BusinessWest Staff, Author at BusinessWest

Why Springfield Should Vote ‘Yes’

There are a number of good reasons why Springfield residents should vote ‘yes’ when they go to the polls on July 16 to consider the host community agreement forged by city officials and administrators with MGM Resorts International — the next step in the process of deciding the winner of the license for a Western Mass. casino.
Maybe the most compelling is an argument made by a number of business leaders and economic development officials over the past year or so. The specific words expressed vary, but it usually sounds something like this: ‘if someone wants to spend $800 million in your city — you let them!’ (And while generally, exclamation points are not used in business writing, in this case, we’ll make an exception.)
OK, it’s not as simple as all that, but it’s actually very close. We’ll amend this argument slightly. ‘If someone wants to spend $800 million in your city, and there is no better (and in this case, no other) viable option for stimulating economic development and creating thousands of new jobs — you let them!’
We understand that there are a number of risks involved with casinos in general and urban casinos in particular — they simply haven’t worked in a number of regions of this country — but we believe that these are risks well worth taking.
That’s because in Springfield, a city that has been struggling for the better part of a half century now, there really is no ‘plan B’ when it comes to spurring new jobs, creating energy, and possibly resurrecting a neighborhood — in this case, the beleaguered, tornado-ravaged South End.
The proposed MGM Springfield complex has the potential to do all that. Yes, it also has the potential to come up considerably short with each of those assignments, but we don’t believe that it will. Its somewhat unique inside-out design will make this proposed facility part of a neighborhood, not a casino-in-a-box that sucks the life out of one.
But let’s look at this another way. Instead of focusing on the possible ramifications of a ‘yes’ vote, let’s consider what a ‘no’ vote means. Essentially it means that the Western Mass. casino — and yes, there will be one — will be located somewhere else, and there are at least two other landing spots.
If that happens, Springfield will not get the complications that come with construction of such a facility, or the traffic, or some of the problems that might come with a casino on the edge of its central business district.
But it also won’t get the chance to put itself back on the map, or reshape its South End neighborhood and achieve the revitalization that has eluded that area for nearly 50 years, or see the direct benefits in the form of contributions to nonprofits, investments in facilities and infrastructure, and donations that will boost public safety initiatives.
A ‘no’ vote will also result in a depressing return to the drawing board in search of another method of providing the economic spark needed to reverse this city’s fortunes. There has been little to come off that drawing board since Springfield’s manufacturing base started to erode just after World War II, and there is little to suggest that much else will come off it in the years to come.
MGM’s proposal for Springfield may not win the contest for the Western Mass. casino license. Indeed, the Mass. Gaming Commission may decide that another plan is more alluring and better for the Commonwealth. But this proposal can’t win unless Springfield voters provide the opportunity for it to get to the next level ‘And thus, we strongly urge them to do so.
We can state the case for this casino in a number of ways, but the argument we mentioned earlier does it best: ‘if someone wants to spend $800 million in your city — you let them!’
There’s that exclamation point again, and it is certainly needed.

Opinion

Opinion

Education Reform at 20; There’s Work to Do

By Tom Birmingham
If you had told me on that hot day in Malden 20 years ago when Gov. Bill Weld signed the Education Reform Act that over 90% of Massachusetts students would pass MCAS, or that the Commonwealth’s SAT scores would rise for 13 consecutive years, or that our students would become the first in every category in every grade on national testing known as “the Nation’s Report Card,” or that Massachusetts would rank at or near the top in international science tests, I would have thought you wildly optimistic.
Massachusetts public schools have achieved all these results and more since 1993, but there is still more to do. I am troubled, for instance, by race- and class-based achievement gaps. Nonetheless, two decades after the passage of education reform, we have much to celebrate.
Hardworking students and committed teachers deserve the lion’s share of credit for our success, but policy makers established a structure that enabled educational progress. The Education Reform Act is a complicated piece of legislation containing many innovative initiatives, including the creation of charter schools.
But for all its complexity, the Education Reform Act can be reduced, in essence, to two propositions: We will make a massive infusion of progressively distributed dollars into our public schools, and in return, we demand high standards and accountability from all education stakeholders. This grand bargain is the cornerstone of education reform.
Our fidelity to these two core principles helps explain our extraordinary achievements. Throughout the 1990s and in the first years of this century, support for public education was the top priority of state government, and our budgets reflected this. From 1993 to 2002, state spending on public schools increased 8% per year, for a total of more than $2 billion. Our success correlated with the adoption and application of the criterion-based MCAS testing, with state leaders (notably including Paul Cellucci) united in support despite repeated requests to retreat.
Today, I fear we may be veering away from the act’s two core values — adequate funding and rigorous standards. If we abandon the bedrock principles that have proven to be historically successful, we imperil the progress we have made. In the last decade, support for public schools lost its primacy on Beacon Hill and state budgets reflect that. Today our inflation-adjusted education appropriation is the same as it was in 2002.
In contrast to the generous expansion of the 1990s, education funding for the last decade has remained flat. As a result, according to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, many (mostly low-income) school districts simply do not have the resources needed to provide the caliber of education envisioned in the reform act’s foundation budget.
I also fear that universal high standards and objective assessments are being jettisoned in favor of a return to vague expectations and fuzzy standards. The Patrick administration’s embrace of so-called “21st-century skills” elevates concepts like “global awareness” and “systems thinking” to new prominence in the public-school curriculum. I’m all for higher-order thinking, but students must accumulate the background knowledge that gives them something to think about.
As education theorist E.D. Hirsch Jr. has demonstrated, achievement gaps are really knowledge gaps. Poor kids tend to have access to less background knowledge outside school than privileged kids. Unless poor kids are exposed to the same academically rich content in school that more affluent kids can get at home, we consign these students to second-class citizenship.
I’m also troubled by the Commonwealth’s willingness to replace our tried-and-true standards and MCAS with totally unproven national standards and testing. This conversion will come at an estimated cost of $360 million for new textbooks, professional development, and technology, according to the Pioneer Institute.
I am not suggesting that we adorn our public schools with “Mission Accomplished” banners. Indeed, we must always strive to improve K-12 public education. But education reform has worked far better than we could have reasonably hoped. Given our incontrovertible educational successes, those seeking changes should bear in mind the admonition of the Hippocratic oath: “First, do no harm.”

Tom Birmingham, former president of the Massachusetts Senate, is senior counsel at Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP. He coauthored the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993.

Swinging for the Fences

Former Ballplayer Shifts to Another Field — Entrepreneurship

Peter Fatse says his entrepreneurial venture is focused on all aspects of the development of student athletes.

Peter Fatse remembers having an interesting mix of emotions as he officially ended his professional baseball career several months ago.
An undersized utility player who could handle several positions on the diamond, Fatse, who starred at Minnechaug High School and later the University of Connecticut before being drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2009, spent a few seasons shifting between the lower minor leagues and Independent League rosters. He did, however, get one at-bat in the majors.
That was during spring training in 2010, against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He has the baseball commemorating that event, and the ability, as most athletes do, to recall all the details. “I was the last out of spring training, I went up in the ninth inning and struck out,” he told BusinessWest. “It was against Chad Qualls; I started fouling pitches off, and then he threw me a breaking ball and it was over.”
Fatse would later be signed by the Baltimore Orioles, and continued to work out last fall and early this year in anticipation of maybe getting another phone call from a team looking to see what he could do. Such a call never came, however, and Fatse decided to call an end to his baseball career and launch another one in business.
“You sign these retirement papers to make it official, and it’s kind of depressing” he recalled. “You sit back and think of all the times when all you ever wanted to do was play, and it’s like, ‘wow, you’re not playing anymore.’ But I wouldn’t have done it if I wasn’t comfortable with the decision.”
And that comfort level was created, in large part, by the realization that he could now devote all or most of his energy (he’s also a hitting coach for the Holyoke Blue Sox) to a potential-laden entrepreneurial venture he’s been developing over the past few years.
It’s called Advanced Performance Player Development, and while those first two words are in all caps and a larger type size on Fatse’s business card and signage, and form the company’s acronym (AP), emphasis is on the terms ‘performance’ and ‘development.’ The former speaks for itself, mostly, but the later needs some clarification.
Indeed, with this venture it refers to everything from help with hitting a curveball off a lefthander, as dialed up by the operator of the company’s new, state-of-the-art pitching machine, to making the transition from little leagues to high school ball; from help with deciding which college might make the best fit for a player weighing several scholarship offers, to advice on dealing with prospective agents.
“I offer individualized instruction, including a lot of video analysis, and we offer a high-level baseball instruction,” Fatse said of the venture operating in a large space, complete with artificial turf and batting cages, in the former home of Maybury Material Handling in East Longmeadow. “But what we’re moving toward is more player-development based.”
Elaborating, he displayed a poster for one of AP’s upcoming initiatives, called the Rising Freshman program, in which he and others will help 13- and 14-year-olds make the transition — athletically and academically — to high school.
“The focus will be on baseball instruction, but we’ll also bring in an academic advisor and speakers to talk to the kids about the many responsibilities of being a student athlete — focusing on such things as how to handle yourself, coach/teacher communications, managing study skills, and more.”
Meanwhile, for older youths, the company is finalizing a college-development program, during which high school underclassmen will receive similar assistance with the transition to their next level.
Overall, this range of services, the potential to work with clients over several years of development, and the prospects for eventually adding more sports to the mix, gives AP strong growth potential, said Fatse, adding that it is currently working with roughly 125 athletes from a wide geographic area and looks to greatly increase that number in the years to come.
An early measure of AP’s success is the number of caps mounted on one wall in Fatse’s office and the collection of baseballs on a nearby bookcase. These items were sent along by players who have trained at the facility or taken part in some of its programs. And the collection will certainly grow this summer and fall as ‘clients’ (that’s one of many terms Fatse uses to describe those he serves) move onto college or pro ball, as in the case of Mike Ahmed, the East Longmeadow and Holy Cross product who was selected in the 20th round of the recent draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
For this issue and its focus on entrepreneurship, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at an intriguing new venture, and how its founder is swinging for the fences — from a business perspective.

Working the Count
On a wall near a few of AP’s batting cages are two boards featuring a number of playing cards. Before taking their swings, hitters try to quickly find the cards as they are called out by one of the instructors.
“It’s an exercise designed to build eye-hand coordination,” said Fatse. “It helps gets your eyes loose, and for the younger players, it helps show that there’s things you can do without a bat in your hand.”
The playing-card exercise is one of many instructional tools used at AP, said Fatse, adding quickly that his business is not a baseball camp like many others conducted by current and past players. Nor is it a purely instructional facility, along the lines of the famous (or infamous) Tom Emanski videos hyped in those commercials on ESPN showing players trying to throw balls into barrels from the outfield to improve accuracy.
Instead, it is a business focused on the myriad aspects of developing scholar athletes, said Fatse, adding that this entrepreneurial venture was driven by a need he recognized — from both personal experience and watching dozens of young people, and their parents, struggle with the complicated process of entering, and then thriving in, professional baseball.
Fatse said his own career was typical of many players from the Northeast. He was a 24th round draft pick, which meant he was in many ways a long shot to make it to the major leagues, and he thrived in that underdog role.
“Getting into pro ball was something I always wanted to do,” he explained, “and I guess I had a knack for proving people wrong my whole life because I was undersized.”
He was drafted as a second baseman, but played mostly outfield in the minors, rising to what’s known as ‘high A ball’ with the Brewers and Double A with the Orioles.
He remembers all through his career that his family and coaches encouraged him to pursue a baseball career, but also be prepared for life after the game — whenever that transition was destined to occur. And he told BusinessWest that he always had some entrepreneurial tendencies and was in many respects ready for the day when he hung up his spikes.
“I had always done some lessons, some modest work with some of the local guys,” he explained. “But this past off season, I got an office and started putting together a business plan for something that would be different. I started to see how much I enjoyed doing this kind of thing, and I’m enjoying the transition into business.”
And when asked to describe that business, he said it’s a combination of a number of things, including technical instruction and, perhaps more importantly, mentorship.
“I always talked to my coach at UConn Jim Penders, who was an unbelievable coach,” he recalled. “I always liked his approach to how he did things, and it wasn’t until perhaps my fourth professional season that I realized the value of what he brought to the table. And I started thinking to myself that if I could bring some of that to the guys around here, at a younger age, I think it will help them out tremendously, especially those who want to pursue playing at the next level.”
As he mentioned earlier, AP is developing into a company focused on much more than technical instruction, although that’s a big part of the operation.
Fatse has plans to create programs designed for both athletes and their families, and on subjects ranging from how to handle the college-recruiting process to deciding if and when to turn pro.

Covering All the Bases
As he talked about the science of hitting a baseball, Fatse provided some insight into both the complexity of that task and the art of teaching people how to do it better.
“I try to work on their mental approach to hitting and utilize as much of their athleticism as possible,” he explained. “We want them to use their athleticism in a controlled swing pattern. How they do it — the rhythm techniques they use — vary, and that’s why we use video analysis so much. We like to look at what some of the best in the game are doing, and there are checkpoints in every swing that I try to replicate, such as with the hips and how the hands work.
“I didn’t have a fantastic approach until I really started learning how to hit in my third year in pro ball,” he went on, using his own experiences to get some of his points home. “I use the phrase ‘give a little to get a little’ — seeing pitches, seeing arm action, studying pitchers, and writing charts. The more I became aware of the mental part and how much being a student of the game mattered, the better I became.”
Overall, he said, there is a process to becoming a better player, one that focuses on both the mental and physical aspects of the game. And it is this process that is at the heart of AP’s business plan, which is still very much a work in progress.
But the building blocks are coming together, he told BusinessWest, adding that they are centered around helping those who come to AP’s facilities focus on what he called “complete player development.”
And by this he meant everything from what happens on the athletic field and in the classroom, to properly representing one’s community.
“Probably the most important thing I tell guys is that they’re representing a lot when they put that uniform on — themselves, their families, their school, their community — and it’s a privilege.”
Complete player development is what amounts to a business model for AP, one that Fatse believes is quite unique — in this region and nationally — and that’s why he’s confident that this venture will be a major league success.
Already, he’s drawing athletes from communities across this region, but also well outside it, with clients from Vermont, New Hampshire, and other regions of Massachusetts. The portfolio has grown mostly through word-of-mouth referrals, and he expects that process to continue and accelerate, especially as the company expands into other programs, such as the Rising Freshman initiative.
Meanwhile, there are growth opportunities from expanding into other sports, he said, listing lacrosse and hockey as possible additions to the roster.
“My vision is for a place where kids can come and get their work in, but also watch video, do their homework, and maybe meet with an academic advisor,” he said. “They could get their athletic training and academic work done in the same place, be around good, positive role models, and be the best they can be.”

Expert in His Field
In addition to the caps and baseballs in his office, Fatse is also working on a uniform collection for his conference room.
There are now three framed and on the walls — one of his from his UConn days, and one each from the Ahmed brothers, Mike and his older brother, Nick, currently in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ system.
They serve as reminders of what can happen when one can effectively blend hard work with determination, patience, the proper attitude, and sound decision-making.
These are things that Fatse will try to teach his clients — along with how to hit that curveball from a left-hander. It’s a business model he believes is loaded with potential, and one that will give him an opportunity to strike out on his own — this time in a very positive way.

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

Not So Sweet

Sugary Drinks Play a Major Role in Obesity, Related Health Problems

Jeff Sautter and Michelle Edwards say the calories in drinks can add up quickly.

Imagine sitting down and eating a bowl filled with 15 to 20 teaspoons of sugar.
According to Dr. Teresa Mitchell, although most people would never do that, they don’t realize they are consuming the same amount of sugar every time they drink a 20-ounce soda.
The excess is not only harmful to health, but its high calorie count can lead to unwanted weight gain. In fact, research has shown that sugary drinks play a major role in the obesity epidemic.
That epidemic — it affects about one in three Americans — was officially classified as a disease last month by the American Medical Assoc., requiring a range of medical interventions to advance treatment and prevention.
And there are some preventive steps anyone can take to decrease their obesity risk and slow the advance of weight-related diseases, from diabetes to cardiovascular issues.
For example, a study done by the Harvard School of Public Health shows that drinking one 12-ounce soda every day causes a weight gain of one pound every four years. “People don’t realize that one soda a day can make a big difference in their lives,” said Mitchell, director of pediatrics at Mercy Family Life Center in Springfield. “But over time it can lead to obesity, which then leads to other chronic diseases.”
Jeff Sautter agrees. “Soda is the most abused and unnecessary form of caloric intake,” said the clinical dietitian from Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. “It should not be used as a hydrating beverage.”
In March, researchers at an American Heart Assoc. conference reported they had found a link between sugary drinks and 180,000 obesity-related deaths worldwide, which included approximately 25,000 adult Americans.
But children also enter into the equation. The Harvard School of Medicine says sugary drinks are the top source of calories in teens’ diets. In addition, a study they conducted found that, for each additional soda a child consumed each day, their odds of becoming obese increased by 60%. Part of the reason is that, even though a 64-ounce cola fountain drink can contain up to 700 calories, adults and children who drink sweetened beverages do not feel as full as if they had eaten the same number of calories from food.
“It’s very easy to consume more calories than you need when you drink sugary beverages because they add up very quickly,” said Michelle Edwards, a clinical dietitian with Baystate Medical Center.

Dr. Teresa Mitchell says adults often pass bad nutritional habits to their children, who then grow up relying on sweet drinks instead of milk and water.

However, weight gain isn’t the only problem related to sugar-filled beverages. People who guzzle one to two cans of soda a day have a 26% greater chance of developing type II diabetes than people who rarely consume these drinks, and a connection exists between sugary drinks, heart attacks, heart disease, and gout.
“The bottom line is that we eat too much sugar and drink too much sugar,” Sautter said, adding that it’s difficult to avoid since 80% of the typical 600,000 items in a grocery store contain added sugar.
But many caring adults unknowingly pass bad habits onto children due to a lack of knowledge. “Some parents give their children more juice than milk,” Mitchell said. “It tastes so good that children naturally want it, and parents offer it because they think it’s healthy. But that’s a misconception. The American Academy of Pediatrics says infants younger than 6 months should not be given any fruit juice because it offers them no nutritional benefits, children 1 to 6 years old should be limited to four to six ounces a day, and children ages 7 to 18 should not have more than eight to 12 ounces a day.”
Still, soda and juice are not the only culprits. Sugary drinks come in many forms, ranging from sports beverages to those touting added vitamins. But drinking a sweetened beverage is no substitute for a healthy diet, and experts say education, including learning how to wean children off sweetened beverages, can make a significant difference in health.
“It’s better to get vitamins from a natural source than a fortified source,” Mitchell said. “Fruit is better than fruit juice because it contains vitamins and fiber.”

Societal Changes
Sautter said fruits and foods that contain natural sugar take time to digest, while the sugar in sweetened drinks goes straight into the bloodstream, which can cause a spike in insulin.
This can be problematic. Edwards said a rise in insulin can increase appetite, cause people to put on more visceral fat, or fat around the abdomen and other organs, and lead to insulin resistance. “There are risks involved with elevated blood sugar over time. It can damage small vessels and also lead to chronic kidney or eye disease,” she told BusinessWest.
Mitchell agrees. “Simple sugar causes a rapid increase in insulin release, which lowers blood sugar and causes a craving for more sugar, which increases caloric intake,” she said. “Sugary drinks can lead to obesity and insulin resistance, which leads to type II diabetes.”
But consumption of sugary drinks has been on the rise for decades. “In the ’70s, sugary drinks made up 4% of the U.S. daily caloric intake. By 2001, it was up to 9%, and between 1989 and 2008, the calories consumed from sugary drinks in children ages 6 to 11 increased by 60%,” Mitchell said, adding that youngsters in this age group averaged 209 calories a day from sugary drinks, and the percentage consuming such beverages rose from 79% to 91%.
Edwards tells patients that sugar is addictive. “The more you drink it, the more you are going to want or crave it,” she said.
So, although a small amount of juice — say, four ounces — can be healthy, Edwards suggests parents give children water or low-fat milk instead of fruit juice or drinks containing juice. Another tactic is to dilute juice with more and more water over time. “But the best option is just to keep sugary beverages out of the house,” she said. “When you hydrate with sweet beverages, it’s much easier to consume an excess of calories.”
Mitchell agrees, adding that sports drinks are unnecessary unless someone is engaging in an unusually high level of physical activity. “Water is the best drink. It satisfies thirst, hydrates you, and is all that most children need when they are playing sports.”
The earlier parents reduce their child’s intake of sugary beverages, the better off they will be, she added. “Obesity has been shown to increase the risk of diabetes, and in the last few years, we are beginning to see children as young as 4 with type II diabetes. It’s a disease that used to be seen primarily in obese adults.”
But in order to make good choices, people need to learn to read labels. “There are many names for sugar,” Sautter said, adding that sugar alcohols include sorbitol, manitol, and xylitol. “Some of them are known to cause diarrhea if they are consumed in excessive amounts, and they can also cause bloating and constipation.”
People should also avoid beverages that contain high-fructose corn syrup. “Fructose is rapidly absorbed by the bloodstream. It goes straight into the liver and can trigger an elevation in cholesterol, including triglycerides,” Edwards said.
Although some people switch to diet soda, that can also lead to health problems. “The chemicals in them have been shown to increase the risk of cancer. And soda in general can increase the risk of osteoporosis because it decreases absorption of calcium,” Mitchell said. In addition, people often eat more than they normally would when they choose a low-calorie beverage.

Long-term Benefits
Mitchell says consuming liquid calories does not result in the same satisfaction that comes from eating food, but few people stop to think before they drink.
“Obesity is on the rise, and sugary drinks lead to weight gain without people realizing it,” she noted.
That means maintaining a healthy lifestyle may not be as difficult as some people believe, Sautter said. “Just doing one simple thing — changing what you drink — can be a game changer for your health.”

A Colorful Approach to Business

Clark Paint & Varnish Endures In the Shadow of the Big Boxes

Andy Raker attributes his family business’s success to a focus on the basics and doing what the big-box stores can’t.

In the 1960s, Andy Raker’s mother took a request to have a specific color of paint mixed for the set of the former StageWest theater (the predecessor to CityStage) to match the famous violet eyes of the star of the next show — actor Robert Goulet.
Raker, now the president of the Clark Paint & Varnish Company — the West Springfield-based family business that his grandmother and mother were running at the time — told BusinessWest that while it was one of the more unique requests over the past 67 years, on any given day it’s not unusual to see customers hauling doors or pieces of dining room furniture into the Union Street store to find a matching stain or paint color.
And while matching paints seems to be all the rage in many home décor outlets, Raker calls color matching an art; a combination of computer-assisted color analysis and ‘eyeballing,” the term he uses to describe use of the naked eye to compare colors in different light settings.
How Raker came to be a practitioner of this art is an intriguing story of entrepreneurship, creativity, and, most importantly, survival of this rather small-box enterprise in a retail world increasingly dominated by big boxes.
Indeed, having just finished high school and starting his first semester at American International College in 1978, Raker found himself, and his family business, in a serious situation.
Backing up a bit, he said that after his grandfather, Milford Raker, who had purchased the business from original owner Fred Clark, passed away unexpectedly in 1963, his grandmother, Ruth, and mother, Marcia, were thrust into the roles of owner and operator, and with no real experience to handle them.
For 15 years, they and the existing staff managed the operation, but when the slow, steady exodus of that staff left the two women alone to run the store, Andy was forced to put school aside and take a leadership position in the family business.
“I had worked at the store in the summers but I never learned how to make paint, and I remember when the last guy (employee) to leave handed me the keys,” recalled Raker.
Once management was thrust upon him, he said it was refreshing on one hand, realizing that he was going to be able take the company in a direction that he thought was going to be positive. “But it was scary; it definitely was with mixed emotions,” he recalled. “It was either sink or swim.”
A loyal customer base of mostly retail and apartment-building owners kept the company alive as the young Raker spent the next two years learning the paint and stain trade and took advantage of new technology as it came, asking for help from paint chemists, and especially raw chemical salesmen.
“All these raw material people will supply you with information to help sell their materials,” explained Raker. “And back then it was pretty competitive and everybody had chemists on staff so when they wanted to sell me their titanium dioxide (white pigment), I’d say, ‘well, I need some help formulating it.’”
And as he continued to learn on the job, the formulas for Clark paint brand continued to improve. Experimenting with different recipes in batches with a blender, he produced small samples, took some chemistry classes, and, through trial and error, learned how to make quality paint, just like his grandfather, who’d never had the chance to teach him.
Raker would create starting formulations with various colors that had better flow and level, would cover better, save money, and have lower VOCs (volatile organic compounds). And as everything in the paint industry went ‘greener,’ so did Clark Paint.
For this and its focus on entrepreneurship, BusinessWest talked at length with a business owner who likes to mix things up — in more ways than one — and has the bases covered in an extremely competitive sector.

Brush Strokes
Clark Paint & Varnish’s success over the past two decades stems from a mixture of Raker’s late-teen ‘take charge’ attitude in the face of multiple adversities and his ability to learn on the job. While friends were experiencing the independence and adventure of college, Raker was experiencing a different type of independence, one that was more survival at first, than anything else.
And when asked how he’s scripted this survival story, he said it’s been through a focus on the basics, and doing things some of the discount giants can’t.
With the arrival of those big boxes, and especially the Home Depot in the nearby Riverdale Shops in the early 1990s, most would have thought that a small, family owned paint business like Clark would have taken a good shellacking, and a few stores in the area did — including West Springfield Hardware — which eventually ceased operations.
Clark’s retail paint business took a sizeable hit — roughly 30% by Raker’s estimate. While this was a large setback, a solid industrial customer base carried the company through the next couple of years as Raker made the decision to adjust his sales focus and target more commercial business, a move that helped redefine the company for good.
Attrition of some of Clark’s competition due to Home Depot’s opening presented the opportunity for Raker to add national brands such as Pratt and Lambert and Benjamin Moore to his own, well-respected Clark label, and with the addition of an outside sales person to help secure new commercial business, Clark Paint now had more clout to compete for all markets, he said.
“That move broadened our line even more,” he said, “and brought more people into the store because those brands have a lot of dedicated customers in this area.”
And new retail customers in turn created more need for that aforementioned expertise in color matching.
“Everybody has computers to match, but it’s only a starting point; it never matches perfectly,” Raker said, adding that a trained eye is still key. “And we’ll dry the paint, because wet paint is different than dry, and actually take the samples out in the daylight as opposed to just florescent lights because it’s not a true rendering of the color.”
But with stain and varnish matching, there is no computer to do that analysis. “It’s also part of our reputation and it’s all experience and by eye,” added Raker. “A lot of other stores don’t have the capability, the expertise, or even the pigments to make certain stains.”
Clark has a whole line of dye stains and a line of lacquer, called M. L. Campbell for cabinetmakers, furniture, and display manufacturers. The line, Raker explained, is more for industrial use on harder woods and offers far more depth of color, than the popular Minwax brand found in many stores.
Another key to the company’s success has been its ability to adjust to changes within the industry, and especially a strong focus on ‘green’ — not the color, but the movement toward more environmentally friendly products and processes.
Before the younger Raker took over, the advent of polyurethane, a plastic-based compound in the late 60s and 70s changed the landscape of varnish. Now mildew resistance is a controversial buzzword in the paint industry, and the cheap, readily available, but harmful lead — used as a white pigment and to prevent mildew — has been replaced by titanium dioxide and other environmentally safe additives, a result of federal VOC laws that also eliminated solvents in paint. As Raker has ridden the evolving technology wave, he has seen more genuine customer concern for health and environment.
“Everybody is looking for a more sterile, cleaner environment, and technology is catching up fast, but it wasn’t like that at first,” Raker explained to BusinessWest. “Originally when the first paints came out that had to be ‘green,’ they weren’t quite as good, but now the technology is there.”
While those same raw chemical vendors were selling the same formulas to his competitors, Raker told BusinessWest that because Clark is a small manufacturer of paint, he could learn to make the greener formulas quickly, and keep his cost per can or container down due to a lack of shipping and distribution costs and third party middle men. “From the raw materials to out the door, we’re able to offer a better product at less money.”

Satin Finish
Raker hasn’t been called upon to create a paint to match a Hollywood star’s eyes in recent decades, but he admits that there have been intriguing challenges with that aspect of his work.
The biggest challenges, though, have been stepping in and then stepping up to take this family business to places that might not have been envisioned in 1978, or later, when the competitive playing field changed dramatically.
This is an inspiring story of entrepreneurship and perseverance. What will happen in the coming chapters isn’t known yet, but one thing is certain — they will be colorful, and in every way imaginable.

Elizabeth Taras can be reached at [email protected]

The Race to the Patent Office

‘First-to-file System’ Represents a Significant Change in the Rules

On March 16, the U.S. patent system changed from what’s known as a ‘first-to-invent’ system to a ‘first-to-file’ system. This significant change means that only the first person to file a patent application on an invention can receive a patent, with few exceptions.
In other words, an inventor can race to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (the Patent Office) and attempt to beat out a prior inventor who waits to file.
There is however a one-year grace period for an inventor, or company, to file a patent application after initially disclosing an invention or offering it for sale. If the inventor decides to file, he can prevail over someone else who filed a patent application earlier that year.
In addition, someone who derived the invention from you, whether directly or indirectly cannot beat you in a race to the Patent Office. That’s because the Patent Office has a procedure (called “derivation proceedings”) to try to sort out the facts.
There are expenses and uncertainties, though, in trying to prove that you are the first inventor.
To avoid these scenarios, most companies should file provisional patent applications rather than non-provisional patent applications (a.k.a. ‘regular’ or ‘utility’ applications) before initially disclosing their inventions or offering them for sale (at trade shows, for example).
A provisional application is an informal, yet complete, disclosure of an invention filed at the Patent Office. The provisional application is not prosecuted by the Patent Office and does not, by itself, result in a patent. It buys the inventor (or his assignee) one year to decide whether or not to file a regular patent application. If the regular application is filed within that year, the regular application can claim the benefit of the provisional application’s earlier filing date.
Provisional patent applications are relatively inexpensive. Therefore, most companies should file their provisional applications as soon as possible after creating inventions. Update your provisional applications upon creating major changes (for a production model, for example).
Before you file, conduct a preliminary patent search using Google® Patent. Also search the Internet for your product.
If you do not find it, contact a patent attorney to conduct a more detailed search or to file a provisional patent application. Your company’s initial marketing efforts or public disclosure may dictate if you file before or after conducting a detailed search.
This change from a ‘first-to-invent’ system to a ‘first-to-file’ system is a significant development when it comes to patents, and inventors and entrepreneurs should fully understand what it means to their efforts to bring new products to the marketplace.

Donald Holland is a principal with the Longmeadow-based law firm Holland & Bonzagni, which specializes in intellectual property, patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, computer law, cyber law, joint ventures, technology transfers, licensing, and related litigation; (413) 567-2076.

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‘The Holy Grail of Operations’

Sleeve Gastrectomy Is the Hot Option in Weight-loss Surgery

Dr. John Romanelli says sleeve gastrectomy is “elegant in its simplicity,” offering the effectiveness of gastric bypass, but with much lower risk.

Surgically shrinking the stomach to combat obesity is nothing new in the medical world.
But the options for doing so are looking better all the time.
Specifically, sleeve gastrectomy has begun to overtake gastric-bypass surgery and gastric-banding procedures as the surgical weapon of choice, boasting comparative effectiveness with far fewer side effects.
“This operation is elegant in its simplicity,” said Dr. John Romanelli, medical director of the Weight Loss Surgery Program at Baystate Medical Center. “Anyone in the public can get this. We make the stomach smaller, and the way we do that is, we take out everything but the lesser curvature side of the stomach. In other words, we make a sleeve or a tube of the stomach the width of the esophagus, which comes down until it gets to the bottom of the stomach.”
Unlike gastric bypass, which moves a portion of the small intestine, sleeve gastrectomy is performed only on the stomach itself, he noted, so the digestive process is unaffected. “The intestine is left undisturbed, so it’s closer to gastric banding in terms of digestion, and closer to gastric bypass in terms of performance.”
The procedure, which is irreversible, reduces the stomach to about 25% its original size, thereby suppressing appetite in the same way gastric bypass or gastric banding do, said Dr. Andrew Lederman, director of the Berkshire Medical Center Weight Loss Surgery program.
Sleeve gastrectomy was originally performed as a modification to another bariatric procedure, the duodenal switch, and then later as the first part of a two-stage gastric-bypass operation on extremely obese patients for whom the risk of performing gastric-bypass surgery was deemed too large, he noted. The initial weight loss in these patients was so successful, it began to be investigated as a standalone procedure. Today, it’s the fastest-growing surgical option for weight loss in North America.
The reduced impact on digestion is only one reason why sleeve gastrectomy is attractive to patients and surgeons, Romanelli said.
“From my end of things, very simply, the complications are so much lower than bypass or banding. As one of my colleagues said, ‘it’s like bariatric surgery, except you get to sleep at night.’ That’s key; most surgeons report complication rates of 20% to 30% with gastric bypass.”
He explained that there might be 10 or so little things that could go wrong with bypass, and while each may happen only 2% to 3% of the time, combined, the odds add up. With banding, complication rates are 5% per year, and it’s not uncommon for patients to have to undergo repeat procedures.
“It’s easy for patients to understand, easy to perform, with a minimum of complications,” Romanelli told BusinessWest. “In a lot of respects, it’s the holy grail of operations.”

Who Qualifies?
Sleeve gastrectomy uses a stapling device to create a thin, vertical sleeve of stomach, with most of the original organ then removed. It differs in many ways from both gastric bypass, which divides the stomach into a small upper pouch and a much larger ‘remnant’ pouch and then rearranges the small intestine to connect to both; and gastric banding, which incorporates an inflatable band around the upper part of the stomach to create a smaller pouch. But all three procedures have the same goal: to limit food intake while creating a sated feeling.
Romanelli performed his first sleeve gastrectomy in 2006, and it became more common in 2008 and 2009 as more insurers began covering it. “Success bred success,” he said, “and more patients started asking for it.” By 2010 and 2011, the procedure had gained wide approval, and virtually all payers were on board.
Lederman said people considering weight-loss surgery must have a body-mass index greater than 40, between 35 and 40 with two weight-related health risks, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cardiac disease, obstructive sleep apnea, arthritis and joint pain, and incontinence, among others. Typically, candidates are 100 pounds or more overweight, and have already tried other options to lose weight.
He added that, when surgical patients begin losing weight, those obesity-related medical problems often disappear; in fact, 86% of diabetics improve with bariatric surgery, while 74% of type II diabetics are effectively cured of their diabetes.
Romanelli said Baystate’s standards are similar, and he’s particularly intrigued by candidates who present with those ancillary medical issues.
“Those are the people I’m more interested in because we can make those diseases go away and add 10 years to their life,” he said. “I don’t care what dress size they wear; I want them to throw the pillbox in the garbage. They desperately need that.”
As for the age range, typically Romanelli performs sleeve gastrectomy on those between 18 and 65. He said 18- to 21-year-olds are often an underserved population in healthcare in general because they’re transitioning from a pediatrician to an adult doctor and often don’t have a primary-care physician. But it’s important to establish a surgical track record with that group to determine whether even younger patients would be good candidates for the procedure.
When talking about 16- and 17-year-olds, he continued, “the problem is the psychological component; kids aren’t at maturity, so you’ve really got to be careful. A lot of adolescents have serious emotional problems and are probably not suitable candidates.”
In addition, he added, “we’re sifting through much more variable family dynamics.” For instance, if a teenager lives in a house with two morbidly obese parents who do not plan to change their lifestyles, that’s not an ideal environment for gastric surgery.
The upper age limit isn’t set in stone, either, Romanelli said. “It’s not like, on their 66th birthday, they no longer qualify. But a fair amount of data shows that cardiac diseases don’t go away as easily when they turn 65. They’ve already got hardened arteries; the damage is already done.” Meanwhile, complication rates rise in older patients as well.
“But someone who is, say, 67 and in reasonable health, if they want weight-loss surgery, we wouldn’t turn them away. Age 70 has been my limit, but others have gone up to age 80, which I think is a bit excessive.”
That said, Romanelli told BusinessWest, “I’ve done more surgeries on 65- to 70-year-olds in the past year than ever before. There are a fair number who are healthy. But we do take a closer look at them. I have medical colleagues who work with us to give them a once-over before we put them through this elective operation.”

Risk and Reward
All surgery involves risk, Lederman stressed, and even with the reduced odds of complications in sleeve gastrectomy, patients still undergo a medical and psychological evaluation to determine if they are healthy enough to undergo the procedure. Meanwhile, all types of gastric surgery require serious lifestyle adjustment.
“Weight-loss surgery was not an easy way out,” said Tracy DiGrigoli, one of Berkshire Medical Center’s gastric-surgery patients. “I have to make an effort every day to make the right choices in what to eat and to exercise.”
Added patient Michelle Simon Grady, “there are days I get down, but I keep a picture of myself 100 pounds heavier, and people will see me and say, ‘you look wonderful. How do you do it?’ Well, it’s not easy. I eat in moderation, not binging the way I did before.”
Meanwhile, even sleeve gastrectomy carries some drawbacks, Romanelli said. Nausea is common during the first six weeks following the surgery; for some patients it’s profound, while others have a relatively easy time.
But, buoyed by their own research and desire to lose triple-digit weight, patients are increasingly clamoring for this relatively new option.
“I would say 50% who come in are already asking for this operation,” Romanelli said. “The bottom line is, if you’re going to have an operation, the results are about as good as bypass, but it’s a lot safer.”
He went so far as to predict that gastric banding will become relatively rare within three to five years. “I do think diabetics do better with gastric bypass, but everyone else will get sleeves. I think that’s where we’re heading. I’d like to tell you that one operation fits all, but I’m not convinced; it’s not that good, to where we’d do that and nothing else. Patients should have a choice.”
Indeed, “I don’t go out of my way to encourage banding, but if a patient wants it and it’s reasonable, I’ll do it,” Romanelli said, noting, for example, women who want to get pregnant at some point in the future; they can have the band deflated during the pregnancy and tightened afterward. “So there’s an adjustability factor for women of childbrearing age. And bypass is good for people with metabolic disease. But for most people, sleeve gastrectomy is becoming the most popular.”
“Between its effectiveness and relative safety, it’s really the best of both worlds,” he told BusinessWest. “I know that makes it sound too good to be true, and maybe five, 10, 15 years from now, like all things in the media, people will be saying, ‘yeah, that’s too good to be true.’ But the results have been great, and patients are happy. They come in and say, ‘I can’t believe how easy this is!’ I never hear that with gastric bypass. I never hear that with banding patients. But I always hear it with sleeve patients.
“They can eat what they want, just less,” Romanelli concluded. “So they keep the same quality of food and lose weight every week. Who wouldn’t want that?”

Call Your Lawyer

Don’t Put Off Estate Planning for Your College-aged Children

Lisa L. Halbert

Summer is here, and your college-aged kids (or grandkids) are on break, or home from school, if only for a short period of time. While these technically ‘legal’ adults are likely trying to work, catch-up on Zs, and reluctantly make the rounds for various doctor and dentist appointments, it’s a good idea to add an appointment with a lawyer to the list.
Everyone over the age of 18 — including college- or post-college-aged individuals — should consider the prudence of executing a healthcare proxy and a durable power of attorney.

Healthcare Proxy
A healthcare proxy (HCP) is a document by which a legally competent person over the age of 18 (usually referred to as the ‘principal’) appoints another adult (the ‘agent’) to help make healthcare decisions for the principal, but only if the principal is unable to either make or communicate their own healthcare decisions.
Signing an HCP does not allow an agent unfettered access to the principal’s healthcare information. So long as a principal has the requisite capacity, an agent cannot access the principal’s medical information unless or until a medical release (and not just the HCP) is signed by the principal.

Durable Power of Attorney
Conceptually, a durable power of attorney (POA, or sometimes referred to as a DPA) is similar to an HCP in that the principal (in this case the college-aged student) nominates another adult (usually referred to as an attorney-in-fact) to step into the shoes of the principal and act on his or her behalf for almost any financial transaction. The proposed attorney-in-fact needs to be trustworthy, in an almost blind-faith sort of way. The attorney-in-fact may be a parent, trusted friend, sibling, or other advisor. Authority granted under a POA is typically quite comprehensive, with college-aged adults frequently concerned about the following:
• Banking, including online accounts, check writing, opening and closing accounts, and transferring funds between accounts (especially where money is coming from parents);
• Entering into or changing contracts, i.e. for rental agreements, airline flights, cell-phone and Internet access, student loans, and credit cards;
• Changing beneficiaries on contracts, including creating and funding of individual retirement accounts; and
• Buying and selling cars, securities, or real estate, although these are less-often needed by college students.
The document should be durable, so that it remains in force and effect even at a time when the principal might lose legal capacity, whether due to periods of serious mental or physical illness or injury resulting from a fall, car accident, alcohol, or drugs, which leaves the principal alive, but unable to think or reason clearly.
If the POA does not reference that it is durable, then if the principal becomes incapacitated or incompetent, and unable to think or express thoughts clearly, the authority of the attorney-in-fact terminates. And whether the document is durable or not, upon the death of the principal, all authority terminates, and the attorney-in-fact is no longer authorized to act.
While an HCP can be used or invoked only where the principal is not able to make certain decisions (and therefore cannot be used when the principal is fully able to think and reason), a POA can be crafted to allow the attorney-in-fact access to financial affairs at the same time as the principal, or to take effect at a later time, whether based on the principal’s losing capacity or upon certain events (such as a trip out of the country).
As a general statement, if the principal does not (almost) blindly trust the appointee with access to his or her finances, then do not appoint that person. And if you do have that kind of trust, then it is likely administratively easiest to have the document in full force and effect from the original date of signing, as opposed to a later date. If you decide to make the POA invoked upon injury or illness, it may not be easy to get you to agree to see a doctor, or it may take time to get an appointment, both of which can delay the process during a pivotal time.
The principal may want to consider appointing not just one person, but likely up to three individuals to serve consecutively under both the HCP and POA. Therefore, if the first person becomes unable or unavailable, there is a second person to act, etc. If the principal does not change his or her mind about appointing these same people, then by naming individuals to serve consecutively, the document should remain viable and valid for a longer period of time.

Good Reasons
Why should you encourage your son, daughter, or grandchild to meet with an attorney and sign a healthcare proxy and separate durable power of attorney?
Many 18- to 25-year-olds do not live at home. They are at college, or beginning to branch out and live far away from home. Many want their independence but have not yet really learned to plan for the unexpected, at least in terms of legal documents. Your adult child could have a medical emergency, perhaps due to being hit by a drunk driver, a fall down stairs, an emotional issue that severely impacts thought processes, or a financial situation that needs prompt or urgent action (such as limited access to bank funds while traveling in a foreign country).
With a healthcare proxy and durable POA in place, these and many more issues can be addressed quickly and in a cost-effective manner by someone whom your child has chosen.
The ramifications of not having the documents in place could mean that court action may be necessary in order to have someone appointed to make medical decisions, or to help access accounts and/or address various financial issues. The cost associated with a court action, in terms of time, emotions, and money, can be problematic.
Further, if court action is necessitated because the person did not have a POA or HCP, then it is someone around the principal who initiates the request for court assistance or intervention. In effect, the principal loses control of choosing who makes certain decisions (whether medical or financial) and whether they will be made consistent with the principal’s approach.
This summer, consider a unique way to express your love and caring to your independent-minded 18- to 25-year-old. Gently suggest that he or she take an hour or so to talk to an attorney about these documents. You can even make a present to your child or grandchild that covers the cost of having the work done. In the long run, having an HCP and POA is a great investment in your child or grandchild by encouraging their independence and sense of responsibility to self. It shows that someone cares enough to help them plan for the unexpected. The documents are valid for years into the future, with originals being kept safely at the law firm or in a safe. If properly authorized, copies can be provided to medical professionals, financial institutions, and the named appointees, or provided via computer, as well as kept with passports or travel itineraries.

Lisa L. Halbert, Esq. is an associate in the Northampton office of Bacon & Wilson, P.C. A member of the estate-planning, elder, and real-estate departments, she is especially focused on legal matters relating to elder and estate planning and asset protection; (413) 584-1287; baconwilson.com/attorneys/halbert

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A list of area dental services

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Management

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Time is Money, So Manage More Effectively

Patricia Murphy

Time management in the life of the busy professional is always a challenge. The balance of one’s commitments at work and at home can be difficult and, at times, overwhelming to manage.
Modern technologies intended to make our lives easier, often add too much information and clutter, forcing us to spend time on unimportant and unprofitable tasks. Whether you are a small business owner, in commission sales, or an employee of a small or large company, using your time wisely is essential to your individual production and overall profit. As the old saying goes “time is money.”
While we can’t add more time to our days, we can manage the time we have more effectively. Finding a time-management strategy that works depends on the individual and their environment. Hopefully, these tips can help you more effectively manage your time.

Planning
Failing to plan is planning to fail. Reviewing your calendar and identifying your commitments can help you manage your priorities and make the most of your time. Looking at the week ahead can help you make the distinction between what is urgent and what is important. Making planning a habit and doing it religiously is crucial to maintaining control over your time. Here are some additional thoughts:

• Spend time at the beginning of each week planning for your week ahead. Planning in advance gives you time to react to unforeseen situations and plan for things you want to do;
• Plan for tomorrow before today ends. Spend some time planning for your next day’s accomplishments;
• Try to limit scheduled time too, because distractions always seem to arise.

Task Lists
To effectively manage all of the outstanding tasks, commitments, and engagements, we cannot rely on our memory alone. The average person has 50 tasks in their heads at any given time according to the “Getting Things Done” time-management system created by David Allen. Maintaining a reliable and well-kept list allows us to reduce the mental energy required by storing the list in our heads, resulting in forgotten items and missed tasks.

• Make a list of all the things in your world that need resolution;
• Go through each of these items and assign it a letter of importance from A (very important) to C (unimportant);
• Assign an amount of time to complete each of the items;
• Prune your list by following the ‘4-D theory’: do it, dump it, delegate it, or defer it, making it manageable; and
• Remember that multitasking can actually lower the quality of work; try to devote full attention to one task at a time.

Calendars
In order to help manage meetings and events, it requires the effective use of a calendar. Whether it’s paper or electronic, you need a system where you know where to be and when. A calendar which shows the entire month at a glance is better than one that shows a week at a time.
Viewing your calendar monthly will help you to obtain a better picture of your time and it will help you to plan on a weekly basis. Here are some tips:
• Input only time and day-specific items; try not to over clutter;
• Set up recurring events;
• Color code your calendar (green for personal; red for meetings; blue for phone calls, for example);
• Use notifications and reminders;
• Automatically add holidays into your calendar; and
• Syncronize calendars whenever possible.

E-mail
E-mails have become a necessary evil in today’s business world. While e-mails can save time and long conversations, they can also be misleading, overused, and misinterpreted. Using e-mail more effectively will not only save time but could actually help increase productivity. Keep these suggestions in mind:
• Keep an empty inbox — read the e-mail once and decide what to do with it. As with the task list, use the 4 D theory: do it, delegate it, defer it or delete it (file);
• Try to limit e-mails to a few sentences — get right to the point;
• Make your subject line obvious;
• Try to write fewer e-mails and avoid copying unnecessary recipients;
• Set aside time to check and respond to e-mails, especially during “low productivity time” (i.e. lunch);
• Avoid checking e-mails first thing in the morning. This will help you to avoid reacting to others demands and will allow you to stay focused on your own demands;
• Write smarter e-mails and be clear. Try to anticipate the next reply in order to answer any potential questions;
• Set up folders to have a good email filing system;
• Route annoying e-mails to junk and non-essential e-mails (newsletters or blogs) can be set up to go straight to a folder;
• Turn off the visual and audible e-mail alerts; and
• Create an e-mail template for recurring e-mail messages sent, such as thank-you notes and meeting confirmations.

Get Organized
Paperwork can easily get out of control and eat up valuable time you could be using to accomplish your goals. Keeping your desk clean is crucial to avoid getting overwhelmed by the clutter and maintaining control of your environment. Here’s how:
• Try to touch each piece of paper only once, using the 4 D theory discussed above;
• Set up a well-maintained filing system; and
• Add an extra monitor or two, which will allow you to have multiple screens open at the same time, significantly increasing your efficiency. Monitors are even portable; they are lightweight and are the size of a legal pad.
Even the best strategies we implement can’t work without the dedication to making them work and the consistency it takes to make them a habit. If we can start to think of time as a commodity, as we do money, we can start to put a value on our time and question how we spend it.
Using your time wisely will allow you to be more effective with the time you do have.
Staying focused on what is important and being proactive rather than reactive will result in increased productivity, reduced stress and devoting more time to important and rewarding projects. Overall, successful time management will make a positive difference in your career and ultimately your bottom line.

Patricia J. Murphy, CPA, is a Senior Associate with the Holyoke based public accounting firm Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C.; (413) 322-3540; [email protected].

Business Law

Columns Sections

Wage Suit Against Lady Gaga is Litigation of Note

Karina L. Schrengohst

The lawsuit brought against Lady Gaga by her former personal assistant (PA) illustrates some of the wage-and-hour law challenges that employers face.
Lady Gaga hired a friend to be her personal assistant at an annual salary of $75,000. After the two had a falling out, Lady Gaga’s former PA filed a lawsuit alleging that she is owed almost $400,000 in unpaid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state law. The PA claims she worked 24/7, around the clock. According to the PA, her job duties included reviewing and reconciling credit card statements, ordering meals, heating Lady Gaga’s food, ensuring the promptness of a towel after a shower, serving as a personal alarm clock to keep Lady Gaga on schedule, packing and unpacking Lady Gaga’s 20 bags of luggage, and sleeping in Lady Gaga’s bed with her so that she would be able to attend to all her needs.
Under the FLSA, employees are entitled to overtime unless they fit within specific overtime exemption categories. For a personal assistant, the most likely exemption is the administrative exemption. In order to fit within this exemption, Lady Gaga would have to show that her former PA was paid on a salary basis of at least $455 per week, that her primary job duty included performing office or non-manual work, and that she exercised discretion and independent judgment. In this case, the job duties the PA described do not require the requisite level of discretion and independent judgment sufficient to meet the administrative exemption. Therefore, assuming her description of her job duties is accurate, she would be entitled to overtime for the hours she worked over 40 in a workweek.
But exactly how many hours of overtime did the PA work? According to the PA, she was not compensated for 7,168 hours. But no one kept track of her hours, which, in the case of a non-exempt employee, is an employer’s responsibility.
Also, the PA claims that even during her time off during the day she was required to carry her cell phone in case Lady Gaga needed something. Consequently, according to the PA, she was limited in her ability to engage in personal activities. Therefore, as a non-exempt employee, she likely would be entitled to be paid during some of this on-call time. Similarly, if the PA really had to sleep in Lady Gaga’s bed to attend to any needs that might arise, that time during the night would likely be compensable as well.
During her deposition, Lady Gaga stated that her former PA knew that she would be paid $75,000 for working 24/7 and that she knew that she was not entitled to overtime. Further, recounting some of the perks of the job, Lady Gaga stated that her PA “slept in Egyptian cotton sheets every night, in five-star hotels, on private planes, eating caviar, partying . . . all night, wearing my clothes.” However, knowing she was expected to work 24/7 and enjoying these perks does not overcome the fact that, based on the PA’s description of her job duties, the PA was a non-exempt employee, entitled to overtime pay and on-call time pay.
State and federal laws pertaining to wage-and -hour issues, such as overtime, are complicated. As a result, these are areas where mistakes are often made. Employers, however, cannot afford these errors because the consequence of not complying with these laws can be very costly. In fact, in Massachusetts, there are mandatory treble (triple) damages for unpaid wages. This means that if an employer is found in violation of state law, at a minimum, for every dollar an employer does not pay in accordance with wage-and-hour laws, that employer will have to pay three times that amount. In Lady Gaga’s case (if the case was brought in Massachusetts, which it was not) if the court found that her PA was owed $400,000 in unpaid overtime, Lady Gaga would have to pay $1.2 million. In addition, Lady Gaga would have to pay her former PA’s attorneys’ fees and costs of the litigation. Thus, in order to reduce the risk of liability, employers should consult with their employment counsel and familiarize themselves with state and federal wage-and-hour laws to ensure compliance.
As a side note, Lady Gaga’s legal battle also illustrates the importance of an employer maintaining her poker face during deposition. During her deposition, under oath, Lady Gaga called her former PA a “f—ing hood rat who is suing me for money she didn’t earn.” She also stated “I’m the queen of the universe every day.” And she said to her former PA “I’m quite wonderful to everybody that works for me, and I am completely aghast to what a disgusting human being that you have become to sue me like this.”
These colorful comments will likely be quoted by the PA’s attorneys in briefs submitted to the court. Although an extreme example, it illustrates how damaging emotionally driven testimony can be.

Karina L. Schrengohst, Esq. is an attorney at Royal LLP, a woman-owned, SOMWBA-certified, boutique, management-side labor and employment law firm; (413) 586-2288; [email protected].

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Departments Picture This

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Buy the Book

Charlie Epstein, an area financial services expert known as “The 401k Coach,” recently presented the proceeds of the sales for his new book, Paychecks for Life, to the Square One Children’s Center in Springfield. Square One, a Springfield-based nonprofit established in 1883, provides early education and care to children and access to other services that their families may need to be successful. Epstein’s gift will enable the nonprofit to fund programs that help the community’s most vulnerable children to get ready for school, become life-long learners who succeed in school, and grow into self-sufficient adults. Top, Epstein, center, presents the ceremonial check for more than $17,000, to Kimberly Lee, vice president advancement with Square One, and William Sullivan, vice president of PeoplesBank and Square One board chair. Below, he spends some time with some of Square One’s young clients.

Commitment Check

Showing its commitment to the new Chicopee Senior Center on Main Street, the Polish National Credit Union (PNCU) presented a check, the second of two $25,000 donations, to support the construction of the new structure. PNCU wrote the first check in 2012. Pictured, from left, are Richard Kos, co-chairman of the senior center fund-raising committee; Marie Laflamme, a member of the capital campaign; James P. Kelly PNCU president and CEO; and Ernest Laflamme, Jr., co-chairman of the senior center fund-raising committee.

Narration Connection

On Tuesday mornings at 10:30 a.m., area pre-school children have been treated to an ongoing Summer Reading program at Eastfield Mall through a collaboration between the mall and the nonprofit group Link to Libraries. The program provides trained readers to share stories with area children. Each child receives a new book following the story hour. Here, Link to Libraries reader David Porter has his audience riveted.

Building Permits

Building Permits Departments

The following building permits were issued during the month of June 2013.

AGAWAM

Regency Condominium Trust
340 Regency Park Dr.
$20,000 — Exterior renovation

AMHERST

Amherst College
Frost Library
$124,000 — New roof

Good Ol’ Daves
15 Cosby Ave.
$8,000 — Convert laundry room to full bath

CHICOPEE

Chicopee Savings Bank
229 Exchange St.
$33,000 — Strip and re-roof

City of Chicopee
5 West Main St.
$8,056,000 — Construct new senior center

Riverbend Medical Group
444 Montgomery St.
$200,000 — 3,000-square-foot interior renovation

NORTHAMPTON

518 Pleasant Street, LLC
518 Pleasant St.
$3,000 — Install fourth-floor windows

City of Northampton
42 Gothic St.
$23,000 — Replace front porch and stairs

City of Northampton
240 Main St.
$5,900 — Divide Veterans Affairs office into two

Linda Muerle
90 Pomeroy Terrace
$12,000 — Add finishes to Unit 2 daylight basement spaces

Northampton Terminal Assoc., LLP
1 Roundhouse Plaza
$4,400 — Remove non-bearing walls on third floor

Patrick Kirk Real Estate
137 North Main St.
$12,000 — Renovations

Peter St. Martin
111 Pleasant St.
$5,000 – Exterior renovations

M & S Holdings
8 Easthampton Road
$5,000 — Install vinyl siding

Maplewood Shops Inc.
2 Conz St.
$9,250 — Install employee bathroom

SOUTH HADLEY

South Hadley Fire Department
20 Woodbridge St.
$3,000 — Sign work

SPRINGFIELD

Bernie Medical, LLC
300 Bernie Ave.
$210,000 — Modification to existing tenant space

Gary Brill
381 Cooley St.
$201,000 — Interior remodel

Neslo Realty
245 Cadwell Dr.
$170,000 — Interior tenant fit-out

Nowak Funeral and Cremation Services
15 Ludlow Ave.
$31,000 — Re-roof

Prima 1, LLC
615 Belmont Ave.
$36,000 — Upgrade to parking lot

Pynchon Associates, LLC
1380 Main St.
$8,000 — Renovations for suites 404 & 406

Related Springfield Associates
10 Chestnut St.
$20,000 — Renovations

Tahir Chaudhary
1390 Allen St.
$119,000 — Store renovations

Verizon Wireless
20 Bernie Ave.
$12,000 — Six upgraded antennas

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Tire Warehouse
818 Memorial Ave.
$67,000 — Erect 20-by-40-foot addition and renovate showroom

Town of West Springfield
26 Central St.
$130,000 — Renovations on third floor

Real Estate Transactions

Departments Real Estate

The following real estate transactions (latest available) 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

ASHFIELD

546 Old Stage Road
Ashfield, MA 01330
Amount: $238,000
Buyer: Kenneth W. Davis
Seller: Todd D. Senecal
Date: 05/31/13

BERNARDSTON

363 Bald Mountain Road
Bernardston, MA 01337
Amount: $174,000
Buyer: Scott M. Stacy
Seller: Keith M. Wilda
Date: 05/30/13

COLRAIN

12 Thibodeau Dr.
Colrain, MA 01340
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Dean M. Basara
Seller: Ellen M. Clark
Date: 05/31/13

CONWAY

40 Whately Glen Road
Conway, MA 01341
Amount: $445,000
Buyer: John A. Moore
Seller: Dorothy Osterman
Date: 05/30/13

DEERFIELD

34 Lee Road
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: David V. Tynan
Seller: Walter D. Pajonk
Date: 05/28/13

56 Mathews Road
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $263,000
Buyer: Matthew E. Janus
Seller: Michelle Olavegoya
Date: 05/31/13

5 Memorial St.
Deerfield, MA 01342
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Robert Hale
Seller: Stephanie Ingrassia
Date: 05/31/13

10 Mountain Road
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $384,000
Buyer: Kevin A. Wissmann
Date: 05/31/13

20 Mountain Road
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $295,000
Buyer: Deborah J. Picking
Seller: Kevin A. Wissman
Date: 05/31/13

ERVING

6 Moore St.
Erving, MA 01344
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Nicholis F. Lapan
Seller: Marsha J. Browning
Date: 05/20/13

43 Ridge Road
Erving, MA 01344
Amount: $213,000
Buyer: Brian E. Frank
Seller: Mathew E. Janus
Date: 05/31/13

27 River St.
Erving, MA 01344
Amount: $155,900
Buyer: Kathleen S. Hepburn
Seller: Nancy L. Stone
Date: 05/31/13

GREENFIELD

5 Arch St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $169,000
Buyer: MW&MW Realty LLC
Seller: 1 Archi Place Inc.
Date: 05/31/13

99 Burnham Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $197,000
Buyer: Kathleen D. Kelleher
Seller: Dency Dokoozian
Date: 05/31/13

159 Chapman St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Jennifer E. Antonellis
Seller: UMass Five College Credit Union
Date: 05/29/13

23 Cooke St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $182,000
Buyer: Nancy M. Richard
Seller: Stacy A. Metzger
Date: 05/31/13

19 Eastern Ave.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $187,000
Buyer: Russell A. Kaubris
Seller: Sanford S. Cotton
Date: 05/29/13

34 Glenbrook Dr.
Amount: $317,000
Buyer: Glenbrook Residence LLC
Seller: Michael P. Boudreau
Date: 05/31/13

44 Graves Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $167,000
Buyer: Richard T. Haskins
Seller: Jay V. Mauri
Date: 05/23/13

9 Grinnell St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $332,000
Buyer: Mary M. McManus
Seller: Robert Catlin
Date: 05/30/13

14 Locust St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Annette M. Chamberlin
Seller: Michael McGrath
Date: 05/31/13

24 Park Ave.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $188,000
Buyer: Ashley R. Stokes
Seller: Daniel Smith
Date: 05/31/13

15 Prentice Ave.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $147,600
Buyer: Kelly L. Mignault
Seller: Frank W. Domitrz
Date: 05/21/13

122 Sanderson St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $167,500
Buyer: Jennifer L. Schmidt
Seller: Maureen Walsh
Date: 05/24/13

LEYDEN

Eden Trail Branch
Leyden, MA 01301
Amount: $314,000
Buyer: Elizabeth Emery
Seller: Mitchell R. Damon
Date: 05/24/13

MONTAGUE

151 3rd St.
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $116,000
Buyer: Cottage Industries LLC
Seller: 151 3rd Street LLC
Date: 05/31/13

163 L St.
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: William J. Doyle
Seller: Stanley W. Lewandowski
Date: 05/30/13

NORTHFIELD

Mill St.
Northfield, MA 01354
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Walter C. Jaworski
Seller: Northfield Mt. Hermon School
Date: 05/21/13

ORANGE

131 West Main St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $1,250,000
Buyer: John Dunphy
Seller: Orange Inv. LLC
Date: 05/31/13

SUNDERLAND

691 Amherst Road
Sunderland, MA 01375
Amount: $181,000
Buyer: Joseph F. Ranker
Seller: Todd A. Cromack
Date: 05/28/13

200 North Main St.
Sunderland, MA 01375
Amount: $175,900
Buyer: Paul J. Wanczyk
Seller: Alec E. Cybulski
Date: 05/23/13

WENDELL

210 Lockes Village Road
Wendell, MA 01379
Amount: $500,000
Buyer: LGW Holdings LLC
Seller: Robert M. Cabral
Date: 05/31/13

HAMPDEN COUNTY

AGAWAM

59 Alhambra Circle South
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $131,750
Buyer: Deutsche Bank National
Seller: Stephanie A. Kelly
Date: 05/29/13

19 Brookline Ave.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Scott C. Smith
Seller: Greguoli John J., (Estate)
Date: 05/30/13

27 Depalma St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Pamala J. Taylor
Seller: Joseph F. Amaral
Date: 05/31/13

12 Federal St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $154,500
Buyer: Joshua A. Cicia
Seller: Michael Knight
Date: 05/31/13

41 Fernwood Dr.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Anthony Depalma
Seller: Julie Habib
Date: 05/22/13

7 Lango Lane
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $115,000
Buyer: Scott A. Valentino
Seller: PBI Inc.
Date: 05/31/13

1664 Main St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Stuart Amusement Co.
Seller: MV Ent. Inc.
Date: 05/28/13

22 Parkview Dr.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $225,500
Buyer: Edward R. Heim
Seller: Poplar Dev. LLC
Date: 05/28/13

48 Reed St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Christopher G. Manekas
Seller: Barbara A. Skiba
Date: 05/30/13

140 Senator Ave.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Brendan A. Halley
Seller: Louis M. Ramah
Date: 05/30/13

1009 Suffield St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $237,000
Buyer: Richard Chavez
Seller: William H. Cullen
Date: 05/31/13

39 Tanglewood Lane
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Michelle R. Balch
Seller: Edward R. Heim
Date: 05/28/13

BLANDFORD

34 Brookman Dr.
Blandford, MA 01008
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Peter J. Pappas
Seller: Peter J. Maynard
Date: 05/21/13

BRIMFIELD

243 Brookfield Road
Brimfield, MA 01010
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: Frederick C. Byrne
Seller: Dominic F. Mastroianni
Date: 05/30/13

28 Saint George Road
Brimfield, MA 01010
Amount: $189,000
Buyer: Wendy W. Denning
Seller: Susan G. Woods
Date: 05/24/13

CHESTER

520 Skyline Trail
Chester, MA 01011
Amount: $186,811
Buyer: Wells Fargo Bank
Seller: Douglas B. Arnold
Date: 05/30/13

CHICOPEE

123 1st Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $2,900,000
Buyer: JMDH Real Estate Of Chicopee
Seller: U.S. Postal Service
Date: 05/31/13

77 Bourbeau St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $147,000
Buyer: Kyle P. Kokosa
Seller: Kenneth H. Backlund
Date: 05/30/13

536 Britton St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $231,500
Buyer: LTL LLC
Seller: Aaron W. Butcher
Date: 05/29/13

597 Broadway St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $129,000
Buyer: Matthew M. Balut
Seller: Dube, Simone A., (Estate)
Date: 05/29/13

70 Fernwood St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Bryan J. Klein
Seller: John R. Ferraro
Date: 05/23/13

30 Hampshire St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Jeremy P. Foster
Seller: Alfred J. Gosselin
Date: 05/31/13

17 Highview Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $158,000
Buyer: Jesse L. Lengieza
Seller: Everett J. Sexton
Date: 05/31/13

81 Julia Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $191,000
Buyer: Kevin R. Juchno
Seller: Sandra J. Grenier
Date: 05/31/13

121 Lafayette St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Nichole A. Morneau
Seller: Babineau Joseph C., (Estate)
Date: 05/30/13

73 McDonald Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $258,000
Buyer: Robert R. Pluta
Seller: Roland G. Provost
Date: 05/21/13

145 Mckinstry Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $204,000
Buyer: Vadim Ruge
Seller: James E. Burns
Date: 05/24/13

463 Memorial Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $3,450,000
Buyer: Mittas Inn LLC
Seller: TPSN LLC
Date: 05/20/13

505 Memorial Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Jayanth Pasupuleti
Seller: Columbus Ave. Realty LLC
Date: 05/22/13

63 Murphy Lane
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $184,000
Buyer: James P. Laclair
Seller: Jay T. Dirico
Date: 05/24/13

69 Olko Circle
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $216,000
Buyer: Caroline A. Tatro
Seller: RLDR LLC
Date: 05/31/13

EAST LONGMEADOW

11 Converse Circle
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $132,000
Buyer: Jeffrey D. Dalessio
Seller: David K. Marshall
Date: 05/22/13

112 Dearborn St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $199,900
Buyer: Wayne L. Cox
Seller: D. A. Williams
Date: 05/30/13

32 Greenacre Lane
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $199,500
Buyer: Elizabeth A. Estabrook
Seller: Phyllis M. Rathbun
Date: 05/30/13

227 Kibbe Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Moltenbrey Builders LLC
Seller: Laplante Construction Inc
Date: 05/31/13

20 Lynwood Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $129,500
Buyer: Andre Sample
Seller: Randy W. Sample
Date: 05/24/13

27 Marci Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $418,000
Buyer: Charles H. Gray
Seller: Daniel P. Prestegaard
Date: 05/28/13

Orchard Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Jane K. Furnas
Seller: J. Chapdelaine & Sons Inc.
Date: 05/30/13

226 Parker St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Anthony P. Potito
Seller: Louis G. Lapointe
Date: 05/24/13

25 Savoy Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $249,000
Buyer: Kathleen E. Kalmbach
Seller: Timber Dev. LLC
Date: 05/31/13

214 Shaker Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $182,500
Buyer: Garrett E. Goguen
Seller: Ernest Moller
Date: 05/24/13

100 Tanglewood Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $316,000
Buyer: Luis M. Martinez
Seller: William R. Dennis
Date: 05/29/13

25 Thompson St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Anthony Sarno
Seller: Edward M. Bellerose
Date: 05/28/13

18 Yorkshire Place
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $275,900
Buyer: Daniel J. Brookes
Seller: Rhonda Y. Coughlin
Date: 05/30/13

GRANVILLE

462 Main Road
Granville, MA 01034
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Apryl Adelman
Seller: Peter Strniste
Date: 05/24/13

462 Main Road
Granville, MA 01034
Amount: $201,000
Buyer: Barbara Greene
Seller: Peter Strniste
Date: 05/30/13

241 North Lane
Granville, MA 01034
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Colin D. Neylon
Seller: Gary C. McLaughlin
Date: 05/31/13

HAMPDEN

52 Echo Valley Dr.
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $138,000
Buyer: Christine A. Yacovone
Seller: Ann M. Joyce
Date: 05/24/13

246 South Monson Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Buyer: Katelyn R. Marcelina
Seller: Hugh K. Martin
Date: 05/31/13

86 Thresher Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $364,000
Buyer: Gregory J. Clewes
Seller: Robert A. Chaffee
Date: 05/31/13

134 Thresher Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $239,000
Buyer: Jason T. Broom
Seller: Joseph M. Hickson
Date: 05/22/13

HOLLAND

9 Island Road
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Robert W. Hellinger
Seller: James A. Faust
Date: 05/31/13

10 Julia Ann Dr.
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $174,000
Buyer: Christian D. Lund
Seller: David N. Goodman
Date: 05/21/13

93 Leno Road
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $169,000
Buyer: Christopher C. Smith
Seller: Virginia M. Hemingway
Date: 05/30/13

38 Marcey Place
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: James M. MacDonald
Seller: Durgin, Robert R., (Estate)
Date: 05/29/13

HOLYOKE

37 Anderson Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: John A. Ramondetta
Seller: Moynihan William E., (Estate)
Date: 05/31/13

41 Cabot St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Luis R. Cotto
Seller: Rafael Alvarado
Date: 05/22/13

105 Dartmouth St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Patrick W. Lunney
Seller: Paul J. Paoli
Date: 05/29/13

455 Homestead Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $202,000
Buyer: Shivani Patel
Seller: Jaclyn M. Caceci
Date: 05/24/13

1103 Main St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $115,000
Buyer: Felix A. Santiago
Seller: Marcelino Alicea
Date: 05/31/13

48 Meadowview Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $209,000
Buyer: Katie A. Gallagher
Seller: Robert K. Laroche
Date: 05/30/13

53 Mueller Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Zachary R. Vozella
Seller: Cha Kat Realty LLC
Date: 05/30/13

20 Pearson Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $223,000
Buyer: Kerry A. O’Connell
Seller: James D. Hall
Date: 05/23/13

93 Pine St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Templo Pentecostal Inc.
Seller: Asamblea DeIglesias Cristo
Date: 05/30/13

LONGMEADOW

85 Academy Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $309,000
Buyer: John J. Tranghese
Seller: Helen M. Weiner
Date: 05/22/13

56 Bliss Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $230,900
Buyer: Michele M. Callaghan
Seller: Deborah A. Dalton
Date: 05/31/13

143 Brookwood Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: Huimin Chen
Seller: John Tranghese
Date: 05/22/13

121 Captain Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $431,000
Buyer: Sean M. Marien
Seller: Elizabeth C. Lovett
Date: 05/30/13

19 Ellington St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $440,000
Buyer: Spencer T. Martin
Seller: Suzanne K. Barron
Date: 05/20/13

101 Ely Way
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $690,000
Buyer: Eric M. Polep
Seller: Larry N. Port
Date: 05/24/13

122 Kenmore Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Christopher A. Davis
Seller: Daniel P. Murphy
Date: 05/31/13

174 Meadowlark Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Edward R. Gaudreau
Seller: Theresa A. Gallagher
Date: 05/31/13

46 Plymouth Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Lisa B. Goldberg
Seller: Glenn Keedy
Date: 05/31/13

34 Roseland Ter.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Craig Belgard
Seller: Stanley J. Pisarski
Date: 05/31/13

128 Williams St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Verity A. Goldberg
Seller: Jason T. Whitfield
Date: 05/31/13

568 Williams St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $208,000
Buyer: Christopher A. Casale
Seller: Jerome H. Radding
Date: 05/20/13

LUDLOW

199 Cady St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Gerald E. Dubour
Seller: Melody M. Taylor
Date: 05/31/13

Focosi Ln
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $308,000
Buyer: Kenneth E. Jackson
Seller: Misha Dev. LLC
Date: 05/24/13

52 Hunter Road
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Jose A. Sanches
Seller: Arminda Fernandes
Date: 05/24/13

266 Miller St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $116,750
Buyer: Chi Lysak
Seller: Vantium Reo Capital Mark
Date: 05/21/13

Parker Lane
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $129,900
Buyer: Hemlock Ridge LLC
Seller: Whitetail Wreks LLC
Date: 05/31/13

124 Posner Circle
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $189,500
Buyer: Jennifer L. Calkins
Seller: Michael E. Labier
Date: 05/24/13

16 Roy St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Adam G. Vehr
Seller: Manuel R. Marques
Date: 05/28/13

MONSON

29 Circle Dr.
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Kevin P. Somers
Seller: Margaret A. Royce
Date: 05/30/13

141 East Hill Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Sheila M. Rivest
Seller: Paul A. Lapenas
Date: 05/24/13

251 Palmer Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Mark P. Wurszt
Seller: Kevin J. Biermann
Date: 05/31/13

PALMER

91 South High St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Paulo J. Palatino
Seller: Edward A. Kareta
Date: 05/31/13

SPRINGFIELD

394 Abbott St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $172,000
Buyer: Patricia A. Michaelian
Seller: Martyn L. Gallagher
Date: 05/24/13

129 Acrebrook Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Kenneth Norris
Seller: PCL Construction Inc.
Date: 05/24/13

217 Arnold Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $137,000
Buyer: Eunice Jones
Seller: William M. Zoll
Date: 05/23/13

101 Avery St. #135
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $229,900
Buyer: Keena S. Clarke-Guillaume
Seller: Elaine C. Graham
Date: 05/30/13

14 Benz St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $138,856
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Christina H. Houghton
Date: 05/31/13

1245 Bradley Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $121,000
Buyer: Daniel J. Molta
Seller: HSBC Mortgage Services Inc.
Date: 05/30/13

148 Breckwood Circle
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Opus Durum LLC
Seller: Kenneth L. Fitzgibbon
Date: 05/31/13

65 Brewster St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $160,900
Buyer: Allen M. Beverly
Seller: Timothy Ruth
Date: 05/24/13

15 Candice Circle
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Ashley A. Chenier
Seller: Dupont, Helen T., (Estate)
Date: 05/31/13

57 Dayton St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Sandra J. Parker
Seller: Shirley Nichols
Date: 05/31/13

523 Dickinson St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Lisa L. Torres
Seller: Maria H. Hamilakis
Date: 05/24/13

154 Ellsworth Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $148,674
Buyer: Midfirst Bank
Seller: Midfirst Bank
Date: 05/20/13

75 Fairway Dr.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $144,850
Buyer: Brett A. Gelinas
Seller: Seldin FT
Date: 05/31/12

46 Fullerton St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $128,900
Buyer: Edwin Vega
Seller: Danica Lariviere
Date: 05/24/13

78 Garfield St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $138,800
Buyer: Norman F. Bliss
Seller: Melro Assocs. Inc.
Date: 05/24/13

256 Greenaway Dr.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Jessica Medina
Seller: Matthew M. Bailey
Date: 05/31/13

93 Gresham St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $152,950
Buyer: Bayview Loan Servicing
Seller: Felix Feliciano
Date: 05/30/13

130 Hartwick St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Maria Dangelantonio
Seller: Sherry L. Pio
Date: 05/29/13

15 King St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Aaron L. Dunn
Seller: Profit Sharing Plan TR
Date: 05/20/13

950 Main St.
Springfield, MA 01103
Amount: $1,042,236
Buyer: ARC CBSFD MA 1 LLC
Seller: Inland Amer CFG Portfolio
Date: 05/20/13

27 Mountainview St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $129,500
Buyer: Shawn A. Rairigh
Seller: Phoebe A. Siter
Date: 05/31/13

33 Ontario St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $139,000
Buyer: Tracey A. Facchini
Seller: Hugh M. Smith
Date: 05/23/13

125 Paridon St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $540,000
Buyer: Camelback LLC
Seller: Camelback LLC
Date: 05/21/13

19 Rhinebeck Ave.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $178,000
Buyer: Dianne M. Kepner
Seller: Raymond J. Martin
Date: 05/20/13

75 South Branch Pkwy.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Alyssa S. Dunn
Seller: Adam Garand
Date: 05/29/13

41 Silver St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Wilberto M. Saez
Seller: Bernard R. Butler
Date: 05/30/13

Sunnybrook Road
Springfield, MA 01101
Amount: $151,000
Buyer: Frank R. Marvici
Seller: TJM Properties LLC
Date: 05/28/13

200 Tapley St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $1,060,000
Buyer: Pazmino Realty LLC
Seller: Polman Realty LLC
Date: 05/23/13

69 Teakwood Road
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $146,500
Buyer: Lauren E. Pauze
Seller: Sandra L. Liquori
Date: 05/29/13

20 Treetop Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $127,000
Buyer: Hee W. Yi
Seller: Anthony C. Racco
Date: 05/20/13

712 White St.
Springfield, MA 01101
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Charles Croney
Seller: Elaine C. Graham
Date: 05/29/13

SOUTHWICK

196 Berkshire Ave.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Ralph H. Ramsdell
Seller: Girard Homes Inc.
Date: 05/30/13

111 Granville Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $395,000
Buyer: Peter A. Bennett
Seller: David J. Henry
Date: 05/23/13

10 Maple St.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $137,500
Buyer: Joey Jacob
Seller: Jeffrey M. Comee
Date: 05/31/13

4 Sugar Maple Lane
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $162,000
Buyer: Holly E. Amanti
Seller: Pinnacle Estates At The Ranch
Date: 05/23/13

WALES

9 Main St.
Wales, MA 01081
Amount: $234,000
Buyer: Christopher R. Ryan
Seller: Mary J. McGlynn
Date: 05/21/13

WESTFIELD

3 Bates Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Kenneth Dagenais
Seller: Shawn A. Amell
Date: 05/31/13

5 Butternut Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Jason Desormier
Seller: David H. Darling
Date: 05/24/13

50 Canal Dr.
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Sheila Sponberg
Seller: Pamela Norris
Date: 05/31/13

12 City View Blvd.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $163,000
Buyer: Robert L. Blanch
Seller: Linda M. Vela
Date: 05/31/13

26 Cross St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Cynthia F. Bullard
Seller: Thomas S. Turner
Date: 05/30/13

15 Deepwoods Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: City Of Westfield
Seller: John E. Harris
Date: 05/20/13

78 Granville Road #40
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $400,179
Buyer: William E. Freeman
Seller: Granville Road LLC
Date: 05/24/13

187 Granville Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $154,000
Buyer: Alexander D. Fagnand
Seller: Ronald F. Pac
Date: 05/30/13

316 Granville Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $224,900
Buyer: Brian L. Osowski
Seller: William M. Brady
Date: 05/29/13

68 Hagan Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $151,358
Buyer: FHLM
Seller: Tina M. Lamore
Date: 05/30/13

7 Jeanne Marie Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $585,000
Buyer: Annie L. Potts
Seller: Jeanne M. Beltrandi
Date: 05/24/13

72 Larchly Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $176,000
Buyer: Laura L. Christiansen
Seller: Pressey, Jacqueline J., (Estate)
Date: 05/29/13

77 Moseley Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Craig A. McRobbie
Seller: John J. Wiley
Date: 05/28/13

36 Sunbriar Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $269,900
Buyer: Shawn A. Amell
Seller: Nicholas D. Cremonti
Date: 05/31/13

46 Zephyr Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Richard Leclair
Seller: Barnes Herbert S., (Estate)
Date: 05/31/13

WILBRAHAM

90 Chilson Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $425,000
Buyer: Cheryl C. Clapprood
Seller: Deborah A. Nacewicz
Date: 05/31/13

1155 Glendale Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $520,000
Buyer: Michael V. Tirabassi
Seller: Robert E. Egerton
Date: 05/31/13

51 Monson Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $270,000
Buyer: Mapleshade PT
Seller: David J. Ziter
Date: 05/21/13

212 Springfield St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $772,000
Buyer: Mary B. Valentine
Seller: John E. Stambaugh
Date: 05/24/13

WEST SPRINGFIELD

57 Beech Hill Road
West Springfield, MA 01030
Amount: $327,165
Buyer: Joseph J. Damour
Seller: Beech Hill Construction Inc.
Date: 05/28/13

93 Bretton Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: Kyle G. Morin
Seller: Joan E. Daley
Date: 05/28/13

60 Druids Lane
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Elizabeth A. Marshall
Seller: Laurie L. Lefebvre
Date: 05/24/13

92 East Gooseberry Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Kody A. Archambault
Seller: Vincent S. Marceno
Date: 05/21/13

76 Greystone Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $173,000
Buyer: Erin E. Lyncosky
Seller: Patricia D. Williford
Date: 05/31/13

51 Lantern Lane
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Brian S. Brady
Seller: Todd A. Thibodeau
Date: 05/30/13

208 Sibley Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $209,000
Buyer: Vincent Depergola
Seller: Aaron Corley
Date: 05/31/13

646 Westfield St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Angelica Props. LLC
Seller: Drew A. Demay

8 William St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $143,000
Buyer: Francis M. Lewis
Seller: Andrey Parchinskiy
Date: 05/31/13

40 Woodbrook Terrace
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Mark M. Salamon
Seller: Peoples United Bank
Date: 05/31/13

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY

AMHERST

72 Concord Way
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $785,000
Buyer: Ambreen Bawa
Seller: Bercume Construction LLC
Date: 05/31/13

346 Lincoln Ave.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $515,000
Buyer: Killian R. O’Connell
Seller: David J. Charron
Date: 05/28/13

580 Market Hill Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $460,000
Buyer: Jeffery M. Cook
Seller: Oliver T. Miller
Date: 05/29/13

53 Meadow St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $358,000
Buyer: Killian R. O’Connell
Seller: George R. Scialoia
Date: 05/29/13

63 Red Gate Lane
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Kurt C. Wise
Seller: Irene Nystorm
Date: 05/28/13

820 South East St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $424,900
Buyer: Lisa Whitmore PT
Seller: Homeworks Construction Co. Inc
Date: 05/30/13

1204 South East St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Kathleen J. Hartford
Seller: Shumway, Wilbur O., (Estate)
Date: 05/20/13

1459 South East St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Erik C. Wight
Seller: Paul E. White
Date: 05/24/13

360 South Pleasant St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $764,000
Buyer: William C. Taubman
Seller: Roy I. Hare
Date: 05/24/13

228 Shays St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $570,000
Buyer: Timothy J. Anderson
Seller: Michael MacDonald
Date: 05/23/13

45 Spaulding St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $363,000
Buyer: Dori E. Ehrlich
Seller: Rebecca D. Guay-Mitchell
Date: 05/24/13

366 Station Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $820,000
Buyer: Ernest D. May
Seller: John E. Quinn
Date: 05/31/13

BELCHERTOWN

99 Aldrich St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $380,000
Buyer: Steven J. Glenn
Seller: William H. Fitzpatrick
Date: 05/29/13

5 Forest Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Jeffrey Wesnofske
Seller: Nancy Hooper
Date: 05/21/13

88 Howard St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Todd Hubbard
Seller: Walter Pacheco
Date: 05/24/13

252 North Liberty St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $208,000
Buyer: Nathan R. Morgan
Seller: Joanne M. Leal
Date: 05/31/13

68 Oakridge Dr.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Adam R. Lafleur
Seller: Donald M. Hebert
Date: 05/29/13

152 Old Bay Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Joshua T. Snyder
Seller: James A. Hoag
Date: 05/24/13

61 Old Sawmill Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $382,000
Buyer: Joshua W. Mandeville
Seller: Peter A. Monson
Date: 05/24/13

42 Rockrimmon St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $126,500
Buyer: Cory A. Dupont
Seller: Sharona M. Gazda
Date: 05/31/13

226 State St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $169,500
Buyer: Dallas R. Branch
Seller: Bettie H. Croft
Date: 05/21/13

206 Stebbins St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Daniel B. Desrochers
Seller: Matthew R. Tolpa
Date: 05/23/13

155 Warner St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: David R. Benedetti
Seller: Stanley G. Beretsky
Date: 05/31/13

EASTHAMPTON

56 Bryan Ave.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $223,000
Buyer: Shannon M. Dunham
Seller: Peter T. Curtis
Date: 05/28/13

64 Clark St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Christopher N. Norczak
Seller: Mary E. Rust
Date: 05/31/13

19 Concord Dr.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $259,000
Buyer: Daniel W. Nelson
Seller: Barbara M. Macon
Date: 05/30/13

211 East St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $217,000
Buyer: Julie I. Schwager
Seller: James J. Fitzgibbon
Date: 05/31/13

9 Gross Lane
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Westley Desotle
Seller: Paul B. Coombs
Date: 05/30/13

11 Lawson Dr.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Bennett K. Bishop
Seller: Kevin J. Evelti
Date: 05/30/13

305 Loudville Road
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $228,486
Buyer: Green Tree Servicing LLC
Seller: Simela Paltoglou
Date: 05/23/13

5 Mckinley Ave.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $277,000
Buyer: Cristina Suarez
Seller: David C. Hill
Date: 05/21/13

6 South St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $475,000
Buyer: Triggs Terrace LP
Seller: Sherry, Arthur B., (Estate)
Date: 05/28/13

GRANBY

286 Batchelor St.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Benjamin W. Novello
Seller: Bradley C. Lowe
Date: 05/29/13

10 Philip Circle
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Frank P. Boron
Seller: Deborah J. Roy
Date: 05/30/13

HADLEY

20 Grand Oak Farm Road
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: Araksya McInerney
Seller: Lisa A. Cerchia
Date: 05/24/13

124 Rocky Hill Road
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $369,900
Buyer: Valley Building Co. Inc
Seller: Onesta Properties LLC
Date: 05/31/13

HATFIELD

11 Dwight St.
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $259,000
Buyer: Roy R. Coulter
Seller: Caroline A. Tatro
Date: 05/31/13

115 Elm St.
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: John H. Zieminski
Seller: K. Carlson FT
Date: 05/31/13

11 Valley St.
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $253,000
Buyer: Robert F. Hennessy
Seller: John A. Dodson
Date: 05/31/13

HUNTINGTON

2 Pine St.
Huntington, MA 01050
Amount: $191,000
Buyer: Morizio Brother Mgmt. LLC
Seller: Carolyn M. Fuller
Date: 05/31/13

110 Rocky Point Road
Huntington, MA 01050
Amount: $262,500
Buyer: Ronald J. Silwa
Seller: Ronald J. Sliwa
Date: 05/24/13

1 Stage Road
Huntington, MA 01050
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Greg L. Valley
Seller: USA HUD
Date: 05/24/13

NORTHAMPTON

377 Coles Meadow Road
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $390,000
Buyer: Chuong Q. Dinh
Seller: Krisen Day
Date: 05/22/13

557 Easthampton Road
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $625,000
Buyer: Smith Child Care Center
Seller: PUG Realty LLC
Date: 05/30/13

53 Fox Farms Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $429,000
Buyer: Patrick D. Rondeau
Seller: Donald W. Abel
Date: 05/28/13

8 Glendale Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $225,500
Buyer: Christine Toomasi
Seller: Roger W. Salloom
Date: 05/31/13

61 Gothic St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $429,000
Buyer: Grerald A. Boucher
Seller: Nancy E. Murphy
Date: 05/31/13

87 Henry St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $319,000
Buyer: William J. Ewall
Seller: Oona Kingston
Date: 05/29/13

242 Jackson St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $192,000
Buyer: Jennifer Katz-Brandoli
Seller: Justin L. Gianesin
Date: 05/24/13

121 Lake St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Gretchen D. Werle
Seller: Christina M. Hammel

91 Moser St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $369,135
Buyer: Armagan Gezici
Seller: Kent Pecoy & Sons Construction Inc.
Date: 05/29/13

112 Moser St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $444,363
Buyer: Robert S. Harris
Seller: Kent Pecoy & Sons Construction Inc.
Date: 05/20/13

46 North Maple St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $326,000
Buyer: Stephen T. Preer
Seller: Patrick D. Rondeau
Date: 05/28/13

24 Nutting Ave.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $368,900
Buyer: Casie A. Smith
Seller: Rosemund LLC
Date: 05/22/13

18 Olive St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $480,000
Buyer: Thomas T. Gu
Seller: John Dunphy
Date: 05/30/13

247 Park Hill Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $431,500
Buyer: William M. Bither
Seller: Robert S. Harris
Date: 05/20/13

676 Park Hill Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Maya Maclachlan
Seller: Alexandra Mason
Date: 05/22/13

48 River Road
Northampton, MA 01039
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Catherine A. Dollard
Seller: John M. Barrett
Date: 05/23/13

793 Ryan Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $128,979
Buyer: Household Finance Corp.
Seller: Michael J. Samolewicz
Date: 05/20/13

971 Ryan Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $192,900
Buyer: Harriet K. Smith
Seller: Cynthia Custeau
Date: 05/22/13

19 Stonewall Dr.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $267,625
Buyer: Susan Kan
Seller: Mary E. Parker
Date: 05/29/13

17 Summer St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $325,500
Buyer: Esther S. White
Seller: Hazen, Nancy G., (Estate)
Date: 05/23/13

910 Westhampton Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $172,500
Buyer: Jeremy J. Morini
Seller: Barbara M. Smart
Date: 05/23/13

52 Willow St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $270,000
Buyer: Brett I. Constantine
Seller: Joshua Silver
Date: 05/31/13

PELHAM

43 Gulf Road
Pelham, MA 01002
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Jennifer Culbreth
Seller: Michael Hannahan
Date: 05/31/13

64 Harkness Road
Pelham, MA 01002
Amount: $460,000
Buyer: Scott L. Barton
Seller: Niel R. Carlson
Date: 05/30/13

54 Meetinghouse Road
Pelham, MA 01002
Amount: $388,000
Buyer: Oilver T. Miller
Seller: James C. West
Date: 05/29/13

SOUTH HADLEY

11 Amherst Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $455,000
Buyer: Christopher Cloutier
Seller: Michael H. Marten
Date: 05/20/13

9 Brockway Lane
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $299,000
Buyer: Adam R. Methot
Seller: Robert A. Carrier
Date: 05/24/13

113 Granby Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Buyer: Mattew O. Harrington
Seller: Martha Dunn
Date: 05/30/13

590 Granby Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $166,500
Buyer: Brian R. Demers
Seller: Vincent S. Turgeon
Date: 05/24/13

7 Grandview St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $193,000
Buyer: Brian D. Hamel
Seller: Steven J. Glenn
Date: 05/29/13

136 Lyman St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $179,900
Buyer: Warren J. Blumenfeld
Seller: Aaro Stone
Date: 05/24/13

31 Maple St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Thomas Fregeau
Seller: Ryan Grandmont
Date: 05/24/13

52 Michael Dr.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Theresa A. Gallagher
Seller: Short4u RT
Date: 05/31/13

7 Ralph Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $253,137
Buyer: Wells Fargo Bank
Seller: Deborah C. Frady
Date: 05/23/13

146 South Main St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Brian K. Charette
Seller: Charette, Irene M., (Estate)
Date: 05/28/13

189 Woodbridge St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $232,000
Buyer: Annalese B. Nohelty
Seller: Laurie Mckinnon-Huebner
Date: 05/31/13

SOUTHAMPTON

11 Eastwood Dr.
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $435,000
Buyer: Suetying Chui
Seller: Theodore F. Pionkos
Date: 05/31/13

1 Glendale Woods Dr.
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Thomas M. Flynn
Seller: Karen D. Terenzini
Date: 05/23/13

12 Helen Dr.
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Malinda Bresnahan
Seller: Wendy McGannon
Date: 05/30/13

37 Maple St.
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: John L. Meunier
Seller: Thomas W. Granelli
Date: 05/28/13

76 Moose Brook Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: Nancy A. Ruscio
Seller: Timothy J. Seney
Date: 05/30/13

WARE

9 Dunham Ave.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: New York Community Bank
Seller: Charlene M. Kopec
Date: 05/20/13

26 Pine St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $132,000
Buyer: Lisa M. Anair
Seller: Teresa S. Mazik
Date: 05/31/13

7 Sczygiel Road
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Jesse W. Carter
Seller: Jonathan A. Goff

10 Woodland Hts.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Matthew C. Wood
Seller: Michael L. Wentworth
Date: 05/30/13

WESTHAMPTON

253 Northwest Road
Westhampton, MA 01027
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Bryan Sansouci
Seller: Mark Robinson
Date: 05/30/12

47 South Road
Westhampton, MA 01027
Amount: $264,900
Buyer: Christopher W. Norris
Seller: Charles Bobala
Date: 05/21/13

WILLIAMSBURG

67 Ashfield Road
Williamsburg, MA 01096
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Colby W. Canon
Seller: M. J. Fredette
Date: 05/31/13

89 Main St.
Williamsburg, MA 01096
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: David Zimicki
Seller: Bryan T. Lashway
Date: 05/29/13

178 Old Post Road
Worthington, MA 01098
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Sarah R. Freund
Seller: Andrew C. MacLachlan
Date: 05/22/13

WORTHINGTON

98 Ridge Road
Worthington, MA 01098
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Maria P. Beere
Seller: Eileen V. O’Connor
Date: 05/29/13

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies Departments

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

Aldrich, Lisa M.
156 Pleasant St.
Orange, MA 01364
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/24/13

Anthony, Tony
62 Westminster St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/23/13

Arroyo, Ricardo
Arroyo, Milagros
5 Deveau St.
Indian Orchard, MA 01151
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/17/13

AZPCO of Hadley Inc.
Arizona Pizza
AZPCO of Clifton Park Inc.
Montra, Inc.
Trask, Robert W.
Trask, Erin M.
3 Silvermine Lane
West Stockbridge, MA 01266
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/17/13

Ball, Charles M.
Ball, Dawn Y.
1286 North St.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/24/13

Barton, Kimberle P.
a/k/a Schneewind, Kimberle P.
4 Mount Vernon Road
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/21/13

Boisvere, Michael S.
31 Sunset Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/13

Boyd, Michael A
Boyd, Tammy L.
82 Strong Ave.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/25/13

Bozyk, Christopher
Bozyk, Francisca
a/k/a Navarro, Francisca
2452 Roosevelt Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/20/13

Brownson, Shannon
434 Stockbridge Road
Great Barrington, MA 01230
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/22/13

Casterella, John
23 Westminister St.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/21/13

Conrad, Richard
P.O. Box 811
Goshen, MA 01032
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/17/13

Cote, Kelsey L.
a/k/a Dixon, Kelsey
100 Pequot Point Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/13

Cote, Raymond W.
a/k/a Dukette, Raymond M.
100 Pequot Point Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/13

Crapps, Ronnie E.
Barber-Crapps, Sarah A.
133 St. James Ave.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/25/13

Czuchra, Kenneth J.
a/k/a Zukes Mac Shack
25 Rita Mary Way
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/19/13

D & D Remodeling
Beach, David J.
121 Boston Road
Palmer, MA 01069
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/13

Dallmeyer, Mark E.
Dallmeyer, Marcia M.
75 Shaker Lane
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/17/13

Davis, Donald V.
263 Grove St.
Apartment 1B
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/21/13

DeCaro, Elvia Giovanna
137 Nonotuck St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/23/13

DeChristopher, Donna C.
a/k/a Jorgensen, Donna C.
26 Old Mill Road
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/24/13

Dufresne Entertainment
Dufresne, Dusti V.
85 Lincoln St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/17/13

Echard, Jason B.
Echard, Lisa A.
76 Highland Ave.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/23/13

Fatima, Bilqis
32 Charbonneau Ter.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/20/13

Ferguson, Sean A.
14 Royal Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/24/13

Glenowicz, John J.
Glenowicz, Louise M.
405 Ryan Road
Florence, MA 01062
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/17/13

Graham, James F.
63 Harvard St.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/22/13

Graves, Ashley W.
a/k/a Reopell, Robin M.
Graves, Robin M.
P.O. Box 297
Granby, MA 01033
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/28/13

Gwozdzik, Katherine Ellen
a/k/a Marinello, Katherine Ellen
27 Labrie Lane
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/17/13

Herr, Traci D.
a/k/a Czelusniak, Traci Donna
955 Stony Hill Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/29/13

JLEM Landscaping Co.
Hulland, Robert L.
a/k/a Hulland, Larry
Hulland, Jill M.
12 Kathy Way
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/23/13

Kelly, Richard F
Kelly, Debra A.
34 Meadowbrook Lane
Hampden, MA 01036
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/20/13

King, Raymond J.
229 Cadwell Road
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/23/13

Kirby, Tara L.
92 Union St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/22/13

Krstyen, Daniel
16 Sargent St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/19/13

Le, Bong
P.O. Box 81412
Springfield, MA 01138
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/17/13

Ledoux, Verna
5 Ronald Cir.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/29/13

Leone, Ann Marie
85 Euclid Ave.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/23/13

Lovely, Michael Arnold
Lovely, Allison Marie
854 Main St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/20/13

Lyne, William R
Lyne, Dina M.
a/k/a Peters, Dina M.
54 Kensington St.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/30/13

Mann, Holly Marie
4B Cummings Road
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/17/13

Manning, Susan
9 Grant St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/17/13

Meeker, Harold A.
119 Acrebrook Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/13

Moreno, Lawrence A.
55 6th St.
Brimfield, MA 01010
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/29/13

Muzzy, William
Muzzy, Adrianne
43 Noblehurst Ave.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/13

Orange Blossom
Royal, David W.
Royal, Leanne
85 Lincoln Ave.
Orange, MA 01364
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/24/13

Pavlakos, Antonios
Pavlakos, Jacqueline Ann
11B Sunnyside Ave.
Rutland, MA 01543
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/13

Pelletier, Maria S.
149 Fernbank Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/28/13

Poreda, Michael J.
125 Beech St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/28/13

Rand, Jill A.
75 Commercial St.
Adams, MA 01220
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/22/13

Rent to Own Autos
Gaynor, Brian David
127 North St.
Granby, MA 01033
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/30/13

Rogers, William I.
P.O. Box 609
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/20/13

Savage, Katherine M.
47 Mountainview Dr.
Hampden, MA 01036
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/22/13

Shamleffer, William Paul
Shamleffer, Noel Alwood
18 Wesson St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/30/13

Sherokow, Dana G.
Sherokow, Candace L.
a/k/a Thibodeau, Candace L.
101 Regal St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 05/23/13

St. Pierre, Kathrine J.
30 Tom St.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/22/13

Subocz, Jason E.
12 Harvey St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/23/13

Swanson, Philip L.
303 Fairview Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/21/13

Torres, Janessa M.
98 Brandon Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/24/13

Vail, Michael Kane
Vail, Jennifer Marie
73 Hall Road
Apt No. 10
Sturbridge, MA 01566
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/23/13

Vescovi, Paul A.
Vescovi, Domenica A.
46 Arthur Ave.
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/17/13

Vickery, David R.
18 Kent Ave., Apt. 1A
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/23/13

Waters, Kristopher Alan
178 Commonwealth Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/17/13

White, Darnelle
65 Broadway St., Apt. 10
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/30/13

Wolons, Martin D.
23 Mt. Jefferson Road
Hubbardston, MA 01452
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/24/13

Woods, Kelly
77 Laurel St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/21/13

Wright, Bruce G.
38 Jasper St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 05/28/13

Doing Business as Certificates

DBA Certificates Departments

The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of and June 2013.

AGAWAM

AHP Plumbing
533 South West St.
Kenneth Perry

KMJ Videography
49 Morningside Circle
Frank Disco

Valley Painting
77 Autumn St.
Ken Zeltner

Wicked in Pink Run
53 Fairview St.
Robert Alves

AMHERST

Amherst Coffee
28 Amity St.
Mukunda Feldman

Custom Events
330 Pine St.
Karen Berrio

Dunn, Etal
989 South East St.
David Dunn

Homespun Event Design
71 North Pleasant St.
Amanda Robertson

CHICOPEE

BMG Home Services, LLC
149 Beauchamp Ter.
Marek Gusciora

Jerards Home Improvement and Commercial Services
16 Dale St.
Jorge Raul Rivera

Olus Painting
269 Chicopee St.
Elmira Usmonova

Profiles Hair and Nails
12 Sheridan St.
Lisa Ann Lefebvre

Signature Hair
1189 Memorial Dr.
Hang Bui

The Hair Force
358 Britton St.
Pamela Doyle

HADLEY

Horton Tank Graphics
47 East St.
Arthur Larson

Sobasko Cordwood & Logging
28 Lawrence Plain Road
Anthony Sobasko

The Work Horse Group Inc.
43 West St.
Susan R. Woods

Valley Dentists
138 Russell St.
Connecticut River Valley Dentist

HOLYOKE

C-Mart
1500 Northampton St.
Syed R. Mobeen

Hidden Hollow Floral Designs
244 Rock Valley Road
Marcia Cassidy

Kennedy Fried Chicken
333 High St.
Yasser Hussain

La Copa Inc.
447 Main St.
Aida DeJesus

Providence Behavioral Health Hospital
1233 Main St.
Daniel P. Moen

NORTHAMPTON

Beets and Barley Catering
184 North St.
Leslie L. Lucio

CD Laborers
80 Damon Road
Christopher Ducey

Minute Clinic Diagnostic of MA
366 King St.
Kimberly DeSousa

Northampton Country Club
135 Main St.
James Casagrande

Uptown Paws
123 Hawley St.
Robin Mulligan

PALMER

Eddy’s
21 Wilbraham St.
Ed Francis

Fusions Mods
18 Barker St.
Todd Nulph

TLD Assets
1118 Park St.
Darnel Ali

Wedgewood Motel
1430 Park St.
Stanley R. Lamb

SPRINGFIELD

Lindsay Entertainment
45 Crabtree St.
Maurice Lindsay

Mara’s Hands of Light
11 Eton St.
Mara M. Veronesi

Network Technology Academy
1655 Main St.
Ronald L. Cook

New Divas
1153 Main St.
Ramon DeJesus

Nunez Tax Services
196 Dickinson St.
Sonia N. Torres

Panda House
1673 Main St.
Yong H. Chen

Perez Family Restaurant
57 Taylor St.
Jorge Perez Jr.

Recovery Express
119 Wilbraham Ave.
Calvin V. Wilson

Richard Electric
71 Mayfair Ave.
Richard Lantigua

Rico Peru Latin Flava
176 ½ Main St.
Juliano J. Callirgos

Signature Turf Services
75 Woodlawn St.
David C. McAlary

Six Corner Barber Shop
296 Hancock St.
John Miller

South End Package Store
32 Fort Pleasant Ave.
Faiza Atif

Spring Valley Mart
612 Carew St.
Masood Ghani

Sudsy Bubbles Inc.
555 State St.
Kelly M. Healey

The E-Store
98 William Road
Kencin Junior

The Paintball King, LLC
1655 Boston Road
Baldomero Martinez

UR Discount Tobacco
1207 Parker St.
Fazal U. Rehman

VIP Cuts
445 Main St.
Andres Ortiz

William Home Improvement
71 Greene St.
William Aponte

Woman of Confidence Coach
20 Orlando St.
Dawn Leaks

XXX Security & Protection
446 Franklin St.
Damaris Rodriguez

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Delta Affordable Construction
33 Birnie Ave.
Vladimir Gargun

Eci Biotech Recruiters
569 Elm St.
William Beattie

Exportacion/Importacion
33 Allen St.
Armando Ramirez

Healing Temple Outreach
9 Willow Ave.
Barbara A. Washington

Ladder 8
139 South Blvd.
Alanna Burwell

Minute Clinic Diagnostic
928 Riverdale St.
Kimberly DeSousa

Northern Granite, LLC
380 Union St.
Vyacheslav Katko

Toomey-O’Brien Funeral Home
1043 Westfield St.
Francis X. O’Brien

Wedding Inspirations
31 Field St.
Jessica M. Dziewit

West Side Tire & Auto Services
930 Memorial Ave.
Holyoke Tire & Auto

Incorporations

Departments Incorporations

The following business incorporations were recorded in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties and are the latest available. They are listed by community.

BELCHERTOWN

Quabbin Soccer Academy Inc., 9 Heritage Dr., Belchertown, MA 01007. Matthew Schiffer, same. Provide youth soccer clinics to players of all abilities.

Quality Payroll Services Inc., 24 Pheasant Run, Belchertown, MA 01007. Payroll services.

BRIMFIELD

Webrising Data Services Inc., 291 Sturbridge Road, Brimfield, MA 01010. Kevin Matthew Hebert, same. Providing consulting and technical services.

CHICOPEE

William Sung DMD PC., 2220 Pendleton Ave., Chicopee, MA 01022. William Sung, same. Dentistry.

EAST LONGMEADOW

Wild Olive Inc., 10 Lynwood Road, East Longmeadow, MA 01028. Carmine Manzi, same. Pizzeria restaurant selling food, beer and wine.

EASTHAMPTON

T & Y Enterprises Inc., 25K Franklin St., Easthampton, MA 01027, Tamer Mahdy, same. Retail and real estate operations.

Zato Inc., 20 Reservation Road, Easthampton, MA 01027. John Holbrook, same. Software and consulting.

FEEDING HILLS

Positive Reflections Inc., 22 Oriole Dr., Feeding Hills, MA 01030. Raymond Nadeau, same. Salon and day spa.

HADLEY

Pegasus Investment Corp., 8 Pine Hill Road, Hadley, MA 01035. Savida Justine Sachar, 18 Grand Oak Farm Road, Hadley, MA 01035. Equipment Rental.

Pioneer Valley Realty Group Inc., 2 Bay Road, Hadley, MA 01035. Mark Osborn, same. Real Estate Brokerage Company.

HOLYOKE

Santiago Professional Cleaning Services Corp., 582 South Summer St., Suite #1323, Holyoke, MA 01040. Commercial cleaning services.

LONGMEADOW

River Dogs Baseball Club Inc., 73 Stirling St., Longmeadow, MA 01106. John Valencia, same. Baseball club.

The Greater Springfield Amateur Athletic Organization Inc., 67 Woodside Dr., Longmeadow, MA 01106. Kevin Wright, same.

LEE

Onyx Exports Inc., 40 Willow St., South Lee, MA 01260. Christopher Matthews, same. Export.

NORTHAMPTON

The Massachusetts Recreational Trails Advisory Board Inc., 136 Damon Road, Northampton, MA 01060. Richard O’Brien, 576 Merriam Ave., Leominster, MA 01453. To review and rank applications submitted to Mass. Department of Conservation.

SOUTH DEERFIELD

The Creative Journalism Group Inc., 5A Graves St., South Deerfield, MA 01373. Andrew Adamek, same. Research, report, produce and distribute, factual stories about the impact of deindustrialization.

SOUTHWICK

Osowski and Osowski Dental PC., 821 College Highway, Southwick, MA 01077. Anne Osowski, same. Dental services.

SPRINGFIELD

Paraiba Cleaning Corp., 45 East Bay Path Terrace, Springfield, MA 01109. Everaldo Pontes, same. Cleaning company.

Punta Cana Restaurant & Bar Inc., 137 Chestnut St., Springfield, MA. Dionisio Antonio Moya, 100 Melha Ave., Springfield, MA 01104. Food services.

Shree Sai Petroleum Corp., 419 Allen St., Springfield, MA 01108. Riddhi Vyas, 188 Sumner Ave., Springfield, MA 01108. To operate convenience store and gas station.

Veterans With Vision Inc., 1697 Main St., Springfield, MA 01103. Patrick Gore, 421 North Main St., New Haven, CT 01053. To provide programs and services in effort to combat and end veterans homelessness.

Virtual Tech Inc., 856 Central St., Springfield, MA 01105. Jeremy Branco, same. Provide free and low cast training for computer technology within the commonwealth.

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Perfect Union Inc., 292 Belmont Ave., West Springfield, Ma 01089. Robert Wheten, 902 Florence Road, Florence, MA 01062. Provide education tutoring programs to students who are struggling in grades k-12.

Ranjha Brothers Inc. 24 Myron St., Apt. 18, West Springfield, MA 01089. Hassan Ranjna, same. Retail grocery store.

Turek Mechanical Design Inc., 109 Green Meadow Lane, West Springfield, MA 01089. Paul Turek, same. Contract mechanical design, machine design, tooling, equipment installation, create mechanical design.

Briefcase

Briefcase Departments

Eastman Chemical to Convert Indian Orchard Site to Natural Gas
SPRINGFIELD — Eastman Chemical Company intends to convert the coal-fired boiler at its Indian Orchard site, which it acquired as part of its acquisition of Solutia in 2012, to natural gas combustion by January 2016. (Solutia is a wholly owned subsidiary of Eastman.) “Several factors have led to this announcement,” said David Lahr, plant manager for the Indian Orchard site, “including compliance with new regulatiory requirements, Eastman’s commitment to protecting local air quality, as well as the abundance of domestic natural gas at prices increasingly competitive with coal.” The Indian orchard site currently operates three boilers — two natural gas units and a coal fired unit. The conversion to natural gas will allow the Indian Orchard site to comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent industrial boiler regulations, said Lahr. Several years before EPA finalized these regulations, Solutia discussed with the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection that the site was strongly considering a switch to natural gas combustion to meet its steam and electricity needs in order to comply with these regulations once they became final. Currently, the deadline by which Eastman must comply with these boiler regulations is Jan. 31, 2016.

STCC, WNE Sign Articulation Agreement for Online Business Program
SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) and Western New England University (WNE) recently signed an articulation agreement to provide a coordinated online business degree completion program. The two colleges have been working together informally over the past few years to provide this opportunity to STCC and WNE students. However, the formal signing of this articulation agreement creates an opportunity for STCC students to transfer to Western New England University as a junior, but also allows these students to take classes online — providing them with more flexibility in how they earn their bachelor’s degree. STCC Dean of the School of Business and Information Technologies Leona Ittleman said she credits both STCC and WNE faculty for the work they have done to make this agreement between the campuses a reality. “Many of our best and brightest students transfer to Western New England University and receive the benefits of both colleges’ experience and dedication to student learning,” said Ittleman. “And having an online program is not only convenient for our students, but it also provides them with unlimited access to the resources of both campuses.”

Mass. BHE OKs Policy Change on Dorms at Community Colleges
BEDFORD — The Mass. Board of Higher Education (BHE) recently approved a policy change to allow consideration of campus proposals to build residence halls at any of the state’s 15 community colleges. The measure was approved on a unanimous vote at the Board’s last scheduled meeting of the year. BHE policy in effect since 1980 precluded consideration of residence halls at community colleges. The vote to change the policy establishes Massachusetts as the 40th state to permit the construction of student housing on community college campuses. Nationwide, 22% of community colleges offer student housing, mostly at medium-sized institutions located in rural areas. The concept is neither new nor novel; other states have more than 20 years’ experience in offering and managing student housing at two-year institutions. The overall percentage of community college students housed in residence halls, however, remains relatively small. “I want to stress that this is not a decision to initiate a program of student housing construction at community colleges,” said Richard M. Freeland, Commissioner of Higher Education. “Rather, this is a vote to be prepared to consider proposals in cases where they may enhance the educational experience of our students.” The department’s research indicates that residential life at community colleges has a positive impact on academic outcomes such as graduation rates. Students who live on campus are more fully integrated into college life, resulting in overall higher levels of academic achievement. A similar, positive association between dorms and academic achievement has long been substantiated at four-year colleges and universities. “Among all community colleges across the nation, we see a statistically significant association between the existence of student housing and increased graduation rates,” said Carlos Santiago, senior deputy commissioner for Academic Affairs at the Department of Higher Education. To date, only one Massachusetts community college has expressed public interest in a student housing proposal. Mount Wachusett Community College, located in Gardner, has indicated that it would investigate the feasibility of establishing a residential life program and facility.

Company Notebook

Company Notebook Departments

VizConnect Opens Headquarters in Springfield
SPRINGFIELD — Mobile marketing technology and communications firm VizConnect Inc. recently announced the opening of its headquarters in Springfield, and the official launch of its North American operations. Recently named one of the five top technology start-ups to watch by the Boston Business Journal (June 4, 2013), VizConnect was founded in 2011 by a team of partners, including 20-year media veteran and Associated Press and Emmy award winning on-air personality Edward Carroll. VizConnect is a video-management service that will allow businesses of all sizes to easily incorporate high-definition video into print advertising and their existing social media. Businesses of all size can use VizConnect’s platform to easily leverage the power of video and a call-to-action screen to market their products and services while also interacting and engaging their target customers. “We’re thrilled to call Springfield our home,” said Carroll of the decision to keep the business in Western Mass. “We could have launched this effort from Cambridge or even Los Angeles, but it’s important to us to be part of building this community that has been so instrumental in our development.” The team of founding partners includes Paul Cooleen, president of VizConnect, a former bond trader with deep ties to Wall Street; Jim Henderson, chief information officer, chief counsel and Boston-based attorney; and Brian Dee, director of Business Development. With subscribers located around the country, VizConnect currently serves a diverse group of businesses in a wide variety of industries, including real estate, restaurants, automobile sales, sports franchises and general contracting vendors. VizConnect also counts several non-profit organizations as customers. VizConnect’s online tools are sold through a network marketing structure, further offering immense opportunities to business people interested in building their own companies. The company offers its distributors — independent business associates — an opportunity to sell and distribute this web-based program as the foundation for their own independent businesses.

Big Y Debuts Solar Array
SPRINGFIELD — Big Y Foods Inc. recently announced the completion of its new solar array at 151 Cottage St. at its Store Support Center in Springfield. This new array spreads across three acres and includes 2,178 solar panels with a 643kw DC array. Annual electrical production yield is expected to be 750,000 kilowatt hours, which will offset the company’s electrical consumption by 15% or 1 ½ months at Big Y’s corporate offices and distribution center. Real Goods Solar Energy, Western Mass Electric Company, and local contractors such as Cotton Tree Service and L&D Construction, installed the panels over the past five months. Employees and visitors can view the array’s electrical generation via a monitor in the company’s café. It is Big Y’s third solar installation in Massachusetts; at the Big Y World Class Markets in Lee and Franklin, rooftop solar arrays have been helping to offset electrical consumption since June 2012. An opening event was staged June 27 at Big Y’s headquarters, at which state and local representatives helped inaugurate the new panels. State Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Richard Sullivan, Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, Center for Eco-Technology executive director John Majercak and their Green Business Services director Lorenzo Macaluso shared the podium in recognition of Big Y. The company has long been recognized as a leader in innovative energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. In collaboration with the Center for EcoTechnology (CET), a non-profit environmental organization that helps businesses improve environmental performance, Big Y began diverting food waste from landfills across the state. It began diverting food waste from disposal in the mid 1990s and today, all 61 stores recycle cardboard, paper and film plastics. More than 80% of its Massachusetts markets utilize active composting programs. In 2011, Big Y diverted more than 16,000 tons of materials from landfills. Last year, Big Y was recognized by the state for its significant accomplishments. In addition, it passed the 80% certification rate statewide to earn regulatory relief from the MassDEP Waste Ban Enforcement and earned Supermarket Recycling Program Certification. Big Y is also an inaugural participant in EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge. Other renewable-energy solutions implemented by Big Y include full building- management systems in each store to control lighting, refrigeration, and other HVAC units to insure optimal performance. This system also reduces lighting and temperatures at nighttime when the stores are closed. Other initiatives include the installation of glass doors in all dairy and frozen food cases along with electronically commutated motors to lower energy consumption. Variable speed drives on rooftop air handling units and cooking exhaust hoods, advanced refrigeration systems with reduced refrigerant charges, rooftop dehumidification units, and highly energy efficient case motors all contribute to reducing Big Y’s energy footprint. Additionally, LED lighting with occupancy sensors, pull down covers for open multideck cases and efficient lighting design continue to help the chain save over 800,000 kwh per year in energy consumption. Before the installation of their new solar array, these savings are equivalent to 1283 barrels of oil, 61,844 gallons of gasoline or 108 cars being taken off of the road. Big Y is also one of the first retailers to install electric-car-charging stations, which are currently active at four of their Massachusetts locations — Northampton, Lee, Franklin, and Walpole. Customers can conveniently use the chargers for free while they shop. Since installation, 482 cars have charged more than 461 hours saving more than 1,879 (kg) of greenhouse gases and 223 gallons of gasoline. According to Gary Kuchyt, Big Y’s manager of energy and sustainability, “Saving resources is important to us as a company — not only is it good business, but it’s simply the right thing to do. I am proud to say that Big Y has been committed to conserving energy and reducing waste for over 40 years.”

ESB to Receive ‘Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve’ Award
EASTHAMPTON — Easthampton Savings Bank announced that on July 9, it will receive the ‘Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve” award. The presentation will take place at the bank’s main office at 36 Main St. in Easthampton. The nomination was made by Darci Furr, assistant manager at the bank’s Westfield Office. Furr is a master sergeant in the Mass. Air National Guard, and has been deployed to Saudi Arabia from 2001 to 2002, and to Qatar in 2005 and 2010. Furr, whose current unit of assignment is the Force Support Squadron, 104th Fighter Wing, Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield, has served for 15 years. In her nomination Furr called Easthampton Savings Bank a “pillar of the Pioneer Valley business community, that is fully deserving of recognition due to exceptional support of military service members.” She talked about the Veteran’s Day drives that the bank has done for the past six years to collect items from employees to send to a military unit who has a member with a direct relationship to the bank. Furr also talked about her personal experience with the bank’s support of military service members. She commented that during the entire 15 years as an employee of ESB and as a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard her managers have been very accommodating to her military duty needs; including last-minute scheduling changes, extended temporary duty periods, and monthly drill weekends. In addition, the bank voluntarily provides a pay differential for service members whose military salaries are less than that of their bank income. Furr also commented that her direct supervisor also took the time to keep in touch with Furr’s husband, who remained state side. She also added that the bank’s culture is a direct reflection of the leadership and caring guidance of Bill Hogan, the long-time president and CEO of ESB; a former Guardsman himself. Furr concluded her nomination by saying “ESB is a model employer in many ways, not the least of which is its exceptional support of military service members. Selection for the Above and Beyond Award would recognize ESB publicly for something I have known for my 15 years of employment there.”

Polish National Credit Union pledges $50,000 for new Chicopee Senior Center
CHICOPEE — In a check presentation ceremony recently at The Polish National Credit Union’s Main Street, Chicopee headquarters, PNCU pledged the second of two $25,000 donations to support the construction of the new Chicopee Senior Center on Main Street. PNCU previously donated $25,000 in 2012 for the Senior Center. PNCU President and CEO James P. Kelly made the presentation to Richard J. Kos and Ernest N. Laflamme, Jr., co-chairs of the senior center fund raising committee, and Marie Laflamme, a member of the capital campaign. “This is an effort that goes right to the heart of what the Polish National Credit Union is all about,” said Kelly. “These are our members, and this is our community, and we’re proud to be a part of it.”

Nejaime’s Wine Cellar Unveils Renovated Stores in Lenox, Stockbridge
LENOX/ STOCKBRIDGE — Nejaime’s Wine Cellars recently completed extensive expansion-and-remodeling projects at its Lenox and Stockbridge locations. Owner Joe Nejaime said ongoing grand reopenings are an opportunity for patrons to see and taste new selections the stores can now offer. “Our goal in both stores was to create a brighter and more spacious shopping experience,” he said. “The Lenox store has expanded by approximately 1,900 square feet, nearly doubling its size, and the Stockbridge store has been remodeled and rearranged to make better use of the space.” Both stores received new deli cases, freezers, and flooring, and the Lenox location will also benefit from a rehabbed parking lot. Nejaime noted that the stores’ selection of picnic items and accessories — popular among Tanglewood attendees — have been expanded as a result, as have their beer selection, high-end wines, fine whiskey, prepared foods, and specialty groceries including cheese, crackers, gluten-free items, gourmet chocolates, cookies, and other snacks, as well as gifts and accessories.

Agenda

Agenda Departments

‘Second Chances’ Exhibit
Through July 25: Springfield Pulse Artspace presents a unique exhibition featuring innovative and colorful local artist Whitney Wood Rahm. “Second Chances: Balancing Passion, Purpose, and Obligation” features an eclectic range of original works by Rahm, including her whimsical and popular “Friendly Monsters,” made from barn board, scrap lumber, and found parts. Also on exhibit are Rahm’s highly inventive rescued and revived furniture, contemporary paintings, and unique photography. In addition, the exhibition will include a participatory art experience, where viewers will have a part in providing input for an upcoming piece to be created by Rahm. The exhibit is on display at 11 Pearl Street, Suite 235, Springfield, weekdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by appointment.

Wistariahurst Exhibition
Through August: Wistariahurst Museum in Holyoke has unveiled its Summer Gallery Exhibition, “Behind the Scenery: Sketches to Cityscapes.” Local artist Caleb Colon gives an intimate look at the artist’s process of selection, direction, and creation, featuring displays of the works as paintings begin, progress, and finally reach completion. Works shown in the exhibition are inspired by local scenes and sites along the Connecticut River. Studies, sketches, and photos are also on view, showing another layer of the process. Works are on view through August. Gallery admission is $3.

Yidstock 2013
July 18-21: Yidstock 2013: The Festival of New Yiddish Music will bring the top names in klezmer to the stage at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst. The Klezmer Conservatory Band will kick off Yidstock on July 18, and the festival will continue with Klezperanto and Margot Leverett & the Klezmer Mountain Boys; Brass Khazones: Steven Bernstein and Frank London; the Wholesale Klezmer Band; Golem; and the Yidstock All-Stars. The weekend will conclude with a massive jam, featuring a Yidstock All-Stars band with players from the weekend’s bands, under the musical directorship of Frank London. Among those all-stars are two of the greatest clarinetists in klezmer, Ilene Stahl of Klezperanto and Margot Leverett of the Klezmer Mountain Boys. A series of workshops and talks is also on the schedule, including a Yiddish folk-dance workshop led by internationally renowned Steve Weintraub; a lecture by Hankus Netsky, a founder of the Klezmer Conservatory Band; an instrumental klezmer workshop; and a talk by author and music critic Seth Rogovoy. Back by popular demand, Yosi’s Kosher Falafel Tent will once again be serving an assortment of great food. For more information and to purchase tickets and festival passes (a limited number of passes are available and sell out quickly), visit yiddishbookcenter.org/yidstock or call (413) 256-4900.

Golf Tournament
July 22: The Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts will hold its Annual Golf Classic at Crestview Country Club in Agawam. Registration opens at 10:30 a.m. with a noon shotgun start for an 18-hole scramble. The cost is $140 per person, which includes golf and cart, lunch and tournament banquet, and team and skill prize eligibility. New this year is the Tee & Tan Golf Option, a nine-hole golf scramble followed by relaxation on a chaise at Crestview’s scenic pool area. The cost for the banquet only is $30. For registration and details, visit www.womensfund.net.

Western Mass. Business Expo 2013
Nov. 6: Planning is underway for the Western Mass. Business Expo 2013, a day-long business-to-business event to take place at the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield. This fall’s show, the third edition of the Expo, which is again being produced by BusinessWest, will feature more than 150 exhibitors, seminars on timely issues of the day, special Show Floor Theater presentations, breakfast and lunch programs, and the wrap-up Expo social, which has become a not-to-be-missed networking event. Details of the specific programming will be printed in upcoming editions of BusinessWest and can also be seen online at www.wmbexpo.com or www.businesswest.com. For more information on the event or to reserve booth space, call (413) 781-8600, ext. 100.

People On the Move

Departments People on the Move

Steven Mitus

Steven Mitus, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Balise Motor Sales Co., was recently honored as the 2013 Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield (ACCGS) Richard J. Moriarty Citizen of the Year at the ACCGS annual meeting. The award is given annually to honor the memory of Richard J. Moriarty, a long-time active participant in the ACCGS and individual who gave of his time, talent, and personal and professional resources to the local community. Currently, Mitus serves as a trustee of the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts and chairs its audit and finance committees; a trustee of Baystate Health and a member of its compensation and audit committees; a trustee of Willie Ross School for the Deaf and member of its executive committee and former Chair of its audit committee; a trustee of the National Conference for Community and Justice; a director of Health New England; and a corporator of PeoplesBank. Formerly, Mitus served as a trustee of the Springfield Technical Community College Foundation and served as its treasurer and chair of the investment committee; a trustee for the Mass.State Automobile Dealers Association; a trustee of Sisters of Providence Health System and a member of its finance committee; a trustee and vice chair of Brightside for Families and Children; and a director of New England Public Radio and Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts. Mitus has served in his present capacity with Balise since 1986 and is a certified public accountant and a chartered global management accountant.
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Lauren Pellegrino

Berkshire Community College (BCC) recently named Lauren Pellegrino Director of Recreational Services for the college’s Paterson Field House. She is responsible for overseeing the facilities, including the pool, tennis courts, soccer fields, fitness center, and gymnasium. She also is involved with fitness and wellness programming for students, faculty, and staff. Pellegrino formerly served the Berkshire South Regional Community Center in Great Barrington as Fitness And Wellness Manager and previously served as assistant to the Director of Athletics & Wellness Center at The College of New Rochelle in New Rochelle, N.Y. Pellegrino holds a bachelor’s degree from Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y., is currently working toward a master’s degree at Bay Path College, and is a member of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance.
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Mark Teed

Mark Teed, principal of Teed Capital Management recently joined Raymond James as senior vice president for investments. With more than 30 years of financial services experience, Teed is an investment advisor with more than $225 million in client assets under management and a registered broker in 23 states and territories. He is a regular commentator for local TV news on market and investment trends.
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The Springfield law firm of Weiner & Lange announced the addition of Jennifer Butler as an Associate. She will concentrate her practice in the areas of bankruptcy and commercial litigation.
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Dr. Robert Campbell, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon, adult spine surgeon, and orthopedic trauma surgeon, recently joined the medical staff Cooley Dickinson Hospital and sees patients at Hampshire Orthopedics and Sports Medicine. Campbell received his medical degree with honors from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and completed his orthopedic surgery at Brown University-Rhode Island Hospital, where he also completed fellowships in spine surgery and orthopedic trauma. Campbell earned board certification from the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery and is dual fellowship-trained in spine care and orthopedic trauma. In addition, Campbell served four years as an active duty orthopedic surgeon in U.S. Army and completed a tour in Afghanistan.
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Consolidated Health Plans Inc. (CHP), a Berkshire Hathaway Company, recently announced the appointment of Drew DiGiorgio as President. He will oversee management of sales and marketing, claims operations, customer service, audit, special risk and human resources. DiGiorgio has been an integral part of Consolidated Health Plans over the past 18 years, and through his involvement in sales, marketing, carrier and client relations, product development, account management, and provider relations, has allowed CHP to grow into one of the most successful businesses in Western Mass. DiGiorgio holds a BA in Business from Framingham State University.
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Diane Kieras-Ciolkos, owner of Escapes For Everyone in Hadley, has been named as one of 96 Travel Impression Ambassadors fro a newly launched program, www.travimp.com/ambassadorprogram, and will act as a brand advocate for Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas through September Kieras-Ciolkos was selected by Travel Impressions and Atlantis based on her booking history, her personal experience and knowledge, and communication skills through social media.

Chamber Corners: Upcoming Events

Chamber Corners Departments

AMHERST AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.amherstarea.com
413-253-0700

• July 15: Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce 10th Annual Golf Tournament, 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Hickory Ridge Golf Course, Pomeroy Lane, Amherst. Presented by Hampshire Hospitality Group. Registration and Lunch 10:30 a.m. to noon; shotgun start at 12 noon; reception and dinner at 5 p.m. Cost: $125 per player.

CHICOPEE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.chicopeechamber.org
(413) 594-2101

• July 11: See the Seminar Series listing above.

GREATER EASTHAMPTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.easthamptonchamber.org
(413) 527-9414

• July 26: The 29th Annual Golf Tournament, 9 a.m., Southampton Country Club. Team fee: $400. Tee sponsorships available for $75-$125. Would you like to donate a raffle prize and/or something to the golfer’s gift bag? Contact the chamber to sign up a team, arrange a tee sponsor, or make a raffle prize or gift donation.

MASSACHUSETTS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
massachusettschamberofcommerce.com
(413) 525-2506

• July 22: Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce Golf Tournament, Tekoa Country Club, Westfield. Shotgun start: 11 a.m. Cost: $100 per golfer. For more information on registration and sponsorship opportunities, contact the chamber office at (413) 525-2506 or e-mail [email protected].

NORTHAMPTON AREA YOUNG PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY
www.thenayp.com
(413) 584-1900

• July 10: Arrive @ 5, 5-7 p.m., Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce. Arrive when you can, stay as long as you can. A casual mix and mingle with colleagues and friends. Cost: $10 for members, $15 for non-members.

WEST OF THE RIVER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.ourwrc.com
(413) 426-3880

• Aug. 19: West of the River Chamber of Commerce 10th Annual Golf Tournament, Springfield Country Club, West Springfield. Presenting sponsor: Hard Rock Hotel and Casino of New England. Cost: $125 per golfer. For more information on registration and sponsorship opportunities, contact the chamber office at (413) 426-3880 or e-mail [email protected].

YOUNG PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY OF GREATER SPRINGFIELD
www.springfieldyps.com

• July 18: July Third Thursday, 5-7 p.m., Sheraton Springfield, 1 Monarch Place, Springfield. Cost: free for members, $10 for non-members.

Court Dockets

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
Arnold’s & Eddie’s Foods Inc. v. Nora’s Restaurant Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $3,198.32
Filed: 5/2/13

HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT
Pagonis Live Bait, LTD v. Pioneer Valley Wholesale Corp.
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $29,275.35
Filed: 5/9/13

Sebastian Gledocki v. Associated Building Wreckers Inc. and Billy Kane
Allegation: Employment discrimination: $25,000+
Filed: 5/2/13

Stephanie Villineuve v. DeRenzy Document Solutions Inc., Mary DeRenzy and John Daigle
Allegation: Employment discrimination: $25,000+
Filed: 5/2/13

Trialco Inc. v. Diecast Connections Company Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $208,723.39
Filed: 4/29/13

HAMPSHIRE SUPERIOR COURT
Matthew Boudreau and Shaylene Greenwood v. Affiliated Construction Services, Craig Orn and Ernie Austin
Allegation: Breach of construction contract: $25,000+
Filed: 3/21/13

Raymond A. Garrigle, executor of the estates of Maurice H. Pease and Nancy C. Pease v. Moors & Cabot Inc. and First Clearing, LLC
Allegation: Failure to remit invested funds on account upon request of duly appointed executor: $350,000
Filed: 4/18/13

Raymond Smith Jr. v. John’s Collision Inc. and John Oichiuzzo
Allegation: Breach of written agreement: $225,000
Filed: 5/31/13

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Adelphia Graphic Systems Inc. v. W.S. Sign Design Corp.
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $9,939.56
Filed: 5/8/13

Northern Tree Service Inc. v. Chapman Waterproofing Company
Allegation: Non-payment of tree removal services: $12,000
Filed: 4/25/13

Terracon Consultants Inc. v. Opportunity Development Group Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract: $10,971.22
Filed: 5/8/13

Star Search

Cover Story Sales and Marketing Sections

Hiring Top Sales Performers Is Certainly No Accident

By Jim Mumm
Determining the right person to hire isn’t easy, and when it comes to hiring a top-performing sales superstar, it’s even more difficult.
Let’s face it: there is a sea of apparently strong candidates looking for a job. And don’t kid yourself; any sales person worth their salt is going to be able to talk a good game.
But making a poor hiring decision will cost you dearly. Depending on which expert you listen to, the cost of making a poor hiring decision is anywhere between one and two and a half times the candidate’s annual fully loaded salary.
What should strong leaders do to mitigate the risks and maximize the return on investment pertaining to hiring top-performing sales professionals? What can an organization do to not only greatly reduce hiring mistakes, but also build a highly effective sales organization? We need to paint a very clear picture of the perfect fit before we start looking for the candidate. Then, we can objectively determine if the candidate truly fits in our picture. Here’s how.
Managers must follow a systematic, step-by-step recruiting, hiring, and on-boarding process. This system begins with identifying the primary function indicators (PFIs) of the sales role you are attempting to fill. PFIs are the basic tasks that a salesperson must be able to accomplish, such as prospecting, negotiating, and closing. Next, a professional manager must identify and determine the winning attributes of the best-fit candidate. Finally, the manager must ascertain whether or not the candidate is a proper fit for the team by building a team matrix.
To accomplish this, the manager utilizes these three core components (PFIs, winner attributes, and team matrix) to develop a series of questions designed to uncover the information needed to make a good hiring decision. The questions are constructed so that the answers reveal how well the candidate fits the desired job profile. Scores to all answers are summed, and the best-fit candidate is revealed.

Three Steps
Let’s break down each of the three components and reveal how questions are developed from each area and give some sample questions that could be used.
Step one of building a hiring template includes identifying the actual functions the sales professional will be expected to perform. We call these functions primary function indicators because they reveal the actual functions the candidate must be able to accomplish and the behaviors at which the candidates must be proficient to perform these functions. Finally, we must determine the questions we should ask that will help us determine whether or not the candidate can perform these behaviors to the desired level of proficiency.
For example, if you are attempting to hire a sales professional capable of bringing in new business, he would have to effectively prospect. A question might be, “if we hired you to build this new territory to $2 million in one year, how would you do it?” The answer to this question will speak volumes. And you should be able to differentiate a made-up answer from one given by a sales professional who has actually lived it.
To make this step easier, we incorporate the SEARCH model. SEARCH is an acronym that stands for skills, experiences, attitudes, results, cognitive skills, and habits. If we can create questions that reveal the candidate’s relative strengths and weaknesses in these six areas, we are well on our way to determining if they can actually perform the tasks. Once you’ve determined the questions needed to determine a candidate’s PFIs, you are ready to proceed to step two.
Step two is to identify whether or not the candidate has what it takes to be a top performer (winner) in your specific organization. We call these ‘winner attributes.’ To figure out whether or not the candidate has the winner attributes you require, it is helpful to use the BAT method. BAT stands for behavior, attitude, and technique. Behavior is all about what they do, technique concerns how well they do it, and attitude is how they feel about doing it. Let’s take a look at each.
Behavior involves understanding the planning, goals, and actions necessary to be successful in that role in your organization. For example, how well does the candidate set long-term, short-term, and daily goals, and how does this compare to how well your top performers set goals? You might ask, “tell me about your experience building and executing a plan to hit your sales objectives,” followed by “tell me what you did when you found yourself behind your target goals.”
Again, the answers will reveal how the candidate thinks and should give you a good idea of whether or not they have actually successfully built plans. If you ask the same question pertaining to goals to 20 different candidates, you’ll get 20 different answers. It is our job as managers to understand the required behaviors our top salespeople have and to identify the candidates whose behaviors are the closest match.
Next is technique, which consists of personal presence, tactics, and strategy. These are all measures of how well they are able to perform the behaviors that are necessary for success. Finally, attitude involves what’s between your ears. For example, some people don’t mind attending networking events and actually enjoy meeting and talking to new people. However, others dread networking events and would sit in the corner, check their e-mails, and talk only to people they know. The difference is their attitude toward, or how they feel about, networking. You might ask, “what are your favorite and least favorite prospecting activities, and why?”
Some examples of winner attributes for top-performing salespeople are the desire to win, strong internal motivation, superior discipline, and the ability to build and nurture relationships. Again, the key is to develop written questions that will help you determine whether or not the candidate has these desired attributes.
The final step in developing the hiring template is to determine how well the candidate will fit within your team. When filling a position in an existing department, it is important to find a candidate who fits best with your specific team. Often, managers try to hire the best producers, only to end up with a group of ‘fighter pilots,’ when what they really needed was a group of strong team players who can work and play well together for the good of the organization.
The key questions to ask are, do they supply skills needed by our team, or do they have skills that everyone else has? Are they a match for the current team or for the future team that we’re trying to build? For example, if you need to land new business and you have a stable of account managers, you need to ask questions that reveal the candidate’s ability to bring in new business because it complements the skills of your existing sales staff.
Once you develop four or five questions from this area that will help you uncover the facts, add them to your previous questions from PFIs and winner attributes. By now, you should have a good 30 core questions to use for each and every interview. Score each candidate on a scale from one to 10 for each question and determine, before you start interviewing, a lowest acceptable summed score from all questions. Create a list of ‘must haves’ and ‘nice to haves.’ If any candidate doesn’t achieve the minimum score or have all the ‘must haves,’ they are eliminated from the process.

Moving Forward
Once you’ve developed this approach to recruiting and interviewing candidates, you’ll be able to choose the best fit objectively based on relative, objective scores. Once you’ve chosen the best-fit candidate and informed the others that they are no longer in consideration, it is now time to implement your 90-day on-boarding plan.
At this point, you’re probably thinking, who’s got time to do all this? Before you decide this is too much work, ask yourself how much time you spent talking to poor performers last year. Think of how many hours were spent writing up politically and legally correct ‘fix-it-or-hit-the-road’ letters last year. How many hours did you spend trying to coach or motivate poor performers who weren’t hitting their sales objectives? How many hours did you agonize over a weaksales person that you wish you would have never hired in the first place, but now that you have, you are hoping they’ll finally provide an acceptable ROI?
Consider having to fire them and start back at the beginning of the hiring process all over again. Think about the recruiter fees, the advertising costs you spend to place the ad, all the time your real performers wasted trying to bring them up to speed.
Perhaps it’s less expensive to invest time now finding the right salesperson for the role and properly on-boarding them, instead of spending all the time on the back end when you are stuck with a bad hire. We’ve all heard the saying, ‘pay me now, or pay me later.’

Jim Mumm is CEO of Sandler Training, serving Western Mass. He is an award-winning trainer, author, speaker, and successful entrepreneur; (646) 330-5217; [email protected]; www.jimmumm.sandler.com

Using Psychological Science to Hire People Who Can Sell

By Michael A. Klein
“Do you know what you can learn about someone from an interview?” I like to ask potential clients. My answer: “Plenty, and it begins with how well someone performs during an interview.”
Now, some think that in sales, if the candidate sitting across from you can sell themselves to you, then they can sell. But can they really? You know that they can sell you on them. And for some products and services, potential customers need to be sold on the salesperson. But other components loom large: can they sell to others? And will they sell to others? And can they sell what you are hiring them to sell?
Résumés and interviews (behavioral interviews, specifically) can provide valuable information, and, of course, no job offer — even for commission-based positions — should be made without a careful review of prior experiences, reference checks, and probably more than one interview. But that information is still amazingly limited, and tells us little about whether this person can and willsell your product or service to others. This is where small or mid-sized businesses can benefit from the millions of dollars that large companies have spent on selection testing and assessment.
While using psychological testing to predict performance has a controversial, and some would say problematic, history, work being done over the past 15 years has led to a clear conclusion: we can predict work-related behaviors with great accuracy legally, quickly, and easily through the use of reputable assessment tools.
It’s important to note that there are currently no regulations for claiming accuracy in the sale of pre-employment tests. Therefore, unless taken to court, test publishers and distributers roam freely about the commercial countryside, making outlandish claims regarding the ‘science’ and usefulness of their hiring tests.
Fortunately, there is a silver lining here. industrial/organization (I/O) psychologists and other psychometricians have been setting guidelines for the design, construction, validation, and reliability of these tests for more than 25 years. As a result, reputable test publishers adhere to these guidelines and can easily back up their claims with detailed (and frequently updated) technical manuals, validity and reliability studies, and published peer reviews. In the case of selection tests, it can’t be said often enough: let the buyer beware.
If you know where to look, and can assess the assessment, you will save time, effort, and great expense in the hiring process. As much as human beings are complex creatures, no two people are the same, and measuring something as complex as personality can feel insulting to our egos, the selection-testing industry has learned which traits, values, and emotional and social skills are far more likely to lead to those behaviors that result in actual sales. Although seemingly complicated, if there is a magic bullet, it’s this: the more psychometric data you have on someone, the more likely you are to hire the right person and avoid a hiring disaster.
There are an amazing variety of pre-employment assessments available, and they generally fall into one or more of these categories: personality, values and motivators, interests, emotional intelligence (maturity and polish), cognitive ability (intelligence tests), skills, and knowledge.
Even once this data is gathered, there needs to be a clear differentiation between what can be scientifically justified for the specific position and what is simply a personally desirable characteristic. For example, while a hiring manager may believe that successful salespeople have a strong desire to be acknowledged for their achievements (this particular motivator is known as ‘recognition’), that may be true of all salespeople, not just successful ones. One of the most basic mistakes managers make is assuming that a high level of a specific attribute, trait, or skill is responsible for success when, in fact, it has little to no actual impact on performance.
A client of mine told me that he didn’t need to study his salespeople (i.e. determine what traits, motivators, etc. differentiate high performers from low) because he knew that his top people all had two particular behavioral styles (from a test known as the DISC): dominance and influence. I explained to him that almost all of his salespeople probably have those styles regardless of potential because he only hires people with those styles, not to mention the fact that the impact of these two styles on sales has no basis in science whatsoever.
His desire to simplify and find a single score, result, or number is very common and, unfortunately, very misguided.
To answer the question of whether they can do the job, we must look first at personality traits. Based on studies using the most accepted model of personality in business (the five-factor model, or FFM), the following are a few of the traits that predict this ability:
• Self-confidence — demonstrating a belief in oneself;
• Experience seeking — enjoyment of new opportunities and adventures;
• Openness to others — concern for others’ experiences and feelings; and
• Drive — ambition and eagerness to advance and succeed.
However, that only answers the question of whether they can do the job. Whether they will do the job is answered by looking at the key motivators and values of the candidate. From other studies, we know that these values and preferences are key:
• Connection — the desire to build social networks and collaborate; and
• Business — the desire for financial success and wealth.
Unfortunately, a great salesperson can have these traits and motivators, but can still cause major problems internally. For example, ego can get in the way of working with others in the office, impulsivity can result in frequent mistakes, and a lack of common sense can turn into unrealistic expectations of themselves and others. Here is where one’s EQ (emotional intelligence) comes into play.
In short, EQ tells us how well someone understands and manages themselves, others, and the world generally. While EQ increases with age and can also overlap with personality traits, it can also be developed. Therefore, personality is more about hardwiring, while EQ looks at skills. The following are a few EQ scales that are important to sales, but can also be problematic if they are too high:
• Assertiveness – expressing oneself appropriately and not aggressively;
• Optimism — Staying positive despite setbacks, seeing opportunity; and
• Self-regard — Knowing and accepting oneself and one’s strengths and weaknesses
Lastly, many clients ask about the accuracy of self-assessment testing. “What good is this if the job candidate is not answering the questions honestly?” “Can’t they just answer how they think we want them to?” The good news here is that many tests now utilize questions that are difficult to game. For example: “would you like to be a race-car driver?” To a test taker, answering this affirmatively might mean that they interested in exciting experiences, or, alternatively, it could mean they are someone who is an adrenaline junkie or someone who takes too many risks.
The tests are constructed in such a way that we know how successful salespeople answer (or, rather, their patterns of answers) as opposed to focusing on any one question. When good science is involved, it becomes far less obvious to the test taker, as well as the fact that it’s the combination of responses that tell us something.
In addition, psychological self-assessments have developed ways of identifying faked results — again, because of developers doing their homework during test construction. So, for many tests, we receive a report that tells us the likelihood that someone has attempted to present himself or herself less honestly than hoped.
Finally, no test can determine on its own if a person is a good job candidate. Psychological assessments or pre-employment testing must be only one part of a larger selection process that includes many other sources of information, including thorough background checking. To reiterate, if there is a magic bullet in the process of hiring effective salespeople, it is this: the more information we have on someone before they start, the better-positioned we are to make a good decision.

Michael A. Klein is president of Northampton-based MK Insights2. He has more than 16 years of experience as an assessment specialist, consultant, speaker, and facilitator. He focuses on the application of psychological data for the selection and development of individuals in organizations, including executives, leaders, salespeople, and highly trained professionals, with a specialty in family-owned firms. He has worked both internally and externally in human capital, including positions in organizational development and human resources. He has experience in healthcare, financial services, publishing, entertainment, pharmaceuticals, construction, and private equity, and is a full member of the American Psychological Assoc. and Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology; (413) 320-4664.

Altered States

Features

McGovern Adjusts to a Greatly Changed District

Rep. Jim McGovern, left, speaks with some of his new constituents in Amherst.

Congressman Jim McGovern was talking about how to spur economic development and job creation in some of the Hampshire, Franklin, and Worcester County communities that are now part of his territory — a significantly reworked Second District — and he started by going back to a speech he gave before the Worcester Chamber of Commerce roughly a year after he was first elected to the House in 1996.
This was to be a candid talk — one he feared might be a little too candid.
“I thought I’d get booed out of the hall,” he recalled with a laugh, adding that he was essentially telling those assembled that they were wandering aimlessly in their pursuit of progress, and thus underperforming. “I said, ‘economic development here reminds me of my then-3-year-old son’s soccer team; if someone kicks the ball to the left, they all run to the left, and if someone kicks it to the right, they all head to the right — no one knows what their position or assignment is.’
“I said there was no logic behind what we were doing here — we’re simply not connecting the dots,” he went on. “And a number of people came up to me later and said, ‘we agree — there’s no plan here; there’s no thought being given to economic development.’”
Over the next several years, Worcester and its officials put some thought into it, he told BusinessWest, adding that, as a result, progress has been made in several areas, from significant growth of sectors like the biosciences and medical-device manufacturing to reinvigoration of Worcester Airport, which will be a stop for JetBlue starting in the fall (more on all of this later).
It all happened through creation of plans and establishment of partnerships with a host of constituencies, from local colleges and universities to private developers, to make them reality, he said, adding that he will work to take some of the lessons learned in Worcester and other communities he’s served, and apply them in cities and towns he might have needed Mapquest to find before late last year.
Indeed, McGovern was probably the congressman most impacted by last year’s massive statewide redistricting effort, facilitated, in some respects, by the retirement of John Olver, whose old First District was essentially parceled out to McGovern and Richard Neal, who formerly represented a much different Second District and also added a host of new communities to his territory.

2nd Congressional District Map

McGovern’s former district (the Third) included Worcester, his birthplace and political base, near its west boundary, and swept like a giant apostrophe to the south and east, all the way to Fall River. Now, Worcester is near the eastern end of a district that winds through five counties, the Quabbin Reservoir, and 63 cities and towns (he formerly had only 28), including ones that border Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
“It’s quite a change — I have a lot of learning to do,” he said, adding quickly that this is an ongoing process that has really just begun.
His said his assignment going forward is to continue visiting those 63 communities, learning about both common and specific challenges, and then create some plans — as he helped draft in Worcester — to address matters such as bolstering the agriculture and tourism sectors and finding new uses for the millions of square feet of idle old mill space in Athol, Orange, Palmer, Ware, and many other communities.
But perhaps his overriding mission, he went on, is to disprove some comments from an anonymous reader posted at the end of a story in one of the local papers announcing the results of redistricting. McGovern didn’t have the exact wording on that missive, but he could effectively paraphrase.
“‘We got screwed,’ this person wrote,” he told BusinessWest, adding that he or she went to to say, “‘what the hell is a big-city Worcester politician going to care about what goes on here in the Pioneer Valley?’”
To prove this individual wrong, McGovern, consistently ranked among the most liberal congressmen in the country, said he knows he has to be visible and accessible — and he’s already doing that, through numerous visits to the area and the opening of a district office on Pleasant Street in Northampton — but he also has to be active and accountable, and create progress on the most overriding issue facing every city and town in the Commonwealth: jobs.
For this issue, BusinessWest talked at length with McGovern about what he’s learned through several months of discussions with his new Western Mass. constituents, and how he plans to incorporate lessons learned in Worcester, Fall River, and elsewhere to his work in the 413 area code.

Progress Report
It’s called Gateway Park at WPI.
That’s the name put on ambitious project in downtown Worcester that speaks, in general terms, to the progress made after McGovern’s aforementioned speech to the city’s Chamber of Commerce.
Originally developed as a joint venture with the Worcester Business Development Corp., the park is now solely owned by Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Now in stage 2 of development, its flagship complex is the 125,000-square-foot Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center, which opened in 2007 and is fully occupied with graduate research laboratories, life-sciences companies, state-of-the-art core facilities, and WPI’s Corporate and Professional Education division. The strategic plan eventually calls for five buildings on this site.
The park is perhaps the most significant of the many positive steps Worcester has taken over the past 15 years, said McGovern, adding that it exemplifies the basic approach he embraces when it comes to economic development and job creation. Summing it up, he said it comes down to putting a firm strategic plan in place — in this case, Worcester’s commitment to building its life-sciences sector — and creating partnerships to make it reality.
The same pattern was followed in Fall River and a property now known as the Narrows Center for the Arts, he said, referencing the 280-seat facility, built on the top floor of an old mill building, that hosts national and local performing and visual artists, musicians, writers, and performers.
“They took an abandoned factory and turned it into a spot where some of the top musicians in the country come to play,” he said. “People from all around the region come to attend these concerts, and when they do, they eat at the local restaurants, sometimes they spend the night, they might go shopping beforehand, they attend the local festivals; it all helps out.”
Successes of this magnitude will be difficult to replicate in rural Hampshire and Franklin counties, but McGovern believes he can take the same basic approach and spur economic development in some of the communities he’s now representing.
Getting to know and understand these communities — while also disproving that anonymous commentary mentioned earlier — is the latest career challenge for McGovern, who described his 1996 victory over Republican incumbent Peter Blute as “surprising.”
It came two years after his first bid for Congress while working as a senior aide to long-time Rep. Joe Moakley, in which he lost a crowded Democratic primary. He’s faced only sporadic opposition since, while cementing himself as one of Washington’s most liberal lawmakers and making a mark in areas ranging from transportation to education to nutrition. He currently serves on the powerful Rules Committee, and also on the House Committee on Agriculture.
Since last fall, McGovern has been spending significant amounts of time getting to know his new district and the people who call it home. “Trying to learn all that I need to learn and know all that I need to know is like drinking water from a fire hose — it’s a lot of stuff, and every community is unique.”
He said it’s been a learning experience on many levels.
“People out here take their politics seriously,” he said, referring specifically to the Hampshire and Franklin County portions of his district, which also includes one precinct in Palmer, which is in Hampden County. “They care passionately about the issues, and I’ve had some of the most candid and interesting conversations ever in this part of the district.”
He said his previous district was created to benefit a Republican (Blute), and was therefore more conservative than this new Second District, which includes, in Amherst and Northampton, some of the most liberal communities in the entire state, but also has many conservative pockets as well.
“There’s a little bit of everything — moderate, liberal, Tea Party,” he said with a laugh. “Between Worcester and Franklin County, there are pockets of everything, which keeps life interesting; every day is a learning experience.”
One thing McGovern said he’s already learned is that this region is, by his estimation, “a hell of a lot more coordinated than Worcester was 10 years ago.” Elaborating, the said the Economic Development Council of Western Mass. the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, and other agencies have identified challenges and opportunities, and have undertaken a number of coordinated initiatives to spark economic development.
“There are good things happening here,” he said. “The challenge for me is to plug into what’s going on and figure out how I can help.”

The Job at Hand
With such a large, spread-out district (compared to everyone but Neal, who represents all of Berkshire County and all but the Palmer precinct in Hampden County), McGovern said he has to maximize his time and carefully plan out his schedule.
He explained that, if he has three days to spend in the district, for example, he’ll spend one in each area: west (Northampton), east (Worcester), and northeast (Leominster).
And while visiting Western Mass. cities and towns, McGovern said he’s learned that the challenges and concerns are pretty much the same as they are across the state. Specifically, the main priority is jobs, and in many communities that were former manufacturing centers, this means reinventing themselves into something else, while also looking at new kinds of manufacturing, different from the paper and textile making that once dominated the scene.
“The one common thread I see and hear in all parts of my district is people worried about their economic security,” he told BusinessWest. “They’re worried about jobs. There’s a good deal of support for reinvigorating our manufacturing base and also support for training programs for displaced workers in the region, because a number of people have lost their jobs in this difficult economy. There’s also a lot of talk about energy-efficiency and renewable-energy projects.”
In Worcester, the process of creating that proverbial something else would never be described as easy, and it is very much still ongoing, said McGovern, but it was greatly facilitated by planning and the many colleges and universities that call that city home, including Assumption, Clark, Holy Cross, Worcester State University, WPI, and UMass Medical School, among others. These collaborations have involved from biosciences to renewable energy.
“I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished in Worcester — we’ve established some collaborations that have made a difference,” referencing projects ranging from Gateway Park to a revitalized Union Station and the Canal District surrounding it; from the airport to reinvigoration of depressed neighborhoods. “A friend of mine who hadn’t been to Worcester in seven years visited recently and couldn’t believe how much had changed and how much new construction was going on; we’re building every day.”
The many colleges in the Amherst/Northampton area, and especially UMass Amherst, can play a similar role, said the congressman, adding that one of his goals is to continue to expand the relationship-building efforts between the university and the communities that surround it to stimulate new business opportunities — and jobs.
“In some states, the natural resources are the minerals in the ground,” he said. “Here, the natural resources are the educational institutions, the colleges. We have all these knowledge-based institutions in the Pioneer Valley that complement and coordinate very well with the schools we have in Worcester. There are opportunities for collaboration that would benefit both areas.”
Meanwhile, in the more rural areas of Hampshire and Franklin counties, agriculture remains a key component of the economy, and McGovern said this makes his seat on the Agriculture Committee more relevant and important. And while working to sustain and perhaps grow agriculture-related businesses, he wants to examine new business opportunities in some of these rural communities, including different options in manufacturing, reuse of the old mills still dominating the landscape, and bolstering tourism, much as Fall River has done through efforts to revitalize its waterfront district.
“It all begins with vision and thinking outside the box,” he said, referring specifically to finding new uses for old mills, but also to economic development in general. “There is a need for housing across the state, and maybe some of these old mills can be redeveloped for that purpose, but also for business development, a supermarket, light manufacturing, and more.”
When it comes to tourism, awareness of what this region and others have to offer, or lack thereof, is part of the problem — and the challenge moving forward, he said, adding that most other sections of the country do a much better job of promoting their tourism assets.
In each community, and with each initiative, the key is to have a plan, or specific strategic direction, said McGovern, returning once again to Worcester and Gateway Park.
“With that initiative, we all sat in a room together, had a conversation about what we were going to do, and then took assignments,” he recalled. “It takes a plan, and what Worcester was lacking was a vision; the ingredients were there to make incredible things happen — what was needed was vision and a plan.”

Summing Up
Those same ingredients are needed in many of the Western Mass. communities that McGovern now counts within his district. Helping put them together is one of the primary items on his to-do list, along with taking initiatives already in progress and moving them forward through partnerships.
“Most all of the challenges we’re facing are not going to be solved by the federal government alone, or the state government alone, or the local government alone, or the private sector alone,” he concluded. “It’s going to involve partnerships and collaborations, and I think I’ve been pretty good at those things.”
But perhaps the most pressing matter is to disprove the comments from that anonymous reader concerned about what a Worcester-based Congressman can do in the Pioneer Valley.
If he can succeed with the former, McGovern said, he knows that the latter will essentially take care of itself.

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

Investments in a Promising Future

Features

$100 Million Expected to Spur Innovation, Economic Development

Ed Leyden says the $100 million in grants for life sciences represent an opportunity for his company to diversify, expand, and eventually add jobs.

Ed Leyden called it “science — not science fiction.”
That was his way of describing a product not yet on the market, but one he believes might be there soon. This would be a wristwatch-like device that would collect vital signs such as blood pressure, heart rate, blood sugar, and more, that could be sent to a doctor if needed.
“There’s a push on now for diagnostics, and what’s called ‘self-diagnostics’ — things you can wear, like a watch,” said Leyden, president of Ben Franklin Design and Manufacturing Company in Agawam and co-chair of the state’s Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative. “They can monitor a number of bodily functions and download them right to your phone — it would be an extremely early-warning system.”
Developing such a monitor, prototyping the device, and then eventually manufacturing it — preferably in the Pioneer Valley — are some of the many goals, if not expectations, that accompany $100 million in grants from the state via the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), that were announced at an elaborate ceremony earlier this month in the shadow of UMass Amherst’s gleaming new $157 million Life Sciences Laboratory.
The awards — $95 million to UMass Amherst and $5.5 million to the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute in Springfield — are part of a $1 billion, 10-year investment on the part of the state designed to stimulate growth of its life-sciences supercluster, considered the largest in the country.
When asked what this latest investment would mean for the Western Mass. region and the state as a whole, Susan Windham-Bannister, president and CEO of the MLSC, said simply, “drive economic development and job creation.”
She then elaborated, telling BusinessWest that this investment — which will fit out and equip a substantial portion of the Life Sciences Laboratory, which will house three new research centers (more on them later) — could help this region replicate the development of life-sciences-related businesses and jobs seen in Cambridge and Worcester, the two strongest pockets for that sector in the state.
To describe what’s happened in those cities, she summoned the phrase “innovation-driven economic development,” which she would use early and often.
“In this model, you begin to create some smaller companies, some spin-outs, and some specialized, innovative technologies,” she explained. “And the large companies want to be around that; they want to be near to what’s happening, so they begin to locate in that area.
“You have small companies growing up, and you have large companies putting up a footprint near these centers of activity,” she continued. “This is the new model of innovation-driven economic development, and it’s really upside-down from the traditional model. You’re not looking to use lots of incentives to get a large company to move; instead, you invest in young companies, and you invest in these centers of specialized expertise that large companies want to be around and take advantage of.”
For this issue, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at the $100 million investment made by the state and what it means for this region and the life-sciences sector now stretching across the Commonwealth.

Down to a Science
Summing up the state’s $100 million investment in the two Western Mass. facilities, Windham-Bannister said these grants are intended to build on the specific strengths of this region. Specifically, these include the university and the research currently taking place there and that will take place at at the Life Sciences Laboratory, as well as a precision manufacturing sector that is expected to work with those researchers to eventually bring new products to the market — and, if all goes according to plan, manufacture them in the Bay State, and, more specifically, the 413 area code.
This strategic direction, if one wants to call it that, stemmed from work funded by a $300,000 training grant designed to identify the highest and best use for grants from the life-sciences center in this market, she explained. “We set out to determine what were the basic strengths within Western Mass. in the life sciences, what were the strengths at the university and PVLSI, how could we accelerate and build on those strengths, and, more importantly, how could they interact with the companies in the community to help them grow and also encourage startups?”
The answer, arrived at eventually, was to essentially fund three new research centers at the Life Sciences Laboratory, with the goal of creating collaborations with biotechnology firms, medical-device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and other players to bring new products to the market and, in the process, create new jobs.
The three centers will each have a specific focus:
• Personalized Health Monitoring will focus on developing nanotechnology and large dataset management to improve healthcare through low-cost, wearable wireless sensors that analyze patient data continuously in real time, said Windham-Bannister. Biomanufacturing firms, medical-device manufacturers, ‘big-data’ analysts, and other healthcare industry partners will produce prototypes, test them, and assess their manufacturing feasibility.
• Bioactive Delivery will focus on discovery and application of new drugs, agricultural, and ‘nutriceutical’ compounds, she told BusinessWest. “These are things that are very product-oriented, they are input to the development of drugs and devices, and they play to the strengths of the expertise not just at the university, but also in the region, where there is a lot of innovation going on with regard to materials.”
• Models to Medicine will be focused on translating basic protein research by UMass Amherst experts into new therapeutic targets. This center will capitalize on an explosion of discoveries over the past 10 years suggesting that a variety of protein dysfunctions play a role in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer, and infectious diseases.
Meanwhile, the $5.5 million targeted for the PVLSI will support the development of a new Center of Innovation in Health Informatics and Technology, which will be focused on advancing public/private-sector partnerships and incubating innovative technology solutions developed by startups and larger, more established vendor firms in areas such as population health management, healthcare quality, big-data analytics, and mobile health.
Assessing these plans for PVLSI and the Life Sciences Laboratory, Leyden said the investments being made by the state could generate opportunities for precision-manufacturing shops like Ben Franklin and eventually bring new jobs to that sector.
He said his firm, which specializes in making parts for the nuclear, aerospace, defense, power-generation, and other sectors, doesn’t do much work in medical-device manufacturing, but could, because it has the personnel, equipment, and ability to meet the high quality standards necessary to succeed in that specific niche. And there are many area firms in that category.
“The infrastructure is here,” he explained. “We have a strong advanced-manufacturing base here, and even the companies that don’t have experience with medical devices could move into that area — the work is very similar to what they’ve doing already.
“And to me, being a strong manufacturer is being diversified,” Leyden continued. “If you have the ability, and you’re doing another sector’s worth of work, you’re further insulated from the ups and downs from the economy and the manufacturing world.”
There are many existing firms in the area that could eventually benefit through the research that will take place at the university at PVLSI and through collaborative efforts with those teams, said Windham-Bannister, adding that the state’s investment could also spur new startups and possibly prompt life-sciences companies in Worcester, Cambridge, and elsewhere to establish a presence in Western Mass. to take full advantage of the research going on here.
All this is part of innovation-driven economic development, she told BusinessWest, noting that there has already been considerable interest in the three planned centers expressed by life-sciences-related firms not only in Western Mass., but across the state.
“I would think that these companies would want to have a presence close to these centers,” she continued, “because that’s what we’ve seen in Worcester and also what we’ve seen in Cambridge.”

Making Things Happen
Windham-Bannister said it’s impossible to place a timeline on this process of innovation-driven economic development. But, drawing on what’s happened in Worcester, Cambridge, and elsewhere, she said she wouldn’t be surprised if progress comes quickly, and that, as a result of these investments, Massachusetts was able to build on what is already considered a substantial lead in a national competition to create jobs within the broad life-sciences sector.
“The goal at the Life Sciences Center is to translate good science into good business across the Commonwealth, and to enhance this state’s position as a global leader in this realm,” she said, adding that these latest developments in Western Mass. will certainly help move the needle further in the right direction.

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

Community Profile: Northampton

Community Profile Features

Northampton Forges Ahead on Innovative Projects

Mayor David Narkewicz says Northampton is a city on the move, leading the way in arenas that range from its energy-efficiency programs to its effort to increase the number of daily Amtrak shuttles when high-speed passenger rail service begins next year, to $67 million of new projects expected to add $3.1 million to the tax base.
“We’re moving in a positive direction, and my administration is committed to continuing to build on success,” he said. “We have a strong local economy with lots of businesses, and we want to support them, reach out to new companies, and maximize the use of our developable land.”
Terrence Masterson, the city’s economic development director, agrees. He said the city’s appeal results from its mix of industry, retail shops, and cultural, educational, and recreational opportunities.
“Northampton has a lot of assets which include the benefits of a living in a rural town as well as a large, livable city,” he told BusinessWest. “It has a culturally rich downtown, is well-positioned off Interstate 91, and hopefully will soon have passenger rail service. We also have a solid educational system, and our parks and open-network system is without peer. You can live in Florence and ride your bike downtown.”

Mayor David Narkewicz shows off a rendering of the new, upgraded passenger platform planned for the former Union Station on Pleasant Street.

The city has been feted with a wide array of awards, which range from being named among the “Top 25 Art Destinations” by American Style magazine to one of the “Top 100 Best Places to Live” by CNN Money magazine and the “Top 10 Family Friendly Towns” by Parenting magazine. Other honors include the Retailers Assoc. of Mass. Award of Excellence for the best downtown shopping district.
“We have a vibrant and diverse economy with lots of locally owned retail shops and restaurants; it’s one of the things that sets us apart, because it has been hard for cities to hang onto that in other parts of the country,” said the mayor. “People often say that Northampton has big-city charm, but maintains its small-town character.”
The city is also a center for healthcare, as Cooley Dickinson Hospital and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Leeds, which is planning to expand its specialty care, serve people across the region.
For this issue, BusinessWest continues its Community Profile series with an in-depth look at Paradise City, which certainly isn’t content to rest on its laurels.

Diverse Initiatives
Narkewicz said Northampton’s leadership is evident in its approach to eco-tourism. “We have one of the most well-developed rail trails in Massachusetts and are on the cutting edge of developing new segments,” he said, referring to the 12.5-mile route that runs through the city. “We have also done a lot of work to promote local agriculture.”
In addition to three farmer’s markets, the city has one of the largest community farms in the state. The endeavor known as Grow Food Northampton came to fruition in February 2011 when the organization purchased 121 acres of permanently protected farmland in Florence. The nonprofit is a collaborative effort, and its community garden was so successful in its first year of operation that it is doubling in size this year. The city provides funding to the Farm Education Collaborative, which presents workshops and programs at Crimson and Clover Farm in Florence to benefit schoolchildren and adults.
The mayor also notes the Connecticut River Greenway in Northampton, one of the Commonwealth’s newest state parks, which connects open spaces, scenic vistas, and archaeological and historic sites along the length of the Connecticut River.
“We’re a green community, and were among the first cities awarded green-community status by the state,” Narkewicz said. “We’re way ahead of everyone else, and our green initiatives add to what makes Northampton unique.”
He and other city officials recognize the importance of energy conservation, and to that end, the energy and sustainability initiative called Northampton Leading the Way was launched about two years ago.
“We worked with Columbia Gas and National Grid to create a business concierge program that allowed commercial property owners to make significant energy improvements to their facilities,” said Narkewicz. “It resulted in savings for them and helped add to the city’s overall sustainability.”
The city reduced its own energy costs by 27%, and the nonprofit Center for Eco-Technology conducted the outreach to businesses. The utility companies have continued to fund the program because it has proven to be a real success. “Utility costs are a major part of the bottom line for businesses, and this is also good for the environment,” Narkewicz said.
The city kicked off a second energy-efficiency initiative last month to help residents reduce utility bills and conserve energy through measures such as high-efficiency hot water and heating systems, added insulation, new thermostats, and other weatherization efforts. They can schedule free home energy assessments, and Narkewicz said the program “is another example of how the city of Northampton is helping people and the environment.”

New Projects

Terrence Masterson says the city’s appeal stems from its mix of industry, retail, and cultural, educational, and recreational opportunities.

Economic development is also on the upswing, and the King Street commercial area is undergoing an unprecedented level of new building and renovation.
Northampton Crossing (the former Hill and Dale Mall), which sat vacant for about 20 years, was purchased two years ago and is being redeveloped into medical offices and retail shops. The mayor said the space will become home to offices connected to Baystate Medical Center, and added that several new banks and other projects, which include a new hotel being constructed on Conz Street, are in progress.
In addition, two new buildings will offer much-needed office space in Northampton. They are located at the gateway to the city, which officials designate as the area off exit 18 from I-91 near the Clarion Hotel. An office building with 30,000 square feet of space completed about a year ago was fully leased within three months, and a second building is under construction. Masterson says the additional 80,000 square feet of office space will be a significant development for the city. “It is hugely exciting,” he told BusinessWest.
Other growth is expected as the Clarion Hotel hopes to replace its existing structure with a new building and restaurant. “Eventually the whole site will undergo a major facelift and expansion,” Narkewicz noted.
Tourism will also get a boost, thanks to a new Fairfield Inn under construction. It will add 108 hotel rooms, bringing the city’s total to 457. “It will provide more revenue and also allow more people to stay in Northampton,” Masterson said.
And work continues on Village Hill, built on the grounds of the former Northampton State Hospital, where space has been in high demand. Kollmorgen Electro-Optical (now L-3 KEO) relocated there from King Street, a boutique hotel is being created in a building that once housed male attendants at the state hospital, and 9,000 square feet in a new, 12,000-square-foot office building under construction have already been rented.
The projects promise to enhance the city as well improve its economy. “We are pleased not only because of the growth in economic activity, but because it will allow us to expand our tax base,” Narkewicz said, explaining that taxpayers will vote on June 25 on whether to allow a $2.5 million Proposition 2 1/2 override because Northampton is facing significant cuts in service due to a $1.4 million budget gap.
Still, progress continues. “All of the projects we have going on fuel each other,” Masterson said. “But it’s critically important for us to keep adding to them, and we think Amtrak will be another way to bring large numbers of people here.”
Narkewicz agrees, and believes the anticipated commuter rail service will have a positive impact on the city. The return of Amtrak service, which will transport passengers along the west side of the Connecticut River, is part of a larger, $73 million federal project, and calls for a shift next year in the Amtrak-Vermonter’s route, which will include new stations in Greenfield, Northampton, and Holyoke.
The mayor is part of a passenger-rail advisory committee made up of stakeholders in the community who want to maximize the railway’s potential. The Knowledge Corridor Feasibility Study, which the current construction project is based on, indicates that expanded rail can generate economic benefits to a number of communities, and Narkewicz believes it could increase the number of trips between the state of Vermont and Springfield. He would also like to see service extend into New York City.
“The rail service will benefit people in terms of transportation, but will also increase the potential for business, whether the passengers are students, tourists, or people who come here for our art and culture,” Narkewicz said.
He has been proactive in promoting an increase in the number of shuttles, and sent a letter to the secretary of the state Department of Transportation last month, citing numbers from Amtrak showing that regional rail ridership has boomed nationally and locally over the past 15 years.
“We believe this new rail service will deliver many positive economic benefits for downtown/urban revitalization, tourism, residential quality of life, and business/job development,” Narkewicz wrote, adding that the letter was also signed by Greenfield Mayor William Martin and Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse. “It’s an issue everyone agrees with, and it will be a real thrill for a lot of people to have Amtrak trains here.”
There are also plans to rebuild the old passenger platform at the former Union Station on Pleasant Street. The new, 40-foot platform will include an awning and cover designed to complement the building’s architecture.

Continuing Progress
Narkewicz said collaborations with residents, government agencies, other cities and towns, and a number of organizations, coupled with efforts to attract new business and spur economic growth, have had a positive result.
“We are moving forward,” he concluded. “There is a lot of activity here, and together, we are making a difference.”

Editorial

Opinion

Turning Good Science into Good Jobs

So, just what does $100 million buy today?
Many business owners and economic development leaders are asking that question, following the announcement earlier this month that the state, through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, has funneled $95 million in grants to the Life Sciences Laboratory at UMass Amherst and another $5.5 million to the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute in Springfield, with the broad goal of leveraging that investment to spur economic development and jobs (see story, page 9).
In this case, $100 million would appear to buy opportunity — in many forms, but especially an opportunity to further diversify this region’s economy, something that desperately needs to be done — while bolstering a still-vital precision-manufacturing sector, making this region a much bigger part of this state’s rise to the top when it comes to generating business in the life sciences, and propelling the university to a higher level in terms of research and prestige.
Will $100 million buy all that? Probably not, but it will certainly generate some momentum that might make all those things possible.
That’s what state leaders, including Gov. Patrick, university administrators, and elected officials were saying at an elaborate press event on June 6 to announce the grants, and they may well be right. These investments — that’s the best word to describe what the state is doing — are designed to stimulate what Susan Windham-Bannister and others call “innovation-driven economic development,” which would be something new to this region, but also something actually quite old.
Indeed, in recent years, the main thrust of economic development, not just here but elsewhere, has been to attract large employers to vast expanses in industrial parks. We’ve had some success with that approach in the Pioneer Valley, but other regions have enjoyed much more.
Innovation-driven development is different. It starts with the development of materials, products, processes, and expertise, and uses all of the above to stimulate startup companies, bring opportunities to existing ventures, and draw companies from other areas who want to take advantage of all this.
We saw this happen with the Springfield Armory, which wasn’t exactly a startup operation (although, in some respects, it fits that description), but was the birthplace of a great deal of innovation, which eventually led to a number of businesses started by people who worked at the Armory, and, eventually, to the birth of a thriving precision-manufacturing sector. The same can also be said, in many respects, for the gunmaking industry that developed in Western Mass. and Connecticut, which was truly innovation-driven.
Fast-forward more than 200 years, and this region now has an opportunity for different kinds of innovation, from the development of personalized health-monitoring devices using nanotechnology, to discovery and application of new compounds to fight infection, to translating basic protein research into new therapeutic treatments for Alzheimer’s, cancer, and other infectious diseases.
These are the types of research-and-development opportunities that will be taking place at three research centers to be constructed and equipped through that $95 million grant to the university. Meanwhile, at PVLSI, the $5.5 million grant will support the development of a new Center of Innovation in Health Informatics and Technology, designed to spur progress in such areas as population health management and healthcare quality.
In Cambridge and Worcester, similar investments, both public and private, have led to the formation of dozens of companies and the creation of thousands of jobs in the broad life-sciences sector, and Windham-Bannister believes that model could be replicated in Western Mass.
Time will tell if she’s right and if this region can, indeed, translate good science into good business and good jobs, but this region has been handed what appears to be a golden opportunity.
The challenge now is to take full advantage of it.

Opinion

Opinion

UMass Needs More Public Dollars

In the coming days, the Massachusetts Legislature will make an important decision about funding for the University of Massachusetts and, in so doing, will play a significant role in determining what kind of university UMass will be as it enters the next phase in its history.
On a literal level, the Legislature will decide whether UMass will receive the $479 million in funding for the upcoming fiscal year proposed by Gov. Patrick and approved by the House or the $455 million advanced by the Senate. The higher level of funding is important because it would arrest a long-term budget slide, make the state-student funding split more equitable, and provide students with an overdue tuition and fee freeze.
But the commitment we are asking the state to make is actually part of a much larger effort we are shaping to dramatically strengthen UMass and make sure it always will be the kind of public university that Massachusetts, with its innovation and intellectual horsepower, needs.
As we ask the Commonwealth to do more, UMass is also gearing up to do significantly more to provide the financial foundation a university needs to be great. And while it isn’t just about the money, dollars matter when it comes to attracting and retaining top professors, providing aid for students who need and deserve it, and ensuring that our facilities match up with our academic and research ambitions.
With that in mind, UMass this fall will launch its first system-wide capital campaign with the goal of dramatically increasing the private funds flowing into the university. These dollars will sustain a community of excellence — a reinforcing circle of top students, professors, and facilities.
Taken in tandem, a major infusion of public and private funds will give UMass the financial muscle it needs as it completes its first 150 years of service and prepares to make an even more profound contribution to the people of the Commonwealth.
UMass is the third university I have had the honor to lead. As I complete my second year as president, I am struck by one thing above all else — how much our five campuses have done with such limited resources.
Over the past 15 years, while state funding has remained flat, UMass has added 13,000 students (most of whom come from and will remain in Massachusetts), has seen student achievement rise to the point where its flagship campus in Amherst is now a top producer of Fulbright scholars, has won a Nobel Prize, has seen research expenditures reach $600 million a year, has become a national leader in income derived from faculty inventions, and consistently places in the upper reaches of the World University Rankings.
All of which prompts two questions: Shouldn’t we protect the great asset we have developed? And how much more could we do with a little more public and a lot more private support?
While we seek to gather the resources we need to make this a truly transformational moment, I realize that we need to keep front and center a value that is so much a part of our New England heritage — and that is frugality. Respect for a dollar is something I learned growing up in a Maine town where people eked out a living in mills and on fishing boats, and where scrimping and saving was an essential way of life.
Over the past five years, UMass has saved $68 million through efficiency steps, including consolidating administrative functions previously performed on each of the campuses. We expect to save another $123 million over the next five years by reducing energy expenditures, improving our purchasing practices, and streamlining information-technology operations.
Our commitment to transparency mirrors our commitment to efficiency, and, to make it easier to gauge our performance in key areas, we will release an annual performance report giving donors, public officials, and the public at large a better sense of how we are doing and what their dollars are helping to build.
UMass marks its 150th anniversary this year, so it’s a time to celebrate the past — and to build for a brighter and loftier future. With that future in mind, we are asking the state to join with us to create a truly historic moment. We have a chance to place UMass on a course that will allow it to soar — and this is an opportunity we have to seize.

Robert L. Caret is the president of the University of Massachusetts.

Your Customers Have Gone Mobile

Sales and Marketing Sections

To Remain Competitive, You Must Adjust Accordingly

Research shows that more than 50% of all cell phones are now smartphones. Add to that the growing number of people who own tablets, and it is estimated that mobile Internet users will exceed the number of desktop internet users by 2014.
The rapid rise in mobile technologies has dramatically changed the way that we communicate at work, at home, and while out and about, and business owners must adjust to this phenomenon.

We Love Our Smartphones
The majority of cell-phone purchases are now smartphones because they quickly become the preferred technology. Smartphones let you make phone calls, but what makes them so smart is that they have an operating system and can run software. This enables them to have features similar to those found on your computer, including web browsing, sending and receiving e-mail, and the abilities to open and read documents, take photos, listen to music, and watch videos.
Smartphones are getting faster at accessing the Internet and letting us view websites, engage in social media, download apps, and access driving directions via GPS. No wonder we love them.
Because mobile devices have become so convenient to use, they are now an integral part of our on-the-go lifestyle. That means many of your customers are trying to access your website on a mobile device. Most mobile devices will display your website correctly, but it will be incredibly tiny, and users will have to enlarge it and scroll from side to side to read the content. If you do not currently have a mobile-friendly website, now is the time to begin putting one in place.

Two Key Options
Options for having a mobile-friendly website include a mobile redirect or responsive web design. A mobile redirect can be accomplished in a variety of ways. Essentially, it redirects mobile users accessing your website to a separate website optimized just for mobile devices. In this case, you have two separate websites that need to be updated and maintained.
Another option is to make your website mobile-friendly by using responsive web design. Responsive web design uses fluid grids, CSS (the coding language for formatting and styling web content), and media queries to control how your website is displayed based on a device’s screen size. Responsive web design provides the advantage of just one website to update and manage versus having a separate mobile site to maintain.
Whatever method you choose, you should minimize the amount of information displayed on your mobile site by tailoring it to the needs of a mobile viewer. Consider what information your website visitors need when accessing your site while on the go. Some basics include business address, directions, an interactive map, hours of operation, and contact information. If you have a retail operation, then sales, special offers, and events should be easily visible to entice mobile web visitors to stop by.

Mobile Search
According to Google, there has been a fivefold increase in mobile search over the last two years. Research also shows that more than half of all consumers use their smartphones to search for products even when they are at home and could use a desktop or laptop computer. This data emphasizes the need for a mobile-friendly website.
If someone searches for your business and finds you, they should be taken to a website designed for a mobile device. If you are investing money in paid search, and those searches are on mobile devices, you are wasting your money if those ads don’t lead to a mobile-friendly website.

Local on Mobile
Your customers are searching while they are out and about, looking for places, products, and special offers. Roughly 70% of searchers are looking for a local product or service, and more than 80% of people searching for local information will take action within a day. Mobile searchers have a need, and most often it is an immediate one.
I encourage you to register your website for local search. This will let you control the quality of your local search results, ensure the accuracy of the information, and help increase your search ranking. Here are several major search engines you can register with; some have a verification process by phone or mail.
• www.google.com/places
• www.bing.com/businessportal
• listings.local.yahoo.com
• listings.mapquest.com/apps/listing

Social on Mobile
Social media seems to be made for mobile, as it’s all about what we are doing right now and sharing that with our friends. About half of the people using social media do so on a mobile device. Mobile users log in more often and spend more time on social-media sites. Mobile devices nicely integrate social-media apps that make it easier to post on a mobile device than from your desktop.
For example, you can snap a photo with your phone and post it right to Facebook. Knowing how your customers use their mobile devices is important when developing social-media campaigns. Businesses need to start their planning with a mobile perspective and tailor their ideas accordingly.

Mobile Commerce
Mobile commerce (m-commerce) is defined as consumers shopping and conducting other financial and promotional activities on their wireless, handheld devices. Browsing, shopping, and purchasing are increasingly done on mobile devices, and that trend continues to grow.
As the technology for online mobile shopping is improved and simplified, the shopping experience becomes easier and more convenient. Millions of American smartphone owners use apps for shopping, and even more use a retailer’s mobile website. It is clear that mobile shopping will continue to grow and your customers will be looking for this purchasing option.

Geolocation for
Customer Tracking
Mobile devices also provide GPS and wi-fi technology that can determine where a user is located. This allows you to leverage that information and send real-time mobile offers that can drive people to your business and generate a purchase. As we continue to gather data on our customers, we can move toward using demographic, psychographic, and past-purchasing behavior combined with current event data to deliver highly customized messaging.
Not everyone likes the idea that their smartphone knows where they are, so you will need to communicate the value consumers can expect to receive from your geolocation programs and give them options on participation.

Develop Your Mobile
Marketing Plans
Reviewing the trends and technologies that are making your customers mobile reinforces the need to provide a mobile experience to your customers. The combination of a mobile-friendly website, local search, m-commerce, geolocation, and social media provides you with powerful ways to reach your customers and prospects while they are on the go.

Tina Stevens is principal and creative director at Stevens 470, a full-service, multi-channel marketing firm providing strategic marketing, print communication, and web development; stevens470.com

Oops, I Did It Again

Sales and Marketing Sections

How to Avoid These Nine Common Marketing Mistakes

Christine Pilch Mancini

Business generally doesn’t just find you. You have to work hard to educate and attract the people who want and need your product or service. That’s marketing.
But the game has changed dramatically over the last five years or so, as the economy forced businesses to tighten up their expenses. In addition, social media has leveled the playing field and enabled small companies with tiny budgets to compete with much larger companies that have deep pockets. It has become very tempting for businesses to consolidate staff or try a do-it-yourself approach to their marketing.
Be it unfamiliarity, lack of education, or square pegs in round holes, there are a lot of marketing mistakes costing companies precious dollars these days. Are you making any of the following mistakes?

1. Me, Me, Me Messages
Nobody cares about how great you are, how long you’ve been in business, and that you’ve got good service. They only care about what they get. The old adage, ‘what’s in it for me?’ is truer now than ever before in people’s over-scheduled lives. They care about things that make their lives easier, save them time, help them, and solve a problem, so don’t bother with marketing messages that don’t point out how you can benefit them.
Benefits are much more effective in piquing interest than features. Take care to minimize and remove language that emphasizes the words, I, me, we, us, my, and our and turn your message around to what ‘you’ get.
Hint: Read the first page of your website. If your message isn’t primarily about ‘you,’ meaning ‘your customer,’ you might be wise to hire a good copywriter for a tuneup.

2. Not Tracking Results or Return on Investment
If you aren’t tracking results, how can you be sure which marketing efforts are paying off? This should be true of every marketing tactic that you use, be it something traditional — such as a TV ad, membership in an organization, or a print ad — or new-media initiatives, like a Facebook page, Google AdWords, or a Pinterest contest.
Tracking results can help you react quickly when something isn’t working quite right. If you watch carefully, you will be able to switch gears when messages get stale or don’t hit their mark. Pinpointing lead sources is certainly more difficult, as people tend to jump all around the web en route to you, but there are ways to track your results, and it’s to your advantage to know where you’re getting the best bang for your buck.
Hint: If you want to drive traffic to your website, Google Analytics is a terrific tool for gauging the success of your efforts. You can see exactly where your traffic is coming from. You can also build unique landing pages on your website that are fed from different lead sources. Or you could obtain a special phone number or embed a special offer to track a particular advertisement. The more specific you can be, the better.

3. Neglecting to Set Goals
If you haven’t set goals, how will you determine when something is successful? Every business has its own measurement of success, and, likewise, each marketing tactic and/or campaign should also have its own objectives. Be specific. For example, a Facebook page could have many different objectives over its lifetime: growing its fan base (‘likes’), building interaction, or driving traffic to your website. Set your goals before you implement something new, and set new ones for subsequent campaigns.
Hint: If you want to increase sales of a particular product, check how your numbers have been in the past, decide on a reasonable expectation for the promotion you plan to put forth, and establish a number that you want to hit within a certain timeframe. This will allow you to react during the process, adjusting your marketing or augmenting if necessary, so you can achieve your goal.

4. Not Testing
The ability to cost-effectively test something new varies by media, but it is usually very easy to do on new-media channels. Use them to see who is attracted to particular messages, what time they see them, etc., and then use this information in other venues to help better target your ads.
Hint: Many companies test-market videos on YouTube, which gives them the ability to see how many people watch their videos within a particular timeframe, the demographics of those viewers, and how much of the video they watched, without having to buy expensive TV time. Post your own test videos and use this information to customize future videos and marketing messages that better appeal to your target audience.

5. Refusing to Try Something New (Especially When the Old Stuff Stops Working)
Familiarity is comforting, but an old advertising tactic that used to work, but is barely producing new leads, is wasting your money. Suppose you used to get lots of business whenever you ran a particular TV ad, and you haven’t seen those results for a long time, but you keep running the same old ad because you like having your friends and family see you on TV. Wouldn’t it make more sense to shift that money into something new? This could be a fresh, new TV spot, direct mail, radio, or new media. The possibilities are endless.
Hint: Don’t let your ego get in the way of bringing business through the door. Business owners, their kids, and their pets are usually not the best TV personalities, and they often actually turn off potential customers.

6. Misusing QR codes
A QR code is a two-dimensional bar code that can be scanned with a smartphone and takes a user to a webpage. They are best utilized for a user to get more information about whatever you are promoting in print, which could be on something such as a mailer or print ad. The single greatest misuse of a barcode is using it to link to a webpage that is not optimized for mobile. This just wastes the user’s time and causes frustration because non-mobile-optimized pages are very difficult to read and navigate on a small screen.
Other mistakes include neglecting to provide the ‘more information’ that you promised, and using QR codes on the web or within e-mail.
Hint: You can stop printing product information through the simple use of a QR code applied to your product, which brings your customer to the right page on your website for all the information he needs for the use and service of your product.

7. Buying Lists and Fans
You’ve likely seen offers of thousands of e-mail addresses or Facebook fans for your page, but what is the worth of someone who doesn’t want or need what you have to sell? Doesn’t it make more sense to talk to someone who has interest in your product or service and may actually purchase from you? Lists that you can purchase are usually not targeted, and the e-mail addresses are usually not connected to people who opted in to receive your messages, so they will consider you a spammer. That can lead to big problems.
Purchased Facebook fans are no more valuable, as it’s easy enough to hide a page feed from one’s newsfeed, so your messages aren’t being seen. Yes, your number of fans may seem impressive, but those fans are worthless if they never receive your messages and have no interest in what you’re selling.
Hint: Even when creating your own e-mail list, make sure it is comprised only of people who opt in to receive your messages. Sending to the e-mail addresses of your social-media connections and those from business cards that you collect is impolite and unprofessional. These people will likely consider your messages spam.

8. Letting a Non-marketer Coordinate Your Social Media
Social media for business is a marketing function. Yes, any kid fresh out of college can set up a Facebook page and Twitter account for you, but what do they know about marketing your business? What messages will they send? How will they handle angry or disappointed customers? Will they plan and track?
Hint: There is a reason that it’s called social-media marketing. When looking for someone to handle your social media, make sure that they understand how to market your business. If you wouldn’t put them in a traditional marketing job, they are not qualified to handle your social media either, unless working under the direction of someone who is a marketer.

9. Separating Digital Marketing from Traditional Marketing
Social media and traditional marketing are so closely intertwined within companies these days that separating them makes as much sense as having your sales and marketing departments operate exclusive of each other. Campaigns should be synched so that you’re not sending competing or non-complementary messages. This also prevents the danger of one department not knowing what the other is doing and possibly undercutting each other.
Hint: Create a system whereby information freely flows between traditional- and new-media people within your business. This could be accomplished via daily or weekly meetings, a spreadsheet that team members update, or perhaps even through a private Facebook group, where departmental activity and plans are logged. Facebook displays to the group leader who reads what content on its groups, so it is apparent when something has or has not been read. Regardless of the method, communication is critical.

Bottom Line
Everybody wants a good return on their marketing investments, so if you’re making any of the above mistakes, changing course just might not only save you money, but also bring in more business to boot.
If you’re in over your head or many of the techniques mentioned above are Greek to you, perhaps it’s time to call in a qualified marketer to bring fresh ideas to the table.

Christine Pilch Mancini owns Grow My Company and is a marketing strategist. She trains businesses to utilize LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, blogging, and other social-media tools to grow, and she collaborates with professional service firms to get results through innovative positioning and branding strategies; (413) 537-2474; growmyco.com; linkedin.com/in/christinepilch;
facebook.com/growmycompany

Getting the Word Out

Sales and Marketing Sections

A chart of area advertising and marketing firms

Click here to download the PDF

Landing Gear

Colleges Work to Help Students Open Doors to Opportunity

Bay Path College’s Laurie Cirillo says the job market has improved, but there are still many challenges awaiting job seekers.

‘Marginal improvement.’
That’s the phrase one hears repeatedly from area college career-services professionals as they talk about the overall job market and the prospects for members of the class of 2013.
Roughly translated, those two words, or others used to convey the same sentiment, imply that conditions are certainly better than they were a few years ago, when, in the wake of the Great Recession, many sectors — including financial services, law, retail, and even healthcare — sharply curtailed their hiring, forcing many to stay in school or take jobs in fields other than the one they chose.
But while the skies have brightened slightly — moreso in the technical and healthcare-related fields than others — the job market is still challenging in many respects, said Laurie Cirillo, executive director of the Sullivan Career and Life Planning Center at Bay Path College. She noted that, while a large number (25% or more) of the school’s graduates go on to seek advanced degrees, those choosing to enter the job market are facing everything from stern competition — including many members of those classes that graduated during or just after the recession — to some lingering reluctance on the part of some employers to add to their payrolls.
“Given the fact that we have a positive job-growth outlook for the state, we’re preliminarily seeing our students have more success and find opportunities locally,” she said of the overall job market. “But there is a lot of competition for these opportunities.”
In this environment, said Cirillo and others we spoke with, candidates need any advantages they can get, and area colleges are becoming both diligent and imaginative in helping them find some.
These initiatives include everything from encouraging and creating experiential learning experiences — including internships, practicums, and co-ops — to networking events and career fairs designed to introduce students to employers, to programs providing help with résumé and interviewing skills.
Summing up these efforts, Jeanette Doyle, director of the Career Center at Springfield College, said they enable students to become better able to sell themselves to potential employers — a skill, or trait, that many need help with.
“Most students are too humble,” she noted, referring, generally, to how they respond to interviewers’ questions. “It’s always about selling your skills and qualifications. We have to remind them to go out and market themselves in the most positive light, and they have to remind themselves that they’re competing against other people for these jobs.”
Much of the focus today is on experiential learning, especially internships, which can bring a number of benefits for students and employers alike, said Candace Serrafino, interim director of Career Services at UMass Amherst, who noted that the school was recently ranked among the top 10 schools in the country by US News & World Report when it comes to students participating in internships.
For companies, she noted, interns can provide everything from technical skills to important generational perspective, to an additional hand when when many employers need one or more. For students, she added, they provide hands-on experience, insight into the working world, and an introduction to a company that might become an employer.

Jeanette Doyle says the primary objective of career center activities at Springfield College is to help students become more adept at selling themselves to employers.

“Every publication that we’re reading echoes the same message — that, in today’s market, students must have that career-related experience,” Serrafino said, noting that roughly 60% of the undergraduates at UMass do get some form of experiential learning experience, and, increasingly, they’re starting earlier in their college career. “Students are definitely getting that message.”
At Baypath, internships are required, said Cirillo, adding that, overall, the school has been successful in forging partnerships with area employers, such as Baystate Health, on a number of experiential learning opportunities that help prepare students for life after graduation.
For this issue and its focus on employment, BusinessWest talked with a number of area career-services professionals about both the state of the job market and ways colleges are working to open more doors for their graduates by making it easier to sell themselves to employers.

Degrees of Progress?
Those we spoke with said it will be perhaps six months or more before they’ll have anything approaching hard data on how well the class of 2013 is faring when it comes to entering the job market — and in their chosen field.
That’s when most surveys of graduates, revealing if, when, and where they’ve found employment, are compiled, said Maria Cokotis, career counselor in the College of Business at Western New England University. But she and others noted that there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to warrant the use of the phrase ‘marginal improvement’ or words slightly more positive.
And that aforementioned evidence comes in many forms, from the number of employers taking part in career fairs staged over the past several months to the wide range of companies that are hiring — from Enterprise Rent-a-Car to Health New England to a host of retailers, such as TJX.
“There are signs that the job market has gotten better since last year,” said Cokotis, adding quickly that there are caveats involving those who have found success, These include the field in question, flexibility with regard to geography — meaning those willing to relocate, especially to larger urban areas — experiential learning, and being realistic when it comes to expectations and a willingness to accept something less than the ideal job if doing so will start a career down the right path.
“If someone’s in information technology and is willing to relocate, there are a lot of opportunities that will present themselves,” she said, referring to one field along the spectrum.
“It’s also important for students to focus on the first job not as the ultimate career move, but a first step in their career,” she continued. “They should be thinking about where they can go to develop and apply some solid skills that will provide a stepping stone to the next position that they want to go to. Sometimes, students have a very idealistic outlook as to what they want in their first job, but they have to look at the realities of building on experience that will begin to carve a career path.”

Maria Cokotis, a career counselor in the College of Business at Western New England University, says job seekers must be realistic in their expectations when it comes to that first job.

UMass Amherst’s Serrafino has also noticed an uptick in the job market, at least in certain fields.
“Anecdotally, what we’re seeing is that things are picking up slowly,” she said, putting some additional emphasis on that last word. “Certainly, some of the technical majors, such as our engineering students and our computer science students, are finding greater opportunities than our non-technical students, and our finance, operations, and accounting students are also faring well.
“We serve a lot of liberal-arts and sciences students, and for them, it’s a little softer market,” she went on. “But it certainly becomes firmer when a student has an internship or a co-op under their belt.”
Serrafino said that one of the more encouraging developments with regard to the market has been strong attendance among employers at the school’s four annual career fairs — one staged by the Isenberg School of Management, another for engineering students, the Alana fair (involving minority students), and the campus-wide Career Blast, staged in February, the largest of the events.
“We broke all records — the number of employers increased significantly, as well as the number of students participating,” she said, noting, as one example, that the engineering fair drew 91 employers and 1,350 students. A year ago, those numbers were 78 and 1,100, respectively. At the Career Blast, there were 141 employers and 2,000 students (most from UMass, but also others from surrounding schools). In 2012, only 98 employers showed up.
As impressive as the quantity of employers was the variety, she went on, noting that the list of participants included GE, ISO New England, Health New England, Liberty Mutual, Macy’s, General Dynamics, Hanover Insurance, and MGM Resorts International.
And while companies take part for several reasons — some are recruiting intern candidates or simply maintaining visibility, for example — many have been hiring this year.

Courses of Action
While the employment scene is brightening somewhat, entering the job market remains challenging, said Cirillo, adding that Bay Path, like other schools, is being aggressive in its work to help students better compete for jobs in their chosen field, and be prepared to succeed in those professions.
Internships and co-ops are a big part of the equation, she said, but the school goes further, with such initiatives as the Sullivan Center’s career and networking events that, as the name suggests, are designed to provide career education and networking opportunities customized to a major field of study. The sessions, staged throughout the spring, include keynote presentations, panelists discussing their careers, and structured networking.
There are sessions for legal studies, business, education, psychology, criminal justice, and science, said Cirillo, noting, for example, that speakers and panelists for the criminal-justice event included John Gibbons, U.S. marshal for the District of Massachusetts; Margaret Oglesby, assistant chief probation officer for Springfield District Court; Col. Timothy Alben, superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Lucy Sotto-Abbe, Massachusetts Parole Board member, among others.
Another somewhat unique program at Bay Path is a career-shadowing program in which first- and second-year students go out into the field and spend some time with people in the profession they’ve targeted.
“It gives that first-year student a chance to really define the difference between what a job is like in their imagination and what it’s like in reality,” she explained, using forensic science, with expectations created by TV shows such as CSI, as one example. “We also encourage students to interview professionals working in the field and find out what their career stories are, and thus learn how they got to where they are, what kinds of career competencies they think are important for people in that field, and what their daily life and challenges are like.
“Getting in touch with professionals and being able to career shadow helps that first- or second-year student crystallize, or develop some confidence in, their major early on,” Cirillo continued. “Or, it might prompt them to say, ‘I thought I wanted to do this, but I don’t, so now I’ll do this instead.’ Developing confidence in the major early on is important.”
Meanwhile, it’s important for the student to have confidence as they go about their job search and take on those first job interviews. And that’s why many area schools have created programs to help them tackle those assignments.
Such initiatives range from UMass Amherst’s ‘Resumania,’ program, a four-day blitz during which career-services staff members prepare and update hundreds of résumés, to a host of efforts involving the art and science of interviewing, to seminars on the effective use of social media in a job search.
At Springfield College, said Doyle, the school brings alums back on campus to talk with seniors about what they’ll experience during a job search, at their first interview, and after they’ve been hired. It’s part of a larger effort to take learning beyond the classroom, she said, and prepare students for the workplace.
As part of this initiative, career-services staff members, sometimes working with alumni, conduct mock interviews with students, asking many of the tough, behavioral-based questions that are part and parcel to interviews today, and, overall, preparing them for something unlike anything they’ve experienced.
“Sometimes, students are surprised — they’ll say, ‘I was there for six hours; I had no idea it was going to be like this,’” she noted. “It’s still an employer’s market — there are a lot of candidates, and for them to pick the best one, they have to do their due diligence. We just want to help students be ready.”
At UMass, assistance also includes something that Serrafino called “job-fair prep workshops.” There were roughly a dozen conducted over the past year, she said, adding that they focused on everything from proper dress and body language to the questions they can expect.
“We teach the students to be able to market themselves in a 30-second infomercial,” she explained, “and focus on such things as how to greet an employer and how to put their best foot forward in a few moments, and not go up to someone and say, ‘so, what kind of jobs do you have here?’”

Happy Landing
Time will tell just how well the class of 2013 fares with its efforts to break into the job market. As those we spoke with said, there are many signs they will do better overall than those in many recent classes.
Meanwhile, the task at hand for area colleges is to continue to be imaginative with programs to help improve students’ odds and, overall, open more doors.

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

Hire Purpose

Johnson & Hill Builds on Its Reputation for Effective Match Making

Andrea Hill-Cataldo says job hunting has become a much more complicated process.

Andrea Hill-Cataldo knows how difficult it can be to match a job seeker with the right company. And a lingering recession — not to mention a more complicated hiring landscape — haven’t made things any easier.
“It’s so frustrating for candidates, sending résumés into this abyss, not hearing back. And for employers who are inundated with a hundred résumés, it’s hard to get back to every candidate,” said Hill-Cataldo, president of Johnson & Hill Staffing Services.”
“At one time, you walked your résumé into a company or did a nice cover letter with a nice presentation,” and that was sufficient, she noted. But now, with many companies relying on online applications, “you’re e-mailing your résumé, clicking here, clicking there. As a result, candidates apply for more positions, employers get more candidates, and it’s harder for everyone.”
That’s where a good staffing service comes in. “For us, we still have that personal touch. We’re meeting with candidates and advocating for them,” she told BusinessWest. “We also do a lot of career coaching; we advise them on their résumé, questions they should be prepared to answer, talk about the environments they want to work in, industries they’re interested in.”
Hill-Cataldo likes to talk about building relationships, not just with those seeking work, but with the employers Johnson & Hill has developed long-lasting connections with during the 18 years the agency has been in business.
“We have a team of people, some of whom have been here since the beginning,” she said. “It makes a big difference when our clients call, because we know their history, their culture. That’s a big value add. People like to do business with people they like and know and trust.”
Johnson & Hill has come a long way since Hill-Cataldo and her cousin, Michaela Johnson, launched it from the ashes of a former Kelly Services agency after that corporation decided to take back its privately managed franchises during the mid-’90s.
Johnson’s mother (and Hill-Cataldo’s aunt) had run that office for decades, building a solid reputation and a number of connections, and when she retired after her franchise closed, the younger pair felt they could continue the legacy, with Johnson providing the initial financial backing and Hill-Cataldo contributing “sweat equity,” she said.
“There were some key players who had been with the company for a long time, so we hired two key people and built a company around them,” she explained. “There was a great history there, established relationships of trust. We grew that and built on that.”

Changing Tides
Since those early days, Hill-Cataldo told BusinessWest, the agency has both evolved and expanded.
Geographically, Johnson & Hill has offices in Springfield, Northampton, and Pittsfield, but serves clients as far north as Greenfield, south into Connecticut, and east to the Worcester area.
Meanwhile, the company has shifted from a full-service job-placement service to one that focuses on administrative, accounting, and legal careers. “It makes a real difference when you focus and specialize,” she said. “We found business doubled once we decided to focus on niche businesses.”
The strategy helps Johnson & Hill to better understand the industries and employers they serve. “We really try to be big picture, looking at a long-term approach with clients, building rapport and trust, and putting a lot of time into getting to know their culture,” she explained.
“We stand behind what we do for them, and in turn, they come to trust us,” she continued. “We’ve had some unique opportunities beyond typical staffing services; they also trust us with training and workforce development. We have some very unique, long-standing relationships with clients we’re very appreciative of.”
Hill-Cataldo and her staff of 10 have witnessed a number of shifts in the way companies attract talent. One is an increasing reliance on the temp-to-hire concept, as opposed to direct hiring.
“Temp-to-hire is a great way to bring someone on and not commit, but it’s great for the candidate, too; it’s not a one-sided story,” she said, adding that, if it’s not a great fit, Johnson & Hill already knows the candidate and can hit the ground running to find him or her something else. And if the job works out, “both sides are informed and feel better about the match. It’s better to be on the same page when you hire someone.”
The role of an employment agency looms more important than before, too, especially for those — companies and job seekers alike — who are anxious about navigating an increasingly complicated employment landscape.
“Hiring has changed dramatically over the past five years,” Hill-Cataldo said. “I feel bad for smaller companies that used to just place an ad in the paper. Now, what do you do? What online source to you use? How do you find the best people, manage your social-media presence, and market for better candidates?
“You have to cast a wide net, and then you have to manage that,” she went on. “It’s not just combing through résumés and getting back to people. We find recruiting more difficult, and the Internet has made it even more difficult.”
For job seekers in particular, “it’s lonely for them sometimes,” she continued, adding that it doesn’t have to be. “Many employers hire differently now; they bring in temp-to-hire employees to see if it’s a good fit. And many work with services like ours; we make sure you’re being considered for as many positions as we can. We don’t charge a fee for candidates, and we advocate for you. It can be a real positive.”
Many employers are happy to partner with agencies to ease the burden of candidate searches while still casting a wide net. “Our clients are overwhelmed. They’re all doing more with less,” she said. “They’re trying to add next staff members or replace a staff member, but they’re overwhelmed by other responsibilities. With our help, they have the resources to really look at qualified candidates, rather than hundreds of résumés.”

Satisfying Work
With so many changes occurring in the employment field, the company participates in a number of local and national organizations to keep current, said Hill-Cataldo. “But, thankfully, meeting with clients, talking to clients all the time, that in itself is an education. We can draw conclusions from what we see out on the front lines.”
Many of the agency’s clients were affected by the Great Recession and its aftereffects, she noted, but the picture is improving. “We in this industry are used to ups and downs, and we’re coming out of another dip,” she said. “We’ve definitely seen an uptick recently … a slow climb out.”
But it’s not only job seekers who lost their employment during the recession that find Johnson & Hill’s services useful. “We also help people who have taken a break from employment to gain some experience and get back in,” she said, citing, as examples, those who choose to stay at home to care for an infant or a sick parent. “That happens, and that’s explainable, but now they need more skills, and it’s nice to help them build a bridge to get back.”
Whatever the case, “it’s really satisfying when people we’ve worked with find great situations,” she told BusinessWest. “And we feel really good about the companies we work with. We work with a lot of colleges and major employers. We consciously seek out certain employers, and we feel good when people take a job with them. We know they’ll have a good experience.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Burning Question

What Does the Medical-marijuana Law Mean for Bay State Employers?

John S. Gannon

Last November, Massachusetts became the 18th state to adopt a medical-marijuana law after voters approved a ballot referendum. The law protects qualifying patients, physicians, and dispensaries from state criminal and civil penalties associated with the medical use of marijuana. Massachusetts employers are wondering how the new law will affect workplace drug policies and whether they will need to accommodate disabled employees’ marijuana use.
Here’s what they need to know.

Qualifying Use
The Massachusetts Humanitarian Medical Use of Marijuana statute paves the way for patients to use and possess marijuana for the purpose of treating “debilitating medical conditions, or the symptoms thereof.” Debilitating medical conditions include cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis. In addition, a physician can certify that other conditions are sufficiently debilitating if the patient is suffering from conditions that substantially limit a major life activity.
Patients suffering from a debilitating medical condition can apply to the state Department of Public Health (DPH) for a medical-marijuana registration card by submitting a written certification from a physician with their application. The registration card verifies that the cardholder is a qualifying patient exempt from state criminal and civil penalties for marijuana use.

Matters of Policy
The big issue for Massachusetts employers is whether they need to alter workplace policies governing drug use in light of the new medical-marijuana law. By now, employers should be well aware of their duty to provide reasonable workplace accommodations to handicapped employees. Could an employer unlawfully fail to accommodate an approved employee if off-site marijuana use is not tolerated? What about an applicant who fails a pre-employment drug screen because of medical-marijuana use or who tests positive for drugs in a drug test after employment?
These thorny questions are not answered outright by the Massachusetts Humanitarian Medical Use of Marijuana statute or by recent regulations promulgated by the DPH.

Still Illegal Under Federal Law
It’s important to note that the use of marijuana is prohibited by federal law, which lists marijuana as a Schedule I drug and does not provide exceptions for medicinal use. State courts in other jurisdictions have relied on federal law in ruling that employers need not accommodate marijuana use, pointing out that the activity is still illegal under federal law.
Similarly, certain federal laws and regulations require particular employers to follow drug-testing protocols and implement policies aimed at maintaining a drug-free workplace. Because these federal laws pre-empt (or trump) state laws, employers should continue to follow these laws when it comes to enforcing drug-related workplace practices and policies.

A Reasonable Accommodation?
In Massachusetts, any challenge to drug-free workplace practices will likely take shape via the state anti-discrimination statute (Chapter 151B). This measure, along with federal law, prohibits discriminating against employees who are ‘handicapped,’ which is defined by law as being substantially limited in a major life activity. It’s safe to presume that an employee suffering from a ‘debilitating medical condition’ could be considered handicapped and entitled to a reasonable accommodation in the workplace.
The $64,000 question is whether accommodation requests connected to medical-marijuana use are reasonable.

Some Questions Answered, Others Not So Much
The Massachusetts Humanitarian Medical Use of Marijuana statute makes it clear that an employer does not have to accommodate on-site use of medical marijuana. So there is no need to allow employees to light up in the lunchroom or bring marijuana brownies to work. Even so, the law does not address off-site use.
Consider, for example, an employee who is suffering from a debilitating medical condition, perhaps cancer, and who has been approved to use marijuana to help control nausea associated with treatment. Should that employee be allowed to come in late a few days a week because of the off-site marijuana use? It’s possible that such an accommodation might be reasonable under state law, even if the employer has a zero-tolerance drug policy.
What if the employee is subjected to drug testing and tests positive because of his medical use of marijuana? In other jurisdictions where these issues have arisen, courts have ruled that the employer did not have to excuse the use of an illegal drug, and it’s possible that a Massachusetts court would agree. But because this law is new and untested, it’s difficult to predict how a state court or administrative agency would handle these issues.
The only safe play is to check with employment counsel before taking any adverse employment actions for drug use against an employee who is registered to use medical marijuana.

John Gannon is an attorney at the management-side labor and employment firm Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C.; (413) 737-4753; [email protected]; www.linkedin.com/in/johngannonesq

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A chart of employment agencies in Western Mass.

Hacking It

Insurance Sections

Cyber Liability Is the Hot Trend in Business Insurance

Even one electronic security breach is a headache for businesses that store their customers’ financial records. Millions of thefts? That’s much worse.
“They’re like mosquitoes,” said William Trudeau, president of the Insurance Center of New England in Agawam. “It’s one of those things where one or two bites isn’t too bad, with five bites, you’ve got an itch, but if you have 5,000 bites, you might die. For a small bank, if someone steals 100 ATM cards, it’s going to be not fun. But if, all of a sudden, they steal the records of 20,000 ATM cards and are withdrawing money all over the world for two days, it could get ugly.”
It’s not just banks that worry about such breaches. Large retailers, which keep the credit-card records of their customers on file, are at risk as well, as the TJ Maxx incident that came to light six years ago.
In that case, hackers gained access to company databases in 2005 and stole the personal information of more than 45 million credit and debit cards — but the company didn’t discover the theft until two years later. TJ Maxx later claimed that 75% of the cards were either expired at the time of the breach, or the personal information on them was masked. But the international ring of thieves did use much of the data to enrich themselves before they were arrested — and the various consequences of the incident eventually cost the clothing chain more than $130 million.
“After the TJ Maxx incident, Massachusetts law mandated self-reporting and potential fines per incident,” Trudeau said, but the costs stemming from such a breach can range widely, from PR work to restore brand reputation to individual and class-action lawsuits.

Bill Trudeau says companies victimized by hackers can run up massive expenses even before customer lawsuits arrive.

“Say a company wants to rectify things, says that it won’t happen again,” he continued. “So they pay for two years of ID theft protection for anyone who wants it. Then you need to do notification by third-party certified mail to all customers. Say I’ve got 30,000 records, so I’ve got to send out 30,000 pieces of mail from a certified facility, costing maybe $90,000. Then, how many will take me up on two years of identity-theft protection? Maybe 10%?
“What you have here are first-party costs,” he went on. “It’s not someone saying, ‘OK, I lost 20 grand, and now I’m suing you.’ You’ve got a lawyer in your office saying you need to do certain things now, even though there’s no lawsuit yet. But who’s going to pay the $90,000 for mailings? Who’s going to pay for the ID-theft protection? There’s a huge potential for loss, even before the lawsuits arrive.”
As a result, cyber liability is one of the hottest terms in the insurance world, one that agents have been busy telling their clients about.
“We’ve been concentrating on this kind of insurance,” said Robert Gilbert, president of the Dowd Insurance Agencies in Holyoke. “I read four trade publications each week, and every single one, every week for the past year, has had an article about what we call cyber-liability insurance. That includes Internet liability, cyber-security … anything that can attack your computer and cause loss of data.”
And businesses make a mistake if they assume that large, national retailers are the only ones at risk. Verizon issued a report on data-breach investigations last year that analyzed data from 855 reported incidents that resulted in 174 million compromised records in 2011. That study revealed that 71% of breaches struck organizations with fewer than 100 employees.

Bob Gilbert says his agency has been busy informing business-insurance clients of the need for cyber-liability coverage.

As a result, Gilbert said his agency has been busy notifying its clients about cyber threats and the insurance products available to protect them, noting that banks, retailers, restaurants, and medical businesses are among those with the most potential threat exposure. “We’re talking about businesses where customers are using credit cards. That data is capturable. Large retailers are constantly taking credit cards because that’s how most people pay for things. So it’s significant.”

Growing Concern
Earlier this spring, Best’s Review cited several recent surveys that shed light on the extent of the cybercrime problem and how it concerns businesses. For instance, a survey by American International Group found that corporate executives are more concerned about cyberthreats than any other major business risk, with 85% of the 258 surveyed saying they are ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ concerned about it.
Meanwhile, a Deloitte Tech Trends poll of 1,749 business professionals found that 28% of those surveyed reported at least one known cyberattack in the past year; 9% reported more than one breach. And those are just the known cases.
According to the Ponemon Institute, which has been reporting on the cost of cybercrimes for the past three years, the average cost to a company from data theft is $194 per record breached — meaning it takes just 515 such records stolen to reach a six-figure loss, a tough pill to swallow for small to mid-sized companies.
That’s why cyber-liability insurance is so important. Trudeau cited one product his company promotes, Beazley Breach Response, which covers many of the first-wave expenses of cybercrime, including notification and credit-monitoring services for up to 5 million affected individuals, as well as forensic and legal assistance, PR costs, and other benefits, with separate coverage limits for third-party claims.
“Many policies offer first-party coverage — that is, they will pay you for things like business interruption, the cost of notifying customers of a breach, and even the expense of hiring a public-relations firm to repair any damage done to your image as a result of a cyber attack,” business-technology writer Minda Zetlin noted recently in Inc. magazine. “Having this cash available in the event of a crippling hack can keep the lights on until you’re able to resume your normal cash flow. A good policy can even cover any regulatory fines or penalties you might incur because of a data breach.”
Early response, aided by such coverage, can be critical, Trudeau said. “Depending on how good the response is, you don’t always get to the liability point if you self-report that you’ve had a breach.”
Considering the rate at which businesses are attacked and hacked, Gilbert said, it’s tremendously risky for companies that store sensitive data to ignore their need for cyber-liability coverage.
“When private data has been hacked, the expense to go through it is tremendous — you have notify all the people in the database, there are advertising expenses, possibly litigation,” he explained. “As technology has changed so rapidly, so has the expertise of criminals. The insurance marketplace never anticipated the seriousness of these crimes.”
But it’s certainly paying attention now. “When you’re hacked, and someone has access to everything in your computer, they can throw viruses in there or extort your business with the threat of viruses,” Gilbert added. “There are so many different areas of exposure, so it has become a very big issue.”
Customer notification alone can be a major hassle, considering that 46 of the 50 U.S. states have notification laws, the details of which vary by state — and many breaches affect customers in multiple states. “You should talk to your risk manager or agent,” Gilbert tells clients. “Do you have this coverage? What do you need to secure it? If nothing else, we make them aware of the exposures they face.
“It definitely interrupts your business. You have a loss of income, a loss of profits,” he added. “We talk to clients about what their exposures are today and what to do about it.”

Constant Threats
In a world where data theft is pervasive — from restaurant waiters carrying ‘skimmers’ in their pockets to lift debit-card information to international hackers hammering their way into large corporations — companies increasingly realize that it’s up to them to both better secure their data and seek out a realistic level of coverage, Trudeau said.
“When doing an assessment, ask, what’s the exposure risk? What exposures do we have, and how could we get in trouble?” he said, re-emphasizing that those risks run from the debit-card information stored at Big Y to the HIPAA-protected patient data at medical practices.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a big company or a small company,” Kelly Bissell, who heads Deloitte’s Information Technology Risk Management Team, told Best’s Review. “It matters what data you have that’s valuable to them. The bad guys don’t discriminate.”
It’s also dangerous for businesses to assume they’re protected against data breaches of third-party vendors, experts say, since they provided them that information in the first place. Nor is there any guarantee a cloud provider will cover a company against a data breach in the cloud. It all comes back to speaking with an insurance agent to make sure all contingencies are accounted for.
“Every time you open the paper, another bank has gotten hacked,” Gilbert said. “Criminals today are pretty smart. They’re not using guns and knives anymore; they’re sitting somewhere in Russia or somewhere in Oklahoma — it doesn’t matter where.”
And that changing world has forced changes in the insurance realm, with the advent of products that are becoming an increasingly necessary part of companies’ risk-management strategies.
“This type of coverage has been developed to meet a need,” Gilbert said. “With what’s going on with cybercriminals, it’s very important that, every account we go out on, we’re bringing up things they don’t have. That way, at least we’ve done our job.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Covering Your Bases

Insurance Sections

Understanding the Many Nuances of the Affordable Care Act

By MARC A. CRISCITELLI
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare, will help some people, but has definitely created confusion and concern for most.
There are several approaching deadlines dictated by the ACA that employers must comply with. Some of the deadlines mentioned below have few financial obligations, but require administrative tasks:
• Summaries of benefits and coverages (SBCs) must be distributed to employees for plans that renewed on or after Sept. 23, 2012. Insurance carriers are producing the SBCs for employers, and they must be distributed to employees, new hires, and those continuing on state or federal continuation (COBRA).
• Employers issuing 250 or more W-2s must include the value of health-plan benefits provided to employees on the W-2s annually.
• Employers must provide notice to employees about the availability of state health-insurance exchanges, also known as marketplaces or the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP), by Oct. 1, 2013. The deadline was formerly March 1, 2013, but it was delayed since the majority of states and the federal government were not ready to administer the health exchanges.
Unfortunately, there are many provisions of the ACA which may carry some significant cost increases directly to employers.
• Effective Jan. 1, 2013, flexible spending accounts must limit the annual contribution maximum to $2,500. This will lower tax savings for uncovered medical, dental, and vision expenses for employees and consequently employers.
• The comparative clinical effectiveness research fees pay directly to the newly created federal institution known as the Patient Centered Outcome Research Institute (PCORI). Employers with plans renewing Oct. 1, 2012 through Jan. 1, 2013 will have to pay $1 per insured person by July 31, 2013. It will increase to $2 per insured person the following year and will be indexed in years 3-8. Insurance carriers pay the fee on behalf of fully insured employers. Those employers that offer a healthcare reimbursement account (HRA), are self-insured, and/or fund at least $500 into their employees’ flexible spending accounts must file IRS Form 720 and pay the PCORI.
• All employers will be required to contribute to a transition reinsurance fund in 2014, 2015, and 2016. The annual fee is per covered life and is likely to equal $5.25 per month per covered life in 2014 and may decline in 2015 and 2016. This fee will be included in the premiums for employers who are fully insured, but self-insured groups will have to pay this fee directly. Reporting will be due in November 2014 and payable 45 days after reporting. Final rules have not been communicated as of yet.
• Employers with 50 or more full-time-equivalent employees must have waiting periods of no more than 90 days and must offer coverage to employees working an average of 30 hours per week starting in 2014. This will be extremely expensive to many employers, especially those in industries that historically did not offer health insurance to their employees.
• Starting in 2014, employers with 50 or more full-time-equivalent employees must offer ‘affordable’ coverage. This means that they cannot charge more than 9.5% of an employee’s income for the single level of coverage and must offer a plan that is considered ‘minimum value’ if the plan’s share of covered charges is at least 60%. If an employer does not offer coverage to 95% of its full-time employees, the penalty is $2,000 per full-time employee per year (excluding the first 30 employees) if one employee receives a premium tax credit though the SHOP exchange. Employers that offer coverage that does not provide minimum value or is not considered affordable will pay a penalty of $3,000 per year for each employee who receives a premium tax credit.
There are some other provisions of the ACA that cause a direct financial impact to employers and all employees that have private insurance.
The expansion of Medicare and Medicaid will be the biggest drivers. The largest contributing factor to the increase in healthcare costs — and, consequently, private health-insurance costs — has been and will continue to be the ever-increasing population of those covered by Medicare and Medicaid.
The economics are simple. Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates to healthcare providers are much lower than reimbursement rates from private insurers and HMOs. The more patients seen by a healthcare provider each year who are insured by Medicare or Medicaid, the more the provider needs to charge private insurers to make up for the low payments they receive from the government-funded healthcare plans.
As a final point, I only touched upon some of the negative effects of the ACA, but there are further responsibilities thrust upon employers, both financial and administrative, buried within the more than 2,700 pages of the law. I encourage all employers to contact their broker, consultant, and CPA for guidance to make sure they are prepared for the full effect of the ACA.
Even though there will be people who benefit from healthcare reform, it will be at the detriment of employers having to deal with and pay for the most daunting law passed in decades.

Marc Criscitelli is vice president of East Longmeadow-based FieldEddy Insurance; (413) 233-2134; [email protected]

Do I Really Need Travel Insurance?