Month: February 2016

SPRINGFIELD — Columbia Gas of Massachusetts has awarded Revitalize CDC a donation of $5,000 in support of the 2016 Green-N-Fit event scheduled for Saturday, April 23.

“We are so appreciative of Columbia Gas of Massachusetts’ ongoing support, now for the fifth consecutive year. Thanks to Columbia Gas, we are able to make the homes of low-income elderly and military veterans in need safe, healthy, and energy-efficient,” said Revitalize CDC President and CEO Colleen Loveless.

Nearly 100 skilled and dedicated volunteer employees from Columbia Gas have tackled several projects over the past five years. Projects have included interior and exterior painting, upgrading a daycare outdoor play space, repairing bathroom and kitchen plumbing, planting a garden, and pitching in wherever there is a need.

“Columbia Gas of Massachusetts is committed to working with nonprofit organizations such as Revitalize CDC where their mission to revitalize homes, neighborhoods, and lives through preservation, education, and community involvement aligns with ours to help create strong and sustainable communities where our employees and customers live and work,” said Andrea Luppi, the utility’s manager of Communications and Community Relations.

Link to Libraries to Host ‘A Night of Passion’ on April 5

By BusinessWest Staff February 10, 2016

HOLYOKE — They’re calling the event “A Night of Passion.” That’s a phrase that applies to both support for efforts to promote childhood literacy and a fondness for a particular food or beverage.

These various passions will come together April 5 at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House in Holyoke at Link to Libraries’ biennial fund-raising event.

More than 500 people are expected to attend the event, which will be a celebration of all that Link to Libraries has accomplished since it was created in 2008 — including the donation of nearly 500,000 books to area schools and organizations — and how it intends to continually expand its mission in the years to come.

As for those passions for specific foods and drinks, they will be a focus of the night, provided by a host of area celebrities and business leaders, including Mike Mathis, MGM Springfield president and chief operating officer; Kevin Rhodes, Springfield Symphony Orchestra conductor; Spiros Hatiras, Holyoke Medical Center president and CEO; Delcie Bean IV, CEO of Paragus Strategic IT; Mick Corduff, executive chef and co-owner of the Log Cabin; Amy Royal, founding partner of Royal, P.C., and many more.

As for their passions, well, those are carefully guarded secrets at this point.

Those who would like to experience these passions and support Link to Libraries — which supplies books to schools and other organizations across Western Mass. and Northern Conn., and promotes read-alouds that put area business and civic leaders in area classrooms — can buy tickets for $40 each by sending checks to: Link to Libraries, Attn. Karen Blinderman, P.O. Box 958, West Springfield, MA 01090.

Sponsors for “A Night of Passion” include lead sponsors Health New England and Rediker Software, and event sponsors Bacon Wilson, Bank of America – U.S. Trust, the Frank Stanley Beveridge Foundation, the Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation, James Vinick and Moors & Cabot Investments, Monson Savings Bank, PeoplesBank, Peoples United Bank, the Springfield Falcons, and United Bank.

Jean Deliso Offers Added Protection, Security Through AARP Products

By BusinessWest Staff February 10, 2016

AGAWAM — Jean Deliso, CFP, from the Connecticut Valley General Office of New York Life, is now authorized to offer AARP-branded life insurance and lifetime-income annuity products to AARP members. It is the first time these group-life-insurance products are offered by authorized-to-offer agents.

Deliso is among a select group of New York Life agents who became authorized to offer her clients AARP Guaranteed Acceptance Life, AARP Level Benefit Term, and AARP Permanent Life Insurance, all from New York Life and New York Life’s Guaranteed Lifetime Income Annuity. She is a licensed insurance agent and passed courses specific to AARP.

Deliso has been a New York Life agent since 1995. She serves on many boards in her community, including the Baystate Health Foundation and Pioneer Valley Refrigerated Warehouse, and is chairman of the board of the Community Music School of Springfield. She is past chairman of the board of the YMCA of Greater Springfield, past board member of AAA Pioneer Valley, and past trustee of the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts and the advisory council at Bay Path University.

Since 1994, AARP group-life products from New York Life have been available via direct mail to AARP members. The company has also been the provider of group lifetime-income annuities to AARP members since 2006.

Picture This

Departments Picture This

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

Taking a Stand Against Bullying

A grant proposal that Westfield Bank submitted to the Mass. Bankers Assoc. Charitable Foundation on behalf of Rachel’s Challenge has resulted in a $2,000 award to that organization, which provides intervention programs designed to provide a safe, caring, and supporting learning environment and is named in honor of Rachel Scott, who was killed in the Columbine school shooting in Colorado in 1999. The award will help fund local anti-bullying efforts in the Greater Westfield area, and is in addition to the $3,500 Future Fund grant Westfield Bank awarded Rachel’s Challenge in 2015. “Bullying, harassment, and violence have no place in society — and especially not in our schools,” said James Hagan, president and CEO of Westfield Bank. Pictured with Westfield Technical Academy students are (from left) Stefan Czaporowski, the school’s principal; Stacy Waite, branch manager, Westfield Bank; Westfield Police Sgt. Eric Hall; and Kristine Hupfer, Rachel’s Challenge advisor.

Hoophall Classic Leadership Award

Springfield College and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame presented the fourth annual Hoophall Classic Leadership Award to Springfield College sport management students Brooke Fairman and Gregory Weigert (second and third from left). Springfield College President Mary-Beth Cooper (left) and Hall President and CEO John Doleva (right) made the formal presentation during the 2016 Spalding Hoophall Classic at Blake Arena. Both Fairman and Weigert were key contributors during the Classic, the leading high-school basketball tournament in the country. Fairman and Weigert helped lead more than 75 student event-staff workers and more than 30 student liaisons during the event. They created and conducted training sessions for volunteers of the event; collaborated with Springfield College Office of Conferences & Special Events, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and ESPN to ensure schedules of events; and supervised all event operations during the five-day tournament. They were each awarded a $2,500 scholarship.

Thoughtful Steps Can Spare Families These Emotional Battles

Law Sections

Avoiding Probate Litigation

By TALIA K. LANDRY, Esq.

Talia K. Landry

Many of our parents and grandparents are members of generations that value hard work and family above and beyond possessions. When times were tough, they counted their blessings rather than their money. Members of this generation know the true value of a dollar and often made significant sacrifices, all to provide better futures for their children and grandchildren.

These values and frugality often extend into individuals’ elder years, and many continue to live modest lifestyles so they can leave a legacy for their loved ones. While it is not hard to imagine these generous parents and grandparents, it is hard to imagine being tangled up in a heart-wrenching and protracted legal battle with family, all over grandma’s last wishes.

Probate litigation is emotionally charged and extremely difficult on all parties. These matters involve frustration, pain, and grief, as families are torn apart over money or even the personal possessions of a deceased loved one. These situations can even begin prior to a loved one’s passing, and are just as hard to navigate during life as they are after death.

In 2016, for example, the Massachusetts Appeals Court held in Vitale v. Koen that a deed where an individual gave her daughter a house was indeed valid — despite her own testimony that she lacked capacity and was subject to undue influence on the part of her daughter. While this snapshot is not a full picture of the matter, it does illustrate how emotionally charged this type of litigation can be.

How can you help your family avoid situations like this? While there is no foolproof way to prevent probate litigation, there are some suggested precautions that can ensure both quality of life for your parent or grandparent, and that their final wishes are followed.

First and foremost, take an active role. This is important not only to maintain a meaningful, happy, and loving relationship with your elderly parent or grandparent, but also so that you have regular opportunities to observe how effectively they are managing their affairs, and if it appears that someone may be taking advantage of them.

Maintaining an active role in their lives will also allow you to help them with making necessary arrangements for care or a companion, in the event they need assistance. Where possible, work together with other family members to ensure transparency and harmony for everyone.

Next, encourage your parent or grandparent to be open regarding the arrangements they have made for themselves and the reasons behind them. It is true that many elders tend to be private about their personal and financial matters, but encouraging conversations with family after arrangements are in place makes it clear what the true intentions are.

This may help discourage litigation after the elder’s passing. Additionally, if the matter does progress to the unfortunate point of litigation, past conversations could assist in proving the elder’s true intent. Most importantly, remember that, while you may disagree with the arrangements, it is ultimately the elder’s decision as to how to dispose of their assets. Unless there is reason to believe that an elder has been victimized by undue influence, their decisions should be respected.

Finally, if you are concerned that an elder is being mistreated in any way, do not wait to address the situation. Document your concerns. If you are uncomfortable addressing the issues yourself, contact your local elder-services provider to make a report. Many elders are unaware they are victims. Do not let your loved one suffer in silence or ignorance.

There are, of course, instances where litigation may be necessary, especially in circumstances where a family member or friend may have participated in isolating or influencing the elder. But as a general rule, litigation should always be a last resort. In the event that you are involved in a situation like this, it is crucial to seek advice and representation from qualified counsel. A well-versed probate-litigation attorney will not only assist with navigating legal issues, but can also be a resource to help alleviate the stress and emotional toll of probate litigation.

Attorney Talia K. Landry is an associate attorney with Bacon Wilson, P.C. and is a member of the firm’s litigation department. She assists clients in all areas of litigation, with a specialized focus in probate litigation, including will contests, trust disputes, and other contested estate and probate matters; (413) 781-0560; [email protected]

Auto Industry Poised for Another Solid Year of Sales

Autos Cover Story Sections

Turbo Charged

Jennifer Cernak says Buick’s new models, including its first convertible in 30 years, due to arrive in a few eeeks, are just one of many reasons to be optimistic about 2016.

Last year was nearly one for the record books when it came to new-car sales, with more than 17 million transactions recorded nationwide. There were a host of factors that contributed to that stellar performance, from attractive interest rates to low gas prices to an aging fleet of vehicles on the road. As the new year kicks into second gear, little has changed, playing-conditions-wise, so dealers are expecting more high-octane results.

Jennifer Cernak says there’s an intriguing story behind the 1922 Buick, model 22 37, parked in the showroom of the dealership her grandfather, Samuel, opened on Route 10 in Easthampton in 1940.

It turns out the car was a trade-in, a key piece in a deal the elder Cernak clinched in 1962.

“It wasn’t worth a lot of money, but my grandfather really wanted the antique, so he took it in trade,” she explained, adding that it’s been front and center, in one respect or another, ever since.

It’s been driven in various parades over the years, for example, and it’s been put on display at several classic-car shows across the region. But while it still runs fine, it hasn’t been out of the showroom much lately, Cernak told BusinessWest, because it doesn’t easily negotiate the ramp used to bring vehicles in and out of that room.

Go HERE for a PDF chart of area auto dealers

But it might soon have to make that trek and lose the spot it has owned for years, she went on, because Buick has a number of new models coming out over the next few months, and showroom floor space will be at a premium, to say the least.

“We’re already thinking about what to do,” said Cernak, adding that, while the antique holds a special place in this three-generation family business, it may have to go — somewhere — to make room for the Cascada and the Envision.

The former is a convertible, the first one Buick has offered in perhaps 20 years, and it’s due to arrive later this month. The latter, expected by summer, is a mid-sized SUV, smaller than the company’s Enclave and bigger than its Encore. Both are expected to be real assets in the carmaker’s ongoing efforts to convince the buying public that Buick isn’t just a model for your uncle or grandfather.

“There’s a lot of buzz about these cars, and we’re really excited to have a lot of new models,” Cernak explained, adding that the new nameplates are just one of many reasons why she believes the robust performance of 2015 — witnessed across the auto industry — will carry over into this new year.

And she’s not alone in that assessment.

Bill Peffer, COO at West Springfield-based Balise Motor Sales, told BusinessWest that industry analysts are predicting another solid year for sales, perhaps even something approaching the 17.4 million new cars sold in 2015, a total just shy of the record set some 15 years ago.

The reasons for such projections include everything from attractive interest rates (0% is still available, although harder to find), to low gas prices; from a still-strong economy to lingering, pent-up demand in the form of many older cars still on the road that need to be replaced; from decent weather (knock on wood) to an abundance of intriguing, well-made products.

“The stars are certainly aligned,” Peffer said of the current auto-sales sky, adding that, while this is a buyer’s market in every sense of that phrase, it’s an environment in which many constituencies benefit.

This includes consumers, dealers, and auto makers, who are, he said, taking the profits from the surge in sales and plowing them back into research and development, which will in turn lead to innovations and new products, which will continue the current cycle and fuel more growth.

“Forecasts we’re getting from various sources show growth this year,” he told BusinessWest. “Gas prices are lower, consumers have access to credit and low rates, we have a fairly robust economy, we’re seeing demand for vehicles, and there’s adequate supply. It all adds up to a very positive environment for sales.”

For this issue and its focus on auto sales, BusinessWest talked with several area dealers about what to expect in the months to come, and why all the experts are expecting another year in the fast lane for this industry.

Firing up the Grille

Don Pion calls it “old iron.”

That’s an industry term of sorts that Pion, second-generation president of Bob Pion Buick GMC in Chicopee, summoned to describe the volume of elderly vehicles still on the road.

Don Pion and his son, Rob, note that many factors point to continued solid sales in 2016, especially all the “old iron” still on the roads.

There are many of them, he said, noting that there are a number of contributing factors to this phenomenon, including better quality, which prolongs a car’s life, and several years of lingering doubts about the economy and the direction in which it was headed, which prompted many consumers to get another year — or two, or three, or four — out of their vehicles.

“The age of the fleet, the cars on the road today, remains at an all-time high,” he said. “It’s almost 12 years, according to the reports I’ve heard, which is pretty remarkable given the number of cars that were sold last year.”

This old iron — and ‘old’ is a relative term, certainly — is one of those aforementioned stars now in alignment and a contributing factor to solid projections for the year ahead, said those we spoke with.

Indeed, the more elderly vehicles — which have kept service departments jammed, providing a different source of revenue — are finally being traded in, spawning sales of new and used cars. Meanwhile, a large amount of younger old iron — especially a huge number of cars coming off leases after 36, 24, or even 12 months — is creating attractive inventory for the used-car market, where profit margins are usually better than those for cars right out of the box.

It’s part of an intriguing cycle, with a number of moving parts, but sales of the new models definitely set the tone.

“The new-car side of the business is kind of the catalyst that makes everything go,” said Pion. “It keeps everything running.”

Peffer agreed, and said that current trends collectively comprise the best news for the industry — the fact that there is plenty of fuel to keep this fire burning through the year and probably well beyond.

Indeed, while more than 50 million cars were sold in 2015 — those 17 million new models and north of 40 million used cars — there is still plenty of demand for both.

“There is a lot of activity out there, and as dealers we sell new and used vehicles,” he explained. “When you take a used vehicle in, you sell a new vehicle, so that helps new-car sales. You recondition and then sell the used car, creating another transaction, creating more service department work, creating another customer that comes back for repeat business and service.”

Meanwhile, in a departure from recent years for some models, there is ample supply of new cars and trucks, although dealers could always use more.

The 1922 Buick at the Cernak dealership may soon have to find a new home to make way for the new models to roll in over the next few months.

“For many years following the recession [in 2008], you had a situation where there was maybe more demand than there was supply,” said Peffer, adding that this scenario was true with some carmakers more than others. “Most manufacturers, though, have caught up, and will, or already have, satisfied demand through additional production.”

As for the nature of that demand he and others mentioned, it comes in a number of flavors, and this is yet another reason for the rosy outlook for the industry.

Much of the focus, of course, is on the huge and seemingly insatiable appetite for SUVs and trucks, and especially the latter. Peffer said these vehicles have always been popular, and become even more so when gas prices fall below $3 a gallon. When they’re below $2, like they are now, it’s hard to keep trucks on the lot, and soaring truck sales, he noted, create a rising tide that, as the saying goes, lifts all boats.

“Low fuel prices generally move people into bigger vehicles, heavier vehicles — truck-based vehicles, so trucks are really hot right now,” he explained, putting additional accent on ‘really.’ “And when people buy more trucks, that’s good for the manufacturers — they take that money and put it into R&D, and that yields new products. The truck business is profitable for the manufacturers, and it’s profitable for dealers as well.”

But while trucks are white hot, so, too, are SUVs, a class of vehicle that has seen its appeal spread well beyond soccer moms.

“They’re attracting people of all ages, including a growing number of older individuals because they’re much easier to get in and out of,” said Rob Pion, Don’s son and a member of the third generation of management at the dealership. “There’s interest across the board.”

So much so that there is now demand for a host of different-sized and variously appointed SUVs to meet the wide variety of needs within that growing market. And that’s why Cernak is so enthusiastic about the Envision.

“Some people find the Enclave too big and the Encore too small,” she explained matter-of-factly, adding that the Goldilocks factor is prompting all makers, including Buick, to respond accordingly. “We really needed a mid-sized SUV, and now we’re getting one.”

And with gas prices low and expected to stay that way for the near future, sales of these vehicles should remain brisk, said the Pions, both noting that the near certainty that these prices won’t last isn’t nearly enough to deter most all buyers of these larger vehicles.

Setting a President

Don Pion’s memories of life in the auto business stretch back more than a half-century, to when his father was a salesperson at the old Boulier Chevrolet in Springfield and he would accompany him to the lot.

He recalls the fall season, when the new models would roll in and the dealership would cover the showroom windows with brown paper to build suspense and draw customers in.

He also remembers Presidents Day and how it was a much bigger deal decades ago, when red, white, and blue balloons would often populate the showroom, dealers would give away cherry pies with sales, and area newspapers would be crammed with full-page ads announcing deals.

Most all of that is gone now, especially the newspaper ads, he said with a hint of lament in his voice, adding that the Presidents Day sales, always a bigger event in the Northeast than other parts of the country for some reason, were designed to break the winter doldrums and give people a reason to get into the showrooms.

Such sentiment still exists, and some dealers continue to mark the holiday with special sales, he told BusinessWest, adding quickly that promotions are now a near-constant in this business, with new incentives on a monthly or quarterly basis. As for February, in many respects it’s just another month, although sometimes a challenging one when winter hits with full fury, as it did in 2015.

This year, of course, it’s expected to be a solid month, as all those aforementioned stars continue to shine an optimistic light on the industry.

“Everything is very favorable right now,” said Don Pion as he surveyed the scene. “All the signs are positive.”

There are always threats to this sector, though, and things could change in a hurry. But most potential stumbling blocks, such as the stock market’s dreadful start to the year, are minor or temporary in nature, said Peffer.

Bill Peffer says the “stars are aligned” when it comes to the auto industry and sales projections for 2016.

Still, while most of the arrows are pointing up for this industry, there are challenges in various forms, starting with heightened competition in the form of quality vehicles carrying seemingly every nameplate.

“Where quality was once a market differentiator decades ago, now it’s cost of entry,” said Peffer. “I can’t think of a brand that doesn’t have really good quality.

“There are so many new-product offerings on the market right now that are full of technology, full of safety features, full of performance and styling,” he went on, adding that all this competition is in many ways a positive more than a negative. “All this really piques a customer’s interest; it’s a very good time to be in the market for a new or near-new vehicle.”

Pion agreed. “In the age of consumerism that we have now, bad products don’t survive in any segment, whether we’re talking about automobiles or whatever,” he explained. “You have to build a good product because anyone can go online and read the reviews — and people do that before they buy.”

For the Buick dealers, meanwhile, there’s the almost age-old (no pun intended) challenge of convincing younger audiences that this brand is not just for their father or grandfather.

Rob Pion recalls a recent episode involving a younger individual who test-drove one of the Buick models, liked it, but then offered, ‘I’m not old enough to drive a Buick,’ or words to that effect. And that’s a fairly common refrain.

“We battle that all that time,” said the younger Pion. “If I could just blindfold people until they got in the car and took it for a test drive, I know I could sell more people on these vehicles.”

Super Models

Time will tell whether that 1922 Buick retains its long-held parking space at the Cernak dealership. But at the moment, it looks like the family may well have to find a new home for the antique.

The Cascada will be arriving in a few weeks, and the Envision not long after that. In the meantime, the existing models, including more traditional offerings like the Lacrosse and the Verano, are in solid demand.

Add it all up, and the focus clearly shifts to the present and future, not the past.

And to the stars, which, as Peffer and other dealers said, are certainly aligned.

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

Company Notebook

Company Notebook Departments

U.S. News Ranks
Isenberg’s Online MBA Program 12th Nationally
AMHERST — The Isenberg School of Management’s online MBA program at UMass Amherst ranks among the best online MBA programs in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Online MBA Programs.” The Isenberg MBA is ranked 12th out of 221 institutions ranked by the publication. “We continue to lead the pack in an increasingly competitive online educational landscape,” said Mark Fuller, dean of the Isenberg School. “This confirms what thousands of Isenberg students and alumni have known for over a decade: Isenberg’s online program goes beyond case studies and textbooks to drive students to real success.” The U.S. News ranking is based on five factors: student engagement, admissions selectivity, peer reputation, faculty credentials, and training and student services and technology. Unlike many of the other programs that recently entered the online space, Isenberg has offered its MBA in a 100% online format for more than 13 years, making it one of the oldest accredited online MBA programs in the nation. Enrollment approaches 1,300 students, making it the largest out of the top 25 schools ranked by U.S. News. “We continue to attract a high number of highly educated, highly successful professionals because we have a team of experienced professors and advisors who really understand how these students learn best,” said John Wells, associate dean of professional programs. “Despite our long tradition of outstanding online education, we continue to innovate with a variety of new approaches and technologies to connect students in our online format, new opportunities for in-person connections, and more diversity in our class offerings, including business analytics and sport management.”

Florence Bank TV Ad
Earns Top-20 Ranking from Bank Innovation
FLORENCE — Florence Bank, a mutually owned savings bank serving the Pioneer Valley through nine branch locations, has earned a spot on the Bank Innovation website (www.bankinnovation.net) for creating one of the 20 best banking videos of the year.
The commercial was produced by Sean Tracey Associates, Florence Bank’s advertising agency of record for the past three years and a key contributor to the bnk’s rebranding campaign. As one of Bank Innovation’s top 20 video ads of the year, the Florence Bank commercial is in good company with banks from around the world, including such high-profile institutions as Capital One, PayPal, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, American Express, JP Morgan Chase, Lloyds Bank, Ally Financial, Bank of Scotland, Bank of Ireland, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The Bank Innovation website was launched in 2009 and is produced by Royal Media, a media company that has served the financial industry since 1995. Bank Innovation tracks and encourages innovative banking worldwide. According to Sean Tracey, principal of Sean Tracey Associates, the 30-second video was a follow-up to a commercial produced two years ago in which local talent danced to the beat of Florence Bank’s theme music, titled “Always.” That year, professional singers were used on the music tracks. “Since that was a hit market-wise, we thought it would be a great idea to follow up the dancing commercials with a series of singing commercials,” said Tracey. “Since the bank’s customer base is full of talented artists and musicians, we felt we could use all local singers, performing the bank’s theme music in their own style.” The singing styles featured in the video range from country and jazz to pop and rock, with the 10 performers showcased culled from close to 50 who auditioned. Casting and pre-production spanned three months, with post-production and editing taking another month. Photography was shot over a two-day period on the Academy of Music stage in Northampton. Music producer and writer Dan Serafini, a long-time friend of Tracey’s, produced the music for the ad. “It was a dream-team production experience and extremely rewarding. As far as we know, this concept has not been done before, much less by a local bank — it was bold and daring,” Tracey said, thanking Monica Curhan, the bank’s senior vice president and marketing director, and President and CEO John Heaps Jr. “for their immense bravery and trust in our team to do something truly innovative and allow us to push the creative envelope. I think it paid off in spades.” Heaps added, “we are thrilled at the attention our latest television spot is receiving and feel honored that it has earned a spot on the Bank Innovation website. We thank Sean Tracey Associates for their vision and remarkable work and also our talented customers for their contribution to this award-winning video.”

MacDuffie Announces Collaboration with MCPHS
GRANBY — The MacDuffie School, a co-ed, college-preparatory school for grades 6 to 12, announced a collaboration with the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) that will guarantee qualified students admission to the Boston-based university. “The MCPHS program aligns well with the MacDuffie School,” said MacDuffie Head of School Steve Griffin. “MCPHS works hard to ensure that their graduates are certified in their home country, which is great for our international population. In addition, many of our local students are looking at careers in health sciences; a path to guaranteed admission is a wonderful benefit to all of our students.” This opportunity is contingent on students’ success in prerequisite courses at MacDuffie and, if needed, an English-proficiency test. According to the agreement, students with a minimum B average in MCPHS-specified science and math courses will be eligible for a reserved spot in an undergraduate program. Students graduating from MacDuffie with a minimum B average in the prerequisite courses and who meet the English-language requirements are guaranteed both a reserved spot and a scholarship. “In the health sciences, it’s important to have good training and references,” said Ita Duron-Hermouet, director of Admission International Research and Strategy at MCPHS. “Our graduates have the most prestigious internships available.” Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health are just a few of the institutions where MCPHS graduates obtain internships and employment.

State & Bond, LLC Joins International Trade Group
SPRINGFIELD — State & Bond, LLC, has become a member of ACA International, a association of credit and collection professionals. ACA membership demonstrates that State & Bond is dedicated to advancing quality and professionalism in the credit and collection industry. As an ACA member, State & Bond has agreed to comply with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations, as well as the ethical standards and guidelines established by the association. State & Bond is also a member of the New England Collectors Assoc. Founded in 1939, ACA brings together third-party collection agencies, law firms, asset-buying companies, creditors, and vendor affiliates, representing more than 230,000 industry employees. ACA establishes ethical standards; produces a wide variety of products, serices, and publications; and articulates the value of the credit and collection industry to businesses, policymakers, and consumers. For more information, visit www.acainternational.org.

Michael’s Party Rentals
to Move into New
Location in Palmer
LUDLOW — Michael’s Party Rentals Inc., located in Ludlow, recently purchased a building at 1221 South Main St. in Palmer. The new building gives the rental company more than double its current space, providing more than 20,000 square feet. “I have been looking for quite a long time to find the right building to solve our space issues,” said Michael Linton, president and owner. “Landing in Palmer was perfect because we service west to Albany and east to Boston, as well as north and south from Vermont to Southern Connecticut; this gives the team terrific access.” The additional space is needed to hold Michael’s ever-growing inventory of special-event equipment, including items obtained during its recent acquisition of Yankee Tents. The migration of the tents, chairs, and china from Ludlow to the new building will not happen until late spring, as Linton plans a major renovation of the building, including 1,000 square feet of office space, as well as a 2,000-square-foot Show Room and Design Center, where a client can plan an event. “This is the part I am most excited about,” said Melissa Sullivan, senior event coordinator and director of the Design Center. “It is going to be so amazing to actually be able to help a client visualize their event by creating a mini-version for them to touch and feel.” In addition, Michael’s will be adding a state-of-the-art tent-washing machine, the only one of its kind in the Pioneer Valley. The total project is expected to cost just shy of $750,000 and was financed by Chicopee Savings Bank and the Worcester Business Development Corp.

Euro-style Kart Track to Open in Hadley in March
HADLEY — Get ready to start your engines — Autobahn Indoor Speedway will open in March in the Hampshire Mall. “Indoor kart racing has been popular in Europe for many years and has recently found a strong following on the West Coast of the United States,” said Autobahn Managing Partner David Larson. “Autobahn Indoor Speedway is extremely excited to be bringing the first European-style indoor electric kart-racing facility to the Amherst area.” The Italian-made adult racing karts approach speeds of 50 mph. The speedway utilizes zero-emission electric karts that accelerate faster than their noisier, gas-powered counterparts. “These are not the slow, rattling go-carts you may be used to as a kid,” Larson said. “Our karts are the highest-performance available, state of the art and built for safety. One of the first things people notice is the torque of our electric motors — that acceleration is amazing. The handling is also top of the line, with hydraulic disc brakes, a rear differential, and competition-style racing tires.” The company, which will have a total of nine tracks on the East Coast by April, provides racing instruction to newbies and offers competitive leagues to more seasoned drivers. There are even Junior Karts (with slightly slower speeds) suitable for the younger crowd if they are at least 48 inches tall. Autobahn Indoor Speedway will be available for company outings, social groups, and birthday parties. Various group race packages are designed to meet the needs of most events, but a custom package can be arranged (including private, full-facility rentals). Groups have reserved race times and exclusive use of the track during their races, and they can compete individually or in teams. For more information, visit www.autobahnspeed.com or e-mail [email protected].

Pride Stores Donates $25,000 to CHD’s MaryAnne’s Kids Fund

SPRINGFIELD — Pride Stores recently donated $25,000 to the Center for Human Development’s (CHD) MaryAnne’s Kids Fund, which was established to provide opportunities for children in foster care that would otherwise be unavailable to them. This donation will help continue to provide these children the means to pursue special interests in music, dance, art, sports, summer camps, and extracurricular education, and an overall positive influence that will remain with them throughout their lives.

“Pride does so much for MaryAnne’s Kids, helping foster children have opportunities that would not otherwise be available to them,” said Jim Williams, CHD’s Children and Families Program director. “We are grateful to have such a great partner in the community.”

Every year, Pride Stores sells $1 ornaments in each of its 30 locations during the holidays to support MaryAnne’s Kids. “We are grateful to all the Pride customers who support this important fund-raiser.” said Marsha Del Monte, president of Pride Stores.

Jet-travel-related Businesses Are Hitting New Heights

Luxury Living Sections

Expectations Are Soaring

Kevin Bradley says business travel on Rectrix’s charter planes is increasing to and from Westfield Barnes Airport.

Westfield Barnes Airport is home to a number of businesses that provide a wide array of services, ranging from fixed-base operators, the equivalent of a commercial terminal for private planes, to general maintenance, antique restoration, retrofitting or upgrades to interiors, and avionics, which include communications, navigation, and other key systems. These companies are busy these days, as plane ownership is strong in the region — and not just among the rich.

Kevin Bradley calls them “time machines.”

He was referring to the private jets Rectrix has available for hire that are used by businesspeople to transport them to and from meetings in distant states.

Clients can drive their cars directly up to these well-outfitted aircraft that are stationed in general-aviation airports and board immediately, which saves the time it would take to park, check in, go through security, and suffer the delays that can occur at a commercial airport. Once passengers are airborne, they have access to technology, privacy, and comfort that allow them to continue their business dealings alone or in conjunction with the people they are traveling with, which can include satellite phone systems, wi-fi service, conference tables, and comfortable seating.

“If someone from Dallas needs to attend a meeting in Greenfield, they can charter a flight to Westfield Barnes Airport, find a rental car waiting for them on the ramp, and return home the same day,” said Bradley, vice president of operations for Rectrix Commercial Aviation Services Inc.

“If they flew commercially, they would probably have one or two connections and have to stay overnight,” he went on, adding that demand for the company’s services is high, and its target market is business travelers, although some people do charter jets to take them to vacation spots.

“These planes correlate to the Four Seasons — they are the Ritz Carlton of aviation in terms of luxury hospitality,” he told BusinessWest.

Rectrix, whose services in Westfield include a maintenance facility called AirFlyte, is one of three businesses at the 1,200-acre airport that provide a wide array of offerings that range from fixed-base operators (FBOs), which are the equivalent of a commercial terminal for private planes, to general maintenance, antique restoration, and retrofitting or upgrades to interiors, not to mention avionics, which include communications, navigation, and displays and management of multiple systems that aircraft need to function.

“People don’t realize how much general aviation occurs in Westfield,” Bradley explained. “Westfield Barnes Airport is a huge economic engine for the regional economy, and the businesses there have brought a tremendous infusion of money and skilled jobs to the area.”

Steve Cass agrees. “It’s a great location and a great place to work. We have approximately 250 people employed at our Westfield facility, and last year we serviced nearly 1,600 customers for both in-house and on-the-road events,” said the vice president of technical marketing and communications for Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.

Meanwhile, Tom Trudeau, who founded Aero Design Aircraft Services in 1984 at Barnes, says city officials and the Federal Aviation Administration are very supportive of the airport, which is rare because Westfield could make more revenue by selling the land to developers.

“But this airport is pretty solvent,” he told BusinessWest, explaining that his company has always done well and has never been affected by downturns in the economy. All of Aero Design’s business comes from word-of-mouth advertising and ranges from inspections and general maintenance on small private planes to antique restorations, which can take several years if it requires taking a plane completely apart and rebuilding it.

Tom Trudeau says Aero Design Aircraft Services is one of a few companies in New England that does restoration work on antique planes.

The company is one of a few in New England that does this type of restoration, and although this end of the business is limited to clients who can afford costly overhauls, Trudeau also caters to the lower end of the aviation business.

“Contrary to what most people think, flying is not necessarily a rich man’s activity. If you fly strictly for recreation, you can own a plane for less than the cost of a new car,” he said, adding the aircraft he works on range in price from $15,000 to about $3 million. About half his work is on planes used strictly for pleasure, while the remainder involves restoration on more expensive aircraft, which are often owned by businesses.

“But we’re so diverse,” he went on. “We update upholstery and do engine work and sheet metal repair — everything an airplane needs.”

For this edition and its focus on luxury living, BusinessWest takes a closer look at these companies that share space with the Massachusetts Air National Guard and Army National Guard at Westfield Barnes Airport, and how their work continues to take them to new heights.

Plane Speaking

Standards for maintaining aircraft are very strict, and all small planes must undergo annual inspections. Inspection times vary for larger aircraft, but a problem discovered on any plane must be repaired before it can be flown again.

Trudeau said most general-aviation planes in the air today are 15 to 20 years old, and, unlike automobiles, they increase in value as they age. For example, a four-person passenger plane that cost $20,000 in 1975 is worth double that today, and, if it’s in exceptional condition, the value is a lot higher.

As a result, Aero Design is often called upon to install new radios and instrumentation in addition to making upgrades to the interiors of aircraft, and the quality and scope of the company’s work on antique planes has been featured in a number of aviation magazines.

At present, the company is in the process of completely rebuilding a 1952 de Haviland Super Chipmunk, a process that has taken three years. “It probably cost $4,000 to $5,000 when it was new, but it’s worth $200,000 now because it’s so rare and has been modified and upgraded through the years,” Trudeau noted.

Although catering to this market is more lucrative than doing inspections and small repairs or upgrades, the company can do anything an airplane needs, Trudeau said. He has four to five employees and also works on the planes himself. The jobs the company undertakes are so diverse that it never lacks for business, especially since there is always a new generation of pilots purchasing small aircraft.

“Flying gets into your blood, and we have customers who don’t need their planes for business, but just enjoy going up in the air. We also service sport planes, aircraft used by businesses, and planes people have built themselves,” the pilot said, explaining that Aero Design’s clients range from a farmer to a dentist to people who have taken up flying in retirement.

Gulfstream caters to an entirely different market, and works almost exclusively on its own fleet, along with Falcon aircraft.

The interior layout of Gulfstream jets allows business travelers to work in a private, comfortable setting.

Cass said the Northeast has proven to be a very popular corridor for business travel due to financial districts in New York and the number of businesses in Boston, and 65% of its 2,500 planes are kept in the U.S.

In fact, business has been so good that, in 2013, Gulfstream built a new, 125,000-square-foot hangar in Westfield to accommodate not only its flagship G65OER jet, which costs $65 million, holds up to 16 passengers, and can travel non-stop from Boston to Beijing — a distance of about 7,500 nautical miles — but an influx of other models that routinely need service.

“The new hangar doubled the capacity of planes we can store there,” Cass told BusinessWest, adding that there was a real need for the structure due to the increase in business jet travel.

The company’s Westfield location is one of eight service centers in the U.S. and three overseas, in London, Brazil, and Beijing.

“As the fleet continues to grow, more investments are made in infrastructure,” Cass continued, adding that more than 50% of Gulfstream jets are owned by corporations, 30% are owned by individuals, and fewer than 10% are used by the government or built for special missions.

These jets are popular with Fortune 500 companies and other large firms because their cabins are quieter than commercial planes, the pressurization is better, which makes flying easier on the body, and large windows are tailored to provide a lot of natural light and better viewing.

“They allow business travelers to be productive while they’re in the air,” Cass noted. “In addition to high-speed Internet, people can have private phone conversations with a level of security that is important to them.”

Gulfstream produces about 100 to 150 new aircraft each year, and its Westfield operation has shown long-term, steady growth as the fleet continues to grow.

Propelling Growth

Bradley said Rectrix started as an FBO in 2005 in Hyannis, expanded to Sarasota, Fla. in 2008, and has two facilities at Barnes.

The first is AirFlyte Inc., which handles maintenance, and the second is its Aerodrome FBO Center, which is one of five such brick-and-mortar facilities in Massachusetts and Florida that offer amenities such as private business suites, state-of-the-art conference centers, and chart and weather rooms.

Rectrix purchased AirFlyte in 2012 from Gary and Judy Potts, who established the business in 1988. “Our companies complemented one another, and it filled a void in Rectrix,” Bradley explained, adding that, although AirFlyte wasn’t on the market at the time, its owners were willing to sell because the direction Rectrix planned to go in fit well with their vision for the future.

The purchase gave Rectrix a foothold in every geographic area in the state, boasting other locations in Worcester, Bedford, and Hyannis, and AirFlyte has been expanded to those sites, as well as Florida.

AirFlyte also attained the elite status of being named an FAA 14 CFR Part 145 Repair Station, which means it is held to high standards, and its programs, systems, and methods of compliance are thoroughly reviewed, evaluated, and tested. The FAA specifies the types of aircraft that can be serviced, and random drug and alcohol testing and stringent background checks on employees are included.

“We can work on almost any corporate jet, and we complement Gulfstream,” Bradley said, adding that Rectrix has registered 400% growth over the past two and a half years. In fact, after AirFlyte was acquired and its FBO in was rebranded with the Retrix name, the company purchased another FBO at Barnes called Five Star Jet Center, which was a competitor.

The company owns two Challenger 300 jet aircraft and five Learjet 45s, and manages an additional five aircraft, which are all brought to Westfield for maintenance.

“There is a fair demand in Western Mass. for business travel on private jets, and our fleet is wi-fi equipped so business isn’t interrupted while people are in the air,” Bradley noted, adding that there are about 500 commercial airports in the U.S. and about 15,000 general-aviation airports, which means travelers who fly in private planes can typically get closer to their destinations. “Some of our planes have satellite TVs, and some have videoconferencing, which allows them to be airborne conference rooms.”

The FBO and maintenance facility in Westfield complement each other, and AirFlyte Inc. services about 50 planes there each year. Its work includes inspections, repairs, and some avionics upgrades and interior improvements such as new carpeting, leather upholstery, entertainment and communications systems, and lighting; however, the company doesn’t do retrofitting.

Taking Flight

Demand for services at Westfield Barnes Airport continues to grow as private planes are used more frequently for business and pleasure.

“Not only do the companies there infuse the economy with money and good-paying jobs, they attract new customers. We view them as one unit because they offer a full complement of services,” Bradley said, adding that people don’t realize how much general aviation occurs there, and the use of business aircraft is a good gauge of how the business market is doing, as growth in the industry means deals are being made and the economy is growing instead of contracting.

“Over the past two years, there’s been an increase of 20% in use of our private jets by individuals, and the rest can all be attributed to business travel,” he continued.

Which means these companies at Barnes are not only helping to bolster the local economy, but they’re raising it to new heights as more people use ‘time machines’ and take to the air for business and pleasure.

The Law Struggles to Keep Pace with Advancing Technology

Law Sections

Two Steps Behind

By KATHERINE E. McCARTHY

Katherine E. McCarthy

While not a new development, it is clear that the law can rarely keep up with rapidly changing technology.

Increased surveillance technology, a host of mobile applications (including a popular rideshare app, Uber), GPS technology, and spyware, just to name a few, all present significant legal issues that most of us have never considered.

In this article, we’ll discuss this new technology and what it could mean for employees, business owners, the general public, and municipalities.

Body Cameras

In the wake of civilian unrest in places like Ferguson and Baltimore, there has been an outpouring of support for police departments to adopt the use of body cameras. In theory, body cameras appear to be a great idea, and technology is available to implement the practice. Recording a police officer’s interaction with a civilian not only helps protect the civilian and hold police officers accountable for their actions, but also helps to protect the police officer against false claims of misconduct.

So what’s the problem? There are several, not the least of which is the financial strain on cities and towns. Next, audio-recording individuals without their consent can run afoul of the Commonwealth’s wiretap statute. Violation of the wiretap statute is a crime.

There are also privacy concerns. Members of the public may be inadvertently recorded, and those recordings could be disseminated under public-record-disclosure laws. Some additional issues to consider include whether a police officer is required to turn off the camera when interviewing a victim or witness of a crime, and, if not, what is the result if a police officer receives private medical information related to a suspect or victim? Is the video recording of such information a potential violation of medical privacy laws?

Still more issues are presented once video is recorded on a body camera. Like any other evidence used in a legal proceeding, the footage must be stored in such a manner that the chain of custody is not disturbed. If the chain of custody is in some way tainted, the admissibility of the evidence gathered on a body camera may be excluded from a legal proceeding, thus eliminating the purpose of the camera. Storing daily video footage is very costly and requires specific procedures and practices, many of which are cost-prohibitive.

It is clear that the law as it stands today does not adequately address the issues presented by the use of body cameras. Legislation is pending, but it will be some time before the stage is set for the proper, and legal, implementation of this practice.

Rideshare and Homeshare Services

Another hot topic in the realm of law and technology is the soaring popularity of the rideshare company Uber. Uber is a mobile application (commonly referred to as an ‘app’) that allows consumers to request a ride from drivers who use their own vehicles. The request is made via the Uber app and sent to Uber drivers located in the same geographical area as the consumer. Uber is growing in popularity at such a rate that taxi drivers and even some cities and towns are seeking to limit or even eliminate its presence.

To many of us, Uber seems to have come upon the scene without any forewarning. So it is perhaps not surprising that regulations have not yet been passed which address rideshare businesses. Again, the law has not caught up with technology. This leaves cities, towns, and the courts with little guidance as to how to treat these newly evolving businesses.

Airbnb is another popular service that allows customers to rent an entire house, apartment, or room from private individuals advertising on the website. While this is seemingly a win/win for both parties, liability is a serious concern. It is unlikely that a homeowner’s insurance policy would cover intermittent renters. Even most renter’s policies would not cover such a scenario. Like Uber, there is an absence of regulation that would exist for other similar services, such as hotels, inns, and bed and breakfasts.

By taking advantage of our ability to quickly and efficiently communicate with individuals all over the world, enterprising homeowners may be putting themselves at financial and legal risk they never considered.

Spyware

Yet more issues are presented by the use of technology to surreptitiously monitor someone’s online activity. Commonly referred to as spyware, it is not infrequent in the realm of domestic relations for a spouse to use this technology to monitor the other spouse’s online activity. Unfortunately, using spyware in this manner could run afoul of Massachusetts privacy and wiretap laws, despite the fact that this technology can be purchased from many large retailers.

Undiscerning customers rarely consider such ramifications when purchasing software that is available at their local retail store. Because ignorance of the law is not a defense, individuals who misuse this software expose themselves to potential liability.

Keeping up with technology is no easy task. It seems every day there is a new app or gadget that seemingly nullifies all technology that came before. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the law has a difficult time keeping up with changes in technology. The consequence is that cities, towns, and private individuals do not always know what is permitted under the law and what is not when it comes to evolving technologies.

The issue transcends every area of the law, from domestic relations to employment to civil rights. While the Legislature and courts continue their efforts to keep up with technology, that large gaps will inevitably remain. Caution, however, dictates that consumers at least educate themselves on the potential impact of the use of often-unregulated technology.

Katherine E. McCarthy is an associate with Robinson Donovan, P.C., where she concentrates on domestic relations and probate litigation matters; (413) 732-2301; [email protected]

Hampden DA Plans a Multi-front Battle Against Opioids

Law Sections

Mapping Out a Strategy

Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni

Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni says the ongoing opioid crisis is a function of supply and demand. In short, there is no shortage of either. And the situation won’t improve until that changes dramatically. Reducing both is the broad goal, and he says the key is partnerships — between law enforcement, the medical community, lawmakers, and other constituencies.

Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni is rather proud of the large map of the region he represents that now dominates one wall of his office in the Hall of Justice on State Street.

He found the item, circa 1857, on eBay, paid $40 for it — it’s a replica, not an original — and then plunked down more than 30 times that amount (his own money) to have it matted and framed.

“It’s sort of a gift to myself,” said Gulluni, who said he often finds himself looking at the map and noting the many forms of progress that have visited the region over the past 159 years.

But that term certainly wouldn’t be applied to the opioid crisis facing his territory — and the other 13 counties in the Bay State, and the entire country, for that matter.

In fact, it likely represents the biggest law-enforcement issue — and one of the deepest healthcare crises — in the Commonwealth and this region since his map was drawn.

“Historically, this is as bad as it’s ever been,” he said, referring to drugs and the many different tolls they take on society. “We had the crack epidemic in the late ’80s, but this is far worse, on many levels. Drugs have always been an issue, but it’s now reached a fever pitch.”

To map out strategies to address the crisis, Gulluni’s office is forming a task force comprised of law enforcement personnel, healthcare providers, elected officials, and others. These are the parties that will have to work together to not only conceptualize a strategy and its specific components, but secure the money to pay for them and then carry them out.

As he talked about the task force and this crisis in general, Gulluni acknowledged what many have said in various forums across the nation — that this is not a problem that the country or his county can arrest its way out of. But arrests can, and must, be a part of that equation. A big part.

Arrests like the one made in Springfield’s South End in early January that took more than 8,000 bags of lethal ‘Hollywood’ heroin off the street, probably saving many lives in the process (officials attribute at least six fatal overdoses to heroin bearing that stamp). And arrests like the one of Ludlow doctor Fernando Jayma, who was indicted late last year on 41 charges, including illegally prescribing oxycodone and other drugs and also making false Medicaid claims.

“We can’t arrest our way to a resolution of this problem, but we have to keep making arrests to take heroin off the streets and keep it from the people who are addicted,” Gulluni noted.

But the DA noted that this fight will have a number of fronts, including treatment of those currently addicted to opioids and educational efforts aimed at keeping others from becoming addicted.

And while saving lives and stemming addiction are the overriding goals of this initiative, the opioid crisis is a quality-of-life issue for everyone living in this county, said Gulluni, adding that, by his estimation, roughly 50% of the crimes committed in his jurisdiction are related in some way to drugs and, quite often, opioids.

This includes crimes related directly to those distributing and selling those drugs, but also those committed by individuals who will seemingly do anything to obtain the money needed to acquire them. And those committed by individuals impacted mentally, emotionally, and physically by those drugs.

“Addiction drives a lot of people’s crimes in terms of breaking and entering charges, trespassing, shoplifting, all those things,” he explained. “But there’s also domestic violence and other crimes that relate to the breakdown in people’s ability to deal with other people, the stress that addiction causes, and how it affects people’s well-being and their relationships with spouses and others.”

For this issue and its focus on law, BusinessWest talked at length with Gulluni about his ‘all hands on deck’ campaign against opioid abuse, and how it exemplifies the battle being waged across the region and across the country.

A Bitter Pill

When asked if he thought the opioid crisis in this region had peaked, Gulluni offered a contemplative “I really hope so” that spoke volumes about this crisis, how far it extends, and, yes, the uncertainty about whether any kind of corner has been turned despite a mountain of press on the subject and calls for action at the local, state, and national levels.

And when queried about when and how it will become evident that real progress has been made, he said this will be borne out by numbers — such as those concerning everything from arrests to fatal overdoses — but perhaps more importantly by fewer uses of phrases too often heard in cities and towns today.

“We’ll know when there are fewer mothers, fewer brothers, and fewer friends coming to me and saying, ‘I can’t believe it was my son,’ or ‘I can’t believe it was me who’s become addicted and it started with a prescription from my doctor,’” he said. “When we hear fewer stories like that, fewer stories of woe, tragedy, and death, that will be a clear indication of progress, and it’s one I look forward to.”

Getting to that day — and he didn’t want to speculate on how far away it is — will require a concentrated, collaborative effort, Gulluni told BusinessWest, one that will involve law-enforcement agencies, the healthcare community, the court system, community activists, and government leaders, who will be called upon to provide the legislation and financial resources to get the job done.

PillsSpillingFromBottleStock And, as mentioned, it will be a multi-faceted initiative, one focused on everything from curbing the supplies of lethal heroin to providing adequate numbers of beds for those trying to recover from addiction, to changing the way doctors prescribe narcotic painkillers.

Adding to the challenge in Hampden County is the fact that Gulluni’s office is already the busiest in the state by most measures, but has a fraction of the staffing that other DA’s offices have secured.

“We dispose of, in many years, the most Superior Court indictments, our District Court is extraordinarily busy — if you aggregate our numbers, we’re the busiest district, inclusive of Boston, Worcester, and Middlesex County, in the Commonwealth,” he explained. “We have 63 assistant district attorneys, Boston has about 140, Middlesex has 130, Worcester has about 95. So, with about half the staff of some districts, we have the same case load, or a bigger one.”

Gullini is lobbying state officials to enlarge his staff, and, in the meantime, he’s deploying the troops he has in ways that might bring the region closer to that day he described earlier.

These broad efforts might be described as efforts to dramatically curb both supply and demand for opioids.

Indeed, as he returned to the subject of arrests and convictions when it comes to those distributing and selling heroin, like that aforementioned batch with the ‘Hollywood’ stamp, Gulluni said that, while the supply of such drugs is seemingly inexhaustible, the seizures do make a difference.

“In terms of the overall supply of heroin in Western Mass. and Hampden County, those 8,200 packets were a drop in the bucket,” he said of the South End seizure, adding quickly that Western Mass. has become a kind of distribution hub for the drug. “And it has practically no effect on people’s access to heroin. But it’s significant nonetheless.

“And to understand that significance, you have to look at it from the context of how that particular heroin was killing people,” he went on. “Taking 8,200 bags of the ‘Hollywood’-stamped heroin out of circulation is significant; through the hard work of the Springfield Police Department and its narcotics group, in that case, a number of lives were saved as a result of that bust. Those bags would have found their way into any number of people’s hands — people suffering from addiction — and they would have used it, with possibly fatal consequences.”

While the South End bust certainly saved lives, the supply of heroin remains a huge issue, he said, adding that untold amounts of the almost ridiculously cheap drug flow into the region every day.

And by cheap, he means $3 or $4 a bag, with most users needing perhaps three of four a day to satisfy their cravings (at the extreme end, it could be a dozen or more). In Vermont, though, the price is much higher ($10 to $12 a bag due to supply-and-demand issues), which is in turn fueling a surge in cases where entrepreneurial criminals buy heroin at low prices in this state and then try to profit by crossing the border and selling it there. But that’s another story — or at least another disturbing aspect of this one.

“It’s a cheap habit, and that’s why we’re seeing this crisis reach this level,” said Gulluni, adding that heroin has become a very affordable alternative to the much-higher-priced prescription painkillers that many addicts began their unfortunate journeys with.

Prescription for Progress

And this brings us to another front in this campaign — stemming the tide in the number of prescriptions of addictive pain killers.

The arrest of Jayma was one manifestation of this effort, said Gulluni, adding that this was the first such arrest during his administration, which began just over a year ago, and likely not the last. Indeed, while he’s not sure how widespread such abuse is, he knows this is not exactly an isolated incident.

“The so-called pill mills — they’re out there,” he explained, adding that he hopes Jayma’s arrest sends a strong message and becomes an actual deterrent.

“I hope it was a strong statement to everybody, including the prescribing community, that there are certain limits by which you have to abide, based on both your professional ethics and the laws of this Commonwealth and the federal government,” he said. “If you’re doing things that are irresponsible or unlawful, whether you’re a doctor or not, you’re going to be arrested.”

Go HERE to view a PDF chart of the region’s law firms

That arrest is part of the ‘curbing demand’ aspect of this fight, said the DA, adding that it is as important as the supply side, and perhaps even moreso, because without demand, there is no need for supply.

And it’s an example of how those involved with stemming this crisis must deal with the present and the future at the same time.

Regarding the former, efforts are focused on educating and treating those currently addicted, and not incarcerating them, said Gulluni, adding that jail time is generally for those who sell or traffic in drugs or those who profit from their use.

Elaborating, he said those arrested for possession of such drugs are, in most cases, given probation. And there is additional focus now on making sure this probation involves a setting where there is treatment for the addiction.

As for the latter, the future, Gulluni said attention must be directed toward the young people that might someday become addicted if they’re not encouraged to start down and stay on a different path.

“We’ve got to engage with young people; we have to engage with people who are at the stage where they’re beginning to use drugs,” he explained. “In terms of prevention and education, we need to get out in front on this issue for the future.”

Already, the DA’s office is engaged with programs to get opioid addicts and those who treat addiction in front of different types of audiences to “tell the stories,” as Gulluni put it, concerning what happened to them — and what could happen to others.

“We’re presenting groups of people — young people, parents, educators — with the information concerning how this affects people’s lives, how it starts,” he told BusinessWest. “We need people to say, ‘no, thank you; I don’t want 100 oxycodone pills because I had a tooth pulled.’ This is how this stuff starts.

“We need to get some of this out of the stream of commerce,” he went on, adding that legislation is being considered that would limit the numbers of potentially addictive painkillers that may be prescribed and the conditions they may be prescribed for.

Such efforts will require partnerships, he continued, adding that steps to limit prescriptions of this nature require the cooperation of the medical community, and represent just one example of how that constituency must work with law enforcement to stem the tide.

Many such partnerships will be needed, he said in conclusion, because of the deep-rooted nature of this problem and the simple yet indisputable laws of supply and demand.

Challenging Road

A quick look at Gulluni’s prized map reveals just how much Hampden County has changed since 1857.

Missing from this snapshot are countless roads, bridges, dams, reservoirs, colleges, airports, and parks — all of which have contributed mightily to the current landscape.

As has the ongoing opioid crisis, which, of course, doesn’t show up on any map or limit itself to any borders — real or imagined.

It represents history, and not the kind that society will look back fondly on, like a map drawn 159 years ago. And it will take an historic effort to relegate it to the past tense.

The state’s youngest and newest district attorney is ready and willing to make such history, and he’s not wasting any time in that effort.

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

Paul Doherty: An Appreciation

Opinion

Editorial

Paul Doherty.
Businesswest file photo

Where does one begin when talking about the accomplishments and legacy of Paul Doherty, who passed away recently after a lengthy battle with lung cancer?

Is it with his success as a lawyer and with the firm he grew into one of the largest in the region — Doherty, Wallace, Pillsbury & Murphy? Or is it with the fact that he was a devoted family man? Maybe it should be with the many aspects of his work within the community, as both activist and philanthropist. Or maybe it’s his work as a truly relentless advocate for this region and especially the city of Springfield.

Maybe the best place to begin is by saying all of that is really just the beginning.

Indeed, one can’t easily sum up the many contributions Paul — often working in tandem with his wife of 55 years, Dianne — made to the larger community we call Western Mass. He was heavily involved in business, education, philanthropy (he was one of the founders of Valley Gives), race relations, and a host of efforts to promote the City of Homes. He lent his considerable talents and imagination to everything from the United Way to the Economic Development Council of Western Mass., to the adoption agency Downey Side, which he co-founded.

Those who knew and worked with him called him a friend, mentor, and inspiration.

People who become as active in their community as Paul often note that they have a hard time saying ‘no’ when people ask them to contribute their time and energy to a cause or initiative. Paul did, in fact, have that problem, if one could call it that. But he could go one better — or even two.

Usually, he didn’t have to say ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ because he didn’t wait to be asked to get involved. He was an initiator, the one who would ask others if they wanted to get involved.

And perhaps his very best quality was getting others to say ‘yes’ and follow his lead.

Because of this rare and special talent, this region is a better place — a much better place.

And that’s why he will certainly be missed.

Bringing Good Things to Light

Opinion

Editorial

The high-stakes battle to land General Electric’s corporate offices is over. But the debates concerning this move certainly are not.

Well, some of them are. There is no debating who the big loser is here — Connecticut, which lost 800 jobs, a huge and very generous corporate entity, and a good deal of momentum because of political infighting and short-sightedness.

As for who won, clearly the answer is Boston, which prevailed over a number of municipalities, including New York. But there are still lingering questions about just how much it has won, why, whether the price paid — a $276 million package that includes various kinds of incentives such as tax breaks and infrastructure improvements — was worth it, and whether that money should have been spent in other ways to bolster the state’s economy.

These are all good questions that are, by and large, difficult to answer.

From our vantage point, though, this seems to be a clear victory — for Boston, the Bay State, its unrivaled core of colleges and universities, and its developing reputation as a center of entrepreneurship and innovation.

It was those factors that clearly weighed on GE’s mind, because Boston was outbid by a number of cities when it came to the number at the bottom of the incentive package. GE’s choice was a very strong advertisement for Massachusetts and a clear signal that the state can now compete against Silicon Valley, New York, and other centers of innovation.

This was also a victory, or another victory, to be more precise, for urban centers. Indeed, for years, corporate America, like many of the people inhabiting large cities, especially in the Northeast, opted for the suburbs. Now, they’re coming back, as cities become more livable, walkable, and culturally attractive.

Evidence of this phenomenon is everywhere, from Brooklyn to Lowell; from Boston to Springfield.

Well, maybe it’s too early to put Springfield in that category, but progress is being made. And while GE didn’t choose Springfield, it did choose a city on the rise, one with a strong workforce and an economic engine fueled mostly by innovation. This is what Springfield is aspiring to become.

And GE will, in some respects, help it get there, and that’s why we believe the sticker price for luring GE to the Bay State will ultimately be one well worth spending.

Yes, that’s a lot of money for only 800 jobs — roughly 6,000 positions are created in this state every month, to put things in perspective — and there are a lot of incentives, right down to a helipad. And, yes, in theory, Boston and the state could have taken that money and put it into other programs, especially workforce-development initiatives and additional efforts to help its many still-struggling gateway cities, that would have a direct impact on the state’s economy.

But often, incentives of this kind have a way of paying off, and in this case, we believe they will. GE has the potential to not only inspire other technology-based companies to follow it, but to spur new businesses from the technology its employees create.

We believe there will be a trickle-down effect, perhaps not immediately, but eventually, and other cities, including Springfield, Holyoke, and Pittsfield (long a home to GE’s transformer complex and 13,000 employees), will benefit.

It might be years before those questions listed earlier can be effectively answered. It might actually take decades before we can successfully say whether Boston and the Bay State paid too much to put the letters ‘G’ and ‘E’ on a building along the Hub’s waterfront.

But, for now, this looks like a sound investment in the future of the Commonwealth.

Mayor Linda Tyer Embarks on First Term in Pittsfield

Community Spotlight Features

Mayor Linda Tyer says her administration is focused more on helping and growing existing busineses, not luring someone “out there.”

BusinessWest spoke with Pittsfield’s Mayor Linda Tyer on day 11 of her administration.

Only 1,450 days to go.

That’s notable because Tyer is serving Pittsfield’s first-ever four-year term, and, as such, she’s in the beginning stages of laying out a map for the long haul that pinpoints high roads, trouble spots, destinations for the future, and plenty of pit stops in between.

The journey began for Tyer last year, while she was still serving as city clerk. She’d served as a member of the City Council for five years prior to taking the clerk’s position, and watching the inner workings of Pittsfield’s government had her mulling a run for its top office.

“I saw the city’s potential being lost to old ways of thinking, governing, and leading,” she said. “It was time for a new generation of leadership, and I wanted the residents of Pittsfield to really think about what they imagined for themselves. I offered an alternative in every way: from gender to voice to style.”

Tyer announced her candidacy for mayor on the City Hall steps in March, and defeated two-term incumbent Mayor Daniel Bianchi in November. Since then, she’s pledged more communication and relationship building between the mayor’s office and all its stakeholders, from elected officials to Pittsfield’s residents and business owners.

“The plan is to have constant, regular communication, both incoming and outgoing,” she said, noting that this will include regularly scheduled public updates on some key issues — among them public safety, workforce development and retention, and ongoing work to create a hip, walkable urban center in the heart of Berkshire County. “We need to invest in public safety and, as part of that, address the underlying issues that are the source of crime, including poverty and feeling disenfranchised.”

Tyer added that there are strategies at play in these arenas, starting with youth initiatives such as a city-wide mentoring program for high-risk young adults. That program has recently been expanded through grant funding to include job training and workforce-development opportunities for men ages 17 to 24, which is one way Pittsfield is also addressing the dual issue of workforce training to fill the area’s job vacancies.

“The business community cares that its investments are being protected, but it also cares about filling the gap that exists between marketing their jobs and finding candidates with the right skills,” she said.

Abandoned sites scattered across the city and outdated technologies are other barriers to recruiting and retaining great talent in Pittsfield, Tyer noted.

“Neighborhood blight and business blight make it very difficult to market our city; it affects community pride, and potential investors aren’t going to announce their arrival so we can show them our best sites … they’re going to be stealth,” she said. “And we need access to broadband in our commercial centers. We have the infrastructure, but we’re not yet plugged in. A modern-day creative economy has to be global.”

Ultimately, that creative economy is what Tyer hopes to nurture through all of these initiatives: a diverse business landscape powered by human capital.

“Our transportation system is not conducive to big manufacturing — that’s not our strength,” she said. “What we can do is ensure that we’re providing young professionals with the tools they need to succeed so we can continue to cultivate the vibrant community we have here.”

To that end, Tyer’s plans for the first leg of her four-year tour of duty include targeting resources to Berkshire-based small businesses; ‘Blight to Bright’ initiatives, such as requiring that vacant buildings are maintained for aesthetics and safety; street-improvement plans; and strategies for expansion of early-childhood education.

It’s a packed itinerary, but Tyer said she has the drive.

“I am motivated by a belief that the city has great potential,” she said.

— Jaclyn C. Stevenson

Pittsfield Seeks New Day, Not an Echo of Its Heyday

Community Spotlight Features

Community Spotlight

By JACLYN C. STEVENSON

Corydon Thurston says GE served Pittsfield well, but long gone are the days when the city should strive to be a one-industry town.

The pervasive feeling in the city of Pittsfield — the Berkshires’ largest city and county seat — is that it’s done trying to return to its heyday.

Rather, elected officials, business-development professionals, and entrepreneurs alike are calling for a new day in Pittsfield, one that celebrates the creative economy, makes great use of existing resources, and stands ready for entrepreneurial endeavors of all types and sizes.

Mayor Linda Tyer, who took office in January and will serve Pittsfield’s first-ever four-year mayoral term, made these tenets some of her key platform points during her campaign, and the message appears to have resonated. The former Pittsfield City Clerk defeated two-term incumbent Mayor Daniel Bianchi with 59% of the vote, winning all 14 precincts.

Tyer said the city has long suffered from what she calls “group depression” following the departure of General Electric, which became part of the Pittsfield landscape in 1903 and at its peak provided 13,000 jobs in a city of 50,000 residents. Its influence on the city’s economy dwindled steadily through the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, but many people long held hope that another outfit similar in size and scope may someday return.

Mayor Linda Tyer Embarks on First Term in Pittsfield

BusinessWest spoke with Pittsfield’s Mayor Linda Tyer on day 11 of her administration.

If You Build It…

The largest development currently underway is the creation of the Berkshire Innovation Center (BIC), which will be located at the William Stanley Business Park (created at the massive former GE complex) and cater to small and medium-sized businesses positioned to add to the supply chain of various life-science and biotechnology projects.

“The BIC is designed to provide access to high-tech equipment that will allow businesses to innovate, grow, and respond to customer demands in an efficient and timely fashion — rapidly prototyping products and bringing them to market,” Thurston said. “Temporary space will be available for lease within the center to allow companies to mature, and hopefully they will stick around. Pittsfield has plenty of existing manufacturing space at low cost, and once we get them here, we can grow them here.”

He added that support of the BIC, which was made possible by a $9.75 million state grant, has been citywide and dovetails with a number of other initiatives in the areas of workforce training, real-estate development, and education. In the coming year, PEDA is expected to blend its efforts with 1Berkshire, a regional economic-development organization, and Pittsfield’s Office of Community Development.

“One of the reasons why we’re so bullish on the innovation center is it has a broad base of community support at every level,” Thurston went on. We also believe that a young startup company, whether it’s in Worcester, Boston, Albany, or Rensselaer, that is looking for a place to commercialize or test their ideas and inventions, will be attracted here because of our existing manufacturing structure and lower costs of doing business.”

A built-in mentor network will be part of the BIC’s offerings, with 19 mentoring partners from across Pittsfield already signed on, along with several academic partners from across the Northeast, including UMass and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

“The support from the education side is rewarding to me because it’s a foundational element that will create a number of new opportunities for our industrial base,” Thurston said, noting that Berkshire Community College has been a particularly active participant.

In the absence of a physical building, for instance, BCC has taken the lead on the programmatic components of the center, identified a variety of courses to complement the BIC’s eventual hands-on work, and set up a temporary center at Pittsfield’s Taconic High School that includes a pipeline for students to pursue advanced-manufacturing careers.

Hire Education

Ellen Kennedy, president of Berkshire Community College, echoed Thurston’s excitement for the BIC.

“This could be the most promising economic-development engine to enter Pittsfield in a long time,” she said. “As the facility itself comes into play, training opportunities are already in place that allow existing businesses to share research and identify workforce-development needs.”

Kennedy said BCC has been instrumental in identifying academic opportunities for Pittsfield students from grade school to college, as well as career-development and refresher courses for the workforce. It received $500,000 in funding from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center last year in order to create educational components to support the BIC, such as the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment and new courses in advanced manufacturing and engineering technology, and another $10,000 just last month to fund career-path programming for middle- and high-school students.

The BIC has also become the new lead organization of the Berkshire Robotics Initiative, with an eye toward underscoring the use of robotics in today’s manufacturing world and the career opportunities that may arise.

“We’re looking to build on students’ interests, allow them to see the different employment opportunities open to them, and start them on a career path,” Kennedy noted, adding that this and other projects have the dual benefit of increasing the college’s profile among prospective students, and therefore that of the city, which has an aging population.

“Berkshire County’s demographics are challenging, and it has become the job of both Pittsfield and BCC to keep the younger population engaged,” she told BusinessWest. “In a sense, we’re making a commitment to the Millennial.”

For Kennedy, that means offering more opportunities for the community to visit the campus, be it to play sports, attend a career fair, or utilize campus amenities. By extension, she hopes the city’s cultural destinations, retail shops, eateries, and nightlife will also get a boost.

“In order to attract people here to experience what we have to offer, we all need to market the quality of life and the world-class culture. In that respect, we are tied at the hip with the city of Pittsfield.”

North Star of Our Nights

That’s a construct the team involved with Hotel on North, a boutique hotel on Pittsfield’s main thoroughfare that just opened its doors in June, subscribes to as well.

Owned by Berkshire residents David and Laurie Tierney and managed by Main Street Hospitality Group, a hotel-management company based in Stockbridge that manages three other properties in the county, Hotel on North includes a restaurant, bar, event space, and gift shop housed in a pair of adjoining 19th-century buildings that are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sarah Eustis says Hotel on North was designed to reflect the character of its region, with plenty of local contributions.

Sarah Eustis, CEO and part-owner of Main Street Hospitality Group, said work between the partners began in earnest in 2012, and moved swiftly into “two solid years of highly collaborative project work.”

“We represent two deeply rooted Berkshire businesses with different skills that we wanted to apply to Pittsfield, to contribute to the renaissance that is happening here,” she said, noting that a hospitality venue in Pittsfield has been a goal of Main Street Hospitality Group for several years. “We looked originally to Pittsfield to build on a base, and now we have an undying passion that this is right for the city. That belief comes from both gut and numbers.”

The hotel features brick walls, tin ceilings, and hardwood floors that hearken back to the buildings’ original décor, as well as Victorian themes paired with nods to the Berkshires in the form of vintage maps and organic elements. The scheme is bound together with the ‘on North’ tagline, i.e. ‘Eat, Drink, Stay on North.’

In more ways than one, the entire business was “made on North,” said Eustis, by partnering with local vendors and craftsmen whenever possible, from architects to designers to furniture and décor makers.

“We like to create hotels that give you a sense of where you are, and we realized early on that it had to be ‘by Pittsfield for Pittsfield,’ with influences from around the world. That’s one reason we didn’t partner with a large brand or make a slick New York hotel and plop it in the Berkshires,” she went on. “The ‘on North’ concept arose from that idea of using local businesses.”

One of the hotel’s owners, Laurie Tierney, added that she hopes its luxurious feel paired with local accents will instill a feeling of pride in Pittsfield’s residents, and attract them downtown along with other visitors to the region.

“My goal is to change perceptions so people realize what’s downtown and feel safe,” she said. “The locals need to be brought into the change, and I do believe that there is a movement afoot.”

Sometimes, Tierney added, getting big things to happen in a city is like starting a lawnmower.

“You pull the cord, but it often takes a few times to start. That’s how it’s been in Pittsfield … almost, not quite, almost, not quite. I’m hoping this is what turns the engine.”

Indeed, it’s been nearly 90 years since GE made Pittsfield a boom town, and many people are now seeing the city’s heyday as something ahead of them, not behind. The key, says Tierney, is to maintain momentum.

“We can’t stop; we have to keep going,” she said. “I hope to be in a place someday where I can sit back and watch the ball roll a little, and maybe be a background person who whispers in someone’s ear, ‘hey. You know what we should do?’”

One person Tierney may be able to whisper to is Mayor Tyer.

“I’m interested in anyone who wants to make an investment in the city,” Tyer said in conclusion. “The idea of a hip, walkable urban center is coming back, and we have the infrastructure for it. Now, we just need to be plugged into the modern economy.”

Pittsfield at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1761
Population: 43,697
Area: 42.5 square miles
County: Berkshire
Residential Tax Rate: $18.76
Commercial Tax Rate: $38.06
Median Household Income: $35,655
Family Household Income: $46,228
Type of Government: Mayor, City Council
Largest Employers: Berkshire Health Systems, General Dynamics, Berkshire Community College, SABIC Innovative Plastics

Latest information available

Meet the Judges for 40 Under Forty 2016

Features

Editor’s Note: Again this year, five individuals have been chosen to score the nominations submitted for the 40 Under Forty Class of 2016. In keeping with past practice, BusinessWest has chosen two former winners to be part of this panel — in this case, members of the classes of 2012 and 2015. In addition, BusinessWest has sought out individuals with experience in business and entrepreneurship. This year’s judges are:

Elizabeth Barajas-Román

Elizabeth Barajas-Román is currently CEO of the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, a public foundation that funds gender-based programs and operates a leadership program that trains women to run for public office. She has been a leader in progressive movements including advocating at the national level for the health and rights of immigrant women and their families.

Most recently, she was a manager at the Pew Charitable Trusts, where she directed a portfolio of partners that campaigned for state and federal policy change to improve government performance. Previously, as the Director of Policy at National Latina Institute, she directed the organization’s Washington, D.C.-based office, where she was instrumental in expanding the visibility of the organization on the national stage. She was frequently invited to be a voice in national policy discussions in the media, at the White House, on Capitol Hill, and in target states.

In addition, her leadership has been recognized nationally with a Center for Progressive Leadership Executive Fellowship, an appointment to the American Public Health Assoc. Committee on Women’s Rights, and as a current member of the Assoc. of Public Television Stations Leadership Council. Locally, she is on the WGBY Public Television Board of Tribunes, a member of the steering committee for New England Women’s Policy Initiative, and a member of the External Advisory Board for the University of Massachusetts-Boston Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy. She also serves on the Massachusetts Economic Empowerment Trust Fund Board and the statewide Committee on Wage Equality.

Barajas Román was honored as a member of BusinessWest’s 40 under 40 class of 2015. She is a certified project manager professional, a graduate of Oberlin College, and received her master’s degree in international policy from Harvard University.

Ben Craft

Ben Craft is the director of Public Affairs for Baystate Health. He grew up in East Longmeadow and graduated from UMass Amherst in 1996. He spent his early career in New York, where he worked as an editor at the Wall Street Journal and two years at the United Nations, specializing in environmental issues in human development. He joined Baystate Health in 2008.

At Baystate, Craft leads a team of seven in maintaining informative and constructive dialogue with the media and the community, sharing the stories of Baystate’s caregivers and the fulfillment of its mission, and building community relationships to improve health.

He is a graduate of the Springfield Leadership Institute, a member of BusinessWest’s 40 Under 40 Class of 2012, and vice president of the board of the Longmeadow Historical Society. He also coaches youth soccer and basketball and is the father of Emma, 8, and Teddy, 3.

Daniel Flynn

Daniel Flynn is executive vice president and COO of the Wholesale Banking Division at United Bank. In that capacity, he has oversight of the bank’s Greater Springfield commercial-banking operations, development of the bank’s business-loan center, cash-management enhancements, implementation of a new commercial-loan operating system, and incentive planning and administration.

Overall, Flynn has more than 33 years of commercial-banking experience. Prior to his arrival at United Bank, he held a number of positions at People’s United Bank (formerly Bank of Western Mass.) and, prior to that, worked at the First National Bank of Boston and Nations Bank.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in business at Rollins College and his MBA at the E. Crummer Graduate School of Business. He is heavily involved in the community, serving on the board of the YMCA of Greater Springfield and as a member of the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts. Previously, he served on the board of the Ronald McDonald House of Springfield, the Springfield Chamber of Commerce, and the South End Community Center.

An avid runner — Flynn has completed four marathons — he is married to Patricia Flynn, and has three children, Kathryn, Robert, and Elisabeth.

Michael Matty, CFA, CFP

Michael Matty

A leading investment manager with decades of responsibilities for billions of dollars in equity investments, Michael Matty, president of St. Germain Investment Management, has more than 20 years of investment and wealth-management experience.

Before coming to St. Germain, he was vice president of Investments at Phoenix Investment Counsel, a subsidiary of Phoenix Home Life, as well as a principal at Capital Reflections Inc., an independent firm supplying investment research and stock recommendations to institutional investors and mutual-fund managers.

In his current tenure at St. Germain, Matty has served as executive vice president and chief investment officer, and still oversees investment policy and stock selection for well over $950 million in assets under management. In addition to his responsibilities at the trading desk, he plays a lead role in regulatory and compliance initiatives as directed by the SEC and FINRA.

Matty is a graduate of Penn State with his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics, and holds the NASD Series 7 designation. He is also a dedicated mountaineer and enjoys the challenge of high-altitude climbing. In fact, he has succeeded in climbing the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents, the so called Seven Summits: Mt. Kilimanjaro, March 2007; Mt. Elbrus, August 2007; Mt. Vinson, December 2007; Denali, June 2008; Mt. Aconcagua, February 2010; Mt. Kosciuszko, October 2010; and Mt. Everest, May 2011. Only 275 individuals have successfully completed the Seven Summits.

Lora Wondolowski

Lora Wondolowski is executive director of Leadership Pioneer Valley. She joined that organization as its founding director in 2011 after serving as the founding executive director of the Mass. League of Environmental Voters (MLEV). Prior to her work with MLEV, she worked for the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund and the National Audubon Society in Washington, D.C.

While at LCVEF and Audubon, she launched and organized several successful programs and training programs. She has nearly 20 years of experience with grassroots organizing and community outreach.

Wondolowski holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and a master’s degree from Bard College. She was one of the founders of the Friends of the Great Falls Discovery Center in Turner’s Falls, was a volunteer and board member of Pride Zone Youth Center in Northampton, and was the founder of the Progressive Christian Voice at First Churches of Northampton.

She serves on the boards of the Connecticut River Watershed Council, Partners for a Healthier Community, and United Way of Pioneer Valley. She is the recipient of the Community Connector Award from the United Way of Pioneer Valley. She lives in Greenfield with her spouse and two young daughters. n

How a Baker and Gov. Baker Came to Be a Team

Features

Flour Power

Dino Facente with his Boston cremes (above), and with one of his biggest fans, Gov. Charlie Baker.

It all started innocently enough, during Massachusetts Day at the Big E in 2014. Charlie Baker, then candidate for governor, took a bite of one of Dino Facente’s Boston creme cupcakes, and a spark was lit. Over the ensuing 17 months, candidate and then Gov. Baker would become a highly visible and unpaid spokesperson for Facente’s Koffee Kup Bakery, and the business would become a good-luck charm for the New England Patriots — yes, even after that loss to the Broncos.

Dino Facente knows full well that politics and commerce generally don’t mix, and that it’s never a good idea for a business owner to wear his or her preference for a party, candidate, or elected official on their sleeve.

But in this case, he knew he had to make an exception — and he did.

It comes in many forms, but perhaps most notably the ‘Baker/Polito’ campaign sign that is impossible to miss as one enters his establishment in the Springfield Plaza, Koffee Kup Bakery.

It’s there for a reason — actually, several of them.

In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration, in any way, shape, or form, to say that no governor of the Commonwealth has done more for any small business — at least one in the 413 area code, or from a marketing perspective — than Charlie Baker has for Koffee Kup.

It all started in the Massachusetts Building at the Big E in late September 2014, when then-candidate Baker first took a bite of one of Facente’s Boston creme cupcakes — and new chapters to the story have been added almost monthly, it seems.

Indeed, until Baker came along, the Boston creme cupcake was just another item on a vast menu of options offered at Koffee Kup, which is perhaps best-known for its birthday cakes — it makes roughly 300 of them a week. Now? Well, it’s a bestseller that has gained celebrity status thanks to Baker — underneath ‘Koffee Kup Bakery’ on Facente’s business card, it reads ‘Home to the Governor’s Cupcake.’

And it will soon be named the state’s ‘official cupcake’ — that is, if state Rep. Angelo Puppolo, D-Springfield, can succeed in getting legislation he has filed to that effect through both houses.

It’s already been quite a year and a half for the Boston creme cupcake. And Facente. And Baker. And the New England Patriots, for that matter. The governor held up one of the items at the Springfield Regional Chamber’s Outlook luncheon roughly a year ago. There was also the governor’s inaugural, for which Facente baked 500 Boston cremes. And when the governor was out in Springfield with his cabinet several weeks ago, Boston creme cupcakes were on the menu.

Politics and commerce usually don’t mix, but in the case of candidate Baker and then Gov. Baker, Dino Facente knew he had to make an exception.

Then, of course, there are Baker’s sports bets, which have put Koffee Kup on the map — and the 5 o’clock news — perhaps more than anything else.

Before the recent AFC championship game between the Patriots and Broncos, Baker was five for five when he wagered Facente’s Boston cremes in bets with various governors — four involving the Pats and one on Boston University in the 2015 Frozen Four hockey finals.

And although the Pats lost the game against Denver, the mystique of Facente’s cupcakes only grew, because, to make a long story short, Baker never got a bet down on that game because he couldn’t connect with Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.

“We’re still undefeated,” said Facente, referring to his cupcakes, not the football team, obviously. “We’ve become a good-luck charm for the team and the governor.”

And Baker has brought some good luck to Koffee Kup. While not hidden in the Springfield Plaza, the business has generally had limited visibility from a marketing perspective, relying through the decades almost entirely, and effectively, on word of mouth.

The governor has changed all that, becoming an unofficial, highly visible — and unpaid — spokesperson.

Facente (whose e-mail address is [email protected]) thought about trying to quantify the impact of Baker’s involvement with his venture, but then decided that really wasn’t doable, so he qualified instead.

“It’s definitely had an impact — when he mentions us, people come in; they want to see what all the buzz is about,” said Facente, who will soon undertake a major renovation of the business. “What can I say — he’s put us on the map.”

For this issue, BusinessWest talked at length with Facente about his corner-office pitch person, how this relationship came about, and how these two have become great fans of each other.

When You Yeast Expect It

As he talked with BusinessWest on the Thursday before the AFC title clash — because he was expecting a crush of media on Friday, when a bet with Colorado’s governor was due to be announced — Facente paused often to find and then show off photos on his phone.

Collectively — and the portfolio keeps growing, to say the least — they speak to how this relationship with the governor has evolved over the past year and a half.

There are several shots of Facente with Baker, including a frequently used photo of the two with a tray of Boston cremes. But there are many others of Facente with various members of the Baker administration, other State House officials, and former Gov. Bill Weld.

There’s even a shot of the cake Facente baked for the governor on the occasion of his 59th birthday last November, one that features a reproduction of a photo of Baker’s family.

This is not the kind of electronic photo album most small-business owners can summon, and it’s not a collection Facente could have imagined when the hard-to-miss, six-foot, six-inch Baker walked into the Massachusetts Building during the 2014 Big E.

Indeed, meeting governors and candidates for that office and many others was nothing new for this business owner. He said he’s lost track of how many he’s met since he first set up shop on the Avenue of States nearly a dozen years ago.

“On Massachusetts Day, a lot of politicians pass though there,” he noted. “I’ve met people running for all kinds of different offices.”

Most of them took a passing interest in his business — and especially his wares, as Baker did, taking some of the Boston creme cupcakes home with him — but most all of those encounters turned out to be one-and-dones.

Not so with Baker.

To explain, Facente recalled a phone call he received on a Saturday morning a few weeks after that initial encounter. It was from Springfield City Councilor Tim Rooke, a Democrat who nonetheless became a strong supporter of Baker and his unofficial go-to person in this region.

“He said, ‘Dino, do you know Charlie Baker?’” Facente recalled, adding that he correctly identified him as ‘that guy running for governor.’ “He told me, ‘you’re not going to believe this, but he’s been craving that Boston creme cupcake and he wants to come to your bakery.’”

Indeed, Baker was planning to attend his son’s college football game in New York, and wanted to swing through Springfield on his way and pick up some cupcakes.

The sticker placed on each box of Koffee Kup products tells the story: this is, indeed, home to the governor’s cupcake.

Word of his intentions leaked out, as they often do during election season, and this pass-through became a media event and gathering of Republican leaders.

“The next thing you know, the bakery is packed with people,” Facente recalled, adding that, while he was grateful for the exposure, he was also impressed with the candidate for following up on an informal pledge to return to Western Mass.

“I told him, ‘a lot of politicians pass through the Big E, but you said you were going to come by, and you kept your word,’” Facente said. “Most of those candidates make similar promises, but they never honor them; he’s probably the only one, and I’ve been here 22 years.

“So we took a liking to each other, and he took some cupcakes to go,” he went on, adding that the candidate actually gave him some money to help pay for the wedding cake of a young couple he met at the shop that day.

Just before leaving, Baker vowed to feature the Boston cremes at his inauguration if he was elected. It was another pledge he would make good on.

All that was enough to prompt Facente to ask for a campaign sign for his window, something he’d never done before.

“Being in business, you just don’t do stuff like that,” he explained. “But I really took a liking to the guy and wanted to support him.”

Just Desserts

The feeling, of course, was mutual, and, as things turned out, the inauguration — for which Facente, the only Western Mass.-based baker to be invited to take part, provided 500 Boston cremes — was only part of what would turn out to be a memorable start to 2015 for Facente and his bakery.

Indeed, as the Patriots rolled to the Super Bowl, Koffee Kup cupcakes were the then-governor’s wager of choice. It started with the divisional-round win against Baltimore, and Baker stayed with the company through the Championship Game beatdown of Indianapolis and the Super Bowl win over Seattle.

Soon, that fledgling tradition, which continued last month with the Pats’ divisional-round win over Kansas City, gave the business a new identity, especially in the central and eastern parts of the state: specifically, ‘that bakery out in Springfield that makes the cupcakes the governor bets in the Patriots games.’

Meanwhile, the chamber’s annual Outlook 2015 luncheon was another coup. The governor was the keynote speaker, and he got things rolling by referencing the cupcake, his fondness for it, its role in bringing a fourth Lombardi trophy to Foxboro, and how the business exemplifies the depth and resilience of the state’s core of small businesses.

More than 800 attendees took in this testimonial, and some took the opportunity to congratulate Facente on his marketing good fortune.

“People were texting me saying, ‘how much are you paying this guy?’” he recalled. “I said, ‘I’m not giving him a penny; he just took a liking to me.’”

Over the course of the year, there were more opportunities for both parties to build on the relationship, from holiday-lighting ceremonies at the State House (Baker invited Facente to attend) to the governor’s birthday cake, to the Kansas City game a few weeks ago.

So what does it mean to have the governor as a spokesperson?

It has certainly meant additional and much-appreciated exposure — even if it’s in the form of ‘that bakery in Springfield’ — for the Koffee Kup, which was one of the original anchor tenants when the Springfield Plaza, built on the site of an old airport, opened in 1954.

Retail outlets and other ventures, including a few different movie-theater operators, have come and gone, but Koffee Kup remains. Facente and two of his uncles (since bought out) acquired the business in the early ’90s. The venture eventually expanded into Holyoke and West Springfield, but those locations have since been sold.

Overall, the business has been solid on both the retail and wholesale sides — the company provides products to a number of smaller outlets, he said, again referencing those birthday cakes, as well as a number of dates on the calendar that provide surges in business. Those include Valentine’s Day, St Patrick’s Day (he’s known in some circles as ‘the Italian doing all the Irish bread’), graduations, the Big E, Halloween, and other holidays.

“Being an American baker, I don’t have to specialize in one thing,” he explained, adding that this diversity has certainly been an asset.

As has the governor’s support, especially the bets on Patriots games, which twice now have helped the company through January, one of the few slower periods of the year.

“Last year, when the governor mentioned it, Saturday and Sunday sales were booming,” he recalled, noting that the bets were generally placed toward end of the week. “Everyone wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It happens every time he does it.”

Some Local Flavor

Baker could not be reached for this story, but Facente said the governor has told him that, if the bill designating the Koffee Kup Boston creme as the state’s official cupcake reaches his desk, he’ll sign it.

That will be the latest, and perhaps the most significant, form of support the Bay State’s corner office holder has provided for this business owner.

Facente, as he did with other such inquiries, preferred not to speculate specifically on what that means for this six-decade landmark. Instead, he chose to focus on the significance of such an action to small businesses — and also Western Mass.

“I think it’s important to recognize the small guy, and this would do that,” he explained. “It would also show that the governor’s committed to the whole state, not just Eastern Mass.; putting me on the map like that would be huge.”

Suffice it to say, if it does become reality, it will certainly be something Facente has been specializing in throughout his career — icing on the cake.

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

Tastes Change Quickly in the World of Flooring

Luxury Living Sections

Fancy Footwork

Karen Tesini says customers are willing to pay for quality in a product they’ll have to live with for a long time.

Flooring products aren’t cheap, for the most part, which is why Best Tile recently opened an outlet store that caters to customers on a budget.

“We have a closeout outlet to stay in tune with people who don’t have the financial means to buy higher-end materials,” said Karen Tesini, manager of the Springfield-based store. But she found she doesn’t do nearly as much business there as she does in the main showroom. “Our customers are serious buyers; they know tile has longevity, it’s not something they’ll change frequently, and they’re willing to pay for high quality. That’s our typical client.”

Jorge Morgado agreed.

“The average person coming in, if they’re not looking to move often, if they’ll be staying in their home for a while, they’re really looking for better-quality materials, better-quality flooring,” said the vice president of Baystate Rug and Flooring in Chicopee and East Longmeadow. “People are still value-driven, but with the trend toward an improving economy — at least, there’s definite movement in that direction — they want something of quality.”

Steve Omartian knows something about quality. As the third-generation owner of Toros Omartian & Son, his family has been dealing in hand-woven, high-quality Oriental rugs — buying, selling, cleaning, repairing, and appraising them — for 96 years, and only in recent decades has he begun stocking rugs at price tags less than $5,000, to capture a segment of the market that prefers to stay around $3,000 or less.

“Professionals in the area were telling me, ‘I can’t afford your rug; it’s like $20,000, isn’t it? We could never afford a rug from you guys,’” he recalled, suggesting he had a perception problem more than a price problem. “The Omartian name had suggested very expensive rugs, but we were priced just like any other rug store. We do moderate to high-end rugs, we do collectibles — all the different designs and colors available in the oriental-rug industry now.”

What Tesini, Morgado, and Omartian have in common — besides businesses focused on floor coverings — is the need to strike a balance between quality, since customers will live with their products for a long time, and shoppers who focus on the bottom line. It’s not always an easy tradeoff.

“Obviously the economy — even though people say it’s thriving — is still soft in this area,” Morgado told BusinessWest, noting that his customer base has tended to skew older (typically professional people in their 40s and up) and it’s always a challenge to attract young people who are just as likely to grab a machine-manufactured rug on sale at Home Depot.

But if there’s one thing high-end and budget-conscious shoppers have in common, its that their tastes change — often quickly.

Broad Opinions

Indeed, Morgado said, “just like clothing trends, the style of hardwood flooring has changed over the years. In the past, he explained, hardwood options existed on a single continuum, dark finish to light finish, and three-inch planks were standard across the industry.

“Today’s look is completely different,” he went on. “People are looking for the wide boards, wide planks, with some character, whether it’s hand-scraped, darker-stained, whatever it takes to create that unique, different finish. These are considered higher-end products.”

Jorge Morgado says tastes in wood flooring have shifted in the past couple of years to wider planks and shades of gray.

He noted that proponents of wider planks feel they make a room feel more open and can create the appearance of a cleaner-looking space. Another rising trend is setting planks at a diagonal, rather than vertically or horizontally.

Morgado also noted that reclaimed wood is growing in popularity because it appeals to customers on two levels: eco-friendliness, and a vintage, one-of-a-kind look. This wood is being reused from sources such as barns, beams, wooden barrels, and salvaged logs, and the planks typically have characteristics that are different from board to board.

Finally, shades of gray are all the rage in hardwood flooring, rather than the natural finishes that have dominated for so long. One reason is that it tends to be a more neutral backdrop for paint, upholstery, and accessories. “People are attracted to that,” he said.

Tesini agreed, saying the gray craze has crossed over into tile as well. “A year and a half, maybe two years ago, the most popular color was beige. And, just overnight, a lightswitch was hit, and now everything is white and gray tile.”

Another consumer trend, Morgado said, is tile that looks like wood. At a time when designers are getting away from wood-colored cabinetry in favor of black and white, wood-colored flooring, if not hardwood itself, can be an attractive complement, since the rest of the space isn’t overwhelmed with wood. “More people are doing these uniquely finished things that are not considered traditional.”

Tesini said customers are responding to the sheer quality of tile that mimics wood. “Now, it’s digitally imaged, where before, it was screen printed. Digital imaging has come so far, and it’s difficult to tell it’s not real wood. Almost every manufacturer has changed their process to provide the highest-quality image on tile. It’s really an amazing time to be in the tile business.”

The other big trend in tile has to do with size, she told BusinessWest, with the long-popular 12-by-12 tiles being overshadowed today by 12-by-24 pieces. And that’s just the residential side. “Commercially, the bigger, the better: 16-by-32, 24-by-24.”

Changing Tastes

The biggest shift in the Oriental rug industry, Omartian recalled, was a change, in the early to mid-1980s, in how designs were created.

“In the interior-design field, American [wholesale] buyers would go to the countries of origin and buy what they made. But in the ’80s, they started telling them what to make, what designs and colors they wanted. And the market drastically changed — it became more appealing to the American consumer. It’s progressed that way ever since.”

That shift means Oriental rugs aren’t just an afterthought to a design, but are often included in a complete room strategy, just as fabrics, paint, wallpaper, and draperies are. “As far as the decision goes, it’s incorporated in the process, where, prior to the ’80s, it wasn’t.”

Steven Omartian says his company has stayed nimble in order to sell high-end rugs in an economy that has not fully recovered from the recession.

That was an overall positive to dealers like his family, but Omartian says the industry still faces plenty of challenges, including an economy that remains a bit soft. One change to compensate for fluctuating economy is an increased business presence; where his business was once 85% residential and 15% commercial, now it’s closer to 60-40. “We sell a lot for professional offices — an accent piece in the office or a large Oriental rug in the conference room, as well as occasionally hanging carpets on the wall as artwork.”

Morgado said manufacturers of wood flooring — and other materials, for that matter — produce lower-quality versions of their products to bring in value hunters and people who can’t afford high-end materials, but those who can afford top-line products demand them, if only because of how permanent those choices tend to be.

That said, while hardwood remains a popular choice, it typically trades places back and forth with carpeting in the race for most-popular floor covering.

“Designers know it’ll be a hardwood trend, then a carpet trend, then back to hardwood. The trend now is that carpet is starting to come back around. Designers are saying, ‘if you want a room to be comfortable, it’s a lot easier to bring comfort with a carpet,’” he explained, noting that today’s top-line rugs are built for both softness and better cleanability than before. He cited one brand in particular, Karastan, as the “Mercedes brand,” and noted that many people gravitate toward that as an alternative to wood.

While tile brands jostle for market dominance as well, Tesini said, she has seen a huge demand for Carrera tile — particularly in white and gray, of course — for kitchen floors, backsplashes, and bathrooms. But, she added, there will always be a place for natural stone.

“There’s an exotic quality to stone — it will always cost a bit more money than porcelain based on the rarity of certain types of stone, like marble,” she said, adding, however, that higher-end tiles are closing the price gap. “Natural stone is still very, very popular. Tile has come so far, but stone is stone; it’s what God created, and he’s not making it any better or worse. It’s never gone away in popularity.”

Which means it’s one more option for home and business owners looking to spend a little money — or a lot, as the case may be — for perhaps their most-used possession.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Rediker Software Helps Schools Run More Efficiently

Sections Technology

Class Act

Andrew Anderlonis says Rediker Software’s products are designed to require as little time or fuss as possible from their users.

As a chemistry teacher in the late ’70s, Rich Rediker was simply seeking a way to generate tardy notices more efficiently, using a computer which, by today’s standards, seems impossibly inadequate for … well, anything. But that humble machine became the foundation of what has evolved into an international leader in school administrative software, doing business in every state and 115 countries. Through four decades of innovation and growth, one goal has remained constant: to make life easier for teachers and administrators, so they, in turn, can spend more time with the kids.

The Commodore PET was a late-’70s computer with a tiny, calculator-like keyboard and a whopping 4K of RAM.

It was also the foundation on which Rich Rediker built a software company that today employs 125 people at its Hampden headquarters and around the world, and has grown to become an international leader in what’s known as administrative software for schools, with a presence in all 50 states and 115 countries.

“The company started before the Internet existed, before Windows, even before DOS,” said Andrew Anderlonis, Rediker’s son-in-law and the firm’s second-generation president. What did exist, though, back in 1980, was a need.

Specifically, as a chemistry teacher at Longmeadow High School, Rediker needed an easier way to track student tardies and generate notices. So, using the PET he had scraped up enough money to buy, he designed a program to do just that — and also helped the school’s secretary produce a daily bulletin faster than before.

“He kept working on it, tinkering with it, and it became useful to the school,” Anderlonis explained, to the point where he offered to sell his program to other schools, beginning with St. Mary’s High School in Westfield in 1981. After a couple of years dividing his time between teaching and broadening his tiny software business, he left LHS and dedicated himself full-time to what is now known as Rediker Software.

Two generations of Rediker leadership: Rich and Gail Rediker (right) and Andrew and Amy Anderlonis.

At first, Rediker ran his business from the basement of a house in Hampden — a story with echoes of the way giants like Amazon and Microsoft were birthed. As he developed more sophisticated programs to run other administrative tasks, sales took off, and in 1998, he moved into the building at the center of Hampden that still houses the enterprise today — that is, after a needed expansion in 2006.

“As the software evolved, he converted it for DOS, converted it to Windows … now we’re tackling mobile-type things. It’s amazing,” Anderlonis said. “Not many technology companies have been around four decades.”

Because of that long history, he added, “we’re convinced that we were the first student-information system on a PC. There were mainframe systems, but not on a PC.”

Covering the Bases

Today, the company serves public, private, charter, and religious schools with administrative software. That’s a broad category Anderlonis said, one best explained by some of the company’s key products, including:

• Administrator’s Plus, which manages data on students and staff. Schools can use the system to track attendance, create report cards, manage discipline, and build student schedules. Teachers can use the integrated web gradebook, TeacherPlus, to calculate and enter grades. School administrators can create digital portfolios for each student and staff member, and use them to electronically store documents and class projects. The system allows schools to batch e-mail report cards and other documents to parents, eliminating the need for paper and postage. Families can log into the system from home to see their children’s grades as well as other important school information. Finally, teachers can maintain web pages for their classes as a learning resource;

• Admissions Plus Pro, an enrollment-management software program that streamlines the admissions and enrollment process, while reducing extra work and duplicate data entry. The system can help private schools increase the number of applications they receive by allowing parents to submit them online;

• Teacher Evaluator, a web-based application available as an app for iPad but also accessible with any web browser. The application helps schools schedule and complete teacher evaluations; and

• School Office Suite, a product that complements Administrator’s Plus and folds in other areas of school functions, including cafeteria, library, and school-nursing services, in addition to basics like applications, admissions, and academics.

Rich Rediker (center) with his staff in Hampden, just some of the 125 employees based across the U.S.

“Our products cover anything that has to do with student data — attendance, report cards, grades, discipline, general demographic information, billing information, and more,” Anderlonis said. “The admissions product allows schools to customize the admissions process. Our goal is really to provide a complete product suite. When kids apply and enroll, they’re brought into the system, and their information can be shared with parents.”

The goal, he went on, is user convenience — specifically, as much automation, and as little time spent fussing with data, as possible.

“The end goal is for schools not to have to spend a lot of time managing data,” he told BusinessWest. “We’re building systems that are easy to use and easy to understand, and part of that hinges on great customer support.”

It’s an element Rediker has invested in, with an in-house call center in Hampden. In fact, 75% of the company is built around customer support and product development; half the firm’s employees are developers, tasked with creating new products and improving existing ones.

One sign of progress is the way the software has evolved beyond something only administrators used, to products that teachers and students interact with directly. “We’re approaching nearly 2 million students using portals, and close to 100,000 teachers; we’ve seen really substantial growth in the adoption and use of our portals.”

Since his arrival at the company four years ago — Anderlonis’ wife, Amy, is Rediker’s daughter and the firm’s public-relations manager, while Rich Rediker continues to act as CEO — he has made an effort to expand the ways in which Rediker interacts with customers, including delivering software through the cloud; partnering with Microsoft, Apple, and Google to open up new channels for its products; and finding new uses for its expertise.

“We’ve moved into products for mass notification, allowing schools to mix text, call, and e-mail notifications across the system,” he noted as one example. Another is a deeper commitment to designing school websites, an effort for which Rediker has partnered with Wild Apple Design Group in Wilbraham.

The bottom line, Anderlonis said, is that schools always have room for improvement in the way they incorporate technology. “Schools in general typically lag a little behind on the tech highway. They’re obviously constrained by what’s in the budget. But most schools are going to spend on classroom technology; we’re trying to provide software tools that enable them to be more constructive.”

The last two years have been an especially fruitful time, he added, when it comes to developing next-generation technology at Rediker. “We’ve looked at where we’ve had success and how we can continue that success and continue to grow. We have a very tight-knit family atmosphere here — we promote family and a great workplace culture — and make sure that, as a family business, we take care of our employees because, in the end, they take care of our schools.”

Next Generation

In short, Anderlonis said, he simply wants to make sure Rediker stays ahead of the technology curve and carry on an impressive record of growth.

“Rich has done an amazing job ensuring the company is profitable every year since the company was founded, and we continue to do that through product innovation,” he said. “My goal is really to set the company up for the next generation of management and success with these products, and to create a strategic vision going forward. With the products were introducing to the market, we’re focused on providing even more robust, powerful, and flexible tools for schools to utilize. We really feel we’re one of the top vendors in the U.S. with student-information systems, and we consider ourselves the market leader.”

As a preferred vendor for Massachusetts schools, Rediker software is employed in more than 80 districts and charter schools, but it has also forged a solid reputation in Catholic schools, recently winning a contract with the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C, one of many large dioceses the company boasts among its clients.

Public or private, Anderlonis said, “we want our customers to feel comfortable choosing to partner with Rediker. We want schools to call us when they need help. Schools call us all the time, and we’re there to talk to them.”

In addition, the company hosts three week-long workshops annually, each one drawing up to 100 educators from across the U.S. and around the world. “They interact with staff, train on the software, and get to network with other administrators. There’s a really tight-knit community around our products, both domestically and internationally. It’s pretty neat.”

As part of an effort to stay on top of advancing technology — while helping to cultivate the next generation of software developers — Anderlonis launched a summer internship program that brings a handful of promising high-school and college students on board to work on real-world projects.

“They experience the full life cycle — they’ll develop a product all the way from an idea on the whiteboard to possible customer interaction,” he explained, drawing from the skills they’ve been learning in school. “It’s not just a superficial internship; there’s a lot of depth. We give them a lot of autonomy. We’re essentially giving students in the local community an opportunity to use their abilities on real-world applications, but at the same time, they’re helping us.”

The company also connects to the community through a program called Rediker Cares, a volunteer program that allows employees to volunteer at local organizations and events during company time. As a result, employees have made significant contributions to local organizations, particularly Link to Libraries, the regional literacy initiative that was given workspace at Rediker free of charge; Anderlonis sits on the nonprofit’s board.

“Our company is a primary sponsor of Link to Libraries; they’re a great organization,” he said. “That’s another way we can give back — by helping promote literacy. Our employees have a chance to volunteer there and other ways in the community as well.”

That commitment echoes, in a different way, Rediker’s mantra of giving teachers more time with students, and developing software that allows them to have that.

“Technology is such a foundation for everything today, including education,” Anderlonis told BusinessWest. “Walk into any classroom nowadays, and you’ll see incredible technology — computers, tablets, smartboard projects. That’s the hardware, but what’s behind it? Our goal is to be part of the software that can help schools run more efficiently and effectively.”

Still, he added, as the company continues to branch out and diversify, it will do so at a measured pace, as not to lose the personal touch Rich Rediker has emphasized from his Commodore days.

“We’re not the biggest company, and we’re not the most aggressive,” Anderlonis said, “but we’re passionate about what we do, and we take care of our customers.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Demand Soars for Cybersecurity Experts Across Many Industry Sectors

Sections Technology

A Critical Skills Gap

American employers have realized the vital importance of cybersecurity — but that realization has created a near-term shortage of workers that may require long-term solutions.

Cybersecurity was once the province of defense contractors and government agencies, but in the third edition of its annual cybersecurity job-market analysis, Burning Glass found that hiring has boomed in industries like finance, healthcare, and retail.

A glance at the headlines is enough to explain why. In addition to the federal Office of Personnel Management, recent cyber breaches have hit major consumer companies like Chase and Target. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 2015 State of U.S. Cybercrime Survey, a record 79% of survey respondents said they detected a security incident in the past 12 months. Many incidents go undetected, however, so the real tally is probably much higher.

Yet, we are also seeing multiple signs that demand for these workers is outstripping supply. Job postings for cybersecurity openings have grown three times as fast as openings for IT jobs overall, and it takes companies longer to fill cybersecurity positions than other IT jobs. That’s bad for employers, but good news for cybersecurity workers, who can command an average salary premium of nearly $6,500 per year, or 9% more than other IT workers.

Or, put another way, there were nearly 50,000 postings for workers with a CISSP certification in 2014, the primary credential in cybersecurity work. That amounts to three-quarters of all the people who hold that certification in the U.S. — and presumably most of them already have jobs.

This is a gap that will take time to fill. The skills for some IT positions can be acquired with relatively little training, but cybersecurity isn’t one of them. For example, five years of experience are required to even apply for a CISSP certification. That doesn’t even consider the rising demand for experience in a specific industry, like finance or healthcare. This suggests that the shortage of cybersecurity workers is likely to persist, at least until the education and training system catches up.

Among the key trends in cybersecurity jobs:

• These jobs are in demand and growing across the economy. The professional-services, finance, and manufacturing/defense sectors have the highest demand for cybersecurity jobs. The fastest increases in demand for cybersecurity workers are in industries managing increasing volumes of consumer data, such as finance (+137% over the last five years), healthcare (+121%), and retail trade (+89%).

• Positions calling for financial skills or a security clearance are even harder to fill than other cybersecurity jobs. The hardest-to-fill cybersecurity jobs call for financial skills, such as accounting or knowledge of regulations associated with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, alongside traditional networking and IT security skills. Because finance and IT skills are rarely trained for together, there is a skills gap for workers who meet the requirements of the ‘hybrid jobs.’ Meanwhile, more than 10% of cybersecurity job postings advertise a security-clearance requirement. These jobs, on average, take 10% longer to fill than cybersecurity jobs without a security clearance.

• Cybersecurity positions are more likely to require certifications than other IT jobs. About one-third (35%) of cybersecurity jobs call for an industry certification, compared to 23% of IT jobs overall.

• Cybersecurity employers demand a highly educated, highly experienced workforce. Some 84% of cybersecurity postings specify at least a bachelor’s degree, and 83% require at least three years of experience. Because of the high education and experience requirements for these roles, skills gaps cannot easily be resolved though short-term solutions. Employers and training providers must work together to cultivate a talent pipeline for these critical roles.

• Geographically, cybersecurity jobs are concentrated in government and defense hubs, but are growing most quickly in secondary markets. On a per capita basis, the leading states are Washington D.C., Virginia, Maryland, and Colorado; all have high concentrations of jobs in the federal government and related contractors.

Burning Glass is a Boston-based firm that delivers job-market analytics that help employers, workers, and educators make data-driven decisions. Its full report on cybersecurity jobs is available online at burning-glass.com/research/cybersecurity.

Court Dockets

Court Dockets Departments

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

FRANKLIN SUPERIOR COURT

Holly K. Michaelson, M.D. v. Kellogg Co. and U.S. Foods
Allegation: Plaintiff suffered oral lacerations, internal bleeding, abdominal pain, and bowel trauma after ingesting Kellogg cereal containing shards of glass: $25,000+
Filed: 10/20/15

GREENFIELD DISTRICT COURT

Burek Brothers Construction v. A.C.E. Coatings Unlimited Inc. and Bernard Woodard
Allegation: Non-payment of services rendered: $12,550
Filed: 12/11/15

Morais Concrete Service Inc. v. Town of Orange
Allegation: Breach of a public construction contract: $20,188.11
Filed: 11/20/15

HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT

Ryder Transportation Services v. Vision Beyond Transportation Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract: $187,979.76
Filed: 12/15/15

Specialty Bolt & Screw Inc. v. Crosby Queenin Properties, LLC
Allegation: Breach of lease agreement: $130,000+
Filed: 12/18/15

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT

J. Polep Distribution Services v. D Market and Sohrab Khan
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $3,398.09
Filed: 12/22/15

Mohawk Factoring Inc. v. Rainbow Carpet and John P. Casey
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $9,068.49
Filed: 12/24/15

Sage Engineering and Contracting Inc. v. 134 Capital Drive, LLC
Allegation: Non-payment of services and materials in renovation of building: $135,602
Filed: 12/23/15

U.S. Foodservices Inc. v. West Springfield Adult Care, LLC and John Bersani
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $7,939.69
Filed: 12/21/15

Zakiyyah Lybieddin v. Leominster Credit Union and Metro Auto Sales and Services Inc.
Allegation: Defendant Leominster acted unfairly by refusing to respond to plaintiff regarding a rescission of a lease agreement with Metro: $20,620
Filed: 12/30/15

Agenda

Agenda Departments

‘Wolf to Woof’ Exhibit

Through May 12: In today’s society, dogs enhance the lives of millions of people in countless ways, but they are also some of our oldest friends. Ancient clues like cave paintings and burials reveal that dogs and people have lived together for thousands of years. But why have humans formed such close relationships with dogs, and not cows or chickens? “Wolf to Woof: The Story of Dogs” is the largest and most comprehensive traveling exhibition ever created on the history, biology, and evolution of dogs. The exhibit, on view at the Springfield Science Museum through May 12, attempts to sniff out the facts on dogs and explore what makes the human/dog relationship so unique. It uses the familiarity and love of these four-legged friends to explore science and biological concepts. The exhibit has four themed sections including multi-media displays, artifacts, photo murals, and dioramas of taxidermied wild canines and sculpted modern dog breeds. Additionally, interactive, hands-on components demonstrate key exhibit concepts. For example, visitors can enter a ‘howling area’ and guess what dogs are saying, test their nose against a dog’s great sense of smell, and examine fossil and genetic evidence of how modern-day dogs are descended from wolves. In addition, the weekly Museums à la Carte lecture on Thursday, March 17 will feature a talk by Eliot Rusman, president and CEO of Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation. Tickets for this lecture are $4 for the general public and $2 for members. “Wolf to Woof: The Story of Dogs” is sponsored by United Bank. MassMutual is the 2015-16 Premier Sponsor of the Springfield Museums.

Grief Through Story Workshop

Feb. 10: The Garden: A Center for Grieving Children and Teens will present a Grief Through Story workshop from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Sunderland Public Library, 20 School St. The workshop, co-hosted by the Sunderland, Deerfield, and Hatfield public libraries, is geared toward adult caregivers and community members who are interested in learning how to initiate gentle conversations with youth about death, dying, and grief. The purpose of the workshop is to use children’s literature as an effective tool in talking with children about these difficult topics. Participants will join in a guided conversation about grief and will discover resources in various mediums that can be used to facilitate these important conversations. Family members, friends, and loved ones in the lives of a grieving young person, as well as anyone interested in grief work with children, is invited to attend. The snow date is Wednesday, Feb. 17 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The event is free, and drop-ins are welcome. The Garden provides bereavement support at no cost to grieving families with young children no matter where, how, or when a death occurred. For more information about its programs, call Shelly Bathe Lenn, Garden coordinator, at (413) 582-5312.

Chocolate Fantasy

Feb. 12: Baystate Franklin Medical Center’s volunteers and members of the Baystate Franklin Auxiliary (BFA) will hold their annual Chocolate Fantasy fund-raiser from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the hospital’s main conference rooms. This year, funds raised at the Chocolate Fantasy will support the hospital’s Cardiopulmonary Department and Mental Health Unit. The event also features Valentine-related crafts and a raffle with baskets of items from local businesses. BFMC Clinical Notes, the hospital’s women’s a cappella chorus, will present a mini-concert of love songs at 12:15 pm in the main lobby. “Many local organizations and BFMC staff and volunteers have graciously and generously donated chocolate items, from chocolate-chip cookies to chocolate-covered apples to truffles and fudge, and much more,” said Sydney Ramey, chair of the Chocolate Fantasy committee. “We always invite contributors to think creatively as they consider what to send in for the sale.” A highlight of this year’s Fantasy is the raffling of an original watercolor by John Tomasetti, a member of the Old Deerfield Painting Group. The painting is on display in the BFA Gift Shop window. Raffle tickets may be purchased in the shop for $2 each, three for $5, or $10 for a baker’s dozen. The drawing will take place at the Chocolate Fantasy. For more information on the event, or to donate chocolate goodies or raffle items, contact Becky George, manger, Volunteer Services, BFMC, at (413) 773-2318 or [email protected].

Red Cross Blood Drive

Feb 16: The MassMutual Center will host its annual American Red Cross blood drive from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Severe winter weather across the nation since Jan. 1 has forced the cancellation of more than 300 blood drives, resulting in more than 9,500 donations uncollected, further depleting an already-low winter supply. In order to fulfill the need, blood products are being distributed to hospitals as quickly as donations are being collected. “The MassMutual Center is proud to hold our annual blood drive in support of the Red Cross. We are committed to serving the Springfield community and working with partners such as the Red Cross whose mission is to provide compassionate care to those in need,” said Stacey Church, general manager of the MassMutual Center. Visit redcrossblood.org or call (800) 733-2767 to schedule an appointment. Walk-ins are welcome, but appointments are preferred.

Informational Seminar on
Alzheimer’s, Dementia

Feb. 16: The Arbors at Chicopee will host an informational seminar on Alzheimer’s disease and dementia at 6 p.m. Ed Walters-Zucco, RN at Integra, will offer a brief presentation on the differences between the two diseases and the signs and symptoms. More than 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. Community and resident family members will gather to learn how to cope with this statistic. Following the presentation will be a question-and-answer session and a raffle drawing. Refreshments, cookies, and cheese and crackers will be served.

Dinner, Conversation
About Race in America

Feb. 21: Blue Heron Restaurant will host “On the Bus: Dinner and a Conversation About Race in America with Julius Lester and Barry Moser.” Lester and Moser, writers, educators, and artists who currently reside in Western Mass., both came of age in Tennessee in the 1950s and 60s. Although they both rode public buses in the South, their experiences differed greatly because of the color of their skin. Their experience provides a lens through which the two will begin a discussion on race, racism, and segregation in the U.S. Local poet, author, and gallery owner Richard Michelson will moderate the discussion. Guests will be invited to pose questions to the panelists and share their own thoughts and experiences on the subject. The evening’s menu will draw from the culinary heritage of the American South. The meal will begin with a root vegetable soup served with pimento-cheese crostini. For the main course, guests will choose from a selection of chicken-fried steak with cream gravy, fried catfish with jalapeño remoulade, or squash and cheddar soufflé. Side dishes will be served family-style, and include collard greens, hoppin’ John, sautéed okra, and housemade biscuits. The meal will conclude with a slice of chess pie, a staple of Southern cuisine. The event will begin at 5:30 p.m., and the cost is $40 per person, not including tax or gratuity. The full menu is available to view at www.blueherondining.com/special-events. Reservations are recommended and can be made by calling (413) 665-2102 or e-mailing [email protected].

Real-estate
Licensing Course

Feb. 22: Beginning Monday, Feb. 22, the Realtor Assoc. of Pioneer Valley will sponsor a 40-hour, 14-class sales-licensing course to help individuals prepare for the Massachusetts real-estate salesperson license exam. The course will be completed on Wednesday, March 23. Tuition is $359 and includes the book and materials. For an application, call the Realtor Assoc. of Pioneer Valley at (413) 785-1328.

Celiac Disease and
Gluten-free Diets

Feb. 24: Many people are on gluten-free diets, either due to celiac disease, gluten intolerance, or just because they think it’s healthier. The community is invited to attend a luncheon program titled “Separating Facts from Fad: Gluten-free Diets,” presented by Dr. Harbir Sawhney, gastroenterologist from Baystate Medical Practices – Mary Lane Gastroenterology from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Baystate Wing Hospital in Palmer. “Dr. Sawheny will discuss celiac disease, gluten-free diets, and all things gastrointestinal,” said Susan Fontaine, senior coordinator of Loyalty Programs at Baystate Health. “Celiac disease is a digestive disorder in which the body can’t tolerate gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and sometimes oats. According to the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, an estimated 1 in 133 Americans, or about 1% of the population, has celiac disease. “If you need to cut gluten from your diet, it may seem difficult, but there are many healthy and delicious foods that are naturally gluten-free,” said Fontaine, noting that the program will include a gluten-free bag lunch. The program is sponsored by Baystate Health Senior Class and will include lunch at no cost. Space is limited, and registration is required by calling Baystate Health Link at (800) 377-4325. For more information about the Senior Class Loyalty Program, visit www.baystatehealth.org/seniorclass.

Academy of Music
Historic Tour

Feb. 24: The Academy of Music will offer a free tour of the historic theater at 5:15 p.m. Led by Academy of Music Development Coordinator Kathryn Slater, the tour will provide insight into the history behind this Northampton mainstay, including details about the organization’s founder and interesting notes about the many revitalizations. Built in 1891, the Academy of Music was the first municipally owned theater in the U.S., and home to the first stock theater company in the nation, the Northampton Players, formed in 1912. For nearly 125 years, the Academy has hosted an impressive array of performers, and the building holds the tales. See for yourself the century-old hole cut in the stage floor for Houdini’s disappearing act; Cole Porter’s grandfather clock; dressing rooms used by Sarah Bernhardt, Boris Karloff, Ethel Barrymore; and more. Step on the stage and see the Academy of Music from a whole new perspective, and take in the results of the 2014 restoration that refurbished the 800-seat auditorium, which earned a Mass. Historical Commission Preservation Award. This walking-and-talking tour begins promptly at 5:15 p.m. in the main lobby and is expected to run approximately 45 minutes. Admission is free, but reservations are required, as attendance is limited to 20. Reservations may be made through the Academy of Music Box Office by calling (413) 584-9032, ext. 105, Tuesday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m., or by e-mailing [email protected].

Springfield Falcons
Dr. Seuss Night

March 12: The Springfield Falcons, in partnership with the Springfield Museums and Dr. Seuss Enterprises, announced Dr. Seuss Night, to be held during a game against the Portland Pirates starting at 7 p.m. Dr. Seuss Night and the game will be sponsored by Berkshire Bank. For the first time ever, Dr. Seuss Enterprises has partnered with the Falcons and the Springfield Museums in presenting this special night to honor Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, who was born and raised in Springfield. The Springfield Museums are preparing to open the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum in 2016, an exhibit featuring interactive activities for children and a one-of-a-kind experience that will provide a look at the man behind the drawing board. “We are excited to partner with the Springfield Museums and Dr. Seuss Enterprises in presenting this special night to honor one of Springfield’s most famous native sons,” Falcons President Sarah Pompea said. “We have been anticipating this night since the summer months and are excited to aid the launching of the new museum in support of a unique family entertainment night around a favorite children’s author.” The night will include appearances by the Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumed characters. In addition, specialty jerseys will be worn by Falcons players and auctioned off, with proceeds donated to the Springfield Museums to help support the creation of the new museum. “We are thrilled that the Falcons are stepping up in support of our fund-raising campaign,” said Kay Simpson, president of the Springfield Museums. “It’s wonderful to have the support of one our best downtown neighbors.”

Difference Makers

March 31: The eighth annual Difference Makers award program, staged by BusinessWest, will be held at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House. Tickets cost $60, and tables of 10 are available. To reserve a spot, call (413) 781-8600, ext. 10, or visit businesswest.com. Difference Makers is a program, launched in 2009, that recognizes groups and individuals that are, as the name suggests, making a difference in this region. This year’s class was profiled in the Jan. 25 issue, and their stories can also be read online at businesswest.com. They include Hampden County Sheriff Michael J. Ashe Jr.; Mike Balise, Balise Motor Sales, philanthropist (1965-2015); Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties; Bay Path University President Carol Leary; and John Robison, president, J.E. Robison Service. Difference Makers is sponsored by EMA Dental, First American Insurance Agency, Health New England, Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C., Northwestern Mutual, PeoplesBank, Royal LLP, and Sunshine Village.

5K Run & Walk
for a Noble Cause

April 30: Registration is now open for Baystate Noble Hospital’s 32nd annual 5K Run & Walk for a Noble Cause, being held at Stanley Park in Westfield. The race begins at 9 a.m., with registration from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. near the Children’s Pavilion. The Baystate Noble 5K is a competitive road race for all levels of runners, from the novice to the serious athlete. The 3.1-mile course is flat out and back through Stanley Park and the surrounding residential area. A family-friendly, non-competitive walk follows the same route as the road race. Individuals, teams, wheelchair racers, and school groups are all encouraged to participate. After the race, refreshments, activities, and vendor tables will be located near registration, and awards will be given out. Early registration is encouraged. The registration fee for ages 13-59 is $35 through April 29 (seniors 60 and older are $25). The registration fee for ages 13-59 is $40 on April 30 ($30 for seniors). Children 12 and under participate free when accompanied by a paying adult. T-shirts in various sizes are available to registrants on a first-come, first-served basis while inventory is available. To register online, download registration materials, and read general information, visit baystatenoblehospital.org/5k. Sponsorship and vendor table opportunities are also available. For more information, visit baystatenoblehospital.org/5k or contact the Community Development Office at [email protected] or (413) 568-2811, ext. 5520.

40 Under Forty

June 16: The 10th annual 40 Under Forty award program, staged by BusinessWest, will be held at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House in Holyoke, honoring 40 of the region’s rising stars under 40 years old. The magazine will continue to accept nominations for the class of 2016 until 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 12. The nomination form, which can be found at businesswest.com, requests basic information and can be supported with other material, such as a résumé, testimonials, and even press clippings highlighting an individual’s achievements in their profession or service to their community. An independent panel of judges (see profiles on page 9 of this issue) will choose the winners, and their stories will be told in the April 18 issue. The event is sponsored by Northwestern Mutual and Paragus Strategic IT (presenting sponsors), EMA Dental, Health New England, Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst, Moriarty & Primack, and United Bank. More details on the gala will be revealed in upcoming issues.

EANE Management Conference Slated for March 10

AGAWAM — The Employers Assoc. of the NorthEast (EANE) announced its 12th annual Management Conference will be held on Thursday, March 10 at the Springfield Marriott, with a focus on driving business performance. The full-day conference will address how managers and supervisors can create a culture of alignment, agility, and engagement to improve organizational performance.

“Research shows that 60% of highly engaged employees report that their work is not aligned with company goals,” said Meredith Wise, EANE president. “By aligning employees to business priorities and equipping them with skills to quickly sense and lead change, companies can improve their organizational performance. Our conference is about managers and supervisors learning how alignment, agility, and engagement contribute to corporate performance.”

The program will feature Bruce Tulgan, an expert on leadership and management. He is the bestselling author of It’s Okay to Be the Boss, Managing Generation X, and his newest book, Bridging the Soft Skills Gap. The conference also includes breakout sessions, a presentation on “Building a Leadership Culture of Innovation and Energy” with Rich Trombetta of Innovation Is Easy, and an improv workshop by ConnectAnd about connecting your leadership to your team.

The cost for the program is $325 per person, with discounts for three or more. Register and learn more at eane.org/12th-annual-management-conference or call (877) 662-6444. The program will offer 6.75 credits from the HR Certification Institute. Sponsoring the program are Johnson and Hill Staffing and the Human Resource Certification Institute.

Country Bank Supports Abby’s House with Donation

WARE — Country Bank recently Abby’s House with a check for $3,050. This donation was made possible through the Country Bank Employee Charitable Giving Program’s casual Fridays.

Each week Country Bank staff are able to wear jeans in exchange for a $5 donation to the charity of the month. The total funds collected are then matched by Country Bank. The organizations chosen for this honor are suggestions submitted by the staff at Country Bank.

Country Bank serves Central and Western Mass. with 14 offices. For more information, visit www.countrybank.com or call (800) 322-8233.

Chamber Corners

Chamber Corners Departments

GREATER CHICOPEE
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

www.chicopeechamber.org
(413) 594-2101

• Feb. 11: CEO Luncheon with Maura McCaffrey of Health New England, 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. As president and CEO at HNE, McCaffrey leads the premier locally owned health plan serving this region. Health New England, headquartered in downtown Springfield, employs more than 340 people and provides health coverage for more than 225,000 members. Sponsored by Chicopee Savings Bank, First American Insurance Agency Inc., Holyoke Medical Center, and PeoplesBank Cost: $30 for members, $35 for non-members. To reserve tickets, call Lynn Morrissette at (413) 594-2101.

• Feb. 17: February Salute Breakfast & Annual Meeting, 7:15-9 a.m., Castle of Knights, 1599 Memorial Dr. Chicopee. Cost $23 for members, $28 for non-members.

GREATER EASTHAMPTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

www.easthamptonchamber.org
(413) 527-9414

• Feb. 11: Networking by Night, 5-7 p.m., sponsored by Canon Realty. Join area business professionals for networking. Cost: $10 for members, $15 for non-members.

GREATER HOLYOKE
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

www.holyokechamber.com
(413) 534-3376

• Feb. 17: Economic Development Breakfast: Growing Businesses 1×1, 7:30-9 a.m., hosted by Delaney House, Country Club Road, Holyoke. Sponsored by Holyoke Community College. A breakfast focusing on entrepreneurism with keynote speaker and local entrepreneur Delcie Bean, president of Paragus Strategic IT, along with graduates of the SPARK Entrepreneurial Launch Program. Cost: $25 for members, $30 for non-members, which includes a hot breakfast buffet. Call the Holyoke Chamber at (413) 534-3376 or visit holyokechamber.com to sign up.

• Feb. 17: Chamber After Hours, 5-7 p.m., sponsored and hosted by Slainte, 80 Jarvis Ave., Holyoke. Cost: $10 for members, $15 for non-members. Call the Holyoke Chamber at (413) 534-3376 or visit holyokechamber.com to sign up.

GREATER WESTFIELD
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

www.westfieldbiz.org
(413) 568-1618

• Feb. 10: Chamber After 5 Connection, 5-7 p.m., hosted by Armbrook Village, 551 North Road, Westfield. To register, call Pam at the chamber office at (413) 568-1618.

SPRINGFIELD REGIONAL CHAMBER

www.myonlinechamber.com
(413) 787-1555

• Feb. 10: Springfield Regional Chamber Lunch ‘n’ Learn, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., location to be determined. Sponsored by the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County. Cost: $25 for members, $35 for non-members.

• Feb. 11-March 17: Springfield Regional Chamber Leadership Institute, TD Bank Conference Room, 1441 Main St., Springfield. Sponsored by MassMutual Financial Group and supported by the Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation. Special guest speakers. The institute is directed by Julie Siciliano, dean of the Western New England University College of Business, and Jack Greeley, executive in residence. Participants will actively explore best practices of leaders; analyze their own leadership, learning, and and problem-solving styles; and experience the synergies that result from high-performing teams. Cost: $885 per participant, which includes a day trip to Beacon Hill and graduation dinner.

WEST OF THE RIVER
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

www.ourwrc.com
(413) 426-3880

• Feb. 18: Networking Lunch, noon to 1:30 p.m., hosted by Lattitude in West Springfield. Enjoy a sit-down lunch while networking with fellow chamber members. Each attendee will get a chance to offer a brief sales pitch. Only members or guests of members may attend. The only cost to attend is the cost of lunch. Attendees will order off the menu and pay separately that day. We cannot invoice you for these events. For more information, call the chamber office at (413) 426-3880 or e-mail [email protected].

• Feb. 24: Legislative Breakfast, 7-9 a.m., hosted by Storrowton Tavern, 1305 Memorial Ave., West Springfield. The Breakfast will feature a panel of various legislatures, including state Sen. James Welch, state Sen. Donald Humason, State Rep. Nicholas Boldyga, state Rep. Michael Finn, Agawam Mayor Richard Cohen, and West Springfield Mayor Will Reichelt. Cost: $25 for members, $30 for non-members. For more information on ticket sales, call the chamber office at (413) 426-3880 or e-mail [email protected].

People on the Move

Departments People on the Move

• PeoplesBank announced the promotions and appointments of nine associates.
• Matthew Bannister has been appointed to Vice President, Corporate Responsibility. He possesses more than 30 years of brand management and corporate social-responsibility experience. He earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from UMass Amherst. His prior experience includes advertising, public relations, and event marketing for top advertising agencies and major nonprofit organizations;
• Paul Hillsburg has been promoted to Vice President, PeoplesFinancial and Insurance Services. With more than three decades of financial, sales, and business-development experience, he first joined the bank in 2008 and previously served as assistant vice president, PeoplesFinancial and Insurance Services. He holds an associate degree in business management from Springfield Technical Community College. He holds Series 7 and Series 66 licenses.
• Kristen Hua has been promoted to Vice President, Secondary Market. She possesses more than a decade of banking experience. She first joined the bank in May 2001 and previously served as assistant vice president, secondary market. She holds an MBA from the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst and a bachelor’s degree from Providence College. She also is a graduate of the New England School for Financial Studies;
• Craig Kaylor has been appointed to Vice President, Compliance. He brings more than a decade of banking and financial experience to his new position, where he will be responsible for overseeing all compliance regulations and policies. He holds a juris doctor degree from the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University and a bachelor’s degree from the University at Albany, SUNY;
• Denise Lamory has been promoted to Vice President, Commercial Loan Administration. She possesses close to four decades of banking experience. She first joined the bank in August 1976 and previously served as assistant vice president, commercial loan administration. She holds several business and financial certificates from the Western Massachusetts Institute of Management Education Inc. and Holyoke Community College;
• Trisha Leary has been promoted to Vice President, Internal Control. She possesses more than a decade of financial experience. She first joined the bank in 2013 and previously served as risk oversight officer. She holds a master’s degree in accounting and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst.
• Karen Sinopoli has been appointed to Vice President, Controller. She brings a decade of banking and audit experience to her new position, where she will be responsible for maintaining and supervising the financial record of the bank in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. She holds a master’s degree in accounting from the Isenberg School of Management at the UMass Amherst and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Pennsylvania State University;
• Donna Wiley has been promoted to Vice President, Regional Manager. She possesses close to four decades of banking experience. She first joined the bank in 1979 and previously served as assistant vice president, regional manager. She holds an associate degree in business administration from Holyoke Community College and graduated with honors from the Massachusetts Bankers Assoc. School for Financial Studies; and
• Brian Rheaume has been promoted to assistant vice president, information technology. He possesses more than a decade of information-technology experience. He first joined the bank in 2002 and previously served as information technology officer supervisor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems from Westfield State University and is an A+ certified professional IT technician.
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Kathleen McCormick and Peter Mirante have been appointed to the Berkshire Community College board of trustees. McCormick is a partner with McCormick, Murtagh & Marcus, a law firm in Great Barrington. She joined the firm in 2004 and was named partner in 2009. Her focus is on residential and commercial real estate, land use and permitting, construction law, business law, and estate planning. She previously clerked for First Justice David Kopleman in the Norfolk County Probate and Family Court and later served as an associate with the litigation firm Herlihy, Thursby & Herlihy in Boston. She has worked for well-known companies such as the Boston Celtics, the Jane Blalock Co., and Reebok International. McCormick holds a juris doctor degree from Suffolk University Law School and a bachelor’s degree from Boston College. She is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Assoc., the Berkshire County Bar Assoc., and the Real Estate Bar Assoc. of Massachusetts. She is dedicated to enriching the lives of disadvantaged youth and is an active community member serving on boards of numerous charitable organizations. Mirante, who has worked in the banking industry for more than 20 years, is senior vice president of Branch Administration at Greylock Federal Credit Union in Pittsfield. He joined Greylock in 1998 and has served in numerous management positions. Prior to joining Greylock, he worked for Patten Corp. and then Berkshire Bank.
Mirante holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the former North Adams State College. He has a long history of community service and currently serves on the boards of the Northern Berkshire United Way, Berkshire Family & Individual Resources, Berkshire Compact for Education, and North Adams Parks & Recreation. Darlene Rodowicz, who was recently reappointed board chair by Gov. Charlie Baker, noted that “the new board members bring a wealth of knowledge from their respective roles in the community. We are happy to have them join the BCC board of trustees as we continue to advance the mission of the college.”
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Local law firm Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C. announced that attorney Steven Schwartz is the recipient of the Distinguished Advisor in Philanthropy Award. The award is presented annually by the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts in partnership with the Estate Planning Council of Hampden County and the Pioneer Valley Estate Planning Council. Each year, the award’s recipient may recommend a Hampden, Hampshire, or Franklin county charity of their choice to receive a $1,000 grant. This year, Schwartz has decided to recommend the grant be made to the Children’s Study Home in recognition of its 150 anniversary. Schwartz concentrates his practice in the areas of family-business planning, mergers and acquisitions, corporate law, and estate planning. His practice involves representation of principals in family-business planning (including exit planning for business owners), representation of individuals and corporations in the purchase and sale of business enterprises, strategic planning for the future of clients’ businesses, and providing advice on alternatives in financing through loans and venture capital.
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Pope Francis High School announced that John Goda, Athletic Director for Holyoke Catholic High School, has been appointed to the Athletic Director position for Pope Francis High School. The creation of Pope Francis High School was announced in 2015 when Springfield Bishop Mitchell Rozanski revealed that Cathedral High School and Holyoke Catholic High School would merge into a new school, named in honor of the current Pope. While the official merger will take place to coincide with the next academic year, 2016-17, there has already been a joining together of the athletic programs. Goda, a 1987 graduate of Cathedral, started his career with Holyoke Catholic as a teacher in 1994, and took over as athletic director in 2003. Since the merger of Cathedral and Holyoke Catholic was announced, Goda has worked alongside Cathedral Athletic Director Joe Hegarty to oversee the combined athletic programs for Pope Francis High School. Hegarty recently vacated his position at Cathedral, and Goda will assume the role.
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Holyoke Medical Center (HMC) announced the appointment of Phillip Candito to the position of Vice President of Business Development, where he is leading marketing and development efforts and focused on growing the organization. Candito worked as director of Business Development at the Eastern Connecticut Health Network in Manchester, Conn. for 10 years before coming to HMC. Previously, he served St. Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury, Conn. as director of Rehabilitation Services and Occupational Medicine, and as a physical therapist. Earlier, he earned a degree in psychology from the University of Connecticut; worked in television, video, and stage production for 10 years in Connecticut and New York City; re-enrolled at UConn and earned a degree in physical therapy, which he practiced for 10 years; then attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to earn his graduate degree.
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TD Bank has named Karl Mirke assistant vice president, store manager of the location at 90 Main St. in North Adams. He is responsible for new-business development, consumer and business lending, managing personnel, and overseeing the day-to-day operations at the store, serving customers in Berkshire County, including North Adams, Clarksburg, Adams, Cheshire, Stamford, and Readsboro. Mirke has 11 years of retail banking experience. Prior to joining TD Bank, he served as assistant branch manager at Citizens Bank in Pittsfield. He is a 2003 graduate of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams.
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Aaron Smith, P.C., a certified public accounting firm, announced that certified public accountant Bernard “Buzz” Travers III will assume the role of managing director. In that role, Travers will provide leadership and direction to achieve the goals of the firm. He will oversee day-to-day management and will continue to cultivate the talents of all accountants and staff at Aaron Smith. Travers joined the firm in 1999 as a tax specialist. He is a certified public accountant in both Massachusetts and Connecticut. His areas of expertise include corporate, individual and fiduciary income tax; state and local income and sales and use taxation; federal and state tax audits; mergers and acquisitions; estate and gift taxation; nonprofit taxes; and bankruptcy taxation. In addition, he has assisted numerous business owners in the sale and purchase of businesses. He received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Bentley University and his juris doctor from Western New England University School of Law. He is past president of the Estate Planning Council of Hampden County Inc., past president of the Field Club of Longmeadow Inc., an officer and director of the Sportsmen’s National Land Trust Inc., and past treasurer of the Longmeadow High School hockey and lacrosse booster clubs.
•••••
Bob Barna has joined Whalley Computer Associates (WCA) as a consulting architect. Barna was employed by VMWare as a senior consultant for the last 16 months and has 19 years of experience in the IT industry. He spent 17 of those years as the senior systems engineer at Competitive Computing. He has earned numerous VMware certifications and has extensive experience in design enablement, developing business requirements and identifying use cases, architecture design, environment build, product pilot, documentations and knowledge transfer, and more. Barna joins a team at WCA that also includes another former VMWare employee, Dan Sullivan, who joined VMWare shortly after it was founded and, in his seven years there, served customers all over New England and New York as a VMware systems engineer, VMware account executive, and partner business manager. Sullivan, who now holds the role of senior solution architect at WCA, is a 39-year veteran of the IT industry, with a background that combines technical expertise and sales skills.
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EMA Dental announced that Dr. Colleen Chambers has joined the practice as its newest associate. Chambers completed her undergraduate degree in biological sciences at the University of Connecticut and went on to earn her DMD at the University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine. She was awarded the School of Dental Medicine Alumni Research Fellowship for her research with alveolar bone and implant integration using rh-PDGF-BB. She completed an Advanced Education in General Dentistry program at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she focused on esthetics, general dentistry, and complex implant dental treatment. Chambers is proud to have had the opportunity to provide dental care to underserved communities at the CT Mission of Mercy, Remote Area Medical Services in Wise County, Va., and as part of a dental service trip to Honduras. She is a member of the American Dental Assoc., the Massachusetts Dental Society, and the Valley District Society.
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Caroline Gear has been named executive director of the International Language Institute (ILI) of Massachusetts, located in Northampton. Gear joined ILI in 1986 as a Spanish and ESOL instructor, and in 1989, she became the school’s director of programs. In that capacity, she has been ILI’s primary coordinator with numerous partners, including area businesses, partner colleges and universities, the U.S. State Department, the Fulbright Scholars program, and the U.S. Commercial Service. She has written several articles on assessment and evaluation and regularly presents on teacher training and supervision, both regionally and nationally. Gear earned her bachelor’s degree in Spanish from State University of New York at Potsdam and her masters’ degree in Spanish literature from Michigan State University. In addition to her years at ILI, she has worked in Peru, Mexico, and Spain.
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Lee Bank announced that Wendy Healey has been named to the position of Senior Vice President, Community Banking, and David Harrington has been named to the position of Vice President, Commercial Lending. Healey joins Lee Bank with experience in both the retail-banking and financial-technology sectors. She most recently served as senior vice president in charge of retail, sales, and marketing at Torrington Savings Bank. Prior to that, she was an independent financial services consultant while pursuing an MBA, and has held senior management roles at COCC Inc., a lead provider in core technology to the financial industry; Sovereign/Santander Bank; and People’s United Bank in Connecticut. As senior vice president in charge of community banking, Healey’s focus will be on existing and new customer relationships, as well as the design and fulfillment of new products and packages of services to meet customer needs. She will oversee policies, future business planning, and long-range strategic goals for her department and is responsible for the overall administration of compliance, including policy and procedures, monitoring, review, training, and board reporting. Harrington brings more than 18 years of experience in product and operations management. He most recently served as multi-life new business operations manager at Guardian Life Insurance Co. in Pittsfield. Prior to that, he was employed as product and project manager, U.S. Insurance Group, MassMutual Financial Group, and senior product line manager, disability and long-term-care insurance at Berkshire Life Insurance Co. As vice president of commercial lending, Harrington is responsible for developing and maintaining Lee Bank’s commercial-lending activities and expanding existing customer relationships in conjunction with the bank’s strategic goals.
•••••
Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) recently welcomed three new members to its board of trustees: Steven Grande, Franklin Quigley, and Macarthur Starks Jr. Grande is president of Meridian Industrial Group, LLC in Holyoke and Springfield. He also serves on the Holyoke Taxpayers Assoc. is vice chair of the advisory committee at Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School, chairs the Mayor’s Industrial Development Advisory Council, serves on board of directors for the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Massachusetts, is a member of the advisory board for William J. Dean Technical High School; and is president of the board of directors for the Western Massachusetts National Tooling and Machining Assoc. Grande holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and criminal justice from American International College. Quigley, an STCC alumnus, serves on the STCC foundation board and is a member of the presidential search committee. He is the president of FD Quigley and Associates, an organization specializing in providing project-management services to commercial retail developers; is a member of the state board of directors for Special Olympics; and is a retired referee of the American Hockey League. Starks, a senior finance and leadership professional, is an assistant vice president/change agent at MassMutual Way Center of Excellence, at MassMutual Life Insurance Company. Starks also serves as board chair and treasurer of FutureWorks Career Center in Springfield. A graduate of STCC (‘88), Starks received a master’s in management information systems and a bachelor of arts in accounting from Western New England University.

Green Streets Design Workshop, Informational Session Set for Feb. 11

SPRINGFIELD — A Green Streets design workshop and informational session related to regreening the X commercial district in Springfield will be held on Thursday, Feb. 11 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the Forest Park Library Community Room.

Regreen Springfield is working with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC), the Conway School of Design, the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission, and the city of Springfield to determine the feasibility of installing ‘green street’ components in the X neighborhood, and to develop recommendations that will be shared with the city’s Planning and Engineering departments as they advance possible realignment of roadway patterns at the X.

During the session, a public presentation outlining the scope of the project will be delivered, and neighborhood input and participation in the process will be solicited. An overview of the function and value of urban trees will also be presented. Students from the Conway School of Design, the PVPC, and Regreen Springfield will deliver the presentation, and it will be interactive in nature.

Briefcase

Briefcase Departments

Downtown Springfield
to Offer Free Wi-fi

SPRINGFIELD — Mayor Domenic Sarno and Chief Development Officer Kevin Kennedy announced upgrades to Springfield’s downtown technology infrastructure. The initiatives include providing free public wi-fi access beginning in the downtown area this spring, then expanding to other areas of the city, including public parks. Working with city partners, the initiative will also bring high-speed fiber into buildings, which will provide the growing entrepreneurship sector with quicker, cost-effective, easier-to-access technology. “Springfield has a history of innovation,” Sarno said. “These investments will keep us competitive in the market to attract entrepreneurs and to assist those here today in continuing to grow. This will also serve as a matter of convenience for residents and tourists who will be able to access Internet in our parks and public spaces.” The initial investment will range between $50,000 and $100,000 and will ensure free wi-fi access throughout downtown. The investment comes on the heels of the city’s announcement of a National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC) award, part of which will dedicate funding to a pair of key innovation projects in the district: DevelopSpringfield’s Springfield Innovation Center and an IT workforce-training program through Tech Foundry. Funding is expected to be $300,000 for each project. All of these activities fall in the city’s Transformative Development Initiative district, a designation the city applied for and was awarded through MassDevelopment, which has since provided staff, an equity investment, and technical and financial assistance as the Worthington Street master plan continues to advance. “This has all been part of a dedicated planning process to establish an innovation district in our downtown,” Kennedy said. “The private and nonprofit sectors have been doing their share in creating a great deal of excitement with programming; these key city infrastructure investments will only help further these efforts. It’s been a great partnership.”

Springfield Regional Chamber Adopts
Energy Position

SPRINGFIELD — The board of directors of the Springfield Regional Chamber voted this week, on behalf of its members, to take a position on energy in the state of Massachusetts and to support a balanced energy portfolio, including the expansion of the supply of natural gas. “Energy is a critical issue for our members. While they acknowledge that regional investment in the transmission infrastructure has increased the reliability of our grid, they see that demand for natural gas continues to rise and the infrastructure is not in place to support such demand,” said chamber President Jeffrey Ciuffreda. “This not only increases their already-high costs of electricity, but causes constraints on the infrastructure and supply. Combined, they tell us it significantly impeded their continued economic development and the economic development of our region.” As a result, Ciuffreda said the Chamber, on their behalf, has adopted the following position: “The Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce (SRC), through its members, has long identified the high, and increasing, cost of energy as a major issue to address and more recently has identified the constraints on the supply of natural gas as a major deterrent to economic development in the region. Therefore, the chamber supports the expansion of the supply of natural gas, especially to the Western Massachusetts region, as a means to assist in economic-development efforts as well as to reduce the cost of electricity. The chamber acknowledges that two pipeline expansions are in various stages of development, the Spectra project as well as the Kinder Morgan project, and encourages the development of each. The chamber believes that there are sufficient permitting and regulatory rules in place to ensure the safety of these projects and the protection of lands in and around these projects. While endorsing the increased supply of natural gas, the chamber also reiterates its support for the goal set by the state for the development of solar energy and encourages swift action on a comprehensive energy bill that will further bring on line other alternative energies such as wind and hydro. Finally, the chamber is encouraging its members to take advantage of the programs available, many funded through electricity charges, for conservation and efficiencies. There is no better way to lower the cost of electricity than through those efforts. Moving toward this balanced portfolio of energy sources and recognizing the conditions and constraints about being in New England will ensure a better future for all — businesses and residents alike.” Ciuffreda said the chamber will work with local and state officials, utility companies, and developers to continue to advocate on behalf of its members for the programs and capital necessary to lower these escalating costs and improve the region’s infrastructure, and will be an active participant in reviewing any legislation on this issue.

State Proposes $83.5M
for Vocational Technical Education Programs

BOSTON — Gov. Charlie Baker, Secretary of Education James Peyser, Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Ronald Walker II, and Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash announced a series of new initiatives to support career vocational technical education, including $83.5 million to be proposed between the governor’s FY 2017 budget recommendation and new capital grant funding to be filed in an economic-development bill this week. “With too many good-paying jobs going unfilled, we are pleased to announce this critical investment in our career and technical schools,” Baker said. “Our proposal will make it possible for more students to explore a pathway to success through stronger partnerships with our schools and local businesses in the Commonwealth.” The funding in the FY 2017 budget will be coupled with a substantial capital-grant program for vocational equipment that further aligns the administration’s investments with local economic- and workforce-development needs and employment partnerships. “Massachusetts has some of the strongest career-technical programs in the country, at both the high-school and college levels, but access and quality are uneven across the Commonwealth, and there’s currently little alignment across education levels,” said Peyser. “Our efforts will significantly expand student access to high-quality career-education programs in STEM fields, manufacturing, and traditional trades, with a focus on underserved populations and communities.” Added Walker, “finding ways to make sure people get the skills and job training they need to get a good-paying job is one of the biggest challenges before us. With these initiatives, we will engage employers as full partners in program design and implementation to help them create a pipeline of workers.” Ash noted that “vocational institutions are an important part of training the workforce to address the skills gap. These additional resources will continue to equip vocational institutions as they train the next generation of skilled workers who will help grow the Commonwealth’s economy.”

Employer Confidence Steady to Start 2016

BOSTON — Confidence among Massachusetts employers remained steady during January as optimism about the state economy offset uncertainty about China and turbulent financial markets. The Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM) Business Confidence Index rose 0.5 points to 55.8 last month, starting 2016 well above the 50 mark that denotes a positive economic outlook. The increase was driven by a 1.8-point surge in the index measuring employer attitudes about Massachusetts. Confidence remained lower than it was in January 2015, however. “The fact that employer confidence remained solid during a month in which the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was at one point off 9% and oil dropped below $27 a barrel points to the fundamental, underlying strength of the Massachusetts economy,” said Raymond Torto, chair of AIM’s Board of Economic Advisors (BEA) and lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Design. The AIM Index, based on a survey of Massachusetts employers, has appeared monthly since July 1991. It is calculated on a 100-point scale, with 50 as neutral; a reading above 50 is positive, while below 50 is negative. The Index reached its historic high of 68.5 on two occasions in 1997-98, and its all-time low of 33.3 in February 2009. The index ended 2015 down for the year, but remained consistently in optimistic territory for the first 12-month period since the Great Recession. Most of the sub-indices based on selected questions or categories of employer rose a point or two in January, though all remained down year over year. The Massachusetts Index, assessing business conditions within the Commonwealth, jumped 1.8 points to 58.1, starting the year more than a point lower than last January. “The Massachusetts Index has been above its national counterpart for 80 consecutive months, and that perception was bolstered by the decision in January by General Electric to locate its corporate headquarters in Boston,” Torto said. “GE’s decision was important, not only for the 800 jobs it will bring, but because the company cited Massachusetts’ leadership in knowledge industries as its reason for coming.” The U.S. Index of national business conditions slipped to 49.9 on the month, leaving it more than four points lower than a year ago. The Current Index, which assesses overall business conditions at the time of the survey, increased slightly to 54.6, while the Future Index, measuring expectations for six months out, rose almost a full point to 57.0. “Employers clearly do not believe that the correction in financial markets signals an overall economic slowdown,” said Alan Clayton-Matthews, associated professor of Economics and Public Policy at Northeastern University and a BEA member. “Massachusetts employers foresee positive business conditions through at least the first half of 2016, and that comports with economic forecasts that Massachusetts will reach full employment during the year.” The three sub-indices bearing on survey respondents’ own operations were mixed in January. The Company Index, reflecting overall business conditions, was up 0.3 points at 57.0, the Sales Index shed 1.1 points to 57.1, and the Employment Index rose 1.3 points to 55.1. “The increase in the Employment Index is good news for Massachusetts. Our survey found that 39% of respondents reported adding staff during the past six months, while 19% reduced employment,” said Katherine Kiel, professor of Economics at College of the Holy Cross and another BEA member. “Expectations for the next six months are even stronger — 37% hiring and only 10% downsizing.”

State Announces $9.2M
in Skills Capital Grants

HOLYOKE — The Baker-Polito administration recently announced the availability of $9.2 million in Skills Capital Grants for vocational-technical equipment investments to improve the quality of education and vocational training, provide career technical training to increase program capacity, and enable students to improve their skills to meet the needs of employers in the Commonwealth. “The skills gap is real across the country, and many companies cannot find the talent they need to fill positions and further develop their local economic impact,” said Gov. Charlie Baker. “By investing in capital equipment at vocational and technical schools that are focused on training, we will ensure more residents get the skills they need to get good-paying jobs in growing industries across the Commonwealth.” State officials announced the availability of the Skills Capital Grants at the future site of Holyoke Community College’s (HCC) Center for Culinary and Hospitality Excellence, located in the heart of the Holyoke Innovation District, which is experiencing significant investment and growth. The center is being funded by a $1.75 million capital grant from the former Manufacturing Training Equipment Grant program, which is being combined with the Vocational Opportunity Challenge Grants to create the new Skills Capital Grant. The Holyoke grant was awarded from a prior funding round. High demand for career training programs like Holyoke’s led to the creation, and expansion in scope, of the Skills Capital Grant program. “We are proud and excited to see the expansion of Holyoke Community College’s Culinary Arts program into a larger center which will provide critical skills to our residents for jobs available that are available now,” said Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse. Added HCC President William Messner, “Holyoke Community College is committed to continuously improving our academic program offerings. We have invested $20 million in such efforts over the past few years in areas directly related to regional employment opportunities, including this culinary center, as well as healthcare, STEM fields, and adult literacy. We are pleased to be able to expand our culinary and hospitality program at a critical time for the region and look forward to increasing the educational opportunities for hundreds of local residents.” The Skills Capital grants will range from $50,000 to $500,000, and while the grants do not require a match, applicants are encouraged to demonstrate cash and/or in-kind matches. Eligible applicants include Massachusetts schools, institutions, and organizations that provide career/vocational technical education programs, including all Chapter 74-approved vocational tech schools, community colleges, and providers of training programs that meet the federal Perkins Act definition of career and technical education. Grant applications must be submitted by Jan. 29.

Results From Statewide
Healthcare Quality
Survey Released

WATERTOWN — Massachusetts Health Quality Partners (MHQP) announced the results of an independent statewide patient experience survey, now publicly available at healthcarecompassma.org. The survey encompassed nearly 65,000 patients from more than 500 primary-care practices representing approximately 4,000 physicians across the state, who responded to the question of whether they would recommend their primary-care physician to their family and friends. “The answer to this and other patient-experience questions makes Healthcare Compass MA a tremendous resource for Massachusetts residents who want to find the best care available,” said Barbra Rabson, president and CEO of MHQP. Questions about whether or not providers ask patients about feeling depressed, feeling stressed, or experiencing problems with alcohol, drugs, or a mental or emotional illness were reported for the first time in MHQP’s 2014 survey results. The 2014 statewide behavioral-health mean score of 53.1 indicated that there was substantial room for improvement. The results of the 2015 survey indicate improvement to 56.5 for these behavioral-health measures, with several practices having made truly noteworthy progress. The survey also found that primary-care physicians across the state excel in communicating with their patients. The communication mean score for all practices across the state is 93.5 out of a potential 100 points. “We are fortunate to live in Massachusetts where we have access to MHQP’s statewide public reporting about patient-experience results,” said patient advocate Rosalind Joffe, president of ciCoach and MHQP board member. “MHQP’s commitment to capturing and reporting the patient voice, and focusing on what is important to patients, will continue to make care better in Massachusetts.” Added Dr. Thomas Scornavacca, senior medical director, UMass Memorial Health Care Office of Clinical Integration, “MHQP’s survey provides actionable information that helps bring physicians closer to our goal of delivering patient-centered care. At UMass Memorial Health Care, we evaluate MHQP survey results very carefully as we set healthcare quality-improvement priorities.”

Applicants Sought for
Energy and Environmental
Education Awards

BOSTON — The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) is now accepting nominations for its annual Secretary’s Awards for Excellence in Energy and Environmental Education until March 30. EEA Secretary Matthew Beaton will present awards this spring to Massachusetts teachers and students involved in school-based programs that promote environmental and energy education. “I am proud to recognize the teachers and students leading and inspiring their communities as they tackle critical energy and environmental issues,” Beaton said. “It is important to engage students early in issues like energy, recycling, conservation, and wildlife, and they have so many fresh ideas to offer.” All public and private Massachusetts schools (K-12) that offer energy and environmental education programs are eligible to apply for the awards. In 2015, schools and nonprofit organizations from 22 communities across the state were recognized for their work on issues including recycling, energy conservation, ocean science, wildlife conservation, and alternative fuels. The Secretary’s Advisory Group on Energy and Environmental Education will review applications through mid-April. Qualified entrants will be invited to attend a formal award ceremony with Beaton at the State House this spring.

Tenacity, Talent Help Women Navigate the Road of Auto Sales

Autos Sections

A Subtle Edge

Bonnie Nieroda says she encountered a “boy’s club” when she first started selling cars, but times have changed in some respects.

When Carol Buker started selling Fords 42 years ago, it wasn’t unusual for her to encounter blatant sexism. Some male customers refused to talk to her, while others didn’t believe a word she said.

“I remember one man who came to the dealership wanting to know about trucks; he told me, ‘I am not about to talk to you,’” said Buker, a sales and leasing consultant for Toyota of Greenfield, adding that the roles of men and women had been set in stone and many people didn’t feel a female had any credibility or belonged on the sales lot.

Bonnie Nieroda faced similar challenges that were exacerbated by male co-workers who wanted to drive her out of the business.

“It was a tough industry, and selling cars was a boy’s club,” she said, citing memories of a finance manager who refused to process her deals because the salesmen didn’t want her there. “They conspired against me and took bets on how long I would last. They gave me a month.”

She not only beat their predictions, but outlasted most of them, became a success, and has been happily employed as a master certified sales consultant at Marcotte Ford in Holyoke for seven years.

Barbara Spear expected to confront discrimination when she was hired as a salesperson at Balise Lexus because she had encountered it during her previous job as general manager of a construction company. However she didn’t anticipate cynicism from other females, and was shocked by a friend’s response when she told her about her new job.

“She asked me why they would even consider hiring a woman,” Spear said, admitting, “I knew nothing about cars and had never even pumped my own gas when I took this job. But I had spent my whole life in sales, knew I could sell anything, and am a people person who really loves making my customers happy.”

Today, she numbers among an elite group of females who excel in a male-dominated industry. In fact, only 7% of auto salespeople are female, despite the fact that women play a leading role in 85% of auto purchases.

“It’s not an easy job. You have to shovel and brush snow off cars in the winter and deal with the heat in the summer,” Buker said. “You miss out on a lot with your family due to the long hours, but you also gain a lot.”

Those gains include close relationships that females tend to form with customers who share stories about deaths, divorces, illnesses, and family problems with them. There are also financial rewards because it can be a very lucrative career, and these women say they couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

“It gets into your blood,” said Jodi Colter, a sales manager for Fathers & Sons Volkswagen in West Springfield. “I took a two-year break when a family member became ill, but I always return. I like my staff, enjoy coaching people, and love the daily challenge of trying to make sales.”

Barbara Spear says selling cars isn’t easy, and doing it well means time spent away from family. But there are many rewards as well.

Spear concurred. “This business is about making new friends and continuing the relationships. I am a workaholic and tend to be here seven days a week to accommodate customers, but I compete against myself and do very well,” she noted.

These women, in other words, are willing to go above and beyond to make prospective buyers happy.

For example, Nieroda had a female client who had her drive two different cars to the graveyard where her father was buried because she felt he would give her a sign as to which vehicle she should purchase.

“I just sat in the car while she got out,” she explained.

Bumpy Road

Some women find jobs in auto sales by happenstance, while others enter the field dreaming of autonomy and economic sufficiency. But the substantial sacrifices required to travel down such a road cause many to drive away from the futures they projected for themselves.

Colter’s career began after she was hired as a receptionist by Balise Motor Sales in 1996. She took the job to pay for college, and “became enchanted by the sales process” when she worked with the sales team.

Since that time, she has seen many female sales associates come and go, and said one of the toughest obstacles they face is balancing family life with the demands of a job that can require them to work six or seven days a week, plus holidays.

“I have a 4-year-old and a 14-year-old, but I also have a nanny; I’ve seen many single parents quit because of the hours,” she told BusinessWest. “Every mom wants to be home with her kids, and although it’s important to guys, they may be geared a little bit differently. Throughout the history of time, men have always been away from home working.”

But Colter and other saleswomen said that, if their peers are lucky enough to have family to help with children, or choose to make the sacrifices required to perform this work, they quickly discover their innate ability to communicate gives them a subtle — or maybe not-so-subtle — edge over male co-workers.

“When customers see me come out of my office, there is always an element of surprise,” Colter noted. “But then they seem to let their guard down … they joke with me and say, ‘so you’re the boss?’”

She takes such comments in stride. “You have to have a thick skin in this business, and I don’t get the objections some males do when they start to discuss numbers,” she went on. “Seeing a woman’s face can be refreshing, and some female buyers are more comfortable dealing with another woman. And if someone only wants to deal with a man, you can’t take it personally.”

Jodi Colter says selling cars “gets into your blood.”

Buker says things have improved dramatically over the years and agrees that women have an advantage that comes to them naturally: their ability to listen empathetically and form bonds with people quickly.

She recalled one woman who purchased a car, then came back and sat at her desk and sobbed because her husband was very sick and she knew Buker would be sympathetic.

“I interact with my customers as if they are my friends. It’s just how I am,” she said, explaining that she knows many people have felt intimidated by auto salespeople and believe buying a vehicle is a confrontational experience.

She fell into the job after graduating from college and has never regretted it.

“I really love being able to help people,” she said. “Sometimes they don’t know what they want, have a problem with the website, or don’t know whether to repair their vehicle or buy a new one. I give them advice and have taken them into our service department if I feel it’s necessary because I want them to feel comfortable with their decision.”

Indeed, feeling respected is a critical factor in the profession, but saleswomen have heard stories from women about how they were insulted by salesmen.

“Women have told me they felt as if they have been talked down to,” Nieroda said. “But nine times out of 10, the woman in the family is the one who controls the sale. If she feels it’s not a good value, the answer will be ‘no.’”

Still, the stories abound. One woman told Spear she picked out a car, and when she was ready to purchase it, the salesman told her he would not discuss price unless she returned with her husband. Meanwhile, she recalled, another woman sat in the parking lot and sent her husband inside to buy a car until Spear coaxed her out of her car and listened to stories about bad experiences she had had in the past.

“I think women tend to be softer and a little more compassionate when it comes to sales. I tell my customers it’s their money, so it needs to be their decision; there shouldn’t be any pressure,” she said.

Changing Field

The Internet has had a dramatic affect on the way vehicles are sold.

“It has opened up the doors to the world,” Spear said.

But there are pros and cons: dealers lose sales because a car doesn’t have the exact specifications someone is looking for, but gain them if they have it in stock, even when the buyer lives in a distant state.

“I’ve shipped cars to Nigeria, Texas, Washington State, and California,” Spear said, noting that it’s not uncommon for people to purchase a certified auto via the Internet without ever test-driving it because they know it has gone through a 161-point inspection and is under warranty.

However, some still want the experience of seeing the vehicle, sitting in it, or taking it for a test drive, and will drive long distances or fly to the dealership, then make the purchase and drive their new auto home.

However, this can lead to less personal interaction, and although Buker applauds the research people do in advance of a purchase, she misses the ties that are forged when both parties work together to find a vehicle that fits their needs.

Other changes in the industry include the fact that advertising is being geared more toward advances in technology than improvements in the vehicles.

“We used to sell cars, but now we are selling technology — cars that can park themselves, radar that lights up when another automobile is passing, power lifts, and all types of sensors,” Nieroda said.

Buker agrees. “When I was a kid, it was a big thing when a new car was introduced to the market. People would line up in front of a dealership to see it, but today everything is online, and people can find what they want there.”

That includes prices for new vehicles advertised on general websites, which can become problematic because they don’t include docking and destination fees, CARFAX reports, or the cost of certifying a vehicle.

“Some people expect dealers to function without making any profit at all,” Nieroda said, citing another challenge.

She thinks sexism still exists in the auto-sales industry, although it definitely has lessened.

“I sell more trucks than the guys here, but you still don’t see many women in this business, and I imagine some people think I’m an anomaly,” she said. “The industry continues to be dominated by males, but it’s a lucrative field and women are not only smart, we probably have an edge because some people are more comfortable dealing with us. I can’t tell you how wonderful people are; I’ve gotten cards and flowers, and it really is a wonderful feeling to sell to one generation, then the next.”

Colter agrees. “If you love automobiles, this is a great field, and seeing a woman’s face can be refreshing. We’re compassionate and good listeners, so even men drop their guard and talk to us. But you do have to have thick skin, and you can’t take things personally.”

These women have conquered these challenges and others they have faced, and focus on the positive aspects of their business as they navigate the road to success using skills — both natural and honed — to help people purchase the perfect vehicle.

Building Permits

Building Permits Departments

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

AMHERST

Jeffrey Brown
231 Triangle St.
$11,000 — Change out rooftop air conditioning unit

Town of Amherst School Department
70 South East St.
$36,000 — New roof

CHICOPEE

Authier Inc.
12 Dallaire Ave.
$8,500 — Repair front of building

River Valley Counseling Center
249 Exchange St.
$40,000 — Repair water damage

W.M.D.C.
227 Lonczak Dr.
$38,000 — Install modular office

GREENFIELD

Baystate Franklin Medical Center
164 High St.
$8,000 — Interior renovations

James Arcoleo
146 Federal St.
$158,000 — Renovate building to medical offices

Sander Greenfield, LLC
367 Federal St.
$20,000 — Interior renovations for paint booth, bathrooms, and reception area

Super 8 Motel
21 Colrain Road
$6,500 — Renovations to create a laundry room

Quabbin Regions Inc.
326 Deerfield St.
$10,000 — New roof

LUDLOW

Lupa Game Farm
62 Nash Hill Road
$11,500 — Alterations

SOUTH HADLEY

Francis Conforti
41 West Summit St.
$47,000 — Re-roof

Town of South Hadley
1 Lincoln Ave.
$4,000 — Re-roofing

U.S. Industrial Gaylord, LP
24-28 Gaylord St.
$200,000 — Renovations and alterations

SPRINGFIELD

Boston Road/Pasco Rt. 20 Retail, LLC
1300 Boston Road
$130,000 — Permit for building shell only

SMD Realty
933-937 Boston Road
$120,000 — Interior build-out

Wakefern Food
633 Boston Road
$608,000 — Expand existing supermarket

Real Estate Transactions

Departments Real Estate

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

FRANKLIN COUNTY

BERNARDSTON

91 West Mountain Road
Bernardston, MA 01337
Amount: $260,831
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Mark Healy
Date: 01/04/16

BUCKLAND

4 Clement St.
Buckland, MA 01338
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Jesus Salgado
Seller: Patricia A. Donohue
Date: 01/06/16

2 Laurel St.
Buckland, MA 01338
Amount: $142,000
Buyer: Daniel R. Friedman
Seller: Pamela E. Parker
Date: 12/30/15

27 Orcutt Hill Road
Buckland, MA 01338
Amount: $465,000
Buyer: John R. Holden
Seller: Ruth M. Bosch
Date: 01/07/16

36 State St.
Buckland, MA 01370
Amount: $115,000
Buyer: Donald T. Dodge
Seller: Phillips B. Sherburne
Date: 12/31/15

CHARLEMONT

71 West Oxbow Road
Charlemont, MA 01339
Amount: $247,500
Buyer: Elizabeth J. Gonzalez
Seller: Henry Dymerski
Date: 12/28/15

CONWAY

59 Shelburne Falls Road
Conway, MA 01341
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Gregory D. Smith
Seller: James Boehmer
Date: 01/08/16

DEERFIELD

5 Industrial Dr.
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $1,916,250
Buyer: Deerfield Industrial LLC
Seller: CMLT 2008 LSI Ind. 5 LLC
Date: 12/29/15

ERVING

28 Forest St.
Erving, MA 01344
Amount: $151,270
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: James Sicard
Date: 12/29/15

143 North St.
Erving, MA 01344
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Joshua D. Hodges
Seller: Shawn D. Conway
Date: 12/29/15

8 Union St.
Erving, MA 01344
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Patrick J. Chase
Seller: Jason T. Liimatainen
Date: 01/05/16

GREENFIELD

7 Alden St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $223,348
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: John Snide
Date: 12/30/15

9 Carol Lane
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Christopher Kimball
Date: 12/28/15

26 Congress St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Christopher V. Mason
Seller: Frances T. Cassidy
Date: 12/30/15

30-32 Silver St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $115,000
Buyer: Grinnell Properties LLC
Seller: Greenfield Savings Bank
Date: 01/06/16

55 White Birch Ave.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $131,500
Buyer: Darlene A. Holland
Seller: US Bank
Date: 01/04/16

HAWLEY

28 West Hawley Road
Hawley, MA 01339
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Tedd F. White
Seller: Lisa A. Turner
Date: 12/28/15

LEVERETT

79 Hemenway Road
Leverett, MA 01054
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Patrick R. Jernigan
Seller: Roberts, Doris H., (Estate)
Date: 01/08/16

MONTAGUE

82 Montague St.
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $167,000
Buyer: Timothy A. Broga
Seller: Shelley M. May
Date: 12/29/15

75 Turnpike Road
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $146,100
Buyer: Frances C. Macphail
Seller: US Bank
Date: 12/31/15

NEW SALEM

12 East Eagleville Lane
New Salem, MA 01331
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Christopher A. Kingsbury
Seller: Parker B. Edson
Date: 12/31/15

ORANGE

504 East River St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Erwin H. Merrifield
Seller: Steven T. Canning
Date: 12/30/15

117 Hayden St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Richard A. Jones
Seller: Logan Reid Ventures LLC
Date: 12/29/15

558 South Main St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $257,900
Buyer: FHLM
Seller: Richard J. Delrossi
Date: 12/30/15

SUNDERLAND

258 River Road
Sunderland, MA 01375
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Benjamin J. Snyder
Seller: Martha G. Bushey
Date: 12/30/15

WARWICK

315 Wendell Road
Warwick, MA 01378
Amount: $136,500
Buyer: Stone Financing LLC
Seller: Kirk S. Valentine
Date: 12/31/15

WHATELY

223 River Road
Whately, MA 01093
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Timothy Viens
Seller: Mindy T. Thach
Date: 01/04/16

HAMPDEN COUNTY

AGAWAM

262 Cooper St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $217,000
Buyer: Riccardo A. Panaia
Seller: Timothy F. Sugrue
Date: 12/29/15

138 Elmar Dr.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Gina G. Daniele
Seller: Eric J. Vieu
Date: 01/06/16

69 Randall St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $141,000
Buyer: Robert H. Greany
Seller: Thelma U. Troie
Date: 01/08/16

19-21 Hope Farms Dr.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Kevin D. Ghareeb
Seller: Kristin E. Bistany
Date: 12/30/15

48 Howard St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $169,900
Buyer: Ellen Mwapaura
Seller: Daglio, Gloria L., (Estate)
Date: 12/29/15

321 Main St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Marcon Investments LLC
Seller: O’Connell Oil Associates
Date: 12/30/15

1004 Springfield St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $355,000
Buyer: 1004 Springfield St. LLC
Seller: Ellsworth W. Smith
Date: 01/08/16

650 Suffield St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $700,000
Buyer: Yash RT
Seller: Donald A. Scott
Date: 12/28/15

43 Witheridge St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Vernon P. Farmer
Seller: Kylee C. Granfield
Date: 12/30/15

BLANDFORD

9 Woronoco Road
Blandford, MA 01008
Amount: $153,000
Buyer: Kevin M. Turrell
Seller: Francis Zak
Date: 12/30/15

BRIMFIELD

185 Old Sturbridge Road
Brimfield, MA 01010
Amount: $168,900
Buyer: Mark R. Bastien
Seller: Jason P. Foskett
Date: 12/31/15

CHICOPEE

119 Artisan St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $161,000
Buyer: Jonathan Robert
Seller: Mitchel M. Plamondon
Date: 12/31/15

95 Deslauriers St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $192,900
Buyer: Kevin St. Georges
Seller: G. F. Bergeron-Chartier
Date: 12/31/15

342 Front St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $152,500
Buyer: NAP Properties LLC
Seller: K&A LLC
Date: 01/05/16

53 Green St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $137,500
Buyer: Michael Kruzel
Seller: Eleanor R. Kapinos
Date: 12/29/15

14 Guerin St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Patrick A. Ganieany
Seller: Karen A. Kosoirek
Date: 12/30/15

101 Holyoke Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $198,000
Buyer: Sydney J. Roy
Seller: Nathan T. Baker
Date: 01/08/16

15 Nadeau Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Gordafreed D. Gardin
Seller: Joseph M. Kokoszka
Date: 12/31/15

65 Pondview Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $139,500
Buyer: Maura M. Livingstone
Seller: Mary L. Coalson
Date: 01/06/16

42 Sandra Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $135,500
Buyer: Robert L. Scribner
Seller: Michael A. Scribner
Date: 12/31/15

EAST LONGMEADOW

75 Alpine Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $156,900
Buyer: Nicholas L. Scholtz
Seller: Joseph A. Panzetti
Date: 12/29/15

76 Brookhaven Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $310,000
Buyer: Melanie Bliss
Seller: Antonio Truoiolo
Date: 01/08/16

115 Chestnut St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Anthony Hernandez
Seller: FNMA
Date: 12/28/15

231 Mapleshade Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $169,900
Buyer: Maritza L. Zavala
Seller: Paul M. Foley
Date: 12/30/15

520 North Main St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Cafe CT LLC
Seller: Antonio Coelho
Date: 01/06/16

7 Odion St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $218,900
Buyer: German Garcia
Seller: Kevin M. Reed
Date: 01/06/16

21 Oxford Lane
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $405,000
Buyer: Antonio Truoiolo
Seller: Thomas P. Hanifan
Date: 01/08/16

Pondview Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Custom Homes Development Group
Seller: Joseph Chapdelaine & Sons
Date: 01/07/16

746 Parker St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $490,000
Buyer: Yaw Sarpong
Seller: Grahams Construction Inc.
Date: 12/30/15

470 Porter Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Robert J. Mazur
Seller: Kenneth A. Richard
Date: 12/30/15

56 Porter Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $223,000
Buyer: Heather M. Locklear
Seller: Vincent A. Vaicekauskas
Date: 12/28/15

71 Stonehill Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $370,000
Buyer: Timothy Shea
Seller: Gary T. Lloyd
Date: 12/31/15

GRANVILLE

272 Silver St.
Granville, MA 01034
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: John P. Yeakley
Seller: Travis A. Gaffey
Date: 01/08/16

552 South Lane
Granville, MA 01034
Amount: $197,000
Buyer: William H. Adair
Seller: John A. Cosmus
Date: 12/30/15

HAMPDEN

11 Maple Grove Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $378,500
Buyer: Mark Tobias
Seller: Jerry Ago
Date: 01/04/16

365 South Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $338,900
Buyer: Robert Vanwart
Seller: James K. Quackenbush
Date: 01/07/16

146 Wilbraham Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Fletcher & Maple LLC
Seller: Timothy S. Shea
Date: 12/29/15

66 Woodland Dr.
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $203,000
Buyer: Mary Persaud
Seller: O’Donnell, William J., (Estate)

HOLLAND

10 Julia Ann Dr.
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: David A. Lopez
Seller: Christian D. Lund
Date: 12/29/15

HOLYOKE

91 Bemis Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Paul J. Maiolo
Seller: Ian Lafond
Date: 12/29/15

173-175 Brown Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Angel L. Rodriguez
Seller: Raymond F. Turgeon
Date: 01/04/16

393 Cherry St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $118,000
Buyer: Thomas W. Dziok
Seller: Nationstar Mortgage LLC
Date: 12/29/15

1093 Dwight St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Edwin Gonzalez
Seller: Bogumil Kazmierczak
Date: 12/30/15

205-207 Pine St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Hunter Allen
Seller: Saray Kon
Date: 12/31/15

7 Thorpe Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $470,000
Buyer: Yarland Properties LLC
Seller: Hilltop Garden Apartments
Date: 01/08/16

31 Valley Heights
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $152,500
Buyer: Corbin A. Lavertu
Seller: Roy, Robert H., (Estate)
Date: 12/30/15

222 West Franklin St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $122,000
Buyer: Marisol Figueroa
Seller: Elizabeth Rivera
Date: 01/06/16

230 West Franklin St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $169,000
Buyer: Melvin Pagan
Seller: Reynardo J. Nazario
Date: 12/30/15

330 Walnut St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $128,284
Buyer: Miriam Villa-Ayala
Seller: Jeffrey Ocampo
Date: 01/07/16

LONGMEADOW

275 Burbank Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $268,250
Buyer: Brendan Fitzgerald
Seller: David Trenkner
Date: 01/05/16

429 Frank Smith Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Yisroel Gesin
Seller: Joseph A. Garofalo
Date: 01/04/16

1069 Frank Smith Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $319,900
Buyer: Douglas Ferro
Seller: Ira Smolowitz
Date: 01/08/16

57 Maplewood St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Esther M. Kim
Seller: Carl W. Janovsky
Date: 01/05/16

97 Tecumseh Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Buyer: Shambhu Rana
Seller: Sodi Inc.
Date: 01/04/16

35 Twin Brook Circle
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $355,000
Buyer: Christopher P. Hayes
Seller: Natasha A. Reid
Date: 12/28/15

LUDLOW

163 Cady St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $229,900
Buyer: Fernando L. Ribeiro
Seller: Arthur A. Flanagan
Date: 01/08/16

91 Chapin Circle
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $188,000
Buyer: Jettie C. McCullough
Seller: Edward C. Bryant
Date: 12/31/15

110 James St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $248,000
Buyer: Anna Vargas
Seller: Amelia Santos-Dias
Date: 12/28/15

219 Kendall St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: John Carvalho
Seller: Jimmy Canoa
Date: 12/29/15

70-72 Miller St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Beau Stjacques
Seller: Paulo C. Ramos
Date: 12/30/15

68 Ray St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $172,500
Buyer: Nicole L. White
Seller: Laura L. Poehler
Date: 12/28/15

221 Wedgewood Dr.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $345,000
Buyer: David M. Garcia
Seller: Kevin Czaplicki
Date: 12/30/15

137 West Ave.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $157,000
Buyer: James R. Soffen
Seller: Brian Liberty
Date: 12/31/15

343 Winsor St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: 341-343 Winsor Street LLC
Seller: Macs LLC
Date: 12/31/15

MONSON

35 Elm St.
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $127,000
Buyer: Erica M. Brunell
Seller: Bayview Loan Servicing
Date: 01/06/16

24 Old Wales Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $281,000
Buyer: Keith M. Ostrander
Seller: William J. O’Neil
Date: 01/05/16

PALMER

24 Breton St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $170,300
Buyer: Jessy I. Salsbury
Seller: Barnes, Joyce M., (Estate)
Date: 01/06/16

N/A
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $270,000
Buyer: Brad F. Brothers
Seller: Paul J. Demers
Date: 12/29/15

1060 Overlook Dr.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $179,000
Buyer: Kimberly Bailey
Seller: Ryan M. McMullen
Date: 01/06/16

2118-2120 Palmer Road
Palmer, MA 01080
Amount: $176,000
Buyer: Alyson Hann
Seller: James F. Shea
Date: 01/04/16

RUSSELL

160 Timberidge Dr.
Russell, MA 01071
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Gregory J. Pascale
Seller: Brian C. Ober
Date: 12/28/15

121 Westwood Dr.
Russell, MA 01071
Amount: $359,000
Buyer: Steven M. Zayac
Seller: Mary A. Carlson
Date: 12/30/15

SOUTHWICK

162 Berkshire Ave.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $580,000
Buyer: Patrice N. Stearley
Seller: Michael J. Zalucki
Date: 12/28/15

300 College Highway
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: TSC Enterprises LLC
Seller: David B. Spillane
Date: 01/08/16

194 Feeding Hills Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Dale T. Lafayette
Seller: Lynn K. McMullin
Date: 01/08/16

9 Industrial Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: TSC Enterprises LLC
Seller: 9 Industrial Road LLC
Date: 12/31/15

12 Maple St.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $172,500
Buyer: David W. Hamel
Seller: Vernon P. Famer
Date: 12/30/15

285 South Longyard Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $169,000
Buyer: Rebecca M. Joslin
Seller: Dale T. Lafayette
Date: 01/08/16

181 South Loomis St.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Jose Canini
Seller: Timothy J. Mannion
Date: 12/30/15

SPRINGFIELD

1800 Allen St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $915,649
Buyer: Blue Hills Fuels LLC
Seller: Cumberland Farms Inc.
Date: 12/31/15

68 Birchland Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $156,000
Buyer: Debra A. Gomes
Seller: Penniman, Mildred M., (Estate)
Date: 01/08/16

97 Bremen St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $146,400
Buyer: Bernadette Davis
Seller: Jay Weissman
Date: 12/31/15

26 Burnside Terrace
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Jolene Alexander
Seller: Jackson H. Williams
Date: 01/07/16

837-839 Carew St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Jeauvon L. Garcia
Seller: Gloria Turner
Date: 12/30/15

19 Chalfonte Dr.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $169,500
Buyer: Lauren Dembek
Seller: Robert M. Wood
Date: 01/06/16

14 Chesterfield Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Patrick J. Denault
Seller: William Raleigh
Date: 01/07/16

7 Dana St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $159,000
Buyer: Sergul Durdu
Seller: George S. Elias
Date: 01/07/16

26 Delano Dr.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Christina Dacruz
Seller: Timothy Clark
Date: 01/08/16

63 Farnsworth St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Cesar C. Acevedo
Seller: Cesar Acevedo
Date: 12/30/15

108-110 Florida St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Karla M. Rivera
Seller: Gustavo E. Bautista
Date: 12/30/15

30 Gold St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $158,000
Buyer: Fernando A. Suero
Date: 12/31/15

217 Hanson Dr.
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $138,000
Buyer: Lee Dutil
Seller: Deborah Tracy
Date: 01/06/16

67 Jordan St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $188,000
Buyer: Aaron R. Goncalves
Seller: Pszczyna RT
Date: 01/07/16

36 Kensington Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $154,500
Buyer: Torena C. Webb-Thomas
Seller: Asbel Nunez
Date: 12/30/15

42 Kensington Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $154,500
Buyer: Torena C. Webb-Thomas
Seller: Asbel Nunez
Date: 12/30/15

32 Larkspur St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $159,900
Buyer: Babette Pellechia-Reyes
Seller: Danielle C. Armstrong
Date: 12/29/15

236 Laurelton St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $115,650
Buyer: Luis M. Ovalle
Seller: Anthony Carnevale
Date: 12/30/15

112 Maybrook Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Eugene Ortiz-Reyes
Seller: Merlo Associates Inc.
Date: 12/29/15

9 Montcalm St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $198,700
Buyer: Yekaterina A. Alekseyeva
Seller: KAC Properties LLC
Date: 12/28/15

53 Murray Hill Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $147,300
Buyer: Richard R. Wilkins
Seller: Robert J. Smith
Date: 01/05/16

59 Pinevale St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $177,000
Buyer: Raddy O. Nunez
Seller: KEM Management LLC
Date: 01/07/16

117 Portulaca Dr.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $152,000
Buyer: Tamari J. Martinez
Seller: Nathaniel M. Murray
Date: 01/05/16

163-165 Prospect St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $157,000
Buyer: Yeison Ramirez
Seller: Begaina Lopez
Date: 01/08/16

15 Rollins St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $142,383
Buyer: Sergey Savonin
Seller: James W. Fiore
Date: 01/05/16

50 Rollins St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $122,000
Buyer: Cassandra Martinez
Seller: Jonathan K. Willoughby
Date: 01/05/16

2025 Roosevelt Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $2,090,000
Buyer: WD 2025 Roosevelt LLC
Seller: Bay State Gas Co.
Date: 12/29/15

68 Somerset St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $127,000
Buyer: Neil Bridgman
Seller: Michael J. Martino
Date: 12/29/15

428-430 Springfield St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Norse Properties LLC
Seller: Croken, Edward D., (Estate)
Date: 12/31/15

159 Stapleton Road
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Andy Ocasio
Seller: Maria L. Perez
Date: 12/29/15

515 Tiffany St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Thanh Huynh
Seller: David G. Stevens
Date: 12/29/15

68 White St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Johnny F. Izquierdo
Seller: Anwar Properties LLC
Date: 12/29/15

68 Whittier St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $164,900
Buyer: Holly Alvarez-Savageau
Seller: Diep Lam
Date: 12/31/15

2163 Wilbraham Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $151,871
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Sammie L. Smith
Date: 12/30/15

WALES

18 Lynch Road
Wales, MA 01081
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Robert C. Milne
Seller: Theresa M. Smart
Date: 12/30/15

25 Lynch Road
Wales, MA 01081
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: John S. Griswold
Seller: Judith M. Chisholm
Date: 12/31/15

39 Stafford Road
Wales, MA 01081
Amount: $182,500
Buyer: Jason Prokowiew
Seller: Stephen M. Dennis
Date: 12/30/15

WEST SPRINGFIELD

103 Herrman St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $192,500
Buyer: Stephanie R. Dowers
Seller: Freshour, John H., (Estate)
Date: 01/04/16

39 Hillcrest Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $237,000
Buyer: John R. Bowers
Seller: Ann E. Phaneuf
Date: 01/08/16

106 Lincoln St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $190,722
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Tracy L. Hartshorn
Date: 12/29/15

811 Memorial Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $490,000
Buyer: Central Chevrolet Inc.
Seller: William R. Bayton
Date: 12/31/15

44 Morningside Terrace
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Mandy C. Chan
Seller: Donald Pomeroy
Date: 01/08/16

39 Mulcahy Dr.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $424,900
Buyer: Hassen M. Borhot
Seller: Francis Wheeler Construction
Date: 01/07/16

294 Piper Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $189,900
Seller: Raymond M. Dutkiewicz
Date: 01/07/16

22 Prospect St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Battista & Sons Property Mgmt.
Seller: Paula A. Remington
Date: 12/29/15

885 Riverdale St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $2,050,000
Buyer: 66 West Springfeild Realty
Seller: Veerji LLC
Date: 01/07/16

75 Sagamore Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $205,500
Buyer: Gary P. Acebuche
Seller: Terence J. Hurlbut
Date: 01/06/16

30 Vincent Dr.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $194,900
Seller: Flagstone Properties Inc.
Date: 12/29/15

2482 Westfield St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Keith D. Cosimini
Seller: Jan C. Trudell
Date: 12/29/15

William Frank Dr.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $364,875
Buyer: MWF Realty Realty LLC
Seller: Klondike Investment Group
Date: 12/29/15

WESTFIELD

39 Crane Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $137,500
Buyer: Nadezhda Shlykova
Seller: Ruth M. Minkus
Date: 01/07/16

78 Granville Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $357,920
Buyer: Jeffrey V. Cormier
Seller: Granville Road LLC
Date: 01/08/16

19 Hancock St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $212,500
Buyer: Boris Kuklin
Seller: Benjamin Solokhin
Date: 12/28/15

41 Heritage Lane
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $530,000
Buyer: Jason Worrell
Seller: David A. Amanti
Date: 12/30/15

113 Lindbergh Blvd.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Michael P. Daly
Seller: Robert K. Walker
Date: 01/05/16

35 Northwest Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $194,500
Buyer: Amanda M. Leclair
Seller: Wanda L. Lafogg
Date: 01/04/16

57 Orchard St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Jeffrey Routhier
Seller: Sitler, Helen E., (Estate)
Date: 12/30/15

16 Phillip Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $167,000
Buyer: Jeffrey A. Thomson
Seller: Nancy A. Smith
Date: 12/28/15

22 Phillip Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $211,000
Buyer: Kevin M. Quinn
Seller: Craig A. Thomas
Date: 12/29/15

39 Riverside Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: David D. Duda
Seller: Anna D. Dalikas
Date: 12/30/15

136 Shannon Lane
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Philip Chabot
Seller: Rene Chabot
Date: 12/31/15

46 Vadnais St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $126,500
Buyer: Aaron M. Kline
Seller: Steve N. Spelman
Date: 01/05/16

WILBRAHAM

36 Longview Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Rebecca C. Gay
Seller: Phyllis A. Murphy
Date: 12/28/15

123 Main St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $335,000
Buyer: James J. Charles
Seller: Corrine E. Sawyer
Date: 12/30/15

25 Pleasant View Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $378,000
Buyer: Derek Fergus
Seller: Michael F. Ware
Date: 12/31/15

Stonington Dr. #14
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Peter D. Martins
Seller: Silo Farm Associates LLC
Date: 01/08/16

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY

BELCHERTOWN

66 Chadbourne Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Carleen S. Sullivan
Seller: Deborah L. Dunbar
Date: 01/04/16

95 Enoch Sanford Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $212,500
Buyer: Deirdre Marley
Seller: Elizabeth B. Holtzman
Date: 12/31/15

Franklin St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Lori A. Alves
Seller: David A. Ladizki
Date: 12/28/15

25 Lexington Dr.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Norman B. Veroneau
Seller: Jeannine B. Daskam
Date: 12/29/15

205 Orchard St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Sara B. Trowbridge
Seller: L. P. Audette Builders Inc.
Date: 01/05/16

47 Sargent St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $150,700
Buyer: Christopher M. Johnson
Seller: Karen A. Utley
Date: 12/29/15

141 Sargent St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $127,500
Buyer: Erik Gay
Seller: Linda T. Gay
Date: 12/31/15

131 Warner St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $281,000
Buyer: Loretta W. Lyons
Seller: Michele F. Critelli
Date: 01/04/16

CUMMINGTON

16 Jordan Road
Cummington, MA 01026
Amount: $246,500
Buyer: Nathan Buckhout
Seller: Gregory A. Jordan
Date: 01/04/16

EASTHAMPTON

10 Alden St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $208,500
Buyer: Jacqueline B. Siller
Seller: Brousseau, Barbara A., (Estate)
Date: 01/04/16

7 Allen St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Ruth A. Barrett IRT
Seller: Rita L. Bartlett
Date: 01/08/16

396 East St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $221,500
Buyer: Peter E. Jalbert
Seller: Linda L. McDonald
Date: 12/31/15

12 Emily Lane
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $321,900
Buyer: Ryan M. Jones
Seller: Michael A. Jurkowski
Date: 12/30/15

51 Garfield Ave.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Wilson G. Buri
Seller: Mark T. McDowell
Date: 12/30/15

49 Hendrick St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Maureen L. Belliveau
Seller: Michael D. Thibault
Date: 12/30/15

4 Knight Ave.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Ralph S. Robitaille
Seller: Fletcher S. Smith
Date: 12/30/15

65 Maple St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: David P. Lang
Seller: Richard W. Koloszyc
Date: 01/08/16

90-92 Maple St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $405,000
Buyer: Alan Verson
Seller: William J. Schalk
Date: 12/31/15

89 Northampton St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $224,800
Buyer: Danielle Martineau
Seller: Charles E. Yates
Date: 12/29/15

107 Plain St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Robert C. Fedor
Seller: Linda A. Keyes
Date: 12/30/15

30 Pomeroy St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Michael J. O’Connor
Seller: Herbert A. Peterson
Date: 01/08/16

119 West St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: John A. Deiling
Seller: Nancy F. MacDonald RET
Date: 01/05/16

GRANBY

242 Amherst St.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Emily D. Souza
Seller: Robert L. Gould
Date: 12/30/15

109 Pleasant St.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Mark B. Paul
Seller: Derek R. Mercure
Date: 12/31/15

HADLEY

121 Huntington Road
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Earle Shumway
Seller: Gerard P. Goodsell
Date: 01/06/16

36 Stockbridge Road
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Joan Zaskey
Seller: Zaskey Frank, (Estate)
Date: 01/04/16

HUNTINGTON

3 Lowell Lane
Huntington, MA 01050
Amount: $158,000
Buyer: Randy J. Lemire
Seller: Joseph E. Kellam
Date: 12/30/15

99 Searle Road
Huntington, MA 01050
Amount: $202,500
Buyer: Kellie E. Riel
Seller: Stephan W. Manley
Date: 01/08/16

NORTHAMPTON

21 5th Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Karine Roesch
Seller: John H. Fagan
Date: 12/30/15

6 Beaver Brook Loop
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Steven P. McDonough
Seller: Beaver Brook NT
Date: 12/29/15

1345 Burts Pit Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: J. Laurel Pelis
Seller: John L. McKenna
Date: 12/31/15

133 Crescent St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Michael C. Sanders
Seller: Valerie J. Dahl
Date: 12/30/15

37 Henshaw Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $599,000
Buyer: Andrew M. Batchelor
Seller: Mary J. Price
Date: 12/29/15

401 Kennedy Road
Northampton, MA 01053
Amount: $222,500
Buyer: Jakob Palches
Seller: Gougeon, Norman A., (Estate)
Date: 12/30/15

53 Laurel Park
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $159,500
Buyer: Kathryn Collins
Seller: Jeremy Winstead
Date: 12/31/15

52 Laurel St.
Amount: $306,250
Buyer: Carrie M. Banks
Seller: Scott W. Remick
Date: 12/28/15

97 Locust St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Jaynjane LLC
Seller: 97 Locust Street RT
Date: 01/06/16

65 Maple Ridge Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $560,000
Buyer: Louise L. Lopman
Seller: Stephanie B. Kelly
Date: 12/31/15

239 State St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $348,000
Buyer: Mary J. Price
Seller: Evelyn S. Berman
Date: 01/08/16

181 Westhampton Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $390,000
Buyer: David I. Rosenfield
Seller: Charles T. Canalizo
Date: 01/08/16

PELHAM

137-B Packardville Road
Pelham, MA 01002
Amount: $134,500
Buyer: Wesley K. Couture
Seller: Barbara E. Deguise
Date: 12/31/15

SOUTH HADLEY

31 Riverlodge Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $363,366
Buyer: Robert E. Chouinard
Seller: Homes By Leblanc Inc.
Date: 12/28/15

10 Spring Meadows
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $410,000
Buyer: Erin K. Regan
Seller: Joseph R. Marchetti
Date: 01/06/16

SOUTHAMPTON

40 Coleman Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Michelle L. Swift
Seller: Kelly Cline
Date: 01/08/16

20 Gilbert Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $287,500
Buyer: Aaron G. Gay
Seller: Martin J. Sawyer
Date: 12/29/15

5 Miller Ave.
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $261,261
Buyer: Martin J. Sawyer
Seller: David Garstka Builders
Date: 12/29/15

WARE

76 Beaver Road
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $222,000
Buyer: Jay H. Frolick
Seller: Rosemarie T. Acquista
Date: 12/31/15

14 Laurel Dr.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $143,000
Buyer: Clayton F. Jedziniak
Seller: Angela J. Lawrence
Date: 01/04/16

110 North St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $158,000
Buyer: Laura E. Gilmore
Seller: Scott Fershleiser
Date: 01/08/16

WILLIAMSBURG

1 Kellogg Road
Williamsburg, MA 01039
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Poverty Mountain LLP
Seller: Charles H. Edwards
Date: 01/07/16

142 Main St.
Williamsburg, MA 01096
Amount: $295,000
Buyer: American Dream Realty LLC
Seller: Berkshire Bank
Date: 01/07/16

10 Mountain St.
Williamsburg, MA 01062
Amount: $222,000
Buyer: Michael Whalen
Seller: Pandora C. Redwin
Date: 01/05/16

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies Departments

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

Bailey, Michael L.
Bailey, Anne M.
63 Sanford St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/15/16

Bank, Michael S.
PO Box 102
Sandisfield, MA 01255
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/05/16

Benoit, Robin M.
368 Boston Road
Palmer, MA 01069
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/04/16

BGM Electrical Contractor
Mitton, Bruce G.
48 Donamor Lane
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/03/16

Blase, George A.
Blase, Kelly A.
19 Ruthven St.
Springfield, MA 01128
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/10/16

Calderwood, Patricia A.
239 Main St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/11/16

Cochrane, Lauren Dyan
16 Normandy Dr.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/04/16

Czupryna, Roger Joseph
5 Cosgrove St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/12/16

Davenport, Ronald
Davenport, Susan M.
12 Crandall St.
Adams, MA 01220
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/11/16

Haygood, Chanelle J.
a/k/a Phair’s Lawn Service
154 Croyden Terrace
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/07/16

Hutchins, Rodney C.
Hutchins, Marie E.
726 Main St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/15/16

Koszorowski, Tobie
144 Mallow Hill Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/12/16

Kustra, Lita M.
441 Dewey St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/07/16

Martin, Carole Elaine
32 Quaboag Valley Co-op S.
Palmer, MA 01069
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/11/16

Phair’s Lawn Service
Phair, Robert W.
58 Thomas Island Road
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/05/16

Pinkos, David R.
48 Bray Park Dr.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/14/16

Renz America Company Inc.
92 Almgren Dr.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/06/16

Semaski, Kerry A.
58 Highland Ave.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/10/16

Smith, Norman Wallace
Smith, Lisa Mae
8 Orpin Road
Peru, MA 01235
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/15/16

Torres, Jose J.
19 Knollwood St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/07/16

Zinn, Byron W.
Zinn, Michelle L.
a/k/a Cone, Michelle L.
a/k/a McGrath, Michelle L.
48 South Westfield St.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/13/16

Rivas, Ramon L.
41 Collins St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 12/31/15

Doing Business As Certificates

DBA Certificates Departments

The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of January 2016.

AGAWAM

Built for Comfort Band
21 Fairview St.
Douglas Rossi

DAB Studios
525 Springfield St.
Danielle Burns

Stan’s Paving
1370 Main St.
B & J Stanley

Trespass
1251 River Road
Trespass

GREENFIELD

Anne Christopher Nail Company
5 Arch St.
Sheila Dupras

Attune Reiki and Healing Arts
110 Franklin St.
Benjamin Conruck

Barlow Paving & Excavating
77 Davis St.
Bryan Barlow

Saw-What Photography
209 Barton Road
Kelley Manson

Unity Healing Temple
158 Main St.
Kristin Brackett

HOLYOKE

Joann Fabrics & Crafts
2267 Northampton St.
Brian Bailey

Myers Conversation
46 Howard St.
William Myers

Those Dogs
60 Chapin St.
Brian Goldrick

SPRINGFIELD

413 Gridiron Consulting
36 Gates Ave.
Warren Lawrence

Allston Antiques
27 Lyman St.
William Paul

Arianna Family Market
51 Montgomery St.
Arelis Siri

Bella Milano Pizza
29 St. James Blvd.
Ahmet Citlak

Better Care Cleaning
178 Albermarle St.
Willie Jones

Car Guys Auto Recyclers
148 Temby St.
Allan Bartlett

Career Express Cleaning
699 Bay St.
Jenny Silva

Carlos Crus Masonry
51 Chester St.
Carlos Crus

CMV Home Improvement
21 Lang St.
Carlos Velez

Dallas & Company
161 Laconia St.
Richard Anthony

Dillomart
74 Bartels St.
Keiko Andolino

DLP Anderson
18 Northway Dr.
Dawn L. Anderson

Done Right Realty
25 Merrick Ave.
Jerry Rivera

Top Mechanical Service
77 Ellsworth Ave.
Raymond Brainard

Top Notch Cuts
363 Boston Road
Shawn Jones

Try Me Too Breakfast
827 State St.
Damin J. Mullen

Tufts Health Plan
1441 Main St.
Tufts Associated

Vega Productions
1562 Sumner Ave.
Joe Vega

White House Vision
107 Spring St.
Aaron Butler

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Green Paws Landscaping
1614 Westfield St.
Craig Chapman

Hampden Gas Mart Inc.
562 Westfield St.
Nipun Salja

JMJ Vacuum
735 Memorial Ave.
Donald Desnoyers

KAP Stone Kraft Paper
100 Palmer Ave.
KAP Stone Container

Market Ready Solutions
38 Neptune Ave.
New England Estate

Riverdale Storage Center
143 Doty Circle
Jan Chrzran

The Crop Shop
338 Westfield St.
Nancy Jamrog

Incorporations

Departments Incorporations

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

Agawam

Krishna Keshav Corp., 31 Riviera Dr., Agawam, MA 01001. Jay Patel, 9 Sanford Road, Chelmsford, MA 01824. Gas station and convenience store.

Amherst

Ginger Garden Restaurant Amherst Inc., 351 Northampton St., Amherst, MA 01002. Xue Bin Zhang, 1855 SW Jamesport Dr., Port St Lucie, FL 34953. Food service.

Belchertown

Gigxero Inc., 121 Aldrich St., Belchertown, MA 01007. Kristopher J. Pacunas, same. Technology: Internet (e-commerce and website).

Clarksburg

Florida Mountain Turnip Inc., 522 Walker St., Clarksburg, MA 01247. Jerrid C. Burdick, same. Service — Florida mountain turnips and vegetables.

Easthampton

Golden China Pan Inc., 98 Union St., Easthampton, MA 01027. Dan Ju Pan, 8 Quirk Ave., Holyoke, MA 01040. Restaurant.

Great Barrington

MC2 Creative Services Inc., 454 Main St., Great Barrington, MA 01230. Walter J. McTeigue III, 76 Townhouse Road, South Egremont, MA 01258. Jewelry design and related services.

Hampden

La Casa Bella Inc., 546 Main St., Hampden, MA 01036. Michael F. Connors, 7 Jennifer Lane, East Longmeadow, MA 01028. Restaurant/tavern.

Holyoke

Jeb Corporation, 81 North Bridge St., Holyoke, MA 01040. Jose Almonte, 193 Cabot St., Holyoke, MA 01040. Own and operate a liquor store.

Longmeadow

Hair Studio One Inc., 20 Cross St., Longmeadow, MA 01106. Michelle La Valley, 13 Rabideau Dr., Easthampton, MA 01027. Hair salon.

Southwick

Him Group Foundation Inc., 37 Dear Run Road, Southwick, MA 01077. Pramod Sarraf, same. Organization for charitable, religious, educational, and scientific purposes.

Springfield

Guananico 1 Market Corp., 68 Locust St., Springfield, MA 01108. Carlos Tejada, same. Grocery store.

Main Wok Inc., 590 Page Blvd., Springfield, MA 01104. Song Qiu Chen, same. Restaurant/food service.

Mama Hilda’s Houses Inc., 13 Quincy St., Springfield, MA 01109. Rosah Clase Tuarezca, same. Recovery center for women from alcohol, drugs, and domestic violence.

Markey Barrett, P.C., 1414 Main ST. 8th Floor, Springfield, MA 01144. Patrick J. Markey, 17 Oxford St., Springfield, MA 01108. Law practice.

Masjid Al-Nur Inc., 820 Worthington St., Springfield, MA 01109. Yasir Osman, 197 Florida St., Springfield, MA 01109. Place of worship for Muslims and providing education on Islam.

Westfield

HCT Second Hand & Pawn Shop Inc., 68 Court St., Westfield, MA 01085. Thang Dac Bui, 32 Russell St., West Springfield, MA 01089. Buy and sell new and used merchandise.

West Springfield

Het Parikh Inc., 55 Main St., West Springfield, MA 01089. Rakesh Parikh, same. Real estate.

Greater Westfield Chamber to Present Legislative Luncheon March 25

WESTFIELD — The Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce will hold its Legislative Luncheon on Friday, March 25 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Tekoa Country Club, 459 Russell Road, Westfield.

Legislators attending include state Sens. Don Humason and Ben Downing, and state Reps. Nicholas Boldyga, Peter Kocot, William Pignatelli, and John Velis. This event provides an opportunity to raise business concerns to area legislators, and to hear about challenges facing the Commonwealth, its communities, and its businesses.

Sponsorship opportunities include gold sponsor for $500, silver sponsor for $250, and small-business sponsor for $25.

To reserve tickets or inquire about sponsorships, call Pam Bussell at (413) 568-1618 or e-mail [email protected]. The cost is $30 for members and $40 in advance for non-members. RSVP by Monday, March 21.

United Way Chapters Ask Supporters to ‘Show the Love for Kids’

WESTERN MASS. — United Way of Pioneer Valley, United Way of Hampshire County, and United Way of Franklin County are collaborating for a new mobile-giving campaign called “Show the Love for Kids.”

Aimed at smartphone donors, United Way’s text-to-give effort allows people to easily contribute to programs that impact the lives of children in Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden counties.

This year, more than 75,000 children in the region will face hunger, more than 5,000 will experience abuse and neglect, and 7,000 third-graders will struggle to read at grade level. By texting the word HEART to the number 20222 via a cell phone, a donation of $10 will be made to the donor’s local United Way and programs that help kids. Centered around Valentine’s Day, the mobile-giving campaign runs through the month of February and appears as a charge on a donor’s mobile-phone bill.

“At Valentine’s Day we take the time to show our love,” said Jim Ayres, executive director of United Way of Hampshire County. “Let’s take time to show the love to kids who are struggling and craving support for a positive future. As you get ready to make dinner reservations, buy flowers, and pick up chocolates, also take the time to send a quick text message that makes a difference.”

Added Dora Robinson, president and CEO of United Way of Pioneer Valley, “we are delighted to collaborate with our United Way partners on a great text-to-give initiative. We hope our community will embrace text-to-give and make a big difference for children in the Pioneer Valley.”

This Is the Final Week for 40 Under Forty Nominations

SPRINGFIELD — BusinessWest magazine will accept nominations for the 40 Under Forty Class of 2016 — the 10th class to be honored by the magazine — through the end of the work day (5 p.m.) on Friday, Feb 12.

The annual program recognizes rising stars within the Western Mass. community, which includes Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire counties. This year’s group of 40 will be profiled in the magazine’s April 18 edition, then toasted at the June 16 gala at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House in Holyoke.

The nomination form, which can be found at businesswest.com/40-under-forty-nomination-form, requests basic information and can be supported with other material, such as a résumé, testimonials, and even press clippings highlighting an individual’s achievements in their profession or service to their community.

Leadership Institute 2016 Begins This Week

SPRINGFIELD — Western New England University and the Springfield Regional Chamber are partnering to offer “Leadership 2016: Skills for Personal, Organizational, and Community Development.” Seven consecutive sessions will be held from 1 to 4:30 p.m. every Thursday from Feb. 11 through March 24.

This year’s Leadership Institute includes an emphasis on strategies and techniques designed to create high-energy and high-involvement leadership. Sessions will focus on problem solving, learning to ask the right questions, and implementing creative and innovative solutions for both nonprofit and for-profit organizations. Participants will actively explore best practices of leaders; analyze their own leadership, learning, and problem-solving styles; and experience the synergies that result from high-performing teams. The emphasis will be on experiential activities that provide opportunities to identify, develop, and refine skill sets for effective leadership.

The tuition cost, including a day trip to Boston and graduation dinner, is $885 per participant. All sessions are held in the TD Bank Conference Center, 1441 Main St., Springfield. Parking will be validated. For more information about the program application process, or tuition, contact Kara Cavanaugh at (413) 755-1310 or [email protected]. This program is sponsored by MassMutual Financial Group and supported by the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation.

PeoplesBank Announces Promotions, Appointments

By BusinessWest Staff February 5, 2016