Home 2015 May (Page 2)
Opinion
A Smart Choice for UMass

A university looks for many things from its president — everything from an ability to raise money (yes, we put that first for a reason) to a capacity for not only setting lofty goals, but reaching them, to a talent for inspiring others to reach higher.
Marty Meehan put all those talents on display at UMass Lowell, which he led for several years as chancellor after serving as a U.S. congressman. And we have the highest confidence that he will continue to exhibit those traits as the next president of the University of Massachusetts.
Long the favorite to succeed Robert Caret as leader of the five-campus UMass system, Meehan, a graduate of UMass Lowell, was officially given the job earlier this month. Suffice to say, selection committees at the university have had more difficult choices to make in recent decades — Meehan was the obvious choice here — but we’re not sure there’s been a more important one.
Indeed, Caret accomplished a good deal in his tenure at the university — initiating or completing projects ranging from the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center in Holyoke to the UMass Springfield facility in Tower Square, to the building of several new buildings, not only on the Amherst campus, but other facilities as well. And beyond those physical, landscape-altering accomplishments, he helped the university set and exceed lofty goals for fund-raising, research dollars, and that intangible known as prestige.
The next president has the difficult but appealing task of building upon this solid foundation, setting the bar higher, and then clearing that height.
Meehan has shown that he is capable of doing just that. At UMass Lowell, he led efforts to build new dorms and laboratories, strike partnerships with private companies for research, create a far more diverse student population, improve graduation rates, and, perhaps most importantly, increase private fund-raising by 67%.
He didn’t do all that by himself, obviously, but he set the tone and created an environment in which nothing short of excellence was expected — and demanded.
Doing the same at UMass Amherstwill be much more difficult, because the stage is much bigger, the politics are much thicker, the expectations are greater, the stakes are much higher, and, let’s face it, the spotlight under which he’ll be operating will be much brighter. And let’s not forget that he’ll be leading the public university in a state that has not supported public higher education in the manner that it should.
But we believe Meehan is capable of shining in that spotlight, succeeding on that bigger stage, and overcoming the overriding challenges because of his ability to build consensus and generate support for a cause — in this case, what is arguably the state’s most powerful economic engine.
Meehan has already vowed to stay in his position for 10 years. We view that as a commitment to the school, the state, and the Commonwealth’s public higher-education system as a whole.
Given Meehan’s past track record for success, this should be a decade of progress and growth for the UMass system, and development of new and different ways for it to become a difference maker, not only locally, but nationally and globally as well.

Community Profile Features
Great Barrington Gets Creative for Its Own ‘Big Dig’

Christopher Rembold and Jennifer Tabakin

Christopher Rembold and Jennifer Tabakin say construction hasn’t halted plans to transform the former historic Searles High School into a hotel and conference center.

Main Street in downtown Great Barrington has always been an interesting place with lots to do. These days, it still fits that description, but for many more — and quite intriguing — reasons.

A few weeks ago, for example, a crowd of people outfitted in western clothing, including cowboy hats, gathered in front of the coffee shop known as Fuel for what became a Wild West flash-mob gathering.

“Two large hitching posts had been planted in the dirt outside, and two horses, a wagon, and young calves were tied to them as if it was an old western tavern,” recalled Town Planner Christopher Rembold, adding that farmer Stan Stanton, who brought the animals to the site, gave people rides on the horse and buggy, while others enjoyed unlimited coffee on the dusty sidewalk.

Dusty, because the street and its sidewalks have been torn apart as part of a massive reconstruction project on the half-mile stretch of Main Street along which 20,000 to 25,000 vehicles travel each day.

That western-themed gathering was just one of many events and activities drawn up by the town, the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, and individual business owners to maintain vibrancy in a thriving downtown during a project that is long overdue and will yield long-term dividends — but is, at this moment, a huge pain in the neck.

“We’ve taken a proactive approach because we want to make sure our downtown remains vibrant, so we’re working with local businesses to increase the number of activities they offer,” said Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin, noting that, collectively, these efforts are part of something called the “placemaking” program (more on that later).

“Main Street is not just a road; it’s a place to be. It’s the cultural and commercial hub for all of Southern Berkshire County, and has become our community common,” said Rembold. “We recognized the construction could be disruptive before it began, so we needed to find a way to keep people coming downtown to gather, shop, and dine.”

But while the ongoing construction work is in many ways dominating day-to-day life downtown, there is much going on beyond those scenes, including progress with redeveloping some of the town’s better-known but long-idle landmarks.

For example, the former St. James Episcopal Church, which marks the southern gateway into town, will be transformed into a cultural performing space. Meanwhile, the former Methodist Church at the northern gateway into town, which had also been vacant for several years, was purchased last year by a local developer who just received the permits needed to renovate it.

And the privately owned former train station, just west of Town Hall, was turned into a dance studio last fall, and last year the former Searles High School was purchased by nationally known Iredale Mineral Cosmetics, whose headquarters are downtown.

“They’re working with local hotel owner Vijay Mahida, who owns the Fairfield Marriott on Stockbridge Road, to turn it into a first-class restaurant and conference facility. We hope to see the plans this summer,” Rembold said. “It will bring additional people downtown, as well as jobs.”

Officials say the combination of placemaking events, historic renovations, and infrastructure work will keep Great Barrington vibrant for the coming months — and the long term as well. For this, the latest installment of BusinessWest’s Community Spotlight series, we look at how the picture will likely come into focus.

The Real Dirt

Rembold said Main Street and its sidewalks have needed to be redone for many years.

“They were in very bad shape. We needed new storm-water drainage and a new natural-gas main, in addition to a complete reconstruction of the road and sidewalks,” he said, adding that town officials began planning for the $6 million project in 2009 when they paid Fuss & O’Neill to design a streetscape plan, which included new lighting and traffic signals. At the same time, they applied for state funding to pay for the initiative.

The actual construction began last July, but wasn’t too disruptive because the road had not been torn up. “But we knew this spring and summer would be difficult for businesses,” Rembold said, adding that, by the end of June, the blacktop will be laid from Castle Street to Elm Street, new traffic lights will be installed, and the sidewalks will also be finished. However, J.H. Maxymillian Inc., the firm handling the project, will not complete the work until December, with final aesthetics finished next spring.

That means several more months of Main Street as a construction site, and thus the need for more creative programming to keep downtown humming.

Knowing such initiatives would be needed, town officials last year hired the so-called Project for Public Spaces to conduct a workshop for elected and appointed leaders, the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, and Lee Bank. “We wanted to find out what they could teach us about what other towns have done during similar construction,” Rembold explained.

The next step was a brainstorming session with local businesses, and since that time, everyone involved has gotten quite creative; even Maxymillian has joined the effort.

“We banned single-use plastic shopping bags last year, so Maxymillian donated 1,000 bright yellow canvas bags with a logo that reads, ‘I Dig GB’ printed beneath the shovel of the arm of a large tractor,” Rembold said.

In an effort to keep people informed, Betsy Andrus, executive director of the chamber, pens a weekly construction update to let people know the status of the project and what Maxymillian, Verizon, and other companies will be doing on a day-by-day basis. Businesses receive notification via e-mail, and the information is posted on the chamber’s website, printed in the Berkshire Record, and read on WSBS radio.

“The town is still functioning, and the police are doing a phenomenal job keeping the traffic moving,” she told BusinessWest. “I drive down Main Street several times each day so I can time how long it takes, and it has never been longer than eight minutes.”

Businesses have also held ‘no sidewalk’ sales; the Farmer’s Market is relocating to a parking lot on Church Street, and the town hopes to stage outdoor movies downtown during the summer.

Another placemaker planned for June 1 involves a collaboration between restaurants that will host a GB Dig and Dine Event. “Picture 200 people dressed in white having an elegant dinner on tables with white tablecloths outside in the midst of the Main Street construction,” said Andrus, adding that the food will be provided by Allium, Castle Street Café, and Prairie Whale restaurants, while unusual, construction-related props will add to the fun.

She added that Barbara Watkins, who owns the Evergreen Fine American Crafts store, has been a lead organizer of the dinner and has gone door-to-door to businesses to generate excitement about the placemaking effort.

The multi-faceted infrastructure work should eventually make downtown Great Barrington an even better place to do business, for both existing ventures and several new concepts that will soon take shape in those aforementioned landmarks.

The former St. James Church, for example, sat empty for four or five years and was slated for demolition until Fred and Sally Harris purchased it to prevent that action. The town provided them with $150,000 of Community Preservation Act funding to support their $7 million investment, and the building is scheduled to open next spring and become a venue for concerts, lectures, and more. The first floor, Rembold noted, was attractively renovated to house a food pantry.

At the former Methodist Church, the developer has plans to place an 80-seat restaurant in the historic building, which Rembold described as “critical to Great Barrington’s identity.”

Progress is also being made at the former Leeds Cleaners. It is privately owned, but the town secured funding from MassDevelopment to conduct environmental testing to determine the cost of any contamination cleanup. “It’s been vacant for years, and there has been a lot of interest in it because it’s in an ideal location,” Tabakin said, adding the study results should help to make it more marketable.

In addition to these development initiatives, a number of new activities and programs are intended to bring people downtown and create more momentum for the central business district.

Paint the Town, for example, taking place at the end of July, will give people the opportunity to take painting classes at three or four outdoor locations. “Several organizations have donated easels, artists are donating their time, and we’re working with the stores to donate cookies and lemonade,” Andrus told BusinessWest. “They really understand it’s time to team up and work together.”

Another initiative, dubbed Decorate and Shade, is aimed at recreating the shade that was lost when the trees on Main Street were ripped up. New ones will be planted, but since they will take time to grow, businesses can purchase large planters shaded by 9-foot umbrellas and set chairs around them. “We’re encouraging them to be creative and use the planters to hold signs, flags, or balloons,” Andrus said.

Digging It

Despite all of the placemaking events and activity, it has not been easy for businesses to contend with the traffic backups and construction. However, some, including Alan Kalish, who manages the Vault Gallery, see it as an opportunity for growth. “We’ve doubled our space in the last two months. The town will be so beautiful when the work is done that we will get more tourists than ever before,” he said. “The construction gave us the impetus to want to do more business.”

Rembold said the investments and the collaborations taking place are significant and bode well for the future.

“Great Barrington may be small, but there is a lot happening,” he noted. “Everything here is getting better, and our downtown is being transformed.”

Great Barrington at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1761
Population: 7,003 (2012)
Area: 45.2 square miles

County: Berkshire
Residential Tax Rate: $13.72
Commercial Tax Rate: $13.72
Median Household Income: $50,882 (2012)
Family Household Income: $75,508 (2012)
Type of government: Open town meeting
Largest Employers: Fairview Hospital; Prairie Whale; Kutscher’s Sports Academy
* Latest information available

Education Sections
Springfield College Enhances Its Image with New Logo, Branding

SpringfieldCollegeMasterLogo0515Springfield College’s basic role hasn’t changed since the institution was established in 1885.
“Our mission has always been to educate young people in mind, body, and spirit for leadership in service to others,” said Stephen Roulier, the school’s executive director of Marketing and Communications, adding that this includes engaging in community service while enrolled at the school.
Indeed, the percentage of students who volunteer time and energy to a wide variety of local and national nonprofit organizations is a hallmark of the college that sets it apart from its competitors.
“Market research that was done by the branding and marketing agency Ologie a year ago showed that this is the tie that binds us,” Roulier told BusinessWest. The research, conducted in conjunction with the college, included roundtables, online surveys, and phone interviews with faculty, staff members, students, graduates, prospective students and their parents, and local business partners.
That research helped officials at the school conclude that this ‘tie’ is not effectively communicated in the college’s marketing and branding efforts, a shortcoming that might have historically hindered efforts to attract students with similar mindsets.
The school’s official seal has doubled as a logo and been used on everything from stationary to paychecks to promotional materials. But components on it, such as the lamp of knowledge, are used by other schools.
In addition, many people view Springfield College primarily as a place to get a sports-related education, due to its renowned reputation in that area, which means that many students interested in fields such as business or psychology may not consider it.
The combination of these factors led Roulier, who previously helped Western New England College rebrand itself as it became a university, to approach President Mary-Beth Cooper with the idea of creating an official logo and consistent branding message.
“I told her we needed to put out the right message so we could become more recognizable and broaden our recruitment reach,” he recalled. She was in agreement, and the work that has been done to develop new branding included the recent study by Ologie.
Since that time, a new logo has been created — a simple inverted triangle, without the words and outer circle that are part of the seal. “We retained the image as it speaks to balance in mind, spirit, and body,” Roulier said.
For this issue and its focus on education, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at this rebranding effort and what it might mean for this venerable institution.

Altruism in Action
The college’s new branding will focus in part on the volunteer work done by students, who learn to live balanced lives long before they graduate.
“We want each department to showcase their strengths, but also align them with our greater mission,” Roulier said. “We’re all about teamwork, which is very important to the Springfield College student or graduate.”
He told BusinessWest that a large number of students participate in the college’s Humanics in Action Day, held each year during the fall semester. Classes are cancelled, and students sign up to volunteer at a wide variety of nonprofits. “It’s not mandatory, but close to 100% participate,” Roulier said, “and it’s a great experience for everyone because they work alongside staff members and coaches.”
Last year, noted Shannon Langone, program director for Americorps, students and staff worked on more than 100 projects during the day, which included reading to schoolchildren, removing graffiti from buildings, and cleaning the yards of more than 60 elderly residents as well as a number of vacant lots.
“What’s great about this is that the students are working with the community and its diverse population, and by utilizing their skills, they are much more prepared to go out in the world, get a job, and contribute to their neighborhood,” Langone said.

Steve Roulier

Steve Roulier says the new logo and unified branding message reflect Springfield College’s mission.

Last year, 49% of freshmen in undeclared majors chose to register for “First Year Seminar,” a one-credit, half-semester course in which they learn about the importance of community service while they decide what their focus of study will be. During the class, they visit a nonprofit with their professor, gain knowledge about it, and then engage in a service project.
Spring break is another time when students are given the opportunity to work with charitable groups such as Habitat for Humanity or the college’s Americorps program. “Some return year after year,” Roulier said. In addition, many academic departments incorporate experiential learning into the curriculum beginning in freshman year.
Langone said Springfield College boasts more than 3,000 students who perform some type of community service every year, which accounts for more than 97,000 hours of unpaid time. Another 400,000 hours are donated through unpaid internships and field hours.
As strong as this track record is, and as much as it is synonymous with the school, it is not accurately reflected in the college’s look and marketing efforts.
“There is a misconception about Springfield College. Some people believe if you are not interested in sports, you would not fit in here socially or academically. We are well-known for our physical education programs, but our struggle has been to let prospective students and parents know that we offer a wide variety of majors,” Roulier said, adding that, in addition to its main campus, the school has nine satellite campuses across the country. In the past, they offered only majors in human services, but beginning July 1, the program offerings will be expanded.
Meanwhile, he noted that past marketing efforts have used mixed messaging to promote the college.
“Some recruiters have touted Springfield as the birthplace of basketball or used that as a tagline,” Roulier said, citing an example. “But the study showed that students and staff members who come here really care about humanity, which identifies more about who we are than the majors we offer. I was really amazed when I took this job to find that students really live the mission; they not only know it, but live and breathe it.”
Roulier believes the school’s new look will convey that message and is hopeful that it will resonate in the same way that other corporate images do.
“Some people claim they smell french fries when they see the Golden Arches,” he explained, “and the Apple symbol is associated with high-quality technology.”

Brand New
Roulier expects it will take a year to create a consistent, unified branding message, which includes redesigning the college website to reflect it.
“But it will help admissions counselors recruit new students. In the past, they used different methods to promote the college, but now, everyone will be on the same page, although different departments will take different approaches,” he told BusinessWest.
Overall, the process of rebranding the school appropriately has been an eye-opening process. “We needed to discover what really makes our institution unique,” he noted.
The school’s leaders have done exactly that, and their hope is to become known, as Roulier said, as “a college community that cares deeply about its humanics philosophy: the importance of mind, body, and spirit and service to others.”

Entrepreneurship Sections
Katie Stebbins Brings Unique Perspective to State Leadership Position

Katie Stebbins

Katie Stebbins says she brings the perspective of an entrepreneur to her state leadership position.

When Katie Stebbins talks with those involved in efforts across the state to create and expand what are coming to be known as ‘entrepreneurial ecosystems,’ she speaks with a good deal of perspective — and experience.
Indeed, the Commonwealth’s recently named assistant secretary for Technology, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, within the Executive Office of Housing & Economic Development, was intricately involved with one such effort as project manager for the Holyoke Innovation District. Meanwhile, she often worked to promote the interests of small-business owners, both individually and collectively, during her 10 years of service to the city of Springfield in planning and economic development.
But Stebbins says she can do more than speak the language of individuals working to inspire and cultivate innovation and entrepreneurship. She’s also lived the life of an entrepreneur trying to get a concept off the ground, and she counts that as perhaps the most valuable experience she takes to her new post every day.
“I have a deep, deep core appreciation for what it takes to be an entrepreneur and just how hard it is,” said Stebbins, who cashed in her municipal retirement account when she turned 40 four years ago to launch Your Friend in Springfield Consulting, a private economic-development and project-management consulting firm that later won the Holyoke contract. “And I think that’s something that’s really helping me in this job — a lot. If I hadn’t had the opportunity to be an entrepreneur, I don’t think I’d be as successful a bureaucrat as I can potentially be right now.”
In her new role with the state, Stebbins is tasked with assisting those providing services and various forms of support to those taking the same kind of leap she did. She works directly with those involved in such endeavors as co-working spaces, incubators, and accelerators, and also with those in higher education, to facilitate technology transfers and encourage and nurture entrepreneurship.
Summing it all up, she said the broad goal involves taking the explosion in innovation and entrepreneurship (much of it technology-related) that has altered the landscape in Boston and Cambridge in dramatic fashion, and essentially making it a statewide phenomenon.
Fulfilling that extensive job description has taken her to communities she’s had to look up on the map, and to initiatives that provide ample evidence that there is entrepreneurial energy on a potentially unprecedented level — and it is evident in virtually every corner of the state.
Over just the past few weeks or so, for example, Stebbins has been in Amesbury on the North Shore to visit that community’s innovation center and meet with the leader of an Israeli company interested in locating in Massachusetts; in Beverly to meet with administrators of something called the North Shore Innoventures Center, a clean-tech and life-sciences incubator space; in Waltham for a visit to the Verizon Innovation Center, which encourages new technologies to help people connect wirelessly; in Boston to meet with 10 leaders of that city’s startup ecosystem; and in Springfield to deliver one of the keynote addresses at Valley Venture Mentors’ first annual Accelerator Awards program (see story, page 20).
She said she came away from each stop smarter than when she arrived, inspired by what she’d seen and heard, and more determined to create more success stories.
For this issue and its focus on entrepreneurship, BusinessWest talked at length with Stebbins about her leadership position, the wave of innovation and entrepreneurship now washing over the Commonwealth, and her efforts to enable more communities and individuals to ride that wave.

State of Things
‘Tech, Trep, Inno.’
It doesn’t say that on Stebbins’ new business card, the one with the state seal in the upper left corner. But that’s the phrase some of her colleagues have started using to sum up what is printed there.
That’s bureaucratic shorthand for ‘technology, entrepreneurship, and innovation,’ and it doesn’t even cover everything in the job description, she said, adding the broad realm known as the ‘creative economy’ also falls under her jurisdiction — and all that definitely wouldn’t fit on the card.
Stebbins said she’s the first administrator to take on that long title — her predecessor, Eric Nakajima, was assistant secretary for Innovation Policy and was not heavily involved with startup ventures — and there is reason for all those additional words.
Indeed, she broadened the job description herself, with the blessing of her new boss, Jay Ashe, secretary of Housing & Economic Development, to reflect her talents and experience.
As she talked about her job description, she returned to that unofficial mission of replicating what’s happened in Boston, Cambridge, and Waltham throughout the state.
In many respects, that work is already well underway, with Springfield evolving into a perfect example of this movement through the work of Valley Venture Mentors and related organizations and facilities, such as TechSpring, devoted to promoting entrepreneurship and mentoring small-business owners. Holyoke is another success story, she went on, adding that there are many others that have mostly been flying under the radar.
“What I found in Holyoke is that innovation is happening everywhere, and entrepreneurship is happening everywhere,” she said. “And innovators and the entrepreneurs are using technology to advance themselves everywhere; part of my job involves developing ways we [the state] can be supportive to these lesser-known ecosystems and help them grow.
“We can tell a better story as a whole state if we know about more of these stories, and not just about what’s happening in the Boston ecosystem,” she went on. “The Boston story is amazing, and it’s one being watched around the world. But to make it a statewide story is even more powerful.”
As mentioned earlier, Stebbins brings a diverse résumé to the job now listed on the top line of that document; over the years, she’s been featured in BusinessWest for involvement in endeavors ranging from revitalization of Main Street in Springfield’s Indian Orchard neighborhood to amateur roller derby (she’s since retired from that sport).
She hasn’t retired from economic-development consulting work, necessarily, but has put it aside to seize an opportunity she said she simply couldn’t pass up — one she considers entrepreneurial in a somewhat non-traditional way, but in keeping with her character.
“I’m disposed to being an entrepreneur — even when I worked for city government, I was always the one inventing the new program or applying for the next grant or thinking up the next idea,” she explained. “So, for me, this is another experience; it’s jumping off another ledge into the unknown. And that’s OK — I don’t have a risk aversion to those kinds of chances.”
She met Ashe, the man who invited her to take this latest leap, while they were both involved with the Working Cities Challenge initiative launched by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston — Stebbins with Holyoke, and Ashe with Chelsea, which he was serving as city manager.
They both led successful efforts to win grants through the program — Stebbins secured $250,000 for the SPARK (Stimulating Potential, Assessing Resource Knowledge) initiative — and, through those experiences, came away impressed with each other’s leadership abilities.
“Jay Ashe, to me, had always been this incredible politician and great city manager whom I just wanted to know more about,” she explained. “The opportunity to learn from him and be mentored by him was a big part of the reason why I couldn’t turn down this opportunity.”

Making It Happen
Stebbins told BusinessWest that there are many aspects to her new leadership position, one she describes as fast-paced.
In many respects, she noted, she acts as a liaison between the state and the business community, keeping the lines of communication between the often-disparate entities open and functioning properly.
“I work to make sure that the private sector feels supported and listened to, and that the government is well-informed of the challenges,” she explained. “Those are two really big worlds, and we don’t necessarily have efficient communication structures between the two.
“Before I got there, Boston had been working really hard on making that happen,” she went on, “and I’m fortunate to continue these efforts.”
As she mentioned, this work is providing her with lessons on state geography and quickly familiarizing her with the Commonwealth’s main transportation arteries, including Routes 495, 95, 2, and 128. More importantly, though, it is introducing her to more of those stories involving entrepreneurial ecosystems and the challenges they face moving forward.
Stebbins said considerable progress has been made in efforts to replicate the success of Boston and Cambridge in other cities and regions within the state, but there is a steep learning curve with such ecosystems, and many of those involved are still getting an education.
“Many mayors and local leaders are still catching up to what a startup economy looks like, what it needs, and how it can be supported,” she noted. “It’s a new model of economic development, and it has a high failure rate. But in that high failure rate, it has enormous amounts of creativity and entrepreneurship that you support, because what we find is that the businesses that might not succeed go right back at it and start something else. So you’re cultivating the person, and not necessarily the business.”
Springfield is moving toward the head of the class with respect to this learning curve, Stebbins told BusinessWest, and its recent successes with building an entrepreneurial infrastructure are being noticed — and recounted — in the State House and elsewhere in Boston.
“Springfield’s moving at a good pace — it’s growing this startup economy at a pace that’s sustainable,” she noted. “It’s building slowly, and it’s scaling at a sustainable rate, which any entrepreneur would do with their own business. When you look around the state, it’s definitely a bright spot.”
But there are many such bright spots, she added quickly, noting that Holyoke is making great strides, as are Worcester, Lowell, Lawrence, New Bedford, Fall River, and others.
Each community is different, but there are many common denominators, said Stebbins, who referred to what she called the ‘continuum,’ the journey a venture — or a group of them — takes from startup stage to being a mature company, and the need to support businesses at each step.
“You have lots of points in between these spaces that need to be supported,” she explained, “so I’m constantly looking for ways we, the state, can support these various stages of the continuum, and make sure that continuum is supported across the state.”

Work in Progress
Stebbins, whose husband is a member of the Mass. Gaming Commission, said she now commutes with him to the Hub a few days each week. Other times, she’ll go in herself, often on a 5:30 a.m. Peter Pan bus.
Through all that traveling, she has a new appreciation for just how long the Mass Pike is.
And while it is not her official job description, she said her role is to shorten the distance to Boston — not literally, and not in terms of highway miles, but in terms of the path to emulating that city’s historic success with stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship.
This job, as she said, is a bit of an entrepreneurial leap, but one that, given her background, she’s certainly not afraid to take.

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

Opinion
Pipeline Proposal Makes Economic Sense

When asked to study how a shortage of natural-gas capacity in Massachusetts will affect future power needs, Synapse Energy Economics didn’t mince words.
Specifically, Cambridge-based Synapse reported, even if all technologically and economically feasible alternative-energy resources — including the introduction of Canadian hydroelectric power — are deployed within the next five years, the state will be short by up to 800 million cubic feet of natural gas on a typical cold winter day in 2020, and up to 900 million cubic feet short by 2030. As a result, winter electricity prices — already higher in Massachusetts than in most regions — would spike dramatically during periods of peak demand.
Then-Gov. Deval Patrick commissioned the Department of Energy Resources to conduct the study last summer after meeting with opponents of the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline project, by which energy giant Kinder Morgan would extend natural-gas pipelines from the Midwest into the Northeast, cutting a route across Northern Massachusetts. That proposal has activated a loose (and often organized) cadre of conservationists, alternative-energy advocates, and potentially affected land owners and effectively kept the project at bay (see story, page 6).
Their concerns are legitimate; properties would be disturbed by a pipeline, and their owners left to grapple with right-of-way issues. And there is value in moving toward more renewable energy to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
But if the Synapse report is accurate, the state still needs more natural gas — a relatively clean, abundant fuel, at least compared to some others, and one that has kept energy prices low for residents and businesses in regions that use it widely. The Kinder Morgan pipeline could do the same, with the capacity, the company claims, to deliver 2.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to New England markets and beyond. That would be a relief to New Englanders, who pay, on average, 10 times more for natural gas right now than customers in the Mid-Atlantic states.
But another issue is in play, one that also pits Massachusetts against other regions of the country — this time, in a competition for companies looking to locate in a business-friendly climate.
Economic-development leaders in Western Mass. say this region has become at least more friendly in recent years, touting its affordability, quality of life, cultural amenities, and supply of brainpower from its myriad colleges and universities. As the economic downturn of the past decade moves even further into the rear-view mirror, and an undercurrent of entrepreneurship has the business community excited (see related story, page 20), there is a palpable feeling that Western Mass. is set to surge.
And much of that could be undone if businesses looking to relocate, or small firms based here that need to grow, realize they can’t access the affordable natural gas so plentiful in other areas of the country. In short, a capacity crisis that has already shut off service to new energy customers in many communities could seriously throttle overall economic growth.
That’s why the position taken by the Western Mass. Economic Development Council — which doesn’t back a specific pipeline project, but claims the state needs to approve one, the sooner the better — makes sense.
Economic vibrancy often requires some tradeoffs, and if Massachusetts wants to continue to grow and prosper, more solar and wind energy, by themselves, are not going to get the job done.

Cover Story Entrepreneurship Sections
VVM Accelerator Participants Continue the Quest for Traction

Jessica Lauren with some of her Olive Natural Beauty products.

Jessica Lauren with some of her Olive Natural Beauty products.

Traction.

Webster has many definitions for that noun, including ‘the adhesive friction of a body on the surface on which it moves’ — and that’s why it’s used frequently, and often with accompanying adjectives, by companies selling tires.

That’s also, although more loosely, why it’s part of the lexicon among those who launch new businesses — and, perhaps more importantly, those who sometimes help finance them.

Indeed, traction is a precious and often hard-to-calculate commodity in business. It is an inexact measure of how effectively a product or service is gaining acceptance, credibility, and, yes, sales.

So, in many ways, the first annual Accelerator Awards, staged recently by Valley Venture Mentors, represented a highly competitive contest of traction — which of the 30 companies in the first cohort of VVM’s Accelerator Program had it, and which ones could gain a lot more of it if they had some more capital to work with.

If the numbers written on the ceremonial checks handed out at the awards ceremony on April 30 are any indication — and most involved would say they are — then Jessica Lauren has certainly achieved some traction with Olive Natural Beauty Inc.

This is a venture that boasts a growing line of products that, as the name suggests, uses olive oil as its base ingredient, but separates itself from others that do the same by the all-natural quality of every item on the ingredient list.

Lauren won a check for $35,000, the largest amount handed out that night by a panel of judges, each of whom had, in essence, $20,000 to apportion and were free to dispense it any way they chose. Lauren intends to stretch those dollars about as far as humanly possible, allocating them for everything from more aggressive marketing programs to building inventory to taking on a strategic partner, as she seeks to take her company to the proverbial next stage.

“It costs money to run a business, and anything would really help push us to the next level,” she said, adding quickly that the amount on her check constitutes far more than ‘anything.’ “This is going to be huge for us.”

For this issue and its focus on entrepreneurship, BusinessWest talked at length with Lauren and others from that first cohort who successfully communicated a level of traction for their businesses to both their peers and those aforementioned judges.

Dave Waymouth, for example, took home a $32,500 check to advance his veture, PetSimpl, which markets a device — one he believes is a vast improvement over anything currently available — that can help pet owners keep track of their furry loved ones.

Lightspeed Manufacturing in Haverhill is now producing the so-called Pip, named after Waymouth’s terrier mix, which in many ways inspired this business (more on that story later).

Waymouth is taking orders, and he expects his product to officially hit the market this summer and be in several outlets in time for the holidays.

Meanwhile, Jake Mazar and his partner, Soham Bhatt, hit their highly competitive market with Artifact Cider roughly a year ago. They now have their product in 40 liquor stores and eight bars along the I-91 corridor, and intend to use the $20,000 they won to help pay for a part-time salesperson to increase their cider’s reach and strengthen its brand.

The accelerator project’s first cohort has 27 more stories like these. They are all different, but there are many common denominators, especially that quest for traction.

Getting a Grip

‘I love you guys, but … no way.’

That’s one of the qualitative assessments used in conjunction with actual numbers (1-9) on the score sheets employed by so-called ‘herds’ within that first accelerator cohort as the entrepreneurs judged their peers and fellow competitors in one of the early phases of the process that decided who received checks on April and how big they were.

Dave Waymouth

Dave Waymouth says his ‘Pip’ device, which helps pet owners find lost loved ones, is a vast improvement over what currently exists on the market.

That phrase obviously pertained to someone who would score a ‘1’ or ‘2,’ and thus it wasn’t used often, if at all, said Paul Silva, executive director of VVM, as he noted that the 30 companies chosen to be in that first cohort were clearly among the more promising startup ventures in this region — and well beyond, as things turned out.

Other assessments, used far more often, included ‘weak story and not enough customer validation,’ ‘somewhat agree/you got me onto the right side of the fence,’ ‘believable story but not enough customer validation,’ and ‘a rare unicorn of perfection,’ which would constitute a ‘9.’

The unicorn has become the unofficial symbol of VVM, and it was on display prominently at the awards ceremony. It represents an ambitious goal, something rare, but also (at least in the VVM universe) something real.

Finding a unicorn is the unstated mission of all the entrepreneurs involved with the accelerator program, said Silva, noting that these individuals went through a rugged period of learning and assessment designed to provide tough love, mentoring, and, for several ventures, very-much-needed cold, hard cash.

Those aforementioned herds were comprised of five entrepreneurs each, and the herds did not judge those in their own group, said Silva, adding that they gathered scores to six questions (statements, actually) — ranging from ‘the company has proven, in-depth understanding of their customers and the customers’ pains’ to ‘the company has a proven revenue model, logical pricing, and has an accurate handle on all applicable costs; they know what can kill them!’ — to effectively narrow the field to 12 finalists.

This smaller field was then assessed by the group of 14 judges, who are also investors, who heard 10-minute presentations from the finalists and then could follow up with more questions and input during a trade-show period before the awards presentation.

Lauren obviously impressed those judges, with both what she’s accomplished to date and the potential to soar much higher.

Like the others we spoke with, Lauren said her venture was born through a mix of necessity and both experience with other products on the market and frustration with them.

“Growing up in an Italian family, olive oil was an important part of our lifestyle in terms of being healthy and taking care of yourself and your skin,” she explained. “And when I went to college, I went to work for an apothecary, and that experience really opened my eyes to the cosmetics industry in the U.S., because there are literally no regulations — there are tons of ingredients that go into cosmetic products that are not regulated or tested or approved by the FDA or any other organization.”

What evolved over time, then, was a business focused on the many beneficial properties of olive oil and featuring the transparency and natural ingredients missing from most products made in the U.S.

She started with a lab in her kitchen, testing various products and providing them to friends and relatives, who started asking for more. And, as she said herself, “the rest is history.”

Explaining in more detail, she said olive oil has become, in many respects, a gourmet product. She is riding that wave, certainly, but in a unique way.

Her products have achieved traction in a number of ways, she said, noting that she’s sold more than 400,000 units to date (like a true entrepreneur, she got more precise, offering the number 404,000). The products are sold through 30 retailers in the U.S. and Canada, and Lauren is in serious negotiations with a major chain she opted not to name that will greatly improve that number if all goes well.

Perhaps most importantly, she’s getting some solid reviews, which are crucial because of the sheer volume of competition.

For example, Michelle Phan, founder of the website ipsy.com, which helps consumers wade through the myriad products on the market through reviews and recommendations, tried some of Lauren’s lip balm and discussed it glowingly in one of her online videos.

As part of that PR and marketing push toward which Lauren wants to direct some of her winnings, she’s striving to win some exposure in People, Good Housekeeping, and other publications with a strong focus on health and beauty and that feature companies making such products.

If all goes as planned — and she expects it will — sales volume, currently around $250,000, should eclipse $1 million in 2016.

A Breed Apart

Waymouth said Pip, his terrier mix, went missing early one evening a few years ago. As anyone who’s been through such an ordeal would understand, this was quite a traumatic experience.

“We live near busy roads, and he sees every car as something with a friend in it,” he explained, adding that, fortunately, the dog was found just a few hours later.

But the experience left Waymouth frustrated by the pet-protection products available on the market — and determined to build the proverbial better mousetrap. He calls it a “LoJack for your pet,” a reference to the vehicle-tracking system designed to help police recover stolen vehicles.

“I’m a big tech guy, so I assumed there were GPS trackers that did this,” he said of his thought process after Pip — now the company’s ‘spokesdog’ and the face of the venture, pictured on the business cards and website — was found safe. “But when I looked, everything was too big for him, or it had horrible battery life.”

At the time, he was enrolled in the MBA program at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst, and decided to enter a business-pitch competition and make his case for a more effective product. He finished third in that contest and then went through several more rounds where he flushed out the business model and came up with a way to make the product smaller and with longer battery life.

He eventually prevailed in the extended competition, winning a total of $30,000 to build a prototype. He was then accepted into MassChallenge, which helped create connections to Verizon and other strategic partners and make the concept reality.

The Pip uses mostly the same cutting-edge technology found in a smartphone to send a text message to the pet owner when the animal in question leaves a so-called ‘safe zone’ — the owner’s home and area around it, as well as a several-foot-wide area around the pet while it’s being taken for a walk, for example. With the press of a button, the owner gets turn-by-turn directions to locate the animal. When the pet is in that safe zone, the device stays in a low-power mode, Waymouth explained, thus greatly extending battery life.

The first manufacturing run will be for 1,000 of the devices, he said, adding that many orders came in through a Kickstarter campaign, and others continue to trickle in through the website. That will be followed by a run of 5,000 and perhaps another of that size if demand warrants.

The Pip will soon be available on Amazon, and Waymouth is expecting that it will become an in-demand item for the upcoming holiday season. The current sticker price is $99, with a $5 month charge for the cellular connection, or $199 for the ‘unlimited option.’ Over time, and as the technology improves, he expects those price points to come down.

While getting ready for the Christmas season, Waymouth is also in hard pursuit of capital for the venture, and is finding many interested parties.

“I’ve gotten more interest than I can really deal with, which is a great problem to have,” he explained, noting that negotiations continue on a first round of financing he expects will approach or exceed $500,000.

One of those interested parties is the Springfield Venture Fund, he said, adding that its participation will require him to move his headquarters from Northampton to Springfield (that’s one of the conditions of the fund, backed by MassMutual). Either way, the company fully expects to stay within the 413 area code.

“We’re planning on staying in this region,” he said. “We want to be a Western Mass. success story.”

Core Business

Those same sentiments were echoed by Mazar, who said his aptly named product is fast gaining that all-important traction in this area.

Elaborating, he gave a rather loose definition of an ‘artifact’ as something created by man, and from another era, that’s been discovered or rediscovered. Hard cider, he went on, was a popular and potent potable in New England a few centuries ago, primarily because the soil here was more suitable for growing apples than it was for cultivating the hops needed for beer.

Dave Mazar says Artifact Cider

Dave Mazar says Artifact Cider is establishing itself within the fastest-growing segment of the alcoholic-beverage market.

And cider remained popular until Prohibition, when many of the apple trees planted more than 100 years earlier were cut down, and in the time it took to grow new ones, many Americans had switched allegiance to beer, he said, continuing the history lesson. But over the past five years or so, hard cider has made a comeback, with a number of products occupying package-store shelves.

The Artifact Cider Project, as it’s formally known, is part of the wave, said Mazar, but the product differentiates itself in what is now the fastest-growing segment of the liquor market by the way it’s made — with local apples and unique blends.

The story begins, sort of, several years ago, when Mazar was diagnosed with celiac disease, an autoimmune disease of the small intestine caused by a reaction to gluten, which is found in wheat and similar crops, including hops.

“I couldn’t have beer, so, prompted by that diagnosis, I discovered cider,” he said, adding that this interest was shared by Bhatt, a friend since middle school whose aptitude in science, engineering, and culinary arts has effectively complemented Mazar’s background in business — he was a consultant for several years — and, most recently, farming.

“Local agriculture is my passion in life, so Artifact is a combination of our respective professional backgrounds,” he noted, adding that the venture was launched on a virtual shoestring in 2013, and the first cider was introduced in June 2014.

Today, the company has three brands, or blends: ‘New World,’ the first product; ‘Wild Thing,’ described as a “supremely tart, sessionable” cider; and ‘Colrain,’ named after the Franklin County town where the apples used to make it grow.

They come in kegs and 22-ounce bottles, or “bombers,” said Mazar, adding that the obvious goal moving forward is to sell more of them, and the $20,000 won through the accelerator program will certainly help with that assignment.

“One of the things we want to do with the money we received through Valley Venture Mentors is hire a part-time salesperson to help build the brand,” he explained. “We’re mostly focused on our existing accounts; we’re not trying to grow too quickly.

“Eventually, we’d like to get our cider into Eastern Mass. and Boston, but we’re really focused on the Pioneer Valley as our home base,” Mazar went on. “We want to be successful here before we expand too broadly.”

Two marketing interns, one from Smith College, the other from Mount Holyoke, will be working for the company this summer, he noted, adding that they’ll be handling, among other things, cider tastings and other events to introduce or reintroduce people to cider and the Artifact label.

Money Talks

Speaking for all those who took home ceremonial checks from VVM, Mazar said the money comes at an important time and provides needed fuel as the company looks to grow its brand.

“We’re a small company, so getting capital at this stage is going to change things quite a bit for us,” he noted. “We really bootstrapped this company — we started it with our own personal finances, and we’ve done everything on the cheap. We’ve made the money we started with go quite a long way.”

Such is life for the startup business owner looking to take an idea from drawing board to reality — and gain that precious commodity called traction.

The companies in this first cohort all have some of it. The challenge — and the mission — is to earn more.


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

Architecture Sections
Dietz & Co. Marks a Milestone with Some Imaginative Initiatives

Dietz & Co. Architects owner Kerry Dietz

Dietz & Co. Architects owner Kerry Dietz in the lobby at the UMass Center at Springfield, which the firm designed.

Kerry Dietz says talk about what to do for the 30th anniversary of the architectural firm that bears her name started last fall, four or five months before the actual anniversary date.

There were discussions about some sort of party, she told BusinessWest, meaning one of those affairs with a deep invitation list including a wide range of clients, elected officials, and area business and economic-development leaders.

But those talks never got very far.

“You can have a party and get a caterer, and everyone can sit around and drink some chardonnay and eat some cheese; that would be cool,” she told BusinessWest. “And I love seeing all those people we’ve worked with over the past 30 years — it’s actually a lot of fun. But this just seems like a different place and time, and those kinds of parties…”

She never actually finished that sentence, but she didn’t have to. She’d already conveyed the message that the employees of Dietz & Co. Architects Inc. had decided to do something much more meaningful — and lasting — to mark a milestone that eludes many in this business, where one’s fortunes are tied inexorably to the peaks and valleys of the economy, and especially the latter.

Actually, they decided to do several things — starting with some much-needed work on the home of an 85-year-old resident on King Street in Springfield’s Old Hill neighborhood. As part of Revitalize Community Development Corp.’s annual Green-N-Fit Neighborhood Rebuild late last month, Dietz employees did some painting, cleaned out the yard, and repaired the decking on his porch, among other projects.

In June, employees will host a cookout for residents of the Soldiers Home in Holyoke and make a $5,000 donation for medical equipment. And later this year, they’ll fund $25,000 worth of needs identified by Springfield public-school teachers through the education-crowdfunding website donorschoose.org. That’s the same initiative to which comedian Stephen Colbert, in partnership with Share Fair Nation and Scansource, recently pledged $800,000 to fund every request made by South Carolina public-school teachers.

“We want to honor initiative … we’re about ideas; that’s what we do here,” said Dietz as she encouraged teachers to log on and submit a project. “We try and be a step ahead, and so we want teachers to be thinking about what kids need to know and what they need to do in order to learn.”

Finding the time to do all this will be a way of saying ‘thank you’ to the community, said Dietz, but it will also be an extreme challenge.

That’s because her team is quite busy right now as the company continues to recover and build its portfolio in the wake of the latest of many economic downturns Dietz has weathered over the past three decades.

“The recession hit us very hard, and it took a couple of years to pull out of that,” she told BusinessWest. “We had our best year ever last year, as in ever, ever, ever — off the charts ever — and I think this year looks to be similar based on our projections.”

Indeed, the list of ongoing and recently completed projects includes everything from the UMass Center in Springfield, which opened last fall, to the new, 21,500-square-foot senior center now under construction in Westfield and slated to open in September; from upgrades to several buildings on the campus of Worcester State University to the zero-net-energy affordable senior housing project in Williamstown known as Highland Woods; from a comprehensive building assessment of the historic Chicopee City Hall and its annex and planned restoration of its second floor to renovation of the Juniper Elementary School on the Westfield State University campus into the new home of the school’s Fine & Performing Arts Program.

As she discussed these and other projects, Dietz said the company has built a solid reputation over the past 30 years for work in a number of realms, in both the public and private sectors, and for meeting client needs — for ‘green’ design elements, more efficient workspaces, and everything in between.

Given its age and the depth of its portfolio, Dietz summoned the term ‘venerable’ to describe what the firm, now the largest in the region, has become, and it’s an adjective she and her staff wear proudly.

“We’re really busy, and I think part of the reason for that is we’ve been around for a long time, and all that experience comes into play,” she said. “People value that.”

For this issue and its focus on architecture, BusinessWest looks at how Dietz & Co. has drafted a blueprint for business success, as well as a working schematic for how to give back to the community.

Learning Curves

As she talked about her 30 years as a business owner and nearly four decades as an architect, Dietz said those in this field earn a good deal of their money — and hang most of those pictures of their work that dominate their lobbies and conference rooms — when times are good.

But it is the ability to slog through those times when things are far from good that often defines one’s career — and determines its ultimate path.

An architect’s rendering of Parson’s Village

An architect’s rendering of Parson’s Village, a zero-net-energy affordable-housing complex in Easthampton, and one of many projects in the Dietz portfolio.

To get her point across, she ventured back to the weeks and months just after 9/11. This was neither the longest nor deepest of the downturns she’s weathered — the one in the early and mid-’90s wins that first honor, and the Great Recession earns the latter — but it was perhaps the most frightening and career-threatening.

“I have never seen things dry up as quickly as they dried up,” she recalled. “Things just disappeared. People got scared; I’ve never seen fear like that.

“I remember meeting with my banker at one point,” she went on, “and basically saying, ‘here are the keys [to the business] — do you want them?’ Fortunately, he didn’t take me up on my bluff.”

Indeed, the company managed to weather that terrible storm and add several more pictures to the conference-room walls. The key to doing so was that aforementioned diversity as well as the diligence and sheer talent of the staff, she said, noting that the firm now boasts 20 employees and 10 architects.

That kind of success might have been difficult for Dietz to envision when she first decided to go into business for herself.

She started down that path after earning a master’s degree in architecture at the University of Michigan. Soon after graduating in 1977, she joined Architects Inc. in Northampton (see related story, page 31) and later became part of the team at Studio One in Springfield.

In addition to her architectural talents, though, she possessed an entrepreneurial spirit, and decided in late 1984 that it was time to put her own name on the letterhead and over the door.

“It seemed like the next logical thing to do,” she said with a touch of understatement in her voice. “It sounds like a rational decision, but it wasn’t, necessarily, nor was it a well-thought-out decision. I didn’t go read a book to see how you start a business, let alone an architecture business. I learned by doing.”

Fortunately, this was a time when things were good. The real-estate boom of the ’80s had just begun, and there was considerable work to be had.

“We rode the historic-tax-credit boom that ended when Reagan’s tax plans made it less lucrative,” she explained, adding that the firm enjoyed solid growth through the end of the decade, when the real-estate boom went bust and the well of projects dried up, offering a challenging, but nonetheless valuable, learning experience.

“I had no concept that things like that could happen,” she said of what turned out to be a lengthy downturn. “What did I know? We got through it somehow.”

There have been several ups and downs since as the company has amassed a huge portfolio of projects in sectors ranging from public housing to education to healthcare, said Dietz, adding that one thing she’s been able to learn by doing is how to read the economic tea leaves, try to anticipate the next downturn, and prepare for it to the extent possible.

“This is a very volatile business, and one of the things you have to have are some planning tools and some prediction tools in place, which I’ve developed over the years that allow me to look out a year and say, ‘oh, look, there’s no work in six months, what am I going to do?’” she explained. “So, every month, I’m doing an analysis of the future on both an accrual and a cash basis.”

Westfield’s new senior center

Westfield’s new senior center is one of two such facilities currently in the Dietz portfolio.

Looking ahead, she sees reason to be concerned about global instabilities and other factors such as national fiscal policies, but she believes the current period of modest growth and solid consumer and business confidence will continue for the foreseeable future.

Growth — by Design

This forecast is reflected, to a large degree, in the number of proposals for new projects being drafted by Ashley Soloman, the firm’s marketing coordinator, who puts the number at several a week on average.

It is also reflected in the current and recent projects list, which reveals not only the firm’s diversity and work across both the private and public sectors (especially the latter), but also current trends in building design and construction.

Indeed, several projects on that list involve new construction or renovation aimed at making the structures in question energy-efficient — or much more so.

One such project involves renovation of 209 units of elderly housing in the Boston suburb of Brighton that Dietz called “an energy monstrosity.”

“We’re looking at ways we can tighten this building up — strategies we can devise for decreasing energy use,” she explained. “Its claim to fame, if you can call it that, is that it’s one of the largest consumers of energy in MassHousing’s portfolio, on a cost-per-unit basis, and we’re hoping to reduce their status.”

Meanwhile, already under construction is a 40-unit, net-zero-energy affordable-housing project in Easthampton called Parsons Village, she went on, and the foundations were just poured for that aforementioned net-zero-energy elderly-housing project in Williamstown.

“Both of these are really exciting projects,” she told BusinessWest, because we sort of pushed the envelope, if you will, on envelope design, insulation levels, and looking at really sealing the buildings using good building-science technology.” Meanwhile, Chicopee City Hall is another intriguing project, said Dietz, adding that there will be a historic-renovation study to examine not only the exterior of the building, built in 1871, but also the feasibility of converting the long-unused meeting space on the top floor into a new chamber for the Board of Aldermen.

That study will also involve the historic stained-glass window in that room, which has been damaged amid deterioration of the ceiling.

Other work in the portfolio includes a series of projects at Worcester State University, said Dietz, adding that many of the buildings on the campus are now 30 or 40 years old and in need of maintenance and renovations aimed at greater energy-efficiency.

And while the company is being imaginative and cutting-edge in the field, it is doing the same, she believes, with its work within the community.

The company has had a long track record for giving back, said Dietz, and years ago, it decided to establish a donor-advised fund with the Community Foundation to help ensure that it could continue to be active, even during those downturns.

“We already had a fairly robust program for charitable giving,” she noted, “but this allows us to be even more … interesting and have a little more money to play with.”

An architect’s rendering of Highland Woods

An architect’s rendering of Highland Woods, a zero-net-energy senior-housing project in Williamstown, and one of many ‘green’ projects the Dietz firm has designed.

The company was to mark its 30th year — and celebrate its best year ever — by pumping $30,000 back into the community, she went on, adding that this number has since risen to $35,000. And the entire staff has provided input into how best to apportion those funds.

The projects eventually chosen reflect the company’s values, and in each case they also involve another of its strengths — teamwork, said Tina Gloster, the firm’s operations manager, noting that 25 employees and family members were involved on King Street, a large crew will be needed for the picnic at the Soldiers Home, and many individuals will be involved in deciding which school projects to support if requests exceed the available funds.

And they anticipate that there will be many to choose from.

The site donorschoose.org enables teachers in a given community to post a specific request, said Gloster, meaning materials or an activity that they cannot afford. Individuals and groups can go on the site and choose initiatives they want to support.

“Between August 1 and September 25, we’re making a big push to get Springfield public-school teachers to log onto this site and put their projects there,” she added. “And then we’re going to pick projects to fund in their entirety.”

There will likely be more projects than can be funded with $25,000, she went on, adding the company is encouraging other businesses and the community at large to get involved with the initiative, either in Springfield or other area communities.

“Rather than send us a plant and say, ‘happy 30th,’ we want people to fund a project,” said Dietz. “That’s a much more interesting way to help us celebrate.”

Drawing Inspiration

The actual 30th anniversary for Dietz & Co. came in February. As mentioned earlier, there was no party for clients, politicians, and friends.

More to the point, there wasn’t even anything small in-house for employees.

“We just couldn’t get our act together,” said Dietz with a laugh, adding that, roughly translated, this means everyone was simply too busy.

As in too busy with all those projects in the portfolio, and too busy with those initiatives within the community and the planning involved in making them happen. These are the things the company has managed to make time for, said Dietz, adding that the sum of these various parts constitutes a great way to mark a milestone and celebrate being “venerable.”


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

Education Sections
Banks, Schools, Colleges Team Up to Boost Financial Literacy

Roosevelt Charles

Roosevelt Charles says financial-literacy programs at STCC help level the playing field for students in need.

Janet Warren has seen the statistics, and met many of the people behind them.

“Thirty-five percent of households in Massachusetts have less than three months’ worth of savings, and 48% of Massachusetts consumers have subprime credit,” she said, citing a study conducted by the Corporation for Enterprise Development. “These statistics show that we have a real problem, and they illustrate the need for financial education.”

Furthermore, said Warren, vice president of marketing at Monson Savings Bank, “it’s worth noting how these statistics work together to create a cycle of debt and worsen financial insecurity. If someone with less than three months of savings faces an unforeseen expense, such as a broken-down car or a medical bill, they have to borrow to cover the tab. If that person also has subprime credit, the only option may be to take out a high-cost — often predatory — loan. It’s difficult for them to get a loan at an affordable rate.”

As a community bank, Monson has encountered many people in just that circumstance. While life’s circumstances are different for everyone, Warren said, many of them graduated from school and entered adult life without truly understanding the importance of credit, debt, savings, and many other facets of finance.

That’s why MSB is one of many area banks that have teamed with schools to reach young people with lessons in how to handle money.

“By teaching financial literacy in the schools, we can teach kids early how to become better savers, spenders, and money managers — so that, maybe, they won’t find themselves in that situation,” she said.

During the annual Statewide Summit on Financial Education — staged recently at the UMass Center at Springfield and sponsored by the financial-education coalition MassSaves — state Treasurer Deb Goldberg, the event’s keynote speaker, talked about how today’s students don’t grow up with the same exposure to financial education as she did, and how it needs to be reintroduced in public schools, as early as the primary grades.

“I believe we can embed into the curriculum financial skills that kids will need,” she said, recalling the bank passbook she received as a child. “Once in a while, my parents would drive me to an actual bank so I could see what’s going on. That’s how you learn. Kids today can program any iPhone, download any app, but ask them to look at these pieces of money and explain to me a penny, nickel, quarter, they can’t do that. It’s fascinating. My feeling is, let’s step back and start with the basics again.”

Polish National Credit Union has a well-established branch at Chicopee Comprehensive High School that doubles as a way to help students — both those who use it and those who work there as part of their education — learn about finance.

“We employ students — we go through the process just as if they’re going to apply here at the main office — and we train them,” said Jennifer Gallant, the credit union’s chief financial officer.

“Then, once the summer comes and the school branch is closed, we bring the employees over here as summer interns,” she continued. “A lot of the students who have worked at the school branch have enjoyed it and stayed on with us in a greater capacity when we’ve had openings at other branches. Some have even gone on to finance in college.”

Even for students who are casually exposed to the Chicopee Comp branch, she told BusinessWest, “it’s an eye-opener to how finance and banking works. I think it also helps encourage all of the kids in the school to at least look into a savings account, a checking account, what else the credit union has to offer, and how it benefits them — to get them on the right road economically.”

Between efforts like the summit — which drew representatives from many banks, schools, colleges, and financial-education organizations — and efforts by community banks and nonprofit entities to reach out to both students and adults, increasing focus is being placed on the broad issue of financial literacy.

After all, “when we talk about financial literacy and educating kids about what they need to understand these decisions they will be making, we are creating an economic foundation in the state that is stable, breaking down inequality,” Goldberg noted. “Through financial education, we see that, when we invest in people, we’re empowering people to invest in themselves.”

Education for Life

It’s not just happening at the K-12 level, said Kelly Goss, associate director of the Midas Collaborative, a statewide organization that focuses on financial literacy and connecting people with a range of financial resources.

“Our bread and butter is our matched savings account programs,” she noted, referring to a number of different programs that, in partnership with public and private organizations, provide low-income individuals with savings accounts and match their contributions. Clients generally use the funds for one of three purposes: home buying, small-business development, or post-secondary education.

Chicopee Comp students Chad LePage and Ludmila Kaletin

Chicopee Comp students Chad LePage and Ludmila Kaletin work as tellers in the school’s Polish National Credit Union branch.

One of those — a program being conducted at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC), Bunker Hill Community College, and Northern Essex Community College — establishes a savings account for participants, where up to $750 in savings is essentially tripled to $2,250 through matching grants by the college and the federal government. The resulting money must be put toward future post-secondary education expenses.

During the one- to two-year period of the matched savings program, the students also join peer groups, attend workshops, and participate in individual coaching sessions to build their financial skills, rectify financial issues, learn about the economy, and engage them in planning for the future.

“Students receiving the matched savings are required to take eight hours of finance education outside of their course work,” Goss said. “The school provides workshops — teaching them what is credit, what is debt, what is the significance of having a bank account? Some of these students have never had a bank account before.”

Roosevelt Charles, director of access and student services at STCC, said the college ramped up its financial-literacy initiatives — including its partnership with the Midas Collaborative — about a year and a half ago, when administrators noticed students dropping out for financial reasons, who didn’t have the knowledge to access different public benefits or navigate the financial arena, period.

“We’ve done a few other things to level the playing field as related to financial literacy,” he added. “We collaborate with Single Stop USA, a national community-college initiative that provides space on campus where students can go for a variety of public and community benefits. Students can apply for food assistance, housing, fuel assistance — all these benefits, all those resources, in one area. We do have a large percentage of students seeking those benefits.”

The school has also teamed up with MassMutual through that corporation’s LifeBridge program, which offers free term life insurance to families in need. These programs and others, Charles said, represent an effort to offer students both tangible financial resources and education and guidance in putting them to use.

“Once we get students talking about their knowledge — or lack thereof — as related to accessing resources, they realize there are other things out there — ‘did you know MassMutual is offering free life insurance?’ It’s amazing for us; we didn’t expect to get this granular in terms of community support. But, over past two semesters, these conversations have motivated us to go back out into the community and seek out additional resources to offer.”

On the state level, Goldberg said, the recently created Office of Economic Empowerment, led by Deputy Treasurer Alayna Van Tassel, is seeking to create more such partnerships between the state, schools, and businesses. Goals include expansion of Credit for Life fairs and more matched college savings accounts like those pioneered by Midas.

Goldberg said studies have found clear correlations between financial literacy at a young age and college enrollment, or vocational or technical training, after high school.

“Why is that important here in Massachusetts? Well, where is our economy? Biotech, high tech, higher education, healthcare — so we need to make opportunities available to kids,” she explained. “If we provide opportunities to educate, kids will seize upon it.”

Breaking Barriers

In short, Goldberg claimed, financial literacy may be the key ingredient to financial stability across Massachusetts, because it affects so many areas of life.

“All the work we do around teaching kids, teaching women, teaching veterans how to empower themselves is not a partisan issue; it’s an issue that creates opportunities for folks, and candidly, if we can empower people to take care of themselves, they don’t need [as many] safety nets,” she told the summit attendees. “Financial challenges impact every one of us — children to adults, students, teachers, advocates, and policy makers.”

MassSaves, which was created in 2011, complements its work in schools and colleges with financial trainings — “train the trainer” sessions, Goss called them — with the United Way and other community-based organizations that deliver financial-education services. But it all starts with those outreaches into schools.

“The reality is, we need financial education to be taught at every level,” she said. “We want to see it in the curriculum as early as possible, so people grow up with it as an early tool, like math. Why would you not? Particularly in this day and age, it’s really difficult to function without a knowledge of finance and access to a bank account. It’s certainly a barrier for those who don’t have that access.”

Warren, who serves on the steering committee of MassSaves, said Monson Savings Bank became a strategic partner with the organization a little over a year ago, in an effort to help members of the community become more financially confident and capable.

“Here at the bank, we do have people coming through the doors on occasion who can’t get a loan, who may not even be able to get a checking account because they have outstanding balances with other banks,” she told BusinessWest. “That’s why we’ve gotten involved in this. We’re a community bank, which means we’re here to help the community, and we want to help everyone who comes through our doors.”

Now, the bank can direct those customers to MassSaves, which can hook them up with a financial coach by phone, e-mail, or Skype, and connect them to other financial resources they might require.

“It’s definitely needed, and that’s why we’re working on this issue in this manner, in this broad collaboration with lots of different partners,” Warren said. “Really, the more, the merrier. Everything we do collectively is a positive thing.”

Starting with a child’s first introduction to pennies, nickels, and quarters.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Architecture Sections
HAI Architecture Expands Well Beyond Healthcare Niche

Rick Katsanos and Don Hafner

Rick Katsanos and Don Hafner have parlayed strong relationships with regional institutions and municipalities into a diverse roster of projects.


When Rick Katsanos and Don Hafner met as freshmen at Penn State in the early ’80s, they couldn’t have foreseen someday co-owning an architecture firm two states away.
As it turned out, however, they were among a knot of architecture students who gravitated north after graduation to find work. Katsanos, a Wilbraham native, was hired in 1986 by Ed Jendry, who had launched Architects Inc. in Northampton in 1976. Two years later, Hafner, who had been working in Vermont, joined him at the firm.
Five years later, they launched a successful partnership at the helm of that company, now known as HAI Architecture.
“In 1993, Ed wanted to slow down, so Don and I bought the business from him. He still works for us, half days — which means he works 12 hours a day instead of 24,” Katsanos said with a laugh. “But the transition was fantastic.”
A few years before that, Jendry had spun off a sister company, Healthcare Architects Inc., to pursue work in the regional healthcare market — a decision that proved lucrative; the company has designed dozens of modern, high-tech spaces for hospitals, health systems, and physician practices across Southern New England.
“Ed basically found that was a good market,” Katsanos said. “Doing work for healthcare institutions provided a very solid workload. People knew we were capable in that area — they didn’t have to look far for somebody with that expertise.”
Hafner said he and Katsanos have enjoyed the challenges of that niche. “We’ve always been involved in those projects, which tend to be equipment-intensive. Rick and I are fairly engineering-minded, and we value the idea of being able to coordinate those disciplines.
“Some of the projects have been really fascinating,” he continued. “When we worked on our first linear accelerator, the gravel had to come from a single quarry in Canada. We found out a lot of unique stuff about medical technology. That was a really cool aspect of our jobs.”
Several years ago, however, the partners felt that the effort of maintaining two corporations outweighted the benefits, so they merged them into one company, called HAI Architecture. Architects Inc. disbanded, Katsanos explained, and Healthcare Architects — which survives for now, due to some outstanding federal contracts — will eventually go away as well.
The problem, he explained, was that the firm had become too well-known in the healthcare world. “People were asking, do you do other stuff? What had been an opportunity was now a problem.”
For this issue’s focus on architecture, Katsanos and Hafner sat down with BusinessWest to talk about their firm’s wide array of work, and how the architecture field continues to evolve in ways that present both new challenges and greater opportunities.

Regional Focus
The name change reflected the company’s broad palette of work, from civic and commercial projects to residential design and historic preservation. Because the company is so well-entrenched in the healthcare realm, Katsanos said, it continues to thrive there based on its reputation.
“We are always doing medical offices, up and down the Valley,” he told BusinessWest, adding that it’s heartening when large health systems tap local talent for their projects instead of larger, Boston-based firms. “We appreciate when Western Mass. businesses use Western Mass. companies. Our people live here and spend money here, and that helps keep the economy local and vibrant.”
But HAI has delved more heavily into the commercial market, he added, citing the new Florence Saving Bank branch in Hadley and the Palmer headquarters of Northern Construction as significant recent projects.
“We did restoration for First Churches of Northampton here,” Hafner added, with other area jobs ranging from the Dakin Humane Society animal shelter in Leverett to renovations to Forbes Library in Northampton; from the new Deerfield fire station to an adaptive reuse project in Florence that turned an 1860s sewing-machine factory into a medical office complex.
HAI has also been increasing its workload at area colleges, particularly Springfield Technical Community College. “Higher education has become a new sector for us,” Katsanos said, “which is natural, since we live in the Five College area.”
‘Green’ building has long been a buzzword in architecture and construction, but Katsanos said sustainable design — with an emphasis on ecological impact and energy efficiency — has become so ingrained in the region that it will eventually be taken for granted.
“The Massachusetts energy code became more stringent, and baseline building standards have become better,” he said. “But Don and I always talked to clients when about sustainable building. Our position is that good design should automatically be sustainable and green. We looked at the building codes and said, maybe we could go a little further, with the materials we put in building. That’s our approach — there should be no such thing as an unsustainable building.”

The new Florence Bank branch in Hadley

The new Florence Bank branch in Hadley is among HAI Architecture’s recent success stories.

Hafner agreed. “Codes have driven the industry this way. We’re seeing this whole cachet of ‘green’ being incorporated into all of architecture. And that’s what our philosophy has been about all the time.”
Katsanos said clients are willing to pay for such amenities. For example, “Florence Bank was very pleased, and we’re happy when the clients are happy. It looks wonderful; they made some smart decisions and didn’t just try to go for the cheapest solution. Being a financial institution, they know what money is worth, and they spent it wisely. That was a good group of people to work with.”
Hafner agreed, and said he and Katsanos have tried to build relationships — and repeat business — with clients they like working with. “We want to establish these relationships, so that people trust us and know we can meet their expectations.”
Those expectations, Katsanos said, are becoming more challenging to meet.
“We’re doing projects on tighter time frame,” he said, partly due to technological advances such as building information modeling, or BIM, by which architects and clients manage and share designs and project information in three dimensions and real time. Having come up in the industry in the era of two-dimensional drawings, they’re nostalgic about the craft of architecture, but have embraced the future — and the shorter schedules clients demand as a result.
“People are so accustomed to seeing the end product right away, they don’t always understand the process,” Hafner said, adding that, in the past, “we were taking a three-dimensional object and reducing it to two dimensions, then handing it to someone else to create in three dimensions. That’s an odd process. With building information modeling, we’re doing away with that, and allowing everyone to think three-dimensionally. That should be the wave of the future.”

Back to Basics
At the same time, Hafner said, HAI is strongly rooted in the traditions of garnering business through relationships and reputation, which is why the firm has not done a great deal of advertising in the past. “Our clients have always been happy with the work we’ve done, so they’ve called us back. For a long period of time, we didn’t have to worry about marketing.”
“We’ve run under the radar a lot,” Katsanos added.
However, Hafner went on, “we have started to elevate our marketing efforts. With the recent downturn we’ve seen in the economy, a lot of larger firms from Boston have started doing what we call downfeeding. Where we controlled a segment in the range of $200,000 to a couple million dollars, a lot of the larger firms in the state are coming over this way and moving down into that segment.”
What’s not changing is the collaborative way the HAI team works on projects, he added.
“We let everyone take part in everything, from design through construction administration,” Hafner said. “When we’re working on something, we start in the beginning at the table, and everyone gets a say in what things might look like. It doesn’t always translate to the project, but it lets everyone work together, and they develop a healthy respect for each other.”
Katsanos agreed. “We work with a good team,” he told BusinessWest, “and we work very collaboratively in this office. It’s not a trickle-down design process.
“A lot of us have been here a long time, but we always try to bring in someone new — either a summer intern or a staff person — because, what they lack in experience, they more than make up for in a fresh perspective,” he went on. “They don’t know not to ask dumb questions, and questions sometimes show that you’re on the wrong path. If you do the same thing over and over again, you can become complacent. It’s good to have someone asking, ‘why do that?’ It makes you constantly analyze what you’re doing.”
Which is — appropriately, for this firm — a healthy way of doing business.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Health Care Sections
Injectable Cosmetic Drugs Can Help Turn Back the Clock

Dr. Helen Perakis

In many cases, Dr. Helen Perakis says, people can feel the sting of the injections, but the pain is not much worse than plucking one’s eyebrows.

Many people would like to change the way they look, and over the past five years, women have spent more than $9.6 million on cosmetic procedures to do just that. Male cosmetic surgery increased by 43% during the same time period, and an increasing number of Americans are turning to plastic surgeons to subtract years from their appearance.

But new products have been created that reduce the need for surgery and offer people the opportunity to restore a youthful look without pain or lost time from work.

“Historically, cosmetic surgery was reserved for movie stars and the rich, and if they had procedures done, it wasn’t information they shared,” said Dr. Helen Perakis of Northampton Plastic Surgery. “But society has changed, and these topics are no longer taboo. People want to get things done that make them look and feel younger, and thanks to Botox and other injectable fillers, it’s possible today to rejuvenate someone’s looks without surgery.”

Dr. Glen Brooks agrees.

“Twenty years ago, the only cosmetic filler was collagen. But Botox was a game changer because it allowed us to relax muscles and reduce forehead wrinkles and crow’s feet around the eyes,” said the certified plastic surgeon at Aesthetic and Plastic Reconstructive Surgery, P.C. in Longmeadow. “It is not used around the eyelids, but it can also soften wrinkles beneath the eyes and around the mouth.”

He added that people call the cosmetic filler Juvederm Voluma “a liquid facelift. You don’t have to go under the knife, and it can be injected in one visit with no downtime. There may be a little bruising, but in experienced hands, it can result in a very natural look.”

Leah Kennedy told BusinessWest that cosmetic injections have moved past the point of merely filling in lines.

“We’re in an era where you can really bring back the look of a youthful face and rejuvenate a person’s appearance with them; people can achieve very good results in a single office visit,” said the physician’s assistant who works with Brooks. With 17 years experience, she travels across New England as a trainer in injection techniques for a major company that makes well-known cosmetic injectable drugs.

Although most people seeking injections tend to be older, physicians report people in their 20s are turning to them to prevent wrinkles.

“Most young people are happy with their appearance and want to maintain it,” said Dr. Melissa Johnson, a certified plastic surgeon at Pioneer Valley Plastic Surgery in Springfield. “They want to slow down the aging process and feel good about themselves, and wrinkling and bagging around the eyes can make someone look tired.

“By age 50 or 60, people have static wrinkles that won’t go away, but you can only see wrinkles in 30-year-olds when they animate,” she went on, “and younger patients want to prevent them from getting worse.”

The injections are almost painless, and a person can schedule a visit in the middle of the workday and return to their job immediately after receiving them. “It’s quite comfortable. Ice or a topical numbing medicine is used before the injections, and there is lidocaine in many products, which causes temporary numbness as soon as you begin to inject them,” Johnson said.

Perakis agreed. “The use of topical lidocaine takes a little of the sting away. People can still feel the injections, but the pain is not much worse than plucking your eyebrows,” she said.

Scientific Advances

Collagen plays a key role in providing support to the skin and giving the face its shape. But at about age 30, the body begins producing less of it, and the aging process can start to become visible.

Years ago, bovine collagen, which came from cows, was the only product available to fill fine lines or plump up the face, and people had to be tested for allergies before it could be injected.

But the first product to gain immediate popularity was Botox. It is made from botulinum toxin and temporarily improves the appearance of moderate to severe lines between the eyebrows in people aged 18 to 65, as well as diminishing wrinkles around the eyes by paralyzing the muscles that move when people squint or frown.

Dr. John Papale of Papale Eye Center was the first physician in the area to inject Botox for medical problems. However, when he began using it 30 years ago, the drug had not been approved for cosmetic improvements.

“It was used to treat hemifacial spasms and blepharospasms. People would come in with one side of their face or their eyes in spasm, but Botox was a miracle cure for these conditions,” Papale said, adding that the drug relaxes the muscles for about three months.

Dr. Glen Brooks

Dr. Glen Brooks says Botox was a game changer in the realm of cosmetic fillers, and patient options have only expanded since then.

At that time, no one knew it could reduce or eliminate wrinkles. But reports soon began surfacing that the injections caused wrinkles to disappear, and in 2002, Botox was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat fine lines on the face. Since that time, it has also been used for severe underarm sweating; spasms of the bladder, neck, and shoulder; cerebral palsy in children; and migraine headaches, although Papale said it is not a first-line therapy for that problem.

However, cosmetic use of the product is its most well-known application, and it quickly became so popular that, at one point, demand exceeded supply. Other products that contain botulinum toxin have been created since that time, but many people ask for Botox by name, and many doctors choose to use it.

Over the past decade, other facial fillers have been created that typically last about nine months. Most contain hyaluronic acid, and trade names include Juvederm, Restylane, Perlane, and Bellatero. But there is another family of fillers that use calcium hydroxapetite; these include the trade name Radisse.

“What the injector uses depends on the location they are injecting,” Perakis explained. “Hyaluronic acid is more likely to be used to fill nasal labial folds or marionette lines, while calcium fillers are injected in deeper spaces, such as the cheeks.”

Juvederm Voluma, an injectable hyaluronic acid that lasts two years and was designed to recontour the face and restore lost volume in the cheeks, cheekbones, and chin, has become very popular.

“If you augment the checks, it can draw the eye away from the neck and toward the upper part of the face,” Perakis said. “A younger person’s face is a top-heavy face, but gravity and aging leads to a jowly appearance, so cheek augmentation has become very popular.”

However, Kennedy stressed that injectors are not meant to create apple-like cheeks.

“As people get older, they lose volume in the bony support layer of their face along with soft tissue, and Voluma can replace it,” she said. “It gives people a beautiful, natural look that reflects light, so the face looks brighter after the person receives the injections.”

Johnson told BusinessWest that, when people think about the face, they need to think about the skin, muscles, underlying soft tissue or fat, and the bony structure, which all diminish due to aging. “The earlobes lengthen, and our nasal tip droops,” she said, adding that massive weight loss, cancer, and HIV can also cause people to lose volume in their face.

In addition, cosmetic injections can make a difference in the lips. “Hyaluronic acids can be used to outline the border of them and give them more definition,” Perakis said, adding that some people want their lips plumped up, and requests range from a pouty look to an overly full appearance.

The hands are another area that show aging, and injectable cosmetic drugs can add volume as the skin and bony structure thins and tendons and veins become more visble. Brooks said injections can be supplemented with broadband light treatments, which eliminate age spots.

Although fat is another substance that is sometimes injected, Brooks said it is typically done during other surgical procedures, such as tummy tucks or liposuction.

“It has become very popular; it’s stolen from anywhere in the body where it is not needed and added to various areas. It’s your own tissue and is a great compliment to a facelift,” he noted. “But Voluma can be used for the same amount of money or less.”

Checking Credentials

No matter what injectable cosmetic drugs are used for, physicians agree that it is critical to select someone with a full knowledge of anatomy before scheduling a treatment.

“It requires an underlying knowledge of facial anatomy, which includes the location of major nerves and blood vessels,” Perakis said. “It’s a procedure, so there are risks involved, and you want to make sure that the person you choose is qualified, trained, and does this for a living. Many people offer these injections, especially since it is a cash business, but you don’t want to end up with complications.”

Papale agreed. “Botox is a powerful drug,” he said. “In an experienced hand, it’s very safe, but if it is not administered properly, people can have problems with double vision or droopy eyelids, so it’s important to go to someone who does it all the time.”

Johnson explained that safety should always be an individual’s priority, and used the eyes as an example of a problem area. “Muscles elevate the eyelid, and it’s essential to know anatomy, because if you inject something in the wrong place it can cause the eyelids to droop,” she said. “Botox works great for what it was intended for, but you should not have anyone injecting it unless they can treat the entire spectrum of possible complications.”

Although these are rare, there are many things the injector must consider. “Different techniques are used in young patients than older ones, so it’s important to let the injector use their expertise so you end up with a natural, refreshed look rather than an overdone one,” Kennedy said.

Dr. Melissa Johnson

Dr. Melissa Johnson says most young people are happy with their appearance, but want to slow down the aging process and feel good about themselves.

Johnson agreed. “A little is good, but a lot is not always better. For example, high checkbones can be attractive, but if you put too much volume in them, it changes the look of the eyes.”

Choosing the right medical professional is also important because people sometimes request a cosmetic procedure that is not appropriate.

“I had one woman who wanted a chemical peel, but her main complaint was wrinkles that had formed as a result of movement, and the only way to fix that is with Botox,” Johnson said, adding that static wrinkles differ from dynamic wrinkles and are caused by factors such as genetics, lifestyle, and diet. “I examine the patient and listen to what bothers them before deciding what is best.”

Perakis concurred, adding that, in some cases, one product works better than others. “I had a patient who didn’t get the results she wanted from Botox, so I used another product that paralyzes the muscle, and it worked well.”

Brooks stressed that it’s important to find someone who is board-certified. His practice administered 1,800 injections last year, and he has seen patients with problems caused by injectors who are not highly qualified.

“Cosmetic surgery is a nebulous term. You need to ask about the person’s expertise, training, and how many injections they do,” he said, citing the forehead as an example of an area that can be problematic. “There are 28 muscles that support the eyebrows, and if an older person is injected with too much Botox, it could make their forehead tissue droop, especially if it is already sagging. The art comes in knowing how much to give each person. But no one is too old to benefit from these injections.”

Although there is no immediate fix other than time if Botox is administered incorrectly, if someone doesn’t like the way a hyaluronic-acid product looks, an enzyme can be used to dissolve it. But physicians typically start with a small amount, show the person how they look (since the results are immediately visible), then add more if needed to achieve the desired result.

Injectable fillers can also be molded right after they are injected and stay where they are put. “So it’s extremely rare for someone to want it removed,” Johnson said.

Botox injections typically cost between $150 and $600, depending on how much is used, and last three to four months, while fillers are more expensive, but last nine months to two years. For example, Voluma can cost between $800 and $1,500. However, many doctors’ offices subscribe to a loyalty program called Brilliant Distinctions, which provides points for different products that can be turned into cash.

Noticeable Improvements

Brooks says everyone ages differently, but the earlier people begin preventing lines and wrinkles, the less problematic they become.

“If you wait until you are 40, you will begin to develop permanent wrinkles,” he told BusinessWest. “They can be softened, but you won’t be able to completely get rid of them with injections.

“But injections are effective, and we use them in people from their 20s through their 80s; other people notice that they look better, but can’t figure out what they have done,” he continued. “A lot of people don’t want surgery, but are thrilled to have alternatives that make them feel good.”

Building Permits Departments

The following building permits were issued during the month of May 2015.

AMHERST

James Marley
100 University Dr.
$350,000 — Interior office renovation on second floor for Walden Behavioral Care

Donald Laverdiere
445 West St.
$88,000 — Install 95 solar panels

CHICOPEE

Chicopee Crossing, LLC
490A Memorial Dr.
$834,000 — Construct a 12,448-square-foot retail building

Dinesh Pal
1869 Memorial Dr.
$8,000 — Repair existing wall of gas station

Diocese of Springfield
110 Cyman Dr.
$68,000 — Replace 10 windows

Mass Mutual Financial Group
350 Memorial Dr.
$314,000 — New vinyl siding

Paul Amaral
1271 Memorial Dr.
$8,000 — Interior remodel of walls and doors

Urban Edge Properties
555 Memorial Dr.
$90,000 — Remodel bar area

EASTHAMPTON

City of Easthampton
65 Union St.
$18,000 — New roof

George Paiva
10 Rabideau Dr.
$13,000 — Kitchen remodel

Mass Audubon Society
127 Coombs Road
$11,000 — Renovations

Revampit, LLC
31 South St.
$40,000 — Exterior renovations

Williston-Northampton School
80 Park St.
$281,000 — Install 560 roof-mounted solar panels

LUDLOW

Jose Baltazar
201 West St.
$18,000 — Cell tower alterations

Randalls Farm
631 Center St.
$243,000 — Alterations

NORTHAMPTON

Florence Savings Bank
85 Main St.
$19,000 — Construct partition walls

Forbes Library
20 West St.
$419,000 — Renovate entry and lobby and install elevator

Meadowbrook Preservation Associates
491 Bridge Road
$6,000 — Strip and shingle front side of roof

Northampton Terminal Associates, LLP
1 Roundhouse Plaza
$21,000 — Minor alterations for restaurant

Peter Whalen
7 Old south St.
$10,000 — Replace concrete patio

Trident Realty Corp.
76 Main St.
$12,500 — Install three rooftop antennas

Valley Building Company Inc.
200 King St.
$15,000 — Install replacement windows and vinyl siding

Valley CDC
82 Bridge St.
$4,000 — Renovate second-floor bathroom

SPRINGFIELD

Beacon Communities
1 Beacon Terrace
$25,000 — Renovations

Bilingual Veterans Outreach of MA
60 Cass St.
$1,938,000 — Construction of new building over slab

Department of Parks, Buildings, and Recreation
100 Forest Park Dr.
$3,400,000 — Construct addition to existing building

Eastco Realty
1350 Main St.
$36,500 — Renovate existing office space

FL Roberts
235 Albany St.
$14,500 — Office renovation

New England Center for Youth and Families
130 Berkshire St.
$8,000 — Install fire suppression system

Nowak Funeral Home
15 Ludlow Ave.
$50,000 — Construction of one-story addition

Picknelly Family LTD Partnership
1414 Main St.
$109,000 — Interior office build-out on ninth floor

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Mill City, LLC
150 Front St.
$30,000 — New roof

Taco Bell
25 Morgan Road
$30,000 — Roof-top alterations

Tom Adamczyk
47 Roanoke Ave.
$105,000 — Construct new
70 x 70 x 16 building

Bankruptcies Departments

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

Alicea, Javier Bernardo
78 Heggie Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 03/31/15

Allen, Nicole L
a/k/a Miller, Nicole
1430 Russell Road #23
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 03/31/15

Arroyo, Rafael
25 Barber St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/15/15

Beaulieu, Benjamin Marc
Beaulieu, Christina Lynn
a/k/a Abbondanza, Christina Lynn
5 Revere Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/03/15

Bennett, Frank E.
Bennett, Lynn A.
283 Miller St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/08/15

Bennett, Mark
109 Denver St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 04/07/15

Boldyga, Joseph Dennis
987 Holmes Road
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/15/15

Boutin, Jarrod L.
42 Dearth Hill Road
Brimfield, MA 01010
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/02/15

Brogna, Larissa
246 Riverbend St.
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/08/15

Broskey, Michael Lee
21 New St.
North Adams, MA 01247
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 03/31/15

Byrne, Paul J.
Byrne, Pamela A.
52 Brookline Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 03/31/15

Colon, Felix
29 Notre Dame St
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 04/09/15

Dobiecki, Charlene
110 Nora Lane
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 04/06/15

Dolan, D. Casey
510 Amherst Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/02/15

Dziuba, Audra Marie
61B Hillside Road
South Deerfield, MA 01373
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/14/15

Essis, Marguerite Essiou
a/k/a Essis-Cox, Marguerite
233 Munsell St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/06/15

Fondon, Tommy L.
Fondon, Janine E.
189 Braeburn Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 04/12/15

Gay, David R.
Gay, Brigitte D.
169 Vining Hill Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 03/31/15

Glinka, Michael Joseph
397 Springfield St.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 03/31/15

Gonzalez, Juan J.
Gonzalez, Roslyn
22 Dunhill St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/15/15

Gouvan, Richard L.
Mattoon, Donna M.
55 Empire St., Unit 44
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/15/15

Guay, Margaret Ann
39 Main St. #33
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/13/15

Guimond, Sean
Guimond, Kristen E.
76 Beaver Lake Road
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/08/15

Guzman, Tiffany M.
35 Brookline Ave.
Springfield, MA 01107
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/15/15

Hartley, Lisa M.
65 Kane Brothers Circle
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 04/12/15

Henderson, Kym M.
56 Dexter St.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/14/15

Hussey, Danielle M.
75 West St. # 5A
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/02/15

Irizarry, Frankie
180 Bristol St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/08/15

Jackson, Rebecca F.
P.O. Box 516
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/10/15

Jarvis, Joan C.
46 Railroad St., #311
Lee, MA 01238
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/09/15

Johnson, David W.
13 T St.
Turners Falls, MA 01376
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/01/15

Kostecki, Philip Julius
Kostecki, Catherine Lynn
96A Mt. Hermon Station Road
Northfield, MA 01360
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/13/15

LaBranche, James Robert
117 Bridle Path Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/08/15

Lawrence, Richard K.
Lawrence, Lorna R.
14 Devonshire Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/15/15

Lozada, Regina
a/k/a Torres, Regina
236 Nottingham St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/08/15

Maher, Barbara A.
99 Jamrog Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/15/15

Mansfield, Marsha M.
69 Lathrop St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/09/15

Matta, Jacqueline Xylina
4 Brookline Ave. 3rd Fl.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/14/15

McCarter, Barbara R.
314 Fredette St.
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 03/31/15

Messier, Neal S.
Messier, Sarah A.
558 Barry St.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/15/15

Migut, Helen
31 Yorktown Dr.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/09/15

Moorehead, Megan N.
91 Bell St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/15/15

Mulligan, Eugene B.
Mulligan, Elizabeth H.
69 Billings St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 03/31/15

Olivieri, Anibal
Olivieri, Evelyn
327 St. James Ave.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/07/15

O’Neil, Dolores A.
105 Laurel St. #11A
Lee, MA 01238
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/13/15

Phaneuf, Donald F.
739 Daniel Shays Hwy.
#138 Millers River Dr.
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 03/31/15

Pilon, Helene M.
10 Margaret St.
Monson, MA 01057
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/15/15

Pouliot, Alexander
127 Riviera Dr.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/14/15

Richardson, Rosemary C.
304 North St.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/03/15

Riley, Timothy B.
9 Grant St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/10/15

Sanecki, Lucy P.
4 Columbia St. #45
Adams, MA 01220
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/06/15

Sawyer, Donald
Sawyer, Crystal
PO Box 123
Stockbridge, MA 01262
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/13/15

Serra, Karen A.
a/k/a Noble, Karen A
73 Barrett St., Unit 5
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/08/15

Sims, Craig
69 Ramblewood Dr.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 03/31/15

Sullivan, Michele M.
46 Erksine Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/07/15

Tersavich, Linda K.
61 Berkshire Ave.
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/10/15

Tkaczyk, Rebecca K.
424 East St., Apt B
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/08/15

Velez, Angel L.
Velez, Elisa
1475 Roosevelt Ave., #4
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/07/15

Zayats, Yaroslav
Zayats, Tatyana
45 City View Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 04/13/15

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

118 Brattleboro Road
Bernardston, MA 01337
Amount: $224,000
Buyer: Peter S. Melnik
Seller: Bonnie L. Bobetsky
Date: 04/06/15

155 Parmenter Road
Bernardston, MA 01337
Amount: $229,000
Buyer: Melissa R. Gerry
Seller: Sharon Whitaker
Date: 04/17/15

COLRAIN

1 Lyonsville Road
Colrain, MA 01340
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Patrick A. Greenburger
Seller: James E. Sturgeon
Date: 04/08/15

DEERFIELD

10 Beaver Dr.
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Elizabeth J. Braccia
Seller: Kathleen S. Stanley
Date: 04/08/15

103 Upper Road
Deerfield, MA 01342
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Jeffrey J. Benoit
Seller: Edice L. Skalski
Date: 04/15/15

GREENFIELD

5 Adams Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $487,000
Buyer: Jackson Earnest Real Estate
Seller: Bruce H. Schwartz
Date: 04/14/15

324 Federal St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Lorenz Family LLC
Seller: Massachusetts TR
Date: 04/17/15

44 Forest Ave.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $164,500
Buyer: David M. Gaboury
Seller: Aaron M. Gerry
Date: 04/17/15

NORTHFIELD

74 Mount Hermon Station Road
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $399,000
Buyer: Dylan M. Field
Seller: Daniel S. Randall
Date: 04/10/15

765 Pine Meadow Road
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Jamie P. Seidell
Seller: Gloria J. Eddy
Date: 04/17/15

21 Riverview Dr.
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Gary G. Conaway
Seller: Donna A. Drolette
Date: 04/10/15

ORANGE

200 Mechanic St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $209,000
Buyer: Jayson W. Desmond
Seller: Gary G. Gleason
Date: 04/10/15

191 Packard Road
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $192,922
Buyer: Citimortgage Inc.
Seller: Lincoln Lacasse
Date: 04/13/15

SHELBURNE

5-7 Grove St.
Shelburne, MA 01370
Amount: $228,800
Buyer: Elizabeth J. Bukolsky RET
Seller: John L. Occhialini
Date: 04/06/15

WARWICK

155 Royalston Road
Warwick, MA 01378
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Michael L. Humphries
Seller: James L. Deming
Date: 04/08/15

HAMPDEN COUNTY

AGAWAM

64 Barney St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Matthew J. Rolandini
Seller: Diane Rolandini
Date: 04/17/15

700 Main St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Corey G. Tower
Seller: Danielle L. Petrangelo
Date: 04/17/15

170 North Westfield St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $159,900
Buyer: Nicole A. Hoyle
Seller: Denise L. Mason
Date: 04/16/15

361 Suffield St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $242,000
Buyer: Becky Rivera
Seller: Jean A. Clouse
Date: 04/16/15

109 Vassar Road
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $239,900
Buyer: Jennifer L. Bock
Seller: Sandra E. Barrows
Date: 04/16/15

32 Wilson St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $160,440
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Sandra A. Lynch
Date: 04/08/15

CHICOPEE

63 Arnold Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01119
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Heidi T. Munro
Seller: David J. Makowicz
Date: 04/10/15

69 Arthur St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $204,900
Buyer: Ray Otano
Seller: Gerald R. Archambault
Date: 04/08/15

40 Carriage Road
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $310,000
Buyer: Keith Rattell
Seller: Andrew F. Garstka
Date: 04/15/15

47 Carriage Road
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $310,000
Buyer: Keith Rattell
Seller: Andrew F. Garstka
Date: 04/15/15

192 Lawrence Road
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $134,000
Buyer: Bruce E. Crevier
Seller: Arline L. Cambo
Date: 04/16/15

33 Loomis Ct.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Samantha G. Orzechowski
Seller: David C. Labrie
Date: 04/13/15

95 Lukasik St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $154,000
Buyer: Marek Gusciora
Seller: Jason Jordan
Date: 04/08/15

2041 Memorial Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $455,000
Buyer: AQSA 2041 Realty LLC
Seller: Sandri Realty Inc.
Date: 04/06/15

648 Montgomery St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Janet L. Haney
Seller: FHLM
Date: 04/10/15

126 Royal St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $116,833
Buyer: MHFA
Seller: James P. Bonavita
Date: 04/06/15

78 Warwick Road
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Mark J. Hines
Seller: Michael D. Micheli
Date: 04/17/15

103 Watson St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $184,900
Buyer: Sara Robitaille
Seller: Michael J. Twining
Date: 04/13/15

EAST LONGMEADOW

175 Braeburn Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Roland D. Gelinas
Seller: James M. Adcock
Date: 04/17/15

260 Elm St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Antonio J. Bordoni
Seller: Ida B. Newell
Date: 04/08/15

42 Gates Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Mary K. Thomas
Seller: FNMA
Date: 04/10/15

61 North Main St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: LLP North Main LLC
Seller: Barry M. Stephens
Date: 04/17/15

17 Oak Brook Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $253,000
Buyer: Joel R. Kosciak
Seller: Edward W. Brown
Date: 04/14/15

GRANVILLE

195 Hartland Hollow Road
Granville, MA 01034
Amount: $222,500
Buyer: Timothy J. Walsh
Seller: Gregory A. Hart
Date: 04/15/15

18 Julia Lane
Granville, MA 01034
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: John L. Occhialini
Seller: Duval, Joyce F., (Estate)
Date: 04/10/15

1665 Main Road
Granville, MA 01034
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Milton H. Stauffer
Seller: David Krupa
Date: 04/15/15

HAMPDEN

25 Allen St.
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $254,000
Buyer: Bean Sprout Realty LLC
Seller: Salvatore A. Scibelli
Date: 04/09/15

HOLYOKE

75 Elmwood Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $134,900
Buyer: Susana E. Navarro
Seller: AHAP LLC
Date: 04/10/15

12 Liberty St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $247,500
Buyer: Elisabeth L. Lagace
Seller: Jill M. Roach
Date: 04/10/15

78 Nonotuck St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $143,000
Buyer: James F. Bickford
Seller: Thomas J. Raschi
Date: 04/17/15

457 Westfield Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $123,000
Buyer: Jessica L. Borowski
Seller: Mayo, Elaine A., (Estate)
Date: 04/10/15

LONGMEADOW

169 Blueberry Hill Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $425,000
Buyer: Ryan Collins
Seller: Debra A. Birtwell
Date: 04/15/15

122 Cooley Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $371,000
Buyer: Jennifer P. Metsch
Seller: Barbara A. Labar
Date: 04/17/15

10 Eastham Lane
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $700,000
Buyer: Michael C. Mathis
Seller: NESCAC LLC
Date: 04/14/15

18 Edgemont St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $237,500
Buyer: Daniel P. Fama
Seller: Richard Fernie
Date: 04/09/15

125 Hillcrest Ave.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $408,000
Buyer: Susan L. Schmelkin
Seller: Lee A. Feuling
Date: 04/09/15

183 Meadowbrook Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $212,500
Buyer: Mary E. Scully
Seller: FHLM
Date: 04/16/15

LUDLOW

19 Daisy Lane
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $331,250
Buyer: Yvan P. Lambert
Seller: Elin M. Zapka
Date: 04/07/15

201 Erin Lane
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $270,500
Buyer: Peter J. Godbout
Seller: William J. Bigda
Date: 04/13/15

32 Focosi Lane
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $324,000
Buyer: Dedan M. Karanja
Seller: Sergio Freitas
Date: 04/06/15

28 Fox Run Dr.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Michael J. Tufariello
Seller: Joanne N. Shaw
Date: 04/17/15

23 Lakeview Ave.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $239,900
Buyer: Krysten M. Gasparrini
Seller: Richard E. Dumont
Date: 04/15/15

MONSON

15 Elm St.
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $177,000
Buyer: Kevin Gaudette
Seller: John E. Murphy
Date: 04/15/15

PALMER

2002 Calkins Road
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Austin Vadnais
Seller: Skove Associates LLC
Date: 04/10/15

15 Gay St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $182,000
Buyer: Christopher B. Muldrew
Seller: Timothy M. Haley
Date: 04/15/15

1051 Overlook Dr.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $179,250
Buyer: Carol A. Meaney
Seller: Pamela Outhuse
Date: 04/10/15

1218 South Main St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $133,500
Buyer: David Heyes
Seller: Marc A. Bessette
Date: 04/17/15

RUSSELL

481 Blandford Road
Russell, MA 01071
Amount: $288,337
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Paul B. Moss
Date: 04/17/15

5 Old Westfield Road
Russell, MA 01034
Amount: $196,772
Buyer: Pennymac Loan TR
Seller: Steven Exware
Date: 04/16/15

4 Park Circle
Russell, MA 01071
Amount: $137,500
Buyer: Daniel Albano
Seller: George P. Vincensi
Date: 04/08/15

SPRINGFIELD

62 Bay St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Portia J. Thomas
Seller: Icarian Real Estate Advisors
Date: 04/14/15

19 Bedford Road
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Matthew F. Sullivan
Seller: Stella Mazarakos
Date: 04/13/15

77-79 Bristol St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Victoria O. Martinez
Seller: Maria M. Lebron
Date: 04/13/15

40 Bronson Terrace
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Sam M. Steinmann
Seller: Frances Shames
Date: 04/17/15

94-96 Byers St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $152,500
Buyer: Keith W. Fowler
Seller: Russell A. Thompson
Date: 04/07/15

330 Central St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $149,500
Buyer: Carol Y. Arroyo
Seller: Viva Development LLC
Date: 04/10/15

14 Chesterfield Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $153,418
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Julianne McSwain
Date: 04/08/15

344 Commonwealth Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $122,000
Buyer: Debora E. Degonzalez
Seller: Thomas F. Sweeney

41 Connolly St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $127,000
Buyer: David Rosoff
Seller: Falardeau, Robert C., (Estate)
Date: 04/06/15

75 Dimmick St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $118,400
Buyer: William T. Norton
Seller: Eagle Home Buyers LLC
Date: 04/07/15

131 Ellendale Circle
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $157,500
Buyer: Midfirst Bank
Seller: Richard C. Mayberry
Date: 04/13/15

38 Endicott St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $162,000
Buyer: Karen T. Costa
Seller: Joseph D. Daly
Date: 04/17/15

32 Garcia St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $181,500
Buyer: Brianna L. Jones
Seller: Toby R. Rutkowski
Date: 04/13/15

54 Haller St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: William B. Watkins
Seller: Christopher P. Mastalerz
Date: 04/15/15

57 Hartford Terrace
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $166,000
Buyer: Jeffrey J. Bineault
Seller: Catherine M. Kennedy
Date: 04/13/15

42-44 Longfellow Terrace
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Eryca R. Haase
Seller: Marlene Minardi
Date: 04/17/15

21 Maebeth St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $158,000
Buyer: Michael J. Scanlon
Seller: Amy E. Sheehan-Kosciak
Date: 04/14/15

65 Mallowhill Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $131,750
Buyer: Deutsche Bank
Seller: Alejandro Cabrera
Date: 04/08/15

27 Mary St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $152,000
Buyer: Aristedes M. Patterson
Seller: Sapphire Property Development
Date: 04/08/15

9 Mattoon St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Keith W. Fowler
Seller: Robert J. Gordon
Date: 04/15/15

323 Naismith St.
Springfield, MA 01101
Amount: $257,000
Buyer: Alex Owusu
Seller: Bretta Construction LLC
Date: 04/16/15

456-458 Page Blvd.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $172,360
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Jose V. Narvaez
Date: 04/09/15

655 Page Blvd.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $12,000,000
Buyer: CNR Springfield LLC
Seller: PNK Ohio LLC
Date: 04/14/15

590 Plumtree Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $253,000
Buyer: Robert L. Reid
Seller: Louise Bonavita
Date: 04/07/15

244 Russell St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Paul McNaughton
Seller: Sodi Inc.
Date: 04/09/15

148 Santa Barbara St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Norberto Leon
Seller: Truong D. Vuong
Date: 04/14/15

70 Starling Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Jose O. Santiago
Seller: Peter J. Houser
Date: 04/17/15

18 Vail St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $123,000
Buyer: Giuseppe Avella
Seller: Edward J. Nieves
Date: 04/13/15

221 Wollaston St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $187,000
Buyer: Pamela A. Jumba
Seller: Andre E. Stewart
Date: 04/14/15

SOUTHWICK

68 Davis Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Daniel O’Sullivan
Seller: FNMA
Date: 04/06/15

113 Feeding Hills Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $116,000
Buyer: A. Karathanasopoulos
Seller: Ida I. Fazio
Date: 04/16/15

8 Kimberly Dr.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Samuel C. Chevalier
Seller: Jeremy J. Cigal
Date: 04/07/15

33 Woodland Ridge
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Rodger C. Bancroft
Seller: FHLM
Date: 04/16/15

9 Woodside Circle
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $168,000
Buyer: Jeremy M. Mulinare
Seller: Anthony J. Mulinare
Date: 04/09/15

WALES

17 Orchard Lane
Wales, MA 01081
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Jesse P. Martin
Seller: Dale V. Gilley
Date: 04/09/15

WEST SPRINGFIELD

161 Birnie Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Douglas W. Pas
Seller: Thomas FT
Date: 04/06/15

30 Capital Dr.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $1,575,000
Buyer: 73 State Street LLC
Seller: 30 Capital Associates LP
Date: 04/16/15

59 Druids Lane
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $142,000
Buyer: Mike Azizov
Seller: FNMA
Date: 04/15/15

190 Edgewood Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Beata Grodzicka
Seller: Joseph J. Kroll
Date: 04/07/15

N/A
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $425,000
Buyer: John R. Sweeney
Seller: Joan L. Asinas
Date: 04/10/15

216 Kings Hwy.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $191,000
Buyer: Janet I. Malavi-Garrick
Seller: Beata Grodzicka
Date: 04/07/15

30 Lennys Way
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Atif Khan
Seller: Shamin Qureshe
Date: 04/10/15

1520 Morgan Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Maroun N. Hannoush
Seller: Roderick A. Prewitt
Date: 04/14/15

63-65 Morningside Terrace
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Jake Tourville-Thibault
Seller: Dandy, Susan L., (Estate)
Date: 04/06/15

44 Mulberry St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Merigian Real Estate LLC
Seller: Lion Holdings LLC
Date: 04/15/15

79 Nonotuck Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Joseph P. Turmel
Seller: Matthew J. Hastings
Date: 04/17/15

12 Prospect St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Kristine Difederico
Seller: Joseph A. Tanguay
Date: 04/08/15

7 Riverview Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Ryan M. Martin
Seller: Reed, Barbara J., (Estate)
Date: 04/17/15

41 West School St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $184,000
Buyer: Suk Majhi
Seller: Jennifer M. McNally
Date: 04/17/15

34 Wellfleet Dr.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $256,000
Buyer: Ghaeth Alsamraay
Seller: Glenn H. McAdam
Date: 04/15/15

WESTFIELD

76 Alexander Place
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $306,500
Buyer: Amanda R. Collins
Seller: Nathaniel J. Oswalt
Date: 04/17/15

8 Charles St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Buyer: Artem Vysotskyi
Seller: Yuriy Solokhin
Date: 04/14/15

846 East Mountain Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $193,000
Buyer: Anthony J. Casale
Seller: James Biscoe
Date: 04/17/15

1331 East Mountain Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Joanne L. Drozdowski
Seller: Peter C. Jasinski
Date: 04/10/15

3 Ethan Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $117,347
Buyer: Matthew Scott
Seller: S&C Home Buyers LLC
Date: 04/10/15

80 Glenwood Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Brendan C. Moran
Seller: Jacobs, Roland A., (Estate)
Date: 04/09/15

739 Holyoke Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $172,000
Buyer: Jesse J. Caisse
Seller: Tadeus J. Filipiak
Date: 04/10/15

42 Jefferson St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $152,900
Buyer: Robert J. Mahoney
Seller: Association For Community
Date: 04/07/15

54 Jeremy Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $438,000
Seller: James J. Sullivan
Date: 04/08/15

89 Mechanic St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $179,550
Buyer: Brandon M. Sanchez
Seller: Gina M. Avery
Date: 04/17/15

229 Montgomery Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $156,945
Buyer: Yellowbrick Property LLC
Seller: Emily Bisbee
Date: 04/13/15

551 North Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $25,420,000
Buyer: Armbrook Village Owner
Seller: Armbrook Senior Living
Date: 04/07/15

Northwest Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Angelica Development LLC
Seller: Harbey Fundding TR
Date: 04/10/15

355 Springdale Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Frank Brown
Seller: Nathan M. Lecrenski
Date: 04/10/15

14 Sterling St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $164,000
Buyer: LP 4 LLC
Seller: FNMA
Date: 04/10/15

28 Union St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Gennadiy A. Lisitsin
Seller: Lyudmila Lisitsin
Date: 04/14/15

WILBRAHAM

10 Cedar Oak Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Nicholas Dussault
Seller: Lindsey M. Ferreira
Date: 04/10/15

7 Falcon Hts.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $480,000
Buyer: John M. Rossini
Seller: FNMA
Date: 04/10/15

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY

AMHERST

25 Merrick Circle
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $387,800
Buyer: Melissa E. Giraud
Seller: Kevin Brigham
Date: 04/15/15

55 Pokeberry Ridge
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $329,000
Buyer: Gary S. Toth
Seller: Thomas E. Korson
Date: 04/15/15

6 Teaberry Lane
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $425,000
Buyer: Kendall D. Doble
Seller: Patrice D. Whaling
Date: 04/10/15

BELCHERTOWN

837 Federal St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Tammy Ryan
Seller: Susan M. Carlson
Date: 04/17/15

15 Sylvan Circle
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $430,000
Buyer: Edward W. Brown
Seller: A. T. Tetrault
Date: 04/14/15

EASTHAMPTON

493 East St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $198,000
Buyer: Kristan A. Lagueux
Seller: David G. Nicewicz
Date: 04/15/15

55 Holyoke St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Philip K. Peake
Seller: US Bank
Date: 04/09/15

49 Kenneth Road
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Abdelaziz Afoulous
Seller: Kristine Furkey
Date: 04/16/15

10 Lawndale St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Wilburn G. Dawson
Seller: Julie A. Pearce
Date: 04/10/15

21 Picard Circle
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $217,500
Buyer: Eleanor J. Holmes
Seller: Gregory W. Payeur
Date: 04/15/15

32 Pine Hill Road
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $335,000
Seller: Dellaquila, Danielle R., (Estate)
Date: 04/10/15

121 Pleasant St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $900,000
Buyer: Keystone Enterprises LLC
Seller: Sullivan Easthampton Inc.
Date: 04/14/15

GRANBY

115 Amherst St.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $385,000
Buyer: Aimee Weldon
Seller: Cheryl L. Pitt
Date: 04/17/15

13 Ken Lane
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $115,500
Buyer: Daniel Long
Seller: Nationstar Mortgage LLC
Date: 04/09/15

HADLEY

100 Rocky Hill Road
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $338,000
Buyer: HL Holdings LLC
Seller: Richard M. Gnatek
Date: 04/15/15

HATFIELD

1 Prospect Ct
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $299,000
Buyer: Ellen Miller
Seller: Aaron Carpenter
Date: 04/17/15

NORTHAMPTON

227 Bridge St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: R2R LLC
Seller: JJS Capital Investment
Date: 04/16/15

40 Forest Glen Dr.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Annika S. Amstutz
Seller: Marchessault, M. K., (Estate)
Date: 04/15/15

27 Langworthy Road
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: Rosemund LLC
Seller: Taylor, Phoebe S., (Estate)
Date: 04/06/15

3 Laurel St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $380,000
Buyer: Alan B. Weiner
Seller: Transformations Inc.
Date: 04/16/15

16 Mann Terrace
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Rainbow Properties LLC
Seller: Thomas L. Callaghan
Date: 04/09/15

21 North Main St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: All North LLC
Seller: Timothy E. Shea TR
Date: 04/16/15

35 Walnut St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $297,500
Buyer: Brianna E. Hermanson
Seller: Jason E. Larose
Date: 04/17/15

15 Willow St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Colleen A. Teti
Seller: Susan E. Ferron RET
Date: 04/09/15

SOUTH HADLEY

6 Apple Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $369,000
Buyer: Maggie Cousineau
Seller: Adam & Eve Construction LLC
Date: 04/16/15

137 Brainerd St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Jennifer Quinn
Seller: George A. Polizou
Date: 04/10/15

12 Briar Spring Lane
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $525,000
Buyer: Shane L. Kouflie
Seller: James McNulty
Date: 04/09/15

38 East Red Bridge Lane
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $415,000
Buyer: M. K. Harwood
Seller: William F. Nelson
Date: 04/07/15

20 Los Angeles St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $147,000
Buyer: Kristie Larosa
Seller: Gelineau, Roger A., (Estate)
Date: 04/10/15

9 Marcel St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Jennifer M. Vannoy
Seller: Joann L. Jordan
Date: 04/06/15

46 Richview Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: James M. McNulty
Seller: Gary G. Jodoin
Date: 04/09/15

SOUTHAMPTON

34 Coleman Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: David Kent
Seller: US Bank
Date: 04/10/15

WILLIAMSBURG

46 Hyde Hill Road
Williamsburg, MA 01096
Amount: $411,394
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: John P. Slowik
Date: 04/08/15

Health Care Sections
BFMC’s Bradley Embraces a Demanding New Challenge

Steve Bradley

Steve Bradley says it’s his goal to place Baystate Franklin Medical Center in the top 10% of community hospitals nationwide.


Steve Bradley’s commute to what might still be considered his new job — he’s been at it about nine months now — is roughly the same, time and distance-wise, as the one to his old position.

But the destinations, not to mention the job descriptions, are worlds apart.

Indeed, from his home in Pelham he used to travel south and slightly west to Springfield, population 160,000, and the administrative offices of Baystate Health, one of the state’s largest health systems, which he served as vice president for Government, Community & Public Relations. Now, he travels north and west, to Greenfield (population roughly 18,000), and Baystate Franklin Medical Center (BFMC), part of the Baystate system and one of the state’s smallest hospitals with only 90 licensed beds. There, his name badge reads ‘president.’

“It’s a huge change,” said Bradley. “I went from one of the largest urban centers in the state to the most rural area in the Commonwealth; all of Franklin County only has about 80,000 people.”

But when one gets past the differences in population, demographics, and compass points, the challenges inherent with both jobs — and both healthcare providers — are quite similar, Bradley told BusinessWest.

“These areas are very different, except in a few very important regards,” he explained, starting with the overriding common denominator. “Poverty drives everything challenging in Springfield and in Hampden County, and poverty drives everything challenging in Franklin County.

“The poverty looks different, though,” he went on. “In Franklin County, it’s rural poverty, so a lot of it is hidden; this is the poorest county in Massachusetts.”

Meanwhile, the issues that create such poverty are similar as well, said Bradley, adding that educational attainment is an issue in both regions, limiting access to many technology-driven jobs, and, at the same time, many of the manufacturing jobs that would be described as low-skilled or moderate-skilled, have left both areas, leaving fewer alternatives.

But Franklin County has some additional and unique challenges, he went on, adding that the biggest are its remoteness and small population. Public transportation exists but it is quite limited, he said, and this impacts many aspects of everyday life, including healthcare.

Meanwhile, the rural nature of the county makes recruiting and retaining doctors — already a stern test statewide because of the high cost of doing business here — an especially daunting task for BFMC.

Improving access to healthcare, improving the overall quality of the services available at BFMC and its community health centers, and putting the hospital back in the black after years of operating in the red (something that was accomplished last year for the first time in many years), constitute Bradley’s unofficial mission since he succeeded Chuck Gijanto last July — and he credits his predecessor with creating considerable momentum in each area.

The official mission, or goal, is to move the medical center into the top 10% of community hospitals nationwide within five years.

This will occur through the addition of new facilities, such as the 50,000-square-foot surgical center now taking shape on the BFMC campus, said Bradley, who set that goal the day he arrived and knows he now has four years and three months to realize it, and also through new initiatives, such as ongoing efforts to integrate programs at BFMC with those at Baystate Medical Center and other facilities in the system (more on those later).

But mostly, it will come through what he considers a somewhat new attitude, or a renewed and heightened commitment to the people of Franklin County — and all areas served by community hospitals within the system — on the part of Baystate Health and its president and CEO, Dr. Mark Keroack.

“Baystate Health and our new CEO are making it clear that for the first time in a very long time, community hospitals are as important to Baystate Health as any other entity,” he explained. “And he’s backed up those words with resources, not only financial resources, but clinical resources as well. As a result, we’re living our mission in a more authentic way.

“Our mission for years has been to improve the health of the people of our communities every day with quality and compassion, but I don’t think you could really say that this is the way the people of Franklin County felt that Baystate Health was behaving,” he went on. “But under this leadership team, we’re talking the talk and walking the walk.”

For this issue, BusinessWest talked at length with Bradley about this intriguing change in his career path and also about his ambitious plans for this rural hospital.

Working in the Background

While Franklin County represents a new mailing address for Bradley, it’s a region he’s already quite familiar with, through his work at Baystate Health as well as career stops before that.

Indeed, Bradley spent more than four years as chief of staff for state Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, currently president of that body.

While his district includes Hampshire County’s major population centers, especially Northampton and Amherst, it also covers most of eastern Franklin County, including Greenfield and Deerfield.

“Franklin County was a big part of his district, and we were up here quite often,” he said. “I got to know a lot of people, and became familiar with the individual communities and their issues.”

Those years with Rosenberg were wedged between two decidedly different stints within the broad spectrum of healthcare.

Prior to that assignment, Bradley served as the first director of the Western Mass. region of the State Department of Mental Retardation. In that role, he established the department’s first Regional Competency and Diversity Initiative, helped lead the closing of the region’s only institution for people with developmental disabilities, and created a nationally recognized community-based system of services and programs for those individuals.

Baystate Franklin Medical Center

An architect’s rendering of the 50,000-square-foot surgery center now under construction at Baystate Franklin Medical Center.

At Baystate, Bradley saw his role expand and evolve over 15 years. He started as vice president for Government Relations, and eventually added community relations and public relations to his job description.

Over the years, he was involved in a number of high-profile initiatives both within the system and in the community.

Regarding the former, he led the team that gained state approval for Baystate Medical Center’s Hospital of the Future; he helped write the application for the what turned out to be the second-largest determination-of-need (DON) grant in the state’s history. He also helped lead efforts to get Baystate Medical Center added to the state Medicaid waiver.

As for the latter, he was involved with everything from Springfield Technical Community College (he was chairman of its Board of Trustees) to DevelopSpringfield, which he also served as a trustee.

But perhaps the work he’s most proud of has come with making Baystate a major player in an initiative called the Undoing Racism Organizing Collective, which he serves as a member of its steering committee.

Launched by Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation President John Davis, UROC, as it’s called, stages two-day workshops and other initiatives to meet its mission to ‘organize, communicate, and provide resources to undo racism in our families, communities, and institutions.’

“It has a very narrow focus, which is to provide two days of high-quality education centered around understanding the effects of institutionalized white privilege on communities of color,” Bradley explained, adding that Baystate set aside $200,000 from its community benefits budget to help fund the work, which he considers critical to the region’s future.

“There’s a direct link between 400 years of institutionalized racism and economic status,” he went on, adding that since he arrived at Baystate he’s been working in various ways to stem this tide and its many effects on the health of individuals and a community, and the Davis initiative provided a way to take these efforts to a higher plane.

“Our goal is to help people who are not of color to understand what the differences are in day-to-day living,” he told BusinessWest. “White people don’t ever think about walking into a store and being followed, or being turned down for an apartment, or being stopped while they’re driving just because the police officer thinks he can stop you — and they need to think about these things.”

Bradley told BusinessWest that he greatly enjoyed the sum of all the parts that went into his job, and wasn’t exactly looking for another career challenge, especially the one he eventually accepted, when Gijanto approached him about succeeding him.

“I like to joke with my friends and associates that becoming president of a community hospital was not high on my professional bucket list,” he explained. “I loved the job I was doing, I’d been doing it for 14 years; but I will say that you can’t do the same job forever.

“I was asked by Chuck Gijanto to seriously consider the position; I was surprised and really honored, but I hadn’t given it any consideration,” he went on, adding that other administrators at Baystate encouraged him to apply. “Twenty-seven interviews later — well, I interviewed with 27 people, let’s put it that way — here I am.”

The Job at Hand

‘Here’ is a place far removed from Springfield and other Hampden County population centers in many ways.

Indeed, Franklin County is a mostly agricultural region, where the communities are very small, population-wise, with many of them home to fewer than 1,000 residents. BFMC is the only hospital in the county, and there is only one college — Greenfield Community College — as well. And there are only three major employers: GCC, BFMC, and Yankee Candle.

Since formally arriving in Franklin County, Bradley said he’s come to understand even more about the individuals who live and work there.

“This is a very individualistic county — people here don’t like to be told what to do,” he said, adding that he was speaking in generalities, obviously. “It’s also a very self-sustaining community; this county has taken the lead in addressing the opiod-addiction crisis, for example.

“That came out of grass-roots, community organizing, a very tight network of community leaders, political leaders, social service leaders, religious leaders, and healthcare leaders who identified the problem long before anyone else did,” he went on. “And rather than fighting over who was going to lead this effort, they came together in a coalition that has been extremely effective.”

Bradley is already getting involved with the Franklin County community. Indeed, he’s a member of the chamber’s board of directors, and he’s annual campaign co-chair for the United Way of Franklin County.

But most of his time and energy is focused on the medical center and meeting that lofty goal he set upon his arrival. And there are obvious challenges to meeting it, he said, listing everything from the remoteness of the county to the difficulty BFMC faces in recruiting and retaining doctors and other healthcare professionals.

“I think there’s two buses that run between Springfield and Greenfield each day,” he noted. “I’ve talked to many people who’ve said that if they have to go to Springfield for care, they have to take the whole day off from work — they take a bus in the morning, and they take a bus back late in the afternoon. They don’t want to take the whole day off, their boss doesn’t want them to take the whole day off, and they can’t afford to take off the whole day. But they must.”

So in many respects, the evolving strategy is to bring healthcare to the people of Franklin County, rather than bring them to the care, and to improve the facilities on the BFMC campus so area residents won’t be tempted to drive past it to pursue care elsewhere, Bradley explained.

“We’re brining a lot of care up from Springfield and having it delivered inside Baystate Franklin Medical Center,” he said, adding that there are many facets to the broad strategy being deployed.

A Cut Above

One of them has involved improvements to the emergency department, which actually led to a situation where there was a shortage of beds to accommodate those who required admission, a problem resolved by reopening a nursing unit that had been mothballed for eight years, when volume at BFMC had plummeted.

“It was mothballed because there just wasn’t the demand, and the hospital was losing between $2 million and $4 million annually, year after year,” Bradley explained, adding that the surge in emergency room volume was in some ways a good news, bad news situation.

Another step forward is the new surgery center, or the “surgery modernization project,” as it is also known, said Bradley, adding that the new facility rising on the campus is sorely needed to replace facilities that are half a century old and in most all ways antiquated.

“Our operating rooms are 48 years old,” he explained, “and when you’re out there nationally and internationally trying to recruit surgeons and skilled operating room nurses and technicians, and competing against brand new facilities such as the ones at Baystate Medical Center or Cooley Dickinson Hospital, that makes it much harder to compete.”

The new center will feature five operating rooms that are two or three times larger than the ones they’re replacing. Construction is due to be completed in the summer of 2016, and the facility should be operating by December of that year.

In addition to building new facilities, BFMC is also moving forward aggressively with plans to integrate its services with those at Baystate Medical Center and other providers within the system, a step that will improve quality, add needed depth and flexibility, and enable more people to receive care close to home.

“Down the road 40 miles, we have one of the top academic medical centers in the United States,” he said, referring to BMC. “And in the parent company, Baystate Health, we have one of the top 15 health systems in America. Plus, we have one of the top-rated heart and vascular programs in the state in Springfield.

“When you have that kind of expertise 40 miles away, and you’re part of that system, you need to take full advantage of that,” he went on. “What we’re doing is fully integrating all of our clinical service lines with Baystate Medical Center.”

At present, roughly 95% of surgical services are integrated, he continued, adding that rather than being an independent operation, as it has been historically, BFMC’s surgical services are now essentially part of a larger Baystate Health team, with day-to-day operations led by Baystate’s chairman of surgery, with shared governance.

“This will create what amounts to a seamless surgical program,” Bradley explained. “And what that does is get more surgeons who are specialists to actually come up and provide surgery here, rather than forcing the patients to go to Springfield. And the new surgery center will make it even more desireable for folks to come here, because we’ll have a state-of-the-art facility.”

Other clinical service lines will follow, said Bradley, adding that this work in progress will yield a facility far more capable of adequately serving the people of Franklin County than the one operating the past several years.

Bottom Line

And one that he expects will be in that top 10% of community hospitals nationwide.

“That’s our only goal here,” he said of that benchmark. “I think it’s going to take us the better part of the next four years to get there, because every other hospital is getting better too.

“But we’re going to a be a great community hospital,” he went on, “and there’ll be no reason for anyone to have to leave Franklin County to receive high-quality care.”

Becoming the administrator charged with backing up that statement isn’t a career move that Bradley could have envisioned 18 months ago. But it’s a challenge he’s willing accepted.

Indeed, he believes he’s certainly in the right place at the right time.

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

Daily News

LEE — Amie Miarecki has been hired as Marketing and Development manager for Porchlight VNA/Home Care.

Miarecki will focus on customer service, business development, and brand awareness for the free-standing, not-for-profit organization. In 2014, Chicopee VNA, Great to Be Home Care, and Porchlight VNA/Home Care merged to cover all of Berkshire, Hampshire, and Hampden counties. The agency has received several awards, including Home Care Elite Awards of Excellence as one of the top 500 home-health agencies in the U.S. according to Decision Health and National Research Corp.

Miarecki is a board member for MotherWoman and a member of the Professional Women’s Chamber, the GFWC Agawam Junior Women’s Club, the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield, the AIDS Foundation of Western MA events committee, and the civic and community engagement committee of the Springfield City Library. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UMass Amherst and a master’s degree in corporate and organizational communications, specializing in leadership, from Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies.

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.

HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT
East PBE Inc. v. Lighthouse General Contractors Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment for equipment provided: $10,094.75
Filed: 4/2/15

HAMPSHIRE SUPERIOR COURT
Brittany Dalton v. Patrick W. Edmunds, D.M.D.
Allegation: Negligent extraction of wisdom tooth causing permanent damage: $225,000
Filed: 2/27/15

DLW Realty, LLC v. Christian Carey, Architect, P.C.
Allegation: Negligent design of the Pet Hotel: $75,000+
Filed: 4/6/15

HOLYOKE DISTRICT COURT
Hadley Printing Co. v. Signature Advertising and Design Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $24,894
Filed: 3/2/15

NORTHAMPTON DISTRICT COURT
Reinhart Food Service, LLC v. The Sub & Pizza of Amherst Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $6,366.91
Filed: 2/20/15

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT
J.L. Raymakers & Sons Inc. v. Split Excavating Inc.
Allegation: Failure to pay under the terms of a contract: $11,300
Filed: 3/31/15

Lawrence Goodman v. TR Stone Trucking Co. and Thomas R. Stone
Allegation: Failure to pay wages: $25,000
Filed: 4/6/15

Sandra Rodriguez v. Fashion Gallery Inc. d/b/a Rainbow
Allegation: Negligent failure to maintain business premises: $24,000
Filed: 4/7/15

Departments People on the Move

Roger Dulude Jr.

Roger Dulude Jr.

Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems Inc., named Roger Dulude Jr. the system’s corporate Compliance officer and director of Risk Management. A registered nurse who is certified in healthcare compliance, Dulude brings extensive experience leading risk-management and corporate-compliance programs in healthcare. He will institute and maintain the system’s compliance programs, as well as assess, develop, implement, and monitor risk-management plans to enhance patient safety, care, and privacy. “I congratulate Roger and know that his skill and leadership in the area of corporate compliance and risk management are valuable assets to helping us effectively navigate today’s complex and highly regulated healthcare environment,” said Hatiras. Dulude noted the importance of educating and training employees about new and existing compliance issues and risk areas. A key goal is educating employees to increase their understanding of, and compliance with, patient privacy and safety provisions contained in the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Of 1996 (HIPAA). “A rapidly changing healthcare climate poses inherent risks to patients, staff, and our organization, and we must ensure that our compliance and risk-management programs and services are effective and robust,” he said. Dulude most recently served as Holyoke Medical Center’s Corporate Compliance risk manager; Regulatory and Accreditation Compliance coordinator at Johnson Memorial Medical Center in Stafford Springs, Conn.; as well as various nursing, administrative, and clinical-management roles. A 2012 recipient of the Connecticut Nightingale Award given to an individual demonstrating excellence in nursing, Dulude earned a master’s degree in nursing with a secondary concentration in education from the University of Hartford and his bachelor’s degree in nursing at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas.
•••••
Amie Miarecki

Amie Miarecki

Amie Miarecki has been hired as Marketing and Development manager for Porchlight VNA/Home Care. Miarecki will focus on customer service, business development, and brand awareness for the free-standing, not-for-profit organization. In 2014, Chicopee VNA, Great to Be Home Care, and Porchlight VNA/Home Care merged to cover all of Berkshire, Hampshire, and Hampden counties. The agency has received several awards, including Home Care Elite Awards of Excellence as one of the top 500 home-health agencies in the U.S. according to Decision Health and National Research Corp. Miarecki is a board member for MotherWoman and a member of the Professional Women’s Chamber, the GFWC Agawam Junior Women’s Club, the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield, the AIDS Foundation of Western MA events committee, and the civic and community engagement committee of the Springfield City Library. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UMass Amherst and a master’s degree in corporate and organizational communications, specializing in leadership, from Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies.
•••••
Michael Hutton-Woodland has been named director of ServiceNet’s REACH program. Last year, REACH provided services to 500 children, including babies born with physical or mental disabilities, toddlers whose speech or motor skills are delayed, and children diagnosed with autism. REACH staff — from physical therapists to speech pathologists — provide interventions during the critical development window of birth to age 3. A key part of the program is support to families to address the d eep, often painful concerns parents have for their young child. The program is available to all families who need the service, regardless of their ability to pay. After many years of teaching clinical psychology, running a health foundation, and private consulting, Hutton-Woodland is grateful to be serving young children and their parents in this role. “It’s wonderful work,” he said, “and the staff are all dedicated, loving, caring, skilled, thoughtful people. They go into people’s homes to work with their children. That’s a sacred occupation.” Since starting at REACH, he’s been sitting down individually with all 45 staff members to learn about their experiences. He brings some new ideas for streamlining program processes so staff can focus more of their time on direct services and less on paperwork, with a goal of ensuring that staff remains “passionate and excited.” He added that “these kids and families need to be helped now, when a child’s brain is growing and developing the fastest in his or her entire life.” Since the program works with any family whose child needs early intervention, REACH also navigates the effects of two troubling trends: homelessness and increased referrals by the Department of Children and Families. Whatever a family’s situation, Hutton-Woodland emphasizes that “this is prevention work, available to all children with developmental issues, all of whom are very, very special little babies.” Families can contact REACH to inquire about services at (413) 665-8717. Staff members include educators, nurses, nutritionists, occupational and physical therapists, speech and language pathologists, social workers, and autism specialists. The program serves Hampshire and Franklin counties and the North Quabbin area of Worcester County. REACH services are funded by private insurance, Medicaid, the state Department of Public Health, United Way of Hampshire County, and an annual participation fee from families.

DBA Certificates Departments

The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of May 2015.

AGAWAM

Time 2 Party
303 Springfield St.
Frank Farias

The Federal Restaurant
135 Cooper St.
Ralph Santaniello

The Sweet Spot
369 Walnut St.
Veronica Hamann

CHICOPEE

E & L Painters & Wall Coverings
811 Sheridan St.
Leslie Hurman

Know Your Business
1847 Memorial Dr.
Christina Stevenson

Pioneer Communications
9 Desicurlers St.
Alexander Rock

Pool Tech
21 Boston St.
Michael Graham

The Money Stop
1098 Chicopee St.
Rican, Inc.

Willimansett Center East
11 St. Antony St.
James Lomasto

EASTHAMPTON

Archetype Woodworking
156 Pleasant St.
Dennis Greco

ATA Martial Arts
276 Northampton St.
Thomas Norwood

Hair Factory
116 Pleasant St.
Erich Husemoller

New City Brewery, LLC
180 Pleasant St.
Sam Dibble

LUDLOW

All Seal Asphalt
41 Owens Way
Gerald Veautour

Ludlow Spring
89 Prospect St.
Kurt Oelmann Jr.

Twisted Oak Farm
319 West St.
Jeffrey Grasette

NORTHAMPTON

A2Z Science & Learning Store
57 King St.
Andre Boulay

CSC Medical
244 Main St.
Amanda Wilson

Disney Magazines
47 Pleasant St.
Buena Vista Magazines

Dragon Fly Services
6 Union St.
Jessica Brandley

Duffy Tire Service
252 Bridge St.
James Duffy

Get Lost
58 Belmont Ave.
Brian Foote

Meredith Corporation
47 Pleasant St.
Willie Knolmayer

Pioneer Valley Educational Press
155 Industrial Dr.
Matthew Dufresne

Praxis Painting
255 Coles Meadow Road
Joseph Trapasso

Subway Northampton
193 Main St.
Seema Bhatia

SPRINGFIELD

Aelou Visuals
167 Atherton St.
Duane Thomas

Apex Property Management
54 Crystal Ave.
Timothy Mercer

Bamboo House Restaurant
676 Belmont Ave.
Tuyen Le

Boston Road Pizza
1291 Boston Road
Vedat Kan

Bright & Shine Cleaning
65 Belmont Ave.
Fatoumata Coulibaly

Cinq
45 Margerie St.
Anna Perez

Class Auto Sales
466 Main St.
Eddy Almanzar

CMC Photography
34 Manilla Ave.
Carlos M. Cabrera

Craig William Johnson
14 Nutmeeg Dr.
Craig Johnson

Criolla Foods
39 Avon Place
Minerva Lopez

Detail, Inc.
91 Portulaca Dr.
Donald A. Gregory

Ellary Associates
140 Chestnut St.
Gary Heller

Erik’s Cleaning
78 Manor Court
Erik Tumasyan

Exclusive Designs
2560 Main St.
Percida Morales

Rayan Baki’s Transportation
67 Grover St.
Rayan Abdulbaki

Saima Inc.
156 Island Pond Road
Amir M. Paracha

Varnadore
185 Eddy St.
Dyan Varnadore

We Will
38 Colchester St.
Leonard Wheatley

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Local law firm Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C. recently announced that attorneys Michele Feinstein, L. Alexandra Hogan, Carol Cioe Klyman, and Ann Weber have been selected to the Super Lawyers Top Women Attorneys in Massachusetts list. Klyman and Weber have also been selected to the 2014 Top 50 Women list.

Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process includes independent research, peer nominations, and peer evaluations. Super Lawyers magazine features the list and profiles of selected attorneys and is distributed to attorneys in the state or region and the ABA-accredited law school libraries. Super Lawyers is also published as a special section in leading city and regional magazines across the country, including the April 2015 edition of Boston magazine.

“Beginning your search for legal counsel is no small feat; knowing where to start, researching attorneys, and finally selecting one you feel comfortable with can be overwhelming tasks,” said Super Lawyers Director of Research Julie Gleason. “All of the women lawyers in this special section have been named to a 2014 Massachusetts Super Lawyers or Rising Stars list. In creating our lists, Super Lawyers performs the type of due diligence that a highly motivated and informed consumer would undertake if he or she had the time, energy and resources — the very things that are in short supply in most people’s lives.”

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame recently announced the field of teams and brackets for the 2015 Tip-Off Tournament. The annual NCAA men’s tournament sponsored by the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference will take place Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 21 and 22, at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., highlighted by eight schools in two four-team brackets. Teams scheduled to participate are Buffalo, Florida, Niagara, North Carolina A&T, Old Dominion, Purdue, Saint Joseph’s, and Vermont.

The Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament at Mohegan Sun has become one of the most acclaimed collegiate tournaments in the month of November, said John Doleva, president and CEO of the Basketball Hall of Fame. “Of the teams who participated in 2014, four of them made it to the NCAA Tournament. We hope this competitive atmosphere will serve as a stepping stone for the teams contending this year as well.”

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference will continue to serve as the host conference for the annual event. The MAAC has developed a strong partnership with the Basketball Hall of Fame, including the addition of a MAAC exhibit in the Hall of Fame museum in Springfield.

Tickets are on sale at all Ticketmaster outlets and the Mohegan Sun Arena box office. Game times will be announced at later date. For more information on tickets, visit www.halloffametipoff.com.

Daily News

BOSTON — Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) Commissioner Carol Sanchez announced that $65,542 has been made available in the 2015 Volunteer Fire Assistance (VFA) grant funding program for eligible towns. Funding for this program, which is provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, is administered by DCR’s Bureau of Forest Fire Control and Forestry.

“The Volunteer Fire Assistance grants are an extremely important funding tool to assist qualifying local fire departments that might not have the means to pay for vital equipment and training needed to combat wildland fires within their borders,” Sanchez said. “The recent outbreak of brushfires across the Commonwealth only reinforces the value of the VFA grants.”

VFA grants are available to nonprofit rural call or volunteer fire departments that provide service primarily to a community or city with a population of 10,000 or fewer. Fire departments must be comprised of at least 80% call or volunteer firefighters, must be recognized as a fire department under state law, and must be compliant with the National Incident Management System.

Applications with eligibility guidelines were mailed recently to the Commonwealth’s forest wardens in all eligible communities. The completed application must be received by June 12 by Program Coordinator Roxanne Savoie, DCR Bureau of Forest Fire Control, Hampton Ponds State Park, 1048 North Road, Westfield, MA 01085. For questions regarding the application process, call (413) 538-9092, ext. 400.

DCR, an agency of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, oversees 450,000 acres of parks and forests, beaches, bike trails, watersheds, dams, and parkways. The agency’s mission is to protect, promote, and enhance the state’s natural, cultural, and recreational resources. To learn more about DCR, visit www.mass.gov/dcr, or e-mail [email protected].

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Time is running out to nominate an individual for BusinessWest’s first annual Continued Excellence Award.

The new award, sponsored by Northwestern Mutual, is an offshoot of BusinessWest’s 40 Under Forty program, which recognizes young professionals for their career accomplishments and civic involvement. The Continued Excellence Award will be presented annually to one former 40 Under Forty honoree who, in the eyes of the judges, has most impressively continued and built upon the track record of accomplishment that earned them 40 Under Forty status.

The inaugural award will be presented at this year’s 40 Under Forty Gala on June 18 at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House. All 40 Under Forty winners from 2007 through 2014 are eligible. Nomination forms are available at businesswest.com/40-under-forty/40-under-forty-continued-excellence-award and due by 5 p.m. on May 22.

After that, a panel of three independent judges — Carol Campbell, president and CEO of Chicopee Industrial Contractors; Eric Gouvin, dean of the Western New England University School of Law; and Kirk Smith, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Springfield — will consider how each nominee has built upon his or her success in business or service to a nonprofit; built upon his or her record of service within the community; become even more of a leader in Western Mass.; contributed to efforts to make this region an attractive place to live, work, and do business; and inspired others through his or her work.

The judges will first narrow the field of nominees to five candidates, who will be informed that they are finalists for the coveted honor — an accomplishment in itself. They will then choose a winner, the identity of whom will not be known to anyone but the judges until the night of the event.

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Due to the I-91 viaduct project in Springfield, the eastbound lane on Union Street between East Columbus Avenue and Main Street will be closed on May 15, 18, and 19. All eastbound traffic will be detoured to take East Columbus Avenue, then a right onto State Street, then a right onto Main Street. The westbound lane on Union will remain open. Travel delays are possible.

Daily News

HAWLEY — Approximately 400 native trees and shrubs are currently being planted along the Chickley River in Hawley, the final phase of restoration work to repair flood damage from Hurricane Irene in 2011. The Connecticut River Watershed Council (CRWC) was hired by the state Department of Environmental Protection, through a public bidding process, to complete the tree plantings.

CRWC staff and volunteers, with Trout Unlimited volunteers, are completing the plantings on May 14, 17, 19, 23, and other dates through the end of May. West County Equipment Rentals is donating the use of backhoe to assist with the plantings. Approximate hours of work will be 9 a.m. to noon each day. Work will take place in Hawley at various sites along Route 8A. For more information about planting locations on specific days, contact CRWC Massachusetts River Steward Andrea Donlon at (413) 772-2020, ext. 205.

The Chickley River, a tributary of the Deerfield River, is a cold-water river that experienced major flooding during the 2011 hurricane. The town first hired a construction company that straightened, dredged, and bermed the river for five miles, some of it through endangered-species habitat. CRWC raised an alarm to state agencies and then intervened in an enforcement appeal. The enforcement action served to get the river channel restored in 2013 and provided funding to plant trees, control invasive plants such as Japanese knotweed, and monitor the planting sites.

The Connecticut River Watershed Council works to protect the watershed from source to sea. To learn more about CRWC, or to join the effort and help protect the region’s rivers, visit www.ctriver.org or call (413) 772-2020, ext. 201.

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — The Melha Shriners announced that the Shriners’ Sportsman Club and Pioneer Valley Indoor Karting (PVIK) will co-sponsor the Sportsman 100 race on Sunday, May 17, at PVIK’s facility, 10 West St., West Hatfield. Registration starts at 9 a.m., and the first green flag drops at 10 a.m.

“This is going to be a great family event,” said Michael Kneurr, president of the Melha Sportsman Club. “There are activities available at this event for the whole family. I hope that a lot of people will join us for this fun day.”

For non-racers, admission is free. Food prepared by the Melha Shrine Riders Club and beverages will be available for sale. Join in the excitement with a paintball shooting range by Xtreme Paintball of Agawam, a golf-putting challenge by the Melha Shrine Highlander, and face painting and balloon animals for the kids by the Melha Shrine Clowns. Buy a chance to win prizes at the small table raffle or try your luck the big Melha Sportsman Club raffle. Grand-prize and raffle winners will be announced at the end of the day.

“This is another event that is open to everyone, not just the Shriners,” said Melha Potentate David Butterfield. “We’re trying to do more of such activities — for everyone.”

There are six main race events, with trophies awarded to the top racers in each class. For more information, contact Pioneer Valley Indoor Karting at (413) 446-7845 or visit pioneervalleykarting.com. To learn more about the Melha Shriners, visit melhashriners.com.

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Dakin Humane Society is seeking donated items to assist with an influx of newborn kittens and puppies.

The nonprofit organization has created a Baby Animal Wish List on Amazon (amzn.to/1L2Gyc6) that outlines the specific supplies needed. The list includes powdered milk replacer, weighing scales, heating disks, and other essentials for foster-care volunteers and staff members to use when tending to the kittens and puppies. People can place orders online (with Amazon providing the shipping to 171 Union St. in Springfield) or use the list as a reference, then purchase and deliver their donations to either Dakin location in Springfield or Leverett.

“There are so many tiny, newborn animals arriving here at Dakin, or being born while their mothers are in foster care,” said Executive Director Leslie Harris. “Some of them are nearly old enough to go to new homes, but most of them are just weeks, sometimes hours, old. We depend on our community to help us save these lives, and that’s why we created a list of exactly what’s needed. We’re grateful for the assistance we receive, from our foster-care volunteers who are bottle feeding the newborns around the clock to the people who contribute supplies.”

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, nonprofit organization that relies solely on contributions from individuals and businesses that care about animals to bring its services to the community.

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Time is running out to nominate an individual for BusinessWest’s first annual Continued Excellence Award.

The new award, sponsored by Northwestern Mutual, is an offshoot of BusinessWest’s 40 Under Forty program, which recognizes young professionals for their career accomplishments and civic involvement. The Continued Excellence Award will be presented annually to one former 40 Under Forty honoree who, in the eyes of the judges, has most impressively continued and built upon the track record of accomplishment that earned them 40 Under Forty status.

The inaugural award will be presented at this year’s 40 Under Forty Gala on June 18 at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House. All 40 Under Forty winners from 2007 through 2014 are eligible. Nomination forms are available at businesswest.com/40-under-forty/40-under-forty-continued-excellence-award and due by 5 p.m. on May 22.

After that, a panel of three independent judges — Carol Campbell, president and CEO of Chicopee Industrial Contractors; Eric Gouvin, dean of the Western New England University School of Law; and and Kirk Smith, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Springfield — will consider how each nominee has built upon his or her success in business or service to a nonprofit; built upon his or her record of service within the community; become even more of a leader in Western Mass.; contributed to efforts to make this region an attractive place to live, work, and do business; and inspired others through his or her work.

The judges will first narrow the field of nominees to five candidates, who will be informed that they are finalists for the coveted honor — an accomplishment in itself. They will then choose a winner, the identity of whom will not be known to anyone but the judges until the night of the event.

Daily News

HOLYOKE — On Wednesday, May 20, Champ Law will hold a grand-opening event at its office at 330 High St., Holyoke.

Champ Law is a new law firm which focuses on personal injury, and its attorneys bring many years of experience to the table. The firm offers representation in all aspects of personal-injury law, including slips and falls, auto accidents, worker’ compensation, and medical malpractice, as well as most other areas of the law.

“Our slogan is ‘we go the distance’ because Champ Law has the dedication and the resources to fight for what our clients truly deserve,” said Julie Dialessi-Lafley, founding partner of Champ Law.

The emerging business community in downtown Holyoke was an attraction when the attorneys were looking to set up shop. “Downtown Holyoke has really started to thrive in recent years,” said founding partner Adam Basch. “We’re very excited to be part of this committed, tight-knit group of business owners and neighborhood leaders.”

Wednesday’s grand opening will feature catering from Fernandez Family Restaurant and Old San Juan Bakery. Expected attendees include Mayor Alex Morse, state Rep. Aaron Vega, and Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce President Kathleen Anderson.

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced a matchup between the UMass and University of Mississippi men’s basketball teams for its 2015 Holiday Showcase to be held at the MassMutual Center in Springfield on Saturday, Dec. 5.

“Now in its fifth year, the Holiday Showcase has become a favorite with the basketball fans of Springfield,” said John Doleva, president and CEO of the Basketball Hall of Fame. “We sincerely value our partnership with the University of Massachusetts, which allows this event to return to the MassMutual Center here in Springfield year after year. We are looking forward to another exciting contest this December.”

UMass is coming off a 17-15 season — its fourth-consecutive winning campaign — and has participated in postseason play in three of the last four years. The Minutemen are expected to return seven letter winners and two starters from a year ago. Springfield native and UMass alum Derek Kellogg is entering his eighth season in Amherst and has won 126 games, including 87 over the past four years.

“We always enjoy playing in Springfield. The crowds are good and bring energy every time we are there,” Kellogg said. “Ole Miss is a strong program that competes on a national level and has been to the NCAA tournament twice in the last three years. We are looking forward to having a team of their caliber on the schedule next season.”

In conjunction with the Holiday Showcase, the Basketball Hall of Fame will also host the sixth annual Springfield Rotary Service Above Self Luncheon on Friday, Dec. 4 on the Basketball Hall of Fame’s Jerry Colangelo Court of Dreams. Other community-based events are tentatively planned.

Daily News

GREENFIELD — Greenfield Community College student Guinevere Arthur Vanhorne is one of “29 Who Shine,” a group of outstanding Massachusetts public college and university graduates honored by the Department of Higher Education at a Massachusetts State House ceremony on May 14.

Every year, one graduate from each of the 29 Massachusetts public campuses is recognized for their academic achievements and record of student leadership and community service. Vanhorne, 29, of Rowe, will graduate from GCC in June with an associate’s degree in liberal arts. Nominated for the award by GCC President Bob Pura, she will transfer to Smith College to study toward a bachelor’s degree in biology and then continue on toward a master’s degree. She plans a career as a physician assistant, hopefully in a rural area of Massachusetts.

Vanhorne grew up in Jamaica and never imagined she’d be able to go to college. She has worked as a certified nursing assistant in Western Mass. nursing homes since taking the CNA certification course at GCC in 2010. Her work supervisors encouraged her to pursue her dream of college and enroll at GCC. While working and raising her two young daughters, she has excelled as a student at GCC, serving as president of GCC’s chapter of the national academic honor society Phi Theta Kappa. She has also taken an active role with community-service projects, including creating a fund-raiser to help a local family get a wheelchair-accessible van they need, volunteering in a soup kitchen, raising money to purchase personal items and toiletries for the GCC Food Pantry, and working on a toy drive. At GCC, she also serves as an orientation leader and a peer tutor assisting other students.

“Guinevere Arthur Vanhorne has a bright light that shines from within,” Pura said. “She makes all here at GCC shine brighter. Her journey represents the courage, intelligence, and heart found throughout the classrooms, offices, and studios of our college. Gwen is a strong, smart, and compassionate woman who will create a brighter future for herself, her family, and her community. We are all so proud of her.”

Vanhorne said the college embraced her from the start. “I feel like I really belong there, like I was going home. I got really exceptional grades, but the community of people made it happen,” she noted. “In 2010, I was a CNA not knowing my future. I honed in on something that felt like a distant dream and now I’m making it a reality.”

For information about “29 Who Shine,” visit www.mass.edu/29whoshine/home.asp.

Daily News

HOLYOKE — Join the Western Massachusetts Master Gardeners and the Wistariahurst Gardeners at their annual plant sale on Saturday, May 16, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The gardeners will be sharing the bounty of their gardens with the gardening public. The plants may not be professionally packaged, but the price will be affordable. This year, there will be a large selection of perennials, annuals, vegetables, shrubs, and trees, as well as hanging baskets and containers. The plants are divisions, not cuttings or seedlings, which, while small, will grow quickly to mature size.

Attendees are encouraged to bring their own wagons or carts to make carrying purchases more convenient. Master gardeners will be on hand to conduct soil tests for $1 per sample and will be available to answer gardening questions. Parking will be available on the street as well as at the Holyoke Senior Center. The plant sale is free and open to the public.

Mini house tours of Wistariahurst Museum will also take place during the plant sale on betweem 9 a.m. and noon. The cost is $3.

Daily News

HADLEY — You have heard the stories about Target, Home Depot and Sony, but could something like that really happen to a small business in Western Mass.? What are the biggest threats facing a small business when it comes to IT security? Spoiler alert: it isn’t what you think.

Join Paragus Strategic IT on Thursday, June 11 as it kicks off its new breakfast series by taking a look at these questions and eating some great food. Presenters will review what’s happening locally, regionally, nationally, and globally when it comes to IT security, and share valuable tips that can help prevent your business from becoming the victim of a cyberattack.

The event is scheduled for 8 to 9:30 a.m. at Paragus Strategic IT, 112 Russell St., Hadley. To register, visit www.eventbrite.com/e/paragus-breakfast-series-tickets-16867459024.

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Preservation Trust will host its annual Preservation Awards Reception to honor individuals and organizations that help restore and preserve historic places in Springfield. The event is open to the public and will take place on Wednesday, May 20 at 6 p.m. in Center Court of Tower Square, 1500 Main St., Springfield.

Recipients for 2015 include Concerned Citizens of Springfield for restoration of 54 Fairfield St.; Cross Town Corner LLC for restoration of 22 Winthrop St., 71 Adams St., 93 Pine St., and 116 Hancock St.; Demetrios Panteleakis for restoration of 83 Bowdoin St; DevelopSpringfield for exterior restoration of 83 Maple St.; Eagle Home Buyers LLC for restoration of 155 Florida St.; McIntosh Condo Assoc. for exterior restoration of 385 Worthington St.; Morrell Thomas for exterior restoration of 122-124 Florida St.; Robert McCarroll for exterior restoration of 44-46 Dale St.; and Roman Catholic Bishop of Springfield for exterior restoration of 68 and 78 Elliot St.

In addition, the Edward Sims Award for Stewardship will go to Dieter Lutz for 138 Dartmouth Terrace; the Robert Holbrook Award for Stewardship will go to Melinda Phelps for 192 Springfield St.; and the George Pooler Award for Stewardship will go to Thomas and Sandra Valentine for 400 Maple St.

Photographs of 2015 and previous award winners will be on display at Tower Square from May 17 through May 30. Slideshows of previous year’s awardees can be found online at springfieldpreservation.org/preservation-awards.

Daily News

NORTHAMPTON — The Paradise City Arts Festival opens to the public at the Three County Fairgrounds on Memorial Day weekend, May 23-25.

Featuring fine craft, painting, and sculpture, the fair is lauded for its fresh, innovative approach. About 260 artists from every corner of the country will show off their newest work in ceramics, painting, decorative fiber, art glass, furniture, jewelry, metal, mixed media, photography, large-scale sculpture, wearable art, and woodworking.

Meanwhile, guests will enjoy cuisine by Northampton’s best chefs and catch live performances by nationally and regionally acclaimed musicians. Attendees can stroll through a flowering sculpture garden, visit special exhibits, and enjoy demonstrations and activities throughout the holiday weekend.

“Paradise City attracts artists whose work is both exceptional and unique,” said founding Director Linda Post. “When attendees visit the event for the first time, I can almost see their jaws drop. They expect a craft show, but this is so much more. It goes far beyond what you can imagine.”

The event takes place at 3 County Fairgrounds, 54 Old Ferry Road, Northampton. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday. Admission is $13 for adults, $11 for seniors, $8 for students, and free for kids 12 and under. A three-day pass is $16. Parking is free.

For more information about the fair and its many events, call (800) 511-9725 or visit www.paradisecityarts.com.

Daily News

WEST SPRINGFIELD — Northeast IT Systems Inc. announced the hiring of Zachary Piper as a desktop specialist.

Piper has a degree in computer engineering technology from Manchester Community College. While there, he served as head technician for the college’s volunteer Computer Repair and Share Club. In 2011, he constructed a computer lab for a Boy Scout camp in Connecticut, where he had served as a camp counselor.

“The IT field brings unique challenges every day, and I find them to be intriguing. From a very young age, computers have fascinated me. I was able to build my first PC at age 11,” said Piper, adding that his favorite aspects of his job are helping customers, solving strange problems, and learning new things.

“It has been great having Zac as a part of our team,” said owner Joel Mollison. “He works hard, and I can always count on him to help with any problem a customer faces.”

To learn more about Northeast IT Systems, visit www.northeastit.net.

Daily News

EAST LONGMEADOW — East Longmeadow Skilled Nursing Center passed a recent state Department of Public Health (DPH) survey with no deficiencies, indicating perfect compliance with stringent state standards for skilled nursing care.

A deficiency-free result in the state’s rigorous annual examination is one of the top indications of excellence for nursing facilities. Each facility is thoroughly surveyed and rated on core criteria including quality care, safety, administration, food service, nursing care, and patient rights.

The unannounced inspections by representatives from the DPH are conducted annually, nine to 15 months following the prior survey. This evaluation, conducted by a team including at least one registered nurse and social worker, includes a review of residents’ and patients’ clinical records, a thorough tour of the facility, and interviews with residents, patients, family members, and staff members.

This honor is the most recent in a series of outstanding accomplishments by East Longmeadow Skilled Nursing Center, including a Bronze Commitment to Quality Award presented by the American Health Care Assoc. and National Center for Assisted Living, based on the criteria of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. Other recent accolades include East Longmeadow’s scores in the top 5% in the nation for customer and workforce satisfaction, as measured by My InnerView and National Research Corp.

“Our East Longmeadow team members dedicate themselves daily to excellence and compassion, and to improving the quality of life for our residents,” said Administrator Michael Marcus. “Our teamwork supports the highest degree of service and care for our residents. It is an honor to have the Department of Public Health recognize our wonderful staff for their efforts, and acknowledge their hard work and commitment.”

Daily News

BOYLSTON — Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C., a leading labor and employment-law firm serving the Greater Springfield area, announced that Partner Kimberly Klimczuk will present a briefing focusing on the Massachusetts Earned Sick Leave Law on Wednesday, May 13 at the Cyprian Keyes Golf Club, 284 East Temple St., Boylston.

The program, from 9 to 11 a.m., will highlight the Massachusetts attorney general’s regulations implementing the Earned Sick Leave Law that goes into effect July 1 and how the law and the accompanying regulations will affect businesses. The program is sponsored by CMEA the Employers Assoc., a nonprofit organization established to help employers promote positive employer/employee relations.

The Earned Sick Leave Law, which entitles employees to earn up to 40 hours of paid sick time each year if they work for businesses with 11 or more employees, appeared on the November 2014 election ballot and was passed by voters. Businesses with fewer than 11 employees must still provide up to 40 hours of annual sick leave, but it can be unpaid leave.

“The proposed regulations issued by the attorney general’s office address a number of key issues regarding when and how employees may accrue and use sick leave under the law,” said Klimczuk. “Massachusetts is only the third state to pass this kind of law, and it is the most onerous in the country. It is critically important for employers to know what they are legally responsible for before it goes into effect in July.”

Registration and continental breakfast will begin at 8:45 a.m. The cost to attend is $45 for CMEA members, $60 for non-members. The program is approved for two general recertification credit hours toward PHR and SPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute. For information about certification or recertification, visit hrci.org.

Klimczuk joined Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C. in 2004 and concentrates her practice on labor law and employment litigation. She became a partner with the firm in 2011. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and received her juris doctor from Duke University School of Law. Her experience includes negotiating collective-bargaining agreements and advising on contract interpretation, and successfully defending clients in state and federal court and before administrative agencies in a variety of areas of employment law, including wage/hour law, discrimination, harassment, wrongful discharge, breach of contract, and workers’ compensation claims. In addition, she has assisted employers in compliance matters involving the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and drafted numerous affirmative action plans for them. She is a frequent speaker for a wide variety of associations and organizations.