Day: October 13, 2021

Daily News

AGAWAM — Eric Frazier joined OMG Roofing Products as the market manager for its growing line of roofing adhesives.

In his newly created position, Frazier is responsible for developing marketing strategies and sales-execution plans for the adhesive-product category, including OMG’s popular line of OlyBond500 adhesives. In this capacity, he will work closely with product management, marketing communications, as well as the field sales team to deliver adhesive solutions to OMG customers. He reports to Adam Cincotta, vice president of the Adhesives & Solar Business unit.

Frazier has extensive experience in brand and product-line commercialization as a product marketing manager. He comes to OMG from Techtronic Industries of Anderson, S.C., where he spent more than six years, most recently as group product manager responsible for leading product development and marketing efforts within its Ryobi and Hart brands.

“We are very pleased to have Eric on the OMG team,” Cincotta said. “He is a talented marketing manager, and he will play a critical role in helping us to strategically drive our adhesives business on a global scale.”

Frazier holds a master’s degree in marketing from Southern New Hampshire University and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I.

Attorney Kevin Chrisanthopoulos Celebrates Five-year Anniversary of KC Law

Daily News

WESTFIELD — Attorney Kevin Chrisanthopoulos is celebrating the five-year anniversary of KC Law, which specializes in personal injury and medical malpractice.

Since leaving a large Springfield firm in 2016 to start out on his own, Attorney Chrisanthopoulos has been named to the Massachusetts Super Lawyers list and included in America’s Top 100 Medical Malpractice Litigators. He has guided numerous families through the loss of a loved one and advocated for those dealing with significant injuries.

“When I set off on my own, I knew I wanted to combine my big-firm litigation experience with my small-town values, working with the citizens of Westfield and surrounding towns,” he said. “My detail-oriented approach, ability to be an aggressive litigator, and foresight to resolve matters outside of the courtroom have led to the successes I have seen over the past five years.”

Chrisanthopoulos is a graduate of Western New England University and Roger Williams School of Law. His bar admissions include Massachusetts and Connecticut, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, and the U.S. Court of Appeals First Circuit. In addition, he is a member of the Hampden County Bar Assoc., Massachusetts Bar Assoc., and Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys. Over the past five years, he has litigated numerous complex medical-malpractice and wrongful-death cases while providing countless hours of pro bono services to individuals who cannot afford legal representation.

“I could not have enjoyed this success without the support of my family and friends over the past five years,” he added. “I strive to do the best work possible for my clients while giving back to my community as much as possible, by volunteering and raising funds for a multitude of deserving organizations.”

Chrisanthopoulos’ community involvement includes assisting in the creation a foundation to raise money for the Clarke School, which specializes in educating children who are deaf or hard of hearing. He also serves as president of the board of trustees for Amelia Park Arena & Memorial Garden and has spent significant time coaching hockey.

Asnuntuck to Hold Open House on Oct. 27

Daily News

ENFIELD, Conn. — Asnuntuck Community College (ACC) will hold an open house on campus, pending health guidelines, on Wednesday, Oct. 27.

Visitors are welcome to attend the open house anytime between 5 and 7 p.m. The event will feature information about ACC’s credit and credit-free opportunities, information sessions from Admissions and Financial Aid, socially distanced campus tours, as well as an information session and tours through the Advanced Manufacturing & Technology Center. A resource fair will take place in Asnuntuck’s Tower Lobby area. The Follett Bookstore will be present with a table of information.

Everyone participating in the open house will be required to wear a mask. Visitors who attend will also receive a free T-shirt.

Winter 2021 and spring 2022 registration will open on Oct. 27. Visit www.asnuntuck.edu for information on how to register for courses.

Lenny Underwood Is Making an Entrepreneurial Fashion Statement

Cover Story

Portrait of the Artist

When he was in college and developing his skills as a photographer, Lenny Underwood recalls being told to ‘get a real job.’ He thought he already had one, and eventually built a successful business. A decade or so later, he created another one, Upscale Socks, which is turning heads with its products while also helping to bring attention to everything from breast cancer to mental-health issues. These days, while growing his two ventures, Underwood is also passing on what he’s learned and doing important work to encourage entrepreneurship, especially among young people.

MAKING QUICK WORK OF IT.

That was the puzzle Lenny Underwood had to solve when he advanced to the bonus round of an episode of Wheel of Fortune that aired in May 2018 — three years after he first auditioned to be on the popular show.

With the few letters that had been revealed — Underwood doesn’t remember which ones they were (he could choose three consonants and a vowel) — he wasn’t able to come up with the phrase. But he noted that he wasn’t familiar with it and had never used it himself, so he was at a real disadvantage. (He also failed to solve another puzzle — WKRP IN CINCINNATI — claiming he’s too young to recall the late-’70s sitcom.)

But, overall, his appearance — he and a good friend competed together — was a success on many levels. He did win a trip to Guatemala for advancing to the bonus round, along with some press — both before the show and after it — and some fond memories from the experience, which came at a point in his life (the audition part, anyway) when he had much more time and inclination for such escapades.

“We did a lot of things like that — we were interested in adventures,” he told BusinessWest. “Things like skydiving, being audience members for TV shows, meeting celebrities, going to book signings … things that were interesting. We would say, ‘let’s audition for this,’ or ‘maybe The Amazing Race,’ things I could add to the arsenal of things that I enjoy doing.

“I’ve been in business for 17 years, nine full-time, but I guess, for whatever reason, socks are more provocative or sexy or interesting.”

“But that was before Upscale Socks,” he went on, referring to what would be described as his latest entrepreneurial venture. It is, as that name indicates, a sock venture, but one with some distinctive artistic and philanthropic flares to it.

Indeed, since launching his line, he has designed sock patterns that do everything from identifying many of Springfield’s many ‘firsts’ — basketball and the monkey wrench are on that list — to drawing attention to breast cancer and mental-health issues. His latest design — he’s planning a press conference to announce it — is what he calls a ‘Massachusetts sock,’ complete with many symbols of the state, including mountains, cranberries, the mayflower, and art connoting higher education.

There is far less time now for things like Wheel of Fortune as Underwood continues to adjust the business plan for both his sock venture and his photography studio, another artistic enterprise he launched 17 years ago, one that suffered greatly during the pandemic, as all such businesses did, but has bounced back in 2021 as the world returns to normal — in most respects.

Meanwhile, there are other matters competing for hours in the day, he noted, listing a growing number of mentoring initiatives with young entrepreneurs, including many aspiring photographers; involvement with Valley Venture Mentors, EforAll Holyoke (he recently judged a final competition among participants in its latest accelerator cohort), and other agencies working with entrepreneurs; and teaching assignments within the broad spectrum of business and entrepreneurship. He’s also writing a children’s book on entrepreneurship.

He used to get a few requests for such work years ago, but the number grew quickly and profoundly after he got into the sock business.

“I’ve been in business for 17 years, nine full-time, but I guess, for whatever reason, socks are more provocative or sexy or interesting,” he said with a laugh and a shrug of his shoulders, adding that his calendar is getting even busier as photo assignments come back and requests to partner on initiatives involving his socks arrive with greater frequency.

Lenny Underwood, seen here talking with a UMass Amherst student at a pitch contest he judged, has become a mentor to many aspiring entrepreneurs.

Overall, this is an intriguing success story already — on many levels. Equally intriguing is where all this could go, especially Upscale Socks. At the moment, it is mostly a regional phenomenon, although the socks are sold online and in outlets in other parts of the country. But Underwood is looking to go next level.

“I’m hoping to attend some conventions and trade shows so I can get in more stores throughout other parts of the country,” he said. “I’ve done pretty well organically; a number of stores have reached out to me — they discover me on social media and they reach out because they’re interested — but I know that, if I want to expand into larger markets and places I’ve never heard of, I need to get in more stores and make more connections.”

For this issue, BusinessWest talked at length with Underwood — about socks, photography, entrepreneurship, mentorship, that full calendar of his, and how it’s all become an adventure unto itself.

Dream Weaver

By now, most people know the story; Underwood has told it many, many times.

Upscale Socks is a dream come true. Quite literally.

He said it was probably seven years ago that he had a dream that he started a company making and selling socks. He said he usually doesn’t remember his dreams, and he didn’t recall all of this one. Just the main theme.

“It was really vague,” he recalled. “I just remember being the owner of this business and selling socks; the dream wasn’t to have a store, but just to have them available in stores and online as well. And that was it.”

He ran the concept by the friend who auditioned with him for Wheel of Fortune, and they agreed it was an idea with merit and potential. But there was a lot of learning to do and hurdles to clear.

“Many have a purpose behind them, and others are more artistic or wacky or funky, as some people call them.”

“I knew nothing about retail,” he acknowledged. “I didn’t do anything for maybe a year but toy with the idea and do some light searching on social media. Nothing really materialized.”

Eventually, he connected with Paul Silva, then-director of Valley Venture Mentors (VVM), who steered him to SPARK (now EforAll) in Holyoke. Mentors at that agency helped take the concept from the fuzzy dream stage to reality, he told BusinessWest, by compelling him to ask the hard questions, conduct customer discovery, and work to determine if there was a real market for the product.

“They held me accountable to look for manufacturing, so I researched probably 30 around the world,” he recalled. “They gave me more insight on numbers and data to work with; it was very helpful.”

The venture started slowly, but it has taken off. The socks, now seen on the feet of a number of area business and civic leaders, have become a fashion statement — but, as noted earlier, perhaps the real key to success has been that these socks often have a purpose well beyond comfort and fashion.

“Many have a purpose behind them, and others are more artistic or wacky or funky, as some people call them,” he noted, adding that many of his socks are attached to causes.

As an example, Underwood held up a pink sock designed to bring attention to breast cancer and Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October). He’s also working on one focused on AIDS awareness. Another initiative, undertaken in conjunction with the Mental Health Assoc., was the creation of socks designed to bring awareness to mental-health issues during Mental Health Awareness Month in May and help remove the stigmas attached to seeking help for mental illness.

“They’re very purposeful,” he said of his socks, adding that his relationships with area nonprofits and organizations, elected officials, and visitors’ bureaus bring many benefits. They create awareness for his products, but they also put a face — or a sock, to be more precise — on many of the issues of the day.

Lenny Underwood says Upscale Socks now has more than 75 designs, and many of them have a “purpose.”

Overall, he has more than 75 current styles, and the number continues to grow, as with that Massachusetts sock. There are seasonal socks, for Halloween and Christmas, for example, and products for children — with matching styles for their parents.

“I hope to grow that collection in the future,” he told BusinessWest. “When I first started the children’s collection in 2016, I didn’t do as much field work to really discover what children like and dislike, so they’re not as colorful and fun as the adult socks; that’s a line I really want to grow, and I think there’s a lot of potential there.”

At present, he said he’s selling perhaps as many as 15,000 pairs a year through his website, the stores he’s in, and the many partnership efforts he’s made with nonprofits and other agencies.

When asked what that number could be someday, Underwood said the sky’s the limit — “as long as I remain authentic to what I’m offering,” he added, noting that the business plan is being continuously revised, and he’s working to create new partnerships and new avenues for visibility and growth.

Getting His Foot in the Door

While his businesses keep him busy — too busy to fly out to California on a moment’s notice to tape an episode of Wheel of Fortune, for example — Underwood says he tries to make time to do the occasional book signing and meet those who have forged successful careers in everything from entertainment to fashion design to literature.

“I still try to break away on a weekday if I can,” he said. “I like art, and I gain inspiration from hearing their stories — their life and how they were able to attain success and grow their business.”

Lenny Underwood, seen here donating 200 pairs of his socks to Square One, has long made philanthropy and working with area nonprofits to help advance their causes part of his business plan.

As an example, he mentioned meeting Ruth Carter, the Oscar-winning costume designer who grew up in Springfield. “I gave her a pair of my socks, and we talked about business and designs,” he recalled. “Those are really good networking opportunities — and learning experiences.”

While listening to and learning from others, Underwood is passing on what he’s learned to others as a mentor, teacher, and advisor.

He told BusinessWest he’s been doing much more of this work in recent years, especially within the minority community and with groups like VVM and EforAll. He said it’s been a mission of sorts to not only talk about entrepreneurship and all that comes with choosing that route, but encouraging it as a career option as well.

“It’s a cool experience to share my experience and offer some advice on how to obtain success with whatever they’re looking to do,” he said, adding that, over this past summer, he was one of several invited to teach business to middle- and high-school students in Springfield. He’s also been part of programs at the college level, at Springfield College, the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship at UMass Amherst, and other schools.

He finds it rewarding on many levels to pass on what he knows and to try and inspire others to get started with their own ventures or get over the hump and to the proverbial next level, just as he is doing in many ways.

And then, there’s the children’s book. He’s still finalizing a title, but the work is essentially done.

“It’s about teaching children how to become entrepreneurs at a young age,” he explained. “There will be key words throughout the book and definitions, so when they hear the word ‘entrepreneur’ or ‘branding’ or ‘prototype,’ they’ll be familiar with that language, and they’ll have the confidence, hopefully, to embark on something.”

Imparting such lessons is important, he said, noting that he didn’t have that kind of encouragement when he was younger.

“When I was a child, I tried a lemonade stand and tried to sell things like Blow Pops and water balloons in the summer months, but I didn’t think that was a business, and it wasn’t instilled in me to start a business,” he recalled. “Even in college, when I was doing photography, I was told, ‘get a real job — that’s just something you do for fun; that’s not something you can do as a career.’”

Developing Story

If Underwood had solved that puzzle in the bonus round of Wheel of Fortune, he would have won a pair of Mini Coopers. Looking back, he can say with hindsight that he’s not sure what he would have done with them — probably sell them.

It’s a moot point because, as he said at the top, he wasn’t familiar with the phrase in question and certainly couldn’t nail it with the few letters at his disposal.

As for the ongoing puzzle of entrepreneurship that he’s currently trying to solve … it’s equally difficult in some respects, but he has a better handle on the answer. And it has nothing to do with making quick work of anything. Instead, it’s about handling myriad challenges, pivoting when necessary, and, in the case of socks, having designs on success — in every respect. u

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

Smith & Wesson’s Decision to Relocate Reverberates Through Western Mass.

Manufacturing Special Coverage

The Shot Heard ’Round the Region

Smith & Wesson’s recently announced plan to move its Springfield operations to Tennessee came as a shock to many — the 165-year-old company has been part of the city’s fabric, and the region’s rich manufacturing history, for generations. Amid questions about the gunmaker’s reasons for moving — the company cites proposed state legislation targeting its products, while some elected officials say it’s more a case of corporate welfare and a better deal down south — the most immediate concerns involve about 550 jobs to be lost. The silver lining is that, with some concerted effort, most of those individuals should be able to find other work locally in a manufacturing landscape that sorely needs the help.

In the wake of the announcement that Smith & Wesson will be moving its corporate headquarters from Springfield to Maryville, Tenn., questions and discussions have arisen on many levels.

These concern everything from how and when this decision came about to how aggressive Tennessee was in courting this major employer, to whether there were any major deciding factors in that decision beyond what has been stated repeatedly by the company — specifically, proposed state legislation that would ban the manufacture of most of the automatic weapons now made by Smith & Wesson.

But as the dust settles from that bombshell announcement, the lingering questions concern just what the region and the state have lost from the relocation of this company, one that can trace its roots back to 1856.

And the answers to that question don’t exactly come easily.

Western Mass. will lose roughly 550 jobs, according to the information released by the company — a significant number, to be sure, but economic-development leaders are quick to point out that just about every manufacturer has a ‘help wanted’ sign on the door, either figuratively or quite literally, and that any one of those Smith & Wesson employees who doesn’t want to relocate to Tennessee can find employment in the 413 quickly and easily (much more on that later).

“The reason they’re here, and the reason a lot of the jobs will remain here, is that you have a high-quality workforce. And that is probably the biggest issue companies are looking at right now. As a region, and as a state, we’re still a good place to do business.”

Meanwhile, the region will also lose a number of C-suite-level employees from the company that were involved in the community, sat on area boards and commissions, and engaged in philanthropic activity.

“They’re tied to the community,” said Richard Sullivan, president and CEO of the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council (EDC). “And I think that, sometimes, those aspects of what it means to have a headquarters, the CEOs, and the team at any company get lost; it’s the tieback to the community, because they’re truly vested in the community and want to see it be the best it can be.”

Meanwhile, even though Smith & Wesson handguns and other products will still be made here, and we’re told they will be stamped ‘made in Springfield, Mass.,’ or words to that effect, the region will lose a certain amount of civic pride, if that’s the right term, that comes from having a large employer — and one of the most recognizable brands in the world — headquartered in the City of Homes. Indeed, many would say this company is part of not only the history, but the very fabric of the city.

State Sen. Eric Lesser says Smith & Wesson’s decision to relocate its headquarters and some operations may actually be a blessing in disguise on some levels.

However, those we spoke with said the region and city are unlikely to lose momentum when it comes to attracting employers and jobs, or its reputation as a manufacturing hub.

Indeed, Sullivan used the phrase “one-off” to describe Smith & Wesson’s decision, drawing a distinction between this pending departure and a much larger exodus, headlined by General Electric, that befell Connecticut several years ago.

“The reason they’re here, and the reason a lot of the jobs will remain here, is that you have a high-quality workforce,” he explained. “And that is probably the biggest issue companies are looking at right now. As a region, and as a state, we’re still a good place to do business.”

State Sen. Eric Lesser, who represents Springfield and several neighboring communities and serves as chair of the state’s Manufacturing Caucus, agreed, and then went further, noting that, amid some obvious losses, there are also some possible benefits to Smith & Wesson’s decision. He even used the phrase “potential blessing in disguise,” mostly to reference opportunities that other area manufacturers may have to stabilize and grow their ventures by hiring displaced S&W workers.

“Sometimes, when one door closes, another one opens, and this may be one of those times,” he told BusinessWest. “We have a very real economic challenge in terms of making sure that those 550 families are taken of. But this is a long-term horizon — they’re not doing this until 2023. Luckily for those families, the manufacturing sector is very hot, and really, almost every company in that sector, including companies right in that immediate neighborhood where Smith & Wesson is located, are looking for people.”

Lesser is one of many elected leaders who are not buying into Smith & Wesson’s contention that it’s moving its headquarters because of the pending legislation. He echoed comments from Massachusetts House Speaker Ronald Mariano, who told the local press that “prudent business people don’t make major decisions, especially a decision that puts hundreds of people out of a job, based on one of the thousands of bills filed each session.”

“The politics of Massachusetts have been the way they are for a very long time, and at the very same time that they announced a move in Springfield, they also announce they’re closing operations in Missouri, a state that has very lax gun laws.”

Lesser, noting the very attractive deal offered to Smith & Wesson by Tennessee, said the company’s motivation for relocating probably has little to do with Bay State politics. “This is more of a classic corporate-welfare story than it is anything else.”

Which is why it shouldn’t impact Springfield’s reputation as a manufacturing hub or its long-term potential to become more of one, noted Tim Sheehan, the city’s director of Planning & Economic Development.

“In this type of industry, Springfield has had a long history, and the skill levels in this area of manufacturing have been noted throughout the Connecticut River Valley,” he said. “I don’t think this sends a message about the city of Springfield — it’s a broader message.”

Targeted Response

The press release arrived in the inboxes of media outlets in this region — and well beyond — at 9:05 a.m. on Sept. 30. The headline over the top read “Smith & Wesson to Relocate Headquarters to Tennessee,” followed by the subhead, “Move includes headquarters and significant portion of operations due to changing business climate for firearms manufacturing in Massachusetts.”

The release went on to quote Mark Smith, president and CEO of the company, saying, “this has been an extremely difficult and emotional decision for us, but after an exhaustive and thorough analysis, for the continued health and strength of our iconic company, we feel that we have been left with no other alternative.”

He specifically cited legislation recently proposed in Massachusetts that, if enacted, would prohibit the company from manufacturing certain firearms in the state. “These bills would prevent Smith & Wesson from manufacturing firearms that are legal in almost every state in America and that are safely used by tens of millions of law-abiding citizens every day exercising their constitutional Second Amendment rights, protecting themselves and their families, and enjoying the shooting sports. While we are hopeful that this arbitrary and damaging legislation will be defeated in this session, these products made up over 60% of our revenue last year, and the unfortunate likelihood that such restrictions would be raised again led to a review of the best path forward for Smith & Wesson.”

The path taken — to Tennessee’s Blount County, which proudly describes itself as a “Second Amendment sanctuary” — is similar to the one taken by Troy Industries, the West Springfield-based maker of a wide array of guns and related products, which announced a move to Tennessee back in May.

So while there is precedent and the relocation sounds like part of a movement, many elected officials, including Lesser, were not exactly buying the company’s stated reason for leaving.

In fact, he referred back to that same press release for some evidence. In it, the company said it was also relocating its distribution operations in Columbia, Mo. to the new, $120 million facility in Maryville.

“I don’t believe their rationale why they’re leaving,” he went on. “The politics of Massachusetts have been the way they are for a very long time, and at the very same time that they announced a move in Springfield, they also announce they’re closing operations in Missouri, a state that has very lax gun laws.”

The bill calling for a ban on the manufacture of certain assault weapons, Lesser noted, “has been filed for years and years. And 6,000 bills are filed every year on every conceivable topic; as the speaker said, for a company to make a decision of this magnitude off of one filed piece of legislation doesn’t make any sense.”

Sullivan said there’s no doubt that Tennessee, and probably other, more gun-friendly states and regions, aggressively pursued Smith & Wesson because … this is what they do.

“The states are actively working every day to get companies to move to their state,” he said. “They offer big incentives, and I have no idea what their package was or wasn’t, but they can show a business-friendly attitude, and in this case, they can show an atmosphere that is more comfortable around Second Amendment issues.”

Another Shot at Employment

While the company’s reasons for leaving have come into question, the loss of 550 jobs locally is real, and that has become the focus of attention for many elected officials and area agencies, who have pledged to help secure new employment opportunities should these individuals decide not to relocate to Tennessee.

“Our first issue of concern is for the employees, enduring that they have a landing spot, in either a job performing the same task or something that’s similar,” Sheehan told BusinessWest. “A number of manufacturing businesses have reached out already, to MassHire and the mayor’s office, about recruitment of those folks.”

It helps, he added that no one is losing their job immediately, with the move not scheduled to be complete until 2023.

“It’s not happening tomorrow, so we have time to plan for this,” he added. “But it’s an unfortunate situation, obviously — they’re good manufacturing jobs that are housed in Springfield, and we would have liked them to stay in Springfield.”

Like others we spoke with, Sheehan said this is a conducive market to find new employment in manufacturing, he doesn’t want the fate of hundreds of workers left to the whims of that market, so a coordinated effort is in order, involving MassHire Hampden County, the EDC, and city officials, to coordinate a response that helps people identify, train for, and succeed in new jobs.

“With any type of upheaval like this, it’s distressing,” he noted. “Our focus is to try to ensure as little economic uncertainty as possible for these employees.”

Dave Cruise, president and CEO of MassHire Hampden County, said his agency is treating Smith & Wesson’s announcement as a reduction in force, or RIF, and not a plant closing, because the plant isn’t closing — 1,000 jobs will remain here in Springfield.

But it’s an unusual RIF in that the jobs won’t officially be lost for roughly two years, until the company builds and moves into its new facilities in Tennessee. At present, Cruise’s agency is awaiting more information from Smith & Wesson on the specific nature of the jobs to be moved before putting in place a formal plan of action to assist those employees impacted by the decision.

“We have a team of people that we deploy whenever we have this type of situation,” he explained. “Right now, we’re looking to gather a little more information — we don’t much more than what we read in the papers — and whenever they sort that out, I’m sure we’ll be able to work with them and see how we come at this.

“It’s hard for us to move forward because it’s still pretty raw,” he went on. “And I’m sure they’re working hard to determine exactly who is being impacted by this. When we know more, we’ll be able to put in motion what we normally do in these situations.”

Loaded and Locked

While elected officials and economic-development leaders have voiced concern about the jobs to be relocated and have made assisting those workers their top priority, S&W’s announcement comes at a time when companies across every sector, and especially manufacturing, are struggling to find qualified workers.

In fact, many are already sending inquiries to Lesser’s desk, Cruise’s office, and other destinations about when and how such workers might be become available long before Smith & Wesson departs for Tennessee.

Indian Orchard-based Eastman Corp., a maker of car windshields and a host of other products, issued a statement through Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno’s office announcing it is ready, willing, and able to hire some of those being displaced.

“We appreciate the opportunity through Mayor Sarno and his administration to begin to discuss the possibility of members of Smith & Wesson’s skilled labor force considering positions at Eastman in the future,” wrote Plant Manager Shawn Pace. “When those workers and Smith & Wesson are ready, we want them to know that we are here and want to be helpful. Eastman continually reviews its business and workforce strategies to remain competitive and to ensure our long-term success. Like many, we are still learning about Smith & Wesson’s announcement. Eastman stands ready to offer any assistance that Mayor Sarno, his administration, and Smith & Wesson deem appropriate.”

Many other companies are similarly positioned to absorb workers whose jobs are being relocated to Tennessee, said Lesser, reiterating his thoughts about this possibly being a blessing in disguise for the region and especially its precision-manufacturing base.

“I got a lot of inquiries from people all over the state who are in the private sector who are eager to expand and eager to hire people, including some very fast-growing industries like life science, biotech, and robotics,” he told BusinessWest, adding that, while 2023 is two years away, many of the companies looking for help are on a strong growth trajectory, and still will be two years from now.

Elaborating, Lesser cited the tone set the state’s recent Manufacturing Mash-Up event in Worcester late last month, a day-long gathering of those in precision manufacturing.

“We had hundreds of companies from across the state, including a lot from Western Mass.,” he noted. “And they were all saying that they’re busier than they ever have been, business has never been better, and they’re all looking to hire people. And a lot of these companies are in really fast-moving, high-growth areas — robotics, life sciences, medical devices, clean energy.

“We have to react swiftly and make sure those 550 families are taken care of,” he went on. “But it’s also important for people to see the big picture.”

Sullivan agreed.

“I understand that not every manufacturing job can be plug-and-play,” he noted. “But right now, any company that does any kind of manufacturing work is looking to hire. I’m optimistic that everyone who chooses not to move with Smith & Wesson will be able to find a job. That won’t mean that their lives aren’t interrupted, but there are opportunities within this region for them.” v

George O’Brien can be reached at

[email protected]

Here’s What Businesses Need to Know About Vaccination Mandates

Law Special Coverage

President Biden’s COVID-19 Action Plan

President Biden has issued a comprehensive plan that orders employers with 100 or more employees to mandate vaccination for their workers and requires other groups of employers to do the same. The clock is ticking on these orders, and there are many unanswered questions as well as lawsuits filed. Here’s what business owners and managers need to know.

By Marylou Fabbo, Esq. and John S. Gannon, Esq.

Last month, President Biden issued a bold new action plan aimed at attacking COVID-19 and fighting the dangerous Delta variant. The plan orders employers with 100 or more employees to mandate that their workers get vaccinated. Similarly, the president’s plan requires the following groups of employees to be vaccinated: those working on federal government contracts (or subcontracts), healthcare workers, and federal government workers.

Not surprisingly, many businesses and politicians are unhappy with these mandates, and one state has already filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration challenging the plan and asking the court to declare it unconstitutional. Here are some takeaways for businesses as they prepare for the novel vaccine mandate.

Biden Administration Mandates Vaccinations

On Sept. 9, the president announced steps that his administration is taking to boost the economy by reducing the spread of COVID-19. One step is called “Path Out of the Pandemic: President Biden’s COVID-19 Action Plan” (more information can be found at www.whitehouse.gov/covidplan).

Marylou Fabbo

John S. Gannon

The action plan directs the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue an emergency temporary standard (ETS) that requires all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workers are either fully vaccinated or get tested weekly for COVID-19. Employers will also be required to provide paid time off to employees to get vaccinated and recover from any side effects from the vaccine.

The Biden administration estimates this will impact more than 80 million workers in private-sector businesses. Employers that fail to comply with the ETS will face enforcement actions from OSHA, which may include fines up to $13,653 per violation. So, if a workforce with 100 or more employees has 10 unvaccinated workers who are not testing weekly for COVID-19, the business could be looking at a fine of well over $100,000. This is no slap on the wrist.

Additionally, the president signed two executive orders requiring federal employees and federal contractors (and subcontractors) to get vaccinated, regardless of employee size. There is no weekly testing exception for these employees. Employees working on or in connection with a federal contract, including subcontractors, must be fully vaccinated by Dec. 8.

Employees who cannot get vaccinated due to a sincerely held religious belief or disability may be entitled to an accommodation from these requirements. However, it is up to the employer to determine whether medical and/or religious exceptions are legally permissible.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of unanswered questions out there. For instance, who will pay for the testing and vaccinations — the employer or the employee? And if an employee decides to opt for the weekly testing option, is the time spent traveling to and from the vaccination site considered hours worked for payroll purposes? What about the time taking the test? Under Massachusetts law, there appears to be an argument that this is, indeed, time worked for wage-and-hour purposes. Also, will employers who pay for testing be eligible for some sort of tax break if this needs to be paid time? Stay tuned, as we expect more guidance on these topics.

When Can Employers Expect the OSHA Standard to Be Issued?

Right now, this is anyone’s best guess. It has been about a month since President Biden announced his action plan. Assuming OSHA has been working on the ETS for a few weeks now, we anticipate it will be released sometime next month, and almost certainly before the end of 2021. Once the ETS is released, employers will likely have a short window (maybe 30 or 45 days) to get into compliance.

What Should Employers Do Now?

Business with employees working on federal contracts or subcontracts need to act right away if they have not started taking steps to ensure compliance. The Dec. 8 deadline for federal contractors is not that far away, and anyone who takes a vaccine that requires two shots (i.e., a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine) needs to await several weeks after the first shot to get the second. And full vaccination, regardless of whether it’s a one-dose or two-dose vaccine, is not achieved until two weeks after the final dose.

We suggest that businesses with 100 or more employees put their workforce on notice soon that the OSHA emergency standard will require everyone to get vaccinated. Businesses need to gauge how challenging compliance might be if and when the mandate goes into effect.

If your workforce population is around 80% or 90% (or higher) fully vaccinated, compliance might not be daunting. If your rates are closer to 50% or 60% (or lower), you need to start thinking about implementing the mandate soon, and planning for weekly testing options now. You also want to give employees a head start if they need to raise medical or religious objections to vaccination. Employers should have medical and religious exemption forms on file to provide to provide to employees who raise objections.

Legal Challenges

As mentioned above, one state has already challenged the Biden vaccination plan in a legal forum. The state of Arizona filed a lawsuit last month asking a federal court in Arizona to declare the vaccine mandates unconstitutional. The lawsuit contends that the Biden administration does not have authority under the U.S. Constitution to require vaccines.

Similar challenges to past emergency OSHA standards have had mixed results. The legal standard is high: OSHA must demonstrate that workers are in “grave danger” to justify issuing emergency temporary standards. With global COVID-19 deaths recently hitting 5 million, it seems to these authors that OSHA will be able to satisfy the ‘grave danger’ standard.

Marylou Fabbo and John Gannon are attorneys at the firm Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C., in Springfield, who both specialize in employment law and regularly counsel employers on compliance with state and federal law; (413) 737-4753; [email protected]; [email protected]

Hall of Fame Looks to Be a Bigger Player in Events Market

Special Coverage Tourism & Hospitality

Taking Its Game to a New Level

Hall of Fame President and CEO John Doleva

John Doleva says that, when it comes to bar mitzvahs — and probably bat mitzvahs, for that matter — there has always been an informal type of competition among those young people (and their families).

“From what I understand, each bar mitzvah has to outdo the last one that your kid went to,” said Doleva, president and CEO of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. “And we think we have the right venue to outdo that last one.”

This phenomenon is just one of many factors working in the favor of the Hall as it tries to up its game when it comes to an always-important part of the business plan but one that has never really lived up to all its promise — events. Others include location, the popularity of basketball, and the lure of being in that sport’s shrine.

The biggest of these factors, though, is the refurbished Hall itself. Indeed, as the leadership team at the shrine blueprinted a massive, far-reaching, $25 million renovation of the facility, they did so with the goal of making it a more attractive venue for everything from those bar and bat mitzvahs to weddings; from corporate meetings to memorial services.

“When we the redid the museum, we designed it first to be a great museum experience, but we also looked at every gallery, every presentation, and every interactive with the opportunity to integrate it with someone coming in and doing a corporate fundraiser, a corporate meeting, a wedding, a bar mitzvah, you name it,” he told BusinessWest. “It’s a very important part of our business, and we want to see it grow.”

“You can really be different — it’s a fun environment. We can alter the lighting and do lots of different things. Rather than just the four walls of an institution, you have a special theme here.”

And while COVID-19 is certainly limiting the pace of progress when it comes to this all-important revenue stream in some obvious ways, especially with the emergence of the Delta variant, the early returns on the Hall’s status as an event venue are quite positive, and the outlook for the future — when COVID is far less of a hindrance — is quite bright.

“The facility lends itself to just about any kind of event,” Doleva said. “We’re in a great position to be ‘that place’ when we come out of all this and nonprofits need to have that all-important fundraising dinner or awards ceremony or celebration. I think the Hall of Fame is poised to be a very special place to do that.”

For this issue and its focus on tourism and hospitality, BusinessWest talked with Doleva about the Hall’s efforts to build this side of its business and how it is working to court many different kinds of event planners — literally and figuratively.

Points of Interest

Perhaps the best evidence of the Hall’s emergence as an event venue and its promise moving forward, Doleva said, came at the recent induction ceremonies for the class of 2021.

The actual enshrinement festivities took place at the MassMutual Center, but before that, there was a party for roughly 1,000 people at the Hall, one that became a sort of proving ground when it comes to the many steps taken to bring more events to the facilities on West Columbus Avenue.

John Doleva stands in Center Court at the Hall of Fame, outfitted with a new 14-by-40-foot video screen.

“We consciously forced people up into the museum rather than being in the lobby and on Center Court, where typically people would be,” he explained. “We wanted to show it off, so we expanded our food and drink offerings up into the museum, and it was a smash hit. It was so great to see everyone in the basketball community enjoying the Hall of Fame, enjoying the technology, the exhibits — just having a great time.

“We actually had a tough time getting people out of here and over to the MassMutual Center for the ceremonies — we had a couple of late buses leaving here,” he went on. “That just underscored the opportunity that we have ahead of us.”

Indeed, the game plan — yes, that’s another sports term — moving forward is to use all the facilities at the Hall, including a new Kobe Bryant exhibit and another new exhibit that enables visitors to virtually become part of TNT’s NBA broadcast crew, to attract a broad array of events.

That list of amenities includes a renovated theater, Center Court with its new 14-by-40-foot screen, the exhibits, catering from Max’s Tavern, and the full package that is now available to businesses, nonprofits, and wedding parties alike.

This is what the leadership team at the Hall had in mind as it blueprinted its renovations — a facility that would be a museum, first and foremost, but also a different kind of event venue.

“We saw the business develop with the old Hall of Fame, before our renovations,” Doleva said. “And we knew, with the redesign and the technology we had, that we could expand that business; with this iteration, it’s by design to be a function venue as well as a great sports-history museum.”

Doleva told BusinessWest that bookings have been solid over the past several months, but COVID has forced some event planners to pause and put some gatherings on hold. He mentioned a local healthcare provider that has rescheduled an event planned for this fall as one example.

Center Court at the Hall has hosted many types of events, including weddings, and with the recent renovations, the goal is to draw more of these receptions.

But, overall, the outlook is positive as event planners continue their quest for something new and different, even during COVID.

“I see smaller organizations wanting to bring people together, and do it in a different kind of venue that’s uplifting and exciting,” he said. “The Hall of Fame, being all brand-new, is very entertaining for people.”

That goes for wedding parties, he noted, adding that, while the Hall has hosted such receptions for years now — his niece was married there well before the renovations — there is now potential to handle more of them.

“You can really be different — it’s a fun environment,” he noted, adding that wedding parties can be, and often are, introduced in the same manner that NBA players are. “We can alter the lighting and do lots of different things. Rather than just the four walls of an institution, you have a special theme here.”

Net Results

It’s a theme that resonates with sports fans of all ages and especially young people, he went on, circling back to those bar mitzvahs, which the Hall is booking in ever-growing numbers.

“It’s a wonderful place to have a bar mitzvah because it’s sports-oriented, it’s very friendly for the kids, and there’s lots to do,” Doleva noted. “There’s lots of energy.”

That energy is projected to translate into more bookings, more business, and an overall improved game for what has always been part of the business plan at the Hall, but can now be a much bigger player.

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

Opportunities Abound for Graduates of Cybersecurity Programs

By Joseph Bednar October 13, 2021

Cybersecurity Special Coverage

Threat Level: Constant

Brian Levine says the UMass Cybersecurity Institute’s work is “security for the common good.”

Make no mistake, we live in an increasingly interconnected world, and the technology that makes that possible is always under threat from those who would mine, expose, and exploit data — often in life-altering ways. So while it’s no surprise that the cybersecurity field is rife with job opportunity, exactly how much opportunity (a half-million open jobs nationally, according to one study) may still raise eyebrows. Area universities with cybersecurity degree programs hope those statistics also raise interest in a challenging field that offers good pay and the chance to do some truly meaningful work.

It’s impossible to envision a world that doesn’t need cybersecurity, Brian Levine said, and that’s not exactly good news.

“I don’t think there’s any way this will go away, unfortunately,” he said, after listing common threats ranging from malware and ransomware attacks to massive breaches of consumer data. “It’s an ever-present problem. So what we do here is really important.”

He was referring to the UMass Cybersecurity Institute on the Amherst campus, which launched in 2015 with the mission of advancing what it calls “security for the common good,” said Levine, the institute’s director. For example, he has worked over the past decade to build tools used by law enforcement around the country — and the world — on cases of internet-based child sexual abuse (for example, the sharing of exploitative photographs).

“That’s a privacy issue, and a forensics issue,” he said, stressing that the institute’s researchers never lose focus on the human benefits of their work — in other words, it’s never just a technical exercise.

“The courses we offer are influenced by research that we do,” he went on. “We have a lot of pride in moving the research we’re doing into the classroom.”

That high-impact work is appealing to many who enter this profession, but one of the most obvious draws is the career opportunity. Matt Smith, director of Cybersecurity programs at Bay Path University, noted that a half-million jobs in cybersecurity are open across the U.S. — more than 20,000 of them in New England, and roughly two-thirds of those (13,389, according to the national CyberSeek research project) in Massachusetts — the 12th-highest total among all U.S. states.

“The industry is changing so rapidly.Turn on the news — one day they’re talking about ransomware, another day it’s the Colonial Pipeline attack … it’s all about security. So, workforce in this industry is in demand.”

“The industry is changing so rapidly,” Smith said. “Turn on the news — one day they’re talking about ransomware, another day it’s the Colonial Pipeline attack … it’s all about security. So, workforce in this industry is in demand.”

That’s the other side of the ‘bad news’ coin — at least for people who want to make a career of defending against threats that will only continue. “It’s real job security, with high starting salaries. You’re going to retain employment and have opportunities to upscale.”

Reflecting the many different niches in cybersecurity, Bay Path offers three undergraduate degrees in the field — digital forensics and incident response, information assurance, and risk management — as well as a master’s degree in cybersecurity management.

“We renew the courses every time we go live, sometimes two times a year,” Smith said. “Every time it’s being presented to another cohort, we look at the information being presented and decide if it’s still applicable, or how it can be improved upon.”

Matt Smith says the constantly evolving nature of threats means job security and advancement opportunities for today’s cybersecurity professionals.

For example, “the Colonial Pipeline incident hadn’t happened two years ago — so, let’s talk about that this year and remove something else from the course. We’re always going through the courses, tweaking them, fine-tuning them, and I think that sets us apart from other universities. We handpick the material we incorporate, and we update it, and we use the best forensic software we can.”

And that’s a challenge, said Beverly Benson, Cybersecurity program director for the American Women’s College, Bay Path’s all-online arm, which offers intensive, accelerated versions of the undergraduate cybersecurity programs taught at the main campus.

“I am constantly doing research on threats, making sure my curriculum and content is fresh, because the reality is, those individuals who are trying to attack systems, they don’t take vacations,” she told BusinessWest. “We need to stay abreast of everything to make sure students are getting as up-to-date a curriculum as possible.”

The industry’s constantly evolving nature makes it attractive to many career seekers, she added.

“It’s not a repetitive type of field. There may be a framework to adhere to, but as technology advances, so does the work that needs to be done. Our world is becoming more connected and interconnected, and data is everything. Think about the gadgets in our homes — even washing machines, dryers, and stoves are connected to the internet. We need people to understand how to keep that data safe.”

For that reason, Benson went on, “cybersecurity touches everyone, whether it’s healthcare, financial services, food service, the travel industry, the Department of Defense, you name it. We’re a very interconnected world, and we’re able to do things faster because of data — so we need to protect that data, whether it’s at rest, in transit, or in use.”

Defending Data

Levine listed a number of ways the cybersecurity research — and classwork — at UMass affects real people.

“One professor looks at ensuring that people have censorship-free access to information on the internet, which can be very important if you’re a dissident in a country that has censored or filtered it,” he said. “Another professor works with differential privacy, and his technology is being used by the U.S. Census.”

That term refers to technology that allows the government, corporations, or anyone else to release statistical information while not exposing people’s individual data.

Beverly Benson

“It’s not a repetitive type of field. There may be a framework to adhere to, but as technology advances, so does the work that needs to be done. Our world is becoming more connected and interconnected, and data is everything.”

“One problem with studies that collect information about you and release it later is the possibility that someone’s personal details can be inferred by looking at the data set,” Levine said, noting that differential-privacy measures ‘fuzz’ the information so the statistics are accurate, but don’t reveal information about any one person.

“We have courses on what some people call ‘ethical hacking’ — how to analyze a computer for its vulnerabilities and learn to defend those vulnerabilities. It’s teaching students to be white hats,” he explained, adding that other classes delve into reverse-engineering security, digital forensics, ethics and law, and securing distributed systems — which, these days, means cryptocurrency.

“Cryptocurrencies are one of the hardest challenges — no one is in charge, and people are exchanging things of value,” Levine said, adding that, whatever the topic, UMass brings in experts with practical experience in the field to teach students. “We don’t want everything taught from an ivory-tower point of view. And we want to teach techniques that will survive past graduation in a quickly evolving field. It’s not just computer science.”

At the American Women’s College, Benson said the average age of a cybersecurity student is 35, many no doubt drawn by the expansive opportunities in the field. “We have career changers, we have people in IT fields who are looking to specialize, and some are new to it, looking to learn more about cybersecurity and join the workforce.”

She’s also gratified that the program is making a small dent in what is currently a male-dominated workforce, to the tune of 80%. Part of the pitch, she said, is the reality that work in this field is wildly varied.

“We have the opportunity to demystify cybersecurity,” she said. “I explain to our women that cybersecurity is more than someone being in a basement coding. Part of cybersecurity is things like risk management, which can be a more consultative approach, helping someone understand assets, risks, and how to protect against vulnerabilities. Those are not technical skills; those are essential business skills.”

Smith agreed. “This hits on financial services, healthcare, government, you name it. Every industry has been affected in one way or another by cybersecurity.”

He should know, having worked in a number of sectors, ranging from the Pentagon to the financial-services world, and he often calls on professionals who actually work in those fields to bring their real-world expertise to Bay Path students. “A lot of programs are computer-science-driven; they’re experts in coding and programming. When you jump into cybersecurity, it’s a different animal.”

Introducing more women into the field, and all the sectors it influences, would be a healthy development, he said.

“I’m the program director, but also their cheerleader,” Benson agreed. “They know my motto is ‘dare to dream,’ and having a diverse workforce will bring about diversity of thought, diversity of problem solving, diversity in the ways people will collaborate. And I think that’s so needed.”

Making Connections

Another needed element is networking and making connections in the field early, Smith said. Many Bay Path students take advantage of a Mass Cyber Center mentorship program, working with large companies like Baystate Health, Travelers Insurance, and MassMutual.

“Networking doesn’t happen only when you go to conferences,” he said in explaining the value of such programs. “And most employers, after an internship, offer something on the spot — they’ll say, ‘please, when can you start?’”

That’s huge for new graduates, who typically enter the work world in significant debt. “We’re one of the industries that actually tackles that cohesively. We’re actually getting them employed at a very high-level-paying job, thus cutting down on student debt,” Smith noted, adding that a graduate’s employer will often pay for further education as well.

Speaking of connecting students with careers, the UMass Cybersecurity Institute recently secured a renewal of its CyberCorps Scholarship for Service program, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, which began in 2015.

The latest grant will support approximately 31 scholars at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the university’s computer science and electrical and computer engineering degree programs by offering them full tuition and fees, a stipend ranging from $25,000 per year for undergraduates to $34,000 per year for graduate students, and a professional-development fund for one to three years of their degree program. In addition, students complete an internship at a federal agency during the summers and, upon graduation, work full-time at a federal agency in a cybersecurity role for one to three years at full pay and benefits. Then they’re free to move on, but many don’t.

“We’ve done this for 34 students already, and the vast majority have stayed in the government after their service period is up,” Levine said, noting that federal opportunities range from working at the Pentagon to protecting land and wildlife with the Environmental Protection Agency; from tracking down cybercriminals with the FBI to joining the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which swoops in to manage ransomware attacks.

“This program will help create a new generation of cybersecurity professionals and researchers to address novel and challenging problems facing society,” said Sanjay Raman, dean of the College of Engineering at UMass Amherst. “These students will help to modernize the executive-branch workforce, advance science and technology at government laboratories, and secure our national defense.”

It’s that kind of real-world impact that inspires those who teach the next generation of cybersecurity pros.

“This is why I get up in the morning,” said Bay Path’s Smith, who worked in counterintelligence around the time of 9/11 and remembers how the world changed. “We did a lot of things to protect our country, and I’m proud of that. Now, I want to give back to the students and help them pick up some of the stuff I’ve learned, so they can excel in a workforce that’s begging for anybody with interest in their field.”

His job, and that of his department, is to stay at the forefront of developments in the field — and, again, they are constant — and continue to hone and evolve the program so it remains relevant and on the cutting edge.

“We want our students to stand out in the industry and get hired,” he said. “And we’ve been very fortunate — our students are landing some amazing jobs.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

North Adams Pursues Return to Normalcy

Community Spotlight

By Mark Morris

Mayor Thomas Bernard is gratified to see events like the FreshGrass Festival and the Fall Foliage Parade return to North Adams.

While North Adams tries to return to familiar norms, many are prepared to adjust if new pandemic concerns arise.

That’s the perspective of Mayor Thomas Bernard, anyway, who said his community has slowly and cautiously taken steps to bring back the positive routines of daily life.

“The moment that stands out for me is our first concert at Windsor Lake in early to mid-June,” Bernard said. “There were people who hadn’t seen neighbors and friends for more than a year. The sound of kids laughing and playing, great music, the spirit was unbelievable.”

More recently, he pointed to MASS MoCA’s FreshGrass Festival in September as an example of holding a popular event and exercising caution, as attendees had to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test before entering.

“Returning to these events is the fulfillment of the promise we made to each other when things were shutting down — that we would be back,” Bernard said.

Though no one can predict what the future holds, Nico Dery said North Adams businesses are prepared to make a quick pivot if necessary.

“Businesses now have COVID plans in place that were developed from an entire season of figuring out what worked and what didn’t,” said Dery, business development coordinator for the North Adams Chamber of Commerce.

The city was the site for a robust vaccination effort that began in January and ran through June, during which time volunteers at the Northern Berkshire regional vaccination center held 40 clinics and administered nearly 25,000 vaccines to residents.

Right now, the vaccination rate in North Adams is around 65%, but that percentage does not reflect a fair number of residents who received their vaccine in Vermont or New York, the mayor pointed out. With North Adams located in the northwest corner of the state, the borders to both adjacent states are easily accessible.

“However you figure it, I’m not going to be happy until the numbers get above 80%,” he added.

“I’m optimistic and believe we’re going to have a great foliage season. Many businesses I’ve spoken with are preparing for lots of visitors this fall.”

Members of the regional emergency-planning committee who ran the COVID-19 operations center were honored at the 65th annual Fall Foliage Parade on Oct. 3.

“Everyone who was involved in the public-health response and the vaccination efforts are the folks who will be celebrated and honored as a sign of how far we have come,” Bernard said the week before the event — and a year after the parade was cancelled due to the coronavirus.

“The theme of this year’s parade was “Games, Movies, Takeout” — “everything that kept many of us going during the darkest times of the pandemic,” the mayor added.

No Summertime Blues

Businesses in North Adams experienced what Dery called a “great summer,” with lots of visitors exploring the Berkshires.

“In the past, we had seen many people come here from New York City, but because of COVID, we’ve seen a big increase of people from the Boston metro area,” she noted, crediting the increased visitor traffic to people choosing to forgo a European or cross-country vacation and instead stay closer to home.

Emilee Yawn and Bonnie Marks, co-owners of the Plant Connector, recently shared this photo on social media depicting their opening day last fall.

“I’m optimistic and believe we’re going to have a great foliage season,” she added. “Many businesses I’ve spoken with are preparing for lots of visitors this fall.”

North Adams has also seen a number of businesses open during the pandemic. Bernard pointed to the Clear Sky Cannabis dispensary, which opened in March, and the Bear and Bee Bookshop in June.

The Plant Connector opened in September 2020 before vaccines were available. Emilee Yawn, a co-owner of the shop, heard from naysayers who said North Adams was a tourist destination and, since there were no tourists during the pandemic, no one would come in.

However, “from the moment we opened, we’ve been bustling,” she said. “I had been growing plants in my one-bedroom apartment, and in no time, we had sold 120 plants. We had to quickly find a wholesaler and become a real business.”

Yawn and co-owner Bonnie Marks met at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, where Yawn was office manager and Marks was a bookkeeper. When Yawn was laid off at the beginning of the pandemic, the idea of a store to promote their mutual passion for plants became more real.

Recently celebrating the first anniversary of the Plant Connector, Yawn noted that, since the opening, more than 6,700 people have walked through the door, and they’ve been averaging around 800 people a month — not bad for a 400-square-foot space.

While they have a website and have recently sold plants to customers in New Jersey, nearly 90% of their sales are from local people in the Berkshires.

North Adams at a Glance

Year Incorporated: 1878
Population: 13,708
Area: 20.6 square miles
County: Berkshire
Residential Tax Rate: $18.64
Commercial Tax Rate: $39.83
Median Household Income: $35,020
Family Household Income: $57,522
Type of government: Mayor; City Council
Largest Employers: BFAIR Inc.; Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
* Latest information available

“We feel very supported by the community,” Yawn said. “North Adams is a special place; I’ve never felt connected to so many awesome people.”

As the weather starts getting cooler, business is picking up, and Yawn is looking forward to leaf peepers drawn to the Mohawk Trail and surrounding areas. “We’re excited for them to come peep around our shop,” she added.

Businesses in North Adams are also gearing up for the holiday season and what’s known as Plaid Friday. The North Adams Chamber promotes this annual effort with posters and through social media to businesses throughout the Northern Berkshires.

“We started this initiative to encourage people to spend money in their communities on the day after Thanksgiving instead of going to the big-box stores,” Dery said. “Many retailers will run Plaid Friday all that weekend.”

Similar to most communities, hiring in North Adams, particularly in restaurants, remains a challenge. So far, many restaurants are operating at reduced hours to retain staff and prevent burnout.

“This upcoming winter will be interesting because many people are thinking outside the box on how to best manage this,” Dery said.

The Next Phase

Bernard will also have an interesting winter after deciding not to run again for mayor. On the job since 2018, he called his time in office a “privilege of a lifetime, to serve North Adams, the community where I grew up.”

He looks forward to an historic election as voters will choose the first woman mayor in the city’s history. The two candidates who emerged from the runoff election, Jennifer Macksey and Lynette Bond, will face each other in the mayor’s race in November.

Bernard said he is still exploring the next move in his career. “I’m asked so often about my future plans, I feel like a senior in college,” he said with a laugh.

As she reflected on the success of the Plant Connector, Yawn admitted she thought the store would flop and she would have to sell plants on eBay and Etsy to survive. Shortly after opening, however, she saw they had something special there.

“I always say this about North Adams,” Yawn said. “This city chooses its people, and people don’t choose it. That’s why there’s a high concentration of awesome people here.”

Workplace Policies Are Often the Key to Courtroom Challenges

Law

Discipline for Social-media Speech

By Kevin Maynard

In any given week, a news outlet or website will spotlight an employee being suspended or fired by an employer for a social-media post. These posts range from expressions of political sentiments and individual beliefs to commentary on the employee’s workplace or even the employer itself.

With the prevalence of social media in the daily lives of most individuals, employers are increasingly disciplining their employees for off-duty social-media posting, and employees are pushing back with legal actions.

In the resulting legal disputes, employees often mistakenly believe that the First Amendment protects all in-person and online speech. In reality, the First Amendment’s free-speech protection is limited to protection against government action. While public employers have a First Amendment obligation to respect some of their employees’ speech, private individuals and employers generally have no such constitutional obligation.

Public Employee Speech

Generally, a public employee’s speech is protected when it relates to a matter of public concern or importance. However, this is not an absolute, and a court must balance an employee’s right to free speech against an employer’s interest in an efficient, disruption-free workplace.

For example, a public-school teacher brought a lawsuit against her school district after being fired for making negative blog posts regarding supervisors, union representatives, and fellow teachers. In upholding the termination of employment, the Court of Appeals in the Ninth Circuit ultimately held that the blog posts harmed the Washington State public-school district’s legitimate interest in the efficient operation of its workplace because other teachers refused to work with the former teacher, and the termination was, therefore, appropriate.

Kevin Maynard

“In the resulting legal disputes, employees often mistakenly believe that the First Amendment protects all in-person and online speech. In reality, the First Amendment’s free-speech protection is limited to protection against government action.”

Earlier this year, a public-school teacher in Fall River was fired for posting allegedly political and racist comments on social media. The teacher filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts federal court, claiming the city did not have “good cause” to terminate her employment and that her teachers’ union breached its duty of fair representation by not providing her any representation following the termination of her employment. An arbitrator to whom the matter was referred by agreement has reportedly found in the teacher’s favor, ordering reinstatement to her position and payment of all back wages. According to her attorney, the teacher intends to sue for retaliation and defamation.

Private Employee Speech

Unlike in the public sector, the First Amendment generally does not apply to the actions of private employers. However, private employers even in a non-union setting must be compliant with the National Labor Relations Act, which gives private employees the right to engage in “concerted activities” for the purposes of collective bargaining.

Examples of concerted activities include an employee talking with co-workers about working conditions, circulating a petition about improving working conditions, or joining with co-workers to talk directly to their employer. Regardless of whether the concerted activity occurs in person or over social media, an employer cannot interfere with such an activity taking place during or after work hours. Beyond this concerted-activity issue, the concepts of ‘at-will employment,’ ‘good cause’ for termination, or other common law or contractual issues may be relevant.

State-specific Protection for Lawful Off-duty Activity

Some states have laws that protect lawful off-duty activities of both public and private employees. In Colorado, an airport-operations supervisor was terminated for posts on her Facebook page regarding her support for preserving the ‘Rebels’ mascot of her high school, particularly one post that depicted the mascot with the Confederate flag.

A Colorado court vacated her termination of employment because it violated a Colorado statute making it unlawful to terminate an employee for engaging in a lawful activity outside of work. California, Louisiana, New York, and North Dakota have similar laws prohibiting employers from taking adverse employment actions based on lawful off-duty activities. Massachusetts has not enacted such a law.

Advice for Employers

Employers may choose to adopt social-media policies that address off-duty conduct. Anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies should also address off-duty social-media activity. Any social-media policies should be enforced reliably to ensure the consistent treatment of employees.

In enforcing a social-media policy, employers must assess the effects of an employee’s social-media post on a workplace, including its impact on the ability of employees to work with one another. Social-media policies can be a helpful way for employers to set clear expectations regarding the standard of online conduct they expect of employees. The absence of such a policy can make the results of an employee’s challenge to an employer’s disciplinary action for inappropriate social-media posts much more unpredictable.

Kevin Maynard is an employment law and litigation partner at Bulkley Richardson; (413) 272-6200.

Take These Important Steps to Avoid Becoming a Victim

Law

Remodeling Woes

Joshua L. Woods, Esq.

Many of us love watching home renovations on television. Whether the redos are taking place at a beach-house bungalow, a tiny apartment, or a Victorian mansion, it’s always entertaining to live vicariously through people remodeling a house or building their dream home.

But what happens when opportunity knocks in real life, and you have the chance to create a space of your own design? Perhaps you envision a beautiful, blue-tiled backsplash against white kitchen cabinets, heated bathroom floors, or a cozy living room with a gas fireplace. With a reliable and trustworthy contractor, all things are possible.

Unfortunately, not all contractors are reliable and trustworthy. Someone close to me recently experienced firsthand the horrors of hiring the wrong renovation company. My friends lived to tell the tale, but along the way, their family suffered through considerable delays, shoddy work resulting in added expenses and additional repairs, and the all-consuming worry of working with an uncommunicative contractor. Here is the story of a ‘craftsman’ remodeling company whose primary craft proved to be collecting payments for unperformed work.

It all began when my friends, first-time homebuyers, hired a local contracting company to perform a complete restoration and remodel of a charming 1930s colonial-style house. After interviewing five separate contractors, my friends decided to work with ‘Craftsmen’ (the company’s name has been changed to protect their anonymity). The contractor was extremely charismatic, proposed a comparable bid, and seemed to have just the right can-do attitude needed to complete the project. Craftsmen provided three references who, when contacted, sang the company’s praises. Craftsmen also had great online reviews. My friends decided to move forward and agreed to the terms of a proposal from Craftsmen, officially hiring the company for their project.

Joshua L. Woods

“They had to live through an enormous amount of stress, the upheaval of an unfinished living space, hideously long delays, and considerable additional expenses. You can learn from their mishaps.”

Craftsmen requested a down payment, and upon receiving the funds, the first step of the project — demolition — was scheduled. Pursuant to the payment schedule on the written proposal, the second payment would be due on demolition day, the third would be due when rough plumbing was installed, the fourth upon installation of rough electrical, the fifth upon installation of drywall, and the sixth and final payment would be due when the project was completed.

To their chagrin, my friends soon discovered the problem with this payment schedule: the majority of the fees would be paid prior to the rebuilding. That is, four hefty payments were required before the demolished spaces would be fully rebuilt.

At first, the contractor completed the demo work on schedule, but then they went silent. The house sat in disarray, unfinished, for months after the first payments were made. Nothing was accomplished properly. The plumbing was installed incorrectly, there was an old toilet left in the dining room for months, the trim was unfinished, the hardwood floors were ruined, exposed electrical wires dangled from the walls, and the list went on. My friends finally decided they could no longer tolerate the situation and made the decision to fire Craftsmen.

For anyone considering renovations, keep the following steps in mind, which can help protect you from a similar experience:

• Verify the contractor is in good standing. Ask for the contractor’s business-license number and research it on the state’s website to ensure there are no lawsuits against the company. You should also search the Better Business Bureau for complaints.

• Look into the contractor’s partners and vendors. Request a copy of the business license for all subcontractors who may work on your project.

• Contact references. Before hiring a contractor, always ask for multiple references and contact as many as you can. Listen closely to what they say. When speaking with references, you will certainly wish to inquire about the ‘big stuff,’ including satisfaction with the final project and pricing, but it may also be wise to inquire about smaller details including punctuality, cleanliness on the job site, responsiveness to calls and requests, etc. Looking back, my friend should perhaps have seen a red flag when Craftsmen provided only three references. A reputable company should be able to provide evidence of a great many satisfied customers.

• Have an attorney review the fine print. Another red flag should have been the lack of a formal contract at the outset and the lack of itemized billing during the project. Craftsmen provided only a written proposal, which is not sufficient for a project of this magnitude. When hiring a contractor, be sure to protect yourself by having a qualified attorney review all documents, proposals, and contracts before you sign. All contracts should include a clear payment schedule in which the final payment is typically 25% of the entire fee, provided only upon completion of the project and a satisfactory final walk-through with the contractor. Once hired, all communication should be in writing, and you should request regular written updates from the contractor, so there is a clear understanding of the status of work completed and work to be done.

• Document the process. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and that is certainly true where renovation projects are concerned. Be certain to take many photos of your project, including shots of the site before, during, and after the renovation is complete.

My friend and his family were ultimately able to pivot their renovation to another contractor, who repaired Craftsmen’s mistakes and finished the project. The family is now happily enjoying their beautiful, freshly remodeled home.

If my friends had only done more diligent research and consulted with an attorney before working with Craftsmen, they could have potentially avoided the entire awful experience. Instead, they had to live through an enormous amount of stress, the upheaval of an unfinished living space, hideously long delays, and considerable additional expenses. You can learn from their mishaps and use the steps above as important preventive measures. They may be your — and your house’s — saving grace. v

Attorney Joshua L. Woods is an associate with Bacon Wilson, P.C. and a member of the firm’s business, corporate, and commercial law team. He has extensive experience in matters of business law, including all aspects of corporate formation, franchising, joint ventures, leasing, and business and commercial litigation. He is licensed to practice in both Massachusetts and Connecticut; 413-781-0560; [email protected]

Older Adults Are Increasingly Targeted by Online and E-mail Scams

By Joseph Bednar October 13, 2021

Cybersecurity

Vulnerable Population

When people think about cybersecurity threats, Stephanie Helm said, they often think only about the technical side — the ways in which electronic devices can be compromised and data stolen.

They sometimes forget about the human side of the equation — but that’s where older adults are often especially at risk.

“There’s a technical vulnerability that can be exploited, whether it’s somebody’s password, exploiting a vulnerability because they failed to update the device to include a patch, or maybe they’re using an unsecured WiFi when they’re in a public location,” said Helm, director of the MassCyberCenter. “So there’s a technical component that everyone using the internet is facing today.”

Just as critical, however, is what she calls the “social engineering of the individual,” where a victim willingly divulges information based on the fact that somebody’s engaging them in a personal way.

Stephanie Helm

“These are professional people who know how to hit those emotional buttons and continue that relationship with the hope that somebody is going to divulge information.”

“Older folks might not have the comfort level with the technology to secure their information,” she said, “and they may be more vulnerable to the social engineering.”

Helm shared these thoughts and others during a webinar presented last week by LeadingAge Massachusetts, titled “Cybersecurity: Helping Older Adults Stay Safer on the Internet.” She joined Rubesh Jacobs, managing director of 24/7 Techies USA, and Judy Miller, director of Technology and Accounting for Kendal at Oberlin in Ohio, to discuss the reasons seniors are increasingly falling prey to online and e-mail scams, and what can be done about it.

“The number of scams leading to financial loss has been dramatically increasing since 2019,” Jacobs said, citing a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report that the number of online scams tripled between 2019 and 2020, outpacing phone-call scams — which actually declined slightly — for the first time. Meanwhile, e-mail scams more than doubled.

“The acuteness of that spike is shocking,” he added. “We’ve also noticed this trend in our own call centers; 28% of calls we get for help are somehow related to fraudulent activities online.”

According to the FTC, Americans age 60 and up are falling prey to tech-support scams — in which someone poses as a computer technician to gain remote access to the victim’s computer — about 475% more often than those ages 20 to 59. (By contrast, the younger group falls victim to online-shopping scams 60% more often than seniors.)

“Senior citizens are really in that nexus where a criminal can get at them through technical means, or they can get at them through social engineering” — and often a combination of both, Helm said. “The protections you put in place have to look at both of those aspects because you’re not quite sure which of those things a person might be most vulnerable for. I think that’s really troublesome.”

Judy Miller

“Seniors lose an average of $500 or more when they’re scammed, sometimes due to the fact that they are often trusting and polite, they own their own home, and they have good credit, so they make a good target.”

Effective cybersecurity, she explained, considers people, processes, and technology working together to make someone more resilient and likely to recognize scams.

“The components of social engineering are worth thinking about,” she added, noting that a scam might begin with a realistic bot, either on the phone or online, that shifts over to a live scammer if the victim responds.

Those victims, Helm said, are often lonely and want to talk to someone, or they’re trusting and grateful that someone wants to help them solve a problem, which is why scammers try to establish trust.

One reason for the recent spike in cases is that many older adults were much more isolated starting early in 2020, with family members avoiding most visits until after COVID-19 vaccinations arrived, she noted. But families do need to engage with these topics. “Having an ability to ask questions or to talk about things they’ve been presented with in a safe manner is really important.”

But seniors are far from the only victims, Helm said. “If they continue the engagement, these are professional people who know how to hit those emotional buttons and continue that relationship with the hope that somebody is going to divulge information.”

It Takes a Village

Miller has worked for Kendal Corp. for 28 years, so she’s seen these threats evolve at her own facility, which offers units for independent and assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing.

“Seniors lose an average of $500 or more when they’re scammed, sometimes due to the fact that they are often trusting and polite, they own their own home, and they have good credit, so they make a good target,” she explained. “They have also been falling prey to cyber incidents because of their increased use of the internet.”

Scams that have targeted her residents have taken many forms, from imposters posing as legitimate government agencies or companies requesting payments to fake but attractive offers for gift cards, and much more. Most originate from e-mail, she noted.

When Jacobs asked Miller how often she hears such things, she responded, “it’s almost more important how much we don’t hear about them.”

To make sure people stay educated, if she hears of a scam targeting a resident, all residents are alerted, and some tech-savvy residents will even spread the word themselves if they encounter a scam attempt. “It’s really engaging the entire community to help each other in preventing some of those things from happening.”

Once a scammer gains someone’s trust, Helm said, they often introduce an element of urgency — the idea that the victim has to act now to get a deal or avoid a penalty or legal trouble.

“We should talk about how these scams exist and give senior citizens the confidence that they can recognize when this doesn’t make sense and avoid that sense of urgency to act, because that’s where you make a mistake,” she explained. “It’s perfectly acceptable to say, ‘I do all my business by mail — put a letter in the mail to me, and I’ll respond to you.”

But it’s easier said than done, she admitted, especially at a time when many seniors — and younger people, for that matter — have been more isolated than usual.

“I think it’s difficult for anybody in society to be fully armed and resilient. I feel if people become isolated in their old age and are not as familiar with some of the technology, they can get intimidated. So this is an area where we’re trying to see if we can be more helpful to them.”

Family members can help educate their older loved ones by asking gentle but probing questions about what may be going on, the webinar participants noted, and encourage residents of senior-living communities to call an administrator if they encounter a suspicious e-mail or think their information may have been compromised. And, of course, they should emphasize the importance of protecting passwords and other sensitive information, not clicking suspicious links, and shopping only at reputable, well-known websites.

“If it sounds like it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t true,” Helm said. “I like to talk with senior citizens about having confidence in the skeptical skills they had throughout life. These are scams that happen to be on a computer, but they’re scams we grew up with since we were kids — bait and switch, or acting like an imposter.”

She takes a broad view of threats, having served in the U.S. Navy for 29 years. After her retirement as a captain, she taught military operations, specifically on integrating cyberspace operations into wargames.

“That was an opportunity to talk about how cybersecurity or cyber operations can affect operations that you traditionally would not think they would impact,” she explained. Now, in her role with the Mass Cyber Center, she knows there are few areas cybersecurity doesn’t impact — and that older Americans are often especially at risk.

“Today,” she said, “we all know this has great consequences to our daily lives.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Dr. Lynnette Watkins Takes the Helm at Cooley Dickinson Hospital

Health Care

‘A Wonderful, Wonderful Fit’

Dr. Lynnette Watkins says she is most definitely her father’s daughter.

By that, she meant she is a second-generation ophthalmologist, following the lead set by her father, L.C. Watkins, who is one of the first African-Americans practicing in that specialty in St. Louis.

“When I say that I stand on the shoulders of giants, I don’t take that lightly, and first and foremost is my dad,” she noted. “He’s been my biggest supporter, mentor, and point of light.”

But there were other influences as well, including her mother, an educator, and, more specifically, an early-childhood-development administrator, who was one of many who taught her the importance of giving back.

“It was always expected that, with the privileges and opportunities that were afforded to me, there was an expectation to serve and to give back,” she said. “Which is why, with each position and opportunity that I’ve pursued, I’ve always had that mindset first and foremost in my mind; it’s why I wanted to have a career in healthcare.”

This is the philosophy Watkins brings to her latest assignment, as president and CEO of Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton.

She takes the helm at CDH after a lengthy stint as chief medical officer for the Baptist Health System/Tenet Healthcare – Texas Group, and arrives at an obviously stressful, tenuous, and uncertain time for all healthcare providers, one still dominated in every way by the COVID-19 pandemic and its latest surge.

“While there’s been a lot of challenge and a lot of sadness during the pandemic, there’s also been some wonderful lessons and teachings in the resilience of people.”

Watkins, who arrived at the hospital on Sept. 27, brings to this challenge, and CDH, a wealth of experience. Like a growing number of those leading hospitals and healthcare systems, she has made the transition from direct patient care to managing those who provide that care. For her, it was a seismic but, in many ways, natural change.

“Many people have asked if the transition was difficult, and I’ve said that it was not,” she explained. “That’s because I found myself at peace moving from a clinical role to one that still has clinical elements, but instead of being the one-on-one patient-physician relationship, which is incredibly treasured, it’s one where I have the ability to impact multiple patients and improve the working lives of staff, medical staff, and other providers. I can make a bigger impact on a broader scale.”

She said there were many factors that went into her decision to come to CDH, summing them up with that often-used phrase “it was a perfect fit.” Elaborating, she said the area served by Cooley Dickinson, mostly Hampshire and Franklin counties, is one with a great deal of need, and she has experience working with such populations, as we’ll see.

Beyond that, she said this opportunity allows her an opportunity to take what she has learned at many different stops during her career and apply them to what will be a different — and obviously significant — challenge.

Lynnette Watkins says one of her first priorities will be meeting with as many community leaders and constituencies — as well as frontline caregivers and hospital staff — as possible.

Watkins said the learning process has continued through COVID, which she believes has brought out the very best in those working in healthcare, while also putting an even greater focus on teamwork, collaboration, and innovation.

“While there’s been a lot of challenge and a lot of sadness during the pandemic, there’s also been some wonderful lessons and teachings in the resilience of people, resilience of systems, the importance of self-care and downtime, and the importance of working with others and understanding that it’s OK to say, ‘I need help,’” she explained. “What this has also done is challenged us to innovate, whether it’s in processes, such as supply-chain initiatives with PPE or the distribution of vaccinations and other pharmaceuticals such as monoclonal antibody infusions, or working together in groups to really take care of our community.

“That resilience, that collaboration, that innovation, that devotion to self and others have really been positive,” she went on. “The patience and working with a team have really helped me grow — as an individual, as a physician, and as a healthcare leader.”

For this issue, BusinessWest talked at length with Watkins about her latest assignment, why she came to CDH, and … how being her father’s daughter will help her as she takes on this latest career challenge.

Background — Check

In some ways, Watkins said, coming to CDH is like coming home — or at least coming back to that part of the country where she did her residency.

Specifically, that would be Mass Eye and Ear in Boston. But she did get out to the Northampton area on several occasions during those residency years, so she’s not a total stranger to the 413.

There were several career stops between Boston and CDH, including a lengthy stint back at Mass Eye and Ear, where, from 1999 to 2004, she directed the Emergency Ophthalmology Service and walk-in clinic and was an attending physician in the Ophthalmic Plastic Surgery Service. And Watkins said all of them have helped her grow as both a provider of care and a manager of people. And she intends to put all of that experience to work at CDH.

Our story starts in Missouri, where Watkins, as noted, became intent on following her father into the medical field and earned her undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Missouri – Kansas City and an internship in internal medicine at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City.

“I grew up wanting to go into medicine, and I was asked quite often if I was going to be an ophthalmologist like my father,” she recalled. “Candidly, I got tired of the question. It was through a series of rotations and the fact that I needed money for car insurance that my father said, ‘why don’t you come work for me in my office?’

“I did, and I liked it,” she went on. “I didn’t tell him for a while, but I did make that transition, and eventually declared that this was the specialty I wanted to be in.”

This decision brought her to Mass Eye and Ear in 1995 for her residency and stint at the at the walk-in clinic and Ophthalmic Plastic Surgery Service. She was there during 9/11, a moment in time and her career that convinced her to be closer to family and, in her words, “focus more on family.”

Elaborating, she said she went into private practice in Indiana and eventually became managing partner of a multi-specialty group, one with a large geographic footprint.

The administrative leadership of that group would later put it in “a significant financial disadvantage,” as Watkins put it, adding that she was thrust into the role of interim CEO. She said she would eventually wind down the two parent companies into multiple spinoffs, which are still ongoing today, an experience she described as both challenging and rewarding, and one that would in many ways inspire her transition into management and leadership roles.

“We were able to keep patients seen, keep people employed, and move colleagues forward so they were able to practice — it was a huge, huge learning experience,” she told BusinessWest. “I joined one of the spinoff groups, but found myself wondering why I went through that experience.

“And it was actually a couple of colleagues, neither of whom had medical backgrounds but did have healthcare-industry backgrounds, who said, ‘this happened to you for a reason; you have this knowledge — why don’t you consider leading a hospital or healthcare system and pursue healthcare administration?’”

She thought about it and talked with family members, especially her father, to get buy-in and support. After securing it, she started pursuing healthcare administrative positions.

Her first stop was at Trinity Health in South Bend, Ind., and from there she joined Tenet’s Abrazo Community Health Network in Arizona as chief medical officer.

When that position was one of many eliminated in a round of budget cuts, she used connections she’d made to land a job as chief medical officer and chief operating officer at Paris Regional Medical Center in Texas, a system that was and is surrounded by some of the poorest counties in Texas and neighboring Oklahoma. Her time there was another important learning experience.

“One of the great joys of working there was working with people who keep in mind the individual who has limited access, limited transportation, and limited resources,” she said. “And in rural facilities where often there is one specialist or one type of provider, and there is limited access, having a high level of collaboration, particularly with the medical staff and the provider staff, is very important.

“Overall, that was an incredible learning experience, understanding the intricacies of running a facility that’s technically complex,” she went on, adding that, as chief medical officer and chief operating officer, she had oversight over just about everything except nursing, finance, and HR.

Right Place, Right Time

The learning experiences continued at the Baptist Health System/Tenet Health Care, where that system confronted not only COVID, but the severe — and highly unusual — weather pattern that visited most of Texas near the end of February.

Some called it ‘Snowvid,’ said Watkins, adding that healthcare systems had to confront not only the pandemic, but extreme cold that knocked out power and water to many communities.

“We had COVID patients, we had no electricity, we were on generators, and we did not have water, she recalled. “Managing through all that was a challenge, although what each of these events has shown is that it has not changed why we do what we do, but it does force us to change how we do it.”

Elaborating, she said some recent developments or trends will continue for the foreseeable future, including telehealth, which she described as a game changer for both the inpatient and outpatient sides of the equation. This became evident in Texas, as well as the hospital that would become the next line on her résumé.

Watkins told BusinessWest that the position at CDH came to her attention through a recruiter, and after more talks with family and friends, she decided that managing a smaller community hospital would be an appropriate next step on her career journey.

“It’s a wonderful, wonderful fit,” she said of CDH, adding that her views on the delivery of healthcare and areas of focus are in sync with those of the hospital and its staff. “First and foremost, I’m a physician, and I want to make sure that we’re delivering safe, high-quality care and that we’re great stewards of resources, whether it’s finance or personnel or capital, and that’s what Cooley Dickinson does.”

Elaborating, she said the opportunity to lead a hospital that is an affiliate of the Mass General Brigham system, formerly Partners Healthcare, was also appealing.

When she talked with BusinessWest before her arrival, Watkins said one of her first priorities is to familiarize herself with the community and meet with many different leaders and constituencies — in whatever ways COVID will allow. Which means a lot of Zoom meetings, some phone calls, and, when possible and appropriate, in-person gatherings.

“My goal is to get out there and meet the community where they are at as quickly as possible,” she said. “I think it’s also important that I meet the team; meet our front-line caregivers, staff, and providers; and understand what’s working well and where we have opportunities.”

Returning to her thoughts on the lessons learned from the pandemic, Watkins said that managing through this crisis has enabled her to grow and mature as a leader — out of necessity.

“Physicians inherently have trouble delegating,” she told BusinessWest. “And I fully disclose that I am one of those physicians. It’s been a journey, but the pandemic has really helped me to leverage and trust the team and be a better partner, a better collaborator, and a better support.

“One of the things I work hard to do is listen and gather information before executing,” she went on. “And that’s been incredibly important during this time.”

When asked about the management style she brings to CDH, Watkins started by saying she is an optimist by nature, and she believes this is an important trait in this business.

“We have the singular privilege of being able to take care of patients and the community, whether it’s one-on-one or on a larger scale,” she explained. “And from that optimism, I assume good intentions and assume that those who chose this profession want to take care of people as well. We will have challenging conversations, and it will be important to challenge and push each other to do better and innovate, but I would like to consider myself to be collaborative, open, very much driven, direct, and someone who feels it’s important to have fun at work. That’s because this work makes for long days, and there needs to be some form of celebration, some sort of fun.”

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

Suicide Prevention Takes on New Urgency During Pandemic

Health Care

Danger Zone

By Mark Morris

MHA’s Alane Burgess (left) and Kristy Navarro say social isolation during the pandemic has been problematic for young people.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the national suicide rate declined slightly in 2019, the last year for which full statistics are available.

Unfortunately, the latest government data does not take into account the arrival of COVID-19 early in 2020. But area mental-health professionals know what they’re seeing and hearing almost 20 months into the pandemic.

Amanda Hichborn, director of Outpatient Clinical Services for River Valley Counseling Center’s Westfield office, said the impact of COVID has in some ways been a double-edged sword when it comes to suicide risk.

“The risk factors for suicide have definitely increased,” she said. “At the same time, we’ve also seen protective factors that have come into play.”

On top of fears about our health, Hichborn explained, the pandemic also affected basic needs such as food — as evidenced by shortages in grocery stores — as well as the ability to sleep well, employment security, and freedom to move around wherever and whenever we want.

At the same time, she has seen people spend more time with their family, increase their fitness by taking walks to get outside, and improve their diets by eating more at home.

“Vulnerable groups like disenfranchised people were already struggling with basic needs. Throw the pandemic on top of it, and their needs are impacted tenfold.”

“These protective factors work to actually decrease the risk of suicide,” Hichborn said. “When we go through something as a community, we feel a kind of connectedness, which also helps decrease suicide risk.”

However, she was quick to point out that, while we may all be in this together, we’re not all in the same boat.

“Vulnerable groups like disenfranchised people were already struggling with basic needs,” she said. “Throw the pandemic on top of it, and their needs are impacted tenfold.”

Young people in particular have had a tough time with the pandemic. Alane Burgess, clinic director of the BestLife Emotional Health & Wellness Center at the Mental Health Assoc. (MHA), noted that, while depression and anxiety have increased for all ages, it’s been particularly tough for adolescents, and suicidal thoughts and attempts are on the rise.

“With adolescence, there is a sense of permanency that things won’t change,” Burgess said. “When they experience social isolation, it feels like forever to them.”

Kristy Navarro, a clinical supervisor at MHA, said keeping young people safe in a pandemic can run counter to how parents raise their kids.

“Normally we want our kids to share, but now we’re saying, ‘don’t share, and don’t touch anything,’” she said. “When we discourage sharing things with friends, it can be a hindrance to the growth and development of young children and adolescents.”

Managing the Stress

Dan Millman agrees that the pandemic has affected young people in unique ways.

“It can be hard for young people who miss rites of passage like graduations and other celebrations and rituals,” he said. “Another part is the social stuff like having fun with friends and being independent. All of that has been much harder to do with the pandemic.”

Millman is the director of ServiceNet’s DBT program, or dialectical behavior therapy, an evidence-based approach to psychotherapy that can be effective with people who are exhibiting self-destructive behaviors.

Amanda Hichborn says staying home more has benefited people’s health in some ways, but the pandemic has had plenty of negative effects, too.

DBT differs from conventional therapy in that it follows a more structured protocol. The six-month program is designed to give clients the skills to manage the urges to engage in self-harming behaviors. Millman described four main techniques of DBT:

• Mindfulness, a skill that helps the client focus on healthy coping skills to prevent negative thought patterns and impulsive behavior, and which is integrated throughout DBT techniques;

• Distress tolerance, which is most effective in improving a moment with soothing or distraction skills. “The point of this skill is to help survive the crisis without making things worse,” Millman said;

• Emotion regulation, a technique that allows clients to strengthen their emotional resiliency to more effectively navigate powerful feelings; and

• Interpersonal effectiveness, which Millman described as developing assertiveness skills so clients can ask for what they want, better address their needs, and set limits when necessary.

“The point of DBT is to help people feel like their life is worth living and has improved,” he explained. “It’s not a good outcome to have someone stay alive while still suffering the torment they have been feeling.”

Relieving the torment starts with allowing the client to accept they have suicidal thoughts. In this context, acceptance means acknowledgement, not approval.

“When someone has suicidal thoughts, it’s a sign to them that something is wrong in their lives that needs to change,” he said. “Acknowledging those thoughts can actually be protective for the person.”

Another area of DBT involves stepping into painful emotions. Millman explained how human instincts try to protect us and avoid things that make us feel anxious, so we tend to put them off. Avoiding a difficult conversation is a good example of something that needs to be done, but creates anxiety before we do it.

“I talk with people about what they can and cannot control. Though we can’t control events outside, we can control ourselves and our responses to those events.”

One way clients deal with emotional pain is to engage in self-harming behaviors such as cutting themselves.

“We ask the client to just sit with the urge to cut themselves without acting on it,” he said. “In that way, we are asking them to step into the pain. It’s easier said than done, and it’s really challenging.”

The point is to show the client they confronted the moment and got through it. A distraction like a funny video or throwing themselves into an activity can also help, he added. “Once they are ready for the next step, they can use some of the other skills to influence the emotions that are underneath the urge and begin to think differently about it.”

Support Systems

The pandemic looked like it was going to subside this past spring as warm weather arrived and many people were getting vaccinated, but then the Delta variant reared its head, and vaccine levels plateaued. While that created frustration for everyone, it was particularly hard on people with pre-existing conditions related to anxiety and depression.

Dan Millman runs a program that helps people take control of self-destructive tendencies.

Navarro said the confusion of starting to feel safe, and then, suddenly, not so safe, can lead to hopelessness, a huge risk factor in suicidal tendencies. A person who feels hopeless will often make vague statements such as “I can’t do this anymore,” “I don’t want to be here,” and “this is too hard,” she noted.

“I talk with people about what they can and cannot control. Though we can’t control events outside, we can control ourselves and our responses to those events.”

During the pandemic, social media can either help people feel more connected or lead to more hopelessness. Hichborn noted that, while it’s good to see friends and loved ones from across the country, social media also creates misleading impressions. The people smiling in the photo look happy, but they might be feeling lots of stress in their lives.

“The effect of social media is counterintuitive because it makes us feel more connected upfront, but in the long run makes us feel a lot more depressed and isolated,” she said.

Two other groups emotionally affected by the pandemic are very young children and seniors. Hichborn said she sees clients from ages 3 to 77. When a parent with young children dies, it can create a suicide risk.

“The child has a concept of mom or dad dying, and they want to see them again,” Hichborn said. “The child might feel like they have to die in order to see their mom or dad.”

Older people who are at risk of suicide tend to show warning signs such as saying goodbye to people, giving away their prized possessions, and cleaning out their house. When family members see this type of behavior, it’s important to talk with the person.

“If you see any suicidal ideations or any warning signs within a family member, don’t beat around the bush — ask them directly, ‘are you feeling suicidal? Are you having thoughts of harming yourself?’” she said.

If they’re not having those thoughts, Hichborn added, the question will not encourage people to start thinking about it. “It doesn’t work that way.”

In addition to asking direct questions, Burgess suggested active listening and being supportive.

“Sometimes the most important thing to do is listen and acknowledge the person’s experience,” she said. “They don’t need you to fix it, they just want to be heard.”

Hichborn recommends a safety plan displayed on the refrigerator to help a person who might struggle with suicidal thoughts.

“The plan can have support people to call and emergency numbers like the police, suicide hotline, or poison control,” she explained. “Everything is written out in a place that’s easily seen, so when someone isn’t thinking straight and their thoughts are all over the place, they don’t have to think about what to do — it’s right there.”

Stay Connected

Though we might feel alone in our thoughts, Burgess encouraged people to reach out to those they are comfortable with to talk about their feelings.

“What’s profound about the pandemic is that it’s a collective experience everyone is going through,” she said — and one that no one should have to confront alone.

A Loss, but Also an Opportunity

By Editorial October 13, 2021

Opinion

Editorial

As we absorb the news that Smith & Wesson will be packing its bags — some of them, anyway — and leaving Springfield for Blount County, Tennessee, a self-proclaimed ‘Second Amendment sanctuary,’ we are left with a number of questions.

Ironically, most of them don’t involve whether more could have been done, and should have been done, to keep the company here, which is usually the case when a corporation decides to headquarter itself somewhere else. Despite CEO Mark Smith’s insistence that the company left because of proposed legislation that would ban the manufacturing of many of the company’s products (specifically assault weapons), it seems clear that Blount County made the corporation an offer it couldn’t refuse. And didn’t refuse.

No, most of the questions the day after the announcement was made concern just how big a loss this is for the city and the state. And those questions are certainly hard to answer.

On the surface, it’s certainly a big loss when the corporate brand most identified with your city (most people couldn’t tell you MassMutual is headquartered here) is lost to somewhere else. There’s also the history; Smith & Wesson was founded in Springfield in 1856, and the company has been a big part of the city’s manufacturing tradition.

But having one of your city’s largest employers be a manufacturer of weapons that kill people has long been somewhat of a public-relations problem. The jobs are good, but many have chosen not think too long and hard about what the people employed there are making and what they’re used for.

Aside from losing a big piece of Springfield’s history, we’re also losing roughly 550 jobs. That’s not insignificant, certainly, but let’s not forget that every manufacturing operation in Western Mass. has a help-wanted sign outside its doors, either figuratively or quite literally. For many years now, there has been a huge imbalance between the number of people these plants could hire and the number they have hired, because there just hasn’t been enough qualified people in the labor pool.

So … if you were ever going to lose 550 manufacturing jobs, or 550 jobs of any kind, this would be the time to lose them.

Which brings us to state Sen. Eric Lesser’s comment that this development with Smith & Wesson might be actually be some kind of blessing in disguise.

That’s an odd choice of phrase — and he was quick to note that he was obviously concerned about the 550 families to be impacted by this — but in many ways, it works.

Smith & Wesson is not leaving Springfield completely. It will maintain many of its operations and employ 1,000 people. That’s certainly good news. But no later than 2023, a good number of skilled workers — how many, we don’t know because some of those currently employed will follow the company to Tennessee — can take skills to other area companies that desperately need them.

The depth of this need is evidenced by the number of manufacturers who have already reached out to Lesser, other elected officials, the MassHire agencies, and even those employees themselves, letting them know that they are ready and willing to take them on.

It’s possible, that’s possible, that Smith & Wesson’s decision to relocate its headquarters and some operations to Tennessee might provide the means for some area companies to grow and perhaps open the door to additional employment opportunities.

This bombshell announcement by the company certainly represents a loss. But in some ways, it may also represent opportunity.

Facebook’s Problems Are Societal

By Editorial October 13, 2021

Opinion

By John Garvey

Is Facebook really Big Tobacco? The answer is ‘no’ — and there is no reasonable comparison, despite the compelling testimony of the Facebook whistleblower.

A two-sentence trip down memory lane on the subject of the tobacco industry will refresh our collective memories about an industry that was not only supported by government subsidies, but protected by the government. The tobacco industry was, in fact, founded on the back of slavery. So, despite the attention that the ‘Facebook is Big Tobacco’ comparison attracts, it is wildly hyperbolic and does a disservice to any alleged misdeeds of the social-media giant.

Now that we got that out of the way, what is Facebook, then? Really popular. As you know, your mother is on Facebook commenting on your posts that you need to lose weight, and your kids are on Instagram hiding their profiles from you. I hesitate to introduce the fact that they are probably over on TikTok, actually, because that will give you a headache.

Breaking news: the fight between Facebook and the whistleblower/Congress was over before it started. Where’s the evidence, you say? The perceived and actual value of Facebook was debated the day before the whistleblower testified in Washington, when someone at headquarters apparently tripped over and disconnected the network cord to Facebook, Instagram, and Whats App (OK, that’s fake news, but they each did go down on Oct. 4). The world noticed, consumers’ demand was tested and passed, and the stock priced declined.

However, just as the whistleblower started to whistle, Facebook’s stock began to rebound.

Are the charges serious? Yes, but they are societal as well — meaning it’s not just the algorithm that pushes nefarious content in front of us and our children. It is, in fact, us. We have choices, and we can easily unlike, complain, or log off if we are confronted by information from any source that we find offensive. Conveniently, your digital marketers will support your complaints because they — meaning me — do not want you to log off and wish to continue to put information in front of you that you will feel is relevant, compelling, and useful. That is how the algorithm is supposed to work, and there are coders tweaking it every day to make it better.

Here’s where I understand your anger, though. Mark Zuckerberg is absolutely not the right person to be leading or speaking for Facebook at this time. While he may still be popular with the Facebook employees, outside the building, he is barely discernable. This is one guy who fails to emote or show empathy.

I know, this presentation is somewhat simplistic. But if you are on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, or, indeed, LinkedIn (is Snapchat dead yet?), I sincerely hope you are getting some value out of the platforms you frequent. Companies like Facebook need to be more transparent and will be forced to in the future — but more likely by you, the public, rather than Congress. So, keep showing up, but also keep weighing in.

After all, we do not want to wait centuries for improvements, like we had to for government’s regulation of Big Tobacco.

John Garvey is president of Garvey Communication Associates Inc.

Picture This

Picture This

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

Grand Opening at Venture X

Venture X Holyoke celebrated the grand opening of its co-working space on Sept. 9, drawing more than 80 guests who enjoyed drinks, food, live music, and tours of the facility. Pictured: the Venture X Holyoke team cuts the ribbon at the grand opening. (Photo by Aiden McDonald)

Committed to the Mission

In celebration of a $50,000 earmark in the Massachusetts state budget to support its commitment to early learning, Square One welcomed the amendment’s sponsors, state Sen. Adam Gomez and state Rep. Bud Williams, for a visit to its Main Street, Springfield location on Oct. 4. They were joined by state Sen. Eric Lesser, state Reps. Michael Finn and Orlando Ramos, Square One President and CEO Dawn DiStefano, and staff and children from the agency.

Up, Up, and Away

Mateo Reyes, a senior at Westfield Technical Academy, recently earned his private pilot license from Fly Lugu on Sept. 30. Leading up to the day of his checkride, Reyes could be found studying at the airport almost every day after school. “Watching Mateo accomplish such a huge feat at just 17 years old has been inspiring to everyone at Fly LUGU,” flight dispatcher Sammie Gladu said, “and we’re looking forward to seeing where his new license takes him.”

Fore the Kids

Professional Drywall Construction Inc. raised $35,000 during its fifth annual PDC Charity Golf Tournament, held on Sept. 9 at Wyckoff Country Club in Holyoke. The tournament, which featured an 18-hole round of golf, lunch, and a dinner reception, drew 120 participants. Pictured: PDC co-owners Ron Perry (left) and Nick Shaink. (Photo by Market Mentors)

School Is Now in Session

Gov. Charlie Baker (pictured) and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito recently joined students, families, staff, board members, and community partners to celebrate the opening of Springfield Prep Charter School’s new campus on Roosevelt Avenue in Springfield. The ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the completion of two years of planning and construction on a $20.4 million building project that will serve nearly 500 students each year.

Creating a Pipeline

Committed to growing the future manufacturing workforce, Governors America Corp. in Agawam recently hosted six students as part of the Learn to Earn program created by New England Business Associates. During the five-hour event, students had the opportunity to tour the facility, speak with staff in a variety of roles, and learn about the various opportunities available within manufacturing. (Photo by Market Mentors)

Court Dockets

Court Dockets

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

HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT

Victor Lopez Cortes, et al v. Hedge Hog Industries Corp., et al
Allegation: Fraud: $43,450
Filed: 8/25/21

Tonya Monfett, personal representative of the estate of Anna Monfett v. Vanessa Ross, CNM; Marc Zerbe, M.D.; Kristine Midura, RN; Brian Couchon, RN; and Holyoke Medical Center Inc.
Allegation: Medical malpractice, wrongful death: $50,000+
Filed: 9/7/21

Theresa Beaumier v. Mutt Rescue Inc.
Allegation: Negligence causing personal injury: $291,345.84
Filed: 9/8/21

Virginia Dascoli v. Big Y Foods Inc.
Allegation: Negligence; slip and fall causing personal injury: $60,000
Filed: 9/8/21

Steven Wheeler v. Richard Anderson, M.D., and Charles Mick, M.D.
Allegation: Medical malpractice: $3,526,912.85
Filed: 9/9/21

Adams & Ruxton Construction Co. v. Cei Builders, LLC and Agawam ORF 1, LLC
Allegation: Breach of contract for construction services: $57,994.99
Filed: 9/9/21

BMP Harris Bank N.A. v. Universal Logistics Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract, breach of guaranty, replevin: $39,1145.70
Filed: 9/9/21

Pedro Lopez-Nieves v. Eastern Vehicle Recycling Inc.
Allegation: Negligence causing personal injury: $48,621.77
Filed: 9/14/21

Brenda Glanville v. Pioneer Valley Hotel Group Inc.
Allegation: Employment discrimination: $135,000+
Filed: 9/14/21

Margarita Rosa v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Marriott International Inc.
Allegation: Negligence; slip and fall causing personal injury: $18,727.02
Filed: 9/17/21

Penn Keystone Coal Co. LLC v. Mark Bogacz d/b/a Coal Stoves & More
Allegation: Money owed for goods sold and delivered: $88,160.63
Filed: 9/20/21

Agenda

Agenda

‘Elder Law and Estate Planning: What You Need to Know’

Oct. 18, 25: Attorney Karen Jackson, an elder-law and estate-planning attorney at Jackson Law, will teach a two-part class highlighting the latest developments in elder law and estate planning at Holyoke Community College (HCC). The four-hour course, called “Elder Law and Estate Planning: What You Need to Know,” will be presented in a pair of two-hour sessions, from 6 to 8 p.m. The cost is $99. In the first session, Jackson will explain each document in the core estate plan — the will, power of attorney, healthcare proxy, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) release, and advance directive. She will discuss the problems that can occur when proper documents are not prepared before a loss of mental capacity or physical health or before sudden loss of life. In the first session, she will also cover the different types of trusts — the revocable trust, irrevocable trust, and special-needs trust — and the reasons for creating each kind of trust. During the second session, Jackson will explain the various tools and techniques to save the home and other assets from the nursing home bill: gifting, the Medicaid qualified annuity, pooled trusts, caregiver child exception, and Medicaid qualified trusts. For participants who may be able to attend only one session, the full course fee is still required. To register, call HCC at (413) 552-2500 or register online at www.hcc.edu/bce.

Healthcare Heroes

Oct. 21: BusinessWest and HCN will honor the Healthcare Heroes class of 2021 at the Log Cabin in Holyoke. The Healthcare Heroes, profiled in this issue, include James Goodwin, president and CEO of the Center for Human Development (Lifetime Achievement); Dr. Sarah Haessler, hospital epidemiologist at Baystate Medical Center and vice chair for Clinical Affairs in the Department of Medicine at Baystate Health (Emerging Leader); Beth Cardillo, executive director of Armbrook Village (Community Health); Richard Johnson, Counseling and Testing Prevention and Education Program director at New North Citizens Council Inc. (Community Health); Dr. Louis J. DeCaro, podiatrist and owner of DeCaro Total Foot Care Center (Provider); Dr. Alicia Ross, medical director of Holyoke VNA Hospice Life Care (Administrator); J. Aleah Nesteby, former director of LGBTQ Services at Cooley Dickinson Hospital (Innovation); and Doorway to an Accessible, Safe and Healthy Home (Collaboration). A very limited number of tickets are available. For information, call Gina Lovotti at (413) 781-8600, ext. 100. The Healthcare Heroes program is being sponsored by presenting sponsors Elms College and Baystate Health/Health New England, and partner sponsor Trinity Health Of New England/Mercy Medical Center.

‘Rewire: Finding Purpose and Fulfillment After Retirement’

Oct. 27: Many pre-retirees focus solely on their 401(k) and pension when deciding when to retire, but neglect to consider how they will find purpose and fulfillment in the next chapter of their lives. A person who retires at age 65 will be active for 20 years or more after leaving their full-time job. How will they fill those 2,000-plus hours they have previously devoted to their career? Holyoke Community College (HCC) is offering a workshop that will address this major life transition. “Rewire: Finding Purpose and Fulfillment After Retirement” will meet in person from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Kittredge Center for Business and Workforce Development on HCC’s main campus, 303 Homestead Ave. The workshop will be facilitated by former career counselor Barbara Foster. The workshop will offer a series of exercises and self-assessments, as well as time to reflect, brainstorm with others, and develop goals and a vision for this new chapter of life. Participants will also leave with an extensive list of resources to explore. To maintain safe social distancing, space is limited, so advance registration is required. To register, visit hcc.edu/rewire, or call (413) 552-2500 for more information. Masks are required in all HCC campus buildings regardless of vaccination status.

City of Bright Nights Ball

Nov. 13: It will be “Cherry Blossoms Under the Moonlight” for the 2021 City of Bright Nights Ball, when the event returns to MGM Springfield for the third time, Spirit of Springfield President Judy Matt announced. Eastman is the gala’s sponsor, and Shawn Pace, Eastman’s Indian Orchard site manager, is the chair. Additional support for the City of Bright Nights Ball is provided by MassMutual, which was the lead sponsor of the 2019 gala and will serve as this year’s Chairman’s Reception Sponsor. Golden Circle Sponsors include American Medical Response, Baystate Health, the Colvest Group, Comcast, Country Bank, FR Investment Group, Gleason Johndrow Landscaping, Health New England, MGM Springfield, MP CPAs, New England Business Machine, Sheraton Springfield, and the Springfield Business Improvement District. The décor and dinner will be themed with cherry blossoms. Andrew Jensen from JX2 Productions and Dan Stezko with his team at Flowers, Flowers! have been hard at work designing the look in flowing pinks and flowers. The culinary team at MGM Springfield, led by Executive Chef Chris Smigel, will serve a dinner featuring braised short ribs, pan-seared diver scallops, seared trumpet mushroom ‘scallops,’ and a dessert complete with a touch of cherry cotton candy. For information about being a sponsor of the City of Bright Nights Ball or purchasing tickets, contact the Spirit of Springfield at (413) 733-3800 or [email protected].

People on the Move

People on the Move

Arwen Staros Duffy

Arwen Staros Duffy, currently assistant vice president for Development at the University of Southern California (USC), has been named vice chancellor for advancement at UMass Amherst. Duffy will begin her new position Nov. 15. Duffy has served in her leadership role at USC since 2014. She oversaw record fundraising efforts for the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, Gould School of Law, Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry, Price School of Public Policy, Rossier School of Education, and Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work as part of the Campaign for USC. Previously, she served as senior vice president for Development and External Affairs at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif. A Yale University graduate in art, she was also vice president of Advancement for the California Institute of the Arts, where she earned her MFA in 1994. Duffy began her career in higher-education advancement at UCLA, where she secured support for the School of the Arts and Architecture and College of Letters and Science.

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Andrew Tulis

Florence Bank promoted Andrew Tulis to the position of assistant vice president and Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) officer at the main office in Florence. Tulis is a 10-year employee of Florence Bank and brings extensive knowledge and skills to his new position. In this role, he will be responsible for ensuring compliance with laws and regulations by developing and adhering to policies and procedures that oversee the bank’s BSA program, anti-money-laundering program, and Office of Foreign Asset Control compliance. Tulis studied at New York University, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He attended the New England School for Financial Studies at Babson College, graduating with honors in 2016.

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Caroline Cay Adams

Caroline Cay Adams, education director for the Zoo in Forest Park & Education Center, received the Janet McCoy Excellence in Public Education Award from the American Assoc. of Zookeepers during a virtual presentation held Aug. 31. Adams was honored for her work creating Kids Go Wild, a multi-week, hands-on education program that is delivered to children in schools and afterschool programs throughout Western Mass., specifically targeting at-risk youth. Kids Go Wild provides a fun, interactive way for children to learn about different animal species through cross-hatched science, literacy, and art lessons, with each lesson meeting educational standards set by the Massachusetts Board of Education. During the pandemic, Adams adapted Kids Go Wild into a virtual program, showcasing the flexibility and versatility of the program.

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Jeff Resnikoff

Theresa Raleigh

UMassFive College Federal Credit Union introduced the two newest additions to its senior management team: Jeff Resnikoff, vice president of Lending, and Theresa Raleigh, vice president of Human Resources. Resnikoff comes to UMassFive with more than 13 years of experience in the credit-union world following his long tenure at Hudson Valley Credit Union in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Over his 13-year career there, he rose from Contact Center representative to eventually become the assistant vice president of Consumer Lending. He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from State University of New York at New Paltz. Resnikoff takes over a loan portfolio of $400 million and will oversee all functions of the Consumer Lending department at UMassFive. Raleigh comes to UMassFive from SeaComm Federal Credit Union in upstate New York, where she served as vice president of Human Resources for the past 16 years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. She will oversee all employee hiring, training, recognition, and diversity program efforts at UMassFive.

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Michael Moran

Barr & Barr, a national construction-management firm, announced the appointment of Michael Moran as the new executive vice president and director of Operations for the New England Region. Moran brings more than 30 years of experience in executive leadership, construction, real-estate development, and operations from multiple industries to Barr & Barr. He began his career after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy and was commissioned in the Civil Engineer Corps (Seabees) of the U.S. Navy. He has worked in recreation, hospitality, health and wellness, and healthcare, where he last served as president and chief administrative officer of Baystate Health’s Eastern Region. Stephen Killian, the current director of Operations of the New England Office for more than 18 years, strategically grew the company within the New England Region. He will be staying on to assist Moran in the transition, and will focus on key projects in the region.

•••••

Kim Lyons

Dalkia Aegis, EDF Group, a leading provider of co-generation technology in the Northeast, hired Kim Lyons for the role of Client Relations manager. In this position, she will help Dalkia Aegis build and maintain relationships with current customers to better understand their goals and manage client needs. She joins the team with more than 15 years of experience in client-management positions. Lyons is a graduate of UMass Amherst with a degree in psychology and sociology. She spent more than 15 years as a strategic accounts executive serving the automotive industry, providing advanced consultative needs analysis, sales, and long-term service. In her new role, she will manage the current accounts of Dalkia Aegis, helping clients achieve and maintain the best results from their investment.

•••••

Joseph Tiraboschi has been promoted to deputy chief at Springfield College. He has been a member of the Springfield College Police Department since 2017, most recently serving as administrative lieutenant, where he supervised more than 40 personnel members, including officers and dispatchers. In addition, he managed all crime statistics, managed certification in accordance with the Massachusetts State Police, and directed all department policies and procedures. Prior to his role as administrative lieutenant, Tiraboschi worked as detective sergeant, overseeing all criminal and non-criminal investigations, while also taking on the responsibilities of background investigator, internal-affairs investigator, and sexual-assault investigator. A 2013 graduate of the Massachusetts State full-Time Police Academy, Tiraboschi transitioned from a Springfield College Police Department dispatcher to a full-time police officer in 2013. He earned his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Springfield College in 2010, and he is currently on pace to earn his master’s degree in counseling from Springfield College in 2022.

•••••

Lisa Murray

Citizens Financial Group named Lisa Murray its Massachusetts president, succeeding Jerry Sargent, who will continue to oversee New England and upstate New York as Citizens’ Northeast Region executive. Murray, who has been at Citizens for 24 years, leads a team that provides strategic and financial advice to not-for-profit organizations and professional-services clients such as legal, accounting, and consulting firms. As Massachusetts president, she will represent Citizens in an official capacity across the Commonwealth and continue to report to Sargent. Murray has been working with the Pine Street Inn, the largest homeless-services provider in New England, for more than 20 years and is currently a member of its board of directors. She is also a member of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable and the Mass Taxpayers Forum, and is on the board of the Economic Development Advisory Committee in her hometown of Lexington. She is a graduate of the University of Connecticut.

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William Dziura

Junior Achievement of Western Massachusetts (JAWM) announced the hiring of a new development director, William Dziura. He will work to plan and evaluate fundraising campaigns and activities; secure financial support from individuals, foundations, and corporations; and develop further relationships with the community. Dziura earned a bachelor’s degree in English and history from Elms College and a master’s degree in English literature from Trinity College. Most recently, he held the position of director of Annual Giving at the Elms, while simultaneously working as an adjunct professor. Prior to his career in fundraising, he worked as an eighth-grade English teacher at Mater Dolorosa School in Holyoke, and director of Student Engagement and Leadership at the Elms.

•••••

Western New England University (WNE) College of Engineering Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering Dr. Andrea Kwaczala has been named an Engineering Unleashed 2021 Fellow by the Kern Foundation. The honor recognizes faculty for their contribution to engineering education, specifically entrepreneurial engineering. This grant will support the Making with Purpose Workshop Series. These are monthly hands-on events running throughout this academic year. The workshop is intended to introduce students to the entrepreneurial mindset in an inclusive community within the makerspace facilities within the College of Engineering. Some activities align with Kwaczala’s research in assistive technology, such as building rapid prototypes of body-powered prosthetic devices and low-tech assistive technology to improve activities of daily living. Other activities are geared toward understanding a product’s marketspace and learning about manufacturing in scale-up, such as glowing LED pumpkins for Halloween decor and laser-cut jewelry to sell at the holidays. The projects are intended to promote technical skills and coach students to use a growth mindset. Engineering Unleashed is a community of 3,800 faculty members from 160 institutions of higher education, powered by KEEN, a 50-partner collaborative that shares a mission to graduate engineers with an entrepreneurial mindset who are equipped to create societal, personal, and economic value. The Engineering Unleashed faculty-development workshops are elements of KEEN’s multi-institutional activities. Kwaczala is one of 27 individuals from institutions of higher education across the country to receive this distinction.

•••••

Country Bank President and CEO Paul Scully announced the appointment of four prominent business professionals to its board of trustees and four new corporators from local businesses within the communities it serves. Attorney Richard Maynard, owner of the Law Offices of Richard H. Maynard, P.C., and Elizabeth Rappaport, partner at Century Investment Co., both from Western Mass., have joined the board of trustees. New trustees from Central Mass. include Ross Dik, owner of Knight-Dik Insurance in Worcester, and Stacy Luster, general counsel and assistant to the president of Worcester State University, who will also serve as a corporator. Newly appointed corporators include Jennifer Cooke, director of Retirement Plans at CIG Private Wealth Management; Melissa Fales, Loan Program coordinator at Quaboag Community Development Corp.; William Trudeau, executive vice president and partner at HUB International LLC; and Kyriakos Konstantaki, co-founder and principal at Amcomm Wireless.

Company Notebook

Company Notebook

Girls Inc. Unveils Plans for New Home in Holyoke

HOLYOKE — After a four-year search, Girls Inc. of the Valley unveiled what will become its new home — the former ‘O’Connell building’ on Hampden Street in Holyoke. At a press conference, Girls Inc. leaders announced that the nonprofit had acquired the property and has mapped out extensive renovation efforts and plans to open the new facility perhaps as early as a year from now. Girls Inc. Executive Director Suzanne Parker told those assembled that, as part of a strategic plan created more than four years ago, the nonprofit has sought a new home that will bring all its programs together under one roof and facilitate growth that will enable it to serve more girls in the Pioneer Valley. The search for such a facility has been a long and sometimes difficult undertaking, she noted, one that eventually brought Girls Inc. to the Hampden Street property, which was the longtime home to the O’Connell Companies, and later law offices after O’Connell built a new headquarters on Kelly Way in Holyoke. Girls Inc. closed on the property late last month, acquiring it for $790,000 with financing from PeoplesBank, said Parker, noting that extensive renovations to many portions of the property will bring the price tag for the project to roughly $3.5 million. A capital campaign — the Her Future, Our Future campaign, which has an overall goal of $5 million — was launched more than a year ago, she said, adding that funds raised through that campaign will be used to cover those costs. The site brings a number of benefits, said Parker, listing a 55-space parking lot and ample room — 16,000 square feet over two floors — for facilities that will include a cutting-edge STEM makers’ space, library, two multi-purpose rooms, a teen lounge, a kitchen and dining area, administrative offices, and more.

HCC Receives $1 Million Grant to Build New Engineering Program

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Community College (HCC) has been awarded nearly $1 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create a new engineering pathways program to help boost the numbers of Latinx and women engineers working in the field. The grant — $956,458 over four years — will allow HCC to design an accelerated, one-year engineering certificate program that will culminate in paid internships with high-tech research organizations such as the renowned Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York. The money comes from the NSF’s program for Hispanic Serving Institutions and is intended to improve undergraduate education in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. HCC has been a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution, or HSI, since 2016. Colleges and universities are recognized as HSIs when their Hispanic/Latinx enrollment exceeds 25%. HCC’s partners in the grant include Holyoke High School, Westfield High School, Western New England University, UMass Amherst, the Northampton-based Collaborative for Educational Services, a national association called the 50K Coalition, and the Society for Women Engineers. The main goals of HCC’s new Western Massachusetts Engineering Pathways Program are to increase participation in engineering by members of groups historically underrepresented in the field, to revitalize HCC’s engineering programs to be more responsive to a diverse student body, and to ensure the program meets the needs of regional employers. Through the grant, HCC will hire an Engineering Pathways coordinator to recruit high-school students for the program. After students complete their coursework, they will be placed in paid internships. As a further incentive, each student in their final program course will receive a $1,000 stipend. The grant also calls for a review of HCC’s associate-degree program in engineering in consultation with HCC’s partners to increase employer engagement and improve transfer pathways to four-year institutions. In addition, the grant will facilitate the creation of a chapter of the Society of Women Engineers at HCC. Also in conjunction with the grant, HCC has joined the 50K Coalition, a national consortium of professional engineering societies whose goal is graduate 50,000 women engineers and engineers of color by 2025.

Big E Sets Single-day Attendance Record

WEST SPRINGFIELD — The Big E closed out its 17-day fair with a bang on its final weekend, drawing 177,238 patrons on Saturday, Oct. 2 — the largest single-day attendance in the event’s history. The total 17-day attendance was 1,498,774, short of the record of 1,629,527 set in 2019. This year’s fair set attendance records on three other days as well; Sept. 21 drew the best first-Tuesday crowd ever (56,769), Sept. 26 was the best-ever second Sunday (136,512), and Oct. 1 was the best-ever third Friday (113,827).

Western MA Food Processing Center Named Manufacturer of the Year

GREENFIELD — The Franklin County Community Development Corp.’s Western Massachusetts Food Processing Center (FPC) was named Manufacturer of the Year in the Hampshire, Franklin, Worcester state Senate district. The FPC was nominated to receive this award by state Sen. Jo Comerford through the Legislature’s Manufacturing Caucus, of which she is a member. Located in Greenfield, the FPC was established in 2001 and will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in October. The center serves as an incubator space for new and growing specialty food businesses to manufacture their products. The FPC team has helped local businesses prototype and launch a wide variety of different products, including sauces, toppings, salsas, dips, syrups, and frozen meals. It has a wide variety of specialized equipment to help local farms add value to their produce. Additionally, the FPC provides one-on-one counseling and technical assistance to support business planning, product development, regulatory compliance, and more. Currently, the FPC has 50 clients and employs eight full-time staff. During the busy harvest season, it employs several part-time staff, including individuals through the re-entry program of Hampshire County House of Corrections. This harvest season, the FPC team made value-added products, like pickles, pestos, and salsas, for 18 farms and offered dry and cold storage services to another eight farms. The FPC is also home to Valley Veggies, as well as the only individual quick-freeze machine in New England, which processes local vegetables for schools, institutions, and retail. The Food Processing Center is continuously improving its manufacturing capabilities by investing in specialized food-processing equipment, much of which is funded by state and federal grant programs.

Uvitron International Receives ISO 9001 Certification

WEST SPRINGFIELD — Uvitron International Inc., a designer and manufacturer of high-performance UV light-curing systems and accessories, recently received ISO 9001 certification after demonstrating it met international standards of quality management and quality assurance. “Since we were founded in 1993, we have earned a reputation for manufacturing and selling a quality product supported by a high degree of product knowledge,” said Eugene Mikhaylichenko, Uvitron’s Sales and Marketing director. “This certification underscores our efforts to continue to build on this strong foundation.” Uvitron was established as a developer and manufacturer of switch-mode power supplies for light-curing systems, developing the first electronic arc lamp power supply. The company has since evolved into a total solutions provider of light-curing systems and accessories. ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is an independent, non-governmental, international organization that develops standards to ensure the quality, safety, and efficiency of products, services, and systems. ISO 9001 standards are based on seven quality management principles: customer focus, leadership, engagement of people, process approach, improvement, evidence-based decision making, and relationship management.

Country Bank Recognized by Boston Business Journal for Charitable Giving

WARE — The Boston Business Journal has once again named Country Bank an honoree in its annual 2021 Corporate Citizenship Awards, recognizing the region’s top corporate charitable contributors. The magazine annually publishes this list to highlight companies that promote and prioritize giving back to their communities. During this year’s virtual celebration held on Sept. 9, 98 companies qualified for the distinction by reporting at least $100,000 in cash contributions to Massachusetts-based charities and social-service nonprofits last year. This year, the honorees include companies from healthcare, technology, financial and professional services, retail, professional sports, and more. Country Bank, which ranked 55th, employs 215 staff members within Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester counties. Staff members actively promoted the bank’s mission of giving back to the communities they serve by volunteering to a variety of nonprofits. Paul Scully, president and CEO at Country Bank, added that “we are honored to be recognized by the Boston Business Journal for Country Bank’s philanthropic efforts. As a community bank, it is our mission to help make a difference in the lives of others.”

Renaissance Investment Group to Open New Downtown Office

LENOX — Renaissance Investment Group, LLC is joining the growing business community in downtown Lenox with a new office at 45 Walker St. The group will leave its current building in the Lenox Commons and plans to move into the Walker Street space in November. Mill Town Capital is the new owner of the building. Renaissance and Mill Town have agreed on a 10-year lease during which Mill Town will serve as the landlord for the building and will fund property improvements. Mill Town also owns and operates the Gateways Inn and Restaurant at 51 Walker St. Mill Town, an impact-investment firm based in Pittsfield, owns and operates numerous properties in the Berkshires as part of its efforts to expand and improve quality of life in the area. The firm focuses on making impactful business investments and community-development efforts.

Pellegrini, Seeley, Ryan & Blakesley Awards Five $1,000 Scholarships

SPRINGFIELD — Five area students were each awarded a $1,000 Gerard L. Pellegrini Scholarship to advance their education by the law firm that bears his name. The Gerard L. Pellegrini Scholarship is awarded annually to a union member affiliated with the Western Massachusetts Area Labor Federation or their spouse or dependent. Applicants are asked to submit their high-school or college transcripts, written recommendations, a recital of recent community service, and an essay detailing the importance of the labor movement to their family. Winners of this year’s awards are Emma Cowles of Wilbraham, Samantha Franciosa of Granby, Emma Hayward of Pittsfield, Antonia Perakis of West Springfield, and Elizabeth Sarnacki of East Otis.

STCC Receives $7.35 Million to Enhance STEM Education

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) has been awarded two grants worth more than $7 million from the U.S. Department of Education to boost student success among Latinx and low-income students in STEM fields, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal announced during a visit to STCC. The first grant, titled “Project Acceleration: Re-engineering Pathways to Student Success in STEM,” will run for five years for a total of $3 million. It will allow STCC to create a STEM studies program and develop support services to increase access to STEM careers. The grant is designed to increase enrollment and improve the graduation rates of Latinx and low-income students in STEM majors and help them continue with their studies instead of withdrawing from school. In addition, the grant will allow STCC to help reduce the time it takes male students of color, particularly Latinx, to complete studies. The grant falls under the federal Title V program, which was created to improve higher education of Hispanic students. The second grant announced by Neal is titled “STEM Access and Retention Strategies.” The five-year grant, totaling $4,352,559, will allow STCC to create and enhance support services for Latinx and low-income students. Services and programs supported by the grant include creation of STEM-focused first-year experience courses; utilization of proactive STEM advisors, which would involves bringing services to students rather than waiting for them to ask; and implementation of additional mental-health services. In recent years, STCC created a STEM Center that offers opportunities for tutoring and group study for all students. The college also provides mentoring and coaching. The new federal grant also will allow STCC to enhance professional development for faculty. STCC, the only technical community college in Massachusetts, is federally designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution, with 30% of the students identifying as Hispanic. The city of Springfield suffers high unemployment and poverty. Fifty-six percent of STCC students receive federal Pell grants, which are awarded to students who display exceptional financial need. Hispanic and low-income students enter college with greater developmental math needs and lower retention and graduation rates, on average, than non-Hispanic and higher-income students. Only 11.4% of Hispanic and 14% of low-income students major in STEM. As part of the grant focusing on access and retention strategies, STCC will partner with UMass Amherst and Central Connecticut State University to expand transfer opportunities for students.

Springfield Museums Receive Shuttered Venue Operator Grant

SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Museums welcomed U.S. Rep. Richard Neal and Small Business Alliance Massachusetts District Office Director Robert Nelson to the Quadrangle green on Oct. 7 to announce a $1,200,000 Shuttered Venue Operator Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). As part of the American Rescue Plan, the SVOG program provided more than $16 billion in grants to shuttered venues and was administered by SBA’s Office of Disaster Assistance. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Springfield Museums shut its doors for four months, the first time this has happened in its 164-year history. “As a beloved community anchor and an important informal-learning hub, we were overjoyed to reopen in July 2020,” Springfield Museums President Kay Simpson said. “Our visitors make our museums alive with energy and potential, and we are so glad to have them back in our buildings. We are deeply grateful for the funds provided by the Shuttered Venue Operator Grant, which will help us make up for the lost time during that four-month period.”

Springfield College, UMass Launch Accelerated Law Degree Program

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield College and the University of Massachusetts Law School – Dartmouth have finalized a 3+3 agreement that will create new, accelerated opportunities for Springfield College students to attain a law degree. As part of the agreement, Springfield College pre-law students will spend three years working toward their undergraduate degree before enrolling at UMass Law, where they will begin taking law courses that fulfill their remaining undergraduate requirements while beginning their legal education. Springfield College Professor of History and Pre-Law Advisor Thomas Carty was instrumental in forging this pathway for Springfield College students with UMass Law. Students will earn their bachelor’s and juris doctorate degrees in six years rather than the traditional seven. These accelerated degree programs allow students to apply credits earned during their first year of law school to their final year of college, saving students thousands of dollars in tuition payments and living expenses. Over the past five years, UMass Law ranks second in the nation, among nearly 200 ABA-accredited law schools, for enrollment growth, while maintaining the smallest first-year doctrinal course sizes among all Massachusetts law schools. UMass Law’s most recent ABA Standard 316 ‘ultimate’ (two-year) bar pass rate is 92% across all jurisdictions. UMass Law has twice been ranked among the best law schools in the country for its program of practical training. The law school also ranks second among all 15 law schools in New England for the percentage of students entering public service.

Jewish Family Service Receives Citizenship and Integration Grant

SPRINGFIELD — Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts (JFS) has been awarded a competitive two-year $250,000 Citizenship and Integration Grant from the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). This grant enables JFS to continue its work helping legal permanent residents become U.S. citizens. The fiscal year 2021 grants, which run through September 2023, will fund legal services for citizenship applicants and educational programs designed to deepen an applicant’s knowledge of English, U.S. history, and civics. Since it began in 2009, the Citizenship and Integration Grant Program has awarded more than $112 million through 513 competitive grants to immigrant-serving organizations in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Now in its 13th year, the program has helped more than 290,500 lawful permanent residents prepare for citizenship. JFS is one of 40 organizations in 25 states to receive nearly $10 million in funding to support citizenship-preparation services. Now in its 13th year, the USCIS Citizenship and Integration Grant Program has helped more than 290,500 lawful permanent residents prepare for citizenship. A ‘permanent resident’ is a person authorized by the U.S. government to live and work in the country on a permanent basis. Jewish Family Service is a nonprofit social service agency that has developed both substantive legal and programmatic expertise during its 10 years of experience in citizenship and naturalization services.

State-of-the-art LEAP@WNE Training Center Established

SPRINGFIELD — The Western New England University (WNE) College of Engineering Laboratory for Education and Application Prototypes (LEAP), a state-of-the-art optics/photonics training center, has been established through a grant of $2,581,109 from the Massachusetts Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CAM). LEAP@WNE is part of a national effort to advance state-of-the-art manufacturing with the American Institute for Manufacturing (AIM) Photonics consortium. With the support of the grant funding, WNE partnered with Convergent Photonics in Chicopee and Springfield Technical Community College for the development of the new advanced-manufacturing center, located at Convergent Photonics. The LEAP lab, only the fourth of its kind in the state, will focus on product development, educational training, and collaborative research in the field of integrated photonics. The LEAP@WNE facility features six instrumentation and prototyping workstations with capabilities including tunable lasers and optical power meters, polarimeters, and polarization controllers; optical-spectrum analyzers and free-space optics; electronic signal generators, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, and power supplies; and PCB fabrication using subtractive and additive techniques. The grant was part of the CAM Massachusetts Manufacturing Innovation Initiative (M212), which has made a $100 million commitment to manufacturing innovation through its capital grant program and is collaborating on more than 60 projects connecting manufacturers with universities and companies. According to CAM, Massachusetts has made a substantial commitment to developing the Manufacturing USA infrastructure within the state’s academic, research, and manufacturing industry. Through the creation of sector-specific Manufacturing USA Centers, M212 will advance innovations and job growth within the state through cross-collaboration among companies, universities, national labs, government, incubators, accelerators, and other academic and training institutions. Funded through the M212 program, LEAP is designed to support AIM Photonics, an industry-driven, public-private partnership that focuses the nation’s capabilities and expertise to capture critical global manufacturing leadership in a technology that is both essential to national security and positioned to provide a compelling return on investment to the American economy.

Incorporations

Incorporations

The following business incorporations were recorded in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties and are the latest available. They are listed by community.

AMHERST

Fubar Inc., 85 Mill St., Amherst, MA 01002. Samuel Bromell, same address. Professional screen writing services.

BELCHERTOWN

Hometown Exteriors Inc., 641 Daniel Shays Highway, Belchertown, MA 01007. Timothy Drost, 102 Oak Ridge Dr., Belchertown, MA 01007. Home renovation and construction.

CHICOPEE

Alyson Wanat Aesthetics Inc., 44 Parenteau Ct., Chicopee, MA 01020. Alyson R. Wanat, same address. Aesthetics and skin care services.

DDKB Enterprises Inc., 447 East St., Chicopee, MA 01020. Daniel Joseph Siano, same address. Software applications.

FEEDING HILLS

K&K’s Industry Supplies Inc., 25 Henry St., Feeding Hills, MA 01030. Kristen L. Sgroi, 291 Loomis St., Westfield, MA 01085. Supply and distribution.

HOLYOKE

Amped Aviation: America’s First All Electric Flight School Inc., 17 Stanford St., Holyoke, MA 01040. Robert Riddles, same address. Pilot training on fully electric aircraft.

Concilio Iglesia De Dios Poder Y Uncion Inc., 504 South St., Holyoke, MA 01040. Pastor Javier Pomules, 811 High St., Apt. 1, Holyoke, MA 01040. Prayer and bible studies.

MONSON

R.M.M.C. Foods Inc., 121 Main St., Monson, MA 01507. Richard Mancuso, 16 Woodland St., Millbury, MA 01527. Restaurant and food service.

NORTHAMPTON

Journal of Buddhist Philosophy Inc., 4 Chaplin Way, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063. Jay L. Garfield, 105 January Hills Road, Amherst, MA 01002. Publisher of scholarly journal of Buddhist philosophy.

Translate Gender Inc., 25 Main St., Suite 220, Northampton, MA 01060. Shannon Sennott, same address. Provides educational programs addressing gender oppression.

SPRINGFIELD

A&J Handyman Services, Corp., 53 Hall St., Springfield, MA 01108. Alba J. Figueroa, same address. Handyman services, maintenance, and repairs.

Always F.A.I.R. Inc., 17 Ringgold St., Springfield, MA 01107. Furquan Davis, same address. Promoting temperance in the Commonwealth.

WARE

Tillierose Acres Farm Corp., 108 Fisherdick Road, Ware, MA 01082. Toryn M. Lane, same address. Accommodations, equine therapy, and events.

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Guru Gobind Inc., 41 Merrick St., West Springfield, MA 01089. Bhupinder Singh, same address. Dine in and take-out pizza restaurant and bar.

WILBRAHAM

Mahan Dreams Inc., 10 Hemmingway Road, Wilbraham, MA 01095. Matthew Mahan, same address. E-commerce.

Doing Business as Certificates

DBA Certificates

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

DEERFIELD

Fastenal Co.
147 North Main St.
Sheryl Lisowski

Lamore Lumber Co.
724 Greenfield Road
William Lamore

M9Visuals
93 Lee Road
Matthew Arnold

Old Deerfield Antiques
663 Greenfield Road
Brian Rider

Sugarloaf Laundromat
5 Elm St.
James Golonka, Lawrence Golonka

HADLEY

Adventure East
12 Breckenridge Road
Brian Pearson

Brian Pearson
12 Breckenridge Road
Brian Pearson

DESCO
200 Venture Way
Diagnostic Equip SC

Firestone Complete Auto Care
366 Russell St.
Bridgestone Retail Operations LLC

JBHolstermods
103 Burke Way
John Brouillette

Losoon Park
367 Russell St.
Kim Mili

NORTHAMPTON

Ambient Oaks
239 North King St.
Karissa Rigali

Dobra Tea
186 Main St.
Allissa Jukiro, Joel Jukiro

Familiars Coffee and Tea
6 Strong Ave.
Isaac Weiner, Dan McColgum

Futuro Enlightened
25 Henshaw Ave., Apt. 2
Adela Penagos

Good Girl Pottery
181 Prospect St.
Liana Marks

Hampshire House Publishing Co.
8 Nonotuck St.
O. Stan Freeman

Infinite Self Massage & Energetics
150 Main St., Suite 340
Gwendolyn Lee

Jupiter Girl
221 Pine St.
Caitlin Carvalho

Movement Voter Project
31 Trumbull Road, Unit B1
John Flajnik

Raps Real Estate
79 Masonic St.
Joseph Curran, Dan Berger

River Valley Insight Meditation Community
575 Bridge Road, Unit 11-4
Kim Weeber

Therapeutic Massage
16 Center St., #222
Janice Luzzi

SOUTHWICK

Bengston Painting Services
12 Secluded Ridge
Max Bengston

Daily Dose Yoga + Cycling LLC
610 College Highway
Lindsey DaRosa

The Dance Slipper
10 Industrial Road
Julianne Wendzel

Nicole Gendreau LMT
320 College Highway
Nicole Gendreau

Salon Sage+
320 College Highway
Rebecca Scala

Southwick Builders
104 Fred Jackson Road
Brian Drenen

The Summer House
552 College Highway
Richard Frimaldi

Sunflower Smoothie Café
208 College Highway, Suite C
Margaret Funk

SPRINGFIELD

AOC Services
373 White St.
Luis Matthews

All Things Lexiii
1655 Boston Road
Alexis Perez Harley

American Wings
880 Sumner Ave.
American Wings Inc.

Ang T’s Pet Care
44 Ina St.
Angela Teles

Arnold Financial Services
240 Arnold Ave.
Quinnell Jorden Arnold

C5R Why
275 Chestnut St.
Bertrand Daniel

Cafetero’s Lounge
1655 Boston Road
Hector Rosado Torres

Carlos Bibles Books & More
40 West St.
Carlos Torres

Carry Transit
85-121 Shaws Lane
Carry Transit LLC

Cen’s Transportation
47 Westminster St.
Cenia Sanchez

E&M Construction Service
385 Worthington St.
Egidio Morales

EWB Lawn Care & Snow Removal
30 Gatewood Road
Ernest Wilbert

Expert Staffing Partners
1350 Main St., Suite 100
Karen Courville

Gaston Corp.
156 West Alvord St.
Althea Christian

JB Jewelry Inc.
1307 Liberty St.
Jao Lee

John A. Rasmussen
178 Maple St.
John Rasmussen

Johnstone Supply
105 Avocado St.
J.R. Balsam Inc.

JRC Family
372 Sumner Ave.
Rafael Sanchez

Locust Mini Mart
261 Locust St.
Richard Agin

Marissa’s Gifted Creation
115 Firglade Ave.
Marissa Click

Mexico Money Express and Variety Store
2766 Main St.
Ady Nelson Rosario

Mi Favorita Food Truck
21 Trafton Road
Jose Jusino

Mr. Tint of New England
1576 State St.
Noorzad Muhammad

MR Transportation
11 Horace St.
Moyses Roman

SNS Detailing
181 Massasoit St.
Siniel Adon

Schmidt Equipment
1620 Page Blvd.
United Construction & Forestry

Shooting Star Dance Center
1196 Parker St.
Carol Ann Boardway Chapin

WESTFIELD

AG Hydroseeding
Aleksandr Govor
51 Murray Ave.

All Service Home Repair
18 Belvedere Gardens
Mark Ugrin

Blooms Flower Truck and Studio
77 Mill St.
Blooms Flower Truck and Studio

Caillo Product Services
23 Summer St., Suite 1
Sheila Maldonado

Chloe’s Petals
288 Russellville Road
Judith Radle

Curtis Jones and Associates Inc.
199 Servistar Industrial Way
Curtis Jones and Associates Inc.

Designs by Wendy
20 Pearl St.
Designs by Wendy

Emerald Painting Co.
9 Westwood Dr.
Marcus Kane

Hampden County Wildlife and Pest Control
23C George St.
Hampden County Wildlife and Pest Control

The Hero Foundation Inc.
30 Noble St.
Eliezer Garcia

Mac Mamma
134 Pineridge Dr.
Ashley Ragusa

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Allegiance Truck Springfield
268 Park St.
Michael Chadwick

Citi Trends
786 Memorial Ave.
Henry Thompson

Euro Market LLC
122 Heywood Ave.
Asmir Katica

Fathers & Sons Volkswagen
434 Memorial Ave.
Damon Cartelli

Paul’s Roofing and Repairs
107 Norman St.
Paul Morin

Pioneer Valley Chimney Sweeps
362 Amostown Road
Thomas Cowell

Roche Realty & Associates
425 Union St.
Cassie Roche

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies

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

22 INGALLS STREET, LLC
KENNY EXTERIORS & REMODELING, INC.
KENNY INC.
Kenny, Michael J.
687 Lincoln Road
Oakham, MA 01068
Chapter: 7
Date: 09/07/21

Bergeron, Janet E.
474 Dwight Road
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Date: 09/09/21

Bilodeau, Melanie Ann
1 Nye Brook Road
Blandford, MA 01008
Chapter: 7
Date: 09/10/21

Cole, Martin H.
Cole, Maxcine W.
216 East St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Date: 09/01/21

Crosno, Christopher S.
179 Bridle Path Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Date: 09/03/21

Dixon, Hyacinth
86 Amherst St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Date: 09/02/21

Farias, David
31 Thaddeus St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Date: 09/01/21

Gonzalez, Shanice C.
103 Groton St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Chapter: 7
Date: 08/31/21

Kuenzel, Jeremy
16 Oakdale Place
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 13
Date: 09/10/21

Liebel, Ashley A.
162 Allen St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Date: 09/13/21

Mazza, Rachel A.
11 Riverside St.
Three Rivers, MA 01080
Chapter: 7
Date: 08/31/21

Mao, Khey
68 Fargo St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 13
Date: 09/09/21

Rivera, Lilia Abangan
a/k/a Scher, Lilia
6 Breman St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 13
Date: 09/07/21

Wildman, Martha Ellen
106 Wachusett St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Date: 09/10/21

Wildman, Richard Raymond
Wilson, Regina K.
586 Dickinson St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 13
Date: 09/02/21

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

349 March Road
Ashfield, MA 01330
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: William M. Chagnon
Seller: Lorraine C. Zamojski
Date: 09/02/20

837 Murray Road
Ashfield, MA 01330
Amount: $775,000
Buyer: Tracey A. Baptiste
Seller: 837 Murray Road TR
Date: 09/10/20

COLRAIN

30 Jacksonville Road
Colrain, MA 01340
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: Jocelyn R. Demuth
Seller: Bradley B. Brigham
Date: 09/03/20

32 White Road
Colrain, MA 01340
Amount: $600,000
Buyer: Douglas E. Williams
Seller: William J. Meyers
Date: 09/11/20

DEERFIELD

282 Conway Road
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $212,500
Buyer: Jolene B. Spencer
Seller: Warchol 2009 RET
Date: 09/10/20

79 Hillside Road
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Melissa Carpenter
Seller: Cynthia R. Custeau
Date: 09/10/20

ERVING

93 High St.
Erving, MA 01344
Amount: $242,000
Buyer: Glenn D. Hine
Seller: Linda J. Haselton
Date: 09/02/20

68 Mountain Road
Erving, MA 01344
Amount: $270,000
Buyer: Helen Postema
Seller: Susan A. McNamee
Date: 09/10/20

GREENFIELD

38 Haywood St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $650,000
Buyer: Green & Green LLC
Seller: Green, Lloyd C., (Estate)
Date: 09/02/20

40 High St.
Greenfield, MA 01376
Amount: $411,956
Buyer: Yanis S. Chibani
Seller: Ricky A. Parker
Date: 09/04/20

361 Main St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $499,800
Buyer: Garden Block LLC
Seller: Garden Building LLC
Date: 09/09/20

HEATH

478 Route 8A
Heath, MA 01346
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Paul J. Hartwig
Seller: David Whalen
Date: 09/04/20

MONTAGUE

192 Branch Hill Road
Heath, MA 01346
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Maurice P. Depalo
Seller: Donald Gritzner
Date: 09/09/20

2 Emond Ave.
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $221,000
Buyer: Ave A. Hutcheson
Seller: Beverly J. Dubreuil
Date: 09/04/20

5 Poplar St.
Montague, MA 01301
Amount: $194,900
Buyer: Kristin H. McLaughlin
Seller: William R. Cowan
Date: 09/11/20

227 Turnpike Road
Montague, MA 01351
Amount: $226,000
Buyer: Scott C. Conant
Seller: Kim M. Wickline
Date: 09/04/20

NEW SALEM

16 Ellis Dr.
New Salem, MA 01364
Amount: $299,000
Buyer: Jennifer Berry
Seller: Joshua L. Dodge
Date: 09/04/20

Lovers Lane
New Salem, MA 01355
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Christopher E. Salem
Seller: Blast-Tech Inc.
Date: 09/03/20

NORTHFIELD

12 Highland Ave.
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Raymond C. Fiske
Seller: Sarah M. Fiske
Date: 09/09/20

66 Main St.
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $449,900
Buyer: James H. Burstein
Seller: Eugene Rice
Date: 09/09/20

10 Myrtle St.
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Nicholas D. Castine
Seller: Keri Gauvin
Date: 09/02/20

ORANGE

91 Harrison Ave.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Daniel Grubbs
Seller: Colin R. Hutt
Date: 09/02/20

180 Hayden St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $167,000
Buyer: Philip E. Lowder
Seller: Ruie L. Hall
Date: 09/04/20

400 West River St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $222,400
Buyer: Dana L. Hardy
Seller: Erik Rousseau
Date: 09/10/20

ROWE

11 Hazelton Road
Rowe, MA 01367
Amount: $149,900
Buyer: Darlene E. Barbeau
Seller: Stephen Cadarette
Date: 09/04/20

SHELBURNE

259 Main St.
Shelburne, MA 01370
Amount: $450,000
Buyer: Fred Bezio
Seller: Chester Rogers
Date: 09/03/20

55 Shelburne Center Road
Shelburne, MA 01370
Amount: $510,000
Buyer: Jillian A. Haas
Seller: Jeffrey B. Barden
Date: 09/04/20

34 Water St.
Shelburne, MA 01370
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: John E. Madocks
Seller: Barry L. Nye
Date: 09/11/20

SHUTESBURY

315 Locks Pond Road
Shutesbury, MA 01072
Amount: $279,900
Buyer: Bethany D. Rose
Seller: Michael McGrath
Date: 09/09/20

45 Pratt Corner Road
Shutesbury, MA 01072
Amount: $189,200
Buyer: Debra S. Gora
Seller: John J. Gurman-Wangh
Date: 09/03/20

WARWICK

40 South Holden Road
Warwick, MA 01378
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Clifford E. Carman
Seller: Rose M. Burnett
Date: 09/11/20

77 Shepardson Road
Warwick, MA 01378
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: Katharine Oldach
Seller: Luanne Muzzy
Date: 09/10/20

WENDELL

10 Posk Place Road
Wendell, MA 01379
Amount: $151,900
Buyer: Christopher S. Tero
Seller: Susan Gordon
Date: 09/02/20

66 West St.
Wendell, MA 01379
Amount: $412,500
Buyer: Sarah S. Pugh
Seller: Kristina A. Stinson
Date: 09/04/20

HAMPDEN COUNTY

AGAWAM

23 Agnoli Place
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $273,000
Buyer: Stephanie J. Hurley
Seller: Kostiantyn Lavrynets
Date: 09/11/20

73 Bessbrook St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Robert R. Renaud
Seller: Mary Arendt
Date: 09/11/20

95 Bridge St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $187,000
Buyer: Michel R. Lefebvre
Seller: Daniel J. Laporte
Date: 09/01/20

56 Brien St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $274,200
Buyer: Gerald T. Adams
Seller: Raymond C. Burke
Date: 09/01/20

75 Candlewood Dr.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $490,000
Buyer: William Marganti
Seller: Daniel R. Caroleo
Date: 09/01/20

19 Highland Ave.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Stephanie M. Karrasch
Seller: Berard, Doris A., (Estate)
Date: 09/11/20

23 Morningside Circle
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $346,000
Buyer: Christopher Benjamin
Seller: Ethan R. Thomas
Date: 09/02/20

18 School St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Joshua Khalil
Seller: Michael H. Woods
Date: 09/02/20

South West St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Ralph Depalma
Seller: John Depalma
Date: 09/02/20

62 Suffield St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $375,000
Buyer: Vip Home & Associates LLC
Seller: Roy Properties LLC
Date: 09/08/20

24 Tina Lane
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Jeffrey Lazazzera
Seller: Whisperwood LLC
Date: 09/11/20

BRIMFIELD

Marsh Hill Road
Brimfield, MA 01010
Amount: $310,000
Buyer: Andre R. Gingras
Seller: Margaret A. Gingras
Date: 09/09/20

CHESTER

218 Route 20
Chester, MA 01011
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Judith L. Dulude
Seller: Kenneth G. Dulude
Date: 09/10/20

CHICOPEE

993 Burnett Road
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Nicholas Ottomaniello
Seller: Wilmington Savings
Date: 09/08/20

90 Dayton St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Ricky J. Thomas
Seller: Daniel J. Salvador
Date: 09/03/20

241 East Main St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $211,000
Buyer: Jacqueline A. Loranger
Seller: Adam Saleem
Date: 09/01/20

34 Goodhue Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $282,000
Buyer: Myles Dacunha
Seller: Michael Landry
Date: 09/03/20

25 Grace St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Amy Deauseault
Seller: CRA Holdings Inc.
Date: 09/11/20

18 Old Farm Road
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $277,000
Buyer: Ashley N. Clark
Seller: Sang Choe
Date: 09/04/20

53 Sanford St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Jonael Ruiz
Seller: Patrick N. Perez
Date: 09/04/20

114 Stedman St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Mohammad Shiban
Seller: Gladys Lizak
Date: 09/10/20

168 Sunnymeade Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $301,000
Buyer: Rafael Arias
Seller: Raymond A. Piquette
Date: 09/01/20

EAST LONGMEADOW

4 Day Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $306,000
Buyer: Courtney Quinlan
Seller: Colleen C. Champagne
Date: 09/01/20

109 East Circle Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Anthony S. Marinello
Seller: Barry W. Ross
Date: 09/08/20

26 Edmund St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: Bao S. Zhu
Seller: Thomas R. Nipps
Date: 09/10/20

49 Edmund St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $234,900
Buyer: Joshua Smith
Seller: Nancy J. Damario
Date: 09/09/20

15 Halon Ter.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $625,000
Buyer: Francis E. Delavergne
Seller: Michael A. Galietta
Date: 09/08/20

74 Hanward Hill
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $249,000
Buyer: Heather C. Lecompte
Seller: Michael Sacristan
Date: 09/01/20

Hidden Ponds Dr. #13
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $159,000
Buyer: Truong Tai
Seller: Lost Sailor RT
Date: 09/04/20

294 North Main St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $3,000,000
Buyer: Longmeadow Office TRS LLC
Seller: 294 North Main Street LLC
Date: 09/01/20

97 Parker St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $339,900
Buyer: Zachary Dean
Seller: Mark J. Daponte
Date: 09/01/20

240 Pease Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $387,500
Buyer: Kathryn A. Janikas
Seller: Stefania Raschilla
Date: 09/03/20

55 Porter Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $297,000
Buyer: Joseph E. Pasquini
Seller: Warner M. Cross
Date: 09/11/20

461 Porter Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $485,000
Buyer: John R. Crowley
Seller: Gennaro Ferrentino
Date: 09/04/20

306 Prospect St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Andrew R. Mailloux
Seller: Page, Virginia A., (Estate)
Date: 09/11/20

88 Ridge Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $380,000
Buyer: John D. Connor
Seller: Goss, Lucille, (Estate)
Date: 09/02/20

88 Ridge Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Eileen Speight
Seller: John D. Connor
Date: 09/11/20

41 Somerset St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $283,000
Buyer: Scott F. Mason
Seller: Page, Darrell R., (Estate)
Date: 09/10/20

16 Spring Valley Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Maher M. El-Kobersi
Seller: Niloufar H. Shoushtari
Date: 09/02/20

62 Tufts St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01108
Amount: $215,500
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Shela Wheeler
Date: 09/10/20

GRANVILLE

530 Main Road
Granville, MA 01034
Amount: $289,900
Buyer: Michael S. Ligenza
Seller: Jason P. Leitner
Date: 09/04/20

708 Main Road
Granville, MA 01034
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Sara M. Conroy
Seller: Magdiel Villegas
Date: 09/09/20

HAMPDEN

Hillside Lane
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $499,900
Buyer: Ethan Thomas
Seller: David J. Obuchowski
Date: 09/02/20

Mountain Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $202,000
Buyer: Town Of Hampden
Seller: Russell W. Morton
Date: 09/09/20

HOLLAND

30 Butterworth Road
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: Hunter Boody
Seller: David R. Bouley
Date: 09/10/20

HOLYOKE

78 Berkshire St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $217,500
Buyer: Erin J. Seibert
Seller: Lynette R. Winslow
Date: 09/11/20

8 Bray Park Dr.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $243,000
Buyer: Jenny E. Pichado
Seller: Andrew I. Cote
Date: 09/04/20

62-64 Commercial St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $656,123
Buyer: East Side Holyoke LLC
Seller: Appleton Exchange LLC
Date: 09/03/20

91 Franklin St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: William G. Labich
Seller: Felipe Morales
Date: 09/01/20

10 Harrison Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $176,000
Buyer: Wadamyl Rodriguez
Seller: Joanne H. Fogarty
Date: 09/10/20

6 Longfellow Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Rashad Collins
Seller: Jack J. Collins
Date: 09/03/20

173-177 Madison Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $238,000
Buyer: Max C. Hebert
Seller: Krzelest, Patricia A., (Estate)
Date: 09/04/20

1106 Main St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Patriot Living LLC
Seller: FNMA
Date: 09/10/20

12 Memorial Dr.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $197,500
Buyer: Andrea M. Lubold
Seller: Maria E. Lebeau
Date: 09/11/20

145 Mountain View Dr.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $304,500
Buyer: Gina Fasoli-Figueroa
Seller: Joyce E. Everett
Date: 09/03/20

252 Oak St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $115,000
Buyer: Danna Beltre-DeColon
Seller: USA HUD
Date: 09/10/20

Oxford Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $231,000
Buyer: Gary Dacunha
Seller: Noah P. Menard
Date: 09/11/20

8 Park Slope
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $227,000
Buyer: Yeisie Mateo
Seller: Beau Desmond
Date: 09/03/20

2 Sylvia Lane
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $205,100
Buyer: Elizabeth M. Persch
Seller: Barbara Kruszewski
Date: 09/01/20

LONGMEADOW

26 Arlington Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $294,000
Buyer: Nicole A. Kelly
Seller: Maureen A. Regan
Date: 09/11/20

80 Ashford Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $824,000
Buyer: Matthew Grodd
Seller: Garrett J. Ulrich
Date: 09/04/20

143 Inverness Lane
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $402,000
Buyer: Shaun Carpenter
Seller: Steven R. Schiffman
Date: 09/01/20

200 Kenmore Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: David Deshais
Seller: Carolyn Casella
Date: 09/11/20

141 Lincoln Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $270,900
Buyer: Victoria Ellis
Seller: Peter Grace
Date: 09/01/20

133 Longmeadow St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Hedge Hog Industries Corp.
Seller: CIG 5 LLC
Date: 09/01/20

6 Massachusetts Ave.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Basim Hashim
Seller: Desmond Mullally
Date: 09/10/20

11 Nevins Ave.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Dnepro Properties LLC
Seller: Hubbard, Ann M., (Estate)
Date: 09/02/20

56 Sylvan Place
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $345,000
Buyer: Samuel J. Brown
Seller: Emtay Inc.
Date: 09/04/20

186 Viscount Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $425,000
Buyer: Wesley A. Bryon
Seller: Robert L. Fitzpatrick
Date: 09/04/20

326 Williams St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $311,000
Buyer: Brianna Carey
Seller: David Castleman
Date: 09/10/20

114 Woolworth St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $470,000
Buyer: Noel D. Petrolati
Seller: Victor F. Degray
Date: 09/04/20

LUDLOW

21 Acorn St.
Ludlow, MA 01109
Amount: $288,000
Buyer: Ryan C. O’Neil
Seller: Candy Martins
Date: 09/09/20

58 Cady St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $276,930
Buyer: Ludlow Housing Authority
Seller: Irena Kubel
Date: 09/01/20

123 Center St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Andrzej Lipior
Seller: Zygmunt Kania
Date: 09/10/20

145 Coolidge Ave.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Sara Barroso
Seller: Joanne Barroso
Date: 09/11/20

19 Cross St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Domjoe Properties Inc.
Seller: Anthony S. Marinello
Date: 09/08/20

42 Hampshire St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $210,800
Buyer: Dylan P. Pereira
Seller: John Portelada
Date: 09/09/20

120 Lakeview Ave.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $191,000
Buyer: Eric D. Hytnen
Seller: Pedro M. Dias
Date: 09/11/20

Marias Way #13
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Michael J. Pio
Seller: M&G Investors LLC
Date: 09/10/20

Marias Way #3
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Judith Chiasson
Seller: M&G Investors LLC
Date: 09/09/20

31 May Road
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $252,000
Buyer: Nicholas J. Lafromboise
Seller: Chevalier, Maureen A., (Estate)
Date: 09/04/20

347 Miller St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $468,000
Buyer: Amanda J. Winslow
Seller: Todd T. Bousquet
Date: 09/11/20

21 Nora Lane
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $337,000
Buyer: Andrew M. Soucie
Seller: Thomas Lafleur
Date: 09/02/20

126 Southwood Dr.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $490,000
Buyer: Matthew Iwasinski
Seller: Eugene L. Martins
Date: 09/01/20

73 West St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $270,000
Buyer: Lisa Barlick
Seller: Branco Construction LLC
Date: 09/04/20

MONSON

77 Carpenter Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Donald Henderson
Seller: Derek J. Kusek
Date: 09/09/20

120 Fenton Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $385,000
Buyer: Barry W. Ross
Seller: Eric S. Belisle
Date: 09/11/20

Hovey Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $299,000
Buyer: Jesse E. Sugrue
Seller: Warka Associates LLC
Date: 09/09/20

52 Munn Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $224,000
Buyer: Aaron A. Russo
Seller: David Isabelle
Date: 09/02/20

PALMER

1 Beech St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Stratton Renovation LLC
Seller: Miller, Irene, (Estate)
Date: 09/03/20

49 Commercial St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $137,000
Buyer: Loren M. Bates
Seller: John M. Diamond
Date: 09/02/20

2033 High St.
Palmer, MA 01080
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Karrie-Anne Whitney
Seller: Richard W. Rollet
Date: 09/04/20

42 Mechanic St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Shauna L. Ziemba
Seller: Richard E. Fulkerson
Date: 09/11/20

95 State St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $299,000
Buyer: Matthew M. Tempesta
Seller: Gary D. Emmershy
Date: 09/04/20

185 Stimson St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $304,124
Buyer: Caleb Mankin
Seller: Richard Wahlers
Date: 09/02/20

RUSSELL

45 Blandford Stage Road
Russell, MA 01071
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Russell Retail LLC
Seller: Joseph P. Sharkey
Date: 09/10/20

SOUTHWICK

22 Knollwood Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Alissa Phelps
Seller: Karen E. Saunders
Date: 09/09/20

392 North Loomis St.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Steven F. Bailey
Seller: Ronald Vandervliet
Date: 09/09/20

10 Woodside Circle
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $264,000
Buyer: Tyler Guenette
Seller: Thurston Properties LLC
Date: 09/09/20

SPRINGFIELD

79 Amos Dr.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Kelsey Ainsworth
Seller: Daniel E. Mangan
Date: 09/04/20

616 Armory St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Pedro Diaz-Lopez
Seller: Hanati Lubega
Date: 09/04/20

85 Ashley St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $269,000
Buyer: Yorfry Jaquez
Seller: Good Homes LLC
Date: 09/04/20

149 Bellevue Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Yabela RT
Seller: Ronald W. Belcher
Date: 09/03/20

70-72 Berkshire St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Revampit Holdings LLC
Seller: Steven Setian
Date: 09/01/20

111 Blaine St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $148,000
Buyer: Alex Elerky-Dominguez
Seller: Robert Schroeter
Date: 09/02/20

20 Bloomfield St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $219,000
Buyer: Benjamin Vasquez
Seller: US Bank
Date: 09/11/20

22 Boyer St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $224,500
Buyer: Ravinder Arora
Seller: Angelo A. Gomez
Date: 09/04/20

100 Briggs St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Mary Dejesus-Polanco
Seller: Euphrasia E. Ihesiaba
Date: 09/01/20

63 Bristol St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $153,000
Buyer: Lisa A. Fountaine
Seller: David J. Carter
Date: 09/02/20

45 Bryant St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Angela L. Ortiz
Seller: Rafael P. Ortola
Date: 09/11/20

680 Carew St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: A&H Legacy LLC
Seller: Armand M. Roy
Date: 09/09/20

42 Catalina Dr.
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $206,000
Buyer: James Hillmann
Seller: Linda S. Zolendziewski
Date: 09/01/20

274-1/2 Centre St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: John L. Charles
Seller: Siam Williams Investment Group LLC
Date: 09/11/20

68 Chilson St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Dwayne R. Smith
Seller: Louis C. Sharp
Date: 09/11/20

28-30 Cleveland St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $172,000
Buyer: Aramis Marrero
Seller: Anna M. Rodriguez
Date: 09/09/20

36 Cleveland St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Jamal Porter
Seller: JJS Capital Investment LLC
Date: 09/01/20

82-84 Clifton Ave.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $126,500
Buyer: Dnepro Properties LLC
Seller: Frank Oglesby
Date: 09/11/20

381 Cooley St.
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $4,900,500
Buyer: Sree Babu LLC
Seller: Jefferson Investors LLC
Date: 09/03/20

23 Delaware Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: Tonika M. Feliciano
Seller: Michelle M. Baillargeon
Date: 09/02/20

102 Devens St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Jeanne Bousquet
Seller: Michael Manicki
Date: 09/11/20

166 Drexel St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Fernando D. Dos-Santos
Seller: Cheryl A. Tofuri
Date: 09/04/20

240 East St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Ramon Santiago
Seller: CIG 4 LLC
Date: 09/11/20

262-264 Eastern Ave.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $118,500
Buyer: JAD Properties Inc.
Seller: M. Glushien Electrical
Date: 09/02/20

57 Elaine Circle
Springfield, MA 01101
Amount: $385,000
Buyer: Luis R. Cotto
Seller: Grahams Construction Inc.
Date: 09/10/20

200 Ellendale Circle
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $284,900
Buyer: Anthony J. Gentile
Seller: Moriarty, Stephen M., (Estate)
Date: 09/04/20

86 Eloise St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Allen Murray
Seller: Latasha Drungo
Date: 09/11/20

80 Farnsworth St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $143,000
Buyer: Rebecca Mailloux
Seller: Ida W. Page
Date: 09/11/20

5 Gates Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $265,500
Buyer: Padam L. Mohat
Seller: Douglas Johnson
Date: 09/08/20

33 Goodwin St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $174,000
Buyer: Nicholas Mazzarella
Seller: Rafael Bones
Date: 09/01/20

25 Grove St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $141,750
Buyer: Hector Travieso-Diaz
Seller: Samuel Carrasquillo
Date: 09/02/20

53 Hall St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Alba J. Figueroa
Seller: Round 2 LLC
Date: 09/04/20

Hanson Dr.
Springfield, MA 01101
Amount: $184,500
Buyer: Donna A. Fellion
Seller: Russell R. Lassonde
Date: 09/08/20

35 Harkness Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $197,000
Buyer: Ariel J. Cruz
Seller: Paul Alvarado-Santos
Date: 09/02/20

138 Harvey St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $151,000
Buyer: Margarett Lewin
Seller: Source 9 Development LLC
Date: 09/10/20

11-15 Howes St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Alexander Crivelli
Seller: Linda L. Raschi
Date: 09/03/20

156 Kensington Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $235,900
Buyer: Jorge Calcano
Seller: Clarence H. Montgomery
Date: 09/11/20

31 Knox St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Wilfredo J. Semidey
Seller: JJJ 17 LLC
Date: 09/04/20

30 Leete St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $162,500
Buyer: Rinaldi Pease Realty LLC
Seller: Amat Victoria Curam LLC
Date: 09/11/20

147 Leyfred Ter.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Jose A. Cruz-Colon
Seller: Nora L. Wiggins
Date: 09/10/20

144 Lloyd Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Stephanie L. Parnin
Seller: Brian J. Staples
Date: 09/11/20

92 Louis Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $222,750
Buyer: Danny Colon
Seller: Victoria E. Ellis
Date: 09/01/20

23 Lucerne Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $191,000
Buyer: Walter O. Cruz-Rivera
Seller: Christine M. Jalbert
Date: 09/11/20

46 Mapledell St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $218,000
Buyer: Ruth Jackson
Seller: Home Staging & Realty LLC
Date: 09/09/20

115 Merida St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $166,000
Buyer: Meghan K. Flowers
Seller: Mary J. Vaughn
Date: 09/08/20

182 Merrimac Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: John D. Moreau
Seller: George K. Patrickson
Date: 09/03/20

107 Naismith St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Wai Y. Cheng
Seller: Neidy Cruz
Date: 09/10/20

34 Newport St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: William Santiago
Seller: Gloria Garcia
Date: 09/04/20

33 Newton Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $215,850
Buyer: Kurt Bordas
Seller: Daniel C. Alfano
Date: 09/04/20

13-15 Noel St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Kelnate Realty LLC
Seller: William P. Callahan
Date: 09/02/20

7 Nordica St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $299,900
Buyer: Anne Richmond
Seller: Matthew Fletcher
Date: 09/01/20

27-29 Palm St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Osmerlyn E. Santos
Seller: Mark Daviau
Date: 09/04/20

32 Palo Alto Road
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Keith L. Bass
Seller: Shaun H. Carpenter
Date: 09/01/20

655 Parker St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Carlos L. Mateo
Seller: Robert M. Theberge
Date: 09/04/20

79 Patricia Circle
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $237,000
Buyer: Darriel Alicea
Seller: Kurt M. Zimmerman
Date: 09/08/20

66 Pine Hill Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Omar Jimenez-Miranda
Seller: James J. Vadnais
Date: 09/01/20

44 Quentin Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Kristen M. Tirado
Seller: Ernest A. Airoldi
Date: 09/10/20

15 Redstone Dr.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $188,000
Buyer: Grace Atkins
Seller: Joshua T. Smith
Date: 09/09/20

33-35 Rittenhouse Ter.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $141,000
Buyer: Viettrung T. Dang
Seller: Wells Fargo Bank
Date: 09/01/20

14 Riverview Ter.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $238,000
Buyer: Deviegene H. Reid
Seller: Gerald T. Adams
Date: 09/01/20

64 Roosevelt Ter.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Ramona Ramirez
Seller: Aida D. Rodriguez
Date: 09/01/20

68 Roy St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $117,000
Buyer: Victoria Long
Seller: Jessen FT
Date: 09/11/20

18 Santa Barbara St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $132,000
Buyer: Veronica Pellot
Seller: Lisandra Lopez
Date: 09/09/20

58 Senator St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $247,500
Buyer: Joseph E. Griffin
Seller: David Deshais
Date: 09/11/20

33 Slumber Lane
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $229,000
Buyer: Herman Torres
Seller: Nathaniel D. Raymond
Date: 09/10/20

24 Sumner Ter.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Alex P. Marotte
Seller: Maureen A. Marotte
Date: 09/02/20

416 Tiffany St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $211,000
Buyer: Jane-Francis N. Carreras
Seller: Le & Associates LLC
Date: 09/03/20

102 Tinkham Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $246,000
Buyer: Michael M. Rivest
Seller: Abraham M. Velasquez
Date: 09/03/20

22 Trillium St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Roberto A. Perez
Seller: Martha H. VonMering
Date: 09/04/20

97 Tyler St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $141,000
Buyer: Arlette Gomez
Seller: KEC Properties LLC
Date: 09/08/20

47 Van Buren Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Riccardo Albano
Seller: Kareem Streeter
Date: 09/03/20

549-551 Wilbraham Road
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Yasin B. Arbow
Seller: Karolynn U. Sheppard
Date: 09/10/20

46 Wildwood Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Salvatore Decesare
Seller: Thomas D. Beggs
Date: 09/09/20

90-92 Windemere St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $216,000
Buyer: Frankie Rodriguez
Seller: Mary E. Newton
Date: 09/11/20

130 Winton St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Edwin F. Morales
Seller: Annamaria C. Roberson
Date: 09/11/20

208 Wollaston St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Kadian P. James
Seller: Wilmot Asumeng
Date: 09/01/20

WALES

37 Lake George Road
Wales, MA 01081
Amount: $222,000
Buyer: Shannon M. Roddy
Seller: Lawrence W. Hammare
Date: 09/04/20

61 Monson Road
Wales, MA 01081
Amount: $161,000
Buyer: Brian McMahon
Seller: Deutsche Bank
Date: 09/04/20

WEST SPRINGFIELD

21 Chester St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Kenny Chairez
Seller: Dreamscape Homes LLC
Date: 09/04/20

30 Chestnut St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Cynthia Eheander
Seller: Michael G. Piccin
Date: 09/01/20

45 Greystone Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $217,000
Buyer: Brittany P. Theroux
Seller: Joseph R. Bourassa
Date: 09/04/20

122 Heywood Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: L&A Property LLC
Seller: Snyder, Robert S., (Estate)
Date: 09/04/20

367 Hillcrest Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Zachary D. Breton
Seller: Richard A. Austin
Date: 09/01/20

112 Lewis Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: William Tourville
Seller: Oleksandr Demyanchuk
Date: 09/02/20

459 Riverdale St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $450,000
Buyer: Angelica Properties LLC
Seller: John P. Bartolucci
Date: 09/04/20

67 Silver St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Daniel J. Depray
Seller: Adam Jaber
Date: 09/04/20

27-29 Upper Church St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Andrew J. McCoubrey
Seller: Bluebird Properties LLC
Date: 09/11/20

104 West Calvin St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Carmen A. Aliaga-Chero
Seller: Cedar Investment Group LLC
Date: 09/11/20

95 Woodmont St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Jacob N. Ferreira
Seller: Shawn M. Schellenger
Date: 09/04/20

WESTFIELD

60 Brookline Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $232,500
Buyer: Katelyn Bigelow
Seller: Stacy M. Waite
Date: 09/04/20

136 Cabot Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Andrew T. Oleksak
Seller: Donna R. Michel
Date: 09/08/20

40 Cross St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $203,000
Buyer: Cameron R. Robitaille
Seller: Kenneth Bassett
Date: 09/11/20

9 Exchange St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Adam T. Alexion
Seller: Keith E. Bodley
Date: 09/11/20

73 Glenwood Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $474,900
Buyer: Stacey Goeltz
Seller: Adam E. Roman
Date: 09/08/20

54 Granville Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Tiffany M. King
Seller: Sarah J. Gallagher
Date: 09/04/20

15 Hunters Slope
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $462,000
Buyer: Tatyana Stepchuk
Seller: Jason L. Hoffman
Date: 09/11/20

82 Kane Brothers Circle
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $370,000
Buyer: Eva Fuller
Seller: Sandra M. Kozciak
Date: 09/03/20

32 Knollwood Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $229,900
Buyer: Samuel C. Thresher
Seller: Eva Fuller
Date: 09/03/20

180 Loomis Ridge
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $440,000
Buyer: Peter L. Holden
Seller: Daniel H. Estee
Date: 09/04/20

27 Orange St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $204,000
Buyer: Nancy L. Teixeira
Seller: Gary J. Venne
Date: 09/11/20

64 Overlook Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $355,000
Buyer: Shawn M. Schellenger
Seller: Ellen S. Fenton
Date: 09/04/20

335 Prospect St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Jamie K. Patrick
Seller: Stephen J. Patrick
Date: 09/01/20

5 Quail Hollow Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $403,000
Buyer: Betty L. Conklin
Seller: Mark J. Madru
Date: 09/10/20

27 Robinson Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $248,000
Buyer: Yvette Estee
Seller: Zaide Soufane
Date: 09/04/20

56 Russellville Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $362,000
Buyer: John J. Zmuda
Seller: Kelly M. Skog
Date: 09/11/20

321 Russellville Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $430,000
Buyer: Kerry O’Connell-Skog
Seller: Jacob P. Martin
Date: 09/11/20

8 Shepard St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Brian Burke
Seller: Barbara Desabrais
Date: 09/04/20

20 Shepard St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $222,300
Buyer: Kevin T. Bengle
Seller: Eric D. Grazia
Date: 09/02/20

85 Skyline Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $480,000
Buyer: Jacob C. Danek
Seller: William K. Poehlman
Date: 09/10/20

40 Susan Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Matthew Mcewan
Seller: Daniel R. Prescott
Date: 09/01/20

WILBRAHAM

31 Bennett Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $385,000
Buyer: David Small
Seller: Michael J. Camerota
Date: 09/08/20

47 Decorie Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $398,000
Buyer: Edward Gorham Ruth NT
Seller: Joseph M. Jolicoeur
Date: 09/02/20

8 King Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $440,000
Buyer: William K. Poehlman
Seller: Dan P. Bushey
Date: 09/10/20

10 Old Farm Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $500,000
Buyer: Jack J. Collins
Seller: Franklin D. Quigley
Date: 09/10/20

8 Opal St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $224,000
Buyer: Kevin Boutilier
Seller: Eileen M. Nicoli
Date: 09/10/20

1-3 Stony Hill Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $141,888
Buyer: Pioneer Properties LLC
Seller: Christopher J. King
Date: 09/01/20

1183 Tinkham Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Jadwiga Dronski
Seller: Dnepro Properties LLC
Date: 09/02/20

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY

AMHERST

35 Glendale Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $345,000
Buyer: Daniel J. Levine
Seller: Mohtaram Bakhtiari FT
Date: 09/09/20

121 Glendale Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $358,000
Buyer: Josue Martinez
Seller: Catherine A. Lee
Date: 09/01/20

24 Greenleaves Dr.
Amherst, MA 01035
Amount: $179,000
Buyer: Terry A. Carr
Seller: Ellen Mentin
Date: 09/10/20

315 North East St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $212,500
Buyer: Jamie A. Wagner
Seller: Suprenant, Charles F., (Estate)
Date: 09/11/20

21 Sacco Dr.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $550,000
Buyer: Kevin M. Verni
Seller: Nathaniel B. Budington
Date: 09/02/20

27 Spaulding St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $435,000
Buyer: Bruce Edwards
Seller: Sharon S. Carty
Date: 09/01/20

120 Tracy Circle
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Maya Tal-Baker
Seller: Mohamed Good
Date: 09/03/20

BELCHERTOWN

2 Barrett St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $289,900
Buyer: Stephanie Bonafini
Seller: Timothy J. Consolini
Date: 09/03/20

160 Federal St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $134,000
Buyer: Lauren M. Bock
Seller: Edward F. Bock
Date: 09/10/20

5 North Liberty St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Matthew Kotowski
Seller: JHP Builders LLC
Date: 09/03/20

38 Underwood St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $346,000
Buyer: Jessica E. Camacho
Seller: Randy E. Hawk
Date: 09/11/20

CHESTERFIELD

East St.
Chesterfield, MA 01012
Amount: $1,120,000
Buyer: Anne St Goar TR
Seller: Patricia L. Lewis
Date: 09/01/20

CUMMINGTON

Luther Shaw Road
Cummington, MA 01026
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Roderick D. Rose
Seller: Bryant Farm RT
Date: 09/03/20

62 Powell Road
Cummington, MA 01026
Amount: $344,500
Buyer: Mark P. Silverman
Seller: Frair INT
Date: 09/11/20

EASTHAMPTON

21-23 Clinton St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $169,500
Buyer: Aristide S. Daniele
Seller: FNMA
Date: 09/01/20

10 Keddy St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $311,000
Buyer: Olivia A. Lotstein
Seller: Richard T. Dion
Date: 09/09/20

8 Morin Dr.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $248,000
Buyer: Holly B. Laws
Seller: Ryan Clark
Date: 09/04/20

63 Plain St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $351,000
Buyer: Naresh K. Patel
Seller: Maureen L. Johnson
Date: 09/01/20

Reservation Road
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $152,500
Buyer: Michael R. Chunyk
Seller: Brian M. Greenwood
Date: 09/04/20

14 River Valley Way
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $361,500
Buyer: Priyank Arora
Seller: Zaka LLC
Date: 09/01/20

52 Westview Ter.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $355,000
Buyer: Scott Tundermann
Seller: Corliss, Virginia L., (Estate)
Date: 09/02/20

11 Wilton Road
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Susan Sensemann
Seller: Shirley A. Plowucha
Date: 09/03/20

GRANBY

9 Circle Dr.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Robert E. Lepage
Seller: Susan A. Lariviere
Date: 09/01/20

143 Kendall St.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Bryce Hollinsworth
Seller: Andrew Mailloux
Date: 09/04/20

32 Truby St.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $147,000
Buyer: Richard M. Betterton
Seller: Marion Betterton
Date: 09/10/20

HADLEY

67 Stockbridge St.
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $179,900
Buyer: Henry Whitlock
Seller: Koroski, Anthony, (Estate)
Date: 09/11/20

11 Wampanoag Dr.
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Lisa Giddens
Seller: Aldrich, Barbara A., (Estate)
Date: 09/04/20

HATFIELD

191 Pantry Road
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $405,000
Buyer: Erin M. Casioppo
Seller: Robert M. Wilson
Date: 09/09/20

3 Primrose Path
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: Stephen P. Gaughan
Seller: Gaughan, Patrick J., (Estate)
Date: 09/11/20

HUNTINGTON

236 Norwich Lake
Huntington, MA 01050
Amount: $497,900
Buyer: Michael Long
Seller: Trisha A. Barrett
Date: 09/03/20

MIDDLEFIELD

16 Skyline Trail
Middlefield, MA 01243
Amount: $348,000
Buyer: Jeffrey P. Neterval
Seller: Melissa A. Bressette
Date: 09/03/20

NORTHAMPTON

45 Beacon St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Margot R. Bittel
Seller: Ronald D. Bittel IRT
Date: 09/09/20

1181 Burts Pit Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Wendy Decou
Seller: Cynthia A. Zeitler
Date: 09/04/20

136 Chesterfield Road
Northampton, MA 01053
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Jaasco LLC
Seller: Joanne Lucey
Date: 09/01/20

82 Forest Glen Dr.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $252,000
Buyer: Dana R. Lococo
Seller: Ian T. Bigda
Date: 09/02/20

92 Glendale Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Joseph Claybaugh
Seller: David S. Powers
Date: 09/03/20

24 Grandview St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $283,000
Buyer: Justin Thibodeau
Seller: Terry A. Carr
Date: 09/10/20

144 King St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: PS 144 King LLC
Seller: Nicholas D. Duprey
Date: 09/11/20

372 North Farms Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Laura Keays-Minsky
Seller: Pamela L. Hannon
Date: 09/01/20

Olander Dr.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $1,730,000
Buyer: North Commons At Village Hill LLC
Seller: Hospital Hill Development LLC
Date: 09/03/20

Park Hill Road #3R
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Alice Heller
Seller: Marc Sternick
Date: 09/01/20

29 Ridge View Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $550,000
Buyer: Keith Abraham
Seller: Timothy P. Schmitt
Date: 09/08/20

251 South St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $359,000
Buyer: Rebecca S. Malinowski
Seller: Darren Pierce
Date: 09/10/20

48 Winterberry Lane
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $575,000
Buyer: Matthew J. Fleischner
Seller: Amy J. Mitrani
Date: 09/08/20

SOUTH HADLEY

11 Bardwell St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $347,500
Buyer: Dakota Richards
Seller: Sean M. Czepiel
Date: 09/10/20

11 Pearl St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $248,500
Buyer: Sharon S. Carty
Seller: Bradley C. Gill
Date: 09/02/20

6 Plainville Circle
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $413,500
Buyer: Donna M. Shea
Seller: Michael Campbell
Date: 09/01/20

11 Wright Place
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Sarah M. O’Shea
Seller: Erin S. Stalberg RET
Date: 09/10/20

SOUTHAMPTON

192 East St.
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $236,000
Buyer: Nicholas R. Borges
Seller: Joseph G. Lafreniere
Date: 09/11/20

134 Fomer Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Camella World-Peace
Seller: Mark T. Rice
Date: 09/08/20

4 Fomer Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $314,000
Buyer: Aaron D. Biedrzycki
Seller: Jacob E. Gold
Date: 09/11/20

67 Gilbert Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $493,000
Buyer: Cameron P. Macdonald
Seller: Joy A. Taillefer
Date: 09/08/20

167 Glendale Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $266,000
Buyer: Brett P. Pietraszkiewicz
Seller: Cynthia Fournier
Date: 09/10/20

76 Line St.
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $384,000
Buyer: Megan Davis
Seller: Joanne M. Spath
Date: 09/03/20

WARE

100 Bondsville Road
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $132,305
Buyer: Daniel R. Gunn
Seller: Wells Fargo Bank
Date: 09/10/20

40 Crescent St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Kerry Wells
Seller: Mary A. Regin
Date: 09/11/20

11 Walnut St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $176,000
Buyer: Kayley L. Jones
Seller: Todd J. Lemoine
Date: 09/01/20

139 West St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $2,125,000
Buyer: Net Acquisitions LLC
Seller: Ware Equity Partners LLC
Date: 09/04/20

2 Williston Dr.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Richard R. Goyette
Seller: Carole A. Capobianco
Date: 09/01/20

WESTHAMPTON

292 Chesterfield Road
Westhampton, MA 01027
Amount: $1,120,000
Buyer: Anne St. Goar TR
Seller: Patricia L. Lewis
Date: 09/01/20

44 Pine Island Lake
Westhampton, MA 01027
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Janna V. Ugone
Seller: Benjamin W. Coggins
Date: 09/03/20

WORTHINGTON

388 Huntington Road
Worthington, MA 01098
Amount: $157,000
Buyer: Michael E. Holt
Seller: US Bank
Date: 09/04/20

440 Huntington Road
Worthington, MA 01098
Amount: $307,000
Buyer: James P. Hayes
Seller: David M. Clark
Date: 09/02/20

493 West St.
Worthington, MA 01098
Amount: $238,000
Buyer: Allison Helems
Seller: Susannah T. Brown
Date: 09/03/20

Building Permits