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

AGAWAM

KRIDE Inc., 68 Plantation Dr., Agawam 01001. Mark D. Benedix, 38 Old Farm Road, Somers, CT 06071. Steven D. Stark, 68 Plantation Road, Agawam 01001, treasurer. (Nonprofit) To raise funds for the research, treatment, etc., of cancer, etc.

AMHERST

Clemente Course in The Humanities Inc., The, 23 Flintlock Lane, Amherst 01002. Earl Shorris, 444 East 82nd St., Apt. 4N, New York 10028. Grace Glueck 23 Flintlock Lane, Amherst 01002, clerk. (Nonprofit) To provide free education in the humanities at the college level to the multi-generational poor in the U.S. and other countries.

Pioneer Valley Personal Training Inc., 534 Main St., Amherst 01002. Jessica P. Phaneuf, 24 North St., Hatfield 01038. Physical therapy and rehabilitation, health counseling, etc.

The Pioneer Valley Gamer Collective Inc., 48 North Pleasant St., Amherst 01002. Michael Whitehouse, 279 Amherst Road, #14, Sunderland 01375. (Nonprofit) To provide a social center for gamers and other geeks to enjoy each other and their hobby and social pursuits.

BELCHERTOWN

Marshall Color Studios Inc., 6 Berkshire Ave., Belchertown 01007. Dean Marshall, same. Technical services and prepress for apparel.

CHESTER

Gateway Little League Inc., 28 Soisalo Road, Chester 01011. Paul Graham, 23 East Windsor Road, Worthington 01098. (Nonprofit) To provide a supervised program of competitive baseball and softball games for the children of the Gateway School District, etc.

CHICOPEE

Anthony R. Kryusz, CPA, P.C. Inc., 77 Yorktown Ct., Chicopee 01020. Anthony R. Krusz, same. Public accountancy.

Flamingo Property Management Inc., 1981 Memorial Dr., Suite 147, Chicopee 01020. John P. Robillard, same. To deal in real estate and ancillary services.

EAST LONGMEADOW

Henry Street Management Co. Inc., 200 North Main St., Suite 204, East Longmeadow 01028. Ernest A. Gralia, III, 24 Ridgewood Road, East Longmeadow 01028. Real estate development.

FLORENCE

Breathe Deeply Inc., 101 Black Birch Trail, Florence 01062. Brandt Passalacqua, same. Web design.

GRANVILLE

Prince Island Association Inc., 392 Water St., Granville 01034. R. Scott Freebern, 5746 Main St., Manchester VT 05255. Gilbert M. Faulkner, 392 Water St., Granville 01034, resident agent. (Nonprofit) To provide beach and pier facilities for members.

HOLYOKE

G & G Restaurant Mfg. Imports Inc., 60-66 Jackson St., Holyoke 01040. Iorgu Rama, 4526 44th St., Apt. 1D, Sunnyside NY 11104. Iorgu Rama, 60-66 Jackson St., Holyoke 01040, registered agent for manufacturing, restaurant equipment, imports.

HUNTINGTON

Timothy Hill Christian Camp Inc., 128 Norwich Lake, Huntington 01050. Howard Wright, 4180 Manor Hills Ln., Atlanta GA 30331. Edward D. Etheredge, 128 Baker Hill Road, Florence 01062, clerk. (Nonprofit) To operate an educational outdoor camp to teach children and families leadership skills and life skills with a spiritual foundation, etc.

INDIAN ORCHARD

Youth Excellence Through Innovation Inc., 115 Dubois St., Indian Orchard 01151. Jacqueline E. Farrow, same. (Nonprofit) To inspire youth by helping them identify and achieve goals through mentoring, learning experiences, and participation in a powerful community, etc.

LONGMEADOW

DHW International Inc., 541 Laurel St., Longmeadow 01106. Tracy E. Carman, same. Marketing of consumer products and components.

LUDLOW

Winsor Realty Inc., 119 Winsor St., Ludlow 01056. Lori C. Marta, 33 Bridle Road, Ludlow 01056. Real estate services.

NORTHAMPTON

ATA & EFE Corp., 18 Green St., Northampton 01060. Harun Iyigel, 134 Entrynbrook Dr., Springfield 01108. To engage in the pizza restaurant business.

 

SOUTH HADLEY

Legowski Landscaping & Construction Inc., 49 Westbrook Road, South Hadley 01075. Renata A. Legowski, same. Landscaping and construction.

SOUTHWICK

Three Sisters Marketing Inc., 41 Foster Road, Southwick 01077. Corine A. Magni, same. To engage in E-commerce.

SPRINGFIELD

Helping Hands Collecting and Distributing Inc., 11 Rush St. Springfield 01109. Oliver Figuereo, same. (Nonprofit) To promote the welfare of the Latinos and Children of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, provide affordable clothes and health opportunities, etc.

In His Presence Christian Counseling Inc., 205 Florida St., Springfield 01109. Emily Kozodoy Harrison, same. (Nonprofit) To strive to empower people to learn to trust in God, etc.

Manolyam Corp., 608 Page Blvd., Springfield 01104. Pinar Karaaslan, 15 Wilson St., Wilbraham 01095. Pizza restautant business.

Oflu’s Captain Pizza Inc., 30 Fort Pleasant Ave., Springfield 01108. Dursun Oflu, same. Restaurant pizza shop.

Project H.O.P.E. International Inc., 93 Parker St., Springfield 01151. Juliet Maxwell, 14 Berbay Cir., Springfield 01109. (Nonprofit) To promote stability in our immediate communities and the world at large, provide educational instruction and tutoring, etc.

Ronald L. Mack Tax & Accounting Group Inc., 82 Main St., Suite 1, West Springfield 01089. Ronald L. Mack, 192 Captain Road, Longmeadow 01106. Accounting services.

Trustcheck Inc., 1 Monarch Place, Suite 250, Springfield 01144. Suzanne F. Murphy, 20 Olde Plains Hollow, South Hadley 01075. Employment verification.

THORNDIKE

Combat Veterans of America, Iraq Afghanistan Chapter Inc., 4020 Pine St., Thorndike 01079. Fred Gula, same. (Nonprofit) To promote a public awareness and remembrance of the sacrifices of the members of American Military Forces of all Combat veterans of America.

WARE

Expense Control Inc., 73 Beaver Road, Ware 01082. David P. Dylewicz, Sr., same. To provide consulting services related to expense reduction.

WESTFIELD

Cocchi Paint Inc., 11 Blueberry Ridge, Westfield 01085. Ralph J. Cocchi, same. Painters.

Greater Westfield Free Health Services Inc., 60 Court St., Westfield 01085. Candy Dyler, 33 Southview Dr., Southwick 01077. (Nonprofit) To provide free health services to persons with need from the Greater Westfield area who lack medical insurance, etc.

Proulx & Proulx Inc., 167 Loomis Ridge, Westfield 01085. Gerard E. Proulx, same. Contractor – building.

Violet-Ion Systems Inc., 28 Laro Road, Westfield 01085. David H. Wicker, same. Computer and computer systems consulting, engineering, sales and services.

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Gar Wood Inc., 928 Riverdale St., West Springfield 01089. Naif Makol, 451 Russell Ave., Suffield, CT 06078. Bruce E. Devlin, 1441 Main St., Suite 905, Springfield 01103, registered agent. Operation of gasoline station and convenience store.

HB Retail Inc., 134 Capital Dr., West Springfield 01089. Norman A. Hannoush, same. Jewelry retail sale and repair.

Nicola E. Gioscia, P.C., 82 Main St., Ste. 2, West Springfield 01089. Nicola E. Gioscia, same. To engage in the practice of law.

Rita Bobb-Rollins, DDS, P.C., 36 Memorial Ave., West Springfield 01089. Rita Bobb Rollins, DDS, same. The practice of dentistry.

Vincent F. Gioscia, PC, 82 Main St., Suite 2, West Springfield 01089. Vincent F. Gioscia, same. The practice of law.

Opinion

There’s one overriding positive regarding the role conventions play in the health and well-being of a given city or region: volume.

Tourism and hospitality are relatively robust sectors in Western Mass.; there are several attractions across the region with a national pull, including the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Historic Deerfield, the college towns of Amherst and Northampton, and virtually the entirety of Berkshire County. However, the contributions of convention business to the area’s visibility are often overlooked, or not seen to be as newsworthy as a boost in foot traffic among leisure travelers.

But the proof of the convention industry’s effect, or potential effect, on Western Mass. is in the numbers; convince one tourist to vacation in Western Mass., and they may bring along their family or a few friends. Convince one meeting planner, and they bring along hundreds, maybe thousands, and sometimes return several times.

It’s in this vein that conventions can help restore and strengthen the region’s economy, particularly in Springfield, where the area’s largest convention facility, the MassMutual Center, is located. Put simply, conventions offer a much bigger bang for the buck in terms of tourism and hospitality activity.

And while the Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau casts a wide net when wooing possible visitors to the City of Homes, welcoming virtually any type of conference (and there’s a conference for everything), there are also some key formulas it adheres to.

For one, the GSCVB is working to identify events that will offer the greatest return of dollars to Western Mass. — through bookings as well as hotel stays, restaurant visits, and other entertainment options, such as athletic competitions. They also pay attention to some industry rubrics that measure overall success, based on the size and type of an event as well as the size of the venue and its hometown. These are doubly important because the Mass. Convention Center Authority (MCCA), arguably one of the most successful such bodies in the nation and owner of the MassMutual Center, pays close attention to the statistics, too.

And the GSCVB is turning some of its efforts inward, in part through the Pioneer Valley Pride program that charges area residents with identifying potential convention guests through their own professional, civic, and community affiliations. This is an effort not only to increase local confidence in the MassMutual Center’s future, but also to better reflect the needs of the region. For example, health care-related events could indirectly address the ongoing nursing shortage, or life sciences conferences could have an impact on extending the Commonwealth’s so-called life sciences supercluster farther west.

Another overlooked aspect of convention business, though, is the time it takes to get into the loop of national meeting planners and major organizations that routinely hold gatherings. The MassMutual Center reopened its doors as an expanded, renovated MCCA property two and a half years ago, and GSCVB president Mary Kay Wydra estimates that it takes at least three years to truly enter the rotation. That reality, compounded by the fact that the former Springfield Civic Center was effectively offline during construction and a change in ownership, means the center could have a few more quiet months before activity starts to ramp up.

For those who may have seen the new convention center as a panacea for Springfield, or, conversely, those who’ve long been skeptical of the center’s ability to help turn things around for the better, these hallmarks of the industry are important to note and understand. As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it will take time for this city’s convention business to jell, as well.

Perhaps the Field of Dreams adage, “if you build it, they will come,” should be modified, too, to read, “if you build it, they will come … eventually.”

Just be patient. Wooing one person to the region for a weekend getaway is a success, but attracting thousands a few years out is worth the wait.

Opinion
Plan for Education Czar Threatens Reform Efforts

Fewer than 15 years ago, K-12 public education in Massachusetts — a few favored communities aside — was in bad shape. The system by which schools were funded was so inequitable that it was in danger of being declared unconstitutional, student achievement was mediocre at best, and there was no reason to believe it would get better.

The Commonwealth’s 1993 Education Reform Act, with its grand bargain of a massive infusion of new money coupled with high standards, accountability, and enhanced parental choice, changed all that. Today, we lead the nation on student assessments, and average achievement compares favorably with the leading nations worldwide.

The crafters of the 1993 reform got it right. But no matter how well legislation is crafted, implementation is where the rubber meets the road.

Education reform is often stifled by the vested interests that resist accountability and new models like charter and pilot schools. In Massachusetts, the independence of the state Board of Education provided the continuity that allowed reform to be implemented year after year.

The board was responsible for the initiatives that were the heart and soul of reform, like the MCAS exam, teacher testing, and academically rigorous curriculum frameworks. It was the board that followed a prudent course by creating rigorous charter school approval and closure processes.

Each of these reforms was the target of substantial resistance from a powerful and change-averse education establishment. Only an independent Board of Education, insulated from politics, could have made them a reality.

Despite these unparalleled successes, all we have achieved is now at risk. A proposal to eliminate the Board of Education’s independence seems to be breezing through the Legislature. The proposal would make the board just another part of Gov. Patrick’s administration and thus politicize an institution that has been insulated from politics since 1837.

That continued independence is essential to address the challenges that remain, such as eliminating the unacceptable achievement gap that condemns many urban children to stunted lives.

I learned to have a deep respect for how essential that independence is when I worked for the board in the early 1970s, responsible for integration and equal opportunity in Boston, Springfield, and New Bedford. We were under constant attack in the Legislature, with only the courage of board members preventing the interests of African-American students from being abandoned. We were able to stay the course because the board members served long and overlapping terms, and were selected for their character, not the constituencies they represented.

The selection of a new commissioner of education provides a more recent example of how the proposed restructuring would strip away the Board of Education’s independence. The board unanimously chose an eminently qualified candidate who was clearly not the administration’s first choice. Under the proposed changes, a new secretary of education would have veto power over the board’s choice for commissioner.

Incoming Commissioner Mitchell Chester brings particular expertise in accountability. But another recent proposal would make the new secretary responsible for accountability. The result would be a commissioner who is little more than a department head ostensibly reporting to a largely ceremonial board.

Gone would be the independence of a board that implemented reform initiatives over the long term, even as governors and legislative leaders came and went.

Instead, teachers and students would potentially be subject to 180-degree shifts in policy every time a new administration takes over. The 15 years of moving in a consistent direction that has been responsible for our education reform success would be rendered virtually impossible.

Charles L. Glenn is dean ad interim of the Boston University School of Education.

Features
In the World of Sports Economics, Andrew Zimbalist Knows the Score
Andrew Zimbalist

Andrew Zimbalist says the sheer enormity of baseball revenues have been sufficient to quell any labor discord since 1995 because, no matter how the pie is sliced, owners and players are both getting a big piece.

It was bedtime, and Andrew Zimbalist’s son was worried.

It was the spring of 1990, and Major League Baseball owners had dug in on a lockout that would eventually delay the start of the season by about a month. And that saddened 11-year-old Jeff — an avid fan with baseball cards plastered all over his walls — because, he told his father, he wouldn’t be able to play Little League ball, either.

“It was a peculiar comment,” said Zimbalist, a professor of Economics at Smith College. “I explained to him why the major-leaguers weren’t playing, and that it wouldn’t stop him from playing. Then, as I was walking out, he said, ‘hey, Dad, you’re an economist. Why don’t you write a book about baseball economics?’”

It was a precocious question coming from a preteen, but it got Zimbalist thinking. “I went to the library and starting looking up sports economics,” he said. “And I found that no one had written a book about the economics of baseball.”

So he worked up a proposal and some sample pages and whisked them off to a publisher, thinking he’d never hear anything back. But two weeks later, the editor called with a $30,000 advance to write the book. The end result, titled Baseball and Billions: A Probing Look Inside the Big Business of Our National Pastime, became a business bestseller in 1992, and Zimbalist began receiving invitations to TV and radio talk shows — and requests to do more writing.

That he did — following up Baseball and Billions with eight other sports-themed tomes, covering such wide-ranging topics as college athletics, Title IX equality, the economic impact of teams and stadiums on cities, and, of course, baseball, which he has revisited in three other books.

In the process, Zimbalist, now one of the country’s leading ‘sports economists,’ has found himself increasingly in demand — not only in the media, but as a legal consultant in dozens of cases involving salary arbitration, collective bargaining, antitrust laws, and even litigation involving teams, cities, and leagues.

“All sports, from baseball and football to NASCAR, tennis, and golf, have lots and lots of issues, and we live in a very litigious society,” he told BusinessWest. “Anyone can find something to sue someone over. There’s always something going on.”

All of which has helped Zimbalist, who began his career as an expert in Latin American economies, to carve out a starting role in a vastly different arena.

Halftime Adjustments

Zimbalist’s career arc has taken him well outside his original goals.

As an undergraduate in the 1960s, a time of war and social upheaval, he majored in economics as a way to understand the world. He eventually became intrigued with questions of poverty and economic development in Latin America, a broad subject on which he has written several books. He arrived at Smith in 1974, teaching comparative economics.

But his shift into sports economics has introduced him to far different subjects, such as Sports, Jobs, and Taxes: The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Stadiums, to quote the title of his 1997 book.

“My basic finding was that, as a general matter, cities should not anticipate that building a facility or attracting a team will have an impact on the general economy,” he told BusinessWest.

“If the deal is done in the best conceivable way and the stars align properly,” he explained, “maybe you’ll see a small positive impact, and if the opposite occurs, you might have a small negative impact. Now, if the plan comes with other components, such as a village around the stadium with integrated themes, then you can say the overall project is pro-development, but you can’t say that of a stadium by itself.”

In 1999, Zimbalist delved into the lucrative world of collegiate athletics with Unpaid Professionals: Commercialization and Conflict in Big-Time College Sports. He doesn’t argue, as some have, that college athletes should be paid, partly on the basis that colleges don’t pay other amateur talent, such as orchestra musicians.

At the same time, however, he acknowledges that the big money generated by sports programs, particularly football programs at top Division I schools, have led to an uncomfortable hybrid boasting both professional and amateur elements. By some estimates, he said, a star football player may generate more than $1 million for the school by himself.

“If I had my druthers, I’d sever these big-time programs from college,” Zimbalist said. Athletes would still play at the college stadium, but be paid by an independent team affiliated with the school. In return for the exposure, the college would offer a lifetime free pass — four years of free tuition, room, and board if the athlete ever has the motivation to attend the school.

“That would get rid of all the contradictions right there,” he said. “They would no longer have to pretend to be students.”

While the influx of money has arguably changed college athletics considerably over time, said Zimbalist, Major League Baseball has changed enormously just since the 1980s and early 1990s, when strikes and lockouts occurred every few years, culminating in the strike of 1994-95 that erased the World Series for the first time in almost a century.

“Baseball was dysfunctional from a business perspective then,” said Zimbalist. “The owners couldn’t agree with each other, let alone the Players Association. But historically, baseball had never had any real competition, and it grew very arrogant, with lax business practices, and didn’t innovate at all. It had no central marketing department. As a business, it was limping along.”

But the lengthy, bitter strike — the last one the sport has endured, in fact — changed all that. “The strike was finally a recognition by both sides that they were wasting a treasure,” he said. “The fan reaction and media reaction were extraordinarily negative, and it scared them. They felt like they had to get their act together and cooperate with each other.”

That crystalizing moment dovetailed with the ascent of Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig into the commissioner’s chair. Selig is widely credited with many of the popular innovations in baseball since 1995, including interleague games, playoff wild cards, market expansion, and — most notably — revenues that have been growing by an average of 11% per year.

“One of his greatest strengths has been that he knows the owners, and he spends countless hours talking to them about their issues. He was an effective force in turning baseball in the right direction,” said Zimbalist, who chronicled Selig’s achievements in 2006’s In the Best Interest of Baseball? The Revolutionary Reign of Bud Selig.

“The economic riches have become so great that the players lost all appetite for going on strike, and the owners lost their appetite for doing lockouts,” he said. “As imperfect as the situation seems to them sometimes — everyone has something to complain about — the bottom line is that everyone does pretty damn well, and under those circumstances, everyone has learned to get along.”

Shutting Out the Competition

Few would deny that the professional sports world, with its billion-dollar coffers and individual monopolies that typically allow one league to dominate each sport, is fertile ground for greed and even corruption.

However, Zimbalist stops short of calling for federal regulation, noting that even baseball’s legendary anti-trust exemption, so often discussed during the strike of 1994-95, is more a symbol today than anything else.

“We’ve had anti-trust laws in this country since the 1880s,” he said, “and they used to be vigorously enforced to prevent monopolies from forming and abusing customers.

“They used to be somewhat effective,” he continued, “but since at least Ronald Reagan and maybe back further, they’ve been eviscerated, and new standards for finding companies in violation make it very difficult to prosecute. It’s almost as though society has deemed that monopolies are bad, but trying to prosecute them is worse, just a waste of resources.”

Given that scenario, he noted, it’s easy to understand how fans of average and lower income are slowly being priced out of the experience of watching live sports.

“Revenues have gone way up, players’ salaries have gone way up, and consumers have to pay a lot more to attend events,” said Zimbalist. “All of this could be taking place at a lower level. If stadiums didn’t extort large sums from cities, they’d have to play in more modest facilities and generate less revenue. Players would get paid less, ticket prices would be lower, and profits would be lower. It’s the exact same game, but ratcheted down a notch or two.”

He doesn’t blame the owners or players, though — “they want to maximize their profit, just like anyone else would do in their situation” — and doesn’t expect the system to change internally. But he says government interference isn’t the answer, either.

“If we knew how to regulate in this country, I would be more in favor of that, but regulators tend to get captured by industry and the morass of bureaucracy,” he said.

“I could see it on the world stage, where members of a commission put checks on policies,” he continued, “but I’m not sure the U.S. political scene could accommodate that very well.”

Two decades considering such debates, and immersing himself in the financial nitty-gritty of the games we play and watch, haven’t made Zimbalist less of a fan — just one with a more critical eye.

“I’m a different fan than I used to be,” he said. “I have less-focused preferences than I used to. I’ve worked with so many teams and leagues that I’ve come to appreciate many of them. So I tend to root for the teams of my friends, people I respect and like. My preferences are much more evenly distributed, but that just means I have more horses in the race.”

And if he gets too jaded? Well, there’s always Little League.v

Joseph Bednar can be reached at[email protected]

Sections Supplements
New Technology Park Chairman Wants to Build Awareness of a ‘Gem’
Paul Adornato

Paul Adornato says one of his priorities is to raise the profile of the STCC Technology Park.

Paul Adornato admits that he didn’t know much about the Technology Park at STCC before he was asked to lead the board that oversees operations there and conducts long-term strategic planning for the facility.

“I knew it existed, but didn’t know any of the history,” he explained, adding that he understood that it had assumed space, several hundred thousand square feet of it, across Federal Street from the campus, once occupied by Digital Equipment Corp., but not much else.

What he knew of the Andrew M. Scibelli Enterprise Center at the tech park, which features two small-business incubators, was all that he could gather (again, not much) during a brief visit when he accompanied his daughter, who was at that time in the process of starting her own business, to a seminar on how to get such ventures off the ground.

Suffice it to say that Adornato has been given a crash course on the 12-year-old park since he was asked to chair the STCC Assistance Corp. (STCCAC), the body created by a special act of the state Legislature in 1996 to manage what has become an award-winning, unique facility. But while getting that education, he has been reflecting on his own prior ignorance concerning the park’s mission and operations — and quickly realizing that he certainly wasn’t alone.

Indeed, if Adornato, a retired senior vice president at MassMutual and an individual who, in his own words, is “committed to Springfield,” didn’t know how or why the park was formed and that it now houses companies employing close to 900 workers, then many others are likely still in the dark.

Thus, shedding some light on the situation and creating more awareness of the park and its reason for being are priority one for Adornato, who succeeds Brian Corridan, the original chairman of the STCCAC, who stepped down from that post late last fall. Such awareness is key, said Ardornato, because it is the foundation on which a stronger, financially healthier tech park can be built.

“I was thinking about how much I didn’t know about the tech park,” he told BusinessWest, referring to the conversations he had late last fall with Corridan, STCC President Ira Rubenzahl, and others that effectively brought him up to speed. “In talking to some of my peers, I found that they didn’t really know much about this gem, either.

“And that’s what excites me about this opportunity,” he said of his new assignment. “We have a chance to educate a lot of people about what we have here.”

As part of a broad strategy to get the word out, and thus draw more technology-related tenants to the park, Adornato said he’ll work with his board and college officials to correct many of the misconceptions about the facility. “There are several,” he said, starting with the common belief that it is occupied mostly or entirely by state agencies.

There are a few — the Mass. Department of Revenue’s Child Support Division is in the park, as is the Mass. Rehab Commission — but the facility is filled mostly with technology-related private and publicly held businesses.

That list includes Western Mass. Electric Co., Fibertech Networks, Crocker Communications, One Communications, MAP Internet, MCI Worldcom, Northeast Optic Network, Springboard Technology, Wiltel Communications, and others. There are also several startups, such as Mindwing Concepts, which creates reading and literacy aids for the classroom, and Magellan Works, a staffing agency; a few non-profits, such as Valley Radio Reading Service; FutureWorks, the one-stop career center; and some established companies such as the engineering firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin (VHB).

Other misconceptions, said Adornato, include the belief that the entire park is an incubator, that tenants are subsidized by the state, and that the park itself does not pay city taxes.

“There are a lot of negatives out there concerning the park,” he explained. “If we can get the real story out about how the park works and the value it brings to the area, people will see that this as probably a key to the future economic vitality of this region.”

Adornato told BusinessWest that one strategy he may pursue is staging receptions at the park for players in target markets — specifically companies in technology-related sectors, but also business groups and even state legislators — to build awareness and possibly recruit tenants for the immediate future and also further down the road.

“This method has worked for me with other things I’ve done during my career,” he explained. “You start by identifying your customers, reaching out to them, and then bringing them together. If you can show them something they’re not fully aware of, it’s an education for them, something that can help them.”

Looking forward, Adornato said he wants to build more synergy not only between the park and STCC, but between the facility and other institutions, especially UMass Amherst.

Elaborating, he said he would like to attract businesses that would complement existing programs at STCC and other schools or perhaps inspire new ones in ways that would start building new job bases, in areas such as sustainable energy or biotechnology, and also secure adequate workforces to grow those new or emerging clusters.

“We should be able to do a much better job of tying in to UMass and the technology that’s emerging there,” he said. “We should also be tying in more to what’s happening here at STCC. With the infrastructure we have at the tech park and the technical community college across the street, we should be able to provide an attractive workforce to help this region grow.”

The tech park is still a player in the state’s quest to locate a data center in Springfield, he said, noting that the former Technical High School is also a candidate. While continuing to pursue that prize, the STCCAC will also explore other means to fill remaining space (the facility is about 80% occupied) and thus put the park, the first of its kind in the country and probably the world, on more-secure financial ground.

For starters, though, Adornato wants to focus on awareness-building efforts, because after 12 years in business, the Technology Park shouldn’t be a mystery to anyone in the Pioneer Valley.

— George O’Brien

Sections Supplements
The Real Reasons Employees Leave, and How to Keep the Best

Why do people leave teams and organizations?

The No. 1 reason people leave jobs is because they fail to connect with their bosses as leaders and as people. People are rarely honest about why they leave a company. Too many associates that depart follow the advice of Jimmy Conway (played by Robert DeNiro) in the 1990 hit movie Goodfellas, who told Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta), “Never rat on your friends, and keep your mouth shut.”

There is no up-side incentive for the employee to be open and honest. Think about it: the primary reason people leave companies is because of the relationship and lack of emotional connection with their boss. However, it is almost never talked about in the exit interview. Why? Who wants to burn a bridge with a boss they may need for a future job reference? It is easier to talk about work-life balance, moving on to build your skill sets, or the need to make more money. Salary is much further down the list as a reason to leave than what is usually reported in exit interviews.

What is your current game plan to keep your best people? While most companies talk a great deal about the need to retain the best people to sustain growth, they lack an integrated game plan to create retention momentum.

As a leader, you are personally accountable to acquire and retain the very best people. It is that simple. If you fail to recruit and retain the top talent, you will not sustain growth over time. At the end of the day, the effective leader must embrace a plan to retain the very best talent.

Emotional Connection Points

Emotional connections provide the fuels that greatly enhance retention. It is driven by the trust and development of your individual team members.  It starts with building your emotional connections with each team member.

The power of the ‘unexpected’ is the most powerful way to emotionally connect with another person. Think about it: do you get more credit with your significant other when you send a handwritten note when they least expect it? Of course you do. The same concept applies to you as a leader. It is the unexpected things a leader does that really make the difference. Some examples:

  • Write a personal, handwritten note or send a greeting card to the spouses or significant others telling them what a difference their partner is making to your business.
  • Take the employee to breakfast, lunch, or dinner (if appropriate) and ask them what really matters to them and what you can do as a leader to help them build their future dreams.
  • Take your entire team out together to celebrate a special event. For example, when I was with Hallmark, I would take my team out every year for a holiday dinner in the private dining room of a local restaurant. At the end of the meeting, I would go around the room and say something special about each of the team members. The primary message delivered in front of the entire team focused on the unique skill sets each person brings to the table throughout the year to make us all successful.
  • Place calls to significant influencers or key family members in their lives. You should make phone calls to fathers and mothers if you believe it will make a difference to your best employees. Always ask permission first if you are going to contact anyone beyond the spouse. It is impossible to know without asking whether a call to someone’s parents would be comfortable for an employee or not. You also should follow any laws or rules regarding employee privacy.
  • Create a surprise, fun outing as part of a team business trip. For example, I took my team on a business trip together to the West Coast. While on the trip, we made an unexpected stop at ‘the Rock,’ or Alcatraz, in San Francisco. This created wonderful experiences that directly enhanced team bonding.
  • Organize local activities for the team. These events are fun team activities that should be done during regular business hours to truly be appreciated. Weekend team activities that cut into individual personal time are almost always guaranteed to land with a giant thud. Remember, your team wants you to be a great leader. They are not looking for another weekend friend.
  • Utilize your boss to deliver special praise for a job well done in a one-on-one meeting with your team member. If you are not a CEO, you can engage your supervisor, to conduct a one-on-one meeting with your best-performing team members. Again, this meeting should be unexpected and focus on results and accomplishments as well as the recognition of the unique strengths of the individual. If you are a CEO, having a key member of the board of directors call one of your best people just to tell them how much they are appreciated will go a long way toward retention.
  • Create an unexpected personalized memento for individual team members celebrating the accomplishment of a major event.
  • Retailer Connection

    Ron Cox, an Ace True Value Hardware owner in Appleton, Wis., represents a great example of emotionally connecting with employees. He sent a handwritten note and gift card to the significant other of each of his star employees to let them know how much their spouse meant to his store as a highly valued employee and person. These emotional connections will be transferred to the customer as Cox’s staff ‘pays it forward.’

    In the 2000 movie Pay It Forward, Kevin Spacey indicated that sometimes the smallest things make the biggest difference, and by using random acts of kindness you can ‘pay it forward.’ This will work very well from you to your employees and in turn to your customers.

    Big Foot

    I have always had a habit as a leader of stomping my feet when I walk down the hallway. People could always hear my size 12 loafers before we made visual contact. This habit has followed me throughout my career.

    During my early years I was counseled to walk slower and talk lower if I really wanted to move into senior management ranks. My teams always had fun with my foot stomping on a regular basis. In fact, I was given the unexpected gift of a ‘big boot’ from my team that was placed on a plaque with the inscription “Big Foot … Keep on Stompin’.” Everyone had a lot of fun with this award at my expense. I loved it!

    Combine all of these emotional connections with self-effacing humor. Always remember, humor at the expense of your team almost always removes deposits from the emotional connection bank. Take your job seriously, but go crazy making fun of yourself. Your team will love it. Humor also relaxes your team and reduces tension. Why were the movie and television series M*A*S*H so successful? They conveyed the humor that was so necessary to maintain sanity in a horrific situation.

    Home Turf

    Don’t forget how the little things can make a huge difference. For example, instead of always having your people meet with you in your office, go visit them on their home turf. It is a sign of mutual respect.

    The ironic part is that, by going to their home base, you give up your legitimate management authority to that person. They will actually see you as a more confident and caring leader. The location of the meeting is a little thing that makes a big difference. You will increase your effectiveness as a leader when you visit your people’s home turf regularly.

    Make Time to Connect

    Remember, people do not usually leave organizations. They leave their leaders. If you lose enough good people, your organization will be unable to grow. The effective leader understands that emotional connections to the leader are the most powerful retention devices in the tool kit.

    If this is all true, why do leaders so often fail to build these emotional connections with their people? Because it takes time and places leaders outside their comfort zones, thus increasing their vulnerability.

    It is easier to tackle those 85 E-mails sitting in your in-box. What many leaders fail to realize is that they are actually more vulnerable if they choose not to invest the time to do it. How does the time needed to replace all your top talent compare with the investment you need to make to emotionally connect with your people? You need to invest every day.

    Jim Welch is founder and president of The Growth Leader Inc., a business-leadership consulting firm, and principal owner in LeadershipFuelNow, LLC. He works with Fortune 500 clients and entrepreneurs throughout the U.S. He is the author of Grow Now: 8 Essential Steps to Flex Your Leadership Muscles;www.thegrowthleader.com

    Sections Supplements
    Cities Seek Strategies to Break Through in the Convention Market
    Todd Greenwood

    Todd Greenwood, vice president of convention center sales and marketing, says Springfield has what it takes to be a major player in the conventions market.

    The convention business sector is slowly improving across the nation, returning to pre-9/11 levels of activity, according to those in the industry. This more-robust climate is creating opportunities for cities like Springfield and Hartford that have invested heavily in convention facilities, but competition is immense in this sector, with communities essentially fishing from the same pond. As in other industries, success in this one lies with effectively building a brand, which for Springfield is still a work in progress.

    To publicize Greater Springfield as a destination for conventions, Mary Kay Wydra says that focusing on its small-market character can sometimes help distinguish the region and its convention facility, the MassMutual Center, from other, competing markets.

    “If you bring your convention here, odds are you’ll own the building,” she said. “But we take it step further, and tell people that, for a few days, they can also own the region.”

    To better illustrate that notion, Wydra, director of the Greater Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau (GSCVB), cited a recent delegation — the Daughters of the Nile, a charitable organization that raises funds for Shriners Hospitals for Children nationwide. More than 2,500 members descended on the City of Homes last June. Dressed in colorful costumes that are one trademark of the group, members were visible, and their presence was noticed — with the group returning an estimated $1.6 million to the region in direct spending.

    “They also had four front-page stories written about them in the time they were here,” said Wydra. “We want to showcase the conventions that choose Springfield — in larger cities, they’re not going to get that kind of press. We offer a small-town environment in a large city, and the front-line people know how to treat visitors well.”

    Despite this ability, Springfield is finding the convention business a challenging one to enter, and the city somewhat of a tough sell nearly three years after the MassMutual Center opened its doors.

    “The booking pace for the long term isn’t where we hoped it would be,” said Wydra, noting, however, that the GSCVB is working closely with the Mass. Convention Center Authority (MCCA) and other partners to boost those numbers. And officials here can take some inspiration from other Northeast cities, including Hartford and Providence, that had similar teething troubles while getting serious about the convention business.

    Those cities learned that it takes time to establish a solid reputation in the industry and effectively build their brands, she said, noting that Springfield is making considerable progress with that assignment.

    Todd Greenwood, the GSCVB’s recently appointed vice president of Convention Center Sales and Marketing, says the city has a lot to offer convention planners, including attractions, plenty of hotel rooms, and especially prices that are affordable, especially when compared to major metropolitan areas.

    “Hotel rates, parking fees, restaurant bills, these are all going to be lower than in Boston or New York City,” he explained, “and that’s especially important on ‘expense report day,’ when planners start breaking down how expensive it is to hold a convention in a given area.”

    In this issue, BusinessWest looks at the highly competitive convention business, and what cities have done, and are doing, to put themselves on the map.

    The States of the Industry

    H. Scott Phelps, president of the Greater Hartford Convention and Visitors Bureau (GHCVB), said he remembers similarly lean times for that city not so long ago.

    He told BusinessWest that Hartford, like Springfield, continues to build momentum after opening a new facility — the Connecticut Convention Center — in 2005. It has done so by paying attention to activity in the hospitality sector to ensure that an adequate number of well-appointed, updated hotel rooms and other convention-related facilities are available to delegates of all kinds.

    “We can’t just book any time,” he said. “We have to make sure we have the rooms, and hotels have been an issue.”

    Phelps explained that before the Connecticut Convention Center, which carried a $270 million price tag, opened, the city was “under-facilitied,” and thus had difficulties drawing meetings and conventions. But now, the opposite problem exists — keeping up with the demand for convention space in four diverse venues.

    “We’re overcoming that,” said Phelps. “We added 409 rooms with a new Marriott; the Goodwin Hotel is completing a multi-million renovation; the Hilton was closed prior to opening the convention center to become a brand-new, upscale, trendy hotel; and the Crowne Plaza is also completing renovations now. In short, the hotels have proved their products.”

    In Rhode Island, Neil Schriever, vice president of Sales and Marketing for the Providence-Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau (PWCVB), which oversees bookings at the Rhode Island Convention Center and the adjacent Dunkin’ Donuts Center, said the recent addition of new hotel rooms in the capital city has also raised Providence’s convention business profile.

    “We are finding that in Providence, changes to our rooms packages in the last eight months enables us to be considered for groups that would have overlooked us before,” said Schriever, noting that the bulk of major convention business is done in Providence, with smaller meetings often welcomed elsewhere in the state. “We added 500 new hotel rooms in the community, 200 of which are at our anchor hotel, the Westin, connected to the convention center.

    We’ve increased the city’s walkability for convention attendees, and we’re seeing great signs of success for future business.”

    While the Rhode Island Convention Center, which focuses on meetings, and the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, which includes expansive arena space, are not new buildings, both have undergone renovations in the last decade, and just last month, the two buildings were connected by a covered walkway.

    “The Dunkin’ Donuts Center is also in the midst of a three-phase renovation due to be completed next fall,” said Schriever, noting that the project amounts to a complete overhaul of the center’s interior and façade.

    To continue to build on that momentum, Schriever added that the PWCVB is working to identify meetings and events that can utilize both buildings in the coming years.

    “We’ve really put a bigger focus on our convention services division, working to promote the destination and boost attendance,” he offered. “For instance, we may go to a conference the year before it’s scheduled to come to Rhode Island, put up a booth, and work to get attendees excited about the coming year.

    “We have a good brand,” he continued, “but there is still increased competition regionally and nationally, and we must maintain our presence on a national level. Not having enough availability — of convention space or rooms — is another challenge.”

    Conventional Thinking

    The GHCVB has also instituted programs with similar goals, including a hospitality task force that meets every month to discuss new programming options and improvements to the existing model, and a free shuttle service that runs from the Convention Center to downtown Hartford six days a week, every 12 minutes. Phelps said it’s a Connecticut Transit Authority program that directly connects convention delegates with the dining and entertainment options in the area.

    “The restaurants are doing a plethora of new things on their own that we can now better introduce to new audiences,” he said. “The convention center has been a catalyst for other things happening. It’s what we hoped for, and what the center’s supporters anticipated.”

    Wydra said she expects that Springfield will follow that same script, but knows that the road ahead is paved with challenges — and expectations that will be difficult to meet.

    The $71 million renovation/new construction project that created the MassMutual Center set the stage for some specific booking goals; in 2005, MCCA executive director Jim Rooney told BusinessWest he hoped to reach a rate of 65% of the year — 237 out of 365 days. The city is well behind that pace, but making progress, said Wydra.

    She noted that, like Hartford and other cities, Springfield must endure a considerable ramp-up period in the convention sector. Many organizations plan their conventions as many as five years ahead of time, and often rotate between a handful of different venues; as such, the MassMutual Center could easily need another two to four years to reach what Wydra calls “a steady diet” of convention business.

    She explained further that, due to the lengthy construction period for the building, it was essentially removed from most meeting planners’ radar screens for a considerable time, and now, the GSCVB must work to re-enter the picture.

    “The civic center was offline for five years,” she said. “I think the hotels in the area have gotten used to not having a convention center from which to draw business, and now part of our job is to change that mindset and attract more business.”

    Greenwood said the Greater Springfield area has the convention-sector pieces in place to do just that. Hotel capacity in the region, which includes access to more than 50 facilities in Western Mass. and Connecticut, is generally solid, he said, creating a healthy base from which to grow.

    “This area has all of the critical components,” he said. “We have the facility itself and the hotel capacity. This city is affordable, but not cheap.”

    Greenwood, who comes to his new position most recently from the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association, returned to that region-wide marketing effort currently being used by the GSCVB to sell Western Mass. along with the MassMutual Center, adding that, while Springfield may not offer the largest market, it does offer a number of positives that are attractive to meeting planners, including those affordable prices.

    Greenwood said the GSCVB is also enlisting the help of the region’s citizens to promote the MassMutual Center and its home base as a viable convention venue through a program called Pioneer Valley Pride, which charges local residents who belong to regional, state, or national associations to provide the bureau with the names of those who run those organizations.

    Raising Reservations

    And if the emerging success stories in Hartford and Providence are any indication, skies could be clearing here over the next few years.

    Schriever said he’s beginning to see some positive trends affecting the Providence market, such as the emergence of a new, short-term demand for mid-sized meetings, which can help to bridge the gap between periods of wooing and waiting and those of bargaining and booking.

    “We’re still getting calls for 1,000-person meetings within a 12-month window,” he said. “Right now, with the state of economy as it is, we might see a slowdown in this area, but we’re not anticipating one.”

    Further, Schriever said, while convention bureaus across New England are often ladling from the same pot of stew, collaboration in this region of the country is more robust than in most, and this helps move everyone forward in the long run.

    “As much as we all compete, we work together to target trade shows on a national level,” he said, noting that this work is often done through the New England Society of Convention and Visitors Bureaus, a membership organization. “We collaborate to sell the whole destination, and it’s important work, because it gets people to New England. If one of us brings in a conference, it’s possible that they will want to return to another venue in New England in the future.”

    Indeed, the Hartford, Providence, and Springfield convention markets are very different in many respects; both Hartford’s operating budget and convention facility footprint, for instance, are much larger, and its venues more diverse, than in the City of Homes.

    However, convention bureaus across the nation share similar strengths and weaknesses, and the industry itself is experiencing an upswing.

    “The industry has seen growth over the past five years; we’ve caught up to pre-9/11 numbers, and there are no signs of a slowdown,” said Greenwood.

    Hartford is also a year or two ahead of the GSCVB in terms of construction of a new facility and the subsequent development programs that follow.

    Phelps said business was good for all of the city’s convention spaces last year — the Connecticut Expo Center, the Hartford Civic Center, the Connecticut Convention Center, and Rentschler Field.

    “We had an outstanding 2007,” he said, noting that, on average, a delegate at a Connecticut convention will stay in the area for an average of 3.6 days and spend about $300. “Part of the reason we had a successful year was because we hosted large conventions, some with up to 10,000 delegates, and also hosted some for up to five days. The economic impact was that much greater, and we utilized a terrific number of hotels. We spread groups out among our hotels, and that created a spread across the city.”

    To capitalize on the growth now being seen in the convention industry, Phelps said the GHCVB is focusing on a few key elements of the convention-planning process in 2008. The first is selling Hartford’s convenient locale, close to major thoroughfares including interstates 91 and 84, as well as its affordability as a smaller city. As in Springfield, Connecticut’s small size as a state can be a draw rather than a hindrance, added Phelps.

    “Connecticut could fit into many metropolitan areas, such as Houston or Atlanta,” he said. “The diversity of experiences that creates within an hour’s drive is attractive to a lot of people, including those who come from those big cities.

    “Here, they can see the bigger region, including the casinos, Mystic Seaport, the college town of New Haven, and the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield. These are especially attractive for offsite meetings and spouse programs.”

    One Fish, Two Fish

    Greenwood agreed that when it comes to convention planning, no market, no matter how big or small, can rely on any one strength to pull new audiences in.

    “You can’t hang your hat on one thing, but if we we’re going to boil it down to one major effort, it’s concentrating on how to get attendees excited. The city is very capable of doing this.”

    And, he said, the GSCVB and Greater Springfield as a whole will continue to reach out to all types of delegates, not only because the region needs the traffic, but because it wants to be a gracious host.

    “It’s no secret that many convention bureaus are fishing from the same pond,” he said, “but the hard part is getting people here. Once we do, we think they’re impressed; the ‘big fish’ mentality appeals to them.”

    Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

    Sections Supplements
    Time-tested Tactics Still Outshine the Bells and Whistles
    Paul Robbins

    Paul Robbins, president of Paul Robbins Associates, says he undertakes a certain amount of pro bono work each year to assist causes he feels strongly about and keep his name relevant in the marketplace.

    Marketing is a multi-faceted business sector that draws from many different disciplines to create results for a wide array of clients. But what about when the advertising gurus must promote themselves? It seems the best courses of action still include some of the oldest tricks in the book, revamped with a focus on today’s diverse marketplace — in other words, practicing what you preach.

    There’s an aspect of marketing and advertising that Janet Warren, owner of MarCom Capital in Hatfield, says is unique to the industry.

    “You get to be your own guinea pig,” she explained. “As marketers, we are constantly giving advice to our clients, so we routinely test our own advice on ourselves. We have to take a look at what we’re saying to clients — it helps us to be objective and critical, in a positive way, about the advice given to other people.”

    Indeed, marketers are business owners, too, and they’re frequently charged with getting their own name and message out to the masses, just as they help position their clients for increased success in the marketplace.

    This often means turning their own advice inward, and in turn, this tactic sometimes helps them gauge what’s working and what may be ready for retirement in an increasingly specialized, fast-paced business sector.

    “Whether you’re a marketer or not, you need to know what it is about your business that is unique and makes you stand out,” said Warren. “And that process starts with asking questions.”

    The Value-based Sale

    Some of those questions include ‘what are my strengths?’ ‘how can I best help my clients?’ and ‘which types of clients are the best fit for my set of specialties?’ Further, all of these queries are aimed at one goal: translating the value of a marketer’s services to the most appropriate audience. Warren said it’s the most important aspect of what she calls “value-based selling.”

    “It’s really important for marketers to develop a clear, concise message, and to be transparent about what they do,” she said. “Value-based sales sell results: things like our portfolios or case studies of past projects. We have to have results at the ready. They give someone an illustration of what we do, but also help to explain the process.

    “The overall idea is that, through value-based selling, clients or potential clients walk away with information they didn’t have before,” she added.

    Paul Robbins, president of Paul Robbins Associates in Wilbraham, added that honing in on existing strengths adds even more weight to such presentations, and to advertising one’s own marketing outfit, as it allows firms of all types to speak more directly to the types of clients they can best serve.

    “You can be everywhere, or you can be scarce and let your work be your calling card,” he said, likening the difference between the two avenues to the steady stream of guests on a late-night television show. “Johnny Carson used to have guests that were on all the time, but he also had guests that chose to appear only a handful of times who were just as memorable because they chose their appearances very carefully.”

    In Western Mass., he added, the marketing and advertising sector is robust, creating healthy competition for work. Some firms choose to be as all-encompassing as possible to thrive in this market, while others choose to hone in on a specific niche. Either way, he said, the focus should always been on quality, not quantity, because a marketer’s most powerful tool is the work they’ve completed.

    “Marketers rely heavily on their reputations — letting their projects speak for them,” he said. “If I achieve a successful result, if my client is happy with the work, then that’s an automatic marketing tool for me.”

    Warren agreed, adding that this market is one that is also becoming increasingly diverse in a number of creative and technology-related fields. This, she speculated, could signal a shift in the industry toward greater collaboration and subcontracting among firms with various competencies.

    “I think one of the reasons that firms have tried do everything in the past is that this is a small market, and there aren’t many companies that can afford to hire a number of experts,” she said. “But what is important is not to be the best marketer, but to do what we do really well, and to link strategy with action steps and coordinate the pieces. There are a lot of really smart marketers in this market — there’s something about each firm that is a forté.”

    She said that by differentiating a firm’s services from all others, a marketer can not only better reach clients, but business partners as well. “I focus on strategy, and I work with both small and large companies to pull multiple things together. I am not the most technology-savvy person out there, but I can easily pull in an SEO (search-engine optimization) expert if needed, for example.”

    There are some things that all marketers must do, added Robbins, to remain relevant, among them a maintaining a Web presence and rethinking traditional office hours.

    “This is a whole new arena for business,” he said. “Clients want to be able to reach me at any time — at noon on a Tuesday, or on a Saturday morning. This still boils down to good customer service and accessibility, but with the Internet and cell phones, the channels have changed. We must engage people in a different way.”

    March of the Penguins

    But while the industry is evolving, especially through technology, there are still many time-tested tactics that continue to factor greatly into a firm’s success, including the power of word-of-mouth.

    “It’s still the single most powerful marketing tool in the world, and that’s true for marketers as much as anyone else,” said Robbins. “If someone receives great service, they’re going to refer me to someone else.”

    Lucy Carlson, owner of Carlson Advertising based in Palmer, said word-of-mouth has factored greatly into her business plan, and was also integral in getting her business off the ground two years ago.

    “I mostly started getting work by making contacts through the Quaboag Chamber,” she said. “That was really a home run — my first two clients came from that affiliation. From there, I’ve continued to develop relationships. Developing a level of trust and comfort is important, because it increases the clients’ confidence in referring you to other people.”

    Carlson said that’s doubly important for smaller firms like her own, which is positioned to offer companies of varying sizes a wide range of marketing services.

    “I’m small, so I’m focused on personal, one-on-one service. I want people to see me as their marketing person, handling the things they don’t have time for in their business and to help them stand out by finding their own voice.”

    This has become a key aspect of Carlson’s internal advertising. Her firm’s tag line — “In an over-communicated world, how are you going to stand out?” — sends a message to potential clients, but also applies to her own business strategy. A print ad designed for Carlson Advertising by a design firm she often contracts with translated the phrase visually into a sea of penguins, featuring one bird in particular separated from the flock.

    “When you see footage or photos of penguins, there are always thousands of them, just walking in the same direction,” said Carlson. “This business can feel like that sometimes, so the idea became, ‘how do I stand out from the crowd?’”

    She added that public events such as trade shows have returned positive results as far as getting her company’s name and message out in the region.

    “Public events work for me because of the amount of people seeing my work,” she said. “We’re a visual society, so I think that’s why they’re effective. If someone walks by the booth of a client of mine and asks about who handled the design or the copy, I’m getting a benefit, and it’s not even my business on display.”

    Front-porch Pitch

    Robbins said there are other ways to get a firm’s name out in front of the public eye, including efforts to factor in a certain amount of pro bono work each year.

    Robbins completed just such a project recently for the Hatikvah Holocaust Education Center in Springfield, creating a suite of marketing materials to publicize the museum. He calls such jobs “front-porch projects,” because they are as important to the community as they are to raising his firm’s profile.

    “I do a fair amount of pro bono work, and personally, I feel strongly about healing racism in America,” he explained. “I try to invest in projects that have that characteristic because, first, it’s important to me, and that adds value to my work. Second, there’s a real benefit when someone picks up a brochure for one of these projects and asks who designed it.”

    Warren said that regardless of the project, allowing work to speak for itself is a huge part of any marketer’s self-focused campaign because of the sheer nature of the work at hand.

    “We sell abilities,” she said. “Savvy business leaders and entrepreneurs who don’t know marketing particulars understand that they need people to help them translate their message, and in this ‘Web 2.0’ world, things are getting very specialized. What I try to do is be the one person to pull it all together.”

    Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

    Departments

    The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of January 2008.

    AGAWAM

    Amgari-Com
    417 Springfield St.
    Cassandre Gagnon

    Michael P. Losito
    489 Shoemaker Lane
    Michael P. Losito

    The Garden
    1422 Main St.
    Kuldeep Sandhu

    AMHERST

    Amherst Landscape & Design
    256 Harkness Road
    Steven Prothers

    Andr-Meda Translations & Language Consulting
    232 Northeast St.
    Molly M. Lim

    Greenhorn Farm
    599 South Pleasant St.
    Marc D. Cesario

    Hangar Pub & Grill
    55 University Dr.
    Harold Tramazzo

    CHICOPEE

    Croppers Circle
    246 Montcalm St.
    Kimberly Chmura

    Custom Racing Hose
    130 Greenwood Ter.
    Barry J. Pasterczyk

    Debra’s Beauty Solutions
    591 Grattan St.
    Debra L. Watson

    Dollywood Inc.
    13 View St.
    Daniel J. Sypek

    J.W. Landscapes
    14 Clyde St.
    Lukasz J. Wolanczyk

    Winn Residential
    68 Eastern Dr.
    Winn Managed Properties

    EASTHAMPTON

    J.A.K. Enterprises
    37 East Green St.
    John A. Karakula Jr.

    Pioneer Valley Crossfit
    105 Pleasant St.
    Sean Manseau

    EAST LONGMEADOW

    Premier Realtors
    200 North Main St.
    Michael G. Robie

    Redstone Automotive
    174 Shaker Road
    Darrell Bosworth

    Runway 73
    60 Shaker Road
    Amy Dodd

    GREENFIELD

    Alternative Merchant Services
    13 Cedar St.
    John Michelson

    Bob’s Health Fitness & ACS
    154 Main St.
    Bob E. Uguccioni

    Dad’s Liquor’s
    402 Federal St.
    Andre L. Guilmet

    Genesis Massage
    207 Main St.
    Jennifer Schmidt

    Independent Administrative & Technical Support
    82 Sanderson St.
    Mary Ellen Calderwood

    Meadow’s Lawn Care
    49 Lunt Dr.
    Todd Wiles

    Rubicon Solutions
    41 Madison Circle
    Jorge Luiz Gonzalez

    V.O. Rell Enterprises
    332 Deerfield St.
    Dan Viorel Oros

    HADLEY

    CAV Motor
    129 Long Pond Road
    William Cavanaugh

    Mountainview Auto Sales
    71 Lawrence Plain Road
    John Mieczkowski

    HOLYOKE

    E & C Services
    19 Concord Ave.
    Edward J. Glica

    Friendly Variety Store
    1373 Dwight St.
    Olga Lopez

    NRL Service Group LLP
    50 Holyoke St.
    Maria Lepkowski

    Pearl Bridal Boutique
    1 Open Square Way
    Ryan Mainville

    Tan Factory
    512 Westfield Road
    Darlene Chalifoux

    NORTHAMPTON

    Kristy’s Nails
    137C Damon Road
    Orehid Nguyen

    Northern Light Studio
    221 Pine St.
    Phoebe Dent Weil

    PALMER

    Periera Landscaping
    P.O. Box 517
    John D. Perry

    The NR Group
    43 French Dr.
    Nathan R. Olson

    Wendy Deboise @ The Mane Attraction
    1020 Central St.
    Wendy Deboise

     

    SOUTH HADLEY

    DM Towing
    254 Old Lyman Road
    Darlene M. Forget

    KennRose
    4 Hunter Terrace
    Michael P. Dowd

    Mass Valley Plumbing
    14 McDowell Dr.
    Joel M. Rivera

    SOUTHWICK

    Wermon Enterprises
    642 College Highway
    Brian Drenen

    Zanto
    137 Sunnyside Road
    Lawrence Bannish

    SPRINGFIELD

    Nubians Beauty Supply
    874 State St.
    Regina S. Haines

    Oncore Manufacturing
    225 Carando Dr.
    Arthur James Jackson

    Ortiz Professional Services
    1593 Main St.
    Dianna R. Lefevre

    Papale Eye Center
    1515 Allen St.
    Center For Eye

    Precision Abrasive Jet
    395 Liberty St.
    Robert William Willis

    Precision Auto Repair
    70 Union St.
    James Stephenson

    RECAAT
    67 Northampton Ave.
    Miguel Velez

    Shamrock Home Improvement
    31 Chase Ave.
    Jason Clark Rebelo

    Sheehan Financial Group
    1365 Main St.
    Gregory R. Sheehan

    Shepherds Real Estate
    87 Fountain St.
    Neal Boyd

    Signature
    1232 Main St.
    Ik Joo Moon

    Strait Way Cuts
    6 Johnson St.
    Timothy Dwayne

    Talk of the Town Restaurant
    320 Wilbraham Road
    Cornel Forbes

    Tebaldi’s Line Right
    353 Page Blvd.
    Anthony J. Tebaldi

    Thomas Sanitizing Solutions
    120 Fargo St.
    Cynthia D. Thomas

    TMK
    15 Crestmont St.
    Tracy M. Kelly

    Undercutters Heating & Company
    72 Elijah St.
    Robert Luis Irizarry

    VIP Cuts
    445 Main St.
    Hector Gonzalez

    Veritek Manufacturing LLC
    225 Carando Dr.
    Arthur James Jackson

    Wheeler’s Convenience
    597 Dickinson St.
    Faiz Rabbani

    William’s Courier Service
    147 Rosemary Dr.
    Jerome Timothy

    Winn Residential
    769 Main St.
    Samuel Ross

    WESTFIELD

    Autos For Less
    300 Main St.
    Kenneth E. Scharmann

    Scott’s Handyman Services
    94 Pontoosic Road
    Scott Rines

    Speech Therapy Services
    30 Court St.
    Elizabeth Jury

    WEST SPRINGFIELD

    American Construction
    24 W. School St.
    Anatoly Kishko

    Cabot Creamery Cooperative
    958 Riverdale St.
    Agri-Mark Inc.

    Elite Paintball
    677 Westfield St.
    Marshall Royce

    Marjan Transportation
    79 Day St.
    Bakhtiyar S. Agayen

    MW Tux
    1321 Riverdale St.
    Men’s Wearhouse Inc.

    Peachy Massage
    81 Exposition Ave.
    Deborah Parker

    Polonez Parcel Service Inc.
    143 Doty Circle
    Jan A. Chrzan

    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

    Christina A. Douglas v. Nathaniel Woods and VanPak Inc.
    Allegation: Motor vehicle negligence: $24,000
    Filed: 1/08/08

    Roland Kolek v. A. Perreira Construction
    Allegation: Seeking payment for damages to car due to improper grading of street: $1,261.36
    Filed: 1/10/08

    FRANKLIN SUPERIOR COURT

    James E. Muenkel v. Mohawk Trail Regional School District
    Allegation: Negligence in property maintenance causing injury during gym class: $27,136.31
    Filed: 12/27/07

    HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT

    Frank Montaneiz v. United Parcel Service and Vincenzo Mazzeo
    Allegation: Employee discrimination: $25,000
    Filed: 11/26/07

    Lisa Miller v. Carlo M. Buendo, CDB Realty, LLC and Reminder Publications Inc.
    Allegation: Personal injury due to fall: $363,856
    Filed: 11/21/07

    Philip Clouter v. Wild Turkey Development, LLC
    Allegation: Construction of sub-division changed water flow and floods plaintiff’s property: $50,000.00
    Filed: 12/24/07

    HAMPSHIRE SUPERIOR COURT

    Wells Fargo Bank N.A. v. George E. Browne Associates
    Allegation: Breach of credit contract: $77,044.34
    Filed: 12/24/07

    HOLYOKE DISTRICT COURT

    Five Star Jet Center Inc. v. Air Fleet Management Enterprise Inc.
    Allegation: Non-payment of goods received: $2,728.11
    Filed: 12/21/07

    PALMER DISTRICT COURT

    James Kokoszyna v. Building Blocks Construction Inc.
    Allegation: Negligent construction of single-family home and breach of warranty: $17,500.00
    Filed: 1/16/08

    Bozzuto’s Inc. v. Tenczars Superette Inc.
    Allegation: Non-payment of goods delivered: $15,419.76
    Filed: 1/04/08

    SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT

    Jay Marie Burgos, by her mother v. YMCA of Greater Springfield
    Allegation: Negligence causing personal injury: $4,081.40
    Filed: 12/19/07

    Patterson Dental Supply Inc. v. Art Dental Lab Inc.
    Allegation: Breach of credit agreement: $10,326.78
    Filed: 12/19/07

    WESTFIELD DISTRICT COURT

    Anderson Associates v. Northeast Construction Services
    Allegation: Non-payment of surveying services rendered: $2,040.00
    Filed: 12/18/07

    Cynthia Bruneau v. Wal-Mart
    Allegation: Falsely accused of shoplifting: $2,000
    Filed: 1/08/08

    Departments

    The following building permits were issued during the month of January 2008.

    AGAWAM

    Town of Agawam
    68 Main St.
    $100,000 — Construction of new special education classroom

    CHICOPEE

    Centro Properties
    591B Memorial Ave.
    $59,500 — Install two walk-in freezers and reach-in coolers

    D & G Realty
    70 North Chicopee St.
    $8,200 — Renovate office space

    EAST LONGMEADOW

    First Congregational Church/T-Mobile
    7 Somers Road
    $140,000 — Wireless antenna

    Pineknoll Recreation Center
    1974 Allen St.
    $80,000 — Roof and new siding on five buildings

    GREENFIELD

    Greenfield Savings Bank
    201 Munson St.
    $64,200 — Re-roof

    Mohawk Greenfield Motel Corporation
    125 Mohawk TL
    $2,300 — Interior repairs

    HADLEY

    Anthony Gleason
    10 South Maple St.
    $10,000 — Construct a 460-square-foot kitchen in former storage area

    Pyramid Mall of Hadley, LLC
    367 Russell St.
    $123,000 — Construct nail salon in existing mall

    Richard Hollrock
    294 Russell St.
    $5,000 — Interior alterations

    HOLYOKE

    Holyoke Mall Company, L.P.
    50 Holyoke St.
    $105,000 — Remodel Mrs. Fields store

    Holyoke Mall Company, L.P.
    50 Holyoke St.
    $127,000 — Remodel Spencer’s store

    Holyoke Mall Company, L.P.
    50 Holyoke St.
    $34,000 — Remodel Pandora store

    NORTHAMPTON

    Cooley Dickinson Hospital Inc.
    30 Locust St.
    $973,000 — Renovate first floor for new OB practice

    Don Obitz
    388 King St.
    $74,000 — Interior renovation of dining room & restrooms at D’Angelos

     

    Richard Boyle
    141 East Damon Road
    $1,500 — Construct wall to divide room for waiting room & dance studio

    Smith College
    29 Kensington Ave.
    $1,500 — Install replacement windows

    St. John’s Episcopal Church
    48 Elm St.
    $7,200 — Replace kitchen cabinets

    Sullivan & Sons Inc.
    84 North St.
    $50,000 — Office renovations

    PALMER

    John Libeda
    1293 South Main St.
    $2,000 — Rebuild roof over loading dock

    SOUTH HADLEY

    Royal Properties Investors
    1 White Brook Lane
    $490,000 — Renovations

    SOUTHWICK

    T-Mobile
    22 Industrial Road
    $2,400 — Cell tower attachment

    SPRINGFIELD

    Ellen Boynton
    666 State St.
    $3,000 — Construct covered walkway between Cory Café & Open Pavilion

    WESTFIELD

    Forish Construction
    45 Broad St.
    $55,0000 — Commercial renovation

    Paul & Angela Polo
    15 Nobel Ave.
    $58,000 — Commercial addition

    Westfield Bank
    300 Southampton Road
    $3,000 — Commercial renovation

    WEST SPRINGFIELD

    Alex Rassim, LLC
    1142 Memorial Ave.
    $26,000 — Renovate 600-square-foot of existing commercial space

    Century Investments Company
    239 Memorial Ave.
    $35,000 — Renovate checkout counter area

    Gullam Kagzi Islamic Center
    377 Amostown Road
    $8,700 — New commercial kitchen hood exhaust system

    Departments

    Business Confidence Index Drops Off Sharply

    BOSTON — The Business Confidence Index measured by the Associated Industries of Mass. (AIM) dropped 2.9 points in January to 50.6, its lowest reading since October 2003, as a sharp slowdown in economic activity brought the state to the edge of recession. “The Commerce Department’s figures for national growth and the reported loss of jobs nationally in January, as well as MassBenchmarks’ indices for the state economy, all point to the end of expansion,” said Raymond G. Torto, Ph.D., global chief economist at CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. and chair of AIM’s Board of Economic Advisors. “The AIM Index shows that while Massachusetts employers may not be resigned to a contraction, they certainly believe that the situation is precarious.” While the overall confidence level was still barely positive, above 50 on the 100-point scale, Massachusetts employers rated current business conditions negatively, and conditions in the state slightly worse than those prevailing nationally. “The Index had weakened in the second half of last year, but within a seven-point band [60.2-53.2] where it had been through 2005, 2006, and 2007,” Torto added. “January’s decline, the fifth in six months, dropped it more than two points below that range, and more than six points below its 17-year average.” Commenting on the January Business Confidence Index, Richard C. Lord, AIM’s president and CEO, said, “I’m not ready to call this a recession — and neither are our members — but the danger is there, and a drastic slowdown is certainly at hand. Business conditions in Massachusetts have been rated negatively for four of the past five months, and employers report essentially no job growth, and weakening sales.” The monthly Business Confidence Index, initiated by AIM’s Board of Economic Advisors in July 1991, is based on a survey of AIM member companies across Massachusetts, asking questions about current and prospective business conditions in the state and nation, as well as for respondents’ own operations. On the index’s 100-point scale, a reading above 50 indicates that the state’s employer community is predominantly optimistic, while a reading below 50 points to a negative assessment of business conditions. A number of component sub-indices are derived by analyzing responses to selected questions or those of particular groups of respondents.

    ACCGS Unveils 2008 Legislative Agenda

    SPRINGFIELD — The Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield (ACCGS) Inc. recently unveiled its legislative agenda for 2008 as part of its annual Outlook program. The issues are all in keeping with the board of directors’ continuing efforts to ensure that the cost of doing business in Massachusetts is reasonable and to ensure that chamber member businesses are economically competitive in today’s marketplace. Legislative Steering Committee members note that with an ’09 state budget based on a growth rate of 3.8%, a need for key new investments is in order to grow the economy. Areas that should be looked at include infrastructure, local aid, higher education/job training, and health care. Members feel strongly that investments in these areas would encourage economic growth and enable employers to compete in today’s market. Additionally, members feel that unemployment insurance reforms still need to be made, as well as the passage of the Truth in Hiring legislation. On health care, the ACCGS supported Massachusetts’ new health care reform legislation and will continue to be at the forefront of influencing its implementation. The chamber also continues to support affordable health care products and plans that will shift the cost of cross-subsidization of the uninsured away from employers and employees. Also, the chamber will continue to oppose the Nurse-to-Patient Ratio Bill. Members feel the bill proposes rigid and unrealistic levels of hospital nurse staffing in order to appease only one segment of hospital care providers. On Springfield’s financial situation, the ACCGS will continue to monitor issues specific to the city, from the Control Board’s makeup to specific economic-development projects. The Legislative Steering Committee is comprised of 31 business professionals who are members of the ACCGS. The committee has four subcommittees that perform in-depth research on specific issues. The committees are Budget, Workplace Issues, Health Care, and Outreach.

    Samuel’s Sports Bar & Tavern Slates Second Outlet at Hoop Hall

    SPRINGFIELD — Samuel’s Sports Bar & Tavern will open a second Samuel’s this summer at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Citing record growth at the 1019 Main St. location over the past four years, owner and president Edward J. Grimaldi felt the opportunity and timing was right to expand Samuel’s Tavern into the redeveloping riverfront area. Grimaldi expects to use the 6,000-square-foot space that was formerly occupied by a McDonald’s.

    Patrick Administration Releases Defense Sector Report

    BOSTON — The Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (EOHED) and MassDevelopment recently released an economic impact study of federal defense spending in Massachusetts. Conducted for MassDevelopment by the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute, the report pegs the state’s defense economy at $14.7 billion. According to the report, 2,435 Massachusetts companies received federal contracts for defense-related goods and services in FY 2005. The contracts supported 32,240 direct jobs, while defense-related activity generated an additional 39,187 jobs statewide. The dollar value of the contracts plus salaries paid to in-state military personnel and retirees was $9.2 billion and generated an additional $5.5 billion in related economic activity, for a total of $14.7 billion in direct and indirect spending. The defense sector is a significant economic driver for Massachusetts, according to Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Daniel O’Connell, adding, the state must protect its position in this important arena, and nurture its growth. As a result, Gov. Deval Patrick has directed the Mass. Office of Business Development and MassDevelopment to work with the state’s Congressional delegation, institutions, and industry leaders to preserve and expand programming at military bases in the state, redevelop closed facilities, support cost-saving efficiencies at operating installations, and support businesses seeking defense contract work in Massachusetts. The MassDevelopment/Donahue Institute study, “The Massachusetts Defense Industry: Characteristics and Economic Impact,” tracked and analyzed the scale and value of defense and security contracts awarded to Massachusetts companies; identified key subsectors, products, and services; compiled employment and payroll data; and investigated research and development awards to in-state firms and institutions. The full study is available at www.massdevelopment.com/massachusettsdefenseindustry.pdf

    MassMutual Research: Myths Exist about Retirement Confidence

    SPRINGFIELD — New research recently released by MassMutual Financial Group reveals a surprising contrast in consumers’ confidence about retirement preparedness and their actual savings behavior that could help shape the next generation of retirement savings solutions. The research study, conducted by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), included responses from more than 17,000 individuals participating in some 2,300 employer-sponsored retirement savings plans administered by MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division. In examining the relationship between savings confidence and actual savings behavior, the study found that individuals who save more and are more active in managing their retirement savings actually are less confident in their retirement security and the retirement decisions they make compared to individuals with lower savings rates. A key finding showed that those who are more active in managing their retirement savings (79%) are also more eager for help and information about investments and investing vs. those who are less active (47%). The study was conducted by participants visiting the MassMutual Retirement Services Division Web site in September and October 2007.

    Survey: Recruiting Remains Top Concern

    MENLO PARK, Calif. — Recruiting experienced professionals remains a concern for many companies, a nationwide survey shows. One in five (20%) chief financial officers (CFOs) polled recently said finding skilled staff will be their greatest challenge in the next 12 months, up three points from a similar poll in 2003. Meeting customer needs was the second-biggest concern, cited by 16% of respondents. With the national unemployment rate for college-educated professionals approximately half that of the general population, competition for skilled financial talent remains strong, according to Paul McDonald, executive director of Robert Half Management Resources, developer of the survey. To attract top performers, businesses are making recruiting a year-round priority, he added. McDonald cautions, however, against automatically filling an open position without first evaluating strategic personnel requirements. By conducting an in-depth workload analysis, hiring managers can determine if there is an ongoing need that requires a full-time employee or if the work could more efficiently be performed by an interim professional or outsourced to an accounting or consulting firm, said McDonald. The survey also revealed a decrease in the number of CFOs who saw government regulation as their biggest challenge. McDonald noted that since the initial requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act have been met, corporate-governance policies are more established, and the focus is on repeatable processes that ensure internal control over financial reporting. The survey included responses from 1,400 CFOs from a stratified random sample of U.S. companies with 20 or more employees.

    Employees Say It’s OK to Share Political Views

    MENLO PARK, Calif. — Talking politics has long been considered taboo at the office, but a new survey shows most workers aren’t afraid to play pundit at work — 67% of respondents said engaging in political debate is acceptable, within reason; another 14% actually invite these conversations. Nearly four in 10 workers polled said discussing political campaigns and candidates is common practice. With the presidential election drawing near, it’s only natural for politics to be a topic of interest, according to Diane Domeyer, executive director of OfficeTeam, developers of the survey. However, employees should be careful to not allow discussions of the election to become a divisive issue, she added.

    Departments

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

    Arbuzov, Pavel V.
    Arbuzov, Natalya
    42 Bridge St.
    Monson, MA 01057
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/17/07

    Arcidiacono, Shawn R.
    7 HomeCrest Ave.
    Ware, MA 01082
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/21/07

    Barfitt, Ronald G
    213 Birnam Road
    Northfield, MA 01360
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/19/07

    Bartle, Keith M
    19 Castlegate Dr.
    Springfield, MA 01129
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/31/07

    Bowens, Lonnie
    185 New Ludlow Road, Apt. 111-L
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/21/07

    Brackney, Robert G.
    Brackney, Johanna B.
    13 Pisgah Road
    Huntington, MA 01050
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/27/07

    Candelaria, Sonia
    414 Canon Circle
    Springfield, MA 01118
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/31/07

    Carter, Rodney
    6 Danaher Circle
    Springfield, MA 01118
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/28/07

    Carver, Cathy Louise
    a/k/a Marshall, Cathy Louise
    52 Irene St.
    Springfield, MA 01108
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/18/07

    Chagnon, Roland Richard
    Chagnon, Rachel Lee
    PO Box 18
    Belchertown, MA 01007
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/31/07

    Clement, Albert Charles
    121 Island Road
    Northampton, MA 01060
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/20/07

    Clingman, Charline D.
    14 Silver St.
    Monson, MA 01057
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/20/07

    Cole, Marie A
    17 Portland St.
    Holyoke, MA 01040
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/21/07

    D/B/A F C R Suspension
    Binney, Michael
    237 West St
    Belchertown, MA 01007
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/31/07

    D’Amours, Dorene Anne
    43B North Main St.
    South Hadley, MA 01075
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/17/07

    De Leo, Kerri E.
    76 Ashfield Road
    Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/20/07

    Dobiecki, Charlene
    110 Nora Lane
    Ludlow, MA 01056
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/20/07

    Dordine, Michael
    Dordine, Virginia M.
    36 Daniel Aq.
    Springfield, MA 01107
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/29/07

    Dorman, John R.
    Dorman, Gail A.
    40 Adams St.
    Westfield, MA 01085
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/24/07

    Dugay, Lori J.
    15 Lavender Lane
    Springfield, MA 01129
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/19/07

    Espada, Rosa I.
    8 Vermont St.
    Springfield, MA 01108
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/17/07

    Favreau, Cecile M
    492 South West St.
    Feeding Hills, MA 01030
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/21/07

    Foley, Deborah M.
    45 Fairview St.
    South Hadley, MA 01075
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/29/07

    Francis, Edward W.
    Francis, Linda J.
    81 Quaboag Valley Co-Op.
    Palmer, MA 01069
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/17/07

    Geiger, Gordon M.
    178 Llewellyn Dr.
    Westfield, MA 01085
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/19/07

    Gifford, Nellie A.
    78 Brickyard Court
    North Adams, MA 01247
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/28/07

    Granger, Kathleen
    25 Roanoke Ave.
    West Springfield, MA 01089
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/27/07

    Hamblin, David P.
    113 Warren RD.
    Brimfield, MA 01010
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 01/02/08

    Hanson, Glen E.
    61 Appleton Ave.
    Pittsfield, MA 01201
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/20/07

    Hatfield, Jason Johnathen
    109 Grape St., Apt. Q
    Chicopee, MA 01013
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/28/07

    Hawkins, Kenneth L.
    109 Stony Hill Road
    Wilbraham, MA 01095
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/17/07

    Higgins, Jenean M
    45 Orange St.
    Chicopee, MA 01013
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/18/07

     

    Hudela, Piotr S.
    48 Artisan St.
    Chicopee, MA 01013
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/24/07

    Johnson, Donald L.
    155 River St., Apt. 3M
    West Springfield, MA 01089
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/19/07

    Keaton, Jason
    43 Juliette St.
    Chicopee, MA 01013
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/24/07

    King, Brian David
    9 East Hampton Road
    Holyoke, MA 01040
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/21/07

    Kirk, Cheryl A.
    162 1/2 Main St.
    Indian Orchard, MA 01151
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 01/02/08

    Laplante, Kevin M.
    Laplante, Charlene M.
    71 Hathorne St.
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/16/07

    Lessard, Charles E.
    Lessard, Kathleen R.
    26 Gunn Road Extension
    Southampton, MA 01073
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/18/07

    Lopez, Sol Virginia
    207 Sargeant St.
    Holyoke, MA 01040
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/31/07

    Majgier, Ann Marie
    46 Warren St.
    West Springfield, MA 01089
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/19/07

    Masotti, Frances
    348 Park St., #209
    West Springfield, MA 01089
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/24/07

    McAnanama, Donna F.
    45 Dogwood Lane
    Wales, MA 01081
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/17/07

    Miller, Kellie J.
    275 Silver St.
    Monson, MA 01057
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/28/07

    Mullarkey, Matthew J.
    Mullarkey, Nicole M.
    11 Fowler Ave.
    Westfield, MA 01085
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/19/07

    Nevue, Anthony Jude
    Nevue, Annette Diane
    150 Osborne Road
    Ware, MA 01082
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/28/07

    Nooney, Donald J.
    25 South Longyard Road
    Southwick, MA 01077
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/20/07

    O’Brien, Marie JoAnn
    6 Hilltop St.
    Springfield, MA 01128
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/24/07

    Ortiz, Hommy Enid
    Ortiz, Kayra
    84 Andrew St.
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/20/07

    Ramonas, Roy V.
    20 Murray Ave.
    Westfield, MA 01085
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/18/07

    Rivera, Abraham
    Rivera, Kelly A.
    3 Weston St.
    Wilbraham, MA 01095
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/22/07

    Rivera, Dalein
    88 Riverboat Village Road
    South Hadley, MA 01075
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/31/07

    Ryan, Rose Marie T.
    603 Berkshire Ave, Apt A-
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/26/07

    Schneider, Karen M.
    36 Park St
    Turner’s Falls, MA 01376
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/19/07

    Seegars, Carolyn A.
    58 Mapleshade Ave.
    East Longmeadow, MA 01028
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/21/07

    Serrano, Francisco
    37 Whitmore Dr.
    Springfield, MA 01104
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/29/07

    Slaimen, Tania M.
    a/k/a DeMarco, Tania M.
    a/k/a Albano, Tania M.
    P.O. Box 80027
    Springfield, MA 01138
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/18/07

    Slick, Frances M.
    57 Chase Ave.
    North Adams, MA 01247
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 01/02/08

    Snow, Elizabeth M.
    46 Boynton Ave.
    South Hadley, MA 01075
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/19/07

    Soto, Julio C.
    51 James St.
    Springfield, MA 01105
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/31/07

    Stone, Jeffrey Bruce
    Stone, Elizabeth Jean Antonel
    38 Maplecrest Dr.
    Belchertown, MA 01007
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/27/07

    Walunas, Joseph G.
    39 Ward Ave.
    Easthampton, MA 01027
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/21/07

    West, Judith A.
    11 Plymouth Ave.
    Florence, MA 01062
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/20/07

    Sections Supplements
    This Generation Has Some Different Views — on Work, and the World
    Jeanie Forray

    Jeanie Forray, professor of management at Western New England College, says Millennials sometimes lack certain skills, but are very strong in terms of technology and innovation.

    The ‘kids’ aren’t so young anymore. The first wave of the so-called Millennial generation is now a major force in corporate America, and soon, even more members of this large age group will be ready for entry-level positions — and some will be managers. There are several challenges for employers when it comes to this generational shift, among them work habits that are very different from those of older managers and co-workers. But many local experts say it’s less about ‘conforming’ for either party, and more about meeting in the middle.

    “Does a BlackBerry come with this job?” “How about a company car?” “Will they make me take out my eyebrow piercing?”

    These are questions Jennifer Brown has heard from recent college graduates as part of her work with Staffing Now, an employment agency with local offices in West Springfield and Easthampton.

    “We don’t always see that,” Brown, a branch manager, cautioned, “but we are witnessing it more. Even more often than that, we’re seeing some high expectations regarding salary among new graduates … some expect the best, because they’ve been provided with the best.”

    But the questions about high-tech perks and meaty paychecks comprise just one aspect of a larger phenomenon many employers are taking a close look at lately — the effect the so-called Millennials are having on recruitment, retention, and overall management in the workplace.

    “Millennials may come into the marketplace with high expectations, but if we keep the communication lines open and mentor them as well as learn from them, I think companies will find themselves enriched by their ideas,” said Brown. “This is a very smart group of people, and one that is very sophisticated. They have been shaped by things like Enron, handheld communication, and the effect of the media on American business. We shouldn’t be afraid of recognizing some of the things they have to say; that’s what will keep them in a position, and keep them creative, challenged, and happy.”

    Frank Lovelock agreed. He’s an internal organizational development consultant with Baystate Health who told BusinessWest that many organizations are taking a closer look at employees of all ages, in order to better manage them and their strengths.

    “I think that one of the biggest things going on now is an effort to be aware and really learn about each generation,” he explained, “but the Millennials are a special focus. There’s a move to try to provide awareness to managers and employees in general so people can learn to work with them without misunderstanding what they do and why they do it. If we understand a behavior and where it comes from, it’s easier to work and cope with it.”

    In this issue, BusinessWest takes an indepth look at the Millennials, why they are the way they are, and what managers can do to ‘adjust’ — that’s the word HR professionals use — rather than ‘cater’ to this generation.

    Meet the Millennials

    The Millennials, formerly referred to as Gen Y, is the collective name given to the generation born roughly between 1982 and the present. The group, nearly 80 million strong, is quickly surpassing the Baby Boomer generation in size — most Millennials are the children of Boomers — and the oldest members of this group are now in their mid-20s and beginning to make a significant impact on the American business community through both their size and their habits.

    There’s been a lot of talk surrounding all of the five generations present in today’s society of late, and how each group works with others. The ‘G.I. Generation,’ those born between 1901 and 1926 or so, have the smallest impact on the workplace, due to their advancing age and dwindling size. The ‘Silents,’ born between 1927 and 1945, come next — most of them are retired — followed by the Boomers, previously the largest generation in existence, and Generation X, a relatively small group.

    While Boomers and Xers in particular remain a hot topic in terms of management, marketing, wealth transfer, and other areas, Millennials are receiving particular attention because they represent the future of the workplace, and also tend to live life and do business in ways that have never been seen before.

    This generation has been influenced most by the events spanning from the mid- to late 1980s to today, and as such are strongly motivated by technology, environmental issues, and education. It’s an ethnically diverse generation, and one that has been influenced by major events, including 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.

    It’s a generation that effectively multi-tasks more than any other, values flexibility and work-life integration, and, in general, has been raised by involved parents, which can sometimes make navigating the choppy corporate waters alone a challenge for this set.

    Jeanie Forray, chair of the Management Department at the Western New England College School of Business, said that while not everyone who falls into the Millennial category will display these traits on the job, the trends are no less important to study as a means of better understanding this large generation. This summer, she and Marketing professor Janelle Goodnight will pilot a course called “Professional Presentation” that will speak to many of the areas in which some Millennials need assistance.

    “There are some lessons that other generations have learned that Millennials haven’t,” she said, noting that these lessons include appropriate dress and voice-mail, E-mail, and meal etiquette, as well as acceptable questions or challenges within meetings, for example. “As a college, we focus on career preparation, and as a faculty, we’ve noticed this. We want to teach these people some of the basics that they will face in the workplace, but at the same time, we don’t want to constrain their strengths.”

    As much as most Millennials have yet to learn, said Forray, they also comprise a generation that is not shy about sharing opinions and ideas, and this is where she said their impact will likely be felt most strongly in the future of the corporate sector.

    “It doesn’t have to be seen as catering to them; that has a somewhat negative connotation. But if we look at it as ‘adapting,’ then it’s something we can embrace. It becomes one more aspect of organizational life.”

    Raised to Rebel?

    Lovelock said many ‘Millennial behaviors,’ as he called them, stem from one’s upbringing, generally speaking, as well as from the technology-saturated years in which this group has come of age.

    “A lot of habits spring from what they’ve grown up with. For instance, communication is constant for them. This is a group that multi-tasks; they can work and communicate with friends at other companies via instant messaging, E-mail, and cell phones.

    “Companies have to think about that,” he added. “There are some things you can’t do at work, but there are other areas in which an employer might be well-served to step back, ensure that an appropriate level of productivity is being achieved, and meet halfway.”

    Lovelock added that flex time is another attractive draw for Millennial job-seekers that could help businesses attract and retain young, quality employees.

    “There’s a strong need for flexibility,” he said, noting, however, that this isn’t the first generation to foster change in the workplace. “Gen X came into the marketplace touting work-life values in a big way. But Millennials take it further. They look for flexibility as a requirement.”

    Gen X factors into another variable that is causing managers to take a longer look at their younger Millennial counterparts; because ‘X’ is a small generation, there are too few employees in this age bracket to fill vacancies left by retiring Baby Boomers.

    “The Baby Boomers generation is huge, and X is small, so as Boomers retire, we have to be aware of the Millennials and work to make a bridge to them,” said Lovelock. “Part of that means understanding how they behave in the workplace, and how managers have to be, too.”

    To help foster that understanding Lovelock says is integral, Baystate has developed courses for employees in generational diversity and generational competency that focus on all four generations. These voluntary classes offer training in how to deal with younger employees and, conversely, what younger employees should understand about their older co-workers.

    “These courses have generated a lot of interest, as well as lively discussions,” he told BusinessWest. “The topics also continue to evolve — most Millennials in our organization are still too young to hold management positions, but courses in ‘Millennials as managers’ are coming. I think when that hits, it’s going to stir up a whole new set of comments and questions.”

    He said it’s important to note that Millennials should be involved in those discussions, not just analyzed from afar.

    Questions and Answers

    “Millennials must change and conform to some things,” said Lovelock. “Often, rules and regulations have been put into place after much research and careful thought. I really think that Millennials are not so much resistant as they have a need to understand why things are the way they are. Once they do, they jump to be part of the team.”

    Brown agreed, noting that while she occasionally gets an off-the-wall question from a young job-seeker, more often than not these young employees, like all professionals just starting out, have a burning desire to be heard and to contribute.

    “It’s very possible that they’ll have to modify their behaviors a bit to fit the company culture,” she said, “and it’s just as possible that managers will have to change with the times, too. It’s about moving forward together, in the right direction.”

    Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at

    [email protected]

    40 Under 40 Class of 2008


    Age 27: Program Supervisor, Best Buddies of Western Mass.

    A lot of people spend their 20s killing time. Matthew Andrews didn’t want to waste any.

    And considering the arc of Andrews’ travels the past few years — volunteering at a South American orphanage, helping people in a remote village in India learn practical trades, working at a soup kitchen in Baltimore, and hiking from Georgia to Connecticut, to list a few — ‘time well spent’ seems like an understatement.

    “I spent my high-school years goofing off. But I turned 21 the day I got to India, and that was the end of it; I was ready to do something else,” said Andrews, whose latest adventure is serving as program supervisor of Best Buddies of Western Mass. That’s the local arm of an international organization that matches individuals suffering intellectual disabilities with adult friends, enhancing their access to community ties and employment.

    After his long walk (he had previously hiked the Appalachian Trail), “my feet gave out on me, so I took a break,” he said, during which time he worked as a carpenter’s apprentice and, significantly, befriended a supporter of Best Buddies. When she secured funding to open a Western Mass. office, she offered Andrews a job.

    Today, his expansive role includes fund-raising and finances, event planning, public-awareness efforts, and supervision of the friendship programs, which currently serve more than 600 clients throughout the region. “The range of activities here is so diverse,” he said. “I never know what’s going to happen next, and I never get bored.”

    To Andrews, the work isn’t far removed from the community-building efforts he has taken on stateside and overseas for much of the past decade.

    “Best Buddies is all about empowerment. A lot of organizations raise money through special events with no connection to the organization’s mission,” he said, explaining that his agency’s clients are consistently involved in such efforts. For example, a benefit concert in Northampton on May 3 will feature national and local musicians performing alongside Best Buddies clients from Berkshire Hills Music Academy, a private music school for students with developmental disabilities.

    “Our mission is to show that people with special needs have talent, so we develop opportunities for them at public events,” said Andrews.

    For many, that alone is a huge step — almost as big as a stroll up the East Coast.
    Joseph Bednar

    Holiday Gift Guide Sections
    Retailers Say Shoppers Are Mixing It Up This Valentine’s Day

    Red Sox fans have a special place in their hearts for Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” played at home games to remind us that good times never seemed so good.
    In the deep freeze of the off-season, however, what’s a bleacher creature to do?
    The Pioneer Valley Chordsmen might have the answer. A network of barbershop quartets in the region that dates back to the 1950s, the Chordsmen devised their version of a Valentine’s Day serenade nearly a decade ago. Every Feb. 14, up to six quartets are dispatched to offices, homes, schools, hospitals, and other locales to surprise recipients of their unique sweetheart’s special: two songs, a box of chocolates, and a rose.
    One of their most popular offerings is an adaptation of the Fenway classic:
    “Hands touching hands — reaching out, touchin’ me, touchin’ yoouu … Sweet Valentine! (da, da, da!)”
    Richard Bourbeau, a spokesman for the Pioneer Valley Chordsmen, said he’s performed for teachers, bartenders, administrative assistants, and even dialysis patients, singing such classics as “I Love You Truly” and “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.”
    “Every year, we put an ad in the papers and print some brochures and flyers,” he said. “Then, we create an itinerary for the day from the orders we receive. It’s a lot of fun, and a very unexpected way to deliver flowers and candy.”
    Bourbeau estimates that last year, the Chordsmen sang in four-part harmony for close to 100 people, for $40 a performance. Their service is one way to score a home run on Valentine’s Day without hitting a foul, and retailers across the region can also offer a few assists.

    All That Glitters
    Sending along a barbershop quartet is one way to make a gift more unique, but in addition, there are several trends adding some oomph to the most popular Valentine’s Day offerings.
    When shopping for foodies and sweet-tooths, for instance, some consumers are avoiding candy all together and opting for more interesting or health-conscious fare. Kate Gourde, owner of Cooper’s Gifts in Agawam and Cooper’s Cottage in Holyoke, said her gourmet food items such as those made by Stonewall Kitchen are proving to be a good alternative to sugary sweets.
    “We’ve had a run on some of their items like Red Pepper Jelly and Raspberry Peach Champagne Jam. They’re still Valentine’s-like, but with a creative twist,” she said, adding that tried and true chocolate lovers need not fear this trend away from heart-shaped boxes of treats. “The Barefoot Contessa division of Stonewall Kitchen has delicious gift ideas for the chocoholic, like Outrageous Brownie Mix and Decadent Hot Fudge Sauce.”
    Edible Arrangements, based in Wallingford, Conn. with locations in Hadley, West Springfield, and Wilbraham, unveiled its ‘Dipped-Fruit Bouquet’ this year, which includes chocolate-covered strawberries, pineapple, oranges, apples, and grapes. Fresh-fruit bouquets sans the fudge drizzle are also available, and both signal a trend that’s being seen in many different sectors: no longer is red the only color of love.
    George Sarkis Jr., owner of Springfield Diamond and Jewelry Exchange, said diamonds never go out of style and are still one of the most-requested gift items for Valentine’s Day in his store. Further, they are available in a rainbow of colors and styles suited for every taste. Walking from case to case, Sarkis pointed out countless studs, rings, bracelets, and necklaces featuring diamonds ranging in shade from the palest pink to canary yellow.
    There are popular diamond styles and settings, too, each with a little bit of flair. These include journey pendants — generally three-stone diamond necklaces with a curved design — eternity bands, which feature diamonds around the entire circumference of the ring, and settings featuring one large stone encircled by several smaller stones or chips.
    “These are called micro-pavé settings,” said Sarkis. “The smaller diamonds are actually set with a microscope to enhance the bigger stone.”
    Sarkis said shoppers are taking a greater interest in techniques like these of late, as well as in the overall quality of a stone as opposed to its size.
    “People have really been investigating ideal-cut diamonds,” he said, explaining that the term refers to a mathematical formula for cutting diamonds to precise angles and proportions, to gain the optimum reflection and refraction of light — i.e., sparkle.
    Beyond a girl’s best friend, though, there are other jewels in a range of colors, including green amethyst and lemon quartz. Many are placed in vintage-style settings, as the chunky, vibrant styles of the 1950s and 1960s re-enter the scene.
    “Designs from the old days are definitely making a comeback,” Sarkis said, “and a lot of these styles are very romantic, and therefore great for Valentine’s Day. But across the board, people aren’t coming in looking only for red or pink stones. The decisions are more personal.”
    Some are economic, too. Sarkis said that as the price of gold skyrockets, fewer people are buying gold pieces at his shop than are selling them.
    “We’re in the middle of a gold rush, so selling and trading gold jewelry has been huge,” he said. “In terms of buying new pieces, many people are looking for new alternatives, such as silver or blends of different metals. This makes sense economically, but often, it also adds substance — people are making their jewelry their own.”
    Mary Gancarz, district manager for Hannoush Jewelers, added that while this is her company’s first year selling the popular Pandora jewelry line, which features interchangeable beads and charms, she has high hopes for the item this month.
    “If even just half of the purchasers who bought Pandora at Christmastime return to add on a bead or two, we will have a phenomenal response,” she said. “What is especially great about Pandora is that it’s totally ‘in’ right now, and just about everyone can afford it.”
    In addition, Gancarz said she’s identified a few pieces that typically sell well at Hannoush this time of year, including diamond studs, gold earrings and chains, and heart motif jewelry.
    “Generally speaking, the diamond jewelry is usually purchased by husbands or boyfriends for their significant others, especially if they have established, long-term relationships,” she noted. “The ‘gold route’ is definitely a stronger option if the relationship is just starting out.”

    Petal Mettle
    One of the most sought-after gifts for V-Day, however, remains fresh flowers, and there are a number of options in this arena in addition to the old standby of a dozen red roses.
    Heather Sullivan, manager of DuRocher Florist in West Springfield, said she’s noticed a trend toward more customized arrangements that reflect the recipient’s personality.
    “Many people are choosing to put something together that is more meaningful,” she said. “They’re starting to ask for more help and ideas, because they want to do something different.
    “Roses are not going out of style,” she added, “and they’re a great gift. But there are many ways of presenting them, and I also think there’s more acceptance now of paying the same price for a mix of wildflowers or brightly colored blooms. Hot pink and orange are both big right now.”
    Sullivan said more customers than ever are also asking for their sweetheart’s favorite flowers, including spring and summer varieties such as Gerbera daisies and sunflowers. In addition, there’s also a greater demand for keepsake items such as vases or bowls that add to the longevity of a floral gift.
    “We’re doing some great things with arrangements in martini glasses, or champagne flutes,” she said, noting that online browsing and ordering makes giving more personalized gifts easier. “People can order from us 24 hours a day, and we’ve already begun preparing for Valentine’s Day, so we’re ready for it.”
    Brad Parker, owner of Longmeadow Flowers and Gifts, agreed with Sullivan that different colors are being ordered more often than in previous years, when red, pink, and white blooms were the norm.
    “Pink is big, but lavender does well, too,” he said. “In addition, many of the spring flowers are becoming more popular, such as tulips. We’re expecting to order thousands of tulips this year.”
    Conversely, Parker said potted plants have yet to receive the same kind of attention, but there are a few inroads being made in this area, too.
    “It’s a weak holiday for plants,” he said, “but orchids, which we sell in four different colors, are more in demand.”
    With performance, presentation, and bold color schemes defining this year’s Valentine’s Day offerings, it seems a little bit of fun and whimsy has become the trend of the year… and it’s so good. (So good! So good!)

    Sales and Marketing Sections
    Getting to the Heart of the Valentine’s Day Impact on Business

    Even when the displays of candy and flowers abound, and red paper hearts adorn every shop window, it seems most shoppers still forget about Valentine’s Day until it is upon us. This means some retailers and restaurants see a late surge in activity, but however brief, it still warms the heart during the cold — and quiet — midwinter blues.

    Kathie Williams, co-owner of Richardson’s Candy Kitchen in Deerfield, has one specific visual she associates with Valentine’s Day every year: a parking lot full of pickup trucks.
    “People — men — do not plan ahead for Valentine’s Day,” she said, noting that her business will ring 75% of its Valentine’s Day sales on Feb. 13 and 14, and there are markedly more male shoppers than female. “It’s a very last-minute holiday. But it’s also one of our top holidays, and provides a great midwinter boost.”

    These are just a few of the hallmarks of Valentine’s Day when it comes to its impact on the marketplace. One is that, unlike any other holiday, it brings the 11th-hour shoppers out in droves. Another is that, for many niche retailers such as Richardson’s — confectioners, florists, jewelers, and the like — it’s a robust day for sales in an otherwise desolate stretch of winter.
    Consumers, too, tend to think of Valentine’s Day shopping as a frenetic time, but while greeting card aisles and restaurants might be packed on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day is not a major event across the board. The occasion still leans very heavily on a specific set of traditional, romantic items, and the late, day-of rush to the stores also makes marketing new promotions or products a challenge.
    Jillian Gould, senior marketing manager for the Eastfield Mall in Springfield, said it’s a holiday that seems to sneak up on most shoppers, and many tend to rely on time-tested purchases: flowers, candy, and jewelry.
    “We’ve found it difficult to advertise for Valentine’s Day — consumers haven’t really responded, and I think that speaks to the lack of planning,” she said. “The activity is very last-minute, and it’s mostly men. Valentine’s Day in the mall looks very similar to Christmas Eve at 4 p.m.”
    Gould added that while Feb. 14 is historically a busy day at the mall, the average consumer will spend only about $100 on Valentine’s Day purchases, making this a relatively minor shopping day for department stores, clothiers, and other outfits with a broad range of offerings.
    In fact, Valentine’s Day doesn’t even pull in the largest number of sales of some of those traditional items often associated with it. Gould said it’s the fourth-largest holiday for confection sales, behind Halloween, Easter, and Christmas, and the third-largest for greeting card sales, behind Christmas and Father’s Day.
    “Many consumers will spend a lot on this holiday, but they’re not making the typical purchases we see during other times of the year,” she said. “They’re still looking for specific types of things, and because of that, it’s not a huge day for everyone. But for some retailers, it’s a very big deal.”

    Love in Bloom
    One such retailer is Brad Parker, owner of Longmeadow Flowers and Gifts, which has three locations in Longmeadow and Springfield. As a specialty gift, food, and clothing retailer as well as a florist (with delivery capabilities), Parker’s business is well-suited for Valentine’s Day, and takes measures to prepare for what is the company’s single busiest day of the year.
    “There are busier periods — Christmas, certainly, and Mother’s Day to a lesser extent — but barring bad weather, this is the biggest day, and it continues to grow.”
    Parker agreed that most Valentine’s Day shoppers are still looking for traditional gifts, but he added that he’s seeing a move toward more innovative, personalized combinations and arrangements within this vein.
    “People are getting away from the ‘balloon and a teddy bear’-type things,” he said. “They might want something traditional or romantic, but not run-of-the-mill.”
    In his stores, Parker said unique pieces of jewelry sell well, as do gourmet foods and clothing such as pajamas and robes. From a floral point of view, Parker said roses are still by far the holiday’s best seller — he expects to sell upwards of 12,000 this year — but a dozen long-stem red roses are not the only option.
    “Roses are still the big flower, but people are choosing colors other than red,” he said. “People are less afraid to ask for ideas, and many more men are walking into the cooler and choosing their own arrangements.”
    Parker said that this year, he’ll attempt to target last-minute shoppers, in an effort to extend these new shopping patterns over a greater period of time. Until the 10th of February, for instance, the stores will offer anyone who orders their roses ahead of time a lower, locked-in price.
    “After that, the prices can double,” he said, “So we’re really trying to get people to understand the value of ordering things ahead of the rush.”
    Williams said she, too, is careful to put her advertising dollars where they matter — mostly, toward late campaigns (largely radio) run on Valentine’s Day or the day before. Still, for the most part, she said this is a holiday that just doesn’t benefit from aggressive marketing.
    “Valentine’s Day sells itself,” she said.

    Heart and Parcel
    And while it may not return the same sales figures as other traditionally busy times of year including the Christmas season and the back-to-school rush, Valentine’s Day does provide a boost in foot traffic during an otherwise flat time of the year. With the holiday rush behind them, retailers in particular have months to go before the next large-scale consumer-driven occasion — Mother’s Day.
    “It is a great time for a holiday,” Gould said of the retail scene in February. “Christmas is huge, and January is busy with gift-card shopping, but then there’s a lull. Even those stores that don’t expect big sales will try to capitalize on Valentine’s Day, by positioning relevant items and small impulse buys.”
    Martha Salem, one member of the family that owns and operates the Salem Cross Inn in West Brookfield, agreed with Gould, saying that restaurants, too, hope for a brisk Valentine’s Day, but like many retailers, don’t rely heavily on any aggressive marketing to pull new diners in.
    “We advertise in local papers, but we find that, truly, the best form of advertising is word-of-mouth,” she said. “Still, we do hope for a good Valentine’s Day and weekend. It’s an important holiday during what can be a long season.”
    Salem added that it’s not an occasion that demands or requires a lot of bells and whistles. Simple recipes for success, she said, both in the kitchen and otherwise, work best.
    “We don’t feel that the public’s response has changed much; people are still looking for a nice, romantic spot to share quality time with their loved one,” she said. “We do find that people seem to be drawn toward our fireplace cooking — our prime rib roasted in the fireplace, and chowder made from scratch — nothing more than good food in a quaint location.”  

    Just Desserts
    Similarly, Williams said chocolate is a trusted standby that will probably never go out of style.
    “Luckily for us, people love chocolate any day of the year,” she said.
    And yet, there’s only one day of the year that Richardson’s Candy Kitchen sells it by the truckload.

    Autos Sections
    The Pion Family Has Long Been a Driving Force in the Industry

    Don Pion has been around cars and car dealerships for pretty much all of his 52 years.

    He has fond memories of cleaning snow off rows of vehicles at a Chevrolet dealership his father worked at in the mid-’60s, and lasting recollections of those intrigue-filled days each fall when the new models would be rolled out.

    “The cars would come covered, and the windows to the dealership would be papered over so people couldn’t see inside,” he told BusinessWest, adding that car makers would use such tactics to build curiosity and essentially compel people to visit the dealerships.

    Today, of course, there is somewhat less fanfare and much less mystery involved with new models — people can see and read all about them on the Internet, for example — but the basic challenge facing dealers is the same today as it was 35 or 75 years ago, when Pion’s grandfather was selling Mercuries on Memorial Avenue in West Springfield: simply getting people into the showrooms.

    And that’s especially true for today’s domestic dealers, said Pion, who is one of them, as the name of the venture that still bears his father’s name — Bob Pion Pontiac, Buick, GMAC — clearly indicates. That’s because those Detroit-based makers, like others, have lost considerable ground to foreign manufacturers in recent years, in large part because they didn’t make cars that could readily capture the attention of increasingly savvy and demanding consumers.

    Pion is careful to use the past tense as he makes such comments. Indeed, he believes domestic makers, including Buick and Pontiac, are taking back some of that lost market share through better cars, better warranties, effective marketing, some incentives (0% financing is still available), and especially hard, often fruitful work to simply convince motorists to give domestic nameplates a good look.

    Tiger Woods has helped. The sports world’s biggest superstar and perhaps its most prolific pitchman has been associated with Buick for nearly a decade, and he’s succeeded, said Pion, in making a noticeable dent in the long-held perception that Buick is an older person’s car.

    “He’s having an impact — people come in and say, ‘I want to see the car that Tiger’s touting,’” said Pion, noting quickly that old perceptions die hard, and it’s still a challenge to get younger audiences to consider Buick.

    Meanwhile, Pontiac has come out with some new nameplates like the Solstice (a roadster) and G6, a convertible, that are helping turn back the clock to the ’60s and ’70s, said Pion, when the company made some of the sportiest, most unique, and most popular models on the road — like the GTO, Firebird, and Lemans.

    “General Motors is trying to give each franchise its own individual flavor,” he explained, noting that for too long, domestics makers, especially the various lines in the GM stable, mirrored each other’s offerings, creating confusion as well as boredom, which prompted many to consider and then purchase foreign options. “If we can get people into our dealership and they try the products we have — then we’re in the game.”

    The task of managing all the change and challenge in auto sales today is now the work of three generations of the Pion family. Bob, now 80, comes to the dealership several days each week. He handles some banking chores, still conducts a sale or two, especially to long-time clients (he recently completed another transaction with a customer he’s been serving since the ’50s), and he remains the face of the company.

    Two of Don’s sons (who both call Bob “Gramps”) have leadership roles: Rob is general manager, and Tom is Internet manager/used car manager, and works to ensure that the company’s Web site is accessible, informative, and effective.

    In this issue, BusinessWest looks at how the Pion family name has endured for more than eight decades, and why it will be a fixture for years to come. This glimpse into a successful family venture provides an indepth look into the challenges facing all dealers today, and especially those selling domestic models.

    Shifting Gears

    As he traced the history of the family’s involvement in the auto business — with some help from his father — Don Pion put his memory to the test, recalling the names and locations of many former dealerships, while also tracing family trees and listing a number of makes and models that have vanished from the landscape.

    It all started with Bob’s father, Francis X. Pion, who was a partner in a venture called Pynchon Motors, which sold Ford, Mercury, and Zepher models. Francis Pion died when Bob was only 10, but the latter had already acquired a taste for the business (he handled a number of chores around the dealership, much as Don did a generation later) and would eventually make it his career.

    Starting in the early ’50s, he sold a number of nameplates, from Chevrolet to Subaru, from GM to MG. In the late ’60s, Pion partnered with Joe Gentile in a venture called Allan Imports in Springfield, which sold MG, Renault, and Subaru. They later sold that venture and eventually opened Hampden Dodge on State Street in Springfield.

    In 1977, the partnership dissolved, with Gentile keeping Hampden Dodge and Pion acquiring a struggling Pontiac dealership on Front Street in Chicopee and putting his name on the sign outside. In 1985, he acquired a GMC Truck dealership in Springfield, and eventually took that larger venture to the current location on the corner of Fuller Road and Memorial Drive. In 1995, the business acquired Mathis Olds Buick, and brought the Pontiac, GMC, and Buick franchises under one roof, a channeling method preferred by GM.

    Bob Pion, who first sold cars at Hampden Dodge and joined his father at the Front Street location in the late ’70s, later went on to be the dealer at Suburban Chevrolet in Southwick in the late ’80s before selling that venture and rejoining the family business in 1989 and becoming dealer in 1992, not long after it relocated.

    The company has put down firm roots on Memorial Drive, which may not be in the same category as Riverdale Road in West Springfield as an ‘auto mile,’ or car shopper’s destination, but is an attractive, accessible location, said Pion, that has seen a wave of development over the past several years, with more on the way.

    The former Fairfield Mall site, located directly across the off ramp of Turnpike exit 5, has been retrofitted into a home for Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and other retail giants, and there are signs (literally — a large one recently went up on the property) of additional development on a large open tract adjacent to the Parwick Center.

    But vehicle traffic is only part of the success formula for dealers, said Pion, adding quickly that facilities must have the cars that consumers want. This is Auto Sales 101, and the reason why domestic makers lost considerable ground to foreign manufactures, from Audi to Toyota; BMW to Volkswagen, over the past 20 years or so.

    “GM got into such bland cars,” Pion said of a trend that began in the late ’80s and prevailed, by and large, until recently. “They did everything by consumer groups; they tried to come up with cars that would appeal to the largest numbers of people, but instead they often ended up with cars that didn’t appeal to anyone.”

    General Motors is gaining some of that ground back by focusing on quality as well as style, said Pion, and restoring a unique identity to each of the franchises. In the case of Buick, it has reduced the number of nameplates to just three — the Enclave (a crossover SUV), and two sedans, the LaCrosse and Lucerne. The shift from quantity to quality and making cars that can cross generational gaps is making a difference, he said, adding that Buick, makers of what are considered “low-profile luxury cars,” is attracting looks from some who have been driving foreign models.

    The same is true for Pontiac, a nameplate steeped in innovation that is returning to those roots with the Solstice, G6, and a G8 model that is in the pipleline.

    “I think the pendulum is swinging back the other way,” Pion said of the apparent momentum achieved by some domestic makers. “We are seeing more people driving into the lot in imports who are looking at what we have.”

    And this looking is critical, he said, because not too long ago, many people were far less inclined to look because of the gap in quality between imports and domestics. That gap was real for many years, and it is still perceived by many, said Bob Pion.

    “Once you lose people to imports, it’s hard to win them back,” he told BusinessWest. “You can’t just tell them your product is as good or better than the others; you have to prove it to them.”

    Economic Engine

    As he talked about auto sales in the 21st century, Pion began with a discourse on the Internet and what it has — and hasn’t — done.

    Specifically, it hasn’t spelled doom for individual dealers, as many predicted it would by putting so much information in consumers’ hands, because most people still want to see and drive a car before they buy it, he said.

    But it has made consumers more knowledgeable when they walk in the doors, he continued, noting that most people know essentially what they want and how much they should be expected to pay when they get to the dealership. This phenomenon, coupled with reduced flexibility on price and, recently at least, less to differentiate models on the market, leaves dealers forced to find new ways to stand out.

    In general, it comes down to making the buying or leasing experience as simple and painless as possible.

    “There are no real lemons out there anymore that are just horrible cars; for manufacturers to be in business today, they have to build something that’s competitive in the marketplace, or they have no shot,” he said, noting that this phenomenon has changed the landscape for all dealers. “Today, so much of it comes down to the experience; we have to make it as non-stressful and as enjoyable for the customer as we can make it.

    “Most people equate it to going to the dentist,” he said of the car-shopping experience. “They just don’t like to do it. And it shouldn’t be that way; it should be a fun thing to go pick out a new car. It’s exciting, you’re going to spend a lot of money … you should get something you like.”

    Efforts at Pion to make visits to the dealership less painful and stressful center on a team effort, he continued, adding that it starts with the initial contact in the showroom and continues long after the purchase is completed, through interaction with those in service, parts, and other departments.

    “People are the biggest thing in any business, but certainly in the automobile business — it truly is a people business,” he explained. “You can have a good product and be in a good location, but if the person you come into contact with when you first walk into the dealership turns you off, everything we’ve done to get you here has gone away; it doesn’t matter anymore.”

    Meanwhile, dealers must make maximum use of the Internet, he said, noting that this means making sites as accessible, informative, and user-friendly as possible. To that end, the company is constantly updating its site, adding new features, and linking with online entities such as Vehix and AutoTrader.

    Looking back at 2007 and ahead to the balance of 2008, Pion said the former was a good year (better than ’06) and for all those reasons listed above. Maintaining such momentum will be challenging, in part because of the economy but also non-stop press coverage, much of it speculative in nature, that is sowing doubt and caution among consumers.

    “Industry-wide, as far as our manufacturers are concerned, the product is better, and if all things were equal, we’d see an uptick in business,” he said, “but the big concern is the economy.

    “You can’t turn on the TV or open the newspaper without reading about whether we’re in a recession or whether we’re heading toward a recession, and all that takes a toll,” he said, noting that talk of a downturn often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. “We’re in an area where unemployment is still good, and conditions are better than they are in many other areas. Still, our business is one where people have to feel comfortable about today and the future, because they’re paying over time. And many don’t feel as comfortable as they once did.”

    Drive Time

    Standing in his showroom amidst SUVs, hard-top convertibles, and sales desks dominated by computers, Don Pion noted that much has changed in this industry since he started selling cars — not to mention when his father and grandfather began their careers.

    But the more things change, the more they stay the same, he said, noting that it’s still all about getting people into the showroom, be it through paper over the windows, the time-honored newspaper ad, an engaging Web site, or a TV ad featuring Tiger Woods.

    After that, it comes down to the art and science of the sale — an experience that has driven four generations of the Pion family to succeed.v

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

    Autos Sections
    With Recession on People’s Minds, Car Dealers Aren’t Just Spinning Their Wheels

    Gary Rome hears it — a steady drip-drip-drip of pessimistic economic forecasts for 2008, spurred by everything from fuel and health care costs to the subprime mortgage mess. He knows his customers hear it, too.
    “I think people are more cautious, because they’re hearing little tidbits of bad news all the time, which is worse than hearing one large message of bad news,” said Rome, general manager of the Hyundai dealership in Holyoke that bears his name.
    “People in general have short memories, so if you tell them bad news once, they forget about it,” he elaborated. “But when they hear it over and over again, it grinds on them.”
    Cliff Dexheimer, Rome’s general sales manager, agreed that potential car buyers are being affected by the daily onslaught of economic bad news.
    “Consumers tend to be very sensitive to negative news, regardless of whether they have money in the stock market or whether a half-point difference in the prime rate would actually affect them,” he said. “It’s just the temper of the times, and it creates caution.”
    That said, Hyundai, which is a make known for low cost, fuel economy, and extensive warranties, is exactly the type of car a dealer wants to be selling at such a time, said Rome.
    “We’ve just about shed that stigma from the ’80s and ’90s of Hyundai as a disposable car,” he said, citing favorable quality reports from trade magazines. “So when you can get good quality and twice the warranty, why would you spend $4,500 more for a Toyota or $11,000, $12,000, or $13,000 more for a Lexus? People want to shop with confidence. It’s not an emotional decision today; it’s a rational decision.”
    “I’d rather be selling Hyundais today than Lexuses,” Dexheimer agreed.
    But Kimberlynn Cartelli, director of Marketing for Fathers & Sons in West Springfield, which sells more upscale cars, has a different take.
    “Business is actually pretty good despite the bleak outlook from analysts,” she told BusinessWest. “We can attribute that to a variety of things, including some new products that are generating excitement. We really haven’t been affected by the downturn in the economy.”
    Of the cars Fathers & Sons sells, Volvo and Audi continue to be top performers, she noted, while Porsches are also doing well.
    “I don’t think the Porsche buyer is as affected by fluctuations in the economy. It’s been our experience that those people buy when they’re ready. They’re not as affected by downturns.” On the other end, Kias are holding steady as well, but “obviously that consumer is a little more conservative and sensitive to the fluctuations. All in all, we’re pretty strong.”
    As area dealers told BusinessWest, although cracks are appearing in consumer confidence, so far not too many people are putting off car purchases. But at a sensitive time, they continue to aggressively market themselves, knowing that moods can change quickly.

    Engine Trouble
    The mood has already shifted in some quarters. Experts predict that sales of domestic cars will drop below the 16 million mark this year for the first time since 1998, a situation exacerbated by a struggling housing industry, troubles in the credit market, and high fuel costs.
    “Things have changed drastically for the worse,” wrote George Magliano, director of automotive research for Global Insight, an economic analysis and forecasting company. “There will be nearly no [economic] growth next year. We haven’t seen the worst of the credit crisis or the housing market.”
    Joseph Topor III, general manager of Topor Dodge in Chicopee, agreed. “With the credit challenges and the cost of oil getting to $100 a barrel, it has affected people’s disposable income,” he said. “Everyone knows about the subprime housing issues and the credit issues; I don’t know how the general public looks at that, but they hear about it a lot on TV.
    “Personally, I think John Q. Public really looks at what’s in his own wallet and bank account, and what his Visa bill is every month, and adjusts spending accordingly,” he continued. “The ones who don’t know much about managing money are the ones now defaulting on credit cards and loans, and that, to me, is extremely frustrating. It’s something that has definitely affected us. I’m seeing a lot more checks coming back returned, and we’ve had to tighten up our credit policies.”
    Topor’s take on who is shopping for what type of car mirrors the subprime housing situation, in which people with poor credit and savings were persuaded to buy outside their means.
    “The people with the good credit scores, or who have equity in their vehicles, are the folks who are looking at less expensive models. They think, ‘financially, this is what I can afford,’” he said. “The people who come in and say, ‘this is what I want’ are the folks who don’t have a grasp of what it entails, in terms of paying the whole thing off.”
    Furthermore, he said, 25 years ago perhaps one in 50 customers were what he called “credit-challenged.” Today, the number is much higher, and that can make it difficult for manufacturer-backed dealerships to compete with smaller lots with less-stringent credit policies.
    “I know a guy who sells used cars, and next to him is a buy-here, pay-here lot that can make a decision typically within six hours. But the bank he deals with has a 24-hour turnaround, so he’s losing deals. People think it’s like a drive-thru at Burger King — just walk in and drive out with a car.”

    Indicator Lights
    Topor said it’s important in these times to stay on top of industry forecasts. For example, last year he heard rumblings about a flat new-car market for his lines, so the dealership focused strongly on the commercial and pre-owned business.
    He said providing good service is a must these days — although in an uncertain economy, he notices some customers only bringing their cars in for repair when they absolutely have to, choosing to drive around with issues they would fix immediately in better times.
    Cartelli suggested that the most successful car sellers today are dealer groups that can utilize economies of scale in their marketing and purchasing patterns. She compared it to having a balanced stock portfolio: if one franchise is down, another might be up, thereby mitigating some of the highs and lows of the business. “This is especially crucial,” she said, “in a deflating market when decreasing expenses is the only option for small, single-point dealers.”
    Another trend Cartelli has noticed is the prevalence of the Internet, which has resulted in savvier car buyers. Many customers research dealer invoices before arriving in the showroom, she explained, while price differences among dealers are smaller than ever. And if price is no longer a major determination of where people will shop, dealers need to come up with other ways to differentiate themselves.
    Fathers & Sons has embraced that trend, restructuring its Web site and employing a new Internet service provider, one more skilled at search engine optimization, bringing many more clicks to the site.
    “We had used the Internet in the past as a lot of dealers did — as a placeholder — and it wasn’t all that functional; it was more a way to keep up with everyone else and have a Web presence,” Cartelli said. “Since we switched to someone who’s more of a Google specialist, we’ve seen a huge increase in the number of visitors. We used to see 1,200 to 2,000 a month; now we’re seeing that every week because of the enhancements we’ve made.”
    That in turn has allowed Fathers & Sons to put more resources into online marketing as opposed to traditional media, which is effective since the dealership is reaching people who are already in the shopping process — and are easier to convert into sales — as opposed to trying to pull people in off the street.
    Automation has crept into other parts of the service business as well. Fathers & Sons sends automatic service reminders to customers, while Rome offers an easy-to-use online scheduling form. “Even the most disciplined customer doesn’t want to wait on hold to make an appointment,” he said. “This is another way to make it easier to do business with us.”
    “Certain parts of the business are changing,” Topor said. “But it all comes down to how you treat people in the showroom.”
    And, increasingly, how to get them there.

    Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

    Departments

    Here’s the Scoop

    Some honored guests visited Friendly’s Learning Center in Wilbraham late last month to celebrate the corporation’s 27th year of raising money for Easter Seals and disability services through ‘Cones for Kids.’ On hand for the celebration were (back row, left to right) Jim Williams, president and CEO of the Easter Seals national office in Chicago; Dick Hoyt, Ironman Triathlon celebrity and president of the Team Hoyt Foundation; and Kevin McNamara, vice president, Operations Support Services for Friendly Ice Cream Corp. Also enjoying the day in Wilbraham were local Easter Seals clients (front row, left to right) Dominic Mondon-Poirer, Rick Hoyt, Colleen Flanagan, and siblings Brina and Ronald Tasker. Friendly’s has raised $24.6 million for Easter Seals since 1981.


    Raising the Bar

    Funds raised at Martini Magic events at Max’s Tavern recently paid for the dedication of a room at the Ronald McDonald House in Springfield. Pictured from left to right are John Thomas, general manager of Max’s Tavern; Harding; Rosenthal; Dianne Prince, CFO of Max Restaurant Group; and Mike Favreau, president of the Ronald McDonald House board of directors.


    On with the Fight

    The Sr. Caritas Cancer Center at Mercy Medical Center was recognized by a national organization recently when the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons once again granted ‘Three-Year Approval with Commendation’ to the program. Pictured from left to right are Yvonne Pola, director of the Sr. Caritas Cancer Center; Dr. Catherine Carton, medical director of the center; Barbara Lamy, cancer registrar; and Lisa Vona, cancer program coordinator.

    Opinion

    When it comes to casino gambling in the Bay State these days, the phrase you hear with increasingly regularity is ‘when, not if.’

    To many, the pendulum has swung, from a belief that the state couldn’t afford to approve casinos (from a social standpoint, at least) to the opinion that it can’t afford not to — from a budgetary standpoint. The growing consensus is that gambling is part of our society and that if people are going to go Connecticut, New York, or Rhode Island to do so, they may as well stay within the confines of the Commonwealth and generate much-needed revenue that can go toward schoolbooks and bridges; highways and health clinics.

    We’re not exactly sold on this ‘when, not if’ theory — the arguments supporting casinos are based on common sense, and the Legislature doesn’t usually apply that to its decision-making — but let’s assume for the minute that it’s accurate, but that ‘when’ may still be a few years away. The next consideration for the state and its leaders is the all-important question of where?

    And this gets complicated. There are several areas of the state that want a piece of the action, many politicians with power (real or imagined) who will try to influence matters, and some conflicting definitions of just what constitutes ‘Western’ and ‘Central’ Mass. as talk continues about how to divide up the pie.

    And then, there’s the very powerful argument that casinos will go only where the developers willing to pony up hundreds of millions of dollars to create them want them to go.

    Considering all of these factors, we believe the resort-style facility being proposed for a site just off Turnpike exit 8 in Palmer, perhaps the casino plan with the most momentum at the moment, makes a good deal of sense, and we hope the Legislature and whichever body picks the eventual winning locations agrees.

    There are other proposed sites in what would inarguably be considered Western Mass., including a challenged parcel in Chicopee that Mayor Michael Bissonnette has floated as a consideration. It’s landlocked, has wetlands and multiple owners, and so far no one in the casino development community has expressed any interest in it. But other than that, it’s perfectly viable. Then there’s the Holyoke Mall, which, rumor has it, has caught the eye of Donald Trump. This location actually makes some sense. It’s visible, highly accessible, has ample parking, and could easily be retrofitted into a casino and all its accompanying features, including an entertainment venue, restaurants, and shops (the site already has plenty of those).

    But Holyoke is not in the woods, and the ‘casino in the woods’ seems to be the preferred model at the moment.

    This is the Foxwoods/Mohegan Sun model, the destination area that offers much more than gambling and isn’t in the middle of a major urban area. This means that, by and large, the resort, or destination, casino breathes life into an area instead of sucking life out of it, which is essentially what happened in Atlantic City and what many Bay State leaders fear could happen here.

    The Palmer site apparently works for at least one developer — Mohegan Gaming LLC is interested and last month presented a conceptual plan to a packed room of officials and residents — and we think it makes sense for the state and this region. It gives Western Mass. a piece of the pie, and, with its location well to the east of Springfield, Holyoke, Northampton, and Amherst, presents the opportunity for casino visitors to possibly (that’s possibly) stop in those communities on their way to Palmer from Eastern New York and Berkshire County.

    The Palmer site has its share of challenges, and a casino on that site would certainly impact workforce quantity and quality in Western Mass. — where would 3,000 workers come from, and what impact would an employer of that size have on wages for service sector jobs?

    But from most points of view, the Palmer location does, indeed, make the most sense.

    Should the ‘when, not if’ theory of the casino universe be accurate, we would hope that a facility in Palmer would be in the cards for Western Mass.

    Opinion
    Easing the Burden of Unemployment Insurance

    After nearly a year of haggling over the most recent round of proposed business tax changes, a compromise seems to be emerging. A special commission voted to recommend that the state Legislature close loopholes, but also enact a meaningful cut in the Commonwealth’s 9.5% corporate tax rate, the fourth-highest in the nation.

    House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi has maintained that the tax code should be reviewed in its entirety rather than in a piecemeal fashion. He’s right. A 2006 Pioneer Institute/Global Insight study found that high business costs — some of which have nothing to do with taxes — put Massachusetts at a serious disadvantage compared with competitor states.

    One of the main sources of that disadvantage is a business tax that has hardly even been mentioned during the recent debate: unemployment insurance. The unemployment insurance program levies a payroll tax on employers that is used to provide a financial cushion for individuals who unexpectedly lose their jobs.

    This entirely rational idea has spiraled out of control. The average unemployment insurance taxes paid by a Massachusetts company nearly doubled between 2003 and 2005. Today, only property and excise taxes account for a larger share of the overall state business tax burden. In 2006, Massachusetts companies paid $576 per employee in unemployment insurance taxes, more than twice the national median of $261.

    Part of the reason the Commonwealth’s unemployment insurance tax burden is so high is because it provides more generous benefits than other states — 76% above the national average, according to a just-released Pioneer study.
    Forty-eight states allow claimants to collect for 26 weeks, but in Massachusetts it’s 30 weeks (Montana has a 28-week limit). Most states require 20 weeks of work before qualifying for benefits; here it’s 15 weeks. In addition to offering the easiest eligibility and longest benefit period, the Commonwealth’s maximum benefit of $600 per week is also the nation’s richest.

    Generous benefits aren’t the only reason for our unemployment insurance mess. Although companies whose employees use the system more pay higher taxes, those additional contributions don’t come close to covering the cost of the benefits they generate. In 2004, laid-off workers from about 4% of Massachusetts companies accounted for almost one-third of total benefits. The companies paid $124 million into the system, while their former employees pocketed $403 million in benefits.

    All too often, these “former” employees are current employees. They work in seasonal businesses like construction or landscaping and are laid off like clockwork each year, effectively shifting the burden to unemployment insurance during a company’s slow months. The more closely you look at the program, the less surprised you are to learn that about half the people who apply for benefits in a given year also applied the previous year.

    Fixing unemployment insurance isn’t rocket science, but it will require substantial political courage. First, we should eliminate incentives to collect rather than work by bringing benefits more in line with other states.

    Next, we should force companies who habitually use the system to shoulder more of the load. This would have the additional benefit of reducing the burden on “good” companies that don’t take advantage of the system and bear a larger share of the unemployment insurance costs in Massachusetts than in most other states.

    Finally, instead of being allowed to lay themselves off, small business owners should be required to demonstrate that their business has actually closed in order to collect.

    In addition to eliminating a major competitive disadvantage for Massachusetts, fixing unemployment insurance would stimulate the economy and generate revenue for the Commonwealth. It would also allow us to make decisions about business taxes within the context of a fairer and more rational business climate.

    Charles D. Chieppo is a senior fellow at the Pioneer Institute.

    Features
    Vehicle’s Pace May Be Brisker Than Sales, but Retailer Says Innovations Take Time
    George Condon Jr.

    George Condon Jr., son of one of the co-owners of Segway Central Massachusetts, demonstrates the self-balancing, easy-to-use vehicle.

    “Come back in the spring, and we’ll ride them outside for an hour,” Jerry Condon said at the end of his interview with BusinessWest. “Make sure you bring a jacket.”

    Condon, co-owner of Segway Central Massachusetts in West Springfield, had been demonstrating the so-called ‘human transporter’ inside the company’s lobby, due to wintry conditions outside. In that confined space, he could only get the Segway up to 3 or 4 mph. Outside, it hits a top speed of 12.5 mph.

    Hence the jacket — first-time riders are always surprised how fast 12.5 mph actually feels, he said, and how chilly the ride can become if there’s any touch of coolness in the air.

    That brisk ride, as anyone who has stepped onto a Segway knows, is also safe; the revolutionary, self-balancing device unveiled by inventor Dean Kamen in 1999 uses gyroscopes to intrinsically know where the rider is in space at all times. With an ever-so-slight lean of the body in any direction, or just a little pressure on the toes or heels, the Segway moves that way. Lean too far forward or back, and the device automatically moves beneath the rider and keeps him upright. When used correctly, it’s almost impossible to fall off.

    “Typically, it takes less than two minutes to be comfortable with the machine, and two hours to be very good on it,” said Condon. “It’s all about trusting the machine.”

    It’s also a money-saver when it comes to energy costs. In a country where an estimated 50% of all car starts are for trips under three miles, he said, the Segway makes sense — particularly when gas prices have been soaring for some time. “For people who want to be earth-friendly, this will recharge on about 15 cents worth of electricity, and will go 24 miles on that 15-cent charge,” he said.

    It comes down to what’s most efficient, Condon explained. If you’re going from Boston to California, he said, obviously you’ll want to fly, and a car works best between Springfield and Boston. “But if you’re going a few blocks for lunch, the Segway is the fastest way to get there. I can literally race guys in their cars to lunch and win every time.”

    Quick Thinking

    Kamen has produced an impressive series of medical innovations over the years, including IV pumps for premature babies, portable insulin pumps, home kidney dialysis, and a wheelchair that climbs stairs through use of a ‘dynamic stabilization’ system that was a direct predecessor of the Segway.

    Unlike many of Kamen’s other creations, the Segway — which uses five ‘gyroscopes’ that communicate with each other 100 times per second to adjust balance — makes no medical claims, and in fact Kamen sold all medical rights surrounding dynamic balance to Johnson & Johnson, which now manufactures the wheelchair. That hasn’t stopped elderly people and others with mobility issues from using Segways effectively to get around.

    Still, Segways start at $5,200 for the basic model and $5,700 for an all-terrain version with larger tires, so they do require an investment — one that far fewer Americans have made than the national company would like. So why sell such a niche item?

    “We just love the Segway,” said Condon, who partnered with his brother, George, on the venture. They sell about one transporter per week, and sales have steadily increased during their two years in business. But they had to wait awhile before they could convert their passion for the vehicle into a company.

    “When they first came out, they were sold only through Amazon.com, and after that only through Brookstone stores,” he said. “Then they decided to go to dealerships, but we kind of missed the boat at first; someone in Agawam got a dealership first” — and Segway doesn’t allow multiple dealers in one area. But that seller gave up his business after 18 months, and the brothers jumped at the opportunity to take over the territory, which includes Springfield, Northampton, and Amherst, among other communities.

    “No one can open another retail outlet in that area, but we can sell them anywhere in the continental U.S.,” he said.

    About 40% of Segways are sold to police departments, which use them for community policing and neighborhood patrols, Condon said. “They find it makes for very friendly interaction; when you’re riding along, people are willing to go up and talk to you, whereas on a bicycle, you’re moving too fast to be on a sidewalk, so the officer doesn’t get as good a chance to talk to people.”

    Another advantage, Condon said, is the Segway’s height, which adds eight inches to an officer’s own standing, allowing him or her to see over parked cars and crowds. It also keeps the officer from becoming tired during what would otherwise be a foot or bicycle chase.

    “I think it’s been a great tool,” said Holyoke Police Chief Anthony Scott, whose department owns four Segways. “In fact, the mayor, the public works superintendent, and I use them to check several areas of the city. I have several officers trained, and we use them to patrol the shopping center areas on Northampton Street, the downtown area on High Street, and the strip malls. During the summer months, we’re going to be using them at Ingleside in the parking lots and inside the mall.”

    He said the height advantage — enabling the officer to see over crowds, and people to clearly see the officer — isn’t the only advantage a Segway offers.

    “It has better maneuverability than a bicycle, and you can carry a lot more equipment on it,” Scott said. “Plus, people can’t steal the Segway like they can just jump on a bike and ride away.”

    Actually, he clarified, the Segway can be stolen; it’s just useless to the thief. The Segway can be turned on with only one magnetic key, and even if someone tried to bring a stolen Segway to a dealer to have the key replaced, the real owner’s name would pop up on the computer.

    “I realized the year before last that this is a great tool,” Scott said.

    Slow Going

    The fact remains, however, that the Segway has not been the world-changing technology that Kamen and its investors — who poured $100 million into the device’s development and unleashed a torrent of hype before its unveiling — hoped it would be. Segway, which initially boasted that it could produce 40,000 vehicles per month, has always been reluctant to share actual sales figures, but two recent recalls shed some light on how pervasive the machine actually is — or isn’t.

    According to Time magazine, Segway recalled 6,000 vehicles in 2003, a year after it began selling the device, to fix a problem associated with depleted batteries. Then, about 18 months ago, another recall — this time to repair a software issue — revealed that the company had sold only 23,500 Segways to date. Compare the two figures, three years apart, and they reveal steady growth, but also nothing close to serious market penetration.

    “It didn’t catch on like wildfire, but it wasn’t supposed to,” Condon said, noting that Kamen originally anticipated that the vehicle would replace one-third of all cars within 15 to 20 years. “This is an innovation, and innovations take time to catch on.”

    At the same time, some analysts point out, many communities have become more pedestrian- and bike-friendly over the past decade, and many people would rather walk or pedal their way to nearby destinations than pay more than $5,000 to use a Segway and then have to worry about where to park it.

    “From a technological standpoint Segway was a revolutionary invention: a computer-controlled, self-balancing human transporter that was highly maneuverable yet easy and safe to use,” wrote Jeff Foust, an author and blogger who deals with space and technology. “However, to the public, whose expectations had bloomed in a hothouse of hype fueled by the media and the Internet, the Segway seemed more like an odd-looking scooter than the device that was as revolutionary as the Internet and would force people to rearchitect cities.”

    To Foust, the reason is simple: most people have never felt like they need a Segway, which is why its broadest use so far has been among police departments, golfers, and tourism companies, which offer Segway tours in many vacation-destination cities. “In essence, the Segway team had crafted a wonderful technical solution,” Foust said, “but had failed in clearly enunciating the problem it could solve.”

    That doesn’t faze Condon, though, who has sold the transporter to a range of customers, from police to young people who simply enjoy riding them, to people with joint replacements who appreciate the enhanced mobility.

    “I’ve met people who have multiple sclerosis who use it to get around for personal transportation,” he said. “We’re seeing people between age 55 and 75 who don’t want to slow down, and people who have had their knees replaced and are now able to walk with the kids or the dog every day.

    “Well, they’re not actually walking,” he corrected. But they are getting around — and getting around high gas prices at the same time. And, hopefully, wearing a jacket.

    Joseph Bednar can be reached at[email protected]

    Sections Supplements
    At GCC, Students Draw on Their Experiences
    Bob Pura

    Bob Pura, president of Greenfield Community College, says new programs at GCC are aimed at economic and social stability locally and globally.

    There’s construction underway at Greenfield Community College, and a temporary hallway connecting the campus’ north and south wings has been adorned with drawings, quotes, song lyrics, and signatures by its students.

    It speaks to the strong arts programming at the college, and perhaps also to the sensibilities of many of its students; a large blue peace sign stands out from the rest of the largely good-natured graffiti.

    Bob Pura, president of GCC, isn’t surprised by the composition of the makeshift exhibit.

    “Our arts programs are all very strong, and I’d say among the finest of all college arts programs,” he said. “I say that as objectively as I possibly can. It’s based on what I’ve seen at our portfolio days; four-year and arts colleges have come to the campus literally with checks in hand, ready to award scholarships to our students.”

    GCC offers a number of arts-related degree and certificate programs, including Fine Art, Graphic Design, Dance, Digital Media, and Theater. Some course tracks fall under the Commonwealth Transfer Compact, which allows students to transfer their credits to state colleges or UMass (50% of GCC students move on to a four-year institution), while other classes, such as painting and photography, are offered in conjunction with the Massachusetts College of Art.

    The strong arts component at GCC is also derived in part from the Franklin County region, which has a robust creative community. However, Pura, who has served as GCC’s president for seven years, said the community has other strengths, opportunities, and needs that the college is also well-positioned to address as the only community college serving the county.

    “We are the only point of access to higher education in Franklin County, and as such we feel a sense of responsibility to meet the needs of the community,” he said.

    To that end, GCC has long offered a wide range of courses in health care and health sciences. It serves as the primary training center for future EMTs living and working in Franklin County, and its nursing program has the highest pass rate among community colleges in the state. In addition, the college also offers a certificate program in massage therapy, and degree tracks in occupational therapy and the so-called ‘healing arts.’

    About 5,000 students, largely from Franklin County, attend GCC; about half of that number are enrolled in credit-bearing courses, while the remainder take part in non-credit, professional-development, and continuing-education courses ranging from accounting to software development to the politics of the Middle East.

    Pura said creating a pipeline from the community to GCC is an ongoing effort at the school, regardless of its status as the county’s only college.

    This April, a community-access scholarship fund designed to reach students, as he put it, “at risk of not continuing on to higher education,” will be rolled out, awarding scholarships to about 40 individuals. The fund was started by two anonymous donors, both living in Franklin County.

    “They saw a need, as we do, to underscore the importance of the associate’s degree to economic and social stability in our world today,” said Pura. “We truly believe that the associate’s degree is the new standard, and this fund is important in getting the word out. Too many people in our community have been told that they don’t have to continue their education beyond high school, or that they can’t.”

    But Pura believes the bond between GCC and the county it serves is only strengthening, and that bodes well for the campus, the community, and a number of new initiatives that are broadening the scope of educational options for people from all walks of life.

    Pura said each program is aimed at the broad goal of creating a social and economic impact on the community and the world through a strong, liberal arts-based education.

    “We’ve been working aggressively to create collaboration within the community that addresses workforce needs,” he said. “Our students learn in a hands-on manner, in order to be an asset to the workforce, but they’re also taught to see the big picture.”

    Power to the People

    Part of that picture is ecological responsibility, said Pura, and a number of initiatives on the GCC campus have ‘green’ components to them. These new green practices are being put into play in ways both small and large. In an effort to reduce the number of plastic water bottles used each day by students and faculty, for example, water fountains are being fitted with spouts designed to refill them, as often seen in health clubs, as part of the current construction projects — largely renovations and improvements to existing buildings, funded in part through GCC’s annual campaign, which last year raised more than $1 million.

    But on the other side of the spectrum, a more far-reaching endeavor is gaining steam: a new focus on sustainable energy, introduced last year, strives to prepare students for the jobs of the future.

    “Sustainable energy is getting a lot of attention, and we’ve already been identified as a model for the state,” said Pura. “We’re working with individuals and businesses to educate and train people in sustainable fields, such as solar power. As these fields emerge, employers will look to our graduates to perform the work they need.”

    Pura said GCC received a grant four years ago from Northeast Utilities to develop and teach a course called ‘Sustainable Energy: Theory and Practices.’ As the need for workforce education in this field grew, the college began seeking funds for an expanded sustainable-energy program, and last summer garnered a $372,000 grant from the Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund for a Sustainable Practices in Construction (SPC) project, administered by the Commonwealth Corp.

    The grant paired GCC with local businesses to defray tuition and materials costs, allowing local employees to take renewable energy courses.

    In October of last year, the program expanded again, this time through a $50,000 grant from the Mass. Technology Collaborative that trains high-school educators through GCC courses that teach renewable-energy technology techniques and theories.

    In turn, the teachers who are taking courses at GCC can then create equivalent courses at their schools, which students will be able to take and receive credit from GCC.

    Pura said the college is also constructing a new teaching greenhouse that will assist in delivering the key concepts of sustainable energy, but will also serve as a showcase for sustainable practices.

    “This will be the greenest of all greenhouses,” he said. “We are developing a strong curriculum for teaching sustainable energy, but at the same time, we’ve made a commitment, like many colleges across the nation, to increase our energy efficiency, and to learn as much as we can to reduce our own footprint. We call them ‘role-model practices.’”

    Overall, said Pura, the sustainable energy program is indicative of an ‘act locally, think globally’ model that has long been in place at GCC.

    “It’s probably one of the best examples of how we’ve stayed engaged in the community in order to learn what’s needed, so our graduates are sought after,” said Pura, noting that in recent years, GCC has identified several economic clusters in Franklin County that are poised to welcome college-trained professionals. “We’ve filled gaps in health care, especially through the nursing program; we’ve worked with artists and writers to create networks of support, and we’ve created a very technology-focused business program.”

    Peace of the Puzzle

    Moving forward with that mission of community-minded, globally focused student and resource development, Pura said there’s another academic program blossoming at GCC: a degree-bearing suite of courses in Peace and Social Justice that was also unveiled last year.

    The program evaluates the concepts of peace and conflict through an interdisciplinary studies option, which includes courses in mediation and conflict-resolution and seminars addressing nonviolence and social action.

    Through this program, which awards an associate of arts degree, students are presented with eight tenets of a culture of peace: respect all life, reject violence, share with others, listen to understand, preserve the planet, rediscover solidarity, work for women’s equality, and participate in democracy.

    “It may not be a big program, but it’s one that elevates the definition of student success,” said Pura, explaining that often, a barrier to higher education is the inability on the part of the student to answer the question ‘what do I want to be when I grow up?’

    “At student orientations, I often ask how many students don’t know why they’re here,” he said. “After an uncomfortable silence, usually a few hands start going up, then a few more.”

    Peace and Action

    “I tell them they don’t have to have everything figured out,” he continued. “They’re here to learn how to learn, and through education, they can find their purpose and meaning. They’re here to find out what brings meaning to their lives.”

    That could be a career in art, or installing water-conserving spouts on public drinking fountains. It could be a job in health care, or a mission to promote peace around the globe.

    The writing on the walls at GCC suggests that anything is possible.

    Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

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    The most rural of the state’s counties, Franklin County is comprised of 26 towns with a total population of just over 70,000 people. The county seat is Greenfield, with a community — which recently changed its charter and became a city — of roughly 18,000 people that is home to Franklin Medical Center and Greenfield Community College. Other centers of business and tourism include Deerfield, home to the many components of Yankee Candle Corp., including its flagship store, corporate headquarters, and Chandler’s Restaurant, and also Historic Deerfield; Shelburne Falls, home to the famous Bridge of Flowers and the studio of noted glass artist Josh Simpson; and Northfield, home to Northfield Mount Herman School.

    Agriculture and tourism remain the main pillars of the county’s economy, with Route 2, or the Appalachian Trail, a popular spot, especially in the fall. Meanwhile, the Route 5 corridor in Deerfield and South Deerfield has become home to a number of attractions that have supplemented the Yankee Candle complex. Greenfield is still home to a number of manufacturers, and has recently become a popular site for environmental-sector businesses and agencies. Other communities in the county are: Ashfield, Bernardston, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, Conway, Erving, Gill, Hawley, Heath, Leverett, Leyden, Monroe, Montague, New Salem, Orange, Rowe, Shelburne, Shutesbury, Sunderland, Warwick, Wendell, and Whately.

    The county’s business community is served by the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce (www.franklincc.org).

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    This Is the Primary Challenge Involving Modern Philanthropy

    I keep a sign on my desk that says:

    “Giving away money is easy. Deciding to whom to give it, how much, when, and how, is not.”

    While the attribution of this is unclear, it is certainly a revelation to those who are much more familiar with the difficulties of raising money for their favorite causes, or who envy those with much more to give away. Those same people, however, are often the first to join the rising chorus of complaints about too many dinner-hour telephone solicitations, direct-mail appeals, and, finally, just too darn many nonprofits.

    Indeed, the flood of compelling appeals is unsettling even for the most affluent.

    Whether by necessity or the kind of restless desire for improvement that is part of the American psyche, one of the unique features of modern philanthropy has become a quest to do it better — to get, in that quintessential American parlance, a bigger bang for the buck. And this observation applies across the board — from the smallest school child who is learning to give away $1 of the proceeds from the lemonade stand, to the multi-billionaires of our modern economy.

    Much of the impetus for this has come from the ‘new’ wealth of the past 25 years, built on the success of new ways of creating that wealth, primarily in the financial-services and technology industries — new ways represented not just by new goods and services, but new ways of doing business, such as flatter organizations, more rigorous accountability, and a host of other nostrums that have spawned an entire genre of management publications. If they worked to create the wealth to give away, why wouldn’t they work to deploy that wealth as it was given away?

    “Venture philanthropy,” complete with the kind of roll-up-the-sleeves, serve-on-the board, help-the-CEO involvement of the venture capital world, became the cause du jour.

    Because the results were mixed, however, cooler heads began to prevail, and, in yet one more example of the extraordinary way in which a vigorous, free, educated, and pluralistic society can continuously tackle its important features, American philanthropy has begun to explore, and become much more self-conscious about, how it goes about its business. In countless periodicals, listserves, governmental, and other public forums, the exchanges are lively and the debates are raging, with champions for all kinds of perspectives always ready to jump in.

    At the center, however, remains the premise that some giving is better than others, that choices must be made, and with that necessity comes a responsibility for making the better choice. If you give to one cause, you can’t give to another, and you’d better make sure you make the right choice. The very notion that there are ‘better’ choices, however, is coming under scrutiny as some theorists point out that the giving decision, unlike the venture-investing decision, involves some value judgments that are intensely personal and might be difficult to justify logically. Those who support the handicapped over the hungry might be hard-pressed to justify that decision logically. What that uncertainty does to accountability is conceptually unclear.

    It is clear, however, that there are plenty of ways to differentiate that don’t depend on personal preference, and they usually start with data.

    In the information age, and with computing power everywhere at hand, we know a lot more than ever before. We can know, for example, that, as recently revealed, child poverty is much more acute in Springfield and Holyoke than elsewhere, or that open space is disappearing in Massachusetts at the rate of 40 acres per day. On a micro level, we can, at least in theory, learn that, of $100 given to one organization, only $50 ends up in the hands of service recipients, whereas the comparable amount at another is $90; or that $100 feeds 50 people at one organization, and 75 at another.

    The proliferation of ‘benchmarking’ for communities, and the financial analysis of organizational effectiveness, is unmistakeable. The mass dissemination of this kind of information over the Internet appears to hold both extraordinary promise and danger, empowering millions with information previously only available to a few, but risking its misuse as well.

    ‘Lies, damned lies, and statistics’ are just as prevalent on the Internet as on the printed page. In particular, skepticism about the use of “one-size-fits-all” measurement templates for organizations continues to grow apace.

    It is also becoming clear that measurable accountability for the results of philanthropy is a different animal than its counterpart in the for-profit sector. For one, the results may not be known for years, as, for example, with intervention in early-childhood education. And sometimes, the results are just impossible to know. How would you measure the impact of a campaign to restore Symphony Hall, or the establishment of a community garden in Holyoke, or an energy conservation education program in a school district?

    One important element of the philanthropy scene today is scale. Change for the better is thought to be more likely with $25 million than with $25. Whether many $25 donors pool their money in a capital campaign for their local church, or the 10 largest foundations in a community pool their funds to end homelessness, collaboration is generally thought to be a good thing. Those of us who have tried to get a family to make a collective charitable gift, however, know just how difficult that can be. Collaboration always exacts a price, which may be too high for some participants.

    And the diversity of American philanthropy is also one of its defining features. The best evidence is that 80% of all American families make at least one charitable gift over a five-year period to one of the more than 1 million organizations determined to be tax-exempt by the Internal Revenue Service. The size of that vast sea of transactions keeps America from putting all (or too many) of its eggs into one silly basket.

    The surprising resilience of such a vast market survives most of the passing trends of the day. Even the instant-gratification nature of modern society does not seem to dent the desire for long-term results that is an important component of American philanthropy. Larger charities (particularly the educational institutions) seem to have little difficulty continuing to mount their campaigns for endowments or large capital projects.

    If size is a defining feature of the recipients of such gifts, perhaps that is just a reflection of the trust that must be reposed in an organization by a donor who makes a gift that will be used long after the donor can take any pleasure in or possibly influence that use. The desire to leave a lasting legacy, to help succeeding generations with an act of faith of the kind that previous generations have left to ours, seems just as strong as ever.

    If our government is currently under a cloud worldwide, the American traditions of philanthropy are still the envy of the rest of the world. That its practitioners are seeking to make it even better is surely remarkable. But that’s the American way.

    Kent Faerber is the executive director of the Community Foundation of Western Mass.; (413) 732-2858;www.communityfoundation.org.

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    NLRB Rules that Employers Can Restrict Union Use of Company E-mail

    In a decision that impacts both unionized and non-unionized employers, the National Labor Relations Board ruled late last year that employers who restrict employee use of their E-mail system to business-related purposes do not violate federal labor law.

    The case involved an Oregon-based newspaper publisher, the Register Guard, which had a computer and information system in place since 1996, and provided computers and/or E-mail access to most of its 150 employees. Like many other employers, Register Guard adopted a communications systems policy (CSP) that specifically provided that “communications systems are not to be used to solicit or proselytize for commercial ventures, religious or political causes, outside organizations, or other non-job-related solicitations.”

    Although a violation of the CSP could lead to discipline up to and including termination, Register Guard did not regularly enforce the CSP against employees, and even managers, for sending E-mails over its system regarding parties, jokes, breaks, community events, sporting events, births, or solicitations for the United Way.

    In 2001, the union challenged Register Guard’s CSP as unlawful under the National Labor Relations Act. The union argued that the communications system was a “work area,” and as such, Register Guard could only restrict employees’ use of it during “working time.” Register Guard, however, argued that its communications system was company property, like its bulletin boards, telephones, and televisions, and, thus, it had the right to limit employee use of it to business purposes.

    The union also claimed that Register Guard discriminatorily enforced its CSP against union activity because it disciplined employees for sending union-related E-mails while it allowed employees to send other non-business-related E-mails without punishment.

    The board concluded that Register Guard’s CSP was lawful because its communications system was company property and not a work area. The CSP also served another “legitimate business interest,” according to the board, in preserving server space, protecting against viruses, and avoiding liability for inappropriate E-mails. The board found that the CSP did not “entirely deprive” employees of their ability to exercise their rights under the act to communicate amongst themselves about the terms and conditions of their employment. Even if E-mail activity on that topic was restricted, employees retained the ability to engage in face-to-face communication.

    Having found the terms of the CSP lawful, the board then considered whether Register Guard had discriminatorily enforced the CSP. In the past, the board has generally found discriminatory enforcement where, for example, an employer prohibited employees from using its property for union-related purposes but then allowed employees to use its property for non-work related purposes. A classic example of this would have been allowing employees to post personal notices on a bulletin board, such as a car for sale or a wedding announcement, but then prohibiting union-related postings on the same bulletin board.

    In this case, however, the board abandoned that approach and decided that discrimination under the act exists only where an employer draws a distinction along union-related lines. The board explained its new discrimination rule as “unequal treatment among equals.” It further explained it as “disparate treatment of activities or communications of a similar character because of their union … status.” Some examples include:

    • Permitting employees to use E-mail to solicit for one union but not another; or
    • Permitting solicitation by anti-union employees but not by pro-union employees.

    The board’s new approach to discrimination under the act may not outlast the terms of three members of the majority, and it may not even survive an appeal. Two board members dissented “in the strongest possible terms,” claiming that the majority overruled very settled law.

    E-mail has become an indispensable communication tool in the American workplace because it is so quick and effective. With just a click of a button, you can contact someone, whether across the hall or across the country. For this very reason, it is a coveted way for unions to communicate with prospective and current members.

    Unions are acutely aware that cyberspace is an effective medium with which to recruit and retain members.

    This decision will be upsetting to unions, which will undoubtedly mobilize their resources to overturn it in the courts and in the political arena. For this reason, employers may want to think twice before changing their electronic communications policies to reflect this decision. Chances are this is not the last word on this issue.

    Tim Murphy and Tim Cavazza are partners with the Springfield-based firm Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C.; (413) 737-4753;www.skoler-abbott.com

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    Shopping for Valentine’s Day have you red in the face? Here are some innovative gift ideas on the market now:

    PajamaGram –Ranging in price from $20 to about $50, PajamaGrams are unique, comfy sets of sleepwear for men, women, children, families, couples, or even the family dog. PajamaGram is the sister company of the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, and delivers each gift to the recipient’s door in a keepsake package such as a hat box for women, a travel case for men, or a small doghouse with a plush puppy for children; pajamagram.com

    Love Tribute Album –For a more personal touch, Red Envelope offers a customizable photo album with pre-printed ‘tributettes’ such as ‘You are perfect for me because…’ that can be placed inside and used as prompts for personal memories. Each album can also be personalized with a small silver plaque for an extra charge, comes in red or ivory, and is printed on recycled paper; $68, redenvelope.com

    Couples Massage –Ocean’s Dream Massage and Bodywork in Chicopee offers side-by-side massages for 45, 60, or 90 minutes for two, for the duo that wants to relax together; $100 to $150, oceans-dream.com

    Wine Club membership –Table & Vine of West Springfield’s Connoisseurs Club is a unique gift for wine lovers, and the timing is perfect; deliveries of six bottles of selected wines arrive on a recipient’s doorstep around the 15th of the month. Generally, Table & Vine’s wine-selection team will choose three bottles of red and three bottles of white, which are delivered on a bimonthly basis for $99 per shipment; tableandvine.com

    Spread the Love –CharityChoice.com offers gift cards for various occasions including Valentine’s Day, and allows gift givers to choose from more than 100 nonprofit and charity organizations, to which a donation in any amount can be made in the recipient’s name. These range from environmental protection entities to disaster relief efforts, educational endeavors, and health care and disease awareness advocacy groups all over the world; charitygiftcertificates.org

    V-cast for V-day —The Samsung FlipShot in red from Verizon Wireless features a 180-degree rotating display that transforms into a 3.0 megapixel camera; the ‘TVout’ option, which allows photos and videos to be displayed on a television; and a V CAST mp3 music system. Most importantly, the FlipShot comes ready for Valentine’s Day gift giving with its striking candy-apple red finish; $150, verizonwireless.com

    Preserved Roses –Give a traditional gift some extra shelf life by opting for preserved roses over fresh blooms. Preserved roses are created by replacing water in their stems with glycerin, and they retain their soft texture for months – and can be kept and displayed for years. At everrose.com, 20 preserved red roses are about $70, and individual stems or flower heads can also be purchased.

    Nostalgia Candy –Less expected than a heart-shaped box of chocolates, nostalgia candy is one way to spark childhood memories. Blaircandy.com offers a wide selection of ‘vintage’ favorites and penny candy, including Big Hunk candy bars, Bit O Honey, and Sugar Daddies; $1 and up.

    Tickled Pink –For the shopper who has no budget constraints, Katie Cochran at the Springfield Diamond and Jewelry Exchange recommends an ideal-cut pink diamond in the setting of one’s choice. These stones are available at a number of price points, up to about $65,000.

    Rome, If You Want To – A similar ‘sky’s the limit’ gift could be a trip to Rome, Italy, to visit St. Valentine’s hometown and the Via Flaminia, a winding road on which the martyr is believed to have been buried. Several feasts and festivals honoring St. Valentine take place in Italy in both February and June; visit frommers.com for more information.

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    A Guide to Effective Contract Administration

    In the ordinary course of business, a company will enter into many contracts. If the company is not careful, some of the commitments made in its contracts may expose it to unexpected liability. Unfortunately, there are many cases where an organization inadvertently has been forced to incur great expense or become subject to competitive disadvantage because of its failure to pay attention to the details in its contracts.

    Such contracts arise in various ways. Contractual commitments are made when a company’s products or services are sold, directly or through sales networks, or when supplies and services are purchased. Contracts can be verbal or written. There are some types of agreements that can be repeatedly encountered by a company, such as nondisclosure agreements, that are intended to protect proprietary information owned by the company or by others with whom it does business, purchase orders, quotes and sales forms, and agreements with key employees. There are also non-routine contracts such as leases of commercial space; agreements for the purchase, leasing, or licensing of significant business assets; collective bargaining agreements; and insurance and financing agreements.

    Contract administration is a form of risk control, no less important to a company than having appropriate insurance coverage. Companies that protect themselves through disciplined contract-management programs can also position themselves to take advantage of valuable opportunities. There are several goals of an effective contract-administration program:

    • First, a company should avoid undertaking responsibility for inappropriate risks;
    • Second, it should ensure that its internal policies are consistently reflected in its contracts. Some examples of this include maintaining consistent warranties, or warranty limitations, on products or services sold; maintaining consistent protection of trade secrets and other intellectual property; and having contractual provisions that support a company’s revenue-recognition policies and goals;
    • Third, a company should avoid entering into conflicting contractual commitments. Examples include inconsistent exclusivity commitments in licenses, distributor or sales representative agreements, or commitments that conflict with covenants previously made in institutional financing documents;
    • Fourth, a company should monitor its contracts as part of its internal controls over risk and corporate reporting; and
    • Finally, management should have easy access — for reporting, transactional, and other purposes — to information concerning currently effective contracts and the contents of those contracts.

    The first step is to identify, within the organization, where and by whom contractual commitments are made, and then to develop appropriate controls. In a typical organization, for example, the purchasing department may issue purchase orders or accept quotes from vendors. Sales personnel may accept purchase orders or otherwise enter into contracts to sell, lease, or license the company’s products and services, and may enter into contracts to sell through various distribution channels.

    The human resources department may enter into agreements with employees. Throughout the company, managers may be asked by third parties to sign, or ask others to sign, nondisclosure agreements for various purposes.
    Effective controls include:

    • Identifying those significant contracts that must be reviewed and approved by persons familiar with important company policies. This may include legal review of contracts presented to the company, which may create special risk;
    • Making sure that those managers in each department, who sign off on contracts, are familiar with the company’s policies affecting contractual matters and watch for inappropriate risks;
    • Limiting signature authority to certain officers;
    • Developing standard forms to use for routine agreements (for example, sale agreements, quotes, purchase orders) that contain terms that are friendly to the organization;
    • Developing an approach to identify contract issues that need special attention, and a process to quickly resolve those issues. This is probably one of the most difficult parts of the management process because it usually requires prompt response by various team members, including legal advisors, and a constructive approach to getting to a final agreement, in order to avoid a slowdown in operations; and
    • Finally, effective contract management includes keeping readily accessible records of all the organization’s contracts, and implementing a system to monitor key contract dates and other features. These dates may include deadlines to exercise options such as extension or renewal options, options for price increases, or reminders to begin renegotiations for new contracts (e.g., real estate leases) where significant work is required in advance of the contract expiration date.

    What follows are some common types of contracts, and areas of concern where a company should be careful in managing such contracts:

    Nondisclosure Agreements

    Most organizations have trade secrets and other sensitive information to protect, whether it consists of customer details, formulae, pricing information, designs, or other intellectual property. It is important, especially in order to preserve the trade secret status of such information, for an organization to have a form of nondisclosure agreement that can be used with vendors, business partners, employees, and others who would be given access to such information.

    The company’s attorney can help develop an appropriate form. If a company manager is presented with a nondisclosure agreement from a third party with whom the company does business, the manager should be sensitive to avoid signing any agreement that is overly broad in identifying what information must be restricted or that contains non-competition, non-solicitation, or other restrictions that are excessive, inappropriate, or irrelevant to the purpose of the nondisclosure agreement.

    Agreements with Employees

    Many organizations enter into employment agreements with key management and sales personnel, not only to avoid misunderstandings about duties, compensation, benefits, and other terms of employment, but also to protect against misuse of important company information to which the employee would have access, or to ensure that the company gets the benefit of any intellectual property developed by the employee.

    Agreements with employees to consider in this regard include, where appropriate, agreements:

    • not to disclose or misuse company confidential or proprietary information, or such information received from others with whom the company does business;
    • not to solicit a company’s customers or employees, or not to compete; and
    • to assign to the company any intellectual property created during the course of employment.

    Under Massachusetts law, covenants not to compete are recognized to the extent they are necessary to protect legitimate company interests such as trade secrets. If an employee in Massachusetts has a covenant not to compete, it is important to consider executing a new non-competition agreement if the employee is promoted or changes job functions.

    Note that the laws of other states, regarding covenants not to compete, are not always the same as in Massachusetts. In some states, noncompetition agreements with employees are unenforceable, or are enforceable only under certain conditions that need to be considered in preparing the agreement. Therefore, it is worth checking the status of the applicable laws for employees outside of Massachusetts.

    Agreements for the Sale and Purchase of Products and Services

    These agreements frequently arise from an exchange of preprinted forms such as requests for quotation, quotations, purchase orders and acknowledgments of purchase orders. These forms may be exchanged when an organization sells, leases, or licenses its products and services, or when it purchases products or services from vendors.

    The documents that are exchanged often are not signed, contain conflicting terms between the seller’s document and the purchaser’s document, or are not reviewed by the receiving party before the contract is performed.

    Under the Uniform Commercial Code provisions that have been enacted in Massachusetts and in other states, a contract for the sale or purchase of products can arise even if the forms exchanged by the parties differ from one another. What terms becomes part of the contract depends on timing and the language of the parties’ respective forms. Problems can arise, for example, when goods or services are not timely delivered, are defective, or cause injury or damage.

    This is an area where an organization can be proactive and develop the most advantageous forms, and impose process controls, to ensure that its terms become part of the final contract. In significant situations, it may be better to have a master sale agreement, signed by both parties, that applies to all sales to an important customer, or purchases from an important vendor, over a particular term. Such an agreement would address price, delivery, volume commitment, warranty, liability limitation, intellectual property, and other sale issues.

    Warranties

    Well-drawn warranties, and related limitations on a seller’s obligations for claims relating to defective products and services, will help control the company’s exposure to potentially unlimited consequences from the sale of its products or services.

    The matters that must be included in a warranty, those persons who have the benefit of the warranty, and the extent to which a seller can limit its liabilities are largely addressed by various state and federal laws. In particular, these include the Uniform Commercial Code provisions in effect in Massachusetts and other states, and the Federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, which governs the contents of consumer product warranties.

    Product Distribution

    Companies that contract to use distribution and sales networks may have several sales representative and distributor agreements in place, some of which may offer exclusivity arrangements to representatives or distributors. Any exclusivity commitments should be well-defined and consistent with the company’s plans to sell its products or services directly or through all sales channels. There are also limits imposed by the antitrust and other laws that affect permissible arrangements that can be made relating to exclusivity and pricing.

    Many states, including Massachusetts, also have statutes that address agreements with sales representatives and their termination. Many countries outside of the U.S. have strict dealer protection laws that make it more difficult or expensive to terminate a dealer or distributor than might be the case in the U.S., even if the contract provides otherwise. Experienced business counsel can advise about the applicable limitations in any particular situation.

    Conclusion

    In conclusion, an effective contract administration program will minimize the risk of expensive and inadvertent contractual commitments. Such a program can ensure that a company’s policies and best interests are consistently reflected in its contractual positions, and that unusual risks are considered and addressed before a contract is signed.

    David Parke is a partner with the law firm of Bulkley, Richardson and Gelinas, LLP, specializing in business and corporate matters; (413) 781-2820.

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    Estate Planning Considerations for the Baby Boomer/Sandwich Generation

    Sociologists and the media define the Baby Boom generation as those born in the United States between 1946 and 1964. Approximately 76 million people were born during this timeframe and grew up during one of the most prosperous and sustained economic-growth periods in this country’s history. This generation has enjoyed a considerably higher standard of living than any previous one.

     Of them, an estimated 16 million find themselves sandwiched between two generations, struggling to raise their children while caring for an aging loved one. These Americans are commonly referred to as the ‘sandwich generation,’ and they are especially stressed over the combination of caring for aging parents, raising their children, and planning for their own retirement.

     At roughly 28%, Baby Boomers represent a disproportionately large segment of the U.S. population. They require careful estate-planning considerations due to the wealth they have accumulated. Additional consideration must be given to the wealth they will or have inherited from their parents and the long-term care required by both themselves and their parents.

     Charles Sabatino, the assistant director of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Legal Problems of the Elderly, has noted that Baby Boomers display three generational characteristics.

    1. They tend to be better educated, more insistent on doing things their own way, less trusting of traditional authority, and demanding of more convenience and service;
    2. Their estates are more complicated, diverse, and geographically far-flung due to the growth in investment products and increased job mobility; and
    3. They will likely experience more career changes, more marriages, more non-traditional family affinities, and a more fluid mixing of educational, retirement, and work cycles.

     Therefore, it is imperative that Baby Boomers review their estate-planning documents frequently and at every life change and stage. This includes birth of grandchildren, marriage, and divorce of children and other circumstances like a child with a substance abuse habit or a pattern of irresponsible spending, etc.

     One of the most pressing concerns that face Baby Boomers, and especially the sandwich generation, is the financing of long-term care for themselves and their parents.

    Many Baby Boomers have witnessed someone close to them go through a nursing home care stay and its drain on their savings. Baby Boomers are increasingly taking steps to preserve their assets and prevent becoming a burden on their own children. The available options include private payment, Medicare, Medicaid, and long-term care insurance.

    • Private payment is generally the first line of defense for health care expenses. Most people only become acutely aware of how expensive health care services are when they start paying for them out of their own checkbook. In Massachusetts, the monthly cost of nursing home care is approximately $7,700. This expense alone can quickly evaporate a lifetime of savings and significantly limit the amount passed to designated heirs.
    • Medicare is the federal government-run health insurance program for those over age 65. It provides coverage for hospital and doctor expenses and covers health care and hospice service when ordered by a doctor. It pays for short-term skilled nursing, such as recovery after a hospital stay or surgery. However, Medicare does not cover all medical expenses or most long-term care.
    • Medicaid is a federal/state program designed to provide health care to the medically and financially needy. The key eligibility requirement is that you must have very limited financial resources and income. Medicaid benefits are not available until the countable assets of a married couple are less than $103,640, or less than $2,000 for singles.

     Medicaid planning or asset-preservation planning can be accomplished by properly transferring assets in accordance with complicated Medicaid laws, which include a specific look-back period on all assets and income.

     Upon the enactment of The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, Medicaid increased the look-back period for asset transfers and financial information prior to the date of application for Medicaid benefits from three years to five years. This is the time period during which a person may not transfer assets and still be eligible for Medicaid.

     Under the new law, the penalty period for gifts made within the five-year look-back period will not apply until the date on which the applicant is otherwise ineligible for Medicaid benefits, which is often the time when the applicant enters a nursing home. An applicant who has transferred any asset for less than fair market value, i.e. a gift, will be disqualified from receiving Medicaid benefits for a period of months equal to the sum of the amount of the transfer divided by the average monthly cost of nursing home care, approximately $7,700.

     Unlike Medicare, which everyone over age 65 receives, Medicaid requires an application for benefits.

     Long-term care insurance is a better means to plan for a nursing home stay. This can provide the financial resources for skilled nursing care or the means to stay at home when illness leaves an individual debilitated. It will also pay a daily benefit toward the cost of long-term care. A person must be insurable in order to be eligible to purchase long-term care insurance. This is dependent upon the absence of certain medical conditions.

     Every Baby Boomer, regardless of his or her financial status, should have a customized estate plan. At the very least, their estate plan should include a will, durable power of attorney, and a health care proxy. Revocable trusts should also be explored to keep assets out of probate and to offer significant estate tax relief. In the event that a financial plan includes life insurance, one may also wish to explore an irrevocable life insurance trust, which helps protect life insurance assets from estate tax.

    When it comes to the topic of inheritances, many Baby Boomers say that money is not everything. On the contrary, many of them say their parents’ personal items are often as or more important to them than the oft-publicized trillions of dollars Boomers are anticipated to inherit.

    To address this, a memorandum may be executed in conjunction with your parents’ or your own will. This is a list of personal property, and it can provide for the property’s distribution among your family members or other individuals. Although this document does not create a legal or equitable obligation, as it is not offered for probate as part of your parents’ will, it does express their intent. Since desires regarding the transition of personal keepsakes are often not communicated to heirs, a memorandum can hopefully eliminate disputes between heirs regarding intent as to who should inherit these personal items.

    Those within the sandwich generation must also concern themselves with the disposition of their parents’ financial matters; however, discussing personal finances is taboo in many families. Perhaps another approach could be to ask your aging parents how they hope to live out the rest of their lives, their dreams and goals, and their worries and concerns prior to discussing more sensitive issues like money, estate planning, and their health and welfare.

    If you are unable to get through to your aging parents, you may suggest that they talk to their legal or financial advisor about their future. Planning to preserve your aging parents’ hard-earned accumulated assets for the sake of your children and future generations is not improper. Estate planning not only preserves wealth for succeeding generations, it also gives your aging parent satisfaction and peace of mind.

    It is also a good idea to work with your parents to prepare a record of essential financial, legal, and medical information. Specifically, you want to include information regarding bank accounts, investment holdings, insurance policy numbers, company names, estate planning documents, and professional financial advisors.

    Additional concerns of the sandwich generation include funding college savings, contributing to a son or daughter’s wedding or other life expenses, and paying for nursing home care for an elderly parent, all the while saving for retirement. You may wish to research a 529 Plan for your children or grandchildren. This is an education savings plan operated by a state or educational institution and designed to help families set aside funds for future college costs. As long as the plan satisfies a few basic requirements, you will enjoy special tax benefits.

    America’s population is aging, and the Baby Boomers and the sandwich generation have unique characteristics that will require specialized estate planning even if their estates seem straightforward. By planning ahead, they can protect their assets and assist their aging parents in accomplishing the same. Due to the ever-changing and intricate laws and requirements regarding estate planning, experienced estate attorneys are the best resource for determining how to effectively preserve your family’s resources.

    Todd C. Ratner is an estate planning, business, and real estate attorney with the Springfield law firm Bacon & Wilson, P.C.; (413) 781-0560;[email protected]

    Sections Supplements
    Nonprofits Learn How to Make Their Case to Boston

    As David Magnani stood before about 200 key players within Western Mass. nonprofit organizations, he had one overriding message: legislators, believe it or not, are human.

    “The first lesson is that legislators are people,” said Magnani, a former state lawmaker and now executive director of the Mass. Nonprofit Network, which builds awareness of the Commonwealth’s nonprofit sector. “They have lives. They have likes, dislikes, relatives, friends, hobbies — or they used to have hobbies.

    “And because they’re human beings, they have passions about issues they care deeply about,” he added. “If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be in office. And if you know what they care deeply about, you’re one step ahead.”

    That was one of many messages delivered by Magnani and a handful of panelists from the legislative and nonprofit arenas at the third Hot Topics in Philanthropy Breakfast staged late last month at Bay Path College. “Making Your Case within the Political Landscape” was the topic of this particular roundtable, and Magnani, the keynote speaker, stressed the need for nonprofits not only to build relationships with lawmakers, but to involve their constituents in grass-roots appeals if they want access to state funds.

    “The role of nonprofits is to affect public policy,” he said. “Anyone who thinks that all they have to do is provide services is missing the boat. Every citizen, particularly in the nonprofit sector, should have as part of their job description ‘political organizer.’ And if you’re not getting paid for it, it should still be part of your job description. It’s essential to the ability to shift the conversation.”

    Even then, said Magnani, lawmakers often get bogged down in day-to-day business — not to mention campaigning, fundraising, keeping up on the activities of town councils and boards of education, and trying to have a home life. As a result, they often fail to immediately see the value in looking at a problem — and allocating resources to address it — in a different way than they have in the past.

    “The system is not designed for change,” he said. “No system pays revolutionaries to change it. The system is designed for inertia. You can overcome that through persistence and focus and consistency. You won’t get it all in one day. It takes time, but if you’re in it for the long haul, you’ll be successful.”

    Passion and Ego

    State Sen. Gale Candaras (D-1st District) told the breakfast attendees that, while most nonprofits would love their own recurring line item in the state budget, most would be happy with in earmark carved out of an agency’s budget, directing a certain amount of money their way. She said the House has largely opposed earmarks in the past, but argued they serve a purpose, particularly in this region.

    “They wanted the heads of the agencies to have absolute discretion over how money was spent in Western Mass.,” she said, “but an agency head doesn’t always understand our needs. We’ve insisted on earmarking and substituting our judgment for that of an agency head.”

    But before a legislator can take up for an issue in Boston, he or she must be convinced of that issue’s importance. “As a legislator, I had 75 great causes coming down the pike, so you have to stand out among all the other good causes,” Magnani said.

    The key, he told those assembled, is building relationships, not just asking for money. And to that end, the best time to bring an idea to a lawmaker is at his or her own fundraiser.

    “You start by offering something, not asking for something,” he explained. “For example, ‘hi, Senator. I heard your son is the captain of the football team. Congratulations, you must be proud. Here’s $25.’ You’ve built a relationship in 30 seconds. When you talk about lobbying, it’s about relationships, not just about data.”

    Magnani cautioned, however, not to ask for the moon, since all legislators face budget limitations. “You don’t get everything you want. Democracy was designed for something we consider a dirty word: compromise. When you’re writing legislation, only one person is going to agree with every word, and that’s the person who wrote it. The other people in the State House have to compromise.”

    If a nonprofit doesn’t get everything it wants, he said, it’s still important to thank lawmakers for what it did get. And even that might involve some public ego-stroking, he explained, noting that the best way to thank a congressperson isn’t with a note or personal greeting, but with a letter to the editor of a local newspaper. “If someone has to run for re-election and you think he did a good job, let people know about it.”

    Another key factor in working into a lawmaker’s good graces is through his staff, particularly his chief of staff.

    “I’m the puppet, the one that’s run out in public,” Magnani said. “The chief of staff runs the place and pays attention to all the legislation. And the chief of staff listens to her staff, so if you get to them, you get to the chief of staff.”

    Legislators have egos, and some of them are oversized, said Ronald Cretaro, executive director of the Conn. Assoc. of Nonprofits, which supports the work of nonprofit work to benefit Connecticut communities. “But some legislators are humble; they do care about the issues. Most are there because they want to make a difference and do good.”

    He agreed with Magnani that it’s important to engage lawmakers on a personal level. Whether it’s giving them an award, asking them to present an award, or asking them to speak at an issues forum for five minutes, the important thing is creating valuable face time.

    “Invite them to your organization. Tell your story over and over again,” said Cretaro. “Successful marketing involves getting a message out as many as seven or eight times. Sometimes we think legislators get our message, but we need to find new ways to share it.

    “Your first contact should not be asking for something, but just finding a way to be with them, engage them, and help them become familiar with the work you do,” he continued. “Instead of saying, ‘this is what we do; can you find us some additional money?’ say, ‘this is what we do to help the community, and we’d like to be a resource for you.’’

    With One Voice

    Even purveyors of a worthy cause have to deal with some stiff competition, said Candaras, which has been exacerbated by a recent proliferation of nonprofit groups — and, often, a resulting redundancy in services.

    “When legislators are confronted with three or four nonprofits who want to do the same thing, the natural response is, ‘get together, form a coalition, and speak to us with one voice,’” she said. “And you need to tell us how many people you’re going to serve.”

    She used as an example the state’s support of Square One, formerly Springfield Day Nursery, which provides early education and care to more than 1,000 infants and preschoolers each day. “We are listening to you, but we need strong voices, especially in Western Mass. Legislators aren’t going to ignore an organization serving 1,100 children in their district.”

    However, she and the other panelists also kept returning to the concept of grassroots advocacy — in other words, the involvement of an organization’s clients, not just its leadership, in promoting a cause. And that takes organization.
    “It matters deeply that we provide services, and it matters even more deeply how we provide those services,” said Carolyn Ford, executive director of the Human Service Forum, which advocates for human-services organizations in the Pioneer Valley. “And we think constituents and clients of the organization can make this easier. An engaged and invested constituency involved in governance and legal advocacy lends credibility to our efforts to get funds for the organization.”

    That may involve letter- and postcard-writing campaigns, hosting legislative receptions and events, staying informed about relevant bills in the State House, and forming coalitions between like-minded groups, she explained.

    “We all get caught up in the day-to-day running of nonprofits, and out constituents get caught up in the daily issue of surviving,” Ford admitted. “But it’s important for us to become the educating force behind these issues. Having a targeted message is essential, and so is building relationships across issues, looking also to faith-based organizations and the business community.”

    As a case in point, Ford cited the unlikely coalition that has formed between environmental groups and sportsmen — particularly hunting and fishing enthusiasts — in promoting conservation and protection of land and natural resources.

    Michael Weekes, president and CEO of the Mass. Council of Human Service Providers, said nonprofits need to begin a national dialogue about the needs they represent in society, noting that even though there are 1.9 million such organizations in America, employing 14 million people and putting 80 million more volunteers to work each day, he has yet to hear the word ‘nonprofit’ uttered at any of the many presidential debates.

    “Martin Luther King Jr., our greatest community organizer, said it’s our task to discover how to organize our strength into compelling power. We need to talk about what we do in this nation,” he said, adding that some people still confuse restrictions on political speech with the ability to advocate for a cause.

    “It’s legal to advocate — there are rules, but you can speak on behalf of bills,” Weekes said. “When talking to your legislator about issues, give them information in a way they can understand. And don’t underestimate grassroots lobbying. If you’re not there lobbying for your issues, then other people are lobbying against your issues, taking money away from you.”

    Joseph Bednar can be reached at[email protected]

    Cover Story
    The Prospects for a Casino in Western Mass.
    February 4, 2008 Cover

    February 4, 2008 Cover

    Many casino proponents say that when it comes to legalized gambling in the Commonwealth, the question isn’t if it will gain the blessing of the Legislature, but when. Some lawmakers may not agree, but there is mounting evidence that the pendulum has swung in support of casinos. While that debate continues, focus turns to the next matter involving this high-stakes issue — where to put them. At the moment, a plan for a hilltop facility in Palmer seems to have considerable momentum.

    ‘Inevitable’ is one of those words that doesn’t need an accompanying adjective or adverb, but Peter Dragone added one — ‘absolutely’ — just for effect.

    He did so when asked about the prospects for legalized gambling in the Bay State, a subject he’s been involved with for roughly three decades, starting with a plan to put a hotel and gaming facility on Mount Greylock in Berkshire County. There have been other initiatives since, ventures that have made Dragone, a Longmeadow resident, real estate appraiser, and consultant on casinos, one of the foremost authorities on that still-controversial subject, and now part of a group trying to place one on a 150-acre parcel it owns just off exit 8 of the Turnpike in Palmer.

    Using a tone brimming with confidence, he said he believes that it’s no longer a question of if the legislature will make casino gambling legal, but when — and he thinks the answer is ‘soon,’ perhaps this year. There are many reasons for this, he said, including growing support among state residents for legalized gambling; similar support from institutions like the Boston Globe, which has historically opposed casinos; critical need for new sources of revenues for the state that do not include tax hikes (the governor has actually taken the bold step of including casino revenues in his FY ’09 budget — more on that later); and, perhaps most importantly, the fact that casino gambling is already a fact of life for many living in the Bay State, as evidenced by how many trips they make to Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, and other Northeast facilities on an annual basis.

    Summing things up, Dragone, in a recent interview with BusinessWest, said “there are already casinos in Massachusetts — they just happen to be in Connecticut.

    “It’s an industry that’s already here,” he continued. “The problem is, the tax revenue is going elsewhere.”

    Changing that equation and developing casinos within the confines of the Commonwealth is a multi-step process that begins with the Legislature, said Dragone, noting that he and many others, while certainly not looking past this hurdle, despite that aforementioned confidence, are already focused on that next step — the matter of where to locate said casinos.

    And he’s already rolled the dice in this regard, with a pretty substantial bet.

    Indeed, Dragone is lead partner with the Northeast Group, which owns the Palmer property as well as a 35-acre waterfront site in New Bedford also proposed for a casino. The former is considered the casino site with the most momentum at this date and time. It has caught the attention of Mohegan Gambling LLC, operators of Mohegan Sun, who late last month presented preliminary plans for what is being called Mohegan Sun Palmer, a $1 billion entertainment/gaming facility that would feature a 164,000-square-foot casino, a 600-room hotel, 12 restaurants and food venues, and 100,000 square feet of retail space.

    Paul Brody, Mohegan Gambling’s vice president of development, gave a lengthy presentation that touched on everything from traffic to table games; employment opportunities (3,000 of them) to the projected impact on area businesses.

    Using what’s happened in Connecticut as a predictor of what can happen in Palmer — and with other casinos in the Bay State — Brody said the state can expect good-paying jobs, heavy spending on the part of casinos with locally owned businesses, and a manageable amount of problem gamblers.

    All this was outlined in a PowerPoint presentation that noted, among other things, that Connecticut’s two casinos are now among the five largest employers in the state, that last year, the Mohegan tribe provided the state of Connecticut with $223 million in revenue ($4 billion since it opened), and that the planned Palmer casino will create 1,500 construction jobs in addition to the 3,000 permanent jobs, Such numbers will be just part of the equation for making a casino in Palmer a reality. Gov. Deval Patrick’s casino plan calls for three resort-style casinos to be located in a manner that would spread the wealth to all portions of the state, including Western Mass. But, for the purposes of this exercise, the governor is including Worcester County in Western Mass.

    The myriad matters impacting the ‘if,’ ‘when,’ ‘how,’ ‘where,’ and other questions concerning casinos has fueled considerable speculation — as well as plenty of work for lobbyists. Bill Cass, with the Boston-based Suffolk Group, is one of them. He told BusinessWest that his assignment is to promote Northeast’s interests, and this includes work to sell the Palmer location as a logical site with benefits for both Western Mass. and the state as a whole.

    “I’m confident that if legislation passes, this land would be part of a successful development, due in large part to its attractive location,” he said. “I’m on the Hill to make sure the legislation is fair and that it allows the Northeast Group to compete based on the merits of this site.”

    The $64,000 question, however, said Cass, is whether the Legislature will vote on casinos this year or sometime soon and, if so, whether Dragone and others are correct when they use that word ‘inevitable.’

    “And if someone tells you with a great degree of certainty that they know what’s going to happen,” he said, “they probably don’t know what’s going to happen, because no one knows.”

    Doubling Down

    Jeff Ciuffreda has heard the ‘when, not if’ argument with regard to casinos. He puts some stock in it, but certainly isn’t ready to place any odds on whether a casino vote is imminent or how one may wind up.

    As vice president of Government Affairs for the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield, he keeps his ear to the ground on the matter. He told BusinessWest that casinos have not been a direct subject of most conversations he’s had with legislators, but they have certainly been a background topic and, in many respects, the elephant in the room.

    He’s also talked with some developers, whom, he said, are of course interested in coming to the Bay State, but have questions about how many casinos may be developed and what impact these numbers may have on revenues and developers’ ability to recover licensing fees that will run in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

    With regard to a vote, he said the outcome will likely be swayed by House and Senate leadership, which still includes proponents and opponents, the latter list including state Rep. Daniel Bosley, a democrat representing the First Berkshire District and current chairman of the Economic Development Committee.

    “I think you see a lot of people (legislators) out here who are not really passionate about it one way or the other, and are likely to follow leadership closely,” said Ciuffreda, noting that some in those posts do support gambling, while others don’t, and many are not pleased that the governor went against their wishes and included casino revenues in the budget.

    Ciuffreda said there is talk of only a few sites in Western Mass. as potential locations for casinos, and as far as some parcels are concerned, it is simply talk.

    Donald Trump is rumored to have some interest in the Holyoke Mall, he said, adding that the facility has been for sale for some time, and that the casino talk is a “stretch” that has probably resulted “from someone putting two and two together,” with regard to location, accessibility, and possible conversion to gaming resort. Meanwhile, Chicopee Mayor Michael Bissonnette is keeping his options open on a 100-acre parcel located between the Turnpike and the end of the runway at Westover Air Reserve Base. That site is landlocked, said Ciuffreda, and has other challenges beyond access, including multiple owners and strong interest from Westover Metropolitan Development Corp.

    “From everything I’ve heard thus far,” he said, “Palmer is considered the Western Mass. site.”

    The ACCGS has taken no official stance on casinos and probably won’t, at least for the foreseeable future, said Ciuffreda, noting quickly that it has taken part in meetings where questions have been asked about the impact such a facility would have on small businesses, wages, workforce quantity and quality, and other matters.

    “There’s still a lot of questions out there, from developers, legislators, and mayors, and a lot of moving parts to this,” he said, adding that when it comes to casinos and their overall impact, “the devil is in the details.”

    Some of those details, at least as Mohegan Gambling LLC sees them, were put on the table in Palmer on Jan. 22, when Brody and other representatives of the corporation gave a lengthy presentation before the Palmer Citizen Casino Impact Study Committee.

    The well-attended session was significant in that it represented, for the first time in anyone’s knowledge, the first time a casino-development group had actually laid out a plan, with specifics on everything from the number of table games and slot machines (150 and 4,000, respectively) to plans for traffic control, including a flyover that would take vehicles off the Turnpike and directly onto the casino property without clogging local roads.

    The package of proposed attractions for the Palmer site — which go well beyond gambling — and the remote location combine to give this plan the look and feel of what is being called the ‘casino in the woods,’ said Dragone, which is emerging as the preferred venue for Massachusetts, especially in the wake of the mostly positive developments in Connecticut and the opposite trend in Atlantic City.

    “What occurred there — and a lot of it had to do with the state not doing what it said it was going to do — shaped some opinions about casinos here,” he explained, noting that monies that were supposed to go toward revitalizing Atlantic City went instead to plug budgetary holes elsewhere. “A lot of people saw what was happening — or not happening — in Atlantic City, and envisioned that happening here.”

    There have been far fewer problems in Connecticut, he continued, and the familiarity that many Bay State residents have with the casinos there has played a huge role in creating what he called a “sea change” in attitudes about legalized gambling.

    “There’s a very positive feeling about the existence of those casinos in the woods,” he explained. “Their impact has been overwhelmingly positive in the state of Connecticut, with regard to everything from jobs to revenue for the state — and this has changed the way many people think about gambling in this state.

    “And that’s one of the big reasons why the Palmer location works in the minds and eyes of many decision makers and the people themselves,” he continued. “It embodies the spirit of the ‘casino in the woods.’”

    Dicey Situation

    There has been interest in the Palmer site as home for a casino for more than a decade now, said Dragone, noting that there have been other plans forwarded that fall into the category of ‘destination’ venue. Bass Pro Shops was interested in the site as a possible location for a large-scale location in the Bay State before it eventually settled on becoming part of a large-scale retail/entertainment complex being created by the Kraft family, owners of the New England Patriots, adjacent to the team’s stadium in Foxboro.

    Dragone first toured the Palmer parcel, located on a hill off Route 32, in the mid-’90s, and came away impressed with its potential as a development site for a casino or other venue. He acquired an option on the land in 1996 and, along with several other investors, acquired the property in 2006. (Northeast recently acquired site control of an additional 80 acres adjacent to the proposed site.)

    Dragone believes Palmer represents the most logical of the Western Mass. sites for a casino, and perhaps the best option for spreading the gaming wealth to the Pioneer Valley. Peter A. Picknelly, third-generation president of Peter Pan Bus Lines in Springfield, agrees.

    A partner in the Northeast Group along with his brother, Paul, he acknowledged that his interest stems in part from the vast potential growth of an already lucrative business taking individuals and groups to and from casinos in the Northeast; he didn’t have a specific number concerning passenger volume to Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, Turning Stone resort in New York, and other venues, but said it is significant.

    But he noted that scores of other businesses across many different sectors would also benefit, and that he is committed to seeing Western Mass. get its slice of any casino pie.

    Picknelly told BusinessWest that he and others believe that casinos in the Eastern part of the state would, because of their convenience, draw visitors from that part of the Commonwealth, as well as Rhode Island and Southern New Hampshire. The Palmer facility, meanwhile, would draw residents from the four counties of Western Mass., Northern Conn., Eastern New York, and perhaps from Worcester County.

    This traffic pattern holds some theoretical benefits for Springfield and other Pioneer Valley communities, he explained.

    “I think restaurants in Springfield will benefit,” he said. “And attractions like the Basketball Hall of Fame will benefit as well. If even a small percentage of those traveling to the casinos get off the highway and visit venues like that, there will be a very real impact.

    “I have no doubt that the projects in Palmer and New Bedford will spur economic development and other significant private investments in regions that are currently economically distressed,” he continued, adding that he’s seen it happen in Connecticut, where unemployment rates are so low Peter Pan struggles to find drivers and other employees. “If gaming is legalized, I think Western Mass. ought to be a beneficiary, and I’m convinced that Palmer offers the best site for development.”

    Cass, a former legislator with a diverse lobbying portfolio, said he, like Dragone, believes legalized gambling is inevitable in the Bay State, but the ‘when’ part is still a matter of conjecture.

    The governor has certainly upped the ante, he said, borrowing a phrase from the industry, by including casino revenues in his budget for the fiscal year that will start on July 1.

    “This is a significant development that could play out a number of different ways, and I don’t have a crystal ball,” he said, noting that if the House, which gets the appropriations bill first, takes the casino revenue out of the budget, the Senate could put it back in. The matter would then go to a conference committee, where anything could happen.

    Dragone believes the Legislature will legalize gambling, in large part because it can’t afford not to, given the number of players already in business in New York and New England, and the potential for more in the years to come, in the same way that state lotteries have proliferated and enjoyed explosive growth.

    “The lottery started in New Hampshire and then spread through New England and westward — it was like a domino effect,” he explained. “And table games and slot machines are following that same path. Today, New Hampshire is making a push to put an installation in Rockingham Park on our northern border; you have a slot casino in Bangor, Maine and other initiatives that will bring it to the south counties of that state; there are casinos and slots on our western frontier, in Saratoga, N.Y., for example, and you have the equivalent of a casino in Newport, R.I., and the world’s two largest gaming reports in Connecticut.

    “So there are a number of border wars going on already,” he continued, noting that millions of Masachusetts residents are crossing state lines
    o gamble, taking untold revenues with them.

    Of Wages and Wagers

    Dragone acknowledged that he and his partners have taken a fairly substantial gamble on casinos, and specifically the Palmer site, given the Legislature’s track record on legalized gambling.

    But he believes the odds are now heavily stacked in his favor, given not only the growing sentiment in favor of gambling — from the governor to the Globe to state residents — but also the many factors that point toward Palmer as a logical choice for a destination venue.

    Time will tell, but in looking at all the cards currently on the table, Dragone thinks he’s made a fairly safe bet.

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

    Sections Supplements
    Harold Grinspoon Makes Philanthropy His Business

    Harold Grinspoon

    Harold Grinspoon stands near a favorite painting in his West Springfield office.

    Harold Grinspoon has worked virtually his whole life, first making money, and now, giving it away. When he’s not working on one of his many philanthropic endeavors, Grinspoon loves the outdoors and a good hike through the mountains. Wherever he may roam, however, charity is never far from his mind.

    Harold Grinspoon is an avid hiker, who loves the peaks of Colorado as much as he does the hills of the Berkshires.

    He made his fortune as a real estate entrepreneur, founding Aspen Square Management 45 years ago and watching the company bloom into a nationally recognized housing group managing more than 15,000 properties across the country.

    hat success undoubtedly afforded him the time and resources to enjoy one of his favorite pastimes as frequently as he’d like. But ‘retirement’ does not do much to describe his post-career activities.

    While Grinspoon can often be found taking day trips in Aspen, walking some of his favorite trails, and having long talks over lunch with trusted friends, more often he’s in his office in West Springfield, from which he continues to envision and manage initiatives for his new passion of philanthropy in many forms.

    In 1993, Grinspoon established two foundations: the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, focused on enhancing and improving Jewish life and culture, and the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation, which raises funds and awareness for a number of educational and entrepreneurial activities in the region, and most recently has turned its collective attentions to energy conservation.

    Collectively, the organizations have operating budgets of about $17 million, and have funded countless projects ranging from assistance for Jewish overnight camps (viewed as one of the best ways to keep young people “in the fold,” as Grinspoon says) to regional health and wellness grants for research, activism, patient care, and more.

    In addition, Grinspoon and his wife, Diane Troderman, also a philanthropist, are founding partners in the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE) and serve together on the board of governors of Hillel: the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, and are trustees of the Washington Institute, in addition to several other affiliations with charitable groups of all kinds.

    In a wide-ranging interview, Grinspoon talked with BusinessWest about some of the reasons why he decided to put so much of his energies in charitable work, why philanthropy is important to the region and the world as a whole, and what issues he’ll be tackling next.

    What life experiences led to your active involvement in philanthropy?

    “In 1958, I bought my first two-family house on Springfield Street in Agawam. As I worked my way up in real estate, I developed a great sense of appreciation for the average blue-collar worker and feel a real responsibility to give back to society. America is a great country, and has been very good to me. It has given me the opportunity to make something of myself, and to succeed beyond my wildest dreams. I feel it is my duty to give back to both my country and to my people, who have helped make me who I am. I always knew, if I made it, I was going to give it away. I didn’t want to spend the entirety of my life making money. I also had cancer once, and that could have been it — I could have been gone. When I came out of it, I realized that in my younger years, I was very serious. Philanthropy has, in many respects, set me free.”

    Some people with the means to enter into philanthropic work choose not to. Why did you?

    “People with wealth have options, one of which is social responsibility to give back. I put a lot of energy into making my fortune. When you’re an entrepreneur, you pride yourself on what you do, and make, and on being a creative thinker. However, the end result is that you make money. It seems right to devote no less thought and energy in how to spend the money I give away.”

    Do you have any mentors or role models in this vein? Is your family equally involved?

    “My wife has partnered with me on many projects and has been extremely involved philanthropically. She helped me understand that I had all this wealth, and needed to set up a model to give it away. I essentially hired her to do that for me.”

    What types of broad issues do you and your wife feel are important to fund and call attention to, and why?

    “I have taken an active part in promoting education through a variety of our foundation’s programs, as well as fostering entrepreneurship among young people and encouraging energy conservation. I set up two foundations: the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, focused on enhancing the vitality of Jewish life locally, nationally, and in Israel; and the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation, which focuses mostly on strengthening the local community through programs to encourage education, promote entrepreneurship, and increase home energy conservation — that is our newest initiative.”

    What is the energy conservation initiative, and how does it fit into the Grinspoon Foundations’ charitable work?

    “The program is called ‘ener-G-save.’ It helps people save money on their heating bills by encouraging them to make use of free audit services from their utility companies, and the rebates they are entitled to. The state will give up to $1,500 in grants to homeowners for energy upgrades, but this is a program few people are aware of. It’s unmarketed because there are no funds to market it. So, we have just launched a marketing campaign to educate homeowners about the resources easily available to them.

    “Most people, for example, don’t know that if the free audit shows that insulating their attic is needed, they are entitled to a rebate of 50% of the cost, up to $1,500, from their utility company. If they let us know that they have insulated their attic and send us the paid receipt, we will send them an award of $50 for insulating their attic, conserving energy, and encouraging others to do so, too. “

    Why did you get involved in this new line of work?

    “I got involved in this because it is clear to me that we have to get proactive in doing something not only about global warming, but also about wasting energy. So we launched this easy-to-do, very cost-effective campaign that is a win-win for homeowners and the environment. We would really like to get more partners involved in this philanthropically. There are lots of ways to strengthen and expand a program like this if people in the business community wanted to take it up.”

    Are there any other programs of the Grinspoon Foundations that you’re particularly proud of, or active in today?

    “There are so many of them! We are very proud of our participation in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program. This is a program to encourage literacy among inner-city kids. We have supported the program, which sends a book every month to preschool kids in Springfield, at the cost of about $30 per child per year. Some 3,000 kids in Springfield have participated in the program for the five years that we have been funding it in the Springfield area, and we’d love it if other funders would join us, since there are a lot more children who could use the books and learn to love reading.

    “Actually, we liked the program so much that we have adapted it for the Jewish world, where it is used not to focus on literacy in the sense of reading, but more on cultural literacy. That program, The PJ Library, sends books and CDs every month to Jewish families with young children so they can learn about Jewish traditions and customs from an early age. We provide more than 16,000 books per month in more than 55 Jewish communities throughout the country.

    “I’m also proud of our Pioneer Valley Excellence in Teaching Awards Program, which honors more than 150 outstanding teachers a year in our region. It’s very exciting. Teachers are so underappreciated, and so important, and we wanted to acknowledge the ones who are doing a great job. MassMutual and the [Irene E. and George A.] Davis Foundation are our main funding partners, with about a dozen others also involved.

    “And, I also love our entrepreneurship program; now, there are 13 local colleges and universities involved and encouraging young people to become entrepreneurs. Awards are given to students that excel in the program.

    “Two additional programs that have been very inspirational to me are a program offered in Cambodia, where 200 children are part of an educational opportunity that would otherwise not be available to them, and a project led by my wife Diane, which includes a $200,000 donation to an African community experiencing extreme poverty.

    How has philanthropy affected your own life, both personally and professionally?

    “My life has been enormously enriched by both helping and meeting fascinating people all over the world through my philanthropy. As we speak, there are 40 people on our team strategizing and planning our future, and by following our mission and vision, we will continue to grow and make a difference in our community and beyond.

    “And every summer, I invite a network of friends to a summit in Aspen to hike, bike, and have fun while trying to inspire them to become philanthropic. The idea is that we go off and do some nice hiking, and we get to be free spirits out there, enjoying each other and the wilderness. Many ideas have been a direct result from these walks.”

    Jaclyn C. Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

    Departments

    [Due to technical difficulties, BusinessWest was unable to publish bankruptcy petitions in its Jan. 21, 2008 edition. As a result, those petitions are incorporated into this edition’s listings.]

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

    Abar, Irene Theresa
    831 River Road
    Agawam, MA 01001
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/30/07

    Adamites, Jennifer L.
    21 Center St.
    Easthampton, MA 01027
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/21/07

    Aquino, William
    Cedano, William
    a/k/a Aquino-Cedano, William
    P.O. Box 1834
    Springfield, MA 01101
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/19/07

    Barlow, Rebecca Leigh
    PO Box 142
    Bondsville, MA 01009
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/30/07

    Barnes, Nichelle D.
    66 Powell Ave.
    Springfield, MA 01118
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/07/07

    Baxter, Angela J.
    a/k/a Lamica, Angela J.
    173 East St.
    Springfield, MA 01104
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/21/07

    Bell, Eleanor C.
    287 Osborn Road
    Ware, MA 01082
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/20/07

    Bellinghausen, Philip G.
    610 College Highway
    Southwick, MA 01077
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/30/07

    Bennefield, Andrea T.
    204 Albemarle St.
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/02/07

    Berkley, Gregg M.
    22 Meggison Lane
    Holyoke, MA 01040
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/03/07

    Bewsee, Andrew Scott
    70B Columba St.
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/14/07

    Bontempo, David P.
    80 Brush Hill Ave.
    West Springfield, MA 01089
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/27/07

    Botina, Lidiay
    Botin, Yuriy
    40 R King St.
    Westfield, MA 01085
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/30/07

    Boulrice, Joseph A.
    Boulrice, Christine D.
    900 East St.
    Ludlow, MA 01056
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/06/07

    Boutin, Michael L.
    104 Creswell Dr.
    Springfield, MA 01119
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/29/07

    Boyer, Randy A.
    Boyer, Susan A.
    519 East River St.
    Orange, MA 01364
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/30/07

    Bramelus, Debora J.
    44 Cathrine St.
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/30/07

    Brewer, Jerrod R.
    85 Manchonis Road
    Wilbraham, MA 01095
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/16/07

    Bryant, Gregory S.
    2042 Pleasant St.
    Three Rivers, MA 01080
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/23/07

    Byfield, Marie M.
    PO Box 214
    Chicopee, MA 01014
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/28/07

    Cady, David P.
    Cady, Susan M.
    159 West Ave.
    Ludlow, MA 01056
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/20/07

    Cammisa, Stacy L.
    54 Davis Road
    Southwick, MA 01077
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/12/07

    Canty, David Luke
    58 Ridge Way
    Sturbridge, MA 01566
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/06/07

    Carnevale, Lisa C.
    55 Balboa Dr.
    Springfield, MA 01119
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/03/07

    Casa, Salvatore
    25 Roberts Pond Lane
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/16/07

    Chalmers, William Henry
    Chalmers, Paula Elizabeth
    18 Hillside Ave.
    Turners Falls, MA 01376
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/20/07

    Colon, Carlos A.
    66 Sherwood Ter.
    Holyoke, MA 01040
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/06/07

    Colon, Michael A.
    Colon, Teresa
    1208 Main St.
    Athol, MA 01331
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/20/07

    Couture, Melanie France
    1410 Morgan Road
    West Springfield, MA 01089
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/30/07

    Cruz, Heriberto
    15 Portland St.
    Springfield, MA 01107
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/05/07

    Cuffie, Boston
    142 Colton St.
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/06/07

    Daigneault, Christopher Charles
    Fleming, Rocki Lynn
    45 Montgomery St.
    Westfield, MA 01085
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/07/07

    Davenport, Barbara D.
    PO Box 308
    Southwick, MA 01077
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/16/07

    Dave’s Bike Shop
    Mean Wheels Bike Shop
    Drumm, David B.
    23 Easton Ave.
    Pittsfield, MA 01201
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/06/07

    Dean, Jennifer Lynn
    a/k/a Mahdy, Jennifer L.
    106 Fletcher Circle
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/30/07

    Dessources, Marie K.
    611 Armory St.
    Springfield, MA 01104
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/06/07

    Doane, Elbert A.
    99 Lehigh St.
    Springfield, MA 01104
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/07/07

    Doiron, Michelle R.
    175 Stebbins Way
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/06/07

    Dollar Only, LLC
    Dollar Dreams,LLC
    1340 Boston Road
    Springfield, MA 01119
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/04/07

    Domenech, Jacob
    Domenech, Lisa A.
    139 Balboa Dr.
    Springfield, MA 01119
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/29/07

    Donahue, Christi L.
    136 Carroll St.
    Springfield, MA 01108
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/03/07

    Dougherty, Angela M.
    86 Wellington St.
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/30/07

    Drake, Gregory Allen
    Drake, Shannon Lynn
    151 Silvin Road
    Chicopee, MA 01013
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/30/07

    Escalante, Elba I.
    28 Johnson St.
    Springfield, MA 01108
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/12/07

    Felt, Richard L.
    27 Waite Ave.
    South Hadley, MA 01075
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/27/07

    Filanowski, Anthony J.
    15 River Road
    South Deerfield, MA 01373
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/28/07

    Flynn, Rosemarie
    a/k/a Lincoln, Rosemarie
    600 Mian St.
    Pittsfield, MA 01201
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/21/07

    Fonseca, Joel J.
    Tavenner, Florence J.
    20 Joy St.
    Chicopee, MA 01013
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/20/07

    Forester, Sarah A.
    a/k/a Carotenuto, Sarah A.
    21A Ames Ave.
    Chicopee, MA 01013
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/21/07

    Garcia, George
    Garcia, Tracie D.
    9 Riverside St.
    Three Rivers, MA 01080
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/04/07

    Goff, Lisa Renee
    37 Craig Dr., Apt. 0-4
    West Springfield, MA 01089
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/21/07

    Goyette, Richard R.
    108 Mosier St.
    South Hadley, MA 01075
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/28/07

    Grenier, Donald C.
    2402 Old Keene Road
    Athol, MA 01331
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/20/07

    Griffin, Edward M.
    439 East Main St.
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/28/07

    Griffin, Laura J.
    43 Nathanial Way
    Belchertown, MA 01007
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/28/07

    Griswold, Anthony Shawn
    Griswold, Yvette Colette
    a/k/a Turgeon, Yvette Colette
    53 Rhodes Ave.
    Feeding Hills, MA 01030
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/30/07

    Heinricher, Alicia K.
    19 Sandrah Dr.
    Orange, MA 01364
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/11/07

     

    Hiser, Marc A.
    48 Somers Road
    Hampden, MA 01036
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/10/07

    Hughes, Russell
    76 Hermitage Dr.
    Springfield, MA 01129
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/30/07

    Hundley, Johnny L.
    Hundley, Robecca A.
    403 College Highway
    Southwick, MA 01077
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/06/07

    Johnson, Shari M.
    312 Eastern Ave.
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/13/07

    Johnson, Thomas W.
    P.O. Box 451
    Bernardston, MA 01337
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/14/07

    Jon Starr Landscape Construction
    D/B/A Jon Starr
    Starr, Jon
    83 Derryfield Ave.
    Springfield, MA 01118
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/06/07

    Jones, Jennifer S.
    16 Homer Dr.
    Monson, MA 01057
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/06/07

    Kellner, Paul F.
    383 Mountain Road
    Wilbraham, MA 01095
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/19/07

    Lacombe, Michael A.
    62 Thyme Lane
    Springfield, MA 01129
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/02/07

    Lambert, Mary Jo
    13 Euclid Ave.
    Pittsfield, MA 01201
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/10/07

    Lamothe, Tanya Ann
    a/k/a Mailhott, Tanya A.
    56 Laurel St.
    Holyoke, MA 01040
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/30/07

    Langevin, Brian S.
    24 Rabieau Dr.
    Easthampton, MA 01027
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/13/07

    Lapierre, Daniel R.
    Janczar-Lapierre, Katarzyna J.
    20 Musiak Dr.
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/03/07

    Larson, Richard P.
    Larson, Deborah L.
    a/k/a White, Deborah Louise
    35 Joyce Dr.
    Westfield, MA 01085
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/21/07

    LeMay, Albert H.
    170 Cady St.
    Ludlow, MA 01056
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/04/07

    Lisowski, Jon D.
    Lisowski, Diane E.
    a/k/a Halama, Diane E.
    73 Stony Hill Road
    Wilbraham, MA 01095
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/16/07

    Longo Property Management
    Longo, Kevin Joseph
    Longo, Virginia Lynn
    a/k/a Stanko, Virginia L.
    56 Hillside Ave.
    West Springfield, MA 01089
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/29/07

    Lucek, Thomas R.
    43 Adam St.
    Pittsfield, MA 01201
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/28/07

    Lynch, Maureen P.
    Peterson, John
    133 Hockanum Road
    Hadley, MA 01035
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/30/07

    Macgowan, Jonathan R.
    P.O. Box 815
    Sturbridge, MA 01566
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/21/07

    Masters, Rebecca Joan
    P.O. Box 3
    Williamsburg, MA 01096
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/28/07

    Matthews, Susan I.
    244 White St.
    Springfield, MA 01108
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/19/07

    Milbier, Lucia
    50 Drumlin Road
    Springfield, MA 01108
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/30/07

    Mleczko, Stephen F.
    20 Walnut St.
    Turners Falls, MA 01376
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/14/07

    Mongeau, Stacy A.
    a/k/a Brower, Stacy A.
    629 Granby Road
    South Hadley, MA 01075
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/27/07

    Niedzielski, Karen Elizabeth
    520 Kings Highway
    West Springfield, MA 01089
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/20/07

    O’Callaghan, Jaime M.
    82 Taylor St.
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/07/07

    Ocasio, Jose A.
    P.O. Box 6265
    Springfield, MA 01101-6265
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/19/07

    Owens, Joe N.
    136 Rosewell St.
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/27/07

    Panetta, Ryan J.
    72 Pearl St.
    Springfield, MA 01105
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/12/07

    Paquette, Seth M.
    Paquette, Melissa L.
    a/k/a Layte, Melissa L.
    64 South Cottage Road
    Holland, MA 01521
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/29/07

    Pereira, Cheryl Ann
    Pereira, Joaquim Costa
    269 Hovey Road
    Monson, MA 01057
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/23/07

    Phillips, Vickie M.
    122 Gralia Dr.
    Springfield, MA 01128
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/21/07

    Pike, Christopher W.
    34 Bethany Road
    Monson, MA 01057
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/16/07

    Postell-Porter, Joan E.
    126 Undine Circle
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/30/07

    Ramos, Elizabeth
    62 Roberto Clemente St.
    Holyoke, MA 01040
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/04/07

    Rattell, Michael D.
    Rattell, Amy E.
    185 High St.
    Agawam, MA 01001
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/11/07

    Renaud, Carl A.
    Renaud, Susan J.
    PO Box 1193
    Warren, MA 01083
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/07/07

    Rios, Juan Jose
    142 Shawmut St.
    Springfield, MA 01108
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/10/07

    Rivera, Hector L.
    Rivera-DelBusto, Hector L.
    135 Belmont Ave.
    Springfield, MA 01108
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/05/07

    Roberson, Ricardo Kyle
    115 Dwight St.
    Springfield, MA 01103
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/23/07

    Rodriguez, Pedro
    107 Portulaca Dr.
    Springfield, MA 01129
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/27/07

    Rossetti, Louis Anthony
    1491 Westfield St.
    West Springfield, MA 01089
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/14/07

    Roy, Traci L.
    5 Paradise St.
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/14/07

    Royland, Ralph C.
    Royland, Susan M.
    13 Spring St.
    Westfield, MA 01085
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 11/29/07

    Ryan, Rose Marie T.
    603 Berkshire Ave.
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/12/07

    Shirley, Brian Joseph
    Shirley, Sandra Leigh
    430 Walnut Hill Road
    Orange, MA 01364
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/25/07

    Squires, Gary Roland
    Squires, Kimberly Angelina
    65 Hillcrest Dr.
    Bernardston, MA 01337
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/11/07

    Stathis, Elliott M.
    Stathis, Tahiria M.
    180 Suffield St.
    Agawam, MA 01001
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/06/07

    Sullivan, Patricia M.
    17 Ruggles St.
    Three Rivers, MA 01080
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/03/07

    Tullock, David L.
    Tullock, Janet D.
    155 Marble St.
    Lee, MA 01238
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 12/14/07

    Valego, Joseph J.
    31 Meadow St.
    Agawam, MA 01001
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/30/07

    Wadsworth, Jennifer Ruth
    206 Grove St.
    Northampton, MA 01061
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/30/07

    Walker, Scott R.
    Walker, Monique
    76 Long Ter.
    Springfield, MA 01104
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 12/03/07

    Wright, Maureen D.
    53 Burrill Ave.
    Orange, MA 01364
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 11/16/07

    Departments

    TD Banknorth Makes Donation to Square One

    SPRINGFIELD — TD Banknorth recently awarded a $15,000 grant to Square One to be used for its professional training programming. The funded program will professionally train Square One staff and family home care providers on the so-called Creative Curriculum — a development continuum of best practices teaching and learning — and will provide the teaching materials needed to consistently apply research-based curricula and student assessment as tools to instruct and relate to children developmentally, allowing for individual differences, independent learning, and individual need.

    Springfield College Receives High Honor

    SPRINGFIELD — Springfield College is one of the “15 Most Influential Sports Education ‘Teams’ in America,” according to a new report by The Institute for International Sport. The institute identifies people and organizations that have had a profound impact on individuals and society by effectively using sports as a means to educate. Springfield College is the only institution of higher education among the teams named in the report. The institute cited the college, with Richard B. Flynn, president, as “team captain,” for its “international reputation for developing coaches, athletic trainers, physical education instructors, team managers, sports psychologists, and athletes who make a positive impact on millions of people in the world through sport.” Springfield College developed its niche expertise in physical education shortly after its founding in 1885 as an educator of YMCA leaders. Today, in addition to its programs in sports and movement studies and education, it is known for education in the health sciences, human and social services, and the arts and sciences.

    UMass Launches New Podcast Series

    AMHERST — UMass Amherst launched a new podcast series in January that features the breakthrough discoveries of campus researchers, showcasing partnerships that create new commercial ventures with the potential to reshape everyday life. “TechCast at UMass” made its debut with an episode on microbiologist Susan Leschine, whose recent discoveries have made possible an ethanol venture that could transform the fuel used in cars. Each month a new episode will be created and posted at www.umasstechcast.org, where it can be downloaded to a computer or portable audio player. Visitors to the site also can subscribe to automatically receive new episodes of the podcast. TechCast at UMass is produced under the direction of the Office of News and Information at UMass Amherst, in conjunction with the office of Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property. The program host is Francesca Rheannon, an award-winning producer whose work has been heard on National Public Radio, including WFCR in Amherst.

    Berkshire Hills Bankcorp Reports Solid 2007

    PITTSFIELD — Berkshire Hills Bancorp, parent of Berkshire Bank, reported record net income of $13.5 million ($1.44 per share) in the year 2007, an increase of 20% over $11.3 million ($1.29 per share) for the prior year, and an increase of 12% on a per-share basis. Results for 2007 included a $2.5 million fourth-quarter loan-loss provision ($0.16 per share after tax) related to one commercial loan involving borrower fraud. Core earnings per share in 2007 before that charge were $2.06, 3% higher than the 2006 core earnings of $2.00. Including that loan charge, 2007 core earnings per share were $1.90. Berkshire produced these results while also absorbing higher expenses related to its strategic initiatives for de novo branch growth and for rebranding as “America’s Most Exciting Bank.”

    Earnings results in both years also included non-core charges related primarily to restructurings and acquisitions. Fourth quarter 2007 core earnings per share were $0.36 including the loan charge ($0.14 per share after tax in the quarter). Fourth quarter results included net non-core charges of $0.07 per share in 2007 and $0.01 per share in 2006. Non-core charges in 2007 included merger integration charges following the acquisition of Factory Point Bancorp in September 2007, and other restructuring charges. After these charges, Berkshire’s fourth quarter GAAP net income was $3.1 million ($0.29 per share) in 2007 compared to $4.1 million ($0.47 per share) in 2006.

    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

    Sherwin Williams Company v. Moore’s Steeple People
    Allegation: Non-payment of goods and services: $2,365.68
    Filed: 1/16/08

    Teresa Doyle v. Five Star Remodeling
    Allegation: Motor vehicle negligence: $8,192.20
    Filed: 1/11/08

    USA Hauling and Recycling Inc. v. Quicky’s Restaurant
    Allegation: Breach of contract for rubbish removal services: $3,698.99
    Filed: 12/27/07

    FRANKLIN SUPERIOR COURT
    Nalco Company v. RPM Products, LLC
    Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $28,245.64
    Filed: 1/11/08

    HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT

    Lucretia Cameron v. The Mercy Hospital Inc. & Pamela Trela
    Allegation: Employment discrimination: $25,000
    Filed: 9/10/07

    Raymon Cooper v. Springfield College, Anthony Regan, and Allen Noble
    Allegation: Employment discrimination: $25,000+
    Filed: 1/04/08

    Management Recruiters Inc. v. Quinn Printing Company, Inc.
    Allegation: Breach of placement service contract: $31,200
    Filed: 11/27/07

    Veronica Estrella v. Ninety-Nine Restaurant Inc. & Daniel Spadola
    Allegation: Employment discrimination: $25,500+
    Filed: 12/24/07

    HAMPSHIRE SUPERIOR COURT

    Merrimack Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. Surner Heating Company
    Allegation: Property damage due to negligence: $196,301
    Filed: 1/14/08

    HOLYOKE DISTRICT COURT

    Book Club of America Inc. v. Hudson News Company Inc.
    Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $13,983
    Filed: 12/03/07

    NORTHAMPTON DISTRICT COURT

    Bonneville Windows and Doors v. Eastern Lumber and Millwork Inc.
    Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $21,596.90
    Filed: 12/31/07

    PALMER DISTRICT COURT

    S & K Lawncare v. Fountainview Estates, Metro Builders, and Paul Lemieux
    Allegation: Breach of contract for services: $3,175.00
    Filed: 12/17/07

    Henry Drapalski v. Park Square Realty
    Allegation: Real estate listing stated central air and after purchasing home plaintiff paid for installation of central air system: $9,250
    Filed: 12/19/07

    SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT

    Thomas Sbrega v. Garken Realty, LLC and Allen & Anne Chase
    Allegation: Negligence in property maintenance (snow and ice) causing injury: $7,869.30
    Filed: 12/07/07

    Pipetek v. Anderson Builders Inc. and Landry Capital Company
    Allegation: Failure to comply with terms of contract for service: $13,988
    Filed: 12/24/07

    WESTFIELD DISTRICT COURT

    United Rentals Aerial Equipment v. Eagle Nest Construction
    Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $2,040
    Filed: 1/03/08

    Departments

    Hampden Bank announced the following:
    • Shana J. Hendrikse has been named Office Manager for the Wilbraham office, and
    • Bonnie Hull has been named the Assistant Office Manager for the Wilbraham office.

    •••••


    Tucker Kueny

    Tucker Kueny, M.D., FACOG, has been named Medical Director of the new midwifery practice at Cooley Dickinson Hospital (CDH) in Northampton. Kueny will begin at CDH in June, but will be involved immediately in the plans to further develop the midwifery program. He joins CD Practice Associates, Cooley Dickinson’s affiliated physician group, and will provide physician coverage to the midwifery practice in conjunction with WomanCare/Northampton Obstetrics & Gynecology Associates, an affiliated Cooley Dickinson medical practice.

    •••••

     

    Peter Pan Bus Lines in Springfield announced the following appointments:
    • Brian Stefano has been named Executive Vice President and Chief Operating and Financial Officer, and
    • Christopher Crean has been named Vice President of Safety and Security.


    Brian Stefano

    Christopher Crean

    •••••

    The Mass. Alliance for Economic Development recently elected directors for 2008. They are:
    • Ned Bartlett, a Partner at Bowditch & Dewey, LLP;
    • Tyler Fairbank, President of the Berkshire Economic Development Corp., and
    • Susan Fenton, Vice President, National Grid.
    Directors re-elected to the board are:
    • David Begelfer, Chief Executive Officer of the Mass. Chapter of National Association of Industrial and Office Properties;
    • Jack Burns, Managing Principal at CRESA Partners, LLC;
    • Robert Culver, President and Chief Executive Officer of MassDevelopment;
    • Francesca Maltese, Development Manager for the O’Connell Development Group, and
    • David Tibbetts, General Counsel to the Merrimack Valley Economic Development Council.
    Directors elected as officers include:
    • Girard Sargent of Citizens Bank as Chairman;
    • Robert Brustlin of VHB as Vice Chairman;
    • Susan Fenton of National Grid as Treasurer;
    • David Tibbetts of the Merrimack Valley Economic Development Council as Clerk.

    •••••

    AuPairCare, a child care/cultural exchange organization, has selected Michelle Longey as its Area Director for host families and their international au pairs in Western Mass. Her new responsibilities include providing continual support for area host families and their au pairs, and educating interested families on AuPairCare’s programs. AuPairCare is one of the few organizations designated by the U.S. Department of State to place qualified young people from around the world with American families.

    •••••


    Peter K. Riggins

    Peter K. Riggins has been awarded the Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst™ designation from the Center for Fiduciary Studies. Riggins is the Director of 401(k) Plans for Epstein Financial Services in Springfield, where he manages the investment due diligence and plan sponsor reporting processes for more than 80 401(k) plans across the Western Mass., North Central Conn., and southern Vermont regions.

    •••••

    Tighe & Bond in Westfield announced the following:
    • Amy Lane, an environmental engineer who specializes in drinking water, recently passed her Massachusetts licensing exam to practice as a professional engineer, and
    • Ronald Smith, a control systems engineer with 20 years of experience in electrical hardware system design and specification, recently passed his Massachusetts licensing exam to practice as a professional engineer.


    Amy Lane

    Ronald Smith

    •••••

    Elizabeth Taras has launched her own company, Taras Communications, offering 15 years of experience in public relations, event planning, and public speaking. She is a certified speaker for Monster.com’s Making It Count program, and assists municipalities with downtown revitalization initiatives.

    •••••


    Julie A. Dialessi-Lafley

    Bacon Wilson, P.C. in Springfield has named five Partners to the firm. They are:
    • Attorney Julie A. Dialessi-Lafley is a multi-faceted business lawyer with extensive experience in all aspects of corporate and business law, as well as commercial and residential real estate. Her additional specialties include probate, estate and elder planning, and family law.
    • Attorney Gina M. Barry is a member of the Estate Planning/Elder Law Department, whose practice includes sophisticated elder law and estate planning issues, including pet estate planning. Additional areas of expertise include guardianship, conservatorship, planning for long-term care, and residential real estate.
    • Attorney Gary F. Bevilacqua’s primary area of practice is real estate, both residential and commercial. He also does estate planning, banking and finance work, and personal injury representation.
    • Attorney Bruce M. Fogel is a member of the estate planning, elder, real estate, zoning, business, and corporate departments. He also has extensive experience in matters relating to income, gift, and estate taxes, and focuses on the tax implications of all legal transactions.
    • Attorney Peter W. MacConnell is a member of the real estate department, handling both residential and commercial transactions. He also specializes in zoning and land use issues, almost exclusively on the developer side. In addition, he does estate planning and corporate legal work.


    Gina M. Barry

    Gary F. Bevilacqua
       

    Bruce M. Fogel

    Peter W. MacConnell

    •••••

    Heather L. Feltman has been named President/Chief Executive Officer of Lutheran Social Services of New England.

    •••••

    Ronald C. DeCurzio, Chief Operating Officer at Mass. Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC), Ludlow, will assume the general manager’s responsibilities with the announcement of Glenn O. Steiger resigning to take a position with Glendale (Calif.) Water & Power. The MMWEC Board of Directors will meet in the near future to discuss Steiger’s resignation and the general manager’s position.

    •••••

    MassMutual Retirement Services in Springfield has adopted an enhanced regional model for its advisor and plan sponsor service operations. The regional service teams, comprised of both relationship managers and account managers, will be led by four newly appointed assistant vice presidents of service. They are:
    • Joanne Kisiel, Assistant Vice President, Southeast Region, joined MassMutual in 1981, and has more than 25 years of experience in the retirement services business including roles in audit, training, project management, customer service and operations management.
    • Eric Leverson, Assistant Vice President, Northeast Region, has more than 18 years of experience in plan administration, compliance and relationship management roles. He joined MassMutual in 1995.
    • Una Morabito, Assistant Vice President, Midwest Region, brings more than 16 years of experience in the retirement services business to her new role, including relationship management, account management, and overseeing MassMutual’s nonqualified compensation business. She joined MassMutual in 1996.
    • Tracy Tierney-Clifford, Assistant Vice President, West/Southwest Regions, joined MassMutual last November from Putnam Investments where she led the relationship management team supporting the Western Region.

    •••••

    Field Eddy & Bulkley Inc. announced the appointment of Daniel A. Britt as an Account Executive for Commercial Lines. He is responsible for providing risk assessment and analysis to the company’s business clients and prospects as well as finding appropriate coverage to meet their specific needs.