Month: January 2015

In Holyoke, Municipal Investments Pay Dividends

Mayor Alex Morse says Holyoke has been a leader among area communities in efforts to build a creative-economy sector.

When Alex Morse was elected mayor of Holyoke in 2011, he was determined to revitalize the city and alter the way people thought about it.

“My number-one job was to change the perception that Holyoke’s best days were behind us,” he said.

His efforts have been largely successful, and dedicated planning and teamwork have led to major investments in infrastructure and noteworthy projects.

“Good things have happened in the last year, and there are a lot of shovels in the ground. People can see things moving forward, which is a sign that the economy in Holyoke is getting better, and we will continue to put more shovels in the ground this year,” Morse said. “The city is on a positive trajectory.”

The most significant undertaking is the new, $3.5 million passenger-rail platform being built on Dwight and Main streets. “We broke ground on Dec. 22, and when it is finished in September, it will be the first completed rail platform in Western Mass.,” the mayor said.

The project is a reflection of foresight, because when Morse took office, there were no plans for a commuter-rail stop in Holyoke. “But it was a huge economic-development opportunity, and although there were times when funding was short, we were able to get $4 million in state and federal funds for it through MassWorks grants; it has been paid for without taking any money from local sources,” Morse said, adding that Marcos Marrero, the town’s Planning and Economic Development director, worked closely with the state Department of Transportation, “and we made it a priority project, as it is integral to the revitalization of our downtown.”

In addition, Morse said new businesses have opened and apartments are under construction (more about that later) that will help to reinvigorate the city.

“We see ourselves as part of the Springfield/Hartford metro area, and have a lot of space available that is very affordable. People are recognizing that, and folks from as far away as San Francisco are investing here,” he told BusinessWest, citing the purchase of the Wauregan building on 384 Dwight St., which is co-owned by San Francisco artist Scott Reilly, and adding that Vertitech IT moved its national headquarters to Holyoke last year, and the city helped the company work with Holyoke Community College to find employees.

Expanding the creative-arts community has been a cornerstone of the city’s economic-development strategy, and Morse hired a creative-economy coordinator shortly after he took office. “We’re the first community in the state to have a full-time person dedicated to bolstering the creative economy. It is a job creator that generates a lot of revenue, and we have seen an uptick of artists moving here, and a spike in the development of makers spaces,” he said.

They include Gateway City Arts on 91-114 Race St., which was founded in 2012 by artists Lori Divine and Vitek Kruta with a cash incentive from the city. “The business provides space in which craftspeople work, teach, and hold events. It has become an incubator space for artists,” Morse said.

“People are amazed at the amount of talent we have in Holyoke, and on any given night, you can see cars parked on Race Street for an art gallery, opening show, or performance,” he added. “We’ve taken it very seriously.”

He also pointed to the Brick Co-workshop Co. on Dwight Street as another example of success. Artists representing 10 different trades have made it their home and are helping to promote the city as a center for arts and crafts. Plus, the Holyoke Creative Arts Center, which provides classes at a minimal cost, has plans to move from 400 South Elm St. into the three-story, red-brick Wauregan Building, located in the newly designated Art and Innovation District, later this month.

Time and effort has also been spent to encourage people in the community to open businesses, and Holyoke was one of six cities named as a winner of the Working Cities Challenge. It was sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, which identified 21 working cities whose median income was lower than the state average, then challenged them to create innovative proposals that would help provide employment.

Holyoke’s winning program is called the Stimulating Potential and Accessing Resources or Knowledge Initiative (SPARK). Its goal is to link the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center with the city’s innovation-economy strategy and increase the number of businesses owned by Latinos. The initiative is being led by the city in partnership with the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, and is supported by other partners in the public, private, and nonprofit realms.

Morse said the idea is to create a pipeline that will help Latinos who are interested in the creative arts see themselves as entrepreneurs and open businesses. “We want to continue to build on our local talent and have hired a director for the program,” he said, adding that the city will receive $250,000 over three years to implement the program.

Plethora of Projects

When a city invests in itself, Morse said, it sends a message that it is willing to partner with businesses to grow the economy.

To that end, Holyoke boasts a new library and senior center, and also kicked off Phase 2 of a $4.3 million Canal Walk project on Race Street over the summer. Phase 1, which runs between Dwight and Appleton streets, is complete, and the second section of the walkway will include a foot bridge over the canal.

“This is just one of the improvements we’ve made to catalyze retail businesses along the canal and make our downtown walkable,” Morse said.

Vibrant metropolises also contain residential living space, he added, noting that the city is making progress on this front as well. A groundbreaking ceremony was held in August for a $20 million project that will transform the former Holyoke Catholic High School into 55 one- and two-bedroom apartments. The city has been working with Denis Walsh, who owns Weld Management, for several years on his vision to create the new residences in the 74,000-square-foot building, which is set on 2.3 acres.

“The prospect of getting more people to live downtown is exciting, and this is a great example of a public/private partnership,” Morse said, noting that the city contributed $750,000 toward the project. He added that a $1.4 million renovation of Veterans Park, which can be seen from the building, was completed last year.

The Holyoke Transportation Center also overlooks the park and contains a café on the first floor operated by the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House. Holyoke Community College holds classes in the building, and it is also home to a Head Start program.

“The conversion of Holyoke Catholic High School will complete that block and bring more life to the neighborhood,” Morse said, adding that Walsh is also developing high-end, market-rate apartments on the upper floors of a few other buildings.

One challenge the city faces, however, is a lack of eateries downtown. Attracting restaurateurs has been difficult because liquor licenses have not been available. In order to mitigate the problem, Morse put together a proposal that received approval from the City Council and the state, which will give Holyoke 13 additional liquor licenses.

“The caveat is that they can only be used for full-service restaurants in the downtown urban-renewal district,” the mayor said. “Although a liquor license can go for upwards of $100,000 on the open market, these will only cost $10,000 because they’re being offered as an economic incentive. We plan to hold an event later this month to explain what is involved, and have invited people in town as well as restaurant operators from places that include Worcester, Hartford, Amherst, and Pittsfield.”

Plans have also been made to address the former Parsons Paper Co. site, which has been an eyesore since a fire devastated the property in 2008. Northeast Utilities has provided $250,000 to assess the contamination, demolish what remains of the buildings, and clean up the brownfields, as part of a mitigation agreement connected to a former electric plant near the dam and canal.

When the work is complete, the property will be put on the market, and Morse said a business has already expressed interest in the site.

Meanwhile, Divine and Kruta, who opened Gateway City Arts, also purchased the Steam Building on Race Street last year and are turning it into office space.

“The city and Holyoke Community College recently announced that HCC is moving its entire culinary-hospitality department downtown, and the Steam Building is being considered as one of the potential sites,” Morse said. “We are hoping to pair the college program with a full-service, privately owned restaurant.”

Private-sector growth is also occurring, and Marcotte Ford on Main Street recently broke ground on an $8 million expansion. “We worked hard to keep them here,” Morse said. “They were landlocked, but were able to purchase an old dealership next to them. We’re working to help them get some city land between the properties as well as negotiating a tax incentive.”

Bright Future

Morse said a number of other projects are on the horizon, among them the redevelopment of the old Lynch Middle School.

The project was put out to bid last spring, and the city chose Frontier Development from the firms that responded. It will create 25,000 square feet of retail space in the building with the opportunity for expansion, which will lead to jobs and turn a non-taxpaying property into one that generates taxes, Morse told BusinessWest. “Plus, we think it will bring people to the city, as it’s right off the highway.”

In addition, the recently decommissioned Mt. Tom coal plant will be assessed to determine what it would take to clean it up and reuse the property.

The mayor said the projects that have come to fruition have not happened overnight, and the effort and thought that have gone into them will continue.

“Today,” he concluded, people see Holyoke as a city on the rise.”

Holyoke at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1850
Population: 40,135 (2012) 
Area: 22.8 square miles 
County: Hampden 
Residential Tax Rate: $19.04
Commercial Tax Rate: $39.74
Median Household Income: $33,030
Family Household Income: $36,262
Type of government: Mayor, City Council
Largest Employers: Holyoke Medical Center; Holyoke Public Schools; Holyoke Community College; Amica Mutual Insurance Co.
* Latest information available

Editorial

Opinion

A Role Model on Many Levels

Two decades ago, BusinessWest launched a new recognition initiative. We called it our ‘Top Entrepreneur’ award. (We would have called it ‘Entrepreneur of the Year,’ but that phrase was, and still is, copyrighted.)

And besides, most of the people we’ve honored over the years weren’t recognized for accomplishments in a given year, but instead for what they’ve done over a lifetime — or at least to that point in their career.

We started this award to honor those who are continuing what would have to be a called a tradition of entrepreneurship, not only in Springfield, but across the region. It’s a tradition started by people like Milton Bradley, gunmakers Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson, Everett Barney, inventor of the clip-on ice skate, and many others, and continued by people like Peter Rosskothen, co-creator of the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House (honored by BusinessWest in 1997) and the extended Sandri family in Greenfield (honored just last year for the expansion and diversification of their energy business).

In the process of telling these stories, what has become clear is that the winners, while entrepreneurial at heart, are committed to much more than making money. Each one has been passionate about giving back, and in a number of ways.

This year’s honoree, Delcie Bean, is no exception. He’s being honored, in large part, for his exploits with Paragus Strategic IT, a company that can essentially trace it roots to when Bean was 14 years old (that was just 14 years ago, by the way), and is now a fixture on Inc. magazine’s list of the fastest-growing technology companies in the country.

But his story goes much deeper, and it should serve as an inspiration to all business leaders in this region — and well beyond.

Indeed, Bean made it clear in his wide-ranging interview with BusinessWest (see page 14) that, while he’s passionate about growing his companies and taking them to the next level, that energy also applies to his desire to play a large role in the revitalization of Springfield and the region as a whole.

He’s off to a very solid start, not only through the creation of Tech Foundry, a unique educational facility designed to address the Valley’s nagging skills-gap problem, but also through his involvement with Valley Venture Mentors and other groups and initiatives focused on creating what’s been called an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region.

As part of these efforts, Bean mentors young entrepreneurs, both formally and informally, and helps individuals (especially young people) determine if they have the many skills and attributes needed to be a successful entrepreneur.

As he mentioned to BusinessWest, Bean has a number of mentors himself, or business leaders who inspire him. Chief among them is Zappos founder Tony Hsieh, who is committed not only to continually growing his company, but also to playing a direct part in efforts to revitalize sections of Las Vegas, which was devastated by the Great Recession and its aftermath.

“It’s rare that somebody with that much money, where there’s so little that he’s going to gain from this personally, is so passionate about a city and its revitalization,” Bean said of Hsieh.

Rare indeed, but this is the philosophy that also drives this year’s Top Entrepreneur.

Who knows where and to what levels his business exploits will take him in the years and decades to come? As he mentioned, to continue growing at its current and profound rate, Paragus will certainly need to expand its footprint well beyond Western Mass.

What seems apparent, though, is that, when it comes to returning this region to its status as a center of entrepreneurship, innovation, good jobs, and vibrancy, Bean is in it for the long haul.

And the Valley will certainly benefit as a result.

Editorial 2

Opinion

A Big Blow to Cape Wind

Last week, two power companies, National Grid and Northeast Utilities, terminated their contracts with the developers of the controversial, $2.5 billion offshore wind-farm project known as Cape Wind.

Analysts immediately began speculating that the action taken by the two utilities, which cited missed deadlines contained in the 2012 contracts outlining this bold initiative as the reason for their decision to terminate, could put the future of the turbine project’s future in serious doubt.

We certainly hope they are right.

Indeed, while we’ve opined on numerous occasions that this state and this region, in their efforts to secure new sources of jobs and economic vibrancy, must aggressively pursue renewable-energy sources as one means to that end, we’ve come to acknowledge that, while Cape Wind might help the state accomplish those goals — that’s might — it will come at too steep a price.

That price, in the form of some of the highest prices for electricity ever negotiated, would certainly constitute a serious burden to both taxpayers and the state’s business community at a time when neither constituency needs another one.

We have said on a number of occasions that, while Massachusetts has made some progress in recent years to shed itself of that old ‘Taxachusetts’ moniker, it still has a lot of work to do in that regard.

From higher-than-average rates for unemployment insurance and workers-comp insurance to its highly regulated business environment, to high energy rates stemming from its location at the end of the supply lines, the Bay State has historically been a very expensive state in which to do business, and it still is.

And this is an extreme handicap at a time when the competition for businesses and jobs is truly global, and it becomes more intense with each passing year.

Now-former Gov. Deval Patrick made renewable energy one of the priorities of his administration, and he was right to do so. Such a philosophy makes a degree of sense from an economic-development standpoint (jobs) and an environmental one as well.

But renewable-energy initiatives often do not translate into what would be considered reasonable rates for electricity, and that is certainly the case with Cape Wind.

Officials leading that initiative are already making the case that missed deadlines with regard to the start of work on this project are the result of “extended, unprecedented, and relentless litigation by the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound,” a leading opponent of the project, and they will fight to see that the utilities hold off on voiding their contracts.

They face an uphill battle, and that’s a good thing for the Commonwealth.

Advances in the state’s renewable-energy and efficiency policies have lessened the importance of Cape Wind when it comes to the overall energy landscape, and the expensive power that it would produce would be a burden to the state’s business community as it strives to make a full recovery from the recession.

Body of Work

Features

Tattoo Shops Thrive as Industry Gains Acceptance

Tattoo Afterlife co-owners
Timmy Barnes and Matt Olivieri

When Timmy Barnes was busy drawing on his friends in high school, he never considered making a career out of tattoos.

But it wasn’t long before he was making a more permanent impression, tattooing customers out of his basement. Licensed in Massachusetts since 2005, he’s now known widely — internationally, actually — as Timmy B, and co-owns Tattoo Afterlife in Northampton.

“Most people get tattooed for the same reason they buy a certain type of clothing or get plastic surgery: it’s an expression of themselves,” he told BusinessWest. “When you see a tattoo, you instantly know a little more about that person without them having to say anything.”

At the custom shop he opened with business partner Matt Olivieri, customers don’t pick images from a book; the artists who work there, in a converted auto garage on Pleasant Street, are aiming for something more unique.

“You come in and tell us what you like, things about your life that you want to showcase, and we will make you something we feel best represents you,” Barnes said. “This is a shop that people seek out, rather than walk in and wing it.

“A lot of people can mimic what we do, but it’s not the same,” he added. “It’s like a pair of shoes you really like — you’re not going to pay for a knockoff; you’ll pay for the version you really want. There is a difference.”

Olivieri, who also owns a line of organic skin-care products (more on that later), isn’t a tattoo artist himself, but has long loved the craft.

“I’m somebody who gets tattooed because I like the art. Some of mine have personal meaning, but I’d say 80% don’t. I like to get tattooed by friends, people I trust, and I let them run with the art. Then again, some people only want something on their body that has meaning. It’s really all about you and how you want to express yourself.”

Scot Padgett, the resident artist at Living Art Studio on Main Street in Northampton, has been practicing body art for decades, and has seen attitudes toward tattoos shift dramatically over the years.

Scot Padgett, whose work is seen here, says custom tattoos have become increasingly popular as clients have become more savvy.

“Make no mistake, there was a lack of social acceptance years ago,” he said. “Today, if you walk down the street here, it’s not unusual to find arm sleeves and body pieces and even people with work on their faces, which a lot of us in the businesses don’t necessarily agree with. There is a level of social acceptance now. For that reason alone, there’s a whole additional clientele who, maybe 20, 25, 30 years ago, wouldn’t have even considered it.

“We used to deal with the 18-to-25, male demographic,” he continued. “Today, the median age is around 40, and 70% female. Before, people were covering stuff up so they wouldn’t give their mother a heart attack; now they’re coming in with mom — or grandma. I definitely think there’s been a lessening of the social stigma.”

Mary Bowen, shop manager of Off the Map Tattoo in Easthampton, sees the same, ever-widening range of customers.

“We have lots of 18-year-olds getting their first tattoos, and 75-year-olds getting their first tattoos … someone working on a full body suit to someone pretty committed to getting just one,” she said.

Bowen recalled a three-generation appointment, where a woman came in with her mother and her 89-year-old grandmother for matching tattoos. “When we say you’re never too old, we mean it literally.”

Padgett welcomes the new openness to tattoos, which first became legal in Massachusetts in 2001. “People ask how long I’ve been doing this, and I say, ‘since before it was cool,’” he said. “When I got into this, you were just as likely to be ostracized by your own family members than by the community at large.”

Moving the Needle

Padgett tattooed in Connecticut for more than a decade before the Bay State came calling in 2001, and he worked with Northampton’s Board of Health on the language regulating tattoo shops, which vary from community to community.

“Unlike many states, there’s no statewide regulation,” he said. “I think there should be a federal mandate that, if it’s legal in one state, it should be nationwide. Not only is that not the case, but our state has put the onus on individual municipalities.”

Like Barnes, he emphasizes custom tattoos, a philosophy that has gained a significant foothold in the industry.

“In the old days, you’d have what was known in the vernacular as ‘flash’ on the walls,” he said, referring to stock art that tattooers would reproduce on clients. “There would be commercially available flash that people would buy and sell and circulate around the industry. When you’d go into a shop, you’d see the same designs hanging on the wall, and typically people would come in and choose from the commercially available product. It was not unusual to see the same eagle or sailing ship on other people — hundreds of people.”

Not only are custom tattoos more gratifying for him, they also allow the customer to fully embrace the experience, which results in fewer regrets.

“You’re less likely to make an error in judgment if you take the time to think about it, make an appointment, show up for the appointment, talk about it, as opposed to walking in off the street on a whim and pointing to a piece of art,” Padgett said, noting that he emphasizes the education and information aspect of his trade. “I’d rather you call me Tuesday and say, ‘I’m not sure about Wednesday’s appointment’ than call me Thursday and say, ‘I’m not sure about Wednesday’s appointment.’”

After all, he added, “it’s not like getting a bad haircut.”

Padgett, a widely recognized artist, recently tattooed a customer from Iceland, and attracts repeat business from far-flung tattoo enthusiasts. “I have clients from all over the place. That’s not a ‘hooray for me’ thing; it’s just that people have a comfort level for certain people. We try to provide an experience. I think that’s what brings a lot of people back.”

Tattoo Afterlife is a much newer presence in Northampton, having opened just five months ago.

“Business has grown every single month,” Olivieri said, adding that the shop will soon offer the services of six artists. The other side of the business is Tranquillity Massage, with two full-time massage therapists offering five types of massage, for customers who want to relax before getting inked. “We try to take care of our clients, make it a whole experience for them. We want them to feel as comfortable as possible while they’re here.”

Tattoo Afterlife has also made connections with local businesses — a hotel, restaurants, a neighboring bar — to offer discounts to customers, especially those traveling to Northampton from far away. And many do — the weekend before speaking with BusinessWest, Barnes tattooed clients from New Jersey and Australia, who had come specifically to seek him out.

“It’s a huge thing, with people from all over the world seeking out their favorite artists and turning appointments into vacations,” Olivieri said. “At the end of the day, it’s permanent, so if you’re going to fly across the world, you might as well check out the scenery and what’s going on locally. We try to be a part of that whole process when people come to town. We want to bring something to the table.

“At the end of the day, this is a service industry,” he added. “We’re all about customer service.”

Global Outlook

Gabriel Ripley, who opened Off the Map nine years ago and has since expanded it to shops in Oregon and Italy, got into the field via a different type of customer service: by using his computer-programming expertise to launch tattoonow.com, which develops and designs websites for tattoo artists. From there, he branched out by opening a tattoo shop, which features seven artists in Easthampton alone.

Mary Bowen says today’s tattoo enthusiasts often seek out favorite artists, and appreciate the fact that Off the Map brings in guest artists regularly.

“We’ll also bring in guest artists regularly — from all over the country and overseas as well,” Bowen said. “It’s great for the tattoo artists here because everyone can continue to learn from each other, and it’s great for the clients, who get access to these artists close to home. As custom tattooing is becoming more popular, people are becoming collectors of tattoo artists. The old-school way was to buy from the same person forever; now people seek out a specific style for each tattoo.”

She said the people have myriad rationales for wanting body art. “Oftentimes it’s a celebration, or people get a memorial tattoo to deal with life changes, whether it’s dealing with grief or getting a new job or getting divorced. Everyone has their own personal catalyst.”

Olivieri tells a similar story. “The other day, we had a guy who fought in Vietnam, 60 years old, who had never gotten a tattoo but was intrigued by it. Timmy has tattooed rock stars, medical doctors, and kids who turned 18 and just wanted a tattoo. It used to be that, if your were tattooed, you were looked at as a certain genre of human being, but that has now vanished. It’s now mainstream and socially acceptable to get tattoos, so all those people who were on the fence all those years are making appointments. They know they won’t be frowned upon or looked at differently.”

Bowen agrees. “They might have been thinking about this for years, if not decades. But reality shows have brought tattooing to the forefront, and it’s become more socially acceptable; at this point, it’s almost more unusual to meet someone who doesn’t have a tattoo.”

Still, she added, it’s a decision that shouldn’t be rushed. “It’s important for people to look at websites, do some research, check out the quality of the work, call the studio or stop in. I’ve gotten comments here like, ‘you’re nicer than I expected; you’re not scary at all!’ There’s this old-school perception of bikers in leather and jeans, smoking cigarettes and doing tattoos.”

Though the reality, in most cases, is far more pleasant — and sanitary — “the anxieties about getting a foot in the door are pretty significant for people,” she continued. “It’s a lifelong choice, so we don’t want them to feel pressured.”

That said, “we’re definitely growing. We’ve officially maxed out our space. Most of our artists are booked out weeks, if not months, ahead of time. A lot of times, it’s the guest artists who take walk-ins. We have a large clientele and huge support in the Valley,” Bowen said, citing several best-of citations in Valley Advocate reader polls. “It’s wonderful to hear that positive reinforcement. And we’re certainly not slowing down.”

Piece in the Valley

Olivieri and Barnes opened their first venture on Long Island, but weren’t happy with the lifestyle there, so they opened Tattoo Afterlife in Northampton, not far from Barnes’ hometown of Belchertown, and put the custom nature of the shop’s art front and center.

“You can’t come in here with a photocopy and say, ‘put it on my body,’” Olivieri said. “Every single person here is an artist. Tattooers understand the trade and can take anything and put it on your body, but here, everyone has an art background; they strive to give you something 100% original and custom, one of a kind. They’re trying to create art every single day.”

Olivieri focuses most of his energies on running the business end of the shop and selling products, particularly Redemption Aftercare, an organic, vegan, petroleum-free balm designed to be applied during and after a tattoo. A New Yorker named Bili Vegas created the formula, and he and Olivieri own and market the product. He also sells tattoo and skin-care products from other companies, including Eternal Ink and Stencil Stuff.

Redemption Aftercare, Olivieri said, “is the only balm in the world that’s USDA-certified organic and contains no chemicals and no petroleum — both things that stop the healing process. There’s a huge niche for us, as people are starting to become more aware of what they’re putting in their bodies.”

That’s particularly true in progressive Northampton. “It’s a very liberal town, and it’s open to new ideas,” he said. “And, frankly, there are five colleges with 65,000 students within a 15- to 20-mile radius. With tattooing becoming more popular, kids want to get tattooed, and lot of kids here are well-off. It’s a very good market for what we do.”

Northampton, Barnes added, “has everything you want from a big city, but mom-and-pop versions of it. All the businesses know each other, and all the employees downtown know each other. It’s an easy place to market and cross-promote. Everyone is on each other’s team.”

In that spirit, Barnes wants Tattoo Afterlife to become known for more than body art, as he and Olivieri plan a series of community events and fund-raisers to boost the profile of their craft.

“Tattooing has always had this stigma, but it’s getting harder to stereotype us,” Barnes said. “How can you call us a bunch of gnarly drug addicts and bikers when we’re raising money for children’s charities? I want to take this thing to the next level, to push the boundaries. We’ll always do tattoos, but what else can we do?”

Cost and Effect

Bowen admits that tattoos can be a significant financial investment, but added that enthusiasts are willing to pay the artists they admire. “You have to keep your budget in mind, of course. But the choice shouldn’t be made solely on price; if someone is very inexpensive, there’s probably a good reason why.”

The other big anxiety, beyond price and permanence, is pain.

“Lots of people get nervous about the pain; it’s not a pain-free process,” Bowen said. “A lot of times, people have nerves, but in the end, it’s not nearly as bad as they thought it would be. The mental is often far more significant than the physical pain of it.”

Usually, a glass of water or coffee is enough to calm a new customer’s nerves, Olivieri said, but for others, “we have a good rapport with the bar across the street. If they need a couple of hours to think about it, they can go there and have a drink. There’s no pressure here. Our job is to make the client feel as comfortable as possible.”

That said, “people are more excited than nervous,” he noted. “Timmy has a six-month waiting list, and some customers have been waiting years to see him, so when they get here, it’s like Christmas morning. They say, ‘you don’t know how long I’ve waited,’ and we say, ‘no, we get it.’”

Bowen likes to quote Ripley, her shop’s owner, in explaining that kind of excitement.

“One of the phrases Gabe uses is ‘making the world better, one tattoo at a time.’ We hope, by creating art, we’re positively impacting people’s lives — helping them move their lives in a more positive direction.”

Making art, in other words, that’s much more than skin deep.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Stated Intentions

Banking and Financial Services Sections

Farmington Bank Makes Its Move into Massachusetts

John Patrick Jr., president and CEO of Farmington Bank

John Patrick Jr. says Connecticut-based Farmington Bank’s foray into the Western Mass. market, starting with a commercial-lending office and two anticipated branches, wasn’t exactly planned.

By that, he meant this decision to cross the border — which is becoming far less of a boundary seemingly with each passing year or quarter (more on that later) — was definitely not a line item on a detailed strategic plan penned years or even months ago.

Rather, it was “an opportunity seized,” said Patrick, the institution’s president and CEO, who has presided over a number of well-planned and executed initiatives, including everything from taking the now-$2.5 billion bank public in 2011 to an elaborate territorial expansion effort marked by 10 new branches over the past three and a half years.

Elaborating, he said the merger of equals between United Bank and Connecticut-based Rockville Bank eventually left Farmington with an opportunity to hire a number of seasoned commercial lenders who know the Western Mass. market and have served customers here for years, if not decades, and establish what amounts to a foothold — specifically a small commercial-lending office on Memorial Drive in West Springfield.

“I’d be a fool if I said I knew everything that was going on in Springfield, and that we could manage that market from this area,” he told BusinessWest, referring to Greater Hartford. “That’s why it was important for us, when the opportunity came, to hire the team that we did. We hired a team that lives in Western Massachusetts, grew up there, and has worked for a long time there.”

The bank intends to move forward from its beachhead with branches in West Springfield and East Longmeadow, said Patrick, adding that these locations were carefully chosen — the former for its central location and proximity to major highways, and the latter because of the community’s rapid growth rate, proximity to other high-income towns, and location next to the Connecticut border.

While acknowledging that these specific communities, and the region as a whole, is likely overbanked, Patrick believes there is certainly room for another player, especially one with Farmington’s size — at $2.5 billion, it’s large enough to handle most deals but small enough to be more personal than the regionals and super-regionals — and track record for customer service.

Summing it up, he employed three words that he would return to often — people, technology, and franchise — and said the bank’s recent organic growth has come about directly from investments in each of them.

And he firmly believes that the name of the small Connecticut town (population roughly 25,000) will not be a hindrance to gaining market share in Western Mass., where some brands have been in existence for more than a century.

“Look at TD Bank — most people don’t even know that stands for Toronto Dominion and that this is a Canadian bank,” he said, using that $220 billion institution to get his point across. “It’s not the name on the bank that matters; it’s the people behind it, and we’ve got great people.”

For this issue and its focus on banking and financial services, BusinessWest examines Farmington’s foray across the border while explaining Patrick’s confidence that the move will be another positive step forward for the institution.

Branching Out

Patrick said Farmington Bank can trace its roots back to 1851. For most of its existence, its footprint was Farmington — an affluent suburb of Hartford that is home to Otis Elevator and Carrier Corp., among other major businesses — and surrounding communities.

Patrick joined the institution as president and CEO in the summer of 2008, just as the nation’s economy was heading into freefall and the financial-services industry was entering a period of profound change and challenge.

“I joined the company the day after Bear-Stearns collapsed,” he said, referring to the Wall Street investment bank whose demise and government-backed sale to JPMorgan Chase triggered several months of turmoil and bailouts for the banking sector and the start of a new era for institutions of all sizes.

“During that time, we were in the beginning throes of a very significant financial crisis,” he told BusinessWest. “We recognized, as an organization, that the world had changed, not because of anything we had done, or that community banks had done with regard to subprime lending and those types of things. But things had changed dramatically; liquidity in the markets dried up, and it was a very challenging time.

“I thought that, in order for banks to be relevant in the marketplace, or at least in the marketplace that we were playing in, size mattered,” he went on, “and that it was important for us to have a growth strategy, and the board thought the same thing.”

Elaborating, he said it became clear that the bank, then with roughly $950 million in assets, needed to diversify its customer base and expand geographically beyond those roots in Farmington.

As part of that strategy, the bank went public in 2011, raising roughly $180 million in capital, which it has used for what Patrick called smart, controlled growth aimed at making the bank “an economic driver” in the communities it served.

“We recognized that, if we were going to make these investments we needed to make, especially in technology, you need capital — it’s the key to success, especially on the regulatory side of things” he said, while explaining the move to go public. “But we also wanted to make sure we were raising capital for the right reasons — to take that capital and invest it back into loans and the marketplace, which we did.

“We’re not growing just for the sake of growing,” he went on. “The core of our business of lending has to be good assets because, at the end of the day, that’s one thing that can really crater a bank.”

Overall, Patrick said Farmington’s growth strategy will be the same in Western Mass. that it has been in Connecticut, meaning that the goal is to not merely to have a presence in a community or market, but to be that economic engine he described.

“We want to be a good community player — we’re not up there to take; we’re up there to be a partner in the marketplace,” he explained. “I’ve reached out to several leaders and asked how we can do that. I’ve said, ‘tell us how we can help and be a significant partner with you in the market. How can we make a difference in that market?’”

Points of Interest

As he talked about Farmington’s foray into the Western Mass. market, Patrick said it is similar in almost all ways to the bank’s expansion efforts in the Nutmeg State.

Over the past several years, the bank has essentially extended its reach on both sides of the Connecticut River, with 22 branches that reach about 20 miles south from its original base in and around Farmington, he explained. The bank’s latest gambit will effectively do the same, except the direction is north and across a state line that has been all but erased over the past decade or so as institutions on both sides of the border have ceased viewing the state line as a stopsign.

“There’s a border 20 miles to the north of where our headquarters are here,” he explained. “If I go 20 miles to the south, I’m still in Connecticut, and it’s just another geographic and economic region of our state that is contiguous to where we are in Hartford County. There’s no reason in my mind why I can’t think of Western Massachusetts as the same kind of thing.

“To go to West Springfield and Western Massachusetts, I don’t look at that as necessarily another state type of thing,” he went on. “I look at it as being contiguous to our market; that market is very similar to ours.”

That said, Patrick acknowledged that Western Mass. has its own personality, for lack of a better term, and its own business community, and serving it effectively requires knowledge of the market and its players.

And this brings him back to that notion of seizing a unique opportunity— specifically, the hiring of local commercial lenders and other banking professionals well-versed in this market and also with deep portfolios of clients they’ve served, and could potentially serve in the future as representatives of Farmington Bank.

The new additions include Mike Moriarty, senior vice president of Commercial Lending, Joe Kulig, vice president of Commercial Lending, Joe Young, vice president of Commercial lending, Catherine Turowski, vice president of Cash-management Services, Candace Pereira, assistant vice president and commercial loan officer, and all previously with United.

“The professionals we have on board with us have been imbedded in the community and the marketplace and have a tremendous reputation in that marketplace,” he explained. “And their ability to help their customers day to day, provide value-added service for those customers and businesses, and understand where they are today and what their objectives are for the future … those are things that will enable us to be successful.

“They don’t need me telling them who to call, how to do business up there, or those types of things,” he continued. “What I do is reach out to the community to get an understanding of where and how we can be a good community partner and be an economic driver in those marketplaces, in the same way that we’ve been doing it down here.”

And as he surveys the scene in Western Mass., Patrick believes the timing is good for a move into this region.

He noted that, while the planned $800 million casino to be built by MGM in Springfield’s South End and has garnered most of the attention and the press in recent months, there are other encouraging developments across the region.

“There are a lot of positive things happening in Western Massachusetts,” he said. “Set aside the casino piece; there are still a lot of things that are happening there relative to business expansion. It might not be double-digit growth, but there are still positive things taking place.”

The phrase ‘good timing’ also relates to the state of the Western Mass. banking community, said Patrick, noting that recent spate of mergers and acquisitions, including the announced acquisition of Hampden Bank by Berkshire Bank, should create opportunities, especially for smaller community banks.

“Obviously there is some disruption in the market up there, and that’s OK if we are the beneficiary of that disruption — that works,” he said. “Also, we have four new team members who have been entrenched in lending with some of the same borrowers for 10 or 15 years in that marketplace. And, in many cases, borrowers and businesses follow their lenders, as long as the organization they’re working for gives them the tools to succeed.”

Patrick said locations for the first two branches are still being scouted and should be finalized later this month. He said these initial branches will provide solid opportunities to introduce the bank, exemplify its commitment to the market, and begin the process of gaining market share.

“You don’t just throw some people in an office and say, ‘we’re open for business.’ If we’re really committed to the community and committed to the marketplace, we’re going to make other strategic investments,” he said. “We’re going to invest in a physical plant and start out with two hub branch offices, in West Springfield and East Longmeadow, and then grow around those as the marketplace dictates where the growth opportunities can be.”

Patrick said it’s difficult to project if, how, and where Farmington Bank will expand within the Western Mass. market in the years to come. For now, his focus is on the present and building a firm foundation for growth.

“We need to earn our stripes, and we need to prove ourselves; that’s the first order of business,” he told BusinessWest, adding that the institution has been quite successful at doing that within its broader footprint in Connecticut, and he believes that same pattern can be duplicated north of the border.

Although, as he said, it’s not really a border, or boundary, any longer.

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

Subtraction by Addition

Banking and Financial Services Sections

ESB’s Acquisition of Citizens National Will Create Needed Efficiencies

Matt Sosik says ESB’s acquisition of Citizens National Bank is a response to the challenging conditions within the financial-services sector.

“The status quo will eat you alive — if you allow it to.”

That was the blunt, yet very effective, short answer offered by Matthew Sosik when asked why Easthampton Savings Bank (ESB) took advantage of what he called a rare and unique opportunity to acquire Putnam, Conn.-based Citizens National Bank last month for $51.3 million.

His much longer answer not only addressed the question but summed up what has become an ever-more-challenging operating climate for banks in this region, while also explaining a surge in mergers and acquisitions within the industry, one that he expects will continue in the new year.

“What you’re seeing in the industry right now is simply a response to a confluence of a number of things,” he told BusinessWest. “First, we’ve been in a prolonged low-interest-rate environment, and the margins in the industry have been shrinking for some time now; this is a really hard time, generally speaking, to produce profitability in this business.

“Then you overlay that on a regulatory-compliance environment that is very expensive,” he went on, “and it’s not just those costs. It’s the cost of doing business today; banks are facing the same rising expenses as other industries — healthcare insurance, attaining and retaining top-level performers … there are a lot of increasing costs in this business. Put it altogether, and you’ve got an industry that’s in flux, and also in a never-ending search for efficiencies.”

That search has led to a number of recent mergers, acquisitions, and territorial expansion efforts, including the merger of equals between United Bank and Rockville Bank completed last spring, the announced acquisition of Hampden Bank by Berkshire Bank, a deal expected to be finalized in the second quarter of this year, and the expansion of Connecticut-based Farmington Bank into the Western Mass. market with planned branches in East Longmeadow and West Springfield (see related story, page 23).

And it led ESB to explore and then seize the opportunity to acquire Citizens National, a roughly $330 million bank that essentially put itself up for sale to the highest bidder last summer.

Sosik said he doesn’t know how many suitors there were for Citizens National (that information has been kept confidential), but he believes there were quite a few. ESB eventually prevailed, and its triumph will enable it to expand its presence into Connecticut with five branches, in Putnam, Woodstock, North Grosvenordale, Brooklyn, and Danielson.

More importantly, said Sosik, the gambit will enable ESB to gain needed size and additional regional market share — it will be roughly 33% larger when the deal closes several months from now — without greatly increasing costs.

In short, the deal gives ESB a greater chance to achieve that elusive profitability Sosik mentioned.

“We see this as an opportunity to do a couple of things,” he explained. “First, create an efficient, combined organization — we’re trying to broaden our asset base and keep our expenses controlled; that will produce efficiencies — and also, this is a means to geographic diversification.”

Most importantly, it gives ESB a much-needed opportunity for growth when standing pat is simply not an attractive option, he went on.

“I don’t think you can sit idle in this industry, in the same way that you can’t in any other business,” he explained. “Because every year, our costs go up 4% to 5% or more, and if you’re not growing at that same pace, you’re going backwards. For us, this is an attempt to keep that status-quo wolf from the door.”

For this issue and its focus on banking and financial services, BusinessWest takes a look at how and why this acquisition came about, and what it means for ESB moving forward.

Checks and Balances

Given ESB’s aversion to the status quo, Sosik said, the institution has long been examining potential opportunities for expansion and growth, both organically and through acquisition.

But organic growth is a considerable challenge in what all those in the industry consider a no-growth region — one that has also seen some new players enter the fray, with more on the way, such as Farmington.

And acquisition opportunities are few and far between for a bank of ESB’s size — it only recently surpassed $1 billion in assets — and geographic playing field, where many players, both publicly owned and mutually held, are considerably larger, or smaller, but still too big to acquire.

So when Citizens National hired a firm to execute a sale last summer, a rare opportunity presented itself.

“We’re always looking at opportunities to continue to grow and prosper, but this particular opportunity was definitely rare and somewhat unique in that we were able to acquire a stock bank of a size that we could afford,” he explained. “We can’t go out and buy a $600 million, $700 million, or $800 million bank, because of simple mathematics; our capital ratio just doesn’t support it.

“So this was a rare opportunity for us, and we treated it as such — we took this very seriously,” he went on. “It really represented a rare combination when you consider the size of the bank and the geographic location; it all made sense.”

Efficiencies will be created as a result of the acquisition, he said, because the institution that will emerge, with roughly $1.4 million in assets, can eliminate redundancies with regard to staff and operations.

“We’re going to look at how we’re going to do each of the functions we need to do,” he explained, “and you can simply do those more efficiently over a wider asset base. You’re going to clearly have operational efficiencies when you consolidate two departments into one in each of the operational areas of the bank.”

Sosik said ESB’s plan is to keep the Citizens National name on the five Connecticut branches because that institution is a known commodity and respected brand in that region, and also because that name will almost certainly resonate more in the Nutmeg State than the name of a small Hampshire County city that most people in Connecticut have never heard of.

“We’re going to try to take advantage of the franchise value they have in that market area — they’re a very well-known and well-respected organization, and we don’t want to lose their identity,” he said, adding that regulatory approval would be needed to keep the name on those branches.

Looking ahead, Sosik said the acquisition of Citizens National will enable Easthampton Savings to build on some momentum generated in 2014, despite those difficult conditions he described earlier.

“This past year turned out to be better than our best-case scenarios,” he said, referring to measures such as assets, deposits, and loan growth. “And that’s because we just grinded it out, doing all the little things you need to do to succeed in this environment.”

The move will also enable the bank to be more competitive at a time, and in a region, where many players are taking similar steps, with further activity possible, if not probable, in the near future, simply because those challenging conditions are not expected to change for the better, at least anytime soon.

“The perfect storm is not likely to abate,” he said. “Given that, the pressures are going to exist on our income statements, and we’re going to continue to have revenue issues on the margin side, and we’re going to continue to have expense pressures. And when you put all that together, you’re going to see certain banks struggle.

“The trend is here for a while — you’re going to see more consolidation in that marketplace,” he went on, adding that such consolidation will improve the overall health of the industry, while also creating opportunities for the remaining community banks in the market because of their smaller size and ability to serve customers in a more personalized fashion.

Bottom-line Improvement

Sosik said he’s not sure if additional acquisitions like this one are in ESB’s future.

That uncertainly stems in large part from the rare nature of such opportunities and an inability to predict just when and how they might come about.

Overall, the bank is not seeking out such opportunities as much as it is reacting to them when they do arise, he told BusinessWest, adding that this approach will continue, because it must, out of necessity.

As he said, the status quo will eat you alive — if you let it.

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

By All Accounts

Banking and Financial Services Sections

A Chart of Banks in Western Mass.

Click HERE to download the PDF chart

Under Attack

Sections Security

Companies Need to Stay Vigilant Against Hackers

Charlie Christianson says small companies should not assume their size protects them from hacker attacks.

It turns out Target wasn’t the only … well, target.

A year ago, Target announced that hackers had stolen personal information from some 110 million customer accounts. A handful of similarly high-profile breaches followed, including the breach of some 83 million JPMorgan Chase accounts in August and financial data from 56 million Home Depot customers in September.

Other high-profile victims of cybercrime in 2014 included Staples, Healthcare.gov, Neiman Marcus, and, of course, Sony, which endured the release of e-mails that strained relationships across the entertainment industry.

But those are major corporations, household names. The smaller companies that dot Western Mass. don’t have to worry about such attacks, right?

Think again.

“Small to medium-sized businesses tune out because they think, ‘I’m just too small; no one’s going to want to attack me.’ The reality is, attacks on soft targets are going up astronomically every day,” said Charlie Christianson, president and CEO of Peritus Security Partners and CMD Technology Group.

“We want businesses to understand that there’s no magic bullet, no one product or solution that’s going to eliminate all the security risks,” he added. “Defenses need to be layered, and you have to include your people in the process. You’ve got to educate the people using your systems and make sure the culture in your organization is security-centric, and that everyone understands the risks that are out there.”

James Baker, lead security consultant for Peritus, agreed.

“Those are extreme cases,” he said of cases like Target and Sony, “but people shouldn’t have the attitude that ‘it won’t happen to me.’ A lot of hackers go after low-hanging fruit; they’re not focusing on a specific company or organization. Maybe your firewalls are misconfigured, and someone’s doing a scan, looking for certain ports open, and all of a sudden you pop up. It can be done fairly easily. It’s not a direct attack on your organization — it’s about low-hanging fruit, and your fruit is exposed.”

Although awareness is growing of the threats, he added, smaller companies often figure it’s not worth investing scarce resources into hiring a full-time cybersecurity professional or using a consultant.

“They think, ‘we don’t find a significant need for this. Why would we want to budget money on something we don’t feel we need?’” Baker told BusinessWest. “But once people do get compromised, they become very reactionary. Target did not have a CISO [chief information-security officer]; they did not have a security representative in the executive organization. Since this happened, they hired a brand-new CISO and compliance officer, who have that voice in management.

“But at smaller companies, where budgets are tight and personnel are overworked, they just go to the IT person whose responsibility is to keep the organization running, thinking, ‘he understands security.’

“We see that a lot,” Christianson added, “especially in small companies, where one person in the house has a little tech savvy and they’re the guy or woman who handles everything, who wears a whole bunch of hats. They put out the fires as they exist, and although they give it their best shot, security is not what they do. They don’t understand what the best practices are; they don’t understand all the things you need to do to secure an organization.”

For this issue’s focus on security, BusinessWest explores the reasons why that mindset is changing at many companies — sometimes, unfortunately, after the damage is done.

Head in the Cloud

One major change that has complicated cybsersecurity is the fact that so much data is stored in the cloud and shared among remote devices, said Dave DelVecchio, owner of Innovative Business Systems in Easthampton. He believes companies need to take a hard look at how data is shared and where, with the goal of “letting the good guys in and keeping the bad guys out.”

For example, “if you’re a 40-, 50-, or 100-person company, whether you have an internal IT department or outsource to a company like us, what are the appropriate safeguards to put in place if you want to allow remote access on company-owned devices?” he asked. “Now that employees have more technology in their hands, and they want to store their calendars and contacts on their smartphone, what if a device is stolen or falls into the wrong hands?”

Mark Jardim (right, with James Baker) says that, when it comes to remote access, companies must strike a balance between employee convenience and protecting data.

The question companies need to ask is what benefit they’re getting from allowing remote sharing of data. “I think it’s important to go back and see what people are trying to accomplish. The goal of working with technology in any business is to improve efficiencies and be able to get more done with less. That goal hasn’t changed in 40, 50 years, since ENIAC, in fact,” he said, referring to the first computer, built in the 1940s.

“Ultimately, what really matters is providing a secure and stable user environment to allow users access to technology to allow them to do their jobs,” he went on. “Employers need to decide whether allowing sensitive data on [remote] devices helps them achieve those efficiencies, and if so, they need to make sure employees understand how to protect that data.”

Baker agreed. “Years ago, there was a perimeter around your infrastructure to protect you. But that perimeter is gone. With the cloud and mobile devices and the need for businesses to virtualize and have information in the cloud, the idea of having a perimeter around your infrastructure to protect your assets is going away,” he told BusinessWest.

More important, he said, is the human element — educating employees in best practices to protect data, whether that’s creating strong passwords and storing them properly or restricting company-wide access to certain records. “Whether they work for a hospital dealing with patient records or they’re handling credit-card information, your employees have got to understand the data they’re working with, how to protect it, and what are the tools in their repertoire to assist in that.”

Mark Jardim, lead engineer for CMD, said companies can’t secure data without knowing where it is. “We see laptops out in the field, and they have Dropbox, and the person is saving all his stuff there, maybe synching the laptop to work, and it’s not encrypted. Now he has all this data, not encrypted, not backed up. What happens if someone steals or hacks the computer?”

One common hacker ploy is to break into a device, encrypt important data, and extort the victim for money — often hundreds or thousands of dollars — to unencrypt it. “A police department in Massachusetts got infected with malware and actually paid the hacker money to get the data back,” Jardim said.

Christianson said his company recently tested a client’s employees by creating an e-mail that looked like it came from an internal source but was actually a faux phishing scam. “When they clicked the link, it took them to a bogus webpage that looked like the organization’s webpage, where they were asked to enter their name and password.” Thirty percent of the recipients gave up their data.

“People opened the e-mail thinking it was from a trusted resource,” Baker said. “That is where education and awareness come into play. You can explain to them what happened and how they were tricked and how they can protect themselves in the future.”

Because of the sophistication of hackers and phishing scams, Jardim concedes that today’s environment is much more of a minefield for companies. “Before, you had a firewall, and everything was behind the firewall. Now you have data everywhere, and you have to find a good balance between user convenience and protecting that data.”

Compliance and Common Sense

DelVecchio noted that companies in regulated industries, like finance and healthcare, face a strict regulatory environment that guides their cybersecurity decisions and, in many cases, forces them to employ compliance and security personnel. But for other types of business, it’s a gray area.

“The industry is a big determining factor in how they define their security and remote-access plan,” he said. “But for any business, regardless of industry, there should be a plan. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail — it’s an old, silly line, but it’s true in this case.”

Even with the Sony hack, which didn’t necessarily threaten regulated data, “they got into sensitive e-mails,” Christianson said, “and now all these stars are getting this information about what people are saying behind their backs. It affects contract negotiations and all kinds of things.”

Jardim said the fundamentals are still strong passwords, strong firewalls, and lots of education. “The easiest way to get a lot of the risk out is to have good practices in place. When JPMorgan recently got hacked, basically, one of their servers didn’t have two-factor authentication. What’s scary is, JPMorgan spent $250 million on secure systems. But, because of one small mistake, they got violated. Best practices were overlooked.”

Christianson agreed, noting that the security of an entire system is only as good as the weakest point.

“Security companies have to be right 100% of the time,” Baker added. “A hacker only has to be right 1% of the time.”

And the threats come from everywhere, he noted. “Somebody from Canada can hack you as easily as a 15-year-old in the Philippines practicing his hacking skills, or the guy next door. There are no boundaries. And to think you can call some sort of law enforcement to assist in this is a bit naïve. If you’re a Home Depot where billions of dollars are involved, the federal government will get involved, but otherwise, it’s not significant enough in cost. They have much bigger fish to fry.”

For the hacked organization, however, it’s a very big deal. The Target attack cost the company $148 million and affiliated financial institutions $200 million. In Home Depot’s case, those figures were $62 million and $90 million, respectively. For small companies, the cost of cleaning up a breach can be even greater, even though the numbers are much smaller, because budgets are already stretched thin.

“The culture starts at the top, with management or the board of directors,” Baker said. “They play a key role in this. They need to realize this is an important aspect of their organization, that there are consequences if you don’t protect sensitive data.”

In other words, don’t make yourself a target.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Keys to Success

Sections Security

Serv-U Locksmiths Knows the Nuts and Deadbolts of This Business

Steve Horowitz says he deals with both clients making long-term security plans and those facing an immediate crisis.

The phone rings at all hours of the day and night, 365 days a year.

Many callers have an immediate crisis, which might range from a business owner who just terminated an employee and needs to have the locks on their building changed, to a supervisor who misplaced the master key to an apartment block that opens hundreds of units, and fears it could get into the wrong hands.

There are also new store managers who want to change the combination to a company safe, and others who discover their door won’t close properly due to damage or wear and tear, and thus cannot be locked.

“About 80% of our business is commercial, and our customers call us whenever they have a security issue and need help resolving it — we’re on the road every day,” said Steve Horowitz, owner of Serv-U Locksmiths in Springfield, adding that the company’s fleet of six mobile vehicles allows it to respond quickly.

But selling and servicing security products is not all Serv-U does. Educating clients is critical to its success because the security industry has changed significantly over the years and continues to evolve. So, in addition to selling locks, keys, and devices, and replacing, rekeying, or repairing them, the company’s employees spend time talking to clients to determine what products will best meet their needs.

Solutions can range from something as simple as a deadbolt doorknob with a key lock to a highly sophisticated security system, to a fire-resistant or burglar-proof safe.

Horowitz told BusinessWest that specific types of security devices, locks, or systems are used in certain industries.

“For example, retail storeowners often have shoplifters leave through their back doors with merchandise,” he explained. “They need a lock with an alarm built in that will go off if someone opens the door, but still allow them to maintain the door as a fire exit. We have products to solve every security issue and fit every situation.”

Hospitals also require special security in areas such as rooms or closets where medications are stored. “If a hospital gave an employee a generic key, it could be copied at any hardware store,” Horowitz said. “So, we have several high-security lock systems that are exclusive to our store.”

He added that, whenever a key to these systems is issued, the person who gets it must sign a registration form. The forms are kept in the store, and a key can be duplicated only by a Serv-U employee after the person requesting it shows their driver’s license and re-signs the registration form, to ensure the signatures match.

“It makes it impossible for them to go to any other locksmith to get another key. It’s a very high level of security used to prevent stealing or ensure safety,” Horowitz went on, noting that special keys are also used in areas that contain hazardous materials within a factory or hospital.

Seven of Serv-U’s 12 employees have worked for the company for more than 20 years and continually take classes to stay current with changes within the industry.

“There is a lot more to security than buying a lock or having a key made, and a lot of customers come to us after they purchase a product and find that it doesn’t resolve their problem,” he added.

Business Evolves

The first Serv-U store was opened in 1954. “My father, Sam Horowitz, and two of my uncles, Ben Horowitz and Jordan Rosenkrantz, opened Serv-U Hardware in Springfield. The original store was part of the True Value Home Center chain, and in addition to other products, they duplicated house and car keys and sold locks to homeowners,” Horowitz said, as he recounted the history of the business.

In the ’70s, the trio recognized the growing demand for security and hired a locksmith, which allowed them to expand their line of products.

During the next decade, Horowitz, his brother Lenny, and four of their cousins took over from their fathers and expanded the operation. “We opened hardware home centers in Northampton, Westfield, and Enfield, which all included full-service lock shops,” Horowitz said. They also added a number of specialty sections, including a home-decorating department that carried everything from paint and wallpaper to unfinished furniture; an automotive supply department; and a Baby Castle that sold infant furniture and accessories.

However, by 2001, big-box stores made it difficult to compete, and the family closed everything except the Springfield store. “My brother Lenny and I owned it, and we kept the lock shop and the decorating center open,” Horowitz said.

Things changed again three months ago, when Lenny moved to Florida and Horowitz became the sole owner. He closed the home-decorating department in October and made the decision to dedicate the business entirely to locksmithing.

Today, Serv-U Locksmiths has a fleet of six fully equipped service vehicles and a long list of commercial customers who have been with the business for decades. “They include banks, hospitals, colleges, manufacturing facilities, property-management companies, federal and state agencies, and housing authorities,” Horowitz said, adding that the company also provides products and services to homeowners.

Its mobile team serves clients within a 30-mile radius of the store, which extends into the Berkshires, Northern Conn., and even south of Hartford. “People call us with a variety of problems, and if someone needs us, we are there, which is how we have built our business and our reputation.”

One thing that sets Serv-U apart from other area locksmiths is its large showroom. “It makes us unique and gives customers the opportunity to talk to a locksmith, see how different products work, and get advice,” said Horowitz. “It also allows them to bring their locks here to be repaired, which can save them money.”

The number of security systems Serv-U carries is extensive, he added. “Originally, locks were only used with keys. Today, keys are still very prevalent, but there are also locks that use combinations or key fobs.”

He explained that the key-fob system is used frequently by businesses due to its sophistication.

“A fob can be programmed to only allow a person to enter a building or area at a certain time or certain day of the week,” Horowitz said. “The idea is to give a company more control over which employees have access to certain parts of their building. For example, someone with a fob who works third shift may not be able to enter the building at other times of the day. Plus, the person managing the fobs can delete them at any time and can also print out an audit trail, which shows not only who entered the building, but what door they used and the time they entered.”

He added that, when a company purchases this type of system, a Serv-U employee goes to their office and trains designated staff members in how to use the software.

“The fobs can be reprogrammed from a computer, which gives a manager control over security even when he or she is not there,” Horowitz went on, adding that many hospitals, banks, and colleges use this type of system.

Educated Choices

Safes are another important security product, and Serv-U sells, services, delivers, and installs models that range from $100 to $3,500. Some are made to secure guns, while others are fire-resistant, burglar-resistant, or both.

But they are not all created equal, and Horowitz said people frequently purchase models that are inadequate for their needs.

“People think ‘safe’ means secure. But it depends on the type of security they are seeking,” he told BusinessWest, noting that, although most safes have undergone testing by Underwriters Laboratory, the length of time they can withstand fire, water, or other elements can differ greatly.

In fact, the materials used to make the safe, as well as the way it is constructed, play an enormous role in whether or not it is likely to protect against theft.

“Although they have locks, fire safes are not constructed to keep burglars out, and safes that protect against burglary have a hole drilled into the floor of the unit that allows the safe to be bolted to the floor of the building, so once the door is closed, it can’t be removed; the materials need to be strong enough to resist drills and other power tools,” Horowitz said. “We see a lot of commercial customers using safes that are not appropriate for their needs. It all goes back to education. There are answers to things people don’t know to ask about and solutions to every security problem.”

In addition, Serv-U also installs and repairs commercial doors. “We carry far more than locks. We also sell door closers, hinges, doors, door viewers, and weather stripping,” Horowitz said, adding that these products are also necessary to ensure security.

The business also serves the public, and the demand for car keys with embedded computer chips is on the rise. “In most cases, we can cut them for less than the car dealers,” Horowitz said. “But since these keys contain anti-theft devices, they typically cost between $25 and $200. And although some people say they don’t want to spend that much, we inform them that, if they lose all of their car keys, we can make new ones, but it will be much more expensive if we have to generate a key from nothing.”

Keys to the Future

Times have changed since Serv-U Hardware first opened its doors. “But our locksmith business has survived for 60 years and will continue to do so; it’s satisfying because we solve problems every day,” Horowitz said, adding that his employees take a proactive stance in continuing their own education as well as educating the public about changes in the industry.

“Our business keeps growing,” he added, “and although I am not sure where the locksmith trade will be in the next 15 years, I can assure you that Serv-U Locksmiths will be there too.”

Top Entrepreneur 2014: Delcie Bean

Cover Story Sections Top Entrepreneur

Paragus Founder Reflects on Life in the Very Fast Lane

You know you’re getting somewhere in life when your first name is all anyone really needs to make an identification.

That was the case with people named Elvis, Ringo, and Tiger (OK, his real name is Eldrick). And, to a lesser extent, it’s working for the 29-year-old that BusinessWest has chosen to be its Top Entrepreneur for 2014 — Delcie Bean.

Or just ‘Delcie,’ because that’s all that’s generally required when he becomes the subject of conversation. That’s true in part because, well, let’s face it, there are not many Delcies out there. But it’s also because Bean, in just a few years, has become a dominant force in the business community — and also with regional initiatives in the broad realm of economic development, education, and even office design.

By now, most everyone knows the story of how he first started selling things, like Creepy Crawlers and Ozark Lollipops, to classmates in the second grade, and started his own computer-repair company at age 14, when he was too young to drive but had no shortage of clients willing to pick him up and drive him to their home or business.

Most also know that he shaped what was named Valley Computer Works and later renamed Paragus Strategic IT (after asparagus — well, sort of) into one of the fastest-growing IT firms in the country, a fixture on Inc. magazine’s lists of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies, now boasting $4.25 million in annual sales.

They also know that he was the driving force behind Tech Foundry, a nonprofit, launched last year and still in the midst of a one-year pilot program, with the goal of training unemployed and high-school-age individuals and matching them with the precise needs of area companies. It’s an undertaking that’s drawn the praise of local and state officials alike for addressing one of the business community’s most perplexing, and persistent, problems — the dreaded skills gap.

Some might also know that Bean is a principal with a second business venture. Called Waterdog, it’s what he called a “tech-distribution company,” which partners with companies that make technology products and helps them find markets for those products. The enterprise, based in downtown Springfield, is closing on a $500,000 angel-investment round involving the Springfield Venture Fund and River Valley Investors, and is expected to add another 10 employees over the next year.

But less is known about what drives Bean and fuels his many passions. During a wide-ranging, quite enlightening interview, it became abundantly clear that Bean is very serious about:

• Entrepreneurship and fostering more of it;
• Careful and precise allocation of what has become a precious commodity — his time;
• A business philosophy that goes way, way beyond simply making money;
• Work-life balance;
• Getting unplugged much more than most could imagine given his success, his line of work, and the age we live in; and
• Playing a very significant role in the revitalization of Springfield and this region as a whole.

In short, his answers to BusinessWest’s many questions were quite revealing, and what emerged from this Q&A was a sentiment that Bean wants to be, and in many respects already is, a leader on several fronts, but especially when it comes to the growth and maturation of this region as a center for innovation, entrepreneurship, and jobs, something it was a century or more ago — and that he believes it can and will be again.

“If I can serve any benefit to inspiring others to get stuff done and to get motivated, then to me, that’s what’s ultimately worth it,” he said. “We have to continue to prove to people that you can do stuff, and that these things are possible. And I think the more people that have that positive spirit and get in the right perspective … that’s what’s going to change the Valley and bring us back to the glory days. Springfield was one of the biggest cities in the Northeast at one point, and there’s no reason why we can’t return to those days, just in a different way.”

In Good Company

As he settled back into one of the comfortable chairs in the conference room at Paragus’ recently opened, ‘outrageous green’-dominated headquarters in Hadley, Bean started the conversation by relating an exercise he recently undertook with some colleagues.

“We started talking about all the things that happened just in 2014,” he explained. “Within about 12 hours, I’d thrown up this website called springfield99.com where we started listing all the things that happened just in Springfield and just in 2014. And it’s amazing just how many things happened in this one year alone, some of which I was part of, some of which I would have loved to have been part of, but all of which I’m just proud to say are going on in the Valley.”

Delcie Bean says that a vibrant Springfield “is something I really want to play a role in.”

When asked for a list, he mentioned everything from the formal launching of Tech Foundry to the success enjoyed by Valley Venture Mentors; from TechSpring, the initiative launched by Baystate Health to foster entrepreneurship within the healthcare spectrum to the innovation center being built downtown; from Barbara Walters speaking at Bay Path University’s annual leadership conference to an American Pickers episode taped in the city that involved old Indian motorcycles.

“We got to item 45, and then we remembered that MGM got approval to open a casino,” he went on. “It was so cool to see that there was so much going on that isn’t necessarily in the shadow of the casino; it’s not a footnote to the casino — the casino is just part of this movement that’s going on.”

Before elaborating on the many aspects of that movement, BusinessWest first asked Bean about his various business ventures and what’s likely to happen next.

We started with Paragus, the IT-solutions company that now boasts more than 40 employees. The coming year shapes up to be an intriguing one, with Bean initiating an employee stock-ownership program (ESOP), and the Paragus team eyeing a host of avenues for expansion — in a variety of forms.

BusinessWest: Talk about the ESOP. It’s a big step, and there are risks involved. Why take this step now, and what does it mean for Paragus for the short and long term?

Bean: “In a lot of ways, this transition to an ESOP is a gamble on my part. I’m betting that the company will grow even faster and net even bigger returns in the hands of the employees than it would have if I had continued to remain as 100% owner.

“The employees will own 51% of the company, and I’ll own 49%, and the hope is that, by being owners and thinking and behaving differently, they will drive better results. It has to not only happen, but it has to happen at a multiple big enough to offset the growth I would have gained on my own if I had retained 100% of the shares.”

BusinessWest: How are you preparing your employees for what will be a dramatic shift in their role — and also in their outlook about the company and where it can go?

Bean: “We’ve spent that past 18 months preparing employees for that transition, because it is a big change. I led a class recently called ‘What Does it Mean to be an Owner?’ and we went through the process together of defining what are the characteristics of a truly great owner. I then challenged them to identify one characteristic that they had room to improve upon, and work with me one on one to develop an action plan for how they could make progress on improving on that characteristic.”

BusinessWest: Talk about your own role moving forward. Will it change, and if so, how?

Bean: “One of my goals and objectives is to create businesses that are not dependent upon me. Another way that I define success is getting people to be self-reliant, or empowered, or in a position where they’re not dependent on me. Every day, Paragus is less and less dependent on me personally, and that’s a huge mark of success.

“It means that we have a strong leadership team, it means that we have empowered employees, it means that we have good systems and processes. It means we have a healthy business. It’s great seeding companies and getting them started, but then empowering and finding just the right people, the right mix, and the right plan so they can grow and thrive and succeed on their own.”

BusinessWest: What is your long-term vision for the company, and how does the ESOP affect that? Is this a company that you envision someday being sold to a much larger entity?

Bean: “I decided a few years ago that Paragus was never going to be that company — it was never going to be the company that we grew to sell externally, and the ESOP is putting a nail in that coffin. By making an ESOP, we’re very publically saying, ‘this is a company that’s going to remain here in the Valley, owned by the Valley, and here to support and contribute to the Valley.’

“But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have big, aspirational goals. They want to look at some acquisitions, they want to open up some other offices, they want to expand into some other markets. They want to make this company big, and they want to be the ones who own it and do it. We don’t want to grow it to sell it.”

BusinessWest: Can Paragus meet all those lofty goals you mentioned by remaining a Western Mass. company, or just a Western Mass. company? There are some competitive disadvantages to being in this region, and it can’t be easy to recruit top talent to this region. Will Paragus still be a fixture here in five, 10, or 20 years?

Bean: “I think Paragus can always be here and will always be here. But if Paragus wants to continue to grow at 30% a year, as it has for the past five years, at some point, and probably not too far from now, they’re going to have to expand their market, and that might mean opening up a Paragus in another market. But that won’t mean leaving Western Mass.

“I can’t imagine a future where Paragus abandons Western Mass., but I can imagine a future in which we have a branch anywhere from Denver, Colorado to Hartford, Connecticut. In fact, there has been a lot of talk, probably just because people love the area, about Denver — it’s a really cool city going through some exciting times, and a place where the Paragus team members can see themselves having a lot of fun. There’s been nothing serious, but there has been some talk about how maybe, someday, that would be a cool place to put some new roots.”

Bean says the employee stock-ownership program he’s initiating should enable the company to grow even faster and net bigger returns than if he remained sole owner.

The Future Is Now

BusinessWest: Let’s switch gears and talk about your participation in economic-development-related initiatives and your thoughts on Springfield and the region as a whole. If we were doing this interview 10 or 15 or 20 years from now, what would you like to have said you’d accomplished beyond success with your businesses?

Bean: “Right now, I have become so excited about the prospect of a revitalized, rejuvenated Springfield that I’d like to be able to say that, not only has Springfield accomplished that, but some actions that I took part in contributed.

“What that looks like is so hard to define, but I think it’s one of those things where you know it when you see it, whether it’s the energy or the excitement or the pure quantity of people on the street. But a vibrant Springfield is something I really want to play a role in.”

BusinessWest: You sound quite upbeat about the Valley’s prospects. What is the basis of that optimism?

Bean: “Things are coming together in many ways, especially in Springfield. Through Valley Venture Mentors, the innovation center, the accelerator program, and other initiatives, we’re creating entrepreneurial energy, and the possibilities are very exciting.”

BusinessWest: Beyond Tech Foundry and its mission of helping to create a large, talented workforce, what are some of the other ways you’ve become involved in economic-development efforts?

Bean: “I sit on two EDC [Economic Development Council of Western Mass.] boards, the Entrepre-neurship Committee and the Homefield Advantage Committee, and I really enjoy that work. I also get involved in other ways, such as mentoring entrepreneurs.”

BusinessWest: Mentoring entrepreneurs? Do you do a lot of that?

Bean: “I do, either through a program like Valley Venture Mentors or separately on the side. I also take phone calls … I don’t know how I got signed up for this, but people will come to me and say, ‘hey, I’m thinking of moving to the Springfield area, and someone gave me your name as somebody I should talk to before I move there.’ I’ll give them an idea about jobs and positions and what I think the economic landscape looks like and how awesome and exciting it is to be here right now. Maybe once a week I’ll get a call like that, and it’s great to know that, once a week, someone’s thinking about moving back here.”

BusinessWest: Many economic-development leaders are bullish about improved rail service between Vermont and Southern Connecticut. Do you believe such service can change the equation in this region, and if so, how?

Bean: “The Tofu Curtain drives me crazy, and I’m hopeful that maybe Northampton, Holyoke, and Springfield start working better together. Maybe the ease of getting from one place to another because we don’t have to deal with the car … maybe it makes the communities more connected and work more synergistically.

“That’s my most aspirational hope for this train; we call it ‘the Valley,’ but it’s really two very distinct sections, and you could argue there’s three because of Franklin County. Look at Holyoke and Springfield — it is amazing how little those two cities work together, and they’re so much alike; they’re both Gateway cities within a stone’s throw of each other with similar problems and similar challenges, and they’re not working collaboratively as they should be, and I’m hoping one stop on the rail line changes all that.

“I’d love to see the Valley function as one neighborhood, and if you look at Silicon Valley and so many other parts of the country, they’re the same size as our valley, but we’re so much more insular. And people complain that it takes 20 minutes to get from Northampton to Springfield. Look at Boston — it takes 20 minutes to get anywhere, and they’re doing just fine.

“That’s my hope, that maybe this rail service gives us one less excuse to not do business with each other, or have lunch together, or have meetings together and not fight about whether it’s in Northampton or Springfield.”

BusinessWest: What about the casino? This is not exactly innovation, but it is economic development and jobs. Will this be a positive force in the city and the region?

Bean: “I have very positive feelings about the casino’s impact and what it’s going to do for the city, but I think’s it’s important that it doesn’t define us — and it doesn’t sound like it is. It sounds like we’re defining ourselves.”

Time and Space

BusinessWest: Considering the many types of demands on your time, you have probably become adept at how that resource is allocated. Talk about how you distribute the hours in your day and find time for everything you want to do.

Bean: “It’s definitely challenging. There are a lot of things competing for my time, and I’m one of those people who has a hard time saying no to things I’m passionate about or that I think are good and worthy. But there are plenty of things I do say no to; for example, I’m not an advocate for long meetings where there’s no clear purpose and the dialogue isn’t going to result in any clear action items. I’ve been to more than a few of those, and I’ve learned my lesson; those meetings do have a purpose, just not a purpose that I’m able to contribute much to, so I’ve learned that they’re not a good investment of my time.”

BusinessWest: Talk about those occasions, and those causes, for which saying ‘no’ is not an option.

Bean: “There are three different buckets that I put my time into right now, and maybe one sub-bucket. For starters, there’s Paragus and Waterdog; I work from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. most days, and in that 12-hour span, Paragus gets six of those hours, and Waterdog probably gets two of those hours. But what’s nice is that still leaves me with four hours a day, and that’s where I would put my outside interests or economic-development interests, or giving back, or however you want to classify that.

“A big piece of that goes to Tech Foundry, but that still leaves plenty left over to be a speaker at various events, to attend different meetings, to mentor entrepreneurs, to go to city planning meetings, and a lot of other things.”

BusinessWest: Time management is a critical assignment for all business leaders. Talk some more about your approach to it and how you get the most out of each hour in the day.

Bean: “I have a very, very full calendar — every minute is booked between 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., and two nights a week I work late, and that usually means I have some event I need to attend. That’s where I’m really selective; there are so many great events in the Valley to go to at night, and I only pick two a week. And if I’m going to do a late night, I’ll try to do two or three things that night.

“I live an hour and 15 minutes away in New Hampshire, and a few years ago I hired a driver, so I use my commute time to do all my e-mail so that during the day I don’t even look at my computer — I just go from meeting to meeting as my phone instructs me to, and then I have two hours at the beginning and end of each day to catch up on e-mails, get proposals, or correspond with people.

“Hiring a driver was an economic decision. I ran the math and looked at how productive I could be with an extra two hours a day and what it cost to pay someone for those four hours, and decided it made perfect sense. This gives me a guaranteed two or two and a half hours a day when no one can walk into my office, call me on the phone … it’s just a guaranteed two hours of e-mail and going over proposals.”

Investments in the Valley

BusinessWest: You must get a lot of requests to serve on boards and take part in economic-development-related initiatives. How do you decide where to put your time and energy?

Bean: “We get a lot of those requests, and they all go to Margie, my assistant. She’s gotten to know really well what I’m passionate about, what I’m interested in, and what I’m not, so she will vet them, send me to ones that she thinks are worth me at least looking at, and then I’ll figure out what the commitment is going to be.

“For example, I’ve been very good about not getting on the boards of nonprofits, only because there are so many of them, it would be hard to choose, and I have my own nonprofits for which I’m president of the board, and I don’t want to distract from those energies. But there was an opportunity that came along where an organization is going to be forming a charter school in Springfield, and that organization, Up Academy, has a track record that’s just mind-blowing. It will take over an existing Springfield middle school, serve the same students and use the same money, but run it privately.

“I started hearing about that, and I started researching the track record and learning more about that organization, including the work they did in Lawrence, the work they did in Boston. It was so impressive that I did agree to join their founding board because I feel that education in Springfield has got to be a priority, and what it needs right now are some new, fresh perspectives, some new minds, and some new thoughts. So this was one where I broke my own rule and got involved.”

BusinessWest: You also get a number of requests to speak to different groups and offer keynote addresses at events. First, do you like public speaking — is it something you’ve become good at? And, second, how do you decide which speaking requests to accept?

Bean: “Speaking is always something I’ve enjoyed, and it’s always something I thought came naturally to me. I don’t know; I’ve never sat in the audience, so I don’t know how I come off. But it’s never something that’s made me nervous or uncomfortable.

“And what I really like about public speaking is having the opportunity to use that platform to energize an entire group of people at one time around a thought, an idea, an interest, an excitement level, and really get people to leave that room thinking differently and feeling differently. If I accomplished that, then I’m thrilled.”

BusinessWest: What have been some of your recent assignments, and did you feel you’ve been able to energize the room, as you mentioned?

Bean: “One of the most exciting ones I got to do recently was the Grinspoon Foundation entrepreneurship dinner, where they asked me to be the keynote speaker. What I liked about it was that here were 300 to 400 college kids who had a demonstrated interest in entrepreneurship, and were asking themselves those questions in their heads: ‘can I do this? Is this right for me? How would I even get started? Am I really cut out for this?’ And being able to share my story with those kids and talk to them about my experiences and my perspective on the situation and give them the confidence and encouragement to go off and do it … I certainly left that night feeling energized and excited.

“At least when compared to when I spoke at the Massachusetts Developers Conference. That was certainly fun and exciting, but I don’t think I changed a lot of hearts and minds that day. It will be the same when I speak at a Federal Reserve Bank event in Boston in January. That will certainly be fun, and it will be a great audience, but I don’t think I’ll change a lot of hearts and minds. Hopefully I will, because that’s when I really enjoy it — when I get a bunch of people really excited.”

Managing Expectations

BusinessWest: Let’s talk about your management style, your thoughts on running a business, and your opinions on what makes a true business leader. And maybe the logical place to start is by asking if you’ve had any mentors or any business owners you’ve borrowed from or tried to emulate.

Bean: “I personally like to draw on the best of everybody, so I have a handful of mentors, and there are things about them that I emulate and maybe things about them I’m not so keen on. I try to pull the best characteristics from everyone I know. But if there was one person I had to point to … I really like what [Zappos founder] Tony Hsieh has done, not just with that company, but his philosophy, his mindset, his personality.

“He’s someone who’s really gotten the economic-development bug and is trying to rebuild the entire city of Las Vegas, which was worse off than the city of Springfield was, and turn it into a vibrant, functioning city again. And that’s inspirational, because it’s rare that somebody with that much money, where there’s so little that he’s going to gain from this personally, is so passionate about a city and its revitalization. To see him dedicate his time and energy to that project definitely gives me encouragement to know that’s there’s nothing wrong with not spending all of your time trying to make money.”

BusinessWest: Can you elaborate on that thought, because making money is what has driven most entrepreneurs throughout history.

Bean: “There are some people who go from one enterprise to the next one to the next one, and it’s always about ‘how big can I make the coffers?’ There’s nothing wrong with that — that’s capitalism — but there’s a lot of room for also making sure you understand what makes you happy, what you enjoy, and for me, that’s seeing things happen. And if I can make things happen, even if those things don’t directly correlate back to some financial interest of mine, I get joy from the act of seeing them happen.

“Seeing Tech Foundry launch … maybe it helps Paragus someday with workforce — maybe. But there are many things I could do that are a lot less expensive and a lot less time-consuming, but seeing it happen, seeing those kids show up, seeing the impact on the community, that, to me, totally justifies the time, the money, and everything else.”

BusinessWest: Who else inspires you, enough for you to want to emulate them?

Bean: “There are so many people, it’s hard to narrow it down. I’m certainly inspired by (long pause) even Bill Gates to a certain extent. It’s a tough one — he’s very controversial; there are a lot of things you can say about him. But I’ll say I’m inspired by the fact that, despite all the money he’s made, he’s dedicated so much of his time to giving it away — but not just by writing big, fat checks.

“He’s trying to figure out how to make a meaningful impact on the world, whether it’s through the malaria work they’re doing or … he’s got a project where he’s trying to use spent nuclear rods to create clean electricity. It’s so much easier for him to write a check, but for him, as it is for me — not that I’m comparing myself to Bill Gates — he’s taking his time, his energy, and his passion and using it for more than creating wealth for himself.”

BusinessWest: Anyone in this region who has been a mentor or a source of inspiration?

Bean: “There have been many. The Davis Brothers [John and Steve, former third-generation owners of American Saw, now Lenox] are a good example. Those are guys who don’t have to be here; they can be doing a lot of other things, but they’ve chosen to spend their time, money, and energy impacting the community that they’re in, and in ways that are really inspirational.

“They could be doing financial investing in areas that are probably going to net them better returns, but they’re committed to everything from for-profit investment to not-for-profit investment, but also giving their time. The fact that Steve Davis is chair of the Entrepreneurship Committee, and John Davis has his Springfield Business Leaders for Education, another group I decided to join, shows they’re dedicating more than their time; they’re here every day, they’re giving their money, their effort, and they don’t have to be. And that’s inspiring. Watching them almost makes me feel obligated; if they’re doing it, how could I not do it?”

BusinessWest: You’re 29 years old, but you’ve been the boss your entire life. Most people have the opportunity to learn and grow by watching and drawing out those on the higher rungs on the ladder. You’ve never really had that opportunity; do you feel that maybe you missed out on some learning opportunities?

Bean: “That’s a good question. ‘No’ is the short answer. I had never been taught that who you learn from are the people above you in your own organization, because I’d never been in an organization big enough to do that. I was naive in the sense that I didn’t know that’s how it’s supposed to work.

“So I learned from everybody. I learned from my clients, from my vendors, from my banker, my lawyer, my accountant — I wouldn’t just let them do stuff for me, I’d make them explain it to me; I’d look over my accountant’s shoulder while he’s doing my tax returns and my books, asking him mind-numbingly boring questions, because I really wanted to know, and I needed to see the big picture.
“I learn from my staff, I learn from community leaders, and I read a lot. I’ve learned a lot from the books I’ve read; I can’t understate the amount of knowledge I’ve accumulated from reading some phenomenal business books.”

Hanging in the Balance

BusinessWest: We’ve talked about business, economic development, mentoring, community service … what do you do when you’re not doing any of that?

Bean: “When I’m really not working, I love just being with my family. We moved to New Hampshire because I love the outdoors and I love being in a rural environment. I’ve got two young kids — a 3-year-old and an 18-month-old — and I love just being out with my wife and kids.

Delcie Bean, seen here with his wife, Julia, and sons Delcie Bean V (Jack), left, and James, says he values work-life balance and has a strict no-work policy on weekends.

“We live on 16 acres that abut 16,000 acres of state land, and so we just love going on hikes in the woods — endless trails where you can never walk the same path twice. I love that stuff. I love just being at home with my family, just taking it really easy and relaxed.

“One of the reasons I moved up there is I spend so much time around people all day long, so it’s really nice being up somewhere where the only thing you can hear are the birds and the trees; it’s so quiet and peaceful up there.”

BusinessWest: Can you really just put aside the various kinds of work you have like that?

Bean: “I don’t really have much choice. It’s also very unplugged up there — we barely have Internet; I have a crappy DSL connection. Even if I wanted to work. it would be miserable.”

BusinessWest: Somehow, you don’t seem like the type who could be unplugged for very long.

Bean: “You’d be surprised. I work almost a 12-hour day, but then when I do get home, especially on the weekends, I have a very strict no-work policy. That time is for me and for my family. It takes a lot of energy to do what I do, and I need to kind of recharge and regroup, and part of that is being unplugged and not being ‘on.’

“When my wife and I go on vacation, we go to these really, really secluded destinations where we don’t do anything — we’re just vegetables where we just spend time with each other and there’s no other people.”

BusinessWest: Where do you go?

Bean: “My favorite place … there’s this villa in Jamaica on the other side of the island from where everyone else goes, in a tiny little fishing village. We rent it out, and the only people there are a cook, a maid, and a pool guy; those are the only three people you see the entire time you’re there. They make all your meals for you, and you live in this beautiful house with your own private beach and your own swimming pool. You can completely just unplug and relax; there’s no Internet, no TV. I just read and read and read, and enjoy disconnecting.”

BusinessWest: Where else do you go?

Bean: “I make a clear distinction between vacationing and traveling. We try to commit to a system where every other trip we travel — we’ll go to some city and walk around, like we just got back from Quebec City this past summer — and the alternating trip is what I call vacationing, where we don’t do anything.”

BusinessWest: Do you think you have a proper balance between life and work?

Bean: “I do, and that’s because I work hard at it. I decided to hire a driver around the time I had my first kid. It allowed me to get home an hour earlier because I wasn’t staying at work that extra hour doing my e-mail. So, except for those two nights I work late, those other three I make it home in time to put the kids to bed, and that’s important to me.

“And two days a month I go into work late so I can drive my kid to school. I really enjoy it, and it means a lot to him. Finding a balance was tough, and I’m very fortunate that my wife is able to stay home with the kids; that has helped a lot. And my no-work-weekend policy makes a huge difference, because those two days are 100% about being with the kids and the family.

“And that also speaks to my point earlier about how one of my objectives is to create businesses that are not dependent upon me. That gives me the flexibility to go to that Little League game when my kids get a little older, or that school play, and not feel like the whole world revolves around me being at my desk. I don’t want people so dependent on me I’m handcuffed.”

He Gets IT

To say that Bean has been successful in remaining un-handcuffed would be a huge understatement.

By carefully managing time, empowering people, and putting effective systems in place, he’s found the hours, the energy, the will, and the freedom to be a force in the Pioneer Valley on a number of levels.

And at 29, and with a firm commitment to remain at the forefront of efforts to both grow his businesses and be a part of the efforts to revitalize the region economically, he’s certain to be a force for years and decades to come.

Stay tuned.

Previous Top Entrepreneurs

• 2013: Tim Van Epps, president and CEO of Sandri LLC
• 2012: Rick Crews and Jim Brennan, franchisees of Doctors Express
• 2011: Heriberto Flores, director of the New England Farm Workers’ Council and Partners for Community
• 2010: Bob Bolduc, founder and CEO of Pride
• 2009: Holyoke Gas & Electric
• 2008: Arlene Kelly and Kim Sanborn, founders of Human Resource Solutions and Convergent Solutions Inc.
• 2007: John Maybury, president of Maybury Material Handling
• 2006: Rocco, Jim, and Jayson Falcone, principals of Rocky’s Hardware Stores and Falcone Retail Properties
• 2005: James (Jeb) Balise, president of Balise Motor Sales
• 2004: Craig Melin, then-president and CEO of Cooley Dickinson Hospital
• 2003: Tony Dolphin, president of Springboard Technologies
• 2002: Timm Tobin, then-president of Tobin Systems Inc.
• 2001: Dan Kelley, then-president of Equal Access Partners
• 2000: Jim Ross, Doug Brown, and Richard DiGeronimo, then-principals of Concourse Communications
• 1999: Andrew Scibelli, then-president of Springfield Technical Community College
• 1998: Eric Suher, president of E.S. Sports
• 1997: Peter Rosskothen and Larry Perreault, then-co-owners of the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House
• 1996: David Epstein, president and co-founder of JavaNet and the JavaNet Café

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

Safe and Sound

Sections Security

A chart of the region’s security companies

Click HERE to download the PDF chart

Chamber Corners: Upcoming Events

Chamber Corners Departments

AFFILIATED CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE OF GREATER SPRINGFIELD
www.myonlinechamber.com
(413) 787-1555

• Jan. 14: Speed Networking, 3:30-5 p.m., at the Sheraton Springfield, One Monarch Place, Springfield. Meet up to 50 contacts in under an hour. Don’t miss this high-speed way of working the room. Tickets are $20 for members ($25 at the door), and includes complimentary admission to the After 5 immediately following so you can continue to network. For more information, contact Sarah Mazzaferro at (413) 755-1313.

• Jan. 14: After 5, 5-7 p.m., at the Sheraton Springfield, One Monarch Place, Springfield. Enjoy networking in a casual atmosphere and expect some surprises. Event sponsors: Wolf & Co. P.C., DevelopSpringfield Corp., Springfield Falcons Hockey Club, United Way of Pioneer Valley Inc., and BusinessWest. Tickets are $5 for members, $10 general admission. Complimentary with purchase of January Speed Networking. For more information, contact Sarah Mazzaferro at (413) 755-1313

• Jan. 28: January 2015 Lunch & Learn, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Springfield College (Dodge Room in Flynn Campus Union), 263 Alden St., Springfield. The event topic is “Question 4: Mandated Sick Leave … Now What?” presented by Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C. Core concepts discussed include who is eligible and who isn’t, what it means for your workforce, and the subtle nuances of the law. Sponsored by Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C. Tickets are $25 for members, $35 general admission. For more information, contact Sarah Mazzaferro at (413) 755-1313.

• Feb. 4: February Business@Breakfast, 7:15-9 a.m., at Crestview Country Club in Agawam. The guest speaker will be Dr. Steve Sobel, humorist and motivational speaker, who will present “You’re a Piece of Work! Celebrate Joy, Passion, and Influence!” This presentation will illuminate all of life’s possibilities and provide attendees with the tools to embrace all things coming their way and bring their ‘A game’ to their customers. Sponsored by United Personnel. Salutes: FIT Solutions, 10th anniversary; GZA GeoEnvironmental, 15th anniversary; and Shriners Hospital for Children, 90th anniversary. Tickets are $20 for members ($25 at the door), $30 for non-members. For more information, contact Sarah Mazzaferro at (413) 755-1313.

AMHERST AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.amherstarea.com
(413) 253-0700

• Jan. 13: Business Buddies: Grow Your Business with Co-hosted Events, 8:30 a.m. to noon, at Hadley Farms Meeting House, 41 Russell St., Hadley. Join Liz Provo, authorized expert for Constant Contact, and Thom Fox, business advisor, for a free workshop. Learn how to plan, hold, and run successful events for your business. Special focus on collaboration, online registration tools, e-mail and social media. For more information, e-mail [email protected].

• Jan. 13: Chamber Brown Bag, noon to 1 p.m., at Downtown Mindfulness, 67 North Pleasant St., Amherst. Topic: “Rewiring the Brain For Success.” Start the new year learning skills to rewire the brain for success. The brain is naturally wired to be more sensitive to failure, which can limit people from knowing their full potential and power. What distinguishes successful people is their attitude toward failure. In this workshop, become familiar with your explanatory style — how you talk to yourself when you experience a setback — and learn mindfulness-based practices to overcome your negativity bias. Admission is free and open to the public. Register at downtownmindfulness.com.

• Jan. 14: Chamber Annual Meeting, noon to 1:30 p.m., at Chandler’s Restaurant. Guest speakers will be Kerry Miller, director of Membership Services, and Stephen Clark, director of Government Affairs. The meeting will also feature the formal election of the 2015 chamber board of directors, including the installation of Nancy Buffone as board president. Sponsored by the UMassFive College Credit Union. Tickets are $25. For more information, e-mail the chamber at [email protected].

• Jan. 29: Chamber After 5, 5-8 p.m., at artALIVE, 35 South Pleasant St., Amherst. Ever try a Wine & Paint night? Here’s your chance to do so. Don’t know how to paint? Who cares, neither do we. We’re all on the same level, folks — that’s why we will have an instructor. Admission is $20, and the price includes wine and two and a half hours with a personal instructor.

GREATER CHICOPEE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.chicopeechamber.org
(413) 594-2101

• Jan. 21: January Salute Breakfast, 7:15-9 a.m.,  at the Munich Haus, 13 Center St., Chicopee.  Tickets are $23 for members, $29 for non-members.

• Jan. 28: January Business After Hours, 5-7 p.m., at H & R Block, 1475 Memorial Dr., Chicopee. Tickets are $10 for members, $15 for non-members.

• Feb. 11: CEO Luncheon, 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Hosted by Collegian Court Restaurant, 89 Park St., Chicopee. Tickets are $25 members, $30 for non-members.

• Feb. 18: February Salute Breakfast & Annual Meeting, 7:15-9 a.m., at the MassMutual Learning & Conference Center, Chicopee. Tickets are $23 for members, $29 for non-members.

GREATER EASTHAMPTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.easthamptonchamber.org
(413) 527-9414

• Jan. 22: Chamber Annual Meeting & Awards Dinner, 5 p.m., at Southampton Country Club. The event will feature presentation of Business of the Year awards and celebrate member milestones. For more information, contact the chamber.

• Feb. 9: Getting Down to Business about Business, 8-9 a.m., on the second Monday of each month. Mayor Karen Cadieux will be hosted by one of Easthampton’s businesses for casual question-and-answer sessions.

• Feb. 14: Second annual Easthampton WinterFest, starting at 11 a.m. The Nashawannuck Pond Steering Committee and Greater Easthampton Chamber of Commerce invite you to the second annual Easthampton WinterFest. This community-wide event features family-friendly winter activities held throughout the day, featuring an historical ice harvest on Nashawannuck Pond, horse-drawn wagon rides, snowshoeing, snow sculpture, a chili cook-off, a community bonfire, and much more. There will also be winter-themed indoor activities for all ages. Most events are free or by donation. A lineup of the day’s events will be posted on www.nashawannuckpond.org.

GREATER HOLYOKE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.holycham.com
(413) 534-3376

• Jan. 13: “How to Start and Maintain Your Business: Finding a Location,” 5:30-7:30 p.m., at the chamber, 177 High St., Holyoke. Join us in this workshop series as members of the chamber teach members of the community the steps it takes to build a successful business. Tickets are $20 per session or $175 for the series. Series sponsors: PeoplesBank, Common Capital, Mass Cultural Council/the Artery in partnership with Holyoke Creative Arts. Call the Holyoke chamber at (413) 534-3376 to sign up or online at holyokechamber.com.

• Jan. 30: Legislative Coffee Hour, 7:45-9 a.m., at the Summit View Banquet House, 500 Northampton St., Holyoke. Speakers will be state Sen. Donald Humason and state Rep. Aaron Vega. Tickets are $25 for members with reservations, $35 for non-members and at the door. Price includes a continental breakfast.

• Feb. 3: “How to Start and Maintain Your Business: Staff – Hiring and Firing,” 5:30-7:30 p.m., at the chamber conference room. This program, the latest in a series, will provide all you need to know about employee handbooks, insurance, performance evaluation, job descriptions, sexual harassment, sensitivity training, and human resources. Tickets are $20. Series sponsors: PeoplesBank, Common Capital, Mass Cultural Council/the Artery in partnership with the Holyoke Creative Arts. Call the chamber at (413) 534-3376 or sign up online at holyokechamber.com.

• Feb. 18: Chamber After Hours, 5-7 p.m. Business networking event includes complimentary appetizers, 50/50 raffle, and door prizes. Sponsored and hosted by Gary Rome Hyundai, 1000 Main St., Holyoke. Tickets are $10 for members, $15 for the public. Call the chamber at (413) 534-3376 or sign up online at holyokechamber.com.

• Feb. 24: “How to Start and Maintain Your Business: Marketing Your Business,” 5:30-7:30 p.m., at the chamber conference room, 177 High St. This program, the latest in a series, will provide all you need to know about designing a logo, branding your business, advertising opportunities, social media, and developing a website. Tickets are $20. Series sponsors: PeoplesBank, Common Capital, Mass Cultural Council/the Artery in partnership with Holyoke Creative Arts. Call the Holyoke chamber at (413) 534-3376 to sign up or online at holyokechamber.com.

GREATER NORTHAMPTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.explorenorthampton.com
(413) 584-1900

• Jan. 27: New Member Orientation at Northampton Chamber of Commerce, noon to 1 p.m. This is the chance to tell us more about your business and how the chamber can best serve you, meet other new members, and learn how to make to the most of your chamber membership. RSVP to (413) 584-1900 or [email protected]. Cost: free.

GREATER WESTFIELD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.westfieldbiz.org
(413) 568-1618

• Jan. 14: January After 5 Connection, 5-7 p.m., at the Arbors of Westfield, 40 Court St. in Westfield. Sponsored by Susan Allen Financial. Cost is $10 for members, $15 cash for non-members. Refreshments will be served. Bring your business cards and make connections. To register, call Pam at the chamber office at (413) 568-1618.

• Feb. 2: Mayor’s Coffee Hour with Westfield Mayor Dan Knapik, 8-9 a.m., at McDonald’s, 182 North Elm St., Westfield. This event is free and open to the public. Call Pam at the chamber at (413) 568-1618 to register.

• Feb. 11: February After 5 Connection, 5-7 p.m., at Betts Piping Supply Co., 14 Coleman Ave., Westfield. For more information, contact the chamber at (413) 568-1618.

PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S CHAMBER
www.professionalwomenschamber.com
(413) 755-1310

• Jan. 21: 2015 Tabletop Expo/Luncheon, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at Storrowton Tavern at Eastern States Exposition, 1305 Memorial Ave., West Springfield. Reservations are being accepted for the 17th annual Tabletop Expo. Last year’s successful Expo was a sellout. Sign up today to showcase your company’s products and services or to attend the event. Display price includes a draped table and lunch for one. General-admission tickets include specialty sandwiches, fruit, chips, and dessert. Please note on your reservation form if your exhibitor’s table will require electricity. Luncheon admission: $25 for members, $35 for non-members. Tabletop exhibitors (includes one luncheon ticket): $75 for members, $105 for non-members. For more information, contact Sarah Mazzaferro at (413)755-1313.

WEST OF THE RIVER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.ourwrc.com
(413) 426-3880

• Jan. 15: Networking Lunch, noon to 1:30 p.m., at Lattitude, 1338 Memorial Ave., West Springfield. One must be a member or guest of a member to attend. Enjoy a sit-down lunch while networking with fellow chamber members. Each attendee will get a chance to offer a brief sales pitch. The only cost to attend is the cost of your lunch. Attendees will order off the menu and pay separately the day of the event. Please note that we cannot invoice you for these events.  For more information, contact the chamber office at (413) 426-3880 or e-mail [email protected].

• Feb. 4: Wicked Wednesday, 5:30-7:30 p.m., at Flowers By Webster 82 Elm St., West Springfield. Wicked Wednesdays are monthly social events hosted by various businesses and restaurants. These events bring members and non-members together to network in a laid-back atmosphere. Free for chamber members, $10 for non-members. Event is open to the public; you must pay at the door if you’re a non-member. For more information, contact the chamber office at (413) 426-3880 or e-mail [email protected].

• Feb. 19: Networking Lunch, noon to 1:30 p.m., at Lattitude, 1338 Memorial Ave., West Springfield. One must be a member or guest of a member to attend. Enjoy a sit-down lunch while networking with fellow chamber members. Each attendee will get a chance to offer a brief sales pitch. The only cost to attend is the cost of your lunch. Attendees will order off the menu and pay separately the day of the event. Please note that we cannot invoice you for these events.  For more information, contact the chamber office at (413) 426-3880 or e-mail [email protected].

• Feb. 25: Legislative Breakfast, 7-9 a.m., at Storrowton Tavern, 1305 Memorial Ave., West Springfield. The breakfast will feature a panel of various leaders, including state Sen. James Welch, state Sen. Donald Humason, Agawam Mayor Richard Cohen, and West Springfield Mayor Edward Sullivan. Tickets are $25 for members, $30 for non-members. For more information on ticket sales, contact the chamber office at (413) 426-3880 or e-mail [email protected].

YOUNG PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY OF GREATER SPRINGFIELD
www.springfieldyps.com

• Jan. 15: January Third Thursday, 5-8 p.m., at Nadim’s Mediterranean Restaurant & Grill, 1390 Main St., Springfield. All are welcome; admission is free for non-members. Community spotlight: Springfield Symphony Orchestra. Come learn more about SSO and their upcoming events. They’ll be raffling off pairs of SSO tickets at the event and selling tickets at a discount for YPS members.

Real Estate Transactions

Departments Real Estate

The following real estate transactions (latest available) were compiled by Banker & Tradesman and are published as they were received. Only transactions exceeding $115,000 are listed. Buyer and seller fields contain only the first name listed on the deed.

FRANKLIN COUNTY

BERNARDSTON

259 South St.
Bernardston, MA 01337
Amount: $345,700
Buyer: Beverly A. Allard
Seller: Mary R. Lightner
Date: 12/02/14

COLRAIN

15 Calvin Coombs Road
Colrain, MA 01340
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Jacob R. Coburn
Seller: Clayton R. Dodge
Date: 12/02/14

29 Dwight Cross Road
Colrain, MA 01340
Amount: $175,871
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Paul A. Bonneville
Date: 12/04/14

GREENFIELD

770 Country Club Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Benjamin A. Foberg
Seller: Norman W. Morris
Date: 12/05/14

110 Hastings St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $223,500
Buyer: Gretchen Zwart
Seller: Angela Recchia
Date: 12/01/14

58 Lincoln St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $145,500
Buyer: Shaun M. Coughlin
Seller: Kelleigh A. Weld
Date: 12/01/14

LEVERETT

48 Cave Hill Road
Leverett, MA 01054
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Mark L. Roch
Seller: Eva L. Claeson
Date: 12/03/14

MONROE

95 North Road
Monroe, MA 01350
Amount: $212,000
Buyer: William F. Phelps
Seller: Ryan RT
Date: 12/03/14

MONTAGUE

181 Turners Falls Road
Montague, MA 01351
Amount: $305,900
Buyer: Robert R. Stockwell
Seller: Joseph E. Landry
Date: 12/05/14

NORTHFIELD

65 Saint Mary’s St.
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $216,000
Buyer: Elizabeth J. Knapp
Seller: May L. Hnath
Date: 12/05/14

ORANGE

174 Pleasant St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $127,445
Buyer: Athol Savings Bank
Seller: Carey, Navarette S. M., (Estate)
Date: 12/04/14

SUNDERLAND

160 Old Amherst Road
Sunderland, MA 01375
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Kuei L. Lo
Seller: Paul J. Dauenhauer
Date: 12/02/14

WARWICK

808 Orange Road
Warwick, MA 01378
Amount: $212,500
Buyer: Corey M. Lafrenier
Seller: James C. Goodwin
Date: 12/01/14

HAMPDEN COUNTY

AGAWAM

Agawam Terrace
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $127,000
Buyer: William P. O’Hare
Seller: Donald Blanchard
Date: 12/05/14

113 Channell Dr.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Ryan Chisholm
Seller: Saw Construction LLC
Date: 12/05/14

74 Kosak Ct.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $282,000
Buyer: Brian F. Leavy
Seller: Joseph M. McDonald
Date: 12/05/14

723 North Westfield St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $209,000
Buyer: Gina M. Williams
Seller: Francis A. Mancini
Date: 12/05/14

18 Phil St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Heather C. Mansur
Seller: Daniel L. Sullivan
Date: 12/05/14

BRIMFIELD

Little Alum Road
Brimfield, MA 01010
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Daniel A. Baillargeon
Seller: Christine M. Ronan
Date: 12/01/14

15 Prospect Hill Road
Brimfield, MA 01010
Amount: $161,748
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Cynthia Macgowan
Date: 12/05/14

CHICOPEE

41 Bristol St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Tricia M. Viafara
Seller: Edward A. Como
Date: 12/04/14

729 Chicopee St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Munsing Ridge Realty LLC
Seller: Timothy J. Driscoll
Date: 12/05/14

64 Dulong Circle
Chicopee, MA 01022
Amount: $238,350
Buyer: 64 Dulong Circle LLC
Seller: Christopher P. Lapinski
Date: 12/04/14

98 Edgewood Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $163,000
Buyer: James Hogan
Seller: Joseph R. Hogan
Date: 12/05/14

914 Front St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $117,400
Buyer: Lisa A. Bessette
Seller: Kim E. Cournoyer

777 Grattan St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Brian Fournier
Seller: Dennis K. Francis
Date: 12/05/14

27 Helen St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $119,104
Buyer: Nationstar Mortgage LLC
Seller: Daniel J. Salamon
Date: 12/04/14

169 Jacob St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $179,000
Buyer: Cesar Liriano-Tolentino
Seller: Roy Properties LLC
Date: 12/02/14

35 Lafayette St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $178,400
Buyer: Naomi Reyes
Seller: Gerald R. Coderre
Date: 12/02/14

26 Loretta Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $219,000
Buyer: Chang X. Jiang
Seller: Jeanne E. Bennis
Date: 12/05/14

43 Pendexter Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $134,900
Buyer: Sreymom Suong
Seller: Kerri A. Labonte
Date: 12/02/14

833 Pendleton Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $117,500
Buyer: Kenneth E. Towsley
Seller: Jarid C. Cusson
Date: 12/04/14

8 Riverview Place
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $172,000
Buyer: Brandy Magdalino
Seller: Alfred G. Laflamme
Date: 12/01/14

25 Stedman St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $166,018
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Jonathan H. Pope
Date: 12/04/14

EAST LONGMEADOW

74 Elm St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Ersilia Sarno
Seller: Thomas D. Stevens
Date: 12/03/14

22 Indiana St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $146,000
Buyer: Eric Hirschberg
Seller: Dawn A. Sanel
Date: 12/01/14

5 Redin Lane
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $252,000
Buyer: Nathan J. Martin
Seller: Christopher L. Calcasola
Date: 12/03/14

104 Stonehill Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $435,000
Buyer: Christopher L. Calcasola
Seller: Charles E. Hulton
Date: 12/03/14

HAMPDEN

93 Sessions Dr.
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $159,900
Buyer: Bruce Coolidge
Seller: Lawrence R. Bauer
Date: 12/03/14

246 South Monson Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $214,500
Buyer: Jennifer R. Daviau
Seller: Katelyn R. Marcelina
Date: 12/05/14

HOLLAND

11 Lakeview Dr.
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $117,000
Buyer: Laura Small
Seller: Alice H. Hunt
Date: 12/05/14

HOLYOKE

140 Allyn St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Kathleen M. Fahy
Seller: Aldis B. Cauley
Date: 12/02/14

209 Beech St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $175,500
Buyer: Melissa A. O’Connell
Seller: Neftali Cruz
Date: 12/02/14

71 Davis St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Travis M. Wells
Seller: Isaac Santana
Date: 12/03/14

12 George Frost Dr.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $259,000
Buyer: Joshua C. Rickman
Seller: Maria H. Knoller
Date: 12/03/14

34 Lower Westfield Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $1,495,000
Buyer: Mont Marie Property LLC
Seller: Sisters of Saint Joseph
Date: 12/02/14

109 Madison Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $335,000
Buyer: Michael G. Washut
Seller: Richard A. Charpentier
Date: 12/05/14

42 Mount Tom Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $243,000
Buyer: Gregg J. Harrison
Seller: Christopher J. Cabrini

141 Saint Jerome Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $116,000
Buyer: Carolyn D. Roberts
Seller: O’Donnell, Helen, (Estate)
Date: 12/04/14

LONGMEADOW

76 Barrington Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $192,000
Buyer: Lauren E. Wundt
Seller: Ashley A. Grant
Date: 12/03/14

80 Mill Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $445,000
Buyer: Daniel P. Yerrington
Seller: Susan McFarlin
Date: 12/04/14

43 Wildwood Glen
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $228,500
Buyer: Kenneth R. Holt
Seller: William S. Whittlesey
Date: 12/05/14

LUDLOW

40 Brunelle St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $209,900
Buyer: Melody L. Fontaine
Seller: Scott Stuckenbruck
Date: 12/05/14

348 Chapin St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $163,000
Buyer: Kelly R. Boudreau
Seller: Andrew V. Panek
Date: 12/05/14

MONSON

102 Stebbins Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $247,000
Buyer: Samantha M. Cummings
Seller: Brian A. Scansaroli
Date: 12/05/14

3 Stewart Ave.
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Glen D. Johnson TR
Seller: AJES Enterprises LLC
Date: 12/03/14

PALMER

1156 South Main St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $157,000
Buyer: Rebecca J. Kelly
Seller: Albin Les
Date: 12/03/14

RUSSELL

883 General Knox Road
Russell, MA 01071
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Jamie Desormier
Seller: Douglas B. Mayhew
Date: 12/01/14

SPRINGFIELD

118 Arthur St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $124,900
Buyer: Elisamuel Camacho
Seller: Francis L. Crogan
Date: 12/03/14

14 Colorado St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $177,000
Buyer: Cornelius L. Blyther
Seller: William M. Hickson
Date: 12/01/14

128 Duggan Circle
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $127,500
Buyer: Tahir M. Graham
Seller: Laura A. Graves
Date: 12/05/14

240 Garnet St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $177,500
Buyer: Joshua C. Florence
Seller: David P. Chapdelaine
Date: 12/05/14

256-260 Laconia St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Michael S. Freitas
Seller: Walter L. Black
Date: 12/05/14

57 Lyndale St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Patrice M. Gresham
Seller: William R. Vershon
Date: 12/01/14

27 Lynwood Terrace
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $146,000
Buyer: Liana Rivera
Date: 12/01/14

10 Mill St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $2,300,000
Buyer: Blue Tarp Redevelopment
Seller: Orr Realty Co.
Date: 12/01/14

420 Parker St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $142,500
Buyer: Nuntana Savanorke
Seller: Josephine F. Banas
Date: 12/05/14

47 Sierra Vista Road
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $144,000
Buyer: Michael R. Sears
Seller: John P. Ballcok
Date: 12/05/14

3 South Longyard Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $179,900
Buyer: Mikaela M. Spence
Seller: Norwich Properties LLC
Date: 12/05/14

2175 Wilbraham Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $137,000
Buyer: Elizabeth P. Lancaster
Seller: Paul Duquette
Date: 12/03/14

499 Wilbraham Road
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Franco Fomuki
Seller: Home Equity Assets Realty
Date: 12/02/14

1062 Worthington St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $115,000
Buyer: Lisa Orenstein
Seller: Anthony Wray
Date: 12/02/14

SOUTHWICK

11 Fred Jackson Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $198,000
Buyer: Elias N. Baenziger
Seller: James P. Hannon
Date: 12/02/14

WEST SPRINGFIELD

84 Clarence St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Raymond J. Barbieri
Seller: Darlene E. Woolson
Date: 12/05/14

32 Glenview Dr.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $115,000
Buyer: Jason D. Leary
Seller: James R. Manley
Date: 12/05/14

52 Lancaster Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $171,000
Buyer: Kenneth A. Grass
Seller: Judith G. Pashko
Date: 12/05/14

11 Piper Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Old Oak Holding Co. LLC
Seller: Gail Terranova
Date: 12/03/14

WESTFIELD

40 Arnold St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $1,875,000
Buyer: Vandeusen Apts. LLC
Seller: Sonjack Realty LP
Date: 12/03/14

42 Arnold St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $1,875,000
Buyer: Vandeusen Apts. LLC
Seller: Sonjack Realty LP
Date: 12/03/14

54 Arnold St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $1,875,000
Buyer: Vandeusen Apts. LLC
Seller: Sonjack Realty LP
Date: 12/03/14

55 Beverly Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: John J. Pretola
Seller: Karl Baush
Date: 12/04/14

91 Elm St.
Amount: $2,825,000
Buyer: Chalmers Enterprises LLC
Seller: William Foggle
Date: 12/03/14

25 King St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Roger Eaton
Seller: Earl Smith
Date: 12/04/14

15 Kylie Lane
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $345,000
Buyer: Raina A. Patel
Seller: Richard W. Perigord
Date: 12/03/14

11 Monroe St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $1,850,000
Buyer: Pilgrim Apts. LLC
Seller: William Foggle RET
Date: 12/03/14

8 Monroe St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $1,850,000
Buyer: Pilgrim Apts. LLC
Seller: William Foggle RET
Date: 12/03/14

600 Montgomery Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Kyle E. Konrad
Seller: Robert J. Burke
Date: 12/01/14

34 Orange St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Victor L. Vela
Seller: Nicolos C. Sanabria
Date: 12/05/14

8 Woodside Terrace
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $118,900
Buyer: Jpmorgan Chase Bank
Seller: Charles W. Medeiros
Date: 12/03/14

WILBRAHAM

17 Scenic Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $259,000
Buyer: Kathleen E. Moriarty
Seller: Kirstin M. Joyce
Date: 12/04/14

21 Warren Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $370,000
Buyer: Robert M. Wallace
Seller: James M. Moriarty
Date: 12/04/14

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY

AMHERST

18 Birchcroff Lane
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $366,000
Buyer: Joshua F. Lombard
Seller: James G. Geiger
Date: 12/05/14

65 Harlow Dr.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Kenneth W. Barber
Seller: Frank S. Sottile
Date: 12/05/14

35 Kestrel Lane
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $600,000
Buyer: Harry J. Flood
Seller: R. K. Fradet
Date: 12/01/14

1401 Sourth East St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $339,000
Buyer: Thomas E. Johnson
Seller: Stephen S. Hixson
Date: 12/04/14

BELCHERTOWN

334 Bardwell St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $247,000
Buyer: Kevin R. Beaulieu
Seller: Erika L. Grundstrom
Date: 12/05/14

275 Hamilton St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Chad L. Rose
Seller: Roger F. Hitchcock
Date: 12/05/14

35 Spring Hill Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $399,900
Buyer: Carl W. Shafer
Seller: Vance P. Walberg
Date: 12/02/14

420 State St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $248,500
Buyer: Daniel A. Barroso
Seller: Joseph E. Wojnas
Date: 12/05/14

EASTHAMPTON

15 Garfield Ave.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Philip P. Smith
Seller: Betsy M. Ducharme
Date: 12/01/14

28 Golden Dr.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Christopher J. Cabrini
Seller: Marcel A. Boisvert
Date: 12/01/14

126-128 Northampton St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $1,860,000
Buyer: Denmark Property Group LLC
Seller: H. Fitzgerald LLC
Date: 12/02/14

29 Paul St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $329,000
Buyer: Franklin D. Anglin
Seller: David Garstka Builders
Date: 12/01/14

31 Plymouth Ave.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $136,000
Buyer: Christopher M. Soutra
Seller: Susan B. Brion
Date: 12/03/14

16 West St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $197,500
Buyer: Adam M. Fox
Seller: Joshua C. Stearns
Date: 12/01/14

GRANBY

12 Aldrich St.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $499,500
Buyer: Doest G. Ter
Seller: Ernest R. Tremblay IRT
Date: 12/05/14

130 Amherst St.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $174,000
Buyer: Michael J. Breault
Seller: David M. Bessette
Date: 12/02/14

235 Carver St.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Noah Clock
Seller: Joseph E. Clark
Date: 12/04/14

HATFIELD

68 Prospect St.
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $270,697
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Jeffrey A. Ranney
Date: 12/01/14

HUNTINGTON

11 Mountain View
Huntington, MA 01050
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Holly B. Whitaker
Seller: Bates, Gordon F., (Estate)
Date: 12/05/14

NORTHAMPTON

80 Barrett St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $1,212,741
Buyer: Aster Associates LLC
Seller: Betandri LP
Date: 12/05/14

95 Barrett St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $246,000
Buyer: Sunwood Development Corp.
Seller: Veronica Lap
Date: 12/05/14

18 Bright Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $314,000
Buyer: Franz Pedit
Seller: Justin M. Wheatley
Date: 12/03/14

137 Clement St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $198,000
Buyer: Jeanne M. Borfitz
Seller: Richard S. Kueny
Date: 12/02/14

43 Hatfield St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Daniel G. Gonzalez
Seller: John M. Grab
Date: 12/01/14

41 Lincoln Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $380,000
Buyer: John G. Gibbons
Seller: Barbara Morgan
Date: 12/04/14

217 Prospect St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $317,500
Buyer: Marylou Dodge
Seller: Jeanne M. Borfitz
Date: 12/02/14

91 Round Hill Road
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $1,495,000
Buyer: A. K. Saal
Seller: Edgecliff TR
Date: 12/01/14

511 Sylvester Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Anthony A. Vacchelli
Seller: Zawalick, Timothy P., (Estate)
Date: 12/05/14

17 Vernon St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Glenn Alper
Seller: John J. Meehan
Date: 12/02/14

SOUTH HADLEY

97 Ferry St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $460,000
Buyer: Joseph E. Clark
Seller: Melinda M. Costello TR
Date: 12/02/14

20 Hillside Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $164,000
Buyer: Michael J. Slater
Seller: Robert F. Caselden
Date: 12/01/14

1 Valley View Dr.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Nabish RT
Seller: Edward L. Schwalm
Date: 12/05/14

SOUTHAMPTON

11 Jonathan Judd Circle
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $264,900
Buyer: Joshua C. Stearns
Seller: Theodore A. Midura
Date: 12/01/14

WARE

113 Glendale Circle
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $159,000
Buyer: Julie N. Boucher
Seller: Paul F. Russell
Date: 12/04/14

2 Gwen Circle
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $270,000
Buyer: Steven M. Spano
Seller: Timothy P. Lagrant
Date: 12/04/14

16 Pinecrest Circle
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $244,000
Buyer: Crystal L. Russell
Seller: Mathew A. Biron
Date: 12/04/14

18 Prospect St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: N. M. St.Laurent
Seller: Forrant, Allan M., (Estate)
Date: 12/03/14

Building Permits

Building Permits Departments

The following building permits were issued during the month of December 2014.

AGAWAM

Corbin & Tapases Accountants
711 Silver St.
$19,000 — New roof

Friendly’s
19 Springfield St.
$32,000 — Interior renovation

Paul Martin
153 Bowles Road
$60,000 — Install new bathrooms and new breakroom

AMHERST

Brode Block, LLC
69 S. Pleasant St.
$20,000 — Install 71 replacement windows

Jones Property, L.P.
1 Pray Street Olde
$4,000 – Install commercial door into existing space

WD Cowles Inc.
68 Cowles Road
$47,000 — Interior renovations for new hair salon

CHICOPEE

City of Chicopee
274 Front St.
$11,000 — Slate repairs

Falls View Association
76-88 West Main St.
$20,000 — Strip and re-roof

GREENFIELD

Bryan Hobb
576 Leyden St.
$18,000 — Exterior renovations

O Ice, LLC
200 Mohawk Trail
$17,000 — Interior renovations

PALMER

Baystate-Wing
40 Wright St.
$10,000 — Alterations to conference rooms

Haley’s Grain Store
1103 Park St.
$4,500 — New roof

Sergio Dias
1 Shearer St.
$50,000 — Renovations to apartment building

SOUTH HADLEY

Bell Atlantic
Amherst Road
$18,000 — New cell tower

Verizon
274 Granby Road
$12,500 — New antennas

SOUTHWICK

Ralph DePalma
691 College Highway
$14,000 — Renovation for funeral home

SPRINGFIELD

Basketball Hall of Fame
800 West Columbus Ave.
$35,000 — Renovation to existing office space

Chestnut Street Middle School
355 Plainfield St.
$1,360,000 — New roof

Donna Bisson
175 State St.
$10,500 — Exterior renovations to fire escape

Edmund Etti
263/265 Union St.
$4,500 — Exterior renovations

Key Point Partners, LLC
1290 St. James Ave.
$625,000 — Dining and bathroom renovation in restaurant

Pynchon Associates
1380 Main St.
$7,200 — Interior renovations

WESTFIELD

FL Roberts and Company
90 South Maple St.
$10,000 — Exterior renovation

George T. Abdow
311 East Main St.
$20,000 — Interior renovation

States of Cooperation

Health Care Sections

Children’s Hospitals Begin Unique Clinical Collaboration

Dr. John Schreiber says the collaboration between Baystate Children’s Hospital and Connecticut Children’s Hospital will create efficiencies and allow the hospitals to hire more specialists.

Dr. John Schreiber says that, while there’s some geography involved in the recently launched collaboration between Baystate Children’s Hospital and Connecticut Children’s Hospital — specifically the state border and roughly 22 miles between the two facilities — this somewhat unique initiative is much more about mathematics.

Elaborating, Schreiber, chief physician executive at Baystate Health, said this effort was sparked by numbers, specifically those involving the number of children on both sides of the border who need the services of a pediatric specialist, and the number of such specialists available to provide care.

Also, it’s about bringing the populations of the two areas — roughly 750,000 in Greater Springfield and about 1 million in Greater Hartford — together to create a patient pool that warrants the hiring of specialists in many areas.

“You could have specialists who live in between the two children’s hospitals who could serve both populations,” said Schreiber as he talked about how this collaboration could and probably will manifest itself. “And that would allow us to hire more specialists because the populations are bigger.”

Dr. Fernando Ferrer, chief physician executive at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, agreed. He said the collaboration will allow both facilities to maximize asset utilization while greatly improving access to care by essentially bringing the physicians to the patients instead of forcing the patients’ families to travel to the physicians.

“There is a driving force right now in the healthcare marketplace to look for economies and efficiencies in the context of patient- and family-centered care,” he told BusinessWest. “The reality is that one of the guiding principles in family-centered care is that you make the care readily accessible and that you care for families and children close to home.

“It is better to have the subspecialists travel to the kids than have the families travel to the subspecialists,” he went on. “When you put the families and kids first, that’s really the best thing, as opposed to the normal territoriality where you have a program, I have a program, and they’ll compete.”

The collaborative effort will begin with a combined pediatric neurosurgery department — an initiative still in its early stages, said Ferrer — and likely expand to other areas, including ophthalmology (specifically eye care for premature infants), pediatric pulmonology, and pediatric urologic surgery, all areas where current provider shortages can make getting care difficult for patients and families.

Although this collaborative initiative is in some ways unique because it involves hospitals in different states and also involves children’s facilities, it is reflective of a movement within the healthcare industry to more effectively allocate resources to improve population health and continue a paradigm shift in the provision of healthcare from treating patients (in this case, children) when they’re sick to focusing on keeping them well, said those we spoke with.

“All across the healthcare environment right now, there are efforts to see what we can do together to become more efficient and serve the patient better,” said Schreiber. “Those discussions are everywhere, all across the country.”

And in many cases, cross-state collaborations like this one are more effective, potentially, because the institutions in question are usually not in a competitive situation.

“If you’re close together, as we are, you can create collaborations that serve both populations of patients with greater breadth and depth,” he said. “That’s really our intent with Connecticut Children’s, and that’s what is so exciting about our affiliation agreement with them.”

For this issue and its focus on pediatrics, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at the collaboration between the two hospitals and how it is expected to improve access to care — and overall population health — on both sides of the state line.

No Boundaries on Potential

Schreiber told BusinessWest that discussions concerning the collaboration between the hospitals began several months ago, as officials at both institutions simultaneously realized the need for — and the potential benefits from — an affiliation agreement.

“There had always been good connections between Baystate and Connecticut Children’s because some of the faculty here trained there, and we also send people down there to train,” he noted. “We had been talking about trying to grow some of the specialty services for children in the area, and Connecticut Children’s seemed so logical because they were so close.”

Those discussions eventually focused on ways to meld the patient populations in Western Mass. and Northern Conn. into one, and then devise the most effective ways to provide care to that population, and bring benefits to patients, families, and pediatricians alike, said Ferrer.

“By working together, we can guarantee these people access close to home to some very sophisticated care in some specialties, including some where there are shortages nationwide,” he explained, noting that this is the first significant attempt at collaboration between the facilities. “That was the driving force behind this. There is a cultural similarity between the faculty of both facilities, so it makes looking at this as a team approach very appealing.”

When asked how this relationship would work and how those various constituencies would benefit, Ferrer and Schreiber started with changes and improvements likely to come about in the field of neurosurgery.

Pediatric neurosurgeons are in short supply, said Ferrer, adding that some regions of the country don’t have any. The problem is compounded when service populations are not large enough, and demand for services not steady enough, to fully support such specialists.

Through the collaborative initiative, the two hospitals are essentially providing specialists for a region (the Connecticut River Valley) rather than an individual institution.

“Rather than hiring two people for Baystate, when, quite frankly, the volume might not be there, or vice versa, hiring two people to be at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center for coverage purposes but not having the bodies there, we can do something that makes better sense,” he explained. “The more efficient use of the resources is to look at the region as a whole. You say, ‘these are the resources we need to take care of this whole population, and let’s have these individuals work collaboratively, so their overlapping skill sets can contribute, rather than having them work separately.’

“This would be a two-site model, because this is not about moving children from one area to another,” he went on. “With the two-site model, children in Massachusetts can get care in the Springfield area, and children in Northern Conn. can receive care in the Hartford area. The neurosurgeons would be the ones to move to those clinical locations and provide the care there.”

Such an operation, for lack of a better term, is something that will evolve over the next several months, said Schreiber, adding that there are a number of logistical matters to be worked out. And while that evolutionary process plays itself out, the two hospitals will look to extend that model to other areas, such as urology, pulmonology, and ophthalmology.

In the meantime, the facilities will explore ways in which the planned collaboration can be extended beyond clinical care delivery through possible expansion of a new pediatric accountable-care organization (ACO) being developed in Western Mass. by Baycare Health Partners, Baystate’s affiliated physician-hospital organization.

“We’re looking to create an ACO that would give the primary-care pediatricians in the region a better infrastructure to manage complicated children, to improve quality of care, and look at a population of children with an eye toward better prevention,” he explained. “We’re looking to work with Connecticut Children’s to create that model across the entire Connecticut River Valley, and we need to join forces to have enough pediatricians in the network to make it work.”

Another area of potential will be developing research collaboration between the hospitals in order to expedite discovery and treatment of pediatric conditions, said Schreiber, adding that, as needs arise, new avenues for working together will be explored.

Not Child’s Play

When asked if there is a model that this collaborative effort is based upon, both Schreiber and Ferrer said there are similar affiliations, most of them involving care for adults, but in many ways, this initiative is unique.

“I think we’re creating our own model,” said Schreiber. “There are lots of models with adult hospitals, but there are fewer children’s hospitals, and we’re honestly trying to create a new model, one aimed at serving the children better and also serving the primary-care pediatricians better.”

If they are successful in their efforts, the two hospitals will essentially erase the state line, create one service region, and bring new efficiencies at a time when changing conditions are making them a necessity.

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

Doing Business as Certificates

DBA Certificates Departments

The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of December 2014.

AGAWAM

Alpha Nine
23 Losito Lane
Daniel Renaud

Bessette Hardscapes
76 Pheasant Run Circle
Gene R. Bessette

Best CPR Certifications
313 Springfield St.
Thomas Devine

C. Trimboli Landscaping
49 Center St.
Cosmo Trimboli

M. Perry Appraisal Services
57 Hunting Lane
Michael Perry

CHICOPEE

Boutin Rental Properties
726 Chicopee St.
Robert Boutin

Northeast Industrial Diesel
63 Dorrance St.
William Heyn

Santana’s Kung Fu Studio
4 Center St.
Maria Santana

GREENFIELD

Aromatic Fillers
127 Leyden Road
Todd Green

Art’s Tire Inc.
10 Silver St.
James LaFleur

Greenfield Garden Cinemas
361 Main St.
George Gohl

Novelli Computer Consulting
25 Pine St.
Thomas Novelli

Padula Brothers Inc.
191 Shelburne Road
Caroline Mansfield

Pristine Orientals
16 Butternut St.
William Noyes

HOLYOKE

Best Buy Mobile
50 Holyoke St.
Todd G. Hartman

Herrera Auto Sales
395 Maple St.
Jose Herrera

Holly’s Nail
2257 Northampton St.
Loan Tran

Jay’s Auto Repair
170 Main St.
Jesus Vargas

Jiordany’s Grocery
301 High St.
Veronica Roman

MC Transportation
219 Elm St.
Manuel Contin

Sam’s Quality Motors
170 Main St.
Samuel Rosa

Twin Stop
625 Homestead Ave.
Rajendra I. Swadia

LUDLOW

C.O.P. Transportation
270 West St.
Frank Arduino

Purely Caribbean Sunless Tanning
271 East St.
Katie Schebel

Studio Dic
48 Pine St.
Denise L. Catrogno

The Luxy
200 Center St.
Lisa Tereso

PALMER

Griswold Glass & Aluminum
1184 Park St.
Jeffrey Griswold

Lasting Impressions
1552 North Main St.
Mark Corbett

Walnut Street Café
8 Walnut St.
Doris Theodore

SOUTHWICK

Athena’s by Bev
25 Gillette Ave.
Beverly Labombard

Cote Property Maintenance
68 Granville Road
David Cote

Extreme Custom Embroidery
25 Gillette Ave.
Beverly Labombard

Helping Hands Elder Care
268 Feeding Hills Road
James Bouley

J & R Consulting
8 Pearl Brook Road
Janet Brodalski

Jimmy’s Pizza, LLC
81 Point Grove Road
Travis Softic

New England Peddler
23 Feeding Hills Road
Michael Albro

Tastefully Tan
610 College Highway
Angela Rivera

Whalley Precision Inc.
28 Hudson Dr.
John Whalley

SPRINGFIELD

ABC Supply Company
270 Rocus St.
American Builders

Acacio M. Serranzina
88 Enfield St.
Acacio M. Serranzina

Admiral Building Products
75 Page Blvd.
Todd Buehl

AsapcompuTerracenet
414 Walnut St.
Aaron Blanine

Asian Bazaar
607 Dickinson St.
Yasmin Siddiqui

Asian Market
19 Pomona St.
Truong Nguyen

Atwater Associates
140 Atwater Terrace
Carmen Rosa

B & R Leasing, Inc.
622 Cottage St.
Faramarz Bahrehmand

BMT Lock and Key
306 Hermitage Dr.
Walter Kulas

Bradco Supply
270 Rocus St.
American Builders

BTJ Transport
37 Newport St.
Traceyann Anderson

Cabo Fashion and Footwear
795 Liberty St.
Edwin Acevedo

Fara Leasing, Inc.
622 Cottage St.
Faramarz Bahrehmand

Felix Auto Sales
237 Dickinson St.
John DeCesare

WESTFIELD

Angela’s Hair Salon
78 Franklin St.
Yevgeniya Gnidenko

Bee Tree Acres
67 Old Quarry Road
Bee Tree Acres

CJ’s Electronic Cigarettes
26 North Elm St.
Round of Nine Inc.

Granddaddy Frank’s Barbeque
57 Katherine St.
Claude G. Stanley Jr.

Meadowbrook Antiques
658 Montgomery Road
Timothy J. Crane

Pat’s Platoon
350 Elm St.
Joshua M. Kelsey

Incorporations

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

JM Funding Inc., 24 Royal St., Agawam, MA 01001. Jake Malkoon, same. Finance consultant for auto dealers.

BELCHERTOWN

Homerun Property Group Inc., 331 Old Springfield Road, Belchertown, MA 01007. Daniel Hennessy, same. Purchase, sale, and lease of real estate.

CHICOPEE

Lucky Traders Inc., 205 Newbury St., Chicopee, MA 01013. Rafael Medina, 16 Sheldon St., #1L, Springfield, MA 01107. Gas station.

FLORENCE

Inward Bound Mindfulness Education Inc., 221 Pine St., Suite 206 Florence, MA 01062. Lori Deckert, same. Charitable organization established to make distributions to organizations that qualify as tax exempt.

HOLYOKE

Hampden County Pest Control Service Inc., 60 Pine St., Holyoke, MA 01040. Armando Santiago, same. Pest control or extermination services to commercial customers and private dwellings.

MM Senior Housing Inc., 32 Lower Westfield Road, Holyoke, MA 01040. Yitzchok Rokowsky, 274 Ridge Ave., Lakewood, N.J. 08701. Purchase, sale, lease, and maintenance of real estate.

PITTSFIELD

Morawski Inc., 343 Pecks Road, Suite 3, Pittsfield, MA 01201. Brad Morawski, 81 Longview Terrace, Pittsfield, MA 01201. Installation and servicing of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems and commercial appliances.

SPRINGFIELD

Hand in Hand Lyme Disease Inc., 111 Garland St., Springfield, MA 01118. Edward Closser, same. Nonprofit organization established to provide assistance to individuals with Chronic Lyme Disease to receive proper medical treatment, provide education, and raise awareness.

Ogun Inc., 1371-1374 Allen St., Springfield, MA 01118. Halil Kuru, same. Turkish restaurant.

STURBRIDGE

Integrated Healthcare Logistics Inc. 7 Fiske Hill Road, Sturbridge, MA 01566. Francis McNeill III, same. Consulting, healthcare-management consulting.

WEST SPRINGFIELD

New England Professional Group Inc., 105 Lennys Way, West Springfield, MA 01089. Wayne Gavryck, 705 Lampblack Road, Greenfield, MA 01031. An organization committed to the education of healthcare professionals about chemical dependency and addiction treatment, providing a path to a lifetime of recovery for healthcare professionals. The loosely formed group has been holding annual educational conferences since 1978.

WILBRAHAM

In Home Child & Family Services Inc., 2324 Boston Road, Wilbraham, MA 01095. Kimberly Anderson, same. Counseling services.

Company Notebook

Company Notebook Departments

United Financial Unveils Restructuring Initiatives
GLASTONBURY, Conn. — William H.W. Crawford IV, CEO of United Financial Bancorp Inc. and United Bank of Glastonbury, Conn., announced that the company expects to record certain charges in its fiscal 2014 fourth-quarter earnings, aggregating to a total of approximately $5.5 million pre-tax. The company has initiated certain restructuring initiatives in order to achieve greater operational efficiencies. The charges relate to a reduction in an unspecified number of management and staff positions and the implementation of a branch-optimization strategy, which includes the closure of five non-strategic branches in United’s branch network, pending regulatory approval. The five branch locations are 180 Main St. in Northampton, 491 Pleasant St. in Northampton, 6 Church St. in Northborough, 701 Church St. in Whitinsville, and 124 Main St. in Broad Brook, Conn. These branch closures are in addition to the four branches United said it would consolidate after it announced its merger in November 2013. Those four branches officially closed in October 2014. The company expects to realize approximately $3 million pre-tax in ongoing cost savings as a result of this restructuring. Nearly all of these benefits will be fully realized in fiscal 2015. “A continuing focus on cost efficiency has always been a key driver in making our company a success. We said we would continue to look for ways to strengthen United when we announced our merger last year, and we are delivering on that promise,” said Crawford. “Therefore, it requires some difficult but prudent financial decision making to make the company stronger and more efficient without compromising our commitment to exceptional customer service or our unwavering commitment to our communities. With expectations of continued pressure on spread income in 2015 due to the likely interest-rate environment, we thoughtfully and strategically identified key operational efficiencies that will result in significant ongoing costs savings in 2015.” The bank considered many factors before making a final decision, including the location of the branches and whether they supported its branch network, performance of the branches and deposit levels, demographics, and the level of customer foot traffic at these locations as well as business activity in the area. “Deciding to close these branches is not a reflection of the hard work and dedication of the employees who work at these locations. Instead, based on many factors, we just couldn’t make these five branches successful,” said Crawford. “We know change is not easy for employees and our customers. However, we will always be focused on delivering great customer service, providing convenient access to full-service banking through different channels, and giving back to the communities we serve. Implementing this branch optimization plan does not deter us from those priorities.” The company also announced that Scott Bechtle, chief risk officer, will be leaving United Bank effective Dec. 30. The bank’s risk-oversight responsibilities will be divided into a credit-risk function overseen by current Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer Mark Kucia. The enterprise risk-management and compliance will now be overseen by United’s newly-appointed chief risk officer, Elizabeth Kenney Wynnick, its current executive vice president and director of Internal Audit, who is replacing Bechtle.

American Benefits Group Receives Innovator Superstar Award
NORTHAMPTON — Helping companies navigate healthcare-benefit options while controlling costs and improving service has earned the American Benefits Group an Innovator Superstar Award from the Institute for HealthCare Consumerism (IHHC). The Annual HealthCare Consumerism Awards, published in the journal HealthCare Consumerism Solutions last month, recognize companies who excel in executing innovative health and benefit management programs or providing those solutions to organizations. As healthcare costs have steadily increased, employers nationwide have been responding with large-scale adoption of high-deductible health plans paired with pre-tax, employee-controlled benefit spending accounts. American Benefits Group provides employers with turnkey, third-party administration of a wide range of pre-tax employee benefits, including health reimbursement accounts (HRA), health savings accounts (HSA), and flexible spending accounts (FSA). These accounts help companies and their employees offset the cost of deductibles, co-pays, and other medical expenses that are not covered by their healthcare plan, allowing employees and employers to contribute pre-tax funds into accounts designated for healthcare expenditures. Since pre-tax account contributions are not subject to employment and personal income taxes, they create substantial tax savings for the employees. The company also provides COBRA administration and compliance, as well as pre-tax commuter accounts. “We’re honored to be recognized by the Institute for HealthCare Consumerism,” said Robert Cummings, CEO and managing principal of American Benefits Group. “Our company delivers concierge-level services with cutting-edge technology for our customers who range from Fortune 1000 organizations to Main Street businesses. Using leading-edge technology, such as consumer web and mobile applications and a smart-benefits, debit-card payment system, we’re delivering efficiencies and a superior consumer experience for our customers and their employees.” American Benefits Group was founded by Cummings in 1989 and has 27 Northampton-based employees. Current customers include more than 650 companies nationwide with 50 to 15,000 employees, including international, iconic brands like Ferrari Maserati, Wall Street giant Cantor Fitzgerald, and Mitsubishi, as well as many area employers, such as Mount Holyoke College and Florence Savings Bank.

Conca Brings Elite Baseball Development Program to Palmer- Wilbraham Area
WEST SPRINGFIELD — The Elite Baseball Development Program that helped develop Arizona Diamondback Nick Ahmed into the powerful shortstop he is today has come to Palmer. Conca Sport & Fitness, LLC (CSF) will be bringing its Conca Sports Performance division to AP Player Development in Palmer, located at 1 Chamber Road. Conca Sports Performance is the highly specialized athlete-development division of Conca Sport & Fitness, LLC, which offers sport-specific strength and conditioning. One such program, the Elite Baseball Development Program, has been offered at its West Springfield facility since 2009, training high-school, collegiate, and professional athletes. Athletes in Palmer and surrounding areas will have the same opportunity. With the dynamic collaboration between CSF and AP Player Development, athletes will now have the opportunity to train on and off the field, using AP’s outdoor and indoor resources. “We’re pleased to have him bring Conca Sports Performance to our facility and provide the expert strength and conditioning for the talent we are developing,” said Peter Fatse, owner and director of AP Player Development. The Elite Baseball Development Program includes individual assessments and program design, supervised strength and conditioning, and nutrition education. Pitchers and hitters are assessed using cutting-edge ZenoLink 3-D technology to create an accurate performance profile that serves as the basis for their training programs. These programs are tailored to the players’ specific needs, including strengths, deficiencies, and injury history. “What happens in the offseason is just as important, if not more so, than what happens during the season with regard to strength and conditioning,” said Steve Conca, owner of Conca Sport and Fitness. “The proper program design can make all the difference on the field, and our Elite Baseball Development Program identifies the individual needs of the players to ensure they perform their best while reducing the chances of an overuse injury.”

Elms Upgrades Library to Meet Evolving Needs
CHICOPEE — To help today’s digitally advanced students get the best possible use out of their library system, Elms College is giving the Alumnae Library a facelift this month in the form of a new ‘learning commons’ that will encourage learning through collaboration, discussion, research, and inquiry. Learning-commons spaces are an exciting trend at higher-education institutions, driven by the increasing availability and use of digital modes of information retrieval and sharing. Students now get their information not only from texts, but also online and from each other, and academic libraries are evolving into dynamic, integrated spaces that do far more than house books. Such spaces combine the library, computer lab, research center, support services, and meeting places to give students every possible resource for learning. Education has grown more collaborative over the years, and these common landing spots allow groups to innovate and collaborate much more freely than they could in the past, establishing connections and improving participation to promote learning and academic development. “Students need space to work together on learning projects, access technology, utilize academic support, and explore library resources,” said Joyce Hampton, dean of Student Success and Strategic Initiatives at Elms. The college has invested approximately $50,000 for the technology and the collaboration-friendly furniture, and also invested in a new transformer. The investment gives all Elms students — undergraduates, graduate students, and non-traditional students — a common space that is devoted to them and their scholarship, with resources designed to enhance academic success, facilitate degree completion, develop interpersonal skills, and ultimately make students more marketable. “I am hopeful that students will view the investment in their library as an investment in themselves, and will begin to treat the library as if it were their second home,” said Anthony Fonseca, Alumnae Library director. It’s also an investment in Western Massachusetts, as the library and its resources are open to the public. The new area will include computer workstations; lounge chairs with tablet tabletops that can be powered up; Backbone media platforms with 50-inch, wall-mounted flatscreens that allow for media sharing and collaboration; mobile whiteboards; café-height worktable areas with power and data access; mobile worktables with power access; laptops available for library use; new printer technology; and upgraded wireless capacity.

Holyoke Medical Center Named a Top Hospital
HOLYOKE — For the first time, the Leapfrog Group has named Holyoke Medical Center (HMC) to its annual list of Top Hospitals. An elite distinction awarded to hospitals nationwide for demonstrating excellence in hospital safety and quality through the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, the Leapfrog Top Hospital award is given to fewer than 7% of all eligible hospitals. “Earning the Leapfrog Top Hospital award tells us that we are succeeding in our mission to set a new standard in patient care,” said Spiros Hatiras, HMC President and CEO. “We believe that being a premier medical institution requires a commitment to safety and quality, as well as a fundamental respect for the patient. At Holyoke Medical Center, we treat patients with authentic compassion and empathy, as we would our own families.” Leah Binder, president and CEO of the Leapfrog Group, noted that the Top Hospital award “is widely acknowledged as one of the most prestigious distinctions any hospital can achieve in the United States. It recognizes institutions for their excellence in quality of care and patient safety, as well as their commitment to transparency. By achieving Top Hospital status, Holyoke Medical Center has proven it’s a premier institution and deserves to be recognized for its dedication to the families and patients in Western Massachusetts.” Holyoke Medical Center was one of 94 Top Hospitals recognized nationally, including academic medical centers, teaching hospitals, and community hospitals, and children’s hospitals in rural, suburban, and urban settings. The selection is based on the results of the Leapfrog Group’s annual hospital survey, which measures hospitals’ performance on patient safety and quality, focusing on three critical areas of hospital care: how patients fare, resource use, and management structures established to prevent errors. Performance across many areas of hospital care is considered in establishing the qualifications for the award, including rates for high-risk procedures and a hospital’s ability to prevent medication errors. To see the full list of institutions honored as a 2014 Top Hospital, visit www.leapfroggroup.org/tophospitals.

ENERGIA Fitness Studio Opens Second Location
HADLEY — ENERGIA Fitness has announced its second location and the launch of 50/50 Fitness/Nutrition, a Balanced Approach to Health & Wellness, at 226 Russell St. in Hadley. ENERGIA changed ownership late last year and has rapidly expanded, outgrowing its space. “50/50 Fitness/Nutrition wasn’t established simply because we ran out of space or were just looking to expand on our class and personal-training offerings,” said Justin Killeen, program director and owner of ENERGIA. “We’re completely revitalizing our systems and rebranding to ensure that people really get the full ENERGIA experience. A lot of what we provide our clients with is extremely unique, almost unexplainable in a way. Every client is different. We all learn differently, respond differently to various methods of teaching, and obtain very different results. Our method of coaching and relationship building takes the average training experience and drives it where other trainers, other gyms, won’t go.” He went on to note that one of the biggest initiatives in the new space will be to bridge the gap between healthcare professionals — doctors, nutritionists, physical therapists, massage therapists, etc. — and fitness professionals. “We don’t prescribe diets, we don’t promise instant results, and we don’t injure anyone. What we do offer is a renewed sense of balance, a promise for lifestyle change, and a community of support unlike any other.”

People on the Move

Departments People on the Move

L. Alexandra Hogan

The Springfield-based law firm Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C., announced that attorney L. Alexandra Hogan has been appointed the new vice chair of the New England division of the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC). In 2012, Hogan was voted in to join the organization’s board of directors. The New England IWIRC is a networking organization pursuing the goal of creating a vibrant community of restructuring practitioners from every discipline. For more than two decades, IWIRC has been connecting women worldwide through a global membership of more than 1,200 attorneys, bankers, corporate-turnaround professionals, financial advisors, and other restructuring practitioners. “IWIRC provides valuable networking opportunities and leadership roles on a global and local level,” said Hogan. “Whether members are just beginning their careers or they are looking to take their profession to the next level, IWIRC has a platform to help them get there. I am proud to serve on the board of an organization devoted to improving the professional opportunities for women in my field, and I’m excited to take my own involvement with the organization to the next level as the vice chair for the New England division.” Hogan concentrates her practice primarily in bankruptcy, litigation, and business law. She graduated from Western New England University School of Law with cum laude honors in 2008 and from Bay Path University with summa cum laude honors in 1996. For the years 2011-14, she has been selected by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star and a Top Woman Attorney. She also currently serves as vice chair of the Hampden County Bar Assoc. Bankruptcy Division. Hogan volunteers to the Financial Literacy Program for U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts and the Boston Bar Assoc. to aid high-school students in personal finance, and also provides pro bono services through the Law Consortium for Western Mass.
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Peter Hazel

North Brookfield Savings Bank announced that Peter Hazel has been hired as vice president and commercial loan officer. Hazel has more than 30 years of commercial-lending and business-development experience, including as senior vice president/business banking officer at Fidelity Bank in Gardner and vice president of Business Development and senior commercial lender at GFA Federal Credit Union, also in Gardner. He is proficient in Small Business Administration and USDA Rural Development lending programs. Hazel joins NBSB’s growing team of business-lending experts located throughout the bank’s business centers and seven branches in Central and Western Mass. The bank has been named an SBA preferred lender, with membership in the program given only to financial institutions that have a proven capability and commitment to small-business lending and strict adherence to SBA guidelines. Involved in a number of local community organizations, Hazel is a Gardner Chamber of Commerce board member and finance committee member, a Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts board member and grant committee member, a North Worcester Country Development Corp. board member, a board member and treasurer of RCAP Solutions, and a former president of the Gardner Rotary Club, where he twice received the Paul Harris Award for community service.
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Avital Levy Carlis has joined Cooley Dickinson Hospital as administrative director of the Massachusetts General Cancer Center at Cooley Dickinson Hospital and service-line development. Carlis earned a master’s in public health, with a concentration in health policy and management, from the University of California, Berkeley, and holds bachelor’s degrees in both biology and international history from the University of Rochester. Most recently, she served as director of Finance for the Mass General Cancer Center and was the administrative director for the division of Hematology and Oncology at Mass General. Cooley Dickinson and the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center have collaborated in providing cancer care since 2009. In 2015, the Mass General Cancer Center at Cooley Dickinson Hospital will open.
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Salon Herdis announced that Tara Abramowicz, a Redken creative colorist and image consultant, has joined the staff. She holds several certifications, including Redken certified hair colorist and Redken certified design and finish specialist, and sharpens her skills regularly with continuing education. She also travels and educates other hairstylists on color. “I’ve always been inspired by fashion, since I was a little girl,” Abramowicz said. “It’s great to be a part of something bigger than myself, in making people look and feel their absolute best.” Salon Herdis is an 11-year old downtown Northampton institution, providing a full range of hair and spa services to clients looking for a big-city experience in the Pioneer Valley. “The beauty industry is one of the few industries where women take the lead,” said Salon Herdis owner Linda Hannum, “and Tara is truly a leader among her peers.”

Agenda

Agenda Departments

Speed Networking Event
Jan. 14: Back by popular demand, the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield (ACCGS) will hold an afternoon of speed networking on at the Sheraton Springfield, followed by an evening of informal networking at its After 5. The combination of events will provide attendees the opportunity to meet new contacts in a formal manner, then continue conversations in an informal and casual setting. The core concept to speed networking is the ‘elevator speech,’ a short summary of an individual, business, organization, product, or service that a person could deliver in the time span of a short elevator ride. Attendees will be divided into groups A and B. Members of each group will be seated across from each other. Each member of Group A will have 60 seconds to give his or her elevator speech to a member of Group B. A bell will ring, signaling the 60-second time is up, and each member of Group B will then get a chance to speak. The facilitator will signal when the 60 seconds are up again, and members of Group A will then move one seat to the right and begin the process again with a new partner. The round-robin format of networking will continue until the event is over, at which time attendees can then move to the casual atmosphere of the MVP Pub for the ACCGS “Score a Touchdown” After 5, sponsored by Wolf & Co. and DevelopSpringfield with support from the Springfield Falcons, United Way of Pioneer Valley, and BusinessWest. The event begins at 3:30 p.m. with registration and instructions. To accommodate the event, no admittance will be allowed after 3:55 p.m. The event ends at 5 p.m., and the After 5 runs from 5 to 7 p.m. Reservations are $20 in advance, $25 at the door, and only members of the ACCGS, Springfield Chamber of Commerce, or East of the River Five Town Chamber of Commerce are eligible to participate. Reservations include a complimentary ticket to the After 5. Reservations for the After 5 only are $5 for members, $10 for general admission. The After 5 is open to the general public. Reservations may be made online in advance at www.myonlinechamber.com or by contacting Sarah Mazzaferro at [email protected].

Employment-law Seminar
Jan. 27: Now that the new year here, it’s an ideal time to review the past year’s changes in labor and employment law. Royal LLP will host a seminar from 8 to 9 a.m. to review some of the most interesting and significant labor- and employment-law changes from 2014 and provide timely and practical advice on how these changes will affect businesses in years to come. Attorney Sarah Torres will conduct the roundtable-style seminar, where she will provide practical pointers to assist organizations in ensuring they are up-to-date and in compliance with these new laws. She will cover topics such as sick leave, domestic-violence leave, minimum-wage increases, and more. The cost for the seminar is $30 per person, and it will take place at Royal LLP, 270 Pleasant St., Northampton. Advance registration is required, and seating will be limited. Contact Ann-Marie Marcil at [email protected] to register or if you have any questions about the seminar. Checks should be made payable to Royal LLP and mailed to 270 Pleasant St., Northampton, MA 01060.

WNEU Mini-Law School
Feb. 10 to March 10: Western New England University School of Law will open its doors to the community with a five-week program focused on demystifying the law. Starting on Feb. 10, the Mini-Law School will be held on Tuesday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Blake Law Center, Room D, 1215 Wilbraham Road, Springfield. “Individuals interested in becoming better-informed and engaging in stimulating dialogue will find this program rewarding,” said Pat Newcombe, associate dean for Library and Information Resources. “No legal knowledge is necessary, just a curious mind.” Mini-Law School offers non-lawyers an understanding of legal topics that impact their everyday lives. Each class is taught by School of Law faculty and moderated by the Hon. Kenneth Neiman, magistrate judge, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts. Blending theory and practice, the classes will focus on family law, health law, constitutional law, and environmental law. The sessions include:
• Feb. 10: “Welcome to Mini-Law School: An Inside View of Law School and the Courts,” presented by Neiman and School of Law Dean Eric Gouvin;
• Feb. 17: “Family Law: What Defines a Family?” presented by  Professor of Law Jennifer Levi and Neiman;
• Feb. 24: “Health Law: End-of-Life Choices,” presented by  Professor of Law Barbara Noah and Neiman;
• March 3: “Constitutional Law: Real Law or Just Another Kind of Politics?” presented by Professor of Law Bruce Miller and Neiman; and
• March 10: “Environmental Law: Legal Solutions to Pollution Challenges,” presented by  Professor of Law Julie Steiner and Neiman.
“After five weeks, you won’t be a lawyer,” said Western New England University Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Beth Cohen, “but you will be able to better understand laws that have an effect on your life, and, unlike traditional law school, there are no tests or homework.” Tuition is $35 for all five sessions, or $10 for each individual session. The program is free of charge for any high-school, college, or graduate student with a valid student ID. To register by phone or for more information, call Newcombe at (413) 782-1616. Registration will continue through Jan. 19. Learn more at www.law.wne.edu/minilaw.

PAWSCARS Fund-raiser
Feb. 28: Dakin Humane Society will present a fund-raising event on at the MassMutual Center in Springfield that will affectionately spoof Hollywood, the Oscars, and red-carpet fashion. Dubbed “The PAWSCARS & Red Carpet Fashion Parade,” the show will be emceed by Ashley Kohl and Seth Stutman, hosts of Mass Appeal on WWLP-22News. Beginning with a VIP Reception at 6 p.m. and a plated dinner at 7 p.m., the evening will also include a red-carpet fashion parade featuring local people of prominence, accompanied by rescue dogs (among them former Dakin dogs, now adopted). Short videos of animals recreating iconic moments in cinematic history, created by members of the public, will also be screened during the evening. “We’re looking forward to presenting a one-of-a-kind event with the PAWSCARS,” said Dakin Executive Director Leslie Harris. “We’re blending fashion, fun, and film with a healthy dose of humor for an unforgettable night. Plus, as our major fund-raising event of the year, it will be a terrific opportunity for our supporters to come together and enjoy themselves while providing much-needed aid for the many animals in our care.” With a targeted audience of 500, The PAWSCARS is Dakin’s most ambitious fund-raising event in its 45-year history. Tickets for the event are available at www.dakinhumane.org for $125 per person (dinner and show) or $50 (show only). Dakin is currently seeking video submissions from the public for viewing at the event, and the deadline is Saturday, Jan. 31. All videos will be reviewed, and a committee will select nine finalist videos to be screened at the PAWSCARS. Each of the nine people submitting a video will be awarded a free ticket to the PAWSCARS event (including dinner and entertainment). Corporate sponsors for the PAWSCARS include Baystate Health, Piepul’s Camera Center, Clinical & Support Options, United Personnel, C.A.R. Data Management and Program Evaluation Services, Hampden Bank, and Robinson Donovan. The Republican, Reminder Publications, WMAS, the Daily Hampshire Gazette, and the Recorder are among the media sponsors for the event. Visit www.dakinhumane.org for complete contest and video-submission information, as well as additional information about the event. Dakin Humane Society provides shelter, education, advocacy, and assistance for animals and people in need from its two locations in Springfield and Leverett. The organization shelters nearly 6,000 animals every year and provides low-cost spay/neuter surgery and vaccinations to 12,000 more. Dakin is a local, private, nonprofit organization that relies solely on contributions from individuals and businesses that care about animals to bring its services to the community.

Difference Makers
March 19: The sixth annual Difference Makers award program, staged by BusinessWest, will be held at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House. Details on the event will be published in upcoming issues of the magazine. Difference Makers is a program, launched in 2009, that recognizes groups and individuals that are, as the name suggests, making a difference in this region. This year’s class will be profiled in the Feb. 9 issue.

40 Under Forty
June 18: The ninth annual 40 Under Forty award program, staged by BusinessWest, will be held at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House. Details on the event, which honors the region’s most accomplished and civic-minded professionals under age 40, will be published in upcoming issues. Nominations are now open for the class of 2015, and are due by the end of the day (5 p.m.) on Feb. 6. The nomination form can be found HERE.

Court Dockets

Court Dockets Departments

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

FRANKLIN SUPERIOR COURT
Majk Samic v. Sarah Kennedy, Vicki Kennedy, Kevin Kennedy, proprietors of Kennedy’s Bostons & Frenchies
Allegation: Breach of contract, unjust enrichment, misrepresentation, and fraud regarding the sale of a puppy: $25,000
Filed: 11/21/14

HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT
Interstate Fire and Casualty Co. v. The Dennis Group Inc.
Allegation: Plaintiff seeks reimbursement of deductible pursuant to terms of commercial general liability insurance policy: $75,000
Filed: 11/14/14

Helesant Inc. d/b/a Scores v. Baystate Gas Co.
Allegation: Negligence causing property damage and lost revenue: $5,000,000
Filed: 11/13/14

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame v. Grey Flannel Auctions Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract: $225,000+
Filed: 11/18/14

Starlight Entertainment v. Baystate Gas Co. d/b/a Columbia Gas
Allegation: Negligence causing explosion and loss of revenue: $322,800
Filed: 11/13/14

U.S. Financial Services Inc. v. Berry Berry, Inc. Happy Treats Center Inc., Dalen and Samantha Pham
Allegation: Breach of equipment lease agreement: $67,162.36
Filed: 11/14/14

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Anthony Choquette v. All Seasons Painting and Decorating
Allegation: Breach of contract and deficient and unworkmanlike labor while painting: $12,000
Filed: 11/19/14

Bassett Printers, LLC d/b/a Bassett Co.v. Minutemen Press of Worcester Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $19,472.84
Filed: 11/20/14

Datagram Inc. v. CSR Wire, LLC
Allegation: Non-payment of services rendered: $5,420.71
Filed: 11/21/14

FXI Inc. v. Sleep Inc. d/b/a Mattress World
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $7,286.74
Filed: 11/12/14

Mass Park Inc. d/b/a Valet Park of America v. Nora’s Restaurant Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment of valet services: $5,265.68
Filed: 11/19/14

Performance Food Group Inc. d/b/a Roma Pizza v. Todd P. Denis d/b/a Red Rock Pizza
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $8,577.70
Filed: 10/31/14

Stewart Staffing Solutions, LLC v. Hot Mama’s Acquisition Corp.
Allegation: Non-payment of staffing services rendered: $16,997.44
Filed: 11/18/14

WESTFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Sassne Enterprise Inc. d/b/a Service Master Assured Cleaning v. Target Restoration Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment of services rendered: $10,993.50
Filed: 10-21-14

Picture This

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]

Special Delivery
PV Financial Group teamed up with Hasbro to provide the children of Parkside Early Learning Center, a division of Holyoke Chicopee Springfield Head Start, a holiday to remember. The Advising team delivered toys to Parkside’s three classrooms of children ages 3 to 5, including 27 girls and 21 boys. PV Financial Group has been working with the organization for more than a decade. Pictured, from left, are Chuck Myers, Peter Leonczyk, Lou Curto, Carole Bolduc, Ed Sokolowski, and Joe Leonczyk of PV Financial Group with the children from Parkside Early Learning Center.

Not a Foreign Concept
Recently, a group of 11 students from the Student Assoc. for Entrepreneurship at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany visited Springfield-based Garvey Communication Associates Inc. (GCAi) for some tips on digital marketing for startups. The students were on an innovation tour of the Northeast which GCAi helped facilitate, which included several stops in New York City and Boston as well as the VentureWell in Amherst and GCAi in Springfield. Attorney Scott Foster, founder of Valley Venture Mentors, also presented to the group, describing his organization’s support of both startups and innovation. John Garvey, president of GCAi, later hosted the group for dinner at the Munich Haus in Chicopee. Pictured with the students are, from left, Mary Fallon, media director at GCAi; Jamie Duncan, accounts analyst at GCAi; and Garvey.

Rebuilding Together Has New Name, Broader Roster of Services

SPRINGFIELD — The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Assoc. of CDCs recently certified Rebuilding Together as a community-development corporation.

In addition, the organization has officially changed its name to Revitalize Community Development Corp., or Revitalize CDC for short. Its focus will continue to be making meaningful improvements to homes that help reduce energy use, save money, and create a safe, healthy, and sustainable living environment for their residents and the community.

Revitalize CDC also announced expansion of its services with a Small Business Technical Assistance Program targeting the underserved Latino community in the city. Leslie Belay, senior program manager at Massachusetts Growth Capital Corp., awarded new funding to Revitalize CDC to build out the program.

FieldEddy Insurance Announces New Hire and Promotions

EAST LONGMEADOW — FieldEddy Insurance Inc., which recently became a division of HUB International New England, LLC, a leading global insurance broker, has announced several appointments.

Olga Tracy has rejoined the agency as the newest personal-lines account manager in the Monson office. She will be responsible for educating and ensuring that clients have the proper insurance coverage. In the East Longmeadow office, Karen Britt has accepted a promotion to middle-market account manager, Heather Fleury has been named small-business account manager, and Peggy Grundstrom will be a part of the quality-control team. The agency also recognized Marylou “Lou” Rosner upon her retirement. She leaves FieldEddy with more than 29 years of devoted customer care.

“In order to achieve our number-one goal of continuing to delight our customers, we must always have a robust recruiting and training talent plan,” said Timm Marini, FieldEddy president. “The experienced talent and staff at our agency speak for itself. The employees mentioned above have more than 75 years of work experience at FieldEddy. This is something that we are very proud of.”

Springfield College Names Christopher Neronha General Counsel

SPRINGFIELD — Christopher Neronha, an attorney with extensive experience in higher education, has been named general counsel at Springfield College, effective Jan. 20, President Mary-Beth Cooper announced. Neronha will provide legal counsel and guidance to the leadership of the college and will serve as secretary to its board of trustees. He will be a member of the president’s senior leadership team.

Neronha has 19 years of experience as an in-house corporate attorney, nine of those as a senior in-house attorney for Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I., where he previously was employed since 2006, as the associate general counsel and executive director of risk management. Prior to Roger Williams, Neronha was assistant general counsel and assistant secretary at National Life Insurance Co. in Montpelier, Vt., where he provided legal support for all company operations. He is an attorney licensed in the federal and state courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the states of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

“I am delighted that Chris will join the senior leadership team of Springfield College,” said Cooper. “His strong professional background and his expertise in higher-education legal issues will provide a great resource to the college and ensure that we continue to provide the best experience for our students.”

A graduate of Providence College with a bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, in political science, Neronha received a juris doctor, magna cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame Law School.

United Adds Four Commercial Bankers in Western Mass.

GLASTONBURY, Conn. — William Crawford IV, CEO of United Financial Bancorp Inc. and United Bank of Glastonbury, Conn., announced that United Bank has added four more senior-level commercial bankers to join the bank, this time strategic hires for the Greater Springfield commercial banking team.

This is the second major announcement United Bank has made in the past week regarding a successful recruitment of a team of top commercial bankers who are widely known in their respective markets and who bring with them decades of commercial banking experience and a strong commitment to the community.

On the heels of last week’s announcement of a commercial team from Santander, N.A. hired to cover the Greater Worcester market, United has recruited the following bankers from People’s United Bank to cover the Greater Springfield region: Dan Flynn, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Wholesale Banking; Tony Liberopoulos, senior vice president and commercial banking regional executive; and Rick Rabideau, senior vice president and commercial banking team leader. The fourth key hire for United Bank in the Greater Springfield market is Sheryl McQuade, senior vice president and Massachusetts senior credit officer.

“Just like we said when we announced our Worcester commercial-banking team last week, our goal is to make Greater Springfield a robust commercial growth market for United,” Crawford said. “The individuals we recruited, in conjunction with our commercial teammates we already have covering the market, along with Dena Hall, our Western Massachusetts regional president, will position us to achieve great success in this region of Massachusetts.”

Flynn will report to David Paulson, executive vice president and head of Wholesale Banking. His primary role will be to drive numerous enterprise-wide commercial-banking functions for United’s wholesale-banking team. He will have oversight of United’s Greater Springfield commercial banking operations, as well as management responsibilities for the bank’s shared-national-credit business and all business-banking teams.

Most recently, Flynn was senior vice president and market manager at People’s United Bank, primarily for Western Mass., for seven years, where he was responsible for managing and coordinating all aspects of C&I lending activities. In his previous roles at People’s United, he held similar responsibilities for managing and coordinating all aspects of a significant C&I portfolio in the Central Mass., Western Mass., and Vermont markets. Before People’s United acquired Bank of Western Massachusetts, Flynn was executive vice president and senior lender from 1989 to 2009 for the Bank of Western Massachusetts.

Liberopoulos, who will be directly responsible for United Bank’s commercial-banking practice in Greater Springfield, brings 27 years of commercial-banking experience, most recently holding the position of senior vice president and regional manager for People’s United Bank in Springfield. He also spent more than a decade at Fleet Bank and BayBank in various positions, including underwriting, loan resolution, and lending.

Rabideau also comes to United from People’s United Bank, where he most recently served as senior vice president and team leader. He will take on a dual responsibility with United as a commercial banking officer, focusing on developing and growing commercial-banking opportunities as well as a player-coach role in leading and mentoring other teammates on the commercial team.

Rabideau’s career in banking started in 1986 with Shawmut Bank, where he was a commercial banker from 1988 to 1996. He then joined First International Bank/UPS Capital, eventually ascending to senior vice president with the key responsibility of managing 10 lenders who made up the Springfield and Hartford market lending units. In 2008, he joined People’s United Bank.

“Dan, Tony and Rick not only bring a proven record of developing and maintaining profitable business development opportunities but they have deep personal and professional ties to the community,” Crawford said. “They are a perfect complement to what we are trying to do in the Greater Springfield region as a commercial bank and a good corporate citizen.”

McQuade has more than 25 years of corporate and commercial banking experience, most recently serving as senior vice president, commercial regional leader for Berkshire Bank, where she was responsible for all commercial teams and production in Connecticut. She worked for Bank of America and predecessor banks in a variety of senior production and credit roles for the business-banking, middle-market, and corporate-banking divisions.

Left to Their Own Devices

Health Care Sections

Child-development Experts Worry About the Effects of Screen Time

Dr. Jack Fanton says the increasing time kids are spending in front of screens may be coming at the expense of real-world social skills.

Television, computer, and smartphone screens shouldn’t replace human contact, doctors say, but increasingly, they are doing just that. And the results may be surprising to some.

“In our clinical practice, we definitely see an overrepresentation of children who have difficulty with handling limits on screen time, especially when parents aren’t enforcing them,” said Dr. Jack Fanton, medical director of the Child Partial Hospital Program at Baystate Medical Center.

“We see children who have too much screen time, or devices are being brought into their rooms and are at the bedside and interfere with sleep continuity,” he added. “And lots of anecdotal evidence and research suggests this increased screen time is coming at the expense of real-world social skills.”

He cited a study at UCLA, published recently in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, suggesting that sixth-graders who went five days without exposure to technology were significantly better at reading human emotions than kids who had regular access to phones, televisions, and computers.

The researchers studied two groups of California sixth-graders, sending one group to an outdoor education camp, where they had no access to electronic devices, and making no changes to the media diet of the other group.

At the beginning and end of the study period, both groups were shown images of 50 faces and asked to identify the feelings being modeled. The researchers found that the students who went to camp were significantly better at reading facial emotions and non-verbal cues than the students who had access to their devices.

“Even after just five days, there was a measurable decline in their ability to recognize the emotions expressed on the faces, compared to a group of kids without any screen time,” Fanton said.

The study’s senior author conceded that the camp experience itself, fostering personal connections with other people, probably boosted that group’s scores as much as ditching technology, and she would like to expand the study to retest the camp group again, after they went home and spent five days with their smartphones and tablets. But the implication is clear that there is a measurable difference between human interaction and screen time.

And that worries pediatric experts who worry that a generation of kids may be growing up lacking sufficient empathy or emotional maturity.

“We’re acutely aware of how important it is to promote healthy social skills, and that emotional intelligence predicts more favorable outcomes than academic or intellectual intelligence,” Fanton told BusinessWest. “With cultural trends toward decreasing recess, music, and art, and then increasing screen time, neuroscientists worry that children are not exercising the circuits in the brain that are involved in emotional regulation. When kids are not involved in independent play and creative activities, when they’re not responding to social nuances, cues, and direct feedback, they’re not exercising the circuits involved in helping them nurture emotion and self-esteem.”

Healthy Choices

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has long advocated that young people up to age 18 restrict their screen time — including TV viewing, Internet use, video games, tablets, and smartphones — to no more than two hours per day, and that children 2 and under have no screen time at all.

“It’s not that media itself is bad, evil, or a pox on society,” Fanton said. “It’s that it’s coming at the expense of social needs and developmental processes critical to later success.”

The AAP cites studies that connect excessive media use with obesity, lack of sleep, school problems, aggression, and other behavioral issues, although Fanton stressed that any one of these correlations does not prove causation. Still, pediatricians fret over statistics showing that the average 8- to 10-year-old spends nearly eight hours a day with different media, and older children and teens spend more than 11 hours per day — much more than the recommended two hours.

Meanwhile, children and teens who have a TV in their bedroom spend even more time with media, and about 75% of 12- to 17-year-olds own cell phones, with nearly all teenagers adept in text messaging. The key, according to the AAP, is not banning all this activity, but directing it into a considered strategy.

“A healthy approach to children’s media use should both minimize potential health risks and foster appropriate and positive media use. In other words, it should promote a healthy ‘media diet,’” said Dr. Marjorie Hogan, co-author of the AAP policy (see sidebar, page 39). “Parents, educators, and pediatricians should participate in media education, which means teaching children and adolescents how to make good choices in their media consumption.”

Dr. Robert Leavitt, a Longmeadow pediatrician, tells parents that it is not a good idea to put a TV in a child’s bedroom, and advises them to set limits on cell-phone use before they give the child their own device. If they don’t do this initially, he explained, it may become difficult to enforce rules later on, and their teen may become sleep-deprived as they respond to non-stop text messages from peers.

Some parents will no doubt argue that familiarizing their kids with the latest technology is only preparing them for the world they will inhabit as adults, but Fanton said this philosophy ignores more critical needs.

“I would remind parents that kids are not little adults. Kids are still developing, and it’s not automatic they will develop these social skills as adults; they acquire these skills through innumerable hours and exchanges with other people.”

And there are societal consequences to raising a generation of young people who lack the ability to empathize and relate emotionally to their peers — skills that come in handy when dealing with bullying, for example.

“No one’s saying that not spending time with devices will help kids treat each other better,” he told BusinessWest, “but we want to promote a culture of tolerance and respect, where kids spend time with each other, and screen time interferes with that.”

Media and Message

The amount of time spent with screens is one issue, but content is another. Positive media can educate children — not just with hard facts, but in empathy, racial tolerance, and a wide range of interpersonal skills. However, it can also desensitize them to sexuality, violence, and negative attitudes.

Fanton cited a study conducted by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, claiming that less than half the time kids between 2 and 10 spend in front of media is spent on educational programming. “It’s still being used for entertainment.”

Dr. Victor Strasburger, co-author of the AAP policy on screen time, noted that, “for nearly three decades, the AAP has expressed concerns about the amount of time that children and teenagers spend with media, and about some of the content they are viewing. The digital age has only made these issues more pressing.”

Dr. Laura Koenigs, a Springfield pediatrician who specializes in adolescent medicine, notes that violent programs, including cartoons, create their own host of issues. “Children who are exposed to violence experience long-term effects from watching it, even if it is not real,” she said, adding it can lead to aggressive play.

Still, Fanton said, some parents willingly accept a heavy dose of media exposure to the negative influences just outside their door. 

For children in urban neighborhoods, for example, “the parents figure, ‘they’re not out on the street, getting themselves into trouble, so what’s the harm?’ Parents see these devices as safe. We have lots of families here in Springfield in these urban settings, and they don’t want their children in the neighborhood after school. Yes, it’s tricky.”

On the other hand, social media has been a boon to families who have moved away from their extended social supports, and their devices become proxies for face-to-face interaction. That’s why parents need to set their own limits, Fanton said.

“The truth is, we’re all addicted. It’s not going away. Kids are modeling at a fundamental level what they see us doing,” he said, noting that singling out an obese child and cutting off unhealthy snacks is likely to be counterproductive if the whole family isn’t modeling good nutrition.

“The same is true for screen time,” he said. “On one hand, there has never been more content, more ease of access through all these different platforms. But it’s up to adults to say, ‘we’re modeling this for the kids, too.’ They’re not little adults; they have different developmental needs that parents need to monitor and police and promote.”

In other words, put down that smartphone and engage with your child. It’s never too late to make emotional development a priority.

Take These Steps to Create a Family Plan for Healthy Media Use

While media consumption can contribute to health risks, kids can still take positive lessons from media. The key is to teach children to make healthy choices.
To that end, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends the following tips for creating a family plan for healthy media use.

• Take into account not only the quantity, but the quality and location of media use. Consider TVs, phones, tablets, and computers. The rules should be written down and agreed upon by all family members.

• Screens should be kept out of kids’ bedrooms. Insitute a ‘media curfew’ at mealtime and bedtime, putting all devices away or plugging them into a charging station for the night.

• Excessive media use has been associated with obesity, lack of sleep, school problems, aggression, and other behavior issues. Limit entertainment screen time to no more than two hours per day.

• For children under 2, substitute unstructured play and human interaction for screen time. The opportunity to think creatively, problem solve, and develop reasoning and motor skills is more valuable for the developing brain than passive media intake.

• Take an active role in your children’s media education by co-viewing programs with them and discussing values.

• Look for media choices that are educational or teach good values, such as empathy and racial tolerance. Choose programming that models good interpersonal skills for children to emulate.

• Be firm about not viewing content that is not age-appropriate in terms of sex, drugs, violence, and language. Movie and TV ratings exist for a reason, and online movie reviews can also help parents to stick to their rules.

• The Internet can be a wonderful place for learning, but it also is a place where kids can run into trouble. Keep the computer in a public part of your home, so you can check on what your kids are doing online and how much time they are spending there.

• Discuss with your children that every place they go on the Internet may be ‘remembered,’ and comments they make will stay there indefinitely. Impress upon them that they are leaving behind a ‘digital footprint.’ They should not take actions online that they would not want to be on the record for a very long time.

• Become familiar with popular social-media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You may consider having your own profile on the social-media sites your children use. By ‘friending’ your kids, you can monitor their online presence. Preteens should not have accounts on social-media sites.

• Talk to them about being good ‘digital citizens,’ and discuss the serious consequences of online bullying. If your child is the victim of cyberbullying, it is important to take action with the other parents and the school if appropriate. Attend to children’s and teens’ mental-health needs promptly if they are being bullied online, and consider separating them from social-media platforms where bullying occurs.

• Make sure kids of all ages know that it is not appropriate or smart to send or receive pictures of people without clothing or sexy text messages, no matter whether they are texting friends or strangers.

• If you’re unsure of the quality of the media diet in your household, consult with your children’s pediatrician on what your kids are viewing, how much time they are spending with media, and privacy and safety issues associated with social media and Internet use.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

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Pediatricians Adjust to a Changing Landscape

Dr. John O’Reilly says communicating with parents about their concerns is one of the most important parts of his job.

Years ago, pediatricians were authority figures, and new parents reverently followed their instructions. But now, these doctors consider themselves partners with parents.

“Thirty years ago, pediatricians told mothers what to do; today, we give advice, but we also have true conversations. We are the experts in medicine, but parents are the experts on their child,” said Dr. Laura Koenigs, interim chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Baystate Children’s Hospital and a pediatrician who specializes in adolescent medicine. “It’s a change that has been good.”

Dr. John O’Reilly agrees. “Most of what happens to children takes place in the home,” said the general practitioner at Baystate Pediatric Associates and assistant professor at Tufts University. “The environment a child lives in has a profound impact on their health, and there are many areas to deal with in addition to medical care. Pediatrics is not just about giving shots. It’s only a small part of what we do.”

Indeed, the relationships that pediatricians form with families are critical to a child’s health, and Dr. Robert Leavitt says knowledge about a family’s history can help pinpoint concerns that may not be overtly expressed. For example, if a child has a persistent cough and the pediatrician knows their grandparent died of lung cancer that started with a cough, it allows them to alleviate fear that the parents may be harboring. “The more we know, the easier it is to help,” he said, adding that he opened Meadows Pediatrics, L.C. in Longmeadow in 1994 after working for Baystate Medical Center and a practice affiliated with the University of Rochester.

Many pediatricians see patients from birth through age 18, while others care for them until they graduate from college or are in their early 20s. “Young adults don’t always know where they will be living, and it can be difficult for them to find a primary-care doctor,” Koenigs explained.

But whether they are dealing with infants or young adults, education plays a critical role in their work as medical advances in areas such as brain development yield new information about topics ranging from the effects of screen time on children (see related story, page 38) to the ways in which poverty impacts health. In addition, doctors discuss developmental and behavioral issues that can be hard to deal with.

“Parenting is not a natural skill. It’s complex, difficult, and stressful, and different kids have different personalities that can be seen from day one. So we talk to parents about appropriate discipline, routines, and other things they are concerned about,” O’Reilly said. “Sometimes we can put a spin on problems that makes it easier for them to deal with. For example, when we explain that a tantrum is a way of showing independence, it helps parents get through the terrible twos.”

Leavitt says it’s also important to realize that children are not small adults.

“Things can be a big problem for them that would not bother adults. If an adult gets the respiratory syncitial virus, they will usually feel like they have a cold. But if a child under age 2 has the virus, they can develop bronchiolitis and may need to be hospitalized,” he said, explaining how it affects their tiny airways. “But kids are a lot of fun and are pretty healthy. They usually get better if they are sick, while adults tend to have more chronic problems and may have self-inflicted conditions.”

Koenigs concurs, and says children are a joy to work with. “I love what I do. It’s interesting, and it keeps me young. Kids have a wide-open outlook on life that makes you look at the world differently.”

Justifiable Concerns

One problem pediatricians face is educating parents who don’t want their child to be immunized against disease.

“Since we haven’t seen most of the diseases we vaccinate against for a very long time, people forget how horrible they are. They don’t remember tetanus and diphtheria or understand that a child can die from chicken pox or pertussis [whooping cough],” Koenigs said.

“Anyone who has seen these diseases would never want their child to get them, and with the exception of smallpox, they are all on the rise,” she went on, adding that a child with measles was treated at Baystate Medical Center last year, and a number of players in the National Hockey League were recently diagnosed with mumps.

Leavitt agrees. “These diseases are preventable, and parents who refuse the vaccinations are not making decisions based on scientific facts,” he said, citing the now-disgraced British doctor Andrew Wakefield, whose fraudulent study suggesting a link between vaccines and autism has contributed to plummeting vaccination rates.

O’Reilly agrees that immunizations are more important than ever as the world becomes more interconnected.

Dr. Robert Leavitt says pediatricians deal with issues ranging from irrational vaccine fears to childhood obesity to decisions about antibiotic use.

“A case of measles in Ireland can result in cases in Massachusetts due to travel between the countries, and parents who refuse to get their children immunized are putting others at risk,” he said. “But if they read scary stories on the Internet that are not scientifically based, it becomes difficult to have a conversation, as you are dealing with fear instead of facts.”

Koenigs said liberal state laws in Massachusetts also play a role in the problem. Although children are required to get certain immunizations before they can attend school, if parents sign a form saying they object to them, the requirement is waived.

Another pressing issue called ‘toxic stress’ can range from domestic violence to child abuse or a contentious divorce with ongoing conflict. The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University says prolonged activation of stress-response systems in the body (especially the brain) have damaging effects on learning, behavior, and health across a person’s lifespan, but the effects often don’t show up until adulthood.

“We don’t understand why this happens, but studies show there is a direct correlation between toxic stress in childhood and high blood pressure, strokes, and obesity in adults. It’s also hard on the heart, even if children appear to have adjusted to the situation,” Koenigs said.

O’Reilly cited other, equally important research on the brain. “Some studies show that language develops rapidly during the first year of life, and the more words a child hears during that time period, the better they do in elementary school,” he told BusinessWest. “We do simple things in our practice such as giving every baby a book and explaining to parents that sitting with a child and reading not only helps with language development, but also helps them to focus, improves their fine motor skills as they turn the pages, and helps them with visual tracking and hearing. Many people think that education happens when children get to kindergarten, but parents can do things to build their child’s brains long before that.”

Environmental Factors

Diet is another issue that can certainly impact health, and Koenigs asks parents if they have enough food to last each month, because many don’t. “Nutrition is a problem for a lot of children who are not getting enough food or the right kind of food,” she said.

Play is also critical to development, and doctors are concerned that many children are falling short in this arena. “Children need to burn off energy, and kids are active in their natural state, which helps them to build muscle and focus better in school,” Koenigs said. “But many schools have gotten rid of recess.”

She added that exercise is also important for teens, and activities such as swimming, kayaking, hiking, bicycling, and kickboxing may interest them.

“If a child is very sedentary, it makes it difficult for them to become physically active when they get older. Exercise and eating habits are often established when children are young, and a lot of that depends on the parents,” Leavitt said, acknowledging that socioeconomic factors play into the equation, and some parents don’t live in neighborhoods where it is safe to let their children play outside.

Gun safety is another problem that affects children’s safety. “Seven to eight children in this country die every day from gunshot wounds,” Koenigs said. “You cannot educate children about guns. They need to be locked up because children are naturally curious.”

Overall, the relationship that parents form with their child’s pediatrician plays a critical role in whether they feel free to share concerns about their personal situations. For example, O’Reilly says many mothers suffer from postpartum depression, and it’s important for them to share how they are feeling because it can affect a baby’s development.

“If a baby is cooing and trying to get an adult to engage in an interaction and the parent is depressed, they may not notice or may have an abnormal response,” he said. “It’s also important for people to tell us if they don’t have enough food or money because things that happen in early childhood can lead to chronic disease in adulthood.”

He added that pediatricians can make referrals and help families access help, which ranges from family therapy to community support groups to early-intervention programs for children who are developmentally delayed.

Springfield suffers from a high rate of asthma, and housing in poverty-stricken neighborhoods can be related to the disease, as children can develop reactions to dust mites and become sensitized to antigens produced from exposure to cockroach droppings.

“Baystate has a program that sends home health workers to people’s apartments to help them improve the environment,” O’Reilly said. “Being a pediatrician involves far more than medicine. We have to do many other things. We are educators, but we are also coaches.”

Leavitt says partnerships mean shared responsibility, and doctors take parents’ requests seriously. “We used to routinely treat ear infections with antibiotics. If it’s a toss-up and the parent really wants the antibiotic, we can give it to them unless it is medically inappropriate,” he said, citing just one example. “But if you have developed a good relationship with the parents, they are more likely to agree to a let’s-wait-and-see approach.”

Moving Forward

Trust also comes into play when patients reach their teenage years. As children mature, pediatricians typically talk to them alone to provide them with the freedom they need to ask questions.

“It’s my job to help them navigate their way through adolescence and give them factual advice,” Koenigs said, explaining that, unless it becomes clear that someone is hurting them or they are in danger of hurting themselves or another person, these conversations are kept confidential. “Our job is not to drive a wedge between them and their parents. We are simply another link in their support system.”

Leavitt concurs, and says teens have told him they are depressed. “We see a lot of mental-health issues in teens. There is a lot of peer pressure in middle and high school, and as their social world becomes more complex, it can lead to anxiety or depression.”

Local pediatricians say they enjoy watching their patients mature. “We get excited about helping children get a good start in life and watching them grow through good times and bad,” Koenigs said.

Leavitt agreed. “We get to see how proud their parents are of their accomplishments. Plus, it’s rewarding to see medical problems get resolved or watch a child overcome challenges. It’s also rewarding to watch kids graduate from our practice and return to us with their own kids or go out into the world and do big things,” he said.

But the road to adulthood contains many roadblocks, and parents bring a variety of issues to the examining table.

“Being a doctor is like gardening; we plant seeds to weed out things that will be detrimental and help parents to make good choices,” O’Reilly said. “Sometimes being a pediatrician is pure medicine, and sometimes it’s purely behavioral. But our goal is help families so their children grow into healthy adults.”

Briefcase

Briefcase Departments

$5 Million Allocated to UMass Amherst for R&D Center at Westover
CHICOPEE — Gov. Deval Patrick recently released a business plan on growth opportunities at Westover Airport, outlining numerous steps the Commonwealth and Greater Chicopee region can undertake to grow the economy in Western Mass. and to support the mission of Westover Air Reserve Base (ARB), the joint user of the military and civilian airfield. As a result of the plan’s findings, Patrick announced four initiatives to benefit the Westover region, including the proposed creation of a UMass Amherst Research, Development, and Training Center in Chicopee. “Westover Airport and Westover Air Reserve Base are two stellar assets with so much potential for smart growth,” said Patrick. “To support the region’s economy and potential for more private and commercial air service, I commissioned this report to look at a wide variety of options. I’m pleased with the team’s effort and with UMass Amherst’s plan to open a research, development, and training center in Chicopee to tap into the innovative minds in the city and region.” Patrick has allocated up to $5 million to UMass Amherst to support the creation of a research and development partnership program at Westover ARB. This funding would be used to lease and renovate a vacant Westover ARB building to establish a National Aeronautics, Research, Development, and Training Center with UMass Amherst as the lead institution. UMass Amherst is in the process of partnering with NASA on several innovative research projects leveraging promising new technologies to promote efficiencies, safety, and economic growth in aviation. This research would be performed at the proposed center by UMass Amherst and its industry partner M2C Aerospace, a Massachusetts-based, woman-owned small business. The Commonwealth’s funding leverages $15 million in private investment and sponsored research to be conducted by UMass Amherst and benefiting federal agencies. This site would also host a school to train air-traffic controllers and pilots and provide aviation-related courses for the next generation of researchers and engineers to develop future technologies. The proposed aeronautics center will also serve as a nexus for government and industry to collaborate on future aviation initiatives. The Westover site will house state-of-the-art laboratories, including a high-fidelity, 3-D, simulation-based training capability that meets the FAA’s requirements for certifying air-traffic controllers at U.S. aviation facilities. A significant number of air controllers in the New England region are expected to retire in the next 10 years, which will increase the demand for a modern educational facility. This approach could be adapted for new civilian controllers, which — in combination with the transitioning military controllers — would help alleviate the FAA’s shortage of certifiable controllers and allow for joint military training with Westover’s staff. It is estimated that this partnership could generate millions of dollars annually in research, education, and training from a combination of government agencies, such as the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, NASA, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the Federal Aviation Administration, as well as the aviation industry. This fall, Patrick celebrated the grand opening of the UMass Center in Springfield, and the Chicopee site will add to its already-strong educational assets in Western Mass. “This partnership involving UMass Amherst, NASA, and industry will address vital national needs in the aviation sector and help revitalize the Western Massachusetts economy,” said UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy, who also serves as a member of the Military Task Force. “This is a perfect match for our role as one on the country’s top research universities, applying our expertise to enhance the safety of air travel and foster economic opportunity.”

Feb. 6 Deadline Set for 40 Under Forty Nominations
BusinessWest is currently accepting nominations for the 2015 class of its 40 Under Forty program. Launched in 2007, the initiative identifies 40 rising stars in Western Mass., individuals excelling in business, nonprofit management, and service to the community. The process begins with nominations, which will later be sent to a team of five judges for scoring. Nominations should be thorough and essentially answer the question, ‘why is this individual worthy of a 40 Under Forty plaque?’ The winners (those with the highest total scores from those five judges) will be announced in BusinessWest’s April 20 edition, and they will feted at the annual gala on June 18 at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House. Nomination forms can be found in the next few issues of BusinessWest and also online HERE.

Festival of Trees Breaks Fund-raising Record
SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Boys & Girls Club’s 14th annual Festival of Trees had a record-breaking year, drawing more than 13,000 visitors and raising more than $116,000 to support the club’s mission. Featuring 141 trees in 2014, the hallmark holiday event for families and children raises much-needed funds for after-school and summer programs that serve 1,500 inner-city youth each year. The 2014 Festival of Trees officially kicked off on Nov. 28 and closed its doors for the season on Dec. 14. After the final viewing, volunteers made 141 phone calls to the lucky winners of the fully decorated trees that were raffled off as part of the event. All of the trees were donated by businesses, organizations, families, and individuals. The majority of the festival’s visitors participated in the raffle hoping to win one of the trees, valued between $200 and $2,000. The Springfield Boys & Girls Club provides youth-development programs for more than 1,500 children each year in the areas of recreation, educational enrichment, technology training, career development, substance-abuse prevention, health and fitness, and leadership. All of the proceeds from the Festival of Trees directly fund the club’s operations. For more information, visit www.sbgc.org or call (413) 785-5266. The names of all sponsors, and tree winners, can also be found on the website.

Unemployment Up Slightly in November, Down for Year
BOSTON — The state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported that the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates for November were up in 20 labor market areas and two areas remained unchanged over the month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over the year, unemployment rates were down in all the labor market areas. The preliminary statewide unadjusted unemployment rate estimate for November was 5.2%, up 0.1% from October. Over the year, the statewide unadjusted rate was down 1.5% from the November 2013 rate of 6.7%. During November, eight of the 12 areas for which job estimates are published recorded job gains. The largest job gains were in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Framingham, New Bedford, Peabody, Worcester, Brockton-Bridgewater-Easton, Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, and Leominster-Fitchburg-Gardner areas. Losses occurred in the Barnstable, Springfield, Haverhill-North Andover-Amesbury, and Pittsfield areas. Since November 2013, all 12 areas added jobs, with the largest percentage gains occurring in the Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, Worcester, Barnstable, Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, and Peabody areas.

State to Strengthen Manufacturing Industry
AMHERST — Building on the Patrick administration’s historic commitment to strengthening the advanced-manufacturing industry in Massachusetts, Housing and Economic Development Secretary Greg Bialecki recently joined Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Rachel Kaprielian and State Senate Majority Leader Stan Rosenberg to announce nearly $2 million in funding to support manufacturing workforce training across the Commonwealth. The announcement was made at the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative (AMC) Pioneer Valley Summit, held at UMass Amherst. “I am proud of the work the AMC has accomplished over the years, creating opportunities for workers with a range of skill levels that will strengthen our economy for years to come,” said Bialecki. “Collaborative efforts like this are a critical reason why Massachusetts is leading the nation in growing a 21st-century advanced-manufacturing sector.” Nearly $1.5 million of the total funding was awarded through the Advanced Manufacturing Pipeline Training Grants Program to support five regional workforce-investment boards throughout Massachusetts. This funding will help recruit and train approximately 280 unemployed or underemployed participants for careers in advanced manufacturing. The grants program is a cross-secretariat initiative between the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development and the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. Two Western Mass. organizations are among those receiving funding:
• The Hampden Regional Employment Board received $219,960 to conduct the Advanced Manufacturing Training Program, in partnership with the Western Mass. Chapter of the National Tooling and Machining Assoc. The Hampden Regional Employment Board will contract with local community colleges, part-time instructors from two vocational technical high schools, and an advanced-manufacturing company to train unemployed or underemployed adults of Hampden County.
• The Franklin/Hampshire Regional Employment Board received $276,705 to continue collaboration with employers from across the region, as well as community partners such as Greenfield Community College (GCC), the two area vocational-technical schools, and two adult-education sites, to enable the Regional Employment Board and GCC to offer three additional cycles of entry-level precision-machine training over the next two years in Franklin County. This will expand it from 220 hours to 300 hours and add skill building in the areas of blueprint reading, metrology, grinding, and lean manufacturing.
“The quick turnaround in awarding these grants reflects the urgency the Patrick Administration has adopted in scaling up these pipelines to help fill current job openings in advanced manufacturing all over the state,” said Kaprielian. “These awards will allow the grantees to build upon their proven successes and their capacity to work collaboratively through industry partnerships to increase the number of seats in their existing pipelines.” Through a separate grant program, the Industry Training Capital Equipment grant program, also aimed at supporting the manufacturing industry in Massachusetts, Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School in Northampton was awarded $400,000 to rebuild its precision-manufacturing training program. With the support of more than 25 regional manufacturing and workforce leaders in Hampshire County, the rebuilt training program will be a site for daytime students and evening adult learners, in partnership with the Franklin-Hampshire Regional Employment Board.

EDC Sounds Alarm on Rising Energy Costs
CHICOPEE — The Economic Development Council of Western Mass. recently voiced its concerns regarding the rising costs of natural gas and electricity in the region. “More expensive energy affects all of us negatively. All of us need to be concerned. Individuals face a reduction of disposable income and increased hardship,” the agency said in a prepared statement. “Businesses face reduced competiveness that threatens job growth and retention. Municipalities face increased energy costs while facing decreasing revenues. Hospitals and higher-education institutions must divert more resources to energy purchases, thus diverting resources from their core missions. Shrinking business and consumer spending reduces investments in those things that define quality of life in Western Massachusetts.” Through a series of meetings and discussions with entities familiar with the issues, the EDC infrastructure committee released the following findings:
• Recent and future closings of oil- and coal-fired plants have boosted, and will continue to increase, Massachusetts’ dependency on natural gas for electric power generation. Nearly 50% of all electricity in Massachusetts is generated by natural gas, and that proportion is rising. These conditions, when combined with inadequate supplies of natural gas, are resulting in dramatically increased power costs during the winter.
• Gas companies serving this region are reaching the limits of their capacity to serve new customers. Berkshire Gas will stop adding customers in Greenfield at the end of 2014, and in Amherst in 2016. Columbia Gas is reaching the end of its capacity to serve Northampton and Easthampton. It could serve 10,000 more customers in the region if it had additional capacity. The inability to serve new customers will negatively affect economic growth in the region.
• Kinder Morgan is proposing a pipeline-extension project through Northern Mass. that will increase natural-gas supply to Berkshire, Franklin, and Hampshire counties as well as Eastern Mass.
• NU/Spectra proposes an expansion of the Algonquin Pipeline that would increase natural-gas supplies available to the Springfield area and Eastern Mass.
• Several New England states have been working to bring electricity generated by Hydro Quebec to the region.
EDC Infrastructure Committee Chair Paul Nicolai summarized the committee’s work, suggesting that “supplying cost-effective, responsibly clean energy for our people and businesses is a complicated problem requiring balanced approaches and moderate thinking. EDC has struck that balance and encourages policymakers to do so as well.” At a recent meeting, the EDC board of directors approved a resolution supporting the following actions, which, if implemented, will help to provide an adequate, stable supply of energy at competitive prices:
• Increase natural-gas supply by permitting both natural-gas pipeline-expansion projects proposed for the region and state;
• Increase the sources of power generation by enabling the purchase of hydro-generated electricity from the north;
• Continue support of conservation and renewable-energy technologies; and
• Encourage a regulatory environment that promotes market stability and competitive outcomes.

Leaders Celebrate Springfield Park and Recreation Investments
SPRINGFIELD — State Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Maeve Vallely Bartlett and Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno recently celebrated Camp STAR Angelina, Mary Troy Park, and Balliet Park, all park projects reflecting the more than $7.7 million invested in parks and open space in Springfield by Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration. “Open space and outdoor recreation investments are a critical component of building robust, healthy communities,” said Bartlett. “Gov. Patrick has made urban neighborhoods a top priority, and the evidence of that is clear today in Springfield and across the Commonwealth.” Sarno thanked Patrick and Bartlett “for your continued vision in providing funding to increase and revitalize recreational and green spaces in urban areas. The legacy you are leaving here in Springfield is one of inclusion and opportunity, which is evidenced by the $3.5 million investment made here in Springfield, which demonstrates the Patrick administration’s commitment in creating strong and healthy communities.” Located in Springfield’s Forest Park and operated by the city, Camp STAR Angelina offers inclusive recreational programs for youth and young adults with and without disabilities, medical concerns, and hearing and visual impairments. EEA provided more than $1.325 million in capital funding to help fund the construction of a nearly complete, fully accessible pool and accessible bath house, as well as a universal outdoor amphitheater, construction of which will begin soon. As part of Monday’s celebration, Sarno announced that the pool and bath-house facility would be named after Gov. Patrick, in recognition of his efforts to increase access outdoor recreation for all children. North Riverfront Park sits along the northern end of Springfield’s portion of the Connecticut River Walk and Bikeway, a proposed 20-mile corridor that would run through Agawam, Springfield, West Springfield, Chicopee, and Holyoke. EEA invested $1.2 million in North Riverfront Park to transform a property surrounded by barbed wire into a welcoming, vibrant site that will better connect Springfield’s North End to the riverfront. The city’s design features a reduction of pavement, installation of picnic tables, and an increase of pervious lawn areas, plant beds, rain gardens, and additional trees to provide shade. The city is contributing an additional $300,000 toward the project, and construction will be beginning shortly. Mary Troy Park, a new park in the densely populated Liberty Heights neighborhood, will provide green space and access to outdoor recreation for residents. The park, set to be completed next spring, was made possible by a $400,000 Parkland Acquisition and Renovations for Communities (PARC) grant from the Patrick administration. The city will use this funding to design and build a new park, including a universally accessible series of free-standing play structures, including a water-spray feature and exercise equipment along a central pathway, as well as park amenities like drinking fountains and trash receptacles. The city of Springfield is contributing $380,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funding toward the project. Balliet Park received a $400,000 PARC grant to renovate the baseball diamond and tennis courts, install a playground and swingset equipment, establish a picnic area, and improve access to park entrances and walkways. Springfield is using its Our Common Backyards Grant to construct a splash pad at the park, which will be completed by the year’s end. Springfield is one of seven cities to receive funding through the governor’s Signature Urban Parks program.

Construction Employment Expands in Most Areas
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Construction employment expanded in 224 metro areas, declined in 64, and was stagnant in 51 between November 2013 and November 2014, according to a new analysis of federal employment data by Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said contractors in many parts of the country were benefitting from growing demand, yet labor shortages threaten to undermine the sector’s recovery. “It is good news that construction employment is now rising in two-thirds of the nation’s metro areas,” said Ken Simonson, chief economist for the association. “But now that the unemployment rate for construction workers has fallen to a seven-year low, it has become a major challenge to find qualified workers in many fields.”

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies Departments

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

Beaumier, Zayne F.
33 River St.
Russell, MA 01071
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/04/14

Blasco, Dana V.
P.O. Box 214
Wales, MA 01081
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/10/14

Boucher, Robert J.
360 Fuller St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 11/30/14

Brown, William J.
Brown, Donna M.
a/k/a Conte, Donna M.
PO Box 1278
Westfield, MA 01086
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/02/14

Burlin, Kimberly A.
97 Grape St., Apt. D
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/01/14

Celiz, April Joy S.
321 Athol Road
Warwick, MA 01378
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/02/14

Chlosta, Stephen
Chlosta, Diane Jeanne
6 Brittany Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/11/14

Cooney, Jessie C.
41 Lloyd Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 12/01/14

Della Giustina, Sarah
95 Hampden St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/03/14

Dietz, William M.
PO Box 882
Chicopee, MA 01021
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/15/14

Dwyer, Philip Edmund
48 Birch Lane
Williamstown, MA 01267
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/03/14

Fairchild, Ronald R.
Fairchild, Laura J.
PO Box 742
Becket, MA 01223
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/03/14

Giard, Jeanne E.
42 Purington Lane
Colrain, MA 01340
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 12/01/14

Gonzalez, Francisco
Gonzalez, Rosael
PO Box 6826
Holyoke, MA 01041
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/04/14

Jes’ Custom Cleaning
Whitehead, Frank Scott
Whitehead, Jessica M.
a/k/a Maria, Jessica P.
41 Oleander St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/08/14

Jurek, Karen T.
739 Daniel Shays Hwy. Box
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/03/14

Lopez, Melito
425 South Elm St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/09/14

Lovejoy, Glen Matthew
Lovejoy, Karen Meyers
38 Orchard St. #2
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/11/14

Martin, Richard P.
138 Mill St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/09/14

Martinez, Valentin Rodriguez
310 Stafford St., #703
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/03/14

Martunas, Patrick F.
Martunas, Jolene M.
67 Kittredge Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/03/14

Millette, Daniel A.
19 Norwood Terrace
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 12/01/14

Moreau, Roger A.
38 Continental St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 12/11/14

Morgado, Fernando M.
34 Alvin St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/12/14

Peloquin, Mark Francis
1 Normandy Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 12/12/14

Rivera, Hilda
17 Forest Park Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/13/14

Rosewarne, Jennifer L.
a/k/a Stetson-Rosewarne, Jennifer L.
358 Conway St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/11/14

Sinclair, Rodney F.
147 Westhampton Road
Florence, MA 01062
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/03/14

Snow, Michael J.
15 Clapp Road
P.O. Box 204
Hardwick, MA 01037
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 12/08/14

Songer, Donna E.
a/k/a Knowlton, Donna E.
431 South Main St.
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/02/14

Starsiak, Ryszard
a/k/a Starsiak, Richard
Starsiak, Jolanta
100 Huntington Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/04/14

Stasiowski, Lindsey Marie
925 Muddy Brook Road
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/15/14

Trzcinski, Susan J.
19 Oliver St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/15/14

Vega, Jose
Vega, Ingrid
59 Davis St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/13/14

Velazquez, Osvaldo
Velazquez, Zoraida
50 Brickett St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/15/14

Webster, Christopher D.
42 Waid Road, Apt. B
Monson, MA 01057
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/12/14

Weeks, Kris L.
Weeks, Karyn F.
20 Settright Road
South Deerfield, MA 01373
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/15/14

Whitley, Dawn E.
44 Klondike Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/05/14

Berkshire Bank Featured in American Bankers Assoc. Magazine

PITTSFIELD — Berkshire Bank has been featured in the November issue of the American Bankers Assoc. (ABA) Marketing and Sales magazine in an article titled “Communicating About a Bank Merger or Acquisition.” Elizabeth Mach, vice president and marketing officer, was interviewed by the ABA regarding best practices and strategies when communicating a merger to current and future customers.

STCC Offers Free Tax-filing Assistance to Springfield Community

SPRINGFIELD — Starting Tuesday, Jan. 27, Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) will offer a free income-tax filing-assistance program for low-to-moderate income-tax payers through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program in partnership with Single Stop USA.

Single Stop is a national organization that works with community colleges to help connect students to state and federal financial resources and local community services. The aim is to help students overcome economic barriers, continue with their education, and move toward economic mobility.

The VITA program will assist STCC students and surrounding community residents with preparing and filing their tax returns. Volunteers from the community, including STCC students, are IRS-trained and certified to help filers prepare and submit their returns electronically. Volunteers are members of the Mass. Tax Assistance Coalition and can also prepare taxes for Connecticut and other surrounding states.

“Through VITA, filers will get their refund just as fast as they would if they went to a commercial tax-preparation company,” said Richard Keller, STCC’s VITA site coordinator. “It can often cost as much as $200 to $300 to have an outside company prepare a family’s taxes, but our program is free, so there’s significant savings.”

This is the second year STCC will offer the VITA program. According to Leona Ittleman, dean of the STCC School of Business and Information Technologies, the program served more than 100 filers last year, and she expects the number to increase this year. As a kickoff to the start of tax-preparation season, a ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held on Jan. 27 at 10 a.m. in the VITA office.

“One of the advantages of students having their taxes filed here is that we can screen them for additional financial resources and benefits through our Single Stop program,” said Roosevelt Charles, STCC’s director of access and student success. “They can also make appointments for assistance with their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms.”

Those who would like to take advantage of the program can schedule appointments online at www.stcc.edu/cas/vita or by calling (413) 755-4215. Walk-ins are welcome, though appointments are preferred, especially during peak filing periods. The VITA office will be open Tuesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and is located in Building 15, Room 105.

Difference Makers to Be Announced Feb. 9, Gala Set for March 19

HOLYOKE — The seventh annual Difference Makers award program, staged by BusinessWest, will be held at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House in Holyoke on Thursday, March 19. Details on the gala will be published in upcoming issues of the magazine. Event sponsors include Six Point Creative Works, Northwestern Mutual, Royal LLP, and Sarat Ford Lincoln.

Difference Makers is a program, launched in 2009, that recognizes groups and individuals that are, as the name suggests, making a difference in this region. The magazine’s editor and publishers have selected this year’s honorees from submitted nominations, and the class of 2015 will be unveiled and profiled in the Feb. 9 edition — always a must-read issue.

WMECo to Rebrand as Eversource Energy

SPRINGFIELD — Western Massachusetts Electric Co. (WMECo) announced it will undergo a corporate rebranding, complete with a new name, Eversource Energy. The change will become official on Feb. 2.

All subsidiaries of Hartford-based Northeast Utilities will take the new name, including WMECo, NSTAR, Connecticut Light and Power Co., Public Service Co. of New Hampshire, and Yankee Gas Services Co. Tom May, chairman, president, and CEO of Northeast Utilities, stated in a press release that “consolidating our brand was the obvious next step for us as we continually strive to improve energy delivery and customer service to our 3.6 million electricity and natural-gas customers across the region.”

West of the River Chamber to Stage Legislative Breakfast

WEST SPRINGFIELD — The West of the River Chamber of Commerce announced that it will stage its Legislative Breakfast, an event that brings members and non-members together for a morning of breakfast and legislative updates, on Feb. 25 from 7 to 9 a.m. at the Storrowton Tavern Carriage House in West Springfield.

Attendees will have the opportunity to connect with local business people over breakfast, and later will enjoy an informational session presented by a panel of legislators including state Sens. Donald Humason and James Welch, state Rep. Michael Finn, Agawam Mayor Mayor Richard Cohen, and West Springfield Mayor Edward Sullivan. Political consultant Anthony Cignoli will emcee the event and offer economic updates. Sponsors for the event are Health New England, OMG, the Insurance Center of New England, Ormsby Insurance, and Spherion.

The cost is $25 for members, $30 for non-members. For more information, call the chamber office at (413) 426-3880.

Entertainment Cinemas at Springfield Plaza to Close Sunday

SPRINGFIELD — The owners of the Entertainment Cinemas at the Springfield Plaza announced they would be closing the business on Sunday after years of declining revenues and soaring operating costs. A spokesperson for Entertainment Management Corp. told the Republican that the 16-screen facility, built in 1999, will show its last films on Sunday evening.

MassMutual to Continue Sponsorship of Hampden County Legal Clinic

SPRINGFIELD — The Hampden County Bar Assoc. announced that MassMutual will be continuing its sponsorship of the Hampden County Legal Clinic for 2015 with a grant of $20,000. The grant will help carry on the expansion of pro bono activities as well as the promotion of the clinic.

MassMutual has been the Hampden County Legal Clinic’s exclusive sponsor since 2012, not only providing financial support but also taking a leadership role in developing new pro bono opportunities and encouraging its in-house lawyers, paralegals, and staff to participate in the clinic’s programs.

“Sponsoring the Hampden County Legal Clinic enhances access to justice for a significant number of local residents, ultimately benefiting the Greater Springfield community as well,” said Mark Roellig, executive vice president and general counsel. “We are proud to continue this relationship and hope to see growing numbers of legal volunteers donating their time through the clinic’s programs.”

Real Pickles Wins Good Food Award

GREENFIELD — Dan Rosenberg and Addie Rose Holland of Greenfield-based Real Pickles joined top artisan food producers from around the country on Thursday for the Good Food Awards ceremony at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Real Pickles was awarded a top honor at the event for its organic beet kvass, a fermented beverage traditional to Eastern Europe.

“One of our goals at Real Pickles has always been to promote the flavor and health benefits of fermented foods,” said Rosenberg. “Receiving a national honor like the Good Food Award helps us get this message out.”

Real Pickles uses the traditional pickling process — without vinegar — to make its line of fermented vegetables. The organic beet kvass is made with certified organic vegetables from northeast family farms, as are all of the company’s products. The kvass is available by the bottle from area retailers, including Green Fields Co-op Market in Greenfield, River Valley Co-op Market in Northampton, and Whole Foods Market in Hadley.

The Good Food Awards are given to artisan producers in five regions of the U.S. in 11 categories — beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, coffee, confections, honey, oil, pickles, preserves, and spirits — and highlight outstanding American food producers who are making food that is exceptionally delicious and supports sustainability and social good. There were 11 other winners from New England, including Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge and Hosta Hill in West Stockbridge. Real Pickles’ organic garlic dill pickles won the award in 2012 and 2013.

Atlantic Fasteners Moves to Larger Facility in Agawam

AGAWAM — Atlantic Fasteners has moved to a 44,500-square-foot facility in Agawam, bringing all employees under one roof. The 100%-employee-owned company, which sells industrial and aerospace fasteners and supplies nationwide, previously operated out of three locations in neighboring West Springfield.

The new facility has the capacity to hold four times the company’s current inventory and accommodate 25% more office employees. It includes a 22-foot pickup counter, complete with 17 technical fastener wall charts to help customers with measuring fasteners, identifying head styles, and other important information.

The ISO 9001:2008 and AS9120-certified firm was founded by Western Mass. businessman Patrick O’Toole in 1981. He sold the company to his employees in 2005.

SSO Executive Director Leaving for New Position

By BusinessWest Staff January 8, 2015