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Giving Back

The Boston Business Journal recently named PeoplesBank a top charitable contributor and number 2 in the category of ‘Companies with the Highest Volunteer Hours.’ The bank has contributed approximately $700,000 to charitable and civic causes and employees donated 6,700 volunteer hours over the past year. Here, James Morton, left, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Springfield, and Douglas Bowen, president and CEO of PeoplesBank, discuss the bank’s recent support of Camp Weber and Camp Fun City.


Victory Celebration

Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno (second from left) was re-elected to a second term on Nov. 3. Seen with him on election night is the marketing team that coordinated his campaign: from left, Janet Casey, president of West Springfield-based Marketing Doctor; David Horgan, president of Horgan Associates; and Ed Brown, a videographer with New York Sound and Motion.


Human Center

The Center for Human Development staged its annual meeting on Nov. 10 at the MassMutual Center. Attendees heard updates on CHD programs, watched the presentation of several awards, and heard addresses from Health New England CEO Peter Straley and Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Baker, former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, on the subject of national health care reform. At left, Straley (left) chats with Hank Drapalski, CHD’s vice president of Development. Above, the Rick Moriarty Volunteer of the Year Award is presented to Gene Sullivan, right, a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) volunteer. With him is Keith Hedlund (left), director of the CASA program, and Alex Medina, Sullivan’s CASA child.

 


Having a Ball

More than 400 people gathered at the Sheraton in downtown Springfield on Nov. 14 for the annual Brights Night Ball, staged to support the Bright Nights holiday lighting display in Forest Park and other events staged by the Spirit of Springfield. The ball featured a social hour, several speeches by area elected officials, dinner, dancing, and an auction with prizes ranging from commercial time on local TV stations to a guitar signed by Bruce Springsteen and members of the E Street Band. Clockwise from left, Judy Matt, president of the Spirit of Springfield, with David Cuoco, left, and Joseph Tobin, longtime Springfield Parks Department employees who have led work to install the Bright Nights displays for 15 years; Roger Crandall, COO of MassMutual and chairman of the Bright Nights Ball, addresses the crowd; from the PeoplesBank table are, from left, President Doug Bowen, his wife, Anna, Susan Wilson, vice president of Marketing and Communications for the bank, and her husband, Craig; Health New England President Peter Straley with his wife, Donna Ross, an executive with Baystate Health; and Mark Tolosky, president and CEO of Baystate Health.

Opinion
Stern Challenges Await Area’s New Mayors

This fall’s elections brought changes at the top for many area communities. Indeed, there will be many new mayors settling into office in January, and many will face immediate — and stern — challenges.

We wish them the best because, while Springfield is the unofficial capital of the Pioneer Valley and the focus of much attention in light of its recent struggles, the continued health and well-being of other large communities is a key factor in the overall success of this region.

The challenges facing the new mayors vary, but the common denominator is that the communities need strong leadership, and they need it now.

Let’s start in Agawam, where the survivor (that’s the best word for it) in this fall’s election is Richard Cohen, the former mayor and now mayor-elect. His immediate challenge is to restore a sense of honor and pride in this community. The off-duty exploits of outgoing Mayor Susan Dawson and the recent mayoral election — which included no less than seven candidates, more than half of whom had absolutely no business seeking this seat — has made Agawam the butt of seemingly unending jokes.

The embarrassing election is over, and it’s now incumbent upon Cohen to make people sit up and take notice of Agawam for other reasons, particularly economic development. There hasn’t been much of this lately, due largely to a lack of a clear vision about what this community wants to be and how it needs to get there.

Cohen’s first priority is to assemble some land on which businesses can locate, and then drive new development. All eyes have been focused on the so-called FoodMart Plaza, now known as Agawan Town Center, which was vacant for years and is now vacant again after the Steve & Barry’s fiasco, but there are other problems as well. There is no retail, and a crippling lack of commercially zoned property. Cohen can start with the town’s PR crisis, but his bigger assignment is growing the tax base.

Westfield has done well in that regard in recent years, and it is incumbent upon incoming Mayor Dan Knapik to continue to create opportunities for growth. While Agawam is land-poor, Westfield has plenty, and it has a turnpike exit and a municipal airport as attractive assets.

The biggest challenge for Knapik and his community is downtown, which has struggled for decades now. Outgoing Mayor Michael Boulanger and Westfield State College President Evan Dobelle have made some significant strides over the past few years in taking an overlooked and underappreciated asset (the college) and making it into a force for economic development.

Knapik has a lot on his plate, but building on the momentum gained with regard to WSC is priority one. Westfield will never be a true college town, like Amherst or Northampton, but it can be more of a college town, and it must become one.

While Agawam and Westfield confront challenge and opportunity, perhaps no city in the region is at more of a critical crossroad than Holyoke, and this is the situation facing Mayor-elect Elaine Pluta.

For starters, the city will soon be hiring a new police chief and a new school superintendent, meaning that there will be key leadership changes across the board, which are always daunting. But the elephant in the room is the planned high-performance computing center being developed by UMass, MIT, Harvard, and a host of other players.

The center will almost certainly become reality, though the facility itself will not generate tax revenue and will only create a few dozen jobs to start. What isn’t known is what kind of economic development can follow in the wake of such a facility. There is speculation (see story, page 6) that such a center can eventually attract government agencies conducting specific research initiatives, institutions of higher learning, private businesses that want or need to be near such a facility, and support businesses ranging from restaurants to copying centers.

Holyoke should strive for all of the above, and to do this, it must be bold and imaginative in the creation of incentives that will bring businesses and institutions to the city. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for this former mill city to reinvent itself as a city defined by innovation.

Politics has a way of getting in the way of progress in Holyoke. Pluta, a veteran city councilor, can’t let that happen. She must forge the partnerships needed to enable this once-proud city to take full advantage of the opportunity that is presenting itself.

Opinion
Keep the Engine of Small Business Humming

In 1982 as an MBA student at The Ohio State University, I read Dr. Michael Porter’s book Competitive Strategies. Fast-forward to the mid-1990s when I attended Porter’s presentation in Springfield about the importance of businesses locating in the urban core. My then-business partner and I took the bait. Within a year, TSM Design was located in the heart of downtown on Bridge Street, where we remain today.

Recently I received an e-mail from Porter’s brainchild, the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. The ICIC’s mission is “to promote economic prosperity in America’s inner cities through private-sector engagement that leads to jobs, income, and wealth creation for local residents.” Given my long history with Porter, I decided to attend the ICIC summit in Washington, D.C. titled “Growing Businesses in the Inner City: Building Capacity and Creating Impact.”

Featured at the two-day event was Porter’s presentation of 10 years of data collected among 600 successful urban enterprises. He focused on the following factors influencing the growth of inner-city firms: financing, the inner-city business environment, company revenue sources, and leadership and human capital.

Some of Porter’s findings are as you might expect. Inner-city firms generally use personal assets for startup funds and bank loans for growth. The vast majority (76%) indicate limited access to growth capital. Yet these financing statistics yield an interestingly low failure rate among the studied inner-city businesses.

Among the sectors represented, 3% of distributors, 3% of manufacturers, and 4% of service businesses have closed their doors during the 10-year study. None of the retailers have gone out of business.

Included in the summit were presentations from Karen Mills, the administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, speaking about national policy and the Obama administration’s commitment to growing the small business sector, and Rob Walsh, commissioner of the NYC Department of Small Business Services, who spoke in detail about best practices of a business-friendly city government.

Of particular interest to me was a panel discussion on how large companies use their procurement dollars to grow the inner-city economy, and a case study involving New England Blue Cross Blue Shield and one its small local vendors. BCBS and the vendor split the cost of hiring NextStreet Financial to mentor and grow the vendor into a more robust supplier. The vendor happens to be a communications firm specializing in diverse audiences. The net result is a vendor with increased capacity with more opportunities — both within BCBS as well as other companies.

All in all, this summit was personally affirming to me as a small-business owner in Springfield. Intuitively I’ve known we made the right decision 14 years ago to move the business out of the suburbs and into the center of the city. There are some discernable fringe benefits. For one, a downtown address has considerably more gravitas than a suburban one. Visibility is another factor. I can walk down the street and see dozens of current or potential clients and colleagues. Also, most of my civic involvements are within walking distance from my office. Lunchtime also yields far more interesting menu options.

The conference raised the bar for my expectations of the opportunities for my business and those of my peers. My eyes were opened to what other cities are doing to increase opportunities for small businesses. Even more importantly, I now know there are large corporations that both walk the walk as well as talk the economic-development talk. They make a point of doing business with local small businesses.

One eye-opening fact presented during the conference: 70% of all U.S. workers either work for or own a small business. The SBA definition of a small business is fewer than 500 employees. In Springfield, there are only 35 employers with more than 500 employees. So the thousands of businesses that comprise this city’s economy are small, like mine. If Springfield is going to regain its economic health, it’s time we develop a comprehensive strategy to keep this dynamic little engine going.

Nancy Urbchat is owner of Springfield-based TSM Design; (413) 731-7600.

Sections Supplements
It’s Not the Whole Story When It Comes to Making Sure Parties Are Fully Covered

Construction contracts usually include many provisions aimed toward transferring legal liability from one party to another. In an agreement between a general contractor and a subcontractor, the sub assumes the general’s liability. The contract does this by inserting an indemnity agreement (also known as a hold-harmless agreement) into the contract’s terms.

The contract may also require the sub to have the general named as an additional insured on its general liability insurance policy. Though not all contracts do this, it is a mistake for either contractor to assume that the insurance company will provide the same protection to the general without an additional insured endorsement to the policy.

Liability Coverage

The standard Insurance Services Office Commercial General Liability Coverage Form specifically excludes coverage for liability the insured assumes in a contract. However, it adds coverage back if the contract is an ‘insured contract,’ as the policy defines the term. The policy’s definition includes hold-harmless agreements where the insured assumes another’s tort liability. That would appear to take care of the sub’s obligations under the contract, but it is not the whole story. The coverage may still contain a potentially large gap for the general.

It is important to keep in mind that, in any liability-insurance claim scenario, the parties fall into three categories: insurance company, insured, and claimant. A claim may involve multiple insureds, multiple claimants, or even multiple insurance companies, but all parties will fall into one of the three categories. If a party is not an insurance company and is not an insured by virtue of an additional insured endorsement, then it must be a claimant. Therefore, a general contractor in this situation becomes a claimant along with all other claimants seeking damages.

The Cost of Legal Defense

While the general contractor may receive the same recovery for damages that it might have received as an additional insured, it might not fare as well regarding the cost of its legal defense. The CGL policy pays for defense costs incurred by anyone who is an insured under the policy, and coverage for those costs is in addition to the policy limits. If the policy has a limit of $1 million per occurrence and an insured is found liable for $1 million and runs up $500,000 in defense costs, the policy pays for both in full. As a claimant, however, the general can recover defense costs only if the hold-harmless agreement with the sub requires the sub to indemnify it for defense costs.

Also, it is likely that coverage for those costs will not be in addition to the policy limits. The ISO CGL policy provides defense in addition to the limits for the general only if all of the following conditions are met:

  • The sub assumed the general’s liability in an insured contract;

  • The policy covers the loss;
  • The sub assumed the general’s defense costs in the contract;
  • There is no conflict of interest between the general and the sub;
  • Both parties ask the company to control and conduct the defense and both agree to the same counsel for defense; and
  • The general agrees in writing to cooperate with the insurance company in the settlement of the claim.
  • If any one of these conditions is not met, the company will pay the general’s defense costs only until the claim exhausts the insurance limits.

    Coverage for defense costs is one of the most important benefits of being named as an additional insured on another entity’s liability insurance. An entity that needs this coverage should require the other contractor to provide the additional insured endorsement. Relying on the contractor’s contractual liability coverage is a major financial gamble.

    David W. Griffin Sr. is senior vice president of the Dowd Agencies. He has more than 30 years of experience in the insurance industry. He holds his advisor’s license, as well as the professional designation certified insurance counselor; (413) 538-7444;[email protected]. The Dowd Agencies is a full-service agency providing commercial, personal, and employee benefits, with four offices in Western Mass.

    Cover Story
    Computing Center Fuels Speculation, Optimism in Holyoke
    Cover 11/23/09

    Cover

    The high-performance computing center planned for downtown Holyoke will apparently become reality in the next 12 to 18 months. While details of that venture — to involve UMass, MIT, and many other institutions — are starting to emerge, speculation has begun in earnest about what kinds of economic-development opportunities will follow such a project. Those involved in a task force to develop something to be called the “Innovation District” in the heart of the city say much depends on the research agenda that will emerge at the center. But all signs point to an enormous opportunity for this former paper and textiles hub, and the goal moving forward is to fully leverage this asset.

    Jeff Hayden was recalling some of the Holyoke history he’s known since he was a child.

    “When the dam was first built, there were no mills — this was an agrarian community with about 3,000 people,” said Hayden, vice president of Business and Community Services at Holyoke Community College and former director of economic development for the city, as he referenced the engineering project that enabled what was then a small town to take full advantage of a 57-foot drop in the Connecticut River. “Some 35 years later, there were 36 mills, probably close to 40,000 people living here, and an industrial complex that could rival anything in the country. That’s incredible growth in a very short time.”

    He cited the chapter in Holyoke history written between 1850 and 1880 as he discussed the high-performance computing center that will now apparently become reality in the Paper City — and, perhaps more importantly, what could follow that facility in terms of economic-development potential.

    Hayden is not predicting that history will repeat itself with such profound growth, but then again, he’s certainly not ruling it out.

    Such is the power of imagination, and speculation, when it comes to the computing center, a concept that most people in this region, including many of those most-closely involved with it, are struggling to get both hands around. But optimism abounds, and there is widespread sentiment that the $50 million facility could change the landscape in this city that has been trying to reinvent itself since most of the mills closed decades ago.

    What is known is that UMass, MIT, Boston University, CISCO, EMC, and several other partners will come together and build a facility somewhere along the canals in downtown Holyoke. This much was announced at a packed press conference in late October that featured Gov. Deval Patrick. What is also known is that the computing center will be a nonprofit venture that will not pay taxes to Holyoke and will create perhaps only a few dozen jobs to start, by most early estimates.

    What isn’t known is what kind of economic development can follow such a facility. There are other so-called super-computing centers around the country, but most have been in existence only a short time, so there is no real body of evidence to show what can happen in Holyoke.

    But there is widespread speculation that government agencies, private businesses, support services, and perhaps (or probably) all of the above will want to locate around the computing center, said Kathy Anderson, director of the Holyoke Office of Planning and Development. She, like others, said that much will depend on the research agenda that emerges at the center. But there are some common denominators.

    “There is a pattern developing about the kinds of businesses that want to be located near these centers,” she said, noting that her office is conducting research on the subject. And there is ample reason to believe that many companies and institutions will want to be around this particular center, she continued, because of its uniqueness with regard to how it will be powered.

    Indeed, inexpensive hydropower will be the primary source of energy to drive and cool the computers, said Anderson, adding quickly that this is an attractive drawing card at a time when many businesses and institutions want to portray themselves as environmentally conscious. “It’s clean, it’s green, and it’s comparatively cheap,” she noted.

    Anderson will be one of the co-chairs of a task force charged with exploring development opportunities in what will be called the “Innovation District” in downtown Holyoke, where the center will be built, although the exact location isn’t known. She said the group will likely begin meeting next month, and while its specific charge hasn’t been put down on paper, it amounts to devising strategies to help enable Holyoke to leverage, and thus take full advantage of, an incredible opportunity.

    Tim Brennan, director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and the other co-chair of the task force, put things a different way.

    “We’re essentially coming up with a re-use plan for a city,” he explained. “Holyoke was the first planned industrial city; now it could become the first re-planned industrial city.”

    For this issue, BusinessWest talked with many who will be directly involved with this Innovation District about what the computing center could mean for Holyoke, and how the city can capitalize on this enormous asset.

    Breaking New Ground

    Brennan acknowledged that, like many who now have ‘high-performance computing center’ as part of their vocabulary, he’s still trying to grasp the concept.

    There’s much that he doesn’t know about these facilities and the economic development that they could spur. What he does know is that nothing will happen overnight, and also that there is no clear model to follow, or anything approaching same.

    “You can’t run to the library and get books on this,” he explained. “There just aren’t any. This is brand-new territory.”

    Therefore, mapping out strategies will be challenging, but also rather exciting, he said, noting that a $50 million facility built by some of the top research institutions in the world is going to be dropped into the middle of an urban center, specifically a low-income community still struggling to gain a new identity after much of its paper and textiles mills closed down or moved south.

    That makes this still-unnamed facility rather unique and potentially attractive, said Anderson, noting that most of the existing super-computing centers are located on or near college campuses (such as Ohio State University, the University of California at San Diego, and the University of Hawaii), or in rural areas such as Rio Rancho, N.M., Fitchburg, Wis., and Butte, Mont.

    Research into existing centers reveals that most have affiliations with both universities and federal agencies or departments, she continued. The Advanced Biomedical Computing Center in Frederick, Md., for example, is affiliated with the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Health. The Maui High Performance Computing Center, meanwhile, has affiliations with the U.S. Air Force and the Department of Defense, and Research Triangle Park in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., has one with the Environmental Protection Agency.

    Such affiliations are usually determined by the types of research being conducted at the centers, said Anderson, noting that it is far too early in the process to determine what the institutions involved in the Holyoke project will be focused on. The possibilities are seemingly endless, and include everything from work in climate change to new developments in so-called ‘cloud computing,’ or the delivery of hosted services over the Internet, or the ‘cloud.’

    But the likely scenario, no matter the research agenda, is that government agencies will follow the computing center, and then private-sector firms doing business in (or trying to break into) the research areas that develop. There will also be support businesses to provide services to all those constituencies, as well as other businesses that want or need to locate near such a center.

    “Our goal is to essentially create a campus,” Anderson explained. “We’ll see other businesses that are not even related to a high-performance computing center that would like to be around this.

    “As the research agenda unfolds, we’ll see other researchers that will want to be around this,” she continued, “and we’ve already had calls from businesses that are not related to this kind of center but want to be near one.”

    Hayden agreed, and used research and development of cloud computing as one example of what might emerge at Holyoke’s computing center, and how such work might attract businesses and jobs.

    “One of the things they’ve talked about with this center is studying cloud computing itself and how it can be made more efficient, and green, and how it can best be utilized,” he explained. “That also incorporates things like security; if everything’s out there on the cloud, how do you keep it secure and how do you keep it proprietary?

    “There are all kinds of complex computations that will be done in terms of how to do cloud computing in a way that’s effective for business,” he continued, adding that many private businesses could potentially be involved in this research, with the goal of bringing new products to the marketplace — products that could be produced in Holyoke.

    Such scenarios echo Holyoke’s proud past, said Anderson, noting that, in many respects, history will indeed be repeating itself. It was abundant, inexpensive hydropower and an infrastructure to support large manufacturing operations that put Holyoke on the map 150 years ago, she noted, and it is these assets that are collectively bringing the computing center to the city — and fueling speculation about what will follow it.

    Plenty of Dam Attributes

    Indeed, while there are many unknowns when it comes to the computing center and the economic development it may generate, those who spoke with BusinessWest were in general agreement that Holyoke will certainly be well-positioned to capitalize on such opportunities.

    “There are a lot of things happening in this city right now that are going to make it an attractive place for businesses to want to be,” said Anderson, adding that the computing center could be the catalyst that compels business owners, federal agencies, and college presidents to look in Holyoke’s direction.

    Listing attributes and signs of progress, Anderson noted everything from the start of work on Holyoke’s Canal Walk to a large supply of former mill space that can be retrofitted to a number of uses; from an attractive location on or near several major highways to one of the lowest electric rates in the Northeast; from fast-track permitting to a strong fiber-optic backbone.

    All of this and more is captured in a recently released video designed to promote the city as an attractive home for businesses, especially those of the green variety.

    It features several players in business, industry, and economic development, including Anderson, Holyoke G&E General Manager James Lavelle, Universal Plastics President Joe Peters, and Brendan Ciecko, the 22-year-old entrepreneur who has made downtown Holyoke the home for his Web site design business Ten Minute Media.

    “It’s a great strategic location for any business,” Ciecko says in the video. “Being within two hours of New York City and being an hour and a half from Boston is very advantageous for my business. I have the majority of my clients located in New York, so if I want to meet with Mick Jagger, for instance, I can be there in two hours.”

    Summing up the content in the video and the many initiatives involving her office, Anderson said Holyoke has the wherewithal, and the creativity, needed to effectively leverage an asset like the computing center, making this city the proverbial right place at the right time for businesses in many sectors.

    “A lot of things are coming together at the right time,” she told BusinessWest, noting everything from transportation facilities — a new intermodal transportation center downtown and the potential for commuter rail — to fast-track permitting that will expedite the process of bring a business to the city. “The pieces are coming into place for Holyoke to stand out in the market, and the state has recognized that.”

    But perhaps the biggest asset is abundant, green energy, said Lavelle, noting that Holyoke’s hydropower is part of an attractive package, which also includes high-speed fiber-optic services, that is turning heads in the business community and elsewhere.

    It obviously caught the attention of those at UMass, MIT, Boston University, and other colleges, who recognized the need for a high-performance computing center, but also the need to place it a community where the huge amounts of electricity needed for such a facility would be comparatively inexpensive — and green.

    Lavelle noted that the electricity his utility would provide to a large commercial customer like the computing center (which is protected to need anywhere from six to 12 megawatts for its first phase) would currently cost about 8.4 cents per kilowatt. That’s roughly one-third lower than the rates currently charged by Western Mass Electric Co., he said, and about half what large businesses in Cambridge, home to MIT, are paying at present.

    But it’s not just the rates that are attractive, he noted, adding that roughly two-thirds of the power supplied by HG&E is from renewable sources, mostly hydropower, and the utility is currently exploring ways to increase that percentage and also provide ample ‘green’ power for all those who might want to come to Holyoke.

    “More than 80% of our power produces no carbon footprint, and that’s really attractive to entities looking to manage their growth and their carbon footprint at the same time,” said Lavelle. “And that’s not unique to high-tech and education; we’re seeing it across the board. Our challenge is going to be to scale and increase our renewable content with this growth so that we don’t dilute it.

    “We’re trying to build our renewable portfolio so that our carbon footprint is continually declining,” he continued. “We’re looking at the possibility of wind generation on Mount Tom, we’re always looking at the hydro component to get more generation out of that plant, and we’ll look at other renewable sources.”

    But the words ‘green’ and ‘renewable’ refer to more than just energy, said Anderson, referring to Holyoke’s vast inventory of old mill space and, in the larger scheme of things, its downtown as a whole.

    Just as companies and institutions may want to reduce their carbon footprint, she explained, they may also desire to be part of an effort to revitalize and reuse some of the old mills, putting them back to work for economic development.

    “I think a lot of entities would be intrigued by the possibility if reutilizing the existing resources we have here,” she explained, “taking old buildings built for manufacturing, looking at them in a different way and reusing them. That’s part of the whole green initiative, and it could be a real advantage for Holyoke.”

    Powerful Arguments

    Hayden, a Holyoke native, said the high-performance computing center is the hot topic of conversation seemingly everywhere in Holyoke, from HCC, which is already exploring creation of programs to train people who would work at the center, to the Stop & Shop, to the Dam Café on Northampton Street.

    “There’s excitement and a level of energy I’ve never seen before,” he explained. “This has captured the imagination of an entire city.”

    And it has drawn a number of references to Holyoke’s past and its meteoric rise as a manufacturing center, said Hayden, who, like Brennan and others, offered a cautionary note about the progress that could follow the computing center.

    “Things won’t happen overnight,” he said. “It will take m
    ny years for things to come into place.”

    But as he recalled Holyoke’s profound growth after the dam and canal system were constructed, Hayden said, “30 years can go by in the blink of an eye.”

    George O’Brien can be reached

    at[email protected]

    Uncategorized

    Organizers of the Clean Energy Connections Conference and Opportunity Fair staged the second edition of the still-fledgling event earlier this month. The conference provided job seekers with an opportunity to see what the field has to offer, and for business owners to recruit new talent. But for most attendees, the event offered a chance to see, hear, and experience the size and diversity of the region’s ‘green’ sector, and to ponder what the future might hold for this intriguing industry

    On a Tuesday earlier this month at the MassMutual Center, you could find everything from energy-saving window shades to solar power providers; from green energy consultants to pioneering biofuel technology.

    The Clean Energy Connections Conference and Opportunity Fair is in its second year. “Last year was a bit of an experiment, and folks didn’t know what to expect,” said Loren Walker, associate director of Research Liaison and Development at UMass Amherst. “This year it was affirmed that what we’ve organized is truly unique. It’s way more than a job fair. Many connections were made between businesses, between students and colleges, and between businesses and future employees.”

    Walker is the associate director in the Office of Research, and is one of the organizers of the event. This year, he said, the goals for the conference were to create those connections in the business and research communities to advance the ‘green,’ clean-energy technology sector in the region.

    The event was staged on a weekday this year in the hopes of increasing a corporate role at the convention, Walker said. “By keeping it inclusive, for educators, financiers, business leaders and owners, community leaders, and public agencies, we increase the chances that we’ll have an impact on developing the pipeline of trained workers, placing workers locally, and growing clean-energy-related businesses in the Commonwealth that will be socially responsible.”

    Walking through the exhibition hall, the broad scope of the conference was evident: schools, architectural firms, biofuel industries, banks, environmental entrepreneurs, and consulting firms, all representing a commitment to a solid green sector for this region, were in attendance.

    “The clean-energy sector is going to grow by these folks coming together,” Walker continued.  “The green economy touches so many issues — social justice, business development, technology, workforce development. It’s still so broad, but the communication needs to be there, or else we’ll end up with a fragmented economy.”

    BusinessWest talked with some of the event’s exhibitors, some familiar names and some not-so-familiar, to gain some perspective on just where the region’s green sector is, and where a diverse group of players think it can go.

    Onward and Upward

    When JMP Environmental Consulting opened a second office in Springfield, having originally operated in Ware, the move was a perfect example of the role Western Mass. plays for the green sector.

    Exhibiting at the conference for the first time, owner John Prenosil said that his hopes were to raise awareness for land-development issues. “Our goal is to educate and guide our clients interested in alternative energy sources as they relate to site selection,” he told BusinessWest.

    Springfield is important as the largest city in the region, and he said that his decision to locate another office here was based on a lack of others in his field.

    “In our experience, people seem to be more receptive to alternative energy sources and green alternatives,” he said. ”As a business, we strive to be as green as we can. We are involved with more residential and commercial projects that involve alternative energy and greener development techniques this year than in the past, and hope to see this trend continue and increase in the future.”

    Around the corner, Chris Kilfoyle welcomed people to the booth representing his company, Berkshire Photovoltaic Services. Admiring the crowds of students, fellow exhibitors, and interested visitors, he spoke highly of the gathered talent.

    “Number one, we want to make sure that companies who may have come to the conference looking at the region as a place to brand their manufacturing facility, or their service industry, can see that there’s an active educational component here as well as a network of professionals already in place,” he said. “The industry can grow here, and we all would love to be part of that growth.”

    Already a recognized leader in the region’s solar-energy field, Kilfoyle said he did get some good leads for new business at the conference, but the issues the gathering raised were of far greater significance.

    Kilfoyle had high marks for the organizers at UMass, citing them as leaders for the green sectors in the area. He was impressed by the students he’d encountered, whom he spoke of as giving renewed optimism for the future. While the conference gives business owners a chance to look at the region for its role in green initiatives, it can also give rise to enthusiasm for the succeeding generations destined for roles within that economy.

    “For many students,” he said, “we gave them a pep talk. They are asking about what courses of study should they be looking at, what is the job growth, what are the job prospects. We collected résumés from people who are unemployed but highly qualified in electronics and electricity, and in that regard, it’s even better for us than making contacts to sell systems. The main impetus of the conference is to show, ‘hey, there are companies out there that will be hiring, that are hiring, and this is the place to meet them.’”

    Map Quest

    John Laux is the president and CEO of Greendustry Park of Florence, and the creator of the Green Gateway Guides Map, an all-in-one look at the green industry for the four counties of Western Mass. While the Greendustry Park had been a contributor at the earlier convention, the map made its debut this year.

    The map represents a strategic step forward in identifying all things and organizations green, looking at agriculture, building trades, education, energy systems and services, environmental services, manufacturing, organized groups, retail, and support services. Laux said that there had been many other compendiums and guides out there, but usually there is a charge for inclusion in such information banks.

    “We found that there are many Web sites with a smattering of these different companies in the region,” he explained, “but there isn’t one clearinghouse of data, because everyone’s model is about how to make money off of selling positions and listings.

    “That wasn’t accessible to the public or anyone doing research in the region or outside of the region,” he continued. “So we decided that what we needed to do was to build a model that wasn’t money-centric, that was built on a framework of neutrality. We’re not looking for money, we’re looking to be able to put this information together for anyone who needs it.”

    According to Laux, an important aspect in creating the map is to raise awareness of what is green, and how that could be applied to one’s daily life. The map itemizes businesses and services that are green by their nature, offering environmentally minded products, or are green behind the scenes, with practices, systems, or policies that situate them as proponents of the green ethos.

    What Laux plans to do next is use the data compiled to create baseline metrics for the local green community. “What it does,” he explained, “is measure companies based on performance, so that people get rated, above and beyond standard business practices. What we are trying to do is to create a neutral metric, to encourage companies to strive for added status.”

    As one of those people showcasing the green industry from within, Laux said the conference this year highlighted the emergence of a consciousness for the sector outside the region. “Last year the conference was very centered on Western Mass. to show everything that was going on here. This year, the conference pulled in a lot of people from the east.”

    Most important, he said, is a growing recognition of the area for all that it offers. UMass has pioneering laboratories working on biofuels, as reported widely in the media, but also groundbreaking work on agriculture for that energy technology, as well as one of the more important wind-energy laboratories in the world. “It’s been there for 20-plus years. Their technology is being used throughout the world for wind technology, but who really knows that?” he asked.

    “I gave a presentation to the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission recently,” he continued. “I’m on the green strategy group there, and went over all the data that we had compiled for the map, and they were fascinated by it. Their response was, ‘we knew things were going on, but not at this level.’ It really gave them a sense; you could almost see them bubbling over with, ‘wow, this is really happening.’

    “In trying to figure out what ‘green’ is,” he concluded, “you need to stop and look at the data that we’ve compiled, and know that this region is way up there. It was an awakening for the PVPC, and that’s what this conference is about. We’re trying to get the word out that it is happening here, and we are players. And we want the rest of the state and beyond to know that.”

    Departments

    Ten Points About : Expansion of family and Medical Leave Act Coverage

    By AMY B. ROYAL, Esq.

    1. On Oct. 28, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act which included provisions that further expanded the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for military families.

    2. FMLA leave to military families was first extended in January 2008 in another defense authorization bill that President Bush signed into law.
    3. That law amended the FMLA by creating two entirely new categories of FMLA leave specifically for military families.
    4. The first category of military family leave created by the January 2008 amendment allowed employees to take up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave in a 12-month period if they experienced a ‘qualifying exigency’ when their covered family member was on, or called up to, active duty in the Reserves or National Guard.

    5. With the recent expansion, employees who have a covered family member on active duty in the armed forces are now entitled to up to 12 weeks of leave for a qualifying exigency.

    6. Qualifying exigencies are defined in the regulations issued by the Department of Labor earlier this year as follows: short-notice deployment, military events and related activities, child care and school activities, financial and legal arrangements, counseling sessions, rest and recuperation, and post-deployment activities.
    7. The second category of military family leave created by the January 2008 amendment allowed employees to take up to 26 weeks of FMLA leave to care for a service member who has a serious illness or injury incurred in the line of duty for which the service member is undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy.
    8. With the recent expansion, employees are now entitled to take 26 weeks of FMLA leave to care for a veteran of the armed forces, including the National Guard or Reserves, who is undergoing medical treatment or therapy for or recuperating from a serious injury or illness at any time during the five-year period preceding the date of treatment, therapy, or recuperation. Previously, this type of leave did not allow family members to care for a service member whose injury or illness manifested itself sometime after the service member became a veteran.
    9. The FMLA expansions are effective immediately.

    10 Employers should amend their FMLA policies to reflect these expansions.

    Amy B. Royal, Esq. is a partner in the law firm of Royal & Klimczuk, LLC. She specializes in management-side labor and employment law;
    (413) 586-2288; [email protected]

    Departments

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

    Adams, Shane M.
    Adams, Theresa
    11 Main Road
    Colrain, MA 01340
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/04/09

    Agin, Tammy Lynn
    18 Ellen St.
    Chicopee, MA 01013
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/14/09

    Anderson, Gregory
    a/k/a Branch, India L.
    Anderson, India L.
    29 Waldorf St.
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/07/09

    Armstrong, Roxell
    a/k/a Geoffrion, Roxell M.
    10 Central Ave.
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/05/09

    Arsenault, David
    17 Carpenter St.
    Orange, MA 01364
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/15/09

    Audio Video Design
    HBS Stereo
    Loveless, John K.
    140 Dalton Ave.
    Pittsfield, MA 01201
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/18/09

    Avalone, James M.
    Avalone, Elizabeth
    471 North Road
    Westfield, MA 01085
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Baker, Todd M.
    82 Barton Road
    Greenfield, MA 01301
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/04/09

    Barnes, Sheldon Orlando
    151 Allen St., Apt. F
    Springfield, MA 01108
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/06/09

    Barrett, Debbie L.
    116 Sandrah Dr.
    Orange, MA 01364
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 09/23/09

    Barrus, James A.
    Barrus, Belinda J.
    29 Pioneer Way
    Springfield, MA 01119
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/28/09

    Befford, Susan S.
    1743 North Main St.
    Palmer, MA 01069
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/22/09

    Bennett, Frank E.
    Bennett, Lynn A.
    599 Main St.
    Wilbraham, MA 01095
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 09/23/09

    Bennett, Mark
    Poole, Angela Denise
    109 Denver St.
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/02/09

    Biddle, Rita M.
    645 Warren Wright Road
    P.O. Box 1008
    Belchertown, MA 01007
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/28/09

    Bisceglia, Christopher
    Bisceglia, Heather M.
    a/k/a Monahan, Heather
    88 Burrill Ave.
    Orange, MA 01364
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Bledsoe, Dina L.
    19 Home St.
    Springfield, MA 01104
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/06/09

    Bleu, Jeffrey R.
    64 Notch Road
    North Adams, MA 01247
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/29/09

    Bob’s Carpentry
    Gonzalez-Pho, Thao P.
    Gonzalez, Robert
    143 Little Mohawk Road
    Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/24/09

    Bolibok, Barbara
    20 Hampton Ave., Apt. # 507
    Northampton, MA 01060
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/15/09

    Bonacker, Erin L.
    254 Kibbe Road
    East Longmeadow, MA 01028-1310
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/15/09

    Boudreau, David A.
    418 Meadow St., D7
    Agawam, MA 01001
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/29/09

    Boudreau, William L.
    189 Glendale Ave.
    Athol, MA 01331
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/18/09

    Brault, Alan D.
    87 Lafayette St.
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Broman, James E.
    1368 Main Road
    Granville, MA 01034
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 09/16/09

    Burns, Joseph Robert
    Burns, Carol Ann
    a/k/a Wheeler-Burns, Carol
    PO Box 786
    Southwick, MA 01077
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/09/09

    Burt, John Henry
    98 North St.
    Plainfield, MA 01070
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 10/05/09

    Button, Michael J.
    Button, Lisa M.
    10 Old South Road
    Orange, MA 01364
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Carrasquillo, Carmen
    134 Peer St.
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/29/09

    Carrigan, William A.
    89 Robbins Ave., Apt. #1
    Pittsfield, MA 01201
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/16/09

    Castagna, James
    176 Columbus Ave.
    Pittsfield, MA 01201
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Chambers, Karlene
    25 Fairhaven Dr.
    Springfield, MA 01151
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 10/13/09

    Charron, Christine Anne
    9 Granby Heights
    Granby, MA 01033
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/21/09

    Chase, Clifton R.
    Chase, Linda L.
    519 East River St.
    Orange, MA 01364
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Chase, Clifton R.
    Chase, Linda L.
    519 East River St.
    Orange, MA 01364
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Cheria, Manuel F.
    Cheria, Donna M.
    12 Rood St.
    Ludlow, MA 01056
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/01/09

    Chesanek, Michael A.
    217 Meadow St.
    Agawam, MA 01001
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/21/09

    Chouinard, Bruce R.
    Chouinard, Cynthia A.
    1885 Main St.
    Athol, MA 01331
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Ciampi, David Francis
    33 Cherryvale Ave.
    Springfield, MA 01108
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/01/09

    Clement, Kevin J.
    511 East River St.
    Orange, MA 01364
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Cockshaw, David A.
    Cockshaw, Kimberly A.
    201 River St.
    Palmer, MA 01069
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/28/09

    Coe, Janet Rose
    119 White Oak Road
    Springfield, MA 01128
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Coffey, Charles Edward
    Demeo, Sharron Marie
    804 Parker St.
    East Longmeadow, MA 01028
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/25/09

    Colon, Roberto
    Colon, Carmen M.
    13 Algonquin Place
    Springfield, MA 01104
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/22/09

    Cooper, Jacqueline
    549 Watson Road
    Ashfield, MA 01330
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/15/09

    Costa, Francisco J.
    36 Ridgehill Ave.
    Malden, MA 02148
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/06/09

    Coushaine, Mary Elizabeth
    a/k/a Lesiege, Mary E.
    79 Bardwell St.
    South Hadley, MA 01075
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/08/09

    Cousineau, Jared J.
    Cousineau, Maggie B.
    a/k/a Egan, Maggie B.
    9 Landers St.
    South Hadley, MA 01075
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/06/09

    Coutu, William J.
    Coutu, Christine A.
    4 Norman St.
    Palmer, MA 01069
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Creamer, Guillermo David
    1 Ladd Road
    Sturbridge, MA 01566
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/21/09

    Croteau, Laurie L.
    a/k/a Albee, Laurie L.
    268 Federal St.
    Greenfield, MA 01301
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/24/09

    D’Amore, Darcy D.
    2322 Greenwich Road
    Ware, MA 01082
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 10/14/09

    D’Angelo, Frank J.
    117 Corey Colonial
    Agawam, MA 01001
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/22/09

    Davis, Paul E.
    282 Bolton St.
    Springfield, MA 01119
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 10/07/09

    Dawson, Martin H.
    68 New Boston Road
    Sturbridge, MA 01566
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/25/09

    Delgado, Mary
    7 Eastern Dr.
    Chicopee, MA 01013
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/15/09

    Demott, Michael O.
    65 Narragansett Ave.
    Pittsfield, MA 01201
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/01/09

    Desjeans, Francis L.
    Desjeans, Elaine R.
    53 Gladdu Ave.
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/08/09

    Desroches, Dorothy M.
    11 Grouse Dr.
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/08/09

    Diaz, Jose
    Emerson, Rebecca L.
    3 Collins St.
    Westfield, MA 01085
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/25/09

    Dickson, Len H.
    Dickson, Jodie A.
    182 Pleasant St.
    East Longmeadow, MA 01028
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/28/09

    Dimatteo, Amedeo
    P.O. Box 419
    Feeding Hills, MA 01030
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 10/15/09

    Driscoll, Timothy J.
    22 Scott Hollow Dr.
    Holyoke, MA 01040
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/15/09

    DuBoff, Christy T.
    7 Dubois St.
    Westfield, MA 01085
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Dudek, Agnieszka E.
    35-37 Devens St.
    Indian Orchard, MA 01151
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 09/29/09

    Durant, John
    Durant, Sherri
    3321 Pinenook Road
    Deerfield, MA 01342
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/04/09

    Dziedzic, Agnieszka A.
    a/k/a Nowak, Agnieszka A.
    590 Sheridan St.
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Early, Jane M.
    a/k/a Bassler, Jayn M.
    124 South St.
    Ware, MA 01082
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/09/09

    Evangelisto, Thomas
    Evangelisto, Sabrina
    220 Karen Dr.
    Pittsfield, MA 01201
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/24/09

    Farber, Amy E.
    36C Amherst Road
    Pelham, MA 01002
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/17/09

    Faria, Rui D.
    c/o Cidalia Vital
    971 Center St.
    Ludlow, MA 01056
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/13/09

    Fiorentino, Rita L.
    71 Westminster St.
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/21/09

    Fleury, Mary Elizabeth
    70 Dogwood Lane
    Agawam, MA 01001
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/27/09

    Frazer, Dawn
    18 Drew Ct.
    Springfield, MA 01104
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/21/09

    Gagnon, Susan Marie
    a/k/a Drinkwine, Susan Marie
    5 Riverview Ter., 2nd
    Chicopee, MA 01013
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Gama, Denise G.
    a/k/a Bickel, Denise G.
    96 Glenwood St.
    Ludlow, MA 01056
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Gay, Gloria
    55 Celebration Cir.
    Chicopee, MA 01020-2870
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/28/09

    Getty, Raymond Douglas
    265 New Ludlow Road
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/02/09

    Godfrey, Bernard E.
    66 Plymouth St.
    Pittsfield, MA 01201
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/19/09

    Godfrey, Catharine A.
    72 Plymouth St.
    Pittsfield, MA 01201
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/19/09

    Goodwin’s Home Repair
    Goodwin, Steven J.
    Goodwin, Sandra L.
    44 Ridge Road
    Athol, MA 01331
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/15/09

    Gosselin, Wendy Marie
    76 Wilmont St.
    Springfield, MA 01108
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/09/09

    Graham, Monica Y.
    292 Centre St. #1R
    Indian Orchard, MA 01151
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/22/09

    Greene, Steven L.
    155 Maple St.
    East Longmeadow, MA 01028-2722
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/28/09

    Gryszkiewicz, James
    53 Woodmont St.
    West Springfield, MA 01089
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/29/09

    Guerette, Sharon Ann
    93 Highland Ave.
    Ludlow, MA 01056
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Gutowski, Mark E.
    480 Dipping Hole Road
    Wilbraham, MA 01095
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Haire, Lee Allen
    Haire, Elizabeth Ann
    5 Berard Circle
    Springfield, MA 01128
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Halpin, David P.
    2 Stone Ave.
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/24/09

    Hannum, Gregg H.
    Hannum, Karen L.
    a/k/a Rosenberg, Karen L.
    549 Russell Road, Apt. 1B
    Westfield, MA 01085
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 09/27/09

    Hardaker, Donald L.
    13 Apache Dr.
    North Adams, MA 01247
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/12/09

    Harpin, Pamela J.
    56 Juniper Dr.
    Springfield, MA 01119-2109
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/15/09

    Hawkins, Carol A.
    12 Creamery Road
    Gilbertville, MA 01031
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/24/09

    Heady, Ryan W.
    81 Laurence Dr.
    West Springfield, MA 01089
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/05/09

    Helgoe, Calvin L.
    131A Colonial Circle
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/07/09

    Hornsby, Monique A.L.
    Brumfield, Monique A.
    69 State St. Ter.
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 10/15/09

    Jackson, Eileen L.
    406 River St. #1
    North Adams, MA 01247
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Jacques, Donald J.
    1343 Riverdale St.
    West Springfield, MA 01089
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/24/09

    Jenkins, Janice M.
    72 Curve St.
    Springfield, MA 01104
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/09/09

    Jensen, Dale M.
    223 Dayton St.
    Springfield, MA 01118
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/05/09

    Jesionowski, Henry E.
    75 Christopher Lane
    Feeding Hills, MA 01030
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/09/09

    Johansson, Glenn E.
    242 Church St.
    North Adams, MA 01247
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/23/09

    Johns, Eric C.
    285 State St., Apt. 2
    Ludlow, MA 01056-3430
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/28/09

    Jones, John Thomas
    85 Boylston St.
    Pittsfield, MA 01201
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 10/15/09

    Jones, Matthew Steven
    20 Woronoco Ave.
    Westfield, MA 01085
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/18/09

    Jordan, Dolores A.
    36 Devens St.
    Indian Orchard, MA 01151
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/08/09

    Kaigle, Kenneth H.
    Kaigle, Chrystal H.
    2 Kerr Ave.
    Adams, MA 01220
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/25/09

    Karwowski, John M.
    Karwowski, Jamie
    123 Mountain View St.
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/29/09

    Keane, Stephen T.
    59 New Ludlow Road
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/09/09

    Kidrick, Kristen M.
    1488 Westfield St.
    West Springfield, MA 01089
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/16/09

    Kilgarvan Communications
    Sullivan, John Jeremiah
    Sullivan, Nancy Elizabeth
    270 Morgan St.
    South Hadley, MA 01075
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/17/09


     

    King, Bruce L.
    King, Sharlene L.
    15 Glendale St.
    Easthampton, MA 01027
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/16/09

    Kingsbury, James R.
    7 Sefton Dr.
    Southwick, MA 01077-9746
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/06/09

    Knight, Richard Charles
    P.O. Box 114
    Pittsfield, MA 01202
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/17/09

    Krzanowski, Kathryn M.
    a/k/a Laurin, Kathryn M.
    393 Stebbins St.
    Belchertown, MA 01007
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/28/09

    Labonte, Edward L.
    1139 Westfield St.
    West Springfield, MA 01089
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/28/09

    Labonte, Jason David
    Labonte, Amy Lynn
    9 Clairmont Ave.
    Chicopee, MA 01013
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/05/09

    LaPete, Anthony M.
    LaPete, Amanda L.
    4 Barnes St.
    Ware, MA 01082
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/12/09

    Levin, Laura M.
    8 Fred Ruel Road
    Granby, MA 01033
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/19/09

    Lewis, Gassawallice
    Lewis, Marsha J.
    1495 West Royalston Road
    Athol, MA 01331
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/29/09

    Lillis, Michael J.
    13 Harrington Road
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/07/09

    Lowney, Erik R.
    108 Westfield Road
    Holyoke, MA 01040
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/02/09

    Lynn, Sarah J.
    Lynn, Dennis M.
    51 Cromwell Ave.
    Pittsfield, MA 01201
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 09/18/09

    Major, Robert S.
    Major, Susan E.
    4 Memory Lane
    Wilbraham, MA 01095
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 10/05/09

    Malave, Herminia
    15 Arion Place
    Springfield, MA 01104
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/23/09

    Maleckas Therapeutic Massage
    Maleckas, Sheila C.
    24 Maple Crest Circle
    Holyoke, MA 01040
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/23/09

    Maloney, Colin J.
    13 Fairdel St.
    Springfield, MA 01108
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/22/09

    Marrero, Felix L.
    42 Brookline Ave.
    Springfield, MA 01107
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 10/05/09

    Martin, Ann M.
    1 Church St.
    Colrain, MA 01340
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/04/09

    Martinez, Hector L.
    Martinez, Denise A.
    18 Ringgold St.
    Springfield, MA 01107
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/17/09

    Mattioli, Christopher D.
    Mattioli, Barbara A.
    47 Breakneck Road
    Sturbridge, MA 01566
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 10/06/09

    Mawdsley, Richard James
    Mawdsley, Cheryl Marie
    98 Mashapaug Road
    Sturbridge, MA 01566
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/14/09

    McAlary, David C.
    31 Somers Road
    East Longmeadow, MA 01028
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/06/09

    Mercier, Kristopher Bruce
    Mercier, Jessica Jean
    a/k/a Popec, Jessica Jean
    1 Gr
    en Willow Dr.
    Holyoke, MA 01040
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/15/09

    Merrill Auto Imports
    Merrill, Douglas Brian
    Merrill, Lisa Joy
    a/k/a Mercure, Lisa J.
    25 Collegeview Heights
    South Hadley, MA 01075
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/01/09

    Meyrick, Steven J.
    Meyrick, Lisa A.
    26 Thompson St.
    East Longmeadow, MA 01028
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/09/09

    Michon, Cynthia L.
    699 Berkshire Ave.
    Springfield, MA 01108
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/14/09

    Miller, Clarence L.
    Miller, Patricia A.
    135 Methuen St.
    Springfield, MA 01119
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/25/09

    Miller, William F.
    Miller, Shirley L.
    150 Pondview Dr.
    Ludlow, MA 01056
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/06/09

    Moore, David N.
    272 Osborne Road
    Ware, MA 01082
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/22/09

    Morehardt, Bruce Clark
    29 Dartmouth Road
    Longmeadow, MA 01106
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/08/09

    Morris, Catherine Elaine
    Morris, John Stanton
    51 Van Deene Ave.
    West Springfield, MA 01089
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/02/09

    Mrozinski, Joann M.
    119 Oakridge St
    Chicopee, MA 01020
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/05/09

    Murphy, Thomas M.
    134 College Highway, Apt. C4
    Southampton, MA 01073
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/01/09

    Murray, John Michael
    143 Robinson Road
    West Springfield, MA 01089
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/29/09

    Newton, John G.
    Newton, Cheryl L.
    1470 White Pond Road
    Athol, MA 01331
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/25/09

    Nicoli, Mark A.
    PO Box 633
    Feeding Hills, MA 01030
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Nixon, Eric D.
    P.O. Box 143
    Leeds, MA 01053
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/01/09

    Normandin, Tammy L.
    88 Springfield St.
    Three Rivers, MA 01080
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    O’Connor, Nekeisha N.
    52 Pearl St., Apt. #4-B
    Springfield, MA 01105
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/16/09

    Oliver, Noman
    Cruz, Maria
    377 St. James Ave.
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/16/09

    Ortiz, Augusto
    121 Roberto Clemente St.
    Holyoke, MA 01040
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/25/09

    Paniagua, Lara
    a/k/a Paniagua-Dix, Lara
    163 Lamont St.
    Springfield, MA 01119
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/28/09

    Parker, David R.
    Parker, Debra L.
    17 Jennings St.
    Springfield, MA 01119
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/28/09

    Persip, Valerie J.
    161 Jason St., Apt. 4
    Pittsfield, MA 01201
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/14/09

    Petrizzi-Geller, Lisa M.
    11 Parsons Walk
    Berkley, MA 02779
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Pittsinger, Lorrie E.
    158 Bumstead Road
    Monson, MA 01057
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/05/09

    Pizarro, Zurma
    491 Bridge St., Apt. 433
    Florence, MA 01062
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/06/09

    Pleppo, Carol L.
    82-84 Davis St.
    Holyoke, MA 01040
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 10/13/09

    Prader, Gina C.
    17 Moulton Road
    Southborough, MA 01772
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/15/09

    Prendergast, Jacqueline
    10 Valley St.
    Adams, MA 01220
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Presley, Stevan R.
    Jette Presley, Donna M.
    P.O. Box 1148
    Sturbridge, MA 01566
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/16/09

    Princess Gift Shop
    Rodriguez, Wilfredo
    PO Box 6538
    Holyoke, MA 01041
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/22/09

    Quick, Paulette
    20 Hampton Court, #214
    Northampton, MA 01060
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/05/09

    Qureshi, Irfan
    243 Brookfield Road
    Brimfield, MA 01010
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 10/13/09

    Radomski, Michael W.
    Radomski, Lou Ann
    P.O. Box 123
    Chicopee, MA 01014
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/29/09

    Raymond, Mark J.
    Raymond, Tina M.
    PO Box 944
    Bernardston, MA 01337
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/19/09

    Rheaume, Allan Alfred
    Rheaume, Delores Ada
    17 Mitchell Dr., Unit R10
    Chicopee, MA 01022
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/22/09

    Ricardo, Paulo L.
    Ricardo, Anabela M.
    16 Riverpark Ave.
    Chicopee, MA 01013
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/28/09

    Rittenoure, Catherine C.
    a/k/a Marhefka, Catherine C.
    243 State St.
    Northampton, MA 01060
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/28/09

    Rivet, Richard A.
    209 Prospect St.
    Chicopee, MA 01013
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 10/01/09

    Rodriguez, Angel L.
    30 Thornton St.
    Springfield, MA 01104
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/21/09

    Rodriguez, Maria Magdalena
    a/k/a Oquendo, Maria Magdalena
    193 Walnut St., Apt. 2
    Holyoke, MA 01040
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/22/09

    Rodriguez, Ramona
    33 Cabinet St.
    Springfield, MA 01129
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/21/09

    Rosario, Delio L.
    83 Jackson St., Apt 1R
    Holyoke, MA 01040
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/24/09

    Ross, Florence E.
    101 Hancock St.
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/09/09

    Rossi, Alfred M.
    Rossi, Debra A.
    477 Kings Highway
    West Springfield, MA 01089
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/24/09

    Rubin, Tina Sheryl
    80 King Philip Dr.
    Longmeadow, MA 01106
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/14/09

    Rzewski, Marc Theodore
    42 Truby St.
    Granby, MA 01033
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/25/09

    S&S Laundry
    Boulette, Scott C.
    Boulette, Holly A.
    a/k/a Streeter, Holly A.
    91 Church St.
    Ware, MA 01082
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/12/09

    Salerno, Philip T.
    P.O. Box 1215
    Warren, MA 01083
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 09/18/09

    Salzman, Julianne S.
    41 Orchard St.
    Northampton, MA 01060
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/02/09

    Santerre, Jennifer Marie
    a/k/a Clark, Jennifer M.
    31 Maple St.
    Belchertown, MA 01007
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/16/09

    Santos, Edwin
    21 Wachusetts St.
    Springfield, MA 01108
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/06/09

    Scyocurka, Anne L.
    113 Ely Road
    Longmeadow, MA 01106
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Shar, Mark J.
    P.O. Box 4494
    Holyoke, MA 01041
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/06/09

    Social Marketing Evolution
    Merz, Sabine Nicole
    15 Glendale Ave.
    Northampton, MA 01060
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/29/09

    Stacy, Janice Lee
    184 Wellington St.
    Athol, MA 01331
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/29/09

    Stone, Carla M.
    11 Russell Stage Road
    Blandford, MA 01008
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/06/09

    Strom, Nathan E.
    Strom, Pamela I.
    a/k/a Fowler, Pamela I.
    3 Maple St.
    South Hadley, MA 01075
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/14/09

    Sullivan, Barbara J.
    101 Putnam St.
    Orange, MA 01364
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Sweeney, Barbara L.
    17 Glenwood Ave., Box A2
    Orange, MA 01364
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Szczur, Charles S.
    21 Fanjoy Dr.
    Chicopee, MA 01013
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/07/09

    Tagle, Edward J.
    Tagle, Jessica C.
    10 Mellinger Lane
    Chicopee, MA 01022
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/28/09

    Tenczar, Brian A.
    49 Spring Road
    Adams, MA 01220
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/06/09

    Tessier, Kathreen M.
    41 West Summit St., #63
    South Hadley, MA 01075
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/06/09

    Tetreault, Jane M.
    113 Fenton Road
    Monson, MA 01057
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/15/09

    Textiles By Garth J.
    Shepp, Garth J.
    PO Box 2222
    Amherst, MA 01004
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/25/09

    Thayer, Justin C.
    43 Magnolia Ter.
    Springfield, MA 01108
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/06/09

    Thompson, Adam G.
    21 River Road #3
    Agawam, MA 01001
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/24/09

    Thompson, John K.
    Thompson, Tina M.
    6 Summer Dr.
    Southwick, MA 01077
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/09/09

    Tracy, Kevin Robert
    146 Laurel St.
    Greenfield, MA 01301
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/15/09

    Turner, Ashley
    43 Plunkett St.
    Pittsfield, MA 01201
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/18/09

    Tuthill, Raymond W.
    Tuthill, Katherine P.
    4 Mercy Anderson Road
    Shelburne, MA 01370
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/06/09

    Vandervoort, Audrey S.
    45 Stockbridge Road
    Box 225
    West Stockbridge, MA 01266
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/23/09

    Vargas, Emely
    105 School St.
    Springfield, MA 01105
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/28/09

    Vazquez, Maria A.
    195 Suffolk St.
    Holyoke, MA 01040
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/16/09

    Vincente, Gloria M.
    81 Conz St., Apt. 327
    Northampton, MA 01060
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/06/09

    Watras, Jane Alice
    370 Southwick Road
    Westfield, MA 01085
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Wayne, Derek Henry
    61 Calley St.
    Springfield, MA 01129
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 10/02/09

    Weaver, Jennifer L.
    56 Maple St.
    Belchertown, MA 01007
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Weinstein, Randy F.
    684 Main St.
    Great Barrington, MA 01230
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/28/09

    Weissman, Stuart D.
    Tobin, Jocelyn D.
    38 Pineywoods Ave.
    Springfield, MA 01108
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/29/09

    Whaley, Leslie H.
    52 Lombard Ave.
    Athol, MA 01331
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/22/09

    White, Shamis Ann
    a/k/a Ferriter, Shamis Ann
    399 Springdale Road
    Westfield, MA 01085
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Williamson, James J.
    Williamson, Lauralee G.
    a/k/a Sousa, Lauralee G.
    27 Newhall St.
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/18/09

    Wine Styles
    DeJesus, Paulita
    a/k/a DeJesus-Aponte, Paulita
    12231 Bay Dr.
    Westford, MA 01886
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/30/09

    Yanni, Philip J.
    Yanni, Kathleen M.
    12 Alden St.
    Palmer, MA 01069
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/17/09

    Zachery, Kathy A.
    a/k/a Griffith, Kathy A.
    20 Schuyler St.
    Springfield, MA 01109
    Chapter: 13
    Filing Date: 10/12/09

    Zolendziewski, David Thomas
    Zolendziewski, Linda S.
    42 Catalina Dr.
    Springfield, MA 01128
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/22/09

    Zwinski, Theodore J.
    Zwinski, Kimberlee A.
    a/k/a Venne, Kimberlee A.
    153 Cedar St.
    Ludlow, MA 01056
    Chapter: 7
    Filing Date: 09/16/09

    Departments

    The following building permits were issued during the month of November 2009.

    AGAWAM

    V&F Realty Partnership
    443 Springfield St.
    $3,000 — Install metal roof

    CHICOPEE

    Padgette St., LLC and S.M.A. Frank, LLC
    150 Padgette St.
    $655,000 — Tenant fit-out of 8,000 square feet

    Padgette St., LLC and S.M.A. Frank, LLC
    150 Padgette St.
    $150,000 — Construct office and warehouse space

    GREENFIELD

    Great APT, LLC
    24 Franklin St.
    $171,000 — Replacement windows

    Peter & Sandra Ruggeri
    51 High St.
    $5,000 — Exterior renovations

    Michael Mendyk
    136 Conway St.
    $10,000 — Interior renovations

    Western Mass Electric Company
    215 Shelburne Road
    $17,000 — Interior renovations

    HADLEY

    Bed Bath & Beyond
    337-357 Russell St.
    $974,000 — Interior renovation and new store front

    Edens & Avant
    454-460 Russell St.
    $150,000 — Remodel interior spaces to include fitting rooms and customer service

    HOLYOKE

    City Cooperative Bank
    1830 Northampton St.
    $28,000 — Repair & paint damaged exterior

    H.I.F., LLC
    206 Maple St.
    $3,169,000 — Renovation of the former fire station to a new bus station

    PBHQ
    330 Whitney Ave.
    $453,000 — Construction of new IT department and mailroom

    NORTHAMPTON

    City of Northampton
    42 Gothic St.
    $86,000 — Installation of photovoltaic systems on roof

    Bowles Enterprises, LLC
    15 Fruit St.
    $10,500 — Install siding and replacement windows

    Dunkin Brands Inc.
    132 King St.
    $92,000 — Interior renovations

     

    Kollmorgen Electro Optical
    50 Prince St.
    $16,000,000 — Construct new two-story commercial building

    Messer Investments Inc.
    39 Carlon Dr.
    $165,000 — Create new medical offices

    Meadowbrook Preservation Associates
    491 Bridge Road
    $16,000 — Sheetrock and insulate building

    Pride Convenience Inc.
    375 King St.
    $44,000 — Interior renovations at Dunkin Donuts

    St. John’s Episcopal Church
    48 Elm St.
    $22,500 — Renovate bathroom

    SOUTH HADLEY

    Mt. Holyoke College
    27 Abbey Lane
    $6,000 — Interior renovations

    South Hadley Housing
    69 Lathrop St.
    $153,000 — New roof

    SPRINGFIELD

    America Lung Association
    393 Maple St.
    $6,000 — Interior renovations

    Antonio Palazzesi
    100 Verge St.
    $30,000 — Interior renovations

    United Baptist Church
    649 State St.
    $84,000 — New roof

    Wachogue Community Church
    136 Whittum Ave.
    $42,000 — Re-roof

    WESTFIELD

    Lewis Gonet
    110 Airport Road
    $40,000 — Construction of a hangar

    WEST SPRINGFIELD

    Christy Real Estate
    339 Bliss St.
    $31,000 – Strip and re-roof

    General Electric
    1226 Union St.
    $19,500 – Roof repair

    Departments

    Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield
    (413) 787-1555
    www.myonlinechamber.com

    Dec. 2: ACCGS Breakfast, 7:15 to 9 a.m., hosted by Sheraton Springfield. Speaker panel: James Morton, YMCA of Greater Springfield; Dora Robinson, United Way of Pioneer Valley; Garrett McCarthy, Springfield Boys & Girls Club; and Mary Reardon Johnson, YWCA of Western Mass. Tickets: $30 general admission, $20 members.

    Dec. 9: ACCGS After 5/WRC, 5 to 7 p.m., hosted by the Lexington Group, 380 Union St., West Springfield. Tickets: $20 general admission, $10 members.
    Dec. 11: East of the River 5 Town Chamber Holiday Breakfast, 7 to 9 a.m., hosted by  Elmcrest Country Club, East Longmeadow. Speaker: Dr. John Glick, the Humor Doctor. Tickets: $25 general admission, $20 members.

    Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce
    www.amherstarea.com

    Dec. 2: Breakfast, 7:15 to 9 a.m., location TBA, sponsored by Stavros. Program: Hot Holiday Trends. 

    Dec. 4: Merry Maple Celebration of Lights,  4:15 to 6:30 p.m.,  Amherst Town Hall and Amherst Town Common. 

    Dec. 16: After 5/Holiday Party, 5 to 7 p.m., hosted and sponsored by PeoplesBank, Amherst.

    Chicopee Chamber of Commerce
    (413) 594-2101
    www.chicopeechamber.org

    Please see Web site for upcoming events.

    Franklin County Chamber of Commerce
    (413) 773-5463
    www.franklincc.org

    Dec. 22: Holiday Breakfast, 7:30 to 9 a.m., Recorder Citizen of the Year Award, Deerfield Academy. Music, gifts, and great food. Tickets: members $23, non-members $25.

    Greater Easthampton Chamber of Commerce
    (413) 527-9414
    www.easthamptonchamber.org

    Dec. 4: Holiday Stroll and Visit from Santa, 7 p.m., Maple Street School. Stroll and carol through downtown Easthamp-ton to Pulaski Park and help Santa light the green with thousands of twinkling lights. Visit with Santa in the gazebo. Cocoa and cookies for the kids. No cost.

    Dec. 17: Holiday Dinner Dance, 6 to 11 p.m., hosted by Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House, Holyoke. An evening of friends and holiday spirit, including the chamber’s annual awards. Big raffle with $5,000 drawing, butlered hors d’oeuvres, multi-station entrees, Viennese dessert table, cash martini and full-service bar, music provided by Michael J Productions. Public invited. Excellent business party opportunity. Group reservations available. Tickets: $45 inclusive.

    Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce
    (413) 534-3376
    www.holycham.com

    Dec. 9: Holiday Salute Breakfast, doors open at 7:30 a.m., hosted by the Delaney House, Holyoke. Tickets: $20.

    Dec. 16: Chamber Holiday After Hours, 5 to 7 p.m., hosted by the Delaney House, Holyoke. Tickets: $5 members, $10 cash non-members.

    Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce
    (413) 584-1900
    www.explorenorthampton.com

    Dec. 1: Mass Privacy Law Seminar, 8 to 9:30 a.m., Clarion Hotel & Conference Center. Tickets: $15 for members. RSVP at [email protected].

    Dec. 2: Arrive@5, 5 to 7 p.m., hosted by Spare Time Family Fun Center. Tickets: $10 members, $15 guests.

    Dec. 9: Northampton Area Young Professionals Party with a Purpose, 5 to 8 p.m., hosted by Silverscape Designs. Free for members, $5 for guests.

    Dec. 11: New Member Breakfast, 8 to 9:30 a.m., hosted by the chamber. Free for members.

    Dec. 15: Meet & Eat, 7:30 to 9 a.m., hosted by the Delaney House, Holyoke. Sponsored by Easthampton Savings Bank. Tickets: $15 members, $20 guests.

    Quaboag Hills Chamber of Commerce
    (413) 283-2418
    www.qvcc.biz

    Please see Web site for upcoming events.

    South Hadley/Granby Chamber of Commerce
    (413) 532-6451
    www.shchamber.com

    Please see Web site for upcoming events.

    Three Rivers Chamber of Commerce
    (413) 283-6425
    www.threeriverschamber.org

    Please see Web site for upcoming events.

    Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce
    (413) 568-1618
    www.westfieldbiz.org

    Dec. 11: Annual Holiday Breakfast, 7:15 to 9 a.m., hosted by Shaker Farms Country Club, Westfield. Santa will appear, and the Westfield High School Concert Chorale, under the direction of Kory Bruno, will provide musical entertainment. Premier members: Westfield Gas and Electric, Westfield Bank, and Easthampton Savings Bank. Tickets: $20 members, $25 non-members. Deadline for Reservations is December 8. All reservations after this date will be billed at $25 per person. To register, call Marcia at (413) 568-1618, e-mail [email protected] , or log onto www.westfieldbiz.org . Please bring an unwrapped toy for the Salvation Army, and also bring a door prize to highlight your business.

    Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield
    www.springfieldyps.com

    Dec. 9: For December, we will not hold a Third Thursday, but instead will join the ACCGS After 5 on Dec. 9 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Lexington Group, 380 Union St., West Springfield. In the spirit of the holiday season, we encourage everyone to bring a new, unwrapped toy to be donated to the children of the Children’s Study Home. For non-members, a toy will be accepted in lieu of the $5 entrance fee.

    Dec. 19: Ring the Red Kettles, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., in front of Macy’s inside the Eastfield Mall. We ask that you donate two hours of your time for this worthy cause. If interested, e-mail Maureen Pick-nally at [email protected] .

    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.

    GREENFIELD DISTRICT COURT

    Adams Direct Mail Services v. International Profit Associates
    Allegation: Fraudulent practices on small business: $4,640
    Filed: 10/22/09

    Leader Home Center Inc. v. A.D. George Construction Co.
    Allegation: Non-payment of goods and services rendered: $28,417.66
    Filed: 10/21/09

    HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT

    Holyoke Mall, LP v. Sadie’s, LLC
    Allegation: Default under a written lease: $1,472,485.67
    Filed: 10/2/09

    Michelle Boutin v. Hess Corporation
    Allegation: Employee discrimination: $25,000+
    Filed: 9/17/09

    Roman Radkovets v. Balise Motor Sales Co.
    Allegation: Breach of employment contract and non-payment of commissions: $39,626.10
    Filed: 10/6/09

    Susan Cole v. Geriatric Authority of Holyoke
    Allegation: Employee discrimination: $25,000+
    Filed: 9/17/09

    HAMPSHIRE SUPERIOR COURT

    Commerce Insurance Co., as subrogee of Paul M. Struthers v. Cernak Fuel Corp. and Richards Fuel Inc.
    Allegation: Negligence causing damage: $392,011.34
    Filed: 10/2/09

    Leaklena Som v. Millitech Inc.
    Allegation: Employment discrimination: $25,000+
    Filed: 9/15/09

    PMC Contracting v. CAP Development Inc. & Trak Petroleum, LLC
    Allegation: Failure to pay under the terms of a construction agreement: $8,603.48
    Filed: 9/29/09

    HOLYOKE DISTRICT COURT

    City of Holyoke v. Western Mass Blitzin Bears Inc.
    Allegation: Failure to pay for use of Roberts Sports Complex: $2,190
    Filed: 9/28/09

    NORTHAMPTON DISTRICT COURT

    One Communications Corp. v. Atalasoft Inc.
    Allegation: Non-payment of services rendered: $7,843.23
    Filed: 10/15/09

    PALMER DISTRICT COURT

    Elizabeth Matthieson & Robert Vandernoot v. Sequoia Properties, LLC
    Allegation: Violation of purchase-and-sale agreement and refusal to return deposit: $24,450
    Filed: 9/29/09

    Yellowbook Sales & Distribution Company Inc. v. BSF Construction
    Allegation: Non-payment of advertising services rendered: $11,353
    Filed: 8/21/09

    SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT

    Bank of America v. JGC Specials
    Allegation: Non-payment of monies loaned: $25,886.93
    Filed: 10/7/09

    Francis Teta v. Bell-Carter Olive Co.
    Allegation: Defective product, causing injury: $22,438
    Filed: 10/8/09

    Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. v. JCE Inc.
    Allegation: Non-payment of workers’ compensation policies: $16,793.19
    Filed: 10/8/09

    Regina Haines v. Northern Educational Services Inc.
    Allegation: Negligent maintenance of property, causing injury: $19,383.47
    Filed: 10/8/09

    Rosanna Langlois v. Educlean
    Allegation: Negligence in cleaning services, causing a slip and fall: $7,350
    Filed: 10/2/09

    Departments

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

    EASTHAMPTON

    Kaya Now Inc., 57 Ward Ave., Easthampton, MA 01027. Susan Zahorak, same. eCommerce.

    HOLYOKE

    Andrew Gagnon Construction Co. Inc., 236 Southampton Road, Holyoke, MA 01040. Andrew M. Gagnon, same. Remodeling contractor for residential and commercial buildings.

    INDIAN ORCHARD

    Strength N Honor Inc., 34 Ashwood St., Indian Orchard, MA 01151. Gerald S. Seaback, same. eCommerce activities.

    LONGMEADOW

    Dovetail Training Corporation, 53 Pendleton Lane, Longmeadow, MA 01106. Edward Borowsky, same. Corporate training.

    Godin’s Garden Inc., 54 Nevins Ave., Longmeadow, MA 01106. William Godin, same. To operate a tree and plant nursery.

    LHC Restaurant Corp. 923 Shaker Road, Longmeadow, MA 01106. Michael Chen, 80 Lynnwood Dr., Longmeadow, MA 01106. To own and operate food-service businesses

    SOUTHAMPTON

    Deniliva Inc., 10 David St., Southampton, MA 01073. Steven Kowalski, same. Tax- preparation service.

     

    SOUTHWICK

    Joanie’s Inc., 134 Point Grove Road, Southwick, MA 01077. Jennifer Nolasco, 52 Wendover Road, Suffield, CT 06078. Bar and restaurant.

    SPRINGFIELD

    Hampden VHP Repair Inc., 25 Virginia Street, Suite 1, Springfield, MA 01108. Vu H. Phan, 111 Brunswick St. Springfield, MA 01108. Repair sewing and appliance machinery.

    Marinesi Inc., 16 Sachem Street, Springfield, MA 01108. Filippo Marinesi, Same. Restaurant/Bar.

    Pioneer Data Service Corporation, 50 Washington Street, Springfield, MA 01108. Bao N. Tong, 21 Laurel Ave., Westfield, MA 01085 Program and repair computer networks and services.

    We Are The People Inc., 1191 Tinkham Road, Wilbraham, MA 01095. Jamal Rob Chickakly, same. This is a charitable corporation that will be defending human and civil rights secured by law.

    Departments

    United Personnel employee Jim Kervick was awarded the Massachusetts Staffing Assoc. Employee of the Year Award for 2009 at the MSA’s annual awards dinner at the Harvard Club in Boston. The prestigious honor, awarded to one staffing employee in Massachusetts, is given to an employee who exemplifies the five main reasons to consider temporary staffing as an employment option — jobs, flexibility, bridge, choice, and training. In his role as an On-Site Manager at two of United’s larger-volume clients, Kervick is responsible for the day-to-day communication with the on-site temporary staff and for assuring that performance standards, policies, and procedures are met. United Personnel is headquartered in Springfield, with a satellite office in Easthampton.

    •••••

    James M. Buker has joined the Insurance Center of New England as a Senior Account Executive in the Group Employee Benefits Department.

    •••••

    Springfield resident David Ewen recently released his third edition of Let’s Make It Simple, which simplifies the complexities of book publishing and marketing into easily understood steps for new and experienced authors. Ewen is an author, speaker, and college instructor. The book is available at amazon.com.

    •••••

    Attorneys Ann I. Weber and Michele J. Feinstein, Shareholders of Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C., recently spoke on “Planning for Long-Term Care: New Laws and Regulations” at the Visiting Nurse Assoc. The intensive workshop focused on a multitude of issues individuals face when planning for long-term care. Their law firm has offices in Springfield, Northampton, and Albany, N.Y.

    •••••

    Liz Washer has joined UMass Amherst as Director of External Relations, College of Humanities and Fine Arts. In this role, Washer will provide leadership for promoting the college’s ideas, events, and initiatives to advance its strategic goals, and will support and coordinate similar efforts within the academic departments and programs that report to the Dean.

    •••••

    Rob Scoble has been named the top Operational Officer for Hyde Tools Inc. of Southbridge. As Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, he will oversee Hyde’s professional products and industrial blade divisions.

    •••••

    Brittney Kelleher has been promoted to Commercial Loan Officer at Westfield Bank.

    •••••

    Samuel A. Smith has joined TD Bank as Manager of its location at 178 Main St., Sturbridge. He is responsible for managing day-to-day operations at the branch, and developing and overseeing small business loans, deposit accounts, consumer lending, investments, and insurance services.

    •••••

    Bacon Wilson, P.C. of Springfield has announced that Partner Hyman G. Darling has been selected to serve as a volunteer member of the American Cancer Society’s new Nationwide Gift Planning Advisory Council. The council will be an active source of expert planned-giving and estate-planning consultation, will assist in the development of promotional strategies, and will serve as a resource for the society’s marketplace introduction to potential donors. Darling will serve a two-year advisory council term, providing guidance in estate planning law, tax, investment and wealth management, real estate, insurance, personal financial planning, and marketing. Darling is Chairman of the Estate Planning and Elder Law departments at Bacon Wilson, P.C.

    •••••

    Michael J. Schrader has joined the engineering firm of Hoyle, Tanner & Associates of Manchester, N.H. Schrader’s expertise in wastewater, water, stormwater and site-civil projects will play a key role in expanding the firm’s presence in southern New England.

    •••••

    The Mass. Society for Medical Research has recognized the following individuals for their contributions to biomedical research and education in the state and region. They are:
    • State Sen. Stephen J. Buoniconti, D-West Springfield;
    • Angela Avery, recently retired Superintendent-Director of the Norfolk County Agricultural High School;
    • Terry McGuire, Co-Founder and General Partner of Polaris Ventures; and
    • Robert Langer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
    The society is a nonprofit educational and research support organization whose members are biotechnology firms, colleges and universities, hospitals and institutes, pharmaceutical companies, and others that support research.

    •••••

    Jeffrey Folkins has been promoted to Vice President of Sales at Classic Coil Co. in Bristol, Conn. He was previously the national sales manager.

    •••••

    Jill Senecal was recently named Graduate Admissions Counselor for the Office of Graduate Admissions at American International College in Springfield. Senecal will be responsible in helping the office recruit prospective students and increase enrollment.

    •••••

    Daniel J. Barrieau, Director of Respiratory Care at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, was among 45 health care professionals from across Massachusetts who recently received the Rx for Excellence Award in a Boston ceremony.

    •••••

    Qteros announced the following:
    • Kevin F. McLaughlin has been named to the Leadership Team. McLaughlin brings 30 years of financial and operating management experience from the high-tech, biotech, and education industries; and
    • Ralph M. Lerner has been named to the Leadership Team. Lerner has industry experience in general management, business development, and strategy development and implementation in the global petrochemical and energy industry, with companies including Amoco and BP.

    •••••

    Diane France of the Karen King Group at RE/MAX Prestige in Wilbraham has earned the Certified Distressed Property Expert designation, having completed training in foreclosure avoidance and short sales.

    Departments

    Super 60

    Clockwise from top left: at the recent Super 60 gathering, Paul Whalley (center), vice president of Walley Computer Associates, receives his #1 Revenue Award from Peter Straley (left), CEO of presenting sponsor Health New England, and Glenn Welch of platinum sponsor Hampden Bank; Above, keynote speaker Dennis Snow shares his secrets of excellent customer service with the crowd of 600 people; At left, Bruce Robinovitz (center), president of R & R Industries, receives his #1 Growth Award from Straley (right) and Gordon Quinn of platinum sponsor Sullivan, Hayes & Quinn.


    Rays of Hope

    More than 15,000 walkers in Springfield and Greenfield participated in the annual Rays of Hope – A Walk Toward the Cure of Breast Cancer on Oct. 25, raising more than $900,000 for the care and treatment of breast-cancer patients and cancer research in Western Mass. For the first time, breast-cancer survivors, their relatives, friends, and supporters participated in simultaneous walks in Forest Park in Springfield and Energy Park in Greenfield. More than 190,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Many of the programs funded by the walk are geared toward early detection and breast-cancer awareness.


    New Life at Reed’s Landing

    Carol Katz, CEO of the Loomis Communities, chats with Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno at the recent rededication of Reed’s Landing, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year and was purchased by Loomis. None of the resident contracts have been affected by the change in ownership.

    Opinion
    Pieces Starting to Fall in Place for Downtown

    UMass Amherst officials announced recently that they will be locating one of the university’s programs — an urban design center — in one of the buildings in Springfield’s Court Square early next year.

    That was the good news.

    The even better news is that UMass officials who discussed the venture said, in different ways and with different terms, that the university was really just getting started in its efforts to help stimulate economic development in the region’s largest city, located a good 20 miles from the Amherst campus.

    They hinted strongly that there will be more initiatives in the future, including other potential developments in the long-vacant six-story office complex at 13-31 Elm Street, which has been identified as one of the most important, if not the most important, building blocks to a more-vibrant downtown Springfield.

    The initial UMass move is not large in scope — it involves the small, three-story building at 3-7 Elm St., and will not include large numbers of staff, students, and faculty to start. But it could be the beginning of an initiative that will have huge implications for downtown, which, as we’ve said for some time, is in need of a spark, or several sparks — and this could be one of them.

    And while we’ve said on many occasions that what downtown really needs is private-sector development efforts, sometimes a push from the public sector will get the ball rolling. Let’s hope that’s the case here.

    Taking a step back and looking at the broad picture downtown, it appears that several pieces to what has been a frustrating puzzle are starting to fall into place. Beyond the UMass project, there’s movement at the old federal building in the heart of downtown. When federal court employees and other government offices moved into the new federal courthouse on State Street, the city was faced with the prospect of something it really can’t afford — to have a large, prominent building on Main Street go dark for an extended period of time.

    Instead, a mix of public and private investment will keep the lights on at what is now known colloquially as 1550 Main St. Indeed, the city of Springfield will move its School Department offices into the building, while Baystate Health will move several offices there, and the General Services Administration will occupy some square footage. The sum of these moves will put hundreds of additional workers downtown, providing a potential — that’s potential — boost for current and future retail operations, support businesses, restaurants, and other hospitality-related ventures.

    Meanwhile, a new restaurant, Hot Table, has located in the former Gus & Paul’s location in Tower Square, bringing a much-needed dose of vibrancy to Tower Square and supplying another reason for workers downtown to get out of their offices and venture out to Main Street.

    In another development, an NBA Development League, or ‘D League,’ team, the Springfield Armor (see story, page 6), will start playing games at the MassMutual Center, providing, along with the AHL’s Falcons and other shows at the complex, more reasons to visit Springfield at night and on weekends.

    And now, UMass will establish a small presence — again, to start — in the central business district. The Urban Design Center, which will provide a variety of programs in architecture, landscape architecture, conservation, and regional planning, will being more bodies downtown and is expected to become a resource for the city as it continues to reinvent itself.

    Put all this together, and it adds up to a few big steps forward in the ongoing efforts to revitalize downtown. There is a long way to go — Tower Square remains a shell of the vibrant retail center it once was, and there remains a distinct lack of market-rate housing that everyone knows is needed to lure professionals into the CBD — but there are signs of progress.

    Full recovery won’t come overnight or even in several years, but it will happen if city and economic-development leaders take it one piece at a time, and manage to have some of those pieces fall into place.

    Uncategorized

    BusinessWest Associate Publisher Kate Campiti says that when the publication launched its Difference Makers initiative roughly a year ago, there were high expectations that the new recognition program would capture the business community’s imagination and inspire more landscape-changing thought and action.

    “To say that those expectations were exceeded would be a real understatement,” said Campiti, adding that the first year of the program was successful on a number of levels.

    First, the inaugural class of four individuals — Doug Bowen, president and CEO of PeoplesBank; Kate Kane, managing director of the Springfield office of the Northwestern Mutual Financial Group; Susan Jaye-Kaplan, founder of GoFIT and co-founder of Link to Libraries; and Bill Ward, executive director of the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County — and one group, the Young Professionals Society of Greater Springfield, set a very positive tone for the program, said Campiti. Collectively, the Class of 2009 provided a number of poignant examples about how individuals and groups can, indeed, make a difference within the Western Mass. community.

    Their stories were highlighted at the Difference Makers gala, which drew nearly 500 people to the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House and generated still more excitement for the program and its future.

    But then, things got even better, said Campiti, noting that, with inspiration and motivation from Ward and others at the REB, the first class of Difference Makers was put to work addressing one of the most critical issues facing the community: Literacy. The group launched a book-collection project called “Creating a Culture of Literacy — One Book at a Time,” with the specific beneficiary being the Hasbro Summer Learning Initiative. What’s more, the group agreed that literacy wouldn’t be a one-year push, but rather an ongoing concern for future classes of Difference Makers.

    All of this will make the inaugural year of this initiative a hard act to follow, said Campiti, adding quickly that she is confident that the program will only grow in popularity and relevance as more individuals and groups are recognized for their efforts and their stories are told.

    Which brings us the Class of 2010 and the nomination form on the opposite page. This is where it all begins, and readers are strongly encouraged to let their ‘voices’ be heard.

    It’s rather simple, really. If you know an individual or group that is truly making a difference in this region — making it a better place in which to live, work, play, and learn — then nominate them for this honor.

    For examples of who can be a Difference Maker, look no further than last year’s class. Bowen and Kane were nominated for their success in leading their respective institiutions, but also for their tireless work within the community on a host of causes and nonprofit boards — and encouraging employees and associates to do the same. Kaplan, meanwhile, was nominated for her work to both introduce young people to the concept of fitness (GoFIT) and put books in their hands (Link to Libraries).

    Ward was nominated for his three decades of work with the REB to generate employment opportunities and help individuals overcome barriers to earning a paycheck. Finally, YPS was nominated as a group for its efforts to help young professionals plant roots in the Pioneer Valley, contribute to quality of life here, and hopefully stay in this region rather than look elsewhere for personal and professional satisfaction.

    Those are just examples of how people can make a difference. There are countless others. The work can be done in education, government, health care, the nonprofit community, business, or any combination of the above.

    Overall, Difference Makers has two real goals, said Campiti: to recognize people whose efforts often go unnoticed or uncelebrated, and to inspire others to want to do the same.

    “Our inaugural year was simply an unqualified success,” she noted. “And among the many other things we accomplished, we built some real momentum for 2010 and beyond.”

    As stated on the nomination form, entries are due by Dec. 31. Winners will be chosen by the staff at BusinessWest by mid-January, and the Class of 2010 will be announced in February, with the second Difference Makers gala scheduled for March.

    —George O’Brien

    Features
    Holyoke Medical Center, Other Hospitals Mull Lawsuit Against State over Funding
    Hank Porten

    Hank Porten wants state officials to know that the treatment of poor people in Holyoke is a significant, and underfunded, part of HMC’s mission.

    Caring for a large population of low-income residents has long been a passion of Hank Porten, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center, who knows that his facility meets a critical need in treating the poor.

    That’s why HMC, along with five other hospitals, is considering suing the state over what they feel is chronic underfunding of the care they provide to residents below the poverty line.

    The other parties to the discussions, which have already involved state Attorney General Martha Coakley, include Berkshire Health System in Pittsfield, St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Merrimack Valley Hospital in Haverhill, Cape Cod Healthcare, and Quincy Medical Center; all those institutions, like Holyoke, are considered ‘disproportionate-share hospitals,’ meaning they serve a high percentage of low-income or elderly people.

    State reimbursement for Medicaid services, which is the heart of the issue, is not a new problem, but one hospitals have grappled with for years, complaining that the state underpays for the actual cost of treatment — typically, anywhere from 65 to 75 cents on the dollar over the past decade.

    But the reimbursement issue took on new life over the summer when Boston Medical Center, the Commonwealth’s largest disproportionate-share hospital, sued the state, accusing it of reneging on promised Medicaid reimbursement rates. The problem for many other hospitals, including Holyoke, is the perception that BMC already soaks up too much of the available funding and, by angling for more through the legal system, could harm other facilities.

    “We had Boston Medical Center talking about underpayment, and as the case came forward and we began viewing it, we realized that for the vast majority of the case, we could just interchange our names,” Porten said. “And that created an issue for us. The concern we had is that, if this proceeded through the litigation or settlement process, Boston Medical Center could end up with a large amount of what’s available for disproportionate-share hospitals.”

    Stirring the Pot

    Boston Medical Center’s lawsuit argues that the state has financed its health-insurance reform law on the backs of poor residents by cutting money to a hospital that cares for many of them to pay for expanded coverage.

    At the time, BMC estimated that it will lose $175 million in the current fiscal year and would finish this year $38 million in the red, its first operating loss in five years. For that, the hospital blamed the state for cutting the amount it reimburses BMC for treating Medicaid patients. The state now pays about 75 cents for each dollar of Medicaid-paid treatment, by some estimates.

    When that lawsuit was announced, Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. JudyAnn Bigby told the Boston Globe that “the administration is greatly disappointed that BMC, which has received $1.5 billion in state funding in the past year, has chosen this path. At a time when everyone funded and served by state government is being asked to do more with less, BMC has been treated no differently.”

    Porten and the other hospital administrators considering their own lawsuit would argue that Boston Medical has been given more than its fair share of state funding when compared with other hospitals across the Commonwealth that care for large populations of poor residents.

    For one thing, BMC received $88 million for disproportionate-care treatment from the state in May, while the six hospitals involved in the current discussions received $42 million between them this year to treat poor patients — yet those six institutions care for more than double the volume of such patients as Boston Medical does.

    “We met with the attorney general,” Porten said. “We might not be smart enough to know what amount is fair, but we’re smart enough to know that there are at least two definitions of fair now, and we want the legal system to define for us what is fair. We should be paid at Boston Medical Center’s rate, or, if we’re all being paid at our rate, then Boston Medical Center shouldn’t get additional money.

    “We’re reviewing our options,” he continued, “and we’ll do what’s in the best interest of our hospitals to make sure that our disproportionate-share hospitals are paid a parity rate.”

    Hospital CEOs say they understand the fiscal strain caused by the state’s insurance reform, soaring treatment costs, and recession-strapped government coffers. But Porten says he’s just looking for a fair shake.

    “We don’t begrudge Boston Medical what they’ve received; we all need the funding,” Porten told BusinessWest. “But there has to be some parity. There should be no difference between the poor of Holyoke and the poor of Boston.”

    Joseph Bednar can be reached at

    [email protected]

    Sections Supplements
    Some Gift Offerings Are Sure to Please Your Favorite Bibliophile

    Books make wonderful holiday gifts. The right tome will not only hold your interest and keep you turning its pages long after it’s time to go to bed, it can offer insight into the past and future, as well as invaluable knowledge about yourself, the business world, and the motivations, struggles, and strategies adopted over the course of history by individuals and companies that led to their success or downfall.

    For its Holiday Gift Guide, BusinessWest takes a look at 10 popular bestsellers culled from Amazon.com, the New York Times bestseller list and Business Week book reviews that contain wisdom, pertinent history, and advice about the business and finance world.

    • Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System — and Themselves, by Andrew Ross Sorkin. Although many books deal with how the financial meltdown came to pass or how certain companies sank or were saved, Sorkin’s book is different. In its 600 pages, the New York Times columnist gives readers a comprehensive look at everything that occurred, along with a plethora of details, as he chronicles the interplay between Wall Street and Washington in the eight months that brought the financial system to the brink of collapse. Before writing his book, Sorkin interviewed hundreds of people and spent more than 500 hours with top government officials. As a result, readers will feel as if they are in the rooms where significant conversations took place. The book’s only downfall may be that the events are so recent that there’s no new news to read in its pages. (Viking, $32.95)

    • This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, by Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff. This book, written by two economists, begins by defining exactly what constitutes a financial crisis, and how each crisis is dated from beginning to end. The award-winning tome offers a compelling, enjoyable look into modern business practices, including management, finance, and economics, as well as an 800-year history, loads of empirical data, and a comprehensive review of global financial crises. It is filled with facts about debt crises, bank runs, currency collapses, episodes of financial contagion, and much more. A great read for anyone who enjoys an academic look at history. (Princeton University Press, $35)

    • Getting Back to Even — Your Personal Economic Recovery Plan, by James J. Cramer with Cliff Mason. In this new bestseller, the host of CNBC’s Mad Money offers advice for investing in a changed market. It’s the first book in which Cramer recommends specific stocks — an even dozen — which he says are poised to profit from the economy. The book includes 25 rules to follow in the post-crash market and is sure to encourage and inspire people still reeling from the economic downfall. The dominant sentiment in this work is that if readers do their homework, they will not just survive, they can thrive. (Simon & Schuster, $26)

    • Crush It — Why Now Is the Time to Cash In on Your Own Passion, by Gary Vaynerchuk. This book is short, but its 140 pages contain a motivational message that tells readers it is never too late to discover their passion and turn it into cash. Vaynerchuk says that can be done by communicating one’s passion through a wide variety of media outlets. His book offers more in the way of inspiration than instruction on how to succeed, but is filled with real-world insights from a man who built a business using social channels. However, readers will find concrete advice on how to create content, how to choose the right platform, and how to find people on the social Web in tune with your products or services. (HarperStudio/HarperCollins, $19.99)

    • How Remarkable Women Lead: A Breakthrough Model for Work and Life, By Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston. This book is filled with inspiring stories about women who hold powerful positions. The authors spent five years researching 100 women before sitting down to write, and the result is a book that borders on the self-help category. The authors have created a system they call “Centered Leadership,” based on five shared traits they claim to have discovered during their interviews, which are that female leaders possess good energy management skills, believe their work is meaningful, have superior problem-solving skills, interact with numerous colleagues or mentors, and are deeply committed to their jobs. Overall, this book rates as a good read for females aspiring to be leaders in their industries or companies. (Crown Business, $27.50)

    • A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers, by Lawrence G. McDonald and Patrick Robinson. This book provides especially insightful reading, as it as was written by a former Lehman Brothers insider. It offers a compelling account of failure and the dysfunction that triggered our current financial crisis. The heart of the book details McDonald’s own career and takes the reader from his days as a pork-chop salesman to a man who rang doorbells to drum up brokerage clients for Merrill Lynch to making $5 million in one day. His personal history gives readers a look at life inside Lehman as well as a description of the financial products, regulatory changes, and economic environment that spawned an atmosphere rife with blunders. (Crown, $27)

    • How The Mighty Fall … and Why Some Companies Never Give In, by Jim Collins. This book provides questions and answers as to why seemingly solvent businesses fail, explaining that not only does it happen in stages, but declines can be reversed. Collins examines 11 companies and outlines behaviors and strategies that led them to doom. They include denial of risk and failure, an undisciplined pursuit to gain more of the market, grasping for salvation, and more, as he details just how these things occurred. The author’s newest volume offers advice that could help leaders make a difference, and although it’s not always easy to see how Collins came to his findings, the book offers plenty of sage advice. (Jim Collins/Harper–Collins, $23.99)

    • Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke The World, by Liaquat Ahamed. This book is a cautionary tale for our times, and offers an intimate and unforgettable portrait of four men at the head of central banks who made a series of decisions that resulted in the economic collapse of the 1920s, which set the stage for World War II and created a disastrous ripple affect that lasted for decades. Filled with drama, the story analzyes the actions of Montagu Norman of the Bank of England, Amile Moreau of the Banque de France, Hjalmar Schacht of the Reichsbank, and Benjamin Strong of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who attempted to reconstruct the world of international finance after World War I. (Penguin Press, $32.95)

    • Last Man Standing: The Ascent of Jamie Dimon and JPMorgan Chase, by Duff McDonald. This book lets readers in on how one JPMorgan/Chase executive withstood the current financial hurricane and survived almost unscathed as it spins a colorful tale of the life of this 53-year-old banker who rose to the top and whose ambition was evident even at a young age. Dimon’s story is told in chronological order, which means readers will have to be patient before they get to the fascinating drama that took place during the last 18 months. The story shows, rather than tells, readers about Dimon’s scrupulous attention to detail along with his enormous ego. McDonald also shows that, although Dimon fared better than his rivals, he was inaccurate about the scope and severity of the crisis in its early days. A good read about a man whose rise and fall on Wall Street has kept him in the news. (Simon & Schuster, $28)

    • Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-Dollar Company — and Revolutionized an Industry, by Marc Benioff and Carlye Adler. This brand-new book chronicles the story of how an idea — delivering business applications as a service over the Internet — was turned into a billion-dollar business, and takes readers from Benioff’s beginnings as a small start-up through his unconventional strategies, struggles (especially when the company came close to bankruptcy), and the tactics that led to its survival and success. Benioff has structured the book into a series of more than 100 ‘plays’ that showcase how the company stayed on the cutting edge, outwitted its competitors, and built a business with an inspiring philosophy. An easy read with lots of concrete ideas for start-up businesses. (Wiley, John & Sons, Inc. $27.95)

    Sections Supplements
    Staying in the Market Using Active Management Is a Wise Strategy

    Successful investing has never been for the faint of heart.

    This has been especially true during this most recent 24-month period. Riding these recent highs and lows leaves one feeling quite dizzy. We have always maintained that a well-diversified portfolio employing high quality, active managers, coupled with a disciplined approach, will position investors favorably to take advantage of opportunities that the markets offer during periods of extreme volatility.

    Last fall, when the economy and the markets came to a screeching halt, investor sentiment turned extremely negative in a very short period of time. As we then moved from the end of 2008 into the start of the new year, sentiment and the markets turned even gloomier.

    Many investors could not stomach the idea of seeing their investment values decrease any further on paper; therefore, they moved to cash. These investors fled to ‘safe’ havens such as cash and Treasury bills, even when doing this meant receiving no interest payments. This stampede to cash created various dislocations in the markets, or, in other words, opportunities for those investors with the fortitude to stay the course. Since this year’s low on March 9, when the Dow reached levels in the 6,500 range, we have seen a tremendous run up in stock prices. It is, however, very important to note that not all stock price levels have increased significantly. This highlights the importance of investing with quality managers who can identify trends and pick stocks wisely.

    There are market cycles when active managers, as opposed to passive management (as in index funds), produce significant value for their investors. We believe we have entered such a cycle. Extreme volatility in investor sentiment has resulted in an unprecedented amount of cash on the sidelines (not invested in the stock market). There is currently more than $11 trillion in cash and/or money-market accounts. Eventually much of those balances will be deployed in investments with the potential for a higher return than cash and/or money-market accounts. The successful investor should already be positioned in a diversified portfolio before other investors enter the markets chasing returns as prices increase.

    As financial advisors, we believe it is our responsibility to assist clients in taking as much emotion out of investment decisions as possible; following the herd is not an investment strategy. These investors who have stayed the course have been, and in our opinion will continue to be, rewarded with rebounding portfolio values.

    Once again, the old adage that it is time in the market, not timing, is proving to be the successful long-term strategy. Research has shown that being out of the market for just 20 of the best market days over the last 25 years cut investor returns in half. Since none of us ever knows what the best or worst days will be until we have the benefit of hindsight, staying the course will allow investors to take advantage of opportunities that are disguised as anything but.

    Lorraine A. Hart and Cheryl A. Patterson are principals of Hart & Patterson Financial Services, LLP. They are certified financial planners, each with more than 25 years of financial planning experience. Hart & Patterson Financial Services, LLP is an independent financial-planning firm with offices in Amherst and Northampton. It handles multiple facets of financial planning, including wealth management, investment management, retirement plans for businesses and individuals, estate planning, insurance services, charitable giving, and tax planning; (413) 253-9454.

    Sections Supplements
    Effective Planning Can Help You Pass This Critical test

    The thought of saving for college crosses almost every parent’s mind, sometimes even before their child is born. Yet, for various reasons, a college savings fund often does not become a reality until many years later, if ever.

    Whether or not you start saving for your child’s education early on, the cost of that college education will continue to increase and, most likely, more than double from the time a child takes her first step to the day she starts her freshman year.

    Few would dispute the value of a college education. Aside from the personal and intellectual growth, the financial reward is undeniable. In the U.S., four-year college degree graduates earn, on average, 62% more than those with only a high-school diploma. Those with a master’s degree earn almost twice as much, and those with professional degrees, over three times as much as high-school graduates. Over a lifetime, the gap in earnings between those with a high school diploma and those with an undergraduate degree or higher exceeds $1 million.

    Still, the price of a degree could jolt almost anyone’s budget. During the five-year period ending in 2007, the nation’s average public and private college costs rose by 31% and 41%, respectively.

    When on-campus housing, books, supplies, transportation, and other personal costs are factored in, the average cost to attend a public four-year university or college for one year is $17,336, and $35,374 at a private institution.

    If that isn’t enough to make you want to start saving today, consider this: students are taking an average of more than six years in public four-year colleges and more than five years in private four-year colleges to earn a bachelor’s degree. If these trends continue, most parents who plan to help fund their children’s education can’t afford to put off saving for it.

    Reducing Sticker Shock

    To help you determine how much money you will need to pay for an education once your child reaches college age, there are a number of online calculators, such as those found at www.finaid.org, www.collegeboard.com, or www.nmfn.com. Unless your children are elementary school age or younger, involve them in the process to determine if they:

    • Plan to attend a private or public college or university, community college, or technical institute;
    • Want to live at home or on campus while attending school; or
    • May take more than four years to finish school.
    • It is never too early to begin saving for college. A great place to start includes any of the most popular plans used today, such as Section 529 plans, Coverdell Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), custodial accounts, and life insurance. In addition to the possible benefits of compounding, these plans may also provide great tax advantages.

      Better Late Than Never

      Now matter how late in the education savings game you get started, if, after factoring in the amount you already have saved, you still fall short, various options may be available, including:

      • Grants and Scholarships: Your child need not be a budding Einstein in order to qualify for some of the existing scholarships. Grants based on such factors as your income, place of employment, or even a relative’s military service are available to qualifying individuals.
      • Student Loans: The Federal Student Aid Information Center provides a variety of free publications that are available by calling (800) 433-3243. The center’s Web site, www.federalstudentaid.gov, allows you to complete the free application for federal student aid online. It also provides tips on reducing college costs, finding non-federal scholarships, and other helpful topics.
      • Home Equity Loans: In some instances, the best option to help pay for college education can be leveraging the equity in your home. Banks offer a variety of programs, from flat loans at a fixed interest rate to lines of credit that can be accessed on an as-needed basis.
      • Life Insurance: The cash value of a life insurance policy is one of the few assets not considered in determining eligibility for financial aid. If you have permanent life insurance, you may have an additional source of cash. Your insurance representative can help you determine how much cash is available in any policies you own as well as any potential implications that may arise.
      • Above all, don’t be afraid to ask for advice when planning your child’s education, regardless of how late you might be starting this process. Financially, emotionally, and psychologically, it is probably one of the biggest investments you will ever make.

        And the impact on your child’s future will last a lifetime.

        John Joyce is a financial representative with Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, the networking name for the sales and distribution arm of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.; (413) 748-6000.

        Cover Story
        Springfield Armor Set to Win Games, Win Over Fans
        Cover

        Cover

        On Nov. 27, regular-season Developmental League, or D-League, basketball will come to the Pioneer Valley when the Springfield Armor square off against the Iowa Energy at the MassMutual Center. Tip-off that night will cap months of work to bring a team here and then introduce it the Western Mass. community. Principle owner Michael Savit, who picked Springfield over a host of other cities in the Northeast, including Providence and Worcester, admits that this decision represents a bit of gamble, but one that he believes will eventually pay off.

        Michael Savit says he could, in theory, have placed an NBA Developmental League team almost anywhere in the country.

        But that’s not what Savit, owner of several minor-league baseball teams, had in mind, nor was ‘just anywhere’ what the National Basketball Assoc. wanted, either. The NBA wanted the D-League, as it’s called, to expand eastward and northward (most of its 16 teams are west of the Mississippi), and Savit — a native of Boston who operates his business, the HWS Group, in Wellesley — wanted to locate a team close to home.

        He looked at cities ranging from Providence to Worcester, to Kingston, home of the University of Rhode Island, but ultimately decided on Springfield.

        “I decided that if I was going to give this a shot, Springfield made the most sense,” he said, citing everything from the city’s status as the birthplace of basketball to its proximity to Hartford, Worcester, and other population centers. “I just had a feeling, a gut instinct, that this was a basketball community.”

        Soon, he’ll get to see if those instincts are correct. The franchise now known as the Springfield Armor (a name chosen in part to reflect another piece of the city’s history, the Springfield Armory) will begin its regular season with a Nov. 27 game against the Iowa Energy at the MassMutual Center.

        Alex Schwerin, the Armor’s general manager, isn’t predicting a sellout for that night, but he says filling the house is definitely doable given the extensive promotional work being done and the level of interest he’s witnessing. Overall, he’s projecting first-year attendance of perhaps 3,000 per game (not quite half the capacity of the MassMutual Center for D-League games), which would be a solid start for the new franchise and enough to at least break even for the year, which is the unofficial goal going in, or one of them, anyway.

        “Minor-league sports is not a huge moneymaker from year to year,” he explained. “But if the league does well and the team does well, then the value of that franchise will increase, and if you’re an owner or an investor, that’s what you’re looking for.”

        For the past several months, Schwerin, a graduate of the UMass Amherst Sports Management Program who worked for some of Savit’s baseball teams before being given the opportunity to guide the Armor out of the gate, has been putting the pieces in place for the inaugural season. Such work includes everything from assembling a management team and hiring a coach (former Celtics star Dee Brown) to picking a name (a rather involved process) and even hiring a dance team that will perform during the games.

        But much of his work falls under the category of building awareness for this team and making it part of the regional landscape. This has been ongoing, and tireless, work, he said, noting that he, Sales Director Eric Reddy, and, more recently, Brown have ventured anywhere and everywhere they can to be visible and amass some name recognition for their franchise.

        “We’ve been to pancake breakfasts, heart walks, chili cookoffs, you name it,” said Reddy. “We’ve gone pretty much anywhere where we can get our name out in front of the public.”

        For this issue, BusinessWest goes behind the scenes with those readying the Armor for battle this fall. There will be two major initiatives, said Schwerin — winning on the court, obviously, but also, and much more importantly, winning over fans and corporate sponsors.

        Net Results

        As part of his work to be visible and build awareness, Brown was behind the microphone on Oct. 30, addressing attendees at a so-called Developers Conference designed to familiarize the development community with opportunities that exist in the City of Homes.

        He followed Mayor Domenic Sarno to the podium in the ballroom at the MassMutual Center, and was the last of a few morning speakers who preceded a lengthy bus tour of the city and afternoon remarks by city and state economic development leaders. Paraphrasing Brown’s remarks, he told those assembled that the Armor and the city of Springfield were essentially doing the same thing at the same time: creating some excitement and pulling the necessary ingredients together for success.

        “Like Springfield, we’re building from the ground up,” said Brown, who told attendees that the NBA has a term for cities of Springfield’s size: ‘micropolitan area.’ This means it’s not as big as a metropolitan area, but it certainly has the wherewithal to support a D-League franchise.

        Brown has introduced a number of area residents and business owners to that term. Since being hired in August, he’s spoken before groups ranging from area chambers of commerce to the Greater Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau, to area nonprofit groups staging annual meetings. Often, these groups have dialed his number, seeking a celebrity voice, but just as often, the team is making him available as part of a broad marketing initiative.

        Brown said his messages vary somewhat, but what he generally tells his audience is that the D-League is a quality product, worthy of an investment in a ticket.

        “It’s not semi-pro … it’s professional basketball,” Brown told BusinessWest, as he took a quick break from preparation work for the league’s player draft last week. “Each NBA team has probably two or three players who spent time in the D-League; nearly 20% of the NBA’s players spent some time at this level.”

        Schwerin concurred, noting that, if the 360 best basketball players now working in this country are in the NBA, most of the next 200 or so best players are in the D-League. “It’s some of the best basketball in the country,” he said, noting that the Armor will serve as the affiliate to three NBA teams — the New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets, and Philadelphia 76ers.

        The team’s rosters, capped at 12, will be made up of perhaps a few NBA players assigned to the D-league by their clubs to develop their talents (hence the name), Schwerin continued, with the balance comprised of former college players who were not drafted into the NBA, perhaps some former NBA players, and some from overseas. In each and every case, the player’s goal is to get to, or return to, the big leagues.

        It was this quality of talent that convinced Savit that could sell the D-League product, and when the NBA approached him about establishing a team after a franchise in Anaheim folded, he consented, thus agreeing to join the likes of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Maine Red Claws, the Tulsa 66s (named after the famous highway), and the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

        The question then became where to place this franchise, Savit continued, adding that Springfield’s geography, demographics, and historical attachment to the game invented by Dr. James Naismith eventually provided the answer.

        And so far, Springfield is showing signs that it could be the basketball town that Savit perceived it to be. Schwerin and Reddy said that season-ticket sales have eclipsed the 1,500 mark, and they have confidence they can match that number with game-day sales to hit their attendance targets.

        Still, they know that they still have considerable work to do to institutionalize the Armor brand and make this team part of the local fabric.

        Points of Interest

        Schwerin said the NBA announced the awarding of the Springfield franchise nearly a year ago, when he was in job-search mode. He left minor-league baseball and Savit’s employ to return to his native Western Mass. and seek opportunities here. When Savit called asked if he would be interesting in leading the D-League franchise, he jumped at the opportunity.

        “I was looking at some other things,” he explained, “but what really interested me in this was a new team; this represented a chance to start from scratch, which is somewhat of a unique thing in this business.”

        And start from scratch he has. Indeed, since April, he has been hard at work on a laundry list of to-do items needed to get the team ready for its 50-game schedule.

        At the top of that list was assembling a management team, and one of his first draft choices was Reddy, who handled sales and marketing for the America East Conference (a college athletics league) until he was downsized earlier this year and found himself in search of a new opportunity.

        Other steps included the hiring of Brown, enlisting much-needed support from the business community, making travel arrangements for lengthy road trips that will take the team across several time zones, selecting team colors (black and silver), coming up with a mascot (they have one, but it hasn’t been named yet), and all manner of work that falls under the heading of marketing and public relations.

        And then, there was the task of coming up with a name and logo. Regarding the former, team officials compiled a list of finalists — Fame, Spirit, Colonials, and Founders were also on a list put through what Schwerin called the “NBA washing machine” to weed out potential copyright violations and politically incorrect monikers — and then asked area residents to vote. Armor emerged as the winner.

        The team then hired the Springfield-based marketing firm Six-Point Creative Works Inc. to come up with a brand, the imagery that will be used on everything from uniforms, stationery, and business cards to T-shirts and other merchandise for sale on game days and the team’s Web site.

        All of this took a back seat, of sorts, to the overriding mission — the building of a financial model, which, in this case, was based on the majority of revenues coming from ticket sales. There is a small radio-broadcasting contract, said Schwerin, and many corporate sponsorships, but the rest of the revenue comes from the gate, which means a heavy emphasis on both season-ticket sales and game-day transactions.

        As for corporate sponsorships, they form a solid revenue stream, Schwerin continued, and the team has secured several, from companies including MassMutual, Big Y Foods, Mercy Medical Center, the Springfield Sheraton, and others.

        Overall, Schwerin is predicting that the Armor can at least break even in their first year of operation, but there are many unknowns and several intangibles.

        “There is a lot of overhead — 12 of the teams are west of the Mississippi, and two are in California, one’s in Nevada, one’s in Idaho … that means considerable travel,” he explained. “But we’re very optimistic; there’s a great deal of excitement surrounding this team.”

        To drive ticket sales, team officials are keeping prices low — there are packages for so-called ‘flex tickets’ (10 for $99), for example — and focusing on group sales and getting families out.

        There are birthday-party specials, for example, that offer 10 lower-level tickets for $99, said Reddy, with an added bonus: the birthday girl or boy’s name on the video board.

        Meanwhile, the team is casting a wide net, trying to attract fans from not only the 413 area code, but also Connecticut, the Worcester area, Eastern New York, and other regions. The broad goal is to attract not simply the hardcore basketball fan, but the occasional fan who might be attracted to a product Schwerin said is better than Division 1 college basketball, as well as families looking for an economical night out.

        And while winning on the court is obviously a factor in the team’s success at the gate, the far-bigger ingredient is what Schwerin called simply “the experience.”

        “Our goal is to make people want to come back,” he explained. “To do that, we have to show them a good time, and that goes well behind what happens on the court.”

        At the Buzzer…

        “The Future of the NBA Today.”

        That’s one of the many marketing slogans now being employed by the Developmental League. It speaks to the level of talent on the display and the ultimate goal for those who take the court in Fort Wayne, Tulsa, Albuquerque, Reno, and Sioux Falls.

        But the tagline also speaks to Springfield’s entry in this league. Indeed, the future is now, and Armor officials are intent upon making the most of their golden opportunity.

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

        Sections Supplements
        Monson Savings Bank Continues to Grow Market Share
        Monson Savings Bank President Roland Desrochers

        Monson Savings Bank President Roland Desrochers

        Monson Savings Bank is a true community bank, dedicated to growing market share in and around the towns where it has a presence, and staying active in community life. But it’s also committed to innovations in technology and service delivery, all aimed at making customers’ lives a little easier.

        The Monson Savings Bank boardroom now has a window — several large ones, actually — allowing people to look out on a downtown that has grown right alongside its namesake bank.

        And even if the only recent physical expansion at MSB is the move of some executive offices and meeting space across the street from the bank’s longtime Main Street headquarters, President Roland Desrochers still sees plenty of room for this almost 130-year-old institution to grow.

        “It made sense to utilize this space available in town, so close by,” Desrochers said of the move to free up square footgage in the main building. “Of course, it doesn’t have to be close by — communication isn’t a challenge these days, so to some degree, it doesn’t matter where we are. But we finally have a boardroom that’s not in the basement. I’m sure the board appreciates that.”

        Indeed, with bank operations and offices bursting the bank’s headquarters at the seams, the relocation of some offices across the street was a no-brainer. In addition, when the U.S. Postal Service moved into a new building behind that house, Monson Savings Bank took over the former post office building nearby, giving it three locations in close proximity — and some needed elbow room.

        Not that growth is a bad problem to have.

        “This year, we’ve experienced 5% to 6% growth in our asset base and deposits, and we have generated most of our growth in the retail arena through the initiation of new products,” Desrochers said, including First-Rate Checking, which is a high-rate savings product tied to a checking account, offering 2% interest. “In this environment, where we’re seeing money markets paying less than one-half percent, that’s a pretty good return.”

        Then there are Cash Back Checking, accounts that pay depositors back when they use their debit card; and NextGen banking, which targets specific age groups with different features, such as enhanced online and ATM access for college-age customers. “With each one of these products, we’re attracting a different client base,” Desrochers said.

        That’s important for a bank that has adopted a strategy of building market share with just three locations — Monson, Hampden, and Wilbraham — in a region peppered with banks that have built branches with startling speed over the past decade. While all three locations have succeeded and grown — including the newest branch in Wilbraham, which has the added challenge of doing business on the fiercely competitive Route 20 corridor — the bank’s internal research says all have room to expand market share further, as long as MSB is nimble and responsive to what customers want.

        Highs and Lows

        Commercial accounts have seen similar growth, again through products aimed at making customers’ lives and finances easier, such as a small-business checking account that allows depositors to write 500 checks and make 500 deposits per month for free.

        Then there’s the introduction last year of remote capture, a technology that allows business owners to make checking deposits without visiting the bank.

        “That has become very popular because they don’t have to worry about making deposits here; they can just scan checks in their offices. So we’re able to sell commercial checking accounts to customers who are not necessarily located right near one of our branches.”

        However, not all business is booming these days. The economy has taken its toll on commercial lending, which has been quieter than normal over the past year, Desrochers said.

        “We get most of our commercial-loan business through referrals from customers or maybe board members, people like that,” he noted. “It’s quiet now, but I think you’ll find most banks will say they’re quiet, too. I do wonder how some businesses, especially trades, are being impacted by the economy, how many people will have issues through the coming winter.”

        In addition, “delinquencies are up on the residential side, but it’s still much lower than the state average. People are definitely struggling to make payments, and a lot of people are waiting until the last day of the month, which is not something normal by any means. We’re hoping we can at least control the delinquencies and work with customers to whatever degree we can.” He noted that bank officials know that people are struggling, and the best way to handle problems paying bills is to keep the lines of communication open.

        “Burying your head in the sand is not the best way to deal with the problem,” he said. “Banks are willing to sit down and work with people, but they need to take it upon themselves to be proactive with their financial institution.

        “Banks don’t want to own real estate,” Desrochers continued. “Look what it costs to foreclose on real estate these days ‹ $5,000 to $7,000 for a single-family home. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to do that, so we obviously want to keep someone in their home.”

        Even so, Monson has seen its marketing strategies pay off on the residential loan ledger; this year, it ranks fifth in home mortgage originations in Hampden County, up from 17th just five years ago. Desrochers credits not only competitive rates for that performance, but faster turnaround times and technology like online mortgage applications — again, to make the lives of customers a little easier.

        BusinessWest asked whether Monson’s relatively small size compared to other regional banks allows it to be more nimble in introducing such services, but Desrochers said size is really no factor.

        “In order to introduce new technology, things like online mortgages and mobile banking, no matter how big or small you are, you have to the spend time and effort necessary to test and implement those products,” he said. “You have to make the investment.”

        He admitted, however, that it’s a challenge — but a rewarding one — to serve customers who are far savvier and more receptive to change than in the past.

        “They wonder how they did without these things,” he said with a smile. “The whole gamut — online bill pay, remote capture — once customers have them, they wonder how they did without them.”

        Meeting Needs

        Monson Savings Bank, like many community banks in the region, is well-capitalized and largely free of the bad loans that capsized the financial system last year. But the institution continues to take a cautious path, setting aside an additional $700,000 in reserve this year to cover any potential losses should the issues facing banks get worse.

        “Capital levels are strong right now, and the smart thing to do, seeing that, is to control growth,” Desrochers said. “Capital is so critical right now in this low-rate environment, and assuring a strong capital position is the most important issue until things turn around for the better.”

        He has never been a proponent of rapid branching out, and the current financial landscape only reinforces that notion. “Now is not the time to get carried away, in our estimation. Preserving capital is critical in this type of market.”

        Still, that caution doesn’t affect one of Monson’s key roles as a community bank — and that is supporting nonprofits that add to the quality of life in its communities.

        “Most not-for-profit organizations and schools in our market area are very pleased with how we contribute to them,” Desrochers said, ticking off other beneficiaries of the bank’s community support, from librariers and arts groups to youth sports teams and senior centers.

        “Those types of organizations have had cutbacks, and we try to help,” he said. “We try to contribute 10% of our bottom line back to the community, which for us runs in the area of $100,000 to $120,000 a year.”

        That aid benefits not only small, locally based groups, but larger entities, such as the United Way, Girl Scouts, and the Red Cross, that in turn serve surrounding communities in specific ways, he said. “We give back to those organizations that meet wider needs. We don’t want to lose sight of that.”

        It’s all about making a small difference in a community that can now be seen through the boardroom window.

        Joseph Bednar can be reached

        at[email protected]

        Departments

        ‘Phantom of the Country Opera’

        Nov. 13, 14, 15: The Bay Path College Performing Arts Department will present Phantom of the Country Opera in Mills Theatre, Carr Hall, as part of the fall Kaleidoscope Series. The production promises irreverent wit, painful punning, sly contemporary references, and more than a touch of the absurd. Bay Path College is located at 588 Longmeadow St., Longmeadow. For more information on show times and tickets, call (413) 565-1307 or visit www.baypath.edu.

        Pynchon Award Dinner

        Nov. 19: Recipients of the 2009 William Pynchon Award will be honored by the Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts from 6 to 9 p.m. at Chez Josef in Agawam. Candidates to be inducted into the Order of William Pynchon during the 95th annual program are Gary Fialky, Esq., chairman of Bacon Wilson’s corporate department; Susan Jaye-Kaplan, co-founder of Link to Libraries, founder of Go FIT Inc., and founder of Pioneer Valley Women’s Running Club; and Marie Stebbins, community advocate and former teacher. The awards program includes a cocktail hour from 6 to 7 p.m. Seating costs $65 per person, and tables of 10 are available. To make a reservation by Nov. 5, call (413) 736-2582, or e-mail [email protected].

        Parade of the Big Balloons

        Nov. 27: Mass. National Guard Adjutant General, Major General Joseph C. Carter, is this year’s parade marshal for the annual Tower Square Parade of the Big Balloons in Springfield. Joining Carter during the parade will be an impressive array of equipment, including a military all-terrain, six-wheel vehicle that will deliver Santa Claus to downtown Springfield. Other pieces of equipment include a military ambulance, tanker, and transport vehicles. The parade steps off at 11 a.m. at Main and Lyman streets and ends at Locust Street. Bringing the holiday beat to the parade will be the East Windsor High School Band, Holyoke High School Band, and the Springfield Kiltie Band. After Santa makes his way through the holiday revelers along Main Street, he will take his place of honor in Tower Square to pose for photographs and listen to holiday wish lists. For more information on the fun-filled day, visit www.spiritofspringfield.org.

        Book and Print Signing

        Dec, 3: For the past 32 years, Easthampton resident Ruth Sanderson has illustrated 75 books for children of all ages and retold and illustrated many fairytales, including her latest project, Mother Goose and Friends. Sanderson will present a free lecture titled “The Story of a Book” at 7 p.m. in Breck Suite, Wright Hall, at Bay Path College, 588 Longmeadow St., Longmeadow, as part of the fall Kaleidoscope Series. Slides and examples of her detailed sketches and paintings from her award-winning books will be shown. For more information, call (413) 565-1066 or visit www.baypath.edu.

        Winterfest

        Dec. 9: The Bay Path College Performing Arts Department will celebrate the themes of light, hope, goodwill, and peace for all people during its annual Winterfest program as part of the fall Kaleidoscope Series. The free event begins at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Theatre, Carr Hall, on the Bay Path campus, 588 Longmeadow St., Longmeadow. For more information, call (413) 565-1066 or visit www.baypath.edu.

        YPS New Year’s Celebration

        Dec. 31: The Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield has once again chosen downtown Springfield for its New Year’s Eve celebration. Only 300 tickets will be available for the affair at the Marriott Hotel in Tower Square. Businesses and individuals interested in sponsorship of the event should visit www.springfieldyps.com for more details. For ticket information, call Jill Monson of YPS at (413) 219-9692.

        Women’s Professional Development Conference

        April 30, 2010: Bay Path College will host its 15th annual Women’s Professional Development Conference at the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  For more information, call (413) 565-1000 or visit www.baypath.edu.

        Departments

        FloDesign Wins Funding for Wind Turbine Development

        WILBRAHAM — The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced major funding for 37 ambitious research projects — including some that could allow intermittent energy sources like wind and solar to provide a steady flow of power, or use bacteria to produce automotive fuel from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. Among the firms nationwide to receive funding is FloDesign Wind Turbine Corp. of Wilbraham, developer of a compact wind turbine that resembles a jet engine. Flo design will receive $8 million. The funding is being awarded through the department’s recently formed Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), which was originally established under the America Competes Act of 2007. In April of this year, President Obama announced $400 million in initial funding for ARPA-E through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. ARPA-E’s mission is to develop nimble, creative, and inventive approaches to transforming the global energy landscape while advancing America’s technology leadership. FloDesign will develop a new shrouded, axial-flow wind turbine known as the Mixer Ejector Wind Turbine, which is capable of delivering significantly more energy per unit-swept area with greatly reduced rotor loading, as compared to existing horizontal axis wind turbines. Prototypes will be built and tested, demonstrating the advantages of lightweight materials and a protective shroud that will reduce noise and safety concerns, and accelerate distributed wind applications. In announcing the selections, Energy Secretary Steven Chu noted that, after World War II, America was the “unrivaled leader in basic and applied sciences,” adding that this leadership led to enormous technological advances. Chu sees ARPA-E as a crucial part of the new effort by the U.S. to spur the next Industrial Revolution in clean energy technologies, creating thousands of new jobs and helping to cut carbon pollution. Chu added that grants will go to projects with lead researchers in 17 states. Of the lead recipients, including FloDesign, 43% are small businesses, 35% are educational institutions, and 19% are large corporations.

        UMass Design Center to Open in Springfield

        SPRINGFIELD — Mayor Domenic Sarno announced that UMass Chancellor Robert Holub has committed to establish an Urban Design Center at 3-7 Elm St. at Court Square. The new center will be open Feb. 1, 2010 and provide a variety of programs in architecture, landscape architecture, conservation, and regional planning. “We are thrilled with the UMass decision to move into downtown.The new Urban Design Center will provide a great resource to the City of Springfield and help us to continue to advance our economic development efforts,” Sarno said.“UMass has been working with the city of Springfield’s Development Services Division to establish this center to further assist in the economic revitalization of the city. This is the first step in a multi-pronged commitment by the university to partner with the city.” John Mullin, dean of the graduate schools at UMass, noted that “Chancellor Holub is extremely pleased to announce the opening of the Urban Design Center. This is one of our commitments to the city on economic development and will build a platform for an ongoing, expanded relationship with the city of Springfield.We are grateful to the mayor and his staff for their help. The Urban Design Center is part of our long-term relationship with the city.” Holub said his staff will continue to work with Springfield to ascertain next steps in a broader commitment that will include fostering UMass-related business spinoffs in Springfield, expanding the number of Springfield students attending UMass, and examining the placement of UMass back-off functions into a larger development next door at 31 Elm St.

        Confidence Index Declines in October

        NEW YORK — The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had declined in September, deteriorated further in October. The Index now stands at 47.7 (1985=100), down from 53.4 in September. The Present Situation Index decreased to 20.7 from 23.0 last month. The Expectations Index declined to 65.7 from 73.7 in September. The Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. The monthly survey is conducted for the Conference Board by TNS, a custom research company. The cutoff date for October’s preliminary results was Oct. 21. Consumers’ assessment of current conditions worsened in October. Those claiming business conditions are ‘bad’ increased to 47.1% from 46.3%, while those claiming conditions are ‘good’ decreased to 7.7% from 8.6%. Consumers’ appraisal of the labor market was also bleaker. Those claiming jobs are ‘hard to get’ increased to 49.6% from 47.0%, while those claiming jobs are ‘plentiful’ decreased to 3.4% from 3.6%.  Consumers’ short-term outlook grew more pessimistic in October. Those anticipating an improvement in business conditions over the next six months decreased to 20.8% from 21.3%, while those expecting conditions to worsen increased to 18.3% from 14.6%. The labor-market outlook was also more negative. The percentage of consumers expecting more jobs in the months ahead declined to 16.3% from 18.0%, while those expecting fewer jobs increased to 26.6% from 22.9%. The proportion of consumers expecting an increase in their incomes decreased to 10.3% from 11.2%.

        Gross Domestic Product Grows in Third Quarter

        NEW YORK — Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property in the U.S. — increased at an annual rate of 3.5% in the third quarter of 2009, according to the advance estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP decreased 0.7%. The Bureau emphasized that the third-quarter advance estimate recently released is based on source data that is incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency. The second estimate for the third quarter, based on more complete data, will be released on Nov. 24. The increase in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflects positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), exports, private inventory investment, federal government spending, and residential fixed investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased. The upturn in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected upturns in PCE, private inventory investment, exports, residential fixed investment, and a smaller decrease in non-residential fixed investment, and were partly offset by an upturn in imports, a downturn in state and local government spending, and a deceleration in federal government spending. Motor-vehicle output added 1.66 percentage points to the third-quarter change in real GDP after adding 0.19 percentage point to the second-quarter change. Final sales of computers subtracted 0.11 percentage point from the third-quarter change in real GDP after subtracting 0.04 percentage point from the second-quarter change.

        Departments

        The following building permits were issued during the month of October 2009.

        AGAWAM

        Frank Ferrentino
        1676 Main St.
        $10,500 — Re-roof

        CHICOPEE

        Chicopee Savings Bank
        70 Center St.
        $59,000 — New roof

        Chicopee Savings Bank
        70 Center St.
        $90,000 — Construction of a new drive-up teller

        Dunkin Donuts
        820 Memorial Dr.
        $188,000 — Remodel interior and new roof

        GREENFIELD

        AR Sandri Inc.
        400 Chapman St.
        $20,000 — Pour a concrete pad to support a 27-foot-high silo

        Robert Cohn
        117 Main St.
        $5,500 — Installation of a new roof

        Segundo Spike, LLC
        3 Bank Row
        $27,500 — Renovation of structure

        Segundo Spike, LLC
        3 Bank Row
        $37,000 — Installation of a wet fire sprinkler system

        Town of Greenfield
        321 High St.
        $126,000 — Removal of existing roof and installation of new one

        HADLEY

        Home Depot, USA
        348 Russell St.
        $326,000 — Construction of a Taco Bell Restaurant

        Pyramid Mall of Hadley Newco, LLC
        367 Russell St.
        $5,000 — Construction of fitting rooms in retail establishment

        Rocco Falcone
        249 Russell St.
        $41,800 — Interior renovations

        HOLYOKE

        Carline J. McCarthy
        1593 Northampton St.
        $11,000 — Install new walls for second-floor tenant

        Carline J. McCarthy
        1593 Northampton St.
        $4,000 — Install door, deck, & stairs

        Holyoke Mall Company, L.P.
        50 Holyoke St.
        $110,000 — Remodel existing Teavana store

        Racing Oil, LLC
        330 Main St.
        $555,000 — Proposed filling station with car wash and retail building

        LUDLOW

        Ludlow Community T.V.
        500 Chapin St.
        $260,000 — Alterations

         

        NORTHAMPTON

        Coolidge Park Condos
        50 Union St.
        $204,000 — New roof

        Jagdish Singh
        57 Main St.
        $6,000 — Replacement windows

        James Mailloux
        55 Main St.
        $3,000 — Reconfigure first-floor office spaces

        Jeffrey Lipston
        108 Main St.
        $12,000 — Renovation of the second floor

        Hampshire Regional Young Men’s Christian Association
        286 Prospect St.
        $200,000 — Rebuild second-floor, fire-damaged women’s locker room

        Hampshire Regional Young Men’s Christian Association
        286 Prospect St.
        $100,000 — Rebuild second-floor, fire-damaged men’s locker room

        SOUTH HADLEY

        South Hadley Housing
        27 Abbey Lane
        $345,000 — New roof and siding

        SPRINGFIELD

        A.I.C.
        963 State St.
        $50,000 — New roof

        City of Springfield
        285 Tiffany St.
        $517,000 — Roof replacement

        Helmet Lederer
        1912 Wilbraham Road
        $28,000 — Repair wall damaged by auto

        Key Program Inc.
        576 State St.
        $9,500 — Staircase renovation

        Temple Beth EL
        979 Dickinson St.
        $17,500 — Re-roof

        WESTFIELD

        Neil Phillips
        45 Washington St.
        $85,000 — Commercial alteration

        WEST SPRINGFIELD

        Costco Wholesale
        119 Daggett Dr.
        $7,500 — Interior renovations to break room

        Fred Aaron
        1680 Riverdale St.
        $10,000 — Renovate retail furniture sales area

        Departments

        Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield
        (413) 787-1555
        www.myonlinechamber.com

        Nov. 19: ACCGS Government Reception, 5 to 7 p.m., hosted by the Carriage House at Storrowton Tavern, West Springfield. Tickets: $55, general admission; $45 for members.

        Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield
        www.springfieldyps.com

        Nov. 19: YPS Third Thursday, 5 to 8 p.m., hosted by the Museum of Springfield History, 21 Edwards St., Springfield. View museum exhibits that describe Springfield’s development as a manufacturing center, the city’s role in transportation history, the many inventions and firsts that were generated here, the growth of downtown as the region’s commercial center, the effects of urbanization and suburbanization, and the stories of Springfield’s diverse populations. Corporate sponsor: Baystate Medical Practices, part of Baystate Health. Sound and entertainment provided by Jx2 Productions.

        Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce
        www.amherstarea.com

        Visit the chamber online to learn more about upcoming events.

        Chicopee Chamber of Commerce
        (413) 594-2101
        www.chicopeechamber.org

        Nov. 18: Salute Breakfast, 7:15 to 9 a.m., hosted by MassMutual Learning & Conference Center, 350 Memorial Dr., Chicopee. Tickets: $18 for members; $25 for non-members. Register online at www.chicopeechamber.org .

        Franklin County Chamber of Commerce
        (413) 773-5463; www.franklincc.org

        Nov. 20: FCCC Breakfast Series, 7:30 to 9 a.m., hosted by Bella Notte, Huckle Hill Road, Bernardston. Program: Engaging an Audience and the Community in New Media. Guest speaker: Jon Abbott, president and CED of WGBH in Boston, a broadcaster with multiple TV and radio services, known for its iconic programming (Nova, Masterpiece, Frontline, Antiques Roadshow, Curious George, The World, etc.). Sponsored by Greenfield Cooperative Bank. Tickets: $12 for members; $14 for non-members. For reservations, call (413) 773-5463 or e-mail
        [email protected]  by Nov. 13.

        Greater Easthampton Chamber of Commerce
        (413) 527-9414
        www.easthamptonchamber.org

        Nov. 12: Networking by Night Business Card Exchange, 5 to 7 p.m., hosted by Northeast Center for Youth & Families, 203 East St., Easthampton. Door prizes, hors d’oeuvres, cash bar. Tickets: $5 for members; $15 for non-members.

        Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce
        (413) 534-3376;
        www.holycham.com

        Nov. 18: Chamber After Hours, 5 to 7 p.m., hosted by Eighty Jarvis Restaurant, 80 Jarvis Ave., Holyoke. Tickets: $5 for members; $10 cash for non-members.

        Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce
        (413) 584-1900
        www.explorenorthampton.com

        Nov. 12: Northampton Area Young Professionals Party with a Purpose, 5 to 8 p.m., hosted by Mama Iguana’s. Free for members; $5 for guests.
        Nov. 13: Northampton Chamber Information Session, 8 to 9:30 a.m., 99 Pleasant St., Northampton. Free for those considering membership in the chamber.

        Quaboag Hills Chamber of Commerce
        (413) 283-2418;
        www.qvcc.biz

        Visit the chamber online to learn more about upcoming events.

        South Hadley/Granby Chamber of Commerce
        (413) 532-6451; www.shchamber.com

        Visit the chamber online to learn more about upcoming events.

        Three Rivers Chamber of Commerce
        413-283-6425
        www.threeriverschamber.org

        Visit the chamber online to learn more about upcoming events.

        Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce
        (413) 568-1618; www.westfieldbiz.org

        Nov. 12: 2009 Annual Meeting and Awards, 6 to 9 p.m., location and cost TBA. For more details, call (413) 568-1618 or e-mail [email protected] .

        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

        Titan Roofing Inc. v. Berkshire Roofing and Siding Co.
        Allegation: Non-payment of services rendered: $9,600
        Filed: 9/29/09

        GREENFIELD DISTRICT COURT

        Leader Home Center Inc. v. Marchefka & Associates, LLC
        Allegation: Non-payment of goods and services rendered: $5,672.95
        Filed: 10/21/09

        HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT

        Smith & Wesson Corp. v. Law Enforcement Associates
        Allegation: Breach of agreement by failing to pay required royalty payments: $150,000
        Filed: 9/28/09

        T.D. Banknorth, N.A. v. KC Countertops Inc.
        Allegation: Default on promissory notes: $41,204.47
        Filed: 9/28/09

        T.D. Banknorth, N.A. v. T.B.’s Custom Woodworking Inc.
        Allegation: Default on promissory note: $162,347.73
        Filed: 9/27/09

        The Bank of Western Massachusetts v. Points East Lounge
        Allegation: Default of promissory note: $170,045.68
        Filed: 10/16/09

        HAMPSHIRE SUPERIOR COURT

        Elizabeth Le, administratrix of the estate of Paul Le v. Isaac Bromberg, M.D. and Francis Ansa, M.D.
        Allegation: Failure to diagnose and treat medical condition, causing death: $25,000+
        Filed: 10/16/09

        Pun Family, LLC v. American Medical Products and George McKay
        Allegation: Breach of lease agreement and non-payment: $35,700
        Filed: 10/22/09

        Tetrault et al v. Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, et al
        Allegation: Operator of a bus negligently drove too close to a horse-drawn carriage, spooking the horses and causing injury: $116,000
        Filed: 10/19/09

        HOLYOKE DISTRICT COURT

        Berkshire Westwood Graphics Inc. v. Henry N. Sawyer Company Inc.
        Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $20,761.41
        Filed: 9/8/09

        NORTHAMPTON DISTRICT COURT

        Plimpton & Hills Corp. v. Vadnais Builders of Springfield
        Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $5,189.77
        Filed: 9/29/09

        Scott Diskin v. Somatic Systems Institute Inc.
        Allegation: Breach of contract and non-payment of monies loaned: $9,050
        Filed: 9/25/09

        PALMER DISTRICT COURT

        Ford Motor Credit Co., LLC v. Springfield Limo & Airport Car
        Allegation: Breach of retail installment sales agreement: $8,214.67
        Filed: 9/25/09

        SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT

        Bank of America v. Ortiz Professional Services
        Allegation: Non-payment of monies loaned: $5,596.29
        Filed: 9/30/09

        JL Construction Corp. v. W&I Construction Inc. and Tiny Bull, LLC
        Allegation: Non-payment of materials and labor provided: $42,076.66
        Filed: 9/30/09

        TD Banknorth, N.A. v. Wide Range Investment
        Allegation: Non-payment of promissory notes: $24,239.18
        Filed: 9/29/09

        United Rentals v. CEI Boston, LLC and Peter C. Banks
        Allegation: Non-payment of materials, equipment, and services provided on a construction project: $11,465
        Filed: 10/2/09

        Departments

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

        AGAWAM

        Agawam Massage Therapy Inc., 1 South Bridge Dr., Agawam, MA 01001. Zhanshi Jin, 36-18 195th St. #1, Flushing, NY 11358. Professional massage therapy.

        CHICOPEE

        N. Riley Construction Inc., 77 Mass. Ave., Chicopee, MA 01013. Nicholas J. Riley, Same. Construction.

        Oak River Development Corp., 169 Grove St., Monson, MA 01057. Erik T. Kaiser, 15 Mechanic St., Monson, MA 01057. Real estate development.

        EASTHAMPTON

        H. King Rug & Home Inc., 36 Cottage St., Easthampton, MA 01027. Jared Quinn, 20 Zabek Dr., Easthampton, MA 01027. Sale of rugs and home accessories.

        KAYA NOW INC., 57 ? Ward Ave., Easthampton, MA 01027. Susan Zahorak, same. E-commerce.

        HOLYOKE

        The International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association Inc., 30 Morgan St., Holyoke, MA 01040. Elisa Cotroneo, 105 Luther Road, East Greenbush, N.Y. 12061. To promote somatic movement education and therapy and maintain a registry of professional practitioners.

        SOUTHWICK

        Joanie’s Inc., 134 Point Grove Road, Southwick, MA 01077. Jennifer Nolasco, 52 Wendover Road, Suffield, CT 06078. Bar and restaurant.

         

        SPRINGFIELD

        Fidelity Land Development Corporation, 1380 Main St. Suite 301, Springfield, MA 01103. Eithan Ezra Pava, 770 Dickinson St., Springfield, MA 01108. Land development.

        WESTFIELD

        Affordable Flooring Inc., 172 Meadow St., Westfield, MA 01085. David Minchuk, same. Floor covering.

        M & H Properties Inc., 11 Robinson Dr., Westfield, MA 01085. Michael Leblanc, Same. Real estate ownership and development.

        WEST SPRINGFIELD

        Bella Fortuna Inc., 28 Timber Brook Road, West Springfield, MA 01089. Richard
        Flak, same. E-commerce

        LA Contractor Supply Inc., 32 Wishing Well Way, West Springfield, MA 01089. Rose Rousseau, same. Sales of materials and supplies to the construction industry.

        WILBRAHAM

        Frankie B’s Inc., 1071 Glendale Road, Wilbraham, MA 01095. Laurie Bongiorni, same. Billiards and sports bar.