Features

Last Chance to Nominate Groups and Individuals for Difference Makers

Those thinking about nominating a group or individual for BusinessWest’s Difference Makers Class of 2010 need to think — and move — quickly.

The deadline for nominations is Thursday, Dec. 31.

BusinessWest Editor George O’Brien said a number of nominations have been received to date, involving a number of individuals and organizations who are, in myriad ways, making a difference in the community.

“We already have many excellent candidates to consider,” said O’Brien. “But there are many more people doing some incredible things who haven’t been nominated, and should be.”

O’Brien said the nomination form on page 15 is self-explanatory and simple to use, and he encourages readers to use their imagination to identify and then nominate people worthy of the Difference Makers award.

The inaugural class of Difference Makers included four individuals — Doug Bowen, president and CEO of PeoplesBank; Kate Kane, managing director of the Springfield office of the Northwestern Mutual Financial Group; Susan Jaye-Kaplan, founder of GoFIT and co-founder of Link to Libraries; and Bill Ward, executive director of the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County — and one group, the Young Professionals Society of Greater Springfield.

Together, these honorees represent an excellent cross-section of the types of groups and individuals the program was created to celebrate, said BusinessWest Associate Publisher Kate Campiti, who also urged readers to play an active role in shaping the Class of 2010.

While nominations continue to come in, details are falling into place for the awards ceremony honoring the next class, she said. The event will be staged at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House in Holyoke on March 25, beginning at 5 p.m. The celebration will feature live entertainment, heavy hors d’ouevres, and introductions of this year’s winners.

It will also include an update on an ambitious program called “Creating a Culture of Literacy — One Book at a Time.” It was created last summer at the urging of Ward and others at the Regional Employment Board to focus additional attention on the issue of literacy and its importance to the overall health and well-being of the region.

The initiative helped collect hundreds of books for the Hasbro Summer Learning Initiative, and will be an ongoing concern for future classes of Difference Makers.

Additional details on the March 25 celebration will be published in upcoming issues of BusinessWest as they become available.