People on the Move

People on the Move

Local news hires, promotions, awards, and appointments

Daniel Bonelli

Daniel Bonelli

Comcast announced the appointment of Daniel Bonelli as vice president of Finance for the company’s Western New England Region, which includes more than 300 communities in Connecticut, Western Mass., New York, Vermont, and Western New Hampshire. In this role, Bonelli will oversee all financial operations, including finance and accounting, warehouse and materials, information technology, facilities, security, fleet management, and environmental health and safety. Bonelli began his career with Comcast in the Western New England Region in 2007 as a financial analyst. He quickly progressed to manager and then director before being promoted to senior director of Finance in 2014. In 2016, he relocated to the Philadelphia area, where he served as senior director of Finance for one of Comcast’s largest regions, overseeing a team of 60. Bonelli graduated with a bachelor’s degree in finance from Central Connecticut State University.

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Rania Kfuri

MaryLynn Murray

The Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts (WFWM) announced that Rania Kfuri and MaryLynn Murray have joined its Board of Directors. They will each serve a three-year term. Kfuri currently works as the Communications and Partnerships officer for the Solidago Foundation. Throughout her life experiences, she has worked to support educational opportunities and access to resources that improve the lives of women and girls. She has a professional background in international development, with a master’s degree in ethics, peace, and global affairs from American University in Washington D.C. Murray is vice president for Commercial Lines and Sales at the Insurance Center of New England. She holds an MBA with a concentration in human resources and has been employed in the insurance industry since 2002. She previously served on the board of the Agawam Small Business Assoc. and on the Women’s Fund marketing committee. In addition, new officers elected include Haydee Lamberty-Rodriguez as board president (formerly vice president), Leigh Rae as vice president (formerly board clerk), and Pia Kumar as clerk. Layla Taylor, immediate past board president, will remain on the board through June 2019.

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Valley Venture Mentors CEO Liz Roberts announced that she will be leaving her position as of July 13, at which time current chief operating officer Kristin Leutz will take the helm of the organization that has been dedicated to nurturing entrepreneurship in Western Mass. Roberts plans to depart after a period of growth for Valley Venture Mentors (VVM). During her tenure, she launched the Startup Accelerator program, in which entrepreneurs receive five months of training, mentoring, office space, and access to equity-free funding. Entrepreneurs who graduated from all VVM programs generated $51 million in revenue and fundraising during the past three years, and created 500 full-time and part-time jobs over the course of 2017. The Startup Accelerator program earned recognition as a model rural accelerator by the Obama administration. Prior to joining Valley Venture Mentors as COO in 2017, Leutz served as vice president for Philanthropic Services at the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, where she helped create programs such as Valley Gives. Leutz also aided entrepreneurs at VVM as a volunteer mentor for many years before joining the team. She has had a career in global philanthropy and business leadership spanning organizations like MassMutual and RefugePoint, a Cambridge- and Nairobi-based, globally recognized social-impact startup. She has led operations, fundraising, and marketing, and brings decades of experience to her role at VVM.

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Patrick Love

Springfield College announced that Patrick Love will serve a two-year interim appointment as vice president for Student Affairs and program director of the Student Personnel Administration (SPA) program, effective Aug. 6.  The college will resume a national search for both positions in 2020. Love will serve as a member of the president’s leadership team in his role as VP for Student Affairs and will work closely with the leadership of the Division of Academic Affairs in his role as SPA program director. He brings to Springfield College a career in higher-education leadership and teaching, spanning managerial work in student affairs and academic affairs, and as a professor in Student Affairs. He is a lifelong educator who focuses on growth, development, and transformation.  He is also an experienced writer, author, speaker, coach, and trainer on leadership and management development.  He has consulted with or spoken at more than 40 colleges and universities, was a tenured professor at two research universities, and is nationally known for his innovative approaches to management as well as a commitment to student education and development.  He is active in both the American College Personnel Assoc. and the National Assoc. of Student Personnel Administrators. Most recently, Love was executive in residence at Bowling Green State University, serving as senior lecturer. Previously, he was vice president for Student Affairs at New York Institute of Technology, associate vice president for Student Affairs at Rutgers University, associate provost for Student Success at Pace University, co-director of the Higher Education Program at New York University, and director of the Master’s Higher Education Program at Kent State University.

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Hector Toledo

Jocelyn Walsh

Jacqueline O’Connell

Joseph Dallair

Greenfield Savings Bank (GSB) announced four team members for its new Hadley office: Hector Toledo, Jocelyn Walsh, Jacqueline O’Connell, and Joseph Dallair. Toledo has been named office manager of the new Hadley office. He joins Greenfield Savings Bank with 28 years of experience in banking. In his role as manager, he will concentrate on business development, in addition to managing the operations of the Hadley Office. Among his volunteer roles for numerous local nonprofit organizations, Toledo is a board member and chair of the finance committee of Baystate Health and a member of the board of the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. He has previously chaired the board of Springfield Technical Community College and served as a board member of both the YMCA of Greater Springfield and the United Way of Pioneer Valley. Walsh has been promoted to the Hadley office as a super banker. GSB super bankers are customer-service professionals who can assist customers with a wide range of banking services, including account openings, online and mobile banking, as well as account transactions. Before joining the staff in Hadley, she worked for GSB at the Shelburne Falls office for more than two years. O’Connell has joined the staff of the Hadley office as a super banker. She has worked for GSB for more than three years at the Amherst office on University Drive. Dallair has joined the staff of the Hadley office as a teller. Prior to joining the team at Greenfield Savings Bank, he worked for three years in customer-service positions in other industries. He began working at GSB in 2017 as a teller in the Greenfield office.

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Kimberley Lee, a recognized leader in the nonprofit sector of the Western Mass. region, has joined the staff of MHA, a nonprofit provider of residential and support services to people impacted by mental illness, developmental disabilities, substance abuse, and homelessness. Lee is taking on the newly created role of vice president of Resource Development and Branding for MHA. Lee previously served in communications and development roles in several local nonprofit organizations, including CHD, Square One, the Basketball Hall of Fame, and the Community United Way. She has advanced these organizations and the people they serve with an active voice in the community and through vigorous advocacy achieved by constant policy influence at the local, community, and state level. A lifelong resident of Western Mass., Lee earned her bachelor’s degree in mass communication from Westfield State College.

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River Valley Counseling Center (RVCC) named Anna Dyrkacz to be its director of Finance. She was appointed to the position last month by Rosemarie Ansel, RVCC’s executive director. Dyrkacz has more than 17 years experience in the healthcare and human-services industry and came to River Valley Counseling Center from a leadership position at Pathlight. She has also held leadership positions at Southgate Retirement Community, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, and Kindred Healthcare of Springfield. She has a bachelor’s degree and MBA from Western New England University, majoring in finance.

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Jeremy Melton

Florence Bank promoted Jeremy Melton to the position of first vice president/Risk Management, Compliance and Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) officer. Melton joined Florence Bank in 2012. Prior to his recent promotion, he served as vice president/Risk Management, Compliance and CRA officer. Melton supports his community as the board chair and finance/audit committee member at Tapestry. He also serves as a board member for the Western Massachusetts Compliance Assoc.

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Mary Ann Coughlin, associate vice president for Academic Affairs at Springfield College, was recently awarded the John E. Stecklein Distinguished Member Award from the Assoc. for Institutional Research (AIR). The award recognizes an individual whose professional career has significantly advanced the field of institutional research through extraordinary scholarship, leadership, and service. Coughlin has a long-standing relationship with the AIR, including serving as a past president and as a trainer for national workshops sponsored by the association. In 2012, she was the recipient of the Assoc. for Institutional Research Outstanding Service Award, recognizing her professional leadership and exemplary service to AIR and for actively supporting and facilitating the goals and mission of the association. During her tenure at Springfield College, Coughlin has served in a variety of positions, including faculty member, president of the faculty senate, and her current administrative position in Academic Affairs. Coughlin worked as a professor of Research and Statistics at the college prior to moving into administration. In her current role, she supervises academic support services and provides leadership for program review, outcomes assessment, faculty development, student success initiatives, and institutional research.

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The Rotary Club of Springfield elected its new President, Susan Mastroianni, and board of directors at its recent meeting.Originally from the Bronx, N.Y., Mastroianni worked in Springfield for more than 26 years, first as media director for FitzGerald & Robbins Advertising and then as a partner and director of Media Services at FitzGerald & Mastroianni Advertising in Springfield, which closed in 2016. She has been a member of the Rotary Club of Springfield since May 2006. In addition to being president, she chairs the club’s publicity committee also serves as vice president of the board of directors for the Gray House in Springfield. She is a graduate of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., with a bachelor’s degree in communication arts.

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Every year, the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women asks every state legislator to nominate someone from their district as an “Unsung Heroine.” For state Rep. Aaron Vega, this year’s pick was Debbie Flynn-Gonzalez, program director at the Gándara Center’s Hope for Holyoke peer-recovery support center. Flynn-Gonzalez began her career in social work as a mental-health clinician performing outreach work in Holyoke 24 years ago before her personal background in recovery led her to work with the recovery community. She launched the first peer-recovery program for pregnant and parenting women in Holyoke and led that program for eight years. She has been program director for three years at Hope for Holyoke, which has 300 active members, with an average of 50 people accessing the center daily. Flynn-Gonzalez earned her bachelor’s degree in social work at UMass Amherst and her master’s degree in counseling and psychology from Cambridge College.

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The United Way of Pioneer Valley announced that Kathryn Dube is serving as interim president and CEO as the board of directors conducts a search for a new CEO. Dube is a former chairman and vice chairman of the board at United Way of Pioneer Valley and has served as chairman to a number of United Way of Pioneer Valley committees. Most recently she was employed as senior advisor for the United Way of Pioneer Valley since her retirement in December 2017 and was recognized as United Way Volunteer of the Year in 2014 and 2015. Prior to retirement, Dube was a senior vice president of Retail Banking and Wealth Management at TD Bank and Berkshire Bank.

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KeyBank recently announced the addition of new retail leaders in markets across Connecticut and Massachusetts. Locally, Brandon Ojakian joined KeyBank with the title of vice president and area retail leader in the Northern Conn. and Western Mass. markets. Ojakian has 20 years of experience in the banking and finance industry. He joins KeyBank from Santander Bank, where he served as a district executive leading branch teams in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Prior to Santander, he led several retail regions for Citizens Bank. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Albertus Magnus College.