xTurion, hope to ride that wave to a successful campaign — and perhaps the next big thing in home security.

Keeping Watch

The xTurion robot features multiple sensors to detect flames and smoke, burglars, water leakages, and environmental factors, like the home’s temperature, humidity, and air quality. Homeowners can access the data ­— and camera images — remotely through their smartphones, which also helps separate genuine threats from false alarms.

“It’s a global home security system, and they chose us to market it,” Manolakism said. “It’s shaped like a dome, moves around the house, and is linked to your cell phone.”

He added that it’s a more effective system than the iCam Pro, another Kickstarter-aided home-security product, because it can move from room to room along a pre-programmed route.

“It’s a little robot that lives around the house; it’s basically a home-security system all in one,” O’Connor added. “It has tons of features — fire monitors, temperature sensors, all the environmental controls. And it runs all on wi-fi; you can have up to five users logged into it at once, with an app that goes with it. If it detects something, it calls you, then keeps calling down the line to whoever is logged in.

“And we’re marketing it,” he added. “Specifically, we have to figure out the best way to do a Kickstarter campaign. We just have to make sure the campaign is up and running by mid-April.”

The team is considering a goal of $150,000, which would allow xTurion to manufacture and start selling the product — hopefully by the end of 2015 — and generating enough profit to become self-sustaining, which is, of course, the goal of any crowd-funding campaign.

Koval was impressed. “The home-security industry is looking for new technology,” he said. Not that he’s a stranger to marketing intriguing products online.

“I always wanted to start a business,” said Koval, who studied marketing at UMass. But an opportunity with General Electric — which eventually saw him stationed in London and other European locales — proved irresistible, and he put his business dreams on hold for awhile. “Finally I quit and went to business school. That’s when you realize how little you really know about business.”

After his first Internet business “bombed,” Koval had an odd product idea around 2002 — a cuckoo clock with a cow replacing the bird. Convinced the MooCoo clock could be a hit, he set about finding someone to manufacture the product and then sold it through online retail channels. “It took off like crazy,” he said, and eventually expanded to other animals. “I didn’t get rich, but I bought a house and made a nice living. I sold maybe a little less than a million of those.”

From the giftware business, he moved on to something more serious. A chance conversation with a hotel-room attendant educated him about the risk of back, neck, and carpal-tunnel injuries associated with that job. “Considering how many occupational injuries there are, and how much it costs hotels to lose these people, and the cost to the workers themselves in quality of life, there was a huge incentive here for companies to reduce these injuries.”

Eventually, he developed the Duop mop, which uses a telescopic handle and a ball-and-socket mechanism to allow users to clean from ceiling to floor without too much bending and straining.

“We found that a lot of room attendants don’t use any mops; they just get down on the floor, on their hands and knees, and clean the floor,” he said, noting that the Duop eliminates the need to put that kind of strain on the body.

“So I’m in the mop business now,” he laughed, although he’s also staying active on Kickstarter by helping a friend launch a campaign for crafty housewares, in particular a candle in the shape of a cat; as the wax melts, it gradually reveals a metallic cat skeleton. “At first, I thought, ‘that’s ridiculous. Who would want something like that?’”

But the designer won him over. “We chose Kickstarter because they do a lot of design projects. I felt like the Kickstarter audience was most aligned to burning cats.”

Catch All

That’s the world of crowd funding — it’s a welcoming environment for a wide variety of products and artistic creations, and it’s hard to tell which ideas will, well, catch fire.

Among his initial advice to Spotts, Koval suggested hiring a professional videographer to shoot video of the device in action, and also to create a fund-raising goal that will get the product off the ground, but not much else. “You don’t want too much slack in there at all; you don’t try to get rich off Kickstarter.”

Rather, he noted, it’s a place to get started — a goal that applies equally to home-security robots, cat candles, or next-generation mops. n

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Opinion
Hopefully, the Economy Will Thaw Out

Gov. Charlie Baker recently took a rather unusual — some might call it desperate — step in this state’s battle against what Mother Nature has wrought this winter.

Indeed, as yet another huge storm barreled down on the Eastern part of the state the day before St. Valentine’s Day — a huge day and night for restaurants and a host of other businesses — he urged residents to make this year’s holiday Valentine’s Week instead.

That’s right, he made a rather impassioned plea (in the form of an official proclamation) to people who were going to cancel whatever plans they had for that night and stay in — something his own office encouraged them to do — and spend that money another night. Beyond that, he encouraged state residents to find ways to spend money with those small businesses that have been getting clobbered by this brutal winter. And Boston Mayor Marty Walsh did pretty much the same thing.

Like we said, a desperate measure. But desperate times call for those, and in the Bay State, well, things are getting pretty desperate, and unless things change, we’re looking at a repeat of last year.

That’s when people here and across the state were introduced to — and then painfully familiarized with — the phrase ‘polar vortex.’ You remember — several weeks of intense cold that seemed like it would never end.

It was a tough time for everyone, but especially for business owners, as people took ‘hunkering down’ to a new level. Talk to any car dealer, or any retailer, for that matter, and they’ll tell you that business just stopped last winter. Consumers stayed home until the trees started budding, and when they eventually came back out, they weren’t exactly in a spending mood.

Indeed, the economy didn’t really thaw out until the fall, when people finally started spending again. What was supposed to be a great year for the state’s economy turned out to be a good quarter — if that.

Now it’s 2015, and the polar vortex is back with a vengeance, only this time it’s been accompanied by about four feet of snow in the Greater Springfield area and about twice that in Worcester, Boston, Lowell, and Fall River. And with that snow have come a number of lost days for workers and businesses — three Mondays in a row, to be exact — and a significant amount of lost momentum when it comes to a state economy that’s still somewhat fragile.

By most estimates, Massachusetts companies have lost more than $1 billion, and perhaps as much as $2 billion, due to faltering sales and lost productivity, causing the economy to contract by a full percentage point. And to make matters worse, many businesses have incurred significant, and unanticipated, costs from the cleanup of all those storms. While it’s true that some businesses are thriving from all this — travel agents, ski areas, snow-thrower dealerships, and any store that sells snow shovels — and that matters are far worse in the Boston area than they are here, many local businesses are suffering mightily.

It’s probably enough to put a serious dent in all those rosy projections about the state’s economy that were put forth late last fall, when all the arrows were seemingly pointed upward and most of the usual-suspect obstacles to growth — everything from a lack of consumer confidence to high gas prices to a struggling job market — were trending positively.

That’s probably. We saw what a bitterly cold winter can do the economy last year. We can hope that the weather — and spending — warm up, and quickly. Or we can do as the governor suggests and hunker down when the snow is falling but support local businesses when it stops — if it stops.

Valentine’s Week? Maybe it should be Valentine’s Month.

Employment Sections
TWO Program Is Honored for Closing Workforce Skills Gaps

WorkforceDPart“The economic imperative for aligning the workforce needs of Massachusetts with the needs of students attending community colleges is powerful and growing. Massachusetts is at a crossroads in its capacity to compete — and the ability of its residents to fully participate in the current economy and the rewards that employment brings. For the Commonwealth to flourish going forward, a high priority must be placed on training the workforce that is needed by the industries that are driving the Massachusetts economy. That responsibility falls squarely on the Commonwealth’s public higher-education system, most predominately the 15 community colleges.”

That was one of the more hard-hitting bits of analysis and commentary contained in a blistering 2011 report issued by the Boston Foundation, a document that essentially called out the state’s community colleges for not doing enough to help train a workforce to meet industry needs, while making some controversial suggestions about how to bring about change, such as a centralization effort that would do away with local boards of trustees at the schools.

Bill Messner — now, as then, president of Holyoke Community College — remembers his reaction to that report. His initial response was that its authors didn’t do enough research — at least when it came to the schools west of Worcester — and missed some key evidence that community colleges in the 413 area code were, in fact, being imaginative and somewhat effective in efforts to close so-called skills gaps within the workforce.

Bill Messner

Bill Messner says the Boston Foundation report in 2011 caught the attention of area schools and prompted initiatives like TWO.

Still, Messner and others, like his counterpart at Springfield Technical Community College, Ira Rubenzahl, chose not to shoot the messenger — although they were highly critical of those suggestions to centralize the community-college system and put it under one board — and heed calls from the Boston Foundation, as well as the Commonwealth Corp. (which issued its own report with similar findings at that time) to do more to partner with businesses and workforce-development agencies to properly align their training programs with the specific needs of industry sectors.

So it was with a large dose of pride that HCC and STCC learned that, together, they had won the first Deval Patrick Award for Community Colleges, named after the former governor and funded by the Boston Foundation, for work undertaken through a program called TWO (Training & Workforce Options), an acronym that is now resonating throughout the local business community.

The cash prize, to be split by the schools, is $50,000 — a small amount, especially when budget cuts of nearly 10 times that number were announced by the Baker administration for both schools the same week the award was presented. But the rewards go well beyond the money (which will go into both schools’ general operating funds), said both Messner and Robert LePage, vice president of Foundation and Workforce Training at STCC and the school’s TWO point person.

Indeed, the award will bring recognition to the program, said LePage, adding that with that exposure might come support from other state agencies as well as more participation among area businesses and thus more progress in combatting regional workforce issues.

“Recognition from a group like the Boston Foundation is the kind of endorsement that can get others to invest in you — I hope this is something we’re able to leverage,” he explained. “People want to see a good return on their investment, so I’m hopeful that this will bring some eyes to Western Mass., prompt others to appreciate the work we’re doing here, and cause people to say there are things happening here that they can adopt.”

In many ways, the Boston Foundation report validates TWO’s mission and underscores the success stories authored in its first three years, said LePage, adding that there have been many of them.

For example, TWO has partnered with Baystate Health to create a regional ICD-10 (medical coding) incumbent worker training academy and is working with regional employers to launch an advanced hospital medical coding academy that will prepare workers for the many changes coming to that important realm within healthcare. Meanwhile, it has worked with MassMutual and a host of other employers to develop a new advanced call center and customer service certificate, a program that has succeeded in placing a number of individuals in jobs within that emerging sector.

Meanwhile, TWO has taken the lead in training individuals for the gaming industry that will soon become a force in this state through the creation of the Mass. Casino Careers Training Institute.

For this issue and its focus on employment, BusinessWest looks at how TWO has managed to impress far more than the Deval Patrick Award judges and, in the process, has enabled more individuals to join the workforce and helped area businesses thrive.

Work in Progress

Increasingly, Messner noted, groups such as the Boston Foundation are creating cash awards, like those attached to the Deval Patrick Award, as incentives to prompt groups and individuals to respond to their various initiatives and calls for action.

And in many instances, such tactics are working, he said, adding quickly that, with the Patrick Award, there was little fanfare, and many administrators at the state’s community colleges, himself included, were not even aware of the award until a call for applications was issued last fall.

The much more profound incentive to respond to the 2011 report and others like it, said Messner, was a recognized need for a regional response to a skills gap that goes a long way toward explaining still-high regional unemployment rates at a time when many businesses are struggling mightily to fill key positions — a phenomenon that has in some ways stifled economic growth.

“While we didn’t agree with everything in the report, it certainly got our attention,” said Messner, using ‘we’ to mean both community colleges. “And we responded accordingly with TWO.”

Slicing through the 2011 Boston Foundation report and summing up its main points, the authors’ main contention then was that the state’s community colleges were not working collaboratively (or working enough) with employers, industry groups, and workforce-development-centered agencies to identify needs, close skills gaps, and create opportunities for those challenged in their attempts to enter the state’s knowledge-based workforce.

So TWO, which was already in its formative stages when the report came out, was designed to change that equation, create a host of partnerships, and incorporate a far more proactive approach to workforce issues and challenges than what existed prior to the program’s existence.

TWO’s mission — and its operating philosophy — are summed up nicely in this passage from the joint application submitted by HCC and STCC for the Deval Patrick Award:

“Prior to community college reforms, the two colleges often worked in a reactive form and in competition with one another,” the application authors wrote. “This often led to an inefficient and duplicative approach to workforce development and employer engagement in Hampden and Hampshire counties. With the formation of Training and Workforce Options, the two colleges have formed a cohesive and proactive sales and training approach and have effectively broadened the reach of both colleges. TWO has provided HCC and STCC a stronger and unified voice and further positioned the colleges to provide a deeper and wider leadership role in serving regional workforce needs that serves as a catalyst to support economic-development success.”

It has assumed this leadership role through engagement with the business community and agencies ranging from area Regional Employment Boards to one-stop career centers to economic-development-related agencies to identify needs and develop programs to address them.

Through its so-called ‘business-discovery model,’ LePage said, TWO has met with more than 200 businesses in five key industry sectors — financial services/customer service, healthcare, hospitality and culinary, IT, and manufacturing — to validate employer needs.

Bob LePage

Bob LePage says the Deval Patrick Award will garner recognition for TWO, prompting more participation and attempts to emulate its success.

And program partners run the gamut, from major employers such as MassMutual, Baystate Health, Smith & Wesson, Six Flags, and MGM to smaller operations such as Mustang Seats, the Three Rivers-based company that makes replacement motorcycle seats for Harley Davidson, Honda, BMW, and other brands, and Ludlow-based Chemi-Graphic, which manufactures nameplates, labels, and other products for a wide range of customers.

Input from these businesses has helped spawn several direct responses in the form of new programs and training initiatives.

At Chemi-Graphic, for example, TWO has provided a host of services, from assessing workforce needs to direct training programs to advice on how to secure state workforce-training grants, said LePage, adding that the manufacturer is in many ways representative of the businesses TWO was created to assist.

“They’re the kind of company we’re looking for, because they have 50 to 60 employees, so they’re not large enough to have a training arm, per se,” he explained. “And they have a niche business, one that’s doing well, but is now facing the retirement of all those Baby Boomers, and they need to replace those workers. They’re really what we’re looking for — we want to help as many of those small and mid-size companies as we can because they are the heartbeat of this region.“

Answering the Call

Overall, TWO’s most profound impact has been with closing those aforementioned gaps between the skill sets that the current workforce possesses and the skills that are needed within certain industries and for specific jobs.

Two of the better examples of how TWO has operated are the ICD-10 incumbent worker training academy and the advanced call center and customer service certificate.

ICD-10, as that name would suggest (at least to those in the industry), is the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, or ICD, said Jason Pacheco, a senior workforce-planning consultant for Baystate Health. And it represents a significant change from ICD-9.

“ICD-9 has around 9,000 or 10,000 codes, while ICD-10 has roughly 60,000 codes,” he explained, adding that this nearly exponential increase is projected to generate a decrease in productivity — primarily because it already has in countries where ICD-10 is being used. As a result, said Pacheco, healthcare providers and medical practices will either have to bring on more employees or outsource more work.

To widen the pool of potential job candidates, TWO is partnering with Baystate, the Regional Employment Board of Hampden Country, and other players on worker training initiatives that have, to date, involved more than 50 companies.

“The concept to fill the gap in the labor pool was to come up with a development program,” said Pacheco. “What Training and Workforce Options has been able to do is work with those two community colleges to help align the students and their curriculum toward flexible workforce arrangements that meet employers’ needs.”

And that’s just one example, he said, of how Baystate and others in the healthcare sector have partnered with TWO to identify and close gaps involving several specific positions, including sterile-processing technicians, medical lab technicians, pharmacy technicians, and others.

That list includes call-center employees, he went on, adding that Baystate is one of many area employers, large and small, that have participated in the Advanced Call Center & Customer Service Training program.
To date, three cohorts of students have produced more than 55 graduates, with roughly 80% of those individuals placed in companies like MassMutual, PeoplesBank, Health New England, and many others, thus meeting a growing need for such specialists.

“There are quite a few call centers in the region if you start to add them up, and they’re across many sectors of the economy,” said Nick Fyntrilakis, vice president of Community Involvement for MassMutual, which has hired several of those graduates. “And a growing challenge for everyone with a call center was finding qualified applicants; different companies have different needs, but there are some foundational pieces that run across the whole spectrum.”

TWO, working in conjunction with those employers and the Regional Employment Board, developed a curriculum, identified solid candidates for the program, established a call-center simulation center, and developed a formal employer-engagement process to improve student placement, he went on, adding that these various steps have all helped ensure success and sum up what the program is all about.

“To us, that’s the kind of work that community colleges were designed to do,” said Fyntrilakis. “That’s what they were built to do — to plug into the workforce needs of the community and tailor programs that identify people that have a skills gap or require additional training or education, and then help connect them to those careers.”

And that’s exactly the type of work that the state’s community colleges were not doing, at least according to the Boston Foundation.

Bottom Line

Messner told BusinessWest that, while he had confidence in the joint submission for the Deval Patrick Award, he wasn’t exactly expecting the two Western Mass. schools to prevail in that competition.

“I was more than a little surprised by this, because we assumed that the Boston Foundation, being a Boston foundation, might be inclined, especially for this first award, to stick closer to home,” he said, adding quickly that, beyond geography, he wasn’t surprised by the choice.

That’s because of TWO’s quickly amassed track record and the promise to add to its portfolio of success stories.

The Deval Patrick Award might help with all that, and, as Messner, LePage, and others mentioned, that’s a far bigger prize than a pair of $25,000 checks.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Agenda Departments

ACCGS Outlook 2015
Feb. 27: Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker will give his first major address to the Greater Springfield business community at the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield’s (ACCGS) Outlook 2015 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the MassMutual Center, 1277 Main St., Springfield. Outlook is the area’s largest legislative event, attracting more than 700 guests and presenting expert speakers on local, state, and federal issues. Area elected officials will also be in attendance to participate in this discussion of front-burner issues. The event is presented by Health New England and sponsored by the Eastern States Exposition, MassMutual Financial Group, and United Personnel. Program/reception sponsors include the Sisters of Providence Health System, Comcast, Western Massachusetts Electric Co., and the Republican, with support from Chicopee Savings Bank and BusinessWest. Baker was inaugurated on Jan. 8 as the 72nd governor of the state. Over the course of his career, he has been a highly successful leader of complex organizations in business and in government. As a cabinet secretary under Gov. William Weld and Gov. Paul Cellucci, Baker helped lead efforts to reform and modernize state government. During his time as CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Baker turned a company on the brink of bankruptcy into the nation’s highest-ranked healthcare provider for six straight years. As a member of the Weld and Cellucci administrations in the 1990s, Baker helped turn a billion-dollar deficit into a surplus, create a half-million jobs, and enact an ambitious education-reform agenda. First asked to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services in 1992, Baker led efforts to make Massachusetts’ social-service system more humane, cost-effective, and responsive to the needs of the Commonwealth’s residents. In 1994, Baker was appointed Secretary of Administration and Finance, overseeing a number of cost-saving reforms, modernizing state government, and making it more efficient. Baker will be joined at the Outlook program by U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, who will remark on events at the federal level, including his thoughts on the 114th Congress and the topics that the new Congress may review. “As a senior member of the powerful House Committee on Ways and Means and ranking member of its Select Revenue Measures subcommittee, Congressman Neal serves in a critically important capacity in Washington for our area, our state, and the entire country,” said ACCGS President Jeffrey Ciuffreda. Tickets are $50 for ACCGS members and $70 for general admission. Reserved tables of 10 are available. Reservations must be made by Feb. 20, and may be made online at www.myonlinechamber.com or by contacting Member Services Director Sarah Mazzaferro at [email protected]. No walk-ins will be accepted, and no cancellations will be accepted once the reservation deadline has passed.

PAWSCARS Fund-raiser
Feb. 28: Dakin Humane Society will present a fund-raising event at the MassMutual Center in Springfield that will affectionately spoof Hollywood, the Oscars, and red-carpet fashion. Dubbed “The PAWSCARS & Red Carpet Fashion Parade,” the show will be emceed by Ashley Kohl and Seth Stutman, hosts of Mass Appeal on WWLP-22News. Beginning with a VIP Reception at 6 p.m. and a plated dinner at 7 p.m., the evening will also include a red-carpet fashion parade featuring local people of prominence, accompanied by rescue dogs (among them former Dakin dogs, now adopted). Short videos of animals recreating iconic moments in cinematic history, created by members of the public, will also be screened during the evening. “We’re looking forward to presenting a one-of-a-kind event with the PAWSCARS,” said Dakin Executive Director Leslie Harris. “We’re blending fashion, fun, and film with a healthy dose of humor for an unforgettable night. Plus, as our major fund-raising event of the year, it will be a terrific opportunity for our supporters to come together and enjoy themselves while providing much-needed aid for the many animals in our care.” With a targeted audience of 500, The PAWSCARS is Dakin’s most ambitious fund-raising event in its 45-year history. Tickets for the event are available at www.dakinhumane.org for $125 per person (dinner and show) or $50 (show only). Visit www.dakinhumane.org for more information about the event.

Lecture Series
March 12: BusinessWest and the Healthcare News are pleased to announce a new lecture series presented by Comcast Business. This series of lectures, panel discussions, and presentations will address timely and important business information, and is an ideal opportunity to meet industry leaders and network with area business professionals. The first event in the series, called “Technology Has the Power to Change Healthcare,” will be hosted by La Quinta Inn & Suites, 100 Congress St., Springfield. Panelists include Neil Kudler, vice president and chief medical information officer for Baystate Health; Michael Feld, CEO of VertitechIT and acting chief technology officer of Baystate Health and Lancaster General Hospital; and Delcie Bean IV, CEO, of Paragus Strategic IT. Registration begins at 7:15 a.m., followed by breakfast and networking at 7:30 a.m. and the panel discussion from 8 to 9 a.m. Admission is free, provided by Comcast Business, but RSVP is required by Thursday, March 5. Sign up online at BusinessWest.com/lecture-series, or call (413) 781-8600, ext. 10, for more information.

‘Acting Skills for Real Life’
March 19 to April 16: The Division of Graduate and Continuing Education at Westfield State University will offer a class called “Acting Skills for Real Life: How to Connect and Communicate” on Thursday nights, March 19 through April 16, from 6 to 8 p.m. Students will learn about basic acting skills and theories, and how they can be applied to everyday situations such as job interviews and social settings, in addition to performances and public speaking. Course content includes vocal, movement, and imagination warmups and theatre games; improvisations around a specific set of circumstances, including real-life situations and role reversal; developing stage presence; and, if the class chooses, rehearsal and class performance of a brief scene or monologue as a rehearsed reading or ‘off book.’ The course will be taught by Nadia Creamer, who has a long career as a performer and a teacher of performing arts. Creamer was co-artistic director of Impulse Theatre and Dance for 28 years in New York, where she received more than 60 grants for her work. She was also a faculty member at New York University, Russell Sage, College of St. Rose, and Columbia-Greene Community College. The cost of this course is $80. Registration will be accepted until the first night of class. For more information and to register, contact Brandon Fredette at (413) 572-8033 or [email protected].

Mini-Medical School
March 19 to May 7: Baystate Medical Center’s Mini-Medical School, which begins its spring session on March 19, will give area residents a reason to come out of hibernation from the long, cold, snowy winter and join others interested in the expanding field of medicine. Mini-Medical School program is an eight-week health education series featuring a different aspect of medicine each week. Classes this spring will include sessions on various medical topics, such as surgery, emergency medicine, anesthesiology, pathology, and several others. Many of the ‘students,’ who often range in age from 20 to 70, participate due to a general interest in medicine and later find that many of the things they learned over the semester are relevant to their own lives. The goal of the program, offered in the hospital’s Chestnut Conference Center, is to help members of the public make more informed decisions about their healthcare while receiving insight on what it is like to be a medical student — minus the tests, interviews, and admission formalities. Each course is taught by medical-center faculty who explain the science of medicine without resorting to complex terms. Baystate Medical Center is the Western Campus of Tufts University School of Medicine and is the region’s only teaching hospital. All classes are held Thursday nights starting at 6 p.m. and run until 8 or 9 p.m., depending on the night’s topic. No basic science knowledge is needed to participate. Each participant is required to attend a minimum of six out of eight classes in order to receive a certificate of completion. Among the topics and speakers slated for the spring semester are:
• March 19: “Hey, I Finally Got into Medical School!” with Dr. Michael Rosenblum, director, Internal Medicine Residency Program (includes a general tour of the medical center).
• March 26: “Surgery,” with Dr. Richard Wait, chair, Department of Surgery (includes a tour of the Baystate Simulation Center and the Goldberg Surgical Skills Lab).
• April 2: “Cardiac Surgery,” with Dr. John Rousou, chief, Cardiac Surgery.
• April 9: “Pathology,” with Dr. Richard Friedberg, chair, Department of Pathology (includes a tour of the lab).
• April 16: “Anesthesiology,” with Dr. Michael Bailin, chair, Department of Anesthesiology.
• April 23: “Psychiatry,” with Dr. Benjamin Liptzin, chair, Department of Psychiatry.
• April 30: “Stroke/Rehabilitation,” with Dr. Edward Feldmann, vice president and medical director, Neurosciences & Rehabilitation.
• May 7: “Emergency Medicine,” with Dr. Joseph Schmidt, vice chair and chief, Emergency Medicine (includes a graduation ceremony).
Tuition is $95 per person and $80 for Senior Class and Spirit of Women members. Register for the spring semester of Mini-Medical School by calling (800) 377-4325. For more information, visit www.baystatehealth.org/minimed.

Difference Makers
March 19: The sixth annual Difference Makers award program, staged by BusinessWest, will be held at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House. Difference Makers is a program, launched in 2009, that recognizes groups and individuals that are, as the name suggests, making a difference in this region. The class of 2015Katelynn’s Ride, MassMutual Financial Services, Judy Matt, Valley Venture Mentors, and the new ownership group of the Student Prince and the Fort — was profiled in the Feb. 9 issue. Tickets cost $60 per person, and reserved tables of 10 are available. To order tickets, call (413) 781-8600, ext. 100, or e-mail [email protected].

40 Under Forty
June 18: The ninth annual 40 Under Forty award program, staged by BusinessWest, will be held at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House. Details on the event, which honors the region’s most accomplished and civic-minded professionals under age 40, will be published in upcoming issues. The class of 2015 will be revealed and profiled in the April 20 issue.

Building Permits Departments

The following building permits were issued during the months of January and February 2015.

AMHERST

LHB Enterprises
360 College St.
$26,000 — Remove and replace 25’ x 25’ foot area of concrete

Woodgreen Amherst, L.P.
6 University Dr.
$39,500 — Interior renovations to create four offices in Suite 201

CHICOPEE

Hampden Home Buyers
44 Charpentier Blvd.
$50,000 — Interior remodel

Marlin Investments, LLC
16-18 Chateaugay St.
$4,000 — Ductwork for heating system

GREENFIELD

Franklin Regional Transit Authority
12 Olive St.
$3,000 — Interior renovations

Kennametal Inc.
34 Sanderson St.
$7,000 — Roof repairs

Small Corporation
19 Butternut St.
$252,000 — Installation of solar panels

LUDLOW

Ludlow Public Market
46 Birch St.
$4,000 — Chimney repair

PALMER

Baystate Wing Hospital
40-42 Wright St.
$4,000 — Interior renovations

SOUTH HADLEY

Friendly’s
488 Newton St.
$11,500 — Interior renovations and alterations

SPRINGFIELD

Breckwood Realty, LLC
479 Breckwood Blvd.
$10,000 — Remodel

HAP Housing
6 Kenwood Park
$2,450,000 — Exterior repairs

HAP Housing
114-118 Byers Road
$681,000 — Exterior repairs

Kevin Sears
107 Cliftwood St.
$200,000 — Remodel of four units

Court Dockets Departments

The following is a compilation of recent lawsuits involving area businesses and organizations. These are strictly allegations that have yet to be proven in a court of law. Readers are advised to contact the parties listed, or the court, for more information concerning the individual claims.

CHICOPEE DISTRICT COURT
Belmont Laundry Inc. v. Michael’s Pasta in the Pan and River Road Corp.
Allegation: Breach of contract and failure to pay for services rendered: $8,375
Filed: 1/29/15

FRANKLIN SUPERIOR COURT
John Doe v. Allen Chase Foundation d/b/a Eaglebrook School and Andrew Chase
Allegation: Breach of contract and failure to provide a safe academic environment when plaintiff was attacked by members of the hockey team causing severe personal injury: $100,000+
Filed: 12/17/14

GREENFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Leader Home Center Inc. v. Charles Cresta d/b/a Raven Construction
Allegation: Non-payment for goods and services: $6,228.11
Filed: 12/10/14

Vend Lease Co. Inc. v. Edward Wierzbowski, Arts Block, LLC, Global American Television Inc. and Puskin, LLC
Allegation: Defendants are indebted to the plaintiff based upon a debt on judgment: $19,094.92
Filed: 12/17/14

HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT
Cadlerock III, LLC v. Pisa Granite & Marble, LLC, Pedro Caceres, Creations Factory, LLC
Allegation: Suit upon a Connecticut judgment: $839,000
Filed: 1/12/15

NWS Corp. v. Sergio Bonavita and Westfield Brewing Co., LLC
Allegation: Breach of commercial lease: $85,838
Filed: 1/21/15

PALMER DISTRICT COURT
Ali Syed v. Balise Motor Sales Co., James Balise Jr., and Steven M. Mitus
Allegation: Failure to pay wages: $25,000+
Filed: 1/21/15

Shemin Nurseries Inc. v. CSL Inc. and Nancy Barroso Rodrigues
Allegation: Default on term note: $7,171.69
Filed: 1/23/15

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Bass Spine and Rehabilitation, LLC v. Peerless Insurance Co.
Allegation: Defendant failed to make PIP payments: $967.28
Filed: 1/5/15

DBA Certificates Departments

The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the months of January and February 2015.

AGAWAM

Auto Point Motors
1039 Springfield St.
Anthony Lafromboise

Beauties to Behold
238 Maple St.
Jasmine Brewer

Eileen Oak’s Supplies
430 Main St.
Eileen Perez

Patton Financial
15 Plumtree Way
Michael Pelletier

Professional Upholstery
1443 Main St.
Juan Ayala

Shye Ann Photography
159 Main St.
Shye Ann Brown

Therapeutic Behavioral Intervention
159 Main St.
Kristen Kocot

CHICOPEE

G & P Home Improvements
21 Forest St.
Alex Perevala

Fairview Pediatrics, LLC
1176 Memorial Dr.
James Bell

Hallmark Dental Laboratory
63 Main St.
Laura Gustafson

Heat Exchange Systems
278 Britton ST.
Howard Schwalm

Lucky Cheng’s Restaurant
920 C. Meadow St.
Ching Cheng

Millie’s Pierogi
129 Broadway
William Kerigan

Oquendo Driving School
527 Grattan St.
Jorge Oquendo

Naz Trucking
139 Nonotuck Ave.
Tomasz Nazim

Newark Paperboard Products
70 Better Way
Wayne Kelch

Prime Printing
46 Newbury St.
Marc Crescione

Rollin Rock Tavern
258 Exchange St.
Richard Ferus

St. Laurent Photography
195 Oiko Circle
Gregory St. Laurent

Tapp Construction
300 Schoolhouse Road
Jeffrey Tapp

GREENFIELD

Antonio’s Pizza
201 Main St.
Clayton Cardian

Brad’s Place
353 Main St.
Daniel Devine

Manna House
27 Bank Row
Dwight Zeager

HOLYOKE

Champ Law
330 High St.
Adam J. Basch

La Vega Grocery
518 High St.
Manuel A. Gomez

Nasty Habit Crossfit
68 Winter St.
David J. Vooris

Rendevouz
50 Holyoke St.
Chang H. Kim

PALMER

C & S Services
8 Crest St.
Marie A. Day

Friendly’s
1519 North Main St.
Catharine Senith

SPRINGFIELD

A.C. Services
657 Cooley St.
Alexa M. Cale

Aivir Value Consulting
23 Westernview St.
Joseph F. Otero

B & S Trucking Company
63 Stocker St.
Benito Santiago

Basics Plus Mini Mart
91 Main St.
Nadeem Saeed

Brian’s Barber Shop
346 Orange St.
Brian Miranda

C.R. Medical Management
405 Armory St.
Charity M. Robbins

Capuanomall.com
18 Edendale St.
Maria L. Capuano

CKG Designs
205 Tamarack Dr.
William Patrick

D2D Localtrepreneur
287 Walnut St.
Frankie J. Mozell

Desert Tales
45 Willow St.
Yassine Zian

Devine Designs Beauty Salon
428 Springfield St.
Micheline A. Martin

Doggy Dooz
1512 Allen St.
Paula L. Cox

Draintech
145 Porter Lake Dr.
Joshua M. Moses

Elegant Hair Design
473 Boston Road
Maureen Brown

WESTFIELD

A Touch of Vintage
71 Elm St.
Marilyn Arroyo

Daniel Rollend Electrician
28 Belleview Dr.
Daniel D. Rollend

Ezra’s Mercantile
34 Elm St.
Ezra’s Mercantile

Goodgoth
77 Mill St.
Marianne Deidolori

Michon Associates
102 Northridge Road
Sandra M. Michon

Ryan’s Package Store
31 Franklin St.
Anderson Family Enterprise’s

Veto Cleaning Services
15 Susan Dr.
Donald G. Veto

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Icarus Boutique
677 Westfield St.
Julian Toledo

James Maxwell Real Estate
776 Westfield St.
James Maxwell

Kristen Walters Photography
1346 Elm St.
Kristen Jeanne

Lilo’s Tire
2 Elizabeth St.
Angel Rivera-Torres

Lower Pioneer Valley Education
174 Brush Hill Ave.
Andrew Churchill

Marlene of Hair East
306 Westfield St.
Marlene Lohmeyer

Taco Bell
298 Memorial Ave.
Taco Bell of America

Welcome Inn
2041 Riverdale St.
Patel Pravinbhai

Employment Sections
NLRB’s Joint-employer Campaign Provides Some Food for Thought

By PETER VICKERY

Is a franchisor liable for the labor practices of a franchisee? Are they joint employers? No, not according to the law. The franchisee is the employer, not the franchisor. But you would never guess that from the attitude of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Together, these two agencies are trying to foist labor-practices liability onto parties whose business models are predicated on its absence.

Peter Vickery

Peter Vickery

The joint-employer concept is a creature of the common law, which is a flexible thing, evolving on a case-by-case basis to meet society’s changing needs. But some areas of law achieve a certain degree of stability, which makes life in general (and business in particular) more predictable. One such area of settled law is the relationship between franchisees and the people they employ.

For more than three decades, the NLRB and the courts have applied the principle that the franchisee — not the franchisor — is the employer of the individuals who work in the franchisee’s place of business. If a franchisor actually exercised significant control over the terms and conditions of employment — such as hiring and firing decisions, rates of pay, day-to-day supervision, and scheduling — the story would be different. In the absence of that control, franchisees and franchisors are not joint employers.

But now, the NLRB is pursuing charges against franchisors for the alleged labor practices of franchisees, asserting that they are joint employers.

Certainly, a franchisor has to involve itself in aspects of a franchisee’s operations in order to police and protect the brand. Depending on the provisions of the intellectual-property agreement, this can entail monitoring and instructing a franchisee’s employees with regard to quality control. But that kind of involvement, no matter how deep, does not constitute significant control over labor relations. Nevertheless, the NLRB asserts that it does.

The first targets in the board’s crosshairs are McDonald’s and Browning-Ferris Industries. The goal is to make it easier for unions to organize fast-food employees and temporary workers hired by staffing agencies.

Just to be clear, the law has not changed. In 1982 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit articulated the sufficient-control standard, and two recent rulings from California reiterated the point that franchisors and franchisees are not joint employers. The rules governing how the NLRB defines the term ‘joint employer’ are the same as well. What has changed, however, is the identity of the NLRB’s general counsel. In November 2013, President Obama appointed Richard Griffin, formerly general counsel to the International Union of Operating Engineers, which represents not only workers in construction and petrochemicals, but also in service industries. As the NLRB’s legal chief, Griffin made the decision to go after McDonald’s Corp.

Those who agree argue that the NLRB board is doing no more than meeting its “responsibility to adapt the [National Labor Relations] Act to the changing patterns of industrial life,” as Supreme Court Justice Brennan put it in the 1975 case of NLRB v. Weingarten. There is no doubt that Justice Brennan, the champion of the ‘living Constitution,’ wrote those words. What is in serious doubt is whether Congress can delegate to an executive agency the power to ‘adapt’ a statute. The Constitution vests the legislative power exclusively in the legislative branch. If Congress wants to adapt a statute to the changing patterns of industrial life, it — and it alone — is free to do so.

By launching complaints against franchisors on the basis of joint-employer status in the face of settled law, the NLRB is taking a tack similar to the one some commentators have described as the sue-and-settle approach. Rather than go through the cumbersome process of adopting new rules and regulations, some agencies and their allies in the economic areas they regulate (their de facto constituents) prefer a faster route.

The sue-and-settle approach involves agencies collaborating with advocacy groups to achieve a policy objective by leaning on businesses until they agree to the group’s demands, bypassing the rule-making process. Together, the advocacy group and the agency accomplish via a consent decree what they could not have accomplished through the statutorily mandated regulatory route, replete with notice, review, public input, and political accountability.

What the NLRB is engaged in with its joint-employer campaign is a variant on sue-and-settle. While Mr. Griffin embarked on the case against Browning-Ferris, but without pausing, the board invited public comment on its new definition of joint employer. One of the supportive comments came from the EEOC, which seems to welcome the prospect of expanding the range of potential defendants subject to its jurisdiction in discrimination cases. If the NLRB and EEOC succeed, the ramifications will extend well beyond the fast-food and staffing sectors.


Peter Vickery practices law in Amherst; (413) 549-9933; www.petervickery.com

Departments People on the Move

United Personnel announced the promotion of two staff members, as well as the addition of a new senior staffing consultant:

Jennifer Atwater

Jennifer Atwater

Jennifer Atwater, Assistant Vice President of Operations for Hampshire and Franklin counties, has been promoted to Vice President of Operations for these regions plus Berkshire County. A graduate of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, her duties will include staff management, client and candidate relations, recruitment, and business development. As a member of the United Personnel team for 15 years, Atwater brings a wealth of human-resources knowledge and recruiting expertise to her new role. In addition to her work at United Personnel, she serves as an ambassador to the Holyoke Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the Human Resources Roundtable for Associated Industries of Massachusetts;

Becky Ramah

Becky Ramah

• Assistant Vice President of Information Technology Becky Ramah has been promoted to Vice President of Information Technology and Communications. Ramah has been with United Personnel for 21 years in a variety of progressively responsible roles, including recruitment, placement, and on-site project management. Ramah’s new role encompasses all information-technology operations as well as social media and marketing. She is a graduate of UMass and serves on the board of directors of Womanshelter/Companeras; and



Halina Dumas

Halina Dumas

Halina Dumas joins the team as a Senior Staffing Consultant. Dumas, a graduate of UMass Amherst, has 15 years of staffing-industry experience in professional, accounting, and administrative placement for a national firm. She will be overseeing placements for both large and small clients in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties.
•••••
Dr. Charlotte Boney, a nationally recognized pediatric endocrinologist and physician educator, has been named to the position of Tufts University School of Medicine chair of Pediatrics at Baystate Health and vice president of the Pediatric Service Line at Baystate Children’s Hospital. Before coming to Baystate Children’s Hospital, Boney was director of the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology in the Department of Pediatrics at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, and professor of Pediatrics at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. “I am thrilled to be joining Baystate. Baystate Children’s Hospital has a proven track record in delivering state-of-the-art clinical care, but it is the department’s commitment to serving the community’s children and their families, and to training future pediatricians, which really attracted me to this position,” she said. Boney attended the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn. and the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis, where she was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. She completed her internship and residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and a fellowship in pediatric endocrinology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She joined the faculty at Brown University in 1994 and became program director of the fellowship in Pediatric Endocrinology in 2003 and director of the Division of Endocrinology in 2005. She received numerous teaching awards at Brown, including the Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award every year from 2004 to 2011 and again in 2013. Boney also has a distinguished research career, supported by National Institutes of Health funding, during which she focused on the biology of adipocyte (fat-cell) development. She has also conducted clinical research in pediatric obesity and diabetes. Additionally, she has served on numerous hospital, university, regional, and national committees. Boney’s professional memberships include the Endocrine Society, the Pediatric Endocrine Society (for which she served on the board of directors), the Society for Pediatric Research, the Obesity Society, and the American Pediatric Society. She recently joined the sub-board in pediatric endocrinology at the American Board of Pediatrics. She has also authored some 40 scholarly publications, including peer-reviewed journals and abstracts, and is the author of several textbook chapters. She also serves as a member of the editorial board of the American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism. “It is my hope in my new role at Baystate Children’s Hospital to expand clinical programs, strengthen education programs, and generate new knowledge in pediatric medicine,” she said.
•••••
Kevin Joyce

Kevin Joyce

After a stint working as a senior member of IBM’s Business Analytics Division in the Boston area, Holyoke native Kevin Joyce has returned to the Pioneer Valley and taken a position at Webber & Grinnell Insurance. Joyce began his insurance career in 2005 with Phillips Insurance of Chicopee. In his five years at Phillips, he built a significant book of business comprised of property owners, manufacturers, restaurants/hospitality, contractors/sub-contractors, and technology operations. “I’m very excited to be back in the community I love, working with a great firm and clients that I’m passionate about,” Joyce said. Added Mathew Geffin, vice president of Business Development, “we are very excited that Kevin is joining the team at Webber & Grinnell. Kevin is a son of the Pioneer Valley and understands the values and needs of our business community.” As one of the largest insurance agencies in Western Mass., Webber & Grinnell currently serves more than 5,000 automobile and homeowner policyholders, and insures nearly 900 businesses throughout the region.
•••••
Mark Goggins has joined Ostberg & Associates, the Northampton-based financial-services and insurance firm. Goggins brings more than 20 years of experience in the mortgage business with Mortgage Master and Applied Mortgage Services, as well as earlier work history with John Alden Insurance and Goggins Real Estate. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to bring Mark to our team,” said company President Robert Ostberg. “Mark’s integrity, his reputation for building and maintaining personal and professional relationships, and his deep commitment to the community will help Ostberg & Associates continue to provide exceptional service to our clients and our community.” Goggins graduated from UMass with a degree in political science. He has served as a coach with the Northampton Recreational Department and the Suburban Basketball league, and is currently on the board of Nonotuck Resource Associates.
•••••
Monson Savings Bank has announced the following:
Carolyn Weeks

Carolyn Weeks

Carolyn Weeks has been promoted to Branch Manager of the Wilbraham office. Weeks began her career at Monson Savings in 2007 as a part-time customer service associate while still in college. In 2009, she came back to the bank and has risen through the ranks to customer service associate supervisor, assistant branch manager, and now branch manager. She is a UMass graduate with a bachelor’s degree in business administration; and



Anthony Jianaces has been promoted to Branch Manager of the Hampden office. Jianaces joined the bank in 2012, also as a part-time customer service associate. He has since been promoted to assistant branch manager and now branch manager. He is a registered financial representative and holds his series 7, series 66, and insurance licenses. He is a graduate of Stonehill College with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. “I am extremely pleased to announce these promotions,” said Steve Lowell, president of Monson Savings Bank. “Carolyn and Anthony are both very talented and impressive young professionals who have already made significant contributions to the success of Monson Savings.”
Anthony Jianaces

Anthony Jianaces

Bankruptcies Departments

The following bankruptcy petitions were recently filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Readers should confirm all information with the court.

Aldam, James J.
260 Pittsfield Road
Unit C2
Lenox, MA 01240
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/28/15

Amidio, John
26 Old School House Road
Oakham, MA 01068
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/25/15

Amsden, Sherry Jean
81 Sessions Dr.
Hampden, MA 01036
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/30/15

Avdyli, Agron
Avdyli, Xhevdet
29 Line St.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/23/15

Bailey, John G.
172 Highland Ave.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/23/15

Barber, Wayne B.
Barber, Debra A.
6 Cherokee Dr.
North Adams, MA 01247
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/28/15

Baumann, Lisa A.
141 Elizabeth St.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/28/15

Beuth, Julie M.
136 Bartlett Ave.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/26/15

Chapman, Loreen Michelle
PO Box 553
Williamsburg, MA 01096
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/21/15

Ciuro Enterprises, LLC
Ciuro, Angel Jousue
9 Brookfield St. 9R
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/30/15

Colby, Justin R.
254 Cedar Swamp Road
Monson, MA 01057
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/20/15

DeBoise, Ruthie M.
P.O. Box 1786
Pittsfield, MA 01202
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/28/15

Dolinski, David M.
244 City View Blvd.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/21/15

Donohue, Brian
Donohue, Denise M.
100 Haydenville Road
West Whately, MA 01039
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/20/15

Dougherty, Tamera L.
a/k/a Neil, Tamera
a/k/a Seddon, Tamera
6 Stephanie Lane
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/31/15

Drake Aldam, Carrie L.
260 Barker Road
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/28/15

Eaton Lindner, Candace E.
742 Hewins St.
Sheffield, MA 01257
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/29/15

Egan, Christopher E.
13 Wellfleet Dr.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/30/15

Faith, Colin Francis
20 Charles Lane
Amherst, MA 01002
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/29/15

Fanning, Elizabeth M.
47 Riverview Ave.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/29/15

Gomes, Aurora F.
26 Wilno Ave.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/30/15

Green, Dossie L.
50 Church St., Apt.1-L
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/25/15

Greenwood, Ann U.
PO Box 454
Williamstown, MA 01267
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/26/15

Hall, Danielle S.
P.O. Box 128
Russell, MA 01071
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/30/15

Hebert, Scott A.
Hebert, Deborah L.
a/k/a Antonuzzo, Deborah
P.O. Box 418
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/31/15

Hoffey, Thomas M.
Hoffey, Rebecca A.
865 North Brookfield Road
Oakham, MA 01068
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/26/15

Johnson, Karol A.
631 Pendleton Ave., Apt. A
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/21/15

Johnson, Oscar L.
8 Grout Circle
Millers Falls, MA 01349
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/31/15

Karas, Lori A.
2020 Wilbraham Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/27/15

Kelliher, Gail E.
140 Warren Terrace
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/19/15

Langevin, Marc W.
Marion-Langevin, Rebecca G.
914 McKinstry Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/31/15

MacKenzie, Theodore J.
MacKenzie, Allison L.
111 Railroad St
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/21/15

Marrero, Venancio
111 Manning St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/23/15

Mercado, Pablo D.
P.O. Box 891
Granby, MA 01033
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/29/15

Mertzic, Thomas M.
Mertzic, Jacqueline M.
264 Patrill Hollow Road
Hardwick, MA 01037
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/23/15

Messer, Robert A.
25 Danforth Ave.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/22/15

Morales, Angel T.
27 Saab Court, Apt. 808
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/22/15

Moriarty, Jeremy J.
268 Palmer Road #9
Monson, MA 01057
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/29/15

Nadeau, Joseph R.
Nadeau, Doris L.
3 Cordes Court
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/27/15

O’Connor, Sandra
53 Briarcliff Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/28/15

Racine, Ronald
25 Britton St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/20/15

Rimmer, Jon Michael
240 Bemis Road
Warren, MA 01083
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/28/15

Russell, Sarah E.
78 Davenport St.
North Adams, MA 01247
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/19/15

Sikes, Janet Joan
46 Tokeneke Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/28/15

Soto, Ruperto
49 Sterling St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/26/15

Tidlund, Scott L.
Tidlund, Rebecca L.
39 Ballard Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/30/15

Tinker, Patricia M.
a/k/a Tinker, Trisha
233 Upper Church St.
Gilbertville, MA 01031
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/31/15

Turner, Ryan D.
71 Bachman Ave.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/26/15

Vaughn, Viki
33 Mercedes St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/31/15

Walker, Pamela M.
69 Sprague St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/20/15

Watt, Robin J.
140 Fort Pleasant Ave., 2nd Fl.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/23/15

Briefcase Departments

Employer Confidence Hits 14-year High
BOSTON — Employers are more confident about the Massachusetts economy than they have been in 14 years. In the latest Business Confidence Index released by Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), employer confidence in the Bay State economy surged 3.2 points to 59.3, on a 100-point scale, in January. Overall business confidence rose for the fifth consecutive month, to 58.1, while the U.S. Index of business conditions nationally rose 4.0 points to 54.1. “These are landmark figures,” said Katherine Kiel, professor of Economics at the College of the Holy Cross and a member of the AIM board of economic advisors. “The national indicator is at a level not seen since before the Great Recession, in August 2007, and its state counterpart had not been this high since before the previous recession, in December 2000. Business confidence in Massachusetts conditions, like total statewide employment, did not fully recover from that earlier downturn before the next one hit.” Added Richard Lord, AIM’s president and CEO, “our members rate conditions within the Commonwealth better than they have been in 14 years.” Lord noted that the January Business Confidence Index survey included a question asking employers how they saw Massachusetts as a place to do business in 2015. “Forty-two percent of respondents chose ‘the best’ or ‘very good,’ while only 8% went with ‘below par,’” he noted. “It’s a credit to our business community, our workforce, and our political leadership that employer perceptions are so positive. AIM’s Business Confidence Index has been issued monthly since July 1991 under the oversight of its board of economic advisors. Presented on a 100-point scale on which 50 is neutral, the index attained a historical high of 68.5 in 1997 and 1998; its all-time low was 33.3 in February 2009. Economists say rising confidence leads to economic growth. “When the Federal Reserve notes strong job growth and solid expansion, as it did in its assessment last week, it’s important to recognize that businesses are creating those jobs because they are feeling confident about the future,” said Raymond Torto, chair of AIM’s board of economic advisors (BEA) and lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Design. The cheers for the economy were not, however, without reservation. The Current Index, tracking employers’ assessment of existing business conditions, edged off one-tenth to 56.1, while the Future Index, measuring expectations for the next six months, added 1.7 to 60.1. Meanwhile, the three sub-indices related to survey respondents’ own operations all weakened in January. The Company Index, in which employers assess the situations of their own operations, was down a point to 59.1; the Sales Index shed six-tenths to 60.7; and the Employment Index fell 2.8 to 53.9. “The sales and employment numbers are off for the second consecutive month,” noted Michael Goodman, associate professor of Public Policy and executive director of the Public Policy Center at UMass Dartmouth, and a BEA member. “However, respondents expect both sales and hiring to increase in the next six months. Over the past six months, respondents reporting adding new staff have outnumbered those reporting layoffs, 29% to 22%, while expectations for the next six months are much stronger, with 33% reporting plans to hire and 11% expecting staffing reductions.”

Massachusetts Ranks Fifth in Nation for LEED-certified Buildings
BOSTON — Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Matthew Beaton recently announced that Massachusetts has been ranked fifth in the nation for 2014 sustainable-building design, construction, and transformation by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). “This recognition is another example of Massachusetts’ commitment to strengthening our economy, shaping our energy future, and protecting our environment through clean-energy jobs and technology,” said Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Matthew Beaton. “Designing and constructing our buildings with an awareness towards energy and the environment protects our natural resources while saving money for businesses, institutions, and residents.” Massachusetts added 99 new Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) certified projects in 2014, ranking behind only Illinois, Colorado, Maryland, and Virginia. The rankings are calculated by dividing square footage certified in 2014 by state population. Massachusetts has ranked in the top five for the past three years. “LEED has become an important benchmark in the transformation of the nation’s built environment,” said Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair of USGBC. “LEED-certified buildings and the innovations they have driven contribute substantially to our national economic growth, create jobs, and improve the quality of life in the communities where they are found. Massachusetts business and community leaders, policy makers, and green-building professionals understand how to create a healthier, more sustainable future.” Massachusetts remains a leader in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and economic benefits from the clean-energy industry. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has named Massachusetts number one in energy efficiency for four years in a row. Solar installations have grown from 3 megawatts in 2007 to 752 today.

Voters Approve Zoning Change at Longmeadow Shops
LONGMEADOW — Voters at a recent town meeting approved a zoning change to allow for the expansion of the Longmeadow Shops, a 78,000-square-foot retail plaza on Bliss Road and Williams Street. The proposal to change the zoning of an adjacent 1.8-acre parcel from residential to business zoning passed by a 729-168 margin, according to the Republican. Grove Properties, which owns the Longmeadow Shops, plans to add 21,000 square feet of retail space to the plaza, which will include a new, enlarged CVS, two additional retail shops, 139 new parking spaces, an additional entrance, and a reconfiguration of the parking lot.

Insurance Sections
High-deductible Health Plans Find Fertile Soil

Jody Gross

Jody Gross says the percentage of insurance consumers using high-deductible plans is still small, but growing quickly.

Pay now or pay later?

Employers and consumers shopping for health insurance have to ask themselves a version of this question when considering the option known as high-deductible health plans (HDHPs), which offer lower premiums than traditional plans but much higher deductibles, or the expenses that must be paid out of pocket before the plan begins footing the bills.

HDHPs typically feature deductibles exceeding $1,200 for individuals or $2,400 for families — often by a lot. In fact, according to the 2014 Employer Benefits Survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation Health Research & Educational Trust, the average deductible for individual coverage paired with a health savings account is $2,098, but 18% of workers have a deductible of $3,000 or more. For family coverage, deductibles average $4,059, with almost one-third topping $5,000.

“This makes for a potentially dramatic shift in patient behavior and thinking,” Leah Binder, president and CEO of the Leapfrog Group, wrote in Harvard Business Review. “In traditional plans, even if you have a deductible, you skim to the section of the bill that says ‘patient responsibility.’ It’s usually a nice, round co-pay like $25 or $50 — the same, predictable amount regardless of which services you received. In contrast, with an HDHP, the whole bill is yours to pay.”

Although HDHPs are not a new idea, Binder explained, they’ve received a jolt of life over the past decade, with George W. Bush’s administration pushing for employers to offer the option, and the Democratic-led Affordable Care Act greatly accelerating the adoption of such plans, as the new state insurance exchanges usually feature high-deductible options.

“The IRS has set up some specific qualifications for what constitutes a qualified high-deductible health plan,” said Jody Gross, vice president of Sales at Health New England. “We have a $2,000 high-deductible health plan for an individual, $4,000 for a family, and the premiums are typically much more affordable.

“In order for it to be a qualified plan,” he added, “by definition, all services need to go toward that deductible, whether it’s an inpatient stay, an office visit, prescription drugs … all services need to go toward that deductible. The exception is preventive services — your annual physical, a mammogram, things like that; the government has a list of items that don’t need to go toward that deductible. Even so, a person pays a lot out of pocket before the plan kicks in.”

Accompanying many HDHPs is a product called a health savings account (HSA), by which a plan enrollee — and, in some cases, his or her employer — contributes money tax-free to an account that can be used to pay healthcare expenses. Any unused balance at the end of the year is not lost, but rolls over into the next year.

High-deductible plans and health savings accounts go hand in hand and are often an effective way for consumers to take more control over their care by forcing them to weigh the actual cost of each treatment, visit, or medication, Gross said. “Health insurance — and healthcare in general — is expensive, so the federal government set these plans up, these health savings accounts, in order to drive people down that continuum of healthcare products.”

Meredith Wise, president of the Employers Assoc. of the NorthEast, said many employers are moving toward HSAs and high-deductible health plans.

“A lot of it is because of the rising premiums,” she noted. “As you look at the deductibles and the maximum out-of-pocket expenses of most plans these days, you’re just about at that high-deductible threshold, so going to high-deductible health plans is an easy move for companies to make.”

Seeking Savings

The national numbers bear out that trend. According to the Kaiser survey, one in five workers had an HDHP in 2013, up from nearly zero in 2006. Meanwhile, half of all firms with more than 5,000 workers now offer HDHPs.

“High-deductible plans are attractive to employers because they get to bear less of the insurance cost. Many economists also like the plans, because they’re supposed to make people spend more wisely on their healthcare,” noted Jason Millman in the Washington Post.

“The big question is whether employees are prepared to handle potentially big medical bills before they hit their deductible,” he continued, noting that enrollees in employer insurance typically say they’re happy with the services their health plans cover, “but they’re much less satisfied with what they’re paying out of their own pockets.”

That caution seems to be more prevalent in Massachusetts, Gross said.

“At Health New England, 5% to 6% of our membership is on high-deductible health plans,” he told BusinessWest. “In Western Mass., they haven’t taken off like wildfire. They may shortly, but they haven’t yet, because so many services go toward the deductible, and people aren’t willing to pay a lot less in monthly premiums to have all their prescription drugs and everything else go toward that deductible.”

Wise noted that Massachusetts was initially slow to approve HDHPs. “I think, when high-deductible health plans came out, the Division of Insurance was reluctant to approve a lot of them because of the concern over what the out-of-pocket costs could be for the workforce and people in the state, so they dragged their feet on allowing those to happen.”

But that’s changing, Gross said, noting that two or three years ago, high-deductible plans accounted for only 3% of Health New England’s offerings, about half what they are today. And a year or two from now, he expects the figure to be closer to 10% or 12%. “I do see high-deductible plans gaining more steam.

“I think employers are trying to partner with health-insurance plans to find affordable solutions,” he added. “Healthcare is expensive, and there are a lot of expensive medications out there. We all want the latest technologies, but those are expensive too. One way to think about these costs is to share them with individuals.”

In this way, he explained, HDHPs and HSAs fall under the broad category of consumer-directed health plans, which require patients to become much more actively involved in their own care because they’re always acutely aware of what it costs.

“They’re thinking, ‘do I need this service? Are there alternatives? Take prescription drugs, for example; people get tied into thinking, ‘I need this brand-name medicine.’ But if they engage in a conversation with their doctor about generic alternatives, maybe a generic will work in their situation. Another example would be someone with back problems. Do they go right in for surgery, or are there alternative therapies or physical therapy that might be effective? It’s really the consumer driving their own care.”

Employers might be moving toward high-deductible plans partly out of anxiety over the so-called ‘Cadillac tax,’ set to take effect in 2018, that will impose a 40% excise tax on the value of health-insurance benefits that exceed a certain threshold, starting with $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families, Binder noted.

“Employers are determined to avoid that tax, but that means slowing growth now or risk blowing the cap by 2018,” she wrote. “Employers used to hesitate to launch unpopular cost-cutting strategies like HDHPs so that they would remain competitive with plans offered by other employers. But pressure from the looming Cadillac tax is felt by all employers equally, so taking a risk on cost-cutting strategies now has less of a competitive disadvantage.”

Wise said the Affordable Care Act, for the most part, hasn’t scared employers, even small companies, off their current health plans, but the Cadillac tax is absolutely a concern.

“I think employers are concerned about the luxury tax coming up,” she said. “If premiums keep going up the way they are, and they would fall under the luxury tax, many of them are going to move to high-deductible health plans.

By All Accounts

At the same time, employers are finding more acceptance of HDHPs among individual consumers because of the combination of lower premiums and the availability of health savings accounts, which offer a number of tax savings, Gross said.

“As an example, I can deduct money from my paycheck and put it into my health savings account tax-free, and that money in the health savings account earns interest — some work like a regular bank account, and with others, you can invest the money. Those earn interest tax-free, and when you spend money [from the HSA] on qualified medical expenses, your payment is tax-free. That’s three ways, from a tax perspective, to save money.”

For consumers who don’t like being hit in the wallet for every single doctor visit and prescription up to their deductible, Health New England offers a hybrid plan — part of its “essential-products suite,” as Gross called it — that features lower premiums and higher deductibles (anywhere from $500 to $2,000) than traditional plans, but covers regular office visits and prescription drugs from the outset. “Because it’s not a qualified plan, you can’t have a health savings account with it, but people are migrating there; 30-40% of our business is in our essential-products suite.”

Gross uses a qualified HDHP and a health savings account himself and appreciates the flexibility it offers, he said. “I put money into it from my paycheck, and I use it as a way to save some money tax-free. I’ve used the savings account to pay for medical expenses — when I went to the doctor, instead of a co-pay out of pocket, I ran my card and paid the whole bill.”

These accounts are owned solely by the individual, and unfortunately, most employers choose not to contribute to them, he noted. “Some employers, a small percentage, may put money into health savings accounts to help employees get started. But the majority aren’t doing that.”

Companies, in fact, are more likely to opt for health reimbursement accounts, which the employer owns, and are typically a use-it-or-lose-it proposition; “if the person doesn’t use the health reimbursement account, the money goes back to the employer.”

Wise agreed, noting that “companies are moving to replace the HSAs, and many of the employers are not contributing to them.”

In short, employers are no different from individual consumers when it comes to seeking healthcare savings. And with high-deductible plans gaining acceptance against a backdrop of rising premiums for traditional plans, that trend looks likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

And that, for better or worse, puts the onus on patients to make decisions that are healthy for both their bodies and their bank accounts.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Opinion
TWO Is One Solid Strategy for Region

When the Boston Foundation issued a report in 2011 that came down hard on the state’s community colleges, including those in the four western counties, for not doing enough to properly train individuals for jobs in the state’s knowledge-based economy, the initial reaction locally was to be defensive and try to shoot holes in the report.

Eventually, though, administrators at area schools came to acknowledge that maybe the Boston Foundation was right, at least on some points, and that community colleges were slow — and quite reactionary — when it came to workforce issues, and were too insular in their approach to problem solving.

As a result, Holyoke Community College and Springfield Technical Community College created TWO (Training & Workforce Options) to not only answer the Boston Foundation’s criticism but address one of this region’s most critical — and nagging — problems, the so-called skills gap.

This gap — actually, it’s a series of gaps — is the primary reason why, despite high unemployment rates, companies across many sectors of the economy continue to struggle mightily to fill positions. And it also explains why many individuals have been unable to break through and attain some of the attractive jobs being created in this technology-driven economy.

TWO addresses these gaps through collaborative initiatives involving a host of partners — from area businesses of all sizes to workforce-development-related agencies such as the regional employment boards and other colleges and universities — and in three short years, it has enjoyed considerable success in closing some of them.

So much so that the Boston Foundation awarded the two colleges, which applied jointly, the first Deval Patrick Award for efforts to address workforce issues (see story on facing page). Both schools are rightfully proud of that honor, but they should be more proud of why they won — because of the success stories written in conjunction with those aforementioned partners.

Some are large in scale, such as the advanced call center and customer service certificate program, which has trained individuals for jobs in the growing number of call centers across the region and placed them with many of those operations, and a medical coding incumbent worker training academy, which has involved more than 50 companies and helped ready them for the impact of a new and much more detailed coding system.

However, many others are small in scope, involving a particular company, but certainly not insignificant in terms of impact on the big picture — the overall health and well-being of the business community.

As we’ve said before on many occasions, the broad realm of economic development is not confined to filling industrial parks with tenants, luring large employers to the area, or spurring the development and growth of new sectors such as the biosciences and clean energy. Indeed, it also involves initiatives to help existing companies thrive and improve any region’s best asset when it comes to economic growth — its workforce.

Thus, TWO has become a vitally important economic-development program, one that will hopefully grow and involve more companies in this region and also inspire other regions of the state to do similar things and thus help close the considerable gap between this state’s haves and its have-nots.

The Deval Patrick Award might help with all that, and we hope it does. That will be a far bigger reward than the cash prize that goes to the two colleges, and one that truly reflects the importance of this unique initiative.

Departments Real Estate

The following real estate transactions (latest avail¬able) were compiled by Banker & Tradesman and are published as they were received. Only transactions exceeding $115,000 are listed. Buyer and seller fields contain only the first name listed on the deed.

FRANKLIN COUNTY

BUCKLAND

10 Dungarvin Dr.
Buckland, MA 01338
Amount: $315,550
Buyer: Susan A. Schriber TR
Seller: Leah A. Teece
Date: 01/15/15

CHARLEMONT

80 Warner Hill Road
Charlemont, MA 01339
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Norman Starr
Seller: Brian C. Rose
Date: 01/23/15

CONWAY

2300 Main Poland Road
Conway, MA 01341
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Jeffrey D. Golay
Seller: Thomas P. Coughlin
Date: 01/16/15

238 Warger Road
Conway, MA 01341
Amount: $308,000
Buyer: Ann C. Kitson
Seller: Greenfield Savings Bank
Date: 01/15/15

DEERFIELD

266 Conway Road
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $229,000
Buyer: Jason A. Dion
Seller: Deana B. Muzyka
Date: 01/15/15

111 Lee Road
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $246,250
Buyer: Deana B. Muzyka
Seller: Karen A. Spear
Date: 01/15/15

GREENFIELD

53-55 Congress St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $930,000
Buyer: Dennis G. Wade
Seller: John F. Merrigan
Date: 01/12/15

443 Green River Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $115,000
Buyer: Jerry A. Markoski
Seller: Paul B. Markoski
Date: 01/16/15

100 Mohawk Trail
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $700,000
Buyer: L&S LP
Seller: Mackin, Helen L., (Estate)
Date: 01/21/15

144-1/2 School St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $147,644
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Robert Palomares
Date: 01/21/15

23 Smith St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $173,000
Buyer: Kelly M. Wallace
Seller: Jason H. Turner
Date: 01/13/15

36 Sunset Square
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $270,000
Buyer: Matthew D. Parody
Seller: Byron D. Caplice
Date: 01/21/15

118 Wildwood Ave.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $165,500
Buyer: Gary H. Keel
Seller: Lawrence, Leland R., (Estate)
Date: 01/20/15

LEVERETT

7 Jackson Hill Road
Leverett, MA 01054
Amount: $229,000
Buyer: Kurt H. Wilkins
Seller: Steven M. Bergin
Date: 01/23/15

MONTAGUE

64-66 Avenue A
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Derwicki LLC
Seller: Kacy Corp. Inc.
Date: 01/22/15

172 Millers Falls Road
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $174,900
Buyer: Michelle C. Eddy
Seller: Matthew J. Sheridan
Date: 01/22/15

NORTHFIELD

12 East St.
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $172,000
Buyer: Britney E. Turner
Seller: Jennifer L. Minckler
Date: 01/23/15

459 Millers Falls Road
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Jason Turner
Seller: Beth M. Reynolds
Date: 01/13/15

Old Bernardston Road
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Connecticut River Realty
Seller: Lane Construction Corp.
Date: 01/16/15

SHELBURNE

30 Colrain Shelburne Road
Shelburne, MA 01370
Amount: $197,000
Buyer: Jonathan Jessop
Seller: Laurie E. Frazer
Date: 01/21/15

WHATELY

315 Long Plain Road
Whately, MA 01093
Amount: $261,500
Buyer: Jacob Schrader
Seller: Judith E. Hunter
Date: 01/23/15

54 State Road
Whately, MA 01093
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Megan C. West
Seller: Anne H. Monchamp
Date: 01/23/15

HAMPDEN COUNTY

AGAWAM

29 Edgewater Road
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $201,000
Buyer: Hilltop Child & Adult Services
Seller: Domus Inc.
Date: 01/12/15

37 Kensington St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $165,500
Buyer: Gregory J. Garvin
Seller: Ellen Kupiec
Date: 01/23/15

46 Kensington St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $159,900
Buyer: Ronald A. Boudreau
Seller: Glenn O. Sweet
Date: 01/15/15

139 Line St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $161,000
Buyer: Frank P. Fossa
Seller: Andrew G. Ouimet
Date: 01/16/15

1092 Main St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Reginald R. Megit
Seller: Donna M. Flores
Date: 01/16/15

30 Memorial Park
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $242,000
Buyer: Lee M. Racine
Seller: Henry A. Dumas
Date: 01/15/15

92-1/2 Paul Revere Dr.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $219,500
Buyer: Michael D. Staropoli
Seller: Vadim P. Babinov
Date: 01/16/15

873 Springfield St.
Amount: $1,470,000
Buyer: Niloufar RT
Seller: Robert R. Koziol
Date: 01/15/15

1036 Suffield St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: DHR Enterprises LLC
Seller: Breglio Realty LLC
Date: 01/20/15

CHESTER

11 Johnson Hill Road
Chester, MA 01011
Amount: $580,000
Buyer: James R. Hathaway
Seller: Hope I. Mauran
Date: 01/23/15

CHICOPEE

99 7th Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Mary A. Bail
Seller: Kathie J. Genereux
Date: 01/16/15

34 Beauchamp Terrace
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $142,000
Buyer: Christopher Tergliafera
Seller: Joann H. Millard
Date: 01/14/15

159 Casey Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $174,100
Buyer: Scott L. Molnar
Seller: Michael E. Fregeau
Date: 01/22/15

42 Chatham St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $198,500
Buyer: Chris Sanford
Seller: Jason R. Labarre
Date: 01/23/15

24 Dewey St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $122,500
Buyer: Homes For Rent Inc.
Seller: US Bank
Date: 01/16/15

560 East St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: RG East Street LLC
Seller: Sandri Realty Inc.
Date: 01/14/15

18 Edgewood Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Miroslaw L. Laskowski
Seller: Viens, Matilda P., (Estate)
Date: 01/16/15

29 Frontenac St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $122,550
Buyer: Ian W. Marshall
Seller: Alan G. Mathewson
Date: 01/12/15

20 Harding St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Rene J. Iglesias
Seller: Mark J. Villamaino
Date: 01/14/15

33 Homer Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $650,000
Buyer: Nottingham Place LLC
Seller: Estelle Sourdiffe
Date: 01/15/15

41 Homer Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $650,000
Buyer: Nottingham Place LLC
Seller: Estelle Sourdiffe
Date: 01/15/15

80 Muzzy St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $134,000
Buyer: Holly Sweatt
Seller: Wayne R. Roy
Date: 01/22/15

110 Southwick St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $159,000
Buyer: Byron M. Garcia
Seller: Joshua J. Lamb
Date: 01/22/15

139 Summit Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Andre P. Remillard
Seller: Donna Polwrek
Date: 01/12/15

23 Trafton St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Lee A. Labbe
Seller: George J. Gajewski
Date: 01/15/15

EAST LONGMEADOW

84 East Circle Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $225,400
Buyer: David M. Disabito
Seller: John C. Kienzler
Date: 01/23/15

112 Pease Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $289,900
Buyer: Dustin E. Wilkinson
Seller: Christopher W. Hamylak
Date: 01/15/15

58 Tufts St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: David C. Lopez
Seller: Robert J. Sinnema
Date: 01/21/15

109 Vineland Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $253,000
Buyer: Anthony M. Neffinger
Seller: Darrly S. Kelley
Date: 01/15/15

HAMPDEN

21 Middlefield Dr.
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $272,000
Buyer: Jerry McDonald
Seller: Sandra M. Turgeon
Date: 01/22/15

HOLLAND

4 Linder Road
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $184,500
Buyer: Deborah J. Bycenski
Seller: Dream Property Management
Date: 01/22/15

351 Mashapaug Road
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Weston Kruse
Seller: Jason C. Spratt
Date: 01/20/15

65 Union Road
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $267,910
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Todd Mayo
Date: 01/22/15

5 Waterfront Way
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $270,000
Buyer: Mark Santore
Seller: Paul A. Sullivan
Date: 01/12/15

HOLYOKE

606 County Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Bryce G. Menninga
Seller: Richard A. Houle
Date: 01/23/15

558-560 Dwight St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $9,600,000
Buyer: Holyoke Health Center Inc.
Seller: Holyoke HC LLC
Date: 01/13/15

14 Field St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $149,990
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Martin E. Skuse
Date: 01/14/15

233-243 High St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $9,600,000
Buyer: Holyoke Health Center Inc.
Seller: Holyoke HC LLC
Date: 01/13/15

56-A Jackson St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $162,750
Buyer: J. Roman Enterprises LLC
Seller: Joseph J. Miller
Date: 01/14/15

230 Maple St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $9,600,000
Buyer: Holyoke Health Center Inc.
Seller: Holyoke HC LLC
Date: 01/13/15

236-240 Maple St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $9,600,000
Buyer: Holyoke Health Center Inc.
Seller: Holyoke HC LLC
Date: 01/13/15

Race St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $162,750
Buyer: J. Roman Enterprises LLC
Seller: Joseph J. Miller
Date: 01/14/15

348 Southampton Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Matthew Annis
Seller: Melissa A. Santerre
Date: 01/16/15

128 Sycamore St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $127,000
Buyer: Jennifer L. Campbell
Seller: Miguel R. Figueroa
Date: 01/23/15

246 West Franklin St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $133,000
Buyer: Esther Djumabaev
Seller: Maryann L. Hoag
Date: 01/23/15

LONGMEADOW

107 Albemarle Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $193,500
Buyer: Lawrence L. Goldberg
Seller: Scott H. Kittredge
Date: 01/22/15

129 Dover Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $550,000
Buyer: Daniel L. Landry
Seller: Francis D. Murray
Date: 01/20/15

102 Farmington Ave.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $467,000
Buyer: William T. Bladen
Seller: Aaron D. Kugelmass
Date: 01/21/15

444 Frank Smith Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $266,000
Buyer: Edward A. Moses
Seller: David S. Pease
Date: 01/23/15

32 Lincoln Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Serghei Sleptov
Seller: Christopher M. Ardia
Date: 01/23/15

43 Meadowbrook Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $630,000
Buyer: Kyle W. Lewis
Seller: Debra M. Kaye
Date: 01/20/15

N/A
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $435,000
Buyer: Thomas K. Keyser
Seller: Linda A. Randall
Date: 01/21/15

511 Wolf Swamp Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: CIG 2 LLC
Seller: Deutsche Bank
Date: 01/23/15

LUDLOW

52 Posner Circle
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $145,960
Buyer: PNC Bank
Seller: Claudia C. Macznik
Date: 01/23/15

59 Prospect Gardens
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $183,500
Buyer: Kristi L. Degrandpre
Seller: Paul J. Christie
Date: 01/15/15

202 Woodland Circle
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $323,000
Buyer: Bank New York Mellon
Seller: William S. Belfar
Date: 01/14/15

MONSON

56 Cote Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Michael E. Harrowfield
Seller: Eric S. Boyer
Date: 01/23/15

64 High St.
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Peoples United Bank
Seller: James Brien
Date: 01/23/15

9 Lakeside Dr.
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Lianne M. Pennington
Seller: Keith Richardson

PALMER

2136 Baptist Hill Road
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $283,500
Buyer: Deborah S. Kelder
Seller: Reginald R. Megit
Date: 01/16/15

29-35 Belanger St.
Palmer, MA 01080
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Vieira Family Properties
Seller: J. Belanger Assocs.
Date: 01/15/15

37-43 Belanger St.
Palmer, MA 01080
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Vieira Family Properties
Seller: J. Belanger Assocs.
Date: 01/15/15

339 Old Warren Road
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Aaron P. Swist
Seller: Burrill, Maureen A., (Estate)
Date: 01/21/15

21 Ruggles Court
Palmer, MA 01080
Amount: $161,000
Buyer: Michael A. Cust
Seller: Carole R. Brown
Date: 01/23/15

32 South High St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $156,000
Buyer: Rebecca Stmarie
Seller: Frederick W. Piechota
Date: 01/23/15

RUSSELL

131 Main St.
Russell, MA 01008
Amount: $199,000
Buyer: Thomas W. Ray
Seller: David L. Mosher
Date: 01/12/15

SPRINGFIELD

19 Abbott St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $144,900
Buyer: Ganga Thapa
Seller: Xiao T. Dong
Date: 01/23/15

51 Atwater Road
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Carlos Morales
Seller: Osvaldo Lopez
Date: 01/13/15

71 Blueberry Hill St.
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $124,000
Buyer: John A. Chigos
Seller: John Pedro
Date: 01/23/15

3 Canton St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $128,740
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Deborah Wells
Date: 01/14/15

128 Hancock St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: City View Property Services
Seller: SCMJ LLC
Date: 01/15/15

142 Hancock St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: City View Property Svcs
Seller: SCMJ LLC
Date: 01/15/15

64 Jean Dr.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $148,000
Buyer: Wilmington Savings Fund
Seller: Luis Martinez
Date: 01/23/15

52 Luden St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $116,325
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Edward P. Springer
Date: 01/12/15

43 Lyons St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Tamara Feliciano
Seller: Kyle E. Koob
Date: 01/16/15

112 Maebeth St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: James D. Dipinto
Seller: Jessie M. Hawley
Date: 01/15/15

250 Maple St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Carlos M. Gomez
Seller: Ildefonso L. Gomez
Date: 01/14/15

7 Nordica St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $216,000
Buyer: Matthew Fletcher
Seller: Kenney Sells Real Estate LLC
Date: 01/12/15

135 Parker St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Elsayed M. Elsafy
Seller: Luqman H. Mohammad
Date: 01/16/15

182 Pasco Road
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $157,404
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Ivette Castellano
Date: 01/20/15

Pendleton Ave. (NS)
Springfield, MA 01101
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: City View Property Services
Seller: SCMJ LLC
Date: 01/15/15

24 Spear Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Juan M. Barrera
Seller: Charles E. Teasley
Date: 01/21/15

51 Stratford Terrace
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: William Raleigh
Seller: Lana M. Murray-Harrington
Date: 01/15/15

540 Tiffany St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $115,000
Buyer: Richard K. McDonald
Seller: Linda M. Rivard
Date: 01/16/15

12 West Canton Circle
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $127,500
Buyer: Yanitza Quiles
Seller: US Bank
Date: 01/16/15

50 Woodruff St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $203,437
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Moisies Ortiz
Date: 01/12/15

WEST SPRINGFIELD

94 Herrman St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: James S. Wachala
Seller: Mary P. Lagodich
Date: 01/22/15

102 Main St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: JWK Real Estate LLC
Seller: Kimberly J. Birkner
Date: 01/16/15

Massachusetts Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $164,000
Seller: Wolk, Betty V. D., (Estate)
Date: 01/20/15

114 Pheasants Xing
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $415,000
Buyer: Ming D. Zhang
Seller: Eric C. Parent
Date: 01/22/15

33 Terry Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $237,000
Buyer: Julia R. Labarre
Seller: Kimberly A. Gage
Date: 01/23/15

107 Queen Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $144,000
Buyer: Lori A. Picard
Seller: James W. Fiore
Date: 01/16/15

10 Salem St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $284,900
Buyer: Anthony T. Sbalbi
Seller: Russell G. Finnie
Date: 01/16/15

1068 Stony Hill Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $196,750
Buyer: Molly A.McLaughlin
Seller: Judith K. Stewart
Date: 01/23/15

43 Windsor St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Mustafa Gusenov
Seller: Wilbraham Trucking Corp.
Date: 01/13/15

WESTFIELD

36 Belleview Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Elizabeth A. Neylon
Seller: Gerald R. Lally
Date: 01/15/15

51 Broad St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $560,000
Buyer: Morizio Brothers Mgmt. LLC
Seller: John P. Morizio
Date: 01/23/15

25 Darby Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Kristina Budri
Seller: Kenneth M. Kent
Date: 01/15/15

27 Dickens Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $191,000
Buyer: Aliona Mokan
Seller: Josephine A. Cheika
Date: 01/20/15

76 East Silver St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $130,500
Buyer: Michael A. Ruffo
Seller: Kozak, Charles A., (Estate)
Date: 01/14/15

151 Pontoosic Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $189,900
Buyer: Seth C. Fleischmann
Seller: Tanya L. Wheeler
Date: 01/15/15

141 Sandy Hill Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Kimberly A. Gage
Seller: Carol A. Liucci
Date: 01/23/15

24 Scenic Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: Richard Houle
Seller: Yong S. Bonardi
Date: 01/23/15

64 Whitaker Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $241,000
Buyer: Eric Staples
Seller: Gennadiy A. Lisitsin
Date: 01/16/15

30 White St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $179,000
Buyer: Deutsche Bank
Seller: Robert L. Herbele
Date: 01/21/15

10 Yale St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Morizio Brothers Mgmt. LLC
Seller: Michael A. Popovich
Date: 01/23/15

11 Yale St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $560,000
Buyer: Morizio Brothers Mgmt. LLC
Seller: John P. Morizio
Date: 01/23/15

5 Yale St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $560,000
Buyer: Morizio Brothers Mgmt. LLC
Seller: John P. Morizio
Date: 01/23/15

WILBRAHAM

8 Arbor Lane
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $256,000
Buyer: Paul M. Lafleur
Seller: James K. Russell
Date: 01/16/15

8 Daniele Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $369,900
Buyer: Darryl S. Kelley
Date: 01/15/15

33 Faculty St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $329,000
Buyer: Marylou Fabbo
Seller: Deborah S. Kelder
Date: 01/16/15

131 Stony Hill Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $188,500
Buyer: Luis A. Morales
Seller: Balise Automotive Realty
Date: 01/15/15

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY

AMHERST

35 Jeffrey Lane
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Bruce B. Conlin
Seller: Hongyu Duan
Date: 01/23/15

437 Main St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $505,000
Buyer: J. C. Shumway
Seller: John F. Edwards
Date: 01/12/15

571 Main St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: GC Rental Properties LLC
Seller: Belinda Castro
Date: 01/14/15

N/A
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $685,000
Buyer: Sylvia A. Smith
Seller: Sawicki, Ernestine B., (Estate)
Date: 01/15/15

370 Pelham Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: James Cherewatti
Seller: Caraker, Reece, (Estate)
Date: 01/21/15

11 South Whitney St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: GC Rental Properties LLC
Seller: Christian Gomez-Castro
Date: 01/14/15

20 South Whitney St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $147,000
Buyer: GC Rental Properties LLC
Seller: Belinda Castro
Date: 01/14/15

BELCHERTOWN

Bardwell St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $132,000
Buyer: Martin D. Denette
Seller: Dudek, Sebastian E., (Estate)
Date: 01/14/15

45 Depot St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Celina I. Przybyla
Seller: Raymond J. Samson
Date: 01/16/15

546 Federal St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $205,500
Buyer: Mark R. Plante
Seller: Catherine H. Burt
Date: 01/23/15

100 Metacomet St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Li Jia
Seller: FHLM
Date: 01/21/15

South Washington St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $132,000
Buyer: Martin D. Denette
Seller: Dudek, Sebastian E., (Estate)
Date: 01/14/15

EASTHAMPTON

2 Dartmouth St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $349,000
Buyer: East Mountain Inc.
Seller: Campagnari Construction
Date: 01/15/15

10 East Chestnut St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $167,101
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Erik Abel
Date: 01/14/15

13 Fox Run
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $525,000
Buyer: Dale W. Williams
Seller: D. A. Hardy Contractor LLC
Date: 01/20/15

58 Hendrick St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $234,000
Buyer: Sherri A. Brown
Seller: Francis G. Perrier
Date: 01/23/15

14 Holyoke St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Grace L. Sannino
Seller: Jennifer L. Campbell
Date: 01/23/15

138 Line St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $192,500
Buyer: Chad D. Hallett
Date: 01/15/15

13 Pinebrook Dr.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Luigi Ottaviani
Seller: Francis P. Earley
Date: 01/15/15

31 Treehouse Circle
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $335,031
Buyer: James Splain
Seller: EH Homeownership LLC
Date: 01/15/15

37 Westview Terrace
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $263,000
Buyer: Ronald E. Desroches
Seller: Gordon H. Pilgrim
Date: 01/23/15

HADLEY

156 Rocky Hill Road
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $222,000
Buyer: Lynn C. McKenna
Seller: Maryellen Beturney
Date: 01/22/15

NORTHAMPTON

54 Burncolt Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $212,500
Buyer: Joan C. Payne
Seller: Denise A. Karuth
Date: 01/12/15

20 Day Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $324,000
Buyer: Gregory Schweitzer
Seller: P. G. Allen
Date: 01/16/15

66 Drewsen Dr.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $190,500
Buyer: Jennifer H. McDonald
Seller: Kathleen A. Prindle
Date: 01/23/15

9-1/2 Market St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $780,000
Buyer: Market 95 LLC
Seller: Ridenour, Wilfred, (Estate)
Date: 01/14/15

93 Vernon St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Debra B. Truskinoff
Seller: Mehammed A. Mack
Date: 01/21/15

SOUTH HADLEY

16 Grandview St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $196,500
Buyer: Jennifer Allard
Seller: Arthur L. Lloyd
Date: 01/20/15

16 Laurie Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $144,000
Buyer: Kathleen R. Deady
Seller: Walter M. Zebrowski
Date: 01/23/15

SOUTHAMPTON

5 Old Harvest Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $129,900
Buyer: Magdalena M. Lech
Seller: Triple 7 LLC
Date: 01/21/15

123 Russellville Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Melissa R. Plourde
Seller: Joseph A. Yaple
Date: 01/14/15

WARE

26 Shoreline Dr.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Leonore A. Kelly
Seller: Thomas W. Ray
Date: 01/12/15

WILLIAMSBURG

45 Main St.
Williamsburg, MA 01096
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Poverty Mountain LLP
Seller: Smith FT
Date: 01/16/15

Daily News

HADLEY — Country Nissan has been awarded a 2015 DealerRater Consumer Satisfaction Award, a recognition auto dealerships can earn by delivering outstanding customer service as rated by online consumer reviews.

DealerRater, the car-dealer review site for consumers, created the Consumer Satisfaction Awards to enable online car shoppers to instantly spot car dealerships that provide high-quality customer service. Country Nissan has achieved consistently high marks on the DealerRater website, placing it among the top dealerships nationwide. Online shoppers visiting Country Nissan’s dealer review page on DealerRater.com will find a “2015 Consumer Satisfaction Award winner” designation.

“We want to ensure that our customers are satisfied not only at the time of purchase, but as long as they own their vehicle,” said Carla Cosenzi, owner of Country Nissan. “The DealerRater Consumer Satisfaction Award is reflective of our long-standing commitment to create exceptional customer experiences. Exceeding customer expectations is not an easy task. However, this is exactly what we strive to do every day.”

Commercial Real Estate Sections
Former Auto Dealership Is Transformed into a Unique Retail Facility

architect’s rendering

This architect’s rendering shows current initiatives as well as future plans for the former Balise Ford dealership on Route 20 in Westfield.

The Balise Ford dealership on Route 20 in Westfield closed its doors in 2007, and as the years went by, it remained vacant, becoming somewhat of an eyesore in the city, visible to everyone traveling along that busy thoroughfare.

But while most saw a troubled property beset with challenges when it comes to reuse, Nabil Hannoush developed a far different view. The Westfield resident, vice president of the Hannoush Jewelers chain and serial entrepreneur, saw it as an ideal location for a retail plaza and home to many separate but nonetheless synergistic businesses that he and his wife, Julie, had created or were planning.

Today, thanks to that vision and a determination to make it reality, the 11-acre property is being transformed into a center that now houses several retail enterprises, many of them health-related, including a restaurant, a baseball-and-softball training center called Extra Innings, and fitness facilities. And there could be many more added in the years to come as the Hannoushes advance plans to expand the plaza through new construction.

“I drove by the property every day for years and always thought it was a great location,” said Nabil, adding that it is positioned at the gateway to the city near the border with West Springfield and is easily accessible.

Talk about the property turned to action last year when the Hannoushes closed on the former dealership. They soon relocated the Extra Innings franchise they had acquired in Agawam into the facility and commenced buildout for an eatery they would call ShortStop Bar & Grill, which opened late last fall. The couple is also renovating space in the building to house Expert Fitness Health Club, which they acquired three years ago and is currently located further west on Route 20, and has plans to move still another business they own, East Longmeadow-based All Team Apparel, onto the site.

The various enterprises will support one another, and in some cases they already are, said Nabil, noting that sports teams and family members coming to watch them train are supporting the restaurant, and those teams will likely patronize All Team Apparel. And this base of retail establishments should attract other businesses to that location for other phases of its development.

Overall, Hannoush envisions five phases, with two, Shortstop and Extra Innings, already completed. Phase 3 is the new Expert Fitness, while phase 4 will involve erecting a new, 6,000-square-foot retail center on the east side of the property, while phase 5 will see another 18,000-square-foot retail facility on the west side of the site, plans that have been approved by the city.

Hannoush hopes phases 4 and 5 will include health- and wellness-related businesses and possibly a bank branch.

For now, though, the Hannoushes are focused on driving business to the existing enterprises and continuing to find imaginative ways to repurpose the space that once housed a showroom, service bays, a parts department, and other features of an automobile dealership.

Indeed, the existing building held some unusual challenges, including a dozen oversized garage doors, built to allow vehicles to enter and exit the auto dealership and repair bays.

Hannoush’s original plans were to gut the interior, remove the doors, and fill in the space. “But one night, I thought, if kept them, we could have an indoor-outdoor facility that would allow people to walk through the building and enjoy the outdoors,” he said. “Teens and young people playing baseball or softball could enjoy the breeze when the doors were open or go outside and play catch or practice.”

Nabil Hannoush, seen here with his daughter, Monica

Nabil Hannoush, seen here with his daughter, Monica, the executive chef of ShortStop Bar & Grill, says the facility is not a typical sports bar.

So the garage doors remain, and last summer, parents were able to watch their children practice while they waited outside.

“My hope was to build something that Westfield and Western Mass. can be proud of,” said Hannoush. “But I had to keep thinking outside the box because I wanted to create something that is different.”

Driving Force

Barry Wadsworth, director of operations for the complex and general manager of ShortStop Bar and Grill on the property, said the project is an exciting venture that compelled him to get involved.

The founder of the Holyoke Blue Sox met Hannoush after selling 51% of the team, and was captivated by his plans.

“Nabil’s vision is very exciting because he wants to make this a place the entire community can enjoy,” Wadsworth said, adding that it was the ideal location for the Hannoush family to expand its health-related businesses.

“Expert Fitness has more than 2,500 members; they needed a bigger location, and this building is a perfect fit,” he explained. “It allowed them to consolidate the gym, batting cages, and sporting-goods store associated with Extra Innings into one location.”

The new, 10,000-square-foot Expert Fitness has been under construction for some time on the west side of the building and is expected to open March 1. However, the Cage, a facility housing programs that fall into the category of extreme fitness, is already operational in a different area of the building, and a protein-shake bar is being built outside the indoor entrance to the gym, a few steps away from the entrance to the restaurant.

“The Cage holds hardcore classes that include indoor and outdoor boot camps, spinning, and group fitness,” Hannoush said. “It is one of the first of its kind in the country, and from April to November, we have what we are calling ‘Muscle Beach Westfield,’ a weightlifting station outside.

“It’s something different,” he went on, as he alluded again to his efforts to “think outside the box.”

That phrase can certainly be used in conjunction with ShortStop, which opened Dec. 19. It is technically a sports bar, but one with a decidedly different look and feel.

A fireplace burns brightly as diners relax in a cheerful room with rich, mahogany furniture and three walls of enormous windows. And although 36 flatscreen TVs are placed strategically above the tables in the bar and dining area, Nabil said Julie designed it to be welcoming to women.

“Typical sports bars are not doing well throughout the country because they are not female-friendly; they are often too loud,” Nabil explained, adding that the décor was carefully chosen and the atmosphere is suitable for families. The menu, meanwhile, includes everything from filet mignon to burgers to a wide array of healthy choices, including different types of salads, along with gourmet desserts created by executive chef Monica Hannoush, the owners’ daughter.

The sound of bats striking baseballs and softballs can be heard within ShortStop, at least when the doors are open, because it is separated from Extra Innings by a 2,000-square-foot area known informally as Ball Park Seating.

It contains a 10-by-15-foot flatscreen TV with eight speakers, smaller flatscreens on another walls, and tables that overlook the batting-cage tunnels. Some families choose to eat there and watch their children practice, and it is the setting for live entertainment on Friday nights.

“The area was packed on Super Bowl Sunday,” said Wadsworth. “Groups of 10 and 12 came here to watch the game.”

Barry Wadsworth

Barry Wadsworth says Extra Innings offers a wide array of sporting goods for baseball and softball players.

ShortStop opened with little fanfare, and it has not done any advertising, but word has spread quickly, and business is brisk.

“Parents come here while their children are practicing and have lunch or order food to take home,” said Wadsworth, adding that Extra Innings provides a fairly steady stream of customers, and the new Expert Fitness is expected to do the same. “Many are here so frequently, we know their names.”

The sports bar features a bump-out with an 1,300 additional square feet that was added to the building to create the dining room. Garage doors that remain will open onto the patio, which is surrounded by a wrought-iron fence.

A new, 1,800-square-foot banquet room is also under construction to accommodate requests from teams. One side features the oversized doors, which will allow the room to be opened to the outdoors in the summer.

“We plan to use every inch of the 38,000 square feet in the building and have added an additional 2,500 square feet in the restaurant and patio,” Wadsworth said.

All Team Apparel will soon move into the building, creating more synergy, he noted. “Teams who come here to practice will be able to get shirts and uniforms. This will become almost a one-stop shop for youth leagues due to the sporting-goods shop associated with Extra Innings.”

Gearing Up

One of the primary goals the Hannoushes have set is to have the property become a gathering place for the community, a setting for everything from more big games like the Super Bowl to fund-raising events; from youth birthday parties to summer concerts that can take place on a stage being built in the ShortStop’s patio area.

And Wadsworth believes it can and will become just that.

“I want the community to think of this place first when they are trying to raise money for a good cause; we want to use the facility to help people, and the sheer numbers that drive by on Route 20 are huge,” he said. “Everyone who comes here has a really good time. It’s a lot of fun, and people meet each other when they are using the batting cages or eating in the restaurant. It’s becoming a destination.”

Not many people could have imagined such a fate for the old Ford dealership, but the Hannoushes certainly did.

And their vision has become not only reality, but an inspiration.

Commercial Real Estate Sections
Renovation of Former Federal Building Creates Momentum Downtown

Jonathan Weaver, Zach Greene, and Richard Henderson

From left, Jonathan Weaver, Zach Greene, and Richard Henderson say the renovation of 1550 Main St. has spurred investment and economic development downtown.

In 2006, prospects for the federal building at 1550 Main St. in Springfield were grim.

A new federal courthouse was under construction on State Street, and many people were afraid that the prominent building in the central business district of the city would become a vacant eyesore after the court and other tenants vacated.

“The market for office space was very weak at the time, and it was feared that the building could become a blank in the downtown fabric,” said Richard Henderson, executive vice president of real estate for MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development authority, which eventually assumed ownership of the property. “No one in the private sector seemed to have any interest in it, and owners of other buildings thought it should be closed. It was never attractive to begin with and looked worse after jersey barriers were installed in front of the plaza after 9/11. Plus, it was in poor shape, and the bricks on the exterior were falling off.”

Zach Greene agreed, and told BusinessWest the jersey barriers had been painted an unsightly brick orange, and although flower boxes had been stationed on top of them, the effect was far from pleasing.

“The building was not only unattractive, it was uninviting. It had a flimsy canvas awning outside, and when people entered the doors, they were greeted by metal detectors,” said Greene, MassDevelopment’s senior vice president of asset management, adding that, to make matters worse, visitors who parked in the Columbus Center garage behind the building had to walk down Bridge Street in inclement weather to get to the entrance because the back doors were locked for security reasons.

However, at the behest of city leaders, the Urban Land Institute, a national organization that disseminates experts to study challenging real-estate and land issues, sent a panel to Springfield for five days to determine, among other things, the best use of the property.

“They did extensive interviews with city officials, business leaders, and people in the neighborhoods, and concluded the building was key to downtown revitalization and should be made a priority,” said Henderson, noting that it had been built in 1980 and was one of a handful of newer office buildings downtown.

In 2007, MassDevelopment partnered with city administrators and the Finance Control Board, which was running Springfield at the time, and began what would become an $11 million acquisition and renovation of the building’s public spaces, which would take four years to complete.

However, the agency’s first step was to determine how to use it. After homeless and veterans’ groups, who had the first option on the building, failed to express interest, other possibilities were explored.

“We considered moving the police headquarters into it as well as using it as a place for higher education, similar to the new UMass facility that recently opened in Tower Square,” Henderson said.

But after a few years, the city, the Commonwealth, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, and Baystate Medical Center put together a plan that included pre-leasing the building to private and public tenants. The Springfield School Department would occupy 56,989 square feet on the first and second floors, Baystate agreed to bring support staff into downtown for the first time and lease the entire fifth floor, and a number of federal agencies would remain in their space on the fourth floor.

“The School Department really needed to move; they didn’t have any air conditioning in their building and were way over capacity,” Henderson said, explaining that the move, which was strongly defended by Mayor Domenic Sarno, incited controversy in the City Council.

1550-main-before

1550 Main St

The property at 1550 Main St. before its makeover, left, and after it, right.

But in the end, the commitment by the School Department and Baystate made the project possible, and thanks to help from Neal and Kevin Kennedy, who was a member of his staff at that time, MassDevelopment purchased the building for $2.5 million in September 2009 from the GSA and renamed it “1550 Main.”

Its redevelopment has become a success story on many levels, and, according to some, an inspiration for more initiatives downtown, such as the UMass project.

“After we made our commitment, the Dennis Group purchased and renovated the Fuller Block across the street, and radio station WFCR has moved in,” Henderson said, as he listed a number of new downtown ventures.

“The Morgan Square Apartment block down the street has been acquired by a group from New York and is undergoing a major renovation and will become the Silver Brick Lofts,” he went on. “UMass has a new facility in Tower Square, and new investment is taking place in the surrounding area, with more to come. One thing builds on another, and what could have been a negative or a poorly redeveloped building has led to a lot of positive consequences.”

Complex Undertaking

Renovating 1550 Main was no simple feat, but the School Department did its own work and moved into the space in June 2010, which allowed MassDevelopment to focus on the plaza and exterior of the building.

“We wanted the tenants to be able to use the outside areas, but a large portion of the plaza was over an underground parking deck, which made removing and redoing it very tricky,” Henderson said.

The jersey barriers were removed in the fall of 2009, and high planter walls that blocked views from the street were taken down in the spring of 2010, making way for new landscaping.

Outdated glazed-brick flooring and planters in the atrium were also removed, along with an extra stairway inside the lobby that connected the first and second floors.

“Taking out the stairway allowed us to create a public walkway that people could use to get to CityStage and the parking garage,” Henderson said, noting that a $3 million Growth Districts Initiative Grant, secured with the help of the city, was used to make improvements to the public plaza, building entrance, and atrium.

All of the elevators were also replaced, and although there was not enough money to gut the bathrooms, the tiling was sanded, and new lighting and plumbing fixtures were installed. “We had to do the work in a way that didn’t disturb the tenants who had remained in the building. The Internal Revenue Service office was on the first floor, and we pulled up the entire floor of the lobby while they were working,” Henderson said.

Cosmetic improvements were also made on every floor, including new lighting and paint. “Many of the walls were painted an antiseptic green that had been offset by fluorescent pink lighting, so it really made a difference,” Greene said.

Since the federal offices were on the fourth floor, officials agreed that the metal detectors could be relocated there, which allowed MassDevelopment to install an attractive security desk in the entrance of the building.

“The back doors no longer had to be locked, so people who parked in the garage were able to come directly into the building without going outside,” Greene said. “We also installed a security system to make sure people who rented the space felt comfortable in the building.”

Baystate moved into the renovated space in May 2011, and since that time, the building’s 128,000 square feet of rentable space has been close to capacity, Henderson said. “Baystate has renewed its lease, and at present, the building is 98% occupied.”

Michael Moran, vice president of Clinical, Facility and Guest Services for Baystate Medical Center, said the healthcare provider has enjoyed being part of the redevelopment.

“Baystate Health is fully invested in carrying out its charitable mission of not only supporting the health and well-being of the community, but its economic viability as well,” he explained. “Our commitment to renting space for information-technology staff on the fifth floor of the former federal courthouse building back in 2009 was designed to help spur the city’s economy and brought a further presence for Baystate Health in downtown Springfield.”

Although some of the federal agencies have moved out since that time, new tenants were found to take their place, and the fourth floor is now home to offices for U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, as well as a law firm that occupies 4,100 square feet. In addition, private tenants have taken advantage of the first-floor space formerly used as military recruiting stations.

Since the time the building reopened, Greene said, it has been a source of pride. “Visitors have said they can’t believe the transformation, and the building has earned a number of awards,” including Outstanding Building of the Year in 2012 and 2013 by the Building Owners and Managers Assoc., and its Middle Atlantic Award Winner in 2013 in the Government Building category. In addition, in April 2013, the building earned the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Certification.

New Lease on Life

Today, 1550 Main St. hosts a series of lunchtime concerts held outside on the plaza in the spring and summer, and its lobby is used to showcase public and private art exhibits.

The new entrance has become an inviting gateway to the public atrium, which is open to the public and used for a variety of gatherings, including appreciation events held by Springfield School Department.

Overall, the property’s transformation has become one of many positive developments downtown and a gleaming example of a public-private partnership that has created momentum and additional success stories.

“My mother grew up in Springfield, and it’s been rewarding to help bring life back downtown and renew the vitality that existed there years ago,” said Greene. “We are happy to help it get back on track.”

Chamber Corners Departments

ACCGS
www.myonlinechamber.com
(413) 787-1555
 
• Feb. 27: Outlook 2015 Luncheon, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., at the MassMutual Center, 1277 Main St., Springfield. The guest speaker will be Gov. Charlie Baker. He will be joined in the program by U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, who will remark on events at the federal level. Outlook is the area’s premier legislative event, attracting more than 700 guests. Area elected officials will also be in attendance to participate in this discussion of front-burner issues. Tickets are $50 for ACCGS members and $70 for general admission. Reserved tables of 10 are available. Reservations  are required. Contact Member Services Director Sarah Mazzaferro at [email protected]
 
• March 4: ACCGS Business@Breakfast, 7:15-9 a.m., at Chez Josef, 176 Shoemaker Lane, Agawam. The topic is “Hard Hats Required: The I-91 Viaduct Project.” Learn about the state reconstruction project and its local ancillary impacts, with a panel discussion featuring Al Stegman from the Mass. Department of Transportation, Chris Cignoli from the Springfield Department of Public Works, and Mary McNally from the Springfield Parking Authority. Salutes: TSM Design on its 30th anniversary and Revitalize Community Development Corp. on its new name and expanded services. Sponsored by United Personnel. Reservations are $20 for members in advance, $25 for members at the door, and $30 for general admission. Register online at www.myonlinechamber.com.

• Thursdays through March 26: ACCGS Leadership Institute 2015, 1-4 p.m., at the TD Bank Conference Center, 1441 Main St., Springfield, in partnership with Western New England University.
 
• March 11: ACCGS Speed Networking, 3:30-5 p.m., at Frank Webb’s Bath Center, 145 Performance Blvd., Springfield. Network in a fast-paced round-robin format, then stay for the After 5. This event is open only to members. Reservations are $20 for members, $25 at the door. Includes complimentary ticket to After 5. Register online at www.myonlinechamber.com.
 
• March 11: ACCGS After 5, 5-7 p.m., at Frank Webb’s Bath Center, 145 Performance Blvd., Springfield. Reservations are $5 for members, $10 for general admission. Register online at www.myonlinechamber.com.

• March 24:
ACCGS Pastries, Politics, and Policy, 8-9 a.m., at the TD Bank Conference Center, 1441 Main St., Springfield. For political and policy junkies. Reservations are $15 for members, $25 for general admission. Register online at www.myonlinechamber.com.
 
AMHERST AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.amherstarea.com
(413) 253-0700
 
• March 26: Margarita Madness 2015, 5:30-7:30 p.m., at the Hadley Farms Meeting House, 41 Russell St., Hadley. Taste a variety of margaritas and vote for your favorites. This is a Division One competition between restaurant and business margaritas. Your votes will determine who will take home the coveted trophies. Business margaritas provided by Alden Credit Union, New England Promotional Marketing, Hadley Farms Meeting House, Country Nissan, Lord Jeffery Inn, TD Bank for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County, Encharter Insurance, Applewood at Amherst, and many more to come. Restaurant margaritas provided by Bistro 63 at the Monkey Bar, Bread & Butter, Bridgeside Grille, Chandler’s Restaurant, the Pub, Lord Jeffery Inn, Hadley Farms Meeting House, Chez Josef, Johnny’s Tavern, and many more to come. Food provided by Emily’s Gourmet to Go, Something Special Catering, Pallazo Café, Glazed Donut Shop, Pop’s Biscotti, and Johnny’s Tavern. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. For more information, contact the chamber at (413) 253-0700.
 
CHICOPEE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.chicopeechamber.org
(413) 594-2101
 
• Feb. 25: February Business After Hours, 5-7 p.m., at Elms College, 291 Springfield St., Chicopee. Tickets: $10 for members, $15 for non-members.
 
• March 6: Shining Stars Banquet, 6:30-10 p.m., at the Castle of Knights, 1599 Memorial Dr., Chicopee. Business of the Year: DeJordy, Dugre, Croteau & Company, P.C.; Citizen of the Year: Andy Crane, A. Crane Construction; Chamber Volunteer of the Year: Jason Reed, Boys & Girls Club of Chicopee; Nonprofit Organization of the Year: Elms College. Tribute to Associated Industries of Massachusetts. Tickets: $60 per person.
 
• March 25: 21st Annual Table Top Expo and Business Networking Event, 4:30-7 p.m., at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House, 500 Easthampton Road, Holyoke. Exhibitor cost: $125 for a table. Admission $10 in advance, $15 at the door. To register, contact the chamber at (413) 527-9414.
 
GREATER EASTHAMPTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.easthamptonchamber.org
(413) 527-9414
 
• March 25: 21st Annual Table Top Expo and Business Networking Event, 4:30-7 p.m., at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House, 500 Easthampton Road, Holyoke. Exhibitor cost: $125 for a table. Admission is $10 in advance, $15 at the door. To register, contact the chamber at (413) 527-9414.
 
GREATER HOLYOKE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.holycham.com
(413) 534-3376
  
• Feb. 24: How to Start and Maintain Your Business/Marketing Your Business, 5:30-7:30 p.m., at the Holyoke Chamber, executive conference room, 177 High St., Holyoke. Series Sponsors: PeoplesBank, Common Capital, Mass Cultural Council/the Artery, in partnership with Holyoke Creative Arts. What you need to know about designing a logo, branding your business, advertising opportunities, social media, and developing a website. Tickets cost $20. Call the Holyoke Chamber at (413) 534-3376 or visit holyokechamber.com to sign up.
 
GREATER NORTHAMPTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.explorenorthampton.com
(413) 584-1900
 
• Feb. 24: 2015 Table Top Orientation, noon to 1 p.m., at the chamber office, 99 Pleasant St., Northampton. For Table Top participants only. RSVP to (413) 584-1900.
 
• Feb. 26: Starting Your Own Business, 6-9 p.m., at the Business Growth Center, basement level, 1 Federal Street, Building 101, Springfield. Starting a small business requires more knowledge, skills, perseverance, and planning than meets the eye. This three-hour workshop will help you clearly understand the details, challenges, opportunities, and rewards of owning and operating your own business through the real-life experiences of several successful entrepreneurs. This course is a suggested prerequisite for our Business Planning workshop. Tickets cost $25. RSVP to Len Gendron, SCORE Western Massachusetts, at (413) 785-0314, or e-mail contact.[email protected]
 
• March 3: Build Your Marketing Toolkit Seminar, 5:30-8 p.m., at the Business Growth Center, basement level, 1 Federal Street, Building 101, Springfield. Attendees of this presentation will learn what marketing really is (and isn’t), how marketing has changed in ways that benefit small businesses, the importance of setting goals and objectives for their marketing efforts, and the 4 Pillars of Marketing Success, a framework that shows how different marketing activities all fit together, and will help small businesses reflect on their own marketing program. Start to build a foundation of marketing knowledge, from which you can build more effective campaigns to help your business or organization grow. Cost: free. RSVP to Len Gendron, SCORE Western Massachusetts, at (413) 785-0314, or e-mail contact.[email protected].
 
• March 4: Arrive @ 5, 5-7 p.m., at Fitzwilly’s, 23 Main St., Northampton. Arrive when you can, Stay as long as you can. A casual mix and mingle with your colleagues and friends. Sponsored by Thornes Marketplace, Grogan Speer, and ESB Financial Services. Tickets: $10 for members.
 
• March 6: 2015 Annual Meeting, noon to 2 p.m., at Union Station Banquets, 125 Pleasant St., Northampton. A fun meeting with your chamber colleagues. Play Jeopardy; we’ll test your knowledge of our members. A fun wrap-up of 2014 and preview of 2015, honoring our volunteers. Sponsored by PeoplesBank. Tickets: $35 per person for chamber members.
 
• March 13: Microsoft Excel: Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts, 9-11 a.m., at the chamber office, 99 Pleasant St., Northampton. Learn tips and tricks no one ever teaches you from the trainers at Pioneer Training. This workshop will present our favorite tips, tricks, and shortcuts that we have collected and developed over 15 years of teaching and using Microsoft Excel. Participants are encouraged to bring laptops and follow along with the instructor, but this is not required. Admission: $20 for members, $30 for non-members.
 
• March 17: 35th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast, 7:30-9 a.m., in the Hotel Northampton Grand Ballroom. Also, Join us at Fitzwilly’s for the annual after-breakfast toast and for the laying of the wreath at the Daley and Halligan memorial stone on the former state hospital grounds. Tickets: $20 per person. Tables of 10 also available.
 
• March 25: 21st Annual Table Top Expo and Business Networking Event, 4:30-7 p.m., at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House, 500 Easthampton Road, Holyoke. Exhibitor cost: $125 for a table. Admission $10 in advance, $15 at the door. To register, contact the chamber at (413) 584-1900.
 
GREATER WESTFIELD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.westfieldbiz.org
(413) 568-1618
 
• March 2: Mayor’s Coffee Hour, 8-9 a.m., at Armbrook Village, 551 North Road, Westfield. Join us for our monthly Mayor’s Coffee Hour with Westfield Mayor Dan Knapik. This event is free and open to the public. Call Pam at the chamber office at (413) 568-1618 to register for this event so we may give our host a head count.
 
• March 13: March Breakfast, 7-9 a.m., at Westfield State University, 577 Western Ave., Westfield. Platinum sponsor: Westfield Bank. Gold sponsor: Westfield Gas & Electric. Silver sponsor: FieldEddy Insurance. For more information or to donate a raffle prize, call the Chamber office at (413) 568-1618.
 
• March 18: March After 5 Connection, 5-7 p.m., at Noble Primary Care, 57 Union St., Westfield. Bring your business cards and make connections. Refreshments will be served. Tickets: $10 for members, $15 cash for non-members. To register, call Pam at the Chamber office at (413) 568-1618.
 
NORTHAMPTON AREA YOUNG PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY
www.thenayp.com
(413) 584-1900
 
• March 7: Full Moon Snowshoeing, 6:30 p.m. Join us for a full-moon snowshoe hike at Hilltop Orchards in Lenox. We will be led on an interactive, 90-minute journey that includes a bonfire, wine tasting, and entertainment. Dress for the weather, and bring a light and some water. The event costs $10 and includes a tasting of six Furnace Brook wines (if you are 21 or over). Bring your own snowshoes or rent them for $15. RSVP by March 1 by joining our Facebook event.
 
PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S CHAMBER
www.professionalwomenschamber.com
(413) 755-1310
 
• March 18: Professional Women’s Chamber Tabletop Expo/Luncheon,
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., at Storrowton Tavern, Carriage House, 1305 Memorial Ave., West Springfield. Featuring Tracy Noonan of Wicked Good Cupcakes and contestant on ABC’s Shark Tank. Reservations are $25 for PWC members, $35 for general admission. Register online at www.myonlinechamber.com.

WEST OF THE RIVER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.ourwrc.com
413-426-3880
 
• Feb. 25: Legislative Breakfast, 7-9 a.m., at Storrowton Tavern, 1305 Memorial Ave., West Springfield. The breakfast will feature a panel of various legislators: State Sens. James Welch and Donald Humason, Agawam Richard Cohen, and West Springfield Mayor Edward Sullivan. Tickets: $25 for members, $30 for non-members. For more information on ticket sales, contact the chamber office at (413) 426-3880 or e-mail [email protected].
 
YOUNG PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY OF GREATER SPRINGFIERLD
www.springfieldyps.com
 
• March 14: 2015 YP Cup Dodgeball Tournament, at Springfield College, 263 Alden St., Springfield. To register a team (up to eight players, two must be of the opposite sex ) or an individual, visit springfieldyps.com/2015-dodgeball-individual-registration-form. E-mail questions to [email protected]. Reception to follow at Nathan Bill’s Bar & Grill, 110 Pond Road, Springfield.
 
• March 19: March Third Thursday, 5-8 p.m., at the Storrowtown Meeting House and Carriage House, 1305 Memorial Ave., West Springfield. This event is open to everyone. Invite your friends. Food and cash bar. Admission: free for YPS members, $10 for non-members.

Community Spotlight Features
In Amherst, Public, Private Investments Bear Fruit

John Musante

John Musante says development projects that include incubator space bode well for the town’s future.

Town Manager John Musante says a plan to position downtown Amherst as a center for innovation is gaining momentum.

“One of the keys is to make it an attractive place where people can live, play, and start and grow a business,” he told BusinessWest, adding that the town is doing all it can to redevelop its downtown and strengthen its relationships with UMass Amherst, Amherst College, and Hampshire College.

A recently released report from the 24-member Town Gown Steering Committee, titled “The UMass/Town of Amherst Housing and Economic Development Plan,” outlines strategies, interventions, and recommendations to enhance the overall desirability and affordability of living and working in Amherst. The report is based on an analysis conducted by consultant U3 Advisors that cites the need for an increase in quality housing for UMass students, faculty, and staff that will lead to a stable balance and strengthen neighborhoods, as well as an expansion of the tax base, which could be achieved by encouraging entrepreneurial and research endeavors and targeting opportunities to support the business sector.

The special committee formed by UMass Amherst and the town of Amherst to address the common housing and economic-development opportunities delivered its final recommendations only two months ago. But a number of significant public and private investments over the past year have already led to change that will help bring the plan to fruition.

“Overall, 2014 was a breakthrough year for Amherst,” Musante said, citing examples of how public funding and private investment have worked together to pave a pathway to success.

Last October, the town was awarded a $1.5 million MassWorks Economic Development Grant to bury the utility lines in the north end of its downtown, which will allow investors maximum use of any available property.

Meanwhile, Archipelago Investments LLC in Amherst has become a major player in that neighborhood and has ambitious plans to build two major, mixed-use, LEED-certified buildings there. The first is a five-story structure called Kendrick Place, which is under construction on a vacant lot on the corner of Triangle and East Pleasant streets across from Kendrick Park.

The ground floor will contain commercial space and a café, while the upper stories will house 36 luxury apartments with floor-to-ceiling glass, white-oak hardwood floors, stainless-steel appliances, and views of UMass and Amherst College. “We are tremendously excited about Kendrick Place,” Musante said.

The project is expected to be complete in August and is the second of its kind in Amherst by developers Kyle Wilson and David Williams, who invested $4 million into Boltwood Place, which opened in 2012 in the back of Judie’s Restaurant, featuring 12 loft apartments in a LEED-certified, award-winning, mixed-use building with 650 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.

Two months ago, Archipelago received approval from the planning board to build a third mixed-use, five-story building called One East Pleasant near Kendrick Place, on the site of the old Carriage Shops, which have been deteriorating for some time.

Plans call for demolition of the 52-year-old structure originally built as a motel before it was converted into shops in the 1970s, along with two additional buildings that house the Loose Goose Cafe and the law offices of Seewald, Jankowski & Spencer.

One East Pleasant will contain commercial and retail space on the ground floor and about 80 apartments on the upper stories. “The permits for the building have been approved. There is one ongoing appeal which will result in a short delay, but the goal is to have it built and occupied by 2017,” Musante said.

Both Kendrick Place and One East Pleasant will contain incubator and maker space on their ground floors.

“It’s an exciting component, and the developer is working with the town, the university, and the Business Improvement District to attract research and development spinoffs,” Musante said, adding that the report generated by the Town Gown Steering Committee shows UMass spent $194 million on research in FY 2013, and although 24 patents and 21 license and option agreements were issued, little of this potential was realized locally. Reasons cited include Amherst’s lack of space for startups, along with a lack of community among those that do exist.

Musante believes having incubator space close to the UMass campus in buildings where people can also live and play has real potential for the town, and free wi-fi and Internet service available downtown will also help to position it as an innovation district.

Sarah la Cour agreed. “Combining business and social space will make it easier for spinoffs coming out of the university,” said the executive director of the BID, as she explained that the business community is doing its part to promote downtown as a walkable, livable center.

Variety of Undertakings

The town adopted an innovative master plan in 2010, and Musante said one of its primary focuses is to concentrate on development downtown and in the village centers of North Amherst, East Amherst, Pomeroy, and Atkins Corner. “The plan contains an anti-sprawl, smart-growth strategy.”

La Cour concurred, saying this is important because the town wants to preserve its farmland.

“We want to balance and protect our natural resources while creating more density downtown and in our village centers, and the types of projects envisioned in the Town Gown report follow the same principles as the master plan,” she noted. “And we are seeing that vision begin to take shape. Things have really moved forward in the last year or two, and since zoning was passed in 2012 to increase density downtown, we’ve seen private investment that will create incredible opportunities for an innovation district on the doorstep of the Commonwealth’s flagship campus.”

Private investment is also occurring in North Amherst, and W.D. Cowls Kamins and Jones Group Realtors have been seeking partners to build what they are calling the ‘Mill District’ in a one-block radius on the commercially zoned 10-acre former sawmill and Trolley Depot site in hopes that it will become a center for arts and entertainment.

Developer Cinda Jones built and opened the Trolley Barn there in December. It contains retail space on the ground floor and four large apartments above.

“The commercial space is completely occupied, and a salon and breakfast place in the Trolley Barn have become part of the village,” Musante said. “Jones Library has a branch in the Mill District, and there is a recreation area within walking distance. As a result, more and more people are becoming excited about its potential as a gathering place for families and young people.”

He added that Atkins Farm Market plans to open a satellite location in the former Cow Barn there this summer after it finishes renovating the formerly vacant structure. “There are also other opportunities available within the footprint.”

But ultimately, Amherst is a college town, he continued. In addition to UMass, it is also home to Amherst College and Hampshire College, and Musante said they are all making investments in the future, which include the two new science buildings UMass has put up over the past five years. “There has been a lot of positive momentum under the leadership of Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy, and the university has been working collaboratively with the town,” he said. “Amherst College, which sits at the edge of town, has also been active in the BID and is an incredibly ambitious partner. They are planning to build a $200 million state-of-the-art science center and have some residential housing under construction.”

In addition, Hampshire College President Jonathan Lash is an internationally recognized expert on practical solutions to global sustainability, climate change, and development challenges. “He has really been positioning the college as a leader in environmental education and sustainability,” Musante said.

Hampshire’s R.W. Kern Center, which is under construction, is one of only a handful of buildings in the country that meet the rigorous requirements of the Living Building Challenge. “Jonathan is re-imaging the campus, and this will become the portal building,” said Musante, noting that it will house the admissions office.

The 50-year-old Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst is also active in town and is in the middle of a capital campaign to build a new facility on the Hampshire College campus, which will be another Living Building.

Solid Ground

Musante said the development projects that were a dream when the master plan was created five years ago are beginning to be realized.

“Two studies completed in 2013-14 show pent-up demand for housing, and the new projects by Archipelago Investments will meet that demand,” he told BusinessWest. “Kendrick Place will become the gateway to our downtown, and we are expecting a wide range of tenants: college and university faculty and staff members, young retirees, and some students. We are a college town, so having more residential units in the center is key to strengthening the entire BID, as it will increase foot traffic downtown.”

The Town Gown Steering Committee recommended creating a University-Town of Amherst Collaborative to continue their combined efforts, and also suggested the town would benefit from hiring an economic-development director.

Musante said he and Subbaswamy will announce the next steps they will take in the weeks ahead, and he included funds to pay for an economic-development director in his budget recommendation.

“We are working to build relationships and strengthen our partnerships and have all the permitting processes we need to bring great concepts and ideas to reality,” Musante said in conclusion. “Amherst and its downtown are really on the way to becoming an innovation hub. We plan to leverage the research and development spinoffs from UMass, and we have a road map for the town to reach its full potential. The momentum here is palpable; it’s a tremendously exciting time.”

Amherst at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1759
Population: 37,819 (2010)

Area: 27.8 square miles

County: Hampshire

Residential Tax Rate: $20.54
Commercial Tax Rate: $20.54
Median Household Income: $53,191
Family Household Income: $96,733
Type of government: Select Board, Town Meeting
Largest Employers: UMass Amherst; Amherst College; Delivery Express; Hampshire College
* Latest information available

Insurance Sections
Insurance Companies Enlist Help from Homeowners to Prevent Losses

CoverageIceDamDPart
When recalling the bizarre weather that descended on Western Mass. in 2011 — tornadoes in June, midsummer flooding, the freak pre-Halloween snowstorm — it’s easy to forget that, even absent all of that, the year would have been a challenging one for home insurers.

The reason? A January and February riddled with ice dams and roof collapses, thanks to snow that seemed to fall every other day for weeks on end, gradually building up the weight on houses and damming under the eaves, causing water to pour into homes.

“We paid a lot of claims. That was a big deal,” said Kevin Ross, vice president of Ross Insurance in Holyoke. But while the past few weeks have brought a similar onslaught of snowstorms, he doesn’t expect nearly as many claims this year.

“A lot of people are absolutely more attuned to this; everywhere I go, people are talking about getting a roof rake and cleaning off their roof,” he told BusinessWest. “People are well aware of ice dams and the problems they can cause. I just contacted a roofer to clean off my roof because ice is starting to build up in the gutter. In general, the population understands what can happen, and everyone is cleaning off the roof now.”

It’s a learned behavior being observed across the industry.

“We’ve had a couple of claims come in,” said Corey Murphy, president of First American Insurance in Chicopee. “Fortunately, it’s not as bad as it has been in the past, even with some of these strong storms we’ve had.”

John DiStefano of Preferred Mutual Insurance agreed.

“As I drive around, I see homes where people have used roof rakes to get some snow off around the edges, or they have people going up on the roof shoveling for them. That’s always a proactive approach,” said the personal-lines territory manager for Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

That’s good news for both homeowners and insurers, he said, considering that such events are covered by most basic plans. “Roof collapses and water damage, where water seeps into the home, is covered under most forms. That is a pretty common thing.”

Therefore, it’s good news for insurance companies — which implemented rate increases of 5% to 15% regionally after the 2011’s series of unfortunate events — that customers are increasingly taking matters into their own hands by keeping their roofs and gutters as clear of snow as possible.

But when it comes to winter home hazards, they say, roofs are only part of the picture.

Peak Problems

Typically, Ross said, homeowners facing winter roof damage don’t have to scramble to see if they’re covered.

“The standard policy doesn’t have to change to provide coverage of interior or exterior dmage caused by an ice dam, or even the collapse of a building,” he noted. “However, there are certain exclusions for the collapse of a fence, a patio, a swimming pool — those are not covered. Collapse of foundations or retaining walls, bulkheads, are not covered.”

Kevin Ross

Kevin Ross says homeowners have become more proactive about preventing roof damage during the winter, and insurance companies have become better at educating them.

But once an ice dam is reported, “right away, the insurance company will pay a reasonable amount to remove ice and snow from the roof to prevent further damage,” he explained. “But only once the damage has begun — we’re not going out to clean off everyone’s roof.”

The immediate drama of an ice dam, pouring water into interior spaces, can panic policyholders, Ross added. “They’re wondering, ‘what should I do?’ Call the insurance agent right away; they will only take one deductible until all the snow is gone from roof.”

That could encompass the entire winter, he noted. “Don’t be afraid that a week later you might have more water coming in. It’s considered one event until all the snow is off the roof. So, once it starts, once you notice water inside the house, call your agent right away.”

As for roof-collapse concerns, that’s a tricky area to navigate, because the weight of the snow isn’t always clear from a visual check, forensic meteorologist Steve Wistar noted at accuweather.com.

In the Northeast, he explained, roofs are generally designed to support 30 pounds per square foot, but some are built to support 40, 50, or even 100 pounds per square foot. Further complicating matters, that weight is determined by water content, not merely depth.

Specifically, dry, powdery snow weighs less than wetter snow, and its flaky texture makes it prone to drifting, which is ideal for roofs designed to handle drifting snow. But, over time, snow compacts and settles down, meaning the snow won’t be as deep, but the weight will be the same, Wistar said.

Finally, when temperatures rise and snow becomes rain, the snow already coating rooftops can become saturated with moisture, weighing it down. And even when the snow does begin to melt, it can refreeze around gutters and drains, trapping more melting water on the edges of the roof — which, of course, can cause ice dams.

Columbia Gas of Massachusetts recently issued yet another concern for homeowners regarding rooftop snow accumulation — specifically, a number of incidents involving large icicles and snow accumulation falling from rooftops onto natural-gas meters, causing gas-line ruptures and gas leaks.

The company noted that it’s important that natural-gas meters and exhaust vents for heating equipment and other appliances are free of snow and ice, as gas equipment requires adequate airflow for safe combustion — and proper venting of appliances — to prevent dangerous carbon-monoxide situations.

prevent ice dams

Recent winters in Massachusetts have seen brisk sales of roof rakes as homeowners try to prevent ice dams from forming.

Columbia Gas president Steve Bryant encouraged homeowners to use a broom — not a shovel — to clear ice and snow from gas meters, and to avoid kicking or hitting the gas meter to break away snow and ice.  “Don’t shovel snow up against your meter.  Be careful when using a snow blower or snow plow near your meter. Where possible, have a clear path to your gas meter in the event a technician or emergency responder should require access.”

Cold Snap

When protecting their homes from cold-related damage, Ross said, customers shouldn’t look outside only.

“Losses can occur if you don’t keep adequate heat inside the home,” he noted. “Sometimes, when you leave for a week in Florida, you figure, ‘I’ll just turn my thermostat down and save on energy costs,’ and you come back to find that a pipe froze and burst. That’s something else from a loss-control standpoint. You need to keep adequate heat in home to keep things from freezing. It’s important to maintain the heat at 60, 62 degrees so they don’t have that problem.”

DiStefano agreed. “Do everything you can to maintain temperature,” he told BusinessWest. “Also, if you’re going away, shut off the water. That way, if a pipe breaks, it’s not a major problem. It’s easy to do, but so many people don’t do that.”

Because home insurance covers personal liability in addition to property damage, he also encourages customers to keep sufficient ice melt handy to prevent slips and falls by the mailman, UPS driver, or neighbors.

“The policy does provide personal liability coverage for slip-and-fall types of claims,” Ross added. “The owner of the property has a responsibility to keep their walkways and driveways, safe for pedestrian traffic. That’s definitely another area people really need to be cognizant of right now.”

It’s not like winter necessarily poses more weather-related insurance hazards than the rest of the year; damage from warmer-weather events, like tornadoes and hurricanes, are typically covered, Ross said, although policyholders might want to check on whether they’re in a covered flood zone and, if not, whether they’d like to add that to their plan as well.

But cold-weather threats are typically slower-developing, DiStefano said, giving insurance clients a chance to prevent them with tools as simple as roof rakes and sidewalk salt.

“More and more companies, like Preferred Mutual, have our websites set up with information for the general public to look at,” he said, “and we talk about what to do during the winter months to prevent losses.”

That pleases Ross, who clearly recalls the surge of claims in early 2011, when roof collapses and ice dams caught too many Western Mass. residents off guard.

“It was huge,” he said. “But it’s not going to be quite the same this year from a claim perspective, because people are more proactive; they’ve learned from it. A lot of people are raking the snow off already, getting the snow out of the gutter before the next storm. You have to stay on top of it. It’s a big maintenance issue.”

And one with no end in sight, Bryant added. “With record snowfall over the past month,” he said, “this winter season continues to be a challenge for us all.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Cover Story Sections Technology
Video Specialist Chris Thibault is Focused on Growth

Teebo-DPartChris Thibault was asked to pinpoint why he believes his work — everything from television commercials to instructional videos on deck screws — stands out in a field crowded with competitors.

He kept coming back to the word ‘edgier,’ as in “some people think my style’s a little edgier than what you would get from a corporate video-production company. When they’re looking for something to connect and be sharable and be cool, for lack of a better word, people come to me.”

When pressed for more specific definitions of what amount to technical terms — ‘edgier’ and ‘cool’ — Thibault, founder and president of Chris Teebo Films (he says that spelling makes his name easier to pronounce and his company easier to find), struggled somewhat, as might be expected, because of the subjective nature of those words.

“Anyone can make a pretty picture,” he told BusinessWest before a lengthy pause as he searched for more words. “I just try to bring my own style into it and not base anything off a template.”

With that, he decided that the best way to get his points across was to play a shorter version of what eventually became a promotional video and television commercial he produced a few years ago for something called the Great Bull Run — a series of events that, as the name suggests, brings the Spanish tradition of running with the bulls to this country.

“I like to take risks — that’s what they teach you in art school starting on day one, to take risks when you can,” he said as he rolled the footage, which showed close, detailed shots of individuals running alongside 1,500-pound bulls, an effect created with several cameras, including one strapped to one of the runners (christeebo.com/portfolio/the-great-bull-run). “You can cover this like a news story, and there’s nothing wrong with news, but we wanted to get right into the mix and capture what this is about. People who run with bulls, or might run with bulls … they want something edgier.”

Teebo’s ability to create that intangible has helped him grow his now-Springfield-based company dramatically in recent years, with a 60% increase in revenues in 2014 alone, and add to his portfolio of work.

For example, it now includes several Big Y commercials featuring New England Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork, a promotional video for the Spirit of Springfield’s Bright Nights lighting display (produced for its 20th anniversary), television commercials for political candidates such as recently elected state Sen. Eric Lesser, and much more.

Some of these works are edgier than others — political office seekers, not to mention Big Y, tend to be fairly conservative, while the Bright Nights video was shot from the perspective of a young child and is thus quite compelling — but together, they have helped Thibault meet the ongoing challenges of gaining word-of-mouth referrals and generating business from that marketing tool known as the Internet.

And he hopes an upcoming project — a promotional video of Springfield being financed by its Economic Development Department with the goal of showcasing current initiatives and inspiring more of them — will create more momentum in efforts to build his brand and get involved in Springfield’s comeback.

“I’m really excited about this project,” he said. “I’m going to knock it out of the park with that one.”

Looking ahead, Thibault, as he said, wants to not only help promote Springfield through that video now in the planning stages, but be part of the city’s turnaround. He recently relocated to a office in 1350 Main St., and is conceptualizing plans to develop what he called “shared creative space” in the city.

Such a facility, a large studio, would become workspace for a host of creative professionals, including photographers, videographers, audio engineers, and even musicians, he explained, adding that there are models for such a development in New York and Boston that he hopes to emulate.

In the meantime, his more immediate goals are to expand the portfolio with more ‘edgy’ work, add additional employees, and grow Chris Teebo Films into a regional force within this industry.

For this issue and its emphasis on technology, BusinessWest talked at length with a young business owner focused (there’s another industry term) on creating images that get results, no matter how the client chooses to measure them.

Setting the Stage

Like most individuals in this business, Thibault can trace his interest back to his high-school years. In this case, it was a 10th-grade class in video production at Springfield’s Sci Tech that got him hooked.

“I thought this was the coolest thing ever,” he noted. “It combined all the aspects that I loved. I was always an artistic kid — I would always draw, mess around with music and sound — and I thought video combined all that, so I fell in love with it.”

image from a video

This image from a video produced for the Great Bull Run displays what Chris Thibault calls an “edgier” style that defines much of his work.

Finding ways to express this affection became more difficult when his family moved to West Springfield. The city’s high school didn’t have video production classes, so he created some.

He bought a Sony handycam, began filming the school’s sports teams, and created seasonal highlight videos that garnered both revenue and acclaim.

“They would play them at the year-end banquet, and the video would get a standing ovation,” he recalled. “These weren’t huge events, but everyone would stand up and clap, and that was a great feeling.”

Thibault was accepted at the prestigious School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City, starting classes there just a few days before 9/11 — an event, like many others, that produced learning experiences far outside the classroom that have stayed with him to this day.

“New York City is a school unto itself,” he told BusinessWest, adding that, while attending SVA, he lived in Brooklyn Heights, in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, and watched tens of thousands of people stream over than span from lower Manhattan on the morning of the terrorist attacks, most all of them covered in a gray dust.

He didn’t know exactly what was going on, but his artistic tendencies compelled him to buy a small disposable camera and grab a seat on the only operating subway line still bringing people into Manhattan.

“I was probably 15 blocks from the towers,” he recalled, adding that when the American Express building, also known as Three World Trade Center, fell, the ground shook, and he knew something serious was going on. Perhaps the most unforgettable moment, though, involved a news reporter he remembered seeing on television.

“There was a woman coming back with a baby covered in soot, she was walking up the street,” he recalled. “This newswoman started yelling to the cameraman, ‘get her!’ She kicked over a trashcan, the cameraman got on top, filmed her, then jumped off, and the newswoman got the lady on camera to do a story.

“It was just a New York mentality — ‘let’s do it.’ There was no fear,” he went on, adding that this philosophy manifests itself in some of his current work.

But it would be awhile before Thibault could really start expressing himself artistically.

Indeed, he would soon leave SVA, in part for financial reasons — “New York is great, the school was great, but it’s very expensive out there” — but also because he felt a need, and desire, to get working.

That work, however, involved mostly wedding and event videography while he also drove a truck for his father.

“I did cheerleading events, dance competitions, anything like that; anything that had to do with video, I would take the job,” he said, adding that he did so to pay off the camera he purchased and build a name for himself.

“At the end of the day, my heart wasn’t really in it — filming weddings is not my passion,” he went on, adding that, as his skills improved and his reputation grew, he eventually started doing work for commercial clients and never looked back. “It’s tough to break into commercial video when you’re doing events, and at one point, I just said, ‘I’m finished with this,’ and stopped taking down payments for weddings, even though it was tough to do so, because I was trying to build a business.”

Thibault said his big break, if one could call it that, came when he pitched an idea to the owners of the Springfield Armor, the NBA Developmental League team that came to the city in 2009, to do a promotional video and build excitement for the team before it actually arrived in the City of Homes.

“I felt a buzz around Springfield when they were coming in, and I just wanted to do something great for the city as well as the team,” he recalled as he played that video, which showed people of all ages and persuasions playing hoops, a young man dribbling a basketball over the Memorial Bridge, the unveiling of the Armor name and logo, and other scenes designed to build interest in the Armor and the sport. “It was a commercial about the team, but without the team — they weren’t here yet — and it was cool.”

The spot was originally designed for the web, but it was so well-received, it started airing on area TV stations, said Thibault, adding that he was later approached by a marketing firm representing a Developmental League team in Texas to do something similar.

On-the-spot Analysis

With the Armor video and other works now in his portfolio, Thibault had more to show marketing firms and prospective clients, and work started to come his way, as both director and producer of content through Chris Teebo Films and as a freelance director of photography.

Indeed, as the latter, he’s been involved with projects ranging from promotional shoots for office supplies giant Staples and motor oil maker Castrol to part of an episode for TLC network’s Sex Sent Me to the ER, a show that has actors re-enacting real-life accidents that occurred during sex.

“It’s a terrible show … but there was a couple in Connecticut, and they were looking for a studio closer than New York, and the producers out in L.A. hired me for that segment,” said Thibault, adding that it was shot in his studio in the cavernous Cabotville Industrial park in Chicopee.

He rarely does freelance work these days, primarily because Chris Teebo Films has secured enough work to keep him quite busy. And it comes from several sources.

For starters, there’s the commercials he’s shot for Big Y featuring Wilfork, the Springfield-based grocery chain’s main spokesperson. He’s now done five spots spotlighting the 350-pound lineman as pitchman for pizza and sandwiches, including one that aired during the recent Super Bowl.

Chris Thibault

Chris Thibault, seen here on location for a Big Y commercial featuring Vince Wilfork, has gained a number of new clients in recent years.

Thibault has also added a number of other commercial clients in recent years, including political candidates such as Lesser, who captured his seat last fall, and Mike Bissonnette, who served several terms as Chicopee’s mayor, as well as regional companies and nonprofits ranging from Doctor’s Express (a new client) to Spirit of Springfield; from United Way of Pioneer Valley to FastenMaster, a subsidiary of Agawam-based OMG Inc. that specializes in deck and trim screws and other products.

One wouldn’t expect deck screws to be the subject of video productions defined with the word ‘edgier,’ but Thibault said he’s managed to do just that.

To demonstrate, he went back to his computer and called up a video featuring Gary Daley, owner of America’s DeckBuilder, LLC, using FastenMaster products, one of several spots Teebo has produced in a series that has taken him all over the country.

“They’re showcasing pros that use their products, and it’s become a very effective way of promoting the brand,” he said, adding that he also creates “tips and tricks” videos for the company. “I think FastenMaster is brilliant in doing this; they’re creating content for this industry that doesn’t exist, and they’re giving people something to watch and something to aspire to.”

Overall, Thibault said his goal is to produce videos that, like the one for the Great Bull Run, get not only shares and likes on Facebook and YouTube (although those are important), but also results for the client.

In the case of the Great Bull Run, for example, his video was used by organizers of the event when they appeared on Shark Tank, and, Thibault believes, it helped them secure $1.75 million in funding from shark investor Mark Cuban.

“Barbara Corcoran [one of the show’s ‘sharks’] actually said, ‘what a great video’ right on the air, which is cool,” said Thibault, adding that he plans to put that footage and commentary on his revamped website.

To get results, Thibault says he has to trust his instincts, take risks when they’re appropriate (there are many times when they are not), and work with the client without being limited by its imagination.

“I try to create whatever I see in my mind without letting even a client hold me back,” he told BusinessWest. “Because, while I value clients’ opinions — they help me do my job better — sometimes they don’t know exactly what they want, and they’re using some kind of template as a model.”

That’s a Wrap

Looking ahead, Thibault said this industry moves too quickly and unpredictably for five-year plans, so he’s moving in much shorter increments.

His immediate goals are to continue building the portfolio, hiring additional staff (there is currently one full-time employee with others hired on a freelance basis), and advance those aforementioned plans for shared creative space.

“There’s some great creative talent in Western Mass., but people initially think they have to leave and go to New York or Boston to pursue a career,” he said. “My goal is to help keep some of that talent here.”

While doing that, he plans to go on taking risks, producing video with an edge to it, and focusing on the big picture, figuratively and quite literally.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Employment Sections
O’Connell Care at Home Tries to Keep Up with Soaring Demand

Danielle Lord

Danielle Lord says home care is in demand, and so are qualified home-care aides and nurses.

Growing up in Holyoke, Fran O’Connell lived with an extended family, including an elderly aunt and grandfather. In those days, the family took care of each other, in sickness or health; no one had heard of home care.

These days, as owner of O’Connell Care at Home in Holyoke, he helps other families take care of their loved ones at home, away from institutional settings, through a broad range of home-care services, in addition to nurse-staffing services for a variety of clients.

Almost three decades after he launched the enterprise in 1987, O’Connell continues to see steady growth in his business, and explosive growth in the home-care industry — growth that’s being held back only by a national shortage in qualified home health aides. That’s because, as people live longer than they used to, and with their caregivers and children (often one and the same) more aware than ever of the care options available to them, demand for home care and other nursing services is only expected to increase.

“Really, there’s such a need in the community for home care,” said Danielle Lord, the company’s vice president of operations, who essentially runs the company’s day-to-day activity. “As the population of Baby Boomers age, more want to stay at home — or where they’re currently at, maybe assisted or independent living — rather than go to a nursing home.”

Lord came on board in 2007 and has seen significant change since then, including a move to larger quarters on Bobala Road in Holyoke; the company plans to move again this year, from Holyoke to Springfield. In addition, it opened a South Deerfield office last year.

“We opened that office to better serve the Franklin County and northern Hampshire County areas. While doing that, we decided to move our Holyoke office to Springfield to better serve Hampden County and southern Hampshire County,” she explained. “Business has tripled in the last five to seven years. We are really growing; there’s such a need in the community. We still could probably grow more, but home health aides and qualified home healthcare workers are so in demand right now.”

That’s the key issue right now for home-care companies — one O’Connell is addressing through an ambitious array of job fairs, recruitment efforts, and in-house training, all with the goal of keeping more Western Mass. seniors living safely and happily at home.

Fertile Ground

Before starting the firm, Lord said, O’Connell was a nurse practitioner who had taken care of his own grandfather at home. After earning his nursing degree from Columbia University in 1984, he returned to Holyoke and discovered that several of his friends had caught the entrepreneurial bug and were opening their own businesses.

While most nurses worked at specific settings, such as hospitals, he simply incorporated himself and started selling himself as a nurse. “If someone needed a nurse for the day, or someone got out of the hospital and needed a private-duty nurse, I did that,” he explained. “Word got out quickly, and I couldn’t do every shift, so I started bringing in friends, and before long I had 10 people subcontracting for me.”

Someone pointed out that O’Connell was essentially running a temp agency, so he took the next step and employed his fellow nurses, and the business was on its way.

“There weren’t home-care services out there in the ’80s, so it started really as a staffing business, then gradually turned to home care,” Lord said — a shift that began when O’Connell started getting calls from the Holyoke Visiting Nurses Assoc. and other organizations that service seniors.

O’Connell found he loved home care, and went on to earn his master’s degree in nursing in 1996 and was later certified as a family nurse practitioner.

Home care encompasses myriad services, Lord said, from basic household help to medication management to transport to appointments. “Primarily, it’s all your activities of daily living, the things you need to do to stay at home. We do homemaking and meal preparation, help people get up, get dressed, take a shower, toileting, all those sort of things.”

Home-care companies typically offer a wide range of time commitments as well, she added. “It’s everything from two hours once a week to help get someone groceries, to around-the-clock care because someone can’t be left alone, for dementia or hospice, or someone who wanders and can’t be left alone. It’s really such a broad spectrum.”

And it’s not just the client who benefits from home care, she added, but their family as well. “We help people figure out how to stay home, where they want to be, but also support other family members. Especially if the husband or wife is declining, we can help the spouse, help the family around the house, make sure they’re not getting overwhelmed.”

The staffing piece of O’Connell Care at Home — such as its contract work with Highland Valley Elder Services and various VNA organizations — is different in some ways, Lord said. “We’re still doing home care in those situations, but they provide the clients and have care plans already written. If an adult day service needs a nurse, we’ll try to staff a nurse. On [student] field trips, we’ll provide a nurse for the day. If a VNA has somebody on vacation and they have higher census and need home health aide, we’ll provide that. So, yes, we do some staffing, but it’s primarily home care.”

Transportation is another facet of the company’s service. “That’s all private pay — we’ll take somebody to the doctor or a family event on the weekend or around the holidays,” she explained. “We’re very busy with that around Christmas; people call us and ask, ‘can you transport my mother to Christmas dinner and then home?’ We have a wheelchair van for that. It’s a popular service around those times.”

Training Days

In fact, all O’Connell’s services are becoming more popular, which keeps the pressure on to continually add more talent. That’s easier said than done, with Forbes and U.S. News & World Report both listing home-care aide as one of the most in-demand jobs in coming years. Simply put, there aren’t enough bodies to meet the need.

“We recruit all the time, and we frequently have job fairs for people interested in the job,” Lord said. “The need for home health aides hinders our growth. Other companies are dealing with the same thing; they’re all looking for qualified workers. I think that’s across the board. We’re fighting now with hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living, independent living, home care, nursing homes. But we’re willing to train our own people. If someone has an interest, we’ll train them. We want to put the best person out there to care for clients — the kind of people I’d want to take care of my own family.”

The reason strikes at the heart of why home care is so important, she went on. “We want to make sure families feel their loved ones are safe at home. We write a care plan for the people we take care of. We learn what this person likes, doesn’t like, and decide who’s the best person we can send. We try to match their interests and send someone they can form a relationship with. Home care aides can take care of people for years, in many cases. They become a really important part of the family and increase their quality of life.

“We’re not perfect at it,” she was quick to add. “We’re honest with people that the first person you get may not be a perfect match, but we’re going to find you someone you end up clicking with — someone they’ll look forward to seeing each day.”

Lord said O’Connell mainly hires people who have been trained as home health aides or CNAs, “but if there is somebody who has other kinds of experience and thinks this is something they want to do, someone who’s caring and compassionate and really wants to take care of older people — because we primarily do elder care — we can offer some training to get them up and running, to become a home health aide.”

Beyond the basics, though, “we’re looking for someone reliable, with good common sense, someone who’s going to get there in a snowstorm,” she went on. “We want someone really caring who considers the needs of their clients and really wants to take care of them and do what’s best for them. They care about the people they’re taking care of.”

O’Connell says he takes pride in seeing people come work for him as CNAs, then go on to get PN or LPN degrees and return as nurses. He stressed that it’s not an easy job, but as a career path, it can be rewarding and — important for job seekers these days — stable.

Lord agreed, and said families appreciate the stability of a reliable home-care nurse or aide.

“We do a lot of training and have a lot of supervision,” she said. “We meet the family, write a care plan, and try to be really thoughtful. We’re trying to make good matches and keep people where they should be — and improve their quality of life.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Sections Technology
The Best Way to Contain Costs Is to Spend More Money

By GREG PELLERIN

A little boy sits down at the table next to his father and says, “hey, Dad, would you like to save some money?” Dad replies, “sure, what do you have in mind?” The little boy replies, “why not buy me a bike? Then I won’t have to wear my shoes out so fast!”

I told that joke to a CFO recently, and he offered me a rather reluctant smile. With all seriousness, I told him there may be more truth to that story than he might want to admit. I asked him to join me as we walked around the office, going from department to department, watching people toiling away at their computers. All he saw was too many people. All I saw was too much old technology.

Greg Pellerin

Greg Pellerin

There was a time, not too long ago, when you could get away with keeping the same hardware and software for five years or longer. It might take a licking, but as long as it was still ticking, there was no use in replacing it. As it aged, new technology and people were brought in to address cutting-edge applications, but because the old systems were deemed too important to the company’s core operation, they (and the people being paid to operate and maintain them) were left alone.  Things don’t work that way anymore, or at least they shouldn’t.

Today, older technologies are nothing but a drain on the operating budget because, from an OpEx perspective, they are fully depreciated. Headcount can’t be reduced because trained people are needed for operation of those old but critical systems.

The best way to break this endless IT cycle is to establish a regularly scheduled information-technology assessment and refresh process. As tough as it may be for your CFO to accept, spending money on new IT resources at regular intervals (as well as assessing the people needed to run them) eliminates the even more expensive and disruptive result of trying to fix everything at once.

It comes down to three basic areas: IT operations, network design, and equipment. Here’s a look at what a comprehensive IT-assessment process should entail to create an effective technology refresh plan.

• IT operations. Start by looking at the people and procedures you have in place to meet current and future business goals. Identify whether your network is fast enough and efficient enough to accomplish those objectives.  Interviews with key business and IT stakeholders are key elements of the process.
• Network design. Are your current network switching, routing, and security designs stable, safe, and secure? Are connectivity and controls in place to meet current needs, let alone future growth?
• Equipment. Conduct a complete cataloguing of organizational hardware (PC, server, and user-device inventory). Assess condition, expandability, life expectancy, and replacement cost. Identify technology gaps and ask if day-to-day operations are limited by your current infrastructure (for example, a printer that can only print 10 pages a minute and what implications 20-page-per-minute capability would have on productivity).

In the end, the goal is to provide a road map for leveraging IT as a competitive advantage. Establish a technology-refresh schedule, then stick to it.

Donald Trump once said that “sometimes the best investments are the ones you don’t make.” But when it comes to the regular assessment of your IT infrastructure, you might want to tell Donald, “you’re fired!”


Greg Pellerin is a 15-year veteran of the telecommunications and IT industries and a co-founder of VertitechIT, one of the fastest-growing business and healthcare IT networking and consulting firms in the country; (413) 268-1605; [email protected]