Day: November 19, 2018

LONGMEADOW — Seven new members have been elected to the Bay Path University Board of Trustees: Kirk Arnold, technology executive; Lamont Clemons, senior vice president, Proton Energy, and executive vice president, S-Cel-O Painting; Laura Grondin, president and CEO of Virginia Industries Inc.; Andrea Hill-Cataldo, founder and president of Johnson & Hill Staffing;  Stefano Martini, chief information officer for MassMutual Financial Group; Wayne Webster, vice president of Commercial Lending for Westfield Bank; and Michelle Wirth, owner, Mercedes-Benz of Springfield, will each serve a three-year term.

Arnold is a CEO, advisor, board member, and teacher with a demonstrated history of leadership in the technology industry. She is an executive-in-residence at General Catalyst Ventures, an independent member of the board of Ingersoll Rand, serves on the board of Cylance and a former board member of EnerNOC. She also serves on the board of trustees and the executive committee of the Mass. Technology Leadership Council and is a member of the board of the UP Education Network. A lecturer for the MIT Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she began her career at IBM working her way up a ladder that would lead her eventually to become a founder and the chief executive officer of NerveWire Inc., a management consulting and system integration firm. Under her direction, that company grew from $1 million to $40 million in three years. Most recently, Arnold was the CEO of Data Intensity, a cloud-based data, applications, and analytics managed service provider. She has also served as an executive leader for Keane Inc., Computer Sciences Corp, Avid, and Fidelity Investments.

Clemons, a Springfield, native, is a business leader in the region. He is the senior vice president of Commercial Energy Sales for Proton Energy Group, an Agawam-based company that brokers deals with energy suppliers to reduce commercial costs. He is also executive vice president of S-Cel-O Painting, his family’s 30-year-old business. In this position, Clemons was involved with the opening of MGM Springfield, where his company was contracted for painting on site. He has also held positions at Dominion Power, Wachovia Securities, Capital One, and American Express. He is president of the Springfield Rotary Club, and has served as president of the McKnight Neighborhood Council, and assistant treasurer of the Greater Springfield YMCA. Clemons is credited with launching programs at the Dunbar Community Center, including one that teaches teens essential financial and business skills. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering, MBA in Finance, and an MS in Project Management.

Grondin is president and CEO of Virginia Industries Inc., a privately held industrial products company operating manufacturing and distribution facilities in the US and China. Grondin currently serves on the board of the American Foundry Society, YaleWomen Inc., and The Committee of 200 (C200), an invitation-only group of the world’s top female entrepreneurs and C-Suite executives who work to foster, celebrate, and advance women’s leadership in business. Grondin earned her bachelor of arts degree at Yale University and is a resident of West Hartford, Conn.

Hill-Cataldo is the new chair of the Bay Path University Advisory Council. She is the founder and president of Johnson & Hill Staffing Services Inc., a woman-owned staffing company with offices in West Springfield and Northampton that service Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut. She is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Isenberg School of Management, where she earned her bachelor’s in business administration with a concentration in marketing and a minor in economics. She is a longtime resident of Longmeadow, where she lives with her husband and son. Hill-Cataldo volunteers her time to local organizations including Big Brothers Big Sisters, St. Mary’s Academy in Longmeadow, and Girls Inc. among others.

Martini is currently serving as chief information officer for MassMutual Financial Group in Springfield. Martini has been with MassMutual since 1996, where he first worked as an IT Project Manager, subsequently holding other positions such as director, IT department head, and senior vice president, Technology. Martini is also director of the Society of Grownups (a MassMutual start-up in Brookline); and CEO of Buy Time LLC. He earned his MBA at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business, and his BS in Information Technology and the UMass Amherst. Martini lives in Suffield, Conn.

A banking and financial services executive with more than 22 years of experience, Webster is vice president, Commercial Lending, for Westfield Bank in Westfield, a position he has held since 2009. He is chair of the Board of Trustees for the Horace Smith Fund in Springfield, an organization helping deserving students in Hampden County cover the cost of post-secondary education. Webster earned his bachelor of arts degree in English literature from the University of Hartford and was past president of the alumni board. He is a resident of Hartford, Conn., where he lives with his wife and two children.  

Owner of Mercedes-Benz of Springfield, Wirth is an expert in integrated marketing communications, agency management, media relations, project management, strategic planning, and event planning and execution. She opened Mercedes-Benz of Springfield in the fall of 2017 with her husband, Peter. Her tenure with Mercedes-Benz dates back to 2000, where she began as an engineering associate in Montvale, N.J., after earning her BS in mechanical engineering from Lehigh University. Wirth also was an automotive industry advisor and consultant to the global sales and marketing teams on the automotive industry go to market strategy at Quantcast, serving as strategic brand partner and head of industry – Automotive. Wirth delivered Bay Path University’s 2017 Innovative Thinking and Entrepreneurship Lecture. She lives in Leeds with her husband and four children.

BusinessWest’s inaugural Women of Impact Awards Luncheon is set for Dec. 6 at the Sheraton in Springfield beginning at 11 a.m.

The program recognizes women from the four western counties who are making a true impact in this region through work in their chosen field and within the community. The eight honorees are:

• Jean Canosa Albano, assistant director of public services, Springfield City Library;
• Kerry Dietz, owner and president, Dietz Architects;
• Denise Jordan, executive director, Springfield Housing Authority;
• Gina Kos, executive director, Sunshine Village
• Carol Leary, president, Bay Path University
• Colleen Loveless, president and CEO, Revitalize Community Development Corp.
• Janis Santos, executive director, HCS Head Start; and
• Katie Allen Zobel, president and CEO, Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts

Keynote speaker for the event will be Lei Wang, the first Asian woman to climb the highest mountain on every continent and to ski to both the North and South Poles.

The awards luncheon will begin at 11 a.m. with registration and networking. Lunch will begin at noon, followed by the program and introduction of the Women of Impact by Kate Campiti, associate publisher of BusinessWest and Healthcare News and Tamara Sacharczyk, news anchor and I-Team reporter for WWLP-22 News.

The Inaugural Women of Impact is sponsored by Bay Path University, Comcast Business, Country Bank, and Granite State Development Corp, with media sponsor WWLP-22.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call (413) 781-8600, or visit www.businesswest.com.

BOSTON — Opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts decreased in the first nine months of 2018 compared to the first nine months of 2017, according to the latest quarterly opioid-related deaths report released recently by the Mass. Department of Public Health (DPH).

In the first 9 months of 2018, there were a total of 1,518 confirmed and estimated opioid-related overdose deaths, as compared with 1,538 confirmed and estimated opioid-related overdose deaths in the first nine months of 2017. This estimated decrease follows a 4% decline between 2016 and 2017.

“The opioid epidemic, fueled by an all-time high level of fentanyl, remains a tragic public health crisis responsible for taking too many lives in Massachusetts,” said Gov. Charlie Baker. “While there is much work left for all of us to do, we are encouraged that overdose deaths and opioid prescriptions continue to decline as searches on the Commonwealth’s Prescription Monitoring Program increase.”

The latest report also indicates that the powerful synthetic drug fentanyl present in the toxicology of opioid-related overdose deaths continues to rise and reached an all-time high at 90% in the second quarter of 2018. Meanwhile, the rate of heroin or likely heroin present in those deaths continued to plummet. In 2014, heroin or likely heroin was present in 71% of opioid-related deaths; by the second quarter of this year, that number had fallen to 37%.

Last month, the Baker Administration filed legislation seeking $5 million to support a regional, multi-agency approach to fentanyl interdiction and crime displacement by Massachusetts municipal police departments.  The funding will supplement surveillance work and overtime costs for units engaged, and officers in the field will also work to get buyers into treatment. In addition, last April, Governor Baker signed legislation that included a long overdue “fentanyl fix” to allow law enforcement to pursue fentanyl traffickers.

SPRINGFIELD — As part of the equitable implementation of the “Every Student Succeeds Act” (ESSA), the Urban League of Springfield, in collaboration with The Education Trust and The Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation, will stage the Massachusetts Education Equity & Excellence Summit on Nov. 29 at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield.

Speakers and attendees will be exploring current research and sharing information to enhance educational strategies effecting systemic improvements in underperforming schools and targeted underperforming populations.

Opening remarks will be offered by Henry Thomas, III, president & CEO, Urban League of Springfield; John Davis, Sr. trustee, The Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation; John King Jr., president and CEO, The Education Trust; and Lynn Jennings, director of National and State Partnerships, The Education Trust.

Remarks will be offered by Carlos E. Santiago, commissioner of Higher Education for Massachusetts; Paul Reville, Francis Keppel professor of Practice of Educational Policy and Administration, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Phillip Lovell, vice president of Policy Development and Government Relations, Alliance for Excellent Education; Adam Ezring, director of Policy, and Elizabeth Ross (HCM Strategies) with the Collaborative for Student Success;  and David Osborne, director, Reinventing America’s Schools, Progressive Policy Institute.

For more information, call the Urban League at (413) 739-7211.

A proposal by the Five College Consortium to increase its annual payment to the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority by a total of $250,000 over the next four years has been accepted by PVTA and area municipalities.

PVTA’s costs are covered with a combination of federal and state subsidies, payments from towns and cities, and passenger fares. Since 1979 Five Colleges has agreed to pay PVTA the town portion of the cost of bus routes that include its campuses. This has been with the understanding that, to encourage bus use, Five College students do not have to pay fares.

In recent years, however, the cost of operating buses along Five College routes has expanded beyond what PVTA was charging. When the campuses became aware of the gap last year, the consortium developed a schedule for increasing payments that would provide greater support to PVTA without creating an undo burden for its campuses.

Building on the most current charge of $500,000, the agreement has the campuses paying an additional $50,000 each year until total annual payments reach $750,000. The first payment was made in the last fiscal year, and additional payments will be made in each of the coming four years.

“Increasing costs of service and level funding make it impossible for PVTA to maintain the service we currently provide,” said Sandra Sheehan, administrator of PVTA. “This agreement exhibits a true partnership of helping maintain a crucial service in a critical time. The additional funding that Five Colleges has agreed to contribute helps to close that funding gap and allows for service to be preserved.”

Said Sarah Pfatteicher, executive director of the Five College Consortium, “PVTA service is a critical resource for students across the Five Colleges. We’re pleased we were able to develop an agreement that has our campuses paying a more equitable share of the cost of public transportation in the Valley.”