Day: September 7, 2018

HOLYOKE — Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C. recently welcomed two new associates to the firm’s Audit and Accounting department: Briana Doyle and Matthew Ogrodowicz, MSA.

“Briana and Matthew are perfect examples of the kind of young professional talent that can be found here in Western Massachusetts,” said MBK Partner Howard Cheney. “While they may be new to the profession, they each bring a diverse set of experiences and a wealth of potential to the table. We take pride in seeing our young professionals develop into experts, advisors, and leaders, and look forward to watching Briana and Matthew grow here at MBK.”

Doyle comes to MBK following a tax internship at a public accounting firm in Westborough. As an accounting associate, she will focus on audit engagements across a variety of industries. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Nichols College.

Ogrodowicz will also focus on audit engagements. Before joining MBK, he was a bookkeeper at a Holyoke business. He holds a bachelor of administration degree in psychology from Amherst College and received his master’s degree in accounting from UMass Amherst. He recently joined the Business Development Group at MBK and serves as the treasurer of the board of Historic Holyoke at Wistariahurst and the South Hadley Farmer’s Market.

Doyle and Ogrodowicz are the latest in a new class of accounting associates at MBK. Over the course of the next several months, they will be trained extensively in audit, accounting, and taxation and will have an opportunity to bring their unique backgrounds and skill sets to bear in providing accounting work to clients.

AUBURN — On Friday, Sept. 21, Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM) will offer a Sustainability Round Table at a workshop facilitated by subject-matter experts Wayne Bates of Tighe & Bond; Cristina Mendoza, solutions design lead at Capaccio Environmental Engineering Inc.; and Matt Gardner, managing partner at Sustainserv, Inc.

Achieving successes in sustainability efforts, whether small or large, can be vital to a company’s continued success. This progress must be communicated within the organization, and to external stakeholders, in order to maximize the value of sustainability efforts.

This workshop will address the ‘so what’ of sustainability — you’ve made positive change, achieved your project goals, but now, how can you leverage this investment in sustainability-related efforts? Communicating sustainable achievements increases engagement, enhances buy-in, and provides content to support continued efforts in enhancing an organization’s sustainable practices. The workshop will show attendees how to communicate these successes to maximize return on investment.

The event takes place at R.H. White Companies Inc., 49 Central St., Auburn, and runs from 7:45 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., with the the program beginning promptly at 8:05 a.m. The cost is free to AIM members and $100 for non-members. Participation is limited to people who maintain direct responsibility for sustainability initiatives at their companies.

Registration is required for security purposes. To register, click here. Contact Debbie Carroll at [email protected] or (617) 488-8352 with questions.

FLORENCE — Anne Griffin, founder and CEO of Charge Ahead LLC, announced she will soon begin manufacturing her first product, the Solar Foldy, designed to provide portable light and a charge fueled by solar energy to cell phones and tablets.

To raise money for the first production run of Solar Foldys, based on the prototype Griffin has developed, Charge Ahead will launch a $150,000 Kickstarter campaign on Sept. 10 (click here). Griffin hopes to bring the product to market in the U.S. by the end of the year.

A Florence-based business founded in 2013, Charge Ahead has a mission to encourage people to integrate solar power into their daily lives. While working on her prototype, Griffin sought advice and direction from Valley Venture Mentors of Springfield, the Small Business Development Center of Springfield, and SCORE, a nonprofit organization offering small-business advice.

The Solar Foldy is pocket-sized and offers a USB input for charging devices as well as four modes of light — bright light, super bright light that is two times stronger, a night-light setting, and a flashing SOS mode. The Solar Foldy provides up to 200 hours of light on a single eight- to 12-hour solar charge. It can also be charged in an outlet, if necessary.

“We have an exciting opportunity to tap into the sun’s power and take the generation of renewable solar energy into our own hands,” Griffin said, noting that natural disasters in past years inspired her to create a product that would provide light, power cell phones and tablets, and could alert first responders with an SOS mode. “I want to offer people an option to use solar power in an immediate, personal, and affordable way.”

In the future, Griffin hopes to introduce a companion product that will provide four modes of light only, with colored LED settings.

Supporters of the campaign will be offered the option to buy one Solar Foldy and send one to someone in need. For more information, visit solarfoldy.com.

AMHERST — In addition to directing the Human Testing Center at UMass Amherst’s Institute for Applied Life Sciences (IALS), Michael Busa is managing the new class of research relationships emerging for the state’s largest public university campus, with corporate partners in biotech and healthcare.

“It’s a new world for research academics,” said Busa, “because, even though we are a public university, when companies come to us looking for research support, they want to retain their intellectual property. There are new rules, and we now have an example of successfully navigating those new rules and relationships.”

He is referring to a recent collaboration with Novartis that will see IALS researchers use the Human Testing Center’s living-science, sleep-monitoring, human-motion, and other facilities to evaluate behavior- and movement-monitoring technologies now in development. He says it is the first of what he expects to be many “big collaborations” between IALS and biotech and healthcare firms.

Specifically for the Novartis collaboration, IALS researchers will assess the validity of a Novartis device in capturing detailed aspects of human motion and behavior such as walking, balance, and sleep. Busa, who has a Ph.D. in kinesiology and training in mechanical engineering, exercise physiology, biomechanics, and physical activity, will work with kinesiologists Katherine Boyer, John Sirard, and Stuart Chipkin; neuroscientist and sleep expert Rebecca Spencer; and 10 supporting students and staff. 

“What we offer companies like Novartis are things like expertise in areas such as study design and ways to evaluate new technologies,” Busa said. “We also go beyond consultation in that we can carry out world-class data collection and analytics, all while working hand-in-hand with businesses.”

He added that “we are not a medical school, but we can contribute expertise in a big way to the development of cutting-edge technologies that provide insight into movement and behavioral health beyond the walls of a clinic. We are really well-positioned to attract and retain this type of project. This project has real-world time-lines, and we’re going to apply academic-level rigor to real-world problems. In my mind, that is going to yield robust solutions. We’ve developed a dynamic working relationship in which UMass investigators can help Novartis solve real-world problems. Now that the word is getting out, I’m looking forward to working with other customers to show how IALS can contribute to new the development and evaluation of technologies that can have board benefit to people’s lives and health.”