HOLYOKE — To kick off the new year, Hadley and Springfield Lowe’s Home Improvement Stores selected the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Holyoke to be the recipient of this year’s Heroes Project. Employees volunteered more than 100 hours to fully renovate and transform an outdated kitchen into a new Kids Café. The renovation entailed a full demolition of the kitchen, new cabinets, countertops, appliances, and customized kitchen furnishings.
The new Kids Café will serve as a nutrition and culinary program space where youth will be exposed to healthy food options, learn about sanitation, acquire cooking skills, explore careers, and overall develop a passion for food. The Kids Café will also allow the club increased capacity to serve more snacks and dinners to youth on an annual basis. Last year alone, the club served more than 44,000 snacks and more than 8,000 dinners to youth.
The Kids Café will officially serve its first dinner on Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 6 p.m. With Lowe’s volunteers in attendance, the Boys & Girls Club will celebrate the Kids Café with a traditional Spanish-style home-cooked meal.
MONSON — Dodie Carpentier, vice president of Human Resources at Monson Savings Bank, was recently elected president-elect of River East School to Career (RESTC).
Carpentier joined RESTC as a board member in 2014, has previously held positions as clerk and treasurer, and is a member of the scholarship committee for this local nonprofit organization. Working under the umbrella of MassHire Hampden County Workforce Board, RESTC promotes K-16 career education and assists in preparing youth for the demands of the 21st-century workplace.
In addition to volunteering for RESTC, Carpentier also serves as chairperson for the Monson Substance Abuse Community Partnership, is a member of the steering committee for Rays of Hope, is a read-aloud volunteer for Link to Libraries, and is a guitarist and vocalist for the Folk Group at St. Thomas Church in Palmer. She has worked at Monson Savings Bank since 2006 and has earned certificates in human resources management and supervision from the Center for Financial Training.
AMHERST — Allison Vorderstrasse, a faculty member and Ph.D. program director at New York University, has been named the dean of the College of Nursing at UMass Amherst. She will begin her appointment on July 1.
Vorderstrasse currently serves as a faculty member and director of the Florence S. Downs Ph.D. Program in Nursing Research and Theory Development at New York University (NYU) Rory Meyers College of Nursing.
“Dr. Vorderstrasse emerged as the best in an exceptionally well-qualified pool of candidates. I look forward to working with her as she leads the College of Nursing into its 67th year,” said John McCarthy, provost and senior vice chancellor for Academic Affairs.
An adult nurse practitioner with clinical experience, Vorderstrasse received her doctorate and master’s degrees in nursing at the Yale University School of Nursing, with specialties in chronic illness self-management research and diabetes. She received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y.
As a researcher, she focuses on development and implementation of innovative behavioral interventions for diabetes and cardiovascular disease that could expand preventive and self-care management support for adults at risk for, or living with, chronic diseases. Her contributions to chronic-disease prevention have identified that genetic testing for chronic conditions may improve risk reduction in certain groups. She was among the first researchers to demonstrate that virtual environments are an effective way to provide self-management education and support to improve outcomes for patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Prior to joining the faculty at NYU, Vorderstrasse was an associate professor of Nursing and faculty lead for Precision Health Research at the Duke University School of Nursing. She taught at Duke University School of Nursing from 2009 to 2014. In 2014, she received the Duke University School of Nursing Distinguished Teaching Award. She was inducted as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in 2015, and in 2017 received the International Society of Nurses in Genetics Founders Award for Excellence in Genomic Nursing Research.
While at NYU, Vorderstrasse led curriculum and program changes in its nursing Ph.D. program that included a new entry point for post-bachelor to Ph.D. students to facilitate earlier entry into careers in research without sacrificing academic rigor in the program. She has worked with global partners to establish a global-track option for Ph.D. students that will launch in the fall of 2020. She also focused on faculty and student culture and wellness as a part of her leadership at NYU.
HADLEY — The Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce invites the public the grand opening of Hadley Dental Care today, Jan. 31, from 5 to 7 p.m., with a ribbon cutting scheduled for 5:30 p.m. The practice is located at 1 Mill Valley Road, Unit D, Hadley.
Visitors will learn about the state-of-the-art technology and client-centric care offered by Tapan Pujara, DDS and Chaitalee Ganatra, DDS and celebrate the grand opening with an after-party, including a celebratory toast, next door at the Taproom. The event will feature networking, food, and prizes.
FLORENCE — Florence Bank announced that President and CEO John Heaps Jr. will retire on May 1, 25 years to the day after he took the top job, making him the bank’s longest-serving CEO.
Heaps has grown the bank in terms of staff, the number of branches, the geographic regions it serves, and capital and assets. Florence Bank is a top-performing bank in the industry in the state, with record results over the past five years, according to both the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Depositors Insurance Fund.
“We’ve kept our focus on the customers, the community, and the employees,” Heaps said. “We are committed to our status as an independent, mutual bank, which allows us to keep that focus. That gives us strength.”
Heaps will be succeeded from within as president and CEO by Kevin Day, Florence Bank’s executive vice president. Day joined the bank 11 years ago as its chief financial officer.
Since Heaps came on board as president and CEO on May 1, 1995, dozens of mutual banks in the Pioneer Valley have been bought out by or merged with larger banks. “There are only a few mutual banks left,” he said. “In light of the economic downturns we’ve seen in the past few decades, that is significant. We are able to continue to focus on what’s right for the community and remaining mutual.”
During Heaps’ tenure, Florence Bank’s capital has grown from $24 million to $161 million, and assets have grown from $283 million to $1.4 billion. The bank grew from four branches in 1995 to 11 now — and soon to be 12. The staff has doubled from 112 full-time employees to 221 now.
“It was very methodical growth,” said Robert Borawski, a 30-year member of the bank’s board of directors and its current chair. He explained that Heaps intentionally targeted commercial lending as a growth opportunity and built the lending team from one person in 1995 to nine now.
Heaps also invested in marketing to raise awareness about Florence Bank, and his strategy for expanding into Hampden County promoted growth as well. “John had deep, local roots,” said Borawski, president of Borawski Insurance in Northampton. “He has great commercial connections and is well-respected, full of energy, very engaging.”
Heaps is proud of Florence Bank’s community giving, which totals nearly $600,000 annually. One component of the bank’s giving that Heaps is particularly proud of is the Customers’ Choice Community Grants program. He recalled the year that his late wife, Jane, suggested the concept for the program, through which bank customers can vote for one nonprofit they would like the bank to support with a grant. “It was such a unique idea,” he said.
Since 2002, the program has provided over $1.1 million to hundreds of Valley nonprofits. This year, the bank will be giving another $100,000 through the program to more than 50 nonprofits.
Heaps grew up in Springfield and began his banking career in 1971 in marketing at Valley Bank, later Bay Bank, in Springfield. In 1987, he was first named a bank president for Bank of Boston, also in Springfield. He was 37 at the time, and the Springfield Union-News reported he was the youngest bank CEO in Western Mass.
At 71, Heaps said the time is right for him to retire. “We have a strategic plan in place that will guide the continued growth of our bank in Western Mass. The marketplace is wide open for us. We have an exceptional senior management team, a dedicated board of directors, and committed employees.”
In addition to serving on many nonprofit boards, Heaps has also sat on many boards in the banking industry, including the Connecticut On-Line Computer Center Inc. (COCC), which provides core data processing to banks, including Florence Bank. “COCC allows Florence Bank and other community banks to compete with the largest banks in America,” he said.
HOLYOKE — Holyoke Community College (HCC) recently welcomed Narayan Sampath as its vice president of Administration and Finance.
Over the past decade, Sampath has held a number of key fiscal and administrative roles at institutions across the Commonwealth, including Massachusetts General Hospital, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and, most recently, UMass Amherst.
At HCC, he will serve as the college’s chief fiscal officer, managing the college budget and supervising the Business Office, Human Resources, Campus Police, Facilities, and Dining Services. He started Jan. 2.
At UMass, Sampath was administrative director of the Institute for Applied Life Sciences (IALS), where he managed all day-to-day operations, including administrative, human resource, and fiscal affairs. He was also responsible for the execution of the $95 million capital grant from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center that led to the creation of IALS, now home to three centers with more than 250 college faculty members.
From 2013 to 2015, he managed the Center for Emergent Behavior of Integrated Cellular Systems at MIT, funded by the National Science Foundation, and before that served as MIT’s financial administrator. From 2009 to 2011, he worked as grants administrator at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Originally from India, Sampath holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai. He earned an MBA from the International Business School at Brandeis University in Waltham. He has lived and worked in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Nigeria, and Kenya.
SPRINGFIELD — MGM Springfield unveiled 12 new king and queen suites now available for booking, adding another elevated room experience to the resort’s portfolio.
Created by MGM Resorts Design & Development, the 700-square-foot suites emulate apartment-style residences with exposed concrete-planked ceilings, vinyl tiles, angled area rugs, and more. The rooms also pay homage to the city’s heritage with historical building facades framing the windows and Edison bulb fixtures throughout.
The 240-room, six-story hotel at MGM Springfield now boasts 28 total suites including rotunda suites, deluxe spa suites, deluxe garden suites, and a 1,600-square-foot presidential suite that captures the essence of Dr. Seuss with a custom chandelier featuring vintage hats reflecting the many hats of Theodor Geisel.
For suite reservations and rates, call (413) 273-5000 or visit mgmspringfield.com.
SPRINGFIELD — BusinessWest is currently accepting nominations for the 40 Under Forty class of 2020. The deadline for nominations is Feb. 14.
Launched in 2007, the program recognizes rising stars in the four counties of Western Mass. Nominations, which should be detailed in nature, should list an individual’s accomplishments within their profession as well as their work within the community. Nominations can be completed online at businesswest.com/40-under-forty-nomination-form.
Nominations will be weighed by a panel of judges. The selected individuals will be profiled in the April 27 issue of BusinessWest and honored at the 40 Under Forty Gala on June 25 at the Log Cabin in Holyoke. The event’s presenting sponsor is PeoplesBank, WWLP-22News is the media sponsor, and the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield is a partner. Other sponsorship opportunities are available.
SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Museums is seeking nominations for the 29th annual Ubora Award and the 11th annual Ahadi Youth Award. These prestigious awards — conferred by the African Hall subcommittee — are awarded to African-American people from Greater Springfield who have gone above and beyond in demonstrating commitment to fields of community service, education, science, humanities, and/or the arts. The nomination deadline for both awards is March 31.
True to the Swahili word that comprises its name, the Ubora Award recognizes an adult of African heritage who exemplifies excellence in their commitment to creating a better community through service. In 2019, the Ubora Award was given to Andrew Cade, vice president of the Urban League of Springfield.
Named for the Swahili word for promise, the Ahadi Youth Award is presented to a young African-American who excels in academics and performs admirable service to the Greater Springfield community. Eligible candidates must be age 19 or younger, live in or have strong ties to the Greater Springfield area, and be currently enrolled in grades 10, 11, or 12. In 2019, the Ahadi Award was given to Michael Denson Jr.
The African Hall subcommittee is a volunteer group comprised of educators, business people, and community leaders from the African-American community. A full list of past awardees can be found on the Springfield Museums website. The Ubora and Ahadi awards will be presented at a ceremony at the Springfield Museums in September.
Nomination forms can be downloaded by visiting springfieldmuseums.org/ubora. Nominations may be e-mailed to [email protected] or mailed to African Hall Subcommittee, c/o Valerie Cavagni, Springfield Museums, 21 Edwards St., Springfield, MA 01103.
SPRINGFIELD — The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) will hold its second public meeting on the East-West Passenger Rail Study on Wednesday, Feb. 12 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the UMass Center at Springfield, Classroom 014, in Tower Square, 1500 Main St., Springfield.
The study examines the costs, benefits, and investments necessary to implement a range of passenger-rail service alternatives from Boston to Springfield and Pittsfield, up to and including high-speed rail. The goal of the meeting is to inform attendees about the study’s analysis of six preliminary alternatives for improving connectivity and mobility in the east-west corridor, and gather feedback from attendees about these six preliminary alternatives and what they would like to see in the three final rail-service alternatives that will be analyzed further,
The meeting will begin with a presentation at 6 p.m., followed by time for questions and answers.
Those who park in the Tower Square garage can get parking validated at $5 per car. Meeting attendees can park on all levels but are encouraged to park on Level A. For those who cannot attend the public meeting, all meeting materials will be posted online, and feedback will be accepted via e-mail. For study questions or comments, e-mail MassDOT Project Manager Makaela Niles at [email protected].
To learn more, visit www.mass.gov/east-west-passenger-rail-study.
HADLEY — Happier Valley Comedy thinks Feb. 14 could use a little updating.
“Yes, we love love,” founder Pam Victor said. “And we would like to expand the celebration beyond just romantic partners to also include gal pals, friends, work buddies, relatives, and more. And what better way to celebrate love than laughter?”
The only comedy theater and training program in Western Mass. is launching a new tradition to celebrate Feb. 14 with the “Laugh with Your Loved One” improv comedy workshop, designed for absolute beginners, including those who might be a little (or even a lot) nervous about improv. Victor will lead pairs through easy, accessible improv exercises and games with a focus on shared fun, play, and laughter. The workshop runs 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 14.
“Come laugh and play with us. Then go out for a nice meal with your loved one,” Victor suggested. “Laughter. Good food. Maybe some wine and a nice dessert? Sounds like heaven to me.”
Friends, family, and lovers can register for the “Laugh with Your Loved One” improv workshop at www.happiervalley.com. And remember, as Danish comedian Victor Borge said, “laughter is the shortest distance between two people.”
BERLIN, Conn. — Comcast announced the appointment of Christopher Smith as vice president of Human Resources for the company’s Western New England region, which includes more than 300 communities in Connecticut, Western Mass., Western New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York.
In this role, Smith and his team will support more than 1,600 employees and oversee all of the region’s human-resources functions, including talent management, recruiting, payroll, benefits, and training through Comcast University, the company’s internal training and leadership-development program.
“Christopher’s proven track record of outstanding leadership development and employee engagement make him the ideal person to ensure we exceed the current and future needs of our employees. I’m delighted to have him as part of our team,” said Dennis Mathew, senior vice president of Comcast’s Western New England Region.
Prior to joining Comcast, Smith served for the past decade as HR vice president of NiSource, an 8,000-employee utility company based in Indiana that provides natural-gas and electric power to 4 million customers in seven states. Before that, he spent four years with the Pepsi Bottling Group, first as HR manager in Las Vegas and later as HR director in Newport News, Va., where he was responsible for 1,500 employees in 13 locations. In addition, he held various human-resources roles over the course of four years for Mead Johnson Nutritionals, a former division of the pharmaceutical manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Smith holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Indiana University and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza School of Business, where he recently served as an adjunct professor of Strategic Human Resources.
SPRINGFIELD — Katherine Wilson, longtime president and CEO of Behavioral Health Network (BHN), announced she will retire on June 30. George Marion, BHN board chair, said the organization has named Steven Winn, BHN’s current chief operating officer, as Wilson’s successor.
Wilson was instrumental in the formation of Behavioral Health Network in 1992 when four nonprofit mental-health organizations — the Child Guidance Clinic, the Agawam Counseling Center, Community Care Mental Health Center, and the Hampden District Mental Health Clinic — formed the new entity and appointed Wilson CEO.
Since BHN’s founding, Wilson has built the organization from a $1 million annual enterprise into a leading behavioral-health agency in the region. Under her leadership, BHN has grown dramatically and now serves more than 40,000 individuals in the four Western Mass. counties, employs over 2,300 people, and has an annual budget of more than $115 million.
Most recently, Wilson was named a Healthcare Hero for Lifetime Achievement by HCN and BusinessWest and was celebrated in the book Power of Women published by the Republican. She is regarded as a leader in Massachusetts and the region in behavioral health and the integration of general health and behavioral health.
“Kathy Wilson’s importance to the success of BHN cannot be overstated,” Marion said. “Indeed, BHN came into existence largely due to Kathy’s efforts and vision.”
Under Wilson’s direction, BHN transformed an abandoned factory complex on Liberty Street in Springfield into a sprawling campus that includes BHN’s corporate headquarters, the innovative Living Room drop-in center, Cole’s Place recovery program for men, the 24/7 Crisis Center, an adult outpatient clinic, and its care coordination and outreach services. She also implemented the acquisitions of the Carson Center in Westfield and its affiliate, Valley Human Services in Ware.
With the rise of the opioid epidemic, Wilson guided the strategy to provide more recovery resources in the community, and BHN opened new outpatient and inpatient programming in the rehabilitated Lunt Silversmiths building in Greenfield for those needing recovery services in Franklin County.
Wilson began her career as a psychotherapist and worked for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health during the critical time when both Northampton State Hospital and Belchertown State School were closed by court mandate. The closings began a period of community-based care and services, and BHN, under Wilson, was at the forefront. Under her leadership, BHN expanded its footprint for those needing residential developmental services.
“It is no exaggeration to say Kathy Wilson is an iconic figure in Western Massachusetts in the area of behavioral health,” Marion said. “She is a trailblazer that helped our community, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, replace the state hospital system with the more humane community-based system we have today. She has left a legacy of caring and serving in a way that has made a difference in the lives of thousands of individuals needing behavioral-health and recovery services. Kathy will be sorely missed but leaves BHN in a strong position to continue its leadership in providing developmental, behavioral, and recovery services throughout Western Massachusetts.”
One of Wilson’s strengths as CEO, he added, has been her ability to develop and mentor a capable and committed executive leadership team. “There is perhaps no better example than Steve Winn, whom we are delighted to name as our next CEO.”
Winn joined BHN in 1995 as vice president and director of the Child Guidance Clinic. He was later promoted to senior vice president and since 2017 has served BHN as chief operating officer.
Winn has extensive experience in the behavioral-health field. He received a master’s degree in developmental psychology and a Ph.D. in clinical and developmental psychology, both from UMass Amherst. He went on to complete his fellowship at Yale University’s Child Study Center. After Yale, he became a staff psychologist at the University of New Mexico Children’s Psychiatric Hospital, where he also taught in the Department of Psychiatry as an assistant professor of Psychiatry. Winn is a licensed clinical psychologist in Massachusetts.
According to Marion, “Steve has intimate knowledge of the organization, its people, and its programs. He also has established strong partnerships and enjoys an excellent reputation with local and statewide funders, key partners, and stakeholders. In short, Steve has been an important contributor to BHN’s growth and success, and the board believes there is no better person than Steve Winn to assume the role of BHN’s CEO and continue that growth and success.”
Added Wilson, “BHN has given me so much personal pleasure, professional pride, and a sense of accomplishment. BHN is a great organization with dedicated staff who are remarkable in their commitment to BHN’s mission. While I am sad to be leaving, I am comforted by the board’s decision to name Steve Winn as the next CEO. He has been a vital part of BHN’s past successes and growth, and his vision for the future will serve BHN well.”
HADLEY — UMassFive College Federal Credit Union announced the promotion of Craig Boivin to the position of vice president of Marketing. His promotion follows the retirement of Jon Reske, who previously occupied the position for 23 years. In his new role, Boivin will report directly to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Lauren Duffy.
Over the last seven years, Boivin has taken on various roles within the Marketing department at UMassFive — most recently as interim vice president — and overseen many successful initiatives, including the credit union’s latest website redesign, implementation of the Buzz Points rewards program, and promotion of UMassFive’s sustainability loan products.
In addition to the experience he has gained on the job, he continues to learn and expand his skillset. He will soon be completing the three-year CUNA Marketing & Business Development Certification School and is also enrolled at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst, pursuing a master’s degree in business administration.
With this promotion, Boivin will continue to focus on promoting the UMassFive mission and brand, as well as lead public-relations efforts and oversight of the credit union’s Marketing team.
“I have the honor of leading a group of talented and creative individuals who have the amazing jobs of telling our story — how we’re helping people, especially in their financial lives — each and every day,” he said.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — As part of its planned expansion of commercial banking talent and resources across the Northeast, KeyBank announced that Matthew Hummel has joined the bank in the newly created position of Commercial Banking team leader, reporting to market president James Barger. In his new role, Hummel will lead and expand the team of commercial bankers serving middle-market clients in Connecticut and Western Mass. and help drive KeyBank’s commercial business growth throughout the market.
Hummel brings more than 30 years of commercial-banking experience to KeyBank, primarily from Bank of America’s Global Commercial Banking group, where he strategically aligned banking resources to the needs of middle-market companies requiring complex debt, capital markets, currency, treasury, and other financial solutions. He has consistently ranked as one of the highest-performing client managers in the region, with in-depth market knowledge, customer-focused service, and strong portfolio-management expertise.
“Matt’s winning track record as a senior commercial banker and reputation as an exceptional relationship builder are qualities that I was looking for to ensure we have the right leadership talent stacked against this market’s large opportunity,” Barger said. “He will be pivotal to our successful growth in the market.”
Hummel holds an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Hartford, and a bachelor’s degree from Colby College. He has strong ties to the local community and has volunteered at a number of nonprofit organizations, including Smilow Cancer Center’s Closer to Free bike tour, Literacy Volunteers of America, and Habitat for Humanity. He has served as a Glastonbury Basketball Assoc. board member and boys travel basketball commissioner since 2005.
SPRINGFIELD — At the start of the fall semester, American International College (AIC) faculty members launched an interdisciplinary forum series titled “Advocates, Issues, and Community” (A-I-C) to address serious concerns affecting communities locally, nationally, and globally. Throughout 2019-20, the focus is, and will continue to be, on the opioid crisis.
As part of the yearlong initiative, the committee will host a Substance Abuse and Recovery Fair on Thursday, Feb. 6 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Schwartz Campus Center Auditorium located at 1000 State St. in Springfield. The fair is free and open to the public.
Local healthcare organizations that assist individuals suffering from addiction, and the people who care for them, will attend. They include Adcare, Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-anon/Alateen, BestLife Emotional Health & Wellness Center, Caring Health Center, Center for Human Development, CleanSlate, Gándara Impact Center, Habit OPCO/Springfield, Health Care Resource Center, Mental Health Assoc., Motivating Youth Recovery, Providence Behavioral Health, River Valley Counseling, and Southbay Community Services.
“American International College is very invested in the community,” said Thomas Maulucci, professor of History and co-chair of the interdisciplinary committee sponsoring the fair. “This commitment encompasses not only the student body but the Greater Springfield community as well. The fair is an opportunity for those who may require assistance, or have loved ones who need help, to talk with experts who can guide them on the path to recovery. We are grateful to committee member, AIC alum, and adjunct Professor of Graduate Psychology Melinda Moreno for organizing this event.”
SPRINGFIELD — More than 10,000 people attended Red Sox Winter Weekend and the Hoophall Classic in Greater Springfield in January, and their economic impact on the region was significant, according to the Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau (GSCVB), which calculated that approximately $7 million was injected into the local economy as a result of these events.
Economic impact is calculated using a tourism-industry tool, inputting spending figures in categories like the number of attendees, room nights sold, venue rental, and the cost of food and beverages during the period.
“Hoophall Classic and Red Sox Winter Weekend are high-profile events that put Western Mass. on the map,” GSCVB President Mary Kay Wydra said. “We are delighted to welcome these visitors and show them all that Western Mass. has to offer, and we know that many of these sports fans will come back and visit us again.”
Visitor rooms were booked in downtown Springfield, Chicopee, Holyoke, and West Springfield. Red Sox Winter Weekend occupied space at the MassMutual Center and MGM Springfield, while the Hoophall Classic was held on the grounds of nearby Springfield College.
BOSTON — The state’s total unemployment rate was down one-tenth of a percentage point at 2.8% in December, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development announced.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) preliminary job estimates indicate Massachusetts lost 5,000 jobs in December. Over the month, the private sector lost 4,500 jobs as losses occurred in professional, scientific, and business services; manufacturing; financial activities; education and health services; and other services. Gains occurred in leisure and hospitality along with trade, transportation, and utilities, while the job levels in information and construction remained unchanged over the month. Government lost jobs over the month. From December 2018 to December 2019, BLS estimates Massachusetts added 44,800 jobs.
The December unemployment rate was seven-tenths of a percentage point lower than the national rate of 3.5% reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Preliminary job estimates indicate that Massachusetts added nearly 45,000 jobs in 2019,” Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Rosalin Acosta said. “Education and health services once again led the way, posting a 23,900-job gain, which accounted for one out every two jobs added in the Commonwealth last year. The statewide unemployment rate remained low, finishing at 2.8%.”
The labor force increased by 6,700 from 3,849,700 in November, as 7,800 more residents were employed and 1,000 fewer residents were unemployed over the month.
Over the year, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a percentage point.
The state’s labor-force participation rate — the total number of residents 16 or older who worked or were unemployed and actively sought work in the last four weeks — increased one-tenth of a percentage point to 67.8%, which is 4.7% above the national average. Compared to December 2018, the labor-force participation rate remained unchanged.
The largest private-sector percentage job gains over the year were in education and health services, information, leisure and hospitality, and financial activities.
EAST LONGMEADOW — Like many major companies, Land O’Lakes has become increasingly committed to sustainability initiatives in recent years. For example, Purina Animal Nutrition, a Land O’Lakes subsidiary, recently set out to develop a cost-effective recycling solution for used Purina feed tubs, a difficult and logistically complex objective. Land O’Lakes called on Northstar Recycling, its recycling partner for all of the U.S. and Canada, to handle this challenge.
Purina feed tubs present recycling issues because, by necessity, they need to be constructed of heavy, durable material — often rigid plastics — to stand up to rough shipping conditions, inclement weather, and, of course, hungry animals. Another challenge was creating a process for collecting the used tubs from farmers across the country.
After analyzing the plastics market and consulting with longstanding plastic-recycling partners, Northstar determined that plastic lumber manufacturers would have the greatest demand for the used Purina feed tubs. Northstar then selected the optimal partner and worked with Purina on the logistics of this pilot program to ensure smooth implementation.
Additionally, working with a plastic lumber producer gave Purina the opportunity to create a unique and innovative customer experience and launch Project Re-Coop. Through this initiative, the plastic lumber made from recycled Purina feed tubs is used to construct floating chicken coops that protect chickens against flooding. With increasingly unpredictable weather, this project is very timely and effective. As a case in point, Hurricane Florence alone killed an estimated 3.4 million chickens.
“This business is all about resourcefulness and innovation,” said John Trovato, national recycling director at Northstar. “Our company exists to tackle these kinds of challenges. And it’s great when you’re operating at this large a scale, helping to make a significant impact.”
SPRINGFIELD — Western New England University School of Law will host an information session for prospective students interested in pursuing a law degree part-time on Wednesday, Feb. 12 from 6:15 to 8:20 p.m. in the Blake Law Center.
During the session, Admissions staff from the School of Law will provide information about the part-time juris doctor (JD) program, including experiential learning opportunities and an overview of the application process. Following the formal presentation, guests are welcome to stay to observe a Criminal Law class from 8:30 to 9:55 p.m.
Western New England University School of Law offers part-time day and evening programs leading to the JD degree. These programs are ideal for working professionals and can be completed in four years by taking elective courses during the summer terms. Students can customize their legal education by selecting one of five concentrations offered by the School of Law.
For more information, call (413) 782-1406 or e-mail [email protected].
HOLYOKE — PeoplesBank will present $75,000 to Girls Inc. of the Valley at its annual Business Leaders Reception on Thursday, Jan. 30 from 8 to 9 a.m. at Cubit Coworks, 164 Race St., Holyoke.
Girls Inc. of the Valley is in the early stages of a $5 million comprehensive campaign with three primary goals: to build a permanent home in downtown Holyoke; expand school-based programming in Holyoke, Chicopee, and Springfield; and extend the Eureka! STEM education program.
As a result of the campaign, Girls Inc. of the Valley will serve more than 1,000 girls each year with intensive, research-based programming designed to empower girls and provide opportunities to succeed in school and beyond. This partnership will help Girls Inc. of the Valley to expand its program offerings and create a stronger network that encourages girls to achieve, and contributes to the bank’s goals of community vibrancy and academic excellence.
PeoplesBank President and CEO Tom Senecal will be in attendance at Girls Inc. of the Valley’s annual Business Leaders Reception to present the comprehensive campaign gift in the form of a large check.
“We have chosen to support Girls Inc. of the Valley with this sizable grant because they consistently demonstrate the actual outcomes of their programs, and because they have shown such a strong and unwavering commitment to the communities they serve,” he said. “The future of our region depends upon an active and engaged workforce, and Girls Inc. of the Valley is helping to prepare many of these future leaders. We applaud their efforts and encourage others in the business community to join us in building up and developing these exceptional girls.”
The need for qualified science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professionals in the workforce continues to grow, and women — particularly women of color — continue to be underrepresented in these fields. Girls Inc. of the Valley programs like Eureka! expose girls to the STEM fields and support them with mentors and guidance, specialized curricula, internships, and other hands-on opportunities to nurture their curiosity and interests. The “Her Future, Our Future” comprehensive campaign is designed to significantly move the needle on breaking the cycle of poverty and providing tangible opportunities for Pioneer Valley girls to achieve academic and personal success.
“PeoplesBank has been investing in the Girls Inc. of the Valley Experience for years, long before I became the executive director,” said Suzanne Parker, executive director of Girls Inc. of the Valley. “They are a company that truly walks the talk when it comes to community care and involvement. The banks employees have volunteered for events and hosted girls on field trips, and bank leaders have lent their expertise as board and committee members. Most recently, the bank has wowed us with this $75,000 commitment for ‘Her Future, Our Future.’ We are so thankful for PeoplesBank’s loyal support.”
MONSON — The 2020 Monson Savings Bank scholarship application is now available to graduating high-school seniors residing in Hampden and Wilbraham. Applications are available at 15 Somers Road, Hampden, and 100 Post Office Park, Wilbraham.
The purpose of the Monson Savings Bank scholarship is to promote the attainment of higher education for graduating seniors who reside within the bank’s footprint. Three $2,000 scholarships will awarded to graduating seniors who reside in Hampden or Wilbraham.
Graduating seniors must be planning to attend an accredited college, technical school, or certification program. Scholarship awards will be based on the applicant’s financial need, academic performance, extracurricular activities during and after school, work experience, and music, arts, and sports programs.
A candidate for this scholarship should also demonstrate a commitment to his or her community, and include an essay outlining that service and its impact.
The deadline for application acceptance is April 6. The completed application and required supporting documents will be accepted by mail or electronically. Any questions should be directed to Donna Easton-Vicalvi at (413) 725-4560 or [email protected].
EASTHAMPTON — Five Hampshire County residents have joined the board of the Treehouse Foundation, the nonprofit that supports children and youth who have experienced foster care, their foster adoptive families, and older adults who live at the intergenerational Treehouse Community.
The Treehouse Foundation, celebrating 14 years of breaking ground on its planned neighborhood in Easthampton, announced that Dr. Estevan Garcia, who joined the board last year, will serve as board president. He is an adoptive foster parent with experience in the New York and Washington child-welfare systems. Additionally, four of his own siblings were adopted, three from the foster care system.
“I’m especially inspired by the intergenerational approach to raising a family,” he said. “Children in foster care are at significant risk at underachieving, as I’ve seen in my own family. The supportive environment at Treehouse is so important to both groups.”
Pete Crisafulli, a Realtor with Taylor Realty, also joins the board. Prior to joining the real-estate firm, he spent many years working to protect children. He was the Western Mass. director of MSPCC KidsNet and later worked in the Frontier Regional School district, becoming the assistant principal of Deerfield Elementary School and later the principal at Whately Elementary School for nine years.
“I’m honored to serve on the board of Treehouse because it will allow me to join a group of like-minded advocates,” he noted.
Since 2006, Treehouse Easthampton has been home to more than 100 community members, ranging in age from newborns to age 92. This neighborhood, where families adopting children from foster care live next door to seniors, is a hub of foster care, adoption, housing, and aging innovation for the region and the nation. In addition to serving children, youth, families, and elders throughout the region, Treehouse is replicating its affordable, intentional neighboring model in MetroWest Boston and Northern California. Treehouse was named nonprofit of the year last year by the Easthampton Chamber of Commerce, and has won numerous national awards.
HOLYOKE — Holyoke Community College is running a two-day program next month designed to teach children how to protect themselves from violence and harm in their daily lives.
The two-session program, called radKIDS, is for children 6 to 12 years old and will run over two consecutive Saturdays, Feb. 15 and Feb. 22, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at HCC’s Bartley Center for Athletics and Recreation.
The sessions will be led by Kellie Cournoyer-Cronk and Maggie Brown, two area law-enforcement veterans and trainers certified by the radKIDS national nonprofit network.
According to its website, radKIDS is a “fun, activity-based program” whose curriculum includes home, school, and vehicle safety; bullying prevention; abduction defense; and personal space/personal touch safety with a goal of “replacing fear with knowledge, skills, and power by enhancing a child’s critical-thinking abilities and physical-resistance skills.”
The $75 program fee includes snacks, water, and a T-shirt. To register, visit hcc.edu/bce and search for ‘radKIDS’ or call HCC Community Services at (413) 552-2123.
SPRINGFIELD — Sue Drumm was installed as the 2020 president of the Realtor Assoc. of Pioneer Valley (RAPV), a nonprofit trade association with more than 1,800 members. More than 140 people were in attendance at the 105th annual installation of officers and directors held on Jan. 9 at the Log Cabin in Holyoke.
Drumm is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Longmeadow. She has been active in real estate since 2009 and has served on the RAPV board of directors since 2013. She is involved in several committees at the association, including the community service, education fair and expo, finance, government affairs, and member engagement committees.
In addition to the president, the 2020 RAPV officers installed include Elias Acuña as president-elect, Shawn Bowman as treasurer, Cheryl Malandrinos as secretary, and Kelly Page as immediate past president. Directors include Arlene Castellano, Luci Giguere, Lori Grant, Sharyn Jones, Peter Davies, Janise Fitzpatrick, Sara Gasparrini, Cheryl Malandrinos, and Clinton Stone.
SPRINGFIELD — Interested in working as a legal interpreter? Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) will offer training beginning Feb. 25.
The course runs through April, with classes meeting Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Offered as a certificate program through the Workforce Development Center at STCC, this class is open to Spanish-, Portuguese-, Arabic-, and Russian-speaking students who would like to expand their interpreting skills in legal settings. Interpreting is a high-demand field, with jobs expected to grow by 19% through 2028, much faster than the average for all occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Large increases in the number of non-English-speaking people in the U.S. will drive growth, the bureau reports.
The course will cover the most in-demand types of hearings, such as due-process hearings, unemployment hearings, and depositions. Students will learn legal terminology and procedural protocols needed to interpret for these various types of hearings.
In addition, students will have the opportunity for intense practice through mock hearings, which will give them the experience and comfort level needed to apply for work in the field. Trained legal interpreters are in demand throughout Massachusetts and nationwide in law offices, schools, state agencies, and contracting agencies.
For more information and to enroll online, visit stcc.edu/wdc/descriptions/legal-interpreting. To contact the Workforce Development Center office, call (413) 755-4225.
EAST WINDSOR, Conn. — The Collins Companies, one of the largest industrial distributors of pipe, valves, fittings, and engineered specialties serving the Northeast, announced a change in executive management roles effective Jan. 1. Brian Tuohey, owner and president of Collins, will be assuming the role of CEO and has promoted Vice President of Sales Paul Andruszkiewicz to president.
“My decision was prompted by how quickly things are changing today, in both our world and our industry. It has become clear to me that we have to be aggressively embracing and pursuing the changes that are occurring every day in our industry while still running a highly successful day-to-day business,” Tuohey said. “Paul has over 30 years of service with Collins and truly understands what it takes to run a successful business day in and day out. This will free me up to be able to think big and pursue larger initiatives that will propel our business into the next decade.”
Added Andruszkiewicz, “I am honored to be trusted with the role as president and look forward to the challenges ahead. We have always been lucky to have high employee retention, which only means that I have an amazingly talented team of professionals to help me.”
In addition to these changes, Dave Shepard, branch manager of the Haverhill sales office, will lead the Collins sales team as director of Sales. He has more than 25 years of experience in the industry, first purchasing for Atwood and Morrill and then in sales for Power House Supply before Collins acquired Power House in 2015.
Headquartered in East Windsor, Conn., the Collins Companies is comprised of Collins Pipe & Supply Co., Collins Controls, Niagara Controls, Collins Niagara, Power House Supply Co., and International Valve and Instrument, with nine locations throughout New England and Upstate New York.
SPRINGFIELD — BusinessWest is currently accepting nominations for the 40 Under Forty class of 2020. The deadline for nominations is Feb. 14.
Launched in 2007, the program recognizes rising stars in the four counties of Western Mass. Nominations, which should be detailed in nature, should list an individual’s accomplishments within their profession as well as their work within the community. Nominations can be completed online at businesswest.com/40-under-forty-nomination-form.
Nominations will be weighed by a panel of judges. The selected individuals will be profiled in the April 27 issue of BusinessWest and honored at the 40 Under Forty Gala on June 25 at the Log Cabin in Holyoke. The event’s presenting sponsor is PeoplesBank, WWLP-22News is the media sponsor, and the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield is a partner. Other sponsorship opportunities are available.
Mike Mathis, the individual who guided MGM Springfield through the permitting and construction phases and then the first 17 months of operation, is out at the South End resort casino. MGM has chosen to go in another direction, leadership-wise, and probably also with regard to how the casino operates.
Mathis’s ouster was announced Tuesday, and it was immediately linked to December’s record-low monthly performance for the Springfield casino when it comes to gross gaming revenues — under $19 million. That same month, Encore Boston had its best month since it opened last summer (with $54 million), and the juxtaposition of the numbers is telling.
What they show, at least from a gaming revenues standpoint, is that MGM is not attracting enough gamblers — it’s not bringing enough people to its doors. Chris Kelley, who ran MGM’s operation in Northfield Park in Ohio and took over in Springfield on Tuesday, will be charged with changing that equation. Mathis will assume a new role as senior vice president of Business Development at MGM, working on various company initiatives.
“We are excited to have Chris lead the MGM Springfield team,” said Jorge Perez, regional portfolio president of MGM Resorts International. “Chris’ experience in Ohio, rebranding and integrating a property and introducing MGM to the community, will be an asset for Springfield as we continue to work closely with the community and strive to not only be a world-class entertainment destination but also a good corporate neighbor.”
That won’t be an easy assignment. Indeed, while MGM Springfield has succeeded in bringing jobs, additional vibrancy, and opportunities for a number of small businesses, it hasn’t really succeeded in its primary mission — bringing people to Springfield.
This has been clear since the day it opened in August 2018, when visitation was well below what was expected. For roughly a year, Mathis repeatedly used the phrase ‘ramping up’ to describe what was happening, with the expectation — based on previous experience at other casinos — that the numbers would improve.
There have been some good months since, but the numbers haven’t improved significantly, if at all. And now that Encore Boston seems to be hitting its stride, it will that much more difficult to improve those gaming revenues.
From the start, the question has always been ‘will people come to Springfield?’ But there have been variations on that query, including ‘will people come to Springfield now that Encore Boston is open?’ and ‘will people come to Springfield instead of Boston, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and all the other places where there’s casino gambling?’
Roughly 17 months after the casino opened, the answer to the question is the proverbial ‘yes, but…’ And the ‘but’ is followed by ‘not enough of them.’
It’s clear that MGM will have to create more draws — like the highly successful Red Sox weekend that brought an estimated 10,000 people to Main Street — to bring individuals and groups to the City of Homes.
In short, people need more reasons to come to the Springfield casino, and it will be Chris Kelley’s assignment to create them.
HOLYOKE — Whittlesey announced the promotions of Tom Dowling and Chris Nadeau to director.
Dowling joined the firm in 2017 and has more than 10 years of experience in assurance, tax, and advisory services. His primary focus is on assurance and advisory services for closely held businesses and nonprofit organizations. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accountancy and a master’s degree in taxation from Bentley University and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants (MSCPA), as well as the Assoc. of Certified Fraud Examiners.
Chris Nadeau joined the firm in 2015 and has more than 13 years of experience in public and private industry accounting. His primary focus is on business valuations for closely held businesses and professional service and medical practices. He is a member of the firm’s strategic leadership group. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, both in accounting, from Westfield State University and is a member of AICPA, MSCPA, and the Institute of Management Accountants. He is a certified valuation analyst, a credential issued by the National Assoc. for Certified Valuators and Analysts, as well as a certified management accountant and a certified information technology professional.
NORTHAMPTON — Webber & Grinnell Insurance recently welcomed Pamela Ortiz as a business development specialist working in its Holyoke branch, Ross, Webber & Grinnell. She will be responsible for business development of home and auto business in Hampden County.
Most recently, Ortiz was a licensed sales producer at Allstate and a customer-service representative at Farm Family Insurance. She is licensed in property and casualty, life, and medical in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
AGAWAM — The deadline to apply for a 2020 Local Farmer Award is fast-approaching, with a deadline of Friday, Jan. 31.
“We are excited to be offering these awards for the sixth year and look forward to helping more farms with projects that help them gain efficiencies and expand their businesses,” said program Director Cari Carpenter.
To date, the Local Farmer Awards have funded 250 infrastructure-improvement awards of up to $2,500 for projects like automating pruning equipment on a fruit farm, helping to upgrade a greens-sanitizing system, and netting to protect blueberries from birds. The Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation, in partnership with Big Y and with the support of other funders, plans to support more than 50 projects this year.
To be eligible, farms must have gross sales of $10,000 or above and be a member of either Berkshire Grown or Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA), or reside in one the four counties of Western Mass. Berkshire Grown and CISA share their passion for local farms by providing ongoing guidance and helping to promote the Local Farmer Awards.
“One of the most helpful sources of funding for both beginning farms and multi-generational farms is the Local Farmer Awards from the Grinspoon Foundation,” said Phil Korman, executive director of CISA. “We have seen literally almost 200 Local Hero farms get helpful funds for infrastructure-improvement projects in the last five years. And it is easy to apply.”
Interested applicants should visit www.farmerawards.org for more information.
AMHERST — Five Colleges Inc. has been awarded a $2.5 million, four-year grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to help its member campuses transform how they approach Native American and indigenous studies (NAIS), with the goal of enhancing teaching, learning, and scholarship in the field. The grant is one of the largest made by foundation to the consortium to date, and is also one of the consortium’s largest grant awards from any funder in its 50-year history.
“We are honored to receive this funding from the Mellon Foundation,” said Sarah Pfatteicher, executive director of Five Colleges. “This award represents the Mellon Foundation’s continued support for the consortium and the significant work our member campuses are doing to advance the humanities in service of society. Importantly, it also recognizes our efforts to build sustained, reciprocal relationships with Native American scholars and communities, and will support further efforts in this area.”
The Five College campuses — Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges and UMass Amherst — are located in the Kwinitekw (Connecticut River) Valley, which has historically been a crossroads of indigenous nations. Today it remains a central gathering place for NAIS scholars as well as for Native American and indigenous leaders, artists, writers, and activists.
“With this remarkable grant, we want to honor, humbly and respectfully, this history of being a space where people’s pathways converge,” Pfatteicher said.
Called “Gathering at the Crossroads: Building Native American and Indigenous Studies at the Five College Consortium,” the effort will allow the campuses to develop and establish a set of new academic pathways for students interested in Native American and indigenous Studies — supported by new faculty, new courses, and new course modules — as well as create new advising structures to guide students through these academic options. The grant includes funding to bring a variety of scholars and indigenous experts to the campuses to collaborate in this work.
“We are thankful to Mellon and thrilled to expand NAIS’ reach and programming,” said Professor Laura Furlan, faculty member at UMass Amherst and chair of the long-standing Five College Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) Committee. “This truly is an exciting time to be a part of NAIS in the Valley.”
Amherst College Professors Lisa Brooks and Kiara Vigil, both longtime members of Five College NAIS, noted in a joint statement that, “for many years, a hallmark of the Five College Native American and Indigenous Studies program has been an abiding commitment to collaboration and community building. We are excited about the opportunity this Mellon Grant offers us to further build and extend that collaboration and community, providing additional, needed support to nurture these ongoing efforts, which will enable future intellectual and cultural work within the Five Colleges, throughout the Kwinitekw Valley, and across a wider Native network.”
SPRINGFIELD — The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts is seeking nominations for its Pioneer Valley Distinguished Advisor in Philanthropy. The foundation, in partnership with the Estate Planning Council of Hampden County and the Pioneer Valley Estate Planning Council, annually celebrates a professional advisor who makes philanthropic planning with their clients an important part of their practice, helping to grow and transform the region by encouraging generosity.
A Pioneer Valley Distinguished Advisor in Philanthropy nominee must be a professional advisor (i.e. attorneys, accountants, investment managers, financial planners, trust officers, and not someone who is employed by a nonprofit directly), and actively promote charitable giving to clients through estate, tax, financial and/or gift planning and encourage clients to give through specific channels, including gifts to organizations in the Pioneer Valley. Current volunteers and trustees at the Community Foundation are not eligible for the award.
To nominate an individual for this honor, click here. Nominations are due by Friday, Jan. 31, and the award will be presented at the Estate Planning Council of Hampden County’s meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 11, beginning at 11:45 a.m. at Max’s Tavern at the Basketball Hall of Fame, Springfield.
HOLYOKE — Holyoke Medical Center will host a Passport Day event, presented by the Holyoke Post Office, on Thursday, Jan. 23 from 2 to 5 p.m. The event will take place in the main lobby of the hospital.
Special passport fairs are being offered across the U.S. to help individuals and families apply for a passport.
“The Holyoke Post Office approached us for support by offering a Passport Day event here at Holyoke Medical Center,” said Carl Cameron, chief operating officer of Holyoke Medical Center. “We are happy to collaborate with them and help provide a needed service to our community.”
Applicants will need to bring the following documents to apply for a U.S. Passport book and/or card:
• Application — complete the DS-11 (U.S. Passport Application) form if you are a first-time applicant, have lost your valid passport, were under the age of 16 when your previous passport was issued, or your most recent passport was issued more than 15 years ago;
• Citizenship evidence — certified birth certificate (raised seal, long form), naturalization certificate, or previous passport;
• Photocopy of citizenship evidence;
• Identification — driver’s license or state ID (if your ID is from out of state, bring a second form of ID, such as work ID, student ID, or insurance card);
• Photocopy of identification — front and back;
• Passport photo — photo services will be available at event ($15 payable to USPS) or bring one; photos must be 2 x 2, in color, white background, no glasses worn;
• Payment – one check or money order made payable to U.S. Department of State, and a second check or money order made payable to United States Postal Service.
For renewals only, complete the DS-82 (U.S. Passport Renewal Application) form if your passport was issued less than 15 years ago and it is in your possession (any name change must be accompanied by a certified name-change document).
The total fee is dependent upon product(s), service type, and delivery request. Visit www.travel.state.gov for fees and to download applications.
ENFIELD, Conn. — The Rotary Club of Enfield announced that local musician Brian Jarvis will perform at the club’s wine- and beer-tasting event on Thursday, Feb. 6 from 6 to 8 p.m. in Asnuntuck Community College’s Conference Center. The evening includes live music, appetizers and desserts, beer and wine tastings, and a silent auction.
Tickets cost $25 and can be purchased by contacting Julie Cotnoir at (860) 745-3350 or Caroline Salazar at (619) 997-0548.
Cinda Jones Is Building a Community — and More — in North Amherst
As the largest private landowner in Massachusetts, with properties in 30 towns, the Cowls family is especially synonymous with North Amherst, where it has made its headquarters — and an enduring legacy in lumber and conservation — for 279 years. These days, Cinda Jones, the ninth-generation president of W.D. Cowls Inc., and her team are doing nothing short of creating a new town center in North Amherst. Why? Because the family has always transformed the land into what was most beneficial and needed. Today, she says, that’s a sense of community.
The area of North Amherst known as the Mill District has served many purposes over the nearly 300 years the Cowls family has made its name there.
Early on, for example, the farm produced and distributed onions, tobacco, and dairy products. In the 1800s, in a burst of diversified interests, the Cowls family managed a rock quarry, constructed a street railway system, ran two sawmills, built and operated a building supply store, and managed myriad residential and commercial properties, along with thousands of acres of timberland.
In short, each generation of Cowls descendants discontinued enterprises that had become outdated and reinvented the family business to be more relevant for their time — and more personally inspiring to them.
Cinda Jones, along with her brother, Evan, represents the ninth such generation to take on that challenge — and the mixed-use development now emerging in the Mill District, known as North Square, might represent its most dramatic change yet.
It’s that project, but also a rich, two-decade stewardship of the Cowls legacy, that has earned Cinda Jones, president of W.D. Cowls Inc., recognition as BusinessWest’s Top Entrepreneur for 2019.
“We knew, if we’re creating a new uptown in Amherst, it has to be an experiential place,” Jones told BusinessWest during a lengthy tour of the property earlier this month. “We want retail, and retail doesn’t work unless it’s better than online, and it offers something different. We have 22,000 square feet of retail space around a town square in an already-thriving area, where 45,000 people commute through every day. And that’s going to increase. So we’re really excited about what this can become.”
“We knew, if we’re creating a new uptown in Amherst, it has to be an experiential place. We want retail, and retail doesn’t work unless it’s better than online, and it offers something different.”
In simple terms, Jones envisioned a modern residential community of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units overlooking a commercial center comprised of roughly one-third food establishments (a restaurant and café, Jakes at the Mill, is already thriving there), one-third retail, and one-third “experiential services, like yoga, making your own pottery, things you enjoy doing — not dentists and accountants, because those aren’t so fun,” she explained.
“Everyone wants that,” she went on. “Malls stole our downtowns. Now malls are dying, but the one thing they’re doing to stay alive is to have experiences. That’s the correct thing to do. In addition to making a downtown with a mix of retail, we want to create a place where you want to spend the day.”
At left, the converted barn currently occupied by Atkins Farms. At right, one of the newer buildings housing both commercial and residential space.
Spend a day with Cinda Jones, and the main takeaway is a passion for the many ways land can — and should — be used. And she’s got a lot of land to put to use, and plenty of ideas about what comes next.
Nine Generations
Founded in 1741, W.D. Cowls Inc. is, in fact, Massachusetts’ largest private landowner. In 1741, Jonathan Cowls bought a farm in North Amherst and started the Cowls timber company. His son David built the company’s corporate headquarters in 1768 — in a large house that still serves that purpose today. The land Jonathan began acquiring 279 years ago now includes more than 100 parcels in 30 towns in Hampshire and Franklin counties.
According to the company’s written history, “for the first 100 years, everything the family had was always passed down to the oldest son, who was usually named Jonathan, and the Jonathans didn’t muck it up irreversibly. After that, with a David and a couple Walters in the mix, every generation of the family built what his generation of community needed on the home farm, while continuing to grow Cowls’ timberland base and conduct sustainable forestry operations.”
Jones got her start in the family business at age 10, cutting yellow triangles out of sheets of plastic for foresters to use as boundary markers. She worked her way up by scraping and painting fences and barns, sorting nails, stacking lumber, and helping the company’s administrative assistant.
Hannah Rechtschaffen says young people, in particular, desire the face-to-face culture that mixed-use developments promote.
After graduating from Colby College in 1990 and earning a graduate certificate in business administration from Georgetown University in 1995, she remained in Washington, D.C. for several more years, holding conservation and timber industry-related leadership positions, including marketing director for the Cato Institute, Wood Marketing director for the American Forest & Paper Assoc., vice president of the National Forest Foundation, and Northeast regional director of the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation.
In July 2001, her father joked that she was “so good at managing nonprofit organizations” that she should come home and manage the unprofitable sawmill, timberland, and real-estate divisions of Cowls. She did, and brought a bit of bad fortune with her.
“Within a year, the sawmill burned to the ground when lightning hit it,” she told BusinessWest, adding that she initially balked at plans to rebuild it. “I said, ‘Dad, it loses money. Why are we rebuilding a sawmill? Let’s do something different.’ He said, ‘it’s what we do. People depend on these jobs. It feeds our store. We will rebuild. You don’t know enough to close it down yet. But if it doesn’t work in five years, you can try something different.’”
So it went back up, as a timber-frame specialty mill. “We tried really hard, but it still didn’t work,” Jones said. “So we closed it in 2010.”
“I wanted it to be the Dirty Hands District, but I was told no one would come eat sandwiches in the Dirty Hands District. So I couldn’t name it that.”
She was already starting to envision the next step: developing a new downtown area — actually, uptown — in North Amherst. With her brother, she renovated their great-grandmother’s cow barn, which would house the second site Atkins Market site, and built the Trolley Barn mixed-use building, also on Cowls Road, and partnered with Beacon Communities on the residential components of North Square.
“At first, we tried to market the place — ‘locate here!’ But it was just hard-packed gravel and a closed sawmill,” she recalled. “People were like, ‘there’s no here here. Why would we come to a gravel lot in the middle of North Amherst?’”
Coming up with and marketing the Mill District name helped, although Jones first considered a moniker that had been used in the past for this neighborhood of farms and timberland. “I wanted it to be the Dirty Hands District, but I was told no one would come eat sandwiches in the Dirty Hands District. So I couldn’t name it that. So the Mill District it was.”
The Mill District actually encompasses more than North Square. Riverside Park Stores and Apartments — a former trolley destination that now houses a strip mall and 48 apartments behind it — is part of it, as are Cowls Building Supply and Mill District Depot.
Evan and Cinda Jones represent the ninth generation of leadership in the broad array of Cowls operations.
“We’re building a new uptown in Amherst which is called the Mill District, that incorporates Riverside Park and comes all the way up here,” she explained. “We’re trying to connect the two properties and tell the story of the whole neighborhood. North Square is what we’re doing today, but it’s so much bigger than that.”
Face to Face
Hannah Rechtschaffen grew up in Western Mass. but left more than 17 years ago, most recently attending graduate school and working in the field of urban innovation in Philadelphia. In large cities like that, she said, mixed-use developments are par for the course.
Even outside urban environments, though, after a decade of social media curtailing face-to-face contact, “the pendulum has swung back to wanting to be in person, wanting to live above a coffee shop where you go down in the morning and they know your name,” she told BusinessWest. “At one point, that’s how the world used to be, and now I’m hearing from Millennials that’s what they want. And they don’t just want it, they expect it — to go into a place and not be faceless.”
As director of Placemaking for Cowls, a job she took less than a year ago, part of her job is to create events, art installations, and community programs that bring back personal connections and elevate individual experiences in the neighborhood. To that end, she often reaches out to the community about what they want at North Square.
“Malls stole our downtowns. Now malls are dying, but the one thing they’re doing to stay alive is to have experiences. That’s the correct thing to do. In addition to making a downtown with a mix of retail, we want to create a place where you want to spend the day.”
“We have a clipboard over at Jakes where we say, ‘what do you want to see here? What’s important to you?’ And then we go out and try to find those businesses, ideally locally rooted, so they can come and provide some amenities — because there aren’t a lot of amenities along this corridor to Greenfield. We get a lot of feedback from the community about what they’d like to see, and our hope is that what happens here is in line with their vision and our vision.”
Part of that vision is a focus on the arts and opportunities for artists to connect with the community. One example is an art gallery, which will be connected to a general store and a café, featuring artists who hail from the many communities in which Cowls operates.
Some ideas are cheekier than others; Jones said the general store will feature two “experiential public bathrooms,” one with a jungle theme and the other featuring mirror glass — people can see out, but not in — meaning “you can do your business while you’re watching everyone out here do their business.”
Other tenants of the commercial space might include a distillery and tasting room, a flower and gift shop, and a tea house. Meanwhile, Atkins is moving out in July, but Jones has had interest from other food establishments.
Then there are 130 residential units, 20% of which are classified as affordable housing; residents began moving in back in August. Among the amenities — including a community room, gym, and outdoor play areas — are pet-friendly perks like an outdoor dog park and a mud room where dogs can be hosed off after a muddy time outdoors.
And, of course, a raft of shops, eateries, and experiences a few feet beyond one’s front door, and access to PVTA buses to move about the region without having to drive.
“The Mill District is more than just this one place; it’s touching the entire Valley. We’re trying to set an example of how to live in a community,” Rechtschaffen said. “We have to get creative with the experiential aspect of it. Every potential tenant we are talking to right now, they all have some aspect of their business that’s about teaching workshops, teaching classes, sharing what they do and why they do it with community members. That aspect is just crucial, and it’s fun.”
It’s also critical from an environmental perspective, she added, considering how young people aren’t as keen as previous generations were on long drives to get what they need to go. “There’s a lot more around the climate-change conversation — how we live, how we set our lives up to be able to let go of some of those things that have contributed to climate change, and this is one example.”
Land of Opportunity
As president, Jones oversees the real-estate and timberland and natural-resource management divisions of W.D. Cowls Inc., while her brother, Evan, oversees Cowls Building Supply, the retail store founded by their father, Paul. The Mill District has been a joint effort between the two — and it’s far from the only significant land-use project the company has recently undertaken.
For example, Cinda put an agricultural-preservation restriction on 45 acres of Amherst farmland, and in 2012 dedicated the largest contiguous private conservation project in Massachusetts history, the 3,486-acre Paul C. Jones Working Forest in the towns of Leverett and Shutesbury, which stands, she says, as a legacy to Cowls’ eighth-generation leader and the family’s commitment to sustainable forestry.
The Trolley Barn building hosts a range of businesses, including a restaurant, Jakes at the Mill.
In 2019, Cowls added an adjacent 2,000-acre conservation project in Leverett, Shutesbury, and Pelham, this one named for her grandfather, Walter Cowls Jones. A series of solar farms in the region have provided other opportunities for environment-friendly development.
She had already achieved some success at Cowls when BusinessWest named her to its inaugural 40 Under Forty class in 2007, and the evolution of her work since then was reflected in her Continuing Excellence Award last year, and now the Top Entrepreneur honor; she is one of only two individuals to have won three of the magazine’s six major awards.
Previous Top Entrepreneurs
• 2018: Antonacci Family, owners of USA Hauling, GreatHorse, and Sonny’s Place
• 2017: Owners and managers of the Springfield Thunderbirds
• 2016: Paul Kozub, founder and president of V-One Vodka
• 2015: The D’Amour Family, founders of Big Y
• 2014: Delcie Bean, president of Paragus Strategic IT
• 2013: Tim Van Epps, president and CEO of Sandri LLC
• 2012: Rick Crews and Jim Brennan, franchisees of Doctors Express
• 2011: Heriberto Flores, director of the New England Farm Workers’ Council and Partners for Community
• 2010: Bob Bolduc, founder and CEO of Pride
• 2009: Holyoke Gas & Electric
• 2008: Arlene Kelly and Kim Sanborn, founders of Human Resource Solutions and Convergent Solutions Inc.
• 2007: John Maybury, president of Maybury Material Handling
• 2006: Rocco, Jim, and Jayson Falcone, principals of Rocky’s Hardware Stores and Falcone Retail Properties
• 2005: James (Jeb) Balise, president of Balise Motor Sales
• 2004: Craig Melin, then-president and CEO of Cooley Dickinson Hospital
• 2003: Tony Dolphin, president of Springboard Technologies
• 2002: Timm Tobin, then-president of Tobin Systems Inc.
• 2001: Dan Kelley, then-president of Equal Access Partners
• 2000: Jim Ross, Doug Brown, and Richard DiGeronimo, then-principals of Concourse Communications
• 1999: Andrew Scibelli, then-president of Springfield Technical Community College
• 1998: Eric Suher, president of E.S. Sports
• 1997: Peter Rosskothen and Larry Perreault, then-co-owners of the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House
• 1996: David Epstein, president and co-founder of JavaNet and the JavaNet Café
“Congratulations to Cinda Jones on this recognition as Top Entrepreneur in our region by BusinessWest,” said Claudia Pazmany, president of the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce. “Cinda tires of status quo and consistently asks what more can be done. Each idea generated is followed by yet another. She then uses her allies and matches them to local resources to make change happen.
“The transformation of North Amherst through her creation of the Mill District over the last 10 years has not only preserved some of her rich family history in agriculture and lumber, but tied it to the future of our great town, creating economic mobility tying old generations to new,” she went on. “I am proud to call Cinda a friend and colleague and cannot wait to support her in her next project — because there will always be a ‘next’ with Cinda.”
North Square at the Mill District has been that big ‘next’ lately, and it’s the product of not only her team’s vision, but inspiration from unexpected places.
For example, next to Atkins is a recreational area of sorts, complete with a covered sandbox containing books and construction-themed toys. It’s called Wonderland — for good reason.
At the start of construction on North Square, some of the property’s historic millstones and large pieces of granite were converted to benches, tables, and art structures, meant to be a gathering place for people who bought ice cream and a signal that Atkins welcomed them during construction.
A woman named Kate posted on Facebook that her son, Sam, thought this humble play area was the most magical place on earth, referring to it as a ‘wonderland.’ When Jones offered to dedicate the space to Sam, his mom said her daughter Abbie also enjoys playing there, and so did her other daughter, Mabel — during the seven short months of her life.
Jones said that story broke her heart, but Mabel also became an inspiration to create more experiential spaces and programs that make the Mill District a special and important place for more families to connect. Today, Wonderland is adorned with a plaque dedicating it to Sam, Abbie, and Mabel.
Most people are familiar with the saying, ‘it takes a village to raise a child,’ Jones told BusinessWest, but in this case, it took a child to lend a large dose of inspiration to the creation of an entire village.
Permanent Reminder
That’s not the first time Jones honored one of her inspirations with an indelible mark. She also tells the story of how Cowls transitioned to its ninth generation of leadership. When Jones, then 34, came home from D.C. in 2001, her dad thought the sawmill workers might go around her new authority to speak with him if he were on site, so he tossed her the keys to the office and left, saying, “I’ll see you for coffee every morning, but they need to know you’re in charge, so I’m going to make myself scarce.”
Ten years — and plenty of leadership experience — later, as her father was dying, the family sat with a lawyer at the same kitchen table the kids grew up around, with the company represented by piles of paper being passed down to the ninth generation. As her father was signing documents, she stuck her arm in the way, and he jokingly signed it.
She didn’t wash it off. Instead, she had the signature permanently tattooed there.
A few months later, as she was about to sign off on the Paul C. Jones Working Forest in honor of her father, she rolled up her sleeves, looked down, and saw the signature, and felt like he was still across the table from her in the same house the family has operated from since 1741.
And with the same philosophy, too — one that constantly asks what’s the best use for the land, and the people who live, work, and play there.
“It’s smart growth when you build near jobs and gas stations and schools and population centers, and when you don’t build where there are critical natural resources,” she said. “And Cowls is in the unique position to be able to decide and build in an intelligent way. We have this existing industrial site in North Amherst that we’ve redeveloped for the ninth time, and it’s a new town center, so people who live here can get everything they need. And we do hope they’ll come live here.”
Fran Arnold and his wife, Rosemary, have guided the family business through consistent growth and evolution over the past four decades.
Conklin Office recently completed the consolidation of its various operations into the former Ampad factory on Appleton Street in Holyoke. The new space tells a story about how this company has evolved over the years — and also about the modern office and what it should look like.
The back wall of the massive showroom at Conklin Office Furniture’s complex on Appleton Street in Holyoke is decorated in a somewhat unorthodox but quite meaningful way.
There, Fran Arnold, owner and president of this multi-faceted, family-run operation, has arranged some of the signs that have hung on the company’s facilities over the years, including one from when he bought the venture in 1981; it says ‘Conklin Office & School Supply Company.’
“I kept them — and I thought this would be good place for them,” said Arnold as he offered a tour of the sprawling facility. “They tell a story, really — they tell how far we’ve come over all these years.”
Indeed, they do.
The ‘Office & School Supplies’ part of the operation was scrapped a long time ago as Staples and businesses like it took over that part of the world. And the ‘office’ part of the equation has evolved tremendously into a company with a host of moving parts — from sales of new and mostly used furniture (including lines the company has developed itself) to recycling and reconditioning of furniture of all kinds, to an office-design component.
It’s all under one roof now — one very large roof — after the company moved its showroom and offices from a facility on Canal Street (sold to one of the many entities now looking to cultivate cannabis in Holyoke’s vast portfolio of old paper and textile mills) last fall. It was quite a move, as one can imagine, and the company is in many ways still catching its breath after that lengthy and logistically complex undertaking.
“We decided to do it like a Band-Aid; we just pulled it off quickly,” he said, noting that the move came in one large stage that ended in October rather than several, and the moving-in process is still ongoing in some respects.
But the new space seems to be well worth all the cost and trouble. And it gives the company an opportunity to not only display all that it sells, but also put the modern office — or the emerging interpretation of the modern office — on full display.
“I don’t think the ink on the contract was dry when Staples opened up. That put such pressure on all the old, local office-supply dealers that many of them went of business. I took a turn toward used office furniture.”
Indeed, the office/welcome area at Conklin employs many of the current trends, said Arnold, from the glass walls that surround his own office to the wide-open spaces, distinct lack of cubicle walls, modern lighting, and sit-stand desks being used by employees.
Meanwhile, the items on the floor, especially new benching models and smaller workstations, speak to how businesses are maximizing the square footage they’re willing to pay for.
The signs on the back wall of the new showroom help tell how far this business has come over the years.
“Everything is moving toward efficiency and budget,” he explained. “The individual workspace is getting smaller, but that’s necessary — office space in New York and these other major cities costs a fortune today, so companies are reducing the size of the footprint the person sits in, but the spaces are open and more conducive to collaboration.”
Conklin’s product lines, and its own offices, speak to these trends, said Arnold, adding that, while the company responds to these movements, it is also living up to the motto seen on many of those aforementioned signs: “What Goes Around Comes Around.”
That’s a nod (and a play on words) to the recycling and re-manufacturing aspects of the business — huge components of the operation — but also to its very ‘green’ mindset (right down to the 2,600 solar panels on the roof) and the way the company does business with a wide range of businesses in sectors ranging from education to financial services to manufacturing.
For this issue, BusinessWest visited the Conklin complex in Holyoke and talked with Arnold about office furniture, the modern office and how it continues to evolve, that motto and all that it reflects, and those signs along the wall in the showroom and how they really do tell a compelling story.
News Desks
While office design and office furniture are obviously serious businesses, Arnold said it’s quite OK — and actually quite necessary, in his mind — to have a little fun with it all.
Hence the names on many of the chairs he showed BusinessWest in one of the showrooms.
There’s the ‘Nellie,’ named after one of his granddaughters; the ‘Roxie,’ named after Conklin’s office manager; the ‘Brode,’ named after one of his grandsons; and the ‘Vito,’ named after … him; that’s what his grandkids call him. There’s also the ‘Junior Vito,’ a slightly smaller version of the original.
Conklin’s new facilities were designed to reflect the changes that have come to the modern office.
These chairs, all on the cutting edge of ergonomic trends, are part of the Gateway line of furniture the Conklin company has developed itself. The products — everything from chairs to benching to laminate furniture — are made in China, said Arnold, and they’re selling well as companies large and small look for value, quality, and chairs that are ergonomically friendly.
‘Fun’ isn’t a word that word that would be used to describe Conklin’s recent move — Arnold shook his head as he thought back on all that was involved — but it was necessary in some ways, and now that it’s over, the company is in a better place than it was — figuratively but also quite literally.
Arnold was able to take advantage of the soaring interest in Holyoke real estate, and the company, as noted, is now able to put everything together under one roof.
And as the tour clearly showed, it is a huge roof, and there is a lot under it.
The many components have come together over the past 39 and a half years, and there has been constant evolution, said Arnold, noting that, as that sign said, the Conklin company he bought in 1980 sold office supplies.
“I don’t think the ink on the contract was dry when Staples opened up,” he recalled. “That put such pressure on all the old, local office-supply dealers that many of them went of business. I took a turn toward used office furniture.”
And that has been the company’s main focus for most of its existence — buying and reselling used furniture, often refinishing, refurbishing, or ‘remanufacturing’ it (the term the company prefers to use) before it lands in the showroom or the warehouse. This mindset is captured succinctly in another one of those old signs hanging on the back wall: Beside the company name and logo, it reads ‘Don’t Monkey Around with the High Cost of New Office Furniture.’
Companies of all shapes and sizes have heeded that advice, and Conklin has taken full advantage, growing into one of the largest operations of its kind, with other offices in Red Bank, N.J., Philadelphia, and Chicago.
The company’s showrooms are filled with furniture bought across the country from a variety of sources. Very often, it arrives via liquidations — large companies either closing or moving from one space to another and selling the furniture it leaves behind.
“You can’t move more than 100 people over a weekend and move the furniture at the same time,” Arnold explained. “They need to move into furniture that was already set up.”
The Conklin company spent the ’80s and a good part of the ’90s building up the vast amounts of capital needed to properly run a business like this one and expanding operations. The company was located on Lyman Street in Springfield for a number of years, and also operated out of property on Warwick Street.
“You used to be able to put 100 8-by-8 cubicles on a floor; today, you can put 250 people on that floor. And what the employees are getting back by having so little space are big open areas.”
In 2005, Conklin moved its headquarters to the massive facility on Canal Street that was formerly home to American Thread and one of the first factory buildings built in Holyoke, and later moved the showroom (still on Lyman Street) there as well.
“We never thought we’d fill up Canal Street, but we did,” he Arnold went on, adding that the company eventually needed additional space and found it, ironically enough at the former Ampad facility on Appleton Street (Ampad made the legal pads and other office products the Conklin company once sold), which it purchased in 2008.
And in that 233,000-square-foot facility, the company greatly expanded its reconditioning and remanufacturing operations, adding a powder-coating operation, reupholstering, and more. Eventually, it was decided that operations needed to be moved there as well.
“I thought that the building on Canal Street was not really conducive to what we do,” he said. “We need higher ceilings and big areas to move in, and I started thinking about selling Canal Steet.”
Those thoughts coincided with the start of the cannabis era in Massachusetts and broad interest in Holyoke’s old mills for a number of possible reuses — cannabis in particular, but also condominiums and apartments.
“There were two or three serious possibilities in play working with condominiums or apartments,” he recalled. “But, lo and behold, cannabis was legalized, and they came after the building.”
‘They’ is True Leaf, a Florida-based medical-marijuana dispensary, he went on, adding that things moved quickly after that, with Conklin having to move out 150,000 square feet of space cram-packed with furniture.
Space Exploration
And eventually move it into space Arnold described as “totally raw” and, like much of the used furniture that comes his way, in need of some refurbishing. His staff now occupies the former administration area of the Ampad operation, space that looked like offices used to look, with enclosed private offices against the windows and tall cubicle walls outside — “people really couldn’t see much further than eight or 10 feet away from where they were.”
That has all been replaced with what most are saying the modern office should look like, said Arnold, who, as he talked about trends in modern office furniture and design, abruptly stopped talking and started walking toward a showroom area at the front of the store where the ‘Roxie’ and ‘Nellie’ are on display.
Talking again as he walked, he said offices everywhere, but especially those in large cities where real-estate prices are soaring, are getting smaller, and every square foot is being put to efficient, meaningful use.
Many people are doing some work at home, he went on, and companies are encouraging more people to join those ranks. For those who do come to the office, their employers are seemingly in a mood to trade more of those aforementioned wide-open spaces for smaller actual workspaces.
“You used to be able to put 100 8-by-8 cubicles on a floor; today, you can put 250 people on that floor,” he said. “And what the employees are getting back by having so little space are big open areas to continue their productivity — areas for collaboration, coffee bars, and just communal areas where they can be themselves. And windows are being left open, so they can see what’s going on outside.”
To get this point across, he referenced a product the company is selling a lot of these days — benching. These are small workstations — a desk with a drawer or two underneath — arranged in rows, or benches, with fabric screens separating the workers on either side of these benches.
While some of these workspaces measure 30” by 72”, said Arnold, many companies have moved to 60” and others to 54” or even 48”. The goal, as he said, is to put more people into a smaller amount of space, knowing they only spend some of their time at these spaces, with the rest in those collaborative areas mentioned earlier.
The Conklin website now lists a number of benching options, many part of what it calls its Stretch line, as well as what would be considered today’s ‘private’ office — a desk (often one that can be raised or lowered), credenza, and pedestal, all of them small in comparison to what was popular years ago.
And while staying at the forefront of these trends, with its Gateway line and items on the showroom floor, Conklin is working hard to respect that motto and be ‘green’ in every way it can — from the solar panels, which produce enough power for roughly 125 homes, to every aspect of the recycling operations.
“When we take a [cubicle] panel apart, all the fabric gets sent down south; it gets ground up and recycled,” Arnold said. “The shrink wrap gets baled and sent to a local company that makes oil from it. All the cardboard is baled … very, very little goes to the landfill.
“We’ve been ‘green’ from the very beginning,” he went on. “It’s a big part of who we are.”
Chair Man
As he walked around the office area at the new headquarters building, Arnold noted that all it might be missing, that’s might, is a large aquarium — a touch he might look to add in the near future.
Other than that, it represents all that the modern office is — or should be — in terms of space, light, glass, work areas, amenities for employees, and space-saving strategies for employers.
It also represents change and evolution for this company, which has come a long way since it sold office and school supplies on Lyman Street.
Like Arnold said, those signs on the showroom wall tell a story — one of ongoing growth, evolution, being ‘green,’ being proactive, and introducing products like the ‘Vito’ and the ‘Junior Vito.’
A story with a number of intriguing chapters still to be written.
Arrha President and CEO Mike Ostrowski says credit unions have in many ways filled the void left by many of the smaller community banks that have disappeared from the landscape. To take full advantage of opportunities that are presenting themselves, an institution must have a blend of size and nimbleness — and a name that resonates. He believes Arrha has all three.
Mike Ostrowski calls it his ‘jungle home.’
Because … that’s what it is. The Osa Peninsula in southwestern Costa Rica is quite remote, and that’s what Ostrowski, president and CEO of Arrha Credit Union, likes about it.
“I have a little hut there — there’s no electricity, there’s no anything,” he explained while grabbing his phone to show photos of the area. “I typically go down there for two weeks; I alternate between living in the jungle and this tiny fishing village where I’ll stay for a few days. That’s my release.”
The upcoming trip, one coinciding with his 60th birthday later this month, will be a shorter stint, only six days, he said, adding that this is a good time of year to go because the fishing is good — he’ll be looking to land blue marlin and black tuna — and it is not rainy season.
“That comes in June,” he said. “And when it rains, it rains. It’s unbelievable how much water comes down. It’s like standing in a shower.”
He’ll return from this trip to a jungle of a different sort — a rapidly changing landscape in banking and financial services. It’s not exactly a hostile environment, but there are plenty of challenges — from razor-thin margins resulting from historically low interest rates to ever-escalating regulation — and competition that comes in all shapes and sizes and from all directions.
To survive and thrive in this environment, he told BusinessWest, an institution needs a solid blend of size and nimbleness and he believes Arrha — that’s the new brand that the former Springfield Teachers Credit Union assumed roughly five years ago — is strategically aligning itself to achieve both.
“We’ve been building that [commercial real-estate] business slowly and methodically for several years now. But it’s accelerating because of that vacuum created when banks like United leave; there’s no question that we’re taking advantage of opportunities like that.”
While size has become increasingly important in this age, that nimble quality is critical as well, he said, especially with all that competition, including the ever-growing roster of fintech companies offering everything from platforms with which the pay bills to risk-management services to payment-protection solutions.
“They’re all nipping at our heels for the dollars that a typical credit union or bank might get,” Ostrowski explained. “We’re fighting the battle on that front, and, fortunately, we have some of the best technology available; we can do anything they can do, and we can probably do it better because we’re local.”
But amid these many challenges there are also opportunities, he said, especially as a pattern of mergers and consolidations within the banking industry continues, such as with the recent acquisition of United Bank by Peoples United Bank.
As banks get larger and more of them become publicly held, he noted, credit unions have in many ways taken the spot once occupied by many of the smaller community banks that have disappeared from the landscape.
“And that’s a healthy thing,” said Ostrowski, who has spent the past 37 years in the financial-services sector and worked for a number of those community banks, including United, where he got his start, and Ludlow Savings. “That’s a normal progression of the industries; we’re looking to fill a void, a vacuum; people want to deal locally. The solid credit unions are taking the place of those local banking institutions that were around.”
To take full advantage of these opportunities and effectively and efficiently fill this void — something many other players are trying to do as well — Ostrowski said Arrha needs to be nimble, take full advantage of technology, stress its personable brand of service, and do what’s needed to attract the younger generations.
All of this, in a nutshell, is the strategic plan moving forward, he said, adding that the bank is looking to introduce ITMs (interactive teller machines) in its two locations, possibly by the middle of the year, and create what he calls the ‘branch of the future,’ something that will become a model for possible future expansion into smaller physical spaces.
This model involves the interactive technology, the ITMs, but also the human touch in the form of banking professionals making sure customers are comfortable using that technology and that all their needs are met.
“We’re not reinventing the wheel,” he said, noting that the technology is already in place in several area institutions. “We just want to be on the cutting edge; this concept will be taking off soon, and I want to be on the forefront of it.”
For this issue and its focus on banking and financial services, BusinessWest talked with Ostrowski about Arrha’s strategic plan moving forward, one that calls for smart growth, taking advantage of the opportunities presenting themselves, and positioning itself for life in this jungle.
Points of Interest
Ostrowski has a small collection of bobbleheads residing atop a bookshelf in his office at Arrha’s Springfield’s facility on Industrial Drive.
When asked about it, he quickly deferred to a different collection, one that has more meaning.
This is an assemblage of coffee cups bearing names of financial institutions he once worked for. A few have been turned upside down, Ostrowski’s way of indicating that the bank in question made some key strategic mistakes, which in some cases led to that brand disappearing from the landscape.
Mike Ostrowski says Arrha will soon be introducing ITMs and creating what he called the ‘branch of the future.’
Opting not to go into specific details about any of these institutions, he hinted strongly that many of these mistakes involved trying to grow too quickly, taking unwarranted risks, and becoming something the bank wasn’t.
And he’s committed to not making these mistakes with Arrha, a credit union that first operated out of a classroom at Commerce High School in Springfield at the dawn of the Great Depression. His plan is for slow, steady growth — in memberships, assets, deposits, commercial loans, and perhaps locations, although he has no immediate plans to broaden the portfolio beyond the current two.
In short, he intends to continue living up to the credit union’s still somewhat new and unusual name — Arrha, an old English word that translates into ‘money in exchange for a contract, a pledge in earnest.’
Ostrowski said the name change was needed because the former name, Springfield Teachers Credit Union, and even the shortened version, STCU, didn’t adequately convey that membership was open to anyone who lives or works in the three counties of the Pioneer Valley.
The new name does — sort of — but often needs to be explained. Ostrowski doesn’t mind; in fact, he looks forward to doing it.
“That’s exactly why we picked the name — it gives us a chance to tell the story,” he told BusinessWest. “So, from a marketing perspective, I think it’s brilliant.”
The story, at present, is of a still relatively small credit union — it’s in the middle of the pack among area institutions of this type with roughly $140 million in assets — working to grow and position itself for success in the long term.
As for growth, Arrha has seen a steady rise in membership, said Ostrowski, noting that, over the past 18 months or so, it has gained more than 1,500 and now boasts more than 11,500.
“If we were Boston, where there’s a lot of inflow of people, I would not be too happy with those numbers, but given where we are and what the statistics show, I’m quite pleased,” he said, noting, as all other bank and credit-union leaders do, that this is, by and large, a no-growth area. Meanwhile, even though Arrha’s expanded criteria for membership — Hampden, Hampden, and Franklin counties in addition to some of Northern Conn. — appears broad, it is still somewhat restrictive, at least when compared to most banks in the region.
In this no-growth environment, the institution must look to do more with existing customers and offer more services, such as commercial lending and commercial checking accounts. Arrha expanded into this realm several years ago, and has built a solid portfolio, most of it involving commercial real estate.
“We’ve been building that business slowly and methodically for several years now,” he explained. “But it’s accelerating because of that vacuum created when banks like United leave; there’s no question that we’re taking advantage of opportunities like that.”
As with all other aspects of the credit union’s operation, the commercial side of the ledger is driven by relationship-building efforts, he said, adding that these relationships are developed far more through trust than interest rates.
By All Accounts
While working to build the membership base and commercial portfolio, Arrha is also taking a number of steps to attract younger audiences, said Ostrowski, noting that these initiatives involve everything from financial-literacy programs involving area high-school students to digital marketing programs, to making sure the credit union remains on the cutting edge of technology — something that’s quite necessary to get and keep the attention of Millennials and those behind them.
“It’s a tough generation to reach,” he acknowledged, adding that digital marketing is fast becoming the most reliable method. “And some of them have never been inside a bank or credit union.”
Still, all members of this generation will eventually need what he called a “warm hug” — the personalized service they’ll need when filling out their first mortgage application or looking to buy a business.
“And we’re here for them when they need that warm hug,” he went on, adding that Arrha is enjoying some success with attracting the younger generations, as evidenced by the fact that the average age of its members has gone down — by two years — while that number has been going up industry-wide.
“That tells me that we’re achieving what we’re intending to do when it comes to reaching out to that generation,” he said, adding that, specifically, this is the 25-to-35 age group.
And if all goes according to plan, when these individuals — and all other customers — enter one of the Arrha locations later this year, they’ll be stepping into that ‘bank of the future’ Ostrowski mentioned.
The credit union is currently in the exploratory stage on the new technology, with plans to implement the changes perhaps six months from now, he noted, adding that the institution will do its homework and due diligence and make sure this important work is undertaken properly.
He expects that the blend of technology and human touch will resonate with not only Millennials, but all generations. And he believes it could also serve as an effective model for smaller, highly efficient branches in the future, facilities that could enable Arrha to expand its physical presence to other communities.
“This will give us the ability to do additional branching at a lower cost structure,” he explained, adding that a facility with a few ITMs and perhaps two or three staff members would need only 1,000 square feet, and perhaps half that, as opposed to a traditional branch several times that size.
Ostrowski said he was inspired by what he saw at an institution in the Washington, D.C. area, which had ITMs and three roving employees qualified to handle everything from car and mortgage loans to wire transfers, and is looking to do something similar here.
“They had the ability to handle every banking need — but they weren’t wasting their time doing transitional deposits or withdrawals,” he said. “It’s a far more efficient way to do things, and it’s still very member-friendly.”
Bottom Line
That branch of the future seems a long way from that hut on the Osa Penninsula — in every way imaginable.
But they’re both in a jungle in some respects.
This jungle in the 413 is a highly competitive environment where, as noted earlier when mentioning banks not around anymore, survival is not assured. It can be secured by being forward-thinking, on the leading edge of technology, and customer-friendly.
In short, it happens by avoiding the kinds of mistakes that would prompt Ostrowski to turn a coffee cup upside down.
And that, in plain, basic terms, is the business plan for Arrha.
That’s not the word many people would use to describe themselves after being in the same business, with the same company, for 34 years. But that’s precisely how Al Herringshaw feels about his most recent career move.
Specifically, he purchased Pella Windows & Doors of Western Massachusetts, a window and door sales and installation business headquartered in Greenfield, which he first joined as a teenager in 1985. It’s been a long and challenging road to ownership, one that required decades of experience in the field and lots of “homework,” as Herringshaw called it, to be ready to take that leap.
Despite the challenges, he would be the first to say he’s glad he decided to take the reins. The second would be Gary Sherman, former owner of Pella Windows & Doors, whom Herringshaw credits with not only showing him the ropes, but also providing support throughout the transition process.
“As succession occurred from Gary Sherman to me. I wouldn’t have done it without his support and without the support from all the employees,” said Herringshaw. “It wasn’t a one-man show. Gary wanted it to happen, I wanted it to happen, and it allowed Gary and I to provide a fairly seamless experience for the employees.”
Herringshaw said making this an easy transition for staff members topped his priority list — not only out of respect for them, but because he knows how it feels to be an employee. In fact, he held several positions in the company before ascending to ownership this past July.
“It feels really good that they’re, in my opinion, back to promoting innovation and coming up with unique things within the window and door industry that set us apart. They’ve really come up with some neat products over the last couple years.””
Herringshaw was only 19 when he started at Pella in the summer of 1985 as a sliding-door builder. He worked in the shop for two years before moving to commercial coordinator, as recommended by his shop supervisor. He spent two years there, then moved into an outside sales rep position in West Springfield for 10 years — all positions he says he enjoyed greatly.
“It’s good to spend time in the field,” he said. “You certainly learn a lot about a business in a sales position.”
In 2000, he came back to Greenfield as Sherman’s general manager and spent 20 years in this position before purchasing the business last year. He said the company had a great back end to 2019, and he’s excited to tap into his extensive experience to bring even more success to an already thriving business.
Opportunity Knocks
Herringshaw believes his experience within the company will help him bring many skills to the table in order to take Pella to a new level.
“I think it helps me garner some respect from the employees because I have seen a lot of the business,” he said. “I also think it gives me perspective on how to look at certain things when people come to me with issues, or even when a customer comes to me.”
Herringshaw said minimal changes were made to staff or location of employees during the transition, and he hopes to fill seven to 10 open positions in the near future.
And that’s only the beginning.
He says he has several ideas and goals he would like to implement to take Pella Windows & Doors to the forefront of the construction field.
“I think we need to add new talent to our business, and I think we need to grow our social-media profile,” he said. “I think those are two key things for our business to get us to the next level.”
Perhaps one of his biggest goals is to raise the Pella profile in the architect community.
“I think we do well there. I’d like to be awesome there,” he told BusinessWest. “I would like Pella products to be the number-one thought-of brand in an architect’s office.”
Al Herringshaw says his many years and layers of experience in the company will help him garner respect from his employees.
As for how to accomplish this, he said he’s excited about some new products that the Pella corporation is introducing to help stand out from the competition.
“It feels really good that they’re, in my opinion, back to promoting innovation and coming up with unique things within the window and door industry that set us apart,” Herringshaw said, adding that he is on a product board where he gets to give input to the company. “They’ve really come up with some neat products over the last couple years.”
For example, he hopes to become a business that is very focused on the ability to supply replacement windows, noting that this will be in high demand in the future.
“When you look at the inventory of homes we have in New England, there are a lot of old homes,” he said. “I think energy-efficient replacement is a big deal, and a good experience for customers is something that we have to focus on and be ready to supply.”
“My folks are very available, I’m very available, and we want to make sure people are happy with the end result. I think that’s a big deal for any company today — to be conscientious and to understand that that’s probably the one way you can truly make yourself unique.”
Standing out is difficult in this industry marked by stiff competition and often vulnerable to economic tides. But Herringshaw is confident that, by diversifying the business and continuing to provide excellent service to customers, Pella will be able to stand out.
“I think the innovation makes a big difference in standing out,” he said. “I truly believe that the overall quality of our products, the fit and finish, really is superior to anyone else’s. But I’ll also tell you, at the end of the day, I believe our customers would say that they do business with us because of the way we respond and take care of them.”
Looking Ahead
Installed sales manager Dan Wells is enthusiastic about the new ownership, noting that “Al has a way of keeping everyone engaged and focused on priorities. One of those priorities is supporting the communities where we live and work.”
A fixture in Western Mass. and Vermont since 1962, Pella has long been known for its customer-centric approach to business, Herringshaw noted, and he expects that to continue. “I have one goal — to make Pella of Greenfield the number-one place to purchase windows and doors, and the number one place to work.”
In short, with plenty of experience in the field, a mind full of ideas and goals, and a hardworking team ready to make it happen, Herringshaw is ready to take Pella Windows & Doors to the next level.
“My folks are very available, I’m very available, and we want to make sure people are happy with the end result,” he said. “I think that’s a big deal for any company today — to be conscientious and to understand that that’s probably the one way you can truly make yourself unique.”
As the largest private landowner in Massachusetts, with properties in 30 towns, the Cowls family is especially synonymous with North Amherst, where it has made its headquarters — and an enduring legacy in lumber and conservation — for 279 years. These days, Cinda Jones, the ninth-generation president of 
Invigorated.
