Day: March 17, 2021

As our judges select the 2021 Class of 40 Under Forty, we encourage you to subscribe to BusinessWest so you may receive the May 12, 2021 issue of BusinessWest that will include the stories of our 40 amazing winners. Click HERE to subscribe! The event honoring the 2021 Class of 40 Under Forty is slated to take place on June 24, 2021. Stay tuned for more information about the event!

Meet This Year’s 40 Under Forty Judges

BusinessWest launched its 40 Under Forty program in 2007 to recognize the area’s rising stars, and it has since become a coveted honor throughout Western Mass., shining a spotlight on individuals who have excelled professionally, but also in their service to the community.

The judges are hard at work evaluating 170 unique nominations — close to a record, and an indication that the pandemic has not slowed this program’s energy or importance to the region.

The class of 2020 — who will be profiled in the May 10 issue of BusinessWest and honored at the 40 Under Forty Gala on June 24 at the Log Cabin in Holyoke — will, as usual, be chosen by five independent judges, who bring broad experience in entrepreneurship, business development, and civic engagement, among other traits. Here’s a quick look at each of them.

Kim Alli is a vice president and commercial loan officer at Greenfield Savings Bank and is also a member of the GSB PPP loan task force and the bank’s contributions committee. She serves on several community boards, including the Hospice of the Fisher Home, the United Way of Hampshire County community investment committee, and the Cooley Dickinson golf committee. She is also a member of the GCC Foundation campaign team, ambassador for the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce, and a Rotarian for Amherst and Northampton.

For the past two decades, Paul Bailey has been the executive director of Springfield Partners for Community Action, the federally designated community action agency serving the Springfield area. Previously, he worked at the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development for 11 years, where he oversaw the state’s 252 public-housing authorities. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from UMass Amherst and serves on the board of directors of the Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Hampden County Workforce Board.

For the past nine years, Pia Sareen Kumar has been co-owner and chief strategy officer of Universal Plastics Group, representing a family of plastics-manufacturing businesses headquartered in Holyoke and stretching into in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. She started her career as an investment banker at JPMorgan Chase and was a global director of strategic partnerships at American Express. She holds an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University.

Lenny Underwood launched Underwood Photography in 2004, providing an array of services ranging from headshots, parties, and weddings to photo shoots, slideshows, and photo-booth rental. He is also a certified personal fitness trainer. He then founded Upscale Socks in 2016, which supports local nonprofits and schools with the Suit Your Soles campaign, which matches a sock donation for every purchase. He is a member of St. John’s Congregational Church, the Brianna Fund for Children with Physical Disabilities gospel concert planning committee, and the Way Finders board.

Born and raised in Germany, Peter Wirth started working for Mercedes-Benz straight out of college. After holding several positions in marketing and product management, her relocated to the U.S. and took a job with Mercedes-Benz USA. After successfully launching the SLR McLaren and the new C-Class for the U.S. market, he transitioned into retail and managed sales operations for two large New York Metro Mercedes-Benz dealers. In 2017, he and his wife, Michelle, started their own business and opened Mercedes-Benz of Springfield.

Presenting Sponsor

40 Under Forty Alumni Achievement Award

Nominate your choice for an outstanding BusinessWest 40 Under Forty Alum!

We are still taking nominations for the 2021 Alumni Achievement Award. Nominate a previous honoree who is continuing to go above and beyond in their field and making an impact in our region! Click HERE to find the nomination form. The deadline for nominations is April 23, 2021 at 5pm.

For your convenience, an online nomination can be found HERE.

About the nomination form:
• Candidates must be from 40 Under Forty classes prior to the year of the award, in this case, classes 2007-2020.
• Only nominations submitted to BusinessWest on this form will be considered.

2021 Alumni Achievement Award Presenting Sponsor

Join Us as We Celebrate the Difference Makers Virtually on April 1

SPRINGFIELD — Since 2009, BusinessWest has been recognizing the work of individuals, groups, businesses, and institutions through a program called Difference Makers.

The 2021 Difference Makers include Kristin Carlson, president of Peerless Precision; EforAll Holyoke; Janine Fondon, founder of UnityFirst.com and professor at Bay Path University; Harold Grinspoon, philanthropist and founder of Aspen Square Management; Chad Moir, founder and owner of DopaFit Parkinson’s Movement Center; Bill Parks, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Westfield; and Pete Westover, founder and partner at Conservation Works, LLC.

The 13th annual Difference Makers celebration will be a virtual event taking place on Thursday, April 1 from 6 to 8 p.m. This event, like our hugely successful Women of Impact celebration in January, be presented using the REMO platform, and will feature networking, videos of the event sponsors, introductions of the honorees, and comments from the Difference Makers themselves.

RSVP before March 30 by clicking here. For a helpful tutorial on working with REMO, click here. For more information and links to the stories about our honorees, click here.

This year’s event includes a new, exciting, interactive wrinkle. Since the inception of this program, one of the goals in selecting our honorees has been to show the many ways one can make a difference within their community. The 2021 Difference Makers stories are all different, but the common thread is a passion exhibited by each honoree to improve the quality of life for those in this region and make it a better place to live, work, and conduct business. As we move toward celebrating our seven amazing honorees, we encourage you to submit a 20- to 30-second video of yourself, your organization, or others in our community that are making a difference.

Submit the video by posting it on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, tagging BusinessWest (@BusinessWest413 on Facebook and Twitter or @BusinessWest_HCNews413 on Instagram), and using the hashtag #EverydayDifferenceMakers. Upon submitting your video on social media, e-mail the video to [email protected]. Your video will be reviewed by the associate publishers of BusinessWest and the Healthcare News, and could be one of five videos chosen by them to be aired during the Difference Makers virtual event. All videos must be submitted by Sunday, March 21 at 5 p.m. Tune in on April 1 to see if your video is featured.

The sponsors for this year’s program are Burkhart Pizzanelli, the Royal Law Firm, TommyCar Auto Group, and United Way of Pioneer Valley. The Tom Cosenzi Driving for the Cure Charity Golf Tournament is a nonprofit partner.

M.L. Schmitt, Palmeri Electric, Hatfield Community Step Up for Local Veteran

HATFIELD — Today, March 17, starting at 9 a.m., two local electrical contractors are donating time and material to assist Hatfield resident and Korean War-era veteran George Emeny, 86, whose Hatfield home was deemed unsuitable by the Board of Health earlier this year.

M.L. Schmitt Inc. of Springfield and Palmeri Electric of Shelburne Falls are joining the Hatfield community to help Emeny keep his home and make it livable again.

“Working together with Palmeri Electric and members of the Hatfield community is an honor for us,” said Jean Pierre Crevier, owner and vice president of M.L. Schmitt Inc. “It’s important for us to help Mr. Emeny during his time of need.”

Emeny has been sleeping in his car each night, accompanied by his dog and cat, because his home is unfit for human habitation. Members of the Hatfield community stepped in to help. M.L. Schmitt Inc., and Palmeri Electric will see that all electrical needs are repaired and up to code.

Girls Inc. of the Valley Announces HERstory Virtual Trivia Night

HOLYOKE — Girls Inc. of the Valley announced that its HERstory Trivia Night virtual event will take place on Thursday, March 25 at 6 p.m. via Zoom. This event will help Girls Inc. of the Valley celebrate Women’s History Month along with those in the community and raise $500 to support Girls Inc. programming.

Girls Inc. of the Valley and the Young Professional Society (YPS) of Greater Springfield will host this event, which will have three rounds of trivia celebrating the accomplishments of women past and present, and prizes for the top three finishers. The event requires a minimum donation of $10 to Girls Inc. of the Valley upon registration. Participants may register by clicking here.

“YPS is proud to partner on this unique event with Girls Inc. of the Valley to help make a positive impact for girls in our community and beyond with learning and leadership opportunities,” said Amie Miarecki, YPS president.

Girls Inc. of the Valley aims to inspire all girls to see themselves as leaders with the skills and capabilities to improve and influence their local communities.

“We have a lot of trivia fans on staff here at Girls Inc.,” said Suzanne Parker, the organization’s executive director. “We thought, ‘what better way to celebrate Women’s History Month than with some HERstory trivia?’ We are excited to welcome the community to this fun and interactive event.”

Country Bank Partners with PROSHRED Security for Shred Day on April 10

Banking and Financial Services Special Coverage

WARE — Country Bank is partnering with PROSHRED Security for its annual Shred Day to allow the public to discard their documents safely and securely.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, there were 1.4 million identity theft reports in 2020, and that number continues to rise. Country Bank offers this free shredding service to the public because it understands the importance of helping consumers keep their identity safe. All visitors are asked to practice social distancing and will be required to wear a mask.

Country Bank’s free Community Shred Day will take place on Saturday, April 10 at the following Country Bank branch locations:

• 155 West Street, Ware, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.;

• 2379 Boston Road, Wilbraham, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.;

• 1084 Main St., Leicester, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.; and

• 37 Worcester Road, Charlton, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Items to consider for shredding include old documents, tax returns, bank statements, receipts, bills, or anything that contains personal, identifiable information.

No Sure Bets

By George O'Brien March 17, 2021

Cover Story

But MGM Springfield Leader Optimistic About the Next Chapter

Chris Kelley had just arrived in Springfield and was still getting acclimated to the region when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived almost exactly a year ago.

Then, he had to get acclimated to something else — something no one in the casino industry had ever seen or been forced to endure before.

“These facilities just weren’t meant to be closed,” said Kelley, president of MGM Resorts’ Northeast Group, which includes MGM Springfield. But they were, of course — for four long, brutal months, before finally reopening in July, but only at one-third capacity and with a number of restrictions in place. Later, the state’s casinos had to reduce hours and close at 10 p.m. as a late-year surge in cases moved the goalposts again.

Now, some restrictions are being eased, and later this month, the state will enter what is known as step 1 of phase 4, prompting Kelley to glance toward the future with optimism in his voice. But in all ways, and by all accounts, the ‘ramping-up’ period for MGM Springfield — the one we all heard so much about in the months before COVID dramatically changed the landscape — has been turned on its ear.

“People are just really excited to be part of bringing downtown West Springfield back.”

In some ways, it will be like starting over for this operation, which recently reopened its hotel for weekends and also its sports bar, and is waiting with what can only be called bated breath to see if and to what degree patrons will return to the blackjack tables, slot machines, bars, and, eventually (but no one really knows when) large-scale events like concerts, shows, and fundraising galas.

In a wide-ranging interview, Kelley, who has remained mostly quiet, from a press perspective, since arriving in this region, talked with BusinessWest about the past year, but mostly about what comes next for this highly visible, nearly $1 billion business that opened to great expectations 32 months ago.

That look back was understandably painful, although he said the past year has certainly been a somewhat beneficial learning experience on many levels (more on that later) and a time when changes coming to the industry were greatly accelerated.

As for the future … it is obviously clouded by question marks that involve everything from how much pent-up demand there will be for everything a casino has to offer, to the fate of sports gambling in the Bay State.

In some ways, Chris Kelley says, it feels like starting over at MGM Springfield.

Kelley is optimistic about both.

He said Las Vegas has recently returned to its 24/7 character and something rapidly approaching conditions that existed pre-COVID — and the early indications are certainly positive.

“With vaccine distribution ramping up around the country, there’s good reason for cautious optimism as we look at our ability to gather in larger numbers, and for our industry, in the broader sense, to see improvement as opposed what it was experiencing only a few months ago. As we look at the calendar year 2021, I think we see significant opportunities for improvement, especially as we move into the second half of the year.”

As for sports betting, he said several bills are in various stages of talk and progression through the Legislature, and he’s optimistic that the state will ultimately pass one, especially with other states already doing so, with revenue flowing to them as a result. More important than simply approving a bill, though, is passing legislation that will enable the state to effectively compete and ultimately become an industry leader in this realm. Such a bill might bring $50 million in additional tax revenues to the state annually, he projected.

“We’re looking for Massachusetts to be able to compete with all of the surrounding states that have or soon will have sports betting,” he said, noting that Connecticut will soon be in that category. “A level playing field for MGM and the other casinos in the state is very important, as is giving our customers an amenity, and an experience, that they’ve been asking for now for years.”

Doubling Down

Reflecting on the past year, what it was like, and even what he’s learned as a manager, Kelley started by flashing back to what were the darkest of days — when the casino was closed and there was no indication of when it might open again.

“It’s a very uncomfortable experience to walk through these facilities when they’re dark and there’s no activity and action — the sights and sounds that ultimately drew us all into this industry,” he told BusinessWest, noting, again, that once a casino cuts the proverbial grand-opening ribbon, its doors are never locked.

The fact that they had to be locked was just the first in a string of unprecedented steps that defined the next several months, from the shuttering of the hotel and restaurants to the cancellation of scores of events that were on the books, to ultimately laying off two-thirds of the employees working at the casino before the pandemic arrived.

Overall, Kelley said, this has been a humbling experience in some ways — a challenging time, to be sure, but also a learning experience and an opportunity to accelerate, out of necessity, some changes that were coming to the industry anyway.

“No business model for any company will be exactly the same, post-COVID,” he explained. “We have innovated along the way, adopting best practices, and many of those will remain, to the benefit of the guests,” he told BusinessWest. “Digital innovations are an area I would point to; MGM Resorts and MGM Springfield were already headed toward many digital innovations pre-COVID, but the pandemic really accelerated the implementation of those efforts — things like digital menus, the use of QR codes, mobile check-in, and digital keys; those things will remain, and those are a positive part of the guest experience today and moving forward.”

Elaborating on what was learned and how the casino and its staff responded to the rapidly changing landscape, Kelley said some valuable experience was gained that should benefit his team moving forward, especially when it comes to — here’s that word again — pivoting.

“We want to make it more walkable, more friendly, and more inviting so we can complement the business investment that’s happening there.”

“When the pandemic hit, it was a huge learning experience for everyone in this industry,” he said. “We all had to create new ways of operating and coping with restrictions that we had never experienced before. We put an emphasis on internal communications and external communications with our guests, and we found ways to stay in contact with our teams virtually. And through this process, we’ve been working hand-in-hand with our state and local officials and our community partners to weather this experience with the strength and support of each other. That ability to come together as a community during times like this is the silver lining to a very difficult period.

“As a team, we recently discussed the importance of leadership agility,” he went on, “because we have had to learn how to be very nimble and adjust to ever-changing conditions, which I believe will ultimately benefit the business in coming out of all this.”

Barriers at the gaming tables and social-distancing reminders have been facts of life during the pandemic at MGM Springfield.

In recent months, business — and gross gaming revenues — have steadily improved, said Kelley, and this has been while the hotel and some restaurants have been closed. Looking forward, he expects this trend to continue and for there to be a good amount of pent-up demand for casino-style entertainment.

“It remains to be seen what the reaction of our communities will be to a vaccinated population, but we’re optimistic that we’ll see the return of guests to our property,” he said. “We had seen resiliency even during this time.”

The hotel reopened on a limited basis the first weekend in March, he went on, with the goal being to gauge guest demand and comfort levels and then adjust the business model accordingly. He said initial bookings have been positive, and he expects improvement to come gradually.

As for events in the casino’s various venues — gatherings have brought people and energy to the downtown area and business to a number of hospitality-related ventures — Kelley said it is too early to know when this aspect can resume.

“Ultimately, that will be up to the state to determine,” he noted. “What we can do is make sure that we’re as prepared as possible for that day; we do discuss those things frequently, and we’re actively engaged in planning for the return of those amenities.”

Plenty of Wild Cards

Speaking of being prepared … this is exactly what the casino is striving to do when it comes to another key focal point moving forward — sports betting.

New Hampshire became the 16th state to legalize such betting (there are now 22) in July 2019, and officially went live in late December that year. Meanwhile, Connecticut has taken huge steps in this direction, although some complicated negotiations remain between the many parties involved when it comes to where venues will be located, how many there will be, and who will operate them.

As for the Bay State, Kelley counts himself among those who believe it’s a question of when — not if — sports betting gets the green light, and he obviously considers that step pivotal if the state’s casinos are going to going to tap the full potential of what has long been considered an attractive market.

But he stressed repeatedly that his focus is not simply on working with state legislators to pass a bill, but to create a playing field on which the state’s casino can effectively compete. And this is the consistent message he and others with MGM have been delivering to state officials.

“We’re encouraged by the number of sports-betting bills that have already been introduced, and each of the bills that has been drafted has been tailored to the unique interests of the sponsor,” he explained. “So we’ve been focused on advising lawmakers on what our experience has shown us.”

Elaborating, he said this experience has shown that the lower the tax rates are on sports-gambling revenues, the better one’s odds are of effectively competing against what he called the “illegal markets,” and also against the growing number of neighboring states already in or soon to get in this game.

“We want to create a competitive operating model, and so a tax rate that is on the lower side is helpful in creating the best payouts for the guests, and also helpful in competing against the illegal markets, and it’s helpful in competing against border states,” he went on. “And we believe that, ultimately, it creates the best guest experience as well.”

He said the casino has a plan in place and has the ability to move “very quickly” when state legislators decide to pull the trigger.

“We’ve spent a lot of time looking at the property and where a sports book makes sense, and also at how to create an experience that would really be a market leader and that will benefit the community at the same time,” he explained, adding that there is a good deal of experience in this realm within the MGM corporation that he and his team can benefit from. “We’ll have many resources to draw upon, and we’re excited about that.”

Reflecting again on those dark times that coincided with his arrival in Springfield, Kelley said those memories linger, even as many can see that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. And they make him appreciate a return to something ‘normal’ even more.

“To see us moving back in the direction of offering those positive moments, those positive milestones, those positive experiences for our guests, is extraordinarily gratifying, and part of what I love about this business,” he said, adding, again, that while question marks still dominate the landscape, he remains optimistic about not only turning back the clock to pre-COVID levels of revenue and progress, but setting the bar higher.

Ultimately, this story is still in the early chapters, he told BusinessWest, and the ones to come will hold plenty of intrigue.

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

M&T Bank Corp. to Purchase People’s United Financial Inc.

By Joseph Bednar March 17, 2021

Creating a Powerhouse

M&T Bank Corp. is no stranger to acquisitions, having broadly expanded its geographic footprint through a series of mergers over the past two decades.

But every acquisition is undertaken with purpose, Chairman and CEO René Jones said, and that includes the recent announcement that M&T will purchase Bridgeport, Conn.-based People’s United Financial Inc. in a $7.6 billion, all-stock transaction.

“The combination of M&T and People’s United will benefit both firms, providing additional growth opportunities beyond what either firm could achieve independently,” Jones said during a recent conference call with investors, adding that the culture of M&T will “resonate” with People’s United customers.

The transaction has already resonated through the region’s banking industry, as it will create a ‘super-regional’ banking franchise (as industry analysts are calling it), with approximately $200 billion in assets and a network of 1,135 branches and more than 2,000 ATMs spanning 12 states from Maine to Virginia and the District of Columbia.

The combined franchise will operate across some of the most populated and attractive banking markets in the U.S., M&T officials note. As part of the transaction, People’s United’s current headquarters in Bridgeport will become the New England regional headquarters for M&T.

Jack Barnes

“The merger extends our reach by providing customers access to a larger banking network and an expanded array of services.”

“In People’s United, we have found a partner with an equally long history of serving and supporting customers, businesses, and communities,” said Jones, who will continue to lead the expanded company in his current roles. “Combining our common legacies and our complementary footprints will strengthen our ability to serve our communities and customers, and provide solutions that make a difference in people’s lives. I am incredibly excited about this opportunity and look forward to welcoming new customers and team members to our M&T family.”

In the conference call, Jones recognized the value of People’s United’s footprint and resources.

“In addition to new geography, we expanded the talent and capabilities in our organization as well as the product sets vailable to our combined customers,” he noted, adding that the acquisition will make M&T the 11th-largest commercial-bank holding company in the U.S. by both assets and market capitalization.

In addition, “the combined geographic footprint is concentrated, offering a distribution system across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states that represents over 20% of the U.S. population and over 25% of GDP, and has attractive levels of household income.”

Indeed, the median household income in People’s United’s footprint is almost $87,000, well above the national median, according to the Wall Street Journal. M&T will also add People’s United’s national equipment-finance business and its mortgage warehouse lending business.

“The density allows us to leverage local market knowledge, our recently bolstered technology infrastructure, and our nationally recognized brand,” Jones added, noting that the two companies have a complementary top-tier deposit share in core markets with a top-three share in most of their respective top-10 markets.

People’s United Bank’s headquarters in Bridgeport, Conn. will become M&T’s New England regional headquarters.

“And People’s United’s outside proportion of core operating accounts makes it among the most attractive franchises in New England,” he added. “In our view, this is the most important characteristic of a stable, well-run franchise.”

Cultural Considerations

Jack Barnes, chairman and CEO of People’s United, noted that the cultures of the two banks are a good fit.

“M&T is a like-minded partner that shares our culture of supporting communities by focusing on building meaningful relationships and providing personalized products, services, and local market expertise to customers, while building on our legacy of excellence in service,” he said. “The merger extends our reach by providing customers access to a larger banking network and an expanded array of services. I am confident our shared community-banking philosophies will provide significant long-term value for our shareholders, employees, and loyal customers.”

M&T leaders note that both companies have been long been recognized for their community commitments and support of civic organizations. Over the past decade, M&T, through The M&T Charitable Foundation, has donated $263.7 million to more than 2,800 nonprofit organizations across eight states and the District of Columbia. M&T Bank has been awarded the highest possible Community Reinvestment Act rating on every examination since 1982 from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Meanwhile, People’s United Community Foundation and People’s United Community Foundation of Eastern Massachusetts have granted $40 million to nonprofits aligned with the foundations’ collective mission since their inception in 2007. Through the foundations, M&T will use $90 million to support charitable activities in the communities currently served by People’s United.

In the Greater Springfield area, People’s United Bank traces its roots to the Bank of Western Massachusetts, which opened in 1987 and grew it into a regional commercial-lending power, one that was acquired by Chittenden Bank in 1995 and then again by People’s United in 2008.

People’s United, with a much longer history (it was founded in 1842), boasts more than 6,000 employees these days, offering commercial and retail banking, as well as weath-management services, through a network of more than 400 retail locations in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The company also provides specialized commercial services to customers nationwide. As of Dec. 31, 2020, the institution had total assets of more than $63 billion, loans of $44 billion, and deposits of $52 billion.

M&T, headquartered in Buffalo, N.Y., operates banking offices in New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. It ranks among the largest regional lenders in the Northeast, with $142.6 billion in assets at the end of 2020. Commercial real-estate loans comprise almost 40% of its portfolio, and despite the pandemic’s impact on that sector, loan performance at the bank has been better than expected over the past year.

Under the terms of the agreement, People’s United shareholders will receive 0.118 of a share of M&T common stock for each People’s United share they own. Following completion of the transaction, former People’s United shareholders will collectively own approximately 28% of the combined company.

The merger has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of each company and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approvals and approval by the shareholders of each company.

Open the Floodgates

The acqusition is just the latest in a series of regional mergers seeking scale in order to better compete with the largest U.S. banks as low interest rates cut into lending profits, Forbes reported.

Last year, for instance, Huntington Bancshares Inc. agreed to merge with TCF Financial Corp., First Citizens Bancshares Inc. announced plans to acquire CIT Group Inc., and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. struck a deal to buy the U.S. arm of Spain’s BBVA. The year before, BB&T and SunTrust merged to become Truist Financial Corp. in the largest bank deal since the financial crisis of 2008 ushered in stricter regulations.

Ultra-low interest rates and meager loan growth have made it difficult for banks to profit from lending, the Wall Street Journal notes. The effect is most pronounced on regional banks, which rely more on lending profits than their national counterparts. Net interest margin, or the difference between what a bank pays its depositors and what it earns from lending, hit a record low for commercial banks in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Tom Michaud, CEO of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, recently told Barron’s that, if regional banks want to be “relevant and significant,” they need to compete against the ‘Big Four’ of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America.

Robert Kafafian of the Kafafian Group, a consulting firm in Bethlehem, Pa., told American Banker he expects a surge in bank mergers in 2021, partly due to needed investments in new technology. “Customers have shown they can adapt to changing technology. Adoption may have advanced three to five years faster than what it might have been otherwise without the pandemic. Tech capability is all the more important now.”

Jones agrees, but stressed that many different considerations went into the decision to purchase People’s United and create a new, super-regional bank.

“Not only are our geographics complementary,” he said, “so too are the talent, product sets, and credit cultures, creating a solid platform we can build upon.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

WNEU School of Law Continues to Meet Shifting Needs of Students, Society

By Joseph Bednar March 17, 2021

Law Special Coverage

A Challenging Docket

Sudha Setty says the field of law continues to evolve and create new opportunities, even during the pandemic.

It’s been a challenging year for businesses of all kinds, and the profession of law is no exception.

But in many ways, the pandemic set the critical role of lawyers in even sharper relief, says Sudha Setty, dean of the (WNEU) School of Law.

“I hear, anecdotally, from our alumni that they’re busy; they have a lot of work going on. Frankly, the legal work coming out of the pandemic is substantial,” she told BusinessWest, and it extends far beyond business disruptions.

“The pandemic has hit very unevenly in a lot of communities, including Western Massachusetts, and you have issues of trying to get unemployment benefits or ensuring against foreclosure of homes or eviction,” she noted. “A lot of legal needs have come out of all that. Those needs existed previously, of course, but the pandemic has exacerbated them. So the need for lawyers to help in those capacities has increased exponentially in the past year.”

Or take the growing (literally and figuratively) field of cannabis; a course on “Cannabis and the Law” is hugely popular, Setty said, because students see legal opportunities in an industry that still has plenty of room to expand.

“I hear, anecdotally, from our alumni that they’re busy; they have a lot of work going on. Frankly, the legal work coming out of the pandemic is substantial.”

“It’s a new field, and it’s not going away. It’s a way to think about new opportunities as a lawyer, but you’re also learning nuts and bolts you can apply to other fields as well, like regulatory law and how to navigate state bureaucracy and a lot of other pieces that will be helpful even if your practice isn’t in cannabis law in the long run.”

In short, the world will always need lawyers, and after a very uneven past two decades when it comes to the job market and law-school enrollment, colleges across the U.S. have reported an uptick in applications over the past few years, one that hasn’t been slowed by the pandemic.

WNEU welcomed an incoming class of 130 last fall, well over the 88 who started classes in the fall of 2018, Setty’s first year as dean. While the fall 2021 numbers won’t be finalized until the summer, she hears from Admissions that applications are still strong.

“Nationwide, I know most law-school applications are up significantly,” she added. “In this region, it’s up about 20%, and we’re about the same. So I feel cautiously optimistic.”

Programs she has shepherded have only made WNEU a more attractive destination — for example, the Center for Social Justice, launched in the spring of 2019, has offered a robust series of community conversations, pro bono opportunities, and other initiatives aimed at giving students real-world experience in making a difference, even while in school.

“Students have always been interested in that mission, but now we have this focal point and can shepherd students toward job opportunities, toward scholarships, toward career paths, thinking about what they need to be a social-justice lawyer,” she said, noting, as one example, the Center’s Consumer Debt Initiative, which helps area individuals who are unrepresented in debt collection, sometimes over a few hundred dollars, sometimes a few thousand.

“We’ve heard a lot of discussions over the last few years about income inequality and economic justice, and I think we’re in a really good place in meeting the interests students have when they come into the law school.”

“They can make a difference in someone’s life. It’s a way for students, faculty, and lawyers from the greater community to address this economic-justice issue. We’ve heard a lot of discussions over the last few years about income inequality and economic justice, and I think we’re in a really good place in meeting the interests students have when they come into the law school.”

Add it up, and the WNEU School of Law hasn’t slowed down its pursuit of building a program that will remain relevant in the ever-changing field of law, well after life — and the educational experience — return to something resembling normal.

Back to School

Like every college and university, WNEU had to scramble last spring to get students learning remotely, and faculty and staff spent the summer raising their online competencies to make sure courses would be even more effective in the fall.

“Some of them were already ahead of the curve,” Setty said. “For some of us, including me, it was a lot of learning, a lot of training, a lot of mock classrooms we did with each other to build up our ability. This place is about good teaching, and that was the really important thing to drive home — that, by the time we got back in August, everyone had to continue this excellence in teaching as part of the ethos of the law school — in a hybrid format, if they had to.”

The 2020-21 year has, indeed, taken a hybrid form, with students alternating between learning remotely and in classrooms at the Blake Law Center, due to social distancing and capacity limits. “The largest classrooms normally hold more than 100, and now they’re at 40-something. So the students are rotating through,” she added. “Some students, for health reasons, can’t come at all, so they’re fully remote. That’s the way we’ve been operating.”

The law school has long been known for its use of clinics — in areas such as criminal defense, criminal prosecution, elder law, and family-law mediation — in which students blend classroom instruction with work on real cases, under the guidance of local attorneys. The vast majority of students get involved in clinics and externships, understanding the value of developing not only real-world legal knowledge, but the soft skills that will make them more employable.

Those clinics are still operating, Setty said, but they now feature a strong remote component as well.

“Lawyering these days is largely remote,” she noted. “Client counseling is remote. Witness interviews are remote. We have remote hearings in front of judges. So there’s a separate and related set of competencies that our students are learning, which deal with remote client presentation. It’s very different than what they’ve had to do before, and it has its challenges.”

However, she continued, “the flip side is that this is going to be a part of lawyering going forward. Everything’s not going back to fully in person after the pandemic fades. There are going to be some elements of remote trial work and remote client counseling, so I feel like our students are on the cutting edge of learning this stuff, so when they’re out looking for jobs, they can say, ‘not only do I have this skill set, I also have remote competencies in client representation; I’ve been a remote mediator, I’ve represented people in a criminal proceeding remotely.’ These are remarkable experiences they’re having — they’re very different, but absolutely what we need to do.”

Those graduates are entering a job market that has proven resilient during the pandemic, Setty said, noting that the contraction of law-school enrollment nationally a decade ago has gradually increased demand for talent.

“A lot of law schools were fully online for the full year, but we made a commitment and said, ‘we want to see our students in person and make this work.”

“The employment piece for the folks graduating during the pandemic, I think there’s still uncertainty around that,” she said. “But for the most part, our graduates have kept their jobs.”

The school has added some faculty members in the past two years, most recently Jennifer Taub, who specializes in white-collar crime, criminal procedures, and other business-law subjects, and authored the book Big Dirty Money: the Shocking Injustice and Unseen Cost of White Collar Crime.

“We’re on a positive swing,” Setty said. “The energy of our students, our faculty, and our staff has been terrific. Working through a pandemic requires a lot in terms of navigating the uncertainty and the need to adapt, but also all the hours it takes for faculty and staff to dig in and collectively make this work so we can have in-person education here.”

Community Focus

Setty took the reins as dean of the School of Law in 2018 after 12 years as a professor at WNEU. She first joined the faculty in 2006 as a professor of Law and associate dean for Faculty Development and Intellectual Life, and has produced notable scholarship in the areas of comparative law, rule of law, and national security.

Through her career, she has maintained that law schools are in a unique position to impact the future of a just society, and she has always seen WNEU as a place that launches the careers of thoughtful lawyers who work for the betterment of both their clients and society as a whole. The Center for Social Justice has been an important part of that philosophy over the past two years.

“I really wanted to establish this center and get it off the ground, and it has been terrific,” she said, crediting grants from MassMutual, individual law firms, and other entities to help fund its programming. “Not only is it a way to help our students and meet the social-justice mission of the law school, but it does such good work in the community. It’s great for attracting new students, but it’s also great for the work it does.”

Areas of focus have included economic justice, racial justice, and a recent effort, funded by a WNEU alum, to create an LGBTQ speaker series and support summer work in that realm for two students each year.

“It draws people in with a lot of interests,” she said of the center. “People come to law school wanting to make the world a better place, and they’re wondering how to do that — this speaks to them in a way that’s really profound.”

In fact, the law school as a whole has taken a hard look at its own efforts toward racial justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion issues, Setty said, from the coursework to how it connects with the outside community on issues like police practices.

“We have made an effort to think more about this and integrate it into our curriculum and how we engage in the larger community, but I want to do it in a sustained fashion so it’s not like, ‘oh, that was the focus for 2020; we don’t have to think about it anymore.’ The idea is to integrate it into who we are as a law school and focus on it going forward as well. It shouldn’t be a flavor-of-the-month issue, and then we move on.”

Setty is, however, more than ready to move past the pandemic and welcome students back on campus full-time, but she’s proud of what has been accomplished during the past unprecedented year.

“A lot of law schools were fully online for the full year, but we made a commitment and said, ‘we want to see our students in person and make this work,’” she told BusinessWest. “And we’ve been relatively successful. I continue to be really grateful to be the dean — particularly at a time when it’s required so much collective effort to make this happen.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

When Will Employees Come Back to the Office? And Should They?

By Joseph Bednar March 17, 2021

Employment Special Coverage

Remote Possibilities

Most of Big Y’s 11,000 employees — those who stock shelves, prepare food, work the cashier lines, and do any number of other tasks — must do their jobs on site, in a specific location. But at Big Y’s 300-employee-strong customer-support center in Springfield, which supports those frontline workers, about 70% of them have worked remotely since the start of the pandemic.

“This past year, we learned that remote work can work, and it allows for a lot of flexibility for individuals,” said Michael Galat, vice president of Employee Services at the supermarket chain. “That being said, we’re a company where we stress collaboration and teamwork, and that has definitely been a challenge at times. Meetings using technology are different than having in-person meetings. It definitely can work, but there are pros and cons to it.”

The company’s pandemic response team was quick to set up safety protocols last spring to protect the thousands of customer-facing, frontline employees, but it also set many employees up with the necessary technology to work from home, put together a best-practices guide for working remotely, and has carefully followed the public-health data to determine when to bring them back.

“As time has gone on, they’ve seen the productivity; they see that the work is getting done, customers are being served, and people are happy. Now they’re saying, ‘maybe we don’t need to have everyone in.”

One important finding? Productivity never flagged — which tracks with accounts from many other area employers over the past 12 months. Thus, many employers feel no rush to bring everyone back before the pandemic is in the rear view — and that poses a question no one expected last March: does every employee really have to come back? And what if they don’t want to?

Meredith Wise says employers run the gamut when it comes to bringing back remote workers; some are anxious to do so, while others may see value in changing their model altogether.

Most employers last March thought shutdowns would last a couple months. But a year later, millions of workers are still working from home — and the result has been a national experiment with remote work that has borne some surprising data.

“It’s striking — we’re seeing a little bit of everything,” said Meredith Wise, president of the Employers Assoc. of the NorthEast. “We have a number of companies — like manufacturers — that never shut down and had employees come in the whole time. And we have companies starting to have employees coming back on a sporadic basis — maybe not five days a week, but two or three days a week. Then others have said, ‘we aren’t even thinking about having employees back until later in the year.’”

One reason for that hesitancy is the fact that workers have not only adapted to remote work, but have, in most cases, been as productive as they were in the office. So employers are taking their time bringing them back, looking to state guidance and public-health metrics to guide decisions.

“As time has gone on, they’ve seen the productivity; they see that the work is getting done, customers are being served, and people are happy,” Wise said. “Now they’re saying, ‘maybe we don’t need to have everyone in.’”

UMassFive College Federal Credit Union is one example of that phenomenon.

“We moved about 60% of our workforce home last spring, and it continues to be that way,” said Craig Boivin, vice president of Marketing. “We’re developing plans and processes for what this will look like in the post-pandemic world, but we’re not looking to bring people back until the state says it’s safe for large groups to gather indoors.”

During the exodus from office to home last March, he recalled, “I won’t say it was chaotic, but we had to make a lot of quick decisions at the senior level to make sure everyone had the equipment and support they needed at home,” in addition to developing guidelines to ensure accountability and making sure everyone understood new (to them, anyway) communication tools like Zoom and Slack.

“We found there are some real positives with productivity and being able to shut off some of the distractions,” he went on.

Employees — especially those who have grown to appreciate working from home, and even prefer it — are thinking similar thoughts, and that may pose a problem of pushback at some companies when they try to bring their teams back in. For now, in most cases, there’s no rush, but those days won’t last forever.

National Conversation

The same story is playing out nationally, with some companies planning to remain 100% remote post-pandemic, while others — including big names like Microsoft — taking a hybrid approach, giving workers more flexibility about where they work. Other companies are clamoring to bring everyone back.

“I see a hybrid approach in the future, finding balance, again, between meeting the needs of the business and allowing people flexibility to take care of their home life.”

“It’s no longer, ‘do you offer remote work?’ but, ‘do you offer it with enough organizational support so I can be as successful as the people who work in the office?’” Andrew Hewitt, senior analyst at market research firm Forrester, told CNN recently. He expects about 60% of companies will offer a hybrid work model, while 30% of companies will be back in the office, and 10% will be fully remote.

Since last summer, Big Y’s support-center workers have been required to be on site at least one day a week, and the company continues to discuss internally what the full transition back will look like.

“Productivity has not been an issue,” Galat said. “But, with our company, the culture is a huge component of it. Collaborating and having discussions on Zoom … you can do that, but it’s not the same.”

By essentially being forced into a mode of flexibility since last March, he believes companies — including Big Y — have learned some important lessons going forward. “I see a hybrid approach in the future, finding balance, again, between meeting the needs of the business and allowing people flexibility to take care of their home life. It’s a constant discussion we’re having with the executive team about what’s working, what’s not working, and what this will look like in the future.”

The fact that the support center is not just an 8-to-5 operation, but requires coverage on nights and weekends, allows for some flexibility of schedules for workers juggling their kids’ remote learning or taking care of parents, he added. “We continue to take care of business, while allowing people the flexibility to take care of home needs as well.”

Another of the region’s largest employers, MassMutual, continues to keep a large swath of workers off campus, and is in the process of evaluating their return to the office, said Chelsea Haraty, communications consultant in Media Relations for the company.

Craig Boivin

“At a high level, we expect to have MassMutual employees return to our corporate offices in a slow, phased manner later this year,” she told BusinessWest. “We will continue to monitor and reassess that plan, factoring in a number of considerations — including guidance from medical experts and government officials, a sustained reduction in cases, broader availability of testing and vaccines, as well as our employees’ circumstances and comfort in returning.”

What employers are starting to understand, Wise said, is that employees are also weighing the pros and cons of coming back, and while some are eager, others would rather stay home, and may make that fact known.

“Employers have employees all over the spectrum — some want to get back into the office and don’t feel part of the team when they’re not. Others are saying, ‘I’m not sure I want to come back; I’m not sure about the cleaning protocols and sanitation protocols. Are people wearing masks? I’m not sure I’m comfortable in the office.’”

She noted that some companies are fine pushing those decisions into the future. “They’re saying, ‘things are going pretty smoothly; we don’t have quite as much water-cooler talk, not as much gossip going on, and people are really productive when they’re remote. We don’t have to have people come back to the office and incur the expense of coffee and bathroom supplies. Maybe we can cut some of our expenses.’”

Including some major expenses — most notably the office space itself. “Some of these companies have leases coming up in the next year, so they’re asking, ‘can I reduce my footprint? Do we need as much space as we have?’”

Back and Forth

On the other hand, Wise said, questions about workplace culture are very real. “Some companies are looking at their culture, their camaraderie, their teamwork, just the ability to walk down the hall and talk to somebody, and they want to get all their employees back in the office as soon as they can.”

She noted the importance of age-old rituals of the workplace, walking in the door at the start of the day and asking co-workers about their weekend, or their family, or whatever might be going on, whether it’s related to their jobs or not.

“How do you incorporate new personnel into the culture outside of the physical environment? That’s a big challenge.”

“When people are removed from an environment that really is a team, where you’ve gotten to know each other’s family situations and personal life, you really do lose that with a remote connection,” she said. “When people come into an office meeting, they sit down and chit-chat with the person next to them a little. It’s hard to recreate that on a Zoom meeting; you lose some of that personal connection.”

Boivin agreed. “The productivity piece seems to be working out pretty solidly now,” he told BusinessWest. “At the same time, the collaborative, in-person aspect is missed.”

One big topic of conversation is new-employee onboarding, he said, noting that orientation is conducted in person, and video communications are a regular reality, but he wonders if that’s enough to keep them engaged.

Mike Galat

“I have a new graphic designer in the Marketing department who started at the end of August. She’s been [physically] at UMassFive for just a day or two. How do you incorporate new personnel into the culture outside of the physical environment? That’s a big challenge.”

Also challenging is the way boundaries between work and personal life have blurred, whether it’s juggling job responsibilities with helping kids with remote schoolwork, or simply working too many hours.

“Productivity is up,” Wise said, “but some of it is putting in longer hours — rolling out of bed, having breakfast, and getting right to work instead of commuting, and then at 5, instead of getting in the car and driving home to fix dinner, they keep working. Something we’ve heard is that people need to build in some transition time so they don’t start working at 7 and quit at 6.”

Whatever the reason, many employees will be more than happy to return to the pre-pandemic work world.

“Now that we’re going on a year, a lot of people are saying, ‘I thought I wanted this, but I really want to be back in the office — maybe not five days a week for 52 weeks a year, but maybe in the office three days and at home two days,” she added. “A lot of employees are saying, ‘this isn’t what I thought it was going to be — I need to be back around people; I need to have boundaries by being back in the office.’”

Each industry is different, too, Wise added. For example, companies where creativity is crucial, like marketing firms, probably find it easier to brainstorm when people are together in one physical space, able to immediately bounce ideas off one another.

“I don’t think it’s a one-size-fits-all answer that’s going to fit every organization,” she said. “My guess would be a lot of manufacturers, since they have individuals on the floor who have to be at work, are going to be less likely to have their office staff remain totally remote because that creates an us-and-them mentality. But some other organizations will allow many people to stay totally remote, or there may be that hybrid of people working in the office and then from home.”

Galat agreed, adding that that he’s heard of some companies staying fully remote, but most seem to be moving toward a hybrid approach — which speaks to one way COVID-19 may have permanently altered the American workplace.

“We’ve learned a lot through the year,” he said. “We miss that component of teamwork and collaboration; not having that makes it more challenging. But I think the hybrid approach might be the approach we look at going forward. We’ll evaluate and fine-tune it as we go.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Women’s Fund, HCC Partner on Course to Develop Leaders

Special Coverage Women in Businesss

Learning to Take Charge

By Mark Morris

Only one-third of all businesses in Western Mass. are owned by women, according to a recent survey. In the healthcare sector, one of the largest employers in the region, leadership positions are held by women 41% of the time — with outliers like one hospital where it’s only 16%.

These findings are from a 2019 study commissioned by the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts titled “Status of Women and Girls in Western Massachusetts.”

To address disparities like the ones in the survey, the Women’s Fund and Holyoke Community College (HCC) have teamed up on an eight-week training program this spring for women who want to enhance their leadership skills.

Titled “Women Leaning into Leadership: Empowering Your Voice,” the course begins March 25 and runs through May 13.

According to Michele Cabral, executive director of Professional Education and Corporate Learning at HCC, the idea for the course grew out of the Women’s Leadership Luncheon Series, hosted by the college.

Until COVID-19 forced it into a virtual meeting, the college hosted the luncheon every month for the past five years. With attendance limited to 28 attendees, four women leaders would each select a topic relevant to women and leadership, then break out the attendees into four groups to discuss their particular subject. The next month, the groups would rotate so they could discuss a different topic with a different leader. Areas of discussion have included dealing with different leadership styles, the role of communication, and conflict management when you’re the only woman in the room.

When COVID hit, Cabral said they pivoted to a remote video lunch and changed the format to having one person lead the discussion and opening it to anyone who wants to join via video. A recent conversation covered how to deal with changes brought on by the pandemic. Because some women wanted to discuss some of the topics in more depth, Cabral said, developing a course was a logical next step.

Michele Cabral

“These women want to get to know themselves better, to identify what skills they need to focus on and promote their strengths. They were looking for a more structured program to help guide them through that process.”

“These women want to get to know themselves better, to identify what skills they need to focus on and promote their strengths,” she explained. “They were looking for a more structured program to help guide them through that process.”

A few years back, Monica Borgatti attended the Women’s Leadership Luncheons at HCC. As chief operating officer for the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, she especially liked the cohort-style of learning (a collaborative approach in which individuals advance together in an education program) that took place at the events.

“The cohort model works well in this type of learning situation because people start to feel comfortable with each other, and they are more willing to be vulnerable as they share and learn together,” she said.

The luncheon reminded her of a program the Women’s Fund used to run known as the Leadership Institute for Political and Public Impact (LIPPI). While it had some success, Borgatti and her colleagues thought the program suffered from trying to be all things to all women and fell short in that effort. After compiling feedback from women who had gone through LIPPI, the Women’s Fund put the program on hold.

“LIPPI grads gave the program its highest marks in the cohort learning approach,” she recalled. The graduates also cited networking opportunities and making connections as solid benefits from the program.

After wrapping up LIPPI, Borgatti explained, the Women’s Fund’s emphasis shifted from creating and running programs to identifying leadership programs it could adapt for this area, as well as support for existing programs.

“When I learned HCC was developing a more in-depth leadership program, I thought it was worth exploring to see if there might be a partnership opportunity for the Women’s Fund,” she said.

Engaged in Equity

The course is targeted to women in mid-career, especially those who are emerging as leaders in their careers and the community. As part of its partnership, the Women’s Fund is offering sponsorships of up to $650 to defray the $799 tuition cost.

“The Women’s Fund is contributing in such a meaningful way. With their sponsorships, HCC is able to bring this program to people who would not have access otherwise,” Cabral said, adding that many employers do not reimburse the cost of training, so these sponsorships make the course more accessible for women who struggle to pay for self-development.

“HCC provides the education, the Women’s Fund provides the sponsorship, and together, we bring our common mission out to the community,” she noted.

Borgatti said taking part in the course was an easy call because it allows her organization to reach women who are seeking personal and professional development. “We want to see more women in leadership positions across our region, so we’re proud to partner with HCC to help more women become effective leaders.”

While the goals of the Women’s Fund address gender equity and gender justice, Borgatti also made it clear that her organization also strives to improve racial equity and racial justice.

“We know that women are not in leadership roles as much as men, and there are even fewer women of color in leadership positions,” she said, noting that the HCC course is one way to support the current and future leaders of color in the community.

“HCC provides the education, the Women’s Fund provides the sponsorship, and together, we bring our common mission out to the community.”

Borgatti added that her organization became involved to make sure affordability would not prevent anyone from taking the course. “We want to encourage more women of color in programs like this, and we want to make sure it’s financially accessible for all women.”

Cabral noted several highlights of the course, such as assessing communication styles and techniques, as well as working with each woman to develop a professional roadmap to help her reach her potential. Each program participant will also receive 30 minutes of private, one-on-one coaching from Annie Shibata, owner of Growth Mindset Leadership and Communication Coaching in Cincinnati, who will coach each student via video link.

“Incorporating one-on-one coaching elevates the course to a higher level of really personalizing the experience for each individual,” Cabral said.

One of the main reasons the Women’s Fund got involved was to encourage more representation of women in leadership. Borgatti hopes women who take the course emerge more confident in their skills and abilities to step into all sorts of leadership roles.

“We want to see more women CEOs, more women chiefs of police, more women judges,” she said. “Unless we support women being able to access these opportunities, we’re not going to see real change.”

At the end of the day, Cabral said, she and Borgatti share a common mission: to elevate the skills of women who are willing to put in the work. “We want to make sure those skills are here in Western Mass., and they stay in Western Mass.”

West Side Story Is One of Continued Progress

By George O'Brien March 17, 2021

Community Spotlight

Tyler Saremi sees potential in West Springfield’s downtown, and is taking steps to inject some economic vibrancy.

When Tyler Saremi looks at what is considered downtown West Springfield — the Elm Street/Park Street area — he doesn’t see Northampton or West Hartford.

But he can easily imagine a day when that section of this city that still calls itself a town can attain something approaching a level of vibrancy and an eclectic mix of businesses, especially those in the hospitality sector, that define those communities.

And he’s doing his best to bring that day closer. Indeed, the multi-faceted business run by his family that he serves as vice president, Saremi LLP, acquired 95 Elm St. — known to most as the United Bank building because it was the main tenant for many years — with the goal of … well, turning back the clock in many respects.

The century-old building has, over the decades, been home to cafés, restaurants, a grocery store, banks, and other types of retail, said Saremi, adding that it has always been a destination, and the broad goal with this project is to make it one again. Thus, it has been rebranded as Town Common.

Already, Tandem Bagel, the Hadley-based company with locations there and also in Easthampton and Northampton, will soon occupy space where bank-teller windows have stood on the first floor; the target date for opening is July. Meanwhile, at the other end of the first floor, Saremi pointed to the place where intends to put a restaurant. He said two other leases have been signed, and several more are pending.

“People are just really excited to be part of bringing downtown West Springfield back,” he said. “Our main intention is a café and a restaurant on the first floor; whether we have to open a restaurant ourselves or partner with someone, we don’t care. That’s part of our commitment to West Springfield — it needs a café, and it needs a restaurant, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

“It’s going to be a tough year, but there are reasons for optimism — we see things opening back up.”

The redevelopment of 95 Elm St. is just one of the intriguing stories unfolding in West Springfield, a community that is, like many others, trying to rebound from a pandemic that has taken a huge toll on hospitality-related businesses. And West Side, as it’s called, has many of them, said Mayor Will Reichelt, who counted 20 hotels and motels and a number of restaurants in his community.

But the biggest business in that sector, obviously, is the Big E, which is responsible for filling many those hotels, motels, and restaurants, not just during the 17 days of the annual fair, but almost year-round, as that venue hosts a number of shows centered on everything from horses to toy railroads; dogs to guns and knives.

The Big E has been mostly empty and silent since the pandemic arrived a year ago, and while the outlook for 2021 is more promising, there remains a huge number of unknows, especially with regard to the fair, a situation that Big E President and CEO Gene Cassidy summed up this way:

“It’s like you’re navigating your way down a dark alleyway; you don’t know what’s in front of you — if there’s suddenly going to be a crack in the pavement or if you’re going to walk into a dumpster,” he said, using that phrase to indicate how difficult it is to plan when the rules keep changing, often without much, if any, notice. “Our goal, simply, is to plan to produce a product that people are going to enjoy.”

Cassidy is quite confident there will be a Big E this September — he just doesn’t how many people will be allowed to attend. He doesn’t think it will be full capacity, as in 100,000 people on a weekend day, as in fairs past. Instead, he’s expecting some percentage of that number, which won’t be ideal, but certainly better than last year.

And while most of his energy and attention is still focused on this year’s fair, he said he’s spending a good amount of time lobbying officials to understand the importance of fairs and live events in general, and to help ensure the long-term survival of such institutions, something he believes is now imperiled.

Overall, though, he’s optimistic about the rest of 2021.

Gene Cassidy says a sparsely attended Big E is better than none at all, and he’s moving forward with planning after having to cancel the 2020 fair.

“It’s going to be a tough year, but there are reasons for optimism — we see things opening back up,” he said, noting that various expert projections of herd immunity by fall or even sooner are encouraging, even as innumerable challenges and question marks loom.

For this, the latest installment in its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest takes a hard look at West Side and its efforts to become even more of a destination, even as its business community continues to battle COVID-19 and all the challenges it has brought.

Road to Progress

Reichelt, now wrapping up his second term in office, with plans to seek a third, said he can’t find too many silver linings from the pandemic and all the havoc it caused in 2020.

But he can find at least one — acceleration of the process to replace the Morgan-Sullivan Bridge, which connects his city with Agawam. The bridge project, which commenced two years ago, has to pause during the 17-day run of the Big E, he explained, adding that work actually comes to a halt for three weeks or more because of logistical concerns.

Obviously, that didn’t happen in 2020, he went on, adding that a project that was due to be completed this summer will now be done by spring.

“The work is way ahead of schedule,” he said. “Without the Big E, they probably gained a month of working time, and that will certainly help out on the back end.”

The broad mission moving forward is to get more people to travel over that bridge and other thoroughfares into West Side, said Reichelt, adding that the city has always considered itself at the crossroads of this region — I-91 and the turnpike connect there, and Route 5 runs through it as well. This location has long been a huge asset, one that paved the way, if you will, for major retailers and car dealers alike to populate Riverdale Street and Memorial Avenue. It has also brought visitors to the community not only for the Big E and shows on its grounds, but for myriad other tourism- and business-related functions, from leaf peeping to the semiannual EASTEC trade show.

The ongoing goal is to continually take advantage of this asset, build on the foundation that’s been laid, and try to spread the vibrancy to other areas of the city.

Which brings us back to Elm Street, Town Common, and the huge ‘Under New Management’ banner now adorning it.

As he gave BusinessWest a tour, Saremi pointed out the spot where Tandem Bagel would go, then did the same with the restaurant. Venturing to the second floor, much of which is now occupied by Saremi LLP, he showed where a number of smaller spaces, individual offices, and even co-working space might be carved out.

“We want to make it more walkable, more friendly, and more inviting so we can complement the business investment that’s happening there.”

Later, he pointed out one of the huge windows to the traffic — specifically, the juncture of Route 20 and Elm Street.

“This intersection has so much traffic … we need to get people to stop here in downtown West Side, get out, walk around, go to some shops, get something to eat — that’s how I see it,” he noted, adding that there are already some attractions there, including the Celery Stalk restaurant, a legendary luncheon stop; as well as bNapoli restaurant and the Majestic Theater. The broad goal is to build on that critical mass, he said, noting that clusters of eateries and entertainment venues have been the formula for success in Northampton, West Hartford, and other communities.

Reichelt concurred, and told BusinessWest the city is always striving to build on its already-impressive portfolio of retail- and hospitality-related businesses — and also fill in some spots that are less vibrant than others.

Mayor Will Reichelt says initiatives like a new economic recovery director and a series of infrastructure plans will help keep West Springfield on the right track.

As an example, he pointed to Riverdale Street, which actually has two distinct sections, if you will. There’s the one south of I-91, which is thriving and always has, said the mayor, who worked at the Donut Dip on that throughfare in his youth and thus speaks from experience. Then there’s the stretch north of the highway, which, while still vibrant by most measures, has some vacancies and, in general, is underperforming.

Reichelt said the city will look to help address this situation, and other business and economic-development issues in the city, through the hiring, at least on a temporary basis, of what’s being called an ‘economic recovery director.’

“The goal with this new position is to build better business relationships in the community, help with business retention, and focus on some of the underutilized areas, like the north-of-91 section of Riverdale,” he explained.

Already, there are signs of progress, he said, noting the reopened White Hut, the expansion of Calabrese Market on Park Street, and the sale of the former Hofbrahaus property to the owner of the Hangar Pub and Grill and growing ‘Wings Over’ stable of restaurants, among other positive developments.

“The common citizen wants their life to return to normal,” he said. “So I think people will come out … they will come back to fair.”

Meanwhile, a number of infrastructure plans now in place are designed to improve traffic flow and, ultimately, promote more vibrancy in the city. First up is Park Street, he said, adding that it is being repaved and steps are being taken to taken to make the commons more accessible and safer to use. Those plans include what the mayor called a mile-long loop or walking and biking trail around the green space.

Elm Street will follow, he went on, adding that this will be a multi-faceted initiative designed to beautify the area, add more parking, redesign the intersection of Elm Street and Route 20, and allow people to make more and better use of the green space there.

“We want to make it more walkable, more friendly, and more inviting so we can complement the business investment that’s happening there,” he told BusinessWest, adding that this project is in the design phase and should commence in 2022. Likewise, a huge, $25 million project to improve traffic flow on Memorial Avenue will take place that same year.

Fair Assessment

Sitting in the large conference room in the Big E’s administration building, Cassidy reflected on what has been an ultra-challenging 12 months for this regional institution — and what lies ahead, to the extent that he could, obviously.

He said every aspect of this enterprise — from the annual fall fair to the year-round shows that draw visitors from across the Northeast, to the restaurant on the grounds, Storrowton Tavern — have been deeply impacted by the pandemic.

And the hurt is still being felt. The shows slated for weekends in January and February were all canceled, he said, with some, including the huge Western Mass. Home & Garden Show, moved back on the calendar, in this case to August.

The Big E has received some support — nearly $1 million in the first round of PPP, with an application in for the second round of funding. There have been some cutbacks — the workforce has been trimmed from 30 full-time employees to 25 — and those who are left have found themselves with … let’s call them broadened job descriptions.

“Those of us who are still here have had to do jobs we’ve never had to before,” he noted, adding that such tasks include everything from directing traffic for the few events that have been staged to making sure the buildings on the grounds are secure. “Everyone has had to pitch in.”

West Springfield at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1774
Population: 28,529
Area: 17.5 square miles
County: Hampden
Residential Tax Rate: $16.90
Commercial Tax Rate: $32.49
Median Household Income: $40,266
Median Family Income: $50,282
Type of Government: Mayor, City Council
Largest Employers: Eversource Energy, Harris Corp., Home Depot, Interim Health Care, Mercy Home Care
* Latest information available

As for the last three quarters of 2021, Cassidy said there are certainly some signs of optimism with his industry. For example, the Canadian government recently gave the green light for the popular Calgary Stampede to take place in June. Meanwhile, the Pasco County Fair in Florida was recently staged, albeit with a number of restrictions and safety precautions in place.

Cassidy took it in while on a trip to Tampa for ‘Florida Week’ and a number of trade association meetings that were staged in-person, which is significant in and of itself, he noted, adding that the main topic of conversation, obviously, was how to stage events safely.

“Interestingly, at the Pasco County Fair, we were there on a Tuesday night, it was chilly, but the fair manager indicated that attendance actually exceeded what it was last year, and he attributed that to the fact that people want to get out,” he recalled. “They want to resume ‘normal,’ and that’s in a state where businesses have been open and Main Street is open.”

But while he can look ahead and try to plan, there are too many question marks to do the latter with any amount of efficacy. These question marks surround everything from what the attendance restrictions will be to whether — and under what conditions — the state buildings can open, to whether individuals and families will be willing to come back out and be part of a mass gathering on the midway or one of the concert venues.

The major consideration is what will be permitted for attendance, said Cassidy, adding that it’s a simple but troubling fact that the costs of operating the fair will be roughly the same whether it’s at full capacity, 50%, or some other number. But the bottom line is that a smaller fair, attendance-wise, is certainly preferable to no fair at all.

“It costs the same to produce the fair for 1.6 million people as it does to produce the fair for one,” he said. “Our staff is preparing a conventional Big E and will try to deliver the product we’re known for.”

Cassidy believes that, as he saw in Florida, there will a significant amount of pent-up demand and that people will want to return to the fairgrounds.

“The common citizen wants their life to return to normal,” he said. “So I think people will come out … they will come back to fair.”

Reichelt agreed, and said the return of the fair this fall, even a smaller fair, will help the region’s economy and, specifically, many of those hospitality-related businesses that have been deeply impacted by the pandemic.

“Having it happen will be good, not only for the Big E, but for the region to bring back that sense of normalcy,” he noted. “And it will be helpful for businesses in the area as they start to recover from all this.”

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

40 Under Forty Judges

40 Under 40 Class of 2021

Meet This Year’s 40 Under Forty Judges

Nominations for the 15th annual celebration have closed, and the judges are hard at work evaluating 170 unique nominations — close to a record, and an indication that the pandemic has not slowed this program’s energy or importance to the region.

Napatree Capital Brings ‘Value Investing’ to Western Mass.

Banking and Financial Services

Taking the Long View

By Mark Morris

Matt Landon and Jeff Liguori saw an opportunity for Napatree Capital to better serve Western Mass. out of its new location in Longmeadow.

In a co-working office space at the historic Brewer-Young mansion, Jeff Liguori and Matt Landon help people build their financial futures.

Liguori, founder and chief investment officer of Napatree Capital in Providence, R.I., relocated to Western Mass. in 2015 and began to sense increasing demand for his firm’s services in this area. In January, he hired longtime acquaintance and Western Mass. native Landon as a partner in the firm. Together, they discussed opening a local office, and on Feb. 1, Napatree Capital opened its five-person firm in the restored mansion in Longmeadow’s center.

While Napatree could have served clients here from Providence, Liguori and Landon both thought it was important to have a physical presence in Western Mass.

“It was serendipity that there was one opening left in the Brewer-Young mansion,” Landon said. “We felt this iconic and different building fit with our image, so we jumped on the opportunity to locate there.”

Liguori, who grew up in Westerly, R.I., named his firm after Napatree Point in Watch Hill.

“Our investment committee is skilled at finding temporarily undervalued, underloved, and underappreciated companies that are selling at a discount. But we feel they’ll get the recognition they deserve in the near- or medium-term horizon.”

“It’s a beautiful stretch of beach where I’ve spent many summers,” he said. “As the southwesternmost point of Rhode Island, it separates Block Island Sound from Long Island Sound, so it really splits Rhode Island from New York.”

Because he liked the symbolism of its location and the relative obscurity of the name, he sought copyrights for several variations of the Napatree name in anticipation of one day starting his own firm. “Very few people have heard of it; even many Rhode Islanders don’t know Napatree Point.”

Liguori explained that his firm specializes in two areas: working with private investors looking to reach long-term financial goals, and managing endowments for nonprofits, which he called a growing area of business.

The firm’s business philosophy starts with ‘value investments,’ which Liguori says has to do with how a stock measures up against its industry or sector. The firm has had success taking a contrarian approach by investing in companies that are currently under the radar and might be underpriced by the market.

“Our investment committee is skilled at finding temporarily undervalued, underloved, and underappreciated companies that are selling at a discount,” Landon explained. “But we feel they’ll get the recognition they deserve in the near- or medium-term horizon.”

Landon also made it clear that Napatree takes the long view toward investing. “We’re not traders; we are long-term owners of companies.”

All advisors at Napatree are fiduciaries, meaning they can only recommend investments that are in the client’s best interest. By contrast, financial advisors who are not fiduciaries are held to a much more lenient ‘suitability’ standard. For example, two index funds based on stocks listed in the Standard and Poor’s 500 may seem similar on the surface. If one fund charges high fees and the other low fees, they are technically both suitable investments. A fiduciary, however, is required to recommend the fund with the lower fee because it is better for the client. Landon pointed out that he enjoys sticking with a fiduciary approach.

“It makes doing business very simple when you operate from a fiduciary standard,” he explained. “If you do what’s in the client’s best interest all the time, it’s an easy path to follow, and everyone wins.”

Upward Projections

Liguori pointed out that growth in his business comes in two ways: investment performance and taking on new clients. When the world came to a halt last March, however, meeting with potential new clients became extremely difficult. As advisors and investors, Liguori and his colleagues listened to the concerns of panicked clients, while at the same time they continued to research and act on investment strategies.

“We are also business owners worried about our business,” Liguori said. “We saw assets evaporate, so that meant our fees went down 30%.” Digging in and working harder was a key to getting through the trying times, he added. “As the founder of the firm, and on a personal level, I couldn’t be more grateful for where we are now after what we went through last March.”

Landon added that the pandemic strengthened client relationships as communication became more important and frequent, especially for clients whose industries were hit hard by coronavirus. While there are clear challenges and roadblocks ahead, the market horizon looks further out and toward more recovery.

“We try to reinforce to our clients that better earnings and brighter days are ahead, along with being empathetic to where they are right now,” Landon said.

After a slowdown at the beginning of COVID, Napatree saw a big uptick in the fourth quarter of last year. Liguori said that set the table for projected 20% growth in 2021.

“The last 12 months have been similar to a full market cycle, something that usually takes place over a five-year time period,” he said. “Clients who were full-on panicked in the beginning and were able to stay invested are now reaping the rewards of their patience.”

He admitted that even clients who have stayed invested are still anxious about the future. Most concerns are ones that existed long before COVID-19. In addition to parents who worry about saving enough for their children’s college education, the number-one concern Landon hears involves retirement.

“About 80% to 90% of the people we talk to have not been trained in investing; they would rather be gardening or hiking. So, if we can help put them at ease and feel good about the path they are on, it’s enormously rewarding.”

“People often ask if they will have enough to retire comfortably and live with dignity,” he said, noting that, because people are living longer, financial planning for retirement now involves making sure people have money for up to three decades after they retire.

Recent findings prove the point. Data from the CDC shows the average life expectancy for everyone born in the U.S. to be 78.9 years, but when calculating life expectancy after reaching age 65, it’s a different story. According to 2018 findings from the Society of Actuaries, there’s a 50% chance that a 65-year-old male lives to age 87, and that a 65-year-old female lives to age 89. For couples at age 65, there is a 50% chance at least one of them will live to age 93, and a 25% chance one will live to 98.

Disruptive events, like pandemics, can create the kind of fear and anxiety in people that lead to bad decision making in their efforts to reach long-term savings goals such as college and retirement.

Liguori said behavioral investing, whether it’s driven by fear or greed, usually leads to dangerous outcomes. His firm looks to avoid the herd mentality that can happen during volatile markets and instead focus on the client’s long-term objectives. He noted the GameStop stock bubble as an example that may look good in the near term, but the usual outcome for a small investor in events like this is disaster. Napatree’s philosophy, Landon added, is the exact opposite of chasing bubbles.

“We want to buy compelling long-term businesses that are selling at a discount right now because we’ve researched the likelihood they will be going up, not down,” he explained, adding that, when Napatree recommends a company to a client, the firm also own it.

“When we believe in an investment, it’s where we are putting our own money as well,” he said. “We think it’s important to show that we invest in the same companies as our clients.”

Another part of Napatree’s business involves helping small and medium-sized companies manage their employee 401(k) programs. Landon said the firm works with a couple dozen businesses to make sure programs are designed well and priced fairly, and that employees feel confident about participating in the plan.

“About 80% to 90% of the people we talk to have not been trained in investing; they would rather be gardening or hiking,” he added. “So, if we can help put them at ease and feel good about the path they are on, it’s enormously rewarding.”

Bottom Line

Landon said he and his colleagues love to meet with people to dissect their financial situations, and if it leads to someone being a client, that’s even better.

“We’re excited to be here in Western Mass. to expand the Napatree footprint,” he told BusinessWest. “We look forward to helping a lot of people and doing good things in the community.”

How This Strategy Can Help You Reduce Your Tax Bill

Banking and Financial Services

Tax-loss Harvesting

By Gabe Jacobson

Tax-loss harvesting is the selling of stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and other securities at a loss with the goal of reducing taxes on other short- and long-term capital gains.

Does It Apply to Me?

Minimizing taxes is an important goal for investors, and tax-loss harvesting is a useful strategy for reducing your total tax bill. If you sell stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), or mutual funds for a gain this year in a taxable, non-retirement, investment account, you may want to utilize tax loss harvesting to reduce potential taxes on any capital gains generated by those sales.

Tax-loss harvesting applies to investments of all sizes, so whether you have $5,000 or $5 million in your portfolio, you can still benefit from tax-loss harvesting.

Full-service financial advisors usually perform tax-loss harvesting as a part of their service and will coordinate with your tax advisor, but robo-advisors are beginning to offer this service for additional fees. These fees may not make sense given your situation, so consult your tax advisor if you are uncertain. Even in a rising stock market, some individual stocks or sectors may decline in price, giving an opportunity for tax-loss harvesting, which can be done at the end of the year but may be more effective during periods of volatility throughout the year.

You may want to consult your tax advisor about tax-loss harvesting if you have a self-service brokerage account. Pay special attention to tax-loss harvesting if you bought and sold securities within the same year because your capital-gains tax will be much higher than if you held the investments for over one year.

How Does It Work?

Tax-loss harvesting is also known as tax-loss selling because it involves selling securities at a loss, generating capital losses. This seems counter-intuitive. After all, most people buy securities hoping that the price per share will increase over time, allowing them to earn capital gains when they sell. These capital gains, like all other sources of income, come with a tax bill attached.

“Tax-loss harvesting works because capital losses are subtracted from capital gains when you file your tax return, so you pay taxes only on the gains in excess of losses.”

Tax-loss harvesting works because capital losses are subtracted from capital gains when you file your tax return, so you pay taxes only on the gains in excess of losses. However, capital gains and losses are grouped into two buckets based on how long the investments were held for.

Capital gains on securities sold more than one year after the purchase date are considered long-term and are taxed at lower rates. In 2020, the long-term capital gains rates range from 0% to 20%, depending on income levels; most people will fall in the 15% range.

However, if securities are sold within a year of the purchase date, the gains are considered short-term and are taxed at the same rate as wages or business income, which in 2020 range from 10% to 37%. These two buckets cannot be mixed, so you cannot reduce your short-term capital gains by long-term capital losses or vice versa.

Sure, it’s nice to mitigate your tax liability, but wouldn’t you lose more money selling your investments for a loss than you save in taxes? Why not just wait for those prices to bounce back and sell for a gain, assuming you expect the investment’s price to eventually recover? The price may recover down the line, but the tax bill associated with any capital gains generated this year cannot be avoided unless a loss is generated in the same year.

The solution is purchasing a similar asset shortly after selling for a loss. This way, you ‘harvest’ the capital loss for tax purposes while making little actual change to your investment portfolio. The IRS instructs that you must wait at least 30 days before purchasing another asset that is “substantially identical” to the asset sold for a loss, but there are enough similar assets available to allow immediate reinvestment in most situations.

An Example to Clarify

Here is a hypothetical example using common investments: the S&P 500 large-company index and Russell 2000 small-company index tracking ETFs (the prices are fictionalized for ease of understanding, but the ETFs are real and can be purchased through most brokerages).

In this example, in your brokerage account, you purchased 10 shares of iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) on Jan. 1, 2021 for $100 per share, for a $1,000 total investment. On the same date, you also purchased 10 shares of the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) for $200 per share, or a $2,000 investment. By Nov. 1, 2021 the price of IVV (the large-company index) has doubled to $200 per share, and you decide to sell five of your 10 shares, generating $1,000 in short-term capital gains.

However, you do not want to pay income taxes on an additional $1,000 on top of your regular wages. You notice that the small company index IWM’s price has dropped to $100 per share, so you lost $1,000 on that investment. You do not want to sell at a loss, but then you realize that, if you sell all 10 shares of IWM, you can generate a short-term capital loss of $1,000 which will completely mitigate the short-term gains from your sale of five shares of IVV when you file your income tax return.

You sell all 10 shares of IMW, but you still want to invest in small-company stocks. You immediately purchase $1,000 worth of shares in iShares MSCI small-cap index fund SMLF with the cash received from the sale of IWM. This fund gives you similar exposure to the Russell 2000 small-company index fund (IWM) you just sold without tracking the same index, meaning the IRS will not consider the two funds “substantially identical,” so you can purchase it before the 30 days are up. At this point, you have effectively received $1,000 in capital gains without generating any taxable gains, and you have maintained your portfolio allocations.

Note that, if you had purchased IVV more than a year before you sold it on Nov. 1, 2021, the gain would be classified as long-term, so the short-term loss generated on the sale of IMW would not offset this gain. Speak to your tax advisor regarding capital-loss carry-forwards, as capital losses not used to offset gains in one year can be applied to future tax years.

Gabe Jacobson is an associate at the Holyoke-based accounting firm Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C.; (413) 536-8510.

What Authority Do Municipalities Have with Cannabis License Seekers?

Law

MREs and HCAs

By Mary-Lou Rup

Under Massachusetts’ recreational-marijuana statute, those seeking to operate a marijuana retail establishment (MRE) must obtain a license to operate from the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC). Municipalities exercise local control over MRE applicants through ordinances or bylaws setting ‘reasonable’ controls on the time, place, and manner of operations and limiting the number of MREs within their borders.

During the first step of the licensing process, MRE applicants must obtain approval from the municipality, and the municipality and applicant execute a host-community agreement (HCA), which sets forth the conditions under which the MRE can operate. During the second step, the CCC determines to which approved applicants it will issue licenses, which in part requires a one-page certification that the applicant and municipality have executed an HCA.

Municipalities may require that MREs pay a ‘community impact fee,’ statutorily capped at 3% of the MRE’s gross sales for five years, to cover a variety of actual costs to the municipality reasonably related to the MRE’s operations.

“An appeal now pending in the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) may resolve issues related to the degree to which municipalities exercise control over which applicants move on to the second step.”

In HCAs, many municipalities require additional payments by the MREs, often based on an additional percentage of gross sales and/or charitable donations to entities selected by the municipality. These additional costs have, for the most part, gone unchallenged by MRE applicants anxious to obtain the HCA necessary in order to be licensed to operate.

An appeal now pending in the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) may resolve issues related to the degree to which municipalities exercise control over which applicants move on to the second step. The case involves Mederi Inc., which sought to operate one of five MREs permitted by the city of Salem. Mederi received the necessary special permit and alleges it met all other requirements of the city’s application process. A city committee reviewed the applications before entering HCAs with four applicants; Mederi was not among them and sued. Dismissal of that suit lead to Mederi’s appeal.

Two arguments made by Mederi are of interest. Mederi challenges the city’s authority to select with which qualified applicants it would enter HCAs, effectively controlling those which the CCC could then consider for licensing. Mederi also argues that the city exceeded its lawful authority by, among other actions, imposing as a condition of its HCA fees in excess of the 3% community-impact fee. Specifically, the city required five annual payments of 1% of gross sales to a ‘traffic-enhancement fund’ and at least $25,000 in charitable contributions to local causes.

Mederi posits that allowing municipalities to utilize these ‘pay-to-play’ provisions and to pre-select which qualified applicants it will allow to advance to the CCC adversely impacts the statute’s provisions giving priority to economic-empowerment applicants — provisions intended to assist areas of disproportionate impact disadvantaged by high rates of criminal activity involving marijuana.

In opposition, the city argues that it could properly decide with which applicants to enter into HCAs. It asserts that the local-control step of the MRE-licensing process allows municipalities to weigh competing proposals and exercise discretion in choosing the most suitable applicants. The city argues that its selected applicants were the “strongest possible operators” based on experience in the marijuana industry and intent to operate in the “least impactful locations” in Salem.

The CCC filed an amicus brief in the case. Pointing to competing legislative mandates, it asserted that, while the statute does not authorize it to regulate or participate in the initial local-control portion of the licensing process, the statute also requires that it give MRE licensing priority to existent medical-marijuana treatment centers and economic-empowerment applicants.

It noted that municipalities’ exclusive control of the HCA process seemed to advantage more experienced and better-resourced applicants, leaving economic-empowerment applicants at a competitive disadvantage, and, in effect, controlled those whose license applications the CCC is able to consider. The CCC has recommended amendments to the statute, addressing, among other matters, this issue and the additional fees imposed in HCAs. Its recommendations are presently under consideration in the legislature.

Stay tuned. The SJC heard arguments on Feb. 3 and, under its usual 130-day timeline, may be expected to issue its decision by early summer.

Mary-Lou Rup served as associate justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court until her retirement in 2018, when she joined the litigation group of Bulkley Richardson as senior counsel.

How to Avoid Those Family Fights Over Grandma’s Tchotchkes

Law

Knick-knack Knockouts

By Valerie Vignaux, Esq.

The most prolonged and venomous arguments I’ve witnessed in my estate-administration practice have not been over money. In my experience, the highest level of emotional warfare is reserved for tangible, personal property, or the ‘stuff’ that mom and dad, or grandma and grandpa, leave behind in the house.

The $7 porcelain ballerina that sat on the mantel for 50 years, the carbon-steel chef’s knife in the kitchen, costume jewelry, a crocheted Kleenex holder, photo albums, even the washing machine, if you can believe it — these are the objects that can send otherwise well-behaved, loving, and gentle family members to opposite corners of the boxing ring to steel themselves for a fight. And fight they do.

“Not me, and not my family,” we all say. But it can happen to the best of us, and the conflict has the potential to do serious damage to a family already grieving the loss of a loved one. Adult siblings revert to traits and behaviors not exhibited since ages 6 to 12. Beloved in-laws who were once an integral part of the family are now interlopers who deserve nothing. And only after mom is gone do we learn that she seems to have promised her cuckoo clock to all four of her children. (Pro tip: none of you should take the cuckoo clock. Your own families will thank you for letting that one go.)

How do we prevent such consternation at a time when we should be coming together in our shared sadness? A list. A simple, old-fashioned list. I call such a list a will memorandum, and Massachusetts General Laws recognizes such a “separate writing identifying [the] devise of certain types of tangible property.”

One of the most appealing aspects of the will memorandum is that this list can be updated, changed, thrown out, and begun anew at any time, without having to change the will itself. In fact, a properly written and executed last will and testament document typically provides that the author (the testator or testatrix) may leave such a memo, listing specific items for specific people.

“The most prolonged and venomous arguments I’ve witnessed in my estate-administration practice have not been over money.”

For any object of significant monetary value — jewelry, works of art, vehicles, and rare books are all such examples — I recommend providing for distribution directly in the will or trust document, as opposed to a separate memorandum. Similarly, a will memorandum is not an appropriate place to include gifts of money or real estate. But for all those personal belongings that have more emotional than dollar value, such a list is perfect.

Some of my clients have also placed notes on the backs or bottoms of objects around the house, stating who is to receive it upon the client’s death. This works, but I prefer a list that is dated and signed and kept with the client’s copy of his or her will. It is helpful, too, if I, as the client’s estate-planning attorney, have a copy in my file.

How does one start writing a will memorandum? Ask your family members what they want. Understandably, many people are not eager to have these conversations, but it is a gift to those you leave behind to prepare for your passing, and a gift to prevent discord in the family.

Want to achieve the next level of preparedness? Start giving possessions away before you die. If you know that your niece would enjoy your bamboo fishing pole, give it to her now so you can see her smile, hear her thank you, and forestall any arguments about it later. Further, giving away some of your possessions now will reduce the burden on those you leave behind to clean out your residence.

Take a look around your home. Is there decluttering that could be done now? (For almost all of us, the answer is assuredly yes). Start making a list of items that you can part with now, and ask your family and friends if they’re interested in any of them. By starting the process during your life, you are lessening the burden you might otherwise leave your loved ones.

‘But I’m only 40 (or 50 or 60),” you say. You’re not too young to start. Do yourself and your family members a favor and start making that list. Every one of us has at least a few things that would be meaningful to another. If you don’t have children, consider your siblings, nieces, nephews, and friends.

One last thing: although it can feel like tempting fate, please be assured that making a will memorandum (or having a will prepared, for that matter) will not cause your death. It will not court the agents of your demise. It will be an exercise of control over the uncontrollable. It will actually make you feel better, not worse. And it will make things markedly easier for those loved ones you leave behind.

Valerie Vignaux is an attorney with Bacon Wilson, P.C., and a member of the firm’s estate-planning and elder-law team. She assists clients with all manner of estate planning and administration, including probate, and provides representation for guardianship and conservatorship matters. She received the Partner in Care Award from Linda Manor in 2017 and served on the board of directors for Highland Valley Elder Services; (413) 584-1287; [email protected]

What Are Employers Really Getting with These Documents?

Law

Non-competition Agreements

By Timothy M. Netkovick, Esq.

Everyone is aware of the honeymoon phase of the employment relationship — that time period when the employee begins work and both parties are filled with high expectations for the relationship.

Possibly, prior to beginning the relationship, an employer has the employee sign a non-competition agreement as a sort of prenuptial agreement, hoping to never have to use it. However, fast-forward a few years, the employment relationship goes sour, and the employee leaves the company. Not only does the employee leave the company, but they also begin soliciting clients, or maybe even fellow employees, to join them at their new place of employment.

As employers are aware, Massachusetts enacted the Noncompetition Agreement Act in 2018. Prior to the act, there was little restriction on the contents of a non-competition agreement other than what terms would be enforced by a court in the event of a dispute. That changed with the provisions of the act. Now, in the scenario above, if the employer sought to enforce the non-competition agreement, it would need to pay the former employee not to work during the competition period.

This is because the act mandates that, to be enforceable, a non-competition agreement must contain a ‘garden-leave clause,’ defined as 50% of the employee’s highest annualized salary within the two years preceding termination.

“While the Noncompetition Agreement Act requires employers to pay former employees not to work, there may be other options available to employers.”

Employers therefore must answer the question: what do I really want with a non-competition agreement? Is it to stop the former employee from working? Or is the goal to maintain the status of my business? If the goal is to maintain the status of the business, employers may be able to utilize non-solicitation and non-disclosure agreements, which can protect the former employer’s interests while also allowing the former employee to work.

Both such agreements are excluded from the definition of ‘non-competition agreement’ by the act, meaning they do not need to include garden-leave clauses.

A non-solicitation agreement does not prohibit a former employee from working for a competitor when the employment relationship ends. Instead, it serves to prohibit the former employee from soliciting clients and other employees of the former employer to join them at their new place of employment. A non-solicitation agreement can therefore be an effective tool in preserving the current status of the business by prohibiting a former employee from taking clients and other employees with them to their new place of employment.

A non-disclosure agreement also does not prohibit a former employee from working for a competitor when the employment relationship ends. Nor does it prohibit the former employee from soliciting clients and other employees from joining them at their new place of employment. Instead, it serves to prohibit the former employee from disclosing any confidential information from the former employer. The confidential information protected could be a trade secret or other highly sensitive material.

In short, while the Noncompetition Agreement Act requires employers to pay former employees not to work, there may be other options available to employers. It is therefore wise to consult with employment counsel to review your potential options to protect your business interests after the employment relationship has ended. u

Timothy M. Netkovick, Esq. is a litigation attorney who specializes in labor and employment-law matters at the Royal Law Firm LLP, a woman-owned, women-managed corporate law firm certified as a women’s business enterprise with the Massachusetts Supplier Diversity Office, the National Assoc. of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms, and the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council; (413) 586-2288; [email protected]

Viability’s New CEO is Mission-driven, Focused on the Big Picture

By George O'Brien March 17, 2021

Employment

Putting Experience to Work

Colleen Holmes says client employment, inclusion, and empowerment have been challenged by the pandemic.

Colleen Holmes calls it a ‘full-circle moment.’

That’s how she chose to describe her decision to assume the role of president and CEO of Viability, the Springfield-based nonprofit with a broad mission that boils to providing services — and creating opportunities — for those with disabilities. Those opportunities come in a number of forms, and we’ll get to that shortly.

But first, that ‘full circle’ reference. Holmes used it to note that she spent a full decade at one of the legacy agencies, in this case Human Resources Unlimited (HRU), that became Viability in 2107 (Community Enterprises was the other) before moving on to a new role leading as president and CEO of the 18 Degrees agency.

So she’s back where she was. Well, sort of, but not really. Viability is a much bigger agency than HRU was — it boasts $36 million in annual revenues, 420 employees, and 37 sites in four states — and so much has changed in the interim, much it before COVID-19. And the pandemic has simply added another layer — or several layers, when you get right down to it — of challenge and intrigue.

“Coronavirus has in no way taken away from the need for the services we provide. And in many ways, it has made it even more important to provide those services; that has been job one for me, and for all of us here.”

“Coronavirus has in no way taken away from the need for the services we provide,” Holmes explained. “And in many ways, it has made it even more important to provide those services; that has been job one for me, and for all of us here.”

In that respect, much hasn’t changed, and she has, indeed, come full circle, especially when it comes to agency’s mission, which boils down to enriching the lives of the people served by the agency and continuously reinforcing the belief that every individual, no matter their ability, can be a valuable contributor to the community — and the workforce.

It carries out this mission through a number of programs and services, including:

• Clubhouses, which provide members with a supportive environment to increase their vocational, educational, and social skills;

• Partnering with more than 600 employers to provide members with a variety of supported employment opportunities;

• Community living programs that provide that provide care management, direct care, and referral services to individuals with disabilities, enabling them to live in the community with dignity;

• Day supports and various recreational programs that provide individuals with a broad range of community activities; and

• Transitional services that provide members with upfront job-readiness skills, placement assistance, and ongoing supports.

The common denominator in each of these areas, said Holmes, is dedicated staff that not only make the programs happen, but make the individual goal set by and for each member attainable.

“This work doesn’t happen without our staff — and I don’t mean that simply from the standpoint of hands being on deck,” she said. “A lot of the way in which progress is made with individuals is through trusted relationships that are built that give people a safe space to try things, to grow, to progress, to fail and come back and try again another day. Those trusted relationships are pivotal, and our staff’s ability to offer that is everything.”

But COVID has certainly impacted many of these initiatives, said Holmes, adding that the agency has collectively overcome a number of challenges to keep employment, inclusion, access, and empowerment for people with disabilities in the forefront, despite the pandemic. Moving forward, lessons learned from the pandemic will be applied to the future of these programs and services and how they are provided.

“What worries me is that some of these people are losing ground that they worked so hard to gain — people who were working, people who were gaining life skills, people who were gaining in their levels of independence, people who were ready for their next step in employment. There are a number of folks who have lost ground.”

And there will be some important ground to be made up, she said, adding that, in some cases, COVID stunted the progress being made by some members who were forced inside and into a form of isolation that is not part of this agency’s MO.

“What worries me is that some of these people are losing ground that they worked so hard to gain — people who were working, people who were gaining life skills, people who were gaining in their levels of independence, people who were ready for their next step in employment,” she noted. “There are a number of folks who have lost ground.”

Overall, however, many members, and the agency as a whole, have been able to carry on and move forward through this pandemic, she went on, adding that many members work in essential positions, and they take pride in being essential.

For this issue and its focus on employment, BusinessWest talked at length with Holmes about her new assignment, but especially about how the pandemic has only magnified the need for the various services this agency provides, and how Viability has gone about responding to this changed landscape.

Work in Progress

Holmes said she certainly wasn’t looking for a new challenge when Don Kozera, the long-time CEO of HRU, her former boss (she served the agency as special projects coordinator), and, most recently, the interim president and CEO of Viability following the unexpected passing of Dick Venn (who stepped into that role after having the same titles at Community Enterprises), asked to talk with her about possibly becoming a candidate for this role.

Suffice it to say he did a good sales job, although it wasn’t necessarily a quick or easy sell.

“He said he thought I would be a good fit for this position and asked if I might consider it,” Holmes recalled. “And I said, ‘I don’t know … I’ll go talk to people; I’m always happy to do that.’”

She did talk to people, and came away intrigued by the possibilities.

“What I saw in this was an opportunity to sort of test my skills and challenge myself in a larger organization; this one is probably two and half times the size of the organization I was leading,” she explained. “Also, and this is probably most compelling, coming to Viability was an opportunity to advance work that matters to me in a different and larger arena.

“Our focus is on employment, training, empowerment, and inclusion with people who have disabilities and other challenges and disadvantages,” she went on, “and that speaks very much to me, in the combination of capacity building and social-justice change.”

Fast-forwarding a little, she did enter what became a nationwide search for a permanent president and CEO, and prevailed through a series of interviews conducted virtually, which she described as a new and different experience — at least as the interviewee.

She arrived in November to a full plate of challenges, including continuation of the daunting process of combining HRU and Community Enterprises into the larger entity that exists today, work that was in some ways slowed, and complicated, by both the passing of Venn and then the arrival of COVID.

“As I came on board, the organization that I am coming to know was ready to be on the other side of that transition,” she told BusinessWest. “And it would have been on the other side sooner had it not been interrupted by the grief and loss of Dick Venn, and had it not been for a pandemic.”

Elaborating, she said that what has been delayed has been the process of “breaking down the silos” within the organization. “You have a much larger organization in every way you can name — there’s more staff, many more programs and services, and in more geographic areas — and one that was continuing to grow, not just as a result of the merger but because it’s part of the mission, vision, and value of the organization. It’s about silos, systems work, and some of the basic functional things, like IT.”

A big part of the process of leading the organization to that proverbial ‘other side’ is to do a lot of “listening, watching, and learning,” she noted.

“You don’t walk into an organization like this one and think you know what you need to know,” she explained. “And I can say I’ve walked into an organization of people who are very welcoming, very helpful, who have lots to share, and who are deeply committed to the mission. Our people show up because they believe in the work that they’re doing and the people they’re working with.”

The Job at Hand

Supporting and nurturing this staff is just one of the many priorities for Holmes moving forward — and is, in itself, a challenge.

“One of my larger concerns, and it’s one that’s certainly shared, is the fact that human-service salaries are woefully inadequate to the jobs people do,” she explained. “Joining in advocacy efforts at the state level for eliminating the disparity in pay between community-based providers and state employees who do substantially the same work is important. But it’s also important for us as an organization to prioritize our staff to the extent that the limitations of our largely state-funded dollars allow us to do. Continuing services and supporting our staff are real priorities.”

Another priority, of course, will be transitioning, if that’s the right word, to a post-COVID world. Many staff members have been working remotely, she noted, and there are questions moving forward about how and where work will be carried out and even how much office space the agency may actually need in the short and long term.

And there are many factors to consider in making those decisions, she said.

“It comes down to how we most effectively support the services and the staff members that are delivering the services,” she explained. “There might be a natural tendency to say, ‘OK, there are certain positions that can be carried out remotely, so let’s just put all of them out and save that space.’ But it’s more complicated than that; human-services work is very collaborative. It’s teamwork, but more deeply than that, there is an environment of support that’s hard to come by when you’re not in contact with people, when people don’t see you walk through the hall and see you being a little more tired, a little more stressed than normal. In the kind of work we do, we need to pay attention to that.”

Meanwhile, there are those lessons learned and the new ways of doing things that came about out of necessity — and ingenuity.

“There was a brief period when staff needed to switch to providing services remotely, and … by golly, they did it,” Holmes told BusinessWest. “You get creative, and I’m sure we all have; you learn how to do some things differently, and you discover that the paradigm of how services are provided is turned on its head.

“That’s a new skill set we’ll carry forward, but it by no means replaces in-person services,” she went on, adding that, moving forward, the agency will look toward using the new skills and new technology, including virtual reality, to carry out its mission.

She noted that Viability is using virtual reality to acclimate and train clients and members for job placements. “We started during the pandemic, and we’re very much in the testing and piloting stage,” she explained, adding that early results are very positive. “If you have folks who have autism or others who for various reasons are highly sensitive to changes in environment or to noises, or just to new experiences … to be able to take a work environment and load it into a virtual-reality system so that people can safely explore and navigate that workspace without actually being there is very advantageous. It can lead to much smoother transitions.”

As for the employment programs, the ones that put thousands of individuals in jobs across this region and beyond, COVID prompted some businesses to close and many others to slow down, said Holmes, adding that obvious question marks remain about when and to what extent business, and jobs, will pick up again.

“It is a concern as to how long the economic rebound takes, and if there continues to be a shortage of positions,” she said. “As is so often the case, people who are marginalized are pushed out first, so that is a concern. But there are a number of employers we partner with who, through experience, will tell you the value of working with us, and that, when it comes to our members, their attendance is superior, and the quality of their work is at least on par.”

Past Is Prologue

Holmes has talked with many such employers over the years, so she understands those sentiments. She has, as she said at the top, come full circle when it comes to her career in human services.

But in most all respects, she is not coming back to where she was years ago. The landscape has changed in myriad ways and, thanks to COVID, it continues to change, each month and almost each week.

This is a different test, a sterner test, one she fully embraces. As she said, she’s excited about the opportunities — for herself, but especially for those benefiting from Viability’s programs and services.

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

Court Rules Employer Can Bar Politically Motivated Clothing

Employment

Don We Not Our BLM Apparel

By Tim Murphy

Americans across the country have been actively engaging in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) social-justice movement, which advocates against incidents of racially motivated violence police. Often, BLM supporters will demonstrate their commitment to the movement not only by protesting, but also by wearing apparel, such as T-shirts and face coverings, with BLM messaging.

But what happens when supporters wear this clothing to work? Can employers enforce a dress code requiring employees to refrain from wearing politically motivated clothing? Yes, a recent Massachusetts federal court determined. Even so, is it worth the negative publicity and PR fallout? You be the judge.

The case involved the well-known Whole Foods grocery store, and a group of nearly 30 Whole Foods’ employees who claimed to be negatively impacted by the store’s “neutral” dress-code policy, which prohibited employees from wearing clothing with visible slogans, messages, logos, and/or advertising that are not Whole Foods-related.

“Can employers enforce a dress code requiring employees to refrain from wearing politically motivated clothing? Yes.”

Beginning around June 2020, in the wake of George Floyd’s killing and subsequent nationwide protests, Whole Foods employees began wearing masks and other attire with BLM messaging to work. Some employees were disciplined for violating the dress-neutral dress-code policy, while others were sent home without pay and directed to change clothing. Several employees quit, and others kept wearing BLM clothing to protest the store’s actions.

Then, a group of 27 employees filed a lawsuit against Whole Foods, accusing the store of racial discrimination. They claimed Whole Foods was selectively enforcing its dress code banning “visible slogans, messages, logos, and/or advertising” against black employees.

Last month, a federal District Court judge dismissed the race-discrimination claims. The court was not convinced that Whole Foods was enforcing the policy based on race-related reasons. Instead, it was enforcing a neutral dress-code policy with no consideration to race. The court noted that, “at worst, they were selectively enforcing a dress code to suppress certain speech in the workplace.” The judge went on to state that, “however unappealing that might be, it is not conduct made unlawful” by anti-discrimination laws.

On its face, this decision makes sense. Generally speaking, an employer can lawfully implement and enforce a dress code, as long as it is applied equally to all employees. This is particularly important when violations of the dress code negatively affect productivity or lead to employee disputes. As far as political speech is concerned, the First Amendment provides no protection for employees unless they work for the government, because the First Amendment applies only to governmental restrictions on speech.

Additionally, in Massachusetts, there are no state laws or protections for speech in a private workplace. It also appears there was no evidence in this case supporting the argument that Whole Foods was selectively enforcing the dress-code policy against black employees.

Given the current political climate, employers may be left wondering whether Whole Foods and other retail employers are making the right move by enforcing dress-code policies in a way that restricts political and socially progressive speech. Certainly, there are arguments to be made that these policies are geared toward improving customer relations and eliminating politically charged disputes between workers and customers. Last summer, much news was made about a customer in Target berating an employee wearing BLM attire with questions about whether “all lives matter.”

The same can be said for employee relations. It is not hard to envision heated disputes around the water cooler over clothing that bears political or social-justice messages.

That said, this case has generated a lot of publicity for Whole Foods. And they are not alone. Starbucks had a similar dress-code policy that prohibited employees from wearing BLM attire and other clothing bearing political and social messaging. After protests and public outcry, Starbucks reversed its position and began allowing employee to wear T-shirts or pins supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.

Businesses need to pay careful attention to this issue. While the adoption of strict, ‘neutral’ dress codes appears legal, there could be unintended consequences, including irreversible harm to employee morale and negative public-relations nightmares.

Tim Murphy is an attorney with the Springfield-based firm Skoler Abbott & Presser, specializing in labor relations, union campaigns, collective bargaining and arbitration, employment litigation, and employment counseling; (413) 737-4753.

Forum Reveals Women Still Face Challenges — and a Glass Ceiling

Women in Businesss

Progress Report

By Janine Fondon

On March 8 (International Women’s Day), the 2021 On the Move Forum to Advance Women, presented by Bay Path University, Springfield Museums, and a host of local organizations, virtually hosted some 200 women of all backgrounds from Western Mass. and beyond. Through conversations and speakers, women voiced their hopes and elevated their concerns to support the future success of women in leadership at all levels.

Speakers noted there is much work to be done to change the trajectory of women in companies and organizations, given that women still operate in a world where they are paid less than men. Also, women have limited leadership opportunities in the C-suite and have experienced workplace challenges in the face of the COVID-19 crisis. Also, black women and Latinas still make less than anyone in the workforce, and their opportunities for promotions are certainly limited. Where do we go from here?

The forum theme, “Women in Leadership: This Is What Change Looks Like — Past, Present, and Future,” offered attendees an inter-generational, cross-cultural, gender-inclusive, and history-infused conversation focused on advancing women, led by moderator Nikai Fondon.

The event presented voices and content that showed what change could look like — young, diverse, professional women on the move to create a new world; experienced leaders of all backgrounds who share their expertise; and college-aged women exploring new skills. Now in its fifth year, the event has engaged more than 1,000 women in community conversations and presentations on women’s history, empowerment, and advancement.

“The numbers also show us that change needs to happen to build more inclusive workplaces at all levels and in all industries. We must keep watch that our colleges and universities understand the magnitude of not only recruitment and retention, but belonging and mentoring.”

This year’s event aligned with the priority theme of the 65th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, “Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World.” According to Catalyst, “in 2020, women of color represented only 18% of entry-level positions, and few advanced to leadership positions. While white women held almost one-third (32.8%) of total management positions in the U.S. in 2020, Asian women (2.2%), black women (4.1%), and Hispanic women (4.5%) held a much smaller share.”

During the forum, the speakers and participants during the conversations voiced the sentiments expressed in these statistics. Most women still face obstacles in moving up the ladder at work. These statistics remind us that young women professionals who are rising to new opportunities in industry may have to pick up the path of experienced women today who still fight these trends after more than 20 years.

The numbers also show us that change needs to happen to build more inclusive workplaces at all levels and in all industries. We must keep watch that our colleges and universities understand the magnitude of not only recruitment and retention, but belonging and mentoring.

Also, as black women, Latinas, and women of color climb the ladder of success, they find that every step along the way may not come with the support they need or expect. A study conducted by Lean In and SurveyMonkey finds that, although more than 80% of white employees view themselves as allies to women of color at work, just 45% of black women and 55% of Latinas say they have strong allies in the workplace. There is more work to be done to build relationships that drive trust and transformation in the workplace, and more conversations need to confirm informal and formal sources of support.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

To help make a change in the workplace, educational institutions, companies, and organizations continue to underscore the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion. While these efforts allow for some change, we need strategic approaches to systemic racism and inequities that address issues for companies and individuals. Many young professionals, consumers, and communities are at the forefront of social justice, so shifts in social responsibility, outreach, and accountability could drive change on many levels.

Bay Path President Sandra Doran noted in her speech that she has been committed to the advancement of women and the power of education. “I embrace these beliefs because I come from a family of educators and strong women. I have witnessed first-hand the power of higher education for women. My grandmother attended Barnard, a women’s college, and my mother returned to school to earn her degree at a women’s college as an adult learner. With such personal role models, I felt called to be the president of Bay Path.”

However, noting the effects of COVID-19, she noted that, “by now, we all know the burden of the pandemic fell harder on women than on men. Women make up the majority of front-line workers in deeply affected industries like retail, food service, hospitality, and healthcare, and also picked up a disproportionate share of the additional loads of schoolwork, housework, and elderly care. Black women have faced the highest rate of unemployment among women at 8.9%, followed by Latinx women at 8.5%. This pandemic has uncovered the fragility of our systems, from healthcare to daycare to education, and it is our calling, women — and men of substance — to create change. And the pipeline of women in leadership positions has shrunk.”

“As we move past International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, there must be even more commitment to revisiting practices in workplaces, classrooms, boardrooms, meeting places, and Zoom rooms to deliver equity, belonging, and dismantling ‘isms.’”

Doran also referenced an IBM study that “noted how women on corporate boards and in C-suites around the world have made no progress since 2019, when IBM did its first study on the subject.”

Another report, the 2020 Women in the Workplace study, conducted in partnership with Lean In and McKinsey, tracked the progress of women in corporate America. The data set reflects contributions from 317 companies that participated in the study and more than 40,000 people. According to the report, “the boundaries between work and home have blurred, and women, in particular, have been negatively impacted.”

In the study, women of color were noted as particularly impacted by COVID. “Women — especially women of color — are more likely to have been laid off or furloughed during the COVID-19 crisis, stalling their careers and jeopardizing their financial security. Meanwhile, black women already faced more barriers to advancement than most other employees. This is an emergency for corporate America. Companies risk losing women in leadership — and future women leaders — and unwinding years of painstaking progress toward gender diversity.”

Adverse Impact on Black Women and Latinas

While many black women and Latinas have made strides and found success in corporations and organizations, far too many remain underutilized, left behind, not included, and overlooked for opportunities. The numbers document their trajectory in a world where, in most cases, they are paid less than everyone else. Also, according to a report by CNBC, “employment for black women is 9.7% lower than it was in February 2020. Employment for white men, white women, and black men is down 5%, 5.4%, and 5.9%, respectively.”

A report by Lean In also confirms the experiences of black women in the workplace, noting that black women are significantly underrepresented in leadership roles, much less likely to be promoted to manager (and their representation dwindles from there), more likely to see their successes discounted, and less likely to get the support and access they need to advance. In addition, black women face more day-to-day discrimination at work. They want to lead — and they are motivated to improve their workplaces — but often find themselves unfairly penalized for being ambitious.

These findings should cause us all to pause and revisit our workplace policies, practices, and procedures. While not every black woman may have these experiences, other personal scenarios that they face result in negative trends. Most of all, these findings should prompt us to think about how everyone is treated in the workplace and how we treat each other. Most of all, we should consider how we can understand what others feel and find ways to communicate. If we were all treating each other as ourselves, we would not have these trends.

LGBTQIA+ Equality

While many communities and individuals experience an uncertain landscape in the workplace, we must continue to stay vigilant about trends that impact inclusion. For LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, genderqueer, queer, intersex, agender, asexual, and other queer-identifying) communities, the journey to equality continues to “ebb and flow,” as Kathleen Martin of Springfield College and her wife, Andrea Hickson Martin of Bay Path University, noted:

“There is no doubt that there have been tremendous strides over the past decade for LGBTQIA+ equality. In 2012, the Obama administration supported marriage equality. In 2015, in the Supreme Court of the United States case Obergefell v. Hodges, marriage equality was made federal law, paving the way for our marriage in 2017. In 2019, Congress approved a comprehensive LGBTQIA+ civil-rights bill, providing non-discrimination protections for the LGBTQIA+ community in employment, housing, public spaces, education, jury service, credit, and federal funding. During the Trump administration, however, LGBTQIA+ rights were rolled back through a ban on transgender military service, the appointment of anti-LGBTQIA+ judges at various levels of the judicial system, the rolling back of the Obama-era Civil Rights Act protecting transgender and non-binary workers from employment discrimination, and the rescinding of Title IX rules requiring schools, including colleges and universities, to address sexual harassment, including sexual violence.

“As with everything in life, there is a constant ebb and flow,” Martin and Hickson continued. “On the first day of the Biden-Harris administration, President Biden signed an executive order preventing and combating discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation, reinstating the LGBTQIA+ protections the Trump administration removed. More recently, the administration has directed the Department of Education to ‘review all of its existing regulations, orders, guidance, and policies to ensure consistency with the Biden-Harris administration’s policy that students be guaranteed education free from sexual violence.’ This includes an evaluation of the Title IX burden of proof issued under the previous administration.”

As stated, the ebb and flow of policy continue to take us away from setting a more consistent, inclusive world and workplace where all people can succeed.

As we move past International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, there must be even more commitment to revisiting practices in workplaces, classrooms, boardrooms, meeting places, and Zoom rooms to deliver equity, belonging, and dismantling ‘isms.’ Also, we must begin to employ new ways for engaging, recognizing, and retaining black women, Latinas, and women of color who are still hidden in plain view.

Janine Fondon is a writer, speaker, assistant professor, and chair of Undergraduate Communications at Bay Path University. She is a frequent contributor to publications and media outlets on the topics of social justice, women’s history, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. She recently curated and produced an exhibit and series of public events at Springfield Museums, called “Voices of Resilience: The Intersection of Women on the Move.” She was named a 2020 Difference Maker by BusinessWest, a 2020 Pynchon Award winner, and one of the top African-American female professors in 2018 by the African American Female Professors Assoc.

COVID-19 Takes Significant Toll on Women in the Workforce

Women in Businesss

Pink Slip

By Joanne Hilferty, Dan Kenary, and Brooke Thomson

In 2020, the same year a record number of women were elected to Congress and the first woman was elected vice president, COVID-19 had a devastating and potentially permanent impact on women in the workforce.

The percentage of women participating in the U.S. labor market in October 2020 was the lowest since 1988, and of the 9.8 million jobs that have not yet returned, 55% belong to women. In one year, COVID-19 wiped out a generation of progress and put the precariousness of being a woman in the modern American workplace into stark perspective.

Before the pandemic, women in Massachusetts were participating in the workforce at increasing rates, surpassing the national rate by 2019. COVID-19 brought them back to where they were at the end of the Great Recession in 2009.

More than 40% of female employees in Massachusetts work in education, healthcare, and social assistance, sectors that have been particularly hard hit by the economic downturn. Add the lack of quality childcare options brought about by the closure of schools and early-education programs, and you have a perfect storm forcing women to face gut-wrenching choices.

“In one year, COVID-19 wiped out a generation of progress and put the precariousness of being a woman in the modern American workplace into stark perspective.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in September 2020, when schools typically reopen, a staggering 69% of women said the pandemic was keeping them from returning to work for reasons other than downsizing or business closure. In a survey conducted by the Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM) last fall, 67% of employers listed lack of childcare as a primary concern for their workforces.

Fortunately, organizations in Massachusetts are taking a leadership role in addressing the ongoing challenges facing women in the workforce. The Boston Women’s Workforce Council, the Commonwealth Institute, and the newly formed Massachusetts Business Coalition for Early Childhood Education are focused on advancing important changes, such as pay and representation equity. Even before the pandemic, women on average made about 81 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts.

Women and men should have the same options to pursue a career and raise a family, but the pandemic has laid bare the reality that women are expected to take greater responsibility for their families without sufficient support.

Ensuring that jobs traditionally filled by women have more extensive protections and finding a path toward more balanced representation of women in industries like information technology, transportation, and construction — fields where female representation is still limited — are also critical steps to achieve greater balance in the long term. However, immediate action is needed to ensure progress made by women does not erode further.

That is why AIM is calling on employers to make a commitment now to review their practices and policies and make immediate, substantive adjustments to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on women and other caregivers in the workforce. Specific recommendations include:

• Committing to providing pay increases and advancement steps to women caregivers on schedule rather than penalizing those who have been on leave or working limited hours;

• Extending the time workers can be on leave to coincide with the duration of the pandemic;

• Giving hiring preference to former workers, if their experience and skills allow, who were required to leave the workplace due to family demands;

• Extending the time that returning workers can bridge tenure for benefits and other considerations to coincide with the full duration of the pandemic;

• Listening to individual employees about their specific needs and expectations and not making assumptions about what each woman or caregiver can or cannot do; and

• Instituting practices that reduce conflict with remote schooling, such as not holding meetings before 9 a.m. or at lunch, when children need assistance.

These steps alone will not fully offset the impact of the pandemic on women; they will, however, demonstrate the business community’s commitment to supporting the Commonwealth’s skilled female labor force. Massachusetts cannot afford to go back to business as usual as the light begins to shine at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, especially when it comes to how businesses and public policy treat working women.

The pandemic has presented an unprecedented responsibility for the Commonwealth and the nation to see decreasing numbers of female workforce participation for what they are — gaps in the system allowing available and accessible talent to fall straight through. Failure to act on them now will have long-term, devastating impacts on the Massachusetts economy.

Joanne Hilferty is board chair at Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM) and president and CEO of Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries. Dan Kenary is immediate past chair of the AIM board and CEO and co-founder of Mass Bay Brewing Co. Brooke Thomson is executive vice president of Government Affairs at AIM. This article first appeared as an op-ed in the Boston Globe.

MGM Must Get Back on the Ramp

By Editorial March 17, 2021

Opinion

Editorial

When everyone gathered on Main Street that hot August day back in 2018 to mark the opening of MGM Springfield, no one really knew what to expect or what the future would bring.

Certainly, no one could have predicted what the scene would be like two and half years later.

Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic took a resort casino that was ‘ramping up’ — that’s the phrase we kept hearing over and again from past and present leaders — and knocked it completely off the ramp. The casino was shuttered for several months, and when it reopened, it was only at a fraction of its full capacity. Until very recently, the hotel and most of the restaurants were closed, and the event venues were quiet and dark.

These days, the capacity is not quite half and destined to keep inching higher. The hotel is open on weekends, and the sports bar has reopened its doors as well. But huge question marks surround just when and under what circumstances the casino complex will again be able to host concerts, shows, and other large-scale gatherings.

In some ways, we’re all back where we were almost 32 months ago … wondering what will happen and just what the casino will mean for Springfield and this entire region. That’s where we are as MGM Springfield tries to get the ramping-up process back to something approaching the plane it was on before the world stopped almost exactly a year ago.

We’ve said this before, and we’ll say it again … this region needs MGM to make a solid comeback from all that COVID has tossed at it. It needs to come, well, roaring back and play an important role in restarting, if that’s the right word, the renaissance that Springfield was enjoying before the pandemic made Main Street a quiet, almost depressing, place to be.

And a lot will have to go right for such a comeback to happen. First, people will have to regain the confidence needed to gather in large numbers. In other parts of the country, and especially Las Vegas, where the casino business is coming back to life, the signs are quite positive. ‘Pent-up demand’ is the phrase we’re hearing a lot these days, and the hope — the expectation — is that there will be large quantities of it.

But Springfield’s casinos — and all the state’s casinos — could use some help as they proceed back up the ramp. And the state Legislature could deliver some in the form of sports betting.

Lawmakers have been dragging their feet on this issue for years now, and we cannot understand why. Sports betting, if done right, would provide another, potentially huge revenue stream for the state’s casinos at a time when they really need it.

New Hampshire and Rhode Island now have sports betting, and Connecticut is poised to join the fray. Much-needed tax dollars are going to other states or the illegal-betting arena, and Massachusetts simply cannot afford to keep sitting on the sidelines. To borrow still another sports phrase, it needs to get in the game, and soon.

Reflecting once more on that day in August 2018, the expectation among many was that MGM Springfield would not solve all the region’s ills and would not magically transform the region overnight. Instead, it would be a player — a large and important player — and an economic engine.

The pandemic has certainly altered the timeline, but hopefully it hasn’t changed those expectations, or the probability they can be realized.

One Year After the Shutdown

By Editorial March 17, 2021

Opinion

By Nancy Creed

As we mark the one-year anniversary of the state of emergency in Massachusetts, we continue to take steps on our path forward.

Last week, legislators reached agreement on a COVID-19 package to support our business community as it begins to recover from the pandemic. The package would include two items that the Springfield Regional Chamber has been aggressively advocating for: unemployment-insurance rate relief and tax relief from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan proceeds.

The agreement calls for a freeze in the unemployment insurance (UI) rate at the current Schedule E rate for 2021 and 2022, limiting the increases employers will see. Without passage, employers could see the unemployment insurance rates increase from an average of $539 to $866 per employee. This legislation would hold the average UI rates to $635 per employee in 2021 and $665 per employee in 2022.

The agreement would also exclude PPP loan amounts forgiven in 2020 from taxable gross income for those small businesses that are organized as pass-through entities. While Congress excluded these loans from federal taxation, without legislative action, these loans would have been taxed as income at the state level.

The agreement would also guarantee paid leave to employees who are sick with COVID-19, required to quarantine, or need to take time off to get the vaccine. As well, it will allow for state borrowing, through a temporary employer assessment, to ensure the solvency of the UI trust fund, which is projected to have a $5 billion deficit by the end of 2022, triggering higher increases in unemployment-insurance rates to remain solvent.

We applaud the Legislature for recognizing the long-term economic impact this pandemic has had on our employer community and to take these steps to support its recovery.

The federal government also recently took action, with the Senate approving a $1.9 trillion federal stimulus package. One item your chamber supports in this package is the state and local aid to help our region’s cities and towns as they deal with their own economic hardships resulting from the pandemic. As specific details around this aid remain to be seen, we will continue to watch this closely, as we believe this funding is critical to the fiscal health and stability of our communities.

The CDC has also issued much anticipated guidance for individuals who are fully vaccinated. As of last week, more than 715,000 people in Massachusetts have been fully vaccinated, ranking Massachusetts first among states with 5 million people or more for total COVID-19 vaccine doses administered. Massachusetts is currently in phase 2 of its vaccination plan, with teachers becoming eligible last week.

We have been through the wringer, and we know we have a ways to go, but these are all significant steps on our road to recovery and, we hope, the first of many more to come.

Stay safe and stay well. We can — and will — get through this together.

Nancy Creed is president of the Springfield Regional Chamber.

Picture This

Picture This

Email ‘Picture This’ photos with a caption and contact information to [email protected]

Supporting Students

Jane Schwartzberg and James Machia, advanced manufacturing and technology students at Asnuntuck Community College, were each awarded a $2,500 scholarship through a 3M grant. The scholarships are available to students entering or currently enrolled in programs in mechatronics, advanced manufacturing technology, robotics, or industrial maintenance. Schwartzberg and Machia are pictured standing behind the Festo Mechatronics Learning System that 3M donated to Asnuntuck.

Tackling Tough Issues

Springfield College doctor of physical therapy (DPT) student Xavier Gibson was selected as one of two finalists in the annual physical therapy essay contest co-sponsored by the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy Consortium for the Humanities, Ethics, and Professionalism and the Journal for Humanities in Rehabilitation. Gibson’s essay — which highlights his responsibilities and obligations as a DPT student of color, the only student of color in his cohort, to come to terms with addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in society and inequalities in healthcare — will be published in the JHR’s fall 2021 issue.

In the Bag

JGS Lifecare was selected as the nonprofit beneficiary of the Big Y Community Bag Program for the month of March at the Big Y located in Longmeadow. JGS Lifecare will receive a $1 donation every time the $2.50 reusable “Big Y Cares” Community Bag is purchased at this location during March, unless otherwise directed by the customer through the giving tag attached to the bag. “We are thrilled to receive the support of our local Big Y and our community,” said Susan Kimball Halpern, vice president of Development and Communications at JGS Lifecare (pictured).

Agenda

Agenda

Pynchon Award Nominations

Through March 19: The Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts is seeking nominations from throughout Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, and Berkshire counties for the Pynchon Award, which recognizes Western Mass. citizens who have rendered distinguished service to the community. To nominate an individual, submit a one-page letter explaining why the nominee should be considered. Include biographical information, outstanding accomplishments, examples of service to the community, organizations in which the individual is or has been active, and the names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of at least three people who can further attest to the nominee’s eligibility for induction into the Order of William Pynchon. Nominations must be submitted by March 19 to William Pynchon Trustees, Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts, P.O. Box 1022, West Springfield, MA 01090-1022, or by e-mail to [email protected]. The 2021 recipients will be announced in June, with an awards ceremony tentatively scheduled for the fall.

Ubora, Ahadi Award Nominations

Through March 31: The Springfield Museums is seeking nominations for the annual Ubora Award and 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 the fields of community service, education, science, humanities, and/or the arts. The nomination deadline for both awards is March 31. The Ubora and Ahadi awards will be presented at a ceremony at the Springfield Museums in the fall. 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. 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. 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.

Fundraising Walk in Remembrance of Dave Stawasz

April: Western New England University (WNEU) faculty, colleagues, family members, and students are invited to participate in a commemorative event in memory of Assistant Vice President of Marketing Communications Dave Stawasz, who passed away peacefully on Jan. 28, surrounded by his family, after a courageous two-year battle with stage-4 colorectal cancer. Stawasz was a graduate of South Hadley High School and Syracuse University. His early career was as a news producer at WWLP and then later at WFSB. He joined the university in 2004. Steps for Stawasz is a virtual walk taking place throughout the month of April in his honor. Participants will log as many virtual steps as they can during the month by either walking or running while collecting donations along the way through friends and family sponsorships. By signing up, participants will receive a link to share on social media. From there, participants can create a personal giving page to collect donations and update progress. Details and instructions can be found at runsignup.com/race/ma/springfield/stawasz. Interested individuals can also make a direct donation on the website without participating in the walk. All proceeds will go directly to the Stawasz family.

Institute for Trustees

Starting April 7: Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation (BTCF) announced it is partnering with the Essex County Community Foundation (ECCF) in presenting the 2021 Institute for Trustees, an annual conference inviting nonprofit leaders to gather together for educational workshops and networking opportunities. Building on the success of BTCF’s 2018 Board Leadership Forum and designed for board leaders and executive directors, the event features 24 virtual workshops from leading nonprofit experts and opportunities to connect with hundreds of peers equally committed to their leadership roles. This partnership is part of a broader effort between BTCF and ECCF to leverage resources in support of building capacity and leadership within the nonprofit sector, given the challenges facing organizations due to the pandemic and its economic consequences. The Institute for Trustees kicks off on April 7 with a keynote address by Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, titled “Leading for Nonprofit Impact Amid Unprecedented Challenge.” Beginning April 9, workshops and opportunities to connect with fellow attendees through topic-driven, informal peer discussions will be spread over the course of four weeks. Workshop topics include racial equity, endowment building, crisis planning, governance, advocacy, finance, and much more. To register for the program, visit eccf.org/ift. Registrations will be accepted at a discounted early-bird rate of $110 until March 7. After that, registration will cost $130 and will close April 7.

Nominations for Ad Club Creative Awards

Through April 18: The Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts invites the community to apply for its 2021 Creative Awards. The club has simplified the rules and eliminated physical entries entirely, due to COVID-19 restrictions. As always, Ad Club members will receive a discounted rate; members will receive a personalized discount code via e-mail. Participants will have the opportunity to virtually meet the agencies, marketing departments, and freelance artists behind the work. Award winners will be announced at the Ad Club’s Creative Awards show scheduled for Thursday, May 20. Categories that qualify participants for entry include advertising, copywriting, design, interactive and web media, photography, video and motion, and student work. Visit www.adclubwm.org/events/creativeawards2021 for the guidelines and application form, or contact the Ad Club at (413) 342-0533 or [email protected].

Alumni Achievement Award Nominations

Through April 23: When BusinessWest launched its 40 Under Forty program in 2007, it did so to identify rising stars across our region — individuals who were excelling in business and through involvement within the community — and celebrate their accomplishments. In 2015, BusinessWest announced a new award, one that builds on the foundation upon which 40 Under Forty was created. It’s called the Alumni Achievement Award (formerly the Continued Excellence Award). As the name suggests, it is presented to the 40 Under Forty honoree who, in the eyes of an independent panel of judges, has most impressively continued and built upon his or her track record of accomplishment. To nominate someone for this award, visit businesswest.com/40-under-forty/40-under-forty-alumni-achievement-award. The deadline is Friday, April 23 at 5 p.m., no exceptions. The 2020 honoree will be announced at the 40 Under Forty gala in June. Candidates must be from 40 Under Forty classes prior to the year of the award — in this case, classes 2007 to 2020. A list of 40 Under Forty Alumni can be found at businesswest.com/40-under-forty/40-under-forty (scroll to the bottom). Past winners include: 2020: Carla Cosenzi, president, TommyCar Auto Group (40 Under Forty class of 2012), and Peter DePergola, director of Clinical Ethics, Baystate Health (class of 2015); 2019: Cinda Jones, president, W.D. Cowls Inc. (class of 2007); 2018: Samalid Hogan, regional director, Massachusetts Small Business Development Center (class of 2013); 2017: Scott Foster, attorney, Bulkley Richardson (class of 2011), and Nicole Griffin, owner, ManeHire (class of 2014); 2016: Dr. Jonathan Bayuk, president, Allergy & Immunology Associates of New England (class of 2008); 2015: Delcie Bean, president, Paragus Strategic IT (class of 2008).

Springfield Partners for Community Action Scholarships

Through April 23: Springfield Partners for Community Action announced it will award a number of $1,000 scholarships that can help recipients with tuition and alleviate the cost of going back to school and investing in bettering themselves. All applicants must be Springfield residents, and income-eligibility guidelines may apply. Scholarships will be awarded to those attending accredited/licensed schools in Massachusetts. Applications must be received by April 23. Late entries will not be considered. If selected, recipients must be available to attend an awards event (most likely virtual) in June. Visit www.springfieldpartnersinc.com/whatwedo/scholarshipsprogram for the application form and information on how to apply.

VA Healthcare Virtual Summit

May 24-26: The Institute for Defense and Government Advancement (IDGA) announced plans for the IDGA VA Healthcare Summit. HCN is sponsoring this event, at which attendees will have the opportunity to meet with the leaders positioned to provide substantive change across the department, with a particular focus on advancing patient advocacy and experience, digital transformation, community and vendor engagement, e-learning, the VA’s innovation ecosystem, and more. IDGA’s summit will highlight these areas across the agenda, as well as include enabling VA initiatives currently underway to advance the most critical needs for veterans across the U.S. This year’s agenda, developed through indepth research by IDGA, covers a range of topics, including VHA innovation ecosystem initiatives, VA telehealth capabilities, financial management and business-transformation efforts, and a deep dive into clinical delivery. For more information and to view the agenda, visit www.idga.org/events-veteransaffairshealthcare-spring. To join and receive a 20% discount, register at bit.ly/3sts2FV and quote code VAH_HCN. All federal, state, and local government, as well as military and law enforcement, can attend at no cost.

People on the Move

People on the Move

Thomas Downey

Peter Moran

Michael Cardaropoli

The law firm of Pellegrini, Seeley, Ryan and Blakesley announced that attorneys Thomas Downey, Peter Moran, and Michael Cardaropoli have been made partners in the firm. Downey is a graduate of Norwich University. He holds both an MBA and a juris doctor degree from Western New England College. He is admitted to practice law in the state courts of Massachusetts and before the Social Security Administration and the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents. He has been with the firm since 2003. Moran obtained his bachelor’s degree at Boston College and his juris doctor degree at Boston University School of Law. For more than 30 years, he has focused his area of practice on workers’ compensation law, and has been with the firm since 2005. Cardaropoli joined the firm in 2008, concentrating his practice in workers’ compensation, Social Security disability, and personal-injury litigation. He received his bachelor’s degree in business from American International College and his juris doctor degree from Western New England University. He is the vice chair of the MBA Workers’ Compensation Committee.

•••••

Lisa Carpenter

Bacon Wilson announced that Lisa Carpenter has joined the firm as the new executive director. She comes to Bacon Wilson with more than 20 years of experience in legal administration and management in the Kansas City area, with specialized skills and expertise in law-firm management and operations. She works directly with Bacon Wilson’s managing shareholder, Kenneth Albano, on all aspects of directing the firm’s five offices. Before joining Bacon Wilson, Carpenter served as office administrator for Littler Mendelson P.C.’s Global Service Center in Kansas City, Mo., as well as its Kansas City local practice office. Prior to that, Carpenter worked for 14 years in operations management at the Kansas City headquarters of Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLP, a large international product litigation firm with more than 16 locations. Carpenter holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Friends University and is a member of the Assoc. of Legal Administrators (ALA), where she has published multiple articles.

•••••

Dr. David Brown

Dr. David Brown has begun serving as the interim president and CEO at Cooley Dickinson Health Care. Brown steps in to lead the organization after Joanne Marqusee announced her resignation in January following seven years of service to Cooley Dickinson. Brown, chief of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), will serve in an interim capacity while a search is conducted for a permanent president and CEO. Brown will continue to oversee the MGH Department of Emergency Medicine as well as maintain his major administrative and committee roles at both MGH and Mass General Brigham. After receiving his undergraduate degree at Princeton and then his medical degree at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1989, Brown began his career in emergency medicine as an intern at MGH, later becoming vice chair, then department chair. He is the MGH trustees professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a diplomate of both the American Board of Emergency Medicine and the American Board of Internal Medicine, and a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Academy of Emergency Medicine. He has also served for many years as the physician for the New England Patriots.

•••••

Jeremy Forgue

Jonathan Applefield

Tracy Belanger

Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C. recently welcomed attorney Jeremy Forgue and two paralegals, Jonathan Applefield and Tracy Belanger, to its team. Forgue received his law degree from Western New England University School of Law, where he was drawn to business and employment law and was the managing editor of the university’s Law Review. Prior to joining Skoler Abbott, he was a law clerk for the Massachusetts Housing Court. He enjoys preparing employers for new and changing laws to prevent compliance issues, such as reviewing existing policies for vulnerabilities and assisting in open-forum discussions. As a paralegal, Applefield provides broad administrative support to the attorneys and their clients. Before joining the firm, he worked for 16 years as a legal assistant in Manhattan, a job he held while earning graduate and postgraduate degrees in art history at Columbia University. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College in Maine. Belanger, also a paralegal, earned her associate degree in administration of justice and a certificate of achievement with an emphasis on the law and public policy at Pasadena City College in California, where she was a member of the Alpha Gamma Sigma honor society. She then pursued her bachelor’s degree in criminology, law and society from the School of Social Ecology at the University of California Irvine, followed by completion of an ABA-accredited paralegal studies program and an externship at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

•••••

Morgan Stanley announced that John Pappas, a senior vice president and financial advisor in its Wealth Management office in Springfield, has been named to the firm’s prestigious Century Club, an elite group composed of the firm’s top financial advisors. The appointment recognizes his consistent creativity and excellence in providing a wide range of investment products and wealth-management services to his clients. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management provides access to a wide range of products and services to individuals, businesses, and institutions, including brokerage and investment advisory services, financial and wealth planning, cash management and lending products and services, annuities and insurance, and retirement and trust services.

•••••

Paul Shepardson

Monson Savings Bank announced the promotion of Paul Shepardson to digital systems officer. In that role, he is responsible for overseeing Monson Savings Bank’s electronic banking services and support. Additionally, he is responsible for staying up to date on cutting-edge and convenient digital banking options that could be offered to the bank’s customers. Shepardson began his career in the banking industry with Monson Savings Bank 10 years ago. He initially worked as a customer service associate before being promoted to customer service representative. He later became the bank’s first business banking administrator and e-banking specialist. Since then, he has excelled in the electronic-banking department. He is a graduate of the New England School of Financial Studies.

•••••

Kim Alli

Andrew Bresciano

Tina Flagg

Panna Royal

Aleta Smith

Greenfield Savings Bank (GSB) announced the promotions of Kim Alli to vice president and commercial loan officer, Andrew Bresciano to first vice president and commercial loan officer, Tina Flagg to assistant vice president and commercial loan administration manager, Panna Royal to vice president and senior network administrator, and Aleta Smith to commercial lending assistant. Alli is responsible for meeting with local business customers to determine their financial needs and helping them with a wide range of commercial-loan products and services. Her position also includes developing new strategic relationships for business development, as well as establishing commercial account relationships with area small businesses and serving as an ambassador for the bank with the community. She is a member of the GSB PPP loan task force and the bank’s contributions committee. Bresciano is responsible for working with local business customers to assist them with their credit needs, including commercial credit lines, commercial real estate and development loans, operational and equipment loans, and inventory loans. Last year, he was appointed to the leadership team managing the bank’s PPP loan task force. Flagg is responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of the loan assistants and loan-servicing specialists in the bank’s Commercial Loan department to ensure quality customer service. In addition to monitoring the department workflow, she performs a broad variety of duties related to the documentation, regulatory-compliance requirements, and servicing of commercial loans throughout their life cycle and provides customer service and administrative support to commercial-loan customers and lenders. She is also a member of

Company Notebook

Company Notebook

WNEU Center for Social Justice Receives HNE Mini-grant

SPRINGFIELD — The Western New England University (WNEU) School of Law’s Center for Social Justice was awarded a $6,000 DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) mini-grant from Health New England (HNE). The grant provides funding to local nonprofit organizations that are actively addressing racial health equity and disparities, and at least one of the CDC’s social determinants of health (SDOH). These are conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play that affect a wide range of health risks and outcomes; these include healthcare access and quality, education access and quality, social and community context, economic stability, and neighborhood and built environment. The grant seeks to dismantle systemic racism in two ways. The project will first educate the WNEU community about the connection between racism and health disparities and the structural barriers to equity that exist across society, and then will work to facilitate racial healing and relationship building between the institution and the local community through healing-circle conversations. Since its launch in 2019, the Center for Social Justice has been a key stakeholder in the pursuit of social justice in its community and beyond. In the last year, the center has sponsored or hosted more than a dozen events, including various know-your-rights trainings and programming, panel discussions addressing the racial disparities of COVID-19, and lawyering in the time of Black Lives Matter, as well as speakers like Evan Wolfson, who is considered an architect of the marriage-equality movement. Its work is entirely grant-funded from supporters like HNE and MassMutual, as well as individual donors.

Visiting Angels West Springfield Wins Provider of Choice Award

WEST SPRINGFIELD — Visiting Angels West Springfield received the 2021 Best of Home Care Provider of Choice Award, which is granted to the top-ranking home-care providers in North America according to Home Care Pulse. The Provider of Choice Award recognizes Visiting Angels’ dedication to client satisfaction and commitment to offering quality, affordable in-home care services. Visiting Angels West Springfield was established in 1999 and has served the elder population of Western Mass. for more than 20 years. It has grown to provide more than 70,000 hours of care annually by helping seniors to maintain a sense of independence, dignity, and quality of life in their own home. Visiting Angels strives to foster lasting client-caregiver relationships by offering family-like compassionate care and dependability.

AIC Named to 2021-22 Military Friendly Schools List

SPRINGFIELD — American International College (AIC) announced it has earned the 2021-22 Military Friendly School designation. Institutions earning this designation were evaluated using both public data sources and responses from a proprietary survey. More than 1,200 schools participated in the 2021-22 survey, with 747 earning the designation. The 2021-22 Military Friendly Schools list will be published in the May issue of G.I. Jobs magazine and can be found at www.militaryfriendly.com. Methodology and criteria were determined by VIQTORY with input from the Military Friendly Advisory Council of independent leaders in the higher-education and military-recruitment community. Final ratings were determined by combining the institution’s survey response set and government/agency public data sources within a logic-based scoring assessment. The institution’s ability to meet thresholds for student retention, graduation, job placement, loan repayment, persistence (degree advancement or transfer), and loan-default rates for all students are measured.

Team 413 Moves to William Raveis Real Estate

EAST LONGMEADOW — Shawna Gutowski and Heidi Pafumi, founders of Team 413, announced their move to the East Longmeadow office of William Raveis Real Estate. Team 413 finished 2020 top five in sales volume for all real-estate transactions in Hampden County. When asked why they decided to move their team, Gutowski noted that, “as we quickly grew from two to 16 agents, we realized a partnership with a name and reputation like William Raveis was the next step. Using their structure, technology, and years of experience, we plan to continue to exponentially grow.” In the previous four years, Team 413 has consistently ranked in the top 1% of Hampden County teams, with more than 500 transactions and $100 million in closed volume. The team has sold homes in more than 30 towns across Western Mass. and Northern Conn. Team 413 prides itself on its cultural diversity, as well as its extensive resources, spanning from contractors to interior designers.

ACC Designated as 2021-22 Military Friendly School

ENFIELD, Conn. — Asnuntuck Community College announced that, for the 14th year, the college has earned the 2021-22 Military Friendly School designation. Institutions earning this designation were evaluated using both public data sources and responses from a proprietary survey. More than 1,200 schools participated in the 2021-22 survey, with 747 earning the designation. Asnuntuck has had nearly 300 active-duty and/or veteran students enrolled during the last three years. The college offers a multitude of services to these students. Asnuntuck and other campuses in the North-West Region worked with Resilience Grows Here to each offer a “No Wrong Door” training at the campuses last year. Asnuntuck, in partnership with Tunxis Community College, has done community outreach by sponsoring the Hartford Yard Goats Military Family of the Game for each of the baseball team’s home games.

Holyoke Hummus Food Truck Comes to Resinate Northampton

NORTHAMPTON — Holyoke Hummus and Resinate Northampton recently announced a new partnership. The Holyoke Hummus food truck is now serving in the parking lot of Resinate at 110 Pleasant St. in Northampton and is open Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 7 p.m. Holyoke Hummus serves falafel, hummus, and other Middle Eastern treats. Delivery and online ordering are available at holyokehummus.com. The truck is also available for special events and catering.

Girls Inc. of the Valley Receives Amelia Peabody Grant

HOLYOKE — Girls Inc. of the Valley received a $145,000 grant from the Amelia Peabody Foundation, which will enable the organization to further develop its virtual programming, help prepare for the time when in-person programs may resume, continue its Learning Pod collaboration with Holyoke Public Schools, and ultimately bring staff together in one building, fostering even greater creative and collaborative synergies. The foundation awarded $25,000 to Girls Inc.’s general program and $120,000 to its comprehensive campaign, “Her Future, Our Future.” This commitment will help Girls Inc. to establish a new, permanent home and provide the space, resources, and opportunities needed to enable more girls to participate in the transformative Girls Inc. experience. The grant will support both program planning and implementation; funds will be used for staffing, expanded outreach, and program supplies. Additionally, the grant will facilitate bringing all Girls Inc. staff together under one roof to create greater collaborative and economic efficiencies.

Christina’s House Gets a Hand with Giving a Hand Up

SPRINGFIELD — The Davis Foundation recently awarded Christina’s House with a $15,000 grant to do what it does best — giving a hand up to homeless and near-homeless women and their children. A largely underserved population, these women and their families will stay with Christina’s House for 18 months to two years while they establish healthy living habits, become employed, and earn a GED or job training for upward mobility in the workforce. Paul Belsito, executive director at the Davis Foundation, and Magnus Monroe, grants and project manager, met with the organization in early fall to better understand how the foundation could support Christina’s House. The Davis Foundation, long known in the community for its educational agenda, found a fit, and the board voted to approve and provide much-needed funds to help the organization through a tough year. Christina’s House provides transitional housing and social services for homeless or near-homeless mothers and children. It educates, embraces, and encourages families in the program with the life skills needed to become self-sufficient as they transition from homelessness to stable environments. The organization also helps each mother seek, obtain, and maintain employment once accepted into the program, and promotes occupational advancement through résumé writing and job-skills training.

Bradley International Airport Named in USA Today Readers’ Choice Awards

WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — The Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA) announced that USA Today has named Bradley International Airport a winner in its 2021 10Best Readers’ Choice travel contest in the “Best Small Airport” category. Bradley placed seventh out of 15 airports that were selected by industry experts as the best across the nation. In response to COVID-19, the CAA has continued to enhance services at Bradley International Airport over the past year, aimed at providing a safe, clean, and comfortable travel experience. More information about the safety measures undertaken and what travelers can expect can be found at www.bdlcares.com. On its website, USA Today noted that Bradley International Airport “ranks as the second-busiest airport after Boston Logan, yet it remains a convenient option with on-site parking, lots of charging stations, free wi-fi, and proximity to both New York and Boston.” Bradley was chosen by a panel of industry experts for inclusion in the USA Today contest, which was followed by four weeks of public voting nationwide. This is the airport’s second national recognition within the year after placing as a top-10 airport in the 2020 Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice survey.

Doing Business as Certificates

DBA Certificates

The following business certificates and/or trade names were issued or renewed during the month of February 2021. (Filings are limited due to closures or reduced staffing hours at municipal offices due to COVID-19 restrictions).

DEERFIELD

Apothecary Inc.
4A Sugarloaf St.
Danielle Sullivan-Beck, Jaime Young

The Griffin Family Farm
225 Upper Road
Danielle Griffin, Robert Griffin

South Deerfield Veterinary Clinic
112 River Road
Samantha Clay

HADLEY

Famous Footwear #2388
335 Russell St.
Famous Footwear

Northern Creek Farm
54 Chmura Road
Elizabeth Pelis

Riverbend Animal Hospital
43 Russell St.
RB Riverbend AH, LLC

Valley Inn for Pets
320 Russell St.
Vetcor of Hadley, LLC

Valley Veterinary Hospital
320 Russell St.
Vetcor of Hadley, LLC

SOUTHWICK

Bitcoin Depot
587 College Highway
Lux Vending, LLC

Calabrese Farms, LLC
249 Feeding Hills Road
Thomas Calabrese

Delia’s Hair Studio
627 College Highway
Delia Bromley

Moon Snail Creations and Engraving, LLC
11 Great Brook Dr.
Erica Heng

WESTFIELD

Bill’s Repair Service Inc.
530 Pochassic Road
Bill’s Repair Service Inc.

D. Rossi Custom Pallet Service
264 Lockhouse Road
David Dolan

Ergonomic Collaboration Group
207 Munger Hill Road
Patrick Carley

Gabe’s 252
252 Elm St.
Krause, LLC

It Takes 2 Bakery
31 Elm St.
It Takes 2 Bakery

Jasmeine Moonsong
598 Granville Road
Brandy Latshaw

Just Like Home Daycare
26 Kellogg St.
Helena Drozaliev

MG Construction
19 Forest Ave.
Matthew Gavrilov

Quality View
344 Prospect St. Ext.
Noah Rivera

Santiago Family Restaurant
34 Franklin St.
I. Santiago

Tin Bridge Brewing Co.
487 East Main St.
Tin Bridge Brewing Co.

The Whip
287 North Elm St.
Whip City Patriot Inc.

YFC Construction
19 Forest Ave.
Y.M.D. Gavrilov

Yola’s Caring Touch Massage
10C Union Ave.
Jolanta Abramczyk

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Damoonweb
768 Main St.
Faruba Nujaeub

Dynamic Dock & Door Inc.
64 Lowell St.
Bret Leveillee

Expert Car Rental
1800 Riverdale St.
James Balise

Gen X Records
27 Squassick Road
Thomas Poulin

Great Clips
343 Memorial Ave.
Catie Laraway

The Pawsitive Look
865 Memorial Dr.
Doris Ruiz

Tip Top Nails
239 Memorial Ave.
Hoa Chi Thach

Toe-to-Toe Dance Center
1419 Westfield St.
Cherie Hodgdon

Welch Government & Public Relations
270 Christopher Ter.
James Welch

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies

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

Anderson, Coralee
113 Andrews St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Date: 02/13/2021

Benoit, William
McIntire-Benoit, Monica
a/k/a Lenz, Monica
140 Union St., Apt. 3
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Date: 01/31/2021

Frederick, Robert
90 Highland Ave.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 13
Date: 02/01/2021

Helms, Laura Dianne
a/k/a Radebaugh, Laura D.
191 Franklin St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/04/2021

Longs, Isaiah A.
72 Page Blvd.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/15/2021
Marcano, Gloria I.
156 Leyfred Ter.
Springfield, MA 01104|
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/08/2021

Ouellette, Yvette
a/k/a Duval, Yvette
a/k/a Hitchcock, Yvette Duval
a/k/a Nichols, Yvette
1449 County Road
Great Barrington, MA 01230
Chapter: 13
Date: 02/01/2021

Pelkey, Donald R.
24 Western Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/13/2021

Rapier, Mary Annette
43 Devens St., Apt. A
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/03/2021

Rosa, Luis F.
258 Pendleton Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Date: 01/31/2021

Terrero, Ana F.
672 Alden St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Date: 02/02/2021

Unterberger, Kevin M.
247 Onota St.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/01/2021

Wontota, Richmond B.
13 Kendall St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Date: 02/02/2021

Real Estate Transactions

Real Estate

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

FRANKLIN COUNTY

ASHFIELD

152-A John Ford Road
Ashfield, MA 01330
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Jane Kaufman
Seller: Tatiana C. Berindei
Date: 02/08/21

BERNARDSTON

23 Center St.
Bernardston, MA 01337
Amount: $268,896
Buyer: Aaron C. Hunter
Seller: Leslie Hunter
Date: 02/09/21

308 Northfield Road
Bernardston, MA 01337
Amount: $332,764
Buyer: JP Morgan Chase Bank
Seller: Janine Viencek
Date: 02/10/21

175 West Road
Bernardston, MA 01337
Amount: $370,000
Buyer: Thomas B. Hamilton
Seller: Errol W. Caswell
Date: 02/08/21

BUCKLAND

7 South St.
Buckland, MA 01338
Amount: $269,000
Buyer: David Gamelli
Seller: Gaffigan IRT
Date: 02/12/21

49-51 State St.
Buckland, MA 01338
Amount: $317,000
Buyer: Diego Sharon
Seller: Kelly A. Hanley
Date: 02/16/21

DEERFIELD

Elm Circle
Deerfield, MA 01342
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Clay RE Holdings LLC
Seller: Elizabeth A. Schmitt
Date: 02/19/21

30 Elm St.
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Clay RE Holdings LLC
Seller: Elizabeth A. Schmitt
Date: 02/19/21

7 Graves St.
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $144,000
Buyer: Thomas J. Mitchell
Seller: USA HUD
Date: 02/09/21

7 Thayer St.
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $199,155
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Marie Drozdal
Date: 02/19/21

GREENFIELD

80 Beech St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Benjamin Conrick
Seller: Christopher J. Edes
Date: 02/12/21

335 Chapman St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Levi Kelley
Seller: Andrew Lively
Date: 02/10/21

333 Federal St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: White Mountain Realty Group LLC
Seller: Paul W. Allis
Date: 02/08/21

25 Frederick Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Jason Sadler
Seller: Paul J. Levasseur
Date: 02/12/21

24 Linwood St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Daniel Littlefield
Seller: Michael Hutchinson
Date: 02/09/21

151 Montague City Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Kristina N. Smyth
Seller: Christopher D. Sawyer
Date: 02/09/21

78 Peabody Lane
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Min L. Lu
Seller: Eileen F. Brown
Date: 02/18/21

92-94 Peabody Lane
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $675,000
Buyer: Adam Konner
Seller: Ricky Greenwald
Date: 02/12/21

32 Power Square
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $131,500
Buyer: Andrew R. Hutchison
Seller: Goodridge, George L., (Estate)
Date: 02/10/21

77 Verde Dr.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $398,400
Buyer: Jamie Roberts
Seller: Greenfield KMW LLC
Date: 02/08/21

LEVERETT

49 Cave Hill Road
Leverett, MA 01054
Amount: $406,405
Buyer: Eric J. Mulvihill
Seller: Frederick J. Bashour
Date: 02/16/21

MONROE

146 Main Road
Monroe, MA 01350
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Nathan H. Cote
Seller: Russell R. Oakes
Date: 02/12/21

MONTAGUE

22 Coolidge Ave.
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Crystal-Ann Hoffman
Seller: Lenois, Ronald R., (Estate)
Date: 02/10/21

107 Federal St.
Montague, MA 01349
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Denise D. Salmon-Shand
Seller: Michael McGrath
Date: 02/16/21

33 Union St.
Montague, MA 01351
Amount: $315,250
Buyer: Jonathan R. Bray
Seller: Robert J. Bray
Date: 02/11/21

NEW SALEM

27 Stone Hill Road
New Salem, MA 01355
Amount: $236,500
Buyer: Dylan J. Matilainen
Seller: Christine C. Fannin
Date: 02/19/21

NORTHFIELD

153 School St.
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Yong-Zhi Mei
Seller: Douglas A. Baker
Date: 02/08/21

ORANGE

113 Congress St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Max Carrazana
Seller: Edgewater Construction Inc.
Date: 02/09/21

67 Main St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $375,000
Buyer: Tina Diaz
Seller: Daniel M. Kimball
Date: 02/08/21

95 New Athol Road
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $1,090,000
Buyer: Motor City Automotive Group
Seller: George H. Newcomb
Date: 02/11/21

38 Robin Lane
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $214,900
Buyer: James D. Hancock
Seller: Jignesh R. Patel
Date: 02/12/21

181 Wheeler Ave.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Brent E. Sulham
Seller: Nathan E. Sulham
Date: 02/19/21

SHELBURNE

30 High St.
Shelburne, MA 01370
Amount: $495,000
Buyer: Katherine Barr
Seller: Ricki Carroll
Date: 02/09/21

Patten Road
Shelburne, MA 01370
Amount: $353,000
Buyer: MA Audubon Society Inc.
Seller: Patten Hill Farm TR
Date: 02/16/21

SHUTESBURY

527 West Pelham Road
Shutesbury, MA 01072
Amount: $274,500
Buyer: Skyway Properties LLC
Seller: Andrew L. Cook
Date: 02/16/21

SUNDERLAND

190 North Silver Lane
Sunderland, MA 01375
Amount: $485,000
Buyer: Dennis O’Loughlin
Seller: J2K Realty LLC
Date: 02/19/21

HAMPDEN COUNTY

AGAWAM

114 Carr Ave.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $153,000
Buyer: Alex Boyko
Seller: Laura L. Farrington
Date: 02/12/21

19 Hamilton Circle
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Joanne Askins
Date: 02/10/21

16 Norris St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Tifany Inacio
Seller: Melissa Noonan
Date: 02/10/21

5 Red Oaks Circle
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Ryan D. Sheehan
Seller: Laura J. Conant
Date: 02/11/21

43 River Road
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Sergey Dikan
Seller: Joann K. Chiaro
Date: 02/18/21

105 South Westfield St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $230,500
Buyer: Zeni L. Gushue
Seller: Russell P. Stetson
Date: 02/08/21

BLANDFORD

103 North Blandford Road
Blandford, MA 01008
Amount: $183,302
Buyer: Bl Ma Land LLC
Seller: Housatonic Solar 1 LLC
Date: 02/08/21

BLANDFORD

28 Blair Road
Blandford, MA 01008
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Mia Hanlon
Seller: Emerald City Rentals LLC
Date: 02/19/21

CHESTER

104 North Chester Road
Chester, MA 01011
Amount: $382,000
Buyer: David S. Muenzer
Seller: Christopher L. Towne
Date: 02/18/21

CHICOPEE

71 Britton St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $167,000
Buyer: Michael Croteau
Seller: Mark E. Slayton
Date: 02/17/21

1063 Burnett Road
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Michele A. Lemieux
Seller: Connor S. Sormanti
Date: 02/17/21

621 Chicopee St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $142,000
Buyer: CIG 4 LLC
Seller: Alyson E. Reid
Date: 02/16/21

61 Claire St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Joshua J. Medero
Seller: Thomas P. Garvey
Date: 02/12/21

47 Conrad St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $231,500
Buyer: Joleen A. Ramos
Seller: Michael Jackewich
Date: 02/12/21

37 Eldridge St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $147,000
Buyer: JBD Empire LLC
Seller: Natalia Trznadel
Date: 02/18/21

19 Emerson St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $415,000
Buyer: RBT Enterprise LLC
Seller: MJT Properties LLC
Date: 02/18/21

10 Everett St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: CIG 4 LLC
Seller: FNMA
Date: 02/16/21

101 Fairview Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Colleen Bates
Seller: William M. Parker
Date: 02/09/21

90 Fernhill St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $167,000
Buyer: Seweryn W. Grabowski
Seller: Bank New York Mellon
Date: 02/12/21

11 Fisher St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Carlos M. Hernandez
Seller: Richard S. Fedak
Date: 02/16/21

81 Frink St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $227,900
Buyer: William M. Parker
Seller: Jeffrey P. Paquette
Date: 02/10/21

245 Grattan St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $335,000
Buyer: Tony Tereso
Seller: Marc N. Turgeon
Date: 02/17/21

75 Greenpoint Circle
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Scott T. Pirog
Seller: Elizabeth A. Forgue
Date: 02/12/21

49 Jean Circle
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Yesenia R. Martinez
Seller: N. Riley Construction Inc.
Date: 02/17/21

17 Leslie St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $228,000
Buyer: Nicol D. Diaz-Rodriguez
Seller: Extremely Clean LLC
Date: 02/19/21

311 Montgomery St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Connor K. Kennedy
Seller: Roland N. Menard
Date: 02/11/21

8 Pleasantview Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Antonio Valdez-Cabral
Seller: Meadowbrook Property Solutions
Date: 02/09/21

645 Shawinigan Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $1,162,050
Buyer: Western Mass. Emergency Communications
Seller: Shawinigan Drive LLC
Date: 02/16/21

151 Silvin Road
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Jack Solock
Seller: Shannon L. Drake
Date: 02/18/21

385 Springfield St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Plata O. Plomo Inc.
Seller: Antonio S. Francisco
Date: 02/12/21

2 West St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Juan A. Rosario
Seller: Blanco Electric LLC
Date: 02/12/21

EAST LONGMEADOW

Baldwin St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $1,500,000
Buyer: Purpose Storage E
Seller: Baldwin Street LLC
Date: 02/10/21

34 Brynmawr Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: MNB Builders LLC
Seller: FNMA
Date: 02/16/21

419 Chestnut St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Alexander Provoda
Seller: Diana Kumisca
Date: 02/12/21

5 Corning St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01108
Amount: $284,000
Buyer: Hadley B. Pellegrino
Seller: Giancarlo Mei
Date: 02/19/21

68 Gerrard Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $290,900
Buyer: Brett Richard
Seller: Erick Arroyo
Date: 02/19/21

Glendale Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $1,500,000
Buyer: Purpose Storage E
Seller: Baldwin Street LLC
Date: 02/10/21

Grove Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $1,500,000
Buyer: Purpose Storage E
Seller: Baldwin Street LLC
Date: 02/10/21

27 Kingman Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: James N. Conlon
Seller: USA HUD
Date: 02/19/21

39 Lombard Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $299,900
Buyer: Timothy J. Becker
Seller: Robert J. Schroeter
Date: 02/17/21

55 Mapleshade Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $234,500
Buyer: Bradford T. Mills
Seller: Brian Tondera
Date: 02/12/21

45 Scantic Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $246,000
Buyer: James Bertier
Seller: Tracey L. Giard
Date: 02/12/21

HOLYOKE

71 Berkshire St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $231,000
Buyer: Anne M. Lisella
Seller: Westmass Apartments LLC
Date: 02/18/21

15 Clark St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $263,000
Buyer: Victoria M. Bonazoli
Seller: Albert Czupkiewicz
Date: 02/16/21

921 Dwight St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Daniel Carrell
Seller: Gladysh Capital LLC
Date: 02/19/21

5 Gamelin St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $1,000,000
Buyer: Holyoke Medical Properties
Seller: Mercy Hospital Inc.
Date: 02/17/21

1244 Main St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $276,000
Buyer: Justin Tomasini
Seller: Greenvale Properties LLC
Date: 02/08/21

41-43 Mosher St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $1,250,000
Buyer: 556 South Bridge St LLC
Seller: Windsor Realty LLC
Date: 02/19/21

2060-2062 Northampton St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $216,000
Buyer: Michael L. Davenport
Seller: NAR Realty LLC
Date: 02/12/21

17-19 Parker St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Shannon C. Dillard
Seller: Mario Tedeschi
Date: 02/12/21

430 Rock Valley Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Michael D. Rabtor
Seller: Jennifer Wilda
Date: 02/12/21

556 South Bridge St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $1,250,000
Buyer: 556 S. Bridge St. LLC
Seller: Windsor Realty LLC
Date: 02/19/21

224 Walnut St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Jonathan Z. Glogower
Seller: Anna K. Rigali
Date: 02/18/21

50 West St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $1,250,000
Buyer: 556 South Bridge St. LLC
Seller: Windsor Realty LLC
Date: 02/19/21

52 West St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $1,250,000
Buyer: 556 S. Bridge St. LLC
Seller: Windsor Realty LLC
Date: 02/19/21

19 West Glen St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Heidy L. Lanausse-Ramos
Seller: Alfred Shattelroe
Date: 02/08/21

272 Whitney Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $415,000
Buyer: Nicholas O. Rodriguez
Seller: Christopher M. Buell
Date: 02/17/21

LONGMEADOW

37 Captain Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $375,000
Buyer: Philip B. Jones
Seller: Michael Sullivan
Date: 02/10/21

1183 Converse St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $555,000
Buyer: Jaime Cabezas
Seller: Rajeev Kumar
Date: 02/17/21

73 Falmouth Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $376,000
Buyer: Katie Lynch
Seller: James B. Punderson
Date: 02/17/21

163 Hillcrest Ave.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $271,000
Buyer: Kate E. Schoenberger
Seller: Jeffrey A. Beaulac
Date: 02/19/21

58 Shady Side Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $527,500
Buyer: James J. Manoussoff
Seller: Kim D. Tanzer
Date: 02/12/21

37 South Ave.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $319,000
Buyer: Robert E. Kelley
Seller: Jaime F. Cabezas
Date: 02/17/21

LUDLOW

8 Autumn Ridge Road
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $532,000
Buyer: William E. Grise
Seller: Hemlock Ridge LLC
Date: 02/12/21

14 Bucknell St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $292,500
Buyer: Suzanne Middleton
Seller: Raev LLC
Date: 02/19/21

448 Fuller St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $372,000
Buyer: Jonathan M. Cheria
Seller: Gerard J. Deslauriers
Date: 02/19/21

Marias Way #5
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Augusto G. Crespo
Seller: M&G Investors LLC
Date: 02/12/21

177 Overlook Dr.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $370,000
Buyer: Khanh Nguyen
Seller: Patricia Coderre-Guyette
Date: 02/12/21

73 Ridgeview Circle
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Alice G. English
Seller: Stoddard, Mary E., (Estate)
Date: 02/12/21

Sunset Ridge #7
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Danny Elias
Seller: Alex G. Kudla
Date: 02/19/21

Sunset Ridge #17
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Alina Leclaire
Seller: Baystate Developers Inc.
Date: 02/12/21

MONSON

28 Bethany Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Joanne P. Kelly
Seller: Sarah E. Danos
Date: 02/12/21

PALMER

11 Conant St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $243,480
Buyer: Kathleen A. Scarglia
Seller: Nathaniel Messier
Date: 02/19/21

4 Norbell St.
Palmer, MA 01080
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Jennifer L. Bolduc
Seller: Linda Thibeault
Date: 02/17/21

1570-1572 North Main St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $161,000
Buyer: Roger Parker
Seller: Stephen A. Mushenko
Date: 02/10/21

17 Old Farm Road
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $385,000
Buyer: Naomi R. Jackson
Seller: Doreen Cunningham
Date: 02/09/21

103-A&B South High St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $287,600
Buyer: Joshua Banas
Seller: Glennair Executive Services
Date: 02/09/21

103-B South High St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $287,600
Buyer: Joshua Banas
Seller: Glennair Executive Services
Date: 02/09/21

49 Springfield St.
Palmer, MA 01080
Amount: $239,000
Buyer: Anthony L. Fields
Seller: Rehab Home Buyers LLC
Date: 02/16/21

Wilbraham St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $535,000
Buyer: Jerzy Sajerda
Seller: Wilbraham Road LLC
Date: 02/10/21

RUSSELL

41 Westwood Dr.
Russell, MA 01071
Amount: $292,000
Buyer: Caio Veloso-Silva
Seller: Jay M. Smith
Date: 02/16/21

SOUTHWICK

3 Amberleaf Way
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $455,000
Buyer: Brian J. Laframboise
Seller: Seetharaman Raghuraman
Date: 02/17/21

681-R College Hwy.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Jaydub LLC
Seller: Hillside Development Corp.
Date: 02/17/21

21 Ed Holcomb Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Christopher M. Barden
Seller: Harold A. Heap
Date: 02/16/21

71 Kline Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $310,000
Buyer: Steve Howes
Seller: Joan C. Morvidelli
Date: 02/19/21

21 Sterrett Dr.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Randy Wessels
Seller: Frank T. Larson
Date: 02/11/21

19 Veteran St.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $139,176
Buyer: Brian E. Kelley
Seller: Angelo S. Melloni
Date: 02/17/21

138 Vining Hill Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $340,824
Buyer: William J. Kokocinski
Seller: Marc A. Pereira
Date: 02/12/21

SPRINGFIELD

139 Abbott St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $212,000
Buyer: Amanda Pagan
Seller: Joseph A. Pietrocola
Date: 02/12/21

104 Alden St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $167,000
Buyer: Eileen Santiago
Seller: Hedge Hog Industries Corp.
Date: 02/11/21

211 Ambrose St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Alfonso Roman
Seller: Lydia E. Torres
Date: 02/12/21

27-29 Ames St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Luis R. Cintron-Amaro
Seller: Paul A. Dyrkacz
Date: 02/09/21

68-70 Appleton St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Roosevelt Amanfo
Seller: Guillermo Negron
Date: 02/19/21

459-461 Armory St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $174,900
Buyer: Ching Chi Lee
Seller: Jonathan Lurie
Date: 02/11/21

18-20 Batavia St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $218,000
Buyer: Dennis D. Terron
Seller: Edwin Ortiz-Gonzalez
Date: 02/12/21

50 Beauregard St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $173,999
Buyer: Edgardo Garcia
Seller: MVP Partners RE LLC
Date: 02/12/21

992 Berkshire Ave.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Jonathan Vargas-Garcia
Seller: Bruce R. Buckley
Date: 02/12/21

292 Breckwood Blvd.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Hector M. Hernandez
Seller: Eagle Home Buyers LLC
Date: 02/18/21

5-9 Caldwell Place
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $281,000
Buyer: Purposefull Holdings LLC
Seller: Jose M. Goncalves
Date: 02/12/21

19 Carlton St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $168,000
Buyer: Odayls Agosto-Flores
Seller: Francine Savoie
Date: 02/08/21

379 Central St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Santana Real Estate Inc.
Seller: Lionel Cruz
Date: 02/09/21

68 Cheyenne Road
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Nicholas D. Delnegro
Seller: Jason Bacis
Date: 02/12/21

28 Clarendon St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $223,000
Buyer: Carlos Kuilan
Seller: Round 2 LLC
Date: 02/09/21

260 Cuff Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $211,000
Buyer: Jesus M. Nieves
Seller: David P. Bergeron
Date: 02/19/21

122 Drexel St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Jazmin I. Martinez
Seller: Celestino Diaz
Date: 02/08/21

48 Driftwood Road
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $226,000
Buyer: Dallas Clark
Seller: Shalonda M. Edwards
Date: 02/11/21

93-95 Edgewood St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $234,000
Buyer: Edwin M. Molina-Nunez
Seller: Jarineth Velez-Torres
Date: 02/09/21

153 Ellsworth Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $187,000
Buyer: Amanda L. Upchurch
Seller: Kathleen A. Shaw
Date: 02/12/21

79 Eloise St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $221,000
Buyer: Joanna Rodriguez
Seller: Russell, Mary J., (Estate)
Date: 02/16/21

22 Florentine Gardens
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $314,900
Buyer: John J. Blackshear
Seller: James P. Hager
Date: 02/19/21

97 Francis St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Jevhan Velez
Seller: Lawrence F. Army
Date: 02/16/21

33 Fullerton St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $184,000
Buyer: Cyndia Gonzalez
Seller: Andrew C. Kalinyak
Date: 02/12/21

282 Gilbert Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $418,000
Buyer: Luz Martinez
Seller: Bretta Construction LLC
Date: 02/12/21

762 Grayson Dr.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $190,400
Buyer: Marcio Freitas
Seller: Lydia Vega
Date: 02/11/21

22 Hobart St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $281,000
Buyer: Purposefull Holdings LLC
Seller: Jose M. Goncalves
Date: 02/12/21

80 Howes St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $179,900
Buyer: Robert L. Gladden
Seller: Wilmington Savings
Date: 02/10/21

208 Island Pond Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $153,000
Buyer: Donald Cushing
Seller: Guczek, Edward J. Sr., (Estate)
Date: 02/17/21

23 Kerry Dr.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $189,100
Buyer: Carmen B. Galarza-Colon
Seller: Brett R. Richard
Date: 02/19/21

121 Laconia St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Sivakumar Jagadeesan
Seller: TL Bretta Realty LLC
Date: 02/12/21

144 Lamont St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Robert Chamberlain
Seller: Stacey Hildreth-Fortin
Date: 02/16/21

91 Lancaster St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $181,000
Buyer: Alexander Rohan
Seller: Matthew E. Donnellan
Date: 02/17/21

34-36 Langdon St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Chazalyn Santa-Colon
Seller: Keith Blake
Date: 02/12/21

80-82 Leyfred Ter.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $286,000
Buyer: Calisa Kennedy
Seller: Madison Property Investment LLC
Date: 02/19/21

40 Luden St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Jacob J. Tagan
Seller: Noah B. Hatton
Date: 02/18/21

279-287 Main St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $462,675
Buyer: Matthew D. Grunwald
Seller: 855 Liberty Springfield LLC
Date: 02/08/21

143 Marion St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Karelis Dejesus
Seller: Amat Victoria Curam LLC
Date: 02/10/21

16 Marsden St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Gilbert Santiago
Seller: Joejoe Properties LLC
Date: 02/16/21

33 Michigan St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Christopher J. Berthiaume
Seller: Ellen T. Moore
Date: 02/12/21

50 Montclair St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $188,000
Buyer: Kenny A. Martinez
Seller: Steven Lemoine
Date: 02/12/21

123-125 Mulberry St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Jasper McCoy
Seller: Theocles, Charles A. (Estate)
Date: 02/11/21

737 Newbury St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Zachary Edelman
Seller: Michael Sheltra
Date: 02/17/21

54 Newhall St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Jaritza Rios
Seller: Kelly R. Holbrook
Date: 02/16/21

173 Oakland St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $309,000
Buyer: Monica Rahall
Seller: Mister Mister LLC
Date: 02/17/21

988 Parker St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Reshawn Buckhannon
Seller: Jerome T. Weldon
Date: 02/19/21

210 Peekskill Ave.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Daniel J. Langevin
Seller: John Martin
Date: 02/10/21

18-20 Rifle St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $220,883
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Vanessa Johnson
Date: 02/17/21

27 Sherbrooke St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $133,000
Buyer: Michelle Stuart
Seller: Jose A. Rivera
Date: 02/08/21

70 Sherman St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $233,600
Buyer: Felix DeLaCruz
Seller: Orange Park Management LLC
Date: 02/12/21

905-909 Sumner Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Patalano Property Mgmt. LLC
Seller: Anthony Patalano
Date: 02/16/21

147 Sunridge Dr.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Abundio Cortes-Palacios
Seller: Michael J. Culhane
Date: 02/10/21

55 Tyler St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Shanice M. Torres
Seller: Allan Cumberbatch
Date: 02/18/21

331-333 Water St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Latonya Hinds
Seller: H. P. Rum LLC
Date: 02/16/21

85-87 West Alvord St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Arielle Christian
Seller: David A. Springer
Date: 02/09/21

116 Wheeler Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Susan Cagan
Seller: Parker, Patricia G., (Estate)
Date: 02/19/21

901 Wilbraham Road
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Michelle L. Giguere
Seller: Wayne G. Giguere
Date: 02/19/21

WESTFIELD

11 Bush St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Veteran Stan LLC
Seller: Joseph Busby
Date: 02/12/21

10 Cross St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Jay M. Smith
Seller: Robert E. Kelley
Date: 02/17/21

1047 East Mountain Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: David Bagge
Seller: Barton, Hazel A., (Estate)
Date: 02/19/21

35 Grandview Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: Benjamin R. Fischer
Seller: Jonathan Hawkins
Date: 02/19/21

8 Lincoln St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $272,500
Buyer: Lisa M. Kozik
Seller: Caio H. Veloso-Silva
Date: 02/16/21

10 Main St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $495,000
Buyer: 10 Main WF LLC
Seller: Johnston Holding Co. Inc.
Date: 02/16/21

107 Main St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $256,000
Buyer: Luis A. Lopez
Seller: Eric Mancini
Date: 02/18/21

100 Meadow St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Dmitriy Ryabichenko
Seller: Aleksandr Popov
Date: 02/12/21

11 Myrtle Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: John M. Phillips
Seller: LP4 LLC
Date: 02/12/21

45 Orange St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $295,000
Buyer: Arismendy Larancuent
Seller: Scott A. Machler
Date: 02/19/21

46 Orange St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $239,900
Buyer: Tyler J. French
Seller: Emmanuel N. Cheo
Date: 02/08/21

440 Southampton Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: JAI Hanuman LLC
Seller: 440 Southampton Road Realty
Date: 02/17/21

31 Summit Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Isobel A. McMahon
Seller: Joanne A. Manley
Date: 02/11/21

160 Susan Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $291,000
Buyer: Andrew K. Hall
Seller: Kurowski, Doris A., (Estate)
Date: 02/11/21

107 Tannery Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $226,000
Buyer: Henry R. Talbot
Seller: Crawford, Carl J., (Estate)
Date: 02/11/21

WILBRAHAM

6 Birch St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Todd N. Ashford
Seller: Kathleen A. Scarglia
Date: 02/16/21

3155 Boston Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $124,500
Buyer: Jad Mourad
Seller: Maureen G. Christofori
Date: 02/17/21

11 Delmor Circle
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $237,500
Buyer: Richard Hebert
Seller: Nicholas M. Brown
Date: 02/08/21

716 Main St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $435,000
Buyer: Christine R. Augustine
Seller: Suzanne E. Middleton
Date: 02/19/21

843 Main St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $262,500
Buyer: William W. McElroy
Seller: Olga D. Vonflatern
Date: 02/09/21

12 Red Gap Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $555,000
Buyer: Nicole S. Gee
Seller: Charles E. Hatch
Date: 02/17/21

WEST SPRINGFIELD

422 Dewey St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $295,000
Buyer: Allison K. Smith
Seller: Ellen M. Guimaraes
Date: 02/19/21

89 Edgewood Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $460,000
Buyer: William J. Lyons
Seller: Martin C. Lyons
Date: 02/10/21

55 Fox St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $127,500
Buyer: Joseph Kot
Seller: US Bank
Date: 02/12/21

82 Garden St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $206,000
Buyer: Kyle Marquez
Seller: Michele A. Dandy
Date: 02/08/21

48 Oakland St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Justin P. Hancock
Seller: Mark P. Skypeck
Date: 02/18/21

89 Pheasants Xing
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $485,000
Buyer: Thomas Permar
Seller: David J. Vickers
Date: 02/12/21

30 Ravenwood Lane
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $417,000
Buyer: Dante R. Demaio
Seller: William T. Bostick
Date: 02/12/21

231 River St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: William G. Marchand
Seller: Maitri J. Patel
Date: 02/12/21

19 Rochelle St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $295,500
Buyer: Kevin Truong
Seller: Kevin Boyle
Date: 02/19/21

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY

AMHERST

273 Amity St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: 273 Amity Street RT
Seller: 273 Amity Street RT
Date: 02/11/21

72 Belchertown Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $735,000
Buyer: Town of Amherst
Seller: Keith O. Kaneta RET
Date: 02/16/21

76 Belchertown Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $735,000
Buyer: Town of Amherst
Seller: Keith O. Kaneta RET
Date: 02/16/21

80 Belchertown Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $735,000
Buyer: Town of Amherst
Seller: Keith O. Kaneta RET
Date: 02/16/21

110 Henry St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: W. D. Cowls Inc.
Seller: Dinsmore-Spence TR
Date: 02/17/21

418 Shays St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $355,000
Buyer: Meredith E. Marvin
Seller: Lauder, Shirley L., (Estate)
Date: 02/11/21

51 Station Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $482,000
Buyer: Katherine E. Tease
Seller: Kevin S. Mepham
Date: 02/12/21

23 Tracy Circle
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Amherst Community Land Trust Inc.
Seller: Gesualdi, John J., (Estate)
Date: 02/18/21

19 Vista Ter.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $578,400
Buyer: R. J. McQuade Jr. 2011 T
Seller: Apple Brook West LLC
Date: 02/16/21

BELCHERTOWN

12 Autumn Lane
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Jean B. Bangoret
Seller: McCullough & Campora Enterprises LLC
Date: 02/08/21

150 Federal St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $259,000
Buyer: Phach T. Thach
Seller: Mark E. Suchecki
Date: 02/09/21

52 Magnolia Lane
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $454,900
Buyer: Robert McGibeny
Seller: JN Duquette & Son Construction Inc.
Date: 02/19/21

57 South Washington St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $475,000
Buyer: Zacharian Johnson
Seller: Jason J. Lafleur
Date: 02/16/21

CHESTERFIELD

108 East St.
Chesterfield, MA 01096
Amount: $440,000
Buyer: Elizabeth H. Song
Seller: Andreas A. Gamborg
Date: 02/12/21

EASTHAMPTON

9 Admiral St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $159,790
Buyer: Jarrod A. Wesson
Seller: Laselle, John T., (Estate)
Date: 02/19/21

8 Plain St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Alison Kleppinger
Seller: Leo P. & Carol A. Dube IRT
Date: 02/10/21

62 Pomeroy St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $630,000
Buyer: Garrett J. Wojcicki
Seller: David A. Hardy Contractor
Date: 02/19/21

HADLEY

8 Bayberry Lane
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $750,000
Buyer: Summer Fetterman
Seller: Leonard W. Wierzbicki
Date: 02/12/21

5 Crystal Lane
Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $689,000
Buyer: David J. Gianatasio
Seller: Bercume Construction LLC
Date: 02/12/21

258 River Dr.
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $259,900
Buyer: Raquel F. Llera-Stern
Seller: Kevin M. Skelly
Date: 02/12/21

HATFIELD

322 West St.
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Virginia M. Martell
Seller: Vicki M. Arnould
Date: 02/09/21

HUNTINGTON

39 Basket St.
Huntington, MA 01050
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Tariq Douglas
Seller: Steven W. Powers
Date: 02/19/21

NORTHAMPTON

Boggy Meadow Road
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: City of Northampton
Seller: Bruce A. Wilbur
Date: 02/09/21

127 Bridge St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $332,500
Buyer: Amy Campbell
Seller: Budgar, Gerald, (Estate)
Date: 02/09/21

357 East St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $449,900
Buyer: Henri D. Langevin
Seller: Oak Ridge Custom Home Builders
Date: 02/10/21

415 Granby Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Scott Family Property LLC
Seller: Monaghan, George M., (Estate)
Date: 02/10/21

87 Hadley St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $249,000
Buyer: Teresa A. Czepiel
Seller: Crossland, Timothy J., (Estate)
Date: 02/10/21

47 McKinley Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $213,000
Buyer: Benjamin R. Craig
Seller: Shane Adams
Date: 02/11/21

244 North Maple St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $420,250
Buyer: Micah A. Winston
Seller: Debra J. Diemand
Date: 02/12/21

117 Olander Dr. #16B
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $363,497
Buyer: Engler LT
Seller: Sunwood Development Corp.
Date: 02/12/21

673 Park Hill Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $575,000
Buyer: Caitlin M. Bunning
Seller: Gary F. Ciaschini
Date: 02/12/21

382 Pleasant St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Lisa Cassidy
Seller: Felix J. Grygorcewicz
Date: 02/11/21

386 Pleasant St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $465,000
Buyer: Lisa Cassidy
Seller: Felix J. Grygorcewicz
Date: 02/11/21

87 Pleasant St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Lisa Cassidy
Seller: Felix J. Grygorcewicz
Date: 02/11/21

237 Prospect St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $427,000
Buyer: Congregation Bnai Israel
Seller: City Of Northampton
Date: 02/09/21

50 South St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Nancy Gingras
Seller: Andrew K. Griswold
Date: 02/09/21

Sylvester Road #1
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Christine Ohara
Seller: Judith L. Snyder
Date: 02/12/21

SOUTH HADLEY

12 Grant St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $225,040
Buyer: James T. Ouimet
Seller: Kaali Huang LLC
Date: 02/19/21

17 Red Bridge Lane
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $537,500
Buyer: Carolyn Couture
Seller: Richard F. Cox
Date: 02/16/21

81 Richview Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $248,000
Buyer: Tamika Gagnon
Seller: Elizabeth A. Standen
Date: 02/19/21

54 Westbrook Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $224,000
Buyer: Ethan J. Conklin
Seller: Lynda M. Welch
Date: 02/12/21

164 Woodbridge St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: William J. Selkirk
Seller: Jill Swartwout
Date: 02/18/21

SOUTHAMPTON

250 College Hwy.
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: 6 Bears Properties Inc.
Seller: William G. Pfau
Date: 02/18/21

81 Crooked Ledge Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $335,700
Buyer: Deutsche Bank
Seller: Dynelle Longto
Date: 02/19/21

67 High St.
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Gary J. Baldwin
Seller: John & Claire Martin RET
Date: 02/12/21

7 Old County Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $405,000
Buyer: Joel P. Kupeyan
Seller: Garrett J. Wojcicki
Date: 02/19/21

WARE

114 North St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $177,000
Buyer: Merissa Titus-Abate
Seller: James V. Bourcier
Date: 02/19/21

17 Old Belchertown Road
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Robin L. Foster
Seller: Carl F. Banas
Date: 02/19/21

174 Old Belchertown Road
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Ryan Rocheford
Seller: Alyn M. Coler-Thayer
Date: 02/17/21

414 Palmer Road
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $117,000
Buyer: Alex Lanier
Seller: Renee M. Sinclair
Date: 02/12/21

83 Pleasant St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $182,800
Buyer: Miguel A. Carmona
Seller: Francis J. Soffen
Date: 02/08/21

WILLIAMSBURG

17 Main St.
Williamsburg, MA 01096
Amount: $409,000
Buyer: John T. Skinner
Seller: Linda K. Salguero LT
Date: 02/16/21

WORTHINGTON

112 Thayer Hill Road
Worthington, MA 01098
Amount: $763,000
Buyer: Gabriel D. Unger
Seller: David Hurwith
Date: 02/12/21

Building Permits