October 2011 - BusinessWest

‘Telling and Selling’

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

New UMass President Says That’s a Big Part of His Job Description

UMass President Robert Caret at the site of the high-performance computing center in Holyoke.

“On the Road Together.” That’s the name new UMass President Robert Caret and his staff gave to a four-day, 400-mile bus tour he took of the state and the university’s five campuses. It was called that to drive home the point that the state and university must travel together if they intend to get where they both want to go, said Caret. He emphasized repeatedly in an interview with BusinessWest that more support from the Commonwealth is needed to reverse an alarming trend that has seen the public institution increasingly take the look and feel of a private university, with possible limits on access.

Robert Caret said he was repeating a joke, and while his comments drew many laughs, overall, he finds little humor in what he was saying.
He was talking with business leaders in Greater Springfield about the medical school in Worcester, how it carries the name UMass in front of those two words, and wondering, sort of, why that’s the case.
“The medical school’s budget is almost $1 billion, and only 4% is state-supported,” Caret, the recently installed president of the five-campus University of Massachusetts, told his audience over breakfast at the Springfield Sheraton. “I joked to the governor’s team that I could get more than 4% if I sold the name to Gillette or EMC or Peter Pan. Why do we have Massachusetts on the label if Massachusetts isn’t paying for it?”
Obtaining better support from the Commonwealth is just one of the many goals and aspirations Caret brings with him to his office in Boston as he takes the helm at a public institution ranked as the 19th-best university in the world in the Times of London 2011 World Reputation Rankings, but one that has historically received much less respect (in the form of funding) from the state in which it plays such a key role in economic development and job creation — $5 billion annually, by his estimates.
Overall, only 23% of the roughly $2.6 billion for the system comes from the state, he went on, adding that options for the rest are few, with tuition being the primary source. And as tuition rises, which it has steadily over the past few decades, public schools must devote more resources to student aid, said Caret, while also contributing more to new capital projects and relying more on endowments to meet the bottom line.
“We’re becoming a private institution,” he explained, adding a pause for effect. “That’s the model of a private university — high tuition, high aid, build your own buildings, raise your own money, 70% of your revenue comes from tuition. That’s a private university, and that’s where we’re all going.
“And the problem if we all go private is we’ll all provide high quality,” he continued, “but a lot of people aren’t going to get in, because you can’t run a 70,000-student enterprise using that model. You can run Smith, Mount Holyoke, and Amherst using that model, but not a school this large.”
Efforts to change that equation and improve such numbers are part of a complex job description that Caret attempted to simplify down to a few overriding tasks, with “telling and selling” being perhaps the most important. “That’s a big part of what I do,” he explained. “It’s all about getting out and telling the story.”
He would add another action verb to that list — listening, which he says is an important attribute and a big part of the process of making the university more of the force that economic-development officials statewide, and especially in the regions near the five campuses, want and need it to be.
Caret did copious amounts of telling, selling, and listening on a recent four-day, 400-mile bus tour of the state that took him from Adams to Buzzards Bay. Called “On the Road Together,” so-named to drive home the point that the state and university must travel together if they intend to get where they both want to go, the bus tour made stops locally in Pittsfield, downtown Springfield, the Smith & Wesson facility on Roosevelt Avenue, the high-performance computing center and intermodal transportation center, both in Holyoke, and the Engineering Research Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) on the Amherst campus.
BusinessWest rode on the bus for several legs of the junket, seizing an opportunity to talk with Caret about this latest stop on a 30-year career in higher education (all of it spent in the public arena), his vision for the university, and the strategic plan he’s creating to better tell the university’s story and drive home his points about the ominous trends unfolding.
“We need society to understand that they’re closing the doors to education,” he said. “If government doesn’t step up, we’ll continue to build quality, but as we build quality, we’ll become more privatized, and as we become more privatized, access becomes the thing that suffers, and we just don’t want that to happen.”

Back to His Routes
Caret calls it the “Rodney Dangerfield effect.”
That’s the phrase he summoned to describe the situations he’s found himself in at the three stops on his résumé, including the latest.
Elaborating, he said that, at Towson University in Maryland, which he served in many capacities and lastly as president for eight years, the school operated in the very large shadow of Johns Hopkins University, just 20 miles away. And at San Jose State University in California, which he served as president from 1995 to 2003, Stanford was just down the road.
In Massachusetts, Harvard is the iconic private institution, but there are more than a dozen other major private colleges vying for students, media coverage, research money, and the attention of the public.
At Towson and San Jose, Caret said he learned early on that the best strategy wasn’t to try to compete with those institutions, but to complement them. And he intends to take the same approach in the Bay State.
“We want to be in a state of complementation; society needs public, private, two-year, four-year, state universities, community colleges, and universities to handle all its economic and social needs,” he explained. “What we all need to do is decide what piece we do, and how we can do it with high quality.
“And if you look at schools like Johns Hopkins, Stanford, Harvard, and MIT, only about 20% or less of their graduates stay in the state in which those schools reside, because they’re playing largely to an international audience; they take people from all over the world, and they go back all over the world,” he continued. “The University of Massachusetts takes 80% of its students from the state of Massachusetts and 80% of them stay here; we graduate 13,000 or 14,000 new citizens a year who go into the workforce and pay taxes. And all those campuses I’ve been involved with … you may get more startups out of Hopkins, MIT, and Stanford, but 20 years from now, UMass graduates are going to be running those companies because we’re going to permeate the ranks of those companies.”
Beyond these complementation efforts, Claret presided over periods of significant growth at both of his previous stops, career-wise, and gained national acclaim for eliminating race-based graduation disparity at Towson.
Indeed, under his leadership, the six-year graduation rate for all Towson students rose from 60% in 2003 to 75% in 2010. What’s more, the six-year graduation rate for African-American students rose from 48% in 2003 to 76% in 2010.
Caret wasn’t necessarily looking for a new job — although he’s always been receptive to new challenges — when UMass commenced its search for a successor to Jack Wilson last fall. He said he was lured by the opportunity to lead a system, and especially one with a strong research component, something he hadn’t experienced previously. Meanwhile, Boston was also an attraction; he did his undergraduate work there and grew up in New England.

Road Map for Progress
Starting back in the interviewing process, Caret said he’s been doing a lot of “reading, Googling, and learning” about the university, its five campuses — Amherst, Worcester, Boston, Lowell, and Dartmouth — and specific initiatives at those campuses and the communities that surround them. That process has only accelerated since he was hired in July.
“I was given three briefing books on an iPad that were probably a total of 450 pages of briefings on every piece of the UMass system — from campuses to budgets to the high-performance computing center, the stem-cell bank, everything we were doing,” he said. After he was hired, he complemented this reading and learning with roundtable meetings on the various campuses with faculty senates, unions, vice chancellors, deans, student groups, and other constituencies.
The bus trip, which included 24 stops, was, in many ways, a continuation of those research efforts, while also serving as a vehicle — literally and figuratively — for doing more of that telling and selling.
At Smith & Wesson, for example, he learned not only about that company’s expansion initiative and the adding of more than 200 jobs, but also about the many challenges facing area manufacturers — recruitment of talent topping the list — and the university’s efforts to address them while also spurring innovation.
In Holyoke, he spent time with city leaders at the high-performance computing center — a prime example of the university partnering with both private colleges (MIT and Boston University) and the business community — and also learned of that community’s efforts to create an Innovation District and use public transportation to help achieve growth.
Other stops on the tour included the Emerging Energy Technology & Innovation Center at UMass Lowell, a biomanufacturing facility in Fall River, Venture Development Center at UMass Boston, and the medical school itself.
What has he learned?
“There are a lot of similarities in what people are looking for from UMass,” he explained, referring to just the first few legs of his trip in Western Mass. “In North Adams, Pittsfield, Lee, and Springfield, they want more help with economic development, especially with technology transfer; if they have startup companies, they want a workforce to continue to feed those ventures, especially in the new technologies areas like biotech, life sciences, IT, and clean energy. But the further you are away from the main campuses, the harder it is to maintain those relationships.
“The other piece we see is the educational piece itself, which also feeds into workforce,” he continued. “But it also feeds into advanced manufacturing. And the third one is basic quality of life; Springfield, for example, would like to have much more of a cultural linkage with Amherst, and have more of the kinds of things that happen on the campus — like plays and other kinds of performances — in Springfield.”

Moving in the Right Direction
At most of the stops on the tour there was at least one meeting with the local business community, which Caret described as one of the constituencies with which the university must build relationships — and draw support.
Indeed, as he wrapped up his remarks at the Springfield Sheraton, Caret asked those assembled for advocacy in several different forms.
“We’d like some financial advocacy,” he said, meaning monetary support. “But we also need political advocacy, which can be almost as important as financial advocacy. And we’d also like a little emotional advocacy; every once in while, give us a pat on the back or a hug — we’d like to feel good every day about what we’re doing.”
When asked to elaborate on what he wants to accomplish at UMass, Caret listed several of the things he’s achieved at Towson and San Jose State, everything from higher graduation rates to stronger partnerships with business, other colleges (public and private), and the state itself. He also listed stronger linkages between the individual campuses, the regions surrounding them, and individual cities.
Which brought the conversation to the link between the flagship campus in Amherst and Springfield, and efforts in recent years to bolster that relationship and leverage the university’s many assets in a city trying to revitalize and reinvent itself.
“I will be a strong advocate for all of our campuses being aggressive with their local regions — but then you have to define ‘region,’ which becomes more complex,” he explained. “But I do think Amherst and Springfield are a logical pairing.
“If you look at studies from the Brookings Institute and other groups, you’ll find that, in most instances, for a vibrant city, you need a university at the core of its economic focus,” he continued. “And we want to play that role.”
And when asked how he would measure his success rate with his many goals, he again referenced his previous stops and said, “when I’m done here, I want to be able to say the same things I’ve said at the other two campuses.”
Elaborating, he said that, at both Towson and San Jose State, he presided over a number of capital projects that changed the faces of both schools. “I’ve probably done $2 billion worth of infrastructure at the two schools, and more than $1 billion at the last one (Towson), and they hadn’t had a new building in 30 years; it was a transformational change.”
But he is more proud of his success with improving the image of both schools, both in their respective regions and globally.
“At both schools, I raised the image of the campus, I raised the sense of pride among the people working there and graduating from there, and got the world excited about those campuses again; these were schools that were among the best of their breed, but they just weren’t getting the recognition they deserved.
“The biggest thing I’ve done is to revitalize a school, make people feel good about it, and energize the campus,” he continued. “And I’d like to say that about UMass, because if I can do that, then all those other things will happen; the rankings will improve, the funding will improve, the political advocacy will improve, and all the rest will happen.”

Next Stop?
There is no simple strategy for energizing a campus, he told BusinessWest as the bus was pulling into downtown Holyoke for its next stop. But a big part of that equation is that ‘telling-and-selling’ component of his job description.
But it’s also the next step in that process — delivering.
“After the telling and selling, you come back and you produce something and you get people excited,” he said. “You do put your money where your mouth is.”
That’s something both the university and state need to do, adding that sometime soon he’d like to be able to stop making jokes — if that’s what they are — about selling the name on the medical school in Worcester.

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

For Sale, for Lease

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

Commercial Real Estate Sections

A listing of available commercial real estate

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Timing Pattern

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

Commercial Real Estate Sections

Springfield’s Rebuilding Effort Comes at Intriguing Time for Urban Centers

Dave Dixon says there is a surge in interest in urban living, which presents huge opportunities for cities like Springfield.

As local officials, hired consulting firms, and city residents combine forces to craft a rebuilding plan for Springfield in the wake of the June 1 tornado, they do so at a time of change and opportunity for many urban centers. Officials with the firms contracted to lead efforts to blueprint a revitalization strategy say there is a rise in the popularity of urban living, a trend that could facilitate the recovery process in many ways.

Dave Dixon was understandably wary about incorporating the phrase ‘silver lining’ into any statements he made concerning the June 1 tornado and its aftermath.
But he nonetheless put it to use as he talked about the efforts to rebuild Springfield and, more specifically, the work to revitalize the downtown and South End sections of the city. And that silver lining is all about timing and emerging trends in urban centers, he explained.
“If this tornado had struck 10 years earlier, let’s say, I think this would be a much grimmer task, because we’d be rebuilding in the face of continuing disinvestment in the city,” said Dixon.
He’s the principal in charge of planning and urban design at Goody Clancy, the Boston-based architecture, planning, and preservation firm now co-leading the efforts to blueprint a rebuilding plan for Springfield with New Orleans-based Concordia (see related story, page 62).
Elaborating, Dixon said that, over the past several years, there has been a discernable upswing in the popularity of urban living. Spawned by a number of factors, including a desire among aging Baby Boomers to live in places where they can walk rather than drive to most required destinations, the trend has helped transform a number of urban centers, many with the same social and economic challenges as Springfield’s central business district and South End.
“Ten years ago, the world didn’t look like this,” said Dixon, who has seen or helped orchestrate revivals in cities ranging from Baltimore to New Orleans to Wichita, Kan. “This disaster in Springfield, like the one in New Orleans, happened at a time when cities are changing and have opportunities that they haven’t had for 40 or 50 years.
“What has gone on, particularly over the past decade, has been a profound transition in demographics, in the way real-estate markets work, in the values that the folks who bring investment with them because they attract employers, have all undergone,” he continued, adding that there are more single individuals or couples (as opposed to families) than was the case a decade ago, and income levels for such people are higher. “There are simply more people that could decide they want to live in an urban environment. They may have wanted to in the past, but it didn’t work for them. And now they’re looking to make it work.”
Indeed, the real silver lining for Springfield, said Dixon, is an apparent, and growing, pent-up demand for downtown mailing addresses. To illustrate, he took out a piece of paper and sketched a simple chart showing the rising popularity of urban living.
The line moves upward at a steady clip, he explained while drawing, but the recession of the past several years has restricted the angle of ascent because, among other factors, homeowners looking to relocate to urban centers are still having trouble selling their homes, and market-rate housing builders are still being challenged in their efforts to finance such endeavors.
Like a dam holding back water, these factors are effectively bottling up demand, he continued, adding that, when conditions improve and that figurative dam breaks, cities properly positioned to capitalize on the trend could benefit significantly.
And in many ways, the tornado has helped put Springfield in such a position, he went on, acknowledging that the city still faces a number of challenges in this regard — including crime, the perception of same, and a concentration of subsidized-housing projects in both the downtown and South End — and that progress certainly won’t occur overnight.
But the city has many of the key ingredients to join the list of other success stories, he said, listing a decent “walkability index” — more on that later — a solid existing inventory of buildings that can be converted into market-rate housing, and, thanks to the tornado, some vacant acreage on which to build such housing, as well as businesses to sustain an urban population.
Dixon acknowledged that many are skeptical that such urban living could help transform Springfield’s downtown area, but he’s seen enough evidence of the trend in other parts of the country to believe it could certainly happen here.

Walking the Walk
As he talked with BusinessWest, Ron Mallis, a senior planner with Goody Clancy, was using his iPhone to see how well several downtown Springfield addresses fared on a Web site called walkscore.com. The site essentially assesses a location based on one’s ability to walk to amenities ranging from coffee shops to entertainment venues to banks, and gives it a score from 1 to 100, with the latter being the best.
The DevelopSpringfield office at 1182 Main St. earned an 89, while the Red Rose restaurant just a few blocks south notched an 82. Those statistics are not to be discounted, said Mallis, because many constituencies, from young artists to aging Boomers to business owners, are looking at such numbers with greater interest.
“People are more health-conscious than they were years ago,” he explained. “People have woken up to the fact that walking and health have a direct correlation, and that certainly plays a part in the decisions people are making about where they want to live.
Dixon agreed. “If you look at surveys about how much people want to drive, it used to be that, the younger you were, the more you liked getting in the car and driving; now it’s the reverse, and some of it is health-driven; it’s viewed as unhealthy to be in a car a lot.”
But there’s more to this trend than exercise, he continued, adding that many individuals within different age groups, when queried about what they want from a residential address, put that intangible ‘community’ high on their list. “And people think of urban areas as offering much more opportunity for community — to run into each other and meet each other.
“When you look at the top-10 criteria that people listed for where they wanted to live, from the ’60s up until probably 2003, or at least through the ’90s, it was golf courses, near golf courses, on a golf course, and as far away from work as possible,” he went on. “None of those are on the list in 2011. Surveys now show it’s proximity to Main Street, diversity, the ability to walk to work … and even telecommuters are much more interested in living in denser, walkable areas, perhaps because they spend the day by themselves.”
Dixon and Mallis have seen such trends emerge as they’ve helped Goody Clancy compile an extensive portfolio of work in older urban areas. The firm has taken part in a number of downtown projects, from guiding 12 million square feet of mixed-use development around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to revitalization plans for communities as such as Baltimore, Akron, Ohio, Jamestown, N.Y., and, locally, Greenfield.
To illustrate his point on urban living and add a measure of credibility to the argument, Dixon pointed to Wichita, a city of about 900,000 and a downtown still fighting its way back from decades of disinvestment and an out-migration of people and businesses.
“Even the lawyers moved out of the downtown, which is unusual,” he said. “Compared to many parts of downtown Wichita, Springfield’s South End would look cool — it would look like an arts district. But downtown is beginning to take off; there are several hundred units of new, cool lofts — they’re rentals right now because the condo market isn’t there yet; one was rented out before it was finished, and another, more expensive building is almost rented out.
“Meanwhile, there’s another, more conventional project with larger, more expensive units that’s just sitting there because that’s not what the market’s going to come back to,” he went on. “The market’s about cool, urban, walkable living spaces. It’s more about living near a cool bakery than it is about giving a view.”
In Springfield, the firm has been assigned the task of coordinating efforts to develop strategic initiatives focused on the downtown and South End, one of three areas, or districts, of concentration involving neighborhoods impacted by the tornado. Since being hired in September, the firm’s representatives have undertaken a general inventory of this sector’s assets and liabilities, said Dixon, adding that there are more of the former than many people might think, and some could help the city take advantage of the pendulum moving back toward urban living.
And in many ways, the city is already making some strides, said Mallis, noting efforts to attract artists to the Morgan Square apartment complex (see BusinessWest, Aug. 29), and other initiatives to create more market-rate housing at several downtown-area properties.
As for the South End, Dixon said it has the potential to be “a hip place,” given its diversity, solid walk scores, proximity to many restaurants and cultural attractions, and decent inventory of properties that could, with some imagination, entrepreneurial flair, and requisite demand, be retrofitted into housing units.
As he walked with BusinessWest down Main Street, Dixon pointed out several such buildings near an already-thriving market-rate complex, the Willows, created from the former Milton Bradley manufacturing complex off Union Street. He gestured to everything from office and retail properties with large vacancy rates to abandoned or underutilized manufacturing and warehouse structures.
“You can just look at those properties and see that, if the market is there a half-block away,” he said, “it can be at those sites as well.”
There are also several currently vacant parcels, including the former Gemini site and some others created by the tornado, which provide opportunities for developers with vision.
Beyond vacant lots, though, the tornado has provided a spark for the city, said Dixon, when pressed about why market-rate housing and related developments haven’t happened sooner.
“As horrible and painful as the tornado has been for many people,” he said, “it has sort of galvanized the moment; it has the community focused, the city focused, everybody focused on how to rebuild better.”

Building Momentum
This combination of focus and determination has arrived at the intersection of rising interest in urban living and pent-up demand. It’s an intriguing situation that could make Springfield’s downtown the right place at the right time.
“Put all these things together, and Springfield, like many cities, has opportunities that it hasn’t had for a very long time,” said Dixon. “They don’t happen automatically, though. Cities have all these problems — fragmented land ownership, zoning, tax structures — which are not necessarily geared to the kind of development you want, and crime and the perception of crime.
“But there are lot of cities that have been very patient over the past 10 years, looking at what’s happening, removing the obstacles, investing in downtowns, and getting tremendous payoffs. Springfield has that opportunity; something like the tornado is a kind of wakeup call that it’s not just time to change, but to take stock. And when you take stock, you can take advantage of these opportunities.”
In other words, this could a silver lining that makes Springfield a shining example of how urban centers can be revitalized.

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

Involvement, Strong Leadership Called Keys to Rebuilding Effort

Bobbie Hill says plans and process are important, but involvement and leadership are the keys to revitalizing a city.

Bobbie Hill was asked about process, plans, and potential projects.
And she said there will be all three when it comes to the task of rebuilding Springfield in the wake of the June 1 tornado. However, none will be the real key to a successful effort.
Instead, the most vital component — and she says she’s learned this from considerable experience — is getting the residents of the community in question to take a real ownership stake in the recovery initiatives.
“It’s the relationship-building, the community-capacity-building, the taking-ownership piece,” said Hill, a consultant with the New Orleans-based planning and architecture firm Concordia, which is heading the team of companies coordinating Springfield’s rebuilding-plan process. “Those are the keys; it’s ownership, and holding yourself, your neighbors, elected officials, and developers accountable to doing it and doing it right.
“That engagement component, that people component, is as important if not more important than individual concepts,” she continued. “This can’t just be about development projects; that’s not what transforms a community.”
What does, she stressed again, is a willingness on the part of residents to get involved and stay involved, and not give in to the theory, or temptation, that government will take care of things. And it comes through leadership, she went on, noting that, in most every community where the 11-person firm has lent its disaster-response, planning, and design expertise, leaders from the community have emerged.
The process of getting the community involved in the rebuilding effort began earlier this month with neighborhood meetings in the three identified sectors involving areas of the city damaged by the tornado. Sector 1 is the metro center (downtown) and the South End, while Sector 2 is composed of Six Corners, Upper Hill, Old Hill, and Forest Park, and Sector 3 includes Sixteen Acres and East Forest Park.
Those neighborhood meetings were followed up with a city-wide gathering a few days later, and two more sessions of neighborhood meetings and another city-wide session are scheduled for November and December, said Hill, adding that the four firms collaborating on the endeavor will present an implementation and financing plan to a community congress on Jan. 5.
That’s the process, in simple terms, she said, adding that it’s too early to discuss specific potential redevelopment projects, although plenty of suggestions — from a supermarket to market-rate housing projects to reforestation proposals — have come forth at the neighborhood sessions.
In subsequent neighborhood meetings, the suggestions will be discussed at greater length, and eventually priorities will be established, and consultants will “put numbers” to potential recommendations in an effort to determine which ones make sense and which ones don’t.
More importantly, though, the initial sessions have yielded evidence of the requisite level of involvement, leadership, and community spirit that will be necessary for a successful recovery effort.
“I was really encouraged by what I saw and heard the other night,” she referring to the neighborhood meeting in Sector 2. “There was definitely a strong sense of community, people really caring for other and celebrating diversity — that really came across.”
There are four firms involved in the process of coordinating the neighborhood meetings and compiling the report to be completed Jan. 5. They are:

• Corcordia, which, among other projects in its portfolio, led coordination for the Unified New Orleans Plan after Hurricane Katrina that included selection and management of 12 national, regional, and local planning firms that created plans for 14 planning districts and an overall city-wide recovery plan;

• Goody Clancy, a Boston-based urban planning and design firm that has coordinated revitalization efforts in a number of major cities (see related story, page 60);

• Berkebile Nelson Immenschuh McDowell Inc. (BNIM), considered the most experienced firm in the country when it comes to helping tornado-impacted communities engage in a transformative recovery planning process; and

• The Project for Public Spaces (PPS), a nonprofit planning, design, and educational organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public places that build stronger communities.
For more information on the process or to submit ideas online, visit www.rebuildspringfield.com. The schedule for future neighborhood and citywide meetings is as follows:

• Six Corners, Upper Hill, Old Hill, and Forest Park: Nov. 15, 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the J.C. Williams Center, Florence Street;

• Sixteen Acres, East Forest Park: Nov. 16, 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Holy Cross gymnasium, Plumtree Road;

• Metro Center, South End: Nov. 17, 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Gentile Apartments Community Room, Williams Street;

• Metro Center, South End: Dec. 6, 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Gentile Apartments Community Room, Williams Street;

• Sixteen Acres, East Forest Park: Dec. 7, 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Holy Cross gymnasium, Plumtree Road;

• Six Corners, Upper Hill, Old Hill, and Forest Park: Dec. 8, 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the J.C. Williams Center, Florence Street;

• City-wide: Dec. 10, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the MassMutual Center; and

• Community Congress: Jan. 5, 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the MassMutual Center.

— George O’Brien

Are Great Salespeople Born or Made?

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

Sales and Marketing Sections

It’s the Latter, and It Comes Down to Attitude, Behavior, Technique

By JIM MUMM

Jim Mumm

We’ve all heard the question; are great salespeople born or made?
It’s a great question because every business relies on sales; no sales means no company.
The only possible answer is that great salespeople are made. There are only three overarching determinates of success in any endeavor: attitude, behavior, and technique. And all three can be taught. Therefore, great salespeople must be made. Let me explain.
Let’s take the simple things first. Behavior consists of goals, plans, and actions. You probably remember that Yogi Berra said “you’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.” Without goals, how can you tell if a salesperson got there? The best salespeople are those who set goals, and people can be taught to make goals.
Once goals are set, they can be achieved only by first developing a plan. There are thousands of books, classes, and software that can help us learn how to make plans. Therefore, people can be taught to make plans. Finally, goals and a plan are great, but they must be followed up with actions. Except for our autonomic activities such as breathing, people simply cannot be born knowing what actions to take and how to take them.
People are born knowing very little about how to take any actions. We all learned what to do and how to act. Therefore, once again, people can be taught what actions to take and how to take them. Consequently, people can be taught how to set goals, make a plan, and take the actions to execute the plan. Nearly everything that can be taught can be studied, practiced, and improved upon. Therefore, people can be taught the behaviors necessary to make them great salespeople.
Next, let’s look at technique. Technique refers to the strategies, tactics, and personal presence used to implement behavior. The first two are easy. Strategies and tactics can and are routinely taught. Again, there are countless books, courses, and software designed to teach strategies and tactics. If we can’t teach these, we should close all the business and military schools.
Personal presence is a little harder to debunk. However, some descriptions include the first thing you notice about other people, the physical features: body, eyes, smile, voice, handshake, personality, mannerisms, attitude. Can’t each of these be learned? Of course they can be learned. Therefore, because strategies, tactics, and personal presence can all be taught, it just follows that technique too can be taught.
Finally we come to attitude. According to Wikipedia, attitude means “a person’s perspective toward a specified target and way of saying and doing things.” Webster’s defines attitude as “a mental position toward a fact or state.” In sales, I would argue that attitude consists of how you view the market you are in, how you view your company, and how you view yourself. Again, let’s take the easy stuff first: market and company. If a salesperson believes he or she is in a tough market, couldn’t a senior executive teach them how to leverage or exploit the company’s position in the market?
Every senior-level executive or business owner worth his salt can perform a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats), or pay to have one performed, to demonstrate to the salesperson how their company is uniquely positioned to capture sales. A lot of executives don’t do this. But if they did, the salesperson could certainly be taught how to approach the market and articulate their company’s unique position within it to capture sales.
So that leaves us with the salesperson’s view of himself or herself. Isn’t this is the true essence of attitude? As difficult as it sounds to determine if one can be taught to have a better attitude or not, this is simple, too.
You merely need to remember the last time you went to the gym or worked out at home. You might have been tired or unenthusiastic, but once you put on your shoes and hit the treadmill, didn’t you instantly feel better? Didn’t your attitude instantly improve? Of course it did. If one can so easily manipulate one’s own attitude, wouldn’t it be simple to teach someone how to do this? Again, this is an easy answer — a resounding yes!
The bottom line is that there truly is one must-have characteristic of a salesperson: he or she must have a desire to continuously learn and grow. Anyone who has this desire can be an extremely effective and successful salesperson. Anyone with a desire to learn can be taught a sales system, and those who use a superior sales system will consistently outperform other salespeople.

Jim Mumm is CEO of Sandler Training in Chicopee and the author of Why Sales People Fail and What to do About It; www.jimmumm.sandler.com

Profiles in Progress

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

Sales and Marketing Sections

Seven Steps to Using LinkedIn to Promote Yourself Effectively

Christine Pilch

Have you Googled your name lately? When you do, you’ll likely find that your LinkedIn profile is near the top of the results. That’s how powerful this social network is. So why would you fail to take it seriously and neglect its potential as a mighty self-promotional tool?
Statistics published by Quantcast Corp. in October show that nearly 17 million U.S. LinkedIn users visit the site at least once weekly, 70% of them are age 35 or older, 75% of them have undergraduate or graduate degrees, and 68% have incomes exceeding $60,000. This proves that LinkedIn users are generally affluent and well-educated.
So what are all these people doing on LinkedIn? Another study by Lab42 in August said that top-level executives use it primarily for industry networking and promoting their own businesses, while mid-level executives use it for keeping in touch and industry networking. Entry-level people use it primarily for job search and co-worker networking.
Unfortunately, some people join LinkedIn simply because they were invited by a colleague and felt obligated to do so. They entered the minimally required information, and bam, their profile was created. From that point on, their account remains neglected, and they demonstrate that they’re not serious about this social network and perhaps convey the message that they’re a luddite who isn’t up to speed on contemporary networking techniques.
How can you use LinkedIn to your best advantage?

Determine Your Goals
Perhaps your goal is to find a new job. You may feel stagnant, undervalued, or bored in your current situation. If you want to find a new job, LinkedIn can be your golden ticket. Recruiters and human resources personnel have become adept at utilizing LinkedIn to search for and find qualified candidates, and they are reaching out directly to people who indicate that they are open to job inquiries. Two key components to successfully leveraging LinkedIn to land a new job are having a complete and impressive profile and making sure that your profile is open to accepting messages from everyone, not just your connections.
Perhaps you want to promote your services or company. LinkedIn is the professional standard for online networking these days, so it is the perfect venue to promote yourself. But a word of caution: beware promoting your company at the exclusion of yourself within your profile. Your profile is the place to show what you personally bring to the table. Even if you’re a consultant and you are the company, make sure that viewers know what you can do for them with action words that speak in terms of ‘you’ instead of ‘I.’ The tenants of basic marketing messaging apply here, so if you don’t understand how to craft a proper marketing message, find someone who is good at it to help you.
Perhaps you are unemployed. LinkedIn is a no-brainer if you’re in this situation. It’s usually the first place most recruiters and hiring managers go to check someone out, so it is imperative to have a 100% complete profile. Take the time to create a summary that sells you on your merits, draft descriptive narratives for all your past experience, and list your complete educational history, so people from your past can find you. Remember that, when people search, their results come from their expanded LinkedIn network only, not all of LinkedIn, so it is also especially important for you to expand your network, because everyone is a potential job-referral source for you.

Enhance Your Profile
LinkedIn is not the place to be humble. Provide concrete proof of the value you can bring to a new organization by listing past key accomplishments. For example, don’t just say that you can save an organization money; demonstrate it by listing specific actions you took, the positive results they generated, and the timeframe in which all this occurred.
Use a current photo that shows you dressed the way that people see you in your employment environment. Bankers and accountants should be in suit and tie if that’s how people see them. A chef should be in her coat. If in doubt, dress for the position you aspire to rather than the position you currently have. Remember that this is a professional network, so unless you’re a baseball player, don’t display a photo of you in a cap.
Use the line under your name to highlight the benefit you can bring to an organization. Surely, “experienced leader with 15 years developing top-notch sales teams and growing businesses an average of 30% per year” will gain more attention than “sales manager.” Use this prime real estate to tell a prospective employer or client what you can do for them rather than simply listing a boring job title.
Your status is another easy way to remind people about your core competencies and remain top of mind. Whatever you put in that box lands in your connections’ newsfeed and in their e-mail digest, so make sure that it demonstrates your professional capabilities. “Cleaning my desk” is an irrelevant and improper message here, while “drafting an updated will for a newly divorced mother” lets people know specifically what you do.

Use Add-ons
LinkedIn has sections that you can add to highlight awards, additional languages, patents, projects, certifications, and test scores, in addition to other things. There is now a section where you can list your charitable and volunteer experience. You can add videos, presentations, reading lists, and articles. You also have the ability to customize your LinkedIn profile by rearranging the sections so that your most important credentials appear at the top. This can be helpful, for example, for a recent grad with little work experience to highlight relevant courses.

Get Recommendations
Few professionals are hired these days without a reference check, so consider the upfront benefit to a prospective employer when your peers or employers sing your praises on LinkedIn. You can talk until you’re blue in the face about how wonderful you are, but when someone else says it, there is extra credibility. Recommendations are also a point of distinction, as many LinkedIn users don’t bother to solicit them.

Engage
LinkedIn is, after all, a social network, and being social means engaging with others, not just lurking or broadcasting. LinkedIn provides plenty of opportunities to communicate with other members, so read your news feed, and comment on and like connections’ statuses. Reach out with a congratulatory note when someone gets promoted or changes jobs. Join and participate in Groups. This means reading the discussion items, posting relevant topics, and participating, not just collecting logos to decorate your profile.
You should also check out the Answers component. You can find it under ‘More’ in the site’s primary navigation. Once there, you can ask and answer questions posed by your network. This is a great way to demonstrate expertise and solicit advice, and it helps to raise awareness of you within the LinkedIn community.

Fact Check and Update
Spelling errors and improper punctuation and grammar on LinkedIn make you look bad, so carefully proofread everything before posting it, and correct any errors promptly. If writing isn’t your strong suit, make sure you have an editor review your profile for problems. LinkedIn allows you about 15 minutes to change your discussion entries, too, so use this time wisely. Also, be sure that all referenced dates, accomplishments, and facts are accurate. Toot your own horn, but don’t lie.
Keep your profile updated, and remain an active participant within the network. The value of LinkedIn lies in its innate ability to connect people, so if you don’t participate, you’re not adding value to your network. In addition, keep your profile updated. Review it regularly, compare it against competitors or people who have the job you want, and continue to refine it.

LinkedIn Don’ts
Along with all the good suggestions above, it is also easy to damage your reputation on LinkedIn. Here are a few things to avoid:
Don’t spam your network. Unsolicited communication is considered spam by most recipients. Don’t be the guy who interrupts his network with unwanted promotional messages. Everybody is on LinkedIn to sell something, but overt sales are generally not welcome. It’s better to demonstrate your expertise and generate desire for your skills via engagement.
Don’t use a logo or graphic for your photo. This is prohibited in LinkedIn’s terms of service. LinkedIn wants real faces of actual people connected to its membership.
Don’t argue, abuse, attack, or use foul language anywhere on LinkedIn. Such activity is not tolerated, and you can be reported and kicked out of the network. Can you afford to be ostracized from the largest and most influential professional network online today?
LinkedIn is too powerful for professionals at any level to ignore these days. There is a general expectation that you are there, and if someone is looking to fact-check or gauge your credibility and ability to perform in a particular capacity, you’d better have a strong presence there, or LinkedIn makes it really easy for them to find your competitors and move on down the line.

Christine Pilch is a partner with Grow My Company and a social-media marketing strategist. She trains businesses to utilize LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogging, and other social-media tools to grow, and she collaborates with professional-service firms to get results through innovative positioning and branding strategies; (413) 537.2474; linkedin.com/in/christinepilch; growmyco.com

Headlines

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

Health Care Sections

A chart of the region’s behavioral health centers

Click here to download PDFBehavioralHealthCentersBW1011b

Finances and Alzheimer’s Disease

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

Health Care Sections

There Are Many Such Matters Involved with ‘the Long Goodbye’

Todd C. Ratner

November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month as well as National Family Caregiver Month. To appreciate the breadth of these issues, it is helpful to understand that, according to the Alzheimer’s Assoc., 5.4 million people live with the disease, as well as about 15 million unpaid family caregivers; $183 billion in annual costs are associated with it.
Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, is a physical and terminal illness that causes difficulties with memory, thinking, and behavior. It is not a normal part of aging.
According to the Alzheimer’s Assoc., there are 10 common warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease:
• Memory changes that disrupt daily life;
• Challenges in planning or solving problems;
• Difficulty completing familiar tasks;
• Confusion with time or place;
• Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships;
• New problems with words in speaking or writing;
• Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps;
• Decreased or poor judgment;
• Withdrawal from work or social activities; and
• Changes in mood and personality.
Alzheimer’s gets worse over time; however, one advantage of a timely diagnosis is that the person living with the disease can often participate in their own estate planning. This allows them to decide who will make medical and financial decisions on their behalf in the later stages of the disease, provided, of course, that they still have the legal capacity — the level of judgment and decision-making ability — needed to sign legal estate-planning documents.
As such, it is imperative that someone diagnosed with Alzheimer’s begin making legal and financial plans as soon as possible, to the extent that they can. If there are any questions as to whether or not your loved one has the necessary legal capacity, a medical provider should be consulted.
The following should be considered immediately in the event that your loved one does not have a current or updated plan in place.

Estate Planning
Estate planning, in its most basic essence, is a process for nominating a trusted person to make medical and financial decisions and planning for the disposition of your assets upon death. Regardless of the size of your estate, there are several essential considerations.
Everyone needs a will, the most basic estate-planning document. It provides for the orderly distribution of your estate upon your death. In Massachusetts, the state has already drafted a will for you, designating that your assets pass in proportions of 50% to your spouse and 50% to your children, so if you want any customization, you’d better have an attorney draft a personalized version for you.
Another essential estate-planning tool is a health care proxy. This document allows a designated person, called a health care agent, to make health-related decisions for you if you become incapacitated and cannot make them yourself. This becomes especially prevalent when Alzheimer’s disease progresses, as your loved one will understand your wishes regarding care and end-of-life decisions.
Another critical estate planning tool is a durable power of attorney. This document gives a person called the attorney-in-fact the ability to handle your financial affairs during your lifetime when you are incapacitated. This will prevent your loved ones from having to go to court and obtain the legal right to pay your bills and handle your finances on your behalf when your disease progresses.
Estate planning is a broad term that can encompass many things, and there are more estate-planning choices available today than ever before. You may also consider various trusts to provide for the continued financial support of your family members after you lose the ability to care for them yourself.

Long-term Care Financing
While most families prefer to keep their loved one at home as long as possible, it is common for an individual with Alzheimer’s to have to go to a nursing home when family members can no longer provide the necessary round-the-clock care. Due to the characteristics of the disease, Alzheimer’s residents typically reside in nursing homes longer than other residents. Since the average cost of a nursing-home placement in Massachusetts is approximately $10,000 per month, long-term care financing is a critical component of the planning process for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease. As such, effective planning for long-term care financing is a must to preserve your family’s assets against being drained by a nursing home.
The available options to pay for nursing-home care include private payment, long-term care insurance, and Medicaid. Private payment can quickly evaporate a lifetime of savings and significantly limit the amount passed to designated heirs, so it is generally preferred to find an alternative form of payment.
Long-term care insurance is a wonderful way to pay for a nursing home stay, but one must be insurable in order to be eligible to purchase such insurance, which precludes most people living with Alzheimer’s. It may also be expensive, thereby making it an unaffordable option.
Many people think that they can simply give away their money to family and friends freely. They often don’t understand that complicated Medicaid laws include a specific look-back period on all assets, and such transfers will delay Medicaid eligibility, requiring you or your loved one to find alternative financial resources until the waiting period is satisfied. Without proper planning, this delay could financially devastate your family, but Medicaid planning or asset preservation can be accomplished by properly transferring assets in accordance with Medicaid laws, and an estate or elder-law attorney can guide you through that process. It may be your best way to prepare for an anticipated nursing-home stay.
Even if a loved one is afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease and does not have an updated plan, it may not be too late. However, it is important to see a qualified estate-planning and elder-law attorney as soon as possible to ensure that the ever-changing and intricate laws and requirements regarding estate planning and long-term care planning are followed. Such an advisor is the best resource for determining how to effectively draft an effective estate plan that can help preserve your family’s resources.
You can be a voice and an advocate for the 5.4 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease. The local office of the Massachusetts/New Hampshire Chapter will be hosting events throughout the month of November to celebrate and promote awareness of the disease. Log onto alz.org/manh to find out more.

Todd C. Ratner is an estate-planning, elder-law, business, and real-estate attorney with the regional law firm Bacon Wilson, P.C. He serves as the co-chair for the Alzheimer’s Assoc. Tri-County (Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin) Partnership and is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the Estate Planning Council of Hampden County. He is also a recipient of Boston Magazine’s Super Lawyers Rising Stars distinction from 2007 to 2010; (413) 781-0560; baconwilson.com

Heart of the Matter

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

The facade of the soon-to-be-opened expansion along Chestnut Street.

Health Care Sections

Baystate’s Hospital of the Future Set for Spring Opening

The facade of the soon-to-be-opened expansion along Chestnut Street.

Baystate’s quarter-billion-dollar expansion project, known since its announcement several years ago as the Hospital of the Future, is precisely that, creating new, cutting-edge space for the Heart and Vascular Program and the Emergency Department, yet reserving vast areas of shell space for future needs, which can often be unpredictable in the fast-moving world of health care. The project is on track for its planned 2012 opening; here’s a look inside.

When the Hospital of the Future opens to the public in March, only about half of the newly constructed building will be usable.
But without the hundreds of thousands of square feet of shell space included in the project, Baystate Medical Center might as well dub it the hospital of today, said Stanley Hunter, project executive. And that would miss the point.
“We call it the Hospital of the Future because we’ll be able to respond to the changing needs of health care in the coming years,” he said while taking the BusinessWest on a tour of the floors that will be bustling with patients this spring.
“The building itself is 640,000 square feet, which we’re fitting out in phases,” Hunter explained. “The first phase, just under half the building, will house our Heart and Vascular Program.”

Stanley Hunter, outside what will eventually be the hospital’s new main entrance, says heart and vascular employees will start moving into the expanded space this fall.

The construction itself is within a month of completion, and patients will be able to use the facility in March, Hunter said. “The time period in between is for fitting out the building with equipment, training of staff, and Department of Public Health approvals in preparation for the opening. There are a lot of logistics to consider over the next four months in those areas.
“We’re excited that we’re on schedule,” he added. “We’ve always had that [March] date in mind, so it’s exciting that we’ll be able to keep to that. Construction started in mid-2008, and now, just over three years later, construction is still on track.”
What will follow, in late 2012, is the creation of a much larger, state-of-the-art Emergency Department in the new building, replacing a current ER that was designed to handle much less traffic than it does. Beyond that is deciding what will come of that aforementioned shell space.
But that’s a discussion for down the road. For now, Baystate officials are excited to unveil the results of this ambitious, quarter-billion-dollar investment in the hospital’s — and community’s — future.

Heart of the Matter
As Hunter walked through the new Heart and Vascular space — an ICU floor for more serious patients, two regular inpatient floors, space for outpatient procedures, and a spacious operating suite — he pointed out technology such as the large monitors that loom above the surgical tables.
“Recent technology has improved our ability to do procedures on heart and vascular patients, and that includes a lot of image-guided surgery, which is being able to see the images on the screens as physicians are doing the surgery itself,” he explained.
Most people, however, will first notice the patient rooms, all of them single-occupancy.
“Our current rooms are all double-occupancy,” Hunter said. “But studies show that single-occupancy rooms create an environment for better care and promote patient healing, so that’s going to be one large advantage for patients.
“There are also a lot more opportunities for family interaction with patients, family involvement in care, and making that transfer of care from the doctor and the clinical team to the family, so that when they leave they’re able to have a lot more insight into the care of the patient. There’s also a family area in each room, and family members will be able to stay overnight.”
The hospital is also installing the latest in telemetry and monitoring equipment, as well as the advanced electronic systems already in use to streamline drug prescribing and reduce medication errors.
Outside those hallways, Hunter said, “another thing we’re doing is remodeling the entry to the hospital. It’s sized and configured in a way that, when people come into the hospital, it’s a much clearer entry,” one that funnels patients from a central information desk to either the Daly building or the new structure. Parking has also been reconfigured, with much of Baystate’s north-side employee parking moved off-site to make room for more spaces for patients and visitors.
The second phase of the Hospital of the Future expansion, set to open in the fall of 2012, is a new Emergency Department.
“That was really a response to what our senior leadership heard from the community, from donors, and from staff — that the Emergency Department was greatly in need of upgrading,” Hunter said.
“We’ve been working with clinicians to design a contemporary space that meets the needs of patients,” he continued, adding that the hospital is also working to upgrade the technology and telecommunications systems used in that space.
“The Emergency Department will be three times bigger than it is now, with a dedicated children’s area and new trauma rooms where the most severe patients will be handled right away,” he explained. “The current Emergency Department was built in the ’80s for a much lower patient volume than what they’re experiencing now, so this will be built to the current patient volume.”
Baystate is still trying to determine what to do with space in the current hospital that will be vacated when the Heart and Vascular Program, ER, and other services move to the new building. In addition, the Porter building, which had been used most recently for administrative offices, was torn down to make room for the Hospital of the Future expansion, which looms over Chestnut Street.

Lean and Green
The new building is modern in more ways than one. In addition to how it meets the needs of patients, Baystate engineered several ‘green’ touches. Skylights will bring plenty of natural daylight to interior spaces, reducing energy requirements.
In addition, energy-efficient lighting will be used. Sensors will rely on daylight wherever possible, and lower lighting levels at night. Patient rooms and family areas will be located along exterior walls to maximize access to natural light.
Meanwhile, high-quality window systems will assist with insulation, and the building’s cooling and air-handling systems will be energy-efficient. Baystate has also scheduled large tree plantings along the main road and is constructing a green roof accessible at the third floor but visible from dozens of rooms on higher floors as well.
“It’s an outdoor space between the buildings with a walking trail and benches so that patients, family members, and staff can get outside and get refreshed,” Hunter said. “It’s an amenity to be able to get out there in the sun on nice days.”
Even for those rooms that only overlook the area, “it’s an attractive feature to look out on instead of having a black rubber roof,” he noted. “And there are also environmental aspects; it helps us with temperature control and water conservation, because we collect the water for irrigation.”
Hunter said the project has injected some green of another kind into the area’s construction industry, with between 250 and 300 workers on site daily — about 70% of them based in Springfield or the Pioneer Valley.
“We’ve been able to keep these jobs local because, especially in these times, we know there’s an interest in keeping work local in such an important project for the area.”
That work will eventually slow down, however, and a brand-new building will begin to fill with furniture, equipment, and hospital staff — and the future of Baystate Medical Center will begin in earnest.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Making Connections

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

Sections Technology

A chart of area computer network/IT Services

Click here to download PDFComputerNetworkITservicesBW1011b

It’s an iWorld

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

Sections Technology

Apple Looms Large, but Competition Abounds in Tech Marketplace

iPad 2

Though its visionary leader, Steve Jobs, passed away earlier this fall, Apple continues its impressive momentum. If the iPad — which proved to be an über-popular media-consumption tool among all age groups, kids to senior citizens — was the tech product of 2010, its successor, the iPad 2 ($499 and up), raises the bar even further.
“Though the iPad 2 is an improvement on the original iPad in numerous ways, it’s still an evolutionary product, not a revolutionary one,” MacWorld reports. “If you’re happy with your current iPad, there’s no reason to dump it just because there’s a shinier, newer one.”
Yet, the magazine notes, some of the product’s deficiencies have been remedied, while the design is even smaller and thinner than before.
The iPad 2 uses a new, Apple-designed processor called the A5, a dual-core version of the 1 GHz chip that powers the iPhone 4 and last year’s iPad. The new model also boasts 512 MB of RAM and processing speed significantly faster than before. Notably, it also adds front- and rear-facing cameras.
“The first iPad was a bolt from the blue, a device that defined an entire category, and a tough act to follow,” MacWorld concludes. “The iPad 2 follows it with aplomb.”
The product isn’t without challengers, however. The Motorola Xoom, according to Popular Mechanics, “hits one cutting-edge mark after another,” featuring an Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system, plenty of power with a dual-core 1 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM, and both front- and rear-facing cameras for videoconferencing as well as shooting photos. The high-resolution, 10.1-inch screen impresses, too.
“For now, the Xoom is a step ahead of the competition when it comes to connectivity,” the magazine notes, after launching on Verizon’s 3G network in the spring and moving to 4G with subsequent shippings. And HDMI compatibility means that the Xoom ($499 and up) can share its video with a home-entertainment center.
Amazon — which updated its e-reader offerings in 2011 with the Kindle Touch 3G ($149) or without 3G ($99), as well as a non-Touch Kindle ($79) — made its biggest splash in the tablet market, by launching the Kindle Fire, a 7-inch tablet with a very attractive $199 price tag.

Kindle Fire

The Fire features a dual-core processor and 8 GB of storage, and promises 7.5 hours of video playback on one charge. Although it has a USB port for file transfers, it offers neither a camera nor a microphone.
“But this tablet isn’t supposed to be about tech specs,” according to PC World. “It’s meant to be a dead-simple slate for consuming Amazon content. At the top, the interface has a search bar that can search locally, in the cloud, and on the Web. Below that is a strip of content categories, followed by a stylized list of recent content. On the bottom of the screen, users can pin their favorite apps, books, and other media.”
Time will tell how much an Amazon-centric tablet at a comparatively low price will cut into the market for iPads and their ilk; the Fire ships Nov. 15, but Amazon has been taking pre-orders for months.

Smartphones and Laptops
Apple has upgraded its smartphone line with the iPhone 4S, which Engadget calls “a new spin on an old phone that will shock none, but give it half a chance, and it will still impress.”
The 4S ($199 and up) runs on the same new dual-core processor powering the iPad 2, and while RAM remains the same at 512 MB, its maximum storage has doubled to 64 GB (in the $399 model). Its most notable feature might be Siri, a ‘digital helper’ with advanced voice recognition that some users have found uncanny.
“Siri can do a huge number of things, from sending texts and e-mails to finding restaurants and getting directions from one place to another — things that, it must be said, could largely be done before by voice on other devices and platforms,” Engadget notes. “It’s really the enhanced ability to understand casually spoken English mixed in with the notion of context that sets this apart.”

Motorola Atrix 4G

For tech observers watching mobile phones evolve into the CPUs of full-fledged laptops, the Motorola Atrix 4G ($199) takes a big step in that direction, according to Popular Mechanics. “The Atrix would be a powerhouse based on its smartphone chops alone: a dual-core 1GHz processor running Android 2.2, a GB of RAM, front- and rear-facing cameras, and access to AT&T’s future 4G network,” the magazine notes.
“But the phone is a game-changer because of its laptop and HD multimedia docking systems,” it goes on. “As soon as you plug the phone into either dock, a full-fledged Firefox browser launches, your Android apps scale up in size, and you leave thumb typing behind.” In addition, the multimedia dock has three USB ports and an HDMI port, so it can power plenty of entertainment equipment.
For consumers in the market for an attractive, lightweight notebook computer, PC World calls the Asus U36S “pretty darn close to perfect.” Aside from speakers that leave something to be desired, the magazine says this super-thin ultraportable has all the features the average user could want — and more.
The review model ($870) features an Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM (which can be upgraded to 8GB), a discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 520M graphics card, and a 640 GB hard drive. It also features built-in wi-fi and Bluetooth, and runs a 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium.
It’s also a slim machine, at 3.7 pounds and 0.75 inches thick, except for a battery compartment that bumps out to 1.1 inches. That battery tests at between eight and 10 hours of use.

MacBook Air

For something a little more pricey, CNET raves about the 13-inch MacBook Air ($1,299), which has been updated with the latest Intel CPU for better performance and battery life. Although its 128 GB SSD drive is smaller than a standard hard drive, the model still vastly outperforms its predecessor. The new second-generation Core i5 processor is a jump of two Intel generations. And it now includes a backlit keyboard, a popular feature dropped in the previous generation.
With 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of SSD storage, CNET notes, the 13-inch Air is a better bet for trouble-free mainstream computing than the 11-inch version, which offers only 2 GB of RAM and a 64 GB SSD. Its performance approaches that of the more expensive 13-inch MacBook Pro, and its battery life is excellent.

Cameras and Other Fun Stuff

Nikon D7000

For those in the market for a mid-priced digital camera, CNET loves the Nikon D7000 ($939), which it praises for its great viewfinder, first-rate photo quality, and streamlined controls.
“The usual caveats apply: it’s not the right camera for everyone, and it’s not best at everything,” the site notes. “But its combination of design, feature set, performance, and photo quality for the price is hard to beat (and will be especially so once the street price starts to drop).”
For those more interested in video, PC World praises the Epson Megaplex MG-50 ($699) and MG-850H ($799) portable projectors.

Epson Megaplex MG-50

These units (the price difference reflects video resolution and brightness) have an iPad-, iPhone-, and iPod-compatible dock on the front and can project large, high-resolution videos or still images from the content stored on those units or from online sources such as YouTube. The MegaPlex units also work with a variety of other devices.
Speaking of the iPod, Apple’s latest iPod Touch, now on its fifth generation, comes with a variety of features. “It records HD video, chats over video or iMessages, checks your e-mail, keeps your appointments, connects to the cloud, rents movies, plays music, takes pictures, and plays more games than any of its competitors,” CNET reports. It’s priced from $199 (8 GB) to $399 (64 GB).
Music, movies, photos, games. Increasingly, today’s mobile high-tech products do all of these and more. For a society of voracious media consumers, it’s an exciting time, and 2012 only promises more evolution, and perhaps a revolution or two as well.
Just like Steve Jobs would have wanted.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Stories Worth Telling

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

Features

Region’s Business Successes Will Be Feted on Oct. 28

Formerly called the Fabulous 50, the Super 60 — a celebration of successful and growing businesses — has become an annual tradition in Western Mass. This year’s Super 60 lunch, slated for Oct. 28 at Chez Josef, will honor individual companies, but also recognize the diversity and vibrancy of the entire local business community — a worthwhile message as the economy continues its slow recovery.

Jeffrey Ciuffreda says the annual Super 60 luncheon is more than a recognition of individual achievement in business, although it is definitely that, too.
It’s also a celebration of Western Mass. as a whole.
“I believe this program is a great showcase of our region and truly shows the diversity of our employment base, our businesses, which is our strength,” said Ciuffreda, president of the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield, which sponsors the event. “The list of winners includes human-services providers, manufacturers, institutions of higher education, technology, environmental firms, insurers, and more.”
And that’s a positive message at a time when the economy continues to slog toward some semblance of forward momentum. The Super 60, Ciuffreda said, is an opportunity to honor some of the success stories being written across Western Mass. during these uncertain times.
For 23 years now, the luncheon at Chez Josef in Agawam has toasted the chamber’s top 30 companies in the total revenue and revenue growth categories (there are actually 53 businesses being honored this year, as seven overlap both lists). This year’s event is scheduled for Oct. 29, and will feature as a keynote speaker Paul Kozub, president of V-One Vodka.
“The two categories allow one to see businesses in a couple of important ways,” Ciuffreda said. “Revenue speaks for itself oftentimes in the size of a company or in its longevity. The Revenue growth category oftentimes includes newer companies who have solidified their base and are beginning to show real growth, or companies that have been around for some time and continue to do the right things and therefore grow in our area.
“The program has always been well-received and attended by more than 500 people,” he added. “Oftentimes the winners use this award in their marketing and advertising, and the public realizes the significance of it.
The companies being honored represent virtually every sector of the economy, from financial services to education; from human services to manufacturing; from health care to retail.
The top finisher in the total revenue category is Savage Sports Corp. in Westfield, followed by Springfield College (which made the top three last year as well) and Hannoush Jewelers. NUVO Bank & Trust, chartered four years ago, is the top company in the revenue growth category for 2011, followed by Convergent Solutions in Wilbraham (last year’s top growth company) and Samuel’s in Springfield. Those six companies alone demonstrate the diversity of the Super 60.
Average revenue for the top 30 companies in total revenue exceeded $28 million in 2010. In the growth category, the average growth for the top 30 companies was 23%, and half of them recorded revenue growth in excess of 30%.
The luncheon will run from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The keynote speaker, Kozub, is a classic example of the entrepreneurial spirit running through the Pioneer Valley. His father ran a successful family business, and his grandfather produced and distributed his own vodka during the 1930s. Inspired by those stories, Kozub started making vodka at home, visiting Poland several times to perfect the recipe.
Six years ago, V-One Vodka made its debut in 10 liquor stores and five restaurants. In the first year, Kozub spent all of his time visiting restaurants and liquor stores with samples of his product. Today, V-One is widely distributed and considered one of the top vodkas in the world.
Ciuffreda called Kozub “a businessperson who fits the mold of an entrepreneur and started his own company within the last 10 years and has met with great success, not just regionally but nationally and internationally. It is safe to assume that many of the award winners started as Paul did: with an idea, with a product, and with great determination.”
For more information on the Super 60 luncheon or to order seats ($50 for chamber members or $70 for non-members), call (413) 787-1555. n

TOTAL REVENUE

American International College
1000 State St., Springfield, MA 01109
(800) 242-3142
www.aic.edu
Vincent Maniaci, President
Launched in 1885, AIC is a private, co-educational, four-year institution in the geographic center of Springfield. Liberal arts serves as the core in all its academic offerings, and the college is organized into schools of Arts, Education, and Sciences; Business Administration; Health Sciences; and Continuing and Extended Studies.

Associated Electro-Mechanics Inc.
185 Rowland St., Springfield, MA 01107
(413) 781-4276
www.aemservices.com
Elayne Lebeau, CEO
Associated Electro-Mechanics Inc. is the largest independent industrial service center in the Northeast, providing industry with services that cover electrical, mechanical, machining, welding, and field services. Its multi-faceted field service crews and a staff of electrical and mechanical engineers complement the departmentalized staff operations.

City Tire Co. Inc.
25 Avocado St., Springfield, MA 01101
(413) 737-1419
www.city-tire.com
Peter Greenberg, President
With 11 locations in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire, City Tire offers quality tires from a number of top brands, while its service department specializes in alignments, oil changes, brakes, suspension, and more.

Delaney Restaurant Inc. / The Log Cabin
500 Easthampton Road, Holyoke, MA 01040
(413) 535-5077
www.logcabin-delaney.com
Peter Rosskothen, President
The Delaney House restaurant offers 13 private-themed rooms for any special occasion, with seating for up to 260. It offers two dining options — fine dining and the more casual Mick. The Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House offers quality banquet facilities for weddings, showers, anniversaries, engagement parties, bar/bat mitzvahs, business meetings, holiday parties, and more.

The Dennis Group, LLC
1537 Main St., Springfield, MA 01103
(413) 746-0054
www.dennisgrp.com
Tom Dennis, CEO
The Dennis Group offers complete planning, design, architectural, engineering, and construction-management services. The firm is comprised of experienced engineering and design professionals dedicated to excellence in the implementation of food-manufacturing processes and facilities.

Disability Management Services Inc.
1350 Main St., Springfield, MA 01103
(413) 523-1126
www.disabilitymanagementservices.com
Robert Bonsall Jr., President
Founded in 1995, DMS is an independent, full-service third-party administrator and consulting firm, specializing in the management of individual and group disability products. DMS is headquartered in Springfield, with an additional office located in Syracuse, N.Y., and employs more than 200 professional associates.

Environmental Compliance Services Inc.
588 Silver St., Agawam, MA 01001
(413) 789-3530
www.ecsconsult.com
Mark Hellstein, CEO
For more than 25 years, ECS has specialized in environmental site assessments; testing for asbestos, lead, indoor air quality, and mold; drilling and subsurface investigations; and emergency response management.

Hannoush Jewelers Inc.
1655 Boston Road, Unit B7, Springfield, MA 01129
(888) 325-3935
www.hannoush.com
Norman Hannoush, CEO
Since it opened its first store in 1980, Hannoush Jewelers has grown its network to more than 50 company-owned and franchised locations throughout the U.S. The chain operates under a philosophy of family ownership and personal attention to detail, and boasts more than 400 professionally trained employees.

Insurance Center Of New England
1070 Suffield St., Agawam, MA 01001
(413) 781-2410
www.icnegroup.com
Dean Florian, President
In operation since 1866, Insurance Center of New England Group (ICNE Group) is a locally owned, independent insurance agency, providing full-service insurance solutions for individuals and businesses. It operates six locations throughout Massachusetts.

Jet Industries Inc.
307 Silver St., Agawam, MA 01001
(413) 781-2010
Michael Turrini, President
Jet Industries manufactures aircraft engines, parts, and equipment, as well as turbines and turbine generator sets and parts, aircraft power systems, flight instrumentation, and aircraft landing and braking systems.

The Gaudreau Group
1984 Boston Road, Wilbraham, MA 01095
(800) 750-3534
www.gaudreaugroup.com
Jules Gaudreau Jr., President
The Gaudreau Group is an insurance and financial-services agency serving neighboring families and businesses since 1921. It offers a consultative approach to assessing needs and risks and then offering a custom solution.

Joseph Freedman Co. Inc.
115 Stevens St., Springfield, MA 01104
(888) 677-7818
www.josephfreedmanco.com
John Freedman, president
Founded in 1891, the company provides industrial scrap-metal recycling, specializing in aluminum, copper, nickel alloys, and aircraft scrap, and has two facilities in Springfield — a 120,000-square-foot indoor ferrous facility, and a 60,000-square-foot chopping operation.

Kittredge Equipment Co.
100 Bowles Road, Agawam, MA 01001
(413) 304-4100
www.kittredgeequipment.com
Wendy Webber, CEO
Serving a variety of establishments and institutions for more than 80 years, Kittredge is a one-stop, full-service equipment and supplies dealership for the food service industry, with three showroom locations — in Agawam, Natick, and Williston, Vt.

Marcotte Ford Sales
1025 Main St., Holyoke, MA 01040
(800) 923-9810
www.marcotteford.com
Bryan Marcotte, President
The dealership sells new Ford vehicles as well as pre-owned cars, trucks, and SUVs, and features a full service department. Marcotte has achieved the President’s Award, one of the most prestigious honors given to dealerships by Ford Motor Co., on multiple occasions over the past decade.

Maybury Material Handling
90 Denslow Road, East Longmeadow, MA 01028
(413) 525-4216
www.maybury.com
John Maybury, President
Since 1976, Maybury Material Handling has been designing, supplying, and servicing all types of material-handling equipment throughout New England. Maybury provides customers in a wide range of industries with solutions to move, lift, and store their parts and products.

Mental Health Association Inc.
995 Worthington St., Springfield, MA 01109
(413) 734-5376
www.mhainc.org
Linda Williams, Executive Director
The Mental Health Assoc. Inc. provides residential and support services to enhance the quality of life for individuals challenged with mental impairments. Affordable quality housing, advocacy, and public education are part of the agency’s dedication to empowering individuals to develop their fullest potential.

Rocky’s Hardware Inc.
40 Island Pond Road, Springfield, MA 01118
(413) 781-1650
www.rockys.com
Rocco Falcone II, President
With locations throughout Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, the family-run business founded in 1926 is a fully stocked, convenient source for not only typical hardware-store items but also a line of goods for the home, yard, and garden.

Sarat Ford Sales Inc.
245 Springfield St., Agawam, MA 01001
(888) 254-2911
saratford.dealerconnection.com
John Sarat Jr., CEO
Founded in 1929, Sarat has grown to become the largest Ford dealership in Western Mass. The third-generation business sells a wide variety of new and used vehicles and boasts a 24-bay service center with a $1 million parts inventory, and has received Ford’s Distinguished Achievement Award for excellent customer service multiple times.

Savage Sports Corp.
100 Springdale Road, Westfield, MA 01085
(413) 568-7001
www.savagearms.com
Albert Kasper, President
Founded in 1995, Savage Sports Corp. designs and manufactures center-fire rifles, rim-fire rifles, shotguns, and muzzleloaders for the hunting and shooting sports industries. It also offers firearms, ranges, bullet traps, and accessories.

Specialty Bolt & Screw Inc.
235 Bowles Road, Agawam, MA 01001
(413) 789-6700
www.specialtybolt.com
Alan Crosby, CEO
Founded in 1977, Specialty Bolt & Screw Inc. is a distributor of innovative fastener solutions. The company has engineering resources on staff to help determine the optimum fastener for each application, and utilizes state-of-the-art technology along with more than 30 years of experience to help clients achieve their objectives.

Spectrum Analytical Inc.
11 Almgren Dr., Agawam, MA 01001
(413) 789-9018
Dr. Hanibal Tayeh, CEO
For more than a decade, Spectrum Analytical Inc. has provided quantitative analysis of soil, water, and, more recently, air samples, as well as petroleum products. Consulting firms, industries, municipalities, universities, and the public sector are among the constituencies that make up the client list.

Springfield College
263 Alden St., Springfield, MA 01109
(413) 748-3000
www.springfieldcollege.edu
Dr. Richard Flynn, CEO
Founded in 1885, Springfield College is a private, independent, coeducational, four-year college offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs with its Humanics philosophy — educating students in spirit, mind, and body for leadership in service to others.

Tighe & Bond Inc.
53 Southampton Road, Westfield, MA 01085
(413) 562-1600
www.tighebond.com
David Pinsky, President
Celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2011, Tighe & Bond specializes in environmental engineering, focusing on water, wastewater, solid-waste, and hazardous-waste issues, and provides innovative engineering services to public and private clients around the country and overseas.

Titan USA Enterprises Inc.
140 Baldwin St., West Springfield, MA 01089
(888) 482-6872
www.titanman.com
Ralph Colby, CEO
For almost four decades, Titan USA Enterprises has served industrial distributors as a manufacturer of premium-quality, solid-carbide, high-speed steel, and cobalt cutting tools.

United Personnel Services Inc.
1331 Main St., Springfield, MA 01103
(413) 736-0800
www.unitedpersonnel.com
Mary Ellen Scott, President
United provides a full range of staffing services, including temporary staffing and full-time placement, on-site project management, and strategic recruitment in the Springfield, Hartford, and Northampton areas, specializing in administrative, professional, medical, and light-industrial staff.

Universal Plastics Corp.
75 Whiting Farms Road, Holyoke, MA 01040
(800) 553-0120
www.universalplastics.com
Joseph Peters, CEO
Since 1965, Universal Plastics has been a leading force in the custom thermoforming industry. It specializes in precision custom thermoforming, a plastic-manufacturing process that converts a sheet of plastic into a highly detailed finished product with less tooling investment than other plastic molding processes.

Valley Communications Systems Inc.
201 First Ave., Chicopee, MA 01020
(413) 592-4136
www.valleycommunications.com
Edward Tremble, President
Valley is a diversified communications company serving New England with broadband TV distribution systems, satellite-dish installations, data and voice cabling, computer interactive whiteboards, data/video projection equipment and systems, videoconference room design, telephone systems, sound systems, security systems, and AV equipment.

W.F. Young Inc.
302 Benton Dr., East Longmeadow, MA 01028
(800) 628-9653
www.absorbine.com
Tyler Young, CEO
This family-run business prides itself on offering a variety of high-quality products that can effectively improve the well-being of both people and horses with its Absorbine brands.

Whalley Computer Associates Inc.
One Whalley Way, Southwick, MA 01077
(413) 569-4200
www.wca.com
John Whalley, President
WCA is a locally owned family business that has evolved from a hardware resale and service group in the 1970s and 1980s into a company that now focuses on lowering the total cost of ownership of technology and productivity enhancement for its customers. Whalley carries name-brand computers as well as low-cost performance compatibles.

YMCA of Greater Springfield Inc.
275 Chestnut St., Springfield, MA 01104
(413) 739-6951
www.springfieldy.org
Kirk Smith, CEO
The YMCA focuses on youth development, with child-care, educational, and enrichment programs; on healthy living, with programs in exercise, fitness, and nutrition; and on social responsibility, with scholarships and social-services programs. Also includes the Scantic Valley Y Family Center in Wilbraham.

REVENUE GROWTH

ABIDE INC.
P.O. Box 886, East Longmeadow, MA 01028
(800) 696-2243
www.abideinc.com
Frank Tilli, CEO
With more than 14 years of experience, Abide is an environmental contracting and restoration firm using the latest equipment and technology. It provides abatement services to remove environmental hazards, as well as general contracting services to rebuild and restore facilities following remediation.

Acme Metals & Recycling Inc.
64 Napier St., Springfield, MA 01104
(413) 737-3112
www.acmerecycling.com
George Sachs, President
For more than 70 years, Acme Metals & Recycling has been a leader in state-of-the-art recycling services, offering consultations, on-site evaluations, plant dismantling, demolition services, and more. It also provides steel mills, paper mills, foundries, and overseas markets with valuable materials recycled from its facilities.

American International College
1000 State St., Springfield, MA 01109
(800) 242-3142
www.aic.edu
Vincent Maniaci, President
Launched in 1885, AIC is a private, coeducational, four-year institution in the geographic center of Springfield. Liberal arts serves as the core in all its academic offerings, and the college is organized into schools of Arts, Education, and Sciences; Business Administration; Health Sciences; and Continuing and Extended Studies.

Benchmark Carbide
572 St. James Ave., Springfield MA 01109
(413) 732-7470
www.benchmarkcarbide.com
Paul St. Louis, President
A manufacturer of carbide end mills and reamers, Benchmark (a division of Custom Carbide Corp.) sells its products to distributors throughout the continental U.S. and Canada. Its extensive line of products includes its best-selling aluminum series and its patented variable-helix end mills.

Braman Chemical Enterprises Inc.
147 Almgren Dr., Agawam, MA 01001
(413) 732-9009
www.braman.biz
Gerald Lazarus, President
Braman has been serving New England since 1890, using state-of-the-art pest elimination procedures for commercial and residential customers. The company has offices in Agawam, Worcester, and Lee, as well as Hartford and New Haven, Conn.

Complete Healthcare Solutions Inc.
1497 North Main St., Palmer, MA 01069
(800) 250-8687
www.completehealthcaresolutions.com
Michael Penna, CEO
Founded in 1994, CHS provides affordable software solutions for small to mid-sized health care practices. The company helps customers with electronic medical records, practice-management software, medical billing, document management, data security, and a host of other services.

Consolidated Health Plans Inc.
2077 Roosevelt Ave., Springfield, MA 01104
(413) 733-4540
www.consolidatedhealthplan.com
Kevin Saremi, President
Established in 1993, Consolidated Health Plans is a leader in providing third-party claims administration of medical, dental, disability, flex, accident, and life insurance programs for employees and college students throughout the country.

Convergent Solutions Inc.
9501 Post Office Park, Wilbraham, MA 01095
(413) 509-1000
www.convergentsolutions.com
Arlene Kelly, CEO
A health care billing solutions provider founded in 2006, Convergent Solutions provides hardware and software products that help eliminate human error in medical billing processes, thus helping bring down the cost of health care.

Dietz & Co. Architects Inc.
17 Hampden St., Springfield, MA 01103
(413) 733-6798
www.dietzarch.com
Kerry Dietz, CEO
Dietz & Co. provides a full range of architectural services in the public and private sectors, including work in housing, education, heath care, commercial facilities, historic preservation, and sustainable projects. The firm seeks to bring the benefits of integrated design into all its projects, from individual buildings to entire neighborhoods.

Duval Precision Grinding Inc.
940 Sheridan St., Chicopee, MA 01022
(413) 593-3060
Ronald Duval, CEO
Since its inception in 1988, Duval Precision Grinding has specialized in precision grinding, metal coating, and engraving.

EOS/Proshred
75 Post Office Park, Suite 7401, Wilbraham, MA 01095
(413) 596-5479
www.proshred.com
Joseph Kelly, CEO
Proshred is a paper-shredding company providing secure on-site document shredding and recycling services for safeguarding private information, maintaining legislative compliance, and protecting public image.

The Futures Health Group, LLC
136 Williams St., Springfield, MA 01105
(800) 218-9280
Peter Bittel, CEO
The Futures Health Group provides special education and clinical services and management to 25,000 students and individuals. Bittel has more than 35 years of clinical and executive leadership experience in the areas of special education, rehabilitation, and developmental disabilities.

Gandara Center
147 Norman St., West Springfield, MA 01089
(413) 736-8329
www.gandaracenter.org
Dr. Henery East-Trou, CEO
Focusing on the Latino/Hispanic community, Gandara Center provides substance-abuse recovery, mental-health, and housing services for men, women, children, adolescents, and families throughout the Pioneer Valley.

Litron Inc.
207 Bowles Road, Agawam, MA 01001
(413) 789-0700
www.litron.com
Mark Plasso, President
Litron was founded in 1997 as a laser welding and laser systems company, but has grown to incorporate four distinct, yet interrelated, divisions: open-air laser welding, laser systems, microwave electronic packaging, and glovebox hermetic sealing. The company services the aerospace, medical, and industrial markets.

The Markens Group
1350 Main St., Suite 1508, Springfield, MA 01103
(413) 686-9199
www.markens.com
Ben Markens, President
Markens has guided hundreds of businesses toward excellence since 1988. It provides services in strategic management, profit planning, sales and marketing, mergers and acquisitions, and more.

Moriarty & Primack, P.C.
One Monarch Place, Springfield, MA 01144
(413) 739-1800
www.mass-cpa.com
Jay Primack, CEO
While audit and tax services continue to be a dominant aspect of the accounting firmís business, practice professionals also provide a wide range of services in the areas of tax-planning and tax-compliance services.

NetLogix Inc.
181 Notre Dame St., Westfield, MA 01085
(413) 586-2777
www.netlgx.com
Marco Liquori, President
NetLogix offers a wide range of IT services, including equipment sales; managed network services and remote monitoring; network design, installation, and management; network security and firewalls; disaster-recovery and business-continuity services; VoIP; wi-fi; and more.

NUVO Bank & Trust Co.
1500 Main St., Springfield, MA 01115
(413) 787-2700
www.nuvobank.com
M. Dale Janes, CEO
Chartered in 2007, NUVO is an independent, locally owned bank that provides loans, deposits, and cash-management services for both personal-banking and business-banking needs.

O’ConnelL CARE AT HOME & HEALTHCARE STAFFING
14 Bobala Road, Suite 1B, Holyoke, MA 01040
(413) 533-1030
www.opns.com
Francis O’Connell, President
For more than two decades, O’Connell Care at Home and Healthcare Staffing has grown to deliver the a wide range of home health care and staffing services across the Pioneer Valley. Services range from nursing care and geriatric health care management to advocacy and transportation.

PC Enterprises / Entre Computer
138 Memorial Ave., West Springfield, MA 01089
(413) 736-2112
www.pc-enterprises.com
Norman Fiedler, CEO
PC Enterprises (d/b/a Entre Computer) assists organizations with procuring, installing, troubleshooting, servicing, and maximizing the value of technology. In business since 1983, it and continues to evolve and grow as a lead provider for many businesses, health care providers, retailers, and state, local, and education entities.

Pioneer Spine & Sports Physicians
271 Park St., West Springfield, MA 01089
(413) 785-1153
www.spinesports.com
Dr. Scott Cooper, CEO
The practice specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of neurologic and musculoskeletal disorders. While best-known for expertise in sports medicine and spine care, it treats a wide variety of conditions. In addition to routine non-operative care, the practice also provides the latest in minimally invasive and reconstructive surgery of the spine.

Robert F. Scott Co., Inc.
467 Longmeadow St., Longmeadow, MA 01106
(413) 567-7089
Leonard Rising III, President
Robert F. Scott Co. Inc. (known as Longmeadow Garage) is a locally owned and operated full-service gasoline and automotive service station. Its staff includes ASE-certified technicians well-versed in all makes and models.

Samuel’s
1000 West Columbus Ave., Springfield, MA 01105
(413) 732-7267
www.samuelstavern.com
Edward Grimaldi, CEO
Located at the Basketball Hall of Fame, Samuels is a sports bar that takes as its motto “It’s better to eat in a bar than to drink in a restaurant,” and backs it up with a menu strong on new American cuisine, seafood, tapas, and an extensive selection of wine and other drinks.

YWCA Of Western Massachusetts
One Clough St., Springfield, MA 01118
(413) 733-7100
www.springfieldy.org
Mary Johnson, Executive Director
The YWCA is a worldwide organization seeking to bring women of diverse backgrounds together to work toward a common vision of peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all people. The YWCA of Western Massachusetts is a private, not-for-profit charitable corporation and a certified woman-owned business.

The Place to Be

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

Features

Scenes from a lively Western Mass Business Expo

Click here to download PDF:WMBExpoPhotoPagesBW1011b

Opinion

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

Opinion

Are Background Checks Discriminatory?

In two hearings held earlier this year, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) heard testimony about whether or not background checks cause a disparate impact on minorities.
Advocates for ex-offenders and various watchdog groups from around the country argue that it must, because African-Americans and Latinos have higher arrest and conviction rates than whites. Although the EEOC claimed its hearings to be fair and unbiased, many critics have argued that the panelists invited to speak were strongly biased in favor of limiting background checks.
The commissioner heard testimony from defense attorneys, various academics, and two employers who had positive experiences hiring ex-offenders.
In a letter to the EEOC sent from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR), Commissioners Peter Kirsanow, Gail Heriot, and Todd Gaziano asserted that the hearings were not balanced and that the omission of important data was a mistake.
The commissioners said the EEOC should have heard important research from economists Harry Holzer and Stephen Rafael, as well as public-policy professor Michael Stoll. Their research, published in the Journal of Law and Economics, showed that employers with access to background checks were actually about 10% more likely to hire minorities than those without access to that information.
The commissioners wrote that the studies from Holzer, Rafael, and Stoll “suggest that, in the absence of criminal-background checks, some employers discriminate statistically against black men and/or those with weak employment records.”
The USCCR commissioners have asked the EEOC to convene another hearing specifically to look at this additional information and to consider the negative impact that limiting background checks would have on minorities.
What should employers do? The discussion in Washington and around the country will continue, hopefully in a fair and balanced way that all sides can agree with. When it concludes, it is possible that the EEOC may revise its existing guidance or simply leave it alone. That doesn’t mean that employers should just wait it out. With increased attention on this matter and a surge in lawsuits claiming discrimination, now is the time for employers to look carefully at their policies and procedures regarding background checks.
Employers should always ensure that hiring decisions are made consistently. When negative information returned on a background check is considered, employers should be careful to weigh the job-relatedness of the crime and the amount of time passed since the completion of the sentence.
Some employers also look to consider additional factors such as any positive work experience since the sentence, references, or civic activity.
The Employers Association of the NorthEast (EANE) will be hosting a Webinar about this topic on Nov. 30 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. Employers interested in attending can register by visiting www2.gotomeeting.com/register/531504930.

John McTighe is vice president of Strategic Information Resources, a background-screening company based in Springfield; (800) 813-4381; [email protected]

Editorial

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

Opinion

Idea Mill Points Way to a Vibrant Holyoke

“Being down at the bottom gives you the chance to come back.”
That was one of the many messages that John Geraci, who has launched several Internet-based startups, left with participants at Idea Mill (see cover story, page 38). He was addressing an audience of entrepreneurs, business leaders, city-planning experts, and others interested in seeing Holyoke make exactly that kind of comeback.
‘Down at the bottom’ may have been a harsh way to put it, but it’s undeniable that this unique community — one of the nation’s first planned industrial cities, with a central manufacturing district built along a series of canals — has seen better days; it still ranks among the poorest cities in Massachusetts, and many of those formerly bustling mills have been vacant for decades.
But change is in the air.
Local economic-development officials have been talking about the rise of an Innovation District along the canals, and city leaders are buoyed by the ongoing development of the high-performance computing center that won’t produce many jobs, but will surely raise the city’s profile in attracting other high-tech businesses.
Idea Mill, which brought together a few dozen visionaries to discuss Holyoke’s potential, further focused those goals by emphasizing, throughout the day, the concept of ‘entrepreneutial density,’ the idea that many innovative companies, startups and established firms alike, working in one area raises the bar for all of them — not just through competition, but collaboration as well.
The idea of CEOs discussing current projects and future ideas among one another wasn’t the paradigm 20 years ago, said Baer Tierkel, another serial entrepreneur, but that kind of shared passion can be the lifeblood for a growing economy — in this case, one that could spring up in the old mill buildings along the canals.
That’s why another recurring theme at Idea Mill was promoting those buildings themselves, and convincing entrepreneurs to see them not as relics from a long-ago past, but living real estate with a palpable sense of history mingled with a modern, funky vibe. Many businesses have already caught on — the success of Open Square, where the conference was held, speaks to that — but event organizers believe the Innovation District can be so much more.
There’s plenty to be excited about in the Paper City these days, from the high-performance computing center to the possibility of a large resort casino. But what the speakers at Idea Mill made abundantly clear is that the city’s fortune won’t rise on technology itself, or any individual building project, but on people with passion and a vision, competing with each other while collaborating on something greater: a new, vibrant Holyoke.
We’ve said many times that economic development and job growth in this region will come organically. It will happen the same way it happened 200 years ago, with entrepreneurs taking concepts for new products and turning them into businesses. There are many ways to foster entrepreurship, and one of them is to relate success stories that happened here (complete with the challenges and struggles that are part and parcel to each of those stories) with the hope that they will inspire others who want to choose that path, and convince them that they don’t have to move to Cambridge or Silicon Valley to achieve those dreams.
That’s what Idea Mill is all about, and we consider it an exciting addition to the many endeavors taking place in the Valley to inspire the vision and entrepreneurial daring it will take to transform Holyoke and the entire region.
And that’s an idea worth developing.

Taking Flight

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

From left, Mike Burns, Richard Sullivan, former Westfield mayor and current state secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, and Gov. Deval Patrick.

Features

Westfield Scores Big with Planned Corporate Expansion at Barnes Airport

From left, Mike Burns, Richard Sullivan, former Westfield mayor and current state secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, and Gov. Deval Patrick.

At the recent ceremony marking the official announcement of Gulfstream Aerospace Corps’ expansion of its service facility at Barnes Municipal Airport, Mayor Dan Knapik jokingly told the crowd that he and other members of his staff in City Hall “can finally sleep at night.”
With a couple of gleaming white jets as a backdrop, the event in Hangar 2 had all of the customary dignitaries in attendance, from Gov. Deval Patrick, who remembered fondly his use of a G5 while working in the private sector, to U.S. Sens. Scott Brown and John Kerry. And there was good reason to celebrate: the planned new facility will be a $20 million, state-of-the-art service hangar, adding 100 new jobs to the company’s operations in Westfield, a nearly 80% increase in its current workforce.
Talking to BusinessWest after the event, Knapik said that Gulfstream had been looking at their other existing locations throughout the U.S. as possible sites, and he said that he was at times fearful of losing out to Appleton, Wis., the location of another Gulfstream service center.
“If you look at that location on Google Earth,” he said of the company’s facility at Outagamie County Regional Airport, “you just see how much geographic space there is there.”
But, as every one of the speakers at the ceremony mentioned, it was the existing local workforce that was the ultimate factor in Gulfstream’s decision to choose Westfield.
Also joining the mayor and governor to address the attendees were Mark Burns, president of Gulfstream Product Support; Fran Ahern, general manager of the Westfield facility; state Sen. Michael Knapik, and State Reps. John Olver and Don Humason, the latter of whom is also the chair of the Mass. Legislative Aviation Caucus.
Ahern credited his staff for their commitment to a job well done, with customer service as an equal priority. And the executives at Gulfstream had also taken notice.
“This is one of the strongest facilities that we have,” Burns said that day. “It is because of our employees. Our employee team is customer-committed to continuous improvement, and that has been a key factor in our decision to expand here.
“Throughout our product-support network, our team has continued to build and grow,” he continued. “And our customers tell us repeatedly that this team of people, and our others that service and support them every day, is the number-one product-support organization in all of business aviation.”
It isn’t often that the strength of a company’s workforce can tilt the scales in such a way, but with such sentiments as those from Gulfstream’s brass, and the tireless efforts of Westfield’s politicians, the future at Barnes just got an all clear for takeoff.

Up, Up, and Away
As a company, Gulfstream itself is ready for liftoff. The Savannah, Ga. headquarters is currently undergoing a seven-year expansion plan, estimated at $500 million, with a proposed 1,000 new jobs, increasing its size by 15%.
What started out in the late 1950s as Grumman Aircraft Engineering — with a new name inspired by the current that flows along the coast of Florida, a favored spot of then-company executives — Gulfstream jets are considered the last word in aviation. As of last year, Gulfstreams are in operation with one-quarter of all Fortune 500 companies.
Constantly updating the technical prowess of its aircraft means that Gulfstream is moving at nearly sonic speed. Actually, its two newest models, the G280 and the G650, are capable of Mach .85 and Mach .925, respectively. The company has more than 2,200 jets in service presently, Burns said, adding that that there are already 200 orders for the G650, the company’s largest, fastest, and most expensive craft.
The need for the expansion in Westfield is a direct result of this stratospheric success and the need for service for those latest models. “And simply put,” Burns said to the crowd, “we need more space. We need more hangars to work on these airplanes. And we need more technicians — highly skilled employees to help us keep these airplanes flying each and every day.”
In a printed memo from the company, Burns explained how the expansion is in direct response to the company’s high-flying success. “In the second quarter,” he wrote, “we had the largest number of orders for new aircraft since the economic downturn began. At the same time, flying hours have increased, resulting in record-setting service demand. This expansion is part of our long-range plan to ensure our service network remains well-positioned to serve our customers and our growing installed fleet.”
Groundbreaking for the new, 100,000-square-foot facility, to be built adjacent to the existing 85,000-square-foot Gulfstream branch in Westfield, is slated for next April. Burns said that the hope is for the hangar to be fully operational by early 2013, and the company is already in the process of hiring for those new jobs.
“The new 100 jobs that we’ll be adding are high-quality, high-paying jobs,” he said. “These are the kinds of jobs that lift up communities. These are the types of jobs that add to the economic base of a community — not just here in Westfield, but the surrounding communities.”

Net Jets
This latest good fortune at Barnes improves upon an already-solid operation. The Mass. Statewide Airport Economic Impact Study states that the airport generates $69 million of total economic output for the region.
In addition to everyone who was given credit for their efforts, and rousing rounds of applause on the day of the ceremony, Westfield city officials have been tireless in their quest to bring this expansion to the Whip City. After securing a $1.4 million Economic Development Incentive Program tax credit from Beacon Hill, Westfield passed a $4.2 million tax-incentive financing plan for Gulfstream with the goal of bringing this project to fruition. While the company will save money throughout that 15-year time period, the city can still expect to receive $4 million in new property taxes.
Additionally, Patrick announced a $3 million grant from the state DOT’s aeronautics division to the city of Westfield to, in his words, “support Gulfstream’s growth through improvements in the roadways along the airport perimeter and a new parking apron.”
And while the event in Hangar 2 had all the trappings of the standard ribbon-cutting ceremony, the VIPs and politicians were outnumbered by the men and women wearing Gulfstream uniforms. As all the men on the panel said, the city worked hard to get the new facility, as did the State House. But one of the biggest reasons for the expansion in Westfield was due to the track record that this workforce can boast.
Ahern summed up his comments at the podium by mentioning the 13 years that Gulfstream has been at Barnes, and the excellent working relationship with the city and airport managerial staff. “Our values, our internal culture of continuous improvement, our employees’ continued desire to exceed our customers’ expectations,” he added, “have all allowed us to be here today.”
In response to the jet-set brass seated next to him, Knapik finished his remarks by noting, “mostly, what I want to say to the men and women who perform the work up here is thank you. One of the consistent messages that I’d always heard from Fran and the folks at Gulfstream is how well you do your job. It is because of you that we are here today.”

PictureThis

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

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]

Spreading the Word

ReadAloud1

At top, Doug Bowen, right, president of Holyoke-based PeoplesBank, was the featured reader at the Link to Libraries Celebrity Read Aloud 2011-12 academic year program. Bowen read at Sullivan Elementary School in Holyoke to a most attentive and excited group of fifth-graders. Having grown up in the city, his presentation included a discussion with the students on the importance of being good readers and students, and what living and working in the community means to him both personally and professionally. Bowen is seen here with John Breish, principal of the Sullivan School, and several fifth-grade students.

ReadAloudGOB

Below, BusinessWest editor George O’Brien, left, was a guest reader earlier this month at the White Street School in Springfield. He’s seen here with fourth-grade teacher Jay Brunt and his class. For more information on the initiative, visit www.linktolibraries.org.

Chamber Corners: Upcoming Events

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

Chamber Corners Departments

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

• Nov. 2: Business @ Breakfast, 7:15 to 9 a.m., The Cedars, Springfield. The monthly breakfast pays tribute to individuals, businesses, and organizations for major contributions to civic and economic growth and for actions which reflect honor on the region. The breakfast gives your company exposure to business owners, upper management, and salespeople. To register, contact Cecile Larose at [email protected]

• Nov. 9: ACCGS After 5, 5 to 7 p.m., Fran Johnson’s, 1050 Riverdale St., West Springfield. Network, build relationships, and forge strategic partnerships. The After 5 offers business professionals from diverse industries an opportunity to exchange business leads while socializing in a casual atmosphere. To register, contact Cecile Larose at [email protected]

• Nov. 9: PWC November Meeting, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Basketball Hall of Fame, Springfield. Speaker: Jamie Williamson, MCAD Commissioner, presenting “Up the Ladder, The Public Sector.” To register, contact Lynn Johnson at (413) 755-1310 or [email protected]

Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce
www.amherstarea.com
(413) 253-0700

• Nov. 16: After 5, 5 to 7 p.m., Chandler’s Restaurant at Yankee Candle Village, South Deerfield. Cost: $5 for members, $10 for non-members. Register online at www.amherstarea.com

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

• Nov. 16: November Salute Breakfast, 7:15 to 9 a.m., Summit View Banquet & Meeting House. Cost: $19 for members, $26 for non-members. Register online at www.chicopeechamber.org

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

• Nov. 2: Taming the Social Media Beast, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., UMass Amherst Campus Center, Room 1011. To register, contact Heidi at [email protected] or (888) 865-1244.

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

• Nov. 2: Arrive @5, 5 to 7 p.m., Northampton Brewery, 11 Brewster Court, Northampton. A casual mix and mingle with colleagues and friends. Register online at www.explorenorthampton.com

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

• Nov. 2: WestNet After 5 networking event, 5 to 7 p.m., Westfield Bank, 300 Southampton Road, Westfield. Great networking opportunity, so bring business cards. Cost: $10 for members, $15 for non-members.

• Nov. 7: Coffee Hour with Mayor Daniel Knapik, 8 to 9 a.m., Tiger’s Pride, Westfield Vocational & Technical High School, 33 Smith Ave., Westfield.

• Nov. 17: Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner, 6 p.m. cocktail hour followed by dinner and award presentations from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., School Street Bistro, 10 School St., Westfield. Awards include: Large Business of the Year, Westfield State University; Small Business of the Year, Pioneer Valley Railroad; Businesswoman of the Year, Cathy Gendreau, owner of Peppermill Catering, LLC; Businessman of the Year, Bruce Turcotte, CFO of Columbia Manufacturing, Inc.; Don Blair Community Service Award, John Whalley III. Cost: $45 for members, $50 for non-members.

Building Permits

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

Building Permits Departments

The following building permits were issued during the month of October 2011.

AGAWAM

Coopers Commons, LLC
159 Main St.
$77,500 — Interior and exterior renovations

Southgate Properties, LLC
830 Suffield St.
$200,000 — New roof and steel decking

Suffield Street Partners, LLP
62-64 Gold St.
$32,000 — Interior upgrade for warehouse use

CHICOPEE

Curry Realty, LLC
765 Memorial Dr.
$3,819,000 — Construction of a 12,454-square-foot addition and renovation of existing

Jeffrey J. Campbell, Inc.
649 Meadow St.
$21,000 — Storage addition

John Salema
751 Meadow St.
$85,000 — Renovate interior of sales area and restrooms

Main Street Property
340 McKinstry Ave.
$13,500 — Interior renovation for new tenant

LUDLOW

Oak Tree Inn
782 Center St.
$5,000 — New deck

NORTHAMPTON

Billmar Corporation
330 North King St.
$104,000 — Addition and renovations

Leachate Treatment Facility
170 Glendale Road
$30,000 — Mount radiator and reinstall engine

SPRINGFIELD

Diocese of Springfield
405 Boston Road
$148,500 — New roof

Humra Nseem
806 Main St.
$3,000 — Exterior repairs

Robert Flanagan
67 Allen St.
$42,000 — New roof

Mark Patel
154 Island Pond Road
$15,000 — New roof

Phoenix House of New England
15 Mulberry St.
$54,000 — Install replacement windows

SHA
20 Lafrance St.
$100,000 — Renovate community room at Moxon Apartments

Tom McCarthy
357 Cottage St.
$20,000 — Install 35 replacement windows and roof repairs

WEST

Aldo Bertera F.L.P.
40 Larone Ave.
$625,000 — Erect a 7,140-square-foot auto detailing shop

380 Union Street Inc.
380 Union St.
$105,000 — New roof

United Methodist Church
802 Main St.
$150,000 — Repair tornado damage

Bankruptcies

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

Bankruptcies Departments

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

Alvarado, Nancy I.
a/k/a Fleury, Nancy I.
17 Adams St., Apt. 1R
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/11

Avery, Judith
156 South Road
Peru, MA 01235
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/11

Barrett, Jayme E.
89 Midway St.
Indian Orchard, MA 01151
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/13/11

Basile, Diane M.
7 Orchard St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/11

Belanger, William J.
6 Kenway Dr.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/11

Berkshire Environmental
Cinescape The Winter Palace
Gray, William H.
Gray, Carol J.
19 Bishop Estate Road
Lenox, MA 01240
Chapter: 11
Filing Date: 09/12/11

Bertera, Debra A.
a/k/a Peet, Debra Ann
34 Gladsworth St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/11

Brunelle, Joel David
10 Ridge Ave.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/11

Bucchiere, David
139 Union St., Unit 18
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/11

Caribe, Maria E.
175 Walnut St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/11

Carr, William Michael
Carr, Megan Kathleen
a/k/a Murphy, Megan Kathleen
102 Clark St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/11

Cartagena, Maria T.
1335 Dwight St., Apt. 2R
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/11

Chernock, Barry S.
Chernock, Debra E.
82 Merriweather Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/11

Chofay, James J.
Chofay, Marianne E.
a/k/a Hines, Marianne
a/k/a Cirelli, Maryanne E.
84 Riverboat Village Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/11

Christie, Nancy J.
16 Joyce St., Apt. 20
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/11

Davis, Nathaniel T.
Davis, Dawnelle
a/k/a Bolden, Dawnelle
144 Ferncliff Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/11

DeSantis, Kathryn Marie
38 North St., Apt. 1
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/11

Deyo, Floyd T.
5 Christian Hill Road
Great Barrington, MA 01230
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/11

Deyo, Karin A.
a/k/a Kell, Karin A.
5 Christian Hill Road
Great Barrington, MA 01230
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/11

Dipietro, Fallon
192 Benedict Road
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/11

Easthampton Travel
Tessier, Richard J.
14 Arrowhead Dr.
Hadley, MA 01035
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/11

Engley, Ann M.
7 Ave. C
Turners Falls, MA 01376
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/11

Feen, Mark D.
Feen, Cynthia J.
46 Wilmont St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/11

Ferreira, Michael A.
491 Winsor St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/11

Flagg, Henry E.
45 Quail Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/11

Forcier, Connie M.
a/k/a Miller, Connie
55 L St.
Turners Falls, MA 01376
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/11

Fotiadis, Dimitrios
10 Wrentham Road, Apt. 21
Worcester, MA 01602
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/11

Gladu, Jeffrey D.
Gladu, Melissa J.
55 Irene St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/11

Gonzalez, Jesus
750 White St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/11

Gonzalez, Jose M.
14 Wilber St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/11

Gonzalez, Pamela B.
a/k/a Bongiovanni, Pamela
118 Maple St
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/11

Greene, Barry L.
Greene, Lana M.
7 Victorian Dr.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/11

Grimaldi, Juliann Elizabeth
56 Cherry St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/11

Hemingway, George Warren
Hemingway, Denise Faye
39 Montague St.
Turners Falls, MA 01376
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/11

Henry, Vicki M.
2007 Palmer Road
Three Rivers, MA 01080
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/11

Hooker, John
139 Union St., Unit 18
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/11

Jones, Brian W.
Jones, Tiffany B.
116 Hampton Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/11

Laflamme, Francis M.
1154 Montgomery St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/11

Lapierre, Rena Dianne
31 South St., Apt. B
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/11

Leboeuf, Colleen M.
7 Park Ave.
Monson, MA 01057
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/11

McGale, Terry A.
13 Charpentier Blvd.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/11

Medina, Mireya
89 Longhill St., Apt. 4
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/11

Mimitz, Kasandra L.
491 Bridge Road, Apt. 1401
Florence, MA 01062
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/11

Mitchell, Donald E.
698 Mill St.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/11

Mitchell, Guilia L.
a/k/a Rovinski, Guilia L.
698 Mill St.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/11

Motta, Darlene B.
47 Shearer St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/11

Ordonez, Philip T.
50 Marengo Park
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/06/11

O’Rourke, William
O’Rourke, Joanne
473 Homestead Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/11

Pannozzo, Lori A.
11 Maple Lawn Dr.
Monson, MA 01057
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/11

Parrish, Jeffrey S.
87 Saint James Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/11

Perkins, Christopher S.
Perkins, Magaly C.
50 Baldwin Dr.
Hampden, MA 01036
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/14/11

Phillips, Richard E.
31 Old Post Road
Worthington, MA 01098
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/11

Pinnock, Kurt
50 Campechi St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/02/11

Prue, Kevin A.
512 Pinedale Ave.
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/13/11

Roberts, Nelson C.
38 South Longyard Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/11

Rock, MaryAnne F.
47R Thomas St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/11

Rzeszutek, Randall J.
3 Gross Lane
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/11

Sanchez, Carlos A.
Sanchez, Rosibel
a/k/a Mejia, Ursula R.
42 Pine St.
ittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/06/11

Shepardson, Kevin B.
Shepardson, Mary L.
139 Appleton Ave.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/11

Skala, Lois B.
7 Ridgewood Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/11

Smithies, Hector I.
PO Box 221
Westfield, MA 01086
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/11

Sperlonga, Torey A.
3 Pinnacle Dr.
Adams, MA 01220
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/06/11

Sutton, Joseph L.
Sutton, JoAnne
12 Oriole Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/11

Trow, Mary Lou
31 Village Park Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/11

Warren, Diane M.
59 Stearns Terrace
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/11

Western Mass Shipping, Inc.
BF, Inc.
Goin Postal
Brooks, Frank C.
Brooks, Fumie
282 Narragansett Blvd.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/11

Whalen, Michael C.
23 Britton St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/11

Doing Business as Certificates

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

DBA Certificates Departments

The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of October 2011.

AGAWAM

Alex Zmaczynski
604 North Westfield St.
Alex Zmaczynski

Joan M. Luchini
299 Walnut St.
Joan M. Luchini

Sullivan Property Preserve, LLC
146 Adams St.
Alexander Sullivan

CHICOPEE

KNT Computer
1880 Memorial Dr.
Tue A. Bui

New England Blend
192 Montgomery St.
Richard F. Freitag Jr.

New Image Construction & Remodeling
17 High St.
Jeremy Dion

LUDLOW

Bernard Cabinetry
330 Ventura St.
James Bernard

Hair West Designs
322 West Ave.
Christine Peacey

Ludlow Travel Agency
176 Wenson St.
Maria Malaguias

NORTHAMPTON

360 Background Solutions
209 Cardinal Way
David Reinhart

Dan Gough Painting
69 Bridge Road
Daniel McGough

J.D. Powers Property Management, LLC
92 Glendale Road
David Powers

Pawjamas
557 Easthampton Road
Debra Wysock

Shiva Shakti Power Vinyasa Yoga
17 Strong Ave.
Brandon Compagnone

Silver Impressions
98 Pleasant St.
Anna King

The Taxi Inc.
One Roundhouse Plaza
Chester Krusiewski

SPRINGFIELD

5th Avenue Jewelry
1655 Boston Road
Hyun C. Kim

Adam Beshara Inc.
479 Breckwood Blvd.
Adam J. Beshara

Alice McGrath
52 Canterbury Road
Alice J. McGrath

BWF Inc.
354 Main St.
Joseph M. Pafumi

Byte Bak Computers
20 Dartmouth St.
Kimberly J. Gavin

Christian Brothers Builders
195 Arcadia Blvd.
Gary W. Pippin

Cotto’s Power Washing Inc.
16 Tyler St.
Alexander Cotto

Defy Dravity
1655 Main St.
Raul Roman

East Coast Advertising
106 Pasco Road
Jason Avezzie

Ebony Hill Web Design
111 Florida St.
Derrick A. Hill

El Mariachi Loco
607-609 Page Blvd.
Reyna Farnham

Envy Nails
1777 Boston Road
Loan Nguyen

Gamers Galaxy, LLC
494 Central St.
Otto W. Anthony

Le’Buddies Helping Hands
62 Whittier St.
Althea Carter

Lucky 7 Cleaner
1003 St. James Ave.
Young Y. Choi

WEST SPRINGFIELD

BCS Performance
161 Wayside Ave.
Jason Brazee

Bertera Flat
657 Riverdale St.
Bertera Foreign Motors Corporation

Debron’s Full Service Salon
242 Westfield St.
Deborah L. Scharmann

Law Office of Gerard B. Matthews
1252 Elm St.
Gerard B. Matthews

Montessori Children’s House
118 Riverdale St.
David Ruggiera

New England Estate Sales and Service
38 Neptune Ave.
Peter Zaitz

Online Fabric Store
333 Park St.
Mayer A. Kahan

Ralph’s Express
1900 Westfield St.
Ralph E. Figueroa

Red’s Towing and Service Center
1528 Riverdale St.
Gary B. Sheehan

Wag’n Tails Doggy Daycare
91 Westwood Dr.
Marylynn C. Murray

Company Notebook

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

Company Notebook Departments

Mercy Joins HNE’s Medicare Advantage Provider Network
SPRINGFIELD — Health New England (HNE) recently announced that Mercy Medical Center has become a part of its Medicare Advantage provider network. Any HNE member, regardless of product, can now access the services available at Mercy Medical Center. The hospital and physicians of the Sisters of Providence Health System (SPHS), which Mercy is a part of, have been in HNE’s commercial and Mass Health product networks for several years, and HNE is the health-insurance provider for the employees of SPHS. “HNE is excited about the extension of our partnership with SPHS,” said Peter Straley, HNE president and CEO. “We know that one of the most important components of any health-insurance product is the network of hospitals and physicians available to the members. This addition to our Medicare Advantage provider network enables us to be a viable option for all Medicare beneficiaries in our region.” Daniel Moen, SPHS president and CEO, echoed those sentiments. “Mercy Medical Center welcomes this opportunity to further our relationship with HNE,” he said. “Mercy’s participation as a member of the HNE Medicare Advantage provider network ensures that Medicare beneficiaries in our region are able to access the high-quality, high-value care at Mercy, no matter which Medicare plan they choose for health care coverage.”

Hampden Bank Offers Second Chance Mortgage
SPRINGFIELD — Hampden Bank has announced the availability of a new mortgage product specifically designed for those whose credit has been adversely affected by the recession. Robert Michel, senior vice president of retail lending, noted that the Second Chance Mortgage is a viable solution for those deemed ‘not bankable’ during these difficult economic times but who are working conscientiously to rebuild their credit. “Whether it’s directly due to the recession, job loss, bankruptcy, reduction of income, or other life events, such as divorce or illness, we know there are many good, hardworking people out there who, for one reason or another, have taken a serious hit in recent times,” he said. “We also know that many of these same people have been working hard to re-establish their credit, and we feel they at least deserve a second look and perhaps a second chance.” Michel added that the Second Chance Mortgage “could be the solution to get them back into home ownership.” Specific underwriting criteria must be met, and qualification will be determined on a case-by-case basis, with previous strong credit history and current ability to repay being major considerations.

Monson Savings Bank Wins SBA Award
MONSON — The Small Business Administration (SBA) recently announced that Monson Savings Bank has won the Lender of the Quarter Award for the third quarter of fiscal year 2011. The award was given to the bank in recognition of its “excellent” SBA activity for the quarter, according to Steven Lowell, president of Monson Savings. The bank had six SBA loan approvals from April 1 through June 30, which ranked it in the ‘Top 15 SBA Lenders in the State’ category. Additionally, the bank tripled its overall SBA activity since 2010 with 18 loans through the first three quarters of the SBA fiscal year. “We are very pleased to be able to help so many customers by leveraging the SBA lending programs,” said Lowell. “I’m not surprised we are ahead of so many larger banks statewide in this arena, because we specialize in working with small and mid-sized businesses.”

Companies Partner to Provide Cobiax Product for Miami Art Museum
LUDLOW — Meredith-Springfield Associates Inc. recently announced its partnership with Barker Steel, LLC to provide high-tech materials for the new, $220 million Miami Art Museum (MAM). Meredith-Springfield is a plastic-extrusion blow-molding manufacturing and engineering company that manufactured thousands of spheres from recycled plastic which were set into steel wire cages for Barker Steel, the licensed distributor for the Cobiax voided concrete system, headquartered in Milford. The wire cages and spheres were shipped in tower-crane-ready bundles for use in concrete slabs in the construction of the MAM. With Cobiax building units, the building slabs are up to 35% lighter than solid flat concrete slabs, and present up to 15% less load on foundations, which allows increased freedom for structural conception. “This type of building system also allows for up to 20-meter spans with no obstructing beams, which amounts to 40% fewer columns,” said Mel O’Leary, president and CEO of Meredith-Springfield. “By using spherical-resin products, strategically encased in concrete with reinforcing steel, one can leave out as much concrete as possible while maintaining the full flexural strength of the slab and allowing a biaxial load transfer. The result is overall weight reduction, increased seismic performance, cost reduction, and environmental sustainability.” The MAM design involves large spans of floor and ceiling without the typical number of columns so that the view from sea to land or vice versa is not completely obstructed. The museum building itself, totaling 120,000 square feet at the core, includes a wide stair connecting the platform to the sea and a promenade. The hanging gardens from ceiling to floor are not interrupted by numerous columns, and the building becomes part of the shoreline and helps visitors gradually transition from Miami’s tropical climate to the museum’s more regulated interior.

Study Rates MassMutual #1in Satisfaction
SPRINGFIELD — In Boston Research Group’s 2011 Defined Contribution Plan (DCP) Retirement Advisor Satisfaction and Loyalty Study, MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division earned the number-one overall satisfaction rating from retirement-plan advisors among all 17 record keepers in the study. MassMutual scored 13 points higher than its nearest competitor and 28 points above the industry average overall. MassMutual placed in the top quartile in every category ranking and garnered the most number-one ratings among all record keepers in the study, clinching the top rating in each of the following: overall satisfaction, wholesaler accessibility/availability, wholesaler expertise in the retirement services industry, thought leader in the 401(k) industry, partners with you (advisor) for success, marketing assistance (proposals, presentations, seminars), internal wholesaler ability to resolve problems, and making it easy to do business with them. The nationwide survey of retirement advisors was conducted from February to April 2011, and the results of the recordkeeping portion represent 17 leading defined-contribution retirement-plan providers. Findings are based on the percentage of advisors who were ‘very satisfied’ with the record keeper.

Briefcase

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

Briefcase Departments

Colleges Form Partnership on Workforce Training
SPRINGFIELD — Businesses throughout Hampden and Hampshire counties can now access custom-designed workforce training through a partnership between Holyoke Community College (HCC) and Springfield Technical Community College (STCC). TWO — Training & Workforce Options — is a joint endeavor that provides a single source for customized workforce development and training in the region. HCC President Bill Messner noted that the colleges have offered extensive workforce training and development for decades, but now there is one telephone number and easy Web access for this business resource. STCC President Ira Rubenzahl added that TWO will offer a wide range of training, from computer software and certification preparation to manufacturing; from management skills to ESL in the workplace. “Our goal is to make Western Mass. a more desirable place to grow your business,” said Rubenzahl. Messner added that “both colleges have a long-term track record; it makes sense for us to combine and offer greater efficiency.” Classes will be scheduled at the need and desire of the customer, whether immediately or at some preferred time in the future. TWO can also provide distance classes online if that’s more convenient for the individual employees, or provide an instructor at the business address. Debbie Bellucci, dean of the STCC School of Continuing Education and Distance Learning, noted that contract training can be designed based on an individual company’s specific needs and desired outcomes. For more information on TWO, call (413) 755-6100.

UMass Wins Grant to Host $7.5 Million Northeast Climate Science Center
AMHERST — U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar recently announced that UMass Amherst has been chosen to lead a consortium of seven universities and host a major new endeavor, the Northeast Climate Science Center, through a five-year, $7.5 million grant. It will support federal, state, and other agencies by studying the effects of climate change on ecosystems, wildlife, water, and other resources in the region. UMass Amherst and partner institutions in Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York, and Massachusetts will together receive $1.5 million core funding each year for five years, with more project-specific funds available. The Northeast CSC is one of eight established by the Interior Department since Salazar founded the program in 2009. The region includes New England and states west to Minnesota and south to Maryland. “Selecting the locations for the final three of our eight climate science centers is a major milestone in our efforts to implement our department-wide climate-change strategy,” Salazar said. “The nationwide network of climate science centers will provide the scientific talent and commitment necessary for understanding how climate change and other landscape stressors will change the face of the U.S., and how the Department of the Interior, as our nation’s chief steward of natural and cultural resources, can prepare and respond.” Specific challenges could include climate impacts on water resources, agriculture and grazing, fish and wildlife responses to climate change, forest resilience, invasive species, protecting migratory fish and waterfowl, sea-level rise, coastal erosion, flood management, and water quality. Funded research is only one benefit of being named a CSC. The designation also positions the university for a future leadership role in regional and national climate research, according to Michael Malone, UMass Amherst vice chancellor for research and engagement. Principal investigator of the new CSC at UMass Amherst is Richard Palmer, head of Civil and Environmental Engineering, with co-principal investigators Raymond Bradley, distinguished university professor and director of the Climate System Research Center; Curt Griffin, professor of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation and co-director of the Environmental Sciences Program; and Keith Nislow, wildlife and fish team leader of the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station. Bradley noted there is a pressing need for information on how climate change will affect conditions at the local level, which requires studies using high-resolution climate models. “Most studies so far provide broad-scale assessments at the national level,” he said, “but resource managers need more detailed information that is relevant to their specific problems. One of our goals for the new center is to develop this capability.” Palmer said that, to win this major federal recognition, UMass Amherst and its partner institutions demonstrated that they offer unparalleled research strengths and established multi-disciplinary collaborations spanning the Northeast region needed to carry out research on specific regional climate-change effects. Graduate students from many UMass Amherst departments and undergraduates in the Commonwealth Honors College will be involved in the Northeast CSC, including a possible exchange program with other regional centers. In addition to UMass Amherst, other Northeast CSC members are the University of Wisconsin Madison, the University of Missouri Columbia, the University of Minnesota, the College of Menominee Nation in Keshena, Wis., the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass., and Columbia University in New York City. According to the Department of the Interior, the eight regional climate science centers extend from a hub at the National Climate Change and Wildlife Center at the U.S. Geological Survey national headquarters. In addition to Interior Department bureaus such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service, other federal cooperating agencies taking part in the CSC program are the U.S. Forest Service and NOAA. State, tribal, landowner, and non-governmental organization interests also will be engaged in identifying science priorities for the CSCs. Other climate science centers are located in Alaska, the Pacific Islands, and the Northwest, Southwest, North Central, South Central, and Southeast regions of the U.S.

UMass Amherst Cops $3M Grant for Science, Math Teacher Development
AMHERST — The School of Education at the UMass Amherst has received a six-year, $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to create a network that helps train and retain science and mathematics teachers for middle and high schools in Western Mass. The project addresses the critical need for middle- and high-school science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers through collaboration between UMass Amherst educators — and researchers from the School of Education and the colleges of Natural Sciences and Engineering — and mathematics and science administrators from regional school districts. The participating schools include the Springfield, Holyoke, and Greenfield public schools and the Mahar Regional School District in Orange. The Amherst-based Hitchcock Center for the Environment, a nonprofit organization focused on the professional development of teachers and the education of young people in the sciences, is a key partner in this project. The program is designed to encourage talented students and professionals to pursue teaching careers and develop long-term commitments to teaching students in high-needs secondary schools. This grant was accompanied by $1.5 million in matching contributions from the university and project partners. UMass Amherst faculty involved in the grant are Kathleen Davis, Sandra Madden, and Barbara Madeloni, all of the School of Education’s department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies; Stephen Schneider, head of the department of Astronomy in the College of Natural Sciences; and Paula Sturdevant Rees, from the Water Resources Research Center and the College of Engineering. The six-year project supports an engaged community of 20 master teacher fellows — teachers with master’s degrees and demonstrated excellence in teaching currently working in the partner districts — and 20 teaching fellows who are post-baccalaureate students and professionals holding STEM degrees who will earn a teaching credential and teach in a high-needs district. It provides these science and mathematics teachers with community support, licensure, graduate degrees and certificates, and salary supplements while they teach.

Massachusetts Public Higher Ed Enrollment Hits All-time High
BOSTON — The Mass. Department of Higher Education recently released data showing that the state’s public colleges and universities continue to experience substantial enrollment growth, hitting a 10-year record high in 2011. The 2011 Early Enrollment and Long-term Trend Comparisons, presented to the Mass. Board of Higher Education this morning, show a 23% increase in undergraduate enrollment at the state’s community colleges, state universities and University of Massachusetts campuses between fall, 2001 and fall, 2011. The report also shows that selected colleges and universities have witnessed dramatic fall-to-fall enrollment increases in the past year. Framingham State University’s enrollment increased 15%, while Worcester State University’s enrollment grew by 9%. These increases occurred despite a smaller pool of high school graduates across the state due to various demographic changes. “The data tell an important story, namely that our public colleges and universities continue to play a decidedly more important role in educating the future citizens and workforce of the Commonwealth,” said Richard M. Freeland, Commissioner of Higher Education for Massachusetts. “While the numbers are not as dramatic as in recent years, this new analysis shows that our enrollment growth remains consistent and our role in educating the state’s future citizenry and workforce continues to expand.” While the greatest growth in enrollment over the past few years has been at the community college level, this past year saw the highest enrollment increases in the state university segment. Framingham State University President Timothy Flanagan attributes the increase to the university’s own growth plan, accommodation of transfer students, and current economic realities. “Families are seeking value, which they define as high quality academic programs and world class faculty to prepare students for careers and further study,” said Flanagan.

School of Public Health Wins $2.5M Grant, National Recognition
AMHERST — Training to improve the nation’s public health system by strengthening the technical, scientific, managerial, and leadership competence of current and future public-health workers will soon be under way in Springfield, Holyoke, Pittsfield, and the Berkshires, supported by a four-year, $2.5 million grant to the School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPHHS) at UMass Amherst. Dean Marjorie Aelion, with lead faculty investigators Dan Gerber and Stuart Chipkin, recently announced the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services award to the SPHHS at UMass Amherst, which creates a Public Health Training Center on the campus. Similar awards were also given to Yale, Columbia, and Johns Hopkins universities. Through the center, training will be available to 30 current community health workers in Springfield, Holyoke, Pittsfield, and the Berkshires each year over the next four years. Concurrently, 30 UMass Amherst SPHHS undergraduate student interns will be placed in some of the communities to help administer new programs each year.

People On the Move

By BusinessWest Staff October 25, 2011

Departments People on the Move

Yuki Cohen

Yuki Cohen has been named Vice President and Wealth Advisor for the Wealth Management Division of Berkshire Bank in Pittsfield. Cohen will work with a variety of clients and institutions throughout the Berkshire County and Pioneer Valley markets, providing trust-administration and asset-allocation services to wealth-management clients.
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Attorney Karina L. Schrengohst has joined Royal LLP, based in Northampton, focusing her practice in labor law. She will represent unionized employers in court, defending them against unfair labor practice charges, and before administrative agencies, such as the National Labor Relations Board. Also, she will assist clients at arbitrations in matters involving contract interpretation and employee discipline or discharge and advise non-union clients on developing the best practices for maintaining a union-free workplace.
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Shefali Desai has been appointed National Sales Leader of Emerging Markets for MassMutual’s Retirement Services division, based in Springfield. Desai is responsible for leading the division’s 15 sales directors, as well as third-party administrator channel managers targeting small-market retirement plans.
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Ralph F. Abbott Jr.

Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C., with offices in Springfield, Worcester, and Meriden, Conn., has announced that Ralph F. Abbott Jr. has been named the 2012 Springfield Employment Law-Management Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers, a peer-review publication in the legal profession. Abbott has been a member of the firm since 1975. In addition to providing employment-related advice to employers, he assists clients in remaining union-free and represents employers before the National Labor Relations Board.
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Heather Bosworth has joined Park Square Realty’s Westfield office as a Sales Associate.
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Johanna M. LaClair has joined the Insurance Center of New England as a Personal Lines Sales Representative.
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James E. Vinick has been named Treasurer of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield.
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Chicopee Savings Bank announced the following:
• Martha M. Rickson has been named Branch Officer of the West Springfield branch office; and
• Maribel Torres has been named Assistant Vice President of Retail Lending.
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Western New England College in Springfield announced the following:
• Nuno C. Alves has been named Instructor of Electrical and Computer Engineering;
• Anthony E. English has been named Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering;
• Joe A. Riofrio has been named Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering; and
• Brian K. Smith has been named Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering.
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Joseph DaSilva has been named Vice President of Administration at Springfield Technical Community College.
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Florence Savings Bank announced the following promotions:
• Susan A. Pepin-Phillips has been named Vice President of Marketing;
• Shelley M. Daughdrill has been elected Assistant Vice President and Branch Manager;
• Michele Z. Lawrence-Bennett has been named Assistant Vice President and Security Officer;
• Sharon C. Malouin has been elected Audit Officer; and
• Robert E. Teto has been elected Virtual Branch Manager.
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Western New England University in Springfield recently appointed new members of the faculty at the College of Arts and Sciences:
• Eric L. Clark has been named Assistant Professor of Mathematics;
• William R. Force has been named Assistant Professor of Sociology;
• Jacob L. Krans has been named Assistant Professor of Neuroscience;
• Sean P. McClintock has been named Assistant Professor of Chemistry;
• Alexander S. Rosas has been named Assistant Professor of Political Science and Director of the Law and Society program; and
• Heather Stassen-Ferrara has been named Assistant Professor of Communication.

Editorial

By BusinessWest Staff October 14, 2011

Opinion

The Region’s Show of Force

A few weeks back, we referenced how long and difficult this year has been for the region and its business community given all the natural disasters and near-disasters, as well as the lingering recession and its many effects.
Despite all that, we said, there is still much to be proud of and to look forward to as we gauge the strength and diversity of the region’s economy and its prospects for the future. And we’ll get a chance to prove it on Oct. 18 at the MassMutual Center, when the curtain rises on the first Western Mass Business Expo.
Technically, this gathering is a trade show, a business-to-business event featuring the exhibits of more than 130 companies, as well as informational seminars and presentations designed to inform and entertain, and a day-capping networking social. But in reality, it is a celebration of the region’s business community, and we hope that you’ll take part in that celebration.
That’s because, while BusinessWest is producing the expo and the MassMutual Center is hosting it, the event really belongs to the business community, and it will be responsible for providing the energy in the room and, ultimately, the momentum that can be taken from it.
But let’s back up a minute. BusinessWest made the decision to produce this event — and also change its name and character — as part of its ongoing and ever-evolving mission to turn a mirror on the region’s business sector and spotlight the people and the individual companies that define it.
For the better part of two decades, this was done via the printed word, in a monthly and then twice-monthly publication. In recent years, we’ve added special events such as the 40 Under Forty and Difference Makers recognition programs, which salute, respectively, the rising stars and individuals who find new and compelling ways to give back to the community and contribute to quality of life in Western Mass. We’ve also become an active partner with the region’s chambers of commerce, working with them in many ways to bring benefits to members and enable area businesses to become more competitive in today’s global, ultra-competitive marketplace.
The Western Mass Business Expo takes our mission a step further and to a different medium, if you will. We’re still shining a mirror, in many respects, but going much further as well, with informational seminars and programs, and the creation of the networking events aimed at helping area businesses make the all-important connections needed to grow and get to the next level.
As we said, this is a BusinessWest production, but it is really an event owned by the business community. And, ultimately, the success of a trade show isn’t measured by how many companies are exhibiting, but by how much those in attendance can take home with them and how much positive energy the event creates.
We’ve spent the spring and summer creating programs that will provide a number of take-aways for all those in attendance. They feature decision makers and they are designed for both design makers and those who carry our their decisions. But that positive energy? Well, that’s up to all those work and do business in this region.
We hope that everyone who is able will be at the MassMutual Center on Oct. 18. It’s an event that promises to be time well-spent — and it just might help people forget what a trying year this has been and focus on how great next year can be.

Lending a Hand

By BusinessWest Staff October 14, 2011

Westfield Bank President and CEO James Hagan

Banking and Financial Services Sections

Westfield Bank Keeps the Focus on Community

Westfield Bank President and CEO James Hagan

Westfield Bank has long embraced its role as a community institution, and it does so in a number of ways, from being a charitable force in the cities and towns it serves to promoting economic development through ambitious lending, and even bolstering ongoing improvements in Westfield by renovating and moving into a second building downtown. Overall, it’s been a good year for the bank, which continues to see its bottom line expand while making a difference in the lives of people whose year has not been so good.

Early in the year — well before the unexpected summer of storms in Massachusetts — the American Red Cross was soliciting donations for an emergency-response vehicle to serve communities in and around the Pioneer Valley.
“They came to us and talked about a particular need in Western Mass. — a medical facility on wheels,” said James Hagan, president of Westfield Bank.
It’s not an ambulance, he noted. Red Cross volunteers man this vehicle and use it to support disaster victims in several ways — for example, providing them with credit cards to help purchase food, clothing, shelter, and bedding, as well as temporarily housing and feeding disaster victims and volunteer responders alike.
“Volunteers go out, often in the middle of winter, with different provisions to help folks who may have suffered a fire or flooding from ice melting, that kind of thing, when they were out of their house and out in the cold,” Hagan said. “The Red Cross came up with a traveling medical facility which people could utilize to come out of the cold, have a warm meal, do paperwork, deal with their emotions, and have some immediate counseling, if you will — to let them know somebody cares about them.”
It was precisely the type of community need that appealed to Hagan and bank employees who make decisions about charitable giving.
“With the economic climate, the Red Cross was falling short with what they needed to secure the vehicle,” he explained. “We thought we should support them in this endeavor. They asked us to fund a certain dollar amount, and we said, ‘what if we just give you the rest of the money you need?’
“That’s just being part of the community,” he continued. “And we can make those decisions independently; we don’t have to go a board. We just said, ‘this is a great cause; let’s support it and get the vehicle on the road for them.’”
Obviously, the rest of the weather year — which saw everything from persistent ice damage in the winter to tornadoes and tropical-storm flooding in the spring and summer — demonstrated the need for what the Red Cross does, and Westfield Bank, like most of the area’s financial institutions, poured plenty of money into its disaster-relief work. In the case of the tornado, again, “we were able to act quickly,” he said. “Being a community bank, we can make those decisions right here in the office.”
It’s all part of being a true community institution, Hagan said, but that ethic goes beyond donating money to worthy causes. In this issue, we’ll examine how WB has strived to weave itself into the fabric of the cities and towns it serves, and how it’s marketing some innovative products to attract more business and remain a significant entity on the regional financial scene.

Stepping Up
According to Cathy Jocelyn, Westfield Bank’s marketing manager, being a community bank means actively working to improve the environment, economic and otherwise, in the towns under the bank’s umbrella.
To that end, she said, Hagan recorded a commercial with Westfield’s mayor promoting the massive town green project and other improvements that will benefit the city, targeted at residents who right now see only construction and traffic when they drive through downtown.
“And we put our money where our mouth is, too, when we opened our consumer loan center right here,” Jocelyn added. “We took a vacant building directly across the street from the bank and redeveloped the property. That helps with economic development in the business corridor. So, yes, we did the ad, but we also took a building; it wasn’t just lip service.”
The bank itself, while it hasn’t added any new branches in the past three years, is clearly riding high, with developments such as a $56 million increase in loans from August 2010 to August 2011, an 11.5% increase.
“That’s tremendous growth,” Hagan said. “We’ve seen growth in commercial real-estate loans and residential loans, and we’re still lending. We have a lot of capital — we’re extremely strong in terms of our capital base — and we’re looking for ways to deploy that in the community.”
While he credits the bank’s well-capitalized status, he says that success also reflects its simple position as a high-profile community lender.
“I think it reflects the fact that people are coming back to community banks,” he told BusinessWest, and moving away from the national institutions that were pummeled by the toxic-loan crisis of 2008 and 2009.
“People want to work with someone they trust in the local community,” he continued. “And we’ve worked really hard from a marketing and advertising perspective, and also created seminars for people to attend. We’ve gotten the word out that we’re ready and able to lend — it’s a combination of our strength and being in the local communities and having the positive reputation we have.”
Deposits tell a similar story, with volume up by $40 million over that same August-to-August period.
“One of the things we’ve done over the past year is, we’ve taken a look at all our products and services and repackaged them, and added some free products, so we can meet the needs of all customers,” Jocelyn said.
The bank has aimed many of its services at specific demographics; for instance, a product called WB 18-25 Checking is targeted to that age group and features free checking and savings accounts and rebated ATM fees. There’s also a basic free checking account, as well as the interest-bearing WB Investment Checking and WB Performance Checking, which adds a few extra services for customers who can keep a higher balance.
Mobile banking, accessible on smartphones and other devices, has taken off as well, Hagan said.
“I think mobile banking is great for the 18-to-25 generation, and we’re seeing a lot of activity from them,” added Jocelyn. “It can give them balance alerts; if their checking or savings account gets down to a certain amount, they get a text on their mobile device.
“It’s the wave of the future,” she continued. “People want to be able to see information very quickly. Instead of calling a number, they can check a mobile device to check their balance, or do account transfers if they’re signed up for that. We’re told that most banks have been slow to do this, but we’re putting so much energy into establishing relationships with people that age, and the results are starting to show.”
This emphasis on youth — from continued support of bank-at-school programs to teach financial literacy to kids to more ATMs at Westfield State College and American International College to make the bank’s services more accessible there — is part of an overall effort to attract and cater to younger customers and strengthen WB’s future.
“A lot of wealth is going to be transferred from the aging Baby Boomer population to the up-and-coming generations,” Hagan said, “and we want to make sure Westfield Bank has products and services to meet their needs as they continue to evolve.”

Hitting Their Targets
The bank’s specialized services continue on the commercial side, with accounts targeted specifically for municipalities and nonprofits, among other customers with specific needs. And the targeted products have paid off.
“There’s a comfort level in having their accounts here; it’s much easier to work with us than a large institution,” Hagan said. “Our commercial checking and consumer checking are up 18% combined; we’ve been able to grow in the categories we wanted to grow in.”
Meanwhile, the bank will continue its emphasis on community involvement, particularly focusing on education and youth development through its nine-year-old Future Fund. WB has supported organizations such as the Westfield High School band, the West Springfield Boys and Girls Club, East Longmeadow libraries, and other youth-oriented endeavors, as well as launching a scholarship program two years ago. This year, the bank gave out 10 such scholarships, covering all the communities where it has a presence.
As for its own future, branch expansion is always a possibility. “We’re looking at a number of sites as we speak, and we’re certainly looking to grow our branch network. There are a number of communities we’re looking at and evaluating,” Hagan said.
“The good news,” he added, “is that all community banks in our region continue to thrive and do well, and we’re proud to be a part of that.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Explore Your Options

By BusinessWest Staff October 14, 2011

Banking and Financial Services Sections

Many Alternative and Supplemental Financing Sources Exist for Business

Gary G. Breton

So, you’re looking for financing for your business to allow it to remain viable through these difficult and volatile economic times. But you find that all your traditional sources of financing have dried up. What can you do, and where can you look for such needed funding?
There are several non-traditional avenues of obtaining needed business capital that can be complementary to any existing financing that you may already have in place for your business. These alternative sources may include quasi-public bond financing, several federal and state tax-credit programs, and private financing. They each have certain advantages, but in order to receive them, you must relinquish something in return.
In the area of quasi-public bond financing, the Mass. Development Finance Agency (MassDevelopment) has a number of available programs that can be utilized to provide financing for both for-profit and not-for-profit business entities. For example, tax-exempt bonds, which are exempt from federal taxes and, in certain cases, state taxes, can provide the lowest-interest-rate option for certain types of projects, including real-estate development and new equipment purchases. In better economic times, these bonds were traditionally bundled into large-denomination packages and sold on Wall Street to institutional investors.
The more likely scenario in today’s marketplace is that such bonds would be purchased directly by your company’s current bank or possibly another area financial institution. The fact that the interest income received by the holders of these bonds is exempt from federal and (in many cases) state tax allows for a lower-than-market interest rate to be offered, which, depending on the amount of such bonds, can provide a substantial savings over the life of the bond.
According to information contained on MassDevelopment’s Web site, such financing must be eligible for tax-exempt financing under the federal tax code, which can include 501(c)3 nonprofit real estate and equipment, affordable rental housing, assisted living and long-term-care facilities, public infrastructure projects, manufacturing facilities and equipment, municipal and governmental projects, and solid-waste recovery and recycling projects.
Additionally, MassDevelopment has other available loan and guaranty programs, as well as specialty programs, that include financing for companies that either currently export or will be exporting their products or services internationally, and technology companies that may be commencing or expanding their business operations in Massachusetts; visit the Web site for further information.
A second alternative source of non-traditional financing is in the area of available federal and/or state tax-credit programs, which are available for certain projects and industries. For example, Low-income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) are dollar-for-dollar tax credits benefiting developers undertaking affordable-housing investments. This program was created under the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which provided incentives for the utilization of private equity in the development of affordable housing aimed at low-income Americans, and it accounts for the majority of all affordable rental housing created in the U.S. today. Tax credits are more attractive than tax deductions because they provide a dollar-for-dollar reduction in a company’s federal income tax, whereas a tax deduction provides only a reduction in its taxable income. In Massachusetts, LIHTCs are administered by the state Department of Housing & Community Development.
A second type of tax-credit program that has seen increased activity over the past several years is the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program, which was established in 2000 as part of the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act of 2000. The goal of this tax-credit program is to spur revitalization efforts of low-income and impoverished communities across the U.S. The NMTC initiative provides tax-credit incentives to business investors for equity investments in certified Community Development Entities, which have a primary mission of investing in projects located in low-income communities. The scope of the NMTC program can include the development of projects that could provide funding for project components, including real-property acquisition, building construction, and machinery and equipment purchases.
A third type of tax-credit program, which has provided fertile ground for available alternative financing, is the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives program, which has been the largest, most successful, and most cost-effective federal community-revitalization program in recent memory. It seeks to preserve historic buildings, stimulate private investment, create jobs, and revitalize communities. This program has leveraged more than $58 billion in private investment to preserve and reuse more than 37,000 historic properties nationwide since 1976. This program is administered by the National Park Service and the Internal Revenue Service in conjunction with the Mass. Historical Commission.
Each of the above programs can provide either needed alternative financing or real incentives that will attract the necessary funding to undertake various types of projects. These projects, by their very nature, will generate activity for a multitude of allied businesses, such as general contractors, subcontractors, equipment vendors, insurance agents, accountants, attorneys, appraisers, and so on.
Finally, a company can seek the infusion of private capital, which will generally be provided as a mezzanine-type loan or equity investment. Depending on the nature of your business, you can seek out and, in many instances, obtain a private investor or group of investors that will provide what is essentially a commercial business loan normally secured by a junior lien position on certain specific collateral behind the company’s primary senior lender. Since taking a junior position results in a greater degree of risk for such investors, the rates of interest charged on such credit facilities is generally higher than a commercial business loan from a conventional bank lender, and any applicable financial covenants are more stringent.
Alternatively, such a private investor may elect to contribute its funds by way of an equity injection into your company so as to provide additional working capital, in return for which the investor will require an equity/ownership interest in the company. This equity interest may require certain perquisites, such as a preferential return on its investment to be made prior to any distribution to the holders of non-preferential equity interests; or perhaps take the form of a stock option, which will allow the investor, in its discretion, to convert such options to an equity/ownership interest at a future date; or an option whereby the investor has the right to require the company to repurchase its equity/ownership interest at a time of its choosing, based on an agreed-upon repurchase price formula.
The bottom line in undertaking such private financing is that it traditionally results in your relinquishing a certain degree of sovereignty in your control of your company.
One final suggestion is that, while it behooves you to research and fully evaluate any number of possible sources of alternative financing, once you have determined which you feel would be most beneficial for your company, you need to ask for it. Many times, business owners are reluctant to initiate a request for credit based on what they perceive are insurmountable obstacles to obtaining a favorable response, when in fact many such alleged obstacles may be able to be satisfactorily addressed and overcome by working in concert with professional advisers who can provide you with sophisticated counsel and bring both creative and fiscally responsible alternatives to the table.

Gary G. Breton, Esq. is a partner with Bacon Wilson, P.C. and a member of its banking and finance department. His major emphasis of practice includes representation of financial lending institutions, as well as both individual and business borrowers. He also represents numerous business clients in startup and ongoing business operations as well as the purchase and sale of businesses; (413) 781-0560; [email protected]

Taking Account

By BusinessWest Staff October 14, 2011

Banking and Financial Services Sections

A chart of banks in Western Mass.

Click here to download the PDF: BanksWMassBW1011a

Crisis in the Courts

By BusinessWest Staff October 14, 2011

Law Sections

Bottlenecks Across the System Are Limiting Access to Justice

A perfect storm of conditions, but especially a hiring freeze within the state’s judicial system and a still sagging economy that has many people seeking various forms of relief through the courts, has created a huge bottleneck that is in many ways limiting access to justice across Western Mass. The planned closing of Westfield District Court, a step being fought by judges, lawyers, and state legislators, would make a difficult situation much worse, but even if that facility stays open, there appears to be little light at the end of this tunnel.

Diana Sorrentini-Velez says the bottlenecks in the area’s courts force justice seekers into a waiting game she compared to purgatory.

Diana Sorrentini-Velez was searching for the right words to sum up, or put into context, what the worsening bottleneck within the region’s judicial system — especially in Probate Court and District Court, where most of her work takes place — means for her clients.
And she managed to find several poignant ways to qualify the problem.
“People are being held in purgatory,” she said in reference to the weeks- or sometimes months-long waits for resolution of issues. “You don’t know which direction you’re going in, and you don’t know how to plan as a result. You know the rug is going to be pulled out from under you at some point; you just don’t know when it’s coming.”
And not knowing is the worst.
“District Court is the peoples court,” she continued. “Everybody goes to District Court, whether it be for personal issues, criminal law, civil issues, or whatever. And when you have individuals who are seeking justice and can’t even get before a judge, what does that do for their confidence in the judicial system? If they can’t be educated as to the alternatives, then they feel they have none, and they’re essentially stuck where they are.”

Tom Kenefick says the region’s courts are in crisis, and will continue to be in that state until they are adequately funded by the state.

Tom Kenefick, president of the Hampden County Bar Assoc., was much more succinct in his commentary. “Our courts are in crisis,” he told BusinessWest. “There’s no other way to put it. Our judicial system is taking some enormously painful financial hits that are now starting to manifest themselves to the public — we’re to the point where the public is really starting to feel it.”
With those and other colorful statements, area attorneys tried to put into words their sentiments about a judicial bottleneck fueled by state budget cuts, a hiring freeze within the judicial system, and economic conditions that are only making the courts that much busier. Things are as bad as most people can remember, and the situation is almost certain to get worse before it gets any better.
Especially if the Westfield District Court is closed, as Robert Mulligan, chief justice for Administration & Management (or CJAM, as he’s called), intends. The closing is being fought on many levels and by many people, said Kenefick, adding that shuttering the facility will force people to drive longer distances to find justice and probably wait longer for it in the long run.

Kevin Maltby says judges are doing the best they can given the circumstances, but they can’t be in two places at once.

“If it does close, that will cast a very long shadow, and I don’t know where it will end,” he explained. “You’re going to have displacement of court personnel, and you’re going to see cases move to other courts that are already overburdened. Meanwhile, people from the Westfield and the hilltowns are going to have to go Holyoke or Chicopee. It will have a huge impact.”
But even if the Westfield court remains open, the bottleneck created by unfilled positions and an unrelenting workload will impact people on a number of levels, said Kevin Maltby, an attorney with Springfield-based Bacon Wilson, who handles large amounts of probate work.
“The problem is there’s a bottleneck at the top,” he explained. “We have cases coming in, but we just don’t have enough judges, clerks, and support staff to move them through efficiently.”
In response to the crisis, the bar association and individual attorneys are stepping up through pro-bono work, much of it aimed at reducing the number of pro-se cases currently clogging the courts, said Kenefick. These efforts are making a small dent in the logjams, but significant steps are needed to bring a needed measure of relief.

Court of Opinion
All the attorneys who spoke with BusinessWest went out of their way to commend those who are still left working in courthouses across Western Mass. They used strong words and phrases to describe what they consider Herculean, but also Sisyphean efforts to keep the wheels of justice turning, albeit slower than most everyone would like.
“They’re being forced to do things with one hand tied behind their backs,” said Sorrentini-Velez. “There’s only so many hours in the day, only so many people who can look at a piece of paper, and so many hours a judge has to review motions and prepare for court hearings. And the consequences are always going to be felt by the general public, because no matter what, at 4:30 everyone’s gone, and people’s problems don’t go away at 4:30; their problems continue.”
Said Maltby, “everyone wants to be able to point the finger at the courts. But if they can’t hire the bodies they need to go through the amount of paperwork that gets filed there on a daily basis, there’re nothing they can do about it.
“Judges can’t be in two places at once,” he continued, adding that the cutbacks are forcing justices to often shuttle back and forth, with their commuting time further limiting their ability to get work done.
The situation is summed up in a recent CJAM edict concerning changes in the schedules for public office hours at the courts. The order to close those offices at 4 p.m. and use the time to catch up on paperwork is designed to help reduce delays, although those we spoke with are rather skeptical about that claim — and Thomas Moriarty, Hampden Register of Probate, is defying the order, noting that he won’t deny the taxpaying public access to justice.
“Our severe staffing reductions require an adjustment in some public office hours so that employees can more effectively serve those who depend on the courts,” Mulligan wrote in the missive. “Court staff have made remarkable efforts to deliver timely justice during three years of significant budget and staff cuts. However, almost one-third of courts now need some uninterrupted time to address backlogs and reduce delays, as already done by courts in other states.”
Quantifying the broad problem, at least from a dollars-and-sense standpoint, Kenefick noted that there has been an overall budget reduction of $85 million over the past three years, requiring implementation of a hiring freeze, among other steps. Overall, the Trial Court has lost 1,167 people statewide, which translates to a 15% reduction in staff.
There are currently 13 judicial vacancies statewide, and eight in Western Mass. alone, Kenefick continued, adding that the hiring freeze has put the remaining judges in a position where they’re often typing their own decisions because there are no clerks or secretaries able to do it for them.
“As people retire or get sick, they’re not being replaced,” he explained. “Staff members are trying to do the work of two or three people.”
Complicating matters further, he continued, is that the crisis comes at the same time legal aid programs are being slashed to the levels they were at 10 to 15 years ago, to roughly $300 million nationwide, said Kenefick, adding that the net effect of these various factors is a serious impact on overall access to justice.
And this phenomenon has a number of manifestations, said those we spoke to — from those agonizing waits for decisions to use of the clogged courts as leverage to gain desired ends.
This latter consequence can be seen in divorce cases, said Ellen Randle, an attorney with Springfield-based Bulkley Richardson and Gelinas Inc. and head of the firm’s Domestic Relations Department, noting that some attorneys and their clients are taking full advantage of the difficult circumstances.
“They put pressure on the spouse by shutting off the money,” she explained. “And that’s a real problem because of the length of time it takes to get even a child-support order.”

Taking a Long Recess
Meanwhile, the logjams in the courts are prompting more parties to look closely at alternative dispute resolution (ADR) options such as mediation and arbitration, as well as limited-assistance representation, in which an attorney takes part of a case — thus reducing the cost to the client — with the goal of moving matters through the process more quickly and easily.
However, many individuals, especially pro-se litigants, are often not aware that such programs exist, or have limited direction concerning them, which adds to the problem, said those we spoke with.
“I’ve had I can’t say how many calls from people saying, ‘I got your name from the court from the list’ — and that’s what it is, literally just a list with contact numbers of every attorney in Hampden County who’s certified to practice limited-assistance representation,” said Sorrentini-Velez. “So you have pro-se individuals who are already frustrated because they’re not in Probate Court for anything pleasant, and are emotionally taxed as a result of whatever is bringing them to the fourth floor [Family Court], and you add to that the fact that there’s not enough clerks because of the hiring freeze, and if they’re lucky enough to make it in front of a judge they’re not going to get a decision for a longer period of time because judges don’t have the staff they need to type up their decisions.”
In response to the growing bottleneck, bar associations and many individual lawyers are doing their part through limited-representation work and various forms of pro-bono work, said Kenefick, noting that these initiatives are having an impact.
“We try, as a bar association, to provide support services, and they are helping in many ways,” he said, adding that initiatives range from a panel dedicated to helping victims of the June 1 tornadoes to a host of legal-aid programs, to initiatives designed to help with the rising tide of pro-se cases, many of them spawned by the recession and its aftereffects.
Beyond such efforts, Randle, who’s taking part in many of them, offered the hope that attorneys across the region will recognize the scope of the problem facing the judicial system and those it serves and commit to putting their efforts toward mitigating the problem by working to revolve matters outside the courtoom.
“If they’re not the one that has control of the money, they need to get an order to get money flowing back into their household, and it’s difficult to tell them, ‘well, we can’t get into court for four weeks,’” she explained. “You hope that all the lawyers who do this kind of work on a regular basis are having this same experience, and so they’re going to be stepping up and being more cooperative in terms of working things out and staying out of court, which is always your first preference.”
Those who can’t stay out will likely wind up playing the waiting game, said Sorrentini-Velez, adding that the bottlenecks in the courts are essentially forcing people to put their lives on hold, and very much against their will.
“And as an attorney, there’s only so much comfort you can provide, because you’re in the same position,” she explained. “You’re also just waiting; you’re at the mercy of the court, and the court is at the mercy of whoever funds them.”

Final Arguments
Kenefick and others said efforts on behalf of many lawyers are helping to keep a bad situation from becoming even worse.
But all those we spoke with expressed real concern about the fact that there appears to be no relief on the horizon, and said the outlook for the courts, and the people served by them, looks very bleak unless lawmakers in Boston take steps to end the hiring freeze and properly fund the judicial system.
“It’s hard to know where this is going to go,” said Randle. “We’re down to two judicial case managers in the Hampden Probate Court for four judges. They’re the gatekeepers of the courtrooms; you have to go through them, and they just can’t keep the cases moving. And Hampshire County doesn’t even have a case manager.”
In other words, it may be some time before there’s anything approaching an end to the crisis in the courts.

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

Social Media and the NLRB

By BusinessWest Staff October 14, 2011

Law Sections

What Employers Need to Know to Avoid Problems

There is no getting around it. We live in a social-media-driven world. People regularly tweet on topics ranging from global economic policy concerns to their favorite pizza toppings. A film about the founding of the social-networking Web site Facebook won three Academy Awards last year. Even President Obama is in on the act.
After hosting ‘town halls’ using Facebook and Twitter, the president recently teamed up with LinkedIn for another town hall-style event. The social media-savvy Obama is now the third-most-followed Twitter user in the world, according to Twitter Counter, which tracks the social network’s 14 million users (Justin Bieber currently ranks second on the list, with Lady Gaga taking the top spot).
With instant tweets and Facebook posts literally at an employee’s fingertips, it should be no surprise that social media-related labor and employment litigation is on the rise. Recently, the associate general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a report analyzing the board’s recent social-media enforcement actions. The report reviewed the facts and legal principles in more than a dozen unfair-labor cases involving employee use of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
The issue most-commonly raised involved allegations that an employer unlawfully discharged or disciplined one or more employees over the contents of social-media posts. The board’s attorneys also addressed the legality of several social-networking corporate policies accused of being overbroad and restrictive of lawful employee social-media use. The report provides guidance to employers who want to ensure that their social-media policies appropriately balance employee rights and company interests.

Fired over Facebook
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects employees, both union and non-union, when they engage in “protected concerted activity” — the coming together to discuss working conditions. This is commonly referred to as an employee’s Section 7 rights (Section 7 of the NLRA protects the right of employees to engage in “concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection”).
But when employees complain about their jobs or their boss on Facebook, are they discussing working conditions with fellow co-workers in a ‘water-cooler’ setting, or are the postings unprotected individual gripes? The NLRB’s report demonstrates that this remains an important and difficult question to answer.
In one case referenced in the report, a luxury-car salesman was fired after criticizing his employer on Facebook following a promotional event that demonstrated a new car model. The employee posted photos and comments disparaging his employer for serving hot dogs, stale buns, bottled water, and other inexpensive items. Apparently, the employee felt that more upscale refreshments were called for. One picture comment mocked the dealership owner for going “all out” for the promotional launch by providing an atmosphere where “clients could attain an overcooked wiener and a stale bun.”
Several days later, the general sales manager called the employee at home and told him to remove the photographs and comments from his Facebook page. The employee complied but later was fired.
The NLRB concluded that the employee’s critical Facebook posts were legally protected. The employee, who worked entirely on commission, had legitimate concerns about the impact the employer’s choice of refreshments would have on his bottom line. The employee also had shared his frustrations over the refreshment display at a staff meeting before posting the pictures and commentary. The board’s attorneys considered the Facebook posts an extension of his earlier expressed displeasure.
Following the release of the NLRB’s report, an administrative-law judge agreed with the board’s attorneys, noting that “there may have been some customers who were turned off by the food offerings at the event and either did not purchase a car because of it or gave the salesperson a lower … customer-satisfaction rating because of it.”
Two restaurant employees were similarly fired after commenting about their employers’ tax policies on the web. After a former employee expressed frustration on Facebook over the employers’ tax-withholding practices, a current employee ‘Liked’ the post, and another posted a derogatory comment about the restaurant owner. Both were let go for not being “loyal enough.”
The board’s attorneys concluded that their discharge was unlawful because the employees’ Facebook conversation shared concerns about important terms and conditions of their employment — the employer’s administration of income-tax withholdings.
Not all employees were as fortunate. For example, a Wal-Mart employee went to Facebook to complain about management “tyranny,” and suggested that the store was in for a wakeup call because several employees were about to quit.
After co-workers responded to his comment and asked why he was so “wound up,” the employee complained that his assistant manager had been chewing him out for misplacing merchandise. The employee’s tirade continued, as he threatened that, if things did not change, the store could kiss his “royal” behind. The employee was subsequently disciplined for his conduct.
In this instance, the board’s attorneys concluded that the discipline was justified. The employee’s comments were an individual gripe, rather than an attempt to foster discussion about the workplace. The statements did not contain any language suggesting that other employees engage in group action, and were nothing more than a projection of personal frustration over a job.

Is Our Policy Unlawful?
A number of the cases reviewed by the board’s attorneys also addressed employers’ social-media policy provisions. In one case, the employer maintained a “blogging and Internet posting” policy that prohibited employees from posting any pictures on the Internet that depicted the company in any way. This included a prohibition on pictures that portrayed a company uniform or vehicle, or displayed the company logo.
The policy was deemed unlawfully overbroad because it prohibited employees from engaging in protected activity. For example, pursuant to the policy, an employee could not post a picture of workers carrying picket signs portraying the company logo, or wearing a company T-shirt in connection with a protest involving the terms or conditions of employment.
Another case involved a company policy that prohibited employees from using social media in a manner that compromised or disregarded another individual’s privacy rights. The policy also prohibited postings that embarrassed or damaged the reputation of other employees. Again, the NLRB indicated that the policy was overbroad because the rule provided no definitions or guidance as to what the employer considered to be private or confidential. Absent any limitations on what was covered, the rule could be interpreted as prohibiting protected employee discussion of wages and other terms of employment.

Where Are We Now?
It is clear from the NLRB’s report that the board considers a broad scope of social-media activity to be protected. Although ‘concerted’ activity typically involves two or more employees acting together to improve their conditions of employment, or at least a single employee seeking to initiate or to prepare for group activity, a lone employee’s social-media commentary likely will be protected when the statements express his or her sentiments about working conditions.
Follow-up comments or ‘Likes’ from other employees are not necessary to demonstrate that the social-networking activity is a concerted effort. Employers should also carefully craft all of the provisions in a company social-media policy. It is critical that the policy is free of ambiguity. Employees, union and nonunion alike, should not be led to believe that protected social-media activity is prohibited.

John H. Glenn has been a member of a member of Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C. since 1979. Prior to joining the firm, he was employed by the National Labor Relations Board in Cincinnati. He also has served as an adjunct professor of Labor Law at Western New England College School of Law. John S. Gannon, an associate at Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C., joined the firm in 2011. He is admitted to practice in state and federal courts in Connecticut.

Happy Holidays

By BusinessWest Staff October 14, 2011

Holiday Party Planner Sections

Restaurants, Banquet Facilities Optimistic about Upcoming Party Season

Center court at the Basketball Hall of Fame provides one of the region’s unique party environments.

The past several years have been up and down for venues that host corporate holiday parties. On one hand, the recession has affected companies’ celebration budgets, yet most employers still see value in thanking their staffs for a year of hard work. As a result, area party bookings have largely remained steady, although many companies have scaled back on their size and cost. Still, restaurants and banquet facilities say the early signs are positive that the end of 2011 could be a merry season.

Early October is when things finally settle down on Memorial Avenue in West Springfield. For Jeffrey Daigneau, who’s busy booking holiday parties at his restaurant, Lattitude, they’re just heating up.
“We’re getting calls now. We probably have 15 or 20 parties already booked,” said Daigneau, who spoke with BusinessWest the day after the Eastern States Exposition — which dominates his street and hinders business for two and a half weeks — ended its 2011 run. “We haven’t gotten many calls with the Big E going on, but our busy season really starts today.”
Other restaurant owners and banquet-facility managers are reporting the same. So far, they say, business is looking up.
“Many companies feel parties are very important,” said Joe Stevens, owner of Hofbrauhaus in West Springfield. “They want to say thank you to their people who have been with them year-round — and we’re grateful to have them.”
He noted that the majority of companies that have booked parties have returned. “They want this certain Friday, this specific Saturday; usually, as they’re leaving, they say, ‘see you next year,’ and we just put them in the books.

Joe Stevens, with his wife, Liz, says his holiday-party business at Hofbrauhaus has been bolstered by repeat customers.

“We’ve been blessed over the years because this place has been here since 1935, and most of our customers that have had Christmas parties over the years have stayed with us,” he added.
Newer venues are optimistic about a strong season as well, including Mill One at Open Square in Holyoke, which offers exposed brick, hardwood floors, and not much else in the way of permanent décor, allowing party planners to design their own night.
“It’s a beautiful facility from the 1800s,” said Michelle St. Jacques, property manager of Open Square. “It’s a blank slate, so we let people know that their event can be how they want it to turn out, without having the carpeting or wallpaper interfering with that.
“In addition, we have a selection of caterers to choose from, or you can choose your own, as long as they’re licensed and insured,” she continued. “We try to cater to individual wants. People can design their parties themselves in a very unique venue. They enjoy the fact that there are no set decorations that could interfere and conflict with their decisions. On the whole, people love it.”
For this issue, BusinessWest talks to several area dining facilities to get a feel for how they’re marketing the holiday season to area companies — and why they’re feeling good about the prospects so far.

They Shoot, They Score
“Right now, things are starting to pick up for the holiday season. We already have some bookings for December,” said Josh Belliveau, corporate event manager at the Basketball Hall of Fame.
That’s good news after a stretch of years in which employers across the U.S. have scaled back such late-fall, early-winter shindigs. According to Amrop Battalia Winston, a global executive-search firm that tracks a number of business trends, last year reflected the worst holiday-party slump in 22 years, with 79% of companies conducting some kind of celebration — lower than even the 81% figure recorded in both 2008 and 2009, at the peak of the recession.
Belliveau said it helps to be able to offer partygoers an uncommon experience.
“If you book your holiday party at the Hall of Fame, it’s a unique venue,” he said. “Our guests have many options — to tour the museum or do some additional fun things, like a scavenger hunt, shooting contests on center court, music, and dancing. We can even do [an electronic] sign outside the building, welcoming guests of that company. That makes it personal to employees who are attending. We think our facilities have the ability to provide that special atmosphere.”
Belliveau has booked a range of different groups, from formal sit-down dinner receptions to social receptions on the court, with hors d’ouevres, interactive play, and DJs and bands. “It’s a social atmosphere.”
Evan Mattson, controller at Tucker’s restaurant in Southwick, has seen the same variety of celebration styles.
“We do sit-down parties, we do station parties, we do buffets — we host all kinds of different parties,” said Mattson, adding that the facility handles gatherings of all sizes — “20 on up to 150” — and also conducts functions off-site when desired. Of all the options, he noted, “I think the station parties are becoming more and more popular.”
Stevens said there isn’t much Hofbrauhaus can’t do when it comes to party planning for groups ranging from less than 10 to more than 300. He noted that the facility hosts both formal sit-down services and cocktail parties with food stations and a cash or open bar.
“I’d say most people enjoy being served, getting waited upon, especially when it comes to the holiday season and businesses saying thank you to their staff,” he told BusinessWest. “Personally, I prefer a party where you can move around; I’m big into food stations and passed-around hors d’ouevres. I like to see people and circulate and not be confined to a certain table. But that’s just me.”
St. Jacques agreed, noting that many companies are getting away from sit-down dinners, and not just for budgetary reasons. “They realize there’s more interaction when people are getting up and getting food, passing by other guests, and that seems to be the trend, from what I’ve seen.”
She said Open Square is a good option for people who have very specific catering needs. “They can provide the food they like; some people like ethnic dishes and have to go to a certain caterer. You can’t get that at some facilities with their regular banquet staff.
“I think our venue is good because you can pick a theme and set the food choices,” she continued. “If you want to have an hors d’ouevres party, those are becoming popular. Cocktail parties are a nice holiday option without breaking the bank. That can be a good choice in this economy.”
Lattitude is making some improvements to enhance its party offerings, Daigneau added, including making the ‘wine room,’ where many functions are held for groups of 15 to 20, two to three times bigger; that renovation will be complete before the December rush of events.
But he said smaller parties are more common these days than large ones. “We do big Christmas parties, but what I’m seeing is parties of 25, 30.”

Looking Up?
That reflects the trends reported by Amrop Battalia Winston last year (this year’s survey won’t be released until November). In 2010, 28% of companies responding to the survey said their parties had become more modest — on the heels of the nearly half (49%) that downsized in 2009. Meanwhile, only 11% intended to hold more lavish parties.
In addition, company parties have increasingly become an employees-only zone. Only 26% of surveyed businesses planned to include family members, while 5% intended to invite clients and friends. The 69% of parties labeled employees-only was up from 52% just four years earlier.
Of those employers deciding to forgo having a party altogether, 55% said they did not consider it appropriate in tough economic times, compared to 27% who said a get-together just wasn’t within their budget. On the other hand, 37% of those having a holiday party said the primary reason was to celebrate a good year, 33% cited employee morale, and 29% said they wanted to project optimism about the future to clients and employees.
If holiday parties are, indeed, reflective of the economic mood, area restaurants and banquet facilities may be reporting some good news for the region overall.
“Some companies have done very well,” Stevens said. “Some have downsized their parties, but others have actually gotten too big for us; they can’t do their parties here anymore because they passed the 300 mark. It runs the gamut.”
Mattson said he’s optimistic about 2011 as well.
“They’re booking now. We have several booked already for December,” he told BusinessWest, noting that, even in a sluggish economy, many employers still want to thank their employees by making merry at what they hope will be the most wonderful time of the year.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Occasions to Celebrate

By BusinessWest Staff October 14, 2011

Holiday Party Planner Sections

A chart of the region’s banquet facilities

Click here to download the PDF: BanquetFacilitiesBW1011a

Western Mass Business Expo 2011

By BusinessWest Staff October 14, 2011

Cover Story

From the Editor and Publisher

For nearly 30 years now, BusinessWest has been shining a spotlight on the business community of Western Massachusetts and, at the same, serving as an invaluable resource for this large, diverse constituency. It’s been our mission to inform, educate, inspire, and make those all-important connections between area businesses and the communities they serve. And over the years, the methods for doing all this have evolved and expanded.

Indeed, we’ve moved beyond the printed word and also into electronic media and a host of events, including the hugely successful Forty Under 40 and Difference Makers programs, enabling us to say that we make connections in print, on line, and in person.

And this fall, BusinessWest takes things to an even higher level as producer of the inaugural Western Mass Business Expo, on Oct. 18 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield. We decided to take the leadership role in making this event reality because we believe, first and foremost, that the business community truly deserves an event of this magnitude and quality. What’s more, we are dedicated to finding new and exciting ways to carry out that aforementioned mission, and the Expo is the perfect vehicle for doing so.

In conjunction with the event-planning firm Rider Productions, BusinessWest has assembled an all-star lineup of area business leaders, elected officials, and experts in several fields to lead more than two dozen seminars, panel discussions, and special presentations on the pressing issues confronting all business owners today.

We’ve also brought together more than 135 companies representing every sector of the economy — from health care to information technology; from higher education to ‘green’ energy.’ Together, they illustrate the strength and diversity of our business community and a wealth of talent and experience with which attendees should want to do business.

We’ve billed the inaugural Western Mass Business Expo as the “place to be” on Oct. 18, and it is exactly that. There, exhibitors and guests will be part of a large audience of decision-makers, contributing to a room filled with energy and excitement.

This is the event that business owners across our region have been asking for, and it is our privilege to be able to present it.

Enjoy!

George O’Brien, Editor
John Gormally, Publisher
Kate Campiti, Associate Publisher

Event Schedule

Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011

Kickoff Breakfast
7 a.m.; Registration
7:30-8:50 a.m.; Program; keynote speaker,
John Morse, president, Merriam-Webster

Ribbon Cutting
9 a.m.; Show Floor Theater

Exhibition Hall
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

On the Expo Floor:
• The Whalley Computer and Valley
Communications Technology Corridor
• The HealthcareNews Health Corridor
• The DiGrigoli Artistic Team

Show Floor Theater:

Session One: 9:15-10 a.m.
Thriving in a Wildly Changing Market Place

Session Two: 10:15-11:15 a.m.
The Forecast: A Look at What’s Ahead for the State and Regional Economy

Session Three: 11:30 a.m.-noon
The Anti Resume Revolution

Session Four: 12:15-12:45 p.m.
Laugh For No Reason

Session Five: 1-1:45 p.m.
Blood From A Stone: How to Get Motivated and Do More Business in Any Economy

Session Six: 2-2:30 p.m.
The 401(k) Coach

Session Seven: 2:45-3:15 p.m.
Empower Your Workforce

Session Eight: 3:30-4 p.m.
You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Great

Educational Seminars,
Meeting Rooms 1, 2, and 3
Continuously, from 9:15 a.m. to 4 p.m.

ACCGS & BBB Torch Awards Luncheon
11:30 a.m.; Registration
Noon-1:30 p.m.; Program; keynote speaker,
Michael Kittridge II, founder and former chairman,
Yankee Candle Corp.
Special presentation: the Better Business Bureau’s Torch Awards honoring: • Baystate Dental P.C., Springfield;
• St. Germain Insurance Inc., Ware; and
• Amy Alaimo of Agawam, Student of Integrity Award Winner

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