Home 2011 February
Class of 2011 Difference Makers

Founder, Rays of Hope

Lucy Giuggio Carvalho

Lucy Giuggio Carvalho

Lucy Giuggio Carvalho calls them her “million-dollar sunglasses.”

She found them in a bargain bin at T.J. Maxx in the summer of 2009, and knew at first sight that she had something special.

“I think I paid $2 for them; they’re pink, they’re sparkly, they’re different,” said Carvalho, who gave them their name because she thought that, by wearing them, she could help will the fund-raising walk known as Rays of Hope — which she founded after becoming a breast-cancer survivor in 1994 — over the $1 million mark for that year’s walk.

Thus far, the shades haven’t lived up to their name — the tallies for the past few walks have come tantalizing close to what is, for now, anyway, the magic number, but haven’t crossed that threshold. But Carvalho isn’t ready to give up on her latest good-luck charm.

“They’ll be back for a third year,” she said with a large dose of conviction, adding quickly that her choice of eyewear is just one of myriad decisions to make when it comes to her Rays of Hope ensemble (everything goes with pink sneakers, apparently). Indeed, over the years she has collected vast amounts of keepsakes and gifts from event organizers and fellow walkers — survivor pins and badges, scarves, T-shirts, and assorted chochkies, as she calls them. “I couldn’t wear it all,” she joked. “If I did, it would weigh me down so much I couldn’t walk.”

There are far more scientific ways of measuring just how far Rays of Hope has come in 17 years than Carvalho’s inventory of options when it comes to accessorizing for the annual walk — such as the total raised to date, more than $8 million. But there are perhaps none that are more poignant.

They show how the event has evolved into more than a fund-raiser — although it is that, first and foremost. It has become, said Carvalho, a very powerful show of strength, and unity, in a fight that’s far from over — a sobering fact that draws more individuals and teams to the starting line every year.

For creating and nurturing this show of unity, Carvalho, a former oncology nurse and currently director of case management for Jewish Geriatric Services, has been named one of BusinessWest’s Difference Makers for 2011. She said that, if she had her way, she would bring the tens of thousands of walkers and event organizers to the podium with her, because it is their collective efforts that have made the event, through the dollars it raises, a difference maker in the lives of breast-cancer victims, and a role player in the ongoing efforts to find a cure.

When asked how Rays of Hope came to be, Carvalho didn’t start with her own well-documented battle with breast cancer, which began when she discovered a lump during a self-exam. Instead, she focused on her nephew’s involvement, and also her own, in an AIDS walk in Boston several years earlier, and the very important lessons she took from it.

“I come from a family that gets involved,” she said while explaining how and why she became a participant. “And it’s from that walk that I gained a lot of the vision that I wanted to see happen here. That’s where I learned so much about how important it is, and how much you can do, if you can get a group of people who are dedicated to a cause and try to make a difference.

“They raised a lot of money, and they made it fun,” she continued. “They made it fun, exciting, and educational. While you were walking, you talked with people and learned about the disease; all that made it such a fulfilling experience that you wanted to do it again, and we did.”

To make a long and inspiring story short, Calvalho and other Rays of Hope organizers have managed to do the same with their event.

Indeed, with memories of that AIDS walk still fresh in her mind and an American Cancer Society breast-cancer walk that netted $400,000 in the pouring rain further inspiring her, Carvalho, while still recovering from her own lengthy battle with the disease, set out to create her own event.

She recruited organizers, secured a media sponsor (Channel 40), and gained commitments for startup funds. Still, many people involved with her wanted her to wait a year to get on even more solid ground. She listened to that advice, but pressed ahead with her plans for that year, and is glad she did.

“I believe to this day that, if I waited a year, it wouldn’t have happened,” she explained. “It had to happen, and it had to happen that year. I had the energy, I had the passion, I had the motivation, I had the group … the stars were aligned, and it was meant to be.”

Today, funds from Rays of Hope go in several directions. Some are put toward ongoing research, including work at the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute in Springfield. Funds also go toward a wide range of services, including what are known as ‘complementary services’ for those battling the disease. These include yoga, Reiki, and something known as Art from the Heart.

Carvalho is traditionally assigned the task of reviewing requests in this complementary-services category, which she says has perhaps the most compelling direct impact on breast-cancer patients.

“It’s probably the most unscientific aspect of all this, but the piece that really helps people,” she explained. “It’s promoting wellness, and a way of helping people through the process.”

Over the years, Carvalho has turned over most all of the operational aspects of the walk to partner Baystate Health, employees there, and a massive team of volunteers. She describes the broad planning and execution process as a “well-oiled machine” with which she is still quite active.

She has what she considers a lifetime seat on the committee that receives and considers funding requests and ultimately rewards proceeds, and played a role in a five-year strategic plan for the walk undertaken in 2004. “Obviously, we’re overdue for another one.”

As for walk day itself, she said she has a badge (somewhat lost amid everything else she wears) that identifies her as the founder. “It gets me a parking space close to the start line,” she joked, adding that she is largely anonymous for the event itself, walking with a team from JGS and family members, and getting to meet as many new people as time and circumstances allow.

Carvalho told BusinessWest that fund-raising veterans have marveled at the longevity of Rays of Hope. “They say an event like this one usually runs its course in 10 years, and then you have to find something else. This one, though, shows no signs of slowing down; I don’t see it ending unless we find a cure for breast cancer.”

The one constant, she said, is change — in everything from the size and composition of the crowd of participants, to new wrinkles (a run and a walk in Greenfield were added for 2010), to the programs funded by the proceeds.

One thing that won’t change for 2011 is that pair of million-dollar sunglasses.

Carvalho isn’t sure what else she’ll be wearing — again, there are a lot of decisions to make — but weather permitting (and perhaps even if it doesn’t), the shades will return.

And Carvalho believes this year they will live up to their name.

— George O’Brien

Sections Supplements
Understanding Tax Credits for Those Who Hire Eligible Employees

Kristen Houghton

Kristen Houghton

By KRIS HOUGHTON

In today’s tough economy, every dollar counts. But many businesses lose out on thousands of dollars in tax savings every year by failing to claim tax credits to which they’re entitled.
For 2010 and 2011, two credits are available for employers who hire eligible employees. The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act of March 2010 offers payroll tax breaks for employers that hire unemployed workers, plus additional credits for qualified workers they retain for at least 52 consecutive weeks. This article looks at the HIRE credit and examines whether this benefit is more advantageous than the often-overlooked Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC).
Back in March, health care reform grabbed most of the headlines, but it wasn’t the only legislation enacted that month. About a week earlier, President Obama signed the HIRE Act. An employee qualifies for payroll-tax breaks if he or she:
• Starts work after Feb. 3, 2010, and before Jan. 1, 2011;
• Wasn’t employed for more than 40 hours during the 60-day period before the start date (and signs an affidavit to that effect);
• Doesn’t replace an existing employee (except one who quits voluntarily or is fired for cause); and
• Isn’t related to the employer or to an individual who owns more than 50% of the business.
Qualified employees include previously laid-off workers that you rehire, provided they meet the above requirements. Employment can be full-time or part-time, but the more hours a qualified employee works, the greater the benefits.
If you hire qualified employees, you’re exempt from the 6.2% Social Security portion of Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes on wages you pay them for work performed after the HIRE act was enacted (March 18, 2010) through the end of 2010. Based on the current Social Security taxable wage base of $106,800, the maximum tax benefit is $6,622 per qualified employee.
For each employee qualifying for the payroll tax break whom you keep on the payroll for at least 52 consecutive weeks, you’re entitled to a tax credit of up to $1,000 on your 2011 income-tax return. To qualify for the credit, an employee’s wages for the second half of the 52-week period must be at least 80% of his or her wages for the first half of the period. Even if a new hire leaves voluntarily before 52 consecutive weeks are up, no retention credit is received for that hire.
To prevent employers from claiming the full $1,000 credit for employees who do minimal part-time work, the amount of the credit is the lesser of $1,000 or 6.2% of a qualified employee’s wages during the 52-week period. Put another way, new hires who earn more than $16,129 during that period qualify for the full $1,000 credit.
Now let’s look at the rules for the WOTC, which is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in federal tax liability — ranging from $1,200 to $9,000 per new hire — for companies that hire people from disadvantaged groups, including certain youth, public-assistance recipients, and veterans.
The credit’s requirements are detailed and specific. Generally, new hires who belong to one of these groups qualify:
• Short- and long-term recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits;
• Veterans who are disabled or unemployed, or receive food stamps;
• Ex-felons hired within one year after conviction or release from prison;
• Individuals age 18 to 39 who live in empowerment zones, enterprise communities, or renewal communities (‘designated communities’);
• Disabled individuals referred after completion of a qualified vocational rehabilitation program;
• Summer youth employees age 16 or 17 who live in designated communities and work at least 90 days between May 1 and Sept. 15;
• Individuals age 18 to 39 who receive food stamps;
• Individuals receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits; and
• ‘Disconnected youths’ ages 16 to 24 who aren’t in school, employed, or readily employable due to a lack of basic skills.
Each target group is subject to specific requirements, so it’s important to do your homework to see whether any of your new hires qualify.
Generally, the credit reduces the employer’s wage deduction dollar-for-dollar. The reduction is required even if you can’t take the full amount of the credit in the current year and must carry it back or forward.
For long-term TANF recipients, the maximum credit is 40% of first-year wages up to $10,000 (a $4,000 credit), plus 50% of second-year wages up to $10,000 (a $5,000 credit, so there’s a maximum credit of $9,000 over a two-year period). Formerly known as the welfare-to-work credit, this credit was combined with the WOTC a few years ago.
The maximum WOTC is available for employees who work 400 hours or more during their first year of employment. A partial credit equal to 25% of qualifying wages is available for those who work between 120 and 399 hours.
To obtain the WOTC, you first need to complete and file various federal forms when hiring a qualifying employee. Once the employee has worked the required number of hours, you can claim the credit on your company’s next income-tax return. You also may be eligible for state credits or other incentives. Your tax advisor can help guide you through the process. Although it’s complicated, the tax savings can be well worth the effort.
Wages you pay to a worker who qualifies for the HIRE Act’s payroll-tax exemption don’t qualify for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit unless you elect not to claim the payroll-tax exemption. So it’s important to select the tax break that provides the greater benefit.
For some new employees, the WOTC will provide a greater benefit than the HIRE act’s payroll-tax exemption. Suppose, for example, that you hire a new employee on July 1, 2010, at an annual salary of $50,000, and the employee qualifies for both tax breaks. The payroll tax exemption would provide tax savings of $25,000 × 6.2%, or $1,550. In this case, you’d be better off opting out and claiming the $2,400 WOTC.

Kristina Drzal-Houghton, CPA MST is the partner in charge of Taxation at Holyoke-based Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C.: (413) 536-8510.

Chamber Corners Departments

Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield

www.myonlinechamber.com
(413) 787-1555

• Feb. 17 to March 31: Springfield Leadership Institute, TD Bank Conference Center, 1441 Main St., Springfield. To register, contact Lynn Johnson at (413) 755-1310 or [email protected].
 
Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield
www.springfieldyps.com

• Feb. 17: Third Thursday, 5 to 8 p.m., Samuel’s Sports Bar & J. Quincy’s restaurant at the Basketball Hall of Fame, 1000 West Columbus Ave., Springfield. Sound and entertainment provided by Jx2 Productions. Cost: free for YPS members, $10 for non-members, includes food and cash bar. 
 
Chicopee Chamber of
Commerce
www.chicopeechamber.org
(413) 594-2101

• Feb. 16: Annual Meeting, Salute Breakfast, 7:15 to 9 a.m., Castle of Knights, 1599 Memorial Dr., Chicopee. Cost: $18 for members, $25 for non-members.

• Feb. 23: Business After Hours, 5 to 7 p.m., Elms College, 291 Springfield St., Chicopee. Cost: $5 for pre-registered members, $7 for members at the door, $15 for non-members. For more information or tickets, contact www.chicopeechamber.org.
 
Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce
www.holycham.com
(413) 534-3376

• Feb. 16: Chamber After Hours, 5 to 7 p.m., Holyoke Transportation Center, 206 Maple St. Sponsored by the Elms College and Holyoke Community College. Cost: $5 for members, $10 cash for non-members.

• Feb. 18: Issues 2011 Legislative Luncheon, Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House, 500 Easthampton St., Holyoke. Guest: Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo. Sponsored by the Republican, Holyoke Medical Center, Center School, PeoplesBank, Dowd Insurance, Holyoke Community College, Goss & McLain Insurance, and Resnic, Beauregard, Waite & Driscoll. Cost: $35. For reservations, call the chamber office at (413) 534-3376.

Departments Picture This

Send photos with a caption and contact information to: ‘Picture This’
c/o BusinessWest Magazine, 1441 Main Street, Springfield, MA 01103
or to [email protected]

Cones for Kids

Cones for Kids

Cones for Kids

Andrea McKenna, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Friendly’s, shows off a T-shirt presented to her by Easter Seals Camp Friendly’s counselor Flemmings Beaubrun (far right). Pictured with McKenna are Jim Williams, president and CEO of Easter Seals (center), and staff from Easter Seals’ National Office in Chicago. The group visited Friendly’s last month to mark the start of the company’s 30th annual Cones for Kids fund-raiser to help kids with disabilities go to summer camp.

Photo by Dennis Vandal, Vandal Photo

Cutting the Ribbon

Cutting the Ribbon

Cutting the Ribbon

Alliance Medical Gas, an engineering firm that designs, sells, services, and installs medical gas systems for health care providers, has become a new tenant in the Scibelli Enterprise Center in the Technology Park at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC). On hand for the official ribbon-cutting at the announcement of the move are, from left: Marla Michel, director of the SEC and executive director of Economic Development Strategies at UMass Amherst; Linda Crouse, director of Marketing for Alliance; Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno; Chester Wojcik, president of Alliance; Michael Suzor, assistant to the president at STCC; Glenn Welch, executive vice president of Hampden Bank and chairman of the SEC Advisory Board; and Robert Greeley, president of the R.J. Greeley Co., leasing agent for the tech park.

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.

GREENFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Paul R. Gelinas v. Neu Tradition Millwork Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment of consulting services rendered: $5,126.37
Filed: 1/5/11

HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT
Rite-Now Container Co. v. International Paper Co.
Allegation: Breach of employee duty of loyalty, defamation, and loss of commercial business: $300,000
Filed: 11/30/10

Stock Building Supply, LLC v. Nu Truss Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $29,464.46
Filed: 11/26/10

HAMPSHIRE SUPERIOR COURT
Kristen Brunton v. Playtex Products Inc., Toys R Us Inc., and Dr. William Sears
Allegation: Breach of implied warranty for a Playtex Pump and negligence in design, causing personal injury: $50,585
Filed: 1/10/11

HOLYOKE DISTRICT COURT
Clark & Falcetti Inc. v. Inglewood Development Corp.
Allegation: Non-payment of services rendered: $1,045.95
Filed: 11/15/10

Natalie Kennedy v. Holiday Inn
Allegation: Failure to maintain premises, causing fall: $4,933
Filed: 11/23/10

PALMER DISTRICT COURT
Gilbert & Sons Insulation v. Custom Design Builders
Allegation: Non-payment of insulation work completed: $7,754.66
Filed: 11/2/10

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Autozone Parts Inc. v. Midas
Allegation: Breach of contract and failure to repay Autozone Parts for items purchased: $10,367.34
Filed: 11/30/10

Bank of America v. C.J. Murphy Associates Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment of monies owed: $63,186.64
Filed: 12/1/10

Colleen Moyston v. Motel 6
Allegation: Negligent maintenance of premises, causing slip and fall: $4,833.63
Filed: 12/3/10

Thurston Foods Inc. v. 1171 Main Street, LLC d/b/a McCaffrey’s Public House
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $5,239.19
Filed: 11/24/10

United Rentals v. New England Facility Management
Allegation: Non-payment for materials, equipment, and services provided on a construction project: $12,640.88
Filed: 12/2/10

Agenda Departments

‘Transformational Leadership’ Forum
March 4: Randy Dobbs, author and protégé of General Electric’s legendary CEO Jack Welch, will be the keynote speaker for a forum titled “Transformational Leadership: a Blueprint for Organizational and Individual Success,” at the Western New England College Law and Business Center for Advancing Entrepreneurship in Springfield. Hosted by the college and Springfield-based UnityFirst.com, the 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. event will offer insights on how individuals, organizations, and businesses can drive significant business improvement by adapting to change. Dobbs will share many tested concepts from his book on transformational leadership. Also, a panel of thought leaders will offer perspectives on diversity and inclusion in the workplace, marketplace, and community. Registration is required to attend the forum, which includes a copy of Dobbs’ book and lunch. To register, contact (413) 221-7931 or [email protected].

National College Fair
March 6-7: The Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield is the setting for the Springfield National College Fair, slated from 1 to 4 p.m. on March 6, and from 9 a.m. to noon on March 7. Sponsored by the National Assoc. for College Admission Counseling and hosted by the New England Assoc. for College Admission Counseling, the event is free and open to the public. The fair allows students and parents to meet one-on-one with admissions representatives from a wide range of national and international, public and private, two-year and four-year colleges and universities. Participants will learn about admission requirements, financial aid, course offerings, and campus environment, as well as other information pertinent to the college-selection process. Students can register at www.gotomyncf.com prior to attending the event to receive a printed, bar-coded confirmation to use on-site at the fair as an electronic ID.

U.S. Navy Band to Salute Springfield on Birthday
March 18: The U.S. Navy Band will treat Springfield to an early birthday gift — a birthday concert — at 7 p.m. at Springfield Symphony Hall. The city of Springfield turns 375 years old in May, and the band concert is just one of several events planned to mark the milestone. As the premier wind ensemble of the U.S. Navy, the band will perform a wide range of marches, patriotic selections, orchestral transcriptions, and modern wind-ensemble fare. Tickets are free and can be obtained by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the Spirit of Springfield/U.S. Navy Band, 101 State St., Suite 220, Springfield, MA 01103.

Difference Makers Gala
March 24: BusinessWest will salute its Difference Makers Class of 2011 at a gala slated to begin at 5 p.m. at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House in Holyoke. Initiated in 2009, the Difference Makers program recognizes individuals and groups making outstanding contributions to the Western Mass. community. The 2011 winners will be announced in the magazine’s Feb. 14 issue. For more information on the event or to order tickets ($50 per person, with tables of 10 available) call (413) 781-8600, ext. 10; or log on to www.businesswest.com.

Western Mass. Business Expo
May 4: Businesses from throughout Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, and Berkshire counties will come together for the premier trade show in the region, the Western Mass. Business Expo. Formerly called the Market show, the event, produced by BusinessWest and held at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, has been revamped and improved to better provide exposure and business opportunities to area companies. See the article on page 16 for more information. The cost for a 10-by-10 booth is $700 for chamber members and $750 for non-members; corner booths are $750 and $800, respectively, and a 10-by-20 booth is $1,200 for chamber members and $1,250 for non-members. For more information, log onto www.businesswest.com or www.accgs.com, or call (413) 781-8600, ext. 10.

Springfield 375th Parade
May 14: The Spirit of Springfield is seeking community involvement for the city’s 375th birthday celebration, which will include a parade that represents all that Springfield has to offer, its roots, and its future. If you have a business or group that would like to get involved in the festivities, call (413) 733-3800 or e-mail a message to [email protected].

EASTEC 2011
May 17-19: EASTEC, the East Coast’s largest annual manufacturing event, will once again be staged at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield. For exhibition or registration information, call (866) 635-4692 or visit www.easteconline.com.

Fifth Annual BusinessWest
40 Under Forty Gala
June 23: BusinessWest will present its 40 Under Forty Class of 2011 at a not-to-be-missed gala at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House, beginning at 5 p.m. The 40 Under Forty program, initiated in 2007, has become an early summer tradition in the region. Nominations are currently being accepted for this year’s class (see form, page 73), and a team of five judges will complete the scoring of those nominations in late February, with the winners being announced in April. For more information on the event or to order tickets ($60 per person, with tables of 10 available) call (413) 781-8600, ext. 10; or visit www.businesswest.com.

Summer Business Summit
June 27-28: The Massachusetts Chamber of Business & Industry will host its annual two-day business summit at the Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis with a host of educational speakers and presentations by lawmakers. In addition, panel discussions are planned on energy, health care, and taxes and finance. Meanwhile, recognition is planned for Business of the Year, Employer of Choice, and Friend of Business from the local legislature. For more information, call (617) 512-9667.

Departments People on the Move

Bradley Newell

Bradley Newell

Bradley Newell recently joined Consolidated Health Plans in Springfield as Chief Financial Officer. Newell oversees the Finance Department, Information Technology, and Employer Enrollment area. His major responsibilities include billing, receivables, payables, general ledger reconciliation, financial reporting, and information technology.
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Jon Parent has joined Valley Computer Works in Hadley as a Master Account Representative.
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Janet Uthman

Janet Uthman

Comcast has named Janet Uthman its Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Western New England. She oversees all marketing and sales initiatives for the region, which encompasses 300 communities in Connecticut, Western Mass., New York, and Vermont. She will also be responsible for overseeing marketing campaigns, competitive intelligence and strategy, and local marketing and sales event sponsorships. Additionally, she will oversee regional sales channels.
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Eric Taylor

Eric Taylor

Eric Taylor has joined the American Institute of Economic Research in Great Barrington as a Graphic Artist and Web Content Manager.
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Ann Marie Gorham has joined Baystate Ob/Gyn Group in Springfield as a Nurse Practitioner, providing routine gynecologic care.
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James Parrish has been named Executive Vice President of Company Operations for Friendly Ice Cream Corp. in Wilbraham.
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Susanne deVillier

Susanne deVillier

Susanne deVillier has joined Easthampton Savings Bank as the Branch Manager for the new Agawam office, slated to open in the coming weeks.
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Florence Lombard has been named the Chief Executive Officer of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association in Amherst. Lombard is the founding member and former CEO of the Alternative Investment Management Assoc., a global hedge-fund industry association.
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Paul Erwin

Paul Erwin

NUVO Bank & Trust Co. in Springfield has hired Paul Erwin, CPA, to be its Chief Financial Officer.
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The Willie Ross School for the Deaf in Longmeadow announced the following:
• Thomas Laurin has been named to the Board of Directors.; and
• James Ross III has been named to the Board of Directors.
Laurin and Ross, both second-generation supporters of the school, take their fathers’ places on the board. Francis Laurin served on the board for many years and established the Laurin Audiological Center for Children in Pittsfield as a resource for the families of deaf children in Berkshire County. James Ross Jr. served for 20 years as a treasurer and a member of the Willie Ross School Board of Trustees.
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Sean Mitchell

Sean Mitchell

Sean Mitchell has joined Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton as Director of Major Gifts. He is responsible for increasing the number of donors and support for Cooley Dickinson at the level of $10,000 and above. He will also be instrumental in raising the remaining $4.2 million of an $8.2 million campaign that will make possible a number of initiatives, primarily a new Cancer Center and nurse-development programs.
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Lena Buteau

Lena Buteau

Monson Savings Bank has announced the recent promotion of Lena Buteau to Assistant Vice President, Retail Banking. Previously the Branch Manager for the Monson branch, Buteau will now oversee all of Monson Savings’ branches in Monson, Hampden, and Wilbraham, and will direct the institution’s retail banking operations.
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The Springfield affiliate of Rebuilding Together announced the following:
• Ralph DiVito has been elected to its Board of Directors. DiVito is Director of Business Development at Rocky’s Ace Hardware in Springfield; and
• Frank Nataloni has been elected to its Board of Directors. Nataloni is Owner and President of Kitchens by Curio in Springfield.
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The U.S. Supreme Court recently admitted a group of Widener University School of Law attorneys to its bar in Washington, D.C., including George Pappas of Springfield. Pappas, a 2000 graduate of Widener’s Delaware campus, has his own law practice with offices in Springfield and Charlotte, N.C.
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Pamela Wells, Resident Service Manager at the Springfield Housing Authority, was recently appointed to the Springfield Advisory Board of the Department of Transitional Assistance. The appointment was made by Gov. Deval Patrick, Commissioner Julia Kehoe, and state Health and Human Services Secretary JudyAnn Bigby.
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Berkshire Bank in Pittsfield announced the following:
Kevin O’Donnell

Kevin O’Donnell

• Kevin O’Donnell has been promoted to Assistant Vice President. O’Donnell’s role includes the continued growth of the Wealth Management Center by assisting customers in outlining their financial goals and developing thoughtful strategies to achieve those goals; and
Nicholas Strom-Olsen

Nicholas Strom-Olsen

Nicholas Strom-Olsen, CFP, AIF, has been promoted to Assistant Vice President. His areas of focus include retirement planning, education planning, investment management, and insurance.
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Loretta Brennan Glucksman, Chairperson of the American Ireland Fund, will receive the 2011 Ambassador of Ireland Award by the Saint Patrick’s Committee of Holyoke Inc. and the Republic of Ireland. Presented annually by a representative of the Irish government, the award honors individuals who have made extraordinary efforts in furthering the relationship between the people of the U.S. and Ireland. Glucksman’s philanthropic efforts in Ireland and the U.S. are internationally recognized. The American Ireland Fund raises funds to support programs of peace, culture, education, and community development in Ireland, having raised more than $250 million for Irish charities. The award will be presented in Holyoke during a pre-parade breakfast and reception on March 20.
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Realtor Stephen Oates has completed the requirements to be licensed as a licensed Real Estate Broker in Massachusetts. In other news, Oates recently received a 2010 Coldwell Banker Sterling Society Award of Recognition and a 2010 Silver Coldwell Banker Sales and Service Award working with Coldwell Banker Upton-Massamont Realtors.
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W.F. Young Inc. of East Longmeadow announced the following:
Steve Gootzeit

Steve Gootzeit

• Steve Gootzeit has been appointed Director of Marketing;
Tom Johnson

Tom Johnson

• Tom Johnson has been appointed National Sales Manager, Animal Health Care;
Laurie Klafeta

Laurie Klafeta

• Laurie Klafeta has been appointed Export Sales Administrator; and
Molly O’Brien

Molly O’Brien

• Molly O’Brien has expanded her role as Advertising Supervisor with new responsibilities.
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Bulkley, Richardson and Gelinas, LLP of Springfield announced the following:
• Associate Attorney Kelly Koch has joined the Domestic Relations Department. She handles matters relating to divorce, child custody, antenuptial agreements, post-divorce issues, guardianships, and probate litigation;
• Associate Attorney George Adams IV has joined the Business/Finance Department. He focuses on general corporate and business matters.;
• Associate Attorney Christopher Visser has joined the Litigation/Alternative Dispute Resolution Department. He focuses on medical-malpractice litigation; and
• Associate Attorney Abena Mainoo has joined the Litigation/ADR Department. She handles commercial and corporate litigation matters, primarily for large financial institutions.
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Nate Dube of Expert Laser Services in Southbridge, will lecture at the upcoming Digital Marketing Forum in Austin, Texas, detailing his use of social media in an unconventional marketing campaign. Dube will discuss his Destroy Your Printer Contest, which invited office workers to submit videos of creative ways to vent their frustration against office imaging equipment. Dube first posted the videos on YouTube, then promoted them using a variety of social media. Bloggers and Internet news outlets picked up the story, and Dube found himself answering calls and tweets and doing interviews. The contest also earned Expert Laser a cover story in the international trade magazine the Recycler.
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Christina Sousa has been named by TD Bank as Manager of its Ludlow branch at 549 Center St.
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David Hrycay was the recipient of a Carole-Cope Ward Award from Mass-West Enterprises and the state Department of Developmental Services’ regional employment-services office. The award is given annually to a staff member who goes above and beyond normal job responsibilities for the benefit of individuals supported. Hrycay is a Job Coach and works with individuals with intellectual disabilities at the Route 20 redemption center in Palmer.
•••••
John J. Turgeon, Certified Public Accountant and Human Capital Strategist, is now a member of Kostin, Ruffkess & Co., a Farmington, Conn.-based certified public accounting and business-advisory firm. As leader of the Human Capital Consulting Group, he offers an array of services to clients, including executive coaching, personal-development planning, leadership-meeting facilitation, and professional recruitment assistance.
•••••
Amy Driver has joined Kunhardt Financial and Insurance Strategies in Northampton as Senior Services Assistant.
•••••
Dr. Jose Vinagre has received recognition from the Heart-Stroke Recognition Program of the National Committee for Quality Assurance and the American Heart Assoc.-American Stroke Assoc. for providing quality care to his patients with cardiovascular disease or who have had a stroke.
•••••
John Shecrallah of Peter Pan Bus Line’s Springfield central operations office, has been promoted to Director of System-Wide Operations.
•••••
Janice Santaniello has joined Keller Williams Realty in Longmeadow. She has been a full-time Realtor in the Longmeadow area for more than 10 years.
•••••
Nina Wishengrad has joined Market Mentors of West Springfield as a Copywriter.
•••••
Farmers recently named to the committee of the Hampshire-Hampden County Farm Service Agency, a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, are:
• Diana Strzemienski, who with her family runs a 112-acre beef cattle, hay, and vegetable farm in Palmer; and
• Peter R. Hanifin, who, with his family, operates a 50-acre hay farm in Ware.
The committee is responsible for the local administration of federal farm programs.

Building Permits Departments

The following building permits were issued during the months of January and February 2011.

AGAWAM

Benchmark Properties
153 Cardinal Dr.
$3,000 — Construct 17-foot metal stud wall

CHICOPEE

Brals, LLC
67 Sunnyside St.
$23,000 — Convert interior of house for handicap accessibility

Elms College
291 Springfield St.
$39,000 — Construct handicap ramp to Spaulding House

Front Street, LLC
920 Front St.
$5,000 — Seal up hole in dividing wall

GREENFIELD

Amerigas Propane
44 Montague City Road
$4,000 — Roof over one layer

Franklin Medical Center
48 Sanderson St.
$150,000 — Interior renovations

Friendly’s Realty I, LLC
200 Mohawk Trail
$24,000 — Replace roof

Western Mass Electric Co.
Wisdom Way
$56,000 — Construct addition to electrical control house

HOLYOKE

Holyoke Mall Company, L.P.
50 Holyoke St.
$135,000 — Remodel Crazy 8 store

Monohar Lalchandani
1820 Northampton St.
$13,000 — Strip and install new roof

LUDLOW

Spa East
154 East St.
$2,000 — Interior alterations

NORTHAMPTON

Valley Millbank, LLC
18 Michelman Ave.
$20,500 — Kitchen fire restoration

PALMER

H.A.V., Inc.
1144 Thorndike St.
$3,000 — Construct storage shed

SOUTHWICK

Subway
535 College Highway
$10,500 — Construct handicap bathroom

SPRINGFIELD

Baystate Medical Center
2 Medical Center Dr.
$341,000 — Tenant fit-out for neurosurgery suite

Chase Management
21 Maple St.
$3,700 — Repair brick veneer

Jhanvi Hospitality Inc.
143-147 State St.
$2,000,500 — Renovate existing building for hotel

Marcos A. Gomez
599 Page Blvd.
$29,500 — Renovate former pocket store to restaurant

WESTFIELD

Westfield Alpine Company, LLC
1029 North Road
$22,000 — Remove center wall, insulate, and carpet

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Eastern States Exposition
1305 Memorial Ave.
$270,000 — Strip and re-roof 28,000 square feet of commercial structure

Memo’s Restaurant
1272 Memorial Dr.
$5,000 — Install a commercial kitchen exhaust hood

Bankruptcies Departments

BANKRUPTCIES

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

Allore, Jeffrey N.
9 Lake Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/13/11

Auger, Laura N.
11 North St.
Hatfield, MA 01038
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/06/11

Bailey, Steven Douglas
48 New Broadway
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/12/11

Barber, Leo Edward
Barber, Deborah Lee
176 East Main St.
Orange, MA 01364
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/14/11

Bednarski, Theodore E.
Bednarski, Paula A.
100 Main St.
Monson, MA 01057
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/07/11

Belfar, William S.
88 Harkness Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/10/11

Bell, David W.
Bell, Lisa S.
693R Longmeadow St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/14/11

Berge, William Edward
21 Bill St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/12/11

Bilodeau, Melanie A.
10 Wallace Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/06/11

Bliss, Sharon L.
118 Carpenter Road
Monson, MA 01057
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/12/11

Bousquet, Patricia A.
161 General Knox Road
Russell, MA 01071
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/31/10

Brown, John J.
Brown, Cynthia T.
PO Box 803
Stockbridge, MA 01262
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 12/31/10

Buccacio, Maureen A.
48 Baker St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/10/11

Cantwell, Brian Paul
P.O.Box 1212
Barre, MA 01005
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/03/11

Carbone, Martin
Carbone, Karen
365 Petersham Road
Phillipston, MA 01331
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/31/10

Carr, Patrick Allen
50 Barre Circle
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/11/11

Chenaille, Camilla A.
101 Bridle Path Circle
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/10/11

Corish, Yvonne M.
71 Beacon Dr.
Palmer, MA 01069
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/10/11

Darr, Laurie M.
15 Bluemer
Southampton, MA 01073
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/12/11

Defeo, Deborah
242 Dox Rd
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/05/11

Flores, Carmen J.
74 Narragansett St., 2
Springfield, MA 01107
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/31/10

Fontaine, Michael S.
Fontaine, Christie M.
33 Spring St., Apt. H
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/05/11

Gauthier, Jason B.
Gauthier, Kelly M.
a/k/a O’Connor, Kelly M.
48 Nash St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/11/11

Gilchrest, Donna Louise
75A Wells St. Apt. 209
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/03/11

Golenev, Aleksandr A.
Goleneva, Yekaterina V.
81 South Maple St., Apt. 43
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/11/11

Goulet, Todd Edmond
75 Briar Way
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/10/11

Higley, Steven M.
23 Circle Dr.
Enfield, CT 06082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/03/11

Hing, Heng K.
Hour, Va
53 Baldwin St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/11/11

Hughes, Janet
22 South Main St., Apt
Sunderland, MA 01375
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/31/10

Hutchinson, Thomas S.
Hutchinson, Angela M.
270 Chapman Steet
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/14/11

Kafanov, Sergey A.
Kafanov, Anna I.
3 Madison Ave.
Southampton, MA 01073
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/04/11

Keating, Richard
Braddy, Lillian Louise
269 Barrett St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/06/11

Krause, Heidi L
1 Belden Ct. #L-1
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/07/11

Lapa, Kathleen M.
97 Circle Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/10/11

Lewandowski, Miroslaw
Lewandowski, Boguslawa
66 Amherst St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/11/11

Maagero, Jeanine C.
146 Celebration Circle
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/11/11

Macutkiewicz, Abraham J.
Macutkiewicz, Sarah-May C.
a/k/a Simmons, Sarah-May Chandler
21 Primrose St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/04/11

Maggi, Anthony P.
16 Old Mill Road
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/10/11

Mickle, Bettejean
16 Regency Court
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 12/31/10

Murphy, Glenn M.
Murphy, Donna M.
71 Howard St., Apt. #2
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/31/10

O’Neill, James A.
O’Neill, Ivy H.
7 Pineridge Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/31/10

Ortiz, Miguel
P.O.Box 10524
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/05/11

Parker, Judy L.
a/k/a Morrow, Judy L.
251 Chesterfield Road
Westhampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/11/11

Peck, Charles Eugene
46 Melrose St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/14/11

Peckham Enterprises LLC
20 Chamberlain Road
Montgomery, MA 01050
Chapter: 11
Filing Date: 01/01/11

Peloquin, Janet A.
31 McDonald Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/12/11

Peloquin, John
121 College St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/10/11

Perez, Juan
140 Bay St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/06/11

Polley, Gerald W.
98 Barney Hale Road
Gill, MA 01354
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/04/11

Pope, Thomas F.
16 Regency Court
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 12/31/10

Richardson, Alexander C.
68 Rochelle St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/31/10

Robert, George J.
Robert, Jean M.
96 Yorktown Dr.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/14/11

Rodriguez, Carlos
Nieves, Zoraida
497 Hillside Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/11/11

Roofs Done Right
Ahern, Barbara M.
Ellis, Barbara M.
338 Prince John Dr.
Becket, MA 01223
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/31/10

Rudert, Bruce K.
Rudert, Marie E.
a/k/a Long, Marie E.
a/k/a Reed, Marie
P.O.Box 1423
Chicopee, MA 01021
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/05/11

Semelroth, Ian T.
7 Dewitt Circle
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/05/11

Shalit, Emily G.
a/k/a Shalit Gelpi, Emily Grace
P.O. Box 1422
Stockbridge, MA 01262
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/11/11

Slosek, Bridget Betty
92 Meadow St.
Indian Orchard, MA 01151
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/31/10

Slosek, Michael A.
92 Meadow St.
Indian Orchard, MA 01151
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/31/10

Spielmann Bergamini, Hildegard A.
303 South Quarter Road
Russell, MA 01071
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/31/10

Talbot-Olson, Gail Susan
34 East Hill Road
Monson, MA 01057
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/11/11

Taylor, Margaret A.
429-431 East St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/14/11

Till, Brian
Till, Lisa
138 Feeding Hills Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/05/11

Toti, Gail F.
223 Kenmore Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/07/11

Walker, James Allen
Walker, Margaret Norden
53 Warburton Way
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/10/11

Walter, Patricia H.
a/k/a Sears, Patricia H.
631 East St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/14/11

Welch Plumbing & Heating
Welch, Gary F.
6 Blossom Lane
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/11/11

White, Kevin A.
White, Wanda E.
44 Quebec St.
Indian Orchard, MA 01151
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/13/11

Wilder, Gerald L.
Wilder, Gloria N.
P.O. Box 53
Westfield, MA 01086
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/11/11

Willard, Robert W.
Willard, Kristen M.
1401 South St.
Barre, MA 01005
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 12/31/10

Yerka, Lesha Prehl
129 Franklin St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/10/11

Zajaczkowski, Stanislaw
P.O. Box 1015
Chicopee, MA 01021
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/10/11

DBA Certificates Departments

The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the months of January and February 2011.

AGAWAM

Elmwood Car & Van Controls
521 River Road
William A. Douglas

Garden Art
32 Church St.
Ken Guerin

Rosemarie’s Salon @ Sebastian’s
333 Walnut St.
Rosemarie Brandoli

Sandy’s K-9
84 Maple St.
Silke Lanski

Twice But Nice
525 Springfield St.
Nicholas Grimaldi

Wicked Leather
53 Fairview St.
Robert Alves

Wideorbit
67 Hunt St.
Diana Falvo

CHICOPEE

Bernie’s Service Station
105 Montgomery St.
Daniel Bernashe

Chicopee Jiffy Lube
2017 Memorial Dr.
Richard Smith

Daigle’s Truck Master Inc.
57 Fuller St.
Jeffrey Daigle

Nasa’s Auto Service LLC
817 Front St.
Michael Wayne Asselin

Lara’s Destiny Hair Salon
1512 Memorial Dr.
Lara Torrao

Power On
115 Beauregard Terrace
Rvi’shan Yo

GREENFIELD

Barlow Tree & Landscaping
77 Davis St.
Bryan Barlow

Daily Nuggets
324 Wells St.
Robert Apteker

Greenfield Corporate Center Café
101 Munson St.
Simon Guy

Sigda Flower Shop
284 High St.
Richard Sigda

Spalding Affordable Custom Cleaning
256 Davis St.
William Spalding

HOLYOKE

Jizay’s Global Tech
101 High St.
Marcos J. Alvarao

Klassic Eye Brow
50 Holyoke St.
Sukhpal Kaur

Law Office of Joseph E. Best, Esq.
328 High St.
Joseph E. Best

Ponce Store
254 Maple St.
Efrain Resto

T-Mobile
50 Holyoke St.
Harvey Woodford

LONGMEADOW

Gold Courier
35 Erskine Dr.
Stephen Goldstein

LUDLOW

Lara’s Destiny House Salon & Day Spa
293 State St.
Lara Torrao

Joseph Testori Electrical Contractor
71 New Crest St.
Joseph Testori

SOUTHWICK

Donna M. Houghton Licensed Massage Therapist
405 North Loomis St.
Donna M. Houghton

Hairsworks Salon
320 College Hwy.
Paula Zering

New England Academic Specialties
1 Cody Lane
Kristen A. Coccia

SPRINGFIELD

Garcia’s Painting
878 Liberty St.
Luis A. Garcia

Good Shepherd Realty
107 Blaine St.
Richard Fontaine

Imperial Bakery
345 Main St.
Maria Tirado

J. Methe Construction
34 Newport St.
Jeremy D. Methe

Jack Chen Chinese Restaurant
1193 Sumner Ave.
Jin Q. Chen

Pair A Dice Clean
19 Dewey St.
Elizabeth Y. Ruiz

Sullivan Service
14 Brighton St.
Brendan Patrick

Super Class Laundry
1771 Boston Road
Bhanu B. Tiwari

The Hook Up
72 Bancroft St.
Rafael J. Sierra

WESTFIELD

Cornerstone-Good Goth
77 Mill St.
Marianne Deidolori

Del Photocraft
46 Spruce St.
Michael C. DelMonte

Gary’s Auto Repair
11 Bartlett St.
Gary Francis

J.M.C.
18 King St.
James J. Merati

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Allston Antiques
820 Union St.
William P. Youngworth IV

Cal’s Wood-Fired Grill & Bar
1068 Riverdale St.
Calamari’s III Inc.

Capzice Creative Hair Salon
553 Main St.
Lilia Dzhenzherukha

Case Handyman and Remodeling
380 Union St.
New England Handyman Services

Charlie’s Diner
218 Union St.
Michael Alfano

Dan’s Domestic Auto Repair
23 Sumner St.
Daniel E. Chraplak

Samtronix
274 Westfield St.
Osama Jalal

The Healing Zone Therapeutic Mass
201 Westfield St.
Nanci J. Newton

Video Chat Shopping
104 Kings Highway
George Colon

Sections Supplements
Job Outlook Brightens for Graduates … Who Have Planned Ahead

College Try

College Try

In decades past, getting a good job was often a matter of choosing a hot career field and getting into a well-regarded college program, and offers would follow. But in recent years, amid a crushing recession, new graduates have encountered a far more competitive job market. Prospects seem to be improving for the class of 2011, however — especially graduates who have paved their path with a steady diet of work experience while in college.

College used to be a time to prepare for the work world. These days, the lines between the two have been blurred, with work experience becoming a more prominent part of one’s education.
And those who graduate without that experience are finding themselves at risk to a greater degree than ever before.
“It’s become more competitive,” said Deborah Pace, director for Employer Relations at Western New England College, “and if an employer looks at a student with a business background who interned for a semester or two, and then one who didn’t, and they both interview well and present themselves well, more than likely they’re going to hire the student who did the internship.”
Internships are nothing new, but they’re an especially hot topic today, as a still-tight job market has allowed employers to be choosier with applicants, and they’re increasingly focusing on the volume and quality of work experience a college student has amassed before donning that cap and gown.
“Multiple internships are becoming very important now,” said Nicholas Wegman, executive director of the Chase Career Center at UMass Amherst. “It used to be that having an internship would get you an edge; now, it’s almost assumed that business students will have an internship, and the buzzword is multiple internships.
“There are lots of opportunities for experiential learning — doing a project for a small business or going out to a manufacturing site or a distribution center, or doing Web-based projects, interactive marketing, or social-media marketing,” he added. “These are things you can reference on your résumé and that give you something positive to say in an interview.”
Most observers of the employment landscape say things are looking up for the class of 2011, at least compared to the past two years. But progress in the marketplace has been gradual, and the recession has in some ways forged a new reality: yes, jobs might be available for new graduates, but the days of taking them for granted are, at least for now, a thing of the past.
First, the good news: even amid the persistent stagnancy of the job market, this year’s college graduates seem to have more options than last spring’s crop. According to the Job Outlook 2011 survey conducted by the National Assoc. of Colleges and Employers (NACE) last fall, companies anticipate hiring 13.5% more new college graduates from the class of 2011 than they hired from the class of 2010.
However, the improved expectations are not across the board; in fact, only 48% of responding employers expect to increase hiring at all. Meanwhile, 40% plan to maintain last year’s pace of hiring new graduates, and 12% anticipate reducing hiring among this age group. The odds of landing a job vary by region of the U.S., too; according to NACE, Pace pointed out, the Midwest promises to be more fertile ground than the Northeast when it comes to hiring graduates.

Pamela White

Pamela White says she has seen interest in internships rise over the past few years, among both students and employers.

“I think it’s going to be challenging,” said Pamela White, director of Cooperative Education, Career Services, and Transfer Affairs at Springfield Technical Community College. “For some fields, it seems to be a little better. Obviously, in health care there always seem to be more opportunities, but even in that field we’ve seen some challenges.”
For this issue, BusinessWest gazes upon the landscape being contemplated by the collegiate class of 2011, why there’s reason for optimism, but also why students who have not adequately trained for their future might be nervous about what awaits them this spring.

Looking Up
The Chase Career Center, as a department of the Eisenberg School of Management at UMass, serves about 3,400 undergraduate students in various business fields, from accounting and finance to management and marketing, so Wegman has the pulse of a variety of fields — and he likes what he hears.
“The indications I have are that the market is going to be a little better than it was last year, and certainly much better than it was the year before that,” he told BusinessWest. But there’s a caveat, one that can be frustrating for students anxious to line up jobs for the spring.
“I think the market is developing a little later,” he said, explaining that, in the past, recruiters would descend upon campus early each school year, in the fall, because competition for top students was high, and they wanted to get offers out as soon as possible. Now, companies are waiting until the spring, in many cases, because they don’t want to commit to new staff seven or eight months out, with their own balance sheets in flux due to an uncertain economy.
“When so many offers were made in the fall,” Wegman continued, “there was an expectation — even a little subtle pressure — for those students to commit. Their parents liked it, and the companies liked it. Now, they’re cycling back and making job offers more closely aligned to their market situation. They’re not as anxious to make offers in the fall.”
Pace — who regularly tracks information from NACE, and has also been involved in many job fairs, including last fall’s regional College 2 Career Expo — sees a mixed picture for graduates.
“We had about 50 employers [at the expo], and they were looking for students with all backgrounds — arts and sciences, business and engineering majors. And jobs are still available. But in the Knowledge Corridor, we’ve seen some decreases.”
She pointed to population growth in Massachusetts that has trailed behind other states, and anecdotal evidence, such as fewer companies participating in local chamber of commerce breakfasts, as signs that graduates may have to set their sights on other regions of the country where business is expanding more rapidly. But some fields remain strong in Massachusetts. She told of an accounting student who began doing projects for a local firm before graduation, and recently received an attractive job offer.
“They weren’t going to let him get away,” Pace said. “If you have an accounting or financial background, a good GPA, and excellent interviewing skills, they’re going to scoop you right up. Those graduates are still in high demand.”

Test Drive
But in that case and so many others, gaining real-world experience is key — moreso, perhaps, than ever before, White said, as employers seek to test-drive potential employees before making a commitment. Of course, internships also benefit companies in the short term.
“Many have some projects that need to be completed,” she noted, “but they don’t have funds in the budget to hire someone, so they’re seeking out college students to help fill that gap.
“I’ve seen a real increase in students seeking out internship opportunities,” she added. “More and more employers have been requesting interns than in the past. Given our population [at a two-year college], the majority of students are either working or need to work, and they’re receptive to the idea. I’ve had more and more students coming through who want to find internships, just to have that competitive edge, something on the résumé. They clearly understand the level of competition right now, and they’re doing what it takes to get experience.”
Pace agreed that internships have become more prominent over the past three years or so. “Definitely, employers would like to see internships on students’ résumés, and then be able to talk about that experience,” she told BusinessWest.
And for most students, she noted, getting that sort of experience shouldn’t be too difficult. “There are more than enough employers in the region for students to do internships.”
Given the opportunities available, Wegman says today’s business students are encouraged to start building a portfolio of these work-related experiences, transferable skills, and leadership roles starting freshman year — and they’re arriving on campus willing to do just that.
“We are finding that students are more invested, more interested” in their long-term outlook, he said, and parental encouragement to set career goals early and work hard to reach them seems to be a factor.
“They’re thinking about internships earlier, understanding some of the language of corporate America earlier, interacting with recruiters and companies earlier,” Wegman added. “They know they have to do that; it’s not such a big surprise to them anymore. And we’re trying to get our students involved with corporate recruiters and business representatives, and into internships, from their freshman and sophomore years.”

Attitude Adjustment
Considering the challenges they’re facing in a somewhat reordered economy, Pace was frank about the fact that many Millennials, the generation that includes the class of 2011, need an attitude adjustment before entering the work world, having grown up hearing stories of Silicon Valley employees kicking back at work in pajamas and slippers.
“Most industries aren’t like that,” she laughed. “Companies expect you to show up on time, fully clothed with a nice suit, with a service-minded attitude.”
What does that have to do with graduates’ employment outlook? Simply put, perceptions of this generation as entitled and transitory — earned or not — could be suppressing the number of entry-level jobs available to them.
“Some companies are hiring older people because they know they come to work on time and respect the workplace,” Pace said. “They know younger people take a job for a year and leave — they job-hop; they don’t want the onus of staying on a job for at least five years. That creates problems for employers, who need to spend money recruiting and then retrain and acclimate a new employee to the company.”
That presents opportunities for applicants who are able to project the right combination of maturity and experience, regardless of their age, and often community-college students fit that mold, STCC’s White said.
“We think our students are really qualified and able to compete for a lot of opportunities with people at four-year colleges,” she argued. “Employers know that these students are just as able to compete one-on-one with other students at four-year schools.”
For graduates with an adventurous streak, Pace said, the world of entrepreneurship holds promise, although their path carries more risk. Western Mass. has long boasted a strong tradition of business startups, and uncertainty in the employment market may be persuading some to create their own jobs.
“Here at Western New England College, that’s built into the curriculum — doing a business plan,” she said. “A lot of students say they want to get a business degree, then start their own business after they graduate, especially if the startup costs are low.”
But that general feeling of uncertainty in the job market may be lifting just a bit. Wegman has noticed a little more restlessness in his school’s graduate students after a few years in which workers not satisfied with their careers have often been unwilling to make a move and sacrifice their current job security.
“My sense now is that, after several years of being static, people are re-energized about making a change of company, or retool and move up, as opposed to the sense that, ‘this is a good job; I should stay focused on this.’”
And so the employment cycle continues — upward, by most accounts. But just in case, it wouldn’t hurt to pad that résumé a little more.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Difference Makers Features
Celebrate This Year’s Difference Makers on March 24

Kate Campiti, BusinessWest’s associate publisher and advertising director, says that, when the magazine created the Difference Makers recognition program more than two years ago, it did so knowing that there were many ways in which recipients could live up to that title.
And never has that been more evident than with the class of 2011, recently chosen by the magazine after receiving dozens of worthy nominations. Indeed, this year’s cast consists of:

• Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Executive Director Tim Brennan, who has kept one eye on the present and the other on the future — sometimes decades into the future — as he goes about helping to create a better quality of life for area residents and enabling this region to effectively compete in an increasingly global economy. He has many legacies, including the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, a cleaner Connecticut River, several bike trails, and the Plan for Progress — with more on the horizon;

• The founder of Rays of Hope, Lucia (Lucy) Giuggio Carvalho. A breast-cancer survivor, she took inspiration, and some practical lessons in how to wage an effective event, from an AIDS walk in Boston led by, among others, her nephew, and created a walk that today draws more than 18,000 participants annually. In 17 years, Rays of Hope has raised more than $8 million for breast-cancer services and research, while also creating a strong show of unity in the ongoing fight against this killer;

• Don Kozera, president of Human Resources Unlimited, who, over the course of three decades of leadership, has enabled the organization to expand and evolve while remaining true to its original mission: helping individuals with mental and physical disabilities find employment and thus become productive members of society. Kozera has steered the agency though a number of fiscal and bureaucratic challenges while keeping it on course with its all-important goals;

• Robert Perry, a quasi-retired accountant who has, over the course of his career, devoted generous amounts of time, energy, imagination, and dedication to a number of nonprofit organizations, especially Habitat for Humanity. While lending his financial acumen and strong leadership and organizational skills to that agency as president and treasurer, he and his wife, Bobbi, also provided a large dose of inspiration when they committed to donating and raising $35,000 each toward the construction of a Habitat home, the building of which coincided with their 35th wedding anniversary; and

• Holyoke’s police chief, Anthony Scott, who says that his decade-long mission in that job — one that most would say he’s accomplished — has been to “increase the overhead” on criminals in that city, thus driving them out of business, or at least to another community. While doing so, he’s kept the heat on judges and probation officers to keep criminals in jail and off the streets.

“This year’s class of Difference Makers clearly show that there are, indeed, many ways to make a difference in our community,” said Campiti, noting that the award was created to highlight this fact and hopefully inspire others to find new and different ways to continue this legacy.
The class of 2011 will be honored at a gala slated for March 24 at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House in Holyoke, beginning with a networking hour starting at 5 p.m. The event will feature entertainment, butlered hors d’ouevres, lavish food stations, introductions of the Difference Makers, and remarks from the members of this year’s class.
Tickets are $50 per person, with tables of 10 available. For more information or to order tickets, call (413) 781-8600, ext. 10, or visit www.businesswest.com.

Class of 2011 Difference Makers

President, Human Resources Unlimited

Don Kozera

Don Kozera

Don Kozera says he applies a number of lessons from his time in teaching to his day-to-day work as president of Human Resources Unlimited (HRU).

And one of the most important dates back to his first full day at Green Mountain Union High School in Chester, Vt., and what happened after.

“The administration thought it would be an excellent idea to have the students choose their homeroom teacher,” he recalled for BusinessWest in a voice conveying no small dose of cynicism, “because if they choose their homeroom teacher they’ll be more bonded to that individual, and the teacher will become their advisor … that was the theory, anyway.

“I was a young guy right out of school, 22 years old. I coached soccer, and some of the kids thought I was a cool guy who could relate to people,” he continued. “Anyway, I had no idea what I was doing, really, but I had 300 names on my door when I arrived that first day. And then, there was this extremely experienced, but tough, science teacher across the hall from me, and she had two.”

The moral to this story? “The concept was a great one, but the execution of it just created all kinds of problems,” he explained. “That woman … she hated me for the rest of my time there, and she made my life a living hell.

“Often in management, there is great intent on the part of people like those administrators at Green Mountain Union,” he went on. “But when you put it into action, the unintended consequences of that decision were worse than having left things the way they were. By choosing their homeroom teacher, the students did bond better with the teacher — that part was true, but what they failed to realize was that they destroyed the collaboration between teachers, the sharing of information; everybody then became an island.

“That piece is something I carry with me all the time,” he continued, “and the way you apply it is that you don’t think you know the answer, and you don’t do things in isolation.”

Kozera has let that experience and many others help guide him as he’s steered HRU to continued growth and success as an organization devoted to helping mentally and physically disabled individuals find work — and, in the process, gain confidence, self-esteem, and all the other rewards that come with meaningful employment, and become productive members of society.

Since arriving in 1980 as fiscal director of what was known then as the Carval Workshop, Kozera has led the agency, which currently operates on an annual budget of $7.5 million and assists more than 1,500 people a year, on a course of expansion and evolution to where it now includes a number of working parts, including:

• A component known as 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 disabled or have developmental or other disabilities with opportunities to increase their vocational skills and find meaningful work that ranges from light assembly to sorting greeting cards bound for the Final Markdown;

• Custom Packaging, HRU’s commercial division that provides a wide range of customers with services that include light assembly, heat-sealing, shrink-wrapping, folding, collating, and mailing; and

• Four clubhouses — Lighthouse, Star Light, Forum House, and Trade Winds — that help transition members, who join on a volunteer basis, to meaningful employment.

For these efforts, as well as his recent and ongoing efforts to successfully combat what he called “mission drift,” Kozera has been named one of BusinessWest’s Difference Makers for 2011. More specifically, Kozera is being recognized for his work in leading the organization through times of change and extreme challenge.

This leadership comes in a number of forms — from successfully managing day-to-day operations to conducting long-term strategic planning, to maintaining the critical balance that is part and parcel to both of those assignments. And, overall, and to borrow Kozera’s own words, “making sure that the guiding principles of the organization are not simply words on a wall.”

When asked for his job description and the approach that he takes to everything on that list, Kozera thought for a minute and said that, at the end of the day, it is essentially to set goals for the agency and give his staff the tools and the direction to meet them.

And these goals must be realistic, he continued.

“That’s because, when people are constantly working on unrealistic goals, they become deflated, and then it becomes OK never to achieve — they just work hard, but they don’t achieve,” he explained. “You must have action phases that are really defined, timelines that are really defined, and goals that are aggressive but ultimately achievable.

“My job is to really define reality and to make sure everyone knows what that reality is and to pull people toward that vision and ensure that we stay in balance,” he continued. “Staying in balance is how you manage change.”

Kozera said that, whenever he’s looking or acting like the bureaucracy or regulatory aspects of his work are dragging him down, they’ll find some way to get him out to one of HRU’s various programs.

“They’ll call one of the managers to invite me to the program for some purpose,” he explained, “and then I’m fine. That’s when I’m reminded of exactly what I’m doing; by far the most rewarding thing for me is seeing the outcome of those programs.”

Which brings him back to that mission drift he mentioned and the need to be vigilant about allowing it to happen.

“Especially in bad times, it’s easy to get mission drift and essentially chase money, and we have not done that,” he explained. “Sometimes you’ll see agencies like ours, specializing in employment services, see a residential contract come out and say, ‘let’s do some residential work.’ Is that really their expertise? And is there a need for that? Often, they’re just trying to make their organization survive.

“We’ve remained very true to our mission, even in the tough times, and there have been none tougher than what we’re seeing now,” he continued. “We have a niche mission — our major focus is employment services; they are the tool to empowerment for us. In these times, everyone’s grabbing, and it’s not just on human services — you’re seeing painters looking at paving; people are just trying to stay in the game. We’re very conscious of mission drift and are committed to not letting that happen.”

As he goes about meeting that overriding goal, Kozera will keep in mind the lessons he’s learned over the past 30 years, and some that go back further, to those lists of names on the teachers’ doors at Green Mountain Union High School.

In short, he won’t just think he knows the answer, and won’t do anything in isolation.

— George O’Brien

Class of 2011 Difference Makers

Executive Director, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission

Tim Brennan

Tim Brennan

Tim Brennan was talking about the specific skills one must possess to be a successful planner, especially a long-range planner, which is his unofficial job title.

And he focused on two traits — patience and tenacity — noting that one must have them in abundance in this arena, because some — actually, it’s more like most — initiatives don’t take a few months or years to become reality; they take a few decades, at least.

“If you get disappointed easily, and you don’t have the grit to keep coming back over and over again and make the plans work that you think should work, then you’ve picked the wrong job,” he told BusinessWest, laughing as he did so. “And it happens; some people just don’t have that demeanor for this.”

As an example of patience and tenacity, he cited work to create bike paths in the region, an initiative that dates back to when he started working for what was then known as the Lower Pioneer Valley Regional Planning Commission (LPVRPC), as the transportation planner, in 1973.

“There were none at that time, but the temperature started to change and the federal government became interested in things other than autos and transit,” he explained. “We started working on what was then the Five College Bikeway, which was a conceptual idea. Once the media-release value was gone, everyone abandoned it; but we stayed with it, and 20-something years later, I’m at the ribbon-cutting for the trail. I’m not the planner in the Transportation Department, I’m the director, and I’ve got two young daughters who are going to be able to use the Norwottuck trail.

“That’s a long time to wait for some satisfaction,” he continued, putting extra emphasis on that word ‘long.’ “But now we have these bikeway projects springing up across the area, and I think they’re really attraction amenities; they add a lot of value to communities, and when we get them to hook up with one another, they’re great assets.”

There are several other examples from Brennan’s tenure with what is now simply the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. They include everything from Connecticut River clean-up efforts to initiatives to bring more and better rail service to the area; from work to maximize the CSX complex in West Springfield as a regional economic-development asset to efforts to promote greater regionalization in this region and also neighboring Northern Conn.

For achieving progress in these areas and, overall, for giving that grit he described earlier, Brennan has been named one of BusinessWest’s Difference Makers for 2011. Some of the work he’s led is easy to see, such as those bike trails, a cleaner Connecticut River, and a reconstructed Coolidge Bridge. But some of it is outwardly less visible, yet equally important, such as the creation in 1994 of the Plan for Progress — a blueprint for helping the Valley remain competitive in an increasingly global economy — and its many updates since.

Brennan has seemingly always been a little ahead of his time, dating to when he did his thesis at UMass Amherst on issues concerning the collection and management of solid waste, and, specifically, the need for greater recycling. “That was kind of a radical idea at the time,” he said.

While at UMass, he took part in an internship with the city of Northampton, “which at that time was as downtrodden as any city you could imagine,” and worked on solid waste and, eventually, planning issues for then-Mayor Sean Dunphey. He was part of efforts to create a new master plan and revamped zoning laws, and was there to see the very beginnings of that city’s renaissance.

After graduating from UMass, Brennan commenced a search for employment in the region and found an opportunity at the LPVRPC as transportation planner. While in that position, he led the formation of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA), one of many regional transit systems created by the state Legislature.

In 1980, when the directorship of the LPVRPC came open, Brennan applied, but did not get the nod. But when the individual who was chosen ultimately decided not to relocate from Illinois, another search was commenced, and this time Brennan triumphed.

When asked what’s kept him in this job for more than 30 years, working for and alongside countless mayors, selectmen, and planning and development leaders, Brennan said it’s the diversity of the work and the satisfaction that comes with overcoming the many challenges it takes to bring projects that are decades in the making to fruition.

He also likes the balance between working in both the present and future tenses.
“I tell people, and I really believe this, that one of the interesting things about planners is that you have to be bipolar in terms of your time zone,” he explained. “And I don’t know if you can quantify it, but both switches are always on because, if you can’t demonstrate that you’re relevant to the present, all your conjecture about the future gets completely tuned out.”

So when asked what the Greater Springfield area might look like in 30 years, the man who always has one eye focused at least that far down the road said there will be some recognizable changes.

“What’s going to shape the region is energy and climate change,” Brennan said. “Suddenly, it’s politically unpopular to talk about climate change, but the scientists are screaming that it’s real and we have to do something about it. A few weeks ago, the state set greenhouse-gas emission-reduction goals for 2020 and 2050. I don’t think I’ll be around in 2050, but it’s my job to start, with my colleagues, to take this seriously and try to get us ready.

“So what I see is that we won’t be on fossil fuels anymore; we’ll be running off different kinds of fuels, and we’ll need a more-compact land-use pattern — we can’t keep spreading out like we have been,” he continued. “We’ll be going back to the future in a way, where some of the places that we depopulated get repopulated, including many of the urban areas, the downtowns.”

Meanwhile, the Valley will have to focus its energies on successfully existing in one of what are projected to be a dozen or so ‘super regions,’ the one in question stretching from Philadelphia to Boston.

“We have to be connected to the Northeast mega-region, or we’re toast,” Brennan told BusinessWest. “There was a guy here 10 years ago who has a national reputation, who said that if we didn’t have firm plans and follow through on them, much of New England, including this region, could end up as a cul-de-sac, and that really stuck in my mind.

“I think the Valley has all the right building blocks to be one of those regions that can sustain itself going into all these major changes,” he continued. “That’s why we’re working on rail, that’s why we’re working on the broadband, that’s why we will be working on food security; these are all designed to put the infrastructure in place for the region to be vibrant and attractive.”

Getting to that place won’t be easy, but Brennan has the requisite personality traits — patience, tenacity, and that all-important grit — to get the job done.

— George O’Brien

Class of 2011 Difference Makers

Retired Partner/Consultant, Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C.

Robert Perry

Robert Perry

Robert Perry admits that he’s not much of a handyman.

So he makes no apologies for the fact that, over the course of more than a decade’s work with Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity, he’s probably spent three or four days “working,” at least by his estimation.

And while others would disagree with that math — they say Perry enjoys getting his hands dirty and is always ready, willing, and able to pitch in — they usually don’t quibble with his numbers, or his leadership, for that matter.

That’s because Perry’s contributions usually haven’t been with a hammer, shovel, or level, but rather with a telephone, gavel, and calculator. A quasi-retired CPA — ‘retired partner/consultant’ with Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C. in Holyoke, to be more exact — Perry spent an unheard-of seven years as president of the organization’s board (“I wasn’t smart enough to find a replacement”) while also serving as treasurer.

He said that, instead of framing, tiling, or putting up sheetrock, his main contributions to Habitat’s mission have come in the form of leadership, organization, fund-raising, finding and cultivating sponsors, and keeping track of the financial details.

Those who have worked with him over the years would say that he and his wife (Bob and Bobbi to those who know them) have provided something else — hefty amounts of inspiration. A large dose of it came in late 2008 when, in conjunction with their 35th wedding anniversary, they donated and raised $35,000 each toward the construction of a Habitat home in Monson.

Perry said there was a was good deal of serendipity, or symmetry, to that project — it was the 35th house built by the Greater Springfield Habitat group, and it was dedicated on Valentine’s Day in 2010. And, overall, it was an appropriate way for he and his wife to give back and celebrate all they’ve been able to enjoy together. “We’ve had a lot of good things happen in our lives.”

Meanwhile, the overall experience with Habitat has been perhaps the best example of how, through more than 30 years of work within the community — here and elsewhere — he’s sought out opportunities where the results are visible and significant. It was this way with his work at Big Brothers Big Sisters in Framingham much earlier in his professional career, and also with his recent efforts mentoring students at Putnam Vocational-Technical High School in Springfield.

“The connection I made between being a big brother and being in Habitat is being able to see the results of your efforts every day,” he explained. “When I was working as a big brother with a kid, you could see his progress — you could see his self-esteem growing, you could see him learning things that you were imparting. In Habitat, when we raised some money or when we found a family, you could see the change immediately — you could see the cause and effect of your relationship.

“That’s the essence of Habitat for me,” he continued. “We all know we’re doing good when we donate to cancer or when we take part in the breast-cancer walk, or take part in Rotary, but it’s a little more difficult to connect the dots. And that’s one of the big benefits of work with Habitat; you truly get to see that every day.”

Recapping his professional career and work in the community, Perry said they’ve dovetailed nicely. He told BusinessWest that he was always drawn to accounting work, and, after graduating from Northeastern, he went to work for Alexander Grant in Boston. After a stint as a CFO for a textile manufacturer in the late ’70s, he went to Greenberg Rosenblatt in Worcester, and later, when that firm bought an accounting practice in Springfield, he was transferred here to run that operation. After a few years as a self-employed consultant, he went to work for Meyers Brothers, which merged with the Kalicka firm in 2003.

Today, Perry is what one colleague, also semi-retired, calls a “partner emeritus.” He says he spends about 500 hours a year as a consultant — 250 during the three crunch months of tax season, and the balance spread out over the remainder of the year. The rest of his time is devoted to a few passions, but especially golf and community service.

He and Bobbi are members at Wilbraham Country Club (he’s a 16 handicapper and she’s a 20), and they play together frequently. As for the community-service piece, it’s been a career-long constant, inspired in part by Bobbi’s work with deaf children and their families.

Perry spent several years as a member of the Exchange Club that serves Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, and Wilbraham, but found he wanted to be more on what he called the “front lines” of community work. He looked for ways to address this desire, and found one when friend York Mayo, then-volunteer president of Habitat for Humanity, recruited him to look at the group’s finances.

Little did he know that he would soon work his way up to president and spend seven years in that seat, helping the organization “get to the next level” organizationally, as he put it, while also building three or four houses a year.

As for the house he and Bobbi helped sponsor for their 35th anniversary, Perry said, “sometimes, things just come together in a natural sort of way. “This was the 35th house. We saw it coming, looked at it, saw an opportunity to give back, and worked with some church groups to make it happen.”

He’s been making things happen with other organizations as well, especially the Greater Springfield YMCA, which he’s served on the corporate and finance boards, as chair of the audit board, and as co-chair of the Scantic golf tournament. He also involved with Springfield School Volunteers, and is currently in his second year of mentoring students at Putnam.

“I have a sophomore student who’s on point,” he said. “He’s a little shy; I think he’s looking for some self-confidence, and he’s looking for someone outside his family to be a role model. It’s a mini-version of Big Brothers Big Sisters, and I find it very rewarding.”

Mayo, summing up Perry’s contributions to Habitat and other groups, had this to say: “Bob has compassion for others. He converts his beliefs into action through hard work and relentless dedication. When he makes the decision to support an organization, he is the first to roll up his sleeves and get involved. He is persistent and never gives up.

“He is a critical thinker, learns quickly, and is a great listener,” Mayo continued. “His contribution to Habitat for Humanity is immeasurable. But Habitat is not the only recipient of Bob’s many talents. A partial list includes ReStore Home Improvement, the Red Cross, the YMCA, the Roger L. Putnam Technical Fund, and the Millbrook Scholars Fund for homeless high-school students.”

As for what he considers a lack of handyman skills, “I think it’s funny that I would get involved in a volunteer construction organization,” Perry joked, adding quickly that he believes he’s more than made up for that deficiency with organizational and leadership abilities.

And no one would argue with that point.

— George O’Brien

Opinion
They Make a Difference in Many Ways

This region is going to miss Anthony Scott.
Holyoke’s police chief is slated to retire in a few months, when he turns 65. In addition to making a serious dent in the level of criminal activity in the Paper City, Scott has been as outspoken as they come, making him a real favorite of the media and a royal pain to the judges and parole officers he’s criticized seemingly without end for what he considers light sentences and decisions to release repeat offenders on their own recognizance.
Scott, who will retire to a consulting gig in South Carolina, will long be remembered around here for his hard-edged sound bites and newspaper headlines, but his main contribution — it remains to be seen whether it’s a lasting contribution (that’s up to his successor) — was his success with simply driving criminals out of his city because, as he put it, he made the “overhead costs” too high to do business there.
Scott’s decade-long tenure in Holyoke is a classic example of how there are many ways to make a difference in this region through one’s work or contributions to the community. And this year’s Difference Makers, as chosen by BusinessWest (profiled beginning on page 40), really drive that point home.
Lucia (Lucy) Giuggio-Carvalho has made a difference by starting Rays of Hope. She was still recovering from breast cancer when she pulled together the concept, the sponsors, the upfront money, and, yes, the courage and determination to get this fund-raiser off the ground. Today, Rays of Hope is on the brink of surpassing the $1 million mark for funds raised in one year, and with any luck, organizers will bust down that door this fall.
But beyond the money raised — which goes toward research and a variety of services for breast-cancer victims — the walk has become, well, an event, a show of strength and perseverance for survivors and their friends and families. The results are difficult to quantify, but Carvalho and her walk have certainly made a difference in thousands of lives.
Some of Tim Brennan’s contributions are hard to quantify as well. It’s like that when you’re a long-range planner. Some of his efforts as director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission are visible — like the bike trails running through area cities and towns, a visibly cleaner Connecticut River, and a widened Coolidge Bridge. However, with initiatives such as the Plan for Progress, which Brennan initiated, the benefits are difficult to see with the naked eye.
But they have succeeded in doing something that is desperately needed in this region — promoting business owners and municipal leaders to look beyond next week, next year, or even the next decade, imagine what the competitive landscape will be like, and be ready for that day.
As for Robert Perry, as he told BusinessWest, he’s not really handy, but that hasn’t stopped him from being a driving force with Habitat for Humanity — or any of the organizations to which he’s contributed his time, energy, imagination, and ability with numbers.
In short, his contributions have added up to something special — literally and figuratively.
Which brings us to Don Kozera, whose strong leadership skills and ability to shape goals and, as he put it, “define reality” for his staff, have enabled Human Resources Unlimited to help those with physical and mental disabilities find employment, independence, and self-esteem. By doing so, he and all those at HRU are making a difference in the lives of thousands of people, and this region as a whole.
BusinessWest invites all its readers to attend the Difference Makers gala on March 24 at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House in Holyoke. We’ll be celebrating these five individuals, but also the many ways in which people can make a difference, and the hope that their work will inspire others to find and develop still more methods for having an impact.

Sections Supplements
How to Avoid Turning Private Estate Matters into Public Conflicts

Carol Cioe Klyman

Carol Cioe Klyman

Litigators love conflict.
In the world of trust and estates litigation, an innocent transaction, such as adding a child’s name to a bank account, could set the stage for a legal battle royal after the parent’s death.
Consider the questions mom will not be around to answer. Did she put Johnny’s name on her account because she wanted him to be able to withdraw funds while she was living, or rather to inherit the account when she died? Or did she intend to give Johnny access to the money just in case something happened to her, but she really wanted all her children to split the account when she died?
The siblings never got along that well, but think about what could happen in this family when mom is no longer around to referee.
Walk into most courthouses these days, and you will soon realize that ambiguity and conflict mean money. Trust and estates litigation is booming in no small part because the innocent transactions of life conflict with family dynamics and the complex realities of the legal system. Litigators sue, but estate-planning attorneys try their best to keep clients out of court. So here, from my observations, files, and trials, and those of my colleagues, are some of the mistakes that can drive what should be private matters into public conflict.
1. DIY estate planning. Filling out forms from the Internet for wills, trusts, and powers of attorney is the easy part. Thinking through the ramifications of those documents takes knowledge and skill. Most people plan one or two generations ahead, but life is not that simple.
Divorce, biology, human frailty, and the simple passage of time all affect our planning. It also takes knowledge to separate the useful from the flawed in these Internet documents. Litigators will exploit ambiguities and unintended consequences.
2. Not having a will, power of attorney, and health care proxy. If you don’t have these basic documents, the government controls where your property goes and monitors who makes decisions about your health care and your funds. If you become incapacitated, a judge will appoint a guardian and conservator to take care of your financial and medical affairs. Families often disagree over who will serve in these roles, and these conflicts often end up in court. These cases can be brutal, costly, and time-consuming.
The judge, usually the person in the room who knows the least about your case, is confronted with choosing between children, as often as not appointing a professional who is a stranger to the family.
3. The law of unintended consequences. Even people who have estate plans can fail to consider the consequences. In one glaring example that came across my desk some years ago, a man terminally ill with cancer thought he had provided for his adult children in his will, signed six months before his death. The will left everything to his second wife, whom he had married two years previously, and then to his five children if she were dead. When he died, his wife inherited his entire estate, and his children got nothing.
His children sued. The case settled with the widow agreeing to give them their father’s property at her death. Many such cases end only after protracted and expensive litigation that leaves the children empty-handed.
4. “My child will do the right thing.” I can’t tell you how many times a client has told me, “I’m leaving everything to my daughter. She knows what I want.” The law favors certainty over sentiment. The certainty is, the daughter owns everything at the parent’s death. Fortunately, in most cases, the child will do the right thing when a parent dies. However, at times the ‘right thing’ is unclear.
The person in charge may believe she knows exactly what the deceased person wanted. Others may disagree, and even resent the authority given to the favored person.
5. Promising more than you deliver. Many lawsuits are won and lost over the issue of a promised inheritance that failed to materialize. In many of these cases, the neglected survivor performed an uncompensated service expecting to be rewarded later. In one recent case, a son was promised he would inherit the family business and real estate if he ‘employed’ his mother at a substantial salary and paid her living expenses.
He faithfully performed his obligations until her death. Unfortunately for the son, the mother changed her estate plan in the intervening years and split the business among her children when she died. The dutiful son sued his siblings and won. The sympathetic judge found that the son acted based on his mother’s promise and should be compensated for his trouble.
6. Picking the wrong person to be in charge. A corollary to this is, “Sheila is the oldest, so I’ll name her.” Much sadness, loss, and many expensive lawsuits arise from this mistake. An executor of a will, trustee of a trust, and agent with power of attorney or health care authority — each of these jobs requires a person of intelligence, honor, loyalty, and diligence. Putting the wrong person in charge can completely derail a perfectly crafted estate plan.
Individuals abuse the trust placed in them when they use funds for their own purposes, contradict their principal’s instructions, or fail to follow the directions expressed in the decedent’s will. These cases run the gamut: a grandmother serving as executor of her daughter’s will spent her grandchildren’s inheritance on herself; an agent transferred property owned by her incapacitated mother to herself without permission; an executor used estate funds to repair and improve his own home. Often the people who are wronged — an incapacitated person, trust beneficiaries, a decedent’s heirs — have the law on their side but cannot recover what was lost or taken. The wrongs can occur many years before discovery, and perpetrators often are poor and ‘judgment-proof,’ and not required by the court to have insurance to cover losses.
7. Dueling powers of attorneys. When a parent cannot choose which child to put in charge, they sometimes put too many children in charge. They will sign a power of attorney naming one child, a second power of attorney (sometimes drafted by a different lawyer) naming another child, and so forth. The question then becomes, who is really in charge?
If the parent is incapacitated, unable to pick the first among equals, and the children can’t agree, the decision will end up in court. My advice is to say what you mean in one document only, and don’t let your children bully you into creating another. If you can’t pick one and then another as backup, you can name two serving together, but it is best for an odd number to serve in case a tiebreaker is needed. You might also spread the jobs of executor, attorney-in-fact, and health care agent among your trusted family members so no one feels slighted.
8. Failing to name successor executors, agents, and trustees. If an office is vacant, the court may need to appoint an individual or corporation to serve. Refer to points 2, 3, 5, and 6 for the ramifications.
9. Not specifying how taxes are paid when you die. If you leave assets of more than $1 million, Massachusetts will tax your estate (more than $5 million, and the federal government is also interested). Unless you decide differently, taxes are paid from general probate assets, which do not include specific assets bequeathed in a will, insurance policies, annuities, retirement accounts, and other assets with beneficiaries. The result could be that the people you want to benefit the most will pay all the taxes and receive the least.
10. Specifying that taxes be paid from tax-exempt assets. Some assets transferred at death, such as gifts to charity or to a trust for a surviving spouse, are exempt from estate tax and can actually result in reduced taxes for an estate. However, an improperly drafted estate plan can cause a portion of these exempt assets to be spent on estate taxes, reducing the amount of the exempt gift, and in turn increasing the taxable estate and the tax bill — a mathematical spiral that often ends in court. Charities, marital trust beneficiaries, and litigators can do the math.
11. The ostrich estate plan. Pretending problems don’t exist, and not meeting them head-on, is a gift that keeps on giving to a litigator. A parent may disinherit a child or children for any reason, sometimes out of sheer dislike. Most parents can’t live with the thought of treating one child differently, even a child with substance-abuse, financial, or marriage problems, or perhaps physical or mental challenges. Failing to address these issues by sweeping them under the rug or pretending they don’t exist can be destructive to the family. With proper planning, children can be protected from themselves in many positive ways.
However, if ever your loved ones would have reason to race to their lawyer, an estate plan that singles out a child with problems, disinherits children, or leaves the entire estate to the poodle would be it. Care must be taken to evidence that the parent acted willfully and with full understanding. Plans that seem irrational or flippant leave much room for doubt and speculation — and make a litigator’s day.

Attorney Carol Cioe Klyman is a shareholder with Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C., Springfield, Northampton, and Albany, N.Y. Her practice concentrates in the areas of elder law, estate and special-needs planning, estate administration, and trusts and estates litigation. She is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estates Counsel and immediate past president of the Hampden County Estate Planning Council; (413) 737-1131.

Class of 2011 Difference Makers

Police Chief, City of Holyoke

Anthony Scott

Anthony Scott

Anthony Scott was talking about his penchant for garnering media attention.

He insists that he’s not a publicity hound, and that newspaper headlines and broadcast sound bites “have just happened” — everywhere he’s gone, including Holyoke.

But Scott, the city’s police chief since 2001, freely admits that he tries to align himself with the press — “I meet the media on their grounds” — and use its reach to get his various messages across. “You can’t sit down and talk to 40,000 people,” he said, noting the approximate population of the Paper City, “but you can use the media to reach them.”

As for what he does with the press and how he does it, he summons a few quotes from an old Cajun friend, passed along when Scott was a young officer with the New Orleans Police Department.

“He told me to never get into a pissing contest with someone who buys their ink by the barrel, their paper by the ton, or their videotape by the mile,” Scott told BusinessWest, acknowledging that this is time-honored advice uttered by many. “He also said that, if you can’t say something kind, nice, or good, tell the truth.”

And through a 44-year career in law enforcement, that’s exactly what Scott has been doing — telling the truth. Sometimes, actually, much of the time, it comes with a little sarcasm, and more often than not it hurts those to whom he’s referring. But this certainly has never stopped the truly outspoken Scott, who will be retiring in April, from speaking his mind.

Consider these comments concerning various topics and constituencies:

On the Holyoke City Council, with which he has butted heads seemingly since the day he arrived: “It’s funny … but when an individual gets 400 or maybe 1,000 votes, they suddenly think they know more about your job than you do. I’ve only been doing this for 40-something years. I’m not trying to be a smart aleck, but I think I know a little more about law enforcement than the average politician.”

On his seemingly incessant criticism of judges for what he considers light sentences and releasing criminals on their own recognizance, and whether this campaign has made an impact: “The judiciary won’t admit it, but it has. We can see that judges are getting a little stiffer on the sentencing and bails are increasing. I’ve been a royal pain in their tuckus; they don’t like me, and personally, I don’t care. I’m here to look out for the citizens of Holyoke, and I’m going to do that until the day I walk out of this office.”

And how about this letter, which Scott wrote to the state parole board when informed that one Angel Santiago, found guilty of breaking and entering and assault on a police officer, was scheduled for a parole hearing just six days into a 60-day sentence? “Inmate Santiago hasn’t had sufficient time to adjust to the luxuries in his present surroundings within the House of Corrections before you are in a rush to push him out the door and back into the civilized community to which he has shown nothing but contempt. Once again I ask that you excuse my sense of right and wrong, but scheduling a parole hearing does not appear to be in the best interest of public safety, nor does it send a message that one must pay for the crimes they commit. Inmate Santiago is a thief, and at the young age of 21, inmate Santiago has been arraigned 11 times in the Holyoke and Springfield district courts. To even consider this rascal for parole is an insult to me, the arresting officers, and the citizens of Holyoke.”

Scott told BusinessWest that he considers such letter-writing, such telling it like it is, to be an important part of his job. He describes all of these various efforts as part of his work to be a voice for victims — and he says there are not enough of them.

“You have a lot of people out there who are very vocal about the rights of criminals, and how fairly criminals should be treated when they go to court,” he said. “There are a lot of voices out there. But not a lot of voices saying, ‘how about the victims of crime?’”

For standing up for victims and, more importantly, for making Holyoke an inhospitable place for criminals and would-be criminals, Chief Scott has made another headline, this time as one of BusinessWest’s Difference Makers for 2011.

And the chief found a little irony in the fact that he was being honored by a business publication, because he has a degree in business, and, more to the point, he approaches crime like a business.

Well, to be more specific, he says he wants to make it so criminals won’t want to do business in his city.

“If a business is operating within a city and that city continues to raise its taxes and raise its fees, and the business overhead gets to be expensive for them, they’ll relocate,” he explained. “They’ll go to another city where the taxes are lower and the fees are low enough so they can operate and make a profit.

“I look at that the same way I do at criminals,” he continued. “I try to make the overhead as high as possible; I try to wreck their drug business, I try to get fees and fines increased … and those individuals from the dark side, the attorneys, help me out a lot. They charge a great deal of money for their services. So the criminal has to pay higher attorney fees, higher fines, they lose their drugs — so they are going to seek out a city that’s not driving up the overhead. I get calls from correctional officers working in Massachusetts and Connecticut who tell me that the criminal element is telling other criminals, ‘don’t go to Holyoke — that chief is crazy.’”

Dark side?

Lawyers probably like Scott because his war on crime has created more business for them, but if they don’t, it really doesn’t matter to him. As he said, he’s told the City Council on many occasions, “I don’t do touchy-feely. My job is to remove the criminal element from the street and make the community safe.”

Scott will reach mandatory retirement age (65) in a few months, and is stepping down in April. He said his plan for life after police work — and it seems well-thought-out — is to do consulting work with police departments, handle background checks on candidates for executive positions, and similar investigatory work. He said he won’t miss the judges — and took one more shot on his way out the door, saying he’ll be extra careful in retirement “because, if I get arrested for a parking ticket, I’m going to jail” — or the city councilors. He will miss the people of Holyoke, though.

“They welcomed me into their community and made me feel at home,” he said, adding that he’s not quite sure what retirement will bring for him.

Probably more of what he’s been doing all along: telling the truth.

— George O’Brien

Sections Supplements
New CORI Measure Impacts Employers’ Hiring Processes

Amy Royal

Amy Royal

Prior to hiring a prospective employee, many businesses opt to conduct background checks, some of which include checks into an applicant’s criminal history. Indeed, obtaining information about an applicant’s criminal records and general background can be quite helpful for verifying the veracity of an applicant and in learning more information about an individual who is otherwise an unknown commodity.
The ways in which businesses can obtain and use criminal-offender record information (CORI) during the hiring process was limited by the state’s CORI-reform law, which Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law last summer. CORI records include information and data related to the nature and disposition of a criminal charge, arrest, pre-trial and other judicial proceedings, sentencing, incarceration, rehabilitation, or release.
The impetus for the new law was to make it easier for individuals to secure employment. In fact, in supporting the law, Patrick announced that “the best way to break the cycle of recidivism is to make it possible for people to get a job.” The first piece of the new CORI law went into effect on Nov. 4, 2010; other sections will not take effect until early next year.
Under the portion of the CORI law that took effect last November, it became unlawful for employers to ask job applicants about their criminal-offender record information, including information about arrests, criminal charges, and incarceration, on an “initial written application.”
Benjamin Bristol

Benjamin Bristol

The new CORI law created this prohibition by amending Mass. General Laws Chapter 151B, Section 4, our state’s anti-discrimination law. Before this new amendment, employers could ask job applicants about felony convictions and certain misdemeanor convictions that were not protected from disclosure. The only exceptions to the conviction-question ban on initial job applications occur when federal or state law disqualifies an applicant for that position because of a conviction or where an employer is subject to an obligation under federal or state law not to employ an individual who has been convicted.
Unfortunately, the term ‘initial written application’ was not defined in the new law, so it remains unclear whether the new CORI law was intended to prohibit job interviewers from asking about criminal-offender record information later on in the application process, such as during an interview. The Mass. Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD), the state administrative agency that enforces our state’s anti-discrimination law, has taken the position that a job interviewer may inquire about convictions in very limited circumstances. Indeed, the MCAD has indicated that questions about convictions are permissible as long as the interviewer does not ask about any of the following:
• An arrest that did not result in a conviction;
• A criminal detention or disposition that did not result in a conviction;
• A first conviction for any of the following misdemeanors: drunkenness, simple assault, speeding, minor traffic violations, affray, or disturbance of the peace;
• A conviction for a misdemeanor where the date of the conviction predates the inquiry by more than five years; and
• Sealed records and juvenile offenses.
Without question, this list presents more problems than it does solutions for employers. Since interviews usually consist of broad and open-ended questions, it is very likely that the interviewer who asks about an applicant’s past convictions will erroneously lead the applicant to disclose conduct that the MCAD deems protected, which could ultimately result in litigation. This is true even if a question is well-intentioned; it could still be seen as a violation.
To avoid this problem, employers should train their interviewers on the proper questions to ask applicants, and provide their interviewers with a written set of questions to help steer the discussion away from unlawful inquiries.
In addition to the initial-application piece of the new law, another provision, slated to take effect on Feb. 6, 2012, will further restrict an employer’s ability to obtain criminal conviction history. While employers will still be able to obtain criminal information from the CORI database, they will no longer be able to receive felony convictions that have been closed for more than 10 years or misdemeanor convictions that have been closed for more than five years. Currently, employers may receive information about felony convictions occurring up to 15 years earlier and misdemeanor convictions occurring up to 10 years earlier.
Another provision that takes effect on Feb. 6, 2012 will require employers to create and implement a written policy if the employer annually conducts more than four criminal background investigations. This written policy must include language notifying applicants of the following: that the employer will give copies of the policy and the information obtained during the criminal background investigation to the applicant; that there is a potential for an adverse decision based on the criminal background investigation; and the steps applicants can take to correct their criminal record. Employers must then make sure that the applicant receives a copy of the policy and the information obtained during the investigation.
Also effective Feb. 6, 2012, the new law will prohibit employers from retaining a terminated employee’s CORI information for more than seven years from the last day of employment. The same rule will also apply to job applicants; thus, employers will be prohibited from retaining an unsuccessful applicant’s information for more than seven years from the date of the decision not to hire.
However, Feb. 6, 2012 will bring some good news for employers. Specifically, under another section that takes effect that day, the new law will protect employers from claims of negligent hiring when relying solely on CORI records and not conducting additional criminal background checks prior to hiring an applicant. This provision will also protect employers who fail to hire an applicant because of erroneous information on the applicant’s CORI.
In this ever-increasingly litigious society, employers should routinely gather all available information regarding a prospective employee before deciding whether or not to hire them. In light of the new CORI law, employers who are currently using criminal-record information in their hiring process should review their current policies and practices to ensure compliance with the new law.

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

Sections Supplements
Know the Requirements in Order to Remain in Compliance

Bruce Fogel

Bruce Fogel

Many of us, at one time or another, have seen an IRS form titled 1099. Most of us are familiar with the more common versions of that form, including:
• Form 1099-INT, which is used to report interest paid to someone in excess of $10 per year;
• Form 1099-DIV, which is used to record dividends and/or capital-gains distributions paid to someone in excess of $10 per year;
• Form 1099-B, which is used to report the proceeds from the sale of capital assets other than real estate; and
• Form 1099-S, which is used to report the proceeds from the sale of real estate, typically other than one’s principal residence (provided the appropriate information was provided to your lawyer or other representative at the time of sale).
In each of these instances, the purpose of a Form 1099 — whatever its specific designation — is to provide information to the Internal Revenue Service so it can cross-check the same to make sure that the recipient is properly reporting the payment and/or income.
Another type of Form 1099 is the Form 1099-MISC. As you might have already guessed, this designation is intended to cover most other miscellaneous payments for which a specifically identified Form 1099 does not exist. The threshold for being required to file such a form is when payments have been made to a qualifying recipient during any calendar year (or tax year, in the case of an entity reporting information on a fiscal-year basis), in an amount totaling at least $600.
So, who is required to submit such forms to the IRS and to the payee? Anyone or any entity engaged in a trade or business, who made such payments in the course of that enterprise, is required to use 1099-MISC. But, you may wonder, what constitutes a trade or business? The instructions for this form state that you are generally considered to be engaged in a trade or business “if you operate for gain or profit.”
However, as with most IRS guidelines, the answer has exceptions. For example, those parties responsible for filing this version of Form 1099 include nonprofit organizations as well as federal, state, and local governments. Interestingly enough, through Dec. 31, 2010, the definition did not include landlords or rental-property owners. However, effective with payments beginning Jan. 1, 2011, landlords are required to join in the fun and issue Form 1099-MISC for all payments for services and/or materials reaching the $600 filing threshold.
The next logical question is, to whom or to which organizations are these forms issued? Historically, and through Dec. 31, 2010, these forms were to be issued to any individual and/or non-corporation receiving $600 or more during the year. Most corporations were excluded. However, payments were still required to be reported on the form if paid to pass-through entities, including LLCs that were not being taxed at the entity level, as well as payments made for professional fees (including doctors, lawyers, etc.), whether the professional entity was incorporated or not. However, these rules were changed for payments made after Dec. 31, 2010, such that corporations are no longer exempted from receiving these forms.
As you might expect, there are penalties for non-compliance, and not having the information necessary to complete the form is not always considered to be a valid excuse. There are also filing deadlines, other forms necessary to accompany copies of the Form 1099 to be filed with the IRS, and additional form-specific details relating to the filing requirements.
Suffice it to say, if you are subject to the filing requirements for these forms or think you might be, it is certainly better to err on the side of caution and make arrangements for their filing, or at least to check with your tax or accounting professional. Under such circumstances, it would be wise for you to take steps during the year to make sure to collect the necessary information you’ll need to file these forms from the various payees you work with. Such information would include their full and correct name, their correct tax-identification number, and their correct and current mailing address.
If necessary, there are forms available for collecting such information and receiving the payee’s certification as to the accuracy of the information.

Bruce M. Fogel is a partner with Bacon Wilson, P.C./Morse & Sacks in Northampton. He is a member of the firm’s estate-planning, elder, real-estate, and business departments. He has extensive experience in matters relating to income, gift, and estate taxes, and he focuses on the tax implications of all legal transactions. He can also be heard on the radio show Taxes and Assets; (413) 584-1287; [email protected]

Company Notebook Departments

Vann Group Launches Simply Booked
SPRINGFIELD — The Vann Group recently launched Simply Booked, an affordable, easy-to-use, outsourced bookkeeping service that combines the benefits of an online service with the expertise of a dedicated accountant. The firm has two locations, on Worcester Street in Springfield and at 10 Post Office Square in Boston. For more information, visit www.simply-booked.com.

Gravity Switch Develops iBracket for iPad
NORTHAMPTON — Gravity Switch, a Web, iPhone, and iPad development firm, has developed the first wall bracket for the iPad, the iBracket. The iBracket fills the need for a wall-mounting system for Apple’s iPad and doubles as a means for a cost-effective Internet-enabled kiosk. The firm has worked closely with LB Manufacturing in Chesterfield from the beginning to produce the iBracket, which comes in a variety of colors and finishes and offers various features. The iBracket is being built to order and takes approximately two weeks from order to delivery. Customers have already included Powerhouse Entertainment, the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Conn., and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, Calif., which are showcasing the iBracket/iPad combination. For more information, visit www.gravityswitch.com.

Berkshire Hills Reports Solid Fourth Quarter
PITTSFIELD — Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc. recently reported another solid quarter of earnings growth and strong asset-quality metrics, according to a statement by Michael Daly, president and CEO. Core earnings per share reached $0.28 in the fourth quarter of 2010, representing growth of 12% over third-quarter results. Asset-quality trends continued to improve, and the loan-loss provision covered net charge-offs. For the quarter, GAAP earnings per share were $0.26, which included approximately $0.4 million in non-core charges relating to bank acquisitions. Core and GAAP earnings for the fourth quarter were $3.9 million and $3.6 million, respectively. For the year in 2010, core earnings per share were $1.01, while GAAP earnings per share were $0.99. The board of directors maintained the cash dividend on Berkshire’s common stock, declaring a dividend of $0.16 per share to stockholders of record at the close of business on Feb. 10, 2011, payable on Feb. 24, 2011. The $0.64 full-year dividend in 2010 provided a 3.3% yield based on the average closing price of Berkshire’s common stock in 2010.
Colebrook Brokers Lease Renewal to HNE
SPRINGFIELD — Colebrook Realty Services Inc. recently brokered the long-term lease renewal of tenant Health New England Inc. (HNE) at One Monarch Place. HNE leased in excess of 51,000 square feet on three floors of the Class A office tower. Prior to the extension, HNE had been a tenant of One Monarch Place for 17 years. Colebrook principals B. John Dill and Mitch Bolotin represented HNE in the transaction. Headquartered in the city, HNE is a health maintenance organization serving select counties in Western Mass. Robert Kosior, vice president and chief financial officer of HNE, said the firm wanted to stay in its current space “because we are committed to supporting the downtown area.” He noted that Colebrook was instrumental in negotiating a cost-effective lease for HNE.

Lowell Named President
of Monson Savings
MONSON — Steven Lowell has been selected by the board of trustees of Monson Savings Bank to succeed as bank president Roland Desrochers, who announced his intentions to retire in mid-2011. Lowell has served as executive vice president and chief operating officer for Cape Cod Cooperative Bank for 10 years. He has been with Cape Cod Cooperative Bank for 15 years and has more than 30 years of banking experience. Lowell was chosen for the new post based on his “outstanding leadership, strategic planning, team building, and sales-management skills,” according to a statement by Desrochers. While at Cape Cod Cooperative Bank, Lowell oversaw planned deposit growth from $145 million to more than $400 million and helped to grow assets from $150 million to $580 million. The Monson Savings Bank trustees were also impressed by Lowell’s strong community commitment and long list of charitable and volunteer engagements, as community involvement is an important part of the bank’s core values. Lowell will join Monson Savings on Feb. 14 and will be elected president in March. At that time, Desrochers will become CEO and will oversee the transition and work full-time in an advisory capacity through June. During Desrochers’ tenure at Monson Savings, the bank opened branches in Hampden and Wilbraham, added a Loan Center, built a commercial-lending operation, added financial-advisory services, increased community giving, and grew from $80 million to $236 million in assets while at the same time improving its capital position and financial stability.
O’Connell Care at Home Opens Hadley Office
HADLEY — O’Connell Care at Home and Healthcare Staffing, based in Holyoke, has opened a satellite office at Hadley Crossing Plaza. The new office will provide the residents and business community of Hampshire County with better access to the company’s services, according to Fran O’Connell, president and founder. O’Connell noted that the company’s goal has always been to help ensure that elders can live in comfort and dignity in their home. O’Connell added that the team focuses on the complete needs of the individual, be they physical, mental, or spiritual. O’Connell’s offers skilled nursing and rehab services; personal-care, homemaker, and companion services; geriatric care management; and transportation. In addition, the company offers area health care providers with staffing services, including temporary, temp-to-hire, and direct hire. For more information, visit www.opns.com.

WMA Launches Tuition Affordability Initiative
WILBRAHAM — Wilbraham & Monson Academy (WMA) recently announced an ‘affordability initiative’ for the WMA Middle School, grades 6 through 8, to make private, independent education more accessible to families by saving students and their families up to $11,000 a year in tuition. Current annual tuition for the middle school at WMA is $25,000. Under the new initiative, the school’s new grade 6 tuition would be $14,000 annually, an $11,000 savings. Grade 7 tuition will be reduced to $15,000, a $10,000 savings, and grade 8 tuition will decrease to $16,000, a $9,000 savings. This initiative applies to all current and incoming students. WMA Middle School enrollment is limited to 75, broken down into classes with a maximum of 15 students — one grade 6 class, two in grade 7, and two in grade 8. WMA Head of School Rodney LaBrecque noted in a statement that, “given the importance of education in an increasingly competitive world and the economic pressures many families are facing today, the academy’s board of trustees felt it was timely to launch this initiative and make this scholarship universally available to middle-school students, making our unique education available to more families.” Starting with the 2011-12 academic year, the board will provide support to all middle-school families. For more information about WMA and the admission process, visit www.wma.us and click on the middle-school blog.

Tighe & Bond Survey: Water, Sewer Rates Rising
WESTFIELD — The results from Tighe & Bond’s recently published 2010 water and sewer rate surveys for communities in Massachusetts indicate that residential users pay approximately $470 and $638 annually for water and sewer, respectively. This represents increases of 10.3% and 9.2% above the averages reported in the 2009 surveys. For more than a decade, Tighe & Bond has gathered and reported data on water- and sewer-rate service in the state. Using rate information that survey participants provide, they calculate the annual average homeowner’s cost for water and sewer service based on the consumption of 90,000 gallons or 120 cubic feet of water. The survey, which includes typical annual homeowner water costs for each community in Massachusetts, also provides information regarding rate structures, billing cycles, and seasonal rates. The surveys offer municipalities and private suppliers a benchmarking tool for comparing their rates against other suppliers in the state. The survey results are available to the public online at rates.tighebond.com.

Stevens 470 Develops Brand for Milana Gourmet Collection
WESTFIELD — Rao’s Coffee Roasting Co. recruited Stevens 470 to conduct market research and develop the brand identity for a new food offering, the Milana Gourmet Collection. Rao’s touts its “exceptional coffees and teas” and wanted to create a food collection that met its same high-quality standards. The coffees, teas, syrups, preserves, chocolates, and additional food items were developed to provide a diversified selection to the retail gift market. Stevens 470 designed the retail packaging for more than 70 products and managed the printing of labels and packaging. Wholesale order materials and an e-commerce Web site were also developed for the launch of the new product line. For more information on the products, visit www.milanagourmet.com.

MassMutual, Money Coach Team Up to Motivate Younger Plan Participants
SPRINGFIELD — MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division has joined forces with Farnoosh Torabi, independent Generation Y money coach, to help connect with younger plan participants and inspire them to take a more active role in planning and saving for retirement. While the alliance is meant to benefit participants of all ages in retirement plans administered by MassMutual, the company hopes to motivate Gen Y in particular to understand the value of starting early to plan and save for retirement. Through online seminars, online video, social-media interactions, and live speaking events, Torabi hopes to get participants on a solid path toward retirement readiness. MassMutual created this program to address the findings of its own participant research as well as industry data. A recent industry analysis by Financial Engines, an independent investment adviser, indicates that 53% of retirement-plan participants under age 30 do not save enough to receive the full employer match. For more information, visit www.massmutual.com.

Perigee Launches
Supper Clubs
LEE — In the 1920s and ’30s, supper clubs were destinations that offered dinner, dancing, and entertainment into the wee hours of the night. Perigee Restaurant is honoring the dinner and dancing hotspots of the past with its own rendition this winter. Owner Dawn LaRochelle noted that the evenings will take their cues from the clubs and speakeasies of days gone by. The prix fixe menu will reflect Perigee’s Berkshire Cuisine theme, using locally sourced ingredients whenever possible. For more information, visit www.perigee-restaurant.com/dinner-dancing.html.

Departments People on the Move

The Holyoke-based accounting firm Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C. announced the following:

James T. Krupienski

James T. Krupienski

• James T. Krupienski, CPA, MSA has been promoted to Senior Manager in the Audit and Accounting Division of the firm. In this role, he will be a key contributor in two distinct niches within the firm. A member of MBK’s health care niche, Krupienski works with an array of medical and dental groups in Western Mass. and Connecticut, providing accounting and consultative services. He also brings 10 years of experience to the firm’s employee-benefits division, providing a strong focus on compliance audits and employee-benefit-related consultative services.
Scott Adams

Scott Adams

• Senior Associate Scott Adams has earned the certified valuation analyst (CVA) designation through the National Assoc. of Certified Valuation Analysts (NACVA). Business valuations are a tool often used by business owners, stockholders, bankers, financial planners, attorneys, and others, when an objective analysis of a business worth is indicated. This may occur in scenarios that range from mergers and acquisitions, succession planning, stockholder disputes, estate planning, and gifting to transitional life events such as divorce. The certified valuation analyst is the premier accreditation for providing business valuation and litigation support consulting services, and the certification process is open only to licensed, certified public accountants who meet NACVA’s rigorous standards of professionalism, expertise, objectivity, and integrity.
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Julie Cowan has been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech in Northampton. Cowan is a Vice President for Commercial Lending at TD Bank.
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Pamela Wells

Pamela Wells

Pamela Wells, Resident Service Manager at the Springfield Housing Authority, was recently appointed to the Springfield Advisory Board of the Department of Transitional Assistance. Her appointment to the advisory board is through 2013.
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American International College in Springfield announced the following:
• Thomas E. Dybick has been appointed Vice President for Finance; and
• Linda Dagradi has been hired as the Associate Vice President for Student Financial Services.
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Mary Fallon

Mary Fallon

Mary Fallon, Media Director at Garvey Communication Associates Inc., recently attained Google AdWords Individual Certification. Fallon passed two exams to gain certification, including an advanced-level exam on search advertising covering best practices for managing AdWords campaigns.
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William Murphy has joined Connie Laplante Real Estate in Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden counties. Real-estate offices are located in Belchertown and South Hadley.
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Marcos A. Marrero recently joined the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission in Springfield as a Land Use and Environment Planner.
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Christina Cronin was recently qualified as a Certified Fund-raising Professional by CFRE International. Cronin is Director of Major Gifts and Campaign Coordinator for Wilbraham & Monson Academy.
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Kimberly A. Klimczuk

Kimberly A. Klimczuk

Attorney Kimberly A. Klimczuk has returned to Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C., in Springfield. Her focus is labor law and employment litigation.
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Arthur Marshall has been awarded the accredited Senior Appraiser designation by the American Society of Appraisers. He is employed at Berry, Dunn, McNeil & Parker.
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Caroline Fisher

Caroline Fisher

Caroline Fisher, M.D. Ph.D., has been appointed Medical Director of Child and Adolescent Services at Providence Behavioral Health Hospital in Holyoke. In addition to her responsibilities in Holyoke, she serves as Medical Director of Pediatric Behavioral Health, LLC, in West Boylston, and as editor-in-chief of the Carlat Child Psychiatry Report.
•••••
U.S. Sen. Scott P. Brown has named Nick Powers to serve as his Constituent-services Representative for Western Mass. Powers is available to provide assistance to constituents in navigating federal programs ranging from veterans’ benefits to Social Security.
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Bethany Hinton

Bethany Hinton

Bethany D. Hinton has been named Loan Servicing Officer of Florence Savings Bank.
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Certified Public Accountant Linda Syniec has joined the firm of S. Reichelt & Co. Her expertise is in providing tax services to clients in most every industry group, including closely held private companies and high-net-worth individuals.
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The Western Massachusetts Jewish Ledger announced the region’s Jewish Movers & Shakers for 2010:
• Robert Engell, working in health care management, has used his experience to help rebuild the health care system in Afghanistan;
• Susan Jaye-Kaplan, co-founder of Link to Libraries, collects and distributes new and gently used books to elementary-school libraries and nonprofit organizations for children in Western Mass. and Northern Conn.;
• Jeremy Pava has served on the board of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation for 20 years, and is president of the Hebrew High School of New England;
• Rabbi Saul Perlmutter instituted the Ride to Provide, an annual event for students at UMass Amherst Hillel that brings cyclists together to raise funds and to enjoy a scenic bike ride through Amherst. In addition, an executive director of the Hillel House for more than 35 years, Perlmutter has helped UMass Hillel grow from an office in the Student Union to a three-story building and a home to Jewish students at the school. Along with his responsibilities at Hillel, Perlmutter is also rabbi at Congregation Sons of Zion in Holyoke;
• Shamu Sadeh is director of ADAMAH, the farming fellowship for young Jews at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center. A leader in the Jewish food movement, Sadeh is an environmental-studies instructor, Jewish educator, writer, organic farmer, and wilderness guide;
• Barbara Sanofsky founded the Pioneer Valley chapter of the Pomegranate Guild of Judaic Needlework, an organization of Jewish needle artists that create ceremonial objects for their synagogues, homes, and communities. She has been named president of the national organization, which has chapters throughout North America; and
• Ruth Webber recently received the 2010 Kipnis Wilson/Friedland Award, the biennial lifetime achievement award given by the Jewish Federations of North America.
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PeoplesBank of Holyoke announced the following:
Heidi Nowak

Heidi Nowak

• Heidi Nowak Leonard has been appointed a Mortgage Consultant. She is responsible for residential mortgage business in the Greater Westfield area; and
Kate Reagan

Kate Reagan

• Kate Reagan has been appointed a Mortgage Consultant. She will be responsible for residential mortgage business in South Hadley, Northampton, Easthampton, and the surrounding areas.
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Kate Phelon

Kate Phelon

Kate Phelon has been named executive director of the Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce.
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Erik Skar has been named Vice President of the Board of Directors at the Pioneer Valley Montessori School of Springfield. He is a financial-services professional at MassMutual.
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The law firm Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, of Springfield and Northampton, has several members currently serving on boards and committees throughout the region, including:
• Ellen W. Freyman, appointed by Gov. Deval L. Patrick to the Springfield Technical Community College Assistance Corp.;
• L. Alexandra Hogan, serving as a member of the board of Junior Achievement of Western Massachusetts; and
• Carol Cioe Klyman, named to the editorial board of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys Journal.
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Merriam-Webster Inc. of Springfield announced the following:
• Jane Mairs has joined the firm as Director of English Language Learning Publishing;
• Meghan Lieberwirth has been promoted to Director of Marketing; and
• Matthew Dube has been named Business Development Manager.
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The Williston Northampton School announced the following:
• Peter Valine has been named Dean of Faculty; and
• Jen Fulcher has been named Director of the Middle School.

Features
A Progress Report from the State’s Economic-development Czar

Greg Bialecki, secretary of Housing & Economic Development

Greg Bialecki, secretary of Housing & Economic Development

As the Patrick administration begins its second term in office, the focus, from an economic-development perspective, will be to continue to use public dollars to leverage private investment, says Greg Bialecki, secretary of Housing & Economic Development. He noted that so-called gateway cities such as Springfield and Holyoke need investments from the state to stimulate private spending and create new sources of jobs and overall economic vitality. In a wide-ranging Q&A touching on everything from corporate incentives to market-rate housing development, Bialecki talks about what’s been accomplished, and the work still to do in such cities.

Greg Bialecki acknowledged that that much of the progress being seen in Springfield and other area communities has been generated by state and/or federal assistance — on one level or another.
Examples abound, from the presence of Liberty Mutual in the Technology Park at Springfield Technical Community College to the high-performance computing center in Holyoke; from the tax incentives recently awarded to Smith & Wesson in exchange for its pledge to create 225 new jobs at its Springfield plant and make significant investments there, to the backup data center soon to be take shape at the former Technical High School on Elliot Street in Springfield.
Bialecki, the state secretary of Housing and Economic Development, prefers to look at the state’s contributions as investments that will help trigger private-sector spending in older, former manufacturing centers, like Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee, and others, that need a boost in their efforts to reinvent themselves and spur economic growth.
The Deval Patrick administration’s strategic plan has been to make prudent, well-thought-out investments capable of generating significant returns, said Bialecki, adding that this policy will continue in the second term that started this month, and that, given some help in the form of economic recovery, such returns should soon be visible and measurable.

data center

The data center taking shape at the old Tech High building is another example of state investment in a gateway city — Springfield.

In this Q&A, BusinessWest sounded out the state’s economic-development czar on what’s been accomplished to date, and what can be expected in the months and years to come.
BusinessWest: Talk about the state’s investments in economic development and the goals and expectations that come with this assistance.

Bialecki: “Everyone who does investing is always looking for leverage, and the state is no exception. The governor has asked me to look for opportunities where a state investment will be matched, not just one-to-one, but many times over, by private investment. The high-performance computing center is a good example of that; the state has committed $25 million to that effort, which will probably be a $160 million project when all is said and done, and a number of private colleges involved have made sizeable investments as well. Originally, we put out the promise of some public funding to encourage private funding, but at this point, all the money that’s needed to make this go is in hand.
“Smith & Wesson is another example. Our $6 million investment tax credit is probably going to be about 10% of the actual private investment. Smith & Wesson has committed to spend at least $60 million in new plant equipment there over the next several years, so we’re just making a commitment that’s way overmatched by private investment.”

BusinessWest: How do these investments fit into the state’s broad strategic initiative involving the so-called Gateway Cities, such as Springfield and Holyoke, and are there signs that state-assisted projects are, in fact, stimulating private development?

Bialecki: “You can see some examples of the model this administration is advancing taking place in Springfield. Liberty Mutual is one, and the old federal building, 1550 Main St., is another, and so is the data center. These are public/private projects, for the most part, and examples of how state assistance has been provided to help older cities. We do believe that, if you’re really going to be a catalyst for economic development and job creation, we need to be thinking not only about places where we can do public projects — Union Station might be an example — but balancing that out with projects where we are providing an incentive for private investment.
“These projects send a bit of a different message about the way we think of the economic potential of different regions of the state, including our older cities. In other words, this approach is based on the view, the perspective, that good things are happening in all the regions and many of our cities, and if we can address their challenges, but also talk up the good things about them, we can convince private business to locate there.”

BusinessWest: Some people and groups criticize such public assistance to private companies, calling it corporate welfare and a flawed system for spurring economic development and job growth. How do you respond to that, and does the state need to make such incentives available to compete with other regions and cities?

Bialecki: “We believe that some level of assistance is probably required in a number of these places to help people make the decision to locate in a Springfield or locate in Western Mass., in part because of what other regions are offering, but also in part because some companies like it here and want to be able to stay here.
“Frankly, the Smith & Wesson deal, although that was real money, was in a way a blockbuster deal, in terms of the amount of incentives compared to what other states are offering. We have other states offering some of our companies huge deals — they’re saying, ‘if you move here, we’ll build you a factory, and we’ll pay for it.’ And if you talk to Smith & Wesson and ask them if the state’s willingness to commit to incentives was an important part of their decision, they’ll say, ‘yes, absolutely.’ But they’ll also say that they really like being in Springfield, we’ve got a great workforce; it’s not a case where they’re saying, ‘we don’t want to be in Massachusetts, we don’t wan’t to be in Springfield, but if you pay us enough, we’ll stay here.’ They want to be here.”

BusinessWest: How important is balance, in terms of public and private investments, to a city’s long-term success?

Bialecki: “Very important. The ultimate goal, obviously, is to maximize the amount of private-sector job-creation and private-sector investment in the region. We’re glad to continue to make significant public investments as well, but, realistically, and from our point of view, you’re only to going to be able to say we have a healthy economy in Western Mass. if there’s not only public dollars going into employment and investment, but also private dollars, and more private dollars than public.”

BusinessWest: Talk about the plight of the gateway cities and what the state is doing to assist them.

Bialecki: “Our approach is very consistent in that we don’t look down condescendingly on these cities — we view them as being able to participate in and contribute to the economic health of the state. We want them to be in the mainstream of the business mix in the state. What are the big industries in Massachusetts? Health care, higher ed, financial services, high tech … a measure of our success should be that those industries are in our gateway cities. In Springfield, MassMutual was already there, but getting Liberty Mutual was big — these are Fortune 100 companies, and they both have a presence there.
“There are also many colleges and universities in Springfield, and that’s important, as well as Baystate Medical center and other health care providers. We want to add the tech sector to that mix, and the high-performance computing center will help. We want the gateway cities to be in the mainstream of the state’s economy, especially the innovation economy.”

BusinessWest: What role does housing, specifically market-rate housing that will, theoretically, attract young people and professionals, play in economic development, and what is the state doing to stimulate such developments?

Bialecki: “Housing is a critical component, and we want to make sure that cities have a good mix of all kinds of people living within their boundaries. We want there to be enough affordable housing for those at that end of the spectrum, but also enough places for people who are middle-class and above and have choices about where they want to live. How can we create an environment where people will want to live in our gateway cities?
“We started a new program where, for the first time, we have money available to provide tax-incentive support for people to create market-rate housing in gateway cities. It’s a pilot program with $5 million available initially, and it’s something [Springfield] Mayor [Domenic] Sarno has expressed great interest in. Officials in Springfield have done an inventory of what market-rate housing is available today, and identified potential pipeline opportunities where such housing can be created; developers will probably need some help, and we’re willing to do that.”

BusinessWest: Is there a policy or strategic plan for helping these cities, and if so, what are the main elements?

Bialecki: “Some of the strategies that people have talked about in the past for helping gateway cities have been to mitigate the challenges and the problems facing these cities, such as public safety, and those are important things to do. But we are actually aiming higher. We’re not just trying to mitigate the problems; our vision focuses on determining what these cities, like Springfield, would look like if they were functioning at a high level and were contributing to the economic life of the region.
“And if you look back, all of these played that role at one time, some more recently than others. Holyoke was the first planned industrial city in the country, New Bedford was the whaling capital of the world, and Lowell and Lawrence were main textile centers. Most all of these cities were, at some point in time, not just keeping up with the economic prosperity of their neighbors, they were driving the economic prosperity of their respective region.
“We understand the challenges, but we think that that is the right aspiration to have for these cities: what would it look like and feel like for Springfield to be that driving force again?”

BusinessWest: What are the immediate hurdles to achieving that goal, and what has to be done for the city to achieve this vision?

Bialecki: “There are a lot of good building blocks in Springfield, like its colleges, universities, and fine health care facilities. We would like to see other aspects of the innovation economy; we’d like to see more tech companies. There are some initiatives with incubator space [at STCC], and there is the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Initiative to get some other life sciences and biotech. There is plenty to build on.
“And development of these sectors goes back to my earlier comments about how many projects require some measure of state assistance. While it’s true that, to jump-start some of these things, assistance is needed, our goal is to move off that.
“In other words, let’s talk about the things we have to do in Springfield and the other gateway cities so that the businesses will say, ‘you don’t need to persuade me to open a new business unit in Springfield — that’s where things are happening; that’s where I want to be.’

BusinessWest: Is there a model to be followed in terms of such a recovery?

Bialecki: “Lowell is the classic; that’s the one everyone points to, and they have had a good deal of success over a prolonged period of time, going back to the ’80s. But I’ve seen some very impressive changes and improvements more recently, over the past four years, for example. In Haverhill, the mayor has made a big focus on market-rate housing in the downtown, mostly in old mills and even to the point where people said, ‘what are you doing?’ But it’s worked out very well; he’s got a lot of telecommuters there and people who can work anywhere, and it’s a short commute to Boston. And he’s generated a lot of street life, a lot of new restaurants.
“And New Bedford’s done very nicely. We’ve helped them with some things, and they’ve used those projects to trigger some private investments; there is a nice creative-economy element to what they’ve done, with a lot of artists moving in.
“The thing about gateway cities is that there’s no silver-bullet project that’s going to put you over the top; it’s an accumulation of things that are going to make a difference, including that all-important private investment.”

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

Briefcase Departments

West of the River Chambers Leaves ACCGS; Affiliates with MassCBI
EAST LONGMEADOW — The West of the River Chamber of Commerce (WRC) recently announced its newly developed management relationship with the Mass. Chamber of Business & Industry Inc. (MassCBI), of East Longmeadow, severing its ties with the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield (ACCGS) that go back 40 years. The WRC, which serves the cities of Agawam and West Springfield, will be managed by MassCBI under the leadership of Debra Boronski, whose organization will oversee all of its management needs. “The WRC is the primary advocate and resource for business in Agawam and West Springfield; we felt it was time to take a new direction in the management of our chamber in a way that best suits the needs of our members,” said Remo Pizzichemi, vice chair of the West of the River Chamber. “We will remain a local, independent chamber of commerce representing Agawam and West Springfield businesses and will continue to offer our members the local benefits they have always enjoyed as well as the lobbying and legislative expertise of Ms. Boronski.” The new management relationship with the Massachusetts chamber will extend current benefits by offering WRC members access to the MassCBI monthly Legislative Newsletter which provides up-to-date information on laws and regulations that impact their business. “I am pleased to welcome the West of the River Chamber and its 250 member businesses to MassCBI,” said Boronski, “and look forward to working with the WRC board, committees, and leaders of its member companies, many of whom I have a long history with.” In 2008, the West Springfield and Agawam chambers of commerce were combined to form the WRC. The chamber hosts a number of meetings and events each year, including FoodFest West, a golf tournament, educational seminars, networking events, and debates for candidates in Agawam and West Springfield, and has recently launched a manufacturing committee. ACCGS President Jeffrey Ciuffreda said member businesses that are part of the WRC will continue to be represented through ACCGS until their current membership expires, which is different for each member. “We welcome these businesses to renew their memberships with ACCGS to continue the high level of service they have come to expect from the chamber,” he noted. “ACCGS continues to believe in its original mission and philosophy — the business community is best served by a regional approach, speaking in one voice to government representatives, policy makers, other businesses, and business-related organizations. The ACCGS will continue to speak out with a singular voice on issues facing businesses throughout Greater Springfield. The action taken by the WRC Board of Directors will have no impact on the services, member benefits, educational programs, legislative advocacy, or networking opportunities provided by ACCGS to its member base. Despite the WRC board’s decision, it is business as usual for the ACCGS.”

Caret Named to Lead UMass System
BOSTON — The Board of Trustees of the University of Massachusetts recently unanimously elected Robert Caret president of the five-campus university system. Caret, the president of Towson University in Maryland, will succeed retiring UMass President Jack Wilson, who steps down on June 30. “After conducting an exhaustive search, we selected a president with the qualifications, the character, and the vision to lead our university system forward and to build upon the strengths of our world-class university system,” said James Karam, head of the search committee and acting chair of the UMass Board of Trustees, in a statement. “It is an honor to have been asked to lead this world-class and world-renowned university system,” said Caret in a statement. “The University of Massachusetts is one of the nation’s premier public research universities and provides a beacon of hope and opportunity for so many.  I look forward to building upon its tradition of excellence in academics, research, and public service.” Caret, 63, has been the president of Towson University since 2003. He served as a faculty member, dean, executive vice president, and provost of Towson University for 21 years before leaving to assume the presidency of San Jose State University in 1995. Caret is credited with helping to reinvigorate the San Jose State University campus, and he championed a joint city/university effort to build the Martin Luther King Jr. Library there. As president of Towson University, Caret has created partnerships with regional business, nonprofit, and civic organizations in Maryland.  He became a founding member of the Maryland Business Council in 2004 and serves as the honorary chairman of the Maryland Council on Education. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the CollegeBound Foundation, the Board of Governors for the Center Club, the Governor’s Workforce Investment Board, and the P-20 Leadership Council.  He also serves on the Board of Directors for 1st Mariner Bancorp and on the Board of Advisors for Evergreen Capital LLC.  He was inducted into the Baltimore County Chamber Business Hall of Fame in 2006 and was awarded the Towson University Hillel Gesher Award in 2010. Caret is a member of the University of Maryland Foundation Board of Directors. He recently served on the NCAA Presidential Task Force on the Future of Intercollegiate Athletics and is a member of its Presidential Advisory Group and Football Academic Working Group. He also has served on the American Flag Foundation Board of Directors, the Board of Directors of the American Council of Education (ACE), and the Board of Directors for the American Assoc. of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU).  He currently serves on the executive steering committee of the AASCU Millennium Leadership Initiative (MLI). Caret has authored many articles on chemistry, chemical education, and higher education for business and professional publications. He is the co-author of four textbooks in the fields of organic chemistry and allied health chemistry. The Maryland Chapter of the American Chemical Society recognized Caret’s achievements by honoring him with the George L. Braude Award in 2005. He is a native of Maine who received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of New Hampshire in 1974 and his bachelor of science degree in chemistry and mathematics from Suffolk University in 1969.  Caret’s honorary degrees include a doctor of humane letters degree from San Jose State University (2004) and National Hispanic University (1997) and a doctor of science degree from Suffolk University (1996). Current UMass President Wilson is retiring from the presidency after eight years to return to teaching.  He will become the distinguished professor of Higher Education, Emerging Technologies and Innovation at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

More State Residents
Lost Homes to
Foreclosure in 2010
BOSTON — The number of completed foreclosures in Massachusetts jumped almost 32% in 2010 to 12,233, up from 9,269 in 2009, but did not surpass the record 12,430 foreclosures recorded in 2008, according to the latest report from the Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. The number of foreclosure petitions, meanwhile, declined 14.3% to 23,933 last year from 27,928 in 2009. “It’s a big concern that more homeowners lost their homes to foreclosure in 2010 than in the prior year,” said Timothy Warren Jr., CEO of the Warren Group, in a statement. “One bright spot is that fewer people entered the foreclosure process compared to a year ago. This is despite a slumping economy and high unemployment. These statistics for petitions to foreclose are skewed by lenders who slowed their foreclosure processing in the last four months of the year. It’s important to remain cautious heading into 2011, and not assume we are out of the woods yet.” Foreclosure petitions — the first step in the foreclosure process in Massachusetts — dropped dramatically in December. A total of 733 starts were recorded, a 64.4% drop from 2,060 in December 2009. Petitions also dropped from November 2010, when there were 1,109 starts recorded. The number of foreclosure petitions exceeded 2,000 for eight months in 2010, falling below that level for the past three consecutive months. In December, there were 481 foreclosure deeds, a nearly 44% drop from 857 deeds recorded in December 2009. Foreclosure deeds represent completed foreclosures. Deeds bumped up in December from a month earlier; there were 418 recorded in November. Foreclosure deeds reached their highest point earlier in the year, peaking at 1,391 in March. Both foreclosure petitions and deeds dropped in the fourth quarter. A total of 2,969 foreclosure petitions were recorded in the fourth quarter of 2010, down almost 53% from the 6,293 petitions during the same period in 2009. Foreclosure deeds dropped to 1,456 in the fourth quarter, a 41.1% decline from 2,473 deeds in the fourth quarter of 2009. The fourth quarter marked the slowest activity for both petitions and deeds this year. Year-to date petitions were down in every county except Nantucket County. A total of 88 foreclosure petitions were recorded in 2010, up almost 9% from 81 in 2009. On the contrary, deeds also increased in every county in 2010, except Nantucket and Dukes counties. There were 12 completed foreclosures in Nantucket County in all of 2010, down from 25 in 2009. Dukes County saw no change in its foreclosure deeds in 2010 — there were 38 completed foreclosures in both 2009 and 2010. The Warren Group also tracked a large increase in auction announcements in 2010. A total of 29,227 auction announcements were tracked in 2010, a 50.6% increase from 19,441 in 2009. Auction announcements in December totaled 1,076, a 50% drop from 2,152 in November, and also declined 44.3% from 1,931 during the same month in 2009.

Director Sought for Leadership Pioneer Valley
SPRINGFIELD — Leadership Pioneer Valley (LPV), a new regional leadership initiative for the 69 communities and three counties (Hampshire, Hampden, and Franklin) that comprise the Pioneer Valley, has launched its search for a program director. The director, who will be the first to hold this position, will oversee an array of LPV program activities, most importantly the recruitment of emerging, diverse leaders to strengthen the region by fostering a sense of community pride, responsibility, and dedication. Leadership Pioneer Valley is an advanced leadership-development program housed within the Pioneer Valley Regional Ventures Center Inc., the companion nonprofit of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. LPV was established last year to recruit, develop, and support succeeding generations of the region’s leaders through dynamic education and civic-engagement programs that foster the skills, collaboration, and commitment needed to build a healthy, vibrant, and culturally competent Pioneer Valley. The new program director will begin work with the aim of recruiting LPV’s first class for fall 2011 and continuing to direct its efforts. The job description for LPV program director is available at www.pvpc.org. Interested candidates must submit a cover letter, résumé, and three references via email by Feb. 1 to Search Committee Chair Ron Ancrum at the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts; the address is [email protected].

Housing Market Remains ‘Very Volatile’
WASHINGTON — Permits for new homes jumped 16.7% in December compared with private-sector expectations of a 2.9% increase, according to the latest data on new residential construction in December from the Commerce Department’s U.S. Census Bureau. Scheduled changes in building codes in January in California, New York, and Pennsylvania may have been responsible for much of the December increase, as builders sought to obtain permits ahead of the code change. Housing starts declined 4.3% compared with private-sector expectations that they would remain virtually unchanged. “Today’s data show that the housing market is still very volatile from month to month,” said U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke in a statement. “This administration is keenly focused on expanding employment and economic growth, and as job creation progresses, the incomes of the American people will strengthen and help put the housing market back on track.”

Chamber Corners Departments

ACCGS
www.myonlinechamber.com
(413) 787-1555
 n Feb. 2: Business@Breakfast, 7:15 to 9 a.m., Springfield Marriott, 2 Boland Way. For more information or to register, contact Diane Swanson at (413) 755-1313 or [email protected].
n Feb. 9: ACCGS After 5, 5 to 7 p.m., CityStage, One Columbus Center, Springfield. For more information or to register, contact Diane Swanson at (413) 755-1313 or [email protected].
n Feb. 11: Outlook 2011, 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Chez Josef, 176 Shoemaker Lane, Agawam. For more information or to register, contact Diane Swanson at (413) 755-1313 or [email protected].
n Feb. 17 to March 31: Springfield Leadership Institute, TD Bank Conference Center, 1441 Main St., Springfield. To register, contact Lynn Johnson at (413) 755-1310 or [email protected].
 
Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield
www.springfieldyps.com
n Feb. 5: YPS’ 1st Annual WhirlyBowl, 3 to 6 p.m., WhirlyBall East Coast, 1265 John Fitch Blvd., South Windsor, Conn. Six teams of five players compete in a round-robin tournament. Rules will be reviewed by the referee prior to the tournament start. For more information about whirlyball, contact Nick Gelfand, tournament coordinator, at [email protected]. Cost: $25 (includes WhirlyBowl fee and use of arcade games; BYOB). Member-only event open to the first 30 paid participants.
n Feb. 17: Third Thursday, 5 to 8 p.m., Samuel’s Sports Bar & J. Quincy’s restaurant at the Basketball Hall of Fame, 1000 West Columbus Ave., Springfield. Sound and entertainment provided by Jx2 Productions. Cost: free for YPS members, $10 for non-members, includes food and cash bar. 
 
Chicopee Chamber of Commerce
www.chicopeechamber.org
(413) 594-2101
 n Feb. 16: Annual Meeting, Salute Breakfast, 7:15 to 9 a.m., Castle of Knights, 1599 Memorial Dr., Chicopee. Cost: $18 for members, $25 for non-members.
n Feb. 23: Business After Hours, 5 to 7 p.m., Elms College, 291 Springfield St., Chicopee. Cost: $5 for pre-registered members, $7 for members at the door, $15 for non-members. For more information or tickets, contact www.chicopeechamber.org.
 
Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce
www.holycham.com
(413) 534-3376
n Feb. 16: Chamber After Hours, 5 to 7 p.m., Holyoke Transportation Center, 206 Maple St. Sponsored by the Elms College and Holyoke Community College. Cost: $5 for members, $10 cash for non-members.
n Feb. 18: Issues 2011 Legislative Luncheon, Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House, 500 Easthampton St., Holyoke. Guest: Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo. Sponsored by the Republican, Holyoke Medical Center, Center School, PeoplesBank, Dowd Insurance, Holyoke Community College, Goss & McLain Insurance, and Resnic, Beauregard, Waite & Driscoll. Cost: $35. For reservations, call the chamber office at (413) 534-3376.
 
Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce
www.explorenorthampton.com
(413) 584-1900
 n Feb. 2: February Arrive@5, 5 to 7 p.m., the Garden House at Look Park, 300 North Main St., Florence. Cost: $10 for members.
n Feb. 8: February Meet & Eat Breakfast, 7:30 to 9 a.m., Union Station, 125 Pleasant St., Northampton. Table Topic: Uncommon Sense with Two-Step Clarity, featuring Ann Latham from Uncommon Clarity Inc. Sponsored by Greenfield Community College and Royal LLP. Cost: $15 for members.
 
Northampton Area Young Professional Society
www.thenayp.com
(413) 584-1900
 n Feb. 10: Party with a Purpose, 5 to 8 p.m., Page’s Loft Restaurant & Events, Clarion Hotel, 1 Atwood Dr., Northampton. Cost: free for members, $5 for non-members.
  
Three Rivers Chamber of Commerce
www.threeriverschamber.org
(413) 283-6425
 n Feb. 7: Annual Dinner, 6 p.m., Pinocchio’s Ristorante, 2054 Bridge St., Three Rivers. The annual dinner starts at 6 for drinks and networking, dinner is served at 6:30, and a brief business meeting immediately follows dinner. Cost: $17. For tickets, call Fred Orszulak, chamber president, at (413) 283-7400.

10 Points Departments

1. Know what you want to learn from the conference. Most conferences have multiple tracks; try to focus on your most important goals.
2. Before the conference, identify other attendees in your breakout sessions. Learn about them and their companies via the Web and LinkedIn.
3. Set appointments in advance. Contact a few individuals who you have identified as having common interests and try to arrange to meet over coffee during the conference.
4. At the conference, focus on meeting attendees rather than the featured speakers. Attendees are likely the people who walk in your shoes and can provide you with practical ideas and support moving forward.
5. Be the first to engage other attendees at your table. Spend time asking open-ended and feel-good questions to first get to know them personally. People ultimately do business with people they know, like, and trust.
6. Always have your business card ready to exchange, and make notes about your conversations, right away, on their business cards. This will give you a frame of reference for contacting them after the conference is over.
7. Send follow-up notes and/or e-mails after the conference to continue the positive connection. Ask if they would like to continue the connection with you via LinkedIn.
8. Try to help your new colleagues. Listen for their concerns and challenges in their jobs and send them resources that you may have that can help them. Be the go-giver.
9. Be a connector. Actively listen, and try to introduce people who could provide benefit to each other. When you are a conduit who connects people in a helpful way, you are increasing your own value, and people will want to help you even more!
10. Ask your new contacts for resources and advice. People you meet at conferences can be a very valuable resource for the challenges that you face in your job. They are usually more than happy to offer best practices they have found in their work.

Brenda Olesuk

Brenda Olesuk

Brenda Olesuk is the marketing director at Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C. in Holyoke; (413) 536-8510.

Departments Picture This

Women Chamber Group
Womens Chamber Two

Business Expo

The Professional Women’s Chamber (PWC) staged its 13th Annual Business Expo on Jan. 19, 2011 at the MassMutual Room at the Basketball Hall of Fame. Nearly 50 exhibitors from a variety of business sectors participated in the tabletop event. Attendees found information on business and personal banking, finances, insurance, graduate schools, beauty products, and nonprofit organizations. Each year, the PWC conducts the expo to give its members an opportunity to showcase their business or organization and to give attendees a chance to network with other women executives. Proceeds from the expo go to support the PWC Scholarship Fund, which helps women in transition returning to the workforce. Top left, members of the PWC Board of Directors, from left, Ellen Albano, Ellen Desmarais, Lisa Lemon, Janet Casey, and Tony Scibaldi (president), with Jeannie Filomeno, a representative of Marcotte Ford. Left, representatives of Loomis Communities await visitors to their booth.

Top of the City

The Springfield Technical Community College Foundation recently staged its annual Top of the City event in Scibelli Hall. The networking event doubles as a fun-raiser, with proceeds from a giant raffle going to the foundation and its many endeavors. Below (from left): Ellen W. Freyman, Esq., of Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C., and a member of the STCC Foundation Board of Directors; Ron Ancrum, president of the Community Foundation of Western Mass.; and Jane Roulier. Bottom (from left): William Bennett; Debra A. Kaylor, CPA, of Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C., and an STCC trustee; Hector F. Toledo, chairman of the STCC Board of Trustees and vice president of Retail Sales at Hampden Bank; and Myra D. Smith, STCC vice president for Human Resources and Multicultural Affairs.

STCC event
STCC event 2

Sections Supplements
Making Early Identification of Your Child’s Special Needs
Melissa R. Gillis

Melissa R. Gillis

Dennis G. Egan

Dennis G. Egan

Parents of young children, particularly children under the age of 5, often wonder whether their child is meeting all the important developmental milestones. Many guiltily admit that they want to know how their son or daughter compares to other kids their age, and they become concerned if they hear that another child can do something theirs cannot.
Sometimes these worries simply trouble loving parents who want the best for their children, and they soon realize that their child just needed a little more time to accomplish the same task. Other times, and at an ever-rising level over the past decade, the concerns of parents are justified, leaving them to wonder, ‘what do I do now, and whose attention can I bring this to?’
If this situation sounds familiar, the first step in the identification process is to bring your concerns to your child’s pediatrician. The doctor can be a very powerful influence when making the initial decision about whether to seek formal testing, and also later when determining what types of services are important and appropriate.
Between the ages of 1 and 3 (or prior to the start of preschool), your child is entitled to a free assessment/screening, typically referred by a pediatrician. This is usually performed by the infant-and-toddler program in your area. If the results of the assessment indicate and identify a need, the commonwealth will provide your child with certain services, potentially in and out of your home, free of charge.
Once your child reaches the age of 3, the types and availability of those services may change. These are the preschool years, whereby your child will receive services through an individual education program (IEP) designed just for them and administered by the early-intervention program located within your town. This IEP, subject to review and revision, follows your child into kindergarten at age 5 and beyond. Parents have a right to be involved in the contents of the IEP, and you should remain as involved as possible.
From the special-education perspective, having a child attend a private or public preschool can be pivotal. Preschool is often the first social interaction outside the home or parent-supervised playdates a child has. Because there are so many quickly changing and growing stages up until the time a child begins to read and write, there is more than one appropriate time to discover a special need.
When your child has been attending a private preschool, and you learn that early intervention is needed, you may be faced with the difficult decision of whether to take the child out of the private school, where he or she has become comfortable, and enroll them in your town’s early-childhood program. You may ponder the benefit of continuing to pay for a more expensive private school when a public alternative is available.
It is important to note, however, that the private preschool can still be used as a valuable social-skills developmental tool for continued interaction in a safe environment that your child already trusts. In those instances, the private preschool can be used in conjunction with the town program for services to ensure that your child is receiving the best overall services and is engaged in the best possible action plan to suit his or her particular need.
Prior to the preschool years, your child may not yet have been identified as having a special need for which services are required and necessary. It is important to recognize that the lack of identification is not necessarily a parental failure, but can be due to the fact that your child has not yet been placed in a situation where his or her need would be discovered. Parents should always embrace the assessment suggestion and never shy away from it. Neglecting to identify your child’s need sets them up for unnecessary difficulties in later school years. Early intervention can have a huge impact on the overall development of a child and his or her ability to succeed in school.
By way of example, a trained preschool teacher can recognize and identify issues involving hand-eye coordination, speech, and independent social interactions that may not be obvious to a parent who is with their child every day. If a teacher suggests that your child should have an assessment, it is because they have observed your child on multiple occasions having difficulties or experiencing an inability to meet a developmental stage that is imperative to continued learning and/or social development. Additionally, sometimes a need is not discoverable until kindergarten or even first grade, when a child begins to read, write, and engage in reading comprehension. A disservice is done to a child, however, if an assessment is not performed when a delay or disability is suspected.
Remember, you are your child’s strongest advocate. If you suspect your child may have a special need, show your strength and concern as a parent and get them the assistance they are entitled to.

Melissa R. Gillis, Esq. is an associate with Bacon Wilson, P.C. in the special-education, family, and real-estate departments; (413) 781-0560; [email protected]. Dennis G. Egan Jr. is an associate with Bacon Wilson, P.C, concentrating in special-education, business, and corporate law; (413) 781-0560; [email protected]

Sections Supplements
Educational Tax Credits Help Defray the Costs of Higher Education

Sean Wandrei

Sean Wandrei

As most of us know, higher-education costs are climbing at a staggering pace. To provide some relief to taxpayers, there are two credits they can take advantage of on their 2010 tax returns.
This article will provide an overview of the higher-education credits available and how they may be used in tax planning and financing your student’s education.
The credit that most taxpayers take advantage of is the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC), which modified and replaced the Hope Credit through 2012. The AOTC was created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and was originally available for 2009 and 2010. The recent tax-relief package, the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010, extended the AOTC for two years, through Dec. 31, 2012. The second credit, the Lifetime Learning Credit, has been around for many years but, as discussed below, is less advantageous than the AOTC.
Each credit is based on the amount of qualified tuition and related expenses paid for an eligible student at an eligible education institution, and is subject to income limits of the taxpayer. Qualified tuition and related expenses are defined as out-of-pocket cost for tuition and fees required for enrollment or attendance at an eligible educational institution. For the AOTC, expenses for qualified course materials may also be used to compute the credit. Cost for room and board, insurance, medical expenses, and transportation do not qualify for the credit.
There are some common elements of these education credits — a joint return must be filed by married taxpayers claiming either credit (no married-filing-separately returns), a taxpayer cannot claim a credit and also claim a deduction for those same higher-education expenses, there is no carry-forward of an unused credit, and each credit is claimed in the year the expenses are paid if the education commences during that year or during the first three months of the next year.
As stated before, the ATOC is a modification of the Hope Credit and basically replaces the Hope Credit through 2012. The credit amount is the sum of 100% of the first $2,000 of qualified tuition and related expenses plus 25% of the next $2,000 of qualified tuition and related expenses, for a total maximum credit of $2,500 per eligible student per year. The credit is available for the first four years of a student’s post-secondary education (college). Up to 40% of the credit amount (max of $1,000) is refundable should the taxpayers’ tax liability be insufficient to offset the non-refundable credit amount (max of $1,500). The credit starts to phase out ratably for taxpayers with a modified adjusted gross income (AGI) of $80,000 through $90,000 ($160,000 through $180,000 for joint filers).
The Lifetime Learning Credit is equal to 20% of the amount of qualified tuition expenses paid on the first $10,000 of tuition. The maximum credit available to the taxpayer is $2,000 per return. The Lifetime Learning Credit maximum is calculated per taxpayer and does not vary based on the number of eligible students in the taxpayer’s family, unlike the AOTC, which is per student. A student is eligible for the Lifetime Learning Credit if enrolled in one or more courses at a qualified education institution.
The Lifetime Learning Credit is phased out ratably when the taxpayer’s modified AGI reaches $50,000 through $60,000 ($100,000 through $120,000 for joint filers). The credit can be used on courses that enable the taxpayer to acquire or improve job skills rather than obtain a degree.
Taxpayers with children in college going for their undergraduate degree will most likely use the AOTC, and taxpayers going to school for their graduate degree or to acquire or improve job skills will only be able to use the Lifetime Learning Credit.
If a student is a claimed dependent of another taxpayer (mostly likely the parent), only that taxpayer (the parent and not the student) can claim an education credit for that tax year for the student’s qualified tuition and related expenses. Any qualified tuition and related expenses paid by the student who is a claimed dependent of the taxpayer can be treated as paid by that taxpayer (the parent and not the student) for the tax year in which the expenses are paid. In some cases, the cost paid by the parent is treated as paid by the student.
If parents decide to not claim the student as a dependent, the student may claim the education credit for the student’s qualified tuition and related expenses. In this situation, the student cannot claim a dependency-exemption deduction for himself, but can claim an education credit on his return. The exemption is basically forfeited by the family.
There is some tax planning that can be done through the ability to shift the education credit. The greatest tax savings are going to be seen by taxpayers with income greater than the phaseout limits mentioned above. This allows parents who cannot benefit from the education credit because their AGI is too high to shift the credit to the student (child), regardless of whether the child or parents paid the education cost. The student does need taxable income to generate enough tax liability to be able to use the education credit.
With the new ‘kiddie-tax’ provisions from 2008, the number of students subject to parents’ tax rates will likely increase. The thing to remember is that the parents will lose the dependency exemption (which does not have a phaseout through 2012) if the child claims the credit. An analysis of total tax savings will have to be done to see which route is most beneficial. Also, there is a risk that, if the student is not claimed as a dependent of the parent, then the parents’ health insurance may drop coverage of the student. Taxpayers should review their health insurance policies to make sure that this does not happen.
As you can see, there are several opportunities for families to benefit from the educational credits that are available.

Sean Wandrei is manager of the Tax Department at Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C. His technical concentrations are in multi-state taxation as well as real-estate entities; (413) 536-8510.

Sections Supplements
Low Bids Create Budget-friendly Opportunities, but for How Long?

Center of the Sciences and Pharmacy

WNEC saw its Center of the Sciences and Pharmacy go up at a budget-friendly time for those who want to build.


It’s been the bane of builders for a long time now: with demand for commercial construction down and competition fierce, they’ve been forced to bid very low to have any chance at winning jobs. That has trimmed profit margins to a bare minimum, eased only by material and labor costs that have remained suppressed as well.
All that has created a landscape of opportunity for businesses willing to take the plunge and build during a time of economic stagnancy.
“It’s still an exceptionally good time to build, and it probably has been for a year, year and a half,” said David Fontaine, president of Fontaine Brothers in Springfield. “And that trend is continuing.”
Higher education is one industry that has embraced the advantages of building when prices are low, said Fontaine, whose firm counts colleges and universities among its niches. He recently finished a new math and science building at the Berkshire School in Sheffield; “the price on that was 25% below the budget just a few years ago.
“The private colleges seem to have picked up on this,” he continued. “Last year we just finished the pharmacy school at WNEC, which benefited immensely from that market, and a dormitory at the College of the Holy Cross; they put that out to bid a year ago and benefited tremendously.”
Fontaine said some boards of trustees are looking anxiously at their own squeezed budgets, yet rationalizing that saving 25% or more on needed capital projects is a smart move in the long term. And that’s true across all regions of the state.
“We’ve competed for six or seven decent-sized schools in Eastern Mass. in the past year, and they have all come in 15%, maybe 20% below projections,” he said.
The state has been another beneficiary, seeing its federal stimulus dollars stretch further than officials had anticipated. Early last year, according to a Boston Globe report, the winning bids on 48 transportation projects had collectively come in $59 million below the $226 million that state originally estimated the work would cost. The average was 22% below contract estimates.
“It is a good time to build, no matter what sector you’re in,” said Peter Wood, director of sales and marketing at Associated Builders in South Hadley. Contractors only hope more companies realize it, creating a larger pool of projects and gradually raising bids, before a rising tide of material costs makes their outlook even more dire.

Steeling for Change
Indeed, many materials costs are beginning to rise — a good sign for the industry in the long term, but one that could pinch already-stressed builders right now, as bid prices remain flat for the time being (see related story, page 26).
Specifically, November saw significant jumps in prices for diesel fuel and copper — two key resources in construction — while weak demand for construction forced them to hold down bid prices despite the cost increases, according to the Associated General Contractors of America.
These price jumps “could be the last straw for some hard-pressed contractors,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist, in his monthly report. “With unemployment in construction running at 18.8% — double the all-industry average — any more business failures will only add to the industry’s misery.”
Then in December, prices for materials used in construction jumped 0.9% (and 5.4% for all of 2010), while price indexes for finished buildings remained flat over both time periods. Construction costs also outstripped the producer price index for finished goods, which rose 0.6% in December and 4% in 2010.
Simonson noted that prices soared at double-digit rates over the year for four key construction materials. Diesel fuel prices climbed 2.3% in December and 28% in 2010; steel-mill product prices rose 0.5% and 12.5%, respectively; copper and brass mill shape prices were up 1.3% and 12%; and prices for aluminum mill shapes rose 12% over the year, despite a 0.2% dip in December.
“Structural steel is a big-time barometer of what’s going on, and it has started to creep up in the last month,” Fontaine said. “It’s an indicator that manufacturers and suppliers can only provide a product for so long at costs that don’t make any sense. It’s changing direction, and it has to; we’ve had two years of people just giving things away. And when steel starts to climb, a lot of things follow it.”
For contractors, there is worse news to come, said Simonson, noting that, since the latest data was compiled, suppliers have announced further price increases for copper, steel, and diesel fuel. “With contractors unable to pass along the increases in the price of finished buildings, many firms could be pushed out of business,” he said.
Even as material prices rise, weak demand for construction, combined with intense competition for work, is forcing contractors to hold the line on bid prices, Simonson observed. The producer price index for new office construction actually dropped 0.8% for the year. The index for new industrial buildings was up 0.4% in 2010; for new warehouses, it rose 0.4%; and for new schools, it was up 1.3% for the year.
Other items that contributed to the December climb in material costs included lumber and plywood, architectural coatings, paint, brick and structural clay tile, and gypsum products. Prices have remained fairly stable nationally for asphalt paving mixtures and blocks, concrete products, and insulation materials, according to the association.
“Contractors have been unable to recoup these costs in what they charge,” Simonson added. “Indexes for new office, school, warehouse, and industrial buildings were virtually unchanged … over 12 months. Prices charged by concrete, roofing, electrical, and plumbing contractors showed very small movements in either direction.”
Contractors are likely to be squeezed by rising material costs and flat prices for completed projects for the foreseeable future, Simonson predicted. He forecasted that contractors would experience periods of simultaneous price spikes in multiple materials in 2011 as the U.S. and foreign economies pick up speed.
“Unfortunately,” Simonson said, “demand for construction will be erratic for months to come, worsening the price pinch that has already devastated too many firms and their workers.”

Doing What’s Necessary
In the meantime, builders and subcontractors alike continue to bear the squeeze in order to keep working, and low winning bids remain the order of the day, continuing a period of opportunities for businesses willing to invest in additions and renovations.
“The subcontractors seem to be extremely hungry, as far as doing what’s necessary to keep surviving in this market,” Wood said. “Many are more than willing to travel outside their comfort zone — from Eastern Mass., Connecticut, and the Albany area, they’re coming to the Valley.
“Contractors in the private sector have the ability to pick and choose their subcontractors, but you still want to pick the most reliable as well as the most cost-effective ones,” he continued. “We do our best to see the local subcontractors working instead of just taking the lowest bid — and the locals are giving us competitive bids, so they’re not getting shut out of the marketplace.”
Yet, with costs on the rise, the squeeze continues. The question is, when will more companies take advantage?

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Opinion
Taking Away Lessons from Evergreen Solar

It was a headline that many in this region might have missed, lost amid the shootings in Arizona, a slew of snowstorms and subsequent cleanup efforts, and the area NFL franchise starting the offseason much earlier than expected. But it certainly bears noting.
Evergreen Solar, the solar-panel maker that opened a plant at the former military base in Devens just two years ago, amid considerable fanfare and with state aid to the tune of $58 million (one of the largest packages ever awarded in Massachusetts), announced on Jan. 12 that it would be shuttering that facility, thus eliminating about 800 jobs. That news was bad enough, but it got worse when the company said, in essence, that it was a victim of weak demand and competition from China, and would be shifting work to that country, where it also has a plant. Company officials would say only that this was “a grueling decision for any management team to make.”
The announcement must have sent shockwaves through the Statehouse, where the Patrick administration, which worked hard to bring Evergreen here, touted the company as perhaps the best example statewide of the emergence of clean-energy technology as a source of both new jobs and economic development, and as a indication that the Commonwealth’s shrinking manufacturing base could in fact diversify itself and find new avenues for growth.
What’s more, state officials cited Evergreen as a fine illustration of how state incentives could be effectively put to use to create jobs, drive innovation, and stimulate momentum at a time of economic duress.
So much for all that.
In the wake of the announcement, state officials searched hard for a silver lining to these clouds (no pun intended), but couldn’t find any. Instead, they were left to start backpedaling on the dollar amounts actually given to Evergreen (so the damage might not look as great), tallying up all that the corporation will have to give back to the state — $3 million in direct grants and perhaps $20 in future tax breaks — because it didn’t meet the terms stipulated in the aid agreement, and offering some hope that the many infrastructure improvements (mostly new roads) undertaken as a result of the project would benefit future endeavors.
But in the end, this is a huge setback for the state, one that will definitely leave a mark — and no shortage of skeptics to question the next clean-energy deals to come down the road.
In the end, though, no mistake is a complete loss if people can learn from it. What can we learn for this?
For starters, don’t put so many eggs in one basket. This is easy to say in hindsight, but a lot of people were saying it before the state handed over nearly $60 in incentives. Many were questioning the strength and longevity of the solar-panel business and casting doubts about whether this country could compete, cost-wise, with China on such products, despite public-sector support.
The conventional thinking then (and even more so now) would be that $58 million would be much better-spent on many different initiatives with promise. Some would not have worked out, but, undoubtedly, some would have. By going all in — or close to that — on Evergreen, the state left itself vulnerable to a big hit, and that’s what happened.
The other big lesson: don’t give up on clean-energy ventures. The Evergreen meltdown will undoubtedly leave the state gun-shy when it comes to future opportunities of this kind, and while an extra dose of caution, or two, is in order, there is no need to abandon this emerging sector and leave it to other states, regions, or countries.
There are a number of former manufacturing hubs, like Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee, and others, that are still at the beginning stages of the reinvention process. Clean-energy developers can still play a big role in that process.
Like the Patriots’ debacle against the Jets, the Evergreen Solar experience is a tough and, in some ways, embarrassing loss for the Commonwealth. It will be interesting to see if and how it bounces back.

Features
This Quaboag Town Ponders Its High-stakes Future

John Morrison

Through hard work and tenacity, John Morrison has occupancy at the Palmer Technology Center at around 90%.

Susan Rutherford said that, when it comes to fostering new business ventures in Palmer, her office isn’t just rolling the dice.
The executive director for the Quaboag Valley Community Development Corp., she told BusinessWest how her office has been helping to nurture an entrepreneurial business climate for the region. And in many ways, what she has found in the 15 years of seeing business in Palmer grow is that this recession hit hard, but there are some success stories.
“Obviously the past few years have been as stressful here as elsewhere,” she said. “But then there are some sectors that are doing okay, and some that are actually doing quite well.”
The town might be making the most headlines these days for that contentious piece of property eyed as a potential home for a resort casino to be developed by Mohegan Sun. But while the fate of gambling is still undecided on Beacon Hill, Palmer is steadily gaining ground for business initiatives to capitalize on the assets that are already in place.
Lucy Carlson

Where some see Palmer as off the beaten track, Lucy Carlson saw it as a place with untapped potential.

Five years after starting her advertising and marketing business just outside of the downtown area of Depot Village, Lucy Carlson said that Palmer presents a unique opportunity due to the very reason some cite as a business obstacle. Others might say that the town’s geographic location outside of the Route 91 corridor places Palmer off the beaten track, but she says otherwise.
“I saw that the Quaboag area in general was untouched and untapped,” she explained. “There are a lot of ad agencies in Greater Springfield, and then in Northampton. But this area didn’t seem to have that. There’s a lot of potential here, and especially Palmer as the largest town in this area.”
Up the street at the headquarters of the Quaboag Valley Chamber of Commerce, president Len Weake also said that the business climate mirrors that of most everywhere else in Western Mass., and Palmer has been affected by a recession that has cut through to commercial lending.
“In the past, when people were laid off, it pushed them into new ventures,” he said. “This time, we’re not seeing that — those people with entrepreneurial drive are having trouble getting the capital to start up.”
But, not wanting to focus on the negative aspects of the current economy, he quickly pointed out that thanks to the QVCDC, it’s not all doom and gloom within his region. And he pointed out the strong mill origins of the town as a link to Palmer’s full potential. The Garabedian family, owners of Thorndike Mills braided rugs, has been in business since 1925, and Weake cited them as an example of industry that continues to this day.
However, he also told BusinessWest of two properties that had seen the rug pulled from under them when the original owners of their buildings left the area. The Mapletree Industrial Plaza, just outside of downtown, and the Palmer Technology Center (formerly Tambrands), in Three Rivers, are prime examples of adaptive reuse, with both complexes boasting nearly-full occupancy.
“They aren’t retail locations,” he said to describe both properties, “but they have a strong commercial presence here in town.”
In this latest installment of ‘Doing Business In,’ BusinessWest talks to the principals at those industrial properties and finds out how they, and others, took a gamble on Palmer — and why it was a bet that paid off.

Home-field Advantage
Carlson said the business population in the Quaboag Valley is filled with, in her words, “hidden jewels.” As a full-service marketing and advertising agency, she said her office is primed to cater to those businesses, and that is what drew her to open shop in her location on South Main Street.
She acknowledged that one problem facing Palmer, in contrast to some of the other surrounding towns, citing Monson and Belchertown as two examples, is a lack of younger generations moving in — to work or live.
But residents have a strong sense of support for the hometown mom-and-pop shops, she went on to say. And with Palmer at the center of so many different, smaller communities, a good opportunity presents itself for anyone to hang out a shingle for new ventures. “There are so many opportunities for so many types of enterprises,” she explained, “and because we are just far enough from Springfield or Northampton, the local residents would be happy to support that business.”
Located in Ware, but serving Palmer and the other towns of the Quaboag Valley, the QVCDC is the place for local entrepreneurs to start when considering a new business. Stating the goals of her operation simply, Rutherford said, “we work with small businesses, including making loans to those who can’t get them from banks, and providing training, education, and consulting to businesses.”
The QVCDC’s stated mission is to “improve the quality of life in the Quaboag Valley by addressing the economic, environmental, and social needs of its residents while maintaining the integrity and character of each community in the region.”
When speaking of the new ventures that have come through her office in the 15 years of its existence, Rutherford said that this recession has proven more challenging for individuals than any downturn in the past.
“But a lot of it goes back to the ingenuity of the owners, and their adaptability, and ability to go with the flow,” she said. “And a lot has to do with good, tight management. The businesses that are having the most troubles are the ones that were lucky before — they were doing the right thing at the right time. The ones that are doing the best now are good planners, good users of resources.”
Citing some manufacturing concerns in town, she said success stories do exist. “There are imaginative people out there,” she added, “and they are developing interesting businesses. I’d say that it is individuals, more than an entire industry, who show the success of this region.”

Mill Power
An example of that definition of success, John Morrison and his industrial complex known as the Palmer Technology Center, could be exhibit A.
He is the owner of the buildings formerly housing Otis Mills, then Tambrands, maker of Tampax products, and even though he laughed when he said that, in some form or other, “these buildings have always made me money,” there was absolute truth in his statement.
His parents both worked at the plant when it was Tambrands, and as a youth, he had a job there also. He augmented his ‘day job’ with a plowing contract for the premises, and then a scrap-metal contract, and when the building was sold to Procter & Gamble in the 1980s, the new owners liquidated the offices and manufacturing facilities, but kept him on as ’round-the-clock security.
A brokerage firm was engaged to lease the facility, unsuccessfully, and as the site coordinator, Morrison became acquainted with some of the potential players. Eventually partnering with one of those individuals, Sid Kovitch from Boston (and, later, that man’s family after he passed away), Morrison took a gamble and purchased the four-building complex.
Originally there were no tenants on the property, but through hard work and determination, Morrison said that he has secured leases from 27 businesses. Presently, he puts the occupancy at just over 90%. And while he has been an unflagging point person for the property’s management, he credits the former owners for making this a top-notch, marketable facility.
P&G invested $20 million in the buildings in the late ’80s, which means that new tenants have the benefit of weather-tight construction, a T1 connection, and full fiber optics. Mustang Motorcycle Seats uses the original fabrication building, and today is Morrison’s largest tenant. But he also cites small operations, from musical-instrument teachers needing space, to Wing Memorial Hospital’s billing and visiting-nurse departments, who together occupy a full, 18,000-square-foot floor.
And his tenants can grow without leaving the property, he said. “We’ve had a lot of people who started out small, like Halpern Titanium. He came here with a table saw and a couple tools, and now has about 20 big machines. He started out cutting pieces of titanium and selling them, and he’s a full-blown machine shop now.”
But Morrison knows that if he doesn’t have the space for a prospective tenant, he can always refer them to another complex, Mapletree Industrial Park, for example, “so that the business and the jobs still stay here in Palmer.”
John Rottman is the senior property manager at Mapletree, and he shared the sentiment that keeping jobs in Palmer is important, especially when thinking of all the employment that was lost when the Colorado Fuel and Iron Steel Mill wire factory, whose mill his firm now owns, closed shop back in 1971.
“In its heyday, there were three shifts here running around the clock, with more than 1,000 workers; some old-timers here in town say that wire here went into the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge,” he said. “When the plant closed, there were still 700 people working here. It was quite a shock to the town.”
The current owners, Presidential Realty Corp., from White Plains, N.Y., bought the property in 1973. Rottman said there were a handful of small tenants for the next decade. He worked in the management office there for six months, in 1986, and at that time a concerted effort was made to lease out the rest of the property.
“We really pushed to make it a multi-tenant facility; we have 83 tenants, presently,” he said, adding that they come in a range of sizes. “Our biggest user is New England Wood Pallet, with more than 30,000 feet. But they are winding down now, due to transportation costs, and by summer, we’ll need to find another tenant for that spot.”
While that will mean another push to find tenants, Rottman said that, because his buildings have rail access, there is a whole subsidiary of rail marketing that exists to find properties like his. In his time, he has seen adaptively reused properties like Mapletree shift from light manufacturing to high-tech to, in some cases, warehouse space for other businesses off-site.
“But I hope that’s cyclical,” he said of warehousing. “I hope we get to the point where entrepreneurs can do some startups again, do some manufacturing and distribution. But it’s hard to find capital today to make that leap, and to take that chance.
“The last two years have been challenging,” he continued, “but we continue to rent space. It’s still chugging along. There are people with good ideas out there, though; hopefully, as soon as there’s money available, they will be able to make their business work.”
And that’s a sentiment that is echoed and supported across the town line at the QVCDC. Rutherford said that the challenge is not necessarily the funding, because that is what her office works to achieve, but to continue finding the right people to turn ideas into thriving businesses.
“That’s the goal,” she said, “to find those people who have a good work ethic who also have good entrepreneurial ability.”
And, rather than a bet with long odds, so far that has proven to be a sure thing.

Sections Supplements
Builders Hone Strategic Initiatives for Weathering the Downturn

Kevin Perrier

Kevin Perrier says builders are being forced to bid at distressingly low figures if they want to keep working.

The local construction sector realistically plans for a sluggish 2011 on the heels of one of the worst years in decades. While strategies have been in place to get their businesses through this economy, many wonder how many more knocks this already-troubled industry can take. Careful oversight and rigorous planning may be a new set of tools for builders in Western Mass. and across the nation, but the recession that has brought this industry to historic lows is a redefining moment for local contractors.

When asked to describe the current state of the construction sector, Five Star Construction owner Kevin Perrier said simply, “it stinks.”
Although he went on to assess the industry in more specific terms, Perrier’s two-word assessment of this state of affairs is something everyone agrees upon. The recession has taken its toll on many industries, but with so much of the construction sector dependent on better economic footings, 2010 wasn’t a year for a solid rebound. And while Wall Street and Main Street both are feeling some measure of progressive economic activity, that doesn’t yet translate to a rosy outlook for builders in 2011.
The latest reports from industry analysts at Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) don’t offer much in the way of better news than what contractors can see for themselves — that private construction slipped even further in the last months of 2010. The ABC’s chief economist, Anirban Basu, put a finer point on the bad news by compiling a list of no less than 10 “headwinds” he predicts will further impact the sector’s economy for the current year, including industry unemployment, increased commodities pricing, and the end of stimulus funds conspiring to bring about what he ominously called “phase two of the economic downturn.”
But while the outlook isn’t good, the builders who spoke to BusinessWest offered some hope that the techniques that have kept hammers ringing, even if the phones aren’t, will continue to be sound strategies to keep their businesses above water in 2011.
MaryBeth Bergeron, owner of Charista Construction in East Longmeadow, said that, having weathered other recessions, she has a good grip on imminent changes in the industry. “When this recession started, you intuitively knew business was slowing down and softening,” she said. “I’ve been in business 25 years, and after that much time, you recognize it.”
For some, 2010 meant a continuation of the operating strategy that they had begun using in 2009 — tightening the labor rolls to get lean and mean, and trimming as much as they could from the margins to be competitive while still keeping their trucks on site.

David Dietz

David Dietz says the current struggles of builders, and how they respond to them, are potentially career-defining experiences.

But many spoke of the necessity to move even further beyond those tactics. David Dietz, a principal with Dietz Construction in Easthampton, said that what his 50-year-old business is doing now not only keeps the business on solid footing through the recession, but has the potential to put the company in better shape on the other side of this economy.
“I remember my dad talking about recessions, and those experiences that defined him both as a businessperson and how he would work,” he said. “I think this is going to define our generation for quite a long time.”
The construction sector faces challenges that for many are unrivaled in their history. But, while their industry’s drums beat a tune of gloom, area builders say that, with some hard work, and no small amount of hope for better times ahead, construction can make it to the other side of the recession with a new set of tools.

Hammer Time
At Triple S Construction in Wilbra-ham, Tom Silva — one of those three S’s with his brother and father — said that his company opened shop in the midst of a recession in 1987. “We were just coming of age then,” he said. “It didn’t hit us as hard as this one.”
A residential remodeling and construction firm, Silva said that this facet of the industry has not recovered from the burst bubble of the recent past.
“Last year started out better than it ended,” he said. “I think homeowners were feeling a little bit better about the economy. But then things didn’t get better, in many people’s eyes. In November and December the phone stopped ringing. Right about now people are usually calling to get ready for springtime, to get estimates. But we’re not seeing that. I was at a homebuilders’ meeting last night, and I heard the same things.”
For third-generation Springfield builder John Vadnais, owner of the construction company that bears his name, the residential construction sector has basically turned away altogether from new building toward remodeling, making that already-competitive sector even tighter. He pronounced this era “a distressed state of affairs in an inflationary environment.”
Kitchen and bath rebuilds are the new norm, he added, as customers look for the most impact on the shortest price tag. People are still spending money, he said, “But there is a micromanagement to see the project thoroughly.
“This is one of the deepest recessions I’ve seen, or that I can remember as a kid,” he continued. “Today, it is so deep that people are having a hard time getting out of the negativity.”
Perrier echoed that sentiment, and added that, in order for him to stay competitive last year, margins became increasingly tighter.
“In 2010 it became apparent quickly that, if you wanted to be a player in getting projects, and to get a decent workload, you were going to be bidding at a much lower percentage,” he said.
The danger there, he continued, isn’t just in that one job, for that one builder. He called it the “snowball effect.”
“Because if you’re not low on the first job, the next time, you’re going to go a little lower, and then the person behind you goes a little lower,” he explained. “That trend continues, and by the end of last year you were seeing that in order to pick up jobs, your bid was incredibly competitive.
“It’s going to take a while to get away from that, also,” he added. “You’re not going to see people putting healthy margins on their bids for a while now. It slowly has to creep back up.”
Perrier said that his firm kept enough projects on the books to make sure that his employees were busy, and that trend will continue into this year. “Yes, it is good news that we have a good book of work,” he said, “but unfortunately we’re having to meet our budget by volume. And that’s tough on everyone. The staff is working twice as hard.”
Steve Killian, executive vice president for the Springfield branch office of construction management firm Barr & Barr, said 2010 was “not a pretty year.”
The firm handles multi-million-dollar construction for higher education, health care, and other industries with the pockets to finance $30 million projects. But budget shortfalls and low returns on stock portfolios caused many of those clients to back off or postpone significant capital improvements.
However, he tempered those dim reflections with a more positive outlook. “I believe that some of these capital projects are going to have to be built — either for life-cycle concerns of buildings, or for institutions to stay competitive,” he said. “They just have to pull the trigger.”
With pre-construction times in his echelon of the industry taking anywhere from three months to upwards of a year, he hopes that an uptick in business in the third quarter of 2010 bodes well for large projects in the months to come.
But even with the forecast of high-value and overdue projects, the construction sector faces some challenges from increased materials costs (see related story, page 30). And when construction management projects need to be estimated over a period of several months of volatile pricing, that can get tricky.
“Copper costs are rising,” said Killian, “and that will affect prices in the near future. Anything starting in the next three to six months will reflect the rise in that price.” With copper for electrical and plumbing needs — two services typically responsible for 30% to 40% of a project’s cost — that will significantly impact the price of building.
Labor rates have been flat for the construction sector, he said, adding, “normally, labor is the greater portion of costs, so it is a bit of an equalizer, but in this industry, people need to be able to hold their pricing for more than one year because of your bid. When you’ve tied into a project 18 to 24 months down the road, you pray that your suppliers hold to their numbers for that duration.”
In order to get this industry moving again, he said, a holistic approach to the economy is necessary and vital to plan on better times for construction. “The housing crisis still hurts us, significantly,” he said.
“There has to be more confidence there,” he continued. “And we need to see increased commercial lending for developers. Investors are looking far more critically at all projects to see if there will be a profit. And that’s something that has held them back. They’ve said they are hanging back, waiting for the promise of a good return. Private investment, people with that volume of money to lend, they just aren’t pulling the trigger.”

Planning Department
Killian said that there are no secret techniques, really, in how a firm like Barr & Barr gets through an economy like this. “A lot of it is keeping your overhead costs low,” he explained, “and watching the bottom line. The margins are tighter, so there’s no excess anywhere — from the office to the field.”
For some, though, the recession has led to internal reassessment of their core strengths. Bergeron said that, when she saw the economy taking a turn for the worst, she asked herself, “where do I want my company to be during those times?
“With some work,” she continued, “I knew we could position ourselves to be where business is best. And so, over the last couple of years, what we have been doing is government-funded work, meaning housing-allowance programs — like Springfield neighborhood housing services, West Springfield community development, and a number of other nonprofit developers of real estate.
“Sure, just as before, we hustle, and we really go after the work,” she continued. “We try to be where the business is. If you don’t have your eyes open as a business owner, you’re not prepared.”
There is a strong market for a builder to take advantage of the changing demographics of building projects, she added, saying, “I do think there is a lot of opportunity right now with Baby Boomers retiring. ADA compliance, ramps, grab bars, all of those things are important.”
Dietz sees this recession redefining his operation through a series of techniques to trim excess off his costs, but also as a means to streamline his operation for the future. He said that Dietz Construction owns its own gravel pit, a number of specialized pieces of machinery, and various other core investments, all to keep his bid low in a highly competitive marketplace.
“For companies that don’t have as big a foundation as we do,” he said, “I don’t see how they can be competitive.”
But rather than continued investment in the latest big-ticket construction equipment, Dietz said, “We have learned to subcontract things more cost-effectively than it might be to do it ourselves. For instance, maybe getting someone who specializes in setting curbs, getting them for the handful of days that we would need them, and not worry about a workforce trained for it. There are times when it is more beneficial to outsource.”
Such tactics not only help him get through the current economy, but are a way to increase profitability in the future.
For Perrier, that future he sees is now. He said he’s confident in his crew to have projects for the year ahead, but he isn’t one to sit back idly. “We made some changes in being more aggressive in finding work.
“Where a lot people are laying off, we hired a director of project management,” he said. “His sole job is to go out and network, market our company, and meet with architects to get our name out there. So far, that’s been working out very well.
“We took a gamble and tried to take advantage of the downturn,” he continued. “It’s a roll of the dice, but while everyone is quieting down, we said ‘let’s get out there, tell people who we are and what we can do.’”
In an unforgiving economy, and for an industry, he said, where one is always just a job away from being out of work, it’s more important than ever for builders to have the right tools for the job.

Sections Supplements
BDG Continues to Grow in a Competitive Landscape

From left, Richard Klein, Peter Wells, and Mark Darnold

From left, Richard Klein, Peter Wells, and Mark Darnold say doing a feasibility study of a tract of land before a project begins is cost-effective, as it gives developers valuable information about potential problems.

Northampton-based Berkshire Design Group has made its reputation — and grown its portfolio — helping clients navigate the many challenges involved with a building project, from permitting to making the best use of a parcel of land. Said one of its principals, “if a building looks good and is in character with its surroundings, instead of looking like it was forced on the land, it is usually more profitable.”

Many developers have a vision of what they want to build on a piece of property. But bringing that dream to reality, be it residential housing, a school, a park, retail space, or a bank, is a complex undertaking.
It all begins with the land and what it can accommodate. And that’s one of the reasons Berkshire Design Group, or BDG, as it’s known, stands out in a field of competitors. The group, which has an impressive and diverse portfolio of award-winning projects, was founded by landscape architects Peter Wells and Richard Klein. They have done many feasibility studies to insure that tracts are suitable for proposed projects.
It’s a step that some developers skip, which can prove costly in the end.
“We analyze sites to make sure they can accommodate what the developer wants to do on them, and isn’t always possible,” Wells said.
He explained that, if a bank is proposed for a site, the property should be evaluated for zoning and traffic requirements. If the client wants a drive-through, it triggers additional concerns, including where it will exit to the street. There are also requirements that must be met to accommodate the Americans with Disabilities Act. In addition, wetlands and rare species as well as topographical constraints play a role in determining the cost and feasibility of a project.
“Our training is in landscape architecture, and we strive to protect the land while still allowing development to continue,” said Wells. “We work with the topography, not against it. For example, if a site has varied topography, the road that runs along it will be built to blend in with the landscape.”
The firm’s portfolio is filled with a number of diverse projects. “One of the things that makes us different is that we don’t specialize in any one type of development. We have done everything you can imagine, from master planning for schools and campuses to state parks, shopping centers, malls, and all types of housing developments,” said Klein. “It is unusual for a firm to have experience with so many different types of projects.”
Another benefit, which has helped make BDG the largest and most well-known firm of its type in Western Mass., is that it offers one-stop shopping. Its services include landscape architecture, civil engineering, surveying, zoning and permitting, bidding, and overseeing construction. One of the partners handles every project from start to finish.
The firm opened 27 years ago with Wells and Klein, but since then Mark Darnold and Mark Lindhult have joined them, adding to their ability to oversee large projects. And although the principals could have grown the venture by taking on more project managers, thus relinquishing direct control of some projects, Wells and Klein decided to maintain a hands-on approach and have kept that promise.
“It means that our clients get someone with more than 30 years of experience who is a professional and can see things that a younger staff person may not see,” Klein said.

Ground Level
BDG has been feted with a continual stream of awards over the years, including several for the Rocky Hill Cohousing project in Northampton.
“This was a very sustainable and green project with regards to the site development and stormwater management,” said Wells. “Plus, we created a tremendous amount of open space.”
The company’s most recent award came from AIA New York for two dormitories at Amherst College. “The buildings were done using sustainable practices with an eye toward the traditional classic architecture that is the hallmark of Amherst College,” said Klein. “The design was aesthetically pleasing and functionally exceptional in every facet of the building; we have always strived to be as green as possible even when green wasn’t in fashion.”
The firm cares deeply about its clients’ success, he continued, because the principals believe it reflects back on them. And that has a lot to do with how each building, as well as the overall property, looks when it is finished.
“We want to build projects that people like, will use, and that meet the goals for sustainability,” Klein said, adding that the company has completed many LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) projects. At present, BDG is engaged in a Living Building Challenge as it plans for the construction of an environment classroom at Smith College.
The concept of Living Building Challenges is based on making decisions by addressing environmental, social, and economic problems that can arise, such as habitat loss and the lack of community distinctiveness.
Wells said the principals’ concern for the land goes back to their identity.
“We use sustainable principles in all of our projects,” he explained. “We have evolved over the years, as we started out as landscape architects and added other disciplines. We look at land differently than other professionals, which allows us to guide our clients more holistically and efficiently; if a building looks good and is in character with its surroundings instead of looking like it was forced on the land, it is usually more profitable.”
Decades of experience gives BDG a decided advantage over its competitors. “We can look at and envision opportunities and constraints on a piece of property as well as the permitting hurdles,” Klein explained. “There may be traffic issues, poor soil, or a site may be too steep for various types of development.”
BDG recently conducted a study on a tract of land for a proposed school. “We found it had topographical constraints. It sloped too much to develop any playing fields. If they had used it for that purpose, their budget would have had to increase, and it could have become quite costly,” Klein said, as he sat in the company’s Northampton office in a room covered with mockup boards in all stages of completion. “Because of our depth of knowledge, we are able to inform clients quickly about additional costs during construction.”
Klein said the company’s A-to-Z approach is one of the keys to its success.
“We are able to take a blank piece of land and do a feasibility study on it to see what it can carry in terms of capacity,” he explained. “After that is determined, we do a preliminary design and get all of the permitting approved, then do the construction documents. We bid the project for developers, and we oversee the construction.” BDG can also illustrate a design proposal before ground is broken by employing computer-generated models and animation.

Step by Step
The permitting process is typically complex and takes many months to complete. “We know the regulations. We also have good working relationships with many board members in the surrounding cities and towns in the Commonwealth,” Wells said.
Right now, the company is in the process of developing several of the largest projects in Western Mass., including the $42 million master plan for Three County Fairgrounds in Northampton and the Colvest Group’s $25 million Chicopee Crossing, which is under construction and will include a hotel, retail shops, and restaurants.
Other projects include the new Easthampton High School and two housing developments in that community — an apartment complex with 50 units in an old mill building on Cottage Street, and Parsons Village, a 38-unit affordable-housing development on four and a half acres. Construction on the village is expected to begin in 2012.
BDG also conducted all of the site work and design for the housing at the former Northampton State Hospital, which includes townhouses, single-family, and multi-family rental units. In addition, BDG is on the team working to redevelop the Indian Motorcyle Apartments at Mason Square in Springfield.
“And we are in the permitting process for Northampton’s newest park, which will be built on 30 acres in Florence,” said Wells. Recent work also includes completion of the new $40 million pharmacy building at Western New England College.
Their company’s client list contains a substantial number of repeat customers who like the fact that they don’t have to hire a number of consultants to get the job done.
“Our process is cost-effective and streamlined so there is less chance of scheduling conflicts or mistakes,” Wells explained. “For instance, a developer could go to four firms who would have to coordinate to complete a project. But we can do it all under one roof. And because we are in Western Mass., our focus is here in the Pioneer Valley.
“We know the area, know the local contractors, and know the local bidding processes, as we do a lot of it and have strong relationships with general contractors,” he continued, adding that he and Klein visit their sites often, which insures that things move along smoothly.
Their expertise and reputation has allowed them to develop a broad customer base which reaches to distant shores, including Taiwan, Puerto Rico, New York, Los Angeles, and Atlantic City.
But their real focus is the Pioneer Valley, where they approach projects in a way that shows respect for the environment. And that respect for the land bodes well for the future — both for BDG and for its clients.