People on the Move

Holyoke Community College announced that Amanda Sbriscia has been hired as its new vice president of Institutional Advancement. Sbriscia will lead HCC’s fund-raising efforts as head of the HCC Foundation as well as oversee Alumni Affairs, Resource Development, and Marketing and Communications. She begins Oct. 30. “I am thrilled to be joining HCC at a very exciting time in its history,” Sbriscia said. “I look forward to connecting with our alumni, friends, faculty, and staff, and to engaging the community in our efforts to support students and build on the college’s excellent reputation.” Sbriscia  comes to HCC with more than 10 years of experience in education and fund-raising. Most recently, she has been serving as senior director of Advancement at Bay Path University, following her role there as director of Annual Giving and Alumni Relations. Before Bay Path, Sbriscia worked in fund development for the Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts and as director of Annual Giving for Anna Maria College in Paxton. Her experience in higher education also includes work in major gifts, volunteer management, corporate sponsorship, and strategic planning. “We were fortunate to have four extremely qualified finalists to consider, and we put each of them through a full day of rigorous interviews,” said HCC president Christina Royal. “In the end, though, Amanda’s experience, presence, and passion really made her stand out. She has an energy that I believe will integrate fluently with our current campus leadership and help propel us forward as we begin to develop a strategic plan for the future of HCC. I’m excited that she will soon be here.” Sbriscia has served on the board of the Assoc. of Fundraising Professionals and is a member of Women in Philanthropy and the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield. She is also a classroom reader through Springfield School Volunteers. She is currently pursuing her doctor of education degree in organizational leadership from Northeastern University.

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Waterford Hotel Group announced the appointment of Jaime O’Connor as director of sales at the Sheraton Hartford Hotel located inside Bradley International Airport. The Sheraton Bradley is managed by Waterford Hotel Group, a national hotel and convention-center management firm. As director of Sales, O’Connor is responsible for the total sales efforts for the hotel, as well as supervising sales-related personnel and implementing sales and marketing strategies to maximize profits while also maintaining guest satisfaction. O’Connor started her career in hospitality at the Sheraton Springfield in 2001. She quickly grew within the property, holding the positions of executive meeting manager and senior executive meeting manager, before joining Waterford Hotel Group as a sales manager at the Marriott Hartford in 2005. Most recently, she has been working as director of sales at the Sheraton Hartford South. “We are pleased to welcome Jaime back to the Waterford Hotel Group team,” said Karen Bachofner, vice president of Sales and Marketing at Waterford Hotel Group. “We look forward to working with her in this new role.”

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Valerie Krolicki recently joined Ayre Real Estate Co. Inc. as a full-time real-estate sales associate. She is a graduate of Hopkinton High School and has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in education from Northeastern University in Boston. Krolicki is the daughter-in-law of the late Cynthia ‘Cindy’ Ayre, formerly of Ayre Real Estate and past president of the Realtor Assoc. of Pioneer Valley and Realtor of the Year.

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With the upcoming departure of DevelopSpringfield’s President and CEO Jay Minkarah, the organization has tapped Jeff Daley to provide consulting services on an interim basis to manage project oversight. Daley is founder and principal of CJC Development Advisors, LLC with more than 15 years of experience in real-estate development, construction project development, government relations, and public-private partnership development. He was formerly the Economic Development director for the city of Westfield, executive director of the Westfield Redevelopment Authority, and a member of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority board of directors, in addition to roles on other nonprofit boards and advisory panels. “I am excited for the opportunity to assist the team at DevelopSpringfield to move their projects forward,” Daley said. “CJC Development Advisors has been engaged in development projects around the region, and I feel this is a perfect opportunity to help DevelopSpringfield through their transition on some very important projects.” Nick Fyntrilakis, DevelopSpringfield’s board chair, added that “we are pleased to have Jeff step in to help ensure the advancement of DevelopSpringfield’s projects. Jeff has a strong background in large-scale development projects, and I’m confident his experience will be invaluable to the organization as we look to begin a search for a permanent replacement for Jay Minkarah.”

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Claudia Pazmany was recently named director of Development & Marketing for Providence Ministries. “My guiding core philosophy is to honor the work of today but to bring people together in the form of support to enable a vision for tomorrow,” Pazmany said. “It exemplifies how I feel about the power of philanthropy and how it can transform communities. I hope to transform how we think about our most vulnerable in my new role here at Providence Ministries, and how we can all play a vital role in that transformation.” Pazmany is a community leader with more than 16 years of experience in professional fund-raising. Her business-development skills, combined with a long history in capital campaigns, philanthropy, community engagement, social media, and alumni relations, helped her build visionary and sustainable movements of giving. She continues to apply her leadership skills to creating a more just and equitable world. Pazmany has an MBA from UMass, served on the executive team as former director of Development at the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, is a graduate of the Women’s Fund’s Leadership Institute for Political and Public Impact, and is currently a board member at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County.

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Morrison Mahoney LLP announced the election of six new partners, representing a range of practice areas including appeals, insurance coverage, construction litigation, professional liability defense, medical malpractice, fraud, transportation, and employment-law disputes.

“The election of so many highly qualified partners speaks volumes of the depth of talent that we have in all offices of Morrison Mahoney and quality of our mentoring and professional development,” said Managing Partner Scott Burke.

The new partners are:

• Jeffrey O’Connor (Springfield), who focuses his practice on the defense of medical and legal professionals, healthcare law, employment litigation, and general liability defense;

• Joseph Ciollo (Hartford, Stamford), who represents insurance companies, insureds, private businesses, attorneys, and other licensed professionals in matters involving automobile, homeowner, and property insurance coverage; insurance fraud investigation; general liability defense; automobile liability defense; bad-faith claims; subrogation; professional liability; and employment discrimination;

• Christopher Davidson (Boston), who specializes in the defense of corporate clients involving claims of catastrophic injury or death in the context of construction-site accidents, product liability, premises liability, and transportation/trucking matters;

• Larry Slotnick (Boston), who has successfully represented insures in a wide range of coverage and bad-faith disputes, both at the trial and appellate levels, and also represents businesses in commercial-litigation disputes;

• Christopher Keenoy (New York), who focuses his practice on cases involving professional liability, construction defects, product liability, lead paint, trucking, and general liability; and

• James McKenney (New York), who litigates complex commercial and civil matters, including healthcare and insurance-coverage issues, regulatory violations, Medicaid fraud claims, contract disputes, and civil RICO actions in federal, state, and appellate courts.

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Jean Deliso, CFP has been named a member of the 2017 Chairman’s Council of New York Life. Members of the elite Chairman’s Council rank in the top 3% of New York Life’s sales force of more than 12,000 licensed agents in sales achievement. Deliso has accomplished this level of achievement for six consecutive years. Her passion for finance and strategic planning led to the creation of Deliso Financial and Insurance Services in 2000. She began her career in corporate accounting in Tampa, Fla., where she consulted with small-business owners on financial operations and maximizing performance. Deliso has been a New York Life agent since 1995 and is associated with New York Life’s CT Valley General Office in Windsor, Conn. She is currently chairman of the board of the Baystate Health Foundation and a board member of the Community Music School of Springfield. She is past chairman of the board of the YMCA of Greater Springfield, past board member of AAA Pioneer Valley, and past trustee of the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts and the advisory council at Bay Path University. Deliso Financial and Insurance Services is not owned or operated by New York Life Insurance Co. or any of its affiliates.