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Features
UMass Wants to Raise Its Status Among Research Institutions

New Laboratory Science Building

New Laboratory Science Building

It’s called the New Laboratory Science Building, or NLSB, a $156 million, state-of-the-art facility now taking shape on the UMass Amherst campus. It’s part of a larger, nearly $300 million initiative, which also includes the Integrated Science Building opened in late 2009, to create a life sciences ‘precinct’ or ‘community’ on the campus that is being designed to greatly increase research capacity and facilitate collaborative efforts among science departments. The new facilities are expected to play a lead role in helping the university meet its stated goal of doubling its overall research volume by 2014 and climb within the ranks of the nation’s leading research institutions.

Karen Hayes says that, when it comes to word associations, many possible answers come to mind when one mentions UMass Amherst.
A beautiful suburban campus is one of them, said Hayes, who works as director of Strategic Communications and Outreach for the university, while strong undergraduate programs might be another, and service to the Commonwealth could be a third. One phrase you probably won’t hear is ‘major research institution,’ or words to that effect, she continued, adding that, while it’s certainly not written down anywhere, it’s part of her job description to change that equation.
Part of the strategy for doing so is simply telling the university’s story better and with a louder voice, she said, noting that there are currently a number of intriguing research initiatives underway on the campus, such as one she’s written about herself involving work that sequenced the first full genome of a female Hereford cow.
“We need to get our name out in the public,” she said. “When the Boston Globe or the New York Times or the national publications talk about discoveries in science, we have to be there; our name has to be out there as much as Harvard, Ohio State, MIT, the University of Michigan, or any of the other research powerhouses.”
For that to happen, the university needs to have more for those publications and others to write about, Hayes continued, and the $156 million New Laboratory Science Building, or NLSB, as it’s called, now taking shape on the campus should certainly provide a real boost for those efforts. The 310,000-square-foot facility will provide not only the physical space for additional research initiatives, but also a collaborative environment in which scientists across a number of different fields can more easily work together on projects, she said.
Mike Malone, the university’s vice chancellor of Research Engagement, agreed. He told BusinessWest that the NLSB will play a lead role in helping the university meet its ambitious goal, set in 2009, of doubling its level of federally funded research within five years.
“The NLSB will greatly increase our capacity for doing research,” he explained. “It will give us more equipment, more people, and more modern laboratories. Most importantly, though, it will bring people together in collaborative efforts.”
The NLSB is actually the second phase of a nearly $300 million initiative to create what many are calling a life sciences ‘precinct,’ or ‘community’ on the Amherst campus. The first was the university’s $114.5 million Integrated Science Building, which brings classrooms and labs for the life, chemical, and physical sciences together in one building, thus improving the prospects for collaboration.

Steve Goodwin

Steve Goodwin says the Integrated Science Building brings people in several different disciplines together to effectively solve problems.

This clustering process is part of a nationwide trend, said Steve Goodwin, dean of the College of Natural Sciences at UMass, noting that science, as well as the way it is taught, is changing, with an emphasis on integrating the various disciplines, hence the name on the new building.
For this issue, BusinessWest takes an indepth look at UMass Amherst’s emerging life-sciences precinct, how it will play a lead role in ongoing efforts to move the university to another level when it comes to research institutions, and also how the process of moving up in the ranks requires more than building more lab space.

Good Chemistry
Tom Whelan, a chemistry professor at the university, told BusinessWest that it couldn’t, or shouldn’t, print the words used by many of his students when they first glimpsed the new laboratory facilities in the ISB. “Holy sh—— was the most common refrain,” he said, not actually using the offending word in question.
That and other colorful phrases were needed to adequately put into the perspective the difference between what the students had for facilities in their former home at Goessmann Lab and what they now enjoyed at the ISB, said Whelan, noting that everything in the new science building is spacious and state-of-the-art.
“It’s great space — it’s a better learning environment, and it’s already changing the way we do things,” he said, adding that, while the ISB is bigger, it allows educators to work smaller in terms of attention to individual students. Meanwhile, it improves the flow of communication between departments that were in separate buildings and brings more opportunities for collaboration.
Goodwin agreed. As he led BusinessWest on a tour of the ISB, he said the building’s design encourages interaction among students and faculty, certainly much more so than was possible when departments were scattered around the campus in buildings as much as a century old and with outdated facilities.
He said the underlying concept for the building actually started to take shape 10 to 15 years ago, when those in the field noticed that the way science was done was changing.
“Therefore, we concluded that the way we train people should change as well,” he explained. “We realized that bringing people from multiple disciplines together to solve problems is the way things move forward. So this building was built on a teaching concept that said, ‘OK, we want to teach in the same way; we want to take the people who are taking introductory chemistry and physics and biology, bring them together in the same building, and give them opportunities to interact.’
“The exciting thing is that, over time, that notion has become more and more defined,” he continued, citing a new program initiated this fall called iCONS, short for Integrated Concentrations in the Sciences, where faculty members across several fields try to bring multiple disciplines together to solve problems.
This notion of bringing people together to work in collaboration is also at the heart of the NLSB, said Malone, adding that the facility is being designed with the goal of promoting collaboration, while also greatly upgrading the facilities in which people are performing critical work.
“Now, faculty members are typically located in individual buildings or parts of buildings that are assigned to their particular departments,” he explained. “And that makes it not impossible, but a little more difficult for their students and they themselves to get together. In this new facility, they’ll be living and working in the same environment.
“And it’s a great upgrade for our facilities,” he continued. “We have quite a backlog of deferred maintenance on campus, and this will put people who are, in many cases, from labs that aren’t state-of-the-art into a state-of-the-art facility.”
Roughly half the NLSB will be finished labs, and the rest will be shelf space, said Malone, noting that this will provide the university with cost-effective room to grow for the future.

A New Culture
And that room will eventually be needed if the university is to meet that stated goal for doubling its research volume by 2014, and then continuing a steady pace of growth. For the fiscal year that ended last June 30, the university logged $170 million in research projects from all sources, a number aided by large amounts of federal stimulus money, compared to $137.5 million for the prior year.
For fiscal 2011, the first-quarter numbers are tracking just ahead of the ’09 figures, which was expected as the level of stimulus funding drops, he continued, adding that the university wants to reach or exceed $270 million by 2014.
With that goal in mind, Malone has created a new Office of Research Development, which will work to identify funding sources and assist individuals and departments with putting proposals together.
The life sciences have been identified as a large growth area for the university, said Malone, noting that, at present, 45% of the federal funding awarded to the school is from the National Science Foundation.
“We have room to grow in areas supported by the National Institutes of Health, and some of that growth will be enabled by a collaboration with people at our medical school,” he explained. “They just got what’s called a Clinical and Translational Science Award from the NIH to support projects that link basic science with the practice of medicine — translating the results from the benchtop to the bedside. This translational area is a good one for us in terms of growth.”
And as research volume grows, and the university escalates its efforts to tell those stories regionally and nationally, UMass will make headway in its ongoing efforts to become more well-known as one of those aforementioned research powerhouses, said Hayes, noting that the story-telling process is an important, sometimes overlooked part of the equation.
“If we want to build our image with the general public and other constituencies, we need to be able to tell our story well,” she told BusinessWest. “Telling your science story well is something we haven’t done, and it’s a challenge. How can you connect the average person who doesn’t know a lot about science to what going’s on here in a way that helps them understand what’s in it for them? That’s what we have to do.”
The new science facilities on the campus will help the university raise its stature in a number of ways, said Hayes, adding that the ISB is a powerful tool in attracting students and faculty to the school.
“It’s a springboard to talk about research on campus and students’ opportunities there,” she said, adding quickly that the new facilities are all about creating more of these opportunites. “In the past, if you were a student who wanted to get research experience on campus, you had to be bold, you had to approach a faculty member, engage them directly, and take the initiative. With these new facilities and new programs that we have to connect students to research experiences, it is so much easier for them to seize opportunities.”

The Bottom Line
The NLSB is slated to open in the summer or fall of 2012. In time, and probably not much it, the facility is expected to generate those collaborations that Malone and Goodwin talked about, as well the critical momentum the university will need to take its name and reputation within the world of science to a higher level.
And perhaps sometime soon, when people do play word-association games with UMass Amherst, the phrase ‘major research institution’ will be appropriate, and widely used, vocabulary.

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

Features
As Key Votes Loom, Palmer Casino Backers Put Their Chips on the Table

Casino Rendering

Casino Rendering

For years now, casino backers, including those pushing for a resort operation in Palmer, have said it’s a question of when, not if, such gaming operations are approved. They’re saying it again this year, and with a House vote to support casinos already secured, and confidence that the Senate will follow suit, attention is now focused more than ever on where casinos will be located. Mohegan Sun, which would develop the $1 billion Palmer facility, believes it has a winning hand, because it maintains that the state needs what it calls a “Western Mass. outpost.”

The storefront has been open for just over a year now. In fact, an open house was recently staged to mark the anniversary.
It’s right in the middle of Main Street in Palmer, clearly visible to those approaching downtown from Route 32. The Mohegan Sun sign is large and prominent in the window.Visitors to the former retail space — now decorated in the motif of the casino in Uncasville, Conn. operated by the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, complete with a few seats from the arena where the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun play — have a few primary objectives, said Paul Brody, vice president of development for that organization.
Some want to pose questions about the potential impact on their homes or businesses from a proposed $1 billion casino complex on land just off the exit 8 interchange of the Turnpike. “They want to know about traffic and how that will be and how it will be mitigated,” he said. But most are inquiring about jobs and, more specifically, what kinds of opportunities will be created. Mohegan Sun isn’t taking job applications, but it is signing people up, with the intent of calling them back if the complex becomes reality.
“And some others … they just want to know what’s going on with this thing,” said Brody, one of four Mohegan employees who staff the storefront. “They want to know if this is going to happen, and when — whether it will be one year, two years, or more.”
And Brody says he tells them basically what he also told BusinessWest when it stopped by the office: that these are certainly critical times for those who support — and oppose — organized gaming in Massachusetts, and especially for those who have invested considerable time (several years), energy, and emotion in Mohegan Sun’s proposed complex, which would be built on a hill high above the pike and Route 32 and include a 164,000-square-foot casino, a 600-room hotel, 12 restaurants, and 100,000 square feet of retail space.
The state House of Representatives has passed a bill calling for two casinos and several slot operations at racetracks (called racinos by some), and the Senate is due to vote on its own version later this month. There is strong sentiment that the Senate will also vote to support some kind of gaming package, but the devil is in the details, and Brody acknowledged that, while he is not conceding anything regarding the broad vote to green-light casinos, he said the conversation is, in many ways, shifting to where they’ll be located, not if.
And thus, Brody also tells visitors, as he told BusinessWest, that, in response to a request for data that might help legislators determine where, Mohegan Sun commissioned a study that shows that a casino in Palmer, or “Greater Palmer,” as she called it, would benefit the state more than one built in another proposed location (Milford), assuming that the second casino is built at the Wonderland complex in Boston.
The study, conducted by Morowicz Gaming Advisors, LLC, concludes that a casino in Palmer, instead of Milford in Central Mass., would result in $43.8 million in additional gaming revenue annually to the state, and nearly $100 million more in out-of-state dollars coming to the Commonwealth, primarily because it would lure more New York State residents than one farther east.
The study — which, to no one’s surprise, is being questioned by the backers of a Milford casino, who have a different take — is one of many ways backers of the Palmer resort are trying to build momentum at a time that many consider critical to the town’s future.
They’re presenting the proposal as more than a casino, but also as a way for an economically beleaguered community to replace manufacturing jobs that have left over the past two decades and provide long-term stability, while also bringing other types of development to nearby vacant or underutilized real estate. Meanwhile, they’re presenting it as the state’s best bet for a secondary resort outside Boston.
“This is not just a singular project on the hill, but potentially other kinds of development that will blend with the flow of traffic,” said Leon Dragone, president of the Northeast Resort Group, which owns the proposed casino property and leases it to Mohegan Sun, and now also occupies the space two doors down from Mohegan on Main Street. “There are several other properties we’re looking at.”

The Hand That’s Been Dealt Them
There’s a cluster of signs greeting motorists getting off the exit 8 interchange, most of them directing them to businesses and attractions in Palmer, to the right down Route 32, or in Ware, a few miles to the left.
But there are three relatively new additions that, along with a smattering of lawn signs along Route 32 supporting the casino effort, tell of the sense of urgency in Palmer these days and the importance of the casino to the town’s fortunes.
There’s the ‘Mohegan Sun — A World at Play’ sign in bright yellow, flanked by two signs of support, one for each of two recently formed groups: Palmer Businesses for a Palmer Casino and Citizens for Jobs & Growth in Palmer.
Robert Young is a member of both groups. He owns a landscaping company and has lived in Palmer most of his life, or at least long enough to see most manufacturing jobs leave and nothing of any substance to fill the employment void. Indeed, as he listed the manufacturers that have departed, including Tambrands, Zero Corp., Pearson Industries, and others, he said efforts to attract different kinds of employers, including those in high tech and the biosciences, have not met with success.
He acknowledged that the former Tambrands complex, seeking new tenants for more than a decade now, has attracted some new businesses, but few if any that are large employers.
“Palmer is a town that’s dying, and it’s been dying for a long time,” he said, noting that the ease with which Mohegan Sun and Northeast found vacant storefronts in the middle of downtown says something about the deterioration of the central business district. “We’ve lost tons of manufacturing jobs and support jobs, and nothing has materialized to replace them.
“We have no more jobs for a lifetime,” he continued, noting that, in his view and in the opinion of those who undertook a study on the subject at UMass, casino jobs are the new factory jobs that can support families for decades.
But jobs are not the only component of the argument being proferred by the support groups and other Palmer-site backers, who say a casino could lead to other kinds of economic development in the community and, in the process, fill a number of vacant parcels in and around Palmer with everything from additional hotels and restaurants to golf courses.
“There are a number of sites that could potentially be developed,” said Dragone, citing a 30-acre parcel once proposed for a Lowe’s and a 95-acre parcel in Ware as just two examples.
He said a North Carolina-based firm is being considered to create a master plan for nearby undeveloped parcels. Speaking broadly, he said a casino in Palmer could do for the town and surrounding region what the resort in Uncasville has done for Mystic, Conn., about a half-hour down the road, known for attractions such as its aquarium and Mystic Seaport.
“It’s quite legendary what’s occurred there, which has been a direct result of the blossoming of the gaming industry in the southeastern part of Connecticut,” he said. “It’s become much more of a year-round tourist attraction, where before, it was mostly seasonal.”

Doubling Down
While the Palmer casino support groups present their arguments about the benefits of resort casinos in general and a Palmer facility in particular, Mohegan Sun is devoting most of its efforts now toward pressing the case for a Western Mass. casino, said Brody, who is now splitting his time between Palmer and Boston, where he and lobbyists hired by the firm are trying to gain the ear of lawmakers.
The Morowicz Gaming Advisors’ numbers already have the attention of many legislators. They show that if there was one casino in Boston and a second in Palmer, the total gross slot and table revenues for the state in 2014 would be $1.168 billion, as opposed to $1.124 million for a Boston/Milford mix. Meanwhile, total out-of-state money coming into the Commonwealth would be $216.4 million with a Boston/Palmer scenario, compared to $119.1 million with a Boston/Milford combination.
The former numbers result from a Central Mass. facility essentially “cannibalizing” (the report’s authors’ word) the Eastern Mass. casino and racinos, while the latter is due largely to Palmer’s proximity to New York, resulting in reduced drive time for New York residents traveling to Palmer, as opposed to Central Mass.
Those in the industry say individuals will generally drive no more than two hours to frequent a casino, said Brody, which puts a Palmer resort in reach for people in Albany, Schenectedy, and Troy, and a Milford facility less so.
While Milford-resort backers have questioned the study’s results, Brody said that, objectively speaking, they are hard to argue with.
“There’s no outpost in the western portion of the state to attract the gaming revenue from this area and the New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire area,” he explained, adding that, in addition to that geographical logic, it’s clear, to him at least, that a Central Mass. casino would be far more vulnerable to cannibalism from existing facilities and ones that could come on the drawing board.
“What happens if New Hampshire launches gaming in the next few years at Rockingham and Seabrook?” he asked rhetorically. “That will have a profound impact on that whole Central Mass./ Eastern Mass. area. There’s a huge concentration of either existing or proposed facilities, all in or near Eastern Mass., and that’s why the math from this study is so compelling.”
Time will tell if the numbers and words coming out of the Mohegan camp will sway the decision makers in Boston, but Brody remains cautiously confident, and conveys this to visitors to the company’s storefront.
He said the volume of traffic increases when “something happens” like the House vote or when a key player endorses casinos. And that means the facility is quite busy these days.
“People sense that this is closer to reality than ever before,” he said. “We see it in the community, and we see it right here. There is still a ways to go, but people are excited; they sense that this is real.”

Roll of the Dice
Brody told BusinessWest that Mohegan Sun opened its storefront on Main Street to provide a resource for those with questions, opinions, and desires to land one of the projected 3,000 jobs to be created at the proposed resort. Meanwhile, the company wanted to provide a highly visible way of showing that, in some ways, it was already part of the Palmer community.
Whether Mohegan eventually assumes an exponentially greater presence and occupies a hilltop rather than a 1,000-square-foot storefront remains to be seen. The Legislature still has to decide if it will give the go-ahead for casinos, and then, if it does take that step, where to put them.
The Palmer site’s backers think they have a good hand, but they’re working hard to improve their odds in any way they can.
And in only a few weeks, they should find out if that hand is a winner.

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

Sections Supplements
NTS Takes Its Problem-solving Approach into the Greater Springfield Market

New Technology Systems (NTS), the East Hartford-based technology-solutions company, has always had a portion of the Western Mass. market, but never really a strong presence. Things are changing, with the opening of a new office in Monarch Place and an aggressive effort to grow market share by being visible and selling the company’s partnership-focused approach to doing business.

Barry Kelly says he had a simple, three-word set of instructions for Stan Bates as he was joining East Hartford-based New Technology Systems (NTS).
“I told him to go conquer Springfield,” said Kelly, who founded the technology-solutions company with his brother in 1981 and, until very recently, focused the vast majority of his time and energy on the Greater Hartford area. Over the years, he picked up several clients on this side of the border, but he never really made Western Mass. a strong priority.
Until now.
Or, to be more precise, until Bates took on the role of business development manager for NTS and started talking up Western Mass. as a potential growth area.
“He was and is very bullish on Springfield,” said Kelly, adding that he’s giving Bates the room (a new office on the second floor of Monarch Place) and the resources to be aggressive in Greater Springfield and grow market share here.
And as he sets out to conquer Springfield, he says he’s selling the company’s full roster of products and services — hardware, software, and consulting — but what he’s actually offering to potential clients is partnerships. That’s the word he chose to describe how NTS goes about its work — with all customers, but especially the SMB (small to medium-sized business) clients, or those who don’t have an IT manager, let alone an IT department.
Describing his approach with clients and potential clients, Bates says he spends time and energy getting to understand someone’s business, and, from an IT perspective, identify their “pain points,” and reduce or eliminate them.
“I really try to think outside the box with technology and find ways to help people use technology more effectively, while also keeping their costs under control,” he explained. “We had one client who had a whole bunch of laptops that he couldn’t afford to upgrade with the recession — but he needed to do something. With the latest technology in hard drives, we were able to significantly increase the performance of his laptops, but at a fraction of the cost of upgrades. That’s what we mean by working in partnership with the client.”
Kelly and Bates say these partnerships are made stronger by the relationships NTS has forged with manufacturers, vendors, and service providers, including Microsoft, HP, IBM, Dell, Intel, Cisco Systems, and many others. Products handled include everything from copiers and printers to computer networks.
Over the past few months, NTS has hosted a number of events featuring some of these manufacturers and their latest products, and more will be scheduled. They’ve been successful, said Bates, because busy business owners often need an education in the latest products that can help them do what they do better and faster than before. What’s more, after pushing most major investments, including those in IT, to the back burner during the economic downturn, many business owners and managers are ready to spend again, or soon will be ready.
“We’re seeing things picking up somewhat … people seem to have more confidence in the economy now,” said Bates, adding that there is a lot of new technology for business owners to consider as they look at their needs and their budgets and try to determine what to do next. “Besides the new operating systems and new equipment that’s much faster and better, there’s new technology that we have to educate our clients on.”
For this issue and its focus on the technology sector, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at NTS, and why Kelly and Bates believe the timing is right for its expansion into the Springfield market.

Technically Speaking
Tracing the history of NTS, Kelly said the company got its start in the Hartford area and, like most technology-solutions companies 30 years ago, had to work hard to establish itself and grow its client list.
The venture grew largely on the strength of handling all-sized accounts, but especially the large insurance companies that give that city its identity, or ‘enterprise businesses,’ as Kelly called them. NTS still has many in its portfolio, but its bread and butter has always been small to medium-sized businesses with 100 or fewer employees.
And it is this market that Bates has essentially been hired to penetrate in the Greater Springfield area, where NTS has always had a presence — it has handled work for several enterprise businesses over the years — but not a large share of the market.
Since arriving late last year, Bates, working closely with Kelly, has expended considerable time and energy making introductions to business owners and IT managers in Western Mass., and keeping NTS visible.
For example, he secured a major role for NTS in something called the MassISS, or Massachusetts Information Security Summit, a comprehensive program outlining the state’s new information-security regulations, staged on Jan. 27.
“We brought a lot to the table for that event, and it was a major success for us,” said Bates, noting that the company was able to not only introduce itself to the business managers and IT professionals who dominated the audience, but also gain some business, on both the new security law and other matters.
The company also staged an elaborate open house in early May to mark the opening of downtown Springfield office, as well as other events to put the NTS name out and educate its target audience about what’s new in technology. However, most all of the portfolio-building work is done the old-fashioned way, said Bates, through pavement-pounding and earning the kinds of word-of-mouth referrals that bring new business to the door.
From the beginning, the company has worked with that ‘partnership’ mentality, said Kelly, as he talked about how NTS works with clients find ways to get the most out of advancing technology to work better and smarter.
And most companies need a partner to handle those assignments properly, said Kelly, noting that most very small companies don’t have a designated IT person, and even in larger businesses, IT staffs are thin, to say the least.
“You’ll have some companies with 300 employees, and they’ll have one person in IT who’s not even full-time,” he explained. “It’s pretty hard to stay on top of technology under those circumstances.”
Bates agreed, noting that companies in that category, and there are many of them, need assistance with everything from coordinating break-fix work to determining when, how, and with what to upgrade technology.
“You go in looking for the pain, saying, ‘how can I help this customer?’” he said. “Then you work the problem and essentially try to make that pain go away.”
Elaborating, Bates and Kelly said company representatives work with a company’s managers and IT directors to first identify and quantify problems, and then generate solutions. The key to successful outcomes, they said, is asking the right questions, listening carefully to the answers, and creating solutions that serve the client, not the company selling products.
“We try to get the C-level, where we can help those managers lower the cost of technology, or to the IT directors themselves, who might need a little bit of a helping hand getting their network to the next level,” said Bates. “And we approach things with the mindset of forging a long-term relationship.”
Kelly concurred, and said that a client’s representatives will have one eye on managing and reducing costs, and the other on efficiency and optimizing the technology that’s on the market. NTS works on both sides of the equation.
“IT people are all about performance, while the C-level folks are focused on dollars and cents — if it’s going to save them money, on power or cooling, for example, they’re all about that,” said Kelly. “As for the IT people, if you’re solving problems that are keeping them up at night, that’s huge.”
While helping the tech people sleep better, NTS is focused on educating clients and prospective clients about new technology, how it works, and how it can help companies with everything from sales to marketing.
“Things like digital signage,” said Bates, referring to the LCD, LED, plasma displays, or projected images that are becoming more commonplace. “People are aware of the technology, but many don’t know how they can take advantage of it. I have five or six potential clients coming in to meet with us and some professionals on that subject who will be teaching them the pros and cons of digital signage.”
The company also staged informational events like one on May 13 at the Sheraton in Springfield, where attendees were briefed on Windows 7 and learned about HP business-notebook innovations and HP client virtualization, and it has more planned, said Bates, adding that these are true win-win-win scenarios. Clients and potential clients benefit from the education they’re receiving in new technology, while NTS and the manufacturers involved gain exposure and business.

Keys to Success
Time will tell how Bates fares with his assignment to “go conquer Springfield.” For now, both he and Kelly are confident that NTS has the products, services, track record, and excellent timing needed to accomplish that mission.
And as it goes about that work, the company will take the same approach that it does with clients and that process of eliminating pain: in short, NTS is in this for the long haul.

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

Features
Strong Diversity Makes Up for Town’s Small Size

Tom Bashista

Tom Bashista took over his family’s farm this past January, becoming the fourth generation to work the land.

If you drive into Southampton along Route 10 out of Easthampton, one of the first signs of commerce to greet you is a Big Y superstore.
But a stone’s throw across the road is the sign and entryway for Red Rock Shops, with 1960s-style letters heralding a strip of mom-and-pop stores. And this lets you know that you’re in Southampton. Primarily a residential community with a population of close to 5,800, the town has a business base that in many cases can be traced back for more than a generation.
Town Clerk Eileen Couture is no longer owner of Mahoney’s Package Store, but with her husband, she ran one of those mom-and-pops for more than 25 years. She said that, in addition to her former store, her husband’s family was owner of the popular Couture Gardens dance hall.
Speaking from personal experience, she said, “quite a few businesses in town have grown up with their families.”
While she sold her store to take up a position in Town Hall, she listed off the names of several Southamptonites who are still business owners: Pure Foods, owned by Don Pusa; the Tarka family’s auto-service station; and Lyman Sheet Metal, a machine shop that has been in that family since 1894.
With his wife, Cheryl, Tom Bashista took over his family’s farm this past January, becoming the fourth generation to work the land. At Bashista Orchards and Cider Mill on East Street, he joked that the only thing that’s different now as owner is the amount of paperwork for which he’s responsible.
But a drive through Southampton’s scenic byways offers a window into a business community that also reflects the cultural underpinnings of this colonial town.
Sage Books is a used bookstore that is housed in an elegant antique home along Route 10. Owner Pete Morin said that it was fate that brought him and his wife to this role, and that, despite the Internet, the written word on paper is still a draw for people. Similarly, Robert Floyd, owner of the eponymous photo gallery next door to Town Hall, said that, after a professional career as a photojournalist in New York City, he made the decision to take this property before he even knew what he wanted to do with it.
Since opening in 2001, the Robert Floyd Photo Gallery has been serving both local and world-renowned artists in the medium, while also providing monthly classes and seminars.
For this installment of its Doing Business In series, BusinessWest finds out how Southampton is very similar to Floyd’s description of his gallery: “It’s many things to many people.”

All in the Family
Couture said that her business flourished through the 1970s and ’80s. “But when the bigger stores started opening in West Springfield or Westfield in the ’90s, everyone would go there for their big purchases.”
Given the tightly knit town, though, she said that people are very much interested in supporting the shops owned by their neighbors.
“You want to give the local people a shot,” she said, adding, “Pure Foods has some very solid local business, even with Big Y right across the street. His parking lot is always full. They have a lot of meat specials, and people flock there for that.
“At the bowling alley,” she continued, “I learned how to bowl there; my kids did, too. It’s nice to have things like that for your kids. That place has been owned by the same family forever.”
It’s a long way, commercially speaking, from bowling lanes to apple orchards, but the sentiment is the same for Bashista.
Working the same farmland his great-grandfather Jacob first owned in 1926, Bashista said that he took over as the latest generation because “I didn’t want houses built on this land.
“It’s sweat equity just to keep the land the way it was when I grew up,” he continued, “so my kids can have that same opportunity. What they do with it is up to them, but it’s my choice to do this.”
But it wasn’t a difficult decision to make. Bashista Orchards has maintained a thriving retail component to the farming, from the days when Jacob had a container by the roadside so customers could make their own change, to the current building, housing the apple-sorting facility, cold storage, a bakery, and shelves lined with the best this farm and other local food purveyors have to offer.
Bashista credits his parents for turning the market into a year-round operation four years ago, and he noted that the 40 varieties of apples he grows are kept perfectly in the decades-old cold storage, to be enjoyed through the following summer.
“And none of this is high-tech,” he added. “This sorting machine here was bought in the 1950s, and it still works as well as the day it was bought.”
The stretch of road out front is in contention for repaving, and Bashista said he’ll wait for that outcome to determine how, if at all, he’ll change things in his time at the farm. A covered porch would be nice, he said, to offer some protection for idling with a cup of coffee and gazing at the view — something he’s not too familiar with, in his busy time on the farm.
“But it would be a great spot for folks,” he said, “like Yankee Candle’s great wraparound porch.
“I want to keep this the way it has always been,” he added, “like people could step back in time when they come here. Other than making things more efficient, I don’t want to change a thing.”

Read All About It
When Morin had been ‘downsized’ in the 1990s, he knew that the time had come to make a life change. And looking around at the number of books he and his wife, Susan Shea, had amassed the solution was right there all the time.
“After collecting for 35 years, we had probably 5,000 books,” he said. “We thought, ‘why not open a bookstore?’”
Having a good idea from their travels of what they wanted, the two decided upon the current location, an old house that had been vacant for 20 years. It wasn’t for sale, but they had bought a few properties already from the owner, a Realtor, and their patience paid off. After building out the inside from basement to second floor, all with his own millwork, Morin said that operations began in 1996.
At one time, the operation specialized in locating hard-to-find and out-of-print volumes, but has scaled back on that service out of necessity. “When we first opened, there were maybe 400 to 500 booksellers using Internet searches. Today I’d say there’s 40,000 to 50,000. There are those local customers who will come to us, though, just not in the numbers that once were.”
Reflecting on the future of the written word, Morin backtracked first and called it “as important an invention as fire and the wheel,” and said that his demographic is decidedly the older generations.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he added, “I love my iTouch, I listen to the radio on it, but it doesn’t ever replace my desire to read on paper. Younger people still are interested, but it’s less than it used to be. When my wife and I used to go to the beach, we’d bring a stack of paperbacks. James Michener, Tom Clancy, you know the type. I can’t for the life of me imagine doing that with a Kindle.”
While his market is in an ever-evolving state, like a true bibliophile he added, “after opening up here, I was offered a very lucrative job, and I just didn’t want to take it. This is a labor of love.”

Picture This
Similarly, when asked what brought him to Southampton originally, Floyd smiled and said, “two words: Linda Emerson.”
Indeed, after forging a career first as an engineer and then as a photojournalist, with clients ranging from the Special Olympics to Morgan Stanley, Floyd said that he moved to town to be with his partner, but kept the clients and an apartment in Manhattan for many years.
“Three years after I was in town, we were walking right along the street outside on New Year’s Day,” he remembered. “As we passed by this building I noticed a ‘for rent’ sign. I decided on the spot that I was going to take it. For nine months, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do with it.”
A gallery dedicated to his own work wasn’t the goal, he said, but to exhibit the work of others in that medium was. “My heart is in elevating photography for the general public,” he said, “to learn about photography, and to really view it.”
His studio isn’t the place for the “cute bear in the wildflowers” kind of imagery, he said, explaining that there is a potentially profitable market he’s turning away. But the work does draw people from both the region and far beyond, and Floyd has become known as a gallerist with as good an eye for his exhibitions as his photojournalism work.
Currently showcasing the photomontage work of Julius Lester and infrared landscapes by Betsy Feick, among examples of many others, Floyd said “my photographers tell me they sell better here than any of their other venues. I know we offer more than any photo gallery in Western Mass, what with seminars and classes. And there are great galleries out there, to be sure.”
His concluding remarks about his business are emblematic of the town itself. “People who know about us know how strong a collection we are. We make a lot of noise for a little gallery.”

Building Permits Departments

The following building permits were issued during the month of October 2010.

AGAWAM

Bethany Assembly of God
580 Main St.
$2,500 — Relocate interior walls

AMHERST

Amherst Court Trust
26 South Prospect St.
$14,000 — Re-roof

CHICOPEE

Charter Communications
354 Sheridan St.
$13,000 — Partition off part of building for storage

Mike Houston
1307 Memorial Dr.
$185,000 — Interior fit-up and exterior signs and awnings

PNCU
46 Main St.
$46,000 — Interior fit-up on second floor of bank

Richard Lemelin
152 Old Lyman Road
$38,000 — Construct a storage building

Wal-Mart
591 Memorial Ave.
$48,000 — Convert full-service seafood area into self-service

EASTHAMPTON

James Witner, II
142 Pleasant St.
$134,000 — New roof

Jeanne More
69 Ferry St.
$15,000 — Replace existing commercial antennas

EAST LONGMEADOW

Aaron Smith, LLC
270 Benton Dr.
$53,000 — Re-roof

Donald Smith
165 Shaker Road
$22,000 — Renovation

Excel Dryer
357 Chestnut St.
$370,000 — Addition

Hasbro
443 Shaker Road
$600,000 — New roof

HomeGoods
431 North Main St.
$73,000 — Renovation

GREENFIELD

Friendly’s Realty I, LLC
368 Federal St.
$3,000 — Repair and replace walls

Mary S. Lesenski
58 Newton St.
$4,000 — Replace roof

HOLYOKE

City of Holyoke Schools
165 Sargeant St.
$14,500 — Install temporary fence

Holyoke Mall Company, L.P.
50 Holyoke St.
$45,000 — Renovation of Bath & Body store

Nicholas Sierros
1735-1737 Northampton St.
$5,000 — Build three new rooms

LONGMEADOW

Longmeadow Mall
789 Williams St.
$14,000 — Divide store into two spaces

St. Mary’s Church
36 Hopkins Place
$853,000 — New parish center building

LUDLOW

Big Y
433 Center St.
$2,000 — Minor alterations

NORTHAMPTON

2-4-6 Graves Ave. Condo Association
2 Graves Ave.
$3,800 — Add structural posts from basement to attic

Center Street, LLC
21 Center St.
$17,500 — Remove and install new membrane roof

Demers Family Realty, LLC
206 King St.
$11,400 — Interior renovations

F.L. Roberts & Co. Inc.
138 North King St.
$7,500 — New facade

Paul E. Brown
1 Market St.
$74,000 — Interior renovation for café

Suman & Mitesh Patel
48 Old South St.
$2,500 — Replace roof

Valley Community Development Corporation
98 King St
$936,000 — Renovate 10 efficiency apartments and ground floor commercial space

SPRINGFIELD

Beacon Communities, LLC
401 North Branch Parkway
$3,000 — Renovations

DMH
2155 Main St.
$14,000 — Alteration to office spaces

WESTFIELD

Gary Pasquini
90 Servistar Industrial Way
$71,000 — New storage building

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Dick Hardy
1501 Elm St.
$5,000 — Renovate 562 square feet of lounge

Dr. Robert Matthews
232 Park St.
$12,000 — Renovate three exam rooms

Taco Bell
1 Glendale Way
$18,000 — Re-roof

Opinion
Getting the Nation on Track for Jobs

This appears to be a good season for investment in transportation. In September, President Obama proposed to invest $50 billion in the nation’s transportation infrastructure. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has already committed $776 million to bring buses and bus facilities into a state of good repair. Combined with the $8 billion investment in high-speed rail that was part of the February 2009 stimulus package, it seems that the nation is finally putting a down payment on a 21st-century transit system.
But these sums are a pittance compared with the need. The U.S. has yet to commit the money needed to create a world-class rail system, or to stimulate a transit-vehicle manufacturing industry that today depends mostly on imports. In reports we released this week in cooperation with the Apollo Alliance and Worldwatch Institute, we estimate that a serious investment in public transit could stimulate thousands of sorely needed manufacturing jobs. To appreciate how far we are falling short, consider the example of China.
China recognizes the economic links between developing rail lines and promoting manufacturing. In 2001, it began a $132 billion rail-construction project, which is scheduled for completion in 2012. During roughly the same period, the U.S. appropriated just $19 billion for rail construction, or about one-seventh China’s level.
As part of its recession-recovery package, China committed $88 billion in 2009 to railway infrastructure, doubling its 2008 investment. The goal: to create much-needed transportation links, to generate demand for 20 million tons of domestic steel, and to create 6 million new jobs overall.
To reach the government’s goal of 1.1 million kilometers (about 450,000 miles) of railroad by 2012, China will spend a total of $292.5 billion. Of this, 13,000 kilometers will be for high-speed rail. A key benefit: China’s two leading locomotive and rail-car manufacturers will employ more than 212,000 people combined to meet domestic goals. If transportation policy is to create domestic manufacturers and permanent manufacturing jobs, a steady and predictable level of investment is needed. The U.S. lost its domestic passenger rail-car industry by the late 1980s not because of high labor costs, but because of erratic demand. Most of the countries that dominate the industry today, such as Germany and France, have wages comparable to the U.S., but they have a comprehensive strategy that allows producers to anticipate stable demand for their products.
Annual domestic demand for production of rail cars in the U.S. bounced between a low of 268 units to a high of 1,067 units during the 1970s, according to Thomas Boucher of Rutgers University. And as demand for transit vehicles waned, U.S. companies couldn’t come up with investment dollars to keep up with state-of-the-art technology.
We analyzed the job-creation potential of investment in rail infrastructure and estimate that the U.S. could gain 79,000 jobs in rail and bus manufacturing and related industries under an investment scenario sufficient to double transit ridership in 20 years. An investment at levels similar to China — $24.4 billion per year over six years — would yield 252,213 jobs, including many well-paid blue-collar jobs of the kind that have been devastated over the past decade.
Reclaiming a domestic rail industry is part of a broader need to revive competitive manufacturing. Even in its weakened state, manufacturing accounted for $1.6 trillion (12%) of U.S. GDP in 2008 — more than real estate, finance, and insurance.
Manufacturing accounts for 60% of U.S. exports and 70% of private-sector research and development funding. Yet the U.S. goods deficit with the rest of the world in 2008 exceeded $836 billion. The annual trade deficit with China alone was $266 billion in 2008, with 75% due to the manufactured-goods deficit.
A high-quality passenger-rail system is a trifecta. It would attract more riders and cut dependence on private cars — in turn reducing the carbon emissions that cause global warming. More than that, a commitment to mass transit could promote the resurgence of a major manufacturing sector that we’ve lost, reducing our trade deficit and increasing domestic jobs.

Joan Fitzgerald is professor and director of the graduate program in Law, Policy and Society at Northeastern University. Joseph McLaughlin is a senior research associate at the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern.

Chamber Corners Departments

ACCGS
www.myonlinechamber.com
(413) 787-1555

n Nov. 2: Springfield Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Meeting, 12 noon to 1 p.m., TD Bank Conference Center, Springfield.
n Nov. 3: ACCGS Business@Breakfast, Making Chamber Connections, 7:15 to 9 a.m., Chez Josef, Agawam. Cost: members $20, non-members $30.
n Nov. 4: WRC Food Fest West, 5 to 7:30 p.m., Crestview County Club, Agawam. Featuring 12 local restaurants, beer tasting, wine tasting, and cooking demonstrations. Cost: $25.
n Nov. 11-20: Italy Trip.
Nov. 12: ACCGS Legislative Steering Committee, 8-9 a.m., TD Bank Conference Center, Springfield.
n Nov. 17: ERC Board of Directors Meeting, 8-9 a.m., the Gardens of Wilbraham, Community Room, Wilbraham.
n Nov. 17: Women’s Partnership Meeting, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Max’s Tavern, Springfield. Cost: members $25, non-members $35.
n Nov. 17: ACCGS Ambassadors’ Meeting, 4-5 p.m., EDC Conference Room, Springfield.
n Nov. 17: Government Reception, 5 to 7:30 p.m., Storrowton Tavern, West Springfield. Cost: members $50, non-members $60.
n Nov. 18: ACCGS Board of Directors Meeting, 8-9 a.m., TD Bank Conference Center, Springfield.
n Nov. 23: WRC Board of Directors Meeting, 8-9 a.m., Captain Leonard House, Agawam.

Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield
www.springfieldyps.com

n Nov. 18: November’s Third Thursday, 5-8 p.m., Pasquale’s Ristorante, East Longmeadow. Cost: free for members, non-members $10. Includes food and cash bar.

Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce
www.amherstarea.com

n Nov. 17: Amherst Area Chamber After 5, 5-7 p.m., Cowls Building Supply, Amherst. Cost: members 5, non-members $10.

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

n Nov. 4: Mine Your Business, 4-7 p.m., Kittredge Center, PeoplesBank Room 303. Two-on-two meetings: your decision maker and your top salesperson meet with another local decision maker and his or her top salesperson. Sponsored by BusinessWest, Chicopee Chamber of Commerce, First American Insurance, Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, Holyoke Community College, the Log Cabin/Delaney House, Marcotte Ford,  and Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C. To participate, contact Gail Sherman at (413) 594-2101 or [email protected]
n Nov. 17: Salute Breakfast, 7:15 to 9 a.m., Delaney House, Holyoke. Cost: members $18, non-members $25. Sign up online at www.chicopeechamber.org

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

n Nov. 6 and 7: CiderDays, Sweet and Hard, Shelburne Falls, Colrain, New Salem, and Deerfield. Cidermaking workshops, marketplace, cider salon, tastings, orchard tours, and harvest supper. Some events require tickets; others are free. See www.ciderday.org for more information.
n Nov. 19: FCCC Breakfast Series: “Greenfield Renaissance,” 7:30 to 9 a.m., Greenfield Grille, Greenfield. Moderator: Ted Carmen, Concord Square Planning & Development. Panelists: Jordi Herold, Bank Row buildings; Ed Wierzbowski, Pushkin and Arts Block; and Mark Zaccheo, 30 Olive St. Sponsors: Harmon Personnel Service and Hampton Inn & Suites. Cost: members $12, non-members $15. The public is invited.

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

n Nov. 6: 10th Annual Bowl-a-Thon, 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., Canal Bowling Lanes, Southampton. Sponsored by the Greater Easthampton Chamber Holiday Spirit Committee. Pizza, raffles, and free pizza for bowlers. Cost: $100 per five-member team. For more information or to enter, call the chamber at (413) 527-9414.
n Nov. 8: Holiday Lights Cocktail Party, 5 to 8 p.m., Venus and the Cellar Bar, Easthampton. Second annual get-together. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres and cash bar. Donations accepted toward Chamber of Commerce downtown holiday lights fund.
n Nov. 10: Networking by Night-Business Card Exchange, 5-7 p.m. Hosted & sponsored by Northeast Center for Youth & Families, 203 East St., Easthampton. Door prizes, hors d’oeuvres, and host beer and wine. Cost: members $5, non-members $15.

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

n Nov. 3: Valley Job Fair, 2-5 p.m., Borders/Pottery Barn entrance at the Holyoke Mall. Presented by the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce and CareerPoint. Sponsored by the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside. Cost: $200 for employers, free to all job seekers. WTCC-FM 90.7 will be broadcasting live.
n Nov. 4: Mine Your Business, 4-7 p.m., Kittredge Center, PeoplesBank Room 303. Two-on-two meetings: your decision maker and your top salesperson meet with another local decision maker and his or her top salesperson. Sponsored by BusinessWest, Chicopee Chamber of Commerce, First American Insurance, Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, Holyoke Community College, the Log Cabin/Delaney House, Marcotte Ford,  and Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C. To participate, contact Doris Ransford at (413) 534-3376 or [email protected]
n Nov. 18: Chamber After Hours, 5-7 p.m. Hosted and sponsored by Eighty Jarvis Restaurant, Holyoke. Cost: members $5, non-members $10 cash.
n Nov. 19: Annual Greater Holyoke Economic Development Breakfast, 7:30 a.m., Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House. Featured speaker: Jack Wilson, president of UMass and chairman of the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center. Cost: $25. Call the chamber at (413) 534-3376 for tickets, or reserve online at holycham.com

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

n Nov. 3: November Arrive @5, 5-7 p.m., Smith College Art Museum, Northampton. A casual mix-and-mingle with colleagues and friends. Cost: $10 for members.
n Nov. 16: New Member Lunch, 12 noon to 1 p.m., Northampton Chamber of Commerce, Northampton. This is our chance to sit down with you and learn more about your business
and how the chamber can best serve you; to introduce you to people who are active in the chamber; and to tell you about the programs and benefits your membership helps support. A light lunch will be served. The event is free.

Northampton Area Young Professional Society
www.thenayp.com
(413) 584-1900

n Nov. 10: NAYP Dinner with a Purpose, Venus and Cellar Bar, Easthampton.
Quaboag Hills Chamber of Commerce
www.qvcc.biz
(413) 283-2418
See chamber’s Web site for information about upcoming events.

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

n Nov. 9: Third Annual Economic Summit, 8 to 9:30 a.m., Willits-Hallowell Center, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley. Speaker: James Hartley, professor of Economics, Mount Holyoke College. Cost: $15 at the door, including full breakfast. RSVP by Nov. 5.
n Nov. 17: After 5, 5-7 p.m., Cowls Building Supply, Amherst.

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

n Nov. 28: Christmas on the Common, 5 p.m., Three Rivers Gazebo. Santa arrives at 6 p.m. Sponsored by Three Rivers Chamber of Commerce. Special guests: Palmer High School Chorus and Santa Claus. Cost: Free for all kids and their families.

Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce
www.westfieldbiz.org
(413) 568-1618
See chamber’s Web site for information about upcoming events.

Court Dockets 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.

FRANKLIN
SUPERIOR COURT
Joan Barry v. Franklin County Home Care Corp., Ari Fleet, Cambridge Integrated Services Group Inc., and American Home Insurance
Allegation: Negligence in the operation of a motor vehicle: $5,660,009.55
Filed: 8/24/10

HAMPDEN
SUPERIOR COURT
Barbara Mackenzie-Rodgers and Robert Rodgers v. Pioneer Spine & Sports Physicians and Michael J. Woods, D.O.
Allegation: Six-year delay in treatment of severe hip fracture leading to permanent disability: $115,508.24
Filed: 8/5/10

Dayna Scott v. Commerce Insurance Co.
Allegation: Breach of contract: $107,500
Filed: 8/20/10

Jeffrey Bradley v. The Golf Group Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment of wages and overtime pay: $95,000
Filed: 8/20/10

Liam & Kate Reynolds, as administrators of the estate of Liam Reynolds v. Blue Fusion Bar & Grille, Tony M. Miller, Edward Taylor Newton III, and April B. Griffin
Allegation: Incident occurred inside the Blue Fusion in which Conor W. Reynolds, a 17-year-old male, was stabbed and died as a result of his injuries: $5 million
Filed: 8/11/10

Maria G. Luis v. The Seajay Group, LLC
Allegation: Cost of cleanup for previous oil contamination in home: $100,000
Filed: 8/18/10

People’s United Bank v. La Cucina de Pinocchio Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment on promissory notes: $673,140.77
Filed: 8/11/10

Phoenix Development Inc. v. Mass. Property Insurance Underwriting Associates
Allegation: Breach of insurance contract: $96,552.41
Filed: 8/11/10

T.D. Bank N.A. v. Neivar Enterprises, Thomas D. Lesperance, and Carol Balakier
Allegation: Non-payment of promissory note: $491,255.97
Filed: 8/17/10

Wall Construction Co. v. City of Chicopee and Chicopee Housing Authority
Allegation: Breach of construction contract: $10,944.09
Filed: 8/23/10

NORTHAMPTON
DISTRICT COURT
Leo Laporte Jr. v. Mill Valley Golf Links
Allegation: Injuries sustained by plaintiff after losing control of a Segway provided by plaintiff: $336,713.97
Filed: 8/19/10

PALMER
DISTRICT COURT
The Bell/Simons Company v. Al’s Heating & Cooling Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $7,791.87
Filed: 9/6/10

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Bank of Boston, N.A. v. A&T Construction Inc. and John C. Auger
Allegation: Non-payment on a small-business term loan and a line of credit: $72,277.61
Filed: 8/11/10

The McGraw-Hill Companies, LLC v. Leadership Prep Academy for Young Men Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $5,885.77
Filed: 8/11/10

Western Mass. Electric v. Canta Napoli Pizzeria Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment of utility services: $5,832.99
Filed: 8/9/10

O.K. Bakery Supply Co. Inc. v. Abrantes Bakery & Pastry Shop
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $7,428.53

O.K. Bakery Supply Co. Inc. v. Elm Farm Bakery
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $7,316.27
Filed: 8/17/10

O.K. Bakery Supply Co. Inc. v. Gourmet Donuts II
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $6,210
Filed: 8/17/10

O.K. Bakery Supply Co. Inc. v. Royal Bakery
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $2,242.65
Filed: 8/17/10

Sections Supplements
This Unique Event Will Put Businesses in Front of Decision Makers

Mine Your Business

Mine Your Business

In 2008, the Greater Holyoke and Chicopee Chambers of Commerce commenced a search for an event that would be an alternative to the traditional trade show and typical networking event. What has emerged for 2010, and Nov. 4, to be more specific, is Mine Your Business, or what is being described as a networking and sales- building opportunity for companies across the region. Presented by BusinessWest, this unique event will give participants a chance to tell their stories in front of actual decision makers. Here’s a look at how Mine Your Business will unfold, and who will be taking part..

Peter Rosskothen says he gets some of his business at the Log Cabin-Delaney House from referrals, and still more from essentially showing people what he can do — putting on an event that prompts people to think of his venues when it’s their turn to stage a get-together.
But Rosskothen, co-owner of those Holyoke institutions, says that networking remains a big part of efforts to fill the calendars at both locations, and that’s why he does a lot of it. “It’s important to get in front of people, remind them you’re there, start new relationships, and strengthen existing ones,” he told BusinessWest.
For all these reasons, Rosskothen is a participant and strong supporter of Mine Your Business, what is being described as a networking and sales-building event slated for Nov. 4 at the Kittredge Center at Holyoke Community College. He said the gathering, presented by BusinessWest and sponsored by several area companies, including the Log Cabin-Delaney House, will give those involved a chance to not only tell their stories, but tell them to an audience of decision makers.
“And this is the audience you want to be reaching,” he said. “And that’s what makes this event different. At a trade show or a typical networking event, you get some exposure and you meet quite a few people, but you don’t generally get to see the decision makers, the people you need to be seeing.”
Here’s how it works: participating companies will send two representatives to the event — a decision maker and a top sales executive. This team will then meet a series of other teams for eight-minute discussions, or encounters, during which introductions can be made, information can be shared, relationships can be initiated or taken to a higher level, and, down the road, sales can be made.
With this sequence of events in mind, Kate Campiti, associate publisher and advertising director at BusinessWest, said that event organizers have incorporated the slogan ‘it’s where the conversation starts’ into Mine Your Business promotional efforts.
“People tend to do business with people they know and trust, people they have a relationship with,” she explained. “Relationships start when people get to know each other and come to understand their respective businesses can help one another.”
At press time, nearly two dozen companies, representing several business sectors, had signed on to take part in Mine Your Business. The list includes financial-services providers, printing companies, office-supply companies, a Ford dealer, and much more. Profiles of participating companies begin on page 21.
There is still plenty of time for companies to reserve space, however.
In addition to the Greater Holyoke and Chicopee Chambers of Commerce, Mine Your Business is being sponsored by First American Insurance, Holyoke Community College, Marcotte Ford, and Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C.
For more information or to reserve space, call the Greater Holyoke Chamber at (413) 534-3376, the Chicopee Chamber at (413) 594-2101, or BusinessWest at (413) 781-8600.

A to Z Moving & Storage Inc.
380 Union St., Suite One, West Springfield, MA 01089
(413) 736-4440
www.a-zmovers.net
A to Z can move individuals and businesses, and no job is too small or too large. A to Z can also store excess files — and a customer’s active ones — as well as providing delivery and pickup when needed them. All customers are treated with courtesy and professionalism.

ABC 40 and Fox 6 WGGB-TV
1300 Liberty St., Springfield, MA 01104
(413) 733-4040
www.wggb.com
As Springfield’s only locally owned TV stations, a commitment and access to local communities, support of viewers, and strength of programming combine to make WGGB-TV ABC 40 and Fox 6 a valuable partner to create visibility and awareness for local businesses.

BusinessWest
1441 Main St., Springfield, MA 01103
(413) 781-8600
www.businesswest.com
Founded in 1984, BusinessWest is the region’s premier business publication bringing local business news, trends, and information to nearly 30,000 readers. Published bi-weekly, BusinessWest is read by business owners, presidents, CEOs, senior managers, and professionals throughout Western Mass., and it is committed to the region’s economic health, vitality, and future.

Comcast Business Class
222 New Park Dr., Berlin, CT 06037
(413) 730-4579
www.business.comcast.com
Comcast Business Services offers Western Mass. businesses a one-stop solution for all of their communication needs. With business-class Internet, voice, and TV, companies can leverage the power of Comcast’s fiber-optic network while enjoying the convenience of one provider for all three services and 24/7 customer support.
 

Deliso Financial and Insurance Services
540 Meadow St., Suite 108, Agawam, MA 01001
(413) 785-1100
www.delisofinancialservices.com
After 20 years in the financial-services industry, Jean Deliso’s passion for finance and strategic planning led to the creation of Deliso Financial and Insurance Services in 2000. Deliso Financial and Insurance Services is a comprehensive financial-management agency.

First American Insurance Agency Inc.
510 Front St., Chicopee, MA 01021
(413) 592-8118
www.faiagency.com
This family-owned insurance agency is proud of its local heritage and committed to its strong principles of personal service. Founded in 1986 by President Ed Murphy, First American Insurance Agency is a proud example of the region’s powerful entrepreneurial spirit, growing to become a leading insurance agency specializing in both personal and commercial lines of coverage.

Hadley Printing
58 Canal St., Holyoke, MA 01040
(413) 536-8517
www.hadleyprinting.com
For more than 100 years, Hadley Printing has provided high-quality printing to a wide range of clients throughout the Northeast. Hadley Printing’s excellent reputation is a result of company values reflecting honesty, integrity, and a strong work ethic. Customers trust and respect Hadley Printing for high-quality work and exceptional service.

Holyoke Community College
303 Homestead Ave., Holyoke, MA 01040
(413) 552-2500
www.hcc.edu
Since 1946, Holyoke Community College has been a gateway to quality education and career advancement. Seeking to realize their dreams and aspirations, more than 100,000 students have come through the doors of the college. Today, HCC serves more than 9,000 students annually in more than 100 associate degree and certificate options, and more than 5,500 in non-credit and workforce-development courses.

Holyoke Gas & Electric/HGE.net
9 Suffolk St., Holyoke, MA 01040
(413) 536-9300
www.hged.com
Formed in 1902, HG&E is a municipally owned utility that provides electricity, natural gas, and fiber-optic Internet services to more than 18,000 customers. Its mission to customers is to provide competitive energy rates, reliable service, and excellent customer service.
 

INK Products
25 Grove St., Chicopee, MA 01020
(413) 594-7533
www.inkprod.com
INK Products was established in 1996 with the intent to bring businesses competitive prices on a wide variety of printing and office supplies, and to provide businesses with a source of answers to any questions regarding their supply needs. Service like this is not available at superstores or mail-order companies.

The Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House
500 Easthampton Road, Holyoke, MA 01040
(413) 535-5077
The Delaney House
1 Country Club Road, Holyoke, MA 01040
(413) 532-1800
www.logcabin-delaney.com
Beautiful settings and Old World charm have given the Log Cabin and the Delaney House a reputation as premier banquet facilities and restaurants in the Valley. Attention to detail, exclusive service, and unrivaled menus distinguish the quality options offered to customers.
Marcotte Ford
1025 Main St., Holyoke, MA 01040
(800) 842-0699
www.marcotteford.com
Marcotte Ford is a premier new Ford and used car dealer. With a friendly and helpful sales staff, highly skilled mechanics, and multiple automotive certifications, Marcotte’s mission is to make every customer a customer for life by consistently offering superb customer care, competitive prices, and a knowledgeable staff.

Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C.
330 Whitney Ave., Suite 800, Holyoke, Massachusetts 01040
(413) 536-8510
www.meyerskalicka.com
Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C. is the largest independently owned and operated CPA firm based in Western Mass. Its mission is to provide professional services of superior quality and value to enable clients to achieve their goals. Every MBK client, from individual proprietorships to multi-million-dollar international organizations, receives the personal attention of one of the partners.
  

Moriarty & Primack
One Monarch Place, Suite 1300, Springfield, MA 01144
(413) 739-1800
www.mass-cpa.com
Moriarty & Primack, P.C. was founded in 1993 by the late Richard Moriarty and Jay Primack. At that time, each had 18 years of diversified public-accounting experience with Big Four firms. Today, many individuals on the staff have a large-accounting-firm background. The firm and its affiliates have a total professional staff of 28, of whom 17 are certified public accountants.
 

Northeast Security Partners
33 Sylvan St., West Springfield, MA 01089
(413) 733-7306
www.northeastsecuritysolutions.com
Northeast Security Solutions is a company driven by the goal of achieving total customer satisfaction in everything it does. It’s the only one-stop security company in the area offering mechanical and electronic security integration, saving customers time, money, and ‘buck-passing’ between suppliers.

Ondrick Natural Earth
729 Fuller Road, Chicopee, MA 01020
(413) 594-8803
www.ondricknaturalearth.com
Ondrick Natural Earth is the Greater Springfield’s most comprehensive supplier of landscaping and building stone. With an impressive inventory, a knowledgeable sales staff, and a homeowner-friendly store, Ondrick meets landscape, architectural, and building-stone needs, from wall and patio stone to natural thin stone veneers.
 

Peter Pan Bus Lines
P.O. Box 1776 , Springfield, MA 01102
(800) 343-9999
www.peterpanbus.com
Peter Pan is one of the largest privately owned intercity bus companies in the industry, with the most modern fleet on the road. Its new, state-of-the-art motorcoaches have changed bus travel, offering passengers amenities such as wi-fi, electrical outlets for laptops and cell phone chargers, tray tables, extra legroom, safety restraints, and more.

Telemundo
866 Maple Ave., Hartford, CT 06114
(860) 956-1303
www.zgsgroup.com
This Spanish-language, American television network is operated by ZGS Communication, a Hispanic-owned company with a profound commitment to serving the local communities where it conducts business.

Valley Engraved Gifts & Awards
120 Whiting Farms Road, Holyoke, MA 01040
(888) 226-5252
www.signature-engravers.com
Valley Engraved Gifts & Awards, a division of Signature Engraving Systems, is a privately held corporation and an offshoot of United Innovations Inc., an engineering design firm. Now the benchmark for computerized engravers, Signature has evolved to not only develop better tools and systems, but also educate the industry about personalization so they can benefit from increased margins and experience the pleasure of making their customers happy.

United Bank
95 Elm St., West Springfield, MA 01089
(866) 959-2265
www.bankatunited.com
United Bank is a federally chartered stock bank headquartered in West Springfield. The bank has been doing business in the Pioneer Valley since 1882. Today, it has more than $1.5 billion in assets and offices throughout the Greater Springfield area.

Valley Computer Works
84 Russell St., Hadley, MA 01035
(413) 587-2666
www.valleycomputerworks.com
Valley Computer Works has been selling and servicing computers in the Pioneer Valley since 1999. It offers a wide array of services for residential and commercial clients. Fueled by a growing client base and the constant expansion of its staff and facilities, Valley Computer Works has established itself as a premier computer consulting, sales, and service business.

Sections Supplements
New Technology Keeps Users Connected 24/7

New Technology

New Technology Gadgets

It says something about today’s Internet users — that would be just about everyone — that the year’s biggest high-tech gadget story is an electronic tablet that’s not much good at producing media, but spectacular at helping people consume it. From the iPad and smartphones to GPS systems and cameras that upload to the Internet in a flash, today’s devices are all about keeping the world connected, every second of every day. Here are some of the products that led the way in 2010.

Take a bow, Apple. You created the story of the year in technology.
That story, of course, is the launch last spring of the iPad, a device that rode massive waves of hype and garnered, for the most part, positive reviews — with a few caveats. For our annual look at what’s new in the world of technology, that’s the best place to start.
Essentially a wi-fi platform for audio and visual media that’s bigger than a smartphone but weighs less than a notebook computer, the iPad ($499) sold to the tune of 3 million devices in the first 80 days alone, and could sell around 12 million by the end of the year.
New York Times technology writer David Pogue produced perhaps the most novel — and certainly one of the most-talked-about — reviews of the iPad by writing two separate essays, one for techies and one for everyday users.
He gives vent to concerns from the tech-savvy crowd that the device doesn’t offer anything that someone with a notebook computer and a smartphone doesn’t already have, and detailed its lack of multitasking, Flash video, USB ports, and a camera.
But he is more enthusiastic in his “review for everyone else,” praising the iPad’s fast processing speed and impressive presentation of applications (and there are tens of thousands available) ranging from the iBooks e-reader to maps and driving simulators. In short — and to use a line that has appeared in countless writeups of the product — the iPad isn’t good at producing content, but it’s revolutionary as a way to consume it.
“In its current incarnation, the Apple iPad could no more replace your main computing device than could a netbook,” according to tech blog mashable.com. “A decade from now, the iPad will be less useful than the first iPod is today, but it will forever be the face that truly launched tablet computing. For that, it deserves recognition.”
Of course, smartphones have allowed users to access media on the go for a long time — albeit on a smaller scale — and 2010 was the year that the Motorola Droid stole the most headlines. Actually released late in 2009, the Droid (which is distributed exclusively by Verizon Wireless) sold 250,000 units its first week and has emerged as a rival for the Apple iPhone (more on that later).
According to cnet.com, the Droid boasts a gorgeous display, a fast Web browser, the Google Maps navigation app, and high-quality messaging and contact management, as well as excellent call quality, long talk time, and improved speed over previous Android devices. The reviewer did downgrade the device for its clunky sliding keyboard, music and video capabilities that are only OK, and lack of support for Bluetooth voice dialing.
However, Motorola improved on the experience this year with the release of the Droid Incredible ($199), which, cnet.com reports, is faster than its predecessor, upgrades the camera and internal memory, and supports wi-fi, GPS, 3G, and, yes, Bluetooth.
But Apple remained the bestselling name in smartphones and captured strong reviews, with one significant drawback, for its iPhone 4 ($299). According to cnet.com, the newest iPhone offers enhanced performance, a lovely new display, an improved design, and plenty of additional features. However, reception (exclusively through AT&T) is spotty — a longtime iPhone problem.

Notebooks and More
Apple was also busy this year with its MacBook Pro notebook computer ($1,799), which gives users a much faster processor than earlier models, as well as a bigger battery, illuminated keyboard, seamless switching graphics technology, a versatile touchpad, and overall better design engineering, according to PC magazine.
However, the magazine had even better things to say about the Asus U45Jc-A1, which it hails as one of the best mainstream laptops to come down the highway, and a good value at $867. PC praised its high-quality design (both aesthetic and functional), outstanding battery life, graphics, and performance.
As for printing documents, mashable.com placed the HP OfficeJet 6500A Plus ($199) in the category of products that broke new ground in 2010 — a category that includes the iPad and Droid Incredible, so that’s strong praise.
“If your objectives are to reliably print, scan, and fax, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a comparable and viable competitor,” it reports. “The 6500A Plus comes with ePrint, a service that, among other things, allows you to send documents to a special e-mail address to be printed automatically — no drivers necessary.”
Speaking of transmitting documents, digital cameras continue to proliferate, as the rise of social media has individuals uploading images online like never before. Fortunately, the top-rated models for 2010 come in a variety of price points, with a wide range of features, making it easy to find a camera to match one’s photographic needs.
Among cameras, PC World gives high marks to the Canon PowerShot A3000 IS digital camera ($249), calling it a light, compact camera that’s highly automatic, yet takes very clear images. It docked the PowerShot a bit for a subpar shutter button and zoom controls, but overall recommended it for everyday use by amateurs who don’t want to fiddle with too many settings.
For a bit more money ($499), PC World also likes the Ricoh CX4 digital point-and-shoot, which is bigger than most compact cameras on the market, but still rests comfortably in the hand. It’s equipped with a big optical zoom lens, and its LCD screen is one of the best the reviewer has come across on a digital camera. “Unfortunately,” he adds, “it has limited manual exposure features, so you’ll have to let the camera decide the aperture and shutter settings on its own; despite this, it’s a camera that’s a lot of fun to use, and everyone who played with it during our tests loved it.”
A similar sense of fun highlights the latest offering from GPS leader Garmin, whose Nuvi 3790T, according to PC World, is not only “drop-dead gorgeous,” but provides the best overall navigational experience of any GPS unit on the market. The magazine praises its touchscreen, voice commands, traffic updates, safety alerts, and lane guidance, while nicking the device for its glossy screen and slightly slow performance at getting a GPS fix. It’s also premium-priced at $549.

Fun Stuff
When work is over and you’ve navigated home, why not kick back with some TV? Another product highly recommended by mashable.com, the 47-inch Vizio XVT473SV packs all the features most people require in an LCD TV, including full 1080-pixel quality and an especially precise picture achieved through accurate color saturation alongside deep blacks.
The TruLED feature allows the display’s LED backlight to dim and brighten independently, so the picture remains fully dynamic and realistic. But Vizio has also led the way in making its devices Internet-connected. The XVT473SV, for instance, features Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, and more.
If reading sounds better than TV viewing, e-readers continue to make news, and Amazon still leads the way, according to toptenreviews.com, which ranks the Kindle 3 ($139) as the best such product available, boasting size, speed, and picture quality that set the standard, not to mention ease of use.
“Though the Kindle 3 does not offer a touchscreen, the screen provides a high contrast that truly makes users feel as though they are reading text from a sheet of paper as opposed to a handheld computer screen,” according to the review, which also praises the device for eliminating glare, enough memory to store 3,500 books, and a battery that lasts up to one month on a single charge, longer than any other e-reader.
And if you fall asleep while reading, have no fear; even alarm clocks are getting an overhaul. Well, the Sony Dash ($199) is actually a personal Internet viewer, but unlike the iPad or a smartphone, it needs to stay plugged into the wall. “But that doesn’t stop it from being what amounts to an alarm clock for today’s Internet-dominated world,” reports askmen.com, which ranks it among the year’s best new tech devices.
Sporting a 7-inch touchscreen and integrated wi-fi, the Dash packs a slew of useful features into a small package, the reviewer notes. “So if you’re sick of leaning over to grab your phone in bed for social networking updates or to check out the weather, the Dash can provide a ton of convenience and still replace your current, beaten-to-death alarm clock.”
Until it’s time to head back out into an increasingly connected work world.

Joseph Bednar can be reached
at [email protected]

Features
She Helps in the ‘Upward Climb of Entrepreneurship’

Dianne Fuller Doherty

Dianne Fuller Doherty, director of the Mass. Small Business Development Center Network, Western Regional Office

Dianne Doherty remembers the urgent tone in the voice of Bai Qing Li, a client and friend who was looking for some help — and not the kind Doherty was used to offering.
Lee was looking for someone to teach a course in Marketing at Shandong University in Jinan, China. The individual who was slated to take that assignment had to back out of that commitment, and only a few weeks before the start of the spring semester. Lee wanted to know if Doherty could recommend someone with the skills and desire — and flexibility — to step in.
To make a long story short, Doherty wound up recommending herself.
“I was driving somewhere in Vermont with my husband [Paul], and I asked him, ‘what would you think of me taking that job?’” she recalled. “He reminded me that I’d never taught anything before, but then said, ‘if that’s what you want to do, go do it.’”
And she did.
Doherty quickly arranged a leave of absence from her job as director of the Mass. Small Business Development Center Network’s Western Regional Office, obtained a visa, and by early March she was in front of two different classes of 70 students each. She actually wound up teaching Finance 101 — another American woman took the Marketing classes — an assignment that became a learning experience on many levels.
“I learned about the country, the people, the economy — and a lot about myself,” she told BusinessWest, adding that, while she thoroughly enjoyed her stint in Jinan, by the time the semester was over, she was certainly ready to come home.
“I was very happy to be back, happy to be an American, and happy to be back in this job,” she said, adding that, among other things, her time in China provided her with great appreciation for everything she left behind when she got on the plane. Meanwhile, she added, her leave was “very renewing — it definitely recharged the batteries.”
Not that Doherty has ever lacked for energy. In addition to her more-than-full-time duties with the Small Business Development Center, she’s also involved with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission’s Plan for Progress, sits on the task force for the high-performance computing center planned for Holyoke, and volunteers her time for Digital Divide Data, a social enterprise that provides jobs and training to youths in Laos and Cambodia, among other activities.
And she says she gets the energy for all that from her work and, more specifically, her clients. These are entrepreneurs, or would-be entrepreneurs, who come to the SBDC looking for assistance with everything from writing a business plan to securing financing, to pricing a product or service.
In her 18-year stint with the SBDC, Doherty and her staff have assisted budding entrepreneurs such as Stanley Kowalski, president of FloDesign and its subsidiary, which is working to bring a new wind-turbine design to the marketplace; Suki Kramer, who has developed her own line of cosmetics; Li, who immigrated to this country from China a decade ago and now has several business ventures, including China Access, which arranges visits for transfer students and others interested in that booming nation; and BusinessWest founder and ABC 40/Fox 6 owner John Gormally.
But there are hundreds of other stories, many of which haven’t generated headlines, but that, together, add up to thousands of jobs and some much-needed strength and flexibility for the local economy.
Through her work with several successful businesses, as well as her involvement with the computing center, the WestMass Area Development Corp., the Plan for Progress, and other economic-development-related agencies, Doherty is understandably bullish on Western Mass. She thinks others should share in this optimism, and believes, overall, that one of the things holding this region back is a self-confidence problem.
“There are a lot of exciting things going on in the Valley, and I really believe we need to change our attitudes about Springfield and believe in it again,” she said. “We need to change some attitudes about Springfield and this region, and put our inferiority complex behind us, because there is such great potential for this region, and it’s not just potential — it’s real.”

Occupational Therapy
Doherty told BusinessWest that she wasn’t quite sure what to think or do when a writer for the New York Times called her back in January and asked that she be a subject for an ongoing series called Preoccupations, which is essentially about people and twists and turns in their career paths. The slant for this particular piece was someone working well past what most would consider retirement age — and why.
For starters, Doherty wasn’t sure why she was being considered for this subject matter or how the Times knew about her. And she wasn’t exactly keen on talking about her age or the fact that she was working past 70. Eventually, though, she acquiesced, and in early February, her story, complete with the headline “When She’s Ready to Retire, She’ll Know,” appeared in the Times’ Jobs section.
“If I left now, I think I’d miss the structure and the intellectual challenge of the job and the people,” Doherty told the Times when asked why she was still working. “My feeling is that, as long as I am doing something of value, why not continue doing it?”
It is because of this mindset that Doherty, who told some people a few years ago that she might retire in a few years, doesn’t make any more comments or projections on that subject, other than to say that the Times headline sums it up nicely — and she’s definitely not ready yet.
Instead, she wants to add more chapters to a professional career that began shortly after earning an MBA from Western New England College, exactly two decades after graduating from Mount Holyoke with a degree in Philosophy. By then, her four daughters were all in their teens, and she had the time and the desire to go back to school.
“I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do, so I decided on an MBA because it was a versatile degree,” she said. “That was interesting, going back 20 years later and taking classes with people half your age and with professors younger than you.”
She would eventually take a job handling business development for a marketing and public-relations firm in Hartford, and, after doing that for a few years, took a job centered on marketing and promoting downtown Springfield.
“MassMutual, SIS [Springfield Institution for Savings, now TD Bank], and Steigers put up a quarter of a million dollars to do a marketing campaign for the city,” she said. “This was after there had been a lot of bricks-and-mortar investment in downtown, but no one was coming. They wanted to change people’s attitudes about Springfield and downtown.
“What we discovered was that $250,000, while it sounded like a lot, was nothing for a media campaign, so we turned it into a PR campaign,” she continued, adding that she worked in conjunction with current Spirit of Springfield director Judy Matt, then working for the Convention and Visitors Bureau, and others to create programs including the Taste of Springfield, the Big Balloon Parade, and the holiday lighting initiative.
“All of those things brought people downtown,” said Doherty, adding that, 25 years later, the Spirit of Springfield continues many of those programs and has added others. “That was a fun job, and I never worked harder in my life.”
Eventually, though, the entrepreneurial spirit that Doherty fosters at the SBDC prompted her to start her own business. She partnered with Marsha Tzoumas (now Marsha Montori) to start a marketing and PR firm that would take their two names.
Between 1983 and 1992, the firm grew from its two principals to 12 total employees, and handled work for many prominent businesses, including Colebrook Realty Services, SIS, Fontaine Brothers, Daniel O’Connell’s Sons, and others. It was once named Agency of the Year by the Ad Club of Western Mass.

Getting into Gear
Doherty had just entered into some commitments for marketing projects when she saw the job posting for the directorship of SBDC’s western office, so while she was intrigued with the job and its description — she was very familiar with the SBDC, having served it as an advisory board member — she didn’t think she was in a position to pursue it.
“But a friend told me, ‘just apply — you don’t know the university’s search process,’” she said, adding that she did, and her friend was right; the search took several months, and when it was over, Doherty gained the nod.
She thought she would only be in that position for perhaps a few years, but instead it’s been almost two decades and counting, and for the reasons she outlined for the Times; the people and the intellectual challenges keep her coming back for more.
“It’s such a great job, because of the diversity and variety and the great staff I have,” she said, “and because of the great people I have to work with; it’s very rewarding to help people take their dreams and make them reality.”
When she came to the SBDC, Doherty brought with her a wall ornament from the marketing firm — a brass bicycle, almost life-size. She has it hanging in the agency’s front lobby, at an upward angle, and tells everyone who asks (and that’s most people) that this is to illustrate what she called the “upward climb of entrepreneurship.”
Helping people negotiate that climb is the unofficial mission statement for the SBDC, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, said Doherty, noting that, while roughly half of her workload with the SBDC involves one-on-one consultation with clients, the rest involves economic development, a subject she’s passionate about.
This is evident from her 20 years of involvement with the Plan for Progress, a commitment of similar length to the Affiliated Chambers, work with the former Regional Technology Corp., and, most recently, the high-performance computing center, a project she believes has enormous potential to change the business landscape in Holyoke and the region as a whole.
“That’s one of the biggest things to ever come to this region, and I’m really excited about what can come from this,” she said. “It’s a tremendous opportunity for our area.”
Overall, Doherty says the region has an enormous amount of intellectual and entrepreneurial energy that has not been adequately tapped, a situation that she says must change.
“Here in the Pioneer Valley, which I think is aptly named, we have so many pioneers in terms of entrepreneurship and small business and good ideas around wind and energy and other things,” she told BusinessWest. “There’s such intellectual capacity in this valley, between the colleges and the businesses we have. We have an enormous amount of intellectual energy, but we have to harness it, package it, and market it, and these are things we haven’t done well.”
Doherty said she has no regrets about putting aside her work at the SBDC, as well as her economic-development exploits, for three months to take that aforementioned teaching assignment, one that gave her a detailed look at how China is growing, both outward and especially upward. Indeed, this was her fourth trip to that country and the first since 1998. She marveled at how the landscape had been altered in a dozen years.
“It was absolutely astonishing the changes that had taken place,” she explained. “As one friend said as we were driving from the airport at night into Shanghai, ‘this makes Manhattan look like a Third World country.’ The lighting is incredible in all the cities, but especially Shanghai. There were clusters of high-rises everywhere.”
As for the teaching assignment itself, Doherty said it was eye-opening, but also challenging. Her students had six years of English behind them, and were both hardworking and disciplined, but trained to essentially learn by memorization.
“It’s very hard to get them to be interactive,” she explained. “If you asked a question generally, there would just be dead silence. If you called on someone directly, they’d stand up very properly and try to answer as best they could. But they just weren’t used to speaking in English, and they weren’t used to dialogue or the Socratic method, which I was naive enough to try to explain to them during the first class.”
She said the Chinese people are very interested in the U.S. and Americans, and, upon learning what Doherty had for a day job, they wanted to know about entrepreneurship and owning a business.
“That’s just starting to happen there, so they were very interested in knowing about American business,” she said. “Meanwhile, the women there wanted to know about the women in America, because they’re going to be the first generation of women in the workplace, and they didn’t have colleagues and mentors and mothers and grandmothers who had been in the workplace.”
She came home with new respect for teaching, greater appreciation for the opportunities people in this country have, and recharged batteries with which to help clients make that upward climb of entrepreneurship.
“I blogged about the experience, and while doing so I talked about the external journey of China, but there’s also an internal journey that accompanies that, and it’s very important,” she said. “You get to see who you are in a foreign environment and who you are in this environment, and it’s an interesting process of introspection.”

Signs of the Times
Doherty told BusinessWest she was pleasantly surprised by the number of people, from this region and far outside it, who read the Times piece and commented to her about it in one way or another.
“I couldn’t believe the response … I had a woman call me, whom I’ve never met, who said, ‘I just want to thank you for that story; I’m going to start my third career now,’” Doherty recalled. “She said she was going back to get a master’s in Education and start teaching because she thought that was the most important thing she could do — something of great value to the community.”
Doherty believes she’s doing many things that are of value to this region, so she has no intention to stop or even slow down. Aside from the occasional break to teach in China, she’s going to keep working on ways to harness all that entrepreneurial energy in the Valley.

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

Company Notebook Departments

Springfield College President Announces Retirement
SPRINGFIELD — Richard B. Flynn, Springfield College’s 12th president, recently announced plans to retire on Aug. 31, 2011. Flynn has served as president since March 1999. He is credited with developing and implementing a strategic plan for the college which led to transforming the campus through new construction and renovations, increasing enrollment, ensuring financial stability, enhancing academic programming, revitalizing the college’s longstanding partnership with the YMCA, expanding recreational programming, strengthening community and international relationships, and leading the most successful fund-raising campaign in the college’s 125-year history. Flynn called his decision to retire “one of the toughest decisions of my professional life.” He added that he is “deeply grateful” to the students, faculty, staff, members of the leadership team, alumni, trustees, and others who have shared their support, commitment, and dedication to the college over the years. A search firm will be selected soon to replace Flynn, and a presidential search committee will be formed, including representation from the board of trustees, faculty, staff, alumni, and student body. A new president is expected to be identified in the spring of 2011 and to take office at the opening of the 2011 fall semester, according to Sally Griggs, chair of the college’s board of trustees.

Westfield State Expansion Plans Revealed
WESTFIELD — As part of Westfield State University’s 2010 Homecoming Weekend Oktoberfest activities, the dedication of its newest academic space, the Banacos Academic Center, was staged on Oct. 23. The center honors the memory of Westfield State alum Jimmy Banacos, who was an education major and a well-liked, athletically involved student who suffered an injury on the lacrosse field that left him paralyzed from the neck down in 1970. He continued to be active in the college community after his accident and is known for his efforts connecting alumni to the university. In 1982, Banacos was awarded the college’s first honorary bachelor of arts degree. He passed away in 2005. Banacos’ family members and friends are expected to be in attendance for the dedication. The event is open to the community, as are all related Homecoming activities. The center is the home to three academic resource programs, including Westfield State’s Tutoring Center, Disability Services, and the Learning Disabilities Program. In addition to the center opening, college officials also recently announced plans to invest close to $100 million in growth to facilities and services on campus. Growth areas targeted include additional parking, an addition to the dining hall, a new residence hall, and a new classroom building. Trustees will meet in December to discuss the project in more depth. College officials will also present the recommended expansion plans to the Greater Westfield community at a neighborhood meeting as well as with the City Council in the coming weeks.

Firm Establishes Scholarship Fund
SPRINGFIELD — The law firm of Robinson Donovan, P.C. recently made a leadership gift to Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Inc. (MCLE) in memory of a friend, former partner, and colleague, according to Jeffrey L. McCormick, managing partner of Robinson Donovan. MCLE has established the John C. Sikorski Scholarship Fund in memory of John C. Sikorski, who served Robinson Donovan for 25 years. Sikorski was a senior partner who specialized in labor and employment law. Scholarships from this fund will benefit legal services staff attorneys, private practitioners who accept pro bono cases, and other lawyers who, without financial assistance, would not be able to attend MCLE programs, including those in the areas of labor and employment law and trial advocacy. For more information about MCLE’s scholarships, visit www.mcle.org.

STCC Opens Center
for Veterans and
Service Members
SPRINGFIELD — A new lounge area was recently dedicated at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) for the approximately 250 students who are veterans or service members. The center is furnished with computers and comfortable furniture for studying or relaxing. The furnishings were donated by area businesses, particularly Balise Motor Sales, Hampden Bank, and NewAlliance Bank, as well as faculty and staff. Also available for veterans’ use is an administrative office with additional computers and adaptive technology for use by the visually impaired or hearing-impaired. A counselor is also available to talk with veterans.

Firm Sells Portion of
Wealth-management Arm
FARMINGTON, CT — Kostin, Ruffkess and Co., LLC recently announced the sale of a portion of its wealth-management business to a group of former employees of KR Wealth Management, LLC. KR Wealth Management, LLC is wholly owned by the partners of Kostin, Ruffkess and Co., LLC. Kostin, Ruffkess continues to operate KR Wealth Management, serving high-net-worth individuals, families, and businesses. KR Wealth Management clients will continue to receive the personal attention they are accustomed to and benefit from the CPA-financial advisor team relationship, which is unique to the marketplace, according to Richard Kretz, managing partner of Kostin, Ruffkess & Co.

MassMutual to Be
Honored by BBA
SPRINGFIELD — Highlighting its ongoing commitment to a diverse and inclusive legal profession, the Boston Bar Assoc. (BBA) will honor the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (MassMutual) with the BBA’s first Beacon Award on Nov. 9 in Boston. The Beacon Award was established to recognize organizations or individuals who have had an exceptional impact in advancing diversity and inclusion in one or more of these areas: legal scholarship, recruitment and retention practices, pro bono representation, community service, legal advocacy, and legislative advocacy. The award recipient must either be located in Massachusetts or have had a significant impact in Massachusetts and/or the Greater Boston community. When the award was established several months ago, an overriding goal was to identify models of excellence to inspire continued innovative programs and initiatives. The award reception is free to members of the legal community.

Berkshire Hills Plans Acquisition
PITTSFIELD — Berkshire Hills Bancorp. Inc. recently announced plans to acquire Rome Bancorp Inc. for approximately $74 million in cash and stock. Rome has five branches and, as of June 30, about $330 million in assets. Berkshire has 46 locations in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York, and continues to grow its business in the Utica and Syracuse markets, which have a combined population of about 1 million. Acquisition terms include 70% of the stock to be exchanged for Berkshire shares at a rate of 0.5658 share for each Rome share. The other 30% will be bought for $11.25 each.

Normandeau Communications
Moves to New Location
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Normandeau Communications, a telecommunications-solutions provider, has relocated from Florence to larger quarters at 2097 Riverdale St. in West Springfield. Principals Brett Normandeau and Kim Durand said the move was made to give the company needed room to grow and to enable it to better serve customers across Western Mass. and Northern Conn. The company also announced that it will be adding a Technology Training & Demonstration Center to provide informative seminars on ever-evolving telecommunications technology and how to apply it to help businesses operate more efficiently. The company’s phone number, (413) 584-3131, remains the same.

Opinion
Patrick Gets Our Nod, but Has Work to Do

This is a critical time for Massachusetts, what most observers would describe as a critical crossroads. The state is still trying to recover from the worst recession in 80 years, while at the same time it is working to stimulate economic development in an ultra- competitive climate in which 49 other states and countless countries around the world are vying for businesses and jobs.
There is also the matter of casinos and whether they are to be part of the economic-development mix, the obvious need to make this state more business-friendly, and the very real possibility that the state’s sales tax will be rolled back to 3%, creating some possible opportunities for retailers but also a potential fiscal nightmare for the Commonwealth and its publicly funded institutions and programs.
For these reasons and others, BusinessWest lends its endorsement to incumbent Deval Patrick in the all-important governor’s race to be decided on Nov. 2. This is a nod over challenger Charlie Baker (Tim Cahill’s candidacy is a joke, and he should do the state a favor and drop out before the election) that comes with some caveats, as we’ll explain. The bottom line, we feel, is that Patrick is the best option for the state at this critical juncture.
For starters, we’ll note that Patrick has made some missteps in his first term. The Cadillac DeVille and office-redecoration exploits were among them, but more important were his steps backward in efforts to downsize government and stem the tide of patronage jobs. His failure to seal a casino deal has also led to questions about his leadership skills and ability to work with the Legislature to get things done.
But Patrick has matured in office and, over the past few years, has managed the deep recession effectively, while also amassing several legislative accomplishments, such as a toughening of pension and ethics laws, consolidation of transportation agencies, expansion of charter schools, and more.
What has stood out for us is his very real — not symbolic or token — support of Western Mass. and some of its struggling cities.
In Springfield, for example, Patrick was personally responsible for Liberty Mutual opening an office in the Technology Park at Springfield Technical Community College, a facility that now employs more than 300 people. His administration also played key roles in the State Street Corridor revitalization effort, South End redevelopment, efforts to make UMass Amherst a more vital force downtown, the Data Center being built at the former Tech High School site, and other initiatives.
Meanwhile, in Holyoke, another former manufacturing center trying to reinvent itself, Patrick administration played a key role in advancing the high-performance computing center project, an economic-development initiative that could have huge ramifications for that city and the region as a whole.
The wheels started turning thanks to officials at MIT, UMass Amherst, Boston University, and other schools, as well as private industry, but the Patrick administration helped steer this project to a successful conclusion, and in a city that sorely needs an economic boost.
While in the past, governors and candidates for that post have talked about how they represent the entire state and how important Western Mass. is to them, Patrick has backed up the talk, and in a way that hasn’t been seen since Michael Dukakis was in the corner office.
While we believe Patrick has earned another term to see if he can build on these accomplishments and create more progress for this region and the state as a whole, we’ll note that he and everyone else on Beacon Hill still have some serious work to make this state more business-friendly, and this must be one of the top priorities for whomever is governor next January.
Jobs are the real key to making a full recovery from the Great Recession and enabling cities like Springfield and Holyoke to forge new identities. And the key to creating them is making this a state business owners believe they can afford to be in. Right now, not enough people are of that sentiment, and until the reality, and not just the perception, changes, Massachusetts will be at an extreme disadvantage.

Cover Story
Human Resources Unlimited Has Been Supplying It for 40 Years
Cover October 25, 2010

Cover October 25, 2010

For four decades, Human Resources Unlimited has been debunking myths about people with disabilities and helping such individuals become part of the local workforce. As the agency marks its milestone, it reflects on a solid track record of success, but, more importantly, looks ahead, toward developing strategies for doing what it does even better.
Like many people across Western Mass., John Gullotti is looking for work — and not having much luck finding it.
But unlike most of those perusing the want ads and sending résumés to companies across the region, Gullotti is confronting much more than a lingering recession and wariness among many employees to make additions to the workforce as he carries out his search.
For starters, he’s hindered by a résumé that shouts that he is overqualified for some of the entry-level, minimum-wage positions he’s seeking; he has a bachelor’s degree and experience, some of it in management, with many national retailers. And then, there’s the 12-year gap on that résumé, which includes a five-year span during which he was simply too afraid to leave the house.
That fear was a byproduct of the deep depression and paranoia that Gullotti was diagnosed with years ago, and has been battling ever since.
And maybe because of his progress in that fight, especially in recent years, Gullotti has something in abundance that many job seekers have all but run out of: hope.
His large supply of that commodity comes mostly through his association with Human Resources Unlimited (HRU) — a private, nonprofit agency — and, more specifically, a program, or facility, called Lighthouse. There, Gullotti and dozens of other developmentally disadvantaged individuals are trying to enter or re-enter the workforce and thus connect with the community around them.
Providing hope and making connections to the community are not the official missions of HRU, but they might as well be, said Don Kozera, its long-time president, noting that, as the agency turns 40, it is not merely celebrating four decades of carrying out those assignments, but also looking ahead, toward creating ways of continuously doing what it does better.
And perhaps what the agency does best, said Kozera, is help debunk many of the myths or misperceptions about people with disabilities, while also helping members like Gullotti realize that they can do things that others say that they can’t, and that they themselves might believe they can’t do.
“It was believed that people with developmental disabilities couldn’t work with equipment or couldn’t work in outside businesses, or could only handle repetitive work, so that became our battle cry,” said Kozera, noting that, over, the years, HRU has accomplished that mission through programs and businesses it has created or acquired, which ranged from a printing shop to a restaurant to a packaging outfit. But it’s also done it by placing members in jobs with area companies.
Created in 1970 to be the vocational training center for Belchertown State School residents and provide employment opportunities for residents of the facility, HRU, known then as the Carval Workshop, has expanded and evolved over the years. It now offers a broad range of services, from assistance for individuals transitioning from public assistance to the workplace to a ‘day habilitation’ program called Pyramid for people with developmental disabilities; from a commercial division known as Custom Packaging to four so-called ‘clubhouses’ (more on that term later) — Lighthouse, Star Light, Forum House, and Trade Winds.
With most all of these programs, there is one common thread that has defined HRU since the beginning — putting people, or members, to work.
Since he first came to Lighthouse, rather reluctantly and with great doubt about whether it would help him in any way, Gullotti has worked in what’s known as a transitional employment (TE) position as a receptionist with the state Department of Mental Health. Later, he worked in a supportive employment position handling calls to First Response from business owners impacted by the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Over the past few months, he has continued his search for independent work, and while he’s had just one actual interview, he remains upbeat and believes that, overall, he’s in a much better place than he was when he first walked in the door at 1401 State St.
“I’m able to deal with different situations that I never could before,” he explained. “Hope … that’s been the strongest piece. I have seen results that, even if they’re small, allow me to push on.”
For this issue, BusinessWest takes an indepth look at HRU as it celebrates its milestone, and, while doing so, weaves in in Gullotti’s thoughts and experiences to show what this agency does and how it does it, and maybe quantify and qualify the sheer power of hope.

Unlimited Potential
Kozera was teaching a little, coaching soccer, and working toward his MBA at American International College when he applied for the job of fiscal director of the Carval Workshop in 1980.
“I saw 120 people sitting around with no work in front of them,” he recalled, “and I thought to myself, ‘I can’t mess this up any more than it already is.’”
So he took the job, while going to school at night — but with the expectation that it would be little more than a line on a resume. Instead, it’s become his life’s work — and very much a work still in progress.
And when one visits ETS Career Services and Custom Packaging, two programs that are essentially the current incarnations of Carval Workshop, there are dozens of people with plenty of work in front of them.
Those initiatives and their growth patterns are emblematic of how HRU has expanded well beyond its humble roots and evolved over 40 years, and especially Kozera’s tenure, which started in 1980.
Today, HRU has several components, including:
• Workforce Alternatives, which helps transition individuals from public assistance to the workplace through job-readiness skills, placement assistance, and ongoing support;
• Pyramid, a ‘day habilitation’ program that provides a caring environment in which individuals with developmental disabilities can enhance their physical, mental, and social competencies;
• ETS (Employment Training Support) Career Services, which provides individuals who are disadvantaged or have developmental or other disabilities with opportunities to increase their vocational skills and find meaningful work. Participants handle work ranging from light assembly to sorting gift cards bound for the Final Markdown;
• Custom Packaging, HRU’s commercial division that provides customers, including Olympic Manufacturing and other area employers, with services including hand assembly, heat sealing, shrinkwrapping, folding, collating, and mailing; and
• The four clubhouses, which help transition members, who join on a volunteer basis, to meaningful employment and, hopefully, independent employment.
Kozera said he doesn’t particularly like the word ‘clubhouse’ — he believes it conjures up images of children in tree forts — but he certainly likes the results these facilities have generated over the past half-century, and especially since they became part of the landscape in Western Mass.
The clubhouse model provides members with a supportive environment where they can get assistance with transitioning into the workplace or back into school as well as increasing their participation in the community.
Members work with staff to operate the clubhouse, said Kozera, adding that activities are designed to help members develop and hone critical vocational skills needed to succeed in the workplace. The facilities then help members transfer the skills and capabilities learned at the clubhouse to real jobs in the community. Over the years and decades, a number of area companies have stepped forward to provide such jobs.
That list of more than 120 business partners includes large regional or national retail chains, such Big Y, Friendly’s, CVS, A.J. Wright, Burger King, and others, but also such wide-ranging local businesses as WGBY and Berkshire Service Experts.
Each member of a clubhouse receives a comprehensive vocational assessment that identifies training and job-placement priorities, as well as preferences. Members are also provided with career counseling, interview-skills training, résumé writing, and job-search assistance, as needed.
Once a member is placed in a transitional or competitive employment job, clubhouse staff members continue to provide ongoing support for work-related and personal issues, said Kozera, adding that the goal with most members is to move them into independent employment after a specified period.
It was into this world that Gullotti walked about 18 months ago.

Seeing the Light
He told BusinessWest that it was his therapist who first suggested that he become a member of Lighthouse, thinking that its group setting would help him gain the needed confidence and inspiration needed to move his life forward and gain meaningful employment.
Gullotti agreed to give it a try, but did not share his therapist’s optimism, to say the least.
“I remember that my first impression of the place was that I couldn’t wait to see my therapist again and tell him that I thought he needed more help than I did,” said Gullotti with a laugh, adding quickly that with each visit he was getting more comfortable, while also learning and gaining inspiration from those around him.
Jeff Trant, program director at Lighthouse and Gullotti’s mentor since the day he walked in the door, said he is representative of the people who come to that facility — but also atypical in at least one respect: he wants to work, to be independent.
“He wants to get off of disability benefits,” Trant explained. “Many people are so polarized, they’re afraid that if they go back to work they’ll lose those benefits. John doesn’t want them; he wants to be independent and self-sufficient, and that’s an anomaly these days, because we have such a disability-entitlement culture.”
But it took Gullotti several weeks to get comfortable at Lighthouse, said Trant, adding that, at the beginning, he was overwhelmed by the situation he found himself in, and, in most all ways, simply not ready to join the workforce.
“It took a while for him to get really get comfortable, but once he got past that threshold and over that barrier of going into this place called Lighthouse, he found it extremely liberating,” said Trant. “You could almost see him relax once he got in and saw what this place was.”
A seminal moment in Gullotti’s progression came roughly a month after he arrived, when he was given a transitional employment assignment with the Department of Mental Health as a administrative assistant and receptionist. This was another transition that had some rough moments, but eventually, as he did with Lighthouse, Gullotti found a comfort zone and made it progressively larger.
“I remember having some impromptu counseling sessions with John in the early days when he would come back in tears,” said Trant. “He was so emotionally overwhelmed, and his confidence and his self-perception were so low that he didn’t think he was worthy and able to work.
“But very slowly, as he found his office colleagues were supportive and receptive, he went from doing the simple nuts and bolts of the job — answering the phone, sorting mail, and greeting people as they came in the door — to doing some very high-end projects that some of their more seasoned staffers would handle; he became a go-to person in that organization.”
The confidence he gained at DMH, coupled with ongoing support from family and both staff and members at Lighthouse, gave Gullotti what Trant called the “gusto” to move on to not only the next step employment-wise — a temporary position arranged through Johnson & Hill Staffing handling with Innovations First Notice — but also other platforms through which he could connect with the community.
“Here’s someone who, a few years earlier, wouldn’t leave his room,” said Trant. “Now, John is out speaking in front of Rotary clubs with me. He shares his story of hope and recovery, and he’s spoken in front of groups of more than 100 people. To me, that is so telling about how far he’s come and how much insight he has.”

Forward Thinking
There have been many success stories scripted by Lighthouse and the other clubhouses within HRU, as the walls within Lighthouse attest. There are pictures of members and former members in work settings and wall charts indicating current assignments and who has them.
Moving forward, Kozera said those at HRU want to make this 40th anniversary a time of celebration, obviously, but also a time for introspection, looking at programs, and developing a strategic initiative that will ultimately yield more pictures for the walls and more stories of individual triumph over adversity.
The company has always been focused on continuous improvement and the ‘good to great’ philosophy, said Kozera, but he wants the current milestone to spark an even deeper commitment to reach higher and, ultimately, put more members in jobs and have them thrive in those positions.
“We have a whole new level to get to,” he explained. “We have every accreditation in the world — national, international, state, and we get the highest ratings in all of those. But we don’t feel that we’re even close to the level we need to be at.”
To get to where it wants to go to go, HRU will continue to observe not only similar programs in other parts of the state and the country, but also businesses across myriad sectors and educational institutions, and “steal shamelessly,” as Kozera put it, when it comes to best practices and concepts it can apply.
In other words, the agency intends to be innovative, in the strictest definition of the word.
“Over the years, innovation has rarely been someone creating something brand-new,” he explained. “What they do is, they take a process, product, or system in one industry, and they tweak it and apply it to another system, and all of a sudden, it’s new.
“If you look at the iPhone and the iPad, these are things that are conglomerations of things that already existed; they’re just packaged in a different way,” he continued, adding that he wants HRU to continue innovating in that same fashion, again with the simple, overarching goal of putting people in the workplace.
And to achieve continuous improvement in that realm, Kozera and his staff will be focusing on the two agency’s two core functions — job preparation and job placement.
With regard to the latter, Kozera recently brought in some sales executives and sales-training professionals to work with and motivate those at HRU who are essentially selling job placements to area companies, thus creating opportunities for members like Gullotti.
“Most sales professionals are motivated by money, but the people who end in our industry are motivated by mission,” he explained. “Someone has to tie what your job is to the mission. So what we were able to do is bring in the sales principles, the sales discipline, and the sales structure, but then have individuals who have passion for what they do — because that’s why they’re in this industry and equate that there’s nothing more critical than them making a phone call and ultimately making a sale.
“It doesn’t matter how much you job train,” he continued, “if you don’t have a job waiting for you at the end of your job training.”
Meanwhile, on the job-preparation side of the ledger, HRU is working to make individuals better able to get and keep the jobs sold by the sales team. And at the heart of these efforts will be an initiative to be launched in January called “Changing Habits and Transforming Lives.”
It will take a number of proven principles not typically applied to job training and put them together for that purpose, said Kozera, noting that, collectively, individuals with disabilities mirror society in general, which means that many are obese and do not have the stamina to be employed, while others may lack the work ethic to obtain or keep a position. So HRU will be focused on those areas and others to help members become more workplace-ready.
As just one example, he cited exercise and its ability to help people focus.
“Exercise is really Miracle-Gro for learning,” he explained. “If you have an exercise routine, for up to four hours after that routine, you have the ability to take in information better, faster, quicker.
“There are schools around the country that are implementing this,” he continued. “I traveled to Naperville, Ill., and visited a school where they’re not cutting gym, like everyone else; they’re looking to expand it. Now, whatever your hardest subject is, you have gym right before that. And the results are amazing.”
The challenge for HRU will be to take some of these proven methods and repackage them to benefit members and meet the agency’s primary mission to get people employed, he told BusinessWest.
“The bottom line is get people to fit in,” he concluded, stating HRU’s reason for being in still another way. “That’s the number-one issue to getting people employed and keeping them employed — they get along with others, and they fit in.”

Getting the Message
As part of its 40th-anniversary celebration, HRU will stage a breakfast at the Sheraton in downtown Springfield on Oct. 26. The keynote speaker will be Troy Brown, former New England Patriots wide receiver and integral part of three Super Bowl-winning teams.
His talk is expected to center around his ability to defy the odds and rise to stardom in the NFL when few thought he would.
That message should resonate with an audience of HRU administrators, staff members, business partners, and business and civic leaders, who have helped enable the agency to permit others to beat long odds against them.
People like John Gullotti, who both understand and help create the power of hope.

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

Departments Incorporations

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

AGAWAM

M & J Goncalves Inc., 1192 Suffield St., Agawam, MA 01001. Jose Goncalves, same. Construction services.

Simon’s On Walnut Inc., 46 Suffield St., Agawam, MA 01001. David Ladizki, same. Restaurant.

Vincent Transportation Co. Inc., 100 Royal Lane, Agawam, MA 01001. Frank Petrangelo, 350 North West St., Feeding Hills, MA 01030. Transportation services.

AMHERST

Moti 1 Inc., 25 North Pleasant St., Amherst, MA 01002. Mohtaram Bakhtiari, 221 Mass Ave., Boston, MA 02115. Bar and restaurant.

Northeast Conference on British Studies Inc., Office of Margaret Hunt, Dept of History, Amherst College, Amherst, MA 01002-5000.

Chris Waters, 66 Hall St., Williamstown, MA 01267. Non-profit corporation for educational, charitable and scientific purposes.

CHICOPEE

Platinum Choice Staffing Inc., 565 Lafleur Dr., Chicopee, MA 01013. Ronald Desroches, same. Staffing Agency.

The Art of Fine Lines Inc., 96 Chateugay St., Chicopee, MA 01020. Joyce Catherine Crabtree, same.

Trinity Home Care Inc., 41 Sheridan St., Chicopee, MA 01020-2723. Mary Jean Flahive Dickson, 145 Stonehill Road, East Longmeadow, MA 01028.
Home nursing care services.

DALTON

Neurology Care in the Berkshires, P.C., 27 Pinecrest Dr., Dalton, MA 01226. Marina Zaratskay-Fuchs M.D., same. Neurology medical care

LONGMEADOW

Longmeadow Education Association Inc., 410 Williams St., Longmeadow, MA 01106. Marcia Harr, 22 Ferrin Dr., Southwick, MA 01077. Organization established to improve the quality of education for all.

HADLEY

New Links, U.S. Inc., 100 Venture Way, Suite 15, Hadley, MA 01035. Neils Victor Christiansen, 38 Trillium Way, Amherst, MA 01002. Wholesale jewelry distributor.

Summit Peak Electric Inc., 39 Ridge Road, South Hadley, MA 01075. Bryon Grise, 120 Damon Road, Northampton, MA 01060. Electrical contractor.

HOLYOKE

Sabrosura Supermarket Inc., 439 High Street, Holyoke, MA 01040. Fernando Ramirez, same. Grocery retailer.

NORTHAMPTON

La Esperanza/The Hope of the Pioneer Valley Inc., 237 South St., Northampton, MA 01060. Aida Ruiz-Batiste, 63 Peer St., Springfield, MA 01109.

PITTSFIELD

Pittsfield Kiwanis Club Inc., 383 North St., Pittsfield, MA 01201. Cathy Finkle, 674 Giberson Road South, Sheffield, MA 01257. Non-profit.

Red Knights Drum & Bugle Corps. Inc., 18 Ensign Ave., Pittsfield, MA 01104. Paul Christopher, same. Civic and educational organization designed to provide music education, to advance the underprivileged and to combat community deterioration and juvenile delinquency.

Silverbac Group Inc., 816 North St., Pittsfield, MA 01201. Jie Whiteside, same. Organization established to promote child safety awareness and abduction-prevention.

Yokun Seat Inc., 575 Swamp Road Pittsfield, MA 01201. Richard Bartlett, 8 Yokun Road, Richmond, MA 01254. Apple orchard farm.

RUSSELL

Universal Welding & Mechanical Contractors Inc., 20 Blandford Stage Road, Russell, MA 01071. Matthew Montague, 42 Garfield St., Greenfield, MA 01301. Welding and mechanical contractor.

SOUTH HADLEY

Newton Street Dental, PC., 488 Newton St., Unit 11/12, South Hadley, MA 01075. Douglas Leigh, same. Dental practice.

Pacheco Pizzeria Inc., 2080 Memorial Ave., South Hadley MA 01075. Walter Pacheco, 54 Pondview circle, Belchertown, MA 01007. Pizza restaurant.

Valuemetrics Business Advisors Inc., 9 Spring Meadows, South Hadley, MA 01075. Karl Schuhlen, same. Business consultation services.

SOUTHAMPTON

Western Mass. Public Health Association Inc., 146 Valley Road, Southampton, MA 01073. Barry Searles, 73 Russellville Road, Southampton, MA 01073. Organization designed to provide service to boards of health and related agencies.

SOUTHWICK

Paxis Home Renovations Inc., 151 Granville Road, Southwick, MA 02210. Jose Rivera, same. Hone improvement contractor.

SPRINGFIELD

P.J. R. Enterprises Inc., 10 Chestnut St., Apt. #602, Springfield, MA 01103. Pablo Rios, same.

Real Estate Options Inc., 824 Liberty St., Springfield, MA 01104. Anthony Primo Facchini, 519 Prospect St., Springfield, MA 01104. To engage, establish, construct, purchase, and lease real estate property.

Santana Xpress Inc., 81 Ranney St., Springfield, MA 01108. Wilking Mateo, same. Door-to-door Passenger transportation from Massachusetts to New York.

Sterling Architectural Millwork Inc., 55 Avocado St., Springfield, MA 01104. Fotis Gazis, 120 Pond Circle, Somers CT, 06071. Woodwork.

Straight Line Painting Inc., 128 Saffron Circle, Springfield, MA 01129. Mark Howie, same. Commercial and residential painting services.

T.R.Z. Management Inc., 181 Chestnut St., Springfield, MA 01103. Anthony Zalowski, 14 Madison St., Chicopee, MA 01020. Business-management services.

United Auto Sales Inc, 874 Berkshire Ave, Springfield, MA 01151. Joseph Nigro, 21 Grove St., Southwick, MA 01077. Retail auto sales

WESTFIELD

Smart Restaurant Inc., 487 East Main St., Westfield, MA 01085. Michelle Moon, 148 Anvil St., Feeding Hills, MA 01030. Full-service restaurant

Time Savers Laundry Service Inc., 65 Franklin St., Westfield, MA 01085. Eric Meyers, 33 Hawks circle, Westfield, MA 01085. Coin-operated laundromat.

WEST SPRINGFIELD

NSF Laundromat Inc., 49 Appaloosa Lane, West Springfield, MA 01089. Farrah Hena Ahsan, same. Laundromat services.

Features
This Entrepreneur Certainly Has Things Covered

Michael Linton

Michael Linton says entrepreneurship is in his blood, and he’s successfully carrying on his family’s legacy of business ownership.

It wasn’t really a question of if Michael Linton would start his own business, but when. Let’s just say it’s in his blood.
“My father has owned a business since before I was born,” the 28-year-old owner of Michael’s Party Rentals (MPR) told BusinessWest. “His father owned a separate business, and his mother owned a different business from that.  And my mother’s father owned a business.”
When he and his younger brother, Ryan, started the company called Party Tent Rental in 2000, they figured it would be a good seasonal and part-time job while going to college. For the sons of entrepreneurs, the idea for the business came with their sharp attention to detail: A neighbor rented what he thought would be a tent for his daughter’s backyard high-school graduation party. What showed up was a portable carport.
“We knew of other companies offering a tent of like size for similar rates,” Michael said. “So we took a photo of one of those tents, called up the manufacturer, and ordered one. We now had a legitimate tent instead of a carport. And that’s how it started. We used our father’s pickup truck, our parents’ garage, and we did it all ourselves; we never envisioned it becoming a full-fledged business.”
But just a few years later, Michael said that he came to the realization of how much the enterprise appealed to him.
“There was always something new,” he explained, “and it was different. When I started getting into renting the tables and chairs, the calls started coming in, and there was real growth. I knew it could be a long-term business.”
So in 2003, he bought out his brother, renamed the business, and hasn’t looked back since — because there hasn’t been any time for that.
From that one tent, MPR now has more than 60 in stock, along with the necessary tables and chairs, lights, dance floors … everything one needs to get the party started.
“We’re a one-stop shop for your events,” Linton said, “from backyard gatherings to weddings to commercial affairs.”
And while the term ‘no job is too big or small’ might be tossed around by others, Linton means it, and said that his experience has put that adage to the test. Smaller, one-man businesses out there are tough competition for his operation, he said, comparing them to his humble origins.
“When I started,” he said, “I had no overhead, and I was definitely the cheapest option around. But as I grew, I realized the importance of keeping a good crew, who needed health insurance, and who needed to make a living. I had to increase my rates.”
He proudly mentions his staff whenever talking about his business, and he gives them a great deal of credit for the company’s success. They work upwards of 80 hours a week during the peak season, and Linton said that they are there to help him with those ever-changing challenges to keep things interesting.
There was the time they had to set up in the Mullins Center in Amherst at 2 a.m. for the Glen Miller Orchestra, “because that was our timeline,” he said. And for a wedding of 450 at a soccer dome in Connecticut, he said there was a unique complication.
“When we got there with three box trucks filled with equipment,” he remembered, “we realized that everything had to be brought in through a 10-by-15- foot room, with either entryway door having to be closed, otherwise the dome would deflate.”
“It took much longer than we anticipated,” he admitted, “but it’s those challenges that make me enjoy coming to work every day.”
And they’re the reason for people to rely on him to make sure everything goes according to plan. Linton said that in an industry with so much competition for the bottom line, his experience and customer service set him apart.
“A lot of places don’t deliver seven days a week,” he said, “and we don’t charge extra for Sundays. For us, it’s a regular workday. Every prospective client has access to my cell-phone number, and when they call me, I answer. Even on a Saturday night, I’ll run out there and fix something if I have to.”
Linton said he feels very fortunate to be where he is today.
When making the first steps to take over from his brother, he said, “it was difficult at 20 to approach a commercial loan officer, having no credit and no experience. But I did get lucky. At a convention I met an investor who believed in me, and he loaned me the money to get started. My parents were also very helpful in lending me financial support, as they own the building I’m in. They paid my brother’s college education, and I got free rent for a year.
“When I first started, they helped out with more than just the checkbook,” he added. “My mother went out and helped me break down tents when I didn’t have anyone else.”
While the party-rental industry is inherently seasonal, ever-entrepreneurial Linton offered his means to address that challenge. It helps that wedding plans are made during the winter months, so deposits can be taken for the following season.
But he envisions branching out into linens, china, and what he called pipe and drape — for expos and convention set-ups, all to keep his crew employed through the year. “That crosses pretty closely to what we’re good at,” he said.
Ultimately, he never forgets the people who help keep him going forward, and he knows that his success isn’t just a party of one.

— Dan Chase

DBA Certificates Departments

The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of October 2010.

AGAWAM

Dream Catchers Café
360 North Westfield St.
Kristin Wampler

Jondani
61 Oak Hill Ave.
Michael Murray

Lunatek LLC
34 Henry St.
Peter Nunnallee

Malone’s Farm & Garden Center
338 Silver St.
Ernest Malone

AMHERST

Clearwater Seafood & Grille
178 North Pleasant St.
Jason Brown

D.P. Dough
96 North Pleasant St.
William T. Rock

The Option Bookstore
Garman Dormitory
John W. Whitney

CHICOPEE

Mutt Cuts
63 1/2 Main St.
Lori Jerusik

The Living Wood
63 Woodbridge Road
Samantha Lavine

Walk-in-Technology
620 Grattan St.
John W. Cote

EASTHAMPTON

Fran’s Fine Editing
6 Cedarwood Ave.
Frances Fahey

Hair It Is
94 Union St.
Jeannie Thibodeau

Integrity Care Association Agency
2 Holyoke St.
Charles Ackerfi

Lynne’s Hair @ Salon O
163 Northampton St.
Lynn M. Dunn

Pepin Farm
491 East St.
Kenneth Pepin

Pierre J. Bechumeur Energy Consulting
11 Holyoke St.
Pierre J. Bechumeur

EAST LONGMEADOW

Alpha Waves DJ’s
84 Oak Brook Dr.
Dan Chrisis

Architecture Environment Life Inc.
264 North Main St.
Kevin Rothschild-Shea

Douglas White Electrical Services
245 Shaker Road
Mario Cardinal

Gebo’s Glass Creations
23 Hazelhurst Ave.
Brian Gebo

Happy Acres Farm
43 South Bend Lane
Ronald I Goldelein

Sleep Management Solutions, LLC
382 North Main St.
Thomas P. Gaffney Jr.

Splash Belle’s Creations
165 Mountainview Road
Mary Kossick

What’s Cooking, Kids?
41 Maple St.
Dorothy Fleishman

GREENFIELD

Celtic Heels
267 Main St.
Cara Leach

HADLEY

Hadley Dry Cleaners
206 Russell St.
Hyeryong Whang

River Valley Dental
63 East St.
Babak Gojgini

HOLYOKE

Ameerah
50 Holyoke St.
Tarek Farousi

Glamour
119 High St.
Efrain Martinez

Icky Sticky Goo Grueser Enterprises
50 Holyoke St.
William Grueser

International Laser Systems
362 Race St.
Edward Sordillo

Reyes Auto Sales
100 Main St.
Oscar Reyes

LONGMEADOW

Change in Action Inc.
PO Box 60222
Susan Choquette

Interior Inspirations
43 Benedict Terrace
Susan Green

Lisa’s Cottage Cleaning
84 Riverview Ave.
Lissa Stone

Longmeadow Stone & Restoration
115 Dover Road
James Nurse

Maid Tough Cleaning Services
1 Henry Road
Kalee Plasse

Technical-Support-for-Senior-Citizens.com
83 Hopkins Place
Thomas Johnson

NORTHAMPTON

Coffee & Heady
23 Hooker Ave.
Donald P. Coffee

The Green Cab Company
1 Roundhouse Plaza
Peter Pan Bus Lines, Inc.

PALMER

Alladin’s Services
9 Charles St.
Raymond Brodeur

C&C Services
8 Crest St.
Marie Skorupski

Maxim Archery
17 Salem St.
Shawn Doran

Voight Energy Saving Technologies LLC
365 River St.
John D. Voight

SOUTHWICK

Cupcake Consignments
272 South Longyard Road
Jodi Nylund

Moments in Time
43 Berkshire Road
Christine Caruso

SPRINGFIELD

Gus Coelho Auto Repair
390 Main St.
Augusto Coelho Jr.

Heavenly Grooming
1648 Carew St.
Norberto Crespo

Howell’s Reupholstering
75 Mulberry St.
Richard Anthony

ICC Inc.
313 1/2 Eastern Ave.
Daniel Tulloch

J Automotive
149 Rocus St.
Timothy A. Cooper

K.A.M. Technology
203 Ellsworth Ave.
Keith A. Millet

Larochelle Construction
79 Lancashire Road
Danny S. Larochelle

Lennox National Account
90 Carando Dr.
Joseph J. Gennari

Mason Square Insurance Co.
886 State St.
Chester-Chester Inc.

Max’s Catering
1000 West Columbus Ave.
Max’s Catering, LLC

Mindscape Technologies
63 California Ave.
Scott A. Dudas

NJ’s Commercial Appliance
1655 Main St.
Jose G. Barbosa

Page Convenience
500 Page Blvd.
Zahdor U. Haq

Pioneer Valley Legal Association
34 Sumner Ave.
Karen J. Murphy

Ruth Family Day Care
44 Lester St.
Ruthnie Alce

Seven Heaven Pest Control
64 Champlain St.
Wilfredo Gonzalez

T-Mobile
774 Boston Road
T-Mobile Northeast

Tax X-Press
921 Worthington St.
Jamal R. Pressley

The Tessier Law Firm
78 Maple St.
Denise R. Tessier

Tom James of Springfield
191 Chestnut St.
Walter Salyer

World Wide Communication
522 Main St.
Othoniel Rosario

WESTFIELD

Got Junk
51 Washington St.
Mark Gilmore

Mundale Farm
1714 Granville Road
William S. Florek

Paul Jandaczek
549 Russell Road
Paul Jandaczek

Pet Rescueville.com
22 Oakcrest Dr.
Barbara Lynch

Pignatare Farms
380 East Mountain Road
Maria J. Pignatare

Preferred Wood Flooring
15 Cranston St.
Chris J. Roit

Tangles
43 Union St.
Cinda Parnagian

The Grape Crusher
20 School St.
Rosanne Bonavita

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Beauty Gate Salon and Spa
1646 Riverdale St.
Konrad Chmiel

Caring Solutions LLC
680 Westfield St.
Patricia L. Baskin

Carter’s
935 Riverdale St.
Carter’s Retail Inc.

Cleanslate Centers LLC
82 Main St.
Total Wellness Centers LLC

Cutting Edge Pro Consulting
42 Chester St.
Stephen M. Sjostrom

D Berry Services
118 Pease Ave.
Donald Berry

Geraldine’s Lounge
1501 Elm St.
Ares Inc.

Jimmy Larochelle’s Finish Carpentry
164 Lower Beverly Hill
Jimmy Larochelle

Just Blaze Barber Shop
409 Main St.
Jose A. Gonzalez

Physician Care West
274 Westfield St.
Reda Ishak

Tatyana’s Hair Salon
1098 Memorial Ave.
Tatyana Yermakov

Sections Supplements
Region’s Construction Sector Remains Sluggish

David Fontaine

David Fontaine says new schools are being funded, but other construction sectors continue to lag.

The continued weakness of the region’s construction industry has become frustrating and stressful for area builders, who have seen not just a drastic reduction in the pace of available jobs, but a significant influx of bidders on each project, some from far outside the Pioneer Valley. Faint indications point to a recovery starting next year, but right now, contractors are just looking for some good news to build on.

Joseph Marois shakes his head when he sees some of the winning bids in the current, hyper-competitive construction marketplace.
“The bids are normally pretty clustered together, with everything within a few dollars,” said Marois, president of Marois Construction in South Hadley. “You look at it now, and the low bidder is substantially lower than everyone else, sometimes by 20%. It’s incredible. It’s hard to understand how they make a profit on the jobs they’re doing.”
David Fontaine, president of Fontaine Brothers in Springfield, has noticed the same phenomenon.
“The price structure right now is incredible,” he told BusinessWest. “With some of the bids you’re getting beat by, you just shake your head and send the plans back. There seem to be eight to 10 bids on everything, at minimum, and it seems like there’s always one guy with a bid you just can’t understand.”
William Crocker, president of Crocker Building in Springfield, said these days were forecast by the collapse of the housing market a few years ago and the ensuing economic downturn. “The slowdown tends to affect us as general contractors late,” he said.
But while some other industries are reporting cautious optimism, construction work is as scarce right now — and competition as fierce — as Crocker has seen it since the recession began. “You see it in the bidding activity,” he said. “When there’s an open bid, every contractor in Western Mass. shows up.
“The margins are tight, and the numbers are tough,” he continued. “There’s some activity out there, but we’re still holding our breath.”
For this issue, BusinessWest examines why the major trends in building — few of them good — are continuing deep into 2010, and what contractors are saying about the road ahead.

Looking for a Silver Lining
Mark Erlich, executive secretary-treasurer of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, recently noted in New England Carpenter magazine that hours worked by union carpenters in New England dropped 38% in the last 24 months, and unemployment in that group has hovered around 30% for much of the same period.
However, he writes, “I believe the worst is over. There are no prospects for a quick or extensive recovery, but I think the bleeding has stopped, and we can begin to think more optimistically about what is next. New England is positioned to rebound sooner than other regions because of the heavy presence of health care, higher education, and life sciences, industries that are more likely to witness future growth.”
That seems to be the case in Massachusetts especially, where the eds-and-meds sectors have been traditional drivers of the economy, and are spurring a significant portion of what activity is occurring right now.
“Look who’s building in Springfield. Look at the North End, and even the work we’ve done in the past few years,” said Crocker, citing projects like a new building for Hampshire Orthopedics in Hatfield. Public works and utilities are relatively active, too; “we’ve got several projects for National Grid substations.”
Others have seen similar trends.
“It seems that a lot of the schools are being funded,” said Fontaine, whose business tends to be about 70% public and 30% private — not a bad ratio in these times. “We recently started the new high school in Wilbraham, and we’re halfway into a new dormitory at the College of the Holy Cross. We’re also just getting ready to start a Transit Authority office in a building up in Greenfield.”
On the other hand, Crocker said, some traditional markets for builders — manufacturing foremost among them — seem to be stagnant. But it pays to be diverse. In addition to the health care and utility projects on his recent slate, Crocker also just completed the framework for Springfield’s Macedonian Church of God in Christ, which burned down a couple of years ago.
It’s good to diversify when things get this slow, he admitted, but even so, there are only so many projects. “We’re not seeing much of the small renovations. Everyone seems to be holding their purse strings rather tightly.”
There’s a little more public work available than private work, Marois said, although neither sector is exactly robust, and some industry watchers fret about the slow pace of infrastructure-investment legislation coming from Washington to help stimulate the pace of progress.
“Some people are busier than others. I think we’ve gotten our fair share of work, although the profit margins are minimal,” Marois said. “We’re just trying to keep our core base of employees. They have families, and they’ve been with us for a long time, so we want to make sure we maintain our relationship with them. I think that’s a common goal you’ll find among my peers.”

Better Days
Marois sees the clouds clearing somewhat, but there’s still a long way to go.
“It seems like there are more projects to bid now than in the past, but that hasn’t eliminated the number of people bidding on each one,” he said. “I’m bidding on a project now with 16 contractors on it. That’s getting to be pretty typical.”
Nationwide, construction employment expanded in 56 out of 337 metropolitan areas between August 2009 and August 2010, according to a recent analysis of federal employment data by the Associated General Contractors of America. More cities added construction jobs during the past year than at any point since September 2008, although Western Mass. has yet to see that sort of rebound.
“With construction employment on the mend in an increasing number of areas, it appears that the worst is finally over,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist, on the national picture. “The fact remains, however, that this industry has a long way to go before we see construction employment back to pre–recession levels.”
That’s especially true in the Pioneer Valley and into Northern Conn. The Springfield market ranked 208th on the list of 337 metro areas with a net construction job loss of 6%. The Pittsfield market held steady, ranking it 57th in the study, while the Hartford market lost 9% of its construction jobs in that time, ranking Connecticut’s capital at 269th. Overall, 11 of 12 Massachusetts metro areas lost jobs.
Fontaine has seen no improvement in the overall picture, but expects things to pick up soon. “We had scaled down a few years ago, and we stayed scaled down,” he said. “But we’ve been talking to some architectural firms, and they’re saying maybe one more year to go. There’s some large work out there — $100 million, $200 million work — but in the marketplace we survive in, not much.”
That’s why he, like so many other contractors, has been forced to look outside the Pioneer Valley for opportunities. “We actually picked up three projects in the last year, but we bid on probably 50 — most in the eastern part of the state,” he said. “Most of the things we’ve chased have been probably 75 to 90 miles from here.”
Marois has been surprised, however, not that builders are roaming outside of their usual geographic territory, but how far afield some are willing to travel to find work.
“I bid a job with contractors from Rhode Island, New York State, New Hampshire, Vermont, and the Boston area,” he said. “That job had 18 bidders on it, and the Rhode Island contractor got the job.
“I don’t understand it — they have to mobilize and set up, and that costs, and they have to know the local economy, the local vendors — it’s not necessarily something I would do to land a job.”
Until the industry picks up significantly, each construction company has to make those decisions to keep their business running.
“This is the time to get ready for the recovery that will come,” Erlich notes. “It may not be coming as fast as we would like, and there will be continued hardships.”
And way too many bidders for too few projects.

Joseph Bednar can be reached
at [email protected]

Sections Supplements
Invasive Plants Can Be a Growing Problem for You or Your Company

John Prenosil

John Prenosil

Green isn’t always good — at least when referring to invasive plants.
Take a look in your yard when you get home. Do you see a burning bush? Japanese barberry? Norway maple? Yes, you guessed it. These are all invasives, as they’re called, which means they shouldn’t be there.
First off, let’s define what constitutes an invasive plant. These are non-native plants that share these characteristics: they begin growing earlier in the spring and grow longer in the fall than native plants, are typically more tolerant of poor soil conditions, grow vigorously, produce large amounts of seeds, grow well in disturbed environments, and have no natural enemies. Understandably, many invasive plants were historically chosen for landscaping because they required little maintenance, grew well in poor soils, and were disease and pest-resistant.
Burning bush was popular for its brilliant fall color, Japanese barberry for its durability and attractive purple and red leaves, and Norway maple for its summer-long crimson red foliage. These invasive landscape plants and more than 100 other plant species are currently identified by the Mass. Department of Agricultural Resources as prohibited for sale.
It is important to control and/or eradicate invasive plants in wetlands and forest environments because they disrupt habitats by outcompeting native plants, thereby decreasing biodiversity.
Try this analogy. A restaurant with two items on the menu is not as appealing to consumers as a restaurant with 50 items on the menu. An environment with only two items on the menu has low biodiversity; numerous items on the menu mean higher biodiversity. Animals like menus with more diversity. An environment comprised of multiple native plant species offers a host of food choices and habitat to a wide variety of wildlife. Fewer food choices results in a decreased mix of wildlife.
Invasive plant seeds are spread through birds, wildlife, and construction equipment. Aquatic invasive plants are inadvertently spread by boaters from plant fragments stuck to the hull or floating in bilge water. Many of the invasive plants found in our waterways, ponds, and lakes are a result of aquarium plants being flushed down the toilet.
Because established populations of invasive plants are difficult, costly, and time-consuming to control, early detection is paramount. Smaller populations are easier to monitor and control. Control of invasive plants requires a thorough knowledge of the target species, its biology, and an understanding of the environment in which invasive plants are found. Each situation is unique and requires a custom approach. Although herbicides are important for control of invasive plants, they are not always the best alternative.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) offers a more comprehensive approach to controlling pests, including invasive plants. In addition to simply spraying invasive plants with herbicides, IPM addresses cultural practices and biological controls. An example of a cultural control would be mowing a section of road right-of-way (adjacent to a pond) instead of applying herbicide, which has the possibility of contaminating the water; mowing provides a non-chemical control method to keep the invasive plant population under control. An example of a biological control would be releasing an insect that has been found to eat a specific invasive plant. The goal of IPM is to use the least amount of herbicide to control a population of invasive plants. Eradication is not always necessary. Further, continual use of herbicides on the same plants may result in those plants developing immunity to the herbicide.
Control and eradication of invasive plants typically requires permitting through local and state agencies and application of any pesticides on property other than one’s own requires licensing and certification through the Mass. Department of Agricultural Resources. Licensed and certified professionals should ensure that people are not exposed, groundwater and surface waters are not polluted, wildlife is not be harmed, and damage to non-target plants is minimized.
Resources are available for landowners wishing to improve wildlife habitat on their property. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service offers the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP), a voluntary approach to improve wildlife habitat that includes cost sharing up to 75% and technical assistance. Additional online resources related to invasive plants are available through the New England Wildflower Society (www.newfs.org/
protect/invasive-plants) and numerous other organizations.
The reader should keep in mind that this article is meant only for informational purposes. The author does not recommend that the reader apply herbicides or utilize other forms of control on their properties without first consulting an expert. Permits may be required.

John Prenosil is president of JMP Environmental Consulting Inc., which has completed WHIP-funded and other invasive-plant eradication and control projects throughout Massachusetts. Related services also include initial habitat assessments, invasive species management plans, eradication and control, and long-term monitoring; (413) 272-0111; [email protected].

Agenda Departments

NEPM Product Showcase
Oct. 26: NEPM (New England Promotional Marketing) will stage its annual Promotional Product Showcase at Ludlow Country Club. The event will feature products from a number of vendors suitable for holiday gifts, trade-show handouts, or ideas for marketing plans. RSVP is required. For more information or to reserve a seat, call (413) 596-4800.

Developers Conference
Oct. 27: The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield will be the setting for the 2010 Springfield Developers Conference, sponsored by the City of Springfield. The conference theme is “Innovate, Grow, Create … Make It Happen,” and will feature opportunities for incorporating new technologies and innovative practices in the building, energy, and information-technology industries to improve one’s business. Exhibitor opportunities are still available. For more information, contact Samalid Hogan at (413) 787-6020.

Get on Board!
Oct. 28: OnBoard, a Springfield-based nonprofit, hopes to connect local organizations with individuals looking to increase their involvement in the community, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The event will take place at Center Court, where attendees will meet with as many as eight or more organizations. The meetings will be orchestrated using the ‘speed-dating’ format, with individuals spending a few minutes with an organization of their choice, then, on the sound of the basketball buzzer, moving on to the next. Representatives from each organization will discuss their history, mission, goals, and what it is they are looking for in board members. Interested individuals will have the chance to explain what skills and interests they have to make a potential match. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call Elizabeth Taras at (413) 687-3144, Brittany Castonguay at (413) 737-1131, or visit www.diversityonboard.org.

EANE Conference
Nov. 4: The Employers Assoc. of the NorthEast will host its annual Employment Law and HR Practices Update Conference from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Publick House in Sturbridge. The conference will be led by professionals in the areas of labor law, safety, employee relations, and unemployment. Conference highlights include up-to-date state and federal employment laws, recent court decisions, agency interpretations and prospective changes, as well as new compensation, safety, and employee-relations practices. For more details, call Karen Cronenberger at (877) 662-6444 or e-mail [email protected].
United in Hope
Nov. 14: New York Times bestselling and two-time Oprah Book Choice author Wally Lamb, will visit Springfield for the second annual United in Hope. He will raise awareness for how reading and writing build voice, and how sharing that voice creates hope for individuals and communities. Lamb will be joined by speakers, performers, and participating organizations and programs that focus on literacy and expression and community engagement. “United in Hope spotlights and models the dedicated efforts of many working together to conquer some of the urban challenges our city faces,” said Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. United in Hope will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. at the High School of Commerce at 415 State St. in Springfield. The event will be held in the Auditorium and is sponsored by Hasbro Inc. Immediately following the event, from 4 to 5 p.m., there will be opportunity to meet Lamb, purchase books, and browse community-resource tables. The event is free and open to the public.  For more information, contact Gianna Allentuck at (703) 930-0243 or [email protected].

Advanced Manufacturing Competition & Conference
Nov. 16: The first highly concentrated, cluster-centric, regional manufacturing conference of its kind will be held at the MassMutual Center in Springfield. The event, called the Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Competition & Conference (AMICCON), is being staged in response to growing recognition among area manufacturers and supply chain members that there is an urgent need to find and meet one another. “AMICCON was formed to identify who’s here in manufacturing, expose them to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and procurement, and to make these introductions,” said co-founder Ellen Bemben. “The ultimate goal is to be the advanced manufacturing region in the U.S., where exotic manufacturing, such as micro, nano, and precision, meet higher specifications and tighter tolerances, and short runs are the norm.” Industry sectors to be represented at the event will include plastics and advanced materials, precision machining, paper and packaging, electronics, ‘green’/clean technology, and medical devices. Business opportunities in defense and aerospace will also be highlighted at the event. OEMs and their supply chains are being invited personally to participate. The Mass. Export Center has already produced two programs for AMICCON: an Export Experts Panel, and a seminar, “International Traffic in Arms Regulations for Defense and Aerospace Export.” For more information, visit www.amiccon.com.

Sections Supplements
The Occupancy Rate Is Rising at One Financial Plaza

Joe Gaffney, vice president of Sales for BKM Total Office

Joe Gaffney, vice president of Sales for BKM Total Office, says he wanted to be in downtown Springfield, and One Financial Plaza was the best option.

Steve Roy says that he and other managers of GZA GeoEnvironmental probably looked at more than 20 locations across Western Mass., more than a third of them in Springfield, after the company decided it needed to relocate from its long-time home on Main Street in East Longmeadow.
There were several factors that led to that decision, said Roy, office manager for the local office and a principal with this corporation that has sites up and down the East Coast and as far west as Milwaukee. Chief among them was the desire to be much more visible, he told BusinessWest, but the company also needed some room to grow, and wanted an easier, quicker commute for its 20 employees.
And, like most businesses looking at their space options, GZA wanted an attractive lease deal, one that would enable it to upgrade to better quarters.
In the end, the company was able to draw lines through all those stated wants and needs with a decision to move to One Financial Plaza, a.k.a. 1350 Main St., a.k.a. the Sovereign Bank Building. It should be in its new space on the 14th floor sometime next month. “It’s a move that just makes good sense for us,” said Roy.
Thus, GZA joins a number of companies who have said essentially the same thing, and are therefore helping to turn lights on across some floors that have been dark at One Financial Plaza for several years now.
Evan Plotkin, a principal with NAI Plotkin and co-owner of floors 6-17, said a number of new tenants have been added over the past few years, and there could be more in the pipeline for early next year.
With the recent addition of GZA (taking 7,106 square feet) and BMC HealthNet Plan (12,445 square feet), the occupancy rate in the tower will reach 62%, compared to 39% when the upper 12 floors were purchased in 2007. Overall, 138,089 square feet will be occupied, compared to 86,046 square feet two years ago.
A tenant’s market and the resulting attractive lease rates and amenities, coupled with high occupancy rates in most all other Class A buildings, in both downtown Springfield and area suburbs, have certainly contributed to the increasing popularity of One Financial Plaza, but Plotkin would like to believe there are other reasons.
He told BusinessWest that he’s worked hard to create an environment that businesses want to be in. Efforts have included everything from revitalizing the ornamental fountain along the Court Square side of the property to the rotating art exhibits in the front lobby and other common spaces in the building, to the rack of umbrellas available to tenants who find themselves on the wrong end of unpredictable New England weather.
“We’re creating positive experiences for people,” he said, “and I think this is putting our building into a class all its own.”

News Desk
Joe Gaffney told BusinessWest that he’s had a lot of visitors to BKM Total Office’s space on the 11th floor of One Financial Plaza since the company moved in last April. Some had scheduled appointments, but many just dropped in, he said, to look around what isn’t exactly a product showroom, per se, but rather an office equipped with the very latest office furniture and accessories.
“I call it the ‘work area of the 21st century,’” said Gaffney, vice president of Sales for BKM, as he pointed out things such as the latest in work stations — minus the high cubicle walls — and something called the media:scape, a product designed to enable people to more easily share ideas through state-of-the-art technology. Many people working in One Financial Plaza, but also others from neighboring buildings in downtown Springfield, have come to see and hear about these products, he said, adding that this wasn’t exactly predicted, nor was it among the stated reasons for moving to the tower from a site on Interstate Drive in West Springfield.
Among the motivations that were on that list was a desire to upgrade to something more contemporary — “the place we were in was stale” — as well a need for more efficient space (the company actually went from 3,000 square feet to 2,000 and has plenty of room) and a real desire to be downtown, a departure from the trend of recent years.
“I’m in the habit of supporting hubs — I want to be where the hub of business is,” said Gaffney, adding that he finds himself in downtown Springfield often for business and networking meetings, and decided it made good business sense to slash his commute times.
BKM is one of several companies and agencies that have made 1350 Main their new mailing address over the past year or so. Others include MassDevelopment; the law firm Minnoff, Parish, and Greenhut; the U.S. Government; Cannex Financial Exchanges Ltd.; attorney Daniel Szostkiewicz; Milone & MacBroom; a consulting firm providing civil-engineering, planning, landscape-architecture, and land-survey services; and O&G Industries, a construction-services company.
In total, a dozen or so new tenants, including GZA and BMC HealthNet, will absorb 52,043 square feet. That leaves another 82,491 still dark, but Plotkin says he has a strong prospect sheet and sees many reasons for optimism. For starters, there’s the building’s high retention rate among tenants approaching the end of their leases, including Disability Management Services, which occupies 43,000 square feet.
Meanwhile, Plotkin says he’s witnessing companies moving from the suburbs — and even Northern Conn. — into downtown Springfield, something that wasn’t happening a few years ago. And he’s also hearing a number of positive comments from tenants, even about the parking, or perceived lack thereof.
“We’re seeing companies like GZA coming downtown from places like East Longmeadow,” he said. “I think it’s very encouraging when you see things like that happening. And while I think location is certainly part of the reason, what we’ve been able to do with this building is also a big factor.
“I think this building is now in a class of its own by virtue of the service level we offer,” he continued. “One of the things that I said right from the beginning when I invested in this property is that we had to assemble the best management team that we could. And we have, and that’s because I knew that the biggest risk that I had here wasn’t so much whether I could lease up the building — I knew I could do that — but keeping the ones that we had.”
But Plotkin knows there is still considerable work to do to fill vacant space across several floors of the tower. He said he intends to be aggressive in marketing the space, adding new amenities such as valet parking to address that nagging concern among some prospective tenants, and continue to look for ways to add value to the equation.
The umbrellas are a simple example of such value adding, he said, adding that other, more elaborate efforts include plans for what he called a ‘high-tech conference room’ to be made available to tenants as well as businesses across the region, more art exhibits, and additional events, or “happenings,” as Plotkin called them, aimed at bringing tenants together.
Over the past few years such events have ranged from music programs to an appearance from the Zoo at Forest Park’s Zoo on the Go, to a program featuring exotic birds.
“The plaza here is a place where people come together,” he said. “It’s a whole different feel, and people want that. They like seeing other people around; it feels safe, it feels comfortable, it’s enjoyable on a beautiful day.”

Success Stories
There are still a number of dark floors at One Financial Plaza — nearly 40% of the building remains unoccupied.
But little by little, a few thousand square feet at a time, the tower is gaining new tenants and additional vibrancy.
In short, more people are coming to the same conclusion as Steve Roy — that this mailing address simply makes good sense.

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

Sections Supplements
Commercial Market Remains Sluggish, but the Skies Are Brightening

Kevin Jennings

Kevin Jennings, seen in Chicopee at what will be the home of a distribution center, says the market is picking up after two years of relative stagnancy.

Area commercial real-estate brokers say the local market remains in a slump, with vast amounts of inventory and many business owners still reluctant to make investments. Many of the moves being made are upgrades to better space in this region, what one observer called “a game of musical chairs,” but there are some indications that conditions are improving and a healthier 2011 is in the offing.

Kevin Jennings was talking about speed bumps.
He used that term while discussing commercial real-estate deals and, more specifically, how much more difficult they are to consummate than they were before this sector entered its prolonged slump roughly two years ago.
“There are a lot more speed bumps now — everything’s slower and more methodical,” he explained. “Deals that used to take maybe 30 to 45 days to complete are now taking 60 to 90 days.”
And many are taking much longer than that, he continued, adding that there is much more scrutiny of the fine print these days, especially on the part of the tenant-to-be, who is still in the driver’s seat in most respects, and is pushing for every break, or concession, possible.
“Even after the fact, after the deal has been negotiated,” said Jennings, president of Springfield-based Jennings Real Estate, which handles a wide range of properties, but especially industrial and retail, “they still think they can chisel and grind.”
John Williamson, president of Williamson Commercial Properties in Springfield, agreed. “No one’s leaving anything on the table,” he explained, referring to rate or any other aspect of a lease. “And that’s why it’s taking much longer to get deals done. It used to get down to dollars per square foot; now it’s down to nickels and dimes per square foot.”
But the good news is that deals are, in fact, getting done, said brokers who spoke with BusinessWest, while noting early and often that things are still quite slow in this market and will be until more business owners gain the confidence to move ahead with expansion or relocation plans.
Indeed, Jennings used the phrase ‘optimistically cautious’ to describe the current picture, which is a considerable improvement over ‘stalled,’ which is how he would have classified this market a year or even six months ago. “There’s a fair amount of activity happening across the board,” he said. “We’re seeing some improvement.”
Bill Low, a broker with Springfield-based NAI Plotkin, concurred.
He said current market conditions are far from anything approaching what would be considered normal, but there is movement in some sectors and communities. He noted success with efforts to fill several vacant floors at One Financial Plaza in downtown Springfield (see related story, page 58) as one example, and said that there are some retail deals being inked, especially in what he called ‘B’ locations, where there are more opportunities, and transactions, than on the major retail strips such as Riverdale Road in West Springfield, Memorial Drive in Chicopee, and Boston Road in Springfield.
“It’s been a funny market,” he said. “It’s been extremely slow the past 18 to 24 months — the market’s been as bad as I’ve ever seen it. However, over the past year we’ve done a lot of office deals.”
Said Williamson, “it’s not gangbusters, but we’re seeing a steady stream of deals. It’s not the Mississippi River, but it’s at least one of its tributaries; there’s life out there.”
For this issue, BusinessWest takes a long look at the state of the current market and what should be expected next.

The Lease They Can Do
When asked to characterize what’s happening in his sector, Williamson cited a recent deal — actually two transactions — he completed in Hatfield that sums things up very effectively.
This was the sale of the Danish Inspirations complex just off I-91 to some local investors, and the subsequent lease of 10,000 square feet to Lumber Liquidators. Both deals were a long time in the making, and would best be described as ‘complex.’
The lease deal that brought the national retailer to the 413 area code was negotiated over more than 18 months, said Williamson, noting that the Virginia-based corporation wanted a presence in this market and wanted to be in that location. The trick was getting the space to work, which both parties were finally able to do.
The sale, meanwhile, took nearly four years to finalize. The original asking price was $2.8 million and was somewhat inflated, said Williamson, noting that the property finally went for $1.8 million.
Looking at those deals and how they were done, Williamson said they provide evidence of many things. For starters, they show that transactions are being made, and that there are opportunities for both investors and tenants looking to capitalize on a market where prices have come down and sellers are willing to negotiate.
“There are companies out there that are obviously thinking ahead to better times and taking advantage of pretty attractive lease rates and locking them in for seven years,” he said, referencing the term for the Lumber Liquidators lease. “For investors, this is a time to be opportunistic.”
But they also show how much more difficult it is to get signatures on the bottom line, said Williamson, who echoed Jennings when he said, “we’re doing some pretty substantial deals; it’s just taking twice as long to bring them to a conclusion. The kiss of death is when someone says, ‘this could be a quick deal.’ There are no quick deals these days.”
There are no easy deals, either, he continued, adding that both sides in transactions, and especially tenants and potential tenants, are being cautious in negotiations and, on the tenant side, understandably demanding.
“The deals are there; it’s just more difficult, and it takes longer to put them to a conclusion — if there is a conclusion,” he said. “One of the things I always loved about this business is that there’s an enormous amount of creativity involved, figuring out how to get over and around obstacles. These days, it takes even more creativity.”
In most all ways, this remains a tenant’s market, said those we spoke with, noting that this bodes well for business owners looking for more favorable terms to stay where they are — landlords are willing to be flexible to avoid creating more vacant space to fill — or to upgrade.
Indeed, Low told BusinessWest that much of the activity in the Western Mass. office and retail market involves what he calls “musical chairs,” companies already in this market moving to different, usually better, spaces. “I’m not sure the overall occupancy rate is any higher — it might have gone up a little bit,” he explained. “There’s still a lot of people just trading within the market.”
Most of these moves are upgrades, he said, meaning people exchanging Class C space for Class B, or B for A, and often getting rates comparable to what they were paying before, plus much more.
“Tenants are getting a lot more concessions,” said Low. “Tenant-improvement allowances are up, people are getting moving allowances, they’re getting cancellation rights in the agreement, all kinds of things.
“These days, companies want flexibility,” he continued. “They’re willing to pay halfway-decent rates, but they want flexibility, they want build-out, and they want all the amenities.”
On the industrial side of the ledger, Jennings noted that, while large-scale deals are still few and far between — an obvious sign of caution on the part of many business owners and managers — many smaller transactions have been completed “when the price was right.”
They include a 10,000-square-foot building on Doty Circle in West Springfield and a 4-acre parcel of land in one of the Westover industrial parks for a 33,000-square-foot distribution facility.
“There is some activity out there,” he said, noting, as other brokers did, that the region has suffered from a lack of movement from outside the market.
On the retail side, there have been some new arrivals to the region, Jennings continued, adding that this bodes well for a segment of the market has been hit hard by the recession.
“You’re starting to see some small signs of some of the retailers coming back,” he said. “Many of the discounters are expanding right now — the Family Dollars of this world — and that could give the region a boost.”
Looking ahead, the brokers we spoke with were in general agreement that the worst is probably over for this sector, and that, eventually, the pendulum will swing back in favor of landlords and rates will start to climb again.
“I think we’re at the bottom now,” said Low. “Most of the leases we’re signing now are beginning at a rental number that’s discounted to get them in here, but a lot of them go up over time. It’s hard to predict, but within six to 12 months we might be back to a halfway-decent, healthy market.
“Things are starting to turn,” he continued, “but they’re turning very slowly. I think we’ve reached the bottom, though.”

Space Race
In the meantime, though, expect more use of the phrases that have come to define this sector over the past few years: ‘tenant’s market,’ ‘musical chairs,’ and, yes, ‘speed bumps.’
As Jennings and others said, there have been more of them to navigate in the pursuit of deals larger and small. But if their projections for the road ahead are accurate, and the bounce back from the bottom has begun, then the ride ahead will certainly get much smoother.

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

Sections Supplements
This Software Company Has Several New Schools of Thought

inResonance President and CEO Kevin McAllister and Vice President of Global Sales Marlene Marrocco

inResonance President and CEO Kevin McAllister and Vice President of Global Sales Marlene Marrocco say the company provides software to more than 275 private and charter schools, including American schools in Tokyo, Geneva, Singapore, London, Paris, and Amsterdam.

Kevin McAllister has first-hand knowledge of the challenges private schools face.
He spent 17 years as a Geology and Spanish teacher at Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Conn., where he witnessed the nightmare of paperwork that everyone working there had to deal with.
“As a teacher, I had to send reports to parents six times a year. They had to be produced in triplicate through photocopying, then they were stapled together and mailed out,” he said. “I wanted to solve the problem, so I built a very primitive software system to make sending comments to parents easier.”
That was in 1992, and this system, which was expanded to include admissions, worked so well that word about it spread quickly. McAllister began running a sole proprietorship called KJM Consulting, and within a few years, 50 private schools were using his software.
By 1999, he had clients overseas as well as in the U.S. He had served on state and regional IT boards, had contracts as a consultant with schools, and had spoken at conferences across the country. What had started as a small side business was now starting to dominate McAllister’s time and his dreams for the future.
“My two daughters were graduating from high school, and I decided to take the jump,” he said, meaning that he had decided to give up teaching and start a business, one he would call inResonance Inc.
Today, the Northampton-based company provides database solutions and related Web applications that include fund-raising and constituent management, admissions and enrollment, and registrar functions to more than 275 private and charter schools, including American schools in Tokyo, Geneva, Singapore, London, Paris, and Amsterdam.
McAllister’s wife, Susan, is director of client services at inResonance, and together they share a passion for helping others and making a difference, which stemmed from time they spent as Peace Corps volunteers. “Susan was a math teacher in Africa, and I was a university professor in Paraguay. Watching inefficiency drove us to look for solutions,” McAllister said.
The name of their company is a reflection of his mission — to keep everything in tune by providing people with the tools they need to be efficient. “The people we work with are intelligent, dedicated professionals, but they don’t necessarily know the most efficient way to do their jobs,” he said, adding that everyone in an organization should be in resonance with each other. “You want everyone tuned up, singing the same tune, because the business process is only as efficient as the people working together.”

Problem Solving
McAllister says one of the problems private schools face is processing applications. He explained that schools can have several thousand applicants a year and need to rank them as well as keep on top of the process, which includes details such as whether they have received a student’s grades, transcripts, birth certificate, recommendations, photo, and other requirements, such as interviews conducted when the student and parents visit the school.
“It’s a long and complex process because the typical prep schools funnels 3,000 inquiries, which turn into 1,200 applications. They may accept 250 students, but only 125 of them decide to go there because they have also applied to other schools,” McAllister explained. “Then you have to throw in the financial-aid component, which makes it very difficult to fill 125 spots.”
However, admissions is the most critical office in many private schools because 85% to 90% of their income is dependent on it, McAllister said, adding that the remainder typically comes from endowments.
“Schools purchase our admissions systems to provide online applications and to process them in an efficient way, which can save them hundreds of man hours a year. Every school has a customized application, and it’s a complete transformation of the process. What used to take employees hours and hours to process now takes minutes.”
Another of inResonance’s mainstay products is used by registrars’ offices, where challenges include scheduling classes, grading, attendance, and teacher’s reports. The inResonance software system allows parents to go online and see their children’s grades and records, which McAllister considers critical to success.
Everyone who works at inResonance has a background in education. “We are not a bunch of programmers. We are efficiency experts who bring technology tools to the table. That’s our ethos — to empower dedicated professionals,” McAllister said. “We don’t want to work with organizations that don’t want to change. We want to work with people who are doers and innovators. We expect to be in conversation with our clients for many years as part of their strategic planning.”
McAllister said the company’s systems are not built for large public-school systems with rigid rules and that cannot afford variations. “The important word for us is independent. Our schools may run different classes every six weeks and do interesting things educationally, which we can accommodate. We don’t have a cookie-cutter system,” he explained, adding that charter schools are a growing segment of their clientele.
The company’s software also solves problems inherent to lottery systems used to determine which students are chosen to attend a school. “Before this software, people were literally picking cards out of a bowl,” McAllister said.
One of the many benefits of the company’s software is that it can be adapted to suit different needs. “We don’t build a custom solution for every school, but have a solid core that can be customized. Because we are small, nimble, and flexible, we are involved with a lot of factors and can serve a variety of educational innovations,” he said.
Another product, called Generations, helps schools with fund-raising. “It keeps track of constituents, parents, grandparents, trustees, and all their giving by allowing the school to run statistics. It also generates annual reports, including all activities and fund-raisers,” McAllister said. “The product was developed about six years ago and has allowed us to really move into radically different markets.”
Three years ago, the company began working on a new initiative called NodeLinks, with the aim of helping the nonprofit sector. McAllister hopes to launch it soon, and says the basic concept involves connecting clusters of nonprofits into nodes or groups who join and share their resources to generate success.
“We believe that, because of their limited budgets, they need to work together to become efficient,” he said. “We would like to create nodes in every city and link them together.”
Each node would be made up of 10 organizations with partners that include consultants, students, philanthrophists, volunteers, the Web community, and community developers. They would each pay one-tenth of the salary of a shared employee who would help them realize common goals using technology.
“There are 700,000 nonprofits competing for funds, and we believe there is opportunity and possibility for them to work together so they could provide a common front to funders and write more realistic grant proposals,” McAllister said. “We want to pilot this in the Pioneer Valley and are looking for nonprofits and funding agencies to participate.”

Textbook Examples
NodeLinks will be a separate division of inResonance and will satisfy the McAllisters’ desire to help others just as they did when they were Peace Corps volunteers.
“My journey has been very circuitous,” said Kevin. “We have come full circle in what we have learned about making schools and nonprofits efficient. Susan and I both have a common ethos that came out of education and nonprofits. NodeLinks will allow us to come full circle with our passion and love, which is the nonprofit sector.”
If all goes as planned, the two will be adding yet another way for people to accomplish goals without frustration, he continued. “We are creating a structure to link people together so they can also work together in an efficient way.”

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

AMHERST
 
Amherst Inn Co., 155 South Pleasant St., Amherst, MA 01002. Peter Shea, same. Restaurant and Inn.
 
CAIA Foundation Inc., 100 University Dr., Amherst, MA 01002. E. Craig Asche,
36 Laurel Hill Dr., Leverett, MA 01054. Charitable organization established to promote religious, scientific and literary educational purposes.

BELCHERTOWN
 
Auction Shipper Inc., 442 State St., Belchertown, MA 01007. Aytac Camdeviren, same. Shipping and receiving.

EASTHAMPTON
 
Feeding Tube Records Inc., 150 Pleasant St., Suite 235, Easthampton, MA 01027. Edward Lee, same.

EAST LONGMEADOW
 
Auto Glass Replacement Inc., 119 Pleasant St., East Longmeadow, MA 01028.
Ann Bean, same. Auto glass replacement.
 
Gutter Protection Systems Inc., 123 Melwood Ave., East Longmeadow, MA 01028.
Michael Gregory Jr., same. Sales, distribution, and installation of gutter systems.

FLORENCE
 
Bidwell ID Inc., 30 North Maple St., Florence, MA 01062. John Bidwell, same. Strategic marketing and branding design and consultation services.

GREENFIELD
 
Fisher Express Inc., 331 Wells St., Greenfield, MA 01301. Michael Fisher, same. Trucking company.

HATFIELD
 
Data Engines Corp., 450 Main St., Hatfield, MA 01038. Walker Lee, same. Software and computation services.
 
HOLYOKE
 
Arena Realty Inc., 75 Lyman St., Holyoke, MA 01040. Luis Arena, same. Real estate investment and management company.
 
IHEG Inc., 47 Jackson St., Holyoke, MA 01040. Eric Suher, 28 Jefferson St., Holyoke, MA 01040. Organization, promotion and conduction of entertainment at musical venues.

LENOX
 
Guenhwyvar Inc., 55 Pittsfield Lenox Road, Lenox, MA 01240. Michelle Vanallen, 24 Rotermel Lane, Kinderhook, NY 12106. Restaurant and bar.

LUDLOW
 
Appleton Healthcare Franchising Pro Inc., 185 West Ave., Suite 101, Ludlow, MA 01056. Rebecca Pacquette, same. Franchise health care staffing business model.
 
East Baking Co. Inc., 220 West St., Ludlow, MA 01056. Danny Serra, same.
 
Funland Party Rentals Inc., 29 Deerhill Circle, Ludlow, MA 01056. Pedro Almeida, 56 Lillian Ave., Ludlow, MA 01056. Party supply rentals

NORTHAMPTON
 
Intake Advantage Inc., 355 Bridge St., Northampton, MA 01060. Brigitte Freda, same. Web site development, design, hosting consulting, and other Web-related services to businesses.

PITTSFIELD
 
A Mind Full of Life Inc., 133 High St., Pittsfield, MA 01201. Randal Williams, same. Mindfullness education and retreats.

SPRINGFIELD
 
Helaman Inc., 109 Vincent St., Springfield, MA 01129. Harold Wilson, same. E-commerce activities.
 
Ianello & Brittain, P.C., 55 State St., Suite 201, Springfield, MA 01103. Richard Ianello, 17 Woodside Dr., Longmeadow, MA 01106. Law practice.
 
JDR Construction Inc., 34 Grant St., Springfield, MA 01105. Jailyn Rosario, same. General contractor.
 
JRL Construction Inc., 1145 Main St., Springfield, MA 01103. James Lessard, 24 Arcadia Blvd., Springfield, MA 01118. General contractor.

WEST SPRINGFIELD
 
Ares Inc., 387 Riverdale St., West Springfield, MA 01089. Richard Harty, same.

WILLIAMSTOWN
 
Afghan Youth Initiative Inc., 18 Mill St., Williamstown, MA 01267. Matiullah Amin, same. Charitable and education organization.

Building Permits Departments
The following building permits were issued during the month of October 2010.

AGAWAM

Cirillo Realty, Inc.
1508 Main St.
$15,000 — Enlarge kitchen and increase seating capacity in restaurant

AMHERST

Amherst College
Orchard St.
$23,000 — Repair exterior stairs at football field press box

Yosrex Limited Partnership
266 E. Hadley Road
$12,000 — New roof

CHICOPEE

Chicopee Housing Authority
165 East Main St.
$94,000 — Install new generator

Knights of Columbus
1599 Memorial Ave.
$25,000 — Structural repairs

Lymtech – John R. Lyman Company
2255 Westover Road
$1,075,500 — Renovate existing commercial building to manufacturing & office spaces

Motel 6
36 Johnny Cake Hollow Road
$155,000 — Strip and re-roof

St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church
27 Streiber Dr.
$100,000 — Extend to exterior walls to create common room

EASTHAMPTON

Kevin Sahagian
228 Northampton St.
$30,000 — Construct a deck with ramp and replace siding at food establishment

EAST LONGMEADOW

Donald Lomasscola
147 Shaker Road
$75,000 — Renovation

East Meadow Realty
30 Shaker Rd.
$15,000 — Tenant fit-up

Family Bike
217-219 Shaker Road
$3,500 — New roof

Hasbro
443 Shaker Road
$44,000 — Modify mezzanine area

GREENFIELD

John F. Conley
1 Cumberland Road
$17,000 — Erect a three-bay garage

One Arch Place
6 Arch St.
$1,000 — Tenant fit-up

The Leonard House, LLC
116 Federal St.
$40,000 — Renovations

HOLYOKE

Holyoke Mall Company, L.P.
50 Holyoke St.
$3,950 — Remodel existing Bath & Body store

John Dafonte
130 Maple St.
$34,000 — Install new roof

Rafael Fernandez
161-163 High St.
$4,600 — Install new staircase

LONGMEADOW

Bailey Center
85 Hawthorn St.
$11,000 — Re-roof and exterior alterations

GPT – Longmeadow Shops
686 Bliss Road
$32,000 — Storefront alterations

Verizon Control Office
450 Longmeadow St.
$89,000 — Cell tower renovation

LUDLOW

David Lavoie
107-117 Center St.
$3,000 — Re-roof

NORTHAMPTON

City of Northampton
80 Locust St.
$175,000 — Install replacement windows at the Smith School

City of Northampton
42 Gothic St.
$202,000 — Remove partition walls and reconfigure classroom spaces

City of Northampton
210 Main St.
$4,000 — Enlarge opening in the city clerk’s office

City of Northampton
139 South St.
$230,000 — Install replacement windows and interior renovations

Coca-Cola Company
45 Industrial Dr.
$1,340,800 — Construct a 16,600-square-foot addition and renovate existing building

The College Church, Inc.
58 Pomeroy Terrace
$5,000 — Install four basement replacement windows

South Hadley

Loomis Village
20 Bayon Dr.
$35,000 — Renovation

SPRINGFIELD

Family Medical
1515 Allen St.
$15,000 — Remodel office areas

Iparty
1552 Boston Road
$1,500 — Bring in fixtures and set up merchandise

WESTFIELD

Industrial Precision
1014 Southampton Road
$22,000 — Construct wall

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Agri-Mark
958 Riverdale St.
$75,000 — Erect 28-foot opening in wall for truck sanitizing

Century Center, LLC
235 Memorial Ave.
$15,000 — Extend facade over store front

Verizon Wireless
120 Interstate Dr.
$12,000 — Install antenna on existing tower

Sections Supplements
National Labor Relations Board Declares Union ‘Shame’ Banners Lawful

Amy Royal

Amy Royal

In light of the new Democratic majority on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), many businesses have braced themselves for the flurry of pro-union decisions likely to come. In fact, in a decision issued in September, the new NLRB confirmed its suspected pro-union stance by significantly expanding a union’s ability to protest against neutral, secondary employers by displaying large stationary banners at their facilities.
In United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local Union No. 1506, 355 NLRB No. 159, the union accused several non-unionized construction contractors of paying substandard wages and benefits to their employees. In order to put pressure on the contractors to change their ways, the union began protesting at companies that utilized the services of the contractors (so called neutral businesses). In doing so, the union displayed large banners at the neutral businesses’ worksites that were three to four feet high and 15 to 20 feet long and contained messages, such as “SHAME ON [neutral business]” or “DON’T EAT RA SUSHI” directed at a sushi restaurant that did business with one of the contractors. Each message was flanked on either side with the words “LABOR DISPUTE” and were held as close as 15 feet from the entrance to the neutral company’s worksite.
Benjamin Bristol

Benjamin Bristol

In addition to displaying the banners, union representatives also distributed handbills to the public explaining their underlying labor dispute concerning the contractors who purportedly were not paying their employees enough. The handbills stated that consumers who patronized the neutral customers were “contributing to the undermining of area labor standards.”
The neutral businesses sued the union for unfair labor practices, contending that the union’s conduct by displaying banners at their businesses involved them in the union’s dispute with the contractors and, thus, amounted to a secondary boycott in violation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Section 8 of the NLRA prohibits secondary boycotts. Indeed, under the NLRA, secondary boycotts are defined as a labor union’s conduct that threatens, coerces, or restrains any person with the intention of forcing that person to cease their business dealings with any other person. The purpose behind the secondary boycott provision is to shield neutral businesses from improper pressure to stop them from doing business with a company with which a union has a dispute.
This issue of whether a stationary banner violated the NLRA had never been addressed before. Picketing at neutral companies, however, had previously been declared unlawful under the NLRA because of the confrontations that could occur between the picketers and other individuals who attempt to cross the picket line.
In a 3-2 decision, the NLRB held that the union’s conduct was not threatening or coercive and, therefore, did not violate the secondary-boycott provisions of the NLRA. In reaching this decision, the NLRB ruled that “the banner displays here did not constitute such proscribed picketing because they did not create a confrontation. Banners are not picketing signs … [and] the banner holders did not move, shout, impede access [to], or otherwise interfere with the [neutral customers’] operations.”
Despite the inherent similarities between picket signs and banners, the NLRB majority reasoned that, even though union representatives held the banners, the banners were not threatening or likely to lead to a confrontation like picketing because the banners were held in a stationary position and placed at a sufficient distance away from the neutral businesses’ entrances, and the individuals passing by could simply ignore the banners.
The NLRB’s decision signifies a considerable expansion of a labor union’s rights under the NLRA. By allowing the display of banners at a neutral party’s place of business, unions have increased their protesting power and access to companies and their employees with which they have no contractual relationship. Beyond these immediate implications, the NLRB’s decision also appears to foreshadow the types of decisions that will come out of the new Obama NLRB. Now that the term of Republican Peter Schaumber has expired, the current NLRB is comprised of only four members, three of which are considered to embrace pro-union views because of their lengthy prior careers as labor-side attorneys.
Pro-union decisions are likely to increase even more due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year voiding nearly 600 NLRB decisions from January 2008 to April 2010 when there were only two members sitting on the board. In response, the NLRB has begun to reconsider those cases. 
Because of the new dynamic of the NLRB and because of unions’ increased efforts to organize, non-union businesses should begin assessing their vulnerabilities to any potential organizing efforts and then create strategies, in consult with their labor and employment counsel, for responding to any such organizing efforts.

Amy B. Royal, Esq. and Benjamin A. Bristol, Esq. specialize exclusively in management-side labor and employment law at Royal & Klimczuk, LLC, a women-owned, boutique, management-side labor- and employment-law firm; (413) 586-2288; [email protected]

Chamber Corners Departments

ACCGS
www.myonlinechamber.com
(413) 787-1555

n Oct. 13: ACCGS October After 5, 5 to 7 p.m. ‘Be Your Best Self’ Table Top Expo, the Mind, Body & Spirit Expo. Hosted by MassMutual Center. Cost: members, $10; non-members, $20. To register, contact the chamber at (413) 787-1555 or [email protected]
n Oct. 23: UMass vs. UNH Bus Trip to Gillette Stadium, 11:00 a.m. bus departure. Cost: ticket to the game, $20; ticket and bus ride, $40; ticket, bus, and food, $50.
n Oct. 29: Super 60 Awards Luncheon, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Hosted by Chez Josef, Agawam. Keynote dpeaker: Steven Little. To register, contact the chamber at (413) 787-1555 or [email protected]

Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield
www.springfieldyps.com

n Oct. 21: Third Thursday, 5 to 8 p.m. Hosted by the Munich Haus Restaurant, 13 Center St., Chicopee.
n Oct. 23: The Down Syndrome Resource Group of Western Massachusetts ‘Buddy Walk.’ This group provides information about family support, resources, parent training, and social opportunities. Its mission is to discover, encourage, and embrace the potential of all individuals with Down syndrome. Registration for the walk to begin at 10 a.m., with coffee and light refreshments available. Two-mile walk to begin at about 11 a.m., followed by a complimentary lunch and entertainment.

Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce
www.amherstarea.com
Please see chamber’s Web site for news of upcoming events.

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

n Oct. 4: Checkpoint 2010, 7:30 a.m. Hosted by Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House, 500 Easthampton Road, Holyoke. Keynote Speaker: U.S. Sen. Scott Brown. Presented by the Chicopee and Greater Westfield chambers of commerce. Cost: members, $25; non-members, $30. To reserve tickets, contact the Chicopee Chamber of Commerce at (413) 594-2101 or www.chicopeechamber.org
n Oct. 20: October Salute Breakfast. Hosted by Summit View Banquet & Meeting House, Holyoke. Guest speaker: political consultant Tony Cignoli. To reserve tickets, contact the chamber at (413) 594-2101 or www.chicopeechamber.org
n Oct. 27: After 5 Business Card Swap – Speed Networking, 5 to 6:30 p.m. Hosted by the Delaney House, 3 Country Club Road, Holyoke. Limited to 24 people; registration ends on Oct. 25. Cost: members, $25; non-members, $35. To reserve tickets, contact the chamber at (413) 594-2101 or www.chicopeechamber.org

Franklin County Chamber of Commerce
www.franklincc.org
(413) 773-5463
Please see chamber’s Web site for news of upcoming events.

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

n Oct. 13: Networking by Night Business Card Exchange, 5 to 7 p.m. Co-hosted and co-sponsored by Nashawannuck Gallery and Harry King Rug & Home, 36-40 Cottage St., Easthampton. Hors d’ouevres by Sunshine Bakery, beer and wine, door prizes. Cost: members, $5; non-members, $15.

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

n Oct. 14: Fall Salute Breakfast, 7:30 a.m., at the Log Cabin, Easthampton Road, Holyoke. Sponsored by Holyoke Medical Center and Comcast. Cost: $18; tables reserved for parties of eight.
n Oct: 20: Chamber After Hours, 5 to 7 p.m. Hosted by Holyoke Children’s Museum, 444 Dwight St., Holyoke. Sponsored by All Sales Consulting, LLC. Cost: members, $5; non-members, $10 cash.

Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce
www.explorenorthampton.com
(413) 584-1900
Please see chamber’s Web site for news of upcoming events.

Northampton Area Young Professional Society
www.thenayp.com
(413) 584-1900

n Oct. 14: NAYP Party with a Purpose, 5 to 8 p.m., at KW Home. Cost: members, free; guests, $5.

Quaboag Hills Chamber of Commerce
www.qvcc.biz
(413) 283-2418
Please see chamber’s Web site for news of upcoming events.

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

n Oct. 12: Speaker Series Breakfast, 8 to 9:30 a.m., hosted by the Willits-Hallowell Center at Mount Holyoke College. Sponsored in partnership with Mount Holyoke College. Speaker: Vincent Ferraro, professor of Politics at MHC, on “Politics of the Global Economic Crisis.” Cost: $15 at the door. Call (413) 532-6451 for more information.
n Oct. 15: Legislative Breakfast, 7:15 to 9 a.m. Hosted by the Courtyard by Marriott. Sponsored by Western Massachusetts Electric Co.
n Oct. 19: Beyond Business, 5 to 7 p.m., hosted by Johnny’s Tap Room, the Village Commons, South Hadley. Hors d’oeuvres courtesy of Johnny’s. Cash bar. Cost: $5 at the door for chamber members. RSVP by Oct. 15 at (413) 532-6451
n Oct. 27: After 5, 5 to 7 p.m. Hosted by Hickory Ridge Country Club. Sponsorships available.

Three Rivers Chamber of Commerce
www.threeriverschamber.org
(413) 283-6425
Please see chamber’s Web site for news of upcoming events.

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

n Oct 13: WestNet After 5 Networking Octoberfest, 5 to 7 p.m. Hosted by East Mountain Country Club, 1458 East Mountain Road, Westfield. Cost: members, $10; non-members, 15. Bring plenty of business cards for exchange, and bring a gift to highlight your business. For more information, e-mail [email protected], call (413) 568-1618, or check out www.westfieldbiz.org
n Oct. 16: ‘Bring Back the 80s’ Dance, 7 to 11 p.m. Hosted by Westwood Restaurant and Pub, 94 North Elm St., Westfield. Featuring Orange Crush, the 80s Dance Party Band. Cost: $20. Prizes awarded for most authentic dressers and raffles.

Features
This Venture Is About Much More Than Diapers

Mychal and Adrienne Connolly

Mychal and Adrienne Connolly say Stinky Cakes is the ideal baby gift that blends practicality and creativity.

What’s in a name? A perfect opportunity for branding a great entrepreneurial idea, said Mychal Connolly.
After the birth of their second child, Connolly and his wife, Adrienne, fielded the all-too-common question asked of parents — ‘What can we get you?’
“Friends and family always want to help,” he said, “but most everything we already owned from our firstborn. There was stuff we had still in boxes that we’d never used.”
What the pair did want, however, was what all parents do need: diapers.
“Their thought was, well … that’s not really a gift, though,” he remembered. “And sure, there’s a little bit of a stigma about giving a box of diapers as a gift. Some people might even be insulted by it.”
The idea behind Stinky Cakes was to make diaper giving fun as well as practical. “We needed to transform them into gift mode,” Adrienne said. “If you walk in to a party with a Stinky Cake, it’s not about the diapers, it’s about the gift itself.”
The idea of the ‘cakes,’ built from tiers of diapers, baby toiletries, toys, books, and just about anything you can think of, came easily to the pair. What wasn’t so immediate was a good name for the enterprise. “We thought of many different names,” Mychal said, “but none of them seemed to fit well, or they would need so much marketing just to explain what they were.
“At the time,” he continued, “my oldest son happened to come into the room and said ‘Dada, I did stinkies!’ I looked at Adrienne, and our faces lit up. I said, ‘what about Stinky Cakes?’ She said, ‘great!’”
The name is memorable, the pair said, which is good for recognition in the marketplace, but it also lives up to a spirit of whimsy and fun, which is equally important for the company.
Prices start at $24.99, which makes the cakes a good gift that most everyone can afford. But, Mychal said, the sky is the limit as to what the creative forces can conjure up. “We love getting custom orders, because that challenges us,” he said, describing a number of different projects, from a three-foot tall Dr. Seuss cake made for the Springfield Museums to a Japanese-themed cake complete with diaper ‘sushi.’
He held up a smaller-sized confection, what he called a ‘corporate cupcake,’ this for an area lab. “On one hand,” he said, “as a company you show that you care about your employees or your clients. For the business, their logo is on it. If this comes to a baby shower, or a party, it’s one more way to get your company out there. It’s a smart move to give this beyond a generic gift.”
In addition, the Connellys strive for relevance beyond a baby’s immediate needs. Adrienne described a cake based on Eric Carle’s The Hungry Caterpillar, which contained a copy of the book, tying in a goal for children’s literacy. In fact, the two said that, while the business might be best-known for making their namesake cakes, they have a commitment to much larger issues.
Advocacy for teen pregnancy and foster care are two of Adrienne’s driving passions, and as a Springfield native, her goal is to be a positive role model for city youth. “Being from here,” she explained, “I hate to see the direction that the city could be going in. There’s a lot of teen pregnancy, and I think that for many, the reality of their being pregnant is never made clear to them.
“There are also a lot of kids in foster care,” she continued, “and they need some form of guidance, or support, or mentoring. They need positive role models in their life, because a lot of what they see out there … well, I think it’s fair to say that they might be exposed to people that aren’t the best influences. They need to know that they, themselves, can have a better path.”
From Mychal’s perspective, becoming an entrepreneur is an excellent way to elevate oneself out of the path of juvenile crime. In that respect, he considers himself a role model and has a message for other young people in the region: “change your product,” he stated. “From illegal activity, put your focus into something legitimate. Change it to anything. I mean, we’re doing it with diapers. There are so many things that you can do to get yourself out of crime.”
The Connollys are currently mentoring a pregnant teen who, at one time, aspired only to public assistance. But under their tutelage, the girl is attending Westfield State University, and Mychal reports that she is thrilled about the communications programs at her school.
“It’s just a matter of putting kids into the right environment, so that they can see a better way,” he said, adding, “if you don’t have any goals or dreams, and if you can’t picture yourself in a better place, it might not happen.”
Stinky Cakes might soon be finding itself in a better place, thanks to a recent $10,000 grant from an online resource called TheCASHFLOW. Mychal said that the money will go into bolstering their marketing efforts, but will also help put Stinky Cakes on the map, quite literally. A city property is envisioned as the new headquarters for the home-based company, which will help when the pair launches their foray into baby-shower planning, called the Stinky Cakes Experience.
“We will be able to do just about any theme you can imagine,” Mychal said, “and we’ll take care of everything.”
If their business grows as planned, the only odor the Connellys will have to worry about is the sweet smell of success.

— Dan Chase

Agenda Departments

Talk on Emily Dickinson
Oct. 14: Biographer Lyndall Gordon will discuss her controversial new book, Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family’s Feuds, in a talk in Johnson Chapel at Amherst College. Gordon will address the limitations of biography and its risks and gains by focusing on several of the story’s principal players. The 7 p.m. talk is free and open to the public. A book signing and reception will follow Gordon’s lecture. For more details, visit www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/events.

Witchcraft Lecture
Oct. 25: Witchcraft and its effects on Europe will be the subject of a lecture by Dr. Donald D’Amato, adjunct professor at Springfield Technical Community College, at 6 p.m. at the Wistariahurst Museum, 238 Cabot St., Holyoke. The title of the lecture is “The Unhappy History of Witchcraft.” He’ll discuss how people tend to misinterpret witchcraft by romanticizing its history and making it exciting. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students and seniors. For more information, call (413) 322-5660 or visit www.wistariahurst.org.

NEPM Product Showcase
Oct. 26: NEPM (New England Promotional Marketing) will stage its annual Promotional Product Showcase at Ludlow Country Club. The event will feature products from a number of vendors suitable for holiday gifts, trade-show handouts, or ideas for marketing plans. RSVP is required. For more information or to reserve a seat, call (413) 596-4800.

Developers Conference
Oct. 27: The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield will be the setting for the 2010 Springfield Developers Conference, sponsored by the City of Springfield. The conference theme is “Innovate, Grow, Create … Make It Happen,” and will feature opportunities for incorporating new technologies and innovative practices in the building, energy, and information-technology industries to improve one’s business. Exhibitor opportunities are still available. For more information, contact Samalid Hogan at (413) 787-6020.

Get on Board!
Oct. 28: OnBoard, a Springfield-based nonprofit, hopes to connect local organizations with individuals looking to increase their involvement in the community, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The event will take place at Center Court, where attendees will meet with as many as eight or more organizations. The meetings will be orchestrated using the ‘speed dating’ format, with individuals spending a few minutes with an organization of their choice, and, on the sound of the basketball buzzer, moving on to the next. Representatives from each organization will discuss their history, mission, and goals, and what they are looking for in board members. Interested individuals will have the chance to explain what skills and interests they have to make a potential match. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call Elizabeth Taras at (413) 687-3144, Brittany Castonguay at (413) 737-1131, or visit www.diversityonboard.org.

EANE Conference
Nov. 4: The Employers Association of the NorthEast will host its annual Employment Law and HR Practices Update Conference from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Publick House in Sturbridge. The conference will be led by professionals in the areas of labor law, safety, employee relations, and unemployment. Conference highlights include up-to-date state and federal employment laws, recent court decisions, agency interpretations, and prospective changes, as well as new compensation, safety, and employee-relations practices. For more details, contact Karen Cronenberger at (877) 662-6444 or [email protected].
Advanced Manufacturing Competition & Conference
Nov. 16: The first highly concentrated, cluster-centric, regional manufacturing conference of its kind will be held at the MassMutual Center in Springfield. The event, called the Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Competition & Conference (AMICCON), is being staged in response to growing recognition among area manufacturers and supply-chain members that there is an urgent need to find and meet one another. “AMICCON was formed to identify who’s here in manufacturing, expose them to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and procurement, and to make these introductions,” said co-founder Ellen Bemben. “The ultimate goal is to be the advanced manufacturing region in the U.S., where exotic manufacturing, such as micro, nano, and precision, meet higher specifications and tighter tolerances, and short runs are the norm.” Industry sectors to be represented at the event will include plastics and advanced materials, precision machining, paper and packaging, electronics, ‘green’/clean technology, and medical devices. Business opportunities in defense and aerospace will also be highlighted at the event. OEMs and their supply chains are being invited personally to participate. “AMICCON is a new consortium on innovation that also delivers manufacturers to innovators and new markets in order to cause new business,” said Gary Gasperack, vice president and general manager (retired) of the Spalding Division of Russell Corp. “We are very excited about introducing it to our region.” The Mass. Export Center has already produced two programs for AMICCON: an Export Experts Panel, and a seminar, “International Traffic in Arms Regulations for Defense and Aerospace Export.” For more information, visit www.amiccon.com.

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

Abbott, Gary S.
627 Southeast St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/10

Adams, Christopher B.
Adams, April J.
44 Berkshire Dr.
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/10

Alderman, Michael
23 Stony Brook Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/10

Anthony, Aryn A.
a/k/a Breveleri, Aryn A.
40 Fredette St.
Chicopee, MA 01022
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/02/10

Arbuckle, John J.
Arbuckle, Cecilia S.
7 Buchanan Circle
Southampton, MA 01073
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/10

Bacon, Kevin P.
Bacon, Ellen M.
29 Lori Lane
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/10

Baillargeon, Roxane M.
131 Princeton St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/10/10

Barber, Paul H.
Barber, Diane L.
281 Chauncey Walker St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/10

Barsalou, Thomas Richard
Barsalou, Cathleen Ann
7 Grove St.
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Beecher, Paul G.
Beecher, Jennifer F.
120 West St.
Hadley, MA 01035
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Bertuch, Elizabeth A.
21 Pine Hill Road
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/10

Bielunis, Gary Michael
4 Taylor St., Apt.2
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/06/10

Bowen-Wilcox, Edith M.
150 Applewood Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01022-1159
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Bressani, John J.
PO Box 8031
Westfield, MA 01086
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Bressette, Wendy L.
398 Washington St.
Warren, MA 01083
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/10

Brunelle, Jay V.
10 Griswold Circle
Granby, MA 01033
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/10/10

Bunns, Anthony W.
64 Amos Dr.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/10

Burgos, LouAnn
7 Rocky Brook Dr.
Huntington, MA 01050
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/09/10

Caisse, Helen Alice
169 Royal St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/10

Chamberlain, Robin S.
84 West Orange Road
Orange, MA 01364
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/09/10

Chick, Kenneth W.
Chick, Monique L.
171 State St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/10

Clark, Linda S.
152 So. Shelburne Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/10

Collette, Craig A.
141 White Oak Road
Springfield, MA 01128
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/02/10

Collins, Glenn J.
152 Columbia St.
Lee, MA 01238
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/10

Cordeira, Robert E.
Cordeira, Deborah A.
27 Colony Circle
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Crawford, Scott P.
Crawford, Carol A.
405 Church St.
Lee, MA 01238
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/03/10

Desmarais, Kenneth A.
Desmarais, Claudette L.
2 Dalton St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/10

Diaz, Angel A.
Diaz, Sol M. Cedeno
60 Partridge Dr.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/09/10

Duran, Estervina De Cabrera
a/k/a Tibursio, Estervina
73-75 Keith St. 1B
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Fleck, Daniel P.
Fleck, Jeannine H.
126 Little River Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Flores, Dharma E.
3008 Main St., Apt 6
Springfield, MA 01107
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/10

Forcier, Randy E.
36 Haviland St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/10

Foskett, Russell S.
P.O. Box 251
Adams, MA 01220
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/10

Fox Motors
Hrycay, Christopher J.
Hrycay, Kristen
118 Thresher Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/10

Frey, Samantha L.
47 Queen St
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Gemelli Flooring
Gemelli, Michael P.
Gemelli, Christina A.
Vadenboncoeur, Christina A.
86 Packard Road
Orange, MA 01364
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Glorified Graffiti
Piedra, Karl E.
89 Maplewood Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Gonzalez, Carmen L.
321 Walnut St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Goodreau, Tricia J.
5 Lozier Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Grilli, Michael J.
6 Lexington Circle
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Halloran, Cristin
P.O.Box 2430
Amherst, MA 01004
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/10

Hause, James Elwyn
Hause, Serena Lynn
82 Fountain St.
Orange, MA 01364
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/10

Healey, Patrick Edward
Healey, Megan Frances
47 Olympia Dr.
Amherst, MA 01002
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Heroux, Brian P.
Heroux, Michelle R.
a/k/a Young, Michelle
52 Fresno St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/10

Hicks, Gina M.
235 Arcebrook Dr.
Florence, MA 01062
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/10/10

Hubeny, Judy A.
PO Box 1714
Westfield, MA 01086
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/10/10

Irwin, Tyrone D.
79 Pittroff Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/10

Jedrykowski, Felicia F.
24 Mountianview St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/10/10

Karr, Tara McWilson
10 Grandview St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/15/10

Kersey, Vincent A.
66 Chapin St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/10

Kimball, Amy
a/k/a Condon-Kimball, Amy
165 Burnett St.
Granby, MA 01033
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/10

Klose, Shannon L.
12 Temple St.
Adams, MA 01220
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/10

Kodess, Jason Levi
Kodess, Angela Jean
45 Sequoia Dr.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Krol, Chet R.
104 Turkey Hill Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/10

LaBelle, Craig A.
LaBelle, Karen E.
161 West Shaft Road
North Adams, MA 01247
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/03/10

LaPolice, David T.
LaPolice, Bonnie L.
144 Beauchamp Ter.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/10/10

LeBlanc, Darlene A.
40 Sunnymeade Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/07/10

Lewis, Walter R.
83 Winter St., Apt. 2R
Springfield, MA 01105
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Lillie, Pamela J.
38 Seminole Dr.
North Adams, MA 01247
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Lopez, Eladio
Mojica Lopez, Lillian I.
281 Lower Sandy Hill Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/10/10

Lowe, Altobis R.
Jackson-Lowe, Santonya S.
44 Harvey St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/07/10

Maceyka, Laura M.
10 George Loomis Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/10

Marsh, Nadine A.
Brown, Nadine A.
19 Spring St.
Orange, MA 01364
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/11/10

Maslar, Rebecca L.
a/k/a Lanza, Rebecca L.
47 Forest Ridge Lane
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/10

Mazzarino, John J.
PO Box 364
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/10

McDonough, Jeanne M.
a/k/a Perla, Jeanne M.
65 West St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/10

Mead, Robert A.
Mead, Laurie J.
131 Center St., Apt. 2
Lee, MA 01238
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/03/10

Medina, Jr., Pedro
PO Box 4237
Springfield, MA 01101-4237
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/10

Mendel, Kari A.
94 Winesap Road
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/10/10

Mott, James M.
Mott, Jill M.
228 Maple St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Murphy, Keitha A.
41 Main St.
Sturbridge, MA 01566
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/10

Nieves, Danny
136 Conway St., Apt. 9
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/10

Olko, Christopher Craig
a/k/a Smith, Christopher
2019 Westfield St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Ouellette, Ernest J.
281 Chauncey Walker
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/10

Ouellette, Jill M.
161 Hardwick Road
Barre, MA 01005
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/08/10

Parker, Sharalynn S.
25 Glen Road
Northfield, MA 01360
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/10

Pelletier, Jeremy J.
30 Chestnut St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/10

Pierce, Tracy C.
12 Temple St.
Adams, MA 01220
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/10

Pocograno, Joseph Edward
602 Amostown Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/09/10

Quinlan, James F.
435 East State St.
Granby, MA 01033
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/10

Racine, Michael Thomas
161 Hardwick Road
Barre, MA 01005
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/08/10

Ricci, Shawn R.
Ricci, Carey A.
219 Brookfield Road
Brimfield, MA 01010
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/10

Rosario, Vicente
31 Freemont St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/10/10

Rurak, Phillip P.
Rurak, Linda A.
8 Conifer Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/08/10

Santana, Nancy M.
34 Beech St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/08/10

Santiago, Richard
53 Everett St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/10

Setterstrom, Cheryl Ann
6 Randall St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Shakeel, Shirley Ann
168 Left Birch Park Circle
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/10

Shewchuk, Mary A.
331 Pleasant St., #2
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/10/10

Shumway, Philip W.
25 Mount Pollux Dr.
Amherst, MA 01002
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/10/10

Smith, Donna M.
18 Laurel Dr.
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/10

Smith, Lori Ann
2019 Westfield St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Smith, Tonya R.
91 Daniels Ave.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/03/10

Sola, Danny M.
1189 Dwight St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/10

Strzclecki, Tina M.
15 Union Road
Wales, MA 01081
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/15/10

Sullivan, Barbara I.
a/k/a Wilbur, Barbara
128 Grover St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/10

Sullivan, Lloyd Dale
Sullivan, Becky Ann
Schmidt, Becky Ann
8 Wright St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/10

Taubl, Pamela L.
93 Howard St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/10

Tellier, Robert M.
Tellier, Michelle C.
31 Eddy St.
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/10

Thomason, Patricia A.
151 Lindley Ter.
Williamstown, MA 01267
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/10

Tillman, Karen
75 Sheridan St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/10

Timbro, Laurie A.
a/k/a Savio, Laurie A.
30 Meadowbrook Lane
Hampden, MA 01036
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/10

Titelman, Claudia J.
a/k/a Jennings, Claudia
601 Meadowcrest Circle
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/10

Uhlig, Frederick M.
Uhlig, Maureen E.
112 Main Road
Westhampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/10

Vosburgh, Debra J.
P.O. Box 116
Sheffield, MA 01257
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/10

Wieners, Ronald E.
31 Maple St., Apt 3
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/10

Wellspeak, Lisa M.
15 Pheasant Way
Chicopee, MA 01022
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/03/10

Wiesenfeld, Ronald E.
39 Walnut St.
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/10

Wikar, Sandra C.
36 West St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/10

Wilk, Michael L.
31 Sergeant St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/10

Zhupikov, Ivan N.
1148 North St.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/10

Zuccalo, Jessica A.
118 Tamarack Dr.
Springfield, MA 01129
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/10/10

Zustra, Christina M.
108 Cliff St.
North Adams, MA 01247
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/03/10

Features
PeoplesBank Moves Up List of Most Generous Companies in Massachusetts

Tom Senecal says PeoplesBank has created a culture of philanthropy, one that has given a boost to hundreds of nonprofit organizations throughout Western Mass.
In the latest Boston Business Journal rankings of the most charitable companies doing business in Massachusetts — unveiled at the magazine’s annual Corporate Citizenship Summit — PeoplesBank ranked 35th, with $705,000 in corporate giving in 2009, a 71% increase from $412,000 in 2007, when it ranked 52nd.
That doesn’t count the $55,000 in donations from employees through payroll deduction, up from $49,000 in 2007, a number that ranks eighth in the state.
“It’s a culture we’re trying to build here at PeoplesBank,” said Senecal, executive vice president. “That’s clearly exemplified by the employees donating their hours and dollars to the communities where we do business.”
Those hours are time spent volunteering for nonprofit organizations; PeoplesBank employees ranked second in the state last year with more than 22 hours per employee, up from eight in the previous survey. And they supported more than 400 different groups, a sharp increase from about 275.
“At PeoplesBank, we like to say we have a passion for what is possible,” President Doug Bowen said. “We base that statement on our longstanding commitment to improving our community. As evidenced by the Boston Business Journal naming us number two in the state for volunteer hours donated, our passion for helping goes well beyond a tagline. It is ingrained in our culture and part of the reason that we are able to draw and retain excellent employees.”
A closer look at the numbers — after all, Senecal said, “I’m a numbers guy” — makes the bank’s charitable ranking even more impressive. With about 240 employees, he explained, far fewer than many of the businesses on the list, PeoplesBank actually gives more on the corporate level per employee than any other company — in a group that includes such big names as MassMutual, Microsoft, Staples, and Cisco Systems, among others.
Paired with the top-10 ranking for payroll-deduction giving, that statistic reflects the culture that Senecal referenced — one which employees have embraced without any incentive beyond the day off everyone gets to take part in the United Way Day of Caring; about 40 individuals used paid time last month to work with various United Way agencies.
“Giving is a philosophy for us,” he told BusinessWest. “We do talk about it and encourage it, but our employees take it upon themselves to contribute their time and money to organizations they believe in. It’s an indication of our employees’ commitment to philanthropy.”
The time can be as significant as the money. He noted that bank employees volunteered 4,900 hours in 2009, up sharply from 1,500 hours in 2007, which provides critical support to organizations that have, in many cases, been stretched by a lingering recession.
“We see our charitable donations and volunteer contributions as significant investments in our community,” said Susan Wilson, vice president of Marketing and Communications for PeoplesBank.
Bay Path College is among the recipients of that assistance, to the tune of a $200,000 pledge.
“PeoplesBank recognizes that education plays an important role in the vitality of our region,” said Dr. Carol Leary, Bay Path’s president. “Their generosity will assist low-income women in pursuing their educational dreams, support professional development of women and men, and help foster dialogue and understanding of critical issues for the members of the Pioneer Valley community.”
That kind of impact — spread among hundreds more organizations — is gratifying for Senecal.
“Especially with the times we’re in right now, as a mutual community bank, we believe in giving back to the communities we do business in,” he said. “That was clearly recognized by the Boston Business Journal.”
But that’s just a start. “The 2010 figures,” he said, “are going to blow all these numbers out of the water.”

— Joseph Bednar

Sections Supplements
Steps to Take from the Funeral Home Right Through to Probate

ToddRatner

ToddRattner

Coping with the death of a loved one is difficult. Since family members and friends will be experiencing a time of emotional strain, it is important for those involved with the funeral arrangements and estate settlement to have the fundamental information necessary to perform their respective tasks.
This article will demystify the important action steps needed to ensure a smooth process of administrating and settling a loved one’s estate.

Actions Immediately upon Death
Upon the death of a loved one, there are certain actions that should take place immediately. A funeral director should be notified, and an appointment should be made to discuss funeral arrangements. These may include transfer of your loved one to another location and the decision whether to pursue burial or cremation, which has become increasingly popular.
At that time, you should request certified death certificates from the funeral director, and in the event that you require additional ones, they may be obtained through the municipality or town where the death occurred. Notification of your loved one’s death should be made to the post office, especially if the decedent lived alone; the Social Security administration; a retirement plan custodian, if any; investment professionals; an accountant or tax-return preparer; and the attorney for your loved one’s estate, among others.

Duty to Deliver the Will
Massachusetts law requires that any person having custody of a will must, within 30 days of acquiring knowledge of the death, deliver the will to the Probate and Family Court Department for the county in which the decedent lived at the time of death. However, as a practical matter, oftentimes the will is filed more than 30 days after without penalty.

To Probate or Not to Probate the Will?
Probate is the court’s supervision of the process that transfers the legal title of property from your loved one’s estate to his or her beneficiaries. The court appoints an executor as the personal representative of the estate and adjudicates the interests of heirs and other parties who may have claims against the estate.
In short, the probate process proves the validity of the will. This counters the erroneous but widely held belief that, if you have a valid will, you will avoid probate. However, not all estates need to go through the probate process.
Basically, any property held in trust or in joint names is non-probate property, so in the event that all of your loved one’s property passes outside of his or her will, there is no need to go through probate. In addition, property passing by beneficiary designations to anyone other than the estate of the decedent, such as TOD accounts, POD accounts, life insurance, annuities, retirement, and pension accounts, are non-probate property. However, if any asset is owned individually by the decedent, without a joint owner or beneficiary, or is held in trust, the asset is considered a probate asset and must go through the probate process to reach its proper beneficiary.

The Probate of the Will
To start a probate action in Massachusetts, you must petition the Probate Court, asking for the allowance of the decedent’s will and appointment of the executor. Until the executor is appointed, he or she has no authority to pay bills or distribute your loved one’s property.
In the event that the decedent did not have a will, a similar procedure is necessary to appoint an administrator with power to handle the decedent’s property. It is important to note that, if the decedent’s assets are below $15,000, a shortened procedure, called a voluntary administration, may be possible.
An executor, or administrator, as the case may be, typically engages an attorney to prepare and file the petition for probate, as well as the fiduciary bond and other corresponding legal documents. After the petition is filed, the Probate Court will issue a formal notice that needs to be published in a local newspaper and sent to all heirs. This notice alerts any creditors and other interested parties that the will has been offered for probate. If no one objects to the will or to the appointment of the nominated executor or administrator, the attorney requests the allowance of the will, the judge to sign the fiduciary bond, and the appointment of the nominated executor or administrator.
Three months after the judge signs the fiduciary bond, and the executor or administrator is appointed by the court, Massachusetts requires the filing of an inventory showing the probate estate held at date of death. However, oftentimes the executor waits until the estate-tax figures have been established to complete and file the final inventory.
Massachusetts also requires an accounting at the end of the administration of an estate that provides for all probate estate items received and distributed during the administration, income earned, and fees and expenses paid. Accounts are either prepared annually, or a single account called the first and final account is prepared at the end of administration. Typically, once the court allows the account, the executor’s liability for the estate ends.
During the probate process, the executor typically performs the following tasks:
• Identifying and inventorying estate property;
• Paying estate debts, expenses of administration, and taxes;
• Distributing property as directed by a will or state law;
• Accounting to the Probate Court or beneficiaries for the collection and distribution of probate assets; and
• Preparing estate-tax returns if necessary.

Estate-tax Returns
Executors are required to have estate-tax returns prepared if the estate assets (probate and non-probate) reach a certain threshold. Under current law, the threshold for Massachusetts estate tax is $1 million. As of now, no federal estate-tax return is required for a decedent dying in 2010. However, Congress may enact a law during 2010, and if it does, it may be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2010. Federal and state estate tax returns are due nine months after the date of death.
Many people are interested in the distribution of the estate, including creditors, a surviving spouse, government taxing authorities, beneficiaries, and executors of the estate. Individual parties may have competing interests in the probate and estate administration, so sound estate planning during one’s lifetime often facilitates the estate administration upon death and prevents the various challenges and potential disputes that may plague the unprepared.

Todd C. Ratner is an estate-planning, business, and real-estate attorney with the Springfield-based law firm Bacon Wilson, P.C. He is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and recipient of Boston Magazine’s 2007, 2008, and 2009 Massachusetts Super Lawyers Rising Stars award; (413) 781-0560; baconwilson.com; bwlaw.blogs.com

Opinion
The Income Gap Is Widening

The term ‘middle class’ is more than an economic distinction. It’s also an appreciation for balance and equity and a national yearning for a strong, cohesive society. Yet a polarizing income gap in Massachusetts and elsewhere is threatening both the class and the concept.
Massachusetts is emerging from the recession ahead of other states, with job creation on the rise. However, the state leads the country (it is tied for first place with Arizona) in having the largest gap between the haves and have-nots, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University; 10% of households in the state earned as much income in 2009 as the bottom 70% combined during that year.
What is driving this widening gap? Economists differ on this, but many point to executive compensation, declines in manufacturing jobs and wages, a corresponding increase in employment in the so-called ‘knowledge economy,’ and changes in household dynamics, such as the rise in single-parent families. Gaining a better understanding of these issues should be a top priority for the next governor and should be at the forefront of the policy debate in the closing weeks of the gubernatorial election.
New data by the MassINC Polling Group suggest an eroding confidence in a cornerstone of the American Dream: the belief that the hard work of one generation opens the door to a better life for the next. Just 22% of Massachusetts parents believe the next generation will do better than they did financially. This pessimism is a new phenomenon. In 2003, when a slightly different question was posed in a MassINC poll, 68% of parents believed their children would be generally better off.
Why the dramatic change in public opinion? Income inequality has been rising for years, but the difference now is that economic growth isn’t lifting all boats. Over the last decade, census figures show median household income fell by between 1% and 8%. Little wonder that the mood of the electorate reflects strong undercurrents of frustration and resentment.
Growing income inequality and its political implications have received increasing attention across the political spectrum since the 1980s. Alan Greenspan had a point when he said in 2005: “a stark bifurcation of wealth and income trends among large segments of the population can fuel resentment and political polarization. These social developments can lead to political clashes and misguided economic policies that work to the detriment of the economy and society.’’
Perhaps we should have listened. The resentment, polarization, and political clashes contemplated by Greenspan have already materialized. The resulting anger is fueling a push for simplistic solutions to such complex problems as deficit reduction, immigration, and a host of other issues. In essence, the middle ground on policy issues is rapidly disappearing, just like the middle class itself.

Greg Torres is president of MassINC and publisher of CommonWealth magazine. Andrew Sum is director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.