Michele Cabral Named Director of Training & Workforce Options

HOLYOKE — Westfield resident Michele Cabral, a former accounting professor and interim dean of Business and Technology at Holyoke Community College, has been appointed the new director of Training & Workforce Options, a workforce-development partnership between HCC and Springfield Technical Community College.

TWO offers customized training for businesses and nonprofits, needs assessments, and career-development programs.

Cabral succeeds Jeffrey Hayden, who maintains his position as HCC’s vice president of Business and Community Services. As director of TWO, she will also continue in her position as director of the Massachusetts Casino Career Training Institute (MCCTI), the gaming school HCC runs jointly with STCC and MGM Springfield at 95 State St. in Springfield.

Before being named director of MCCTI last fall, Cabral served as interim dean of Business and Technology at HCC, where she was a member of the project team that helped bring the HCC MGM Culinary Arts Institute to life.

Cabral holds a bachelor’s degree from Westfield State University and an MBA from Elms College. She joined the faculty of HCC in 2014 as a full-time professor of accounting.

Cabral started her career as a certified public accountant working for KPMG Peat Marwick. She graduated from the Leadership Development Program while working for CIGNA Insurance Companies and joined Farm Credit Financial Partners Inc. as chief financial and operating officer while the company was in its startup phase.

She also started a successful consulting practice as well as Care for Our Troops, a nonprofit organization serving military personnel in Western Mass., and she currently serves on the board of directors for Friends of the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke.