Home 2013 (Page 5)

Year: 2013

Agenda

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Agenda Departments

The Secret Village
Oct. 25-28: Berkshire Museum’s Little Cinema will host the world premiere of a suspenseful new thriller, The Secret Village, directed by Swamy Kandan and shot on location in Berkshire County. The film opens on Friday, Oct. 25 with a 7 p.m. screening, followed by a discussion with the director. It will also be shown Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 26 and 27, at 7 p.m., and on Monday, Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. The Secret Village follows Greg (Jonathan Bennett), an unsuccessful screenwriter, and Rachel (Ali Faulkner), a spunky journalist, as they research an outbreak of mass hysteria and ergot poisoning in a small village. They rent a house together and start to uncover a secret that has affected the village for years. But the cult activity has been kept a secret by locals Joe (Stelio Savante) and Paul (Richard Riehle), and when Greg disappears, Rachel is left alone to unravel the mystery and save their lives. The Secret Village was shot in late spring 2012 at a variety of locations in the Berkshires, including Olivia’s Overlook, Naumkeag, Stockbridge Cemetery and other parts of Stockbridge, Hancock Shaker Village, and other places in Lee, Lenox, and Monterey. Little Cinema admission is $7.50, $5 for museum members. For advance tickets, call (413) 443-7171, ext. 10.

Art in the Orchard
Through October: Park Hill Orchard, at 82 Park Hill Road, Easthampton, will play host to 22 sculptures by 22 artists through Oct. 31. Art in the Orchard 2013 is a multifaceted sculpture exhibition and festival taking place on the grounds of a working apple orchard. The core project is a sculpture trail showcasing three-dimensional outdoor works and installations created by local and regional artists. Additional events (such as music, moonlight walks, dances, and school field trips) will be programmed on most weekends. See parkhillorchard.com/art for more information on the artists, their works, and an event schedule. Art in the Orchard is building on the success of the first exhibition in 2011, which came to existence thanks to the desire of Park Hill Orchard owners Alane Hartley and Russell Braen to have their farm play an active part in the local cultural economy, and a dream of Easthampton gallery owner Jean-Pierre Pasche to recreate an outdoor sculpture exhibit like the one set in meadows near his hometown in Switzerland. The success of the 2011 event exceeded expectations, with thousands of visitors discovering the sculpture trail and Park Hill over the 10-week period, many returning more than once. This achievement was recognized by the Mass. Cultural Council, which awarded Art in the Orchard one of its three annual Gold Star Awards, out of more than 5,000 projects funded annually by local cultural councils statewide.

Western Mass. Business Expo 2013
Nov. 6: Get ready for the Western Mass. Business Expo 2013, a day-long business-to-business event to take place at the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield. This fall’s show, the third edition of the Expo, which is again being produced by BusinessWest, will feature more than 100 exhibitors, seminars on timely issues of the day, special Show Floor Theater presentations, breakfast and lunch programs, and the wrap-up Expo social, which has become a not-to-be-missed networking event. The breakfast speaker will be Jim Koch, founder of Samuel Adams, while the lunch speaker will be author, activist, and marathon runner Kathrine Switzer. This issue of BusinessWest contains all you need to know about event details, which can also be found online at www.wmbexpo.com or www.businesswest.com. For more information on the event, call (413) 781-8600, ext. 100.

Bright Nights Ball
Nov. 16: Spirit of Springfield will hold its 18th annual City of Bright Nights Ball at the Sheraton Springfield. MGM Springfield will sponsor the black-tie event, which raises money to support the many events presented by Spirit of Springfield. Kelley Tucky, vice president of Community and Public Affairs for MGM Resorts, will serve as the gala’s chair. Visit spiritofspringfield.org for more information.

Government Reception
Nov. 21: The Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield will present its Government Reception from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Carriage House, Storrowton Tavern, West Springfield. This is a great opportunity to meet socially with local, state, and federal government officials. Sponsors include Baystate Health, Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, and United Personnel. Tickets cost $50 for members, $70 for general admission, which includes complimentary beverages and hors d’oeuvres. Reservations may be made online at www.myonlinechamber.com.

Briefcase

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Briefcase Departments

Westfield State Trustees Place Dobelle on Leave
WESTFIELD — Westfield State University trustees voted unanimously last week to place President Evan Dobelle on administrative leave with pay. Trustee chairman Jack Flynn said Dobelle would remain on paid leave until at least Nov. 25, when the law firm Fish & Richardson is expected to complete an investigation into Dobelle’s lavish spending habits. Thomas Frongillo, a principal in the firm, has been representing the trustees in their negotiations with Dobelle. While Dobelle, who spent hours with trustees at their closed-door session, left without comment, his publicist, George Regan, said Dobelle plans to file a federal lawsuit against the trustees for the “egregious” violation of his rights. “We are disappointed that the board has acted unlawfully and has obviously buckled to the intense political pressure surrounding this issue,” said Regan in a statement. “The board has defamed President Dobelle and allowed him to be defamed, and there will be major consequences to these actions.” The vote to place Dobelle on leave came following a vote of no confidence by faculty and librarians at WSU. Specifically, 64% of the 215 faculty and librarians who voted agreed with the statement that “I have no confidence that Dr. Evan Dobelle can continue to effectively serve as president of Westfield State University,” according to the executive committee of the Mass. State College Assoc. The trustees’ action also comes in the shadow of a fresh investigation by Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office into whether Dobelle made illegal false claims to obtain reimbursement for his expenses. The trustees called the special meeting in the face of mounting pressure to take action after an August report by accounting firm O’Connor & Drew found that Dobelle had repeatedly violated university policy by charging personal expenses to university credit cards, and also questioned the documentation for many claimed expenses. Since then, state Inspector General Glenn Cunha has raised questions about Dobelle’s extensive business travel, luxury hotel stays, high-end restaurant meals, and entertainment charged to the school. Meanwhile, state Higher Education Commissioner Richard Freeland has frozen some state funding to WSU because he’s concerned about Dobelle’s ability to manage money. “It seems to me highly questionable whether President Dobelle can or should continue to provide leadership to Westfield State University,” Freeland wrote to the trustees.

Springfield City Council Boosts Mayor’s Salary
SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield City Council recently gave first-step approval to a $40,000 pay raise for the mayor, which, if granted final approval at the Oct. 21 council meeting, will increase the mayor’s annual salary from $95,000 to $135,000 effective in January 2014. Mayor Domenic Sarno has two years left on his four-year term. Supporters of the raise noted that the current salary has not increased in 17 years and is low when compared with other cities. The increase was proposed in May by the Springfield Chamber of Commerce, which cited the need to attract the best candidates and pay a wage that reflects the responsibilities of the job and the size of the city. The council voted to grant first-step approval for increasing councilors’ own annual salary from $14,500 to $19,500, a change that will also will take effect in January, if granted final approval. The council has not had a raise in 18 years.

Mama Iguana’s Closes at Springfield Site
SPRINGFIELD — Mama Iguana’s owner Claudio Guerra closed down that restaurant’s Springfield location, neighboring the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, earlier this month after just over two years in operation.
The restaurant opened in June 2011 in the location of the former Onyx Fusion Bar and Restaurant. Onyx had closed in April 2011 after three years operating in space once occupied by the Hall of Fame. Guerra’s latest venture boasted 350 seats indoors and 150 on an outdoor patio.
Mama Iguana’s had 50 employees, and Guerra said he will try to absorb as many of them as possible at his four other eateries — the Spoleto restaurants in Northampton and East Longmeadow and Mama Iguana’s and Pizza Paradiso in Northampton. Gift cards are redeemable at those other locations. Guerra told the Republican that the concept behind his Springfield restaurant, and his execution of that concept, led to the closing, not a general reluctance to dine out in the city. He added that the right restaurant with the right concept would succeed there.
Competition tightened at the site when Plan B Burger Bar opened in September 2012 in the Hall of Fame building. Guerra said he’d been trying to sell the restaurant or bring in a partner to help run it, but any possible partner or buyer balked at investing money on a new concept with the possibility of MGM Resorts International opening a South End casino.

Nov. 21 Deadline Set for Marijuana Licenses
BOSTON — The state Department of Public Health has set a Nov. 21 deadline for nonprofit companies to submit final applications for medical-marijuana shops and cultivation facilities (see story on page 6). The DPH will announce an award of licenses on Jan. 31, despite the fact that more than 130 communities have instituted temporary moratoriums on medical-marijuana dispensaries.
Last month, the DPH approved 158 preliminary applications for medical marijuana, clearing the applicants to continue to a second and final phase of bidding. Of those, 22 companies are proposing to set up shop in one of the four counties of Western Mass. Each county in Massachusetts will be granted at least one and no more than five dispensaries, with the statewide total capped at 35.
A selection committee will evaluate final applications on factors including ability to meet the health needs of registered patients, site appropriateness, geographic distribution of dispensaries, local support, and public-safety plans.

Management

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Columns Sections
10 Ways to Lose Money in Your Business

By PAM LONTOS
Chances are that you’ve read numerous books and articles on what to do to succeed in business. But often, knowing what not to do is even more important. In order for your company to make more money, be sure you’re not inadvertently making any of these top 10 business mistakes.
Mistake #1: Prejudging your customers.
They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but all too often, business owners prejudge their prospects and customers before ever talking with them. How many times have you met someone and thought, ‘I doubt he can afford my product,’ ‘she looks like she’d be impossible to work with,’ or ‘this person isn’t my ideal client’? Rather than prejudge and dismiss who could be your next best customer, suspend judgment and take the time to get to know each prospect and client.
Mistake #2: Taking too long to follow up.
If someone calls or e-mails to inquire about your products or services, how long does it take you to get back to them? While many business owners think it’s OK to reply within three days, you really need to get back to people within 24 hours or less. After all, if they’re contacting you for information, they are likely contacting your competitors as well.
Mistake #3: Not working with someone because of imagined slights.
If someone is having a bad day or is not feeling well, they may say or do things that you think are intended in a mean-spirited way. For example, a prospect may ask, ‘how did you get into this business?’ But because of their demeanor that day, or because they’re rushed, or because of any number of other reasons, their question might come across to you as though they asked, ‘how did you of all people get into this business, because you certainly don’t look smart enough to do this?’ Never take anything a customer says or does as a personal attack. It usually isn’t.
Mistake #4: Making prospects and customers feel unimportant.
People want to know that they’re more than just another sale to you. They want to feel that you really care. For example, one business owner was stumped as to why one of the company’s best customers stopped buying. Finally, she asked the customer what happened, and the customer explained that, in the past, the business owner had had always taken her out to lunch once per quarter, and they hadn’t done that for nearly six months. As a result, the customer felt that she was no longer important. Upon hearing this, the business owner promptly took the customer out to lunch, and she got a sale. Therefore, take an active interest in your customers. Remember their birthdays. Send them a small gift on their anniversary. Do whatever you can to make each customer feel special.
Mistake #5: Not letting your staff handle important issues.
When there’s an issue with a customer, can your staff take care of most of the situations? Or must everything wait for you to resolve it? When you make customers wait for you to get an issue resolved, you’re giving them extra time to stew over the situation and get angrier. Instead, give your staff the training and tools to handle whatever situation arises so they can make the customer happy right away. Remember, you want your customers to always leave your store or office happy and with all their issues resolved. That’s the best way to ensure repeat business.
Mistake #6: Being inflexible with your hours.
We all want life balance, but sometimes work is not a 9-to-5 job. You have to be flexible if you want to get the sale. That means, if you have a good lead or a customer who is ready to spend money with you now, you may have to work outside your normal business hours. So be open to returning phone calls after business hours or even meeting with a client on a weekend. You can always balance out the extended hours you put in one day by taking time off another day.
Mistake #7: Waiting too long to make an important decision.
In business, the speed at which you can make an important decision is critical to your success. Opportunities won’t wait until next month, next week, or even the next day. To prosper, you have to take action quickly. For example, if you interview someone who seems perfect for your open position, make an offer immediately. If you wait, another company will also think the person is perfect and hire them. Or, if you have an opportunity to sponsor an event at a good price, secure your spot. When you hem and haw over the ROI of the decision, by the time you make up your mind, all the sponsorships could be bought. Trust your gut when it comes to decision making; it’s usually right on.
Mistake #8: Making it impossible to find your contact information.
Make sure your contact information is easy to find. On your website, your phone number and e-mail address need to be prominent on every page. Nothing frustrates customers more than wanting to contact you but not being able to because they can’t locate your phone number on your website or in your e-mail signature. Even the most loyal customer will eventually give up and call your competition simply because they made their contact information visible and easy to find.
Mistake #9: Using cheap marketing materials that make you look bad.
Your marketing materials tell a lot about your company — not just in the words on the page, but also in the overall look and feel of the piece. Take a good look at your current marketing materials. Do they look professional? Are there misspellings? Do they properly represent you? When your marketing materials look like an amateur created them, or when they’re riddled with errors, you send the message that you’re unprofessional and incapable of delivering quality work. Make sure your marketing materials present you in the best light.
Mistake #10: Being rigid with your contracts.
If your business uses a contract with customers, it’s definitely an important part of the transaction. However, just because it’s important doesn’t mean it can’t also be flexible. If someone requests a change to the contract, consider it. If it’s something small, give in to it. Realize that sometimes, people just want to feel as though they’ve won — that they negotiated a good deal. So if the item they want to change is small and not that important to you, let them have it. And rather than give them more time to think about it while you reissue a new contract, allow them to simply handwrite in the change and initial it. The quicker the contract is executed, the sooner you’ll get the sale complete.

Bottom Line
Of course, taking advice from others can be hard for any business owner. But why repeat the mistakes others have made? Why not learn from them so you can shorten your learning curve? When you take the steps to avoid these top 10 mistakes, you’ll be on the fast track to long-term success.

Pam Lontos is President of Pam Lontos Consulting. She consults with businesses, speakers, authors, and experts in the areas of marketing, publicity, and speaking. She is a past vice president of sales for Disney’s Shamrock Broadcasting, where she raised sales 500%, and she founded PR/PR Public Relations. She is the author of I See Your Name Everywhere: Leverage the Power of the Media to Grow Your Fame, Wealth and Success. She is also a former professional speaker; (407) 522-8630; [email protected]; www.pamlontos.com

Doing Business as Certificates

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DBA Certificates Departments

The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of October 2013.

AGAWAM

Images & Artistry
46 Simpson Circle
Constance Bennett

The B’s Hive
289 Springfield St.
Elizabeth Atwood

Western Mass Sound System
33 Bridge St.
Oksana Mozolevskya

CHICOPEE

Exterior Construction
706 Construction St.
Anthony Hairston

Greenski Contracting
188 Irene St.
Jeremy Greene

NBC Construction
44 Baltimore Ave.
Thomas Byrnes

Shelleigh’s Handcrafted Designs
35 Stephens St.
Michelle L. Fass

Sparkle
15 School St.
Wioleta Plewa-Knurowski

White Orchid Nail Spa
1979 Memorial Ave.
Christy Le

EAST LONGMEADOW

Emeritus at East Longmeadow
741 Parker St.
ELM Care Group

Hawley’s Auto Repair
345 Shaker Road
Robert Hawley

National Camping Travelers
9 Somerset St.
David L. Fant

Party City
440 North Main St.
Stormie R. McGee

Silverson Machines Inc.
355 Chestnut St.
Harold Rothman

Smith’s Beauty Supply of Mass. Inc.
217 Shaker Road
Cheryl D. Pusateri

GREENFIELD

Allure
10 Fiske Ave.
10 Fiske Ave, LLC

Autozone
430 Federal St.
Autozone Northeast Inc.

Carol’s Shoe Design
333 Hope St.
Caroline Opiyo

Environmental Labs
5 Adams Road
Alan Rulewich

Franklin St. Barbers
97 Franklin St.
Stephen Prondecki

Loss Prevention Technologies
12 Riddell St.
Weslee Sicard

HOLYOKE

Fruity Bubble
50 Holyoke St.
Kelvin Zheng

J.C. Penney Optical
1018 Whiting Farm Road
Carmen J. Nepa III

La Barberia
153 Sargeant St.
Emmanuel Montano

O’Brien’s Auto
40 Sanderson Hill
Edward O’Brien Jr.

The Umbrella Tank
67 Lincoln St.
Raymond J. Larrow

SPRINGFIELD

Adam’s New Age Construction
101 Samuel St.
Adam Bosquet

Adjutricem Placement
184 Maple St.
Tonya L. Hall

Advance Stores Company
1100 St. James Ave.
Bonita Johnston

Affordable Airport Car
16 Malcolm Road
Ervin E. Carelock

Ahmet and Ersin Inc.
27 St. James Blvd.
Ersin Cinarlik

Ainong Lin
2946 Main St.
Ainong Lin

Amberpath
299 Carew St.
Gerald Nash

Arya Shnap
58 Crestmont St.
Arya Shnap

ATA Preservation
178 Nottingham St.
Andrew T. Allen

Bernard J. Harvey
47 Lester St.
Bernard J. Harvey

BTTR Booths
80 Teakwood Road
Jakub Lakomski

Calisasimone
160 Maple St.
Calisa S. Kennedy

Campus Convenience
463 State St.
Jason Alvarado

Pafumi State Inspection
390 Main St.
Joseph M. Pafumi

Peoples Pawn and Jewelry
363 Worthington St.
William B. Miller

Pioneer Wealth Advisors
1500 Main St.
Arthur J. Colello

R & B Communications
26 Hutchinson St.
Syed Razzaq

R.M.L. Construction
47 Elwood Dr.
Michael Lucier

Ricos Truck Repair
45 Penacook St.
Ricardo Emmanuel

Right at Home
1350 Main St.
Nicholas W. Colgin

Rockville Records
13 Akron Place
Anthony Dywane

Rodger’s Painting Services
144 Stuart St.
Rodger E. Goodhind

Sabor Pentecostal
2 Chestnut St.
Sasha L. Ramos

Shanghai Ichiban
882 Sumner Ave.
Yun Chen

Sophie A. Cieplik
259 Main St.
Sophie A. Cieplik

Sports Cut Barber Shop
1129 State St.
Miguel M. Soto

Stop-N-Save
172 White St.
Mohammed Sheikh

Stylistas Traveling Boutique
34 Leatherleaf Circle
Christine Michelle

Sunrise Grill
439 Main St.
Loan T. Champagne

Teresa Mama’s & Samms
137 State St.
Teresa A. Williams

Tip Top Nails & Spa
818 Boston Road
Trang Dam

TJ Productions
239 Ashland Ave.
Thomas J. Sliney

UPA’S Trucking Services
26 Sterling St.
Jose A. Sanchez

Varady & Associates
50 Dutchess St.
Robert S. Varady

Vibra Hospital
1400 State St.
Vibra Hospital

Waffles on Wheels
1577 Carew St.
Jeanne M. O’Brien

Well Done Maid Services
22 Eldridge St.
Jalin Mobley

Western Mass Cars
95 Laconia St.
Kevin J. Conway

WESTFIELD

Aube Interiors
12 Vincent Dr.
Sonia Aube

Davi Nails
141 Springfield St.
Nam Tran

GG’s Auto Repair Inc.
988 Southampton Road
Nicole Cruz-Cansino

Kathy’s Nails Salon & Spa
85 Main St.
Van Ly

Lorena Sienko Real Estate
24 Leaview Dr.
Lorena A. Sienko

Mitchell’s Dry Wall
16 Harrison Ave.
Bruce D. Mitchell

Olga’s Tayloring
81 Woodmont St.
Olga Bucalov

R.G.L.
329 Montgomery Road
Ruth Haley

Smart Style
141 Springfield Road
Rebecca Rheault

Tatro’s Mobile Mechanic Services Inc.
16 George St.
Gregg Tatro

That Guy Delivers
154 Little River Road
Cheyne Ordonio

Westfield Yoga Center
94 North Elm St.
Thomas J. Swochak

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Brothers Covers
239 Western Ave.
Kenneth Labelle

Designs for Everyday Living
215 Ely Ave.
Nicole A. Towsley

Distinctive Works
31 Lowell St.
Realm Mercier

ITS Service and Support
94 Janet St.
Matthew A. Raymond

Longhorn Steakhouse
1105 Riverdale St.
Rare Hospitality

RTCEU
1111 Elm St.
Jon J. Jaspensan

The Olive Garden
919 Riverdale St.
GMRI Inc.

Community Profile: Stockbridge

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Community Profile Features
Tourism, Nostalgia Help Stockbridge Thrive

Michele Kotek, right, and Stephanie Gravalese-Wood

Michele Kotek, right, and Stephanie Gravalese-Wood say Stockbridge brings tradition and nostalgia to life, but looks to the future as well.

It’s been called the most famous Main Street in America.
And there is little disputing that Stockbridge’s main thoroughfare has earned that distinction. It was cinched in the years and decades after the town’s most famous resident, Norman Rockwell, made it famous in his “Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas” painting, created in 1967.
“If people want to experience that classic New England Christmas, then Stockbridge is the place to do it,” said Stephanie Gravalese-Wood, marketing and communications manager for both the Red Lion Inn and the Porches Inn at MassMoCA in North Adams.
Indeed, that classic experience comes to life annually in a weekend event that takes the same name as the Rockwell painting and celebrates both the artist and the holidays through various family-friendly activities. This year’s 24th edition of the event, slated for Dec. 6-8, will include holiday readings, festive home tours, caroling, a luminaria walk, and the sold-out holiday concert at the First Congregational Church. All events lead to the weekend highlight: the closing of Main Street to recreate Rockwell’s scene, complete with 50 antique cars.
Michele Kotek, innkeeper for the Red Lion Inn, has also been involved with the Stockbridge Chamber of Commerce for the past several years; currently she is president of the board. She told BusinessWest that the annual event was launched to help invigorate the holiday season in Stockbridge, and the success is evident, especially for the Red Lion, which is sold out for that weekend a year in advance.
“We [the chamber] have obviously perfected the event, and if you are at all ‘bah, humbug,’ come to Stockbridge and see,” said Kotek, adding that, while the community isn’t shy about celebrating its past, this is definitely not a town where time stands still.
Indeed, the community — as well as those charged with promoting it — are in some ways changing with the times, said Barbara Zanetti, long-time director of the Stockbridge Chamber of Commerce, noting that everything from a recently updated chamber website to mobile apps are being used by the chamber and specific venues to make a number of audiences, and especially the younger generations, aware of all that Stockbridge offers.
Jeremy Clowe

Jeremy Clowe says myriad creative initiatives have helped put the Norman Rockwell Museum — and the town — on the map.

However, ever-advancing technology brings challenges along with opportunities. And one of those challenges is cell-phone coverage and GPS identity, said Town Administrator Jorja-Ann Marsden, noting that dead zones are common and GPS searches for many Stockbridge addresses lead to the wrong locations (more on this later).
But despite these difficulties, people are finding Stockbridge, in both a literal and figurative sense, said Jeremy Clowe, manager of Media Services for the Norman Rockwell Museum, where that famous painting of Main Street hangs, along with hundreds of others.
“People want to experience American history and values, and even the name ‘Norman Rockwell’ has become an adjective, as in ‘a Norman Rockwell moment,’” he said, noting that the artist’s work — and the town in general — resonates with younger audiences, and with people from across the country and around the world. “That’s what a lot of people are looking for when they come here.”
For this latest installment of its Community Profile series, BusinessWest turns the spotlight on Stockbridge, where tourism is the main economic driver, and nostalgia has long been the main ingredient in a recipe for success.

Culture Club
Zanetti said that, while most everyone knows that the official address for Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937, carries a Lenox zip code, far fewer know that perhaps 90% of the property is in Stockbridge.
And she and others in the community are not shy about reminding people of that.
“In some of the advertisements for Tanglewood, they’re now saying ‘between Stockbridge and Lenox,’ but we do like to get our name in there for sure,” said Marsden, who has worked for the town since 1985. She noted that Tanglewood — in whatever town people believe it’s in — is one of many venues in the Berkshires that make the area a truly regional attraction, with Stockbridge being a key part of that equation.
And the regional approach is certainly one of the strategic approaches being used by those charged with promoting the community and stimulating tourist activity, said Zanetti, adding that Stockbridge, like Lenox, Great Barrington, Lee, and other communities, certainly benefits from its proximity to other popular locations and the large number of true destinations within an hour of each other.
But Stockbridge itself has long been a major draw, said Zanetti, noting that the museum, Main Street, the Red Lion Inn, and, yes, Tanglewood are some of the many attractions that help bring up to 25,000 people to the town (population: 2,000) in the summer and fall.
And these visitors have helped keep Main Street and its small commercial district — just a few blocks in size — thriving, said Marsden. “Tourism continues to thrive in our small business area, and the few times a storefront has gone empty, it hasn’t stayed empty for long.”
Rockwell and the values ever present in his work play a huge role in the town’s vibrancy, said Clowe, noting that the license plates in the museum parking lot are from all over the country, not just Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut, and there are bus tours bringing people from China, Japan, France, and other countries as well.
But while Rockwell still seems to resonate with all generations, it doesn’t hurt to have much more to offer the younger audiences, said those we spoke with, and the regional aspect of Berkshires tourism has been part of this equation.
Tanglewood has added popular talent that is drawing a much younger audience over the past several years, said Clowe, adding that the Solid Sound music series at MassMoCA (the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) in North Adams, featuring such bands as Wilco, has also brought more young people to the Berkshires — and to Stockbridge.
“I think it’s been some of these initiatives that have been really creative that are helping to get our name on the map,” he said. “People don’t always know where this [the Rockwell museum] is, but we’ve found new ways to market ourselves online and with mobile apps, and maybe it’s a combination of all these things making the younger generations aware.”
Overall, the younger generations are “a different type of person and traveler,” said Zanetti, adding that that individual destinations must adapt and create programming that will appeal to such audiences.
Clowe concurred, and cited, as one example, a recent exhibit at the Rockwell museum — “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic,” which celebrated the 75th anniversary of the famous film. On display from early June until the end of October, the successful exhibit evolved from the personal friendship between Rockwell and Walt Disney and has drawn Disney fans of all ages from across the country.
“Everyone has to work harder and keep things fresh,” said Clowe, adding that, by doing so, Stockbridge and its individual attractions can make nostalgia just one of many selling points.

History Channel
Marsden told BusinessWest that Stockbridge’s problems with cell-phone dead zones (including some stretches of that famous Main Street) and GPS identity are real and somewhat frustrating, although carriers are looking to perhaps add another tower.
“I think it’s just a matter of time,” she said. “We’re continuing to talk to Verizon and AT&T and pushing for that cell service. While we may have a small year-round population, we’re a tourism destination, and our population swells, and for the people that travel here, we really need that cell service.”
But while it waits for that service to improve, Stockbridge will continue to focus on what enabled visitors of all ages to find — and eventually cherish — this community long before anyone knew what the acronym GPS stood for.
“A visit to Stockbridge and the Red Lion Inn is the classic New England experience,” said Gravalese-Wood. “And sometimes innovation is just keeping things the way they are.”
Stockbridge has continued to prove that point for more than a half-century now.

Elizabeth Taras can be reached at [email protected]

Opinion

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Opinion
A Good First Step at Westfield State

The Westfield State University board of trustees voted to place embattled President Evan Dobelle on paid administrative leave last week, a decisive move that we hope will be the first step in ending a tenure that has become a serious distraction for the college and, more importantly, a burden for the state’s public higher-education system at a time when it doesn’t need one.
Recapping the recent events in what has been an ongoing saga, the board’s action came several hours after the faculty and librarians (at least those who participated) voted by a wide margin to issue a vote of no confidence in Dobelle, who has come under unrelenting fire from the media and Board of Higher Education Commissioner Richard Freeland for his lavish spending and misuse of university credit cards.
The board, which has also come under fire from Freeland for a lack of leadership on this matter and essentially doing too little far too late, put Dobelle on ice until at least late November, when the law firm it hired to investigate Dobelle’s spending habits is expected to issue its findings.
In doing so, the board essentially disregarded repeated threats from Dobelle’s lawyer and hired public-relations specialist that disciplining the school’s president would result in a federal lawsuit claiming, among other things, that Dobelle’s constitutional rights were violated because an investigation launched into his spending earlier this year was done illegally.
While we understand why Dobelle’s team would focus on the procedural aspects of that investigation — there are questions about whether rules, such as open-meeting law provisions, were violated — we prefer to side with Freeland and his ongoing contention that it is what’s in the report that is at the heart of this controversy.
Slicing through it all, the accounting firm that conducted the inquiry found that there were violations regarding school policies involving use of credit cards, but also, in the interpretation of Freeland and others who have seen the results, blatant irresponsibility when it comes to spending taxpayer and Westfield State Foundation funds.
The headlines and the controversy that has ensued — including allegations from Dobelle that there is essentially a statewide conspiracy against him and that Freeland is out for his job — prompted the commissioner to write the trustees recently and say “it seems to me highly questionable whether President Dobelle can or should continue to provide leadership to Westfield State University.”
We concur, but must note that Freeland has much more on his mind than the Westfield campus when he makes such statements. Indeed, Freeland is quite concerned about the impact of the Dobelle controversy on perception of the state’s public higher-education system and possible future funding. And he should be concerned.
As we’ve said many times over the years, this is a state that has historically underfunded public higher ed, consistently ranking well below the national average in this category. There are several possible reasons for this, including the widely held theory that, historically, the Legislature hasn’t made public higher education a priority in a state rich with esteemed private institutions.
Whatever the reason or reasons for this poor track record, the last thing this state needs is another one. That’s because now, perhaps more than ever, the Commonwealth’s public colleges and universities are critically important to the task of making this state competitive in the high-stakes contest for what is now arguably the world’s most precious commodity: jobs.
Dobelle’s recklessness with other people’s money — not to mention his absurd allegations against anyone who questions him — present a serious threat to the public higher-education system.
And that’s why the university board’s vote last week must be just the first step in the process of ridding the state of what has become an annoying problem.

Back to Work?

By
Construction Sections
Region’s Construction Activity Is a Mixed Bag

R.J. Chapdelaine

R.J. Chapdelaine says he’s busy with both remodeling jobs and new homes, like this one going up in West Springfield.

In the post-recession world of construction, when jobs are few and far between, diversity is a good thing.
“We’re on the upswing. It was a pretty solid year, a lot of phone calls,” said A.J. Crane, operations manager at A. Crane Construction in Chicopee. “It’s nice for us that we’re kind of diverse; we don’t specialize in any one thing. We’re interested in quality more than anything.
“A lot of guys do just kitchens and baths, or just additions, or just houses,” he continued. “But we had a really diverse year. We were all over the map — a lot of commercial work, a lot of residential work.”
The general consensus among the builders BusinessWest spoke with is that housing is rebounding from the recession faster than commercial building, but that’s not true for every contractor.
“We’re actually doing a little more commercial, which is different for us,” Crane said. “It’s typically like 60-40 residential, and it’s the other way around this year. It’s not that we’re doing less residential; we’re just doing more commercial. But it doesn’t matter to us who the property owners are — commercial businesses, government, homeowners — we’re interested in doing the work.”
Joe Marois, president of Marois Construction in South Hadley, said his workload picked up this year, but the near horizon is less encouraging.
“So far, we’ve survived the year,” he told BusinessWest. “We’ve been very busy, but we have very guarded profits we have to be careful about, because there’s not a whole lot of foreseeable work right now. Things have slowed down a little bit; my contemporaries are saying the same thing.”
Paul Ugolini, president of Western Builders in Granby, is one of them.
“We’re in the same predicament — we’re having a good year, not bad, we’re paying the bills, but it looks like it’s going to slump off,” he noted. “The way this market is, there’s just not much commercial work out there. It seems like the colleges and universities aren’t spending too much money these days, and that’s a problem for us.”
However, he noted, “we do have some housing backlog. We’re going to be doing four buildings in Holyoke, and there’s some housing in Easthampton we’ll chase — but you still have to land it.”
As for the commercial market, it tends to lag behind single-family homes, Ugolini noted, and builders hope activity starts to perk up soon. “The way this business is, it’s been rough the last few years. It’s just supply and demand — there are a lot of contractors, but not a lot of work.”

Moving Along
Crane said he’s gotten mixed messages from fellow builders. “From what we’ve heard, people are very busy or very slow — there aren’t a lot of guys in between.”
One rising trend has to do with next-generation housing, he noted — “older people moving back in with their kids, kids moving back in with their parents. We just finished one of those up.”
This is more than a localized phenomenon, according to Jed Kolko, chief economist for Trulia Trends.
During the recession, he notes at truliablog.com, fewer households were created than normal. Typically, 1.1 million new households are added each year in the U.S., mostly due to population growth. However, from the first quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of 2011, only 450,000 new households were created annually. “Slower household growth means less demand for homes, so annual construction starts dropped during this period from a norm of 1.4 million to below 600,000. Most recently, only 521,000 households were created between the first quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013.”

Paul Ugolini

Paul Ugolini says his company has a residential backlog, but commercial projects remain frustratingly elusive.

A big part of this slowdown, he notes, is due to young people living with parents or doubling up with roommates rather than buying their own house. “Since most kids won’t live with their parents forever, these young adults represent pent-up demand for housing that the recovery should unleash. The problem is, the kids aren’t moving out yet.”
RJ Chapdelaine, president of Jos. Chapdelaine & Sons in East Longmeadow — which focuses largely on residential building and remodeling — said business is definitely on the upswing.
“Right now, we’re working on two new homes, and we’ve been working on quite a few additions and renovations,” he noted. “Our kitchen and bath renovations have been very solid, and we’re feeling as though things are heading in a more positive direction. We’re even anticipating starting a new 10-lot subdivision in East Longmeadow. We’ve had quite a lot of good feedback.”
Meanwhile, “I got three calls yesterday for new homes. That, to me, is a good sign — that people want to talk about new homes. It’s very refreshing. Hopefully, it’s a good sign; over the last few years, those calls were more rare, and the fact that we’re starting to get new-home calls and larger remodel jobs is nice.”
Chapdelaine credits a couple of colliding developments — an improving economy giving consumers confidence to make big purchases again, and still-low mortgage rates (and the fear that they won’t stay that low forever).
“I would say some of it is pent-up desire,” he said. “People have been sitting for awhile, and they’re starting to see the rates creep back up a little bit, and it puts them in a position where they feel they need to move because the rates are obviously still at historic lows, and they don’t want to see them creep up to where they were even two, three, five years ago. So they’re thinking it might be time to build or remodel.

Crisis of Confidence
Kolko notes, however, that the housing market has a long way to rebound, and it will — eventually.
“Jobs will help, but the job recovery for young people still has a long way to go,” he writes. “While more young adults are working now than a year ago, their employment rate is still much closer to the worst of the recession than to pre-recession levels. As late as mid-2008, 71% of adults ages 18-34 were employed. That dropped to a low of 65% in mid-2011 and has risen back only to 66.8%. But you don’t get a job one day and move out of mom and dad’s the next. It could still take years before young people have built up the savings and economic security to leave the nest.”
Meanwhile, the commercial sector is still feeling a distinct lack of security and confidence, Marois noted, partly driven by the chaos coming out of Washington, represented most recently by the federal shutdown, and lingering uncertainty over the Affordable Care Act, which will increasingly impact employers in 2014.
“You have to throw into the mix what’s going on in Washington,” he said. “The shutdown has had far-reaching effects, given the fact that we’ve got looming budget cuts, and the healthcare law is starting to look like it will be a problematic program to get initiated. I think it’s going to have an impact on everyone’s confidence going forward with projects. It’s affecting our psyche right now.”
All those factors, layered atop an economy that never returned to pre-recession levels, makes it difficult to generate building activity.
“I’m not too confident in the traditional way we used to do things,” Marois said. “Our way of thinking, running businesses and understanding the economy, seems to be different right now because it’s intermixed with uncertainty over new programs and new regulations. It’s a time like we’ve never seen before.”
In short, largely commercial builders are hoping that they soon begin to see the signs of life appearing in the housing-construction market.
“We’re pretty optimistic. Things seem to be a lot better than they were,” Chapdelaine said, echoing Crane’s perception as he added, “we hear there’s no middle ground; you’re either very busy or very slow. I’m glad to be on the busy side.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Finance

By
Columns Sections
Set a Thorough, Realistic Budget for Your Business

By DEBRA KAYLOR, CPA

Kaylor-DebYou may have heard a lot about the budget for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts this summer and how we, the taxpayers, were going to help balance that budget through new taxes. But what about your budget?
Budgets are a necessary tool to help you monitor where you are and what changes you may need to make to address any unforeseen situations on a timely basis. Many are still recovering from the recession, and while the thought of having to prepare a budget seems frightening to many, it’s a useful and necessary tool to help you and your business make it through any economy — good or bad.
Budgeting helps measure your performance by being able to review what you expected to happen as opposed to what actually happened, and analyze why those differences occurred. Depending on the size of your business, budgeting might be done semi-annually, quarterly, monthly, or even weekly. It relies on assumptions and expectations for the future. As such, you need the right data to build these assumptions and expectations.
There are many questions to ask yourself and others — where do we think revenues will be, what new customers do we think we will gain (or conversely lose), what is the expected cost of our supplies, what new projects do we need or want to do, how many employees do we need, and what will happen with our insurance rates? While no one has a crystal ball, working with other departments in your organization as well as colleagues in your industry will allow you to build a realistic vision of what is expected to happen.
Here are a few things to consider:
• Know what you can control and what you can’t control. Some industries are fairly straightforward, and revenues (and related expenses) can be easily predicted. However, most are not and are subject to variables that are market- or economy-driven and cannot be controlled. Start with what you know, and then step back to review the variable factors and how your business will (or can) react to significant changes in those factors.
• Be realistic. If you expect revenues to decrease, set your budget that way. Do not set yourself up for failure. Budgets are there to help you, not hurt you. Don’t make your budget a target of where you’d like to be, but rather a tool to monitor your progress toward your strategic goals.
• Be careful not to get too specific. This may divert your efforts too much to gathering the data instead of effectively using it.
• Consider seasonal changes in your business when preparing quarterly or monthly budgets. Is most of your revenue generated in the summer? Prepare your budget that way so you can better analyze your budget versus actual results and why actual results may or may not meet the budget.
• Allow plenty of time before the year begins to prepare the budget. Typically, the process isn’t easy, and a lot of information must be gathered prior to pulling it all together. This will also give you an opportunity to consider other actions that may be necessary to meet certain goals — i.e. do you need additional financing, or do you need to reconsider your insurance package? The budget should also be approved by management or a board of directors and discussed with those responsible for monitoring their areas.
• See if your accounting software can help develop and monitor your budget. Many software packages do allow you to enter your budget on an annual and/or monthly basis and may be able to help pull the historical data you may want. This will eliminate the time and potential errors of manually entering information into an Excel spreadsheet.
• Monitor the budget in a timely and consistent manner. This allows you not only to measure your performance, but also to hold people accountable for their areas and reward those who do well. Yes, there are always unknowns, and sometimes things happen that are not in the budget. But that’s OK. One common mistake of monitoring is expecting actual results to mirror the budgeted amounts. While some line items are typically easy to predict (like rent expense, which usually does not change month to month if there is a signed lease agreement in place), most are not, and variances are expected. Monitoring on a timely basis will allow you to identify the factor that kept you from meeting your budget. Successful monitoring will also enable you to adjust other areas as necessary for the larger variances in a timely fashion.
• Learn from your mistakes, especially if you haven’t used budgeting as a tool in the past. In addition to helping you monitor how your business performed monetarily, budgeting should teach you something about your customers and your vendors. What is happening with them will affect you both in the short and long term.
While budgeting is often thought of a tool for businesses, it is also effective for your personal finances. Do you want to take a vacation this year? Do you need a new car? How much money will you need? The same principles apply and will allow you to do the things you would like to do and be prepared to react to unexpected events.
Now that you have your budget, keep up the good work. Budgeting is not a one-time event. To be successful, it must be monitored on a consistent basis to help you succeed with all of your goals. If you monitor and review your budget on a timely basis, you will be better prepared for the unexpected as well as preparing for the future.

Debra Kaylor, CPA is an audit and accounting senior manager at the Holyoke-based public accounting firm Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C.; (413) 322-3515; [email protected]

Tooth Tellers

By
Construction Sections
Baystate Dental, Craig Sweitzer & Co. Mark 30 Years of Growing Together

Dr. Kevin Coughlin (center), with Craig Sweitzer (right) and Sweitzer’s son, Michael

Dr. Kevin Coughlin (center), with Craig Sweitzer (right) and Sweitzer’s son, Michael, says a welcoming dental environment and state-of-the-art technology are both important elements in a dental practice’s design.

Craig Sweitzer’s company has built more than 75 medical and dental practices over the past 30 years. The first of those clients — Baystate Dental — is also the most recent.
BusinessWest recently sat down with both Sweitzer and Dr. Kevin Coughlin, owner of Baystate Dental, at the practice’s 10th location, which opened last week in a restored house in downtown Westfield. Craig Sweitzer & Co. has built the last nine of those offices, with two more planned for the near future, and the two men have shared what they call a rewarding professional partnership over the past three decades.
The story begins in 1983, when Coughlin was getting ready to take over Baystate Dental from its founders, Drs. Gabriel and Milton Auerbach.
“As they retired, I felt it was necessary to renovate and expand, and I knew what I wanted to do — I just didn’t know how it could be done and who could help me do that,” Coughlin said. At the time, Baystate Dental operated at just one site, on Main Street in Springfield.
“At the time, my dad, my father-in-law, and I attempted to renovate that initial practice, and realized we were out of our domain. We needed an expert contractor, someone we could trust and someone we could hopefully grow with over the years.”
He was introduced by a mutual friend to Sweitzer, who was in a similar position — that of wanting to broaden his business beyond residential projects and professional buildings.
“We did office renovations, and Kevin was the first medical job we did,” Sweitzer said. “It was fascinating. In a dental office, there’s so much plumbing and medical piping, mechanical piping, medical gases, X-rays — it’s so much more complex, and it keeps you thinking. It was a lot more fun — and it’s still fun 30 years later.”
He’s seen plenty of advances in medical-office construction over the years. “The equipment has changed. We no longer need to use lead-lined sheet rock, and everything is more gentle, more comforting for the patient, and less clinical-looking, although the technology has just advanced in leaps and bounds.”
Coughlin jokes that he might not have hired Sweitzer if he had realized just now inexperienced the builder was in the medical-dental field, but he’s glad he had no misgivings at the time.
“I immediately liked him, trusted him, and believed in him,” Coughlin said. “He set out with plans and designs to renovate that initial practice, with the goal that we wanted to give our patients not just a warm and wonderful atmosphere, but efficient, effective, state-of-the-art care in that welcoming atmosphere.
“With the combination of his building expertise and knowledge, and my knowledge of medicine and dentistry,” he continued, “we’re now pushing toward 12 dental practices in Western Mass.”

Family Ties
The history of Baystate Dental is the recent history of two families. When Joyce Mercadante was growing up in Agawam, her family befriended the Auerbach family; later, two of the Auerbach children, Gabriel and Milton, would go on to become dentists, and the Mercandante family became early patients of the new practice in Springfield.
Mercadante later married Ralph Coughlin and had two sons, whom the Auerbachs encouraged to enter the field of dentistry. After part-time and summer work in the Baystate Dental lab during high school and college, Kevin enrolled in the dental program at Tufts University School of Medicine. He returned to the region and the Auerbachs’ practice, gradually broadening his responsibilities, helping the practice expand into evening and Saturday hours.
After Coughlin took over the practice in 1983, he embarked on an ambitious expansion plan and, in 2003, added two partners in Drs. Gary Circosta and Matthew Haluch. The practice now employs 120 staff members, including 18 dentists, at its 10 locations, making it the largest private dental practice in the state.
Sweitzer’s emergence in the construction field started equally humbly. “I actually owned a furniture business before I graduated college — designing, building, and selling furniture in East Longmeadow,” he told BusinessWest. After that, he went to work for a general contractor for a couple of years before setting out on his own with small projects, mostly kitchens and bathrooms.
“That evolved to additions, which evolved to new homes,” he said. “That was fun, but after 15 houses, it’s just not as challenging anymore. And residential work is really susceptible to ups and downs in the economy.”
So he gradually moved into commercial work, particularly office construction, before trying his hand with medical facilities. Eventually, he left residential building behind completely. As a small company, “I really can’t do both and serve those customers. Building a house takes six months, and when a doctor calls us up and wants an office built, he wants it started next week, so we can’t say, ‘come back and see us in six months.’ So we went to all commercial.”

The new Westfield office

The new Westfield office is the first Baystate Dental practice to occupy a remodeled house.

His long-standing professional relationship with Coughlin has included building new dental facilities in Springfield, Belchertown, Chicopee, East Longmeadow, Longmeadow, Ludlow, West Springfield, Westfield, and Wilbraham. Baystate Dental’s other long-time partner is Patterson Dental, a national resource for equipment, supplies, and expertise in industry trends.
“With each project, we continue to find things to improve from the previous project,” Coughlin said. “And I trust him, so I don’t have to be there every week worrying, ‘is this getting done?’ It’s an enormous benefit to have that relationship, almost like a family member, where I don’t have to worry about it.”
Sweitzer agreed. “Our goal is to do the best possible project with the best possible products for the money. I know what Kevin wants; I don’t have to call him all the time. He trusts in me and gives me the confidence to make decisions I think are best for this practice.”
For example, at the new Westfield office, Sweitzer became concerned about the way the ceiling tiles in the operatories, or procedure rooms, reflected sound. Feeling that it created too loud an environment, he researched materials and softened the noise.
“I’m not always concerned about the best value or what’s easiest to build,” he said. In the case of the ceiling tiles, “we knew what we wanted, so it was easy for us to switch gears during construction without getting the architects or the designer involved in a big series of endless meetings.”

That’s a Mouthful
Coughlin said the dental public demands much more than it used to, both in technology and a pleasant practice environment.
“People want the best value, the best care, and the best service in the best surroundings,” he said. “But in the end, what they want is to trust their provider, and that comes from their first impression, what the facility looks like. Is it too glitzy, over the top, cold, and impersonal? Is it private?”
The look of a practice is just the beginning. “Thirty years ago, most practitioners wore no masks and gloves, no surgical scrubs. Infection control was almost non-existent,” he recalled. “Privacy matters, like with HIPAA, weren’t even an issue. Today, all of these things are not just important, but necessary.”
Sweitzer said the Westfield site reflects a commitment to both aesthetics and substance. “If you look in each of these operatories, the windows overlook a landscaped area, there’s soft music, everything is brand-new, extremely clean, extremely comfortable. Yet, behind the patient’s head is the most modern equipment imaginable — the most modern X-rays, medical gases … these operatories really do just about anything.”
Likewise, Baystate Dental has strived to do almost anything to get treatment to patients, providing services at home for non-ambulatory individuals and offering a broad range of sedation options even for routine treatments.
“Thirty-five percent of people refuse to see the dentist out of fear, and another 15% for financial reasons. That’s 50% of the marketplace that’s avoiding you,” Coughlin said. “By creating an efficient, effective environment and by offering these medical gases — oral sedation, inhalation sedation, intravenous sedation, or anesthesia — we can take these patients who have high anxiety and give them a level of care they don’t normally expect or get.”
He cited one boy with severe autism who was non-verbal and could not tolerate a normal dental setting and had to be sedated. “This young man hadn’t had dental care in 14 years. Who provides that care?”
But both Coughlin and Sweitzer couldn’t help but come back to the design of the new Westfield office — the first Baystate Dental practice in a renovated house, not a new building.
That wasn’t the original plan; the project was originally drawn up and approved as a new, three-story, 30,000-square-foot building with a footprint extending very close to Broad Street. But they decided a remodel of the original building was sufficient for the practice’s needs and blended much better with Westfield’s reconstructed downtown. “Everyone who goes by here, they love it,” Sweitzer said.
Added Coughlin, “I don’t think this detracts at all from the center of Westfield, and I think it actually adds to it. People know we could have done something else, but we took what I like to think is the higher ground.
“At least once a week,” he continued, “we get a nice personal letter from someone in this town I don’t know — hopefully they’ll become patients — who are thrilled with what we’ve done.”
“That’s where the fun of construction is,” Sweitzer added. “We’re not building a sterile high-rise with glass and concrete, but recreating something that you can really be proud of.”
Indeed, while state-of-the-art technology is critical, after 30 years and 10 offices — with more on the way — Coughlin doesn’t underestimate the power of a welcoming atmosphere.
“We have roughly 56,000 patient visits a year across all our locations, and we’ve never had anyone say anything but, ‘this is one of the nicest dental offices I’ve ever been in,’” he told BusinessWest. “That’s not just for the aesthetics of it, but the intangibles — the layout, the efficiency. I often get credit for it, but honestly, the credit should go to the construction company.”
As befits their mutually beneficial relationship, he and Sweitzer are happy to share the credit.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Bankruptcies

By
Bankruptcies Departments

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

Ackley, Richard B.
100 Tavistock St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/25/13

Allan, Richard J.
74 Oregon St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/23/13

Anderson, Kevin Condell
1642 Westfield St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/27/13

Aponte, Ricardo
4 Washington Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/26/13

Arsenault, Cassie Lynn
a/k/a Cornwell, Cassie Lynn
125 Cleveland St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/30/13

Aubrey, Debra L.
93 Grochmal Ave., Lot 1
Indian Orchard, MA 01151
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/24/13

Barden, Linda Ann
a/k/a Noll, Linda Ann
111 Federal St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/17/13

Bona, Michael J.
Gooley, Pamela J.
84 Washington Mountain Road
Lee, MA 01238
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/25/13

Buck, Sharon
46 Cabot St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/23/13

Burwell, Joseph V.
Burwell, Jacquelyn C.
155 Old Farm Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/27/13

Byrne, Joanne Patricia
P.O. Box 150
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/17/13

Caloon, Melissa A.
54 Riddell St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/26/13

Cameron, Moraine
70 Bristol St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/20/13

Carrasquillo, Milton P.
93 Woodmont St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/23/13

Carter, Paul C.
394 Undermountain Road
Lenox, MA 01240
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/27/13

Cole, Ann M.
4 Rastallis St.
Turners Falls, MA 01376
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/17/13

Cole, Ryann S.
26 Fernwood Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/26/13

Coleman, Cynthia M.
20 Mowry Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/24/13

Danforth, Gary R.
127 Benz St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/24/13

Delisle, Richard H.
Delisle, Theresa I.
1011 Oak St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/23/13

Delorge, Sandra L.
33 Westford Circle
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/30/13

Dembowski, Michael
Dembowski, Mary H.
PO Box 1566
Warren, MA 01083
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/17/13

Dickerson, Theo N.
North Brook Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/25/13

DiPaolo, Denise J.
46 Prospect St.
Turners Falls, MA 01376
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/26/13

Dunn, Sarah J.
a/k/a Ogonowski, Sarah J.
1038 Sumner Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/26/13

Dupiton, Monalisa
94 Mystery Lane
Phillipston, MA 01331
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/28/13

Flowers, Susan J.
48 Providence St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/20/13

Fortin, Charles
Fortin, Debra
215 Silver St.
Granville, MA 01034
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/30/13

Gaetan, Maria D.
8 Grover St., Apt. 2
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/24/13

Gaudet, Michael P.
Gaudet, Alexandra M.
a/k/a Placzek, Alexandra M.
77 Ride Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/26/13

Giguere, Joseph P.
Giguere, Kelly L.
137A Boston Road
Palmer, MA 01069
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/26/13

Godbout, Nancy C.
376 North Main St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/25/13

Grant, Timothy Brian
119 Hoe Shop Road
Bernardston, MA 01337
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/17/13

Guilbert, Nancy A.
84 Gardens Dr.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/23/13

Hernandez, Daniel
Hernandez, Diane M.
163 Lakeview Ave.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/24/13

Holbrook, Robert E.
140 Chestnut St.
Springfield, MA 01103
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/17/13

Holden-Dickerson, Almateen Deborah
North Brook Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/25/13

Hoskey, Michael S.
Hoskey, Wendy L.
a/k/a Arnold, Wendy
239 Spikenard Circle
Springfield, MA 01129
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/18/13

Hubbard, Keith F.
Hubbard, Melissa M.
37 Athol Richmond Road
Royalston, MA 01368
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/29/13

Jaeger, Paul John
41 High St., 2nd Floor
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/23/13

Johnson, David L.
Johnson, Kathleen
10 Freyer Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/25/13

Kenneson, Jeremy V.
27 Mckinley Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/18/13

Kenneson, Lynn A.
80 6th Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/24/13

Kirkpatrick, Douglas M.
Kirkpatrick, Melinda A.
42 Champeaux Road
Brimfield, MA 01010
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/20/13

Laboy, Lisa J.
43 Van Buren Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/20/13

Laliberte, Tania C.
90 Westwood Dr.
Sturbridge, MA 01566
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/27/13

Lamontagne, Jerrid D.
68 Wheatland Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/19/13

Lara, Rosa
37 Randolph St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/17/13

Leblanc, Richard E.
Leblanc, Robyn L.
708 Templeton Road
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/23/13

Lester, Vera A.
a/k/a Mock, Vera
33 Euclid Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/20/13

Little, Kerry A.
723 Holyoke Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/24/13

Matos, Angel L.
a/k/a Matos Rosado, Angel L.
Colon, Bethzaida
235 Montgomery St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/16/13

McCoy, Ivy L.
780 Riverglade Dr.
Amherst, MA 01002
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/26/13

McSwain, Susan
419 Montcalm St., Apt. 114 M
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/30/13

Morrison, Michael J.
Morrison, Christine M.
786 Wheelwright Road
Barre, MA 01005
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/23/13

Nally, Jessica F.
80 Damon Road, Apt. 5110
Northampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/26/13

Nowill, Gregory W.
1500 General Knox Road
Russell, MA 01071
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/25/13

Nunez, Jose L.
222 Norfolk St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/24/13

O’Donnell, Elizabeth-An
a/k/a Creanza, Elizabeth-An
113 Converse St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/25/13

Ohlund, Susan
21 Simpson St.
Sturbridge, MA 01566
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/23/13

Pease, Greg A.
34 Wayne St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/24/13

Pease, JoAnne M.
34 Wayne St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/24/13

Pike, Frederick B.
429 Main Road
Colrain, MA 01340
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/17/13

Placeres, Kim L.
a/k/a Perreault, Kim L.
a/k/a Dion, Kim L.
47 Kelso Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/18/13

Pobieglo, Stephannie
362 Allen Park Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/23/13

Porter, William L.
Porter, Maryann E.
4 Franklin St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/24/13

Prosperity-Magic, Casey A.
Prosperity-Magic, Hope A.
a/k/a Lowe, Hope E.
a/k/a Magic, Hope
a/k/a Hartage, Renee Y.
a/k/a Magic, Renee
PO Box 6283
Springfield, MA 01101
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/25/13

Remillard, Ronald R.
27 Alhambra Circle North
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/24/13

Rivera, Jim
43 Baldwin St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/24/13

Rivers, Louis J.
Rivers, Maureen C.
420 Boston Road West
Palmer, MA 01069
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/25/13

Rodriguez, Luis A.
26 Jefferson Ave.
Springfield, MA 01107
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/27/13

Rutkowski, Donna
22 Briere Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/24/13

Sadlowski, Karolyn E.
75 Commercial St.
Apartment A107
Adams, MA 01220
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/16/13

Salmon, Deborah
a/k/a Salmon Gordon, Deborah
a/k/a Deines, Deborah
a/k/a Gordon, Deborah
40 April Lane
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/18/13

Sanchez, Emily
126 Union St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/26/13

Schindler, Tammy H.
25 Saab Court, Apt. 1202
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/20/13

Seymour, Cheryl Ann
77 Valley View Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/19/13

Sigda, Wendy A.
a/k/a Jones, Wendy A.
a/k/a Charbonneau, Wendy
16 Laurin Lane
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/25/13

Tessier, David Roger
Tessier, Kathryn A.
18 Laurel St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/26/13

Torres, Vilma I.
60 Pheasant Dr.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/26/13

Vega, Bernardo
71 School St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/20/13

Vickers, Cynthia J.
3 Hickory Hill Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/17/13

Walker, Aran J.
1588 Wells Road
Cheshire, MA 01225
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/27/13

Wheeler Electrical
Wheeler, David K.
P.O. Box 725
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/17/13

Wiernasz, Laurie K.
51 Laurie Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/20/13

Willey, Eben C.
151 Granville Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/26/13

Wilson, Phyllis E.
734 Belchertown Road
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/26/13

Zuraw, Celia Maria
Zuraw, Joseph Paul
76 South Maple St.
Hadley, MA 01035
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/27/13

Incorporations

By
Departments Incorporations

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

AGAWAM

Frank & Luigi Realty Inc., 944 Springfield St., Agawam, MA 01001. Frank Dibenedetto, 74 Dunsany Dr., Longmeadow, MA 01106. Real estate.

AMHERST

Marknell Inc., 215 Sunset Ave., Amherst, MA 01002. Marcos Kleinerman, same. Transportation of goods of any type and nature.

CHICOPEE

I-V Associates Inc., 10 Center St., Suite 211, Chicopee, MA 01013. Brian O’Neil, same. Provide specialty nursing services.

Melkor Inc., 10 Center St., Suite 404, Chicopee, MA 01013. David Melnichuk, 74 South West St., Feeding Hills, MA 01030. Business marketing.

EAST OTIS

Linden Graphics LTD, 12 Norton Road Extension, East Otis, MA 01029. Michael Linden, same. Engage in printing.

EASTHAMPTON

Ensemble Musica Humana Inc., 283 B East Street, Easthampton, MA 01027. Lidia Chang, 1859 River St., Hyde Park, MA 02136. To provide education as to the history of early music.

HOLYOKE

Iglesia Del Dios Soberano Inc., 28 Brown Ave., Holyoke, MA 01040. Diana Pares, same. Purpose and mission is to preach the gospel.

LEE

Greenhouse Dispensary Inc., 80 Run Way, Lee, MA 01238. Michael Kulig, 563 Laurel St., Lee, MA 01238. Promote cooperative research and educational projects between scholars.

NORTHAMPTON

C Care Inc., 7 Armory St., Northampton, MA 01061. Donald Chase, 39 Timber Ridge Road, West Springfield, MA 01089. Promote and support activities for the treatment of debilitating medical conditions.

Farm House Compassionate Care Inc., 13 Trumbull Road, Northampton, MA 01060. Susan Stubbs, same. Healing and wellness.

Hampshire Health Inc., 58 Belmont Ave., Northampton, MA 01060.Brian Paul Foote, same. Activities in furtherance of medical, educational, civic, and charitable purposes.

PITTSFIELD

A N General Painting Services Inc., 202 Dewey Ave., Apt. 6, Pittsfield, MA 02101. Antonio Nascimento, same. Painting services.

Forever Xia Inc., 26 Dunham Mall, Pittsfield, MA 01201. Al Ming Pan, same. Restaurant.

SOUTH HADLEY

Ackrion Inc., 2 Linda St., South Hadley, MA 01075. Kristpher Pacunas, 121 Aldrich St., Belchertown, MA 01075. Design, manufacture, and sell external wifi communication and processes devices.

SPRINGFIELD

365 Freight Solutions Inc., 1 Florentine Gardens, Springfield, MA 01108. Cecilio Cunningham, 3543 Woodlake Road, Hephzibah, GA 30815. Transportation of goods and related services.

Ahmetandersin Inc., 27-29 St. James Blvd. Springfield, MA 01104. Ahmet Citlak, 81 Bluebird Circle, Ludlow, MA 01056. Pizza and sandwich shop.

Building In Construction Inc., 72 Washburn St., Springfield, MA 01107. Angel Alicea, same. Rehabilitation center.

Changmu Corporation, 1655 Boston Road, Springfield, MA 01129. Chang Ho Kim, Same, clothing retail.

EVA Transportation Inc., 35 Princeton St., Springfield, MA 01109. Andres Rosario, same. Transportation services for seniors and disabled.

Hampden Care Facility, 180 Orange St., Springfield, MA 01108, Springfield. Tom Gallagher, 34 Mountain View St., Springfield, MA 01108. Promote patient care, encourage medical research, and support community development.

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Dunamis Express Inc., 20 Hampden St., West Springfield, MA 01089. Elmira Usmonova, same. Transportation.

J Paier Carpentry Inc., 265 Lancaster Ave., West Springfield, MA 01089. Joseph Paier, same. Carpentry and related services.

Driving Brand Renewal

By
Features
Friendly’s Comeback Efforts Will Be Among a Host of Expo Programs

WMBExpo600x250When John Maquire spoke with BusinessWest late last year, a few months after taking the helm at a very troubled Friendly’s Ice Cream Corp., he was quite blunt when assessing what had happened to one of the region’s most well-known brands — and about what needed to happen next.
“In a nutshell, I would say that Friendly’s has lost its focus on what really makes it special,” he told the magazine. “It’s lost its perspective on who the customer is and what is the best way to deliver for that customer, and, most importantly, what gives us credibility with our customers.
“There is no quick fix to any of this business,” he went on, referring to the complex assignment of turning around the company’s fortunes. “It took a long time for Friendly’s to lose its way; it’s going to take some time for us to find our way back.”
At the Nov. 6 Western Mass. Business Expo at the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield, Maguire will give a candid and in-depth look at how far he believes the company has come in those efforts to find its way back, initiatives that have included everything from new menu items to redesigned restaurants. He will be one of many area business leaders — and possible future leaders — to take center stage (officially known as the Show Floor Theater) at the Expo for special presentations designed to inform, entertain, and, most importantly, inspire.
Also on the schedule (see details on page 15) is a comprehensive look at the complex and potentially far-reaching legislation that has come to be known as Obamacare; a presentation from one of the region’s most colorful — and successful — business owners, Paul DiGrigoli, that he calls “Beyond an Entrepreneur”; and a pitch contest and demo day that will feature 10 aspiring entrepreneurs trying to sell a panel of judges on their ideas.
“It’s going to be a day of learning,” said BusinessWest’s associate publisher, Kate Campiti, referring to the Show Floor Theater presentations, but also a wide range of other programming slated for this, the third Expo. “There will be so much for business owners and managers to think about when it comes to running their ventures and taking them to the next level — whatever that may be.”
Indeed, the Expo will also feature 12 educational seminars, with titles ranging from “The Future of Sales” to “The Emerging Workforce”; from “Am I Wasting Money and Time Doing Social Media?” to “Effectively Reaching the Hispanic Community.” There will also be a breakfast program, hosted by the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield, featuring Jim Koch, founder of Boston Beer Company and the Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream Program, and the November luncheon of the Professional Women’s Chamber, featuring Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to run in the Boston Marathon and now an author and motivational speaker.
“People will want to block off that entire day if they can,” said Campiti. “There will be exciting, informative programming going on all morning and all afternoon.”
The pitch contest is a new concept for the Expo, and it will present an opportunity for the attendees to understand the important work being undertaken by a group called Valley Venture Mentors, she added. Formed nearly three years ago, the VVM, as it’s called, was created to provide startups with much-needed mentoring and multi-faceted support aimed at helping them navigate the whitewater that often claims many business ventures trying to get off the ground.
The contest, which will feature current VVM participants and alumni, will showcase some of the many interesting new business concepts that may eventually be cultivated into successful, job-creating ventures, said Scott Foster, an attorney with Springfield-based Bulkey Richardson and co-founder of VVM. Judges will score the pitches, and the contest’s audience will have a chance to vote for their favorite online.
Meanwhile, DiGrigoli, a national motivational speaker, will target his remarks to those who are already in business and facing the challenge of getting to that proverbial next level. His talk will address everything from the “five major mistakes entrepreneurs make” to how to “murder your business.”
McGuire, who will take to the podium at the Show Floor Theater at 10:30 a.m., will discuss how Friendly’s lost its way — and eventually was forced to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy — but will mostly focus on the future and what he calls the “five key drivers of brand renewal.”
For more information about the Expo or to register for the event, visit www.wmbexpo.com or call (413) 781-8600.

Connecting Points

By
Sections Women in Businesss
How Anne Paradis Put a Charge into MicroTek

Anne Paradis

Anne Paradis

When Anne Paradis took the helm at MicroTek in 1987 — thus making an abrupt and significant career change, moving from human-services work to running a nonprofit manufacturing outfit — she ventured back to some of the exercises from her MBA program at UMass Amherst for help with the transition.
What she found is that what’s written in a book doesn’t usually — or easily — translate into what one will find on the shop floor.
“I had taken manufacturing courses as part of my MBA program, but it was nothing like what I encountered here,” she explained. “You learn how to schedule machine hours and go through all the production planning, and I can remember thinking at the time, ‘I can do this.’ But quite honestly, when I got in here and tried to apply those principles, it was very, very different, because you couldn’t plan productivity at a set level, and machine hours weren’t constant, and…”
Her voice trailed off as if there was much more, which there was. And she learned just about all of it, she said, by doing.
“I learned how to do every job in the place except soldering, which to this day I can’t do,” she said, adding that there are many roles at this company that produces cables and wire harnessing and touts its team members as ‘interconnect specialists.’ “I learned on the job. All the product knowledge and assembly knowledge I got, I learned from people who were working for the company.
“I sat and assembled cables with people,” she went on. “I asked questions; I made mistakes. In those days, it was all hands on deck, and if something had to go out the door and we needed another pair of hands, I would sit at the workbench and help to finish the job. The employees got a kick out of watching me join the production lines — and they still do.”
Such occurrences are rare, though, because Paradis spends most of her time now on the broad subject of growing revenue, an assignment that has many subplots, including everything from withstanding ever-increasing competition, foreign and domestic, to weathering three recessions, to building a new plant in Chicopee’s Westover Airpark West more than a dozen years ago.
She’s obviously fared well in her career transition, taking the company from roughly $750,000 in sales when she started to nearly $8 million, and from maybe 20 employees to more than 120, and placement on such lists as the Boston Business Journal’s ‘Top 100 Women-led Companies,’ Mass High Tech’s ‘New England’s 30 Largest Women-owned Tech Companies,’ and, most recently, BusinessWest’s compilation of the region’s largest manufacturers.
Meanwhile, she has continued and greatly enhanced the company’s standing as a leader in the hiring of individuals with developmental disabilities — with roughly 15% of its workforce falling into that category. This was the original mission of the company when it was created 30 years ago, she said, adding that, while MicroTek has evolved from a service program into a strategic business, its focus on providing employment opportunities for the developmentally disabled is one, but not the only, example of why the phrase ‘making connections’ refers to much more than the company’s product lines.
And her success with the many aspects of that phrase makes Paradis an intriguing subject for a new series in BusinessWest that will focus on women in business.
In the coming months, the magazine will profile individuals in a number of sectors to gain an appreciation for how far women have come in business and the specific fields that comprise it, but also for the work that remains to be done.
We start with a woman who still can’t solder — she said there are enough skilled craftspeople at the company to keep from even wanting to try — but has mastered many of the aspects of operating a business in today’s ultra-challenging climate, especially the most important: people.

Wired for Growth
As she gave BusinessWest a tour of the 24,000-square-foot MicroTek plant on Justin Drive, Paradis stopped at a number of the workstations where she learned this business and its specific products more than 25 years ago.
She explained the processes involved with specific parts, offered high praise for the workforce, and ended with some pointed commentary.
“This is a good example of how manufacturing is still a big part of our economy in Western Mass.,” she said. “People say this sector is in decline, and maybe it’s not what it once was, but what we’re doing here shows that manufacturing is very much alive and well.”
How Paradis came to be in a position to give such a tour, speak as one of the prominent voices in the region’s manufacturing realm, and lead her company to placement on those aforementioned business-magazine lists of the largest women-owned businesses is an intriguing story, one with elements of timing and circumstance, but also perseverance and entrepreneurial spirit.
It begins with Paradis’ decision to major in psychology and gravitate toward work in human services, specifically with the state Department of Mental Retardation, now known as the state Department of Developmental Disabilities.
She eventually took a job working in the development of community residential programs for adults with developmental disabilities in the wake of the closing of Northampton State Hospital, Belchertown State School, and other facilities. Specifically, she said she was involved with a pioneering concept that would enable individuals to remain in their residences on a permanent basis, rather than transition into different facilities as they gained more independence and their need for services and support diminished, which was the accepted model at the time.
“This was 30 to 35 years ago, and in those days, the community movement for people with disabilities was still in its infancy,” she explained. “And one of my first jobs was to help push the agenda of these more progressive program types.
However, he would soon become frustrated with the lack of progress with this movement, and especially with the funding restraints that soon emerged, and decided to make what would be her first career course change, pursue her MBA at UMass, and move into what she called the “business arena.”
Her first stop was at New England Business Associates in Holyoke, a management-consulting firm that assisted small businesses with the hiring of those with disabilities. One of her eventual clients was Microtek, which was created in the early 80s by human-services advocates working in conjunction with the University of Oregon, which was at the time researching models for employing people with disabilities. One of those models was to start a company where one controls the environment, provides the training, and brings in the work. In this case, the work — developed through a connection between one of the researchers at the University of Oregon and Hewlett Packard — was assembly of cables and wire harnesses.
When Paradis first started working for MicroTek, it was one of four operations — there was another in Orange, Mass. and two more in Virginia — for which she helped develop a marketing cooperative designed to generate new business and enable the participating companies to grow and eventually add more employees to the payroll.
While the other three ventures enjoyed success in this endeavor, MicroTek suffered from what Paradis called “poor management.” The company’s board eventually asked her to step in and run the company for a short time while a search for a new CEO was carried out.
That ‘short time’ has turned out to be 26 years — and counting.
“I came in to find problems a bit more complicated than the board realized,” she told BusinessWest. “I took a year’s leave of absence to run the company, and at the end of that year they made me an offer to stay.”
She accepted that challenge knowing that she had overcame what she described as a “lack of skills in certain areas.” Elaborating, she said her biggest challenges were learning manufacturing in general, and MicroTek’s line of products (custom wire harnesses and cable assemblies) in particular.
“I did not have an engineering background, and that made it challenging,” she noted. “But I was fortunate, because at the time, MicroTek was a very small company, and that afforded me the opportunity to learn on the job.
“I had a lot of strengths — managing staff, putting systems in place, and organizational development, because my undergraduate degree was in psychology — but I needed to learn this business,” she went on, adding that she completed much of this learning while serving as interim CEO, progress that gave her the confidence to accept the board’s offer and stay on.

People Power
Over the past 26 years, Paradis has coped not only with the everyday challenges facing all business and managers —  everything from cash flow to inventory control to finding qualified workers — but also more global matters, such as mounting competitors, especially from overseas operations, new-product development, and the worst economic downturn since the 1930s.
She described it all as a continuation that learning experience that began when she became interim CEO, one that is clearly still ongoing.
Indeed, while the plaques on the wall containing those business-magazine lists show that the company has clearly come a long way, there are some new challenges to face — and some old ones as well.
At or near the top of that list is mounting competition. While there have historically been some barriers to taking this kind of manufacturing overseas — including the high quality of work demanded and transportation costs — they have been coming down in recent years, said Paradis, noting that the company is facing intense competition from China, Mexico, and other countries.
It has responded by working to automate more processes in what is still a labor-intensive business, while also diversifying into some new product lines, specifically control panels built for customers in the security and medical fields.
The company, which suffered, as all manufacturers did, during the Great Recession, has rebounded, and growth has been steady over the past several years, said Paradis, adding that she has set an aggressive, but realistic, goal of reaching $12 million in sales over the next few years.
But the term ‘success’ has many meanings at MicroTek, she went on, adding that, while the bottom line is perhaps the most important, the company’s original mission is still an important barometer when it comes to that word.
And in this realm, more goes into this equation than simply hiring the developmentally disabled, she went on, adding that the company’s broader goal is to integrate such individuals, treat them as they would any employee, and make them part of highly successful and efficient teams.
One of the reasons for the company’s success has been its ability to do this by effectively giving these employees both the support and the tools they need to succeed, she told BusinessWest, adding that this is a philosophy that permeates the company and all aspects of its workforce.
“Everyone has the same benefits and the same access to company services, and people work on some part of all of the work that goes out of here,” she explained. “We have integrated teams, and the idea of partnering people with co-workers and providing them with the support they need extends well beyond the employees with disabilities, because we also employ a number of people who speak English as a second language and may have difficulty reading English.
“The transformation for the company over the years has been in this area,” she went on. “There were special supports and training that we started out using for the individuals with disabilities, and over the years, we’ve just adopted those as standard operating procedure for the company.”

Current Events
Paradis says that, while she’s quite proud of the plaques in the front lobby and what they represent in terms of both the company’s success and her standing as a woman in business, she’s more proud of the many ways in which MicroTek has become a role model.
Its success in the current, highly competitive environment provides evidence that manufacturing is still very much alive in the Bay State and this region. Meanwhile, its success with hiring, training, and integrating individuals with a wide range of challenges shows that ‘diversity’ can be much more than a buzzword.
These are among the many accomplishments for Paradis, who still can’t solder, but has developed a rare talent for making connections — and in a number of very important ways.

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

Grass Roots Effort

By
Cover Story
Medical Marijuana Poses Business Opportunities — and Concerns

COVER1013bOne year ago, marijuana use was illegal in Massachusetts. Now, it falls under the category of economic development.
“It’s a business opportunity,” said Dr. Ronald Dunlap, president of the Mass. Medical Society. “In Maine, this is a more than $300 million industry, and that’s a small state.”

Those financial opportunities come in several forms. In January, the Mass. Department of Public Health (DPH) will choose up to 35 applicants — from a field of 158 — to open marijuana dispensaries for patients who have been certified by their physicians to use the drug.
At the same time, Internet entrepreneurs have been popping up as well.
“There are online services starting up where, if you pay $250, they will find you physicians who will certify you,” Dunlap said. “The people doing this are simply business people with money who are investing.”
But such activity poses issues with the medical-marijuana law, which was written to ensure that doctors can certify only patients with whom they have an established relationship.
And that’s just one point of confusion surrounding the new law, which is why at least 130 communities have placed moratoriums on marijuana dispensaries until they can work out the myriad zoning, housing, and public-health issues posed by such a sea change in the Bay State’s drug norms.
Helen Caulton-Harris, Springfield’s director of health and human services, explained that the city’s moratorium will give it time to develop a broad strategy for addressing the ancillary issues that have arisen with the legality of medical marijuana.
For example, “the law does not give immunity under federal law or obstruct federal enforcement of federal law,” she explained, nor does it supersede Massachusetts General Laws prohibiting the possession, cultivation, transport, distribution, or sale of marijuana for non-medical purposes. In addition, she noted, the new law requires no accommodation of the medical use of marijuana in any workplace or, in fact, accommodate smoking marijuana in any public place.
“The city must have the time to study the public-safety implications and whether additional resources are necessary,” she continued. “While I am appreciative of the thoughtful process of the state Department of Public Health and was a member of the state Public Health Council when these regulations were passed, the implications will directly impact our residents and perhaps our quality of life. In addition, on the local level, there must be a process to educate the residents about the potential impact of the regulations.”

Business Plans

Helen Caulton-Harris

Helen Caulton-Harris says Springfield needs time to grapple with the health, public-safety, and other issues that marijuana poses.

What is clear is that serious money is at stake, which is why the state has set significant financial barriers for entry into the marijuana market.
Specifically, a company that wants to open a dispensary would be subject to $50,000 in annual renewal and registration costs, as well as a yearly $500 registration fee for each of its employees. Applicants also had to make a $1,500 payment for the first phase of consideration, and a $30,000 payment for the second phase. In addition, the state is requiring potential business owners to have $500,000 cash on hand.
“This is a very competitive process, and we required applicants to meet high standards to advance,” DPH Commissioner Cheryl Bartlett said after the initial field of 181 applicants was trimmed by 23 earlier this month, mainly due to incomplete applications or insufficient capital. “We are fortunate that Massachusetts has a large field of serious applicants who are capable of making a significant investment to benefit qualified patients and safeguard communities.”
Each county in the state will be assigned at least one dispensary, but no more than five, with the total capped at 35 statewide. Twenty-two applicants are currently vying for sites in Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, and Berkshire counties. Once licenses are approved early in 2014, it will take at least 120 days for a dispensary to open — hopefully giving cities and towns time to work out their issues and lift their moratoriums.
And those temporary moratoriums are now in place in at least 130 communities, including Agawam, East Longmeadow, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Hadley, Hampden, Hatfield, Palmer, Springfield, West Springfield, Westfield, and Williamsburg — and they typically apply to not only sellers, but home cultivation of marijuana, which will be permitted under certain circumstances for certified patients who lack easy access to a dispensary.
Unlike many of the other 19 states that allow medical-marijuana dispensaries, the Massachusetts law includes what’s known as ‘hardship cultivation,’ allowing certain individuals to grow their own marijuana — specifically, those who are physically unable to access reasonable transportation, demonstrate verified financial hardship, or lack a treatment center within a reasonable distance of their home.
“The city of Springfield needs to vet the potential impact of this section of the regulation on our residents as well as housing,” Caulton-Harris said. “Our thought process must include the impact on neighborhoods and mitigation strategies.”
To be assigned a dispensary license, entrepreneurs will have to prove to the DPH that their business plan is in compliance with all municipal regulations, ordinances, and bylaws. They are required to grow the marijuana they offer for sale, and they may also sell edible forms of marijuana.
The DPH noted that applicants will be evaluated on their ability to meet the health needs of patients, site appropriateness, geographical distribution of dispensaries, local support, and public-safety assurances.

Who Will Be Certified?
Patient and physician eligibility rules run in the thousands of words, but at their heart, a patient may use marijuana for medical purposes only after receiving written certification from a doctor of a debilitating medical condition — defined as cancer, glaucoma, positive status for HIV, AIDS, hepatitis C, ALS, Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, or another condition as determined in writing by the certifying physician.
‘Debilitating’ is defined as “causing weakness, cachexia, wasting syndrome, intractable pain, nausea, impairing strength or ability, and progressing to such an extent that one or more of a patient’s major life activities is substantially limited.”
As for physicians, they are required to conduct a clinical visit before issuing a certification, must complete and document a full assessment of the patient’s medical history and current medical condition, must explain the potential benefits and risks of marijuana use, and must have a role in the ongoing care and treatment of the patient.
In addition, physicians may not issue a certification for themselves or their immediate family members, and certifying doctors — as well as their family members and employees — may not have a financial interest in a dispensary, receive anything of value from a dispensary or any person related to the dispensary, or offer a discount to a qualifying patient for using a particular caregiver or dispensary.
If those standards are met, physicians may certify for up to a 60-day supply, which is defined as 10 ounces of marijuana. If a physician determines that a patient needs more than 10 ounces during that 60-day period, he must document the amount and rationale in the medical record and in the written certification.
It’s the language defining a bona-fide relationship that concerns Dunlap — or, rather, the potential skirting of that language, which the Mass. Medical Society (MMS) lobbied to include in the law.
“Let’s set aside the controversy over the indicators, and let’s assume there are five or six acceptable indicators,” he said, referring to medical conditions where marijuana would be an acceptable treatment. “People that I call Internet opportunists are essentially getting a doctor or list of doctors they feel will certify patients, and simply inviting patients to pay them money as a finder’s fee.”
Dunlap called it a “second level” of for-profit centers, which essentially say, “‘I will certify you, and you pay us $250.’ Most of it goes to the doctor, the rest to the center to find the physician.”
There are reasons why it’s important that a doctor and patient have an established relationship, he noted, the first of which is a knowledge of the patient’s medical history and the types of medications they’re already taking.
“That’s a big issue. If you wanted oxycodone and your doctor didn’t agree, we would have a problem with you going to one of the pill mills in Florida to get it. You’d be going around your primary-care physician to get a controlled substance,” he said. “There’s a lot of anxiety surrounding the fact that this is a parallel system to the treatment the physician might be aware of. We already have patients taking over-the-counter medications we don’t know about.”
Add to that the fact that marijuana has never gone through the rigorous clinical trials all other prescription drugs are subjected to — which is one of the reasons the MMS originally opposed the ballot question legalizing it — and it adds up to concern among doctors, not all of whom are expected to certify patients.
“Many doctors don’t feel there are indicators for marijuana and won’t want to certify patients, but there are doctors out there who will certify — if they have a real relationship with the patient,” Dunlap said. “If they don’t have that relationship, that will run afoul of the regulations we had adjusted.”
There is one other issue, he added, and that’s existing federal law, under which all marijuana use is still illegal. That affects its use, even medicinally, when federal funds are involved, such as in community health centers and government-subsidized housing.
“The federal government has not sued any physician in any state where marijuana has been legalized for medicinal purposes or medical use,” he said. “But it recently came to light that community health centers, which are federally funded, could lose their funding if they certify patients for marijuana. They have a conflict.”

Untangling the Knot
Conflicts, in fact, are at the heart of the moratoriums municipalities have set forth.
“The city itself has an internal team meeting on this,” Caulton-Harris said. “The Planning Department has issued a moratorium, and the Public Health Council has supported that moratorium, and we are going through the process now. We are thinking critically about some of the issues that might be before us as we think about dispensaries, as well as cultivation sites.”
Addressing all conceivable impacts — as well as the issues of fees, zoning changes, and municipal oversight — takes time, she added. For instance, while the law addresses the proximity of dispensaries and cultivation sites to schools, buildings that contain a doctor or pharmacy, motels, and hotels, other scenarios are less clear.
“While the regulations attempt to assure broad definition location exemptions, there are areas of concerns for the city of Springfield,” she noted. “For example, while we hope that all day-care facilities are licensed, we know that there are unlicensed facilities that exist with the city of Springfield. It is important that we have the time to think about and thoughtfully address those areas that are not covered in the regulations.”
She added that public-health officials have also expressed concern about the DPH’s strategy to inspect medical-marijuana treatment centers that dispense edible forms of the drug.
“The sanitary code does not currently have regulations in place to address inspection of medical-marijuana dispensaries,” she noted. “Depending on the number of centers in the city, additional staff may be required. The council felt it is critical that we are thoughtful about the implementation process as well as our responsibility to educate the residents about the potential impact of the legislation.”

Joint Concerns
When it comes to the Mass. Medical Society’s concerns about the health and legal risks of marijuana, Dunlap admits that ship has sailed, and today, he’s more focused on the role of physicians in the process.
“This is an opportunity to have a fast way to get marijuana to some people who need it, but they really would be better off just legalizing it as opposed to putting physicians in the pathway for potential liabilities,” he told BusinessWest. In short, he worries that some people — both doctors and business owners — might game the system.
“Again, we don’t have an issue if they have an existing relationship and the patient has one of the indicators,” he said of doctors issuing certifications. “But if you were the person who wrote 300 of those in your neighborhood, that will be an issue.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Do You Know a Difference Maker?

By
Features
Nominations Sought for BusinessWest’s Recognition Program

BizDiffMakrsLOGO2011Looking back at the five Difference Makers recognized by BusinessWest earlier this year, Kate Campiti, the magazine’s associate publisher, said the class of 2013 epitomizes what the five-year-old program is all about.
“We had five individuals or groups who showed that there really are many ways in which people can make a difference,” she noted, referencing a class that included the Sisters of Providence; Bruce Landon, general manager of the Springfield Falcons and the individual credited with keeping hockey in Springfield; John Downing, the driving force behind Soldier On; Jim Vinick, a supporter of a number of area nonprofits, especially the Basketball Hall of Fame; and state and local police involved in a unique effort to curb crime in Springfield’s North End. “This was a group that clearly demonstrated that are countless factors that go into the phrase ‘quality of life,’ and so many ways that it can be improved.”
But there are many more stories of difference making still to be told, she went on, and as 2013 moves toward an end, it is time for BusinessWest to again seek nominations for what has become a coveted honor.
The nomination form here explains how this process works, said BusinessWest Editor George O’Brien, who noted that the phrase ‘Difference Maker,’ as the class of 2013 proved, is a truly subjective phrase with a number of meanings.
“Since Difference Makers was launched in 2009, we’ve recognized college presidents, nonprofit managers, a crusading police chief, a woman who founded a program to fill the shelves of school libraries, and another who started a walk to raise money to fight breast cancer,” he explained. “All these stories are different, but there is a common denominator — people stepping forward, and stepping up, to change lives in a very positive way.
“There are many more individuals and groups who are changing lives in similar ways,” he went on. “This program was created to provide a forum for telling these stories, and we want our readers to help us with this assignment.”
As with another BusinessWest recognition, 40 Under Forty, Difference Makers is a nomination-driven process, Campiti said, urging those who propose an individual or group for consideration to be thorough with their nomination and, in simple terms, effectively answer the question, ‘why is this nominee a Difference Maker?’
Nominations, which can also be completed online, are due at the end of the business day (5 p.m.) on Dec. 20. The winners, as chosen by a review panel comprised of BusinessWest writers and editors, will be profiled in the magazine’s Feb. 10 edition and saluted at the annual Difference Makers gala, to take place in late March.
Questions about the program and the nomination process can be forwarded to [email protected], or call (413) 781-8600, ext. 102.

Previous Difference Makers:

2009
• Doug Bowen, president and CEO of PeoplesBank;
• Kate Kane, managing director of the Springfield office of Northwestern Mutual Financial/the Zuzolo Group;
• Susan Jaye-Kaplan, founder of GoFIT and co-founder of Link to Libraries;
• William Ward, executive director of the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County; and
• The Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield

2010
• The Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation;
• Ellen Freyman, attorney and shareholder at Shatz Schwartz and Fentin, P.C.;
• James Goodwin, president and CEO of the Center for Human Development;
• Carol Katz, CEO of the Loomis Communities; and
• UMass Amherst and its chancellor, Robert Holub

2011
• Tim Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission;
• Lucia Giuggio Carlvalho, founder of Rays of Hope;
• Don Kozera, president of Human Resources Unlimited;
• Robert Perry, retired partner/consultant with Meyers Brothers Kalicka; and
• Anthony Scott, Holyoke police chief

2012
• Charlie and Donald D’Amour, president/COO and chairman/CEO, Big Y Foods;
• William Messner, president of Holyoke Community College;
• Majors Tom and Linda-Jo Perks, officers of the Springfield Corps of the Salvation Army;
• Bob Schwarz, executive vice president of Peter Pan Bus Lines; and
• The Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts

2013
• Michael Cutone, John Barbieri, and Thomas Sarrouf, organizers of Springfield’s C3 Policing program;
• John Downing, president of Soldier On;
• Bruce Landon, president and general manager of the Springfield Falcons;
• The Sisters of Providence; and
• Jim Vinick, senior vice president of Investments at Moors & Cabot Inc.

The Super 60

By
Sections Super 60
Depth, Diversity Define the 2013 List of Top-performing Companies

Super60logoJeffrey Ciuffreda says there are a number of encouraging signs to take from this year’s roster of Super 60 companies — the 24th compilation of the region’s top-performing businesses.
For starters, there are the numbers — for both revenue and revenue growth — posted by the winners, said Ciuffreda, president of the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield, which has presented the program since 1990. He noted that companies in the first category averaged more than $35 million last year and combined for more than $1 billion. Meanwhile, one-third of the companies in the revenue-growth category averaged in excess of 50% growth over the past three years, and the average for those 30 honorees was 49%.
These figures speak to how well the area business community has rebounded from the deep and lengthy recession that began in 2008, said Ciuffreda, noting that another positive sign is the diversity represented by this year’s list, which includes everything from colleges to technology companies; healthcare facilities to manufacturers; financial-services firms to retailers.
The number of small, and in some cases very small, businesses on the list is also encouraging, he noted, adding that perhaps the most noteworthy quality when it comes to this year’s roster is the number of first-timers; there are seven, the largest group of newcomers in several years.
“To get new folks on there shows that maybe over the past few years, when people had their heads down and were just surviving, there were some businesses that were experiencing pretty good progress,” he told BusinessWest, adding that their participation in Super 60 shows a desire to tell their story. “It’s a good sign for the economy when you can get new businesses that can exhibit that kind of growth.”
Still another source of encouragement is the large number of companies — 12 in all — that qualified for both categories, said Ciuffreda, noting that this stat indicates that some larger companies have been experiencing strong growth.
The 2013 edition of the Super 60 will be feted at the program’s annual luncheon on Oct. 25, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Chez Josef in Agawam. The event will feature introductions of the winners and include a presentation on a unique business venture in the region — Simple Diaper and Linen, a growing enterprise that has mastered the technique of eco-friendly laundering.
Principals Angie Gregory and Jessica Montagna will detail the company’s profound growth and unique business model, and thus continue a pattern of letting emerging entrepreneurs take center stage at the Super 60 lunch. In recent years, Paul Kozub, founder of V-One Vodka, and Stanley Kowalski, founder of FloDesign, have been keynoters.
Meanwhile, for this issue, BusinessWest spotlights the 60 winners (snapshot profiles begin on page 21) in both the total-revenue and revenue-growth categories.
Topping the former is Springfield College, led by new president Mary-Beth Cooper, followed by Noonan Energy Corp., a residential heating and cooling company, and Whalley Computer Associates Inc., a Southwick-based technology-solutions firm.
Whalley is one of six companies in the category to also qualify for the revenue-growth list. The others are Gandara Mental Health, Joseph Freedman Co. Inc., Maybury Associates, Millennium Power Services Inc., and Tighe & Bond.
Topping the revenue-growth category (where there are actually 31 winners)  is Mahan Slate Roofing Co. Inc., which specializes in slate and copper roofing for residential, institutional, and commercial structures, followed by Paragus IT, the Hadley-based outsourced IT solutions firm, and Troy Industries Inc., a U.S. government contractor that designs and manufactures small-arms components and accessories.
Troy was one of six in that category to also qualify for the total-revenue list. The others are ABLE Machine Tool Sales Inc., the Futures Health Group, LLC, NUVO Bank, Specialty Bolt & Screw Inc., and Titan USA Enterprises Inc.
To be considered, companies must be based in Hampden or Hampshire counties or be a member of the ACCGS, have revenues of at least $1 million in the last fiscal year, be an independent and privately owned company, and have been in business at least three full years. Companies are selected based on their percentage of revenue growth over a full three-year period or total revenues for the latest fiscal year.
For more information regarding the Super 60 or to make reservations for the luncheon, call (413) 755-1313 or order online at www.myonlinechamber.com.  Tickets cost $50 for ACCGS members and $70 for non-members.

Elizabeth Taras can be reached at [email protected]

TOTAL REVENUE

* Indicates company qualifed in both categories

1. Springfield College
263 Alden St., Springfield
(413) 748-3000
www.springfieldcollege.edu
Mary-Beth Cooper, President
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.

2. Noonan Energy Corp.
86 Robbins Road, Springfield
(413) 734-7396
www.noonanenergy.com
Ted Noonan, President
Founded by Timothy Noonan in 1890, the fifth-generation energy company is now led by Ted Noonan, and installs, replaces, maintains, and upgrades heating and cooling systems throughout the Pioneer Valley.

3. Whalley Computer
Associates Inc. *
One Whalley Way, Southwick
(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 ’70s and ’80s 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.

Aegis Energy Services Inc.
55 Jackson St., Holyoke
(800) 373-3411
www.aegisenergyservices.com
Lee Vardakas, Owner
Founded in 1985, Aegis Energy Services is a turn-key, full-service provider of combined heat and power systems (CHPs) that generate heat and electricity using clean, efficient, natural-gas-powered engines. These modular CHP systems reduce a facility’s dependence on expensive utility power, reduce energy costs, and reduce one’s carbon footprint.

American International College
1000 State St., Springfield
(800) 242-3142
www.aic.com
Vincent Maniaci, President
The 128-year-old private, coeducational, liberal-arts school is interracial, interfaith, and international. One of the keystones of the AIC experience is the opportunity to interact with students from many different backgrounds. The college is organized into schools of Arts, Education, and Sciences; Business Administration; Health Sciences; and Continuing Education.

Associated Electro-Mechanics Inc.
185 Rowland St., Springfield
(800) 288-4276
www.aemservices.com
Elayne Lebeau, Owner/CEO
Associated Electro-Mechanics is a diversified, one-stop industrial sales and service center servicing the New England region and beyond, with a variety of industrial repair and rebuilding services.

The Association for Community Living
220 Brookdale Dr., Springfield
(413) 732-0531
www.theassociationinc.org
Barbara Pilarcik, Executive Director
For 60 years, the Association For Community Living has been creating opportunities, building relationships, and improving lives of children and adults with developmental disabilities and their families. The agency’s caring and experienced workforce empowers individuals with developmental disabilities to live with dignity, bringing fulfillment, community, and valuable relationships into their lives.

Baystate OB/GYN Group Inc.
2 Medical Center Dr., #206, Springfield
(413) 794-8484
www.bogg.com
dr. Howard Trietsch, managing partner
Caring for patients for more than 25 years, Baystate Ob/Gyn Group Inc. offers experienced care for pregnancy, gynecology, menopause, and surgical gynecology for women from teens through the elder years at four office locations in the region.

Braman Chemical Enterprises
147 Almgren Dr., Agawam
(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.

Bridgeport National Bindery Inc.
662 Silver St., Agawam
(413) 789-1981
www.bnbindery.com
Bruce Jacobsen, Executive Vice President
A full-service bindery with on-demand book-printing capabilities, BNB offers a wide variety of binding styles and professional rebinding services, including binding for libraries, pre-binding, textbooks, editions, and conservation. The company also offers digitization, the process of reformatting a print item into an electronic format.

Charter Oak Insurance and Financial Services Co.
330 Whitney Ave., Holyoke
(413) 374-5430
www.charteroakfinancial.com
Peter Novak, General Agent
A member of the MassMutual Financial Group, Charter Oak been servicing clients for 127 years. The team of professionals serves individuals, families, and businesses with risk-management products, business planning and protection, retirement-planning and investment services, and fee-based financial planning.

City Tire Company Inc.
25 Avocado St., Springfield
(413) 737-1419
www.city-tire.com
Peter Greenberg, President
Brothers Peter and Dan Greenberg, the third generation of a family-owned business founded in 1927, have grown the business to 11 locations in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The company offers one-stop shopping for tires of all shapes and sizes and a full complement of maintenance and repair services.

Commercial Distributing Co. Inc.
46 South Broad St., Westfield
(413) 562-9691
www.commercialdist.com
Richard Placek, Chairman
Founded in 1935 by Joseph Placek, Commercial Distributing Company is a family-owned and operated business servicing more than 1,000 bars, restaurants, and clubs, as well as more than 400 package and liquor stores. Now in its third generation, the company continues to grow through the values established by its founder by building brands and offering new products as the market changes.

The Dennis Group, LLC *
1537 Main St., Springfield
(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 specializing in the implementation of food-manufacturing processes and facilities.

Environmental Compliance Services Inc.
588 Silver St., Agawam
(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.

Gandara Mental Health Inc. *
147 Norman St., West Springfield
(413) 736-8329
www.gandaracenter.org
Dr. Henry 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.

Joseph Freedman Co. Inc. *
115 Stevens St., Springfield
(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.

Delaney Restaurant Inc. / The Log Cabin
500 Easthampton Road, Holyoke
(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 banquet facilities for weddings, showers, anniversaries, engagement parties, bar/bat mitzvahs, business meetings, holiday parties, and other events.

Marcotte Ford Sales
1025 Main St., Holyoke
(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
(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.

Millennium Power Services Inc. *
79 Mainline Dr., Westfield
www.millenniumpower.net
(413) 562-5332
Michael Pellegrini, President
Founded in 2000, Millennium Power Services is a full-service valve-repair shop and manufacturer of new valve parts. With a fleet of mobile machine shops, the company offers on-site service throughout the U.S., which allows customers to monitor their jobs, and also offers emergency valve service both at customer sites and in shops located in Massachusetts, Maine, and Florida.

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

Poly-Metal Finishing Inc.
1 Allen St # 218, Springfield
(413) 781-4535
www.poly-metal.com
Jason Kudelka, President
Poly-Metal Finishing Inc. has served the metalworking industry for more than three decades and specializes in providing the aerospace, military, and com­mercial sectors with complete anodic services: sulfuric anodizing, color anodizing, chromic, hardcoat, polylube pro­cessing, chemical conversion of aluminum, and pre-bond coatings.

Rediker Software Inc.
2 Wilbraham Road, Hampden
(800) 213-9860
www.rediker.com
Richard Rediker, President
Rediker software is used by school administrators across the U.S. and in more than 100 countries, and is designed to meet the student-information-management needs of all types of schools and districts.

Rocky’s Hardware Inc.
40 Island Pond Road, Springfield
(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 Lincoln
245 Springfield St., Agawam
(413) 789-5400
www.saratford.com
Jeff Sarat, President
Founded in 1929 by John Sarat Sr., Sarat Ford has become the largest Ford dealership in Western Mass., and today, grandson Jeff Sarat leads the company. The full-service dealership includes a state-of-the-art body-shop facility, and a new, 10,000-square-foot expansion offers a 24-bay service center that houses a $1 million parts inventory featuring Ford, Motorcraft, Motorsport, and a variety of other specialty manufacturers.

Spectrum Analytical Inc.
11 Almgren Dr., Agawam
(413) 789-9018
www.spectrum-analytical.com
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.

Tighe & Bond Inc. *
53 Southampton Road, Westfield
(413) 562-1600
www.tighebond.com
David Pinsky, President
Launched in 1911, 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.

United Personnel Services Inc.
1331 Main St., Springfield
(413) 736-0800
www.unitedpersonnel.com
Patricia Canavan, 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.

W.F. Young Inc.
302 Benton Dr., East Longmeadow
(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.

REVENUE GROWTH

* Indicates company qualifed in both categories

1. Mahan Slate Roofing Co. Inc.
P.O. Box 2860, Springfield
(413) 394-3513
www.mahanslate.com
John Mahan, Vice President
While Mahan Slate Roofing does not install asphalt shingle roofing or commercial flat roofing, they do specialize in beautiful and lasting slate and copper roofing for residential, institutional, municipal, and commercial structures. Mahan also has a full sheet-metal shop, which allows the company to produce a wide range of copper products including custom gutters and downspouts, and it designs snow-guard systems, often a much-needed accessory for slate roofs.

2. Paragus IT
84 Russell St., Hadley
(413) 587-2666
www.paragusit.com
Delcie Bean IV, President
While still in high school, Delcie Bean founded Paragus IT in 1999, first under the name Vertical Horizons and then Valley ComputerWorks. The name Paragus, short for asparagus, one of Hadley’s most famous agricultural products, has grown dramatically as an outsourced IT solution for area clients. From information technology solutions to CMR-17 compliance to EMR implementation, the Paragus experts in computer systems and information technology provide business computer service, computer consulting, information-technology support, and other proactive services to small and medium-sized businesses.

3. Troy Industries Inc. *
151 Capital Dr., West Springfield
(413) 788-4288; (866) 788-6412
www.troyind.com
Steve Troy, CEO
Troy Industries was founded on the principle of making reliable, innovative, over-engineered products that function without question when lives are on the line. All products are American-made and designed to perform flawlessly under intense battle conditions. The choice of special ops, law enforcement, and war fighters worldwide, Troy Industries is a leading U.S. government contractor that designs and manufactures innovative, top-quality small-arms components and accessories and complete weapon upgrades.

ABLE Machine Tool Sales Inc. *
800 Silver St., Agawam
(413) 786-4662
www.ablemts.com
Alan Lockery, President
ABLE Machine Tool Sales distributes some of the world’s finest machine tools, but it also offers clients the Able Metrology Tech Center, providing measurement tools to suit manufacturing-inspection requirements. ABLE’s experienced sales staff and service technicians are given extensive training, and the company is factory-authorized to assist with mechanical and electrical repairs, preventive maintenance programs, and employee-training programs.

Adam Quenneville Roofing and Siding
160 Old Lyman Road, South Hadley
(413) 536-5955
www.1800newroof.net
Adam Quenneville, CEO
Adam Quenneville offers a wide range of residential and commercial services, including new roofs, retrofitting, roof repair, roof cleaning, vinyl siding, replacement windows, and the no-clog Gutter Shutter system. The company earned the 2010 BBB Torch Award for trust, performance, and integrity.

Advance Welding
47 Allston Ave., West Springfield
(413) 734-4544
www.theperfectweld.com
Christopher Kielb, President
Since 1978, Advance Welding has served its clients with high-quality welding, brazing, and metal fabrication with state-of-the-art facilities and more than 100 years of combined welding experience. The company recently added 6,000 square feet of new facilities and actively participates as role models to young people who may someday seek a career in welding, by showing that the manufacturing industry still thrives in America.

Aegenco Inc.
55 Jackson St., Springfield
(413) 746-3242
Spiro Vardakas, President
Aegenco, an energy-conservation consulting firm, has grown steadily since its inception in 2005.

REVENUE GROWTH
* Indicates company qualifed in both categories

1. Mahan Slate Roofing Co. Inc.
P.O. Box 2860, Springfield
(413) 394-3513
www.mahanslate.com
John Mahan, Vice President
While Mahan Slate Roofing does not install asphalt shingle roofing or commercial flat roofing, they do specialize in beautiful and lasting slate and copper roofing for residential, institutional, municipal, and commercial structures. Mahan also has a full sheet-metal shop, which allows the company to produce a wide range of copper products including custom gutters and downspouts, and it designs snow-guard systems, often a much-needed accessory for slate roofs.

2. Paragus IT
84 Russell St., Hadley
(413) 587-2666
www.paragusit.com
Delcie Bean IV, President
While still in high school, Delcie Bean founded Paragus IT in 1999, first under the name Vertical Horizons and then Valley ComputerWorks. The name Paragus, short for asparagus, one of Hadley’s most famous agricultural products, has grown dramatically as an outsourced IT solution for area clients. From information technology solutions to CMR-17 compliance to EMR implementation, the Paragus experts in computer systems and information technology provide business computer service, computer consulting, information-technology support, and other proactive services to small and medium-sized businesses.

3. Troy Industries Inc. *
151 Capital Dr., West Springfield
(413) 788-4288; (866) 788-6412
www.troyind.com
Steve Troy, CEO
Troy Industries was founded on the principle of making reliable, innovative, over-engineered products that function without question when lives are on the line. All products are American-made and designed to perform flawlessly under intense battle conditions. The choice of special ops, law enforcement, and war fighters worldwide, Troy Industries is a leading U.S. government contractor that designs and manufactures innovative, top-quality small-arms components and accessories and complete weapon upgrades.

ABLE Machine Tool Sales Inc. *
800 Silver St., Agawam
(413) 786-4662
www.ablemts.com
Alan Lockery, President
ABLE Machine Tool Sales distributes some of the world’s finest machine tools, but it also offers clients the Able Metrology Tech Center, providing measurement tools to suit manufacturing-inspection requirements. ABLE’s experienced sales staff and service technicians are given extensive training, and the company is factory-authorized to assist with mechanical and electrical repairs, preventive maintenance programs, and employee-training programs.

Adam Quenneville Roofing and Siding
160 Old Lyman Road, South Hadley
(413) 525-0025
www.1800newroof.net
Adam Quenneville, CEO
Adam Quenneville offers a wide range of residential and commercial services, including new roofs, retrofitting, roof repair, roof cleaning, vinyl siding, replacement windows, and the no-clog Gutter Shutter system. The company earned the 2010 BBB Torch Award for trust, performance, and integrity.

Advance Welding
47 Allston Ave., West Springfield
(413) 734-4544
www.theperfectweld.com
Christopher Kielb, President
Since 1978, Advance Welding has served its clients with high-quality welding, brazing, and metal fabrication with state-of-the-art facilities and more than 100 years of combined welding experience. The company recently added 6,000 square feet of new facilities and actively participates as role models to young people who may someday seek a career in welding, by showing that the manufacturing industry still thrives in America.

Aegenco Inc.
55 Jackson St., Springfield
(413) 746-3242
Spiro Vardakas, President
Aegenco, an energy-conservation consulting firm, has grown steadily since its inception in 2005.

American Pest Solutions Inc.
169 William St., Springfield
(413) 781-0044
www.413pestfree.com
Robert Russell, President
For nearly 100 years, American Pest Solutions has been taking care of families and business owners to keep their properties free from ants, bedbugs, rodents, roaches, termites, and other harmful pest infestations. By utilizing products and pest-treatment solutions designed to minimize impacts on the surrounding environment, American takes an ecologically sensitive approach to pest control for the environmentally concerned client.

Axia Insurance & Affiliates
933 East Columbus Ave., Springfield
(413) 788-9000
www.axiagroup.net
Michael Long, CEO
“AXiA” translates from Greek to mean ‘value, capability, merit, and worthiness’; it’s Axia Insurance’s philosophy of doing business. Representing several carriers for commercial clients, Axia also represents other personal-insurance companies specifically for MassMutual employee services, but can service to anyone for personal lines.

Con-Test Analytical Laboratory
39 Spruce St., East Longmeadow
(413) 525-2332
www.contestlabs.com
Thomas Veratti Sr., Founder
Established in 1984, Con-Test provides environmental consulting and testing services to a variety of clients throughout Western Mass. The laboratory-testing division originally focused on industrial hygiene analysis, but rapidly expanded to include numerous techniques in air analysis, classical (wet) chemistry, metals, and organics, and has the capability for analyzing nearly all water, air, soil, and solid materials.

Dynamic Dock & Door Inc.
64 Lowell St., West Springfield
(413) 731-1114
www.dynamic-dock-door.com
Bret Leveillee, Vice President
Dynamic Dock and Door is a complete materials-handling company specializing in loading-dock equipment, overhead doors, storage systems, and energy conservation. Providing companies across New England and New Jersey for more than 20 years with quality overhead door and loading-dock equipment, installation, and service, the company has recently added installation, sales, and service of traditional commercial man doors to its product and service mix.

FIT Solutions
25 Bremen St., Springfield
(413) 733-6466
www.fitsolutions.us
Jackie Fallon, President
Since 2004, FIT Solutions has been partnering with clients, from small-business owners who have only a few IT needs to large companies that have small IT departments, to provide the best candidates for a variety of IT positions. Meeting with the hiring manager, FIT Solutions determines the exact qualifications and skills needed, as well as the personality traits desired in order to find candidates that fit an array of technology-based positions. FIT Solutions now serves both the Massachusetts and Connecticut markets.

Fletcher Sewer & Drain Inc.
824a Perimeter Road, Ludlow
(413) 547-8180
www.fletcherseweranddrain.com
Teri Marinello, President
Since 1985, Fletcher Sewer & Drain has provided service to homeowners as well as municipalities and construction companies for large pipeline jobs from Western Mass. to Southern Conn. From unblocking kitchen sinks to replacing sewer lines, this woman-owned company keeps up-to-date with all the latest technology, from high-pressure sewer jetters to the newest camera-inspection equipment.

The Futures Health Group, LLC *
136 Williams St., Springfield
(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.

The Gaudreau Group
1984 Boston Road, Wilbraham
(413) 543-3534
www.gaudreaugroup.com
Jules Gaudreau, President
A multi-line insurance and financial-service agency established in 1921, the Gaudreau Group combines the traditional service philosophy of an agency with the talents of a dynamic marketing organization. With the expertise and resources that enable clients to respond to an ever-changing economic environment, the agency offers a broad range of insurance and financial products from basic life, home, and auto insurance to complex corporate services, employee benefits, and retirement plans.

GMH Fence Co. Inc.
15 Benton Dr., East Longmeadow
(413) 525-3361
www.gmhfence.com
Glenn Hastie, Owner
Serving the Western Mass. area for more than over 20 years, GMH Fence Co. is one of largest and most respected fence companies in the region. The fencing contractor offers quality service and fence installations from a selection of wood, aluminum, steel, and vinyl fencing that are durable and virtually trouble-free for residential, commercial, and industrial fencing requests.

Janice Yanni, DDS, PC
180 Westfield St., West Springfield
(413) 739-4400
www.yanniorthodontics.com
Dr. Janice Yanni, Owner
It’s never too early or too late to think about improving a smile, and Yanni Orthodontics has a mission to make all their patients smile. Dr. Janice Yanni specializes in orthodontic treatment for children, teens, and adults with offices in West Springfield as well as Tolland, Conn., using the latest in technology and a variety of treatment options, including Invisalign, Invisalign Express, Incognito, Six Month Smiles, and traditional braces.

Lattitude
1338 Memorial Ave., West Springfield
(413) 241-8888
www.lattitude1338.com
Jeff Daigneau, Owner
Executive chef and owner Jeff Daigneau opened Lattitude in 2007 and offers a unique, continually changing menu, based on local, seasonal product and his own classically trained talent for inimitable cuisine. The recent addition of a large outdoor patio-bar area for dining and live music will complement new interior expansions, including a new, 80-seat banquet room. Lattitude offers private, on-site events as well as off-site catering for 10 to several hundred people.

Market Mentors, LLC
1680 Riverdale St., West Springfield
(413) 787-1133
www.marketmentors.com
Michelle Abdow, Principal
A full-service marketing firm, Market Mentors handles all forms of marketing, including advertising in all mediums, media buying, graphic design, public relations, and event planning.

NetLogix Inc.
181 Notre Dame St., Westfield
(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
(413) 787-2700
www.nuvobank.com
M. Dale Janes, CEO
Chartered in 2007, NUVO is an independent, locally owned bank that provides deposits, residential and commercial loans, and cash-management services for both personal-banking and business-banking needs.

O’Connell Professional Nurse Service Inc.
14 Bobala Road, Suite 1B, Holyoke
(413) 533-1030
www.opns.com
Francis O’Connell, President
For more than two decades, O’Connell Professional Nurse Service Inc., (O’Connell Care at Home and Healthcare Staffing) has grown to deliver a range of home-health and staffing services across the Pioneer Valley. Services range from nursing care and geriatric healthcare management to advocacy and transportation.

Powervestors, LLC
55 Jackson St., Holyoke
(413) 536-1156
www.aegisenergyservices.com
Spiro Vardakas, Owner
Powervestors provides services in power-generating equipment installation throughout the region.

R & R Industries Inc.
195 Rocus St., Springfield
(413) 733-2118
www.randrind.com
Bruce Robinovitz, President
Family-owned and operated since 1957, R & R Industries is a full-service metal and auto recycler serving Western Mass. and Northern Conn., providing recycling and container services to commercial, industrial, and residential customers.   The company also purchases all ferrous and non-ferrous metals at market prices and supplies hard-to-find auto parts for older models.

Robert F. Scott Co. Inc.
467 Longmeadow St., Longmeadow
(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.

Specialty Bolt & Screw Inc. *
235 Bowles Road, Agawam
(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.

Titan USA Enterprises Inc. *
140 Baldwin St., West Springfield
(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 Industrial Services Inc.
120 Almgren Dr., Agawam
(413) 789-0896
www.unitedindustrialinc.com
Tony Reopel, Vice President
From the simplest hand truck to the most sophisticated conveyor systems and in-plant racking layouts, United Industrial Services has been providing material handling solutions for every size of business for more than 30 years. The company supports sales, leasing, rentals, parts, and services for all forms of industrial mechanical needs, and offers OSHA experts to provide guidelines for safe operation of every machine sold.

Universal Plastics Corp. *
75 Whiting Farms Road, Holyoke
(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.

Whalley Precision Inc.
28 Hudson Dr., Southwick
www.whalleyprecision.com
DAVID WHALLEY, PRESIDENT
Whalley Precision Inc. is a family-owned small business and full-service manufacturing company/FAA repair station founded in 1990. The company performs general fabrication, machining, and assembly. Its services include CNC/manual milling and turning; ID, OD, and surface grinding; jig boring; honing; MIG and TIG welding; metal forming; and robotic welding and assembly. In addition to carbon steel, the company routinely works with stainless steel, aluminum, space-age alloys and plastics, and materials such as Inconel and Kovar, as well as various other hardened materials.

Wright Architectural Millwork Corp.
115 Industrial Dr., Northampton
(413) 586-3528
www.wrightmw.com
Walt Price, President
Wright Architectural Millwork embraces current technology, blending digital technology and traditional craftsmanship for the highest quality of millwork solutions, which can be found in the facilities of some of the world’s best-known companies and institutions. The firm procures and works with non-wood materials (such as stone, glass, leather, fabrics, and architectural metals), integrating them into quality woodwork for complete, customized designs.vv
American Pest Solutions Inc.
169 William St., Springfield
(413) 781-0044
www.413pestfree.com
Robert Russell, President
For nearly 100 years, American Pest Solutions has been taking care of families and business owners to keep their properties free from ants, bedbugs, rodents, roaches, termites, and other harmful pest infestations. By utilizing products and pest-treatment solutions designed to minimize impacts on the surrounding environment, American takes an ecologically sensitive approach to pest control for the environmentally concerned client.

Axia Insurance & Affiliates
933 East Columbus Ave., Springfield
(413) 788-9000
www.axiagroup.net
Michael Long, CEO
“AXiA” translates from Greek to mean ‘value, capability, merit, and worthiness’; it’s Axia Insurance’s philosophy of doing business. Representing several carriers for commercial clients, Axia also represents other personal-insurance companies specifically for MassMutual employee services, but can service to anyone for personal lines.

Con-Test Analytical Laboratory
39 Spruce St., East Longmeadow
(413) 525-2332
www.contestlabs.com
Thomas Veratti Sr., Founder
Established in 1984, Con-Test provides environmental consulting and testing services to a variety of clients throughout Western Mass. The laboratory-testing division originally focused on industrial hygiene analysis, but rapidly expanded to include numerous techniques in air analysis, classical (wet) chemistry, metals, and organics, and has the capability for analyzing nearly all water, air, soil, and solid materials.

Dynamic Dock & Door Inc.
64 Lowell St., West Springfield
(413) 731-1114
www.dynamic-dock-door.com
Bret Leveillee, Vice President
Dynamic Dock and Door is a complete materials-handling company specializing in loading-dock equipment, overhead doors, storage systems, and energy conservation. Providing companies across New England and New Jersey for more than 20 years with quality overhead door and loading-dock equipment, installation, and service, the company has recently added installation, sales, and service of traditional commercial man doors to its product and service mix.

FIT Solutions
25 Bremen St., Springfield
(413) 733-6466
www.fitsolutions.us
Jackie Fallon, President
Since 2004, FIT Solutions has been partnering with clients, from small-business owners who have only a few IT needs to large companies that have small IT departments, to provide the best candidates for a variety of IT positions. Meeting with the hiring manager, FIT Solutions determines the exact qualifications and skills needed, as well as the personality traits desired in order to find candidates that fit an array of technology-based positions. FIT Solutions now serves both the Massachusetts and Connecticut markets.

Fletcher Sewer & Drain Inc.
824a Perimeter Road, Ludlow
(413) 547-8180
www.fletcherseweranddrain.com
Teri Marinello, President
Since 1985, Fletcher Sewer & Drain has provided service to homeowners as well as municipalities and construction companies for large pipeline jobs from Western Mass. to Southern Conn. From unblocking kitchen sinks to replacing sewer lines, this woman-owned company keeps up-to-date with all the latest technology, from high-pressure sewer jetters to the newest camera-inspection equipment.

The Futures Health Group, LLC *
136 Williams St., Springfield
(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.

The Gaudreau Group
1984 Boston Road, Wilbraham
(413) 543-3534
www.gaudreaugroup.com
Jules Gaudreau, President
A multi-line insurance and financial-service agency established in 1921, the Gaudreau Group combines the traditional service philosophy of an agency with the talents of a dynamic marketing organization. With the expertise and resources that enable clients to respond to an ever-changing economic environment, the agency offers a broad range of insurance and financial products from basic life, home, and auto insurance to complex corporate services, employee benefits, and retirement plans.

GMH Fence Co. Inc.
15 Benton Dr., East Longmeadow
(413) 525-3361
www.gmhfence.com
Glenn Hastie, Owner
Serving the Western Mass. area for more than over 20 years, GMH Fence Co. is one of largest and most respected fence companies in the region. The fencing contractor offers quality service and fence installations from a selection of wood, aluminum, steel, and vinyl fencing that are durable and virtually trouble-free for residential, commercial, and industrial fencing requests.

Janice Yanni, DDS, PC
180 Westfield St., West Springfield
(413) 739-4400
www.yanniorthodontics.com
Dr. Janice Yanni, Owner
It’s never too early or too late to think about improving a smile, and Yanni Orthodontics has a mission to make all their patients smile. Dr. Janice Yanni specializes in orthodontic treatment for children, teens, and adults with offices in West Springfield as well as Tolland, Conn., using the latest in technology and a variety of treatment options, including Invisalign, Invisalign Express, Incognito, Six Month Smiles, and traditional braces.

Lattitude
1338 Memorial Ave., West Springfield
(413) 241-8888
www.lattitude1338.com
Jeff Daigneau, Owner
Executive chef and owner Jeff Daigneau opened Lattitude in 2007 and offers a unique, continually changing menu, based on local, seasonal product and his own classically trained talent for inimitable cuisine. The recent addition of a large outdoor patio-bar area for dining and live music will complement new interior expansions, including a new, 80-seat banquet room. Lattitude offers private, on-site events as well as off-site catering for 10 to several hundred people.

Market Mentors, LLC
1680 Riverdale St., West Springfield
(413) 787-1133
www.marketmentors.com
Michelle Abdow, Principal
A full-service marketing firm, Market Mentors handles all forms of marketing, including advertising in all mediums, media buying, graphic design, public relations, and event planning.

NetLogix Inc.
181 Notre Dame St., Westfield
(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
(413) 787-2700
www.nuvobank.com
M. Dale Janes, CEO
Chartered in 2007, NUVO is an independent, locally owned bank that provides deposits, residential and commercial loans, and cash-management services for both personal-banking and business-banking needs.

O’Connell Professional Nurse Service Inc.
14 Bobala Road, Suite 1B, Holyoke
(413) 533-1030
www.opns.com
Francis O’Connell, President
For more than two decades, O’Connell Professional Nurse Service Inc., (O’Connell Care at Home and Healthcare Staffing) has grown to deliver a range of home-health and staffing services across the Pioneer Valley. Services range from nursing care and geriatric healthcare management to advocacy and transportation.

Powervestors, LLC
55 Jackson St., Holyoke
(413) 536-1156
www.aegisenergyservices.com
Spiro Vardakas, Owner
Powervestors provides services in power-generating equipment installation throughout the region.

R & R Industries Inc.
195 Rocus St., Springfield
(413) 733-2118
www.randrind.com
Bruce Robinovitz, President
Family-owned and operated since 1957, R & R Industries is a full-service metal and auto recycler serving Western Mass. and Northern Conn., providing recycling and container services to commercial, industrial, and residential customers.   The company also purchases all ferrous and non-ferrous metals at market prices and supplies hard-to-find auto parts for older models.

Robert F. Scott Co. Inc.
467 Longmeadow St., Longmeadow
(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.

Specialty Bolt & Screw Inc. *
235 Bowles Road, Agawam
(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.

Titan USA Enterprises Inc. *
140 Baldwin St., West Springfield
(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 Industrial Services Inc.
120 Almgren Dr., Agawam
(413) 789-0896
www.unitedindustrialinc.com
Tony Reopel, Vice President
From the simplest hand truck to the most sophisticated conveyor systems and in-plant racking layouts, United Industrial Services has been providing material handling solutions for every size of business for more than 30 years. The company supports sales, leasing, rentals, parts, and services for all forms of industrial mechanical needs, and offers OSHA experts to provide guidelines for safe operation of every machine sold.

Universal Plastics Corp. *
75 Whiting Farms Road, Holyoke
(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.

Whalley Precision Inc.
28 Hudson Dr., Southwick
www.whalleyprecision.com
DAVID WHALLEY, PRESIDENT
Whalley Precision Inc. is a family-owned small business and full-service manufacturing company/FAA repair station founded in 1990. The company performs general fabrication, machining, and assembly. Its services include CNC/manual milling and turning; ID, OD, and surface grinding; jig boring; honing; MIG and TIG welding; metal forming; and robotic welding and assembly. In addition to carbon steel, the company routinely works with stainless steel, aluminum, space-age alloys and plastics, and materials such as Inconel and Kovar, as well as various other hardened materials.

Wright Architectural Millwork Corp.
115 Industrial Dr., Northampton
(413) 586-3528
www.wrightmw.com
Walt Price, President
Wright Architectural Millwork embraces current technology, blending digital technology and traditional craftsmanship for the highest quality of millwork solutions, which can be found in the facilities of some of the world’s best-known companies and institutions. The firm procures and works with non-wood materials (such as stone, glass, leather, fabrics, and architectural metals), integrating them into quality woodwork for complete, customized designs.vv

Access to Opportunity

By
Employment Sections
Website Offers Information on Healthcare Careers in Western Mass.

Peta Gaye Portee

Peta Gaye Portee says www.westernmasshealthcareers.org is updated frequently, making it an invaluable resource for people accessing the healthcare job market.

When most students think about jobs in the healthcare industry, they imagine working in a hospital.
But the reality is that only 30% of healthcare employees in Western Mass work in a hospital setting. The rest are working in the community — in nursing homes, doctor’s offices, diagnostic labs, home-care businesses, or ambulatory healthcare services.
“Most students can only name about five healthcare careers — there are a lot of positions they aren’t even aware of,” said Kimberly Slepchuk, academic and career advisor for the Foundations of Health program at Holyoke Community College, as she listed jobs that range from medical assistants in doctors’ offices to pharmacy technicians and sales representatives who specialize in medical equipment and supplies.
“And although many people cite nursing as a career, there are 110 different types of nurses, which range from camp and school nurses to neonatal nurses, which is why it’s really important to delve into the possibilities,” Slepchuk added. “Most of these jobs came about after World War II and are team-oriented. For example, surgical technologists assist in the operating room, and one of the newest jobs is a sterile processing technician.”
And opportunities continue to grow. In 2008, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projected that by 2018 there would be 3.2 million new wage and salary jobs in the healthcare field — more than any other industry.
It’s possible for people interested in a career change to discover these positions by perusing national websites, but there has always been a missing link, as these sites don’t provide information about the local job market in Western Mass. — what types of jobs exist and how much the average person here is paid. They also fail to provide a listing of local schools with programs that lead to specific healthcare careers.
But, thanks to a newly launched website, www.westernmasshealthcareers.org, all that has changed.
“The new website is very, very helpful and important, because while students could get data about jobs in Massachusetts before, there is a huge difference between what is available in the eastern part of the state and here in Western Mass. in terms of jobs and salaries,” Slepchuk said.

Supply and Demand
The website was developed as a result of a collaborative effort. It is an initiative of the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County (REB), which teamed up with members of the Healthcare Workforce Partnership of Western Mass., with the goal of strengthening the region’s healthcare workforce and enhancing the quality of patient care.
“The idea for the website was generated by employers, educators, and community-based organizations with the express desire of letting people know what types of healthcare jobs and careers are available in the Pioneer Valley and where they exist on the continuum of care,” said Kelly Aiken, director of Health Care Initiatives for the REB. “Employers want people to know what kinds of skills they are looking for as well as the places where people receive healthcare. The website tells them about the positions that exist in different types of job settings, as well as the education and training needed for a wide variety of occupations.”
She added that it’s important for people to be aware of the rapid changes occurring in the healthcare field and the requirements needed to enter or stay current in different jobs. “For example, the language in medical coding is changing, and people who are interested in moving from a job as a medical biller to a medical coder need to know this.”
In addition, having a regional resource helps parents, career advisors, and people interested in making a career change determine whether investing in education for a specific position is worthwhile.
“The idea is to provide people with a regional resource about our community; there are jobs that exist across the continuum, and we want people to know what is going on here,” Aiken said. “It’s especially important because there are jobs going unfilled because employers can’t find qualified job seekers. Our employers have told us this time and time again.”

Kelly Aiken

Kelly Aiken says jobs are going unfilled because employers can’t find qualified workers, and the new website will provide the kind of information needed to close that gap.

The website reflects an extraordinary amount of research.
“We hired Six-Point Creative Works in Springfield, and they interviewed myriad people in one-on-one sessions to find out what they were looking for,” Aiken said, adding that the interviewees ranged from high-school students to immigrants who had worked in healthcare in their countries and wanted to get back into the field, to adults looking to make career changes.
“Employers were also engaged in the website’s development,” she continued. “It was a very collaborative effort, and our partners have been very involved.”
The final result is a site that contains detailed information in sections that include ‘local careers,’ ‘career planning,’ ‘education and training,’ ‘news,’ and ‘partnerships.’
For example, a click on the button labeled ‘local careers’ gives people a choice of then clicking on more specific fields, including medical and dental, office and research, lab work and imaging, therapy and pharmacy, vision, speech, hearing, and diet.
Slepchuk said these groupings make it easy for people to learn about occupations available locally that match their interests, along with what the work involves and the time and/or money and education required for the positions.
A click on ‘medical, dental, and nursing careers’ shows that the highest rate of job growth is in home healthcare, that many of these positions involve working with the elderly, and as this population grows, medical, dental, and nursing professionals will need to understand the basics of geriatric care. It also highlights a growing focus on preventive and primary care and a move toward more patient-centered care.
Visitors also learn that strong science, math, and technology skills are needed to work in this career cluster and that it is becoming increasingly important for people in these positions to be able to relate to people of different cultures.
Aiken says this information is critical for students and job seekers.
“In addition, employers are telling us that they expect applicants to show a degree of professionalism,” she added. “Healthcare is all about customer service, compassion, and professionalism.”
The website also contains links to employer listings. “The idea is not to replicate resources, but to help people access career-planning tools,” Aiken said.
There are also ideas and information about how to finance education and where programs are offered.
“We just updated the medical-coding page to reflect current standards, and we also updated the medical-billing section to let people know about a new program being offered at Holyoke Community College,” said Peta Gaye Portee, program coordinator for the Healthcare Initiative Workforce program. “There is also information about foundation grants, state grants, Pell grants, and scholarships.”
Meanwhile, the news section keeps viewers up to date with breaking developments, such as a new partnership between Greenfield Community College and Endicott College, which will allow nurses with an associate’s degree to earn their bachelor’s degree without leaving Greenfield, as well as a new public health degree program being offered at American International College in Springfield.
There is also a ‘fast facts’ section, which Slepchuk says students find useful. For example, it states that there is a need for sterile-processing technicians and surgical technologists in this area.
Another facet of the website contains links to nationally recognized assessment tools and tests that people can take if they are exploring the idea of a career in healthcare.

Future Outlook
Aiken reiterated that the purpose of the new website is to introduce people to the types of jobs that exist, which ones are going unfilled in the area, and the training and education that local employers expect job applicants to have.
“People need to realize that healthcare is a 24/7 industry and understand the realities of jobs in the field,” she told BusinessWest, adding that logging on to www.westernmasshealthcare.org will give people a “flavor of what is going on in the region.”
Which is good news for anyone who wants to keep up with occupations, salaries, training, scholarships, and other opportunities in healthcare throughout the region.

Court Dockets

By
Court Dockets Departments

The following is a compilation of recent lawsuits involving area businesses and organizations. These are strictly allegations that have yet to be proven in a court of law. Readers are advised to contact the parties listed, or the court, for more information concerning the individual claims.

CHICOPEE DISTRICT COURT
Diane Bynum v. Metro Auto Sales, d/b/a Metro Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
Allegation: Deceptive and unfair practices: $24,000
Filed: 8/20/13

FRANKLIN SUPERIOR COURT
Eliza Greene Smith v. Farm Table Inc. and Brent Menke
Allegation: Plaintiff seeks restitution for full share of proceeds from tips earned: $25,000+
Filed: 8/2/13

Vermont Mutual Insurance Co., as subrogee of Derek Berkquist v. Frigidaire, Inc.
Allegation: Subrogation action where a defective water valve in a new washing machine caused substantial property damage: $40,635.26
Filed: 7/11/13

GREENFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Freedom Credit Union v. Woods and Lawns Inc. and William A. Woods
Allegation: Default on promissory note: $9,712.74
Filed: 8/16/13

HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT
Absolute Construction, LLC v. G.M. Crisalli & Associates, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and W/S Westfield Properties Inc.
Allegation: Construction claim and mechanics lien: $221,548.80
Filed: 9/12/13

Batesville Casket Co. Inc. v. Robert E. Cusack Funeral Home Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract and failure to pay on promissory note: $24,530.95
Filed: 8/22/13

Connecticut Pie Inc. v. Connecticut Packaging Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract by providing plaintiff with defective product: $750,000
Filed: 8/27/13

Cypress Financial Recoveries, LLC, as subrogee of Wells Fargo Bank v. Watson Building/Remodeling and Prescott Watson
Allegation: Breach of credit agreement: $32,544.78
Filed: 7/22/13

People’s United Bank v. Connecticut Valley Block Co. Inc., James L. Delgrego, and Hubert White
Allegation: Failure to pay promissory note: $451,638.76
Filed: 8/6/13

Rebecca Budd v. Mary Kay Cosmetics
Allegation: Plaintiff seeks relief for injuries sustained while using a defective product: $105,000
Filed: 9/13/13

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Beacon Sales Co. v. TLC Exterior, LLC and Thomas J. Leonard
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $5,492.92
Filed: 8/1/13

Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Co. v. New England Plumbing & Heating Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment of workers’ compensation policy: $8,540.34
Filed: 8/27/13

Universal Recycling Technologies, LLC v. Marc A. Brown, d/b/a Total Tech Recycling Co.
Allegation: Non-payment of services rendered, unjust enrichment, and account annexed: $17,085.25
Filed: 8/27/13

WESTFIELD DISTRICT COURT
HIBU Inc. f/k/a Yellow Book Sales and Distribution Inc. v. Gold Star Restorations Inc.
Allegation: Money due for previous judgment: $66,789.46
Filed: 8/12/13

Incorporations

By
Departments Incorporations

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

AGAWAM

Agawam Transportation Inc., 178 Regency Park Dr., Agawam, MA 01001. Elvan Ozcelik, same. Transportation services.

AMHERST

Green Cross Inc., 85 Whitney St., Amherst, MA 01002. Martin Moore, same. Provide service and support to nonprofit organizations.

BELCHERTOWN

H&D Trade Inc., 55 North Main St., #41, Belchertown, MA 01007. Zhuangping Yi, 96 Tianyao Xincun, Shanghai, SH, 200000. Videoconferencing and international trade.

CHICOPEE

Avia Whole Body Inc., 23 Hillside Ave., Chicopee, MA 01020. Donna Silva, same. Beauty salon.

Bloo Solutions, 621 Grattan St., Chicopee, MA 01020. Jeremiah Beaudry, 63 Ludger Ave., Chicopee, MA 01020. Information-technology support and service.

Elmadina Inc., 411 East St., Chicopee, MA 01020. Charlene Coelho, 203 Hannoush Dr., West Springfield, MA 01089. Restaurant, café, cabaret.

EAST LONGMEADOW

Eastern Seaboard Accoutrements Inc., 5 Ruffino Road, East Longmeadow, MA 01028. John Pantera, same. Clothing and apparel.

HOLYOKE

Holistics Specialty Care Inc., 54 North Canal St., Holyoke, MA 01040. Chirag Amin,  8447 Dunham Station Dr., Tampa, FL 33647. Civic, educational, benevolent activities per Mass. General Law, Chapter 180.

Iglesia Cristiana No Descuides Tu Salvacion Inc., 131 Sargent St., Suite 2R, Holyoke, MA 01040. Francisco Santiago, same. To help people and give services to all humanity and preach the word of God.

NORTHAMPTON

C Care Inc., 7 Armory St., Northampton, MA 01061. Donald Chase, 39 Timber Ridge Road, West Springfield, MA 01089. To promote and support activities for the treatment of debilitating medical conditions.

Farm House Compassionate Care Inc., 13 Trumbull Road, Northampton, MA 01060. Susan Stubbs, same. Healing and wellness.

Hampshire Health Inc., 58 Belmont Ave., Northampton, MA 01060. Brian Paul Foote, same. Furtherance of medical, educational, civic, and charitable purposes.

SPRINGFIELD

365 Freight Solutions Inc., 1 Florentine Gardens, Springfield, MA 01108. Cecilio Cunningham, 3543 Woodlake Road, Hephzibah, GA 30815. Transportation of goods.

AhmetAndersin Inc., 27-29 St. James Blvd., Springfield, MA 01104. Ahmet Citlak, 81 Bluebird Circle, Ludlow, MA 01056. Pizza and sandwich shop.

Changmu Corp., 1655 Boston Road, Springfield, MA 01129. Chang Ho Kim, same. Clothing retail.

Briefcase

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Briefcase Departments

Baystate, UMass Memorial Sign Agreement to Explore Partnerships
SPRINGFIELD and WORCESTER — Baystate Health and UMass Memorial Health Care have signed a non-binding letter of intent to explore new collaborative opportunities between the two not-for-profit health systems. As national healthcare reform has brought an urgent imperative to transform the delivery and financing of healthcare, health systems and hospitals across the country are collaborating in innovative ways, finding new efficiencies and better care solutions by sharing clinical experience and intellectual resources. Baystate Health and UMass Memorial Health Care have much in common. Each has a mission of improving the quality, accessibility, and affordability of healthcare for patients and families in its community. The two organizations share many other characteristics: both serve communities with significant health needs and significant socioeconomic challenges underlying those needs. Both organizations have integrated systems of care including medical practices, community hospitals, and a major academic medical center. Both organizations receive national recognition not only for the quality of the care they provide, but also for their commitment to their communities. The new agreement builds on a long-existing relationship, as Baystate Health and UMass Memorial Health Care have a long history of mutual support on a number of efforts, including collaborations in pharmacy; healthcare quality, clinical practice, and policy; and infusion medicine. Each recognizes that they can learn even more from one another, work together more closely, and in doing so be more effective and efficient in keeping area communities healthy, rather than focusing mainly on treating disease or illness. Neither organization’s ownership, structure, governance, academic relationships and affiliations, or medical staffs will be affected by the letter of intent or any potential strategic collaboration, nor will they limit the ability of either party to pursue other strategic opportunities.

Leadership Pioneer Valley Announces Class of 2014
HOLYOKE — Leadership Pioneer Valley (LPV) officially kicked off the class of 39 emerging and established regional leaders at its recent Reach Beyond Opening Reception at Wistariahurst. The culturally and geographically diverse class of men and women from nonprofit, private, educational, and public organizations from Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties filled the reception with energy, enthusiasm, and commitment to the future of the Pioneer Valley. Leadership Pioneer Valley is addressing the critical need to build a diverse network of leaders who aspire to work together across traditional barriers to strengthen the region. The members of the new class will take part in a 10-month program of experiential learning that will take place at locations across the Valley. The experiential curriculum is specifically designed to help the participants refine their leadership skills, broaden connections, and develop a greater commitment to community trusteeship and cultural competency. The class of 2014 includes: Sherill Acevedo, Baystate Medical Practices; Jasmine Amegan, Westfield State University; Kerri Bohonowicz, Community Health Center of Franklin County; Amy Britt, Tapestry Health; Ronda Carter, Health New England; Christina Casiello, MassMutual; Jenny Catuogno, Gadreau Insurance; Tammy-Lynn Chace, Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce; Eliza Crescintini, Children’s Study Home;

Geoffrey Croteau, MassMutual Charter Oak Insurance & Financial Services; Cheryl Dukes, Town of Buckland; Nasheika Durham, YMCA of Greater Springfield; Andrew Fletcher, Holyoke Community College;

Kelsey Flynn, MassMutual; Valerie Francis, Health New England; Meghan Godorov, Mount Holyoke College;

Cynthia Gonzalez, Greenfield Cooperative Bank;

Richard Griffin, City of Springfield; Rachel Jones, Springfield Technical Community College; Kevin Jourdain, Sisters of Providence Health System; Diane LeBeau, Westfield State University; Yamilette Madho, Big Y Foods Inc.; Matthew Kullberg, WGBY;
Rosemarie Marks-Paige, Health New England; L.A. McCrae, Three Sisters Consulting; Monique Meadows, self-employed; Josiah Neiderbach, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission; Lizzy Ortiz, City of Springfield Office of Housing; Beena Pandit, MassMutual; Laura Porter, Holyoke Health Center; Lee Pouliot, City of Chicopee; Jennifer Sanchez, Springfield Technical Community College; Isabel Serrazina, Springfield Housing Authority;

Nicole Skelly, United Bank;

Kyle Sullivan, John Glover Insurance; Colin Tansey, Specialty Bolt & Screw; Todd Weir, First Churches of Northampton; Christopher Whelan, Florence Savings Bank; and Jonencia Wood, Baystate Health.

Grant Helps Jobs Program Expand Opportunities
SPRINGFIELD — U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey recently announced that the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development has landed $11.67 million from the U.S. Department of Labor to boost employment opportunities and reduce recidivism for young men leaving the state’s juvenile justice system. The grant, awarded to the Massachusetts-based Roca program, aims to provide education and pre-vocational training to young people in the justice system to make them more employable and keep them from returning, as 67.5% do within six years of being released from custody. Warren and Markey said in a statement that the grant will aid the 535 young men between the ages of 16 and 22 in Springfield and Chelsea working on exiting the juvenile justice system by way of Roca. The program began in Eastern Mass. in 1988 and was brought to Springfield in 2010 thanks to a push by longtime Hampden County Sheriff Michael Ashe. As of July, the Springfield division of Roca had 85 participants, all high-school dropouts, whose past troubles with the law make it difficult if not impossible to get work. Program administrators say it costs $24,500 a year to put a young person through the Roca program, which includes their pay, although most payroll is paid directly by a participant’s employer. In contrast, it can cost more than $50,000 annually to imprison a person. “This grant is exciting news for Massachusetts. It will help strengthen the Commonwealth’s juvenile justice system by helping young men at risk for reincarceration build the skills they need to succeed,” Warren said in a statement. “This program is a great example of how the federal government can use innovative public-private partnerships to support critical social services in our communities.” Added Markey, “these funds will help keep young men and women in the workforce, out of detention facilities, and on a path towards success. If we can cut costs to society as we help form better members of society, that is an effort worth all of our support.”

Patrick Administration Announces 56 Grants for Massachusetts Farms
EAST TAUNTON — Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Rick Sullivan recently awarded 56 grants to Massachusetts farmers to implement renewable-energy systems, improve energy efficiency on farms, and help farmers reduce or prevent negative impacts to natural resources from agricultural practices. “We are proud to support our local farmers in their efforts to ensure a sustainable future for their farms,” Sullivan said. “With each grant, we are creating opportunity for agriculture to stay rooted and grow in our communities. The Patrick administration is committed to reducing energy costs and improve efficiency, and we’re thankful to the Commonwealth’s farmers who are partnering with us in our progress toward a clean energy future.” Twenty-three grants from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources’ (DAR) Agricultural Energy Grant Program will fund projects to reduce energy consumption and increase renewable energy use at Massachusetts farms. The projects include photovoltaic systems for vegetable and orchard operations, variable-speed vacuum pumps for dairies, reverse-osmosis machines for maple-syrup operations, and shade screens for greenhouses. Thirty-three grants from DAR’s Agricultural Environmental Enhancement Program will fund projects like automated irrigations systems for cranberry operations, milkhouse wastewater treatment, manure storage areas, fencing, and pesticide storage. “These grant programs help farmers protect the state’s natural resources as well as our strong tradition of local agriculture,” said DAR Commissioner Greg Watson. “Implementing environmentally responsible and energy-efficient practices are imperative for farms across to the Commonwealth to remain family-owned resources for fresh, healthy, and delicious food.” Added Mark Silvia, Department of Energy Resources commissioner, “to achieve the Patrick administration’s ambitious goals for Massachusetts’ energy future, we must support clean-energy practices and reduced energy consumption in every sector of the Commonwealth. These grants will help Massachusetts farmers conserve energy and help their bottom line.” State Sen. Marc Pacheco, Senate chairman of the Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture, said he is “pleased to see the Commonwealth invest in projects that are positive for the local agricultural community and for our energy-efficiency efforts overall. These grants are a testament to the leadership that has earned Massachusetts its distinction as number-one in the country for energy efficiency.” Added state Rep. Anne Gobi, the committee’s House chair, “These grants are important to the viability of farming and agriculture in our Commonwealth and are just one more example of the continued commitment to Massachusetts farmers.”

Community Colleges Win Grant Funding
BOSTON — Springfield Technical Community College has received a $122,099 state grant to develop strategies for improving the academic performance of Hispanic students, while community colleges in Greenfield, Holyoke, and Pittsfield will share in a $239,334 grant to improve learning in science, technology and math. The money for the two-year Springfield college was among $7.5 million in competitive grants awarded by the state Department of Higher Education to encourage innovation and improve graduation rates and other aspects of student performance at the state’s 29 community colleges and universities. The $122,099 grant, which will be spread over three years, will allow for the hiring of a project coordinator and a part-time English- and Spanish-speaking academic adviser. The grant program calls for creation of focus groups as part of an in-depth study of Latino students to identify how current initiatives can be revised or new ones put into effect to ensure Latino academic success, especially among Latino males. The $239,334 grant to be shared among Berkshire Community College, Greenfield Community College, Holyoke Community College, and the four-year Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, calls for the colleges to work with regional schools to improve interest in science, technology, engineering, and math.

A Season to Be Jolly

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Holiday Party Planner Sections
Holiday Business Looking Up for Restaurants, Banquet Halls

The wine-cellar room

The wine-cellar room is just one of several intriguing and festive settings at Chandler’s.

December is a cheerful time at Storrowton Tavern.
“The entire tavern is pretty much decorated from the day after Thanksgiving,” said Vinny Calvanese, executive chef of the restaurant on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield. “And we have carolers — the same people we’ve had every year since we’ve been here. They go through the entire tavern and sing, room to room, which seems to be a big hit.
But, more importantly, the holiday season is an important time — not just at Storrowton, but across the dining and banquet industry, as companies of all sizes take a breather from the stresses of the year and set aside a night to celebrate with their employees.
“When the recession was in full swing back in December 2008, companies across the board were scaling back on holiday events in light of economic constraints, or cancelling them altogether, deeming the celebrations either needlessly extravagant or highly inappropriate in the wake of layoffs,” notes Lauren Matthews, a writer for event-planning website BizBash. “But last year, it seemed that the corporate holiday party scene was returning to normal.”
She cites a study conducted by executive search firm Battalia Winston, which reported that 91% of companies polled had a Christmas party last year, the highest percentage in the past six years, while a poll by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 72% of respondents attended a company celebration last year, up from 68% in 2011 and 61% in 2010 and 2009.
“For us, it’s always a busy time,” Calvanese said. “We have five function rooms, including one, the Carriage House, which can hold two functions at one time. The holiday season is basically always busy. We still have room, but it seems like a lot of people are booking more ahead than usual this year.”
Ralph Santaniello, general manager and proprietor of the Federal in Agawam, reports the same robust outlook. “We’re working on our 12th year here, so we have a lot of repeat business,” he said. “A lot of parties were booked the minute after last year’s party ended. We’re right on par with where we were last year.”
For this issue and it’s focus on holiday party planning, BusinessWest checked in with several area restaurants and banquet halls to get a feel for how holiday bookings are coming along. For the most part — at least compared to the peak recession years — companies are looking to celebrate the season, and in a wide variety of ways.

Ups and Downs
Not every facility is reporting the same level of sales. For example, “two years ago, we were fine, and everyone else was struggling,” said Sandra LaFleche, sales manager at the Castle of Knights in Chicopee. “Well, I’ve been here 21 years, and this year is the quietest year we’ve seen.”
Bookings remains solid for December weekends, however. “Right now, we have most of our Saturdays and Sundays booked around the holidays,” she noted, adding that weekday bookings have been somewhat more discouraging.
Amy Bombard, sales manager for Max’s Catering, which handles events at the Basketball Hall of Fame, paints a similar picture. “I think [business] is going to be a little less than it has been,” she said. “Last year was a good year, previous years were not so great, and this year it’s looking like a little less as well.”
Other facilities thrive off the holidays every year. “It’s a high-volume time for us,” said Kristin Henry, assistant general manager at Chandler’s Restaurant at Yankee Candle — a retail destination well-known for celebrating the Christmas season. “People are looking to book parties from November into January.”
January has, in fact, become an increasingly popular time for holiday parties, particularly for companies that are very busy around the holidays — the restaurant industry, for instance. “We have our own holiday party in February; it makes sense,” Santaniello said. “So we do see some of that, but the most important dates are always the weekends in December. The Fridays and Saturdays for the first three weeks of December are always the first to fill up.”
He noted that years when Christmas falls midweek (it’s a Wednesday this year) add an additional weekend to those much-desired dates, since companies tend to avoid throwing parties too close to the holiday itself.
As for the type of party customers are asking for, the sky’s the limit.
“We offer banquet-style dinners with plated entrees, and then we do dinner stations or a buffet, for lack of a better word,” Santaniello said. “We’re also doing a lot more cocktail-type parties; people want circulating hors d’oeuvres or stationary hors d’oeuvres. They want to have people moving around and mingling — that’s always fun. People want a less formal atmosphere, and a cocktail party gives you that.”
Calvanese said Storrowton offers a similar variety. “We have sit-downs, we have buffets … a lot of people, for the holidays, actually prefer to go the sit-down route, rather than the buffets. But we also do a cocktail menu, and hors d’oeuvres parties as well. Plus we do a lot of lunches for older groups, like church groups, people who like to come in during the day.”
Whether it’s large banquets or smaller dinners, “we’re pretty busy during December,” he noted, adding that repeat customers are a big part of the facility’s success. “One business, they actually booked with us the first year, and they rebooked 10 years ahead. They’re a rather large group, and they like a specific date, so they get the same Saturday every year.”

Festive Fun
Bombard is among those seeing a gravitation toward more casual events. “I think people are moving more toward cocktail receptions. We’re trying to make it a more social event as opposed to formal dinners.”
LaFleche said customers’ preferences at the Castle of Knights have been running about 50-50 between plated meals and buffets. “It’s a good mix across the board.”
Henry noted that Chandler’s boasts a number of different rooms to accommodate different sizes and styles of parties. “We have private rooms Thursday through Sunday, and we do section off parties in the main dining room, or sell out the entire dining room, for larger parties. And we have three smaller rooms in back of the restaurant: the wine-cellar room and two smaller rooms, the vineyard rooms, for people looking for private spaces.”
She said the restaurant has revamped all of its banquet menus and is offering new menus for the holidays as well. “We do cocktail parties, and we have stationary setups for food. Some [companies] do formal sit-down dinners, but have an open or cash bar for an hour or two prior so people can mingle.”
One of Chandler’s most prominent draws is the Christmas theming that Yankee Candle sets up year-round, but especially highlights during the actual holiday season. That includes Christmas trees in the main dining room and some of the smaller party spaces, as well as ribbons on the wall sconces and a host of other decorations.
“When you’re coming through the door, everything is candlelit, which really does set the stage,” Henry said. “At Yankee Candle, once October ends, everything is lit up at night. Santa is a huge presence here, and they expand the store hours so it’s open later.”
As for Chandler’s, “we also do a dinner with Santa here, where kids can come and eat with Santa. That has always been fun.” Meanwhile, “we’d like to showcase our patio this year in the evening, too, which we really haven’t been doing in the past,” she said, noting that the area is also decorated with holiday lights, while a chiminea provides some heat.
Calvanese said the holiday décor at Storrowton is something customers enjoy, and this year, it seems they’re getting in the mood early. “Normally people will wait, but this year, people want to make sure they get their space, so we’ve been getting calls for Christmas parties, even in the summer. It’s first come, first served with us — you book the date, you’ve got it — and some people who are waiting might not have an ideal night left.”

Scaling Back
A holiday party survey conducted last December by BizBash and food delivery website Seamless indicated that, as the economy slowly recovers, companies increasingly see year-end festivities as an important part of employee productivity and morale.
Of the 1,500 event-planning professionals who took the survey, 67% reported improved team dynamics as a direct result of office holiday parties, and 75% said such events help improve office friendships. “Still,” writes Matthews, “while many companies are hosting holiday gatherings again, the recession has effected a lasting change in what those events now look like, with hosts valuing smart spending over freewheeling excess and designing more thoughtful affairs.”
Santaniello can vouch for that. “I wouldn’t say people are going crazy with their budgets,” he said. “We took a huge hit in 2008 and 2009, but we’re seeing it come back a little bit now. Companies are coming back.”
Sounds like yet another reason to celebrate.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Healthy Decision

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Holiday Party Planner Sections
Sláinte Draws Restaurant Patrons — and Parties — to Holyoke

Debra Flynn, right, and Jake Perkins

Debra Flynn, right, and Jake Perkins say Sláinte’s party business has taken off beyond their initial expectations.

Debra Flynn owns two successful restaurants and knows her way around a wide variety of food. So what does she like to order when she eats out?
“My favorite food on the entire planet, when I go out, is Caesar salad and nachos. That defines a fun restaurant, and if they don’t have it, we’re not going back,” said Flynn, the owner of Eastside Grill in Northampton and part-owner, with Jake Perkins, of Sláinte in Holyoke.
“When we started,” she said of opening Sláinte earlier this year, “I told Jake we have to have the best nachos in the world — and they are.”
If those nachos —  loaded with toppings and also available ‘cowboy style’ with barbecued brisket — don’t sound like something Eastside would serve, that’s intentional.
“We’re not trying to be something we’re not,” Flynn said. “We’re not a high-end restaurant, and even though we’re attached to Eastside, we didn’t want Eastside food here. To have two restaurants within 10 minutes of each other serving the same food serves no purpose. I wanted this place to have its own identity, but people realize we believe in concepts like quality and service at both places.”
Sláinte (pronounced ‘slahn-cha,’ an Irish greeting meaning ‘your good health’) opened on the site of the former Eighty Jarvis restaurant, which used to be O’Meara’s, which used to be Broadview — which is where our story begins.
Flynn was in her early 20s when she first discovered Broadview on her first date with her future husband, Kevin. Perhaps because of that emotional connection, she had long had her eyes on the property, and when Eighty Jarvis closed, she felt the time was right to make a move.
“I was approached because someone knew how much I really wanted this property,” she said, but she wasn’t prepared to go it alone, so she turned to Perkins, her executive chef at Eastside Grill. “I knew how much Jake wanted to go on to the next level. And I felt comfortable with him; he has the same values I do when it comes to work.”
“We do work well together,” Perkins added. “We have slightly different styles, but they mesh well.
“We wanted a fun, comfortable place,” he continued, “and I really liked the idea of having a banquet room upstairs for parties. We don’t have the space for it at Eastside, but here we have a huge room up there.”
Downstairs, he added, “we keep it comfortable for everybody. It’s a lot of fun, and we want the food to be approachable and the atmosphere to be comfortable. It’s a good spot.”
Despite the name, Sláinte is not an Irish restaurant, he noted. Rather, “it’s an homage to the Irish heritage of Holyoke.”
Flynn laughed when the pronunciation issue arises. “Some of my friends call it Slanty — ‘hey, we’re going to Slanty tonight,’” she said. “But I don’t care, as long as people come.”

American Style
So, what is the menu like? Favorites range from appetizers like fried pickles and cod fritters to entrees like fried chicken, lamb shank, filet mignon, with a selection of burgers, sandwiches, and salads thrown in for good measure.
“Everything is made from scratch here,” Perkins said, from appetizers to desserts, salad dressings to pastrami.
“We use pork belly for bacon — everything is cured from scratch. There are no processed foods here,” Flynn added. “You’re not going to get processed pastrami or turkey here.”
Besides the fresh food, Flynn and Perkins are aiming for a certain casual vibe, not unlike that of the old Broadview. “It was fun — great wings, great sandwiches … it was a great place to go, a place where everyone went in Holyoke, where everyone knew everyone,” Flynn said.
With that in mind, “we were going for a warm, inviting feeling. We added more TVs so people can watch sports, any type of sports. And we have a 60-inch TV outside so they can be outside and watch TV, too.”
Flynn said the outdoor patio and bar is “to die for,” and bands play there on Wednesday and Sunday evenings during the warmer months.
But she and Perkins are equally proud of the upstairs banquet facility, which holds up to 100 people for cocktail parties and sit-down dinners. Sláinte has hosted baby showers, rehearsal dinners, and a host of other parties, including one wedding reception. The space is also ideal for breakfast meetings, and is equipped with audio-visual equipment for business functions.
“We’ve had surprisingly brisk business upstairs,” Perkins said. Flynn added that her connections in Northampton and Springfield — where she was general manager of Café Manhattan and the Colony Club earlier in her career — certainly haven’t hurt.
“It has been overwhelmingly successful. I was not expecting it to be as successful as it is this soon — it’s only been six months,” she said. “People remember me from the Colony Club and Café Manhattan.”
A location that effectively straddles Hampden and Hampshire Counties, just two minutes from I-91, doesn’t hurt, she added. “And the Northampton business community has been extremely positive in this new venture. A lot of people were like, ‘are you sure you want to do this? Why take on so much more work?’ But they come out and support me by coming here — I’ve had a few events from Northampton here.”

City on the Rise
Perkins said the goal has been to create an inclusive environment that draws customers back again and again. Flynn said she’s happy with business so far.
“I want to say it’s because of our quality and the service we provide and the friendly atmosphere,” she told BusinessWest. “That’s my philosophy. That’s the way you keep them coming back.
“This business is not about us; it’s about the customer,” she added. “You can never think it’s about yourself; you have to listen. It might pain you, but you have to listen and do whatever you can to make people happy, because if they’re not, they won’t be back.”
She and Perkins both live within a half-mile of Sláinte, and they believe they’ve opened a restaurant and banquet hall in a city that’s clearly on the rise.
“I’m proud to be in Holyoke. I believe Holyoke can come back,” she said. “It has a lot of the same qualities as Northampton, and the architecture is gorgeous.”
Added Perkins, “as businesses move into town, that’ll bring even more businesses in, and it kind of builds on itself.”
“We want to help set the tone,” Flynn continued, “so people say, ‘if they can do it, we can,’ and people will start to say, ‘wow, Holyoke has a lot to offer.’ Look at Northampton in the late ’70s and early ’80s, and look at it today. It can happen. You’ve got to believe it — and work hard.”
She said Eastside benefits from the walkability of its downtown Northampton location, where the streets teem with pedestrians. But Sláinte has its own advantages. “We’re right off the highway, and the people of Holyoke have been very supportive of us,” Perkins said. “It’s been fantastic.”
Flynn agreed. “We’re part of two really great towns. How lucky are we?”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Picture This

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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]

Action Shots

humanics-action-news-2013HIAD-(3)20130926_sc_0021The 15th annual Humanics in Action Day, a Springfield College (SC) tradition, took place on Sept. 26. The event unites SC and its surrounding neighborhoods to work on community-service projects. Each year, about 2,000 students, faculty, staff, and alumni fan out across Springfield to read to children, clean up vacant lots, repair sidewalks, and generally make connections with the community. Top left: SC students work in the community garden. Top right: taking a break from yard work, left to right, are SC students Alissa Burian, Kim DiManna, Lynsey Majka, Lauren Peladeau, and Jessica Lajoie. Bottom right: from left, Adrienne Osborne, Upper Hill Neighborhood Council president; Ariel Zaleski, SC student trustee; Mary-Beth Cooper, SC president; Emmanuel Adero, Old Hill Neighborhood Council president; and Denise Cogman, director of Springfield School Volunteers.

Table Talking

OConnellGroupNE-ITThe 16th annual Table Top Showcase & Business Networking Event was recently held at the Castle of Knights in Chicopee. More than 100 exhibitors met with attendees from the business community. Left: Melinda Thomas, far right, development director for the Thomas J. O’Connor Animal Control & Adoption Center, speaks with Anita Bird (left), office manager, and Amanda Gagnon, community organizer, both from MGM Springfield. Right: Joel Mollison (left), president, and Brian Sullivan, vice president, of Northeast IT Systems Inc.

Agenda

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Agenda Departments

Wicked in Pink Motorcycle Ride
Oct. 13: The Wicked In Pink Run, a motorcycle event created by Bob Kaine Alves, a local motorcycle magazine and shop owner who recently fought his own battle with cancer, will raise much-needed funds for the Sr. Caritas Cancer Center Patient Services Fund at Mercy Medical Center. The event will also show support for all those battling cancer, cancer survivors, their caregivers, family, and friends. Registration for the run will begin at 9:30 a.m. at Harley-Davidson of Southampton. Participants will leave at noon from the dealership and end at the outdoor pavilion at Summit View Banquet & Meeting House in Holyoke, where there will be food and entertainment. Tickets cost $20 per person. Kaine Alves, owner of Throttle Rocker magazine, recently battled cancer of the head and neck and made it his mission to pay forward the compassionate treatment he received from the staff of the Sr. Caritas Cancer Center. All riders are encouraged to wear pink, whether it be hats, wigs, shirts, or shoes — creativity is appreciated. Sponsors include Throttle Rocker magazine, Haymond Law, American Medical Response, Harley-Davidson of Southampton, Allen Media Inc., 94.7 WMAS, FSC Insurance Agency, and Bertera Fiat West Springfield. For more information, visit www.wickedinpinkrun.com or www.facebook.com/wickedinpinkrun.

Rays of Hope Walk
Oct. 20: When this year’s 20th annual Rays of Hope – A Walk Toward the Cure of Breast Cancer steps off, it will be a celebration of two decades of women, men, and children walking together to fight breast cancer. Since its inception in Springfield in 1994 by Lucy Giuggio Carvalho, Rays of Hope, the most successful fund-raising walk and run in Western Mass. for breast cancer, has grown from 500 participants raising $50,000 to some 22,000 walkers and runners in an expanded event that includes a second walk in Greenfield, as well as this year’s 4th annual Run Toward the Cure 8K in Springfield. As in past years, the Springfield walk with some 600 teams — who may choose either a two- or five-mile route — and run begin at Temple Beth El on Dickinson Street, where registration is set for 9 a.m. The Springfield walk steps off at 10:30 a.m., preceded at 10:15 a.m. by the 8K run. The walk in Greenfield — either a two- or three-mile route — begins at Energy Park on Miles Street at noon, with registration at 10 a.m. All monies raised through Rays of Hope — more than $11 million since 1994 — remain local and are administered by the Baystate Health Foundation. Those who want to support the Rays of Hope but are unable to walk due to other commitments can participate in the 10,000 Steps Toward a Cure program. Participants receive a pedometer to keep track of their steps throughout the month of October, while raising donations similar to other walkers. This year’s Rays of Hope major sponsors are Health New England, Gale Toyota, Balise, Baystate Breast & Wellness Center, Baystate Breast Specialists, Chicopee Savings Charitable Foundation, Doctors Express, Kinsley Power Systems, Lia Auto Group, Radiology & Imaging, and Zasco Productions. A listing of all sponsors can be found on the Rays of Hope website. For more information on the event, call (413) 794-8001 or visit www.baystatehealth.org/raysofhope, where walk or run participants may also register online.

Art in the Orchard
Through October: Park Hill Orchard, at 82 Park Hill Road, Easthampton, will play host to 22 sculptures by 22 artists through Oct. 31. Art in the Orchard 2013 is a multifaceted sculpture exhibition and festival taking place on the grounds of a working apple orchard. The core project is a sculpture trail showcasing three-dimensional outdoor works and installations created by local and regional artists. Additional events (such as music, moonlight walks, dances, and school field trips) will be programmed on most weekends. See parkhillorchard.com/art for more information on the artists, their works, and an event schedule. Art in the Orchard is building on the success of the first exhibition in 2011, which came to existence thanks to the desire of Park Hill Orchard owners Alane Hartley and Russell Braen to have their farm play an active part in the local cultural economy, and a dream of Easthampton gallery owner Jean-Pierre Pasche to recreate an outdoor sculpture exhibit like the one set in meadows near his hometown in Switzerland. The success of the 2011 event exceeded expectations, with thousands of visitors discovering the sculpture trail and Park Hill over the 10-week period, many returning more than once. This achievement was recognized by the Mass. Cultural Council, which awarded Art in the Orchard one of its three annual Gold Star Awards, out of more than 5,000 projects funded annually by local cultural councils statewide.

Western Mass. Business Expo 2013
Nov. 6: Planning is underway for the Western Mass. Business Expo 2013, a day-long business-to-business event to take place at the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield. This fall’s show, the third edition of the Expo, which is again being produced by BusinessWest, will feature more than 100 exhibitors, seminars on timely issues of the day, special Show Floor Theater presentations, breakfast and lunch programs, and the wrap-up Expo social, which has become a not-to-be-missed networking event. The breakfast speakers will be Jim Koch, founder of Samuel Adams, the lunch speaker will be author, activist, and marathon runner Kathrine Switzer. Other details about specific programming will be printed in upcoming editions of BusinessWest and can also be seen online at www.wmbexpo.com or www.businesswest.com. For more information on the event or to reserve booth space, call (413) 781-8600, ext. 100.

Sprouting Event

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Holiday Party Planner Sections
Explosive Growth Fuels a Building Boom at Lattitude

Jeff Daigneau

Jeff Daigneau says creativity and hard work have helped Lattitude grow, to the point where the restaurant thrives even during the challenging Big E weeks.

Jeff Daigneau doesn’t know how many times he’s told the story. But he does know that it never gets old.
He was referring to what has become local culinary legend of sorts, the saga of how the most unlikely, but now the most popular, item on the menu at his restaurant, Lattitude, came to be.
“I messed up during the Big E in 2008 and dropped a bunch of brussels sprouts in the frialator,” said Daigneau, owner and chef at the establishment on Memorial Avenue in West Springfield, directly across from the fairgrounds. He put what came out of the frialator on the bar for consumption — and they didn’t last long.
“Now, they’re the hottest thing going — everybody’s serving them,” he told BusinessWest, adding that the vegetable that so many people love to hate has become his eatery’s signature appetizer — and an unofficial logo of sorts.
Indeed, the vegetable now adorns the back of his business card and the company’s letterhead, and it will soon be on T-shirts to be worn by the staff.
No one calls Lattitude the ‘house that Brussels sprouts built,’ but they might as well — it’s not much of an exaggeration. But the house was actually built by creativity, patience, and perseverance, and because all three have been exhibited in abundance, the house is getting bigger.
Much bigger.
The restaurant, which sits in the middle of what was a large, multi-tenant building that Daigneau now owns, is expanding in several directions within that complex. An outdoor patio bar featuring live music was added this summer on the west side of the property. Meanwhile, an 80-seat banquet facility will open in formerly vacant space on the east side of building in mid-November, and a new, much larger bar area, to be created in space formerly occupied by Memo’s restaurant on the west side of the building, is in the design phase. In the original restaurant, space is being reconfigured, and private meeting rooms are being expanded.
The ambitious series of undertakings, highlighted by the recent installation of a new ‘Lattitude’ sign made of brushed copper, could be called a testimony to the power of fried brussels sprouts. But it’s more of an indication of how the restaurant has become a fixture only a few years after barely surviving its first fall in the shadow of the Big E (more on that later).
“It’s really flattering that people think that much of us,” he said, noting that his experiences to date have been a giant learning curve. “I’ve been doing this since I was 13 years old; I’m 36 now, and every single day I learn something new.”
For this issue and its focus on holiday party planning, BusinessWest looks at what Daigneau’s learned, and how he’s applied those lessons effectively enough to make Lattitude one of the region’s more intriguing business success stories.

Keep the Party Going

Lattitude added an outdoor patio bar this year

Lattitude added an outdoor patio bar this year, where patrons can enjoy live music.

Retelling another story he’s related often, Daigneau said that, during his first fall on Memorial Avenue, he decided to stay open during the 17-day Big E when most all other restaurants in that area shut things down.
They close because the exposition has a tendency to drain traffic from such establishments rather than create it. Many long-time patrons of those eateries also decide they’re not going to fight Big E traffic and dine elsewhere instead.
Daigneau’s decision nearly put him out of business, by his calculation, but the experience provided an important lesson. Today, instead of trying to compete with, or simply survive, the Big E, he is effectively partnering with it. At least that’s the term he uses.
Elaborating, he said he’s learned how to cater his menu and his entertainment to the two primary constituencies at the Big E — visitors to the show and the vendors who often arrive days before it opens and are still packing up long after it ends.
The key to mastering the Big E, said Daigneau, has been a combination of offering a more relaxed atmosphere during fair weeks, especially for vendors, and offering a variety of live bands, food and drink specials, and promo nights, as an extension of what’s already going on over at the Big E.
“I’m not going to get everybody, so I put posters in the windows for events we’re going to have,” he explained. “I try to do things that would bring people in the door.
“I’m not stepping on anybody’s toes,” he went on. “The vendors just want a place to get out and get something to eat, because otherwise, they’re cooking in their campers.”
This imaginative approach to navigating through late September is just one element in Daigneau’s success quotient. And it’s part of a larger operating philosophy of listening to customers and potential customers and giving them want they want — even if, in the case of those Brussels sprouts, they didn’t know they wanted it.
And in recent years, what he consistently heard from patrons is that they want more — as in more space, more options, and more venues for different types of events.
The elaborate renovations and new building initiatives are designed to meet all those needs.
As a lessee, Daigneau had to look at the unattractive yellow stucco plaster on the outside of the building, but now the contemporary-style improvements have made the choppy architecture look like a cohesive city block, he said, which matches the elegance and creative quality of what’s happening inside.
The entire east side of the building is being renovated for banquets; the bathrooms are moving to the west side, the dining room will be expanded to accommodate 120 people, and two new rooms, for up to 12 and 30 patrons, respectively, are ready, or will be, for the holidays. The small, cramped kitchen was expanded recently, and a new catering kitchen is under construction.
“Our off-site catering is going to explode with that new kitchen,” said Daigneau, noting that what started as a few scattered requests for Lattitude menu items has morphed into a solid business opportunity with enormous potential.
The same could be said for banquet, or large-party, business, said Jamie Cardoza, Daigneau’s event specialist. “People were asking for larger venues, and we had to essentially turn business away,” she said.
Daigneau said there were enough of these requests to inspire the new banquet facility. “We had guest requests for parties of 50, 80, or 100,” he noted. “And it just grew into, ‘well, I own the building now; what do we want to do?’”
Plans for the rest of the building, specifically the old Memo’s area, are in the process of being designed. Daigneau said the second floor of the building will remain his office area and won’t be leased out.
While Daigneau’s original plan was to do all the work at once, he ultimately opted to phase it in, a decision that, in retrospect, has worked out well because disruption has been controlled and the impact on the overall business has been minimized.
And in a way, the new look and feel of Lattitude is consistent with Daigneau’s philosophy of continuously changing and reinventing to keep things fresh.
Indeed, while other restaurant owners and managers are loath to remove an item from the menu, Daigneau is fearful of letting his menu get stale.
He said the typical response from his staff when he changes up the menu is, ‘are you out of your mind?’
“But if you’re not moving and shaking and you’re not changing things up, people are going to get bored, and things are going to get stale,” he explained. “The menu has to change, and the staff has to stay fresh, or there are a million opportunities for our customers to go somewhere else.”
One dish that has to make a seasonal appearance every year is his pumpkin ravioli with seared scallops and walnut sage cream sauce.
“It’s the most popular dish we’ve ever done, and it’s one of those things I just can’t take off, and if I do, I get threatened,” he said with a sardonic smile.
It’s the same look he gives his staff when he tells them what he has in mind for his popular dinner series on the third Monday of every month, an event that offers a five-course dinner, with a different cocktail paired with each course.

Room For Dessert
Late last month, Daigneau served as the ‘celebrity professional judge’ for a Big E bread and dessert contest featuring creations fashioned from Fleischmann’s yeast.
That assignment speaks not only to his new outlook on the Big E as partner, not competitor, but also to just how far he has come in five years — from a chef with a dream to an entrepreneur with a dining destination in the midst of exploding growth.
The brussels sprouts on his business card have become a symbol of that success, and so has the new sign over his door.
“It’s finally gotten to the point where I can look up to that sign and say, ‘you know what? I did OK.’”
Actually, much better than OK.

Elizabeth Taras can be reached at [email protected].

People On The Move

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Departments People on the Move

Kenneth Albano, a shareholder and a member of the Corporate, Finance, and Healthcare departments for the Springfield-based Bacon Wilson, P.C. was recently elected Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Western Mass. Division of the March of Dimes. Albano is a member of the Mass. Municipal Law Assoc., and currently serves as Town Counsel to the communities of Monson, Southwick, and Holland. Albano earned his BA from Providence College and his JD from Western New England University School of Law.
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Jean Deliso

Jean Deliso

Jean Deliso, Principal of Deliso Financial Services, has been elected a member of the 2013 Chairman’s Council of New York Life Insurance Co. Members of the elite Chairman’s Council rank in the top 3% of New York Life’s sales force among more than 12,250 licensed agents. A New York Life agent since 1995, Deliso is an associate with the Connecticut Valley General Office in Windsor, Conn. She is chairman of New York Life’s Agents Advisory Council and is a consistent qualifying member of the Million Dollar Round Table and currently a 2013 Court of the Table Member. Deliso currently serves on many boards in her community, including the Pioneer Valley AAA Auto Club, Pioneer Valley Refrigerated Warehouse, and the Community Music School of Springfield.
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Keith Minoff

Keith Minoff

Keith Minoff has been selected by his peers for inclusion in the 20th edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the practice areas of commercial litigation and corporate law. Minoff is a trial attorney specializing in business and employment litigation and has been in practice for more than 25 years.
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David McBride

David McBride

Erica Flores

Erica Flores

Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C. recently announced the addition of two new associates, David McBride and Erica Flores. Flores joined Skoler Abbott after relocating to Mass. from Pennsylvania, where she was an associate at the office of Morgan Lewis. She is a 2005 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and received her BS from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 2001. In addition to her litigation practice, Flores regularly advises clients with respect to day-to-day employment issues, including decisions regarding adverse employment actions and litigation avoidance. From 2005 to 2006, she served as a clerk to the Russell Nigro, associate justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Flores is a member of the American Bar Assoc. and the Pennsylvania Bar Assoc. McBride is a 2013 graduate from the Cornell Law School and received his BA in Economics from the University of Notre Dame in 2008. His practice is concentrated in labor law and employment litigation. His experience includes work on labor and employment-law issues, including employer compliance with federal laws at a major labor union in New York.

View to the Future

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Features
Panoramic Reeds Landing Is Making a New Name for Itself

Dave Scruggs

Dave Scruggs says Loomis has invested heavily in not only improving life at Reeds Landing, but attracting more residents to the community.

Dave Scruggs says that, since Loomis Communities acquired Reeds Landing after the life-care retirement community filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009, a number of changes and improvements have taken place.
For starters, the units are now more affordable, said Scruggs, who became CEO of Loomis Communities early this year. Also, there have been extensive renovations and catch-up on a large amount of deferred maintenance, he said, noting that more than $3.3 million has been spent to “bring the property up to Loomis community standards.”
And then, there’s Lake Massasoit, just a few yards from the property. It’s now much more visible — and accessible — thanks to some extensive tree and brush clearing and the creation of a few walking trails.
“It’s a much different facility than it was years ago,” said Scruggs, adding that one of his primary goals since arriving has been making sure that area senior citizens and their families are aware of all this.
He calls it a “reintroduction” process, and early on, administrators and board members at Loomis Communities thought a name change should probably be part of the equation.
That’s because many were still associating ‘Reeds Landing’ with the bankruptcy, high-priced units, or both, said Scruggs, who noted that coming up with a new name was an intriguing exercise that involved a number of constituencies, including residents, many of whom wanted to somehow keep ‘Reed’ — as in Rev. David Allen Reed, the founder and first president of nearby Springfield College — in the mix.
“Our original thought was just to name it Loomis Lakeside,” he recalled. “But after talking with the residents, we learned that there’s a lot of memories for people who live here — spouses who have died here, for example — and there’s a connection to Springfield College. There was very strong sentiment that we keep Reeds Landing in the name.”
Eventually, those tasked with this assignment arrived at Loomis Lakeside at Reeds Landing, a name that accomplishes many things, said Scruggs. It references the lake, a feature that he believes truly sets this facility apart from other senior-living facilities in the region. It also respects the history of the site by keeping Reed’s name, he said, and it brings the Loomis brand front and center, which is perhaps the most important consideration.
Lakeside at Reeds Landing

Dave Scruggs says Loomis Lakeside at Reeds Landing is making real progress in overcoming perception issues at the facility.

“In addition to changes in the pricing and the contract, we’ve bought what I’ll call the ‘Loomis Communities way’ here,” he explained, referencing the operating philosophy that prevails at the company’s other properties — Loomis Village in South Hadley, Loomis House in Holyoke, and Applewood in Amherst. “We have more than 100 years of experience in operating retirement communities, and our predecessors didn’t have that breadth of knowledge.
“We changed a lot of policies and procedures,” he went on. “And we retrained the staff to do things the way we wanted them to be done or thought they should be done.”
The new name — not to mention the host of improvements — was rolled out at a lunch and open house on Sept. 15. That event was just one component of a broad effort to reintroduce the facility to the region, said Scruggs, who said this property has always enjoyed a high success rate when it came to converting visits into sales. The goal moving forward is simply to generate more visits and let the facility and its community do the rest.
“The percentage of people who come, look, and buy here is much higher than the norm for the industry,” he explained. “And this was just further confirmation that there was an image problem out there had to be addressed.”
For this issue, BusinessWest talked at length with Scruggs about how he believes Loomis Communities is making that image problem a thing of the past, while also setting some very ambitious goals for the future.

A Shore Thing
Soon after prevailing in a nation-wide search for a successor to long-time Loomis Communities CEO Carol Katz, Scruggs started looking for a home in Greater Springfield.
He eventually settled on a new subdivision taking shape in South Hadley, but the home would not be ready for a few months after he started, so he commenced a search for temporary quarters.
He found them at Cottage 1022 at Reeds Landing, a unit chosen because of the size of his dog, Magnolia, an Australian shepherd mix, more than anything else.
“I spent a lot of time here talking with the residents; the conversations over the dinner were great, and the life stories that people at Reeds Landing have to tell are incredible,” said Scruggs, adding that he learned a good deal during his time at Reeds Landing about the “rhythm of the place.”
“I learned about the things that were important to residents; these were things I knew intellectually, but living it with them made a big difference to me,” he went on, adding that he also gained some additional perspective on the facility’s history and the challenges ahead for it. “The board wanted me to be here and really know the life of the place.”
Recapping the past several years, Scruggs said a number of factors came together to precipitate the facility’s decline into bankruptcy.
The onset of the Great Recession and its immediate impact on the local housing market certainly played a role, he said, noting that many potential tenants could not sell their homes, something most needed to do to pay the entrance fee at the facility. And as the occupancy rate soared, the facility fell further into debt, which exceeded $28 million at one point.
“Sales went downhill quickly, and the organization wasn’t able to keep up with the basic costs of running the facility,” he said, adding that Loomis, unburdened by the enormous debt carried by the previous owners, has been able to substantially reduce prices, from around $500,000, on average, years ago to the $200,000-$250,000 range.
But perception has also been a problem for Reeds Landing, said Scruggs, adding that, for some time, there was what he called a “hangover effect” from the bankruptcy, or the perception that the property was still in fiscal disarray. And while entrance fees are now much lower and contracts more favorable to tenants, many people continue to believe the facility is beyond their reach.
An old marketing campaign, one that featured television spots showing tenants and prospective tenants driving around in a vintage Cadillac, fueled the perception that Reeds was a very high-end facility, said Scruggs.
Also, the property was suffering from that aforementioned deferred maintenance and general neglect.
“It wasn’t falling down, by any stretch of the imagination, but there was a lot of catch-up work to do,” he explained. “We’ve spent the past three years bringing the property up to the standards that we would expect for a Loomis community.”
The company invested heavily in infrastructure, such as roofing and other areas that are not visible, he went on, and this year took on more cosmetic items, including everything from new carpeting and wallpaper to landscaping and those aforementioned walking trails. There were also extensive renovations to the 44-bed nursing home.
With these improvements and a targeted marketing campaign, Scruggs believes he and his staff can raise the current occupancy rate of roughly 75% closer to the industry average of 85% and then to the ultimate goal of 95%.

Lake Massasoit

Loomis leaders say Reeds Landing’s proximity to Lake Massasoit is a selling point.

Actually, the facility would be much closer to those latter numbers were it not for a much higher-than-average number of what are called ‘move-outs,’ or residents who have died or moved on to another type of housing or healthcare facility.
“Occupancy today is about what it was a year ago, but interestingly, we’ve doubled sales since last year,” he explained. “One of the vagaries of this business is that, if you have a lot of people move to healthcare or pass away in a given year, it doesn’t matter what your sales are; you’re going to have a decline. If we’d had a normal transition rate, we’d be at about 80% now.”
Moving forward, Loomis and a marketing firm specializing in this industry, Retirement Dynamics, will work to use the facility’s strongest assets — the location and the Loomis brand — to drive sales.
“Retirement Dynamics brought to us a cohesive marketing plan for the organization,” Scruggs explained. “Rather than looking at each of the four retirement communities as its own island to sell to a particular group of people within five or 10 miles around it, they helped us recognize the value of the Loomis brand.
“When they started selling here [Reeds Landing], they realized that, when someone came across the threshold to talk with a salesperson, the two things that sold this place were the Loomis experience and this location,” he continued. “Within that brand, we looked at what was unique about each of the four communities, and what clearly was unique about this property is that you’re sitting in an oasis; the lake gives it a very different feel.”

Optimistic Viewpoint
With the renovation work and efforts to create stunning vistas of the lake now finished, the primary task at hand for this property is simply getting the message out, said Scruggs, adding that he believes it will certainly resonate.
“The brand is Loomis, the property is stunning and gorgeous, and it’s a beautiful place to be within the city of Springfield — that’s the message,” he told BusinessWest.
And if it can be effectively conveyed, the property formerly known simply as Reeds Landing can make a new name for itself — in more ways than one.

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

Opinion

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Opinion
Physician Labor Markets Remain Tight

By LEIF BRIERLEY
The Mass. Medical Society’s 12th annual Physician Workforce Study found that physician labor markets continued to be tight, with four physician specialties — family medicine, internal medicine, gastroenterology, and neurology — experiencing significant shortages.
The study, released last month, showed, as in previous years, that physician shortages continue to influence labor-market conditions statewide. Several regions of the state, including the Springfield and Pittsfield areas, had a majority of respondents reporting inadequate pools of physicians were available to fill needed positions.
The percent of physicians reporting that “the current pool of applicants is inadequate” and the percent of respondents “having difficulty filling vacancies” both increased several percentage points from 2012 to 2013. While the adequacy of the physician labor pool and the ease of physician recruitment have shown a dramatic improvement over the past five years, this year’s data broke from the previous five-year trend of improving conditions in terms of filling vacancies and adequacy of the applicant pool.
Other findings indicate some dissatisfaction with physician practice issues, but also indicate familiarity with several key healthcare reform initiatives.
Among practicing physicians, dissatisfaction with the time spent on administrative tasks versus time spent on patient care increased, with more than half of physicians in 2013 either “very dissatisfied” or “dissatisfied” with the tradeoff between patient-care hours versus administrative tasks.
Massachusetts physicians also remained concerned about professional liability and liability costs, which continue to cause physicians to alter or limit the scope of their practice, impacting patient access to care.
However, physicians are becoming more familiar with the healthcare reform initiatives occurring both nationwide and locally. Overall, almost half of respondents were familiar with Chapter 224, the state’s cost-containment law passed in August 2012.
More physicians indicated in 2013 that they would be likely to participate in a voluntary global payment system than did in 2012, and 32.4% of physicians indicated that their medical practice is currently reimbursed through global payments.
Finally, nearly three-quarters of physicians were “very familiar” or “somewhat familiar” with accountable-care organizations, with 42% of respondents indicating their practice participated in this type of care-delivery model.
The Mass. Medical Society (MMS), with the assistance of prominent labor economists, completed this year’s study, which builds upon the results of the previous 11 years of physician-workforce studies. The most recent survey was mailed to 7,212 practicing Massachusetts physicians in January 2013. The recipients included both MMS members and non-members who were randomly selected from 18 specialties. A total of 748 physicians responded to the survey. The full report can be downloaded at Physician Labor Markets Remain Tight.

Leif Brierley is a health-policy analyst for the Mass. Medical Society.

Data Driven

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Sections Technology
Innovative Business Systems and TechCavalry Simplify Clients’ Access to Information

Dave DelVecchio

TechCavalry, acquired in 2012 by Innovative Business Systems, allows Dave DelVecchio and his staff to assist small businesses and individuals with their IT issues.

Late one night at the University of Central Florida, young college student Dave DelVecchio was discussing the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with his roommate, but the two couldn’t recall the first name of Ferris’ best friend.
Racking their brains at 2 a.m., the students did the only thing they knew how to do back in 1989: they called local radio DJs, and after a few attempts, they found one who knew the character’s name (it was Cameron).
Fast-forward 25 years. Just last month DelVecchio was at Fenway Park, and a friend asked where a particular player hailed from. Within 20 seconds, DelVecchio picked up his smartphone and found the answer on Google.
Google — a word that would have drawn blank stares in 1998 — is not only the name of the world’s most ubiquitous search engine, but also a verb; people spend major portions of every week ‘Googling’ answers to questions of various levels of importance.
DelVecchio’s college example of how much more information people have at their fingertips today is reflected in his favorite saying: “that’s why you have a data plan.”
As president of Easthampton-based Innovative Business Systems (IBS), a 23-year-old IT-solutions company — and the parent company of newly acquired TechCavalry — DelVecchio and his four partners are tasked with finding solutions for businesses and individuals to access data, at home or at work.
Through IBS specifically, DelVecchio and his team can provide expertise and resources to meet a client’s information-technology needs, or operate as the IT department’s best resource.

Offering examples, DelVecchio cited a local bank that IBS helped cut server recovery time from eight hours to 45 minutes, and a local nonprofit for which the firm helped move an underperforming peer-to-peer network to a server-based environment complete with mobility solutions.
Additionally, since acquiring Northampton-based TechCavalry in 2012, IBS has grown from 13 to 27 employees and, through that new entity, can provide individuals and smaller businesses (50 employees or fewer) with project-based IT solutions to retrieve their data and protect it cost-effectively.
“It was an opportunity for us to position TechCavalry to serve an underserved segment of the market,” said DelVecchio. “All these technology advances have provided new and sometimes far-more efficient ways to get access to information. It’s not about turning the screwdriver and fixing the problem; it’s about providing consultative analysis and weeding through all the options to make the smart choices for a business.”
For this issue’s focus on technology, BusinessWest talked with DelVecchio to learn more about how he and his team have grown IBS, and now TechCavalry, and how both firms help business owners and individuals cut through the advertising clutter to find the best data solutions.

Next Generation
DelVecchio was a marketing graduate fresh out of college when he landed his first marketing job in 1994 with Bill Tremblay, the former owner of IBS, and on the first day of work had to be shown how to use a mouse.
DelVecchio, who jokingly said he’s now mastered the mouse, often uses a quote from Tremblay, from whom DelVecchio and his four partners later purchased the company in 2003: “computer hardware is the necessary evil to run the software that runs your business.”
As he talked with BusinessWest, DelVecchio explained that Tremblay, an IT project manager at Kollmorgen, started a small software-development company in 1987 and incorporated in 1990. His philosophy was that the company was supporting not just technology, but the user experience.
After working under Tremblay for almost a decade, that user-experience vision is the same for DelVecchio and his partners, who include Vice President and Treasurer Brian Scanlon, as well as Scott Seifel, Ben Scoble, and Sean Benoit.
DelVecchio, who advanced from marketing assistant to president and owner, is not alone in his non-technical background. Most of the staff at both IBS and TechCavalry came from myriad backgrounds, which allows them to effectively relate to a wide variety of client businesses.
Having three of the five partners literally rubbing shoulders with customers and clients is one of the benefits of working with IBS and TechCavalry, said DelVecchio, which also quells one of the biggest complaints in the IT service industry — consultant turnover — due in large part to the fact that Seifel, Scoble, and Benoit are active members of the technical service team, and add a sense of stability to both companies.
“It also helps us to recruit and retain non-partners, because those that come in realize that we’re all in this together. If you want to say the inmates now run the asylum, we were once the inmates,” DelVecchio said with a smile.
As they grew IBS, they found that Western Mass. is home to many smaller companies that didn’t necessarily need smarter technology, but they needed things quickly. DelVecchio said businesses have fewer options for those emergency calls because most growing IT firms won’t handle the ‘little guys.’
Enter Jef Sharp and Jeff Hausthor — serial entrepreneurs who had created nine businesses in a little over a decade — who had launched TechCavalry in 2002 out of a small garage in Florence. With their other businesses growing simultaneously, both owners felt that they needed experienced assistance to manage their small firm, and DelVecchio was approached to consider management duties.
Like the cavalry whose presence is announced with brass fanfare, TechCalvary boasts a trumpet logo and the tagline, “PC troubles? Help is on the way!” That focus appealed to the five partners at IBS, who felt that TechCavalry had a solid niche in the personal-consumer market with excellent growth potential, but that both parties would be better served if IBS owned the business.
“One of the biggest values in TechCavalry was their name in marketing,” said DelVecchio.  “Who are you going to call when you need an emergency fixed? You’re going to call in the cavalry.”
In August 2012, IBS acquired TechCavalry and combined the two firms in its Easthampton location. Now, in one expanded headquarters, the company hosts IT user group meetings, lunch-and-learn events, and technology-showcase events, with potential for future expansion on site.

Customer Centric
It was just three years ago that the IBS team decided to segue away from Tremblay’s software-development focus and center on providing IT services and consulting through PC sales, data analysis, networking, hardware and software support, repair, and maintenance.
With the new Windows 8, iPhone OS5, and a thousand other bells and whistles that keep business owners wondering if and how they should invest in technology, IBS and TechCavalry help customers figure out the best fit for their business needs.
“A lot of companies put out a lot of technology because they’re trying to make a buck,” DelVecchio said. “What we do is determine which technologies might be relevant for our clients.”
Cost isn’t always the main factor, he added, noting that his firm has talked clients out of overly complex and expensive solutions as often as it has guided them away from inadequate ones.
The clients that understand the role of technology in business, he said, are the ones that yield the most positive outcome. As a real-world example, he cited a potential new client whose major grievance was the collective 90 minutes of productivity he was losing each day being interrupted by employee complaints regarding their own loss of time due to slow or inefficient technology.
“For him, it wasn’t about technology, and it wasn’t about shaving pennies; it was specifically about how we as a company could add value to their business by helping the owner regain that five to eight hours a week worrying about technology and focus on running the business,” DelVecchio said.  “Having a business owner who is an actively engaged participant — and wants the right technology and dollars to be spent in the right places — makes the engagement much easier, and they get real value out of their investment.”

Emerging Field
Where technology is going to lead the business world in the next 10 years isn’t fully defined, said DelVecchio. The challenge for business owners is to not get distracted.
“There is never a panacea that is your solution to every problem,” he added. “Ultimately, it’s about using the right technology for the right reasons.”
DelVecchio’s goal for both firms is to grow in organic fashion — slow and steady — to be able to maintain the deep time commitment clients require.
“All the advances of technology have provided new and sometimes far more efficient ways to get access to information,” he said, “and all we’ve been asked to do as a company, from day one, is to help provide that conduit.”

Elizabeth Taras can be reached at [email protected]

Employ Ability

By
Employment Sections
NEBA Marks 30 Years of Breaking Barriers to Getting Hired

Jeannine Pavlak

Jeannine Pavlak says NEBA’s success rate of placing individuals with disabilities in jobs is higher than the national standard for such efforts.

Fresh out of college in the 1980s, Jeannine Pavlak found her ideal job — helping others do the same.
“I had just graduated and wanted to do something in the social-service field. I was interested in many different avenues,” she told BusinessWest. “But at the time, in the early 1980s, employment was becoming a hot topic.”
She wound up interviewing with New England Business Associates, a then-new organization dedicated to helping people with disabilities — physical, emotional, behavioral, etc. — find employment.
“I interviewed with many different organizations, but NEBA was the only one — that’s not true now, but it was at the time — that provided individualized, integrated employment” for such individuals, she explained. “I’ve always had a belief that people can work — and should work — and this matched my own personal philosophy.”
She never left, and today serves as executive director as NEBA gets ready to celebrate its 30th anniversary with a party on Oct. 18 at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House.
Over those years, she has overseen the implementation of several innovative programs, including one that helps disabled people become entrepreneurs. But NEBA remains, at its heart, dedicated to matching employers with workers who have encountered a host of challenges to entering the job market. “It’s amazing when it happens,” Pavlak said. “It really changes people’s lives so much.”
Established in 1983, NEBA now serves more than 400 people annually — ranging in age from 15 to 68 — through employment, self-employment, skill building, and community-inclusion programs. But they’re not the only ones who benefit, she said, citing the organization’s positive effects on businesses and the region’s overall economic development.
“As a service provider, we recognize each individual’s unique gifts and talents and maximize these unique strengths in the workplace,” the company’s mission statement explains. “As a business partner, we understand the needs of employers and ensure a successful job match that enhances their bottom line. And as a contributor, we improve economic and community conditions by preparing and placing a talented source of workers eager to become self-sufficient and contributing members of their communities.”
The initial intent, Pavlak said, was to work with people with developmental disabilities who weren’t being offered employment because of their challenges. “We really originated to work with a small group of people to demonstrate that anyone, regardless of their level of disability, can be successfully employed.”
Since then, NEBA has evolved somewhat. “Now anyone who has challenges to entering the workforce, we help support,” she said, noting that the organization contracts with the Department of Developmental Disabilities, the Mass. Rehabilitation Commission, the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services, the Department of Transitional Assistance, and local school systems for students transitioning from high school. NEBA is also a registered employment network through the Social Security Administration’s Ticket to Work program.
“Many folks are just having trouble finding employment for a variety of reasons; they might not have a very high education, or might be the only one there for their child and not have any group of support.”
But NEBA is most well-known for its work with the disabled, and Pavlak is especially proud of how efficiently it achieves its goals, consistently charting an employment rate for people with disabilities between 85% and 92%. “The national standard is lower than that” for similar agencies, she noted. “We’ve always achieved higher that the national average, and we’re one of the top providers in Massachusetts.”

Individual Attention
The reasons for that success are myriad, Pavlak told BusinessWest. “Really, the biggest thing is, our services are individualized. We really get to know the person, and we also really understand what the employer needs. If we’re placing someone who doesn’t meet the employer’s needs or where the individual doesn’t want to be, it won’t be a successful match.
“So we make sure we’re matching people properly,” she continued. “We spend time with employers, finding out what are the greatest challenges to employing people and what positions have the highest turnover. The population we serve, they want to work, and historically, once somebody’s employed, particularly with a disability, they’re not looking to move on to a different job; they want that work. When we find them good job matches, they tend to be long-term employees.”
Many businesses are repeat customers, she added. Because NEBA has been doing this work for 30 years, “we have a lot of relationships we can call upon with different employers. And if they’re not hiring, they may give us a sense of who might be hiring. Employers know us, and they know we’re going to do what we say we’re going to do.”
That includes plenty of initial job preparation to make sure clients are ready for interviewing and have a résumé, among other soft skills.
However, once a client finds work, “employers are expected to train that employee like they’d train anyone else,” Pavlak said, but NEBA still sends a staff member in to reinforce that training, and if the employer wants to add more duties to the client’s job description, they can consult with NEBA on that as well. “Our goal is for their co-workers to be their natural support, as it is for all of us. But we check in monthly with the employer to make sure things are fine.”
Pavlak said their involvement with NEBA clients has been eye-opening for many companies, and some businesses are clearly more progressive than others when it comes to hiring people with disabilities.
“Certainly some employers have very clear policies promoting this; they want to hire people with disabilities,” she said. “But the majority of businesses haven’t had the opportunity to hire people with disabilities.
“There are a lot of stereotypes out there, like liability; people are fearful if they have disabled workers, workers’ compensation claims will increase,” she continued. “We help educate them that liability and workers’ compensation is based on past history and the jobs you’re hiring for, not whom you’re hiring. There was a study done by DuPont over 20 years showing that people with disabilities actually have fewer injuries on the job because they’re much more aware.”
Another plus is that NEBA clients seem to give a more predictable effort on the job than the workforce as a whole, she said. “I’ve had employers say to me, ‘the work is always consistent. Out of all my employees, the person placed by NEBA does the same amount of work every day.’ They say other employees might give 100% one day, just top-notch, and another day give 60%; they’re much less consistent with their work.”

Starting Strong
Clients of New England Business Associates are doing more than finding employment; they’re also starting businesses and creating jobs.
Much of that success is being achieved through the NEBA Business Development Center (BDC), which provides clients with the entrepreneurial training necessary to develop a business concept, write a business plan, and implement a business.
“The Business Development Center is my most exciting project,” Pavlak said. “That was set up to help people with disabilities start their own businesses. When we first started it locally, there weren’t a lot of resources available for people with disabilities to start their own businesses. We collaborated with the Scibelli Enterprise Center, and we were set up initially as a consulting center, but quickly turned into a business incubator.”
The BDC mentors participants in the day-to-day operation of a new business venture, introduces them to a network of fellow entrepreneurs, and helps them access resources like the Senior Corps of Retired Executives and the Small Business Administration.
Adam Anderson is one NEBA client who has launched and maintained a successful business, Wilbraham Web Design. He had an interest in working with computers but eventually found an affinity for web design and started learning about small-business ownership and attending business courses at Springfield Technical Community College. By the end of 2006, his first year in business, Anderson already had numerous clients.
Pavlak explained that such companies are able to keep accessing the incubator for training in various aspects of their business, such as marketing strategy, as they grow. “We really look at ourselves as part of the economic-development arm,” she said. “So far, we have started 35 active businesses, and out of these 35 businesses, they’ve had to hire 23 additional employees.”
She can point to hundreds of success stories over the years — both entrepreneurs and people who simply wanted to land a steady job — as reflective of how important NEBA is for job seekers frustrated by the barriers they encounter.
“It can be difficult to access the job market on a few different levels,” she told BusinessWest. “It certainly helps them to identify where their strengths lie and learn how to sell that to the employer. Everyone has something to give, and if we match them appropriately, it can be a real benefit to an employer. People struggle most with how they sell ourselves. For our clients, it’s even more difficult to do that.”
Meanwhile, some clients have to overcome their uncertainty about how employment will affect the disability benefits they already receive. “We have a certified work incentive counselor meet with them and show them exactly how work will affect their benefits, and it takes the fear away,” Pavlak said. “What happens, in most cases, is that they’re better off getting their employers’ benefits.”
One benefit that can’t be measured, of course, is the simple pride clients take in having their skills recognized and put to use in a well-paying job.
“It’s so uplifting to do this work,” she said. “It makes you feel good on so many different levels.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Company Notebook

By
Company Notebook Departments

Northeast IT Systems Expands to New Site
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Northeast IT Systems Inc. is celebrating its 10-year anniversary with a planned move to a larger space.
The business is relocating to 777 Riverdale St. in West Springfield to better serve clients. “We are currently in a 750-square-foot space with limited highway access,” said partner Joel Mollison. “Our new location offers more than 2500 square feet and easy parking, and we believe it is situated ideally at the crossroads for our customers from Worcester to the Berkshires, and Greenfield to Windsor, Conn.” Founded in 2003 by Joel Mollison, Northeast IT has grown significantly over the years, evolving by 2010 into a partnership with Brian Sullivan. Northeast IT aims to tailor technology solutions to specific client needs. Certified technicians manage technology and create unique solutions, alleviating stress while increasing productivity and return on investment. Learn more about Northeast IT Systems at www.northeastit.net.

Health New England Medicare Advantage Plan Ranks Highest in State
SPRINGFIELD — The National Commission for Quality Assurance’s (NCQA) Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2013-14 was released last month, highlighting NCQA’s rankings of the nation’s private, Medicaid, and Medicare health plans based on their combined HEDIS(r), CAHPS(r), and NCQA accreditation standards scores. Health New England (HNE) is the top-ranked Medicare Advantage HMO plan in Massachusetts and the 13th-ranked Medicare Advantage Plan in the U.S., based on the 2013-14 NCQA rankings. “HNE will continue to work hard on the measures that make up these rankings. HNE has a lot to be proud of, and these quality rankings are a testament to the high-quality care and service we provide our members,” said Peter Straley, HNE president and CEO. The Medicare annual enrollment period begins Oct. 15 and runs through Dec. 7. HNE expanded into certain areas of Berkshire County in 2013 and intends for the 2014 expansion to include all of Berkshire County.

Monson Savings Bank Wins Philanthropy Award for Post-tornado Work
MONSON — Monson Savings Bank recently won the Gold Community Champions Award in general philanthropy given by the New England Financial Marketing Assoc. (NEFMA). The award was specifically given for the bank’s community support following the tornadoes of June 1, 2011 and continuing through the recovery. Judging for the award was done by members of the PennJerDel Bank Marketing Assoc. in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Community efforts by banks and credit unions across New England were considered. “This award belongs to the employees of Monson Savings,” said Steve Lowell, bank president. “When I accepted the award, I told the audience that, in times of need, it is easy to write a check, and we certainly did that, but what made the difference was our employees’ compassion and commitment to our customers and community. Our employees in every branch and division were involved in the recovery in so many ways, and they also served as sounding boards and sympathetic ears for customers for months after the tornadoes.” The award ceremony was held in Framingham on Sept. 26. Patti Mitchell, chair of the NEFMA awards committee, said that “the competition for these awards was strong, and the submissions were detailed and inspiring. The winners demonstrated exceptional work. We couldn’t be more proud of everyone involved.”

Wing Reaches Goal for Hospital Cleanliness
PALMER — Wing Memorial Hospital’s Environmental Services staff recently achieved its goal of being ranked in the 90th percentile in its patient satisfaction score related to cleanliness of the hospital environment. “We have been implementing and developing new techniques from the hospitality industry that continue to change the everyday patient experience in the hospital environment,” said Matthew Ashford, director of Environmental Services at Wing. “This is a huge accomplishment for the department; a team has been working very hard to hit this mark.” Wing Memorial uses the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Survey (HCAHPS), a nationally standardized survey, to measure how patients perceive the care they receive at the hospital. HCAHPS includes a core set of questions that can be combined with a broader, customized set of hospital-specific items. “We have put specific emphasis on patient-centered care into their daily routine, focusing on making the patient room an extension of their home by spending quality time with every patient when we are in their room,” Ashford said. “We want our patients to know that the hospital environment is not only about décor and cleanliness, but also caring staff who are an active part of their healthcare team, and we are here to help.” Janice Kucewicz, Wing’s senior vice president, added that “being in the 90th percentile means we are amongst the best. We are incredibly proud of the Environmental Services Department and all of their efforts. They are a great example of the hard work taking place throughout all of Wing.”

Building Permits

By
Building Permits Departments

The following building permits were issued during the month of September 2013.

CHICOPEE

Collins Electric
53 Second Ave.
$20,000 — Strip and re-roof

Development Filtrona Porous Technologies
2255 Westover Road
$4,000 — Extend fire protection into existing modular

Roman Catholic Bishop of Springfield
600 Grattan St.
$208,000 — Repair tower

Travis P. Ward
318 Griffith Road
$148,000 — Construct 725-square-foot office space

GREENFIELD

Baystate Franklin Medical Center
164 High St.
$20,500 — Renovate existing tub room

Clinical and Support Options I
6 Arch St.
$66,000 — Renovate office space

Dolby and Anderson, LLC
306 High St.
$26,000 — Install concrete floor in old pool room

George Balis
34 Bank Road
$16,500 — Interior renovations

Greenfield Corporate Center, LLC
101 Munson St.
$3,100,000 — Construct new courthouse

Greenfield Development
102 Main St.
$33,000 — Construct new bathrooms

Spike Segundo, LLC
1-3 Bank Road
$44,500 — Install bar and booth seating

Town of Greenfield
62 Meridian St.
$8,000 — Install new ceiling in classroom

SOUTH HADLEY

Mosier Elementary School
101 Mosier St.
$2,000 — Repairs

SPRINGFIELD

Colebrook Partners
505 East Columbus Ave.
$65,000 — Office space alterations

John Healy
82 Division St.
$190,000 — New roof

Mercy Hospital
233 Carew St.
$475,000 — Converting existing space into new infusion suite and oncology

SIS Center Inc.
1441 Main St.
$224,000 — Interior renovations for new tenant

WESTFIELD

360 Elm Street Realty
360 Elm St.
$432,000 — Refacing of exterior

Noble Hospital
115 W. Silver St.
$360,000 — Renovation for Urology practice

Noble Hospital
115 West Silver St
$944,000 — Renovation for MRI department

Vivieros Real Estate
127 Elm St.
$3,000 — Building repair caused by motor vehicle

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Costco
119 Dagget Dr.
$8,000 — Install commercial kitchen hood system

Robin C. Taylor, LLC
75-80 Capital Dr.
$43,000 — Interior renovations

Titan USA
140 Baldwin St.
$545,000 — Addition to existing building

Welcome Inn
2025 Riverdale St.
$7,000 — Minor renovations

Editorial

By
Opinion
Time for Decisive Action at WSU

A few weeks ago, we wrote that Westfield State University President Evan Dobelle didn’t have to leave that position for the school to put the controversy surrounding Dobelle’s lavish spending habits and misuse of credit cards behind it.
Well, a lot can happen in a few weeks. And in this case, enough has happened to compel us to say that Dobelle does have to go if this fine institution is going to move on from this mess.
Since we last commented on Dobelle’s expensive and seemingly ineffective junkets to Asia, Europe, and elsewhere, state education officials and the inspector general’s office have come down hard on both Dobelle and the school’s board, indicating that the former clearly acted inappropriately in many cases and that the later essentially waited way too long to do anything about it.
Meanwhile, we’ve also learned that Dobelle has made no less than 15 trips to San Fransisco (supposedly on business) since 2008, and that, during one of them, when he was allegedly making proposals to prominent foundations, he was actually sitting in the car while another university employee was dropping off packets of information on WSU at those foundations.
We’ve also learned that Dobelle might make use of the so-called whistleblower defense as he works to keep his job — he’s told the press that he self-reported the mistakes made with university credit cards and therefore cannot be retaliated against — and that the high-priced public relations firm he’s hired to make his case is telling the press that the controversy stems from an ongoing effort on behalf of board of trustees President John Flynn (the top civilian administrator for the Massachusetts State Police) to turn the school into a diploma mill for state troopers.
This has become the theater of the absurd, and it’s time for the trustees to bring down the curtain on the Dobelle administration.
They’ll have to do it, because Dobelle has no intention of stepping down. He told the local press as much when they asked that question, responding, ‘gosh, no. Why would I?’ or words to that effect.
We’ll answer that question for him.
He should step down because it’s becoming increasingly clear that he can no longer effectively lead this institution. People look at him, and instead of seeing the ‘change agent’ he claims to be, they see an administrator who has irresponsibly spent taxpayer and Westfield State Foundation money, and without any real benefit to the school. In fact, Higher Education Commissioner Richard Freeland has stated that, despite Dobelle’s excessive wining and dining of potential contributors, WSU has finished dead last or next to last among the state colleges in fund-raising each year during Dobelle’s tenure. And those schools’ presidents spent a fraction of the money he did.
Meanwhile, the controversy is giving the school a serious black eye in the press, with headlines that are making responsible business people and college administrators shake their heads and have left legislators on Beacon Hill wondering what’s happened to the money they’ve appropriated for the institution.
This controversy is dragging down the university, and it’s time for the trustees to act quickly and decisively to remove Dobelle. It won’t be easy, and it won’t be cheap, but it needs to be done.
It’s time for Dobelle to be a change agent somewhere else.