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State of Affairs

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Paul McDermott remembers the first time he saw the site of the former Belchertown State School.

That was late last fall, several months after Ernest Bleinberger, senior vice president and COO for Maryland-based Hunter Interests first invited him to take a look. Hunter is the firm hired by the Belchertown Economic Development and Industrial Corp. (BEDIC) to conduct a feasibility study of plans to convert the site into a resort hotel and wellness complex and generate some interest for the project in the development community.

Bleinberger had worked with McDermott, now president of a Chicago-based venture called Bridgeland Development LLC, on a few mixed use development projects, and thought the BSS campus and the potential to transform it into something unique would intrigue him.

He was right.
“It took some prodding, but I finally got there,” said McDermott, who had been working on several large-scale development projects and thus struggled to find some time in his schedule. “And when I did, I fell in love with the site and the community, and decided that this was something I really wanted to go after.”

By that, he meant the unique concept that has been proposed for a portion of the 400-acre site — a destination resort spa with related, wellness-oriented businesses and attractions. The planned mix would include several of the elements from other projects McDermott has worked on, including hotels, wellness centers, sports facilities, equestrian centers, restaurants, and others, but not all in the same package.

“I’ve never done a project quite like this one, and that’s what intrigues me,” said McDermott, whose firm was chosen earlier this month to be the master developer for the BSS project, known colloquially as the Cold Springs Resort Hotel and Spa Complex. Bridgeland will spend the next three months taking the conceptual plans for the concept and shaping them into a working model based on market realities.

A memorandum of understanding could be inked by the end of the month, said McDermott, adding that, while the project’s final price tag will be determined by the components included in it, the cost will likely be between $70 million and $100 million (with 80% or more being private money), making it one of the largest development efforts the region has seen in recent years.

BusinessWest looks this issue at the next steps in the process of making it reality.

Mind over Matter

As he talked with BusinessWest via cell phone, McDermott was being guided by his car’s onboard navigation system to a massive, 1,200-acre development in Rock Hill, S.C., just south of Charlotte.

There, Bridgeland and its parent company, Cincinnati-based Pollution Risk Services Inc. (PRS), are finalizing plans for the Greens at Rock Hill Project — one of the largest development projects currently underway in the country — at the long-shuttered Celanese Fibers Company complex. Plans call for roughly 300 acres to be devoted to warehouse and light manufacturing, another 300 acres of retail, a satellite medical campus with a 100,000-square-foot wellness center, and more than 1,000 residential units.

Rock Hill is one of many environmentally challenged sites that PRS has placed in its portfolio over the years. The company specializes in remediation of such sites — more than 3,000 of them since the company was formed 21 years ago — and, in recent years, has added a development component to its roster of services.

The desire to expand the development aspect of the business led PRS President Mark Mather to partner with McDermott and create Bridgeland in early February. The company is already engaged in managing four urban mixed-use development projects, including Rock Hill, and is consulting on an equestrian center project in San Antonio, a 50-acre retail and hotel development project in Bridgeview, Ill., and a 100-acre mixed-use project in Costa Rica that will include more than 100 residential units, retail, commercial, and an equestrian center.

Bridgeland is the latest stop in McDermott’s 28-year career in the management of complex projects that cross several realms, including commercial, industrial, hospitality, residential, sports, entertainment, and others.

While serving as a project executive for International Facilities Group, LLC (IFG) and, prior to that, as senior vice president at Mesirow Stein Real Estate and manager of project management services for Hanscom Inc., McDermott worked on several large-scale projects. They include ‘The Glen,’ a $1 billion redevelopment of the closed Glenview Naval Air Station in Illinois; another base-closure redevelopment at the Orlando Naval Training Center; a $70 million project to build a new stadium for the Chicago Fire professional soccer team; and the $150 million Orlando Performing Arts & Education Center.

McDermott told BusinessWest that he will borrow from those experiences and many others as he works to bring the BSS concept from the drawing board to reality.

The Cold Springs Resort Hotel and Spa Complex is the vision that has emerged for the state school property, which has been the subject of considerable speculation since the state-run residential facility for the mentally retarded closed its doors in 1992. Several possible uses have been forwarded in the years since — from a jail to a retail center, to a national music center — but none have materialized.

The spa concept was eventually brought to the table by town resident Elizabeth Tarras, who once worked in marketing for Springfield’s Business Improvement District. She began researching the subject and concluded there was a market for a moderately priced resort spa in the center of the state, and that such a venture could be complemented with other health- and wellness-related businesses and activities to create a viable destination.

Hunter Interests, which has undertaken feasibility studies, market studies, financing plans, marketing strategies, and other initiatives for a wide range of development projects, including the one in Rock Hill, was hired in early 2005 to conduct such pre-development work for the BSS site.

This included the coordination of a request for proposals (RFP) for the site, which eventually drew responses from 23 “interested parties,” including Bridgeland.

McDermott said the Belchertown site is not considered to be environmentally challenged — although there are some issues, such as asbestos removal — but it does fit the profile of the type of mixed-use project that he and PRS specialize in.

The next three months or so will be devoted to putting a mix together and creating a working plan for the site. Elements to the Cold Spring project could everything from senior housing to a micro-brewery; a medical office building to cross-country skiing.

“We have 90 days to pull together a development team, which means we’ll select a hotel developer and operator, a wellness center operating company, restaurateurs, and a planning team with architects, engineers, and master planners,” he explained. “We’re looking at developing a museum, some sports facilities, an equestrian center, some retail … we’re going to come up with the package we think will work.

“We want to confirm that this is economically viable,” he continued, “or, to put it another way, confirm what it will take to make it economically viable in terms of amendments to the original plan.”

The assembled team will also assess which of the buildings on the campus can be renovated for new use and which will be razed, said McDermott, noting that while the overall site is historic, individual buildings on it are not.

“There are well over 20 existing buildings on the site in various states of disrepair, and one of our next tasks is to do an assessment,” he explained. “Essentially, we’ll have to do a cost/benefit analysis on each building regarding the cost to remediate, renovate, and their specific usability.

“Overall, there are a lot of questions we need to answer — for example, do we want a boutique hotel or a main-brand hotel; a 50,000-square-foot wellness center or a 100,000-square-foot wellness center,” he said. “Hopefully, we can answer them over the next 90 days.”

Building Suspense

If all goes well, permitting and site plan work and remediation of buildings within the complex could be completed over the next 18 months, said McDermott, adding that the hotel could be open within 2 1/2 years.

For now, though, the focus is on shaping the broad vision for the property into a workable plan.

“This is an awesome site with enormous potential,” he said. “I think we can do something special here.”

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

Rebel Thinking

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It took him six years to finish high school – he was too busy causing trouble. But today, Darby O’Brien, founder and president of Darby O’Brien Advertising and Public Relations, has made a name for himself not only in the marketing world but as one of the Valley’s most vocal proponents for positive change. The one thing that hasn’t changed, though, is his habit of sticking in the craw of authority figures.

Darby O’Brien has never played by the rules.

Expelled from four different high schools in his youth, he later opposed the Vietnam War by assuming conscientious objector status and teaching English through the Spanish Apostolate, a social services division of the Springfield Dioscese that once operated in the city’s North End. He cut his teeth as an activist working to preserve various local landmarks, including the Mount Tom ski resort, and stumbled into advertising while seeking financial sponsors for a traveling band of musicians he managed, who hopscotched across the Pioneer Valley playing Irish ditties on a flatbed truck (he knocked on the door of the former Douglas Bewick Advertising Agency in Springfield and came away with a job.)

In 1980, he struck out on his own, and since then has built a name for himself as a reputable – and often renegade – firm with which to work.

“People either love us or they hate us,” he said. “But either way, hey know us.”

O’Brien’s offices in the Village Commons in South Hadley speak to the unconventional thinking that defines the firm – visitors are greeted by the strains of Irish music and a wreath made of beer cans. In the waiting room, they must heave themselves into butterfly chairs – not much more than cloth and a simple metal frame, they’re usually seen at the beach – and the boardroom is a fishing lodge, complete with rods and lures.

The lodge is a byproduct of one of O’Brien’s largest and most visible crusades to date — the ongoing ‘Fishing Buddies’ campaign, kick-started in 1997 to reopen several reservoirs in Western Mass. to fishing, and proof of O’Brien’s complete inability to stand on the sidelines and watch.

“People tell us, ‘don’t stand for anything, don’t lead the charge, because it will cost you business,’” he said. “We don’t listen. We fight the fight, and in doing so we reverse the spin.”

The mission behind the Fishing Buddies was and is loftier than gaining access to a few trout, O’Brien explained. He – along with John Cronin, managing director for the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries in Beacon, N.Y., and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an attorney and director of the Pace University Environmental Litigation Clinic – also formed a local chapter of the national Fishing Tackle Loaner Program at the Holyoke Public Library, for boys and girls who didn’t own fishing poles. They created the Buddy System, hooking kids up with volunteers to take them fishing, and lobbied to legalize recreational fishing at the reservoirs. In 1999, the Buddies garnered an Environmental Merit Award from the Environmental Protection Agency for their efforts, all the while tooling around in an old convertible, Blues Brothers style, with fly fishing garb replacing black suits and fedoras.

That wasn’t a job for a client; that was a Darby O’Brien original. And there are plenty of similar deviations, both in the can and on O’Brien’s drawing board, that are fueled by one common variable: Rebel Think.

Reeling Them In

They include a speaking program O’Brien will announce this month in The New Yorker; a T-shirt campaign to raise money for Holyoke’s baseball team for 7- to 9-year-olds, the Elmwood Jets, which garnered support from the likes of Regis Philbin and Craig T. Nelson; a series of recent direct mail pieces that have called into question the track record of the Economic Development Council of Western Mass., (EDC) and its executive director, Allan Blair; the Smarten Up Manifesto, a four-page leaflet launched in response to what O’Brien calls a ‘dumbing down’ of the region; and The Gut, a so-called ‘chronicle of change’ that is published “when we feel like it.”
Those projects are in addition to the ongoing advertising and PR work the firm handles for a number of outfits both locally and nationally. Many are small, specialized, or family businesses.

But O’Brien doesn’t see his personal projects as separate from his work with clients. In fact, he said there has been considerable overlap between the two, from referrals for new business to making a name for himself and his firm in the Pioneer Valley as one that bunks the status quo in terms of both work process and product.

He typically shuns formal research studies, focus groups, and ‘safe’ advertising strategies such as mirroring the style of other successful campaigns.
Darby O’Brien ads, for example, are often text-heavy and include photos and headers that stray from the standard cor

porate image; a recent ad for Foley Connelly Financial Partners of West Springfield, for example, depicts the company’s owners, Chris Connelly and Brian Foley, bellied up to a coffee counter under the words ‘Interesting Micks.’ An ad campaign designed for Epstein Financial Services repeatedly pairs the firm’s president, Charles Epstein, with local business owners he works with in a number of unlikely poses: flipping burgers at White Hut, harvesting radishes with Karen Randall of Randall’s Farm, or reduced to a few inches in height, standing inside a cabinet at Curios Kitchen and Bath.

“A lot of it has been gut instinct,” O’Brien said, harkening back to one of his first major projects, the Marty Dunn for Mayor campaign in Holyoke in 1987. The then 30-year-old Dunn ran against 12-year incumbent Ernie Proulx, and was expected by many to lose by a wide margin. “Marty had conducted a formal survey, and I looked at it and said, ‘if we follow this, we’re going to lose.’ Marty had the courage to let us do it our way – talking to people in Holyoke, at coffee shops, baseball games, and bars.”

The campaign was a success – Dunn won in what was termed across the state ‘the upset of the year,’ and O’Brien won some respect for his business as well as his practices, which rely heavily on what he calls ‘hunch power.’

“We have spent a lot of time over the years defending work that worked,” he said, “and defending successes, which is nuts. Now, there seems to be a swing toward our way of thinking in American business.

“As part of their job, ad agencies push clients to take risks,” he continued. “That can make a potential client stop and ask, ‘well, what risks have you taken?’ And we have an answer. We’ve made a reputation for ourselves as a firm that will fight for good, strong ideas.”

Golf is Bad

And now, O’Brien is preparing to take some of those ideas on the road.

He has created a new speaking program, designed to offer some words of wisdom to corporate America on how to remain on par in terms of effective management.

Heralded by an ad campaign appearing in The New Yorker this month and using the tag line Golf is Bad: Play Too Much, You Lose Your Balls, the project focuses on six key points, all of which O’Brien said were derived in large part from practices that have developed within his own firm in response to some of the pitfalls he’s seen while working with clients to shake up their marketing efforts.

The first of those points is the grabber: Golf is bad for business.

“We’ll present concepts, strategies, and layouts here that clients love,” said O’Brien, “and then the client leaves the office and the campaign dies. A lot of times, they’re dying on the golf course. It’s not the game, it’s this whole culture that surrounds it: people are afraid of what their buddies might think.”

O’Brien said the remaining five aspects of the proposed speaking engagements focus on similar issues that can turn high-level executives into second guessers, among them spouses, focus groups, and the corporate image itself – serious and stuffy.

His advice on all accounts is to do the reverse of what would be considered the norm, to go with the opposite of what your wife or husband thinks, back the loser when it comes to a focus group, and take yourself less seriously. When individuals refuse to take themselves too seriously, he says, they create a confident image, and other people take them more seriously.

“I started to think that maybe the way for all of us to survive in corporate America is to poke fun at it,” he said of ‘Golf is Bad.’ “People have had it with things like off-shore operations that hurt family businesses and corporate scandals. They’re looking around and saying ‘hey! This doesn’t work.’ Essentially, all we have left are ideas. So let’s stop killing them.”

Politics and Ping-Pong

That’s the message O’Brien is sending to national audiences via The New Yorker, but it’s also the gist of many locally focused campaigns, with particular emphasis on point number five: Smarten Up.

“The key to success is smartening it up, in an era in which just about everyone in business seems to believe that the way to win is to dumb it down,” he said, pointing a finger at the Pioneer Valley in particular.

It’s not an opinion he’s shied away from sharing with the public. In a flurry of direct mailings that began in 2004, O’Brien has pointed a finger – and wagged it liberally – at the EDC, with pieces that, for instance, featured the bumper of a car decorated with a sticker emblazoned with the Pioneer Valley’s new logo and slogan, ‘Arrive Curious, Leave Inspired.’

Yeah, people leave inspired, all right, the flyer reads. The last thing they see as they’re walking out the door are the guys who run the EDC smiling and waving and telling them good riddance.

A new direct mail piece, which like its predecessors will be sent to dozens of businesses, organizations, and individuals across the Valley, features a photo of O’Brien smashing a return in ping pong, and challenging Blair to a game. If Blair accepts, and wins, O’Brien promises never to criticize the EDC again.

O’Brien’s beef, he said, stems from one major area – the need he sees in the Valley to keep and create good jobs and opportunities for residents, especially the creative set.

“People think picking a fight with the EDC is just a publicity stunt,” he told BusinessWest. “But it’s about calling attention to the fact that it’s essential we create optimism in the area. We lose that, we lose the game.”

He said part of the problem is a pervasive ‘can’t do’ attitude, offering as one example his interest in promoting outdoor recreation in the region – not just fishing, but hiking, camping, canoeing, kayaking, and the economic benefits they could bring. “There’s no reason places like Mount Tom should be closed right now. And we have some of the best rivers in the Northeast, but no one is paying attention to what an exceptional resource they actually are.”

O’Brien went on to reference the recent announcement that Cabela’s, the nation’s largest direct marketer of outdoor merchandise, has chosen a site in East Hartford, Conn. to open an expansive, interactive retail store, that will include everything from an indoor aquarium to an archery range.

More importantly, though, the new store, slated to open in the fall of 2007, will employ upwards of 450 people, and Cabela’s has committed to at least 20 years at the location. O’Brien sees the addition of the outfitter in neighboring Connecticut as a missed opportunity.

“We could have attracted them to this area,” he said. “We would have been perfect. The Valley is an outdoor hotbed. This is the grip that our politicians and leaders have on us. They need to have the confidence to scout what’s going on nationally and react … and they’re not doing it. This area should not be in the boat that it is in.

“These are not pipe dreams,” he continued. “It all goes back to having courage. It can be done … Northampton didn’t come back to life offering coupons for $4.99 steaks. It came back to life with style and taste.”

Work to Rule

As visitors leave O’Brien’s offices, they might notice a terse sign that tells them in no uncertain terms to ‘Get Out!’

With a fishing lodge for a conference room and any number of bats, balls, gloves, sticks and pucks littering the waiting area, that suggestion could be taken more ways than one. But O’Brien isn’t particularly concerned either way … he’s too busy getting out himself, perhaps backing the losing team, or urging a few more people to jump off that bandwagon.

Love it or hate it, it’s all the same to him.

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

Market Value

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The annual spring trade show of the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield moves to the MassMutual Center for 2006. Organizers say the new venue provides facilities and amenities that will take the Market event to a higher level and bring greater value for exhibitors and visitors alike.

Deb Boronski says a new venue, the MassMutual Center, will no doubt generate some excitement and curiosity for the 2006 Business Market Show, set for April 5.

“People are always asking, ‘what’s new for this year?’” said Boronski, vice president of the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield and coordinator of the Market event for the past several years. “Well, now we’ve got a pretty good answer for them.”

But the gleaming new convention center will do more than draw some attention to the event and perhaps a bigger crowd, she said; it will also create a bigger and better show.

Elaborating, she said the facilities at the center, especially the smaller function rooms, will enable organizers to schedule a number of programs and seminars during the day — from the monthly luncheon of the Advertising Club of Western Mass. to the launch of the Affiliated Chambers’ new Division of Business Excellence.

The number and variety of scheduled programs has even prompted organizers to change the event’s name. “It’s no longer just a trade show,” said Boronski, “we’re calling it a conference and exhibition.”

And it is one that will likely live up to that often-used phrase ‘something for everyone,’ she said. In addition to the nearly 200 booths on the exhibition floor, the 2006 show will feature seminars on everything from identity theft to Internet marketing; the region’s burgeoning Hispanic market to making full use of those electronic gizmos.

“This is not just a trade show any more it’s a showcase,” said Boronski. “What we’re doing is giving businesses more reasons to send more of the people to the show.”

Getting Down to Business

As she talked with BusinessWest in the main exhibition hall at the MassMutual Center, Boronski said the $70 million facility, opened last fall, gives show organizers a large degree of flexibility simply not obtainable at the Eastern States Exposition, the show’s home for the past decade.

“The Big E was a great venue, it served us well for many years,” she said. “But we were limited in some of the things we could do there; it was essentially one big room, which made it more difficult to conduct break-out sessions and seminars. Here, we have the facilities to do a lot more of everything.”

And, in the progress, provide the change and value (to both exhibitors and visitors alike) that a show must provide to succeed, she explained.

“Each show is going to be different from the one before,” she said, noting a turnover rate among exhibitors of about 30%. “But we strive each year to bring new programs and events that will give people ample reason to leave their offices and plants and come to the show.”

This year, there will be a number of incentives for coming to downtown Springfield, starting with the annual breakfast and its keynoter, Steven Little, a senior consultant for Inc. Magazine, who will speak on business growth and what he calls the “future of opportunity.”

Meanwhile, the Advertising Club of Western Mass. will stage its monthly luncheon at the show, and is inviting exhibitors and visitors to join in the festivities. Reservations will be needed for the luncheon (tickets are $25 for ad club members and $30 for non-members; visit www.adclubwm.org), which will include the program Branding: Making Your Mark. It will feature regional case studies that will examine the elements of effective branding.

In the afternoon — 4 o’clock to be exact — the ACCGS will launch its new Division of Business Excellence. A successor to the membership-driven agency SPACE, the Springfield Area Council for Excellence, the DOBE as it’s called will provide a number of services aimed at helping area companies become more competitive in a global marketplace.

These will include informational programs as well as linking business owners with consultants who will provide assistance on a fee-for-service basis with implementation of business excellence strategies including Kaizen, lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and others.

“We thought the Market show was the perfect forum for us to launch the business excellence division,” said Boronski. “There will be hundreds of business owners and managers there, giving us an opportunity to generate awareness of the division and how it can make the region more competitive.”

Market 2006 will also feature a number of free business seminars, to be staged in morning and afternoon sessions, in the MassMutual meeting rooms next to the exhibition hall. The scheduled programs include:

  • Managing Your Electronic Gizmos and Office Technology, a how-to and ‘how-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-devices’ hosted by Sean Hogan, president of Hogan Communications;
  • Grow Your Business — Hire Right, led by Ethan Bloomfield of HRD Press;
  • The Business Incubator at the Andrew M. Scibelli Enterprise Center, led by Thomas Goodrow, vice president of Economic and Business Development at Springfield Technical Communnity College;
  • Entrepreneurship: Make the Transition to Grow Your Business, led by John Rogers, dean of the School of Business at American International College;
  • Internet Marketing, presented by David Flaherty of Ashton Services;
  • Run Your Business So You Can Leave it in Style, a panel discussion coordinated by the Bank of Western Massachusetts;
  • Focus Your Marketing Vision, led by Tina Stevens, president of Stevens Design Studio;
  • Improve Team Collaboration and Have Fun, led by Robert Rasmussen, president of Robert Rasmussen and Associates, LLC;
  • Understanding New England’s Hispanic Market Potential, led by Hector Bauzá and Francisco Javier Solé, of Bauza & Associates in Holyoke;
  • Credit Reports, Nondisclosure Laws, and Identity Theft, led by Guy Swiatlowski of Cambridge Cradit Counseling;
  • The LifeBridge Free Insurance Program, led by the MassMutual Financial Group;
  • Treat Business Like a Business and Family Like Family, a panel discussion coordinated by the UMass Family Business Center; and
  • More on the Future of Opportunity, led by Steven Little, senior consultant for Inc. Magazine.

The attractive lineup of events should attract a larger number of visitors than previous shows, said Boronski, adding that she is hopeful that individuals working in downtown office towers will set aside at least some of their day for the show.

“They don’t have to get in their cars and drive anywhere,” she said, noting that some people working downtown were put off by the prospect of driving to the Big E. “There are 9,000 pre-paid parking spaces in downtown Springfield — if we can get just 10% of those people to come to the show, that’s an additional 1,000 visitors, and that would make the event so much better.”

Show Time

The 2006 Business Market Show will be the 17th edition of the event, said Boronski, adding that since year 2, the goal — and the challenge — for organizers has been to make the show different and better.

The MassMutual Center provides the setting and the amenities to make that assignment somewhat easier, she said, noting that additions for this year take the event well past the label trade show.

“We’ve gone to a new, much higher plane,” she explained. “We’re still a showcase of 200 area businesses, but now we’re so much more than that.”

Fast Facts

What:The 2006 Business Market Show Conference and Exhibition
When:April 5
Where:The MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield
Schedule:Breakfast is at 7:15; the business exhibition runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Breakfast Keynote Speaker:Steven Little, senior consultant for Inc. Magazine
Parking:Ample parking is available in downtown Springfield lots. Exhibitors will receive a $5 voucher for parking in the Civic Center garage. Fees for attendees will not exceed $8.
For More Information:Call Deb Boronski at (413) 755-1309
Web site:www.businessmarketshow.com

 

Interest Bearing

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Mike Oleksak, a veteran commercial lender most recently with TD Banknorth, has been named regional president for Berkshire Bancorp’s Pioneer Valley operations. His charge is to aggressively pursue market share in the region and to clear a bar that has been set very high.

Mike Oleksak remembers his first job in banking. He was 19, and working as a teller in the main branch of Westfield Savings Bank.

He remembers watching then-president Art Knapp, vice-president Don Williams, and other officers of the bank, and trying to learn from how they conducted themselves and interacted with customers.

“I wasn’t really sure what they did,” he recalled with a laugh. “I just knew that I wanted to be one of them.

“Art Knapp was a real inspiration,” he continued. “Whenever anyone in the community talked about him, they did it with deep respect in their voice. And he handled every customer, from the smallest to the largest, with the same degree of gentleness and kindness.”

That’s an operating style that Oleksak has adopted during a 28-year career that has taken him to several positions at a number of institutions (many of which don’t exist anymore) and ultimately to the rank of senior vice president and co-regional executive at TD Banknorth.

And it’s one he’ll apply in a position that ultimately pried him from his attractive post at Banknorth — that of regional president for Berkshire Hills Bancorp’s Pioneer Valley operations, which, the bank announced recently, will be managed as a separate business unit with local commercial lending decisions.

The assignment, which he assumed late last month, brings Oleksak back to his native Westfield (home to Woronoco Bancorp, which Berkshire acquired last year), and makes him point person for the Pittsfield-based institution’s efforts to continually grow its presence — and asset and deposit totals — in the Pioneer Valley.

Berkshire acquired Woronoco and its 10 branches roughly a year ago, and has spent the ensuing months melding Woronoco’s strong track record in consumer products and mortgage lending with Berkshire’s recent success in commercial lending and wealth-management products.

Thus far, the results have far exceeded what were considered lofty expectations, said Michael Daly, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hills.

He told BusinessWest that deposits in the Pioneer Valley have risen by $42 million — to $416 million — since the merger last June, which is an annualized rate of 20%. And he believes the bank can match that number again in each of the next several years.

“That’s an aggressive goal, for sure,” he said, noting that most community and regional banks would be content with 4% or 5% annual deposit growth. “But one we certainly feel we can achieve.”

Oleksak agreed. He told BusinessWest that the strong showing in Berkshire’s first year in Hampden and Hampshire counties results from the enthusiasm of employees and ongoing efforts to monitor and continuously improve service.

For the future, Oleksak’s primary goals will be to bolster the commercial lending side of Berkshire’s ledger, while working with Daly and other members of the management team to expand the bank’s footprint through additional branches and perhaps further acquisitions.

He’ll do all that while acting as what Daly called the ‘face,’ of the Western Mass. operations, providing visibility and leadership within the region.

BusinessWest looks this issue at Oleksak’s appointment and how he’ll approach his charge to lead the bank’s efforts to gain market share in the Pioneer Valley.

Strong Statement

As he talked about Oleksak’s ascension to the position of regional president, Daly said this was an appointment that certainly didn’t happen quickly.

That’s because the bank took its time finding the right individual for the assignment, he explained, and because Oleksak took some more time making up his mind to take it.

“It really was a difficult decision for me to make in some ways,” said Oleksak. “I was very happy at Banknorth and had no real reason to look for another job.”

But when he was approached by Daly about the position, he was convinced to at least explore the opportunity. He did, and with some encouragement from Berkshire’s chairman of the board, Larry Bossidy, a former executive with General Electric and CEO of Honeywell and Allied Signal, he became convinced that this was the next logical step in his career.

“What ultimately helped convince me was Mike Daly’s passion for making this bank grow,” said Oleksak. “It’s infectious, and it made me want to come here and help him get to the finish line.”

Daly said Berkshire was drawn to Oleksak by the level of respect he commanded from individual customers, and by the business community as a whole.

“We intend to continue to build this team,” he explained, “and the best way to build a team of high performers is to have someone leading that group that others respect.”
Oleksak has built up that respect, and a large Rolodex of contacts, through a lengthy career focused mostly in commercial real estate and commercial lending.

After a seven-year stay at Westfield Savings Bank, which culminated as branch manager in West Springfield and Agawam, he moved to MultiBank (one of those institutions swallowed by merger), where he held several positions, including credit analyst. He became a junior loan officer at Vanguard Bank in Holyoke in 1988, and was later promoted to assistant vice president and, then, interim senior lender, a post he held until the bank was closed by the FDIC in 1993.

He eventually rose to the position of vice president and commercial & industrial lender at Shawmut, and remained in that capacity through that institution’s merger with Fleet in 1998. From there, he moved to what was then SIS, starting as a vice president of commercial lending and team leader of the Commercial Real Estate Department. Over the next eight years, he took a portfolio of $125 million and a staff of two lenders, and grew it to $650 million and eight lenders.

It was those numbers that drew the attention of Daly, who told BusinessWest that, moving forward, one of Berkshire’s primary goals is to grow its commercial loan volume.

Taking Interest

To do that, the bank will take the same approach it has with other initiatives, broad and specific, said Daly, and that it is to be aggressive.

Such an attitude is certainly necessary in a highly competitive commercial market in which a host of local players, joined recently by Berkshire (which had only a minor presence in the Valley before acquiring Woronoco) and a growing list of Connecticut banks, are vying for business in what is considered a a low- or no-growth area.

To succeed in such an environment, banks need experienced lenders who know the market and the businesses in it, quality products, including attractive rates, local decision-making ability, and a game plan grounded in smart growth, said Oleksak, adding that Berkshire is putting those ingredients together.

A commercial lending team is being assembled, he told BusinessWest, adding that additional lenders will be added to the current team of four. Meanwhile, the designation of Berkshire’s Pioneer Valley operations as a separate business unit gives Oleksak and the team he assembles lending authority over roughly 80% to 90% of the deals that emerge.

As for smart growth, Oleksak said the bank will take a steady, responsible approach to expanding its portfolio, working to do what is best for both the bank and its stockholders — as well as the customers.

“Fundamentally, I’m not going to do anything different than I did at Banknorth or at Fleet,” he said. “It’s about treating people the right way and making a consistent calling effort; it’s about being attentive when they need something and getting back to them right away.

“And sometimes ‘no’ isn’t the worst answer you can give a client,” he continued. “They can respect you just as much for saying ‘no’ as saying ‘yes,’ or for finding another way to get them what they need.”

As for the consumer products side of the ledger, Berkshire and Oleksak plan to be equally aggressive. This is apparent in Daly’s stated goal for the next three years — growing deposits by 60% in the Pioneer Valley.

That projection comes at a time when another newcomer (Connecticut-based Webster) has arrived in Westfield — soon to be joined by Holyoke-based PeoplesBank, which is opening a facility directly across East Main Street from Webster — and new branches are opening on seemingly a monthly basis across the Valley.

And Berkshire, which currently has locations in Westfield (2), Southwick (2), Chicopee Falls, East Longmeadow, Longmeadow, Agawam, Ludlow, and South Hadley, will be joining the fray. It has a stated goal of opening four new branches in the region over the next year (specific locations were not identified) and another four or more in the year or two after.

Such increased presence, especially in communities where the bank currently doesn’t have facilities, will certainly help in the efforts to meet Daly’s aggressive goals for deposits, which obviously must be matched with loan and total asset growth, said Oleksak, adding quickly that it goes well beyond bricks and mortar.

Customers are drawn by quality products and service, he said, which brings him back to the impressive numbers posted by Berkshire in its first year in the Pioneer Valley.

“Remember, this was at a time of great uncertainty, when we were melding one bank’s culture with another, and when we didn’t have a regional president,” he said. “To post those kinds of numbers under those circumstances is remarkable, and it all comes back to the enthusiasm of the staff.

“Looking ahead, we do have some aggressive goals,” he continued, “but that’s exciting; it’s going to be fun to go out and accomplish them.”

The Bottom Line

Assessing his latest career move, Oleksak said that, in some ways, he has come full circle.

He is back in the community where he started, and he is now the one young tellers will look across the room at and, ultimately, attempt to learn the business from.

As he takes on the assignment, he’ll apply the same basic approach as Art Knapp — treating every customer the same way. By doing so, he believes he and his team can meet or even exceed those aggressive goals for growth.

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

By
Departments

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

Agouab, Ali
70 Hampden St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/10/06

Agouab, Patricia A.
70 Hampden St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/10/06

Alderman, Laura B.
6 Meadow Glen Dr.
Granby, MA 01033
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/06/06

Alderman, William N.
6 Meadow Glen Dr.
Granby, MA 01033
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/06/06

Bruce-Foster, Tammy B.
44 Lester St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/13/06

Canela, Basilia
25 Grove St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/15/06

Gouin, Nicole L.
14 Woodland Dr.
Monson, MA 01081
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/13/06

Griffith, Jacqueline
145 Allen Park Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/09/06

Harris, Antonio
50 Pine Grove St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/13/06

Harris, Teresa Ann
50 Pine Grove St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/13/06

Henry, Ethel
20 Five Bridge Road
Brimfield, MA 01010
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/07/06

Knight, Diane S.
333 Tiffany St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/08/06

Lemire, James P.
599 Skyline Trail
Chester, MA 01011
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/10/06

Lemire, Patricia A.
599 Skyline Trail
Chester, MA 01011
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/10/06

Milbier, Marco Eugene
50 Drumlin Road
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/06/06

Nareau, Todd M.
2009 East St.
Three Rivers, MA 01080
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/06/06

Salgado, Jessica
264 Sargeant St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/02/06

Smith, Charles W.
6 Norbell St.
Three Rivers, MA 01080
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/02/06

Smith, Sharon M.
40 Carriage Road
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/15/06

Torres, Margarita
84 Shamrock St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/03/06

Waring, Kenneth Patrick
81 Florida St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/08/06

Watson, William P.
28 Berbay Circle
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/14/06

By
Departments

The following building permits were issued during
the month of March 2006.

AGAWAM

Valley Community Church
152 South Westfield St.
$50,000 — Install six antennas

HOLYOKE

Frederic Sellica
1632 Northampton St.
$3,255 — Interior renovation of kitchen, work counter, reception counter

Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House
500 Easthampton Road
$99,000 — Renovate floors, walls, ceiling

NORTHAMPTON

Bermor Limited Partnership
180 Main St.
$10,000 — Interior demo of existing restaurant

Cooley Dickinson Hospital Inc.
30 Locust St.
$840,000 — Renovate P2000 basement to Cardiac Cath Lab

Cooley Dickinson Hospital Inc.
30 Locust St.
$16,000 — Construct two bathrooms in administration building

Eric Suher
298 Main St.
$45,000 — Repair/replace floor framing and sub floor, repair roof

ES Realty Corp.
34 Bridge St.
$105,559 — Renovate and expand space, Talbot’s

Forty Main Street Inc.
23 Main St.
$80,500 — Construct stairs, corridors and bathrooms

Linda Valenti
36 Hawley St.
$5,900 — Replace sills and lolly columns

Northampton Nursing Home Inc.
737 Bridge Road
$21,000 — Rebuild portico roof

Robert & Patricia Normand
190 Main St.
$10,400 — Install new
EPDM roofing system

Suher Properties LLC
50 Main St.
$5,000 — Remove paneling and non-bearing wall

SPRINGFIELD

Daniel Roy
41 Sullivan St.
$5,500 — Renovations to warehouse

Mental Health Association
101 Mulberry St.
$52,600 — Renovate interior

Mental Health Association
101 Mulberry St.
$65,132 — Renovate interior

Merchants of Springfield
625 Carew St.
$1,200,000 — Erect Walgreens

Springfield Boys & Girls Club
481 Carew St.
$58,750 — Re-roof

Tim Driscoll
556 Sumner Ave.
$110,000 — Interior fix up for sub shop

Vornado Realty
1079 Boston Road
$5,000 — Renovate ceramic floor tile

WESTFIELD

PVS Therapy
65 Springfield St.
$30,000 — Build out

By
Departments

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.

HAMPSHIRE SUPERIOR COURT

R.P.S. Inc. d/b/a

Hampden/Zimmerman Electric Supply Co. v. Michelson Properties Inc., Keven B. Michelson a/k/a Kevin Michelson
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $30,949.59
Date Filed: Jan. 27

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT

Northeast Utilities Systems and Western Mass Electric Co. v. The Holyoke Card & Paper Co.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for services: $11,800.85
Date: Feb. 16

R.P.S. Inc. d/b/a Hampden/Zimmerman Electric Supply Co. v. James Leary a/k/a James E. Leary d/b/a Leary Electric
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $2,807.50
Date Filed: Feb. 16

N.R. Bergeron Drywall Contractor Inc. v. Grand champ & Pierce Builders Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods and services: $5,258.01
Date Filed: Feb. 16

By
Departments

The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of March 2006.

AGAWAM

Bronze Stone
11 Randall St.
Eugene Smith Jr.

Champagne Dry Wall Inc.
36 Russo Circle, Suite D.
Ronald Champagne

Claire’s Professional Runners
36 Mountainview St.
Claire Cardin

CMD Rental Management Property
534 North St.
Cheryl Donatini

Eagle Inspections
42 Warren St.
John Wadolski

Extreme PC
15 Riviera Dr.
Nathan Samara

Heritage Hall South
65 Cooper St.
Patricia Blair

K & C Home Improvement LLP
420 Main St., #42
Kevin DeJoinville

Mass-Conn Fire & Security
44 Sunset Ter.
Melissa Magnolia

Meadow Farms and Bolducs
700 Silver St.
Robert Fagin

Mountaintop Woodworking & General Contracting
207 North West St.
Audrey Whitman

Olson Computer & Sec. Service
98 Hendom Dr.
Cynthia Olson

Quality Auto Care
76 Ramah Circle
Joseph Dempsey

Steve’s Appliance
324 Walnut St.
Steve Seay

Surprise Card & Gift
838 Suffield St.
Robert McElligott

CHICOPEE

On Sight Optical Services
1760 Westover Road
William Labonte

Spruce
309 Front St.
Carolyn Rettura

EAST LONGMEADOW

The Nels Design & Drafting
49 St. Joseph Dr.
Thomas Nelson Jr.

Progressive Massage
80 Denslow Road
Patricia Gill

HOLYOKE

Cabrera Surveillance Services
233 Maple St.
Jose Cabrera

Mi Plaza Restaurant
325-327 Main St.
Ortiz Group Inc.

Ruff Ryders Banquet Hall
26A Hadley Mills Road
Gilberto Perez

LONGMEADOW

Dr. Leon Gellerman
471 Longmeadow St.
Leon Gellerman

Mel’s Typhoons Swim Club
86 Green Meadow Dr.
China Access LLC

NORTHAMPTON

Fagan Entertainment
211 Westhampton Road
Mary Fagan

Happy Valley
229 Main St.
Nancy Cowen

More Than Sound Productions
11 Arnold Ave.
Hanuman Goleman

Robotparade
15 Williams St.
Marie Despres

Streamline Painting Co.
104 South St.
Charles Tormanen

Yogic Touch
45 Main St.
James Rutter

SPRINGFIELD

Ardel Investigations Inc.
1242 Main St.
Richard DelMastro

Café Trung Nguyen
392 Dickinson St.
Son Quang Luung

Chico’s Towing
2543 Main St.
Cecilio Rivera

E-Suede Productions
24 Victoria St.
Scott Jones

Exclusive Painting & Remodeling
53 Leland Dr.
Joel Rodriguez

Fashion Ave.
1228 Main St.
Aaron Mool

Fred’s Home Improvement
113 Euclid Ave.
Wilfredo Concepcion

Gonzalez Bus Line
499 Page Blvd.
Carlos Gonzalez

Heavyweight Productions
223 Fernbank Road
Husain Mohammad

Items Ark
32 Melon St.
Joel Marrero

JG Wholesalers
123 Leitch St.
Jerry Gonzalez

JoElla’s Closet
74 Temple St.
JoElla Stovall-Tarbutton

MLC Child Daycare
64 Fordham St.
Nereida Valentin

Perennial Landscaping
18 Redstone Dr.
Ronald Staples

Revstar
41 Amherst St.
Edrian Singleton

Tilbury Inc.
52 Sterling St.
Jamie Tilbury

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Bay State Fuel Oil Inc.
26 Roanoke Ave.
Bay State Fuel Oil of Agawam

Bay State/Fast Fill
26 Roanoke Ave.
Bay State Fuel Oil of Agawam

Bay State/Vickers
26 Roanoke Ave.
Bay State Fuel Oil of Agawam

Best Oil
26 Roanoke Ave.
Bay State Fuel Oil of Agawam

Cash & Carry Oil
26 Roanoke Ave.
Bay State Fuel Oil of Agawam

Economy Oil
26 Roanoke Ave.
Bay State Fuel Oil of Agawam

Grand International Auto Driving School
764 Main St.
Claudia Macznik

JRE Masonry & Restoration
65 Craig Dr.
Jerome Ezold

National Oil
26 Roanoke Ave.
Bay State Fuel Oil of Agawam

Papa Nucci’s Pizza
2009 Riverdale St.
Antonio Patullo

R & S Oil
26 Roanoke Ave.
Bay State Fuel Oil of Agawam

Smith Oil
26 Roanoke Ave.
Bay State Fuel Oil of Agawam

WESTFIELD

C & R Landscaping
82 Joseph St.
Matthew Rzegocki, Erik Czupta

Family Product Market
103 North Elm St.
Julian Mecher

Passion Parties
402 East Mountain Road
Suzanne Dimenno

Reed Hill Associates
29 Camelot Lane
Jeff Cloud, Fernando Flores

Todd’s Foreign Auto
11 Rear Bartlet St.
Todd Cimina

By
Departments

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

AGAWAM

A&N Waste Management Services Inc.,
1211 Springfield St., Agawam 01001.
Randy Zymroz, 755 North Westfield St., Feeding Hills 01030.
Waste management.

Commercial Grounds Maintenance Inc.,
26 Perry Lane, Agawam 01001.
Stephen A. Amato, same.
Lawncare, landscaping, installation, and maintenance
of irrigation systems, etc.

AMHERST

Twilight Cone Inc.,
19 Pleasant St., Amherst 01002.
Eric Szolka, same.
The purchase and resale of ice cream, frozen yogurt, etc.

BELCHERTOWN

Belchertown Fitness Center Inc.,
30 Tucker Lane, Belchertown 01007.
Kathleen T. Fitzpatrick,
45 Greenwich Hill, Belchertown 01007.
Fitness center.

CHICOPEE

Blue Kaktus Inc.,
70 Exchange St., Chicopee 01013.
Krzysztof Korczak, same, president;
Eliza Arlena Rupacz, same.
Restaurant.

G.T. Enterprises Inc.,
204 Arcade St., Chicopee 01020.
Cary L. Rivest, same.
Pizza shop/restaurant.

M. Demos & Son Inc.,
30 Haynes Circle, Chicopee 01020.
Susan R. Ackerman, 20 Oakwood Road,
Simsbury, CT 06070. William L. Ackerman,
30 Haynes Circle, Chicopee 01020, registered agent.
Furniture and antique restoration and refinishing, etc.

EASTHAMPTON

Adamo’s Inc.,
126D Northampton Road, Easthampton 01027.
Sara K. Adamos, 48 Tanglewood Road, Amherst 01002.
Restaurant business.

HAMPDEN

Topshelf Records Inc.,
171 Glendale Road, Hampden 01036.
Joshua Seth Decoteau, same.
The distribution, promotion, and selling of music.

HUNTINGTON

Lansing Distribution Services Inc.,
10 Pond Brook Road, Huntington 01050.
David L. Lansing, same.
Delivery, distribution, and installation of hot tubs.

LUDLOW

Reliable Home Solutions Inc.,
87 Reservoir Road, Ludlow 01056.
Kathleen F. Murdock, same.
To deal in real estate.

MONSON

Stirling’s Choice Inc.,
114 Upper Hampden Road,
Monson 01057. Susan Rodgers, same.
Retail of general merchandise.

SOUTHWICK

Zephire Corp.,
208 College Highway, Southwick 01077.
Amy Thompson, 356 Granville Road, Southwick 01077.
Healthy living solutions for women.

SPRINGFIELD

Chinese Qi Gong Tui Na Inc.,
1655 Boston Road, Springfield 01129.
Zhaowei Liang, 48 Tavistock St., Springfield 01119.
Massage therapy.

D & F Food Service Inc.,
355 Belmont Ave., Springfield 01108. Jesus Diaz,
22 Dutchess Dr., Orangeburg, NY 10962. Paul M. Kalill,
355 Belmont Ave., Springfield 01108, registered agent.
To own and operate a retail establishment.

J.C. Williams Community Center Inc.,
116 Florence St., Springfield 01105. Steven R. Williams,
141 Florence St., Springfield 01105. (Nonprofit)
To provide a Christian-based environment for services to family members of all ages, etc.

Pro Wireless Inc.,
40 Cliftwood St., Springfield 01108.
Rizwan Ahmed, same.
Operation of a mobile telephone store.

Wilmar Management Inc.,
340 Cooley St., Suite 282, Springfield 01128.
William A. Mann, 1357 East 40th St., Brooklyn, NY 11234. Stanley D. Komack, 117 Park Ave., Ste. 201, West Springfield 01089,
registered agent. To deal in real estate.

Yazel Construction Inc.,
1398 Plumtree Road, Springfield 01119.
John Yazel, same.
Real estate development.

WESTFIELD

Truly Mine Card Shop Inc.,
24 Glenwood Dr., Westfield 01085.
Mrs. Margaret Mannion, same.
Sales — greeting cards, consignments, lottery.

WILBRAHAM

Kristensen Decorating Inc.,
1347 Tinkham Road, Wilbraham 01095.
Julie Kristensen, same.
Decorating services.

WEST SPRINGFIELD

F & G Development Corp.,
76 Wolcott Ave., West Springfield 01089.
Shaun C. Giberson, same.
Construction of single and/or multi-family dwellings.

By
Departments

David Pinsky has been named President and Chairman of the Board of Tighe & Bond of Westfield. Joining the firm in 1988, Pinsky has led many project teams with his expertise in water supply, distribution and treatment.

•••••

Debra Mahannah

Debra Mahannah has joined The O’Leary Company of Southampton. She brings more than 20 years of experience in the design and management of office renovation projects in Western Massachusetts and Connecticut.

•••••

Carla Oleska, Ph.D., former Associate Academic Dean of Elms College, Chicopee, will serve as Executive Director of the Women’s Fund of Western Mass., based in Easthampton.

•••••

Architect Jeremy Toal, AIA, has joined Dietz & Company Architects of Springfield. Toal’s previous works incorporated renewable energy, energy efficiency, and healthy, durable, natural materials.

•••••

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company in Springfield announced the following:
• William F. Glavin, Jr. has been appointed head of the Individual Insurance Group at Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. He moves to MassMutual from his position as President and CEO of Babson Capital Management LLC. Both MassMutual and Babson Capital are members of the MassMutual Financial Group family of companies.
• Charles Schuhmann has been named Western Life Sales Manager, and
• Bradford Smith has been named Eastern Life Sales Manager.
Both Schuhmann and Smith will be responsible for MassMutual’s field wholesaling force that delivers life insurance products to independent life brokerage agencies and third party marketing firms in the western and eastern regions respectively.

•••••

Susan L. DeFeo

Susan L. DeFeo has been elected Senior Vice President, Director of Operations and Technology at Florence Savings Bank.

•••••

Sarah J. Zingarelli recently joined the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission of West Springfield as a Planner in the Land Use and Environment section.

•••••

UMass Amherst alumni Ellen Ferraro and Regina Valluzi will be honored by Mass High Tech as Women to Watch 2006. Mass High Tech is a weekly publication, based in Boston, which focuses on business and technology challenges in New England. Ferraro is the deputy director of the system validation, test and analysis directorate for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, and Valluzi is the founder and chief scientific officer of Evolved Nanomaterial Sciences. Both women were among 10 New England-based women who were recently recognized as future leaders and innovators at an awards dinner in Boston.

•••••

T. David Constant

Webster Bank announced the following:
• T. David Constant has been appointed Vice President of the West Springfield office, and

Amybeth Perry

• Amybeth Perry has been named Vice President of the Westfield office.

 


•••••

Sherry Leastman has been promoted to Branch Manager of Countrywide Home Loans’ Northampton branch, where she will be responsible for developing Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire counties.

•••••

Matthew Nocton has been promoted to Senior Account Executive for MassLive.com. He will oversee major local and regional accounts.

•••••

Lisa Watts, owner of Cold Spring Events in Belchertown, has earned the designation of Certified Bridal Consultant through the Association of Bridal Consultants.

•••••

Crystal Carrol has joined the Palmer office of Carlson GMAC Real Estate as a Sales Agent.

•••••

Zoar Outdoor in Charlemont announced the following:
• Nicole Yezierski has been appointed Office Manager, overseeing customer service, reservations and group sales;
• Michael Porter has been appointed Assistant Rafting Manager.

•••••

Darryl Thomas has joined 84 Lumber in West Springfield as a Manager Trainee.

•••••

Lawyer Richard S. Ravosa Jr. has been recognized by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as a “Rising Star/Up and Coming Lawyer.” Ravosa has offices in Springfield and Boston, and is the founder and executive director of Town & Country Legal Associates, with offices in Springfield, Boston, Salem and Natick.

Gregory M. Schmidt has been named an Associate in the commercial transaction and banking practice of Doherty, Wallace, Pillsbury and Murphy P.C.

•••••

Vicki S. Donahue has been named a Director for Cain Hibbard Myers & Cook PC in Pittsfield. She has been an Associate with the firm for eight years.

•••••

United Bank of West Springfield announced the following:
• Joseph Young has joined the staff in Westfield as a Senior Vice President of Commercial Banking, and
• Darilynn Nardi has joined the staff as Assistant Vice President of Branch Administration.

•••••

Noble Health Systems in Westfield announced the following:
• James C. Hagan has been elected Chairman of the Board;
• Mark A. Morin, Vice Chairman;
• James F. Shea, Treasurer;
• Timothy P. Scanlan, Secretary;
• George J. Koller, President, and
• Murray Watnick, M.D., has been elected as a Trustee.
Board members also include Robert J. Bacon, John M. Greaney, Carol A. Kauffman, Robert L. LaPalme and Richard K. Sullivan Jr.

•••••

Bruce Leshine has joined the law firm of Jorden Burt LLP, as a Partner in the technology practice group. The firm has offices in Simsbury, Conn., Washington, D.C., and Miami.

••••

Monson Savings Bank announced the following:
• Carolyn E.D. Szarlan has been named Vice President for Information Technology, and
• Daniel R. Moriarty has been named Vice President of Finance.

•••••

Country Bank in Ware announced the following:

Denise Jaworsk

• Denise Jaworski has been promoted to Treasurer, and will be in charge of the bank’s finance and budget functions;

 

Robert Paulsen

• Robert Paulsen Jr. has been named Vice President of Commercial Loans, and will oversee the development of new and existing business relationships; and

 

Christopher Wszolek

• Christopher Wszolek has been named Vice President of Commercial loans, and will also oversee the develop ment of new and existing business relationships.

•••••

Debra Mahannah recently joined the staff of The O’Leary Company of Southampton, MA. She brings more than 20 years of experience in the design and management of office renovation projects in Connecticut and Western Massachusetts. Mahannah is a member of the Construction Institute and the National Association of Women in Construction. The O’Leary Company is celebrating its 50th year as a full service design-build firm specializing in large scale commercial and industrial construction.

•••••

Larry A. Letendre

Larry A. Letendre, Jr. recently joined Southbridge Savings Bank as the Branch Manager of the Ruthven Ave. location in Worcester. His responsibility is to establish new customer relationships with consumers and local businesses. Aside from his managerial duties, he plans to continue working with community groups in the area including Worcester Housing and the Worcester County Food Bank.

•••••

 

Beverly Ouellette

Beverly Ouellette joined the Phillips Insurance Agency Inc. as its new Benefits Director. Her responsibilities will include the management and marketing of the life, health, and employee sponsored benefits products.

•••••

Michelle N. Theroux, M.Ed., LMHC, has been named Executive Director of Child & Family Service of Pioneer Valley, Inc. Ms. Theroux served most recently as Director of Family Networks at Key Program, Inc., and was previously the Family Based Services Program Manager at Key. She is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Psychology at Springfield College, teaching courses in Behavior Management and Life Span Development.

•••••

James C. Hagan was recently elected Chairman of the Board of Noble Health Systems. A Westfield resident, Hagan is the President of Westfield Bank. Other officers are Mark A. Morin, Vice Chairman; James F. Shea, Treasurer; Timothy P. Scanlan, Secretary and George J. Koller, President. Murray Watnick, M.D. was elected as a trustee. Other board members include: Robert J. Bacon, John M. Greaney, Carol A. Kauffman, Robert L. LaPalme and Richard K. Sullivan, Jr. Noble Health Systems is the parent corporation of Noble Hospital, Noble Visiting Nurse and Hospice Services and Westfield Medical Corporation.

By
Departments

Heart Ball 2006

Below, Red drapes decorated the banquet room at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House in Holyoke, site of Heart Ball 2006, staged by the American Heart Assoc. At right, Allison Belanger (left), account executive for the Healthcare News, BusinessWest’s sister publication, and Jaclyn Stevenson, senior writer for BusinessWest and The Healthcare News, pose with plaques awarded to the two publications in recognition of sponsorship and coverage of the AHA’s fundraisers and awareness events held in the Pioneer Valley this year.


The 2006 Heart of Gold Award was presented to Craig Rydin, CEO & Chairman, Yankee Candle Company.

Here, Linda, Craig and Brent Rydin and Lauren Ayers pause for a photo.

Attendees at the Heart Ball were able to take part in an extensive silent auction, as well as a live auction later in the evening. All proceeds went toward the continued fight against heart disease.

Fitness 5K

Above, runners and walkers at the starting line for the 13th annual Western Area Mass Dietetic Association (WAMDA) Fitness 5K Run/Walk, held on Saturday, March 4 at Look Park. WAMDA also held a fitness and health fair, celebrating National Nutrition Month.

Cindy Boutiette gets her blood pressure checked by Jayne Heede.

Grand Opening


U.S. Rep. John Olver chats with Jean Forget, a long-time supporter of the Holyoke Health Center, at the grand opening ceremonies.

Above, Executive director of the Holyoke Health Center Jay Breines poses with Joe Flatley, a guest speaker at the grand opening of the center’s new facilities in downtown Holyoke.

By the Book

On Feb. 27, Holyoke Mayor Mike Sullivan read to a group of children at the Holyoke Mall’s monthly Storytime. Sullivan is one of several special guest readers who visit the mall regularly.

‘Market’ Prep

Deb Boronski, vice president of the Affiliated Chambers of Greater Springfield, leads an informational program for exhibitors planning to take part in the 2006 Business Market Show at the MassMutual Center on April 5.

 

 

The Wheels on the Bus

By
Uncategorized

James St. Amand, chairman of the advisory board of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, recently told the local press that, despite all appearances, the PVTA is not in a state of disarray.

He must be reading from a different definition than the rest of the population.

At last check, two of the transit authority’s top officers, Director Gary Shepard and General Counsel Kevin Walkowski (making about $200,000 a year between them), were getting paid to stay home — the former for being at the center of a federal criminal investigation into the PVTA’s finances and management, and the latter for reasons unknown, although he is said to be a whistleblower in this investigation and describes his suspension as an act of retaliation.

Walkowski was placed on leave by acting interim director Keith Henry, the PVTA’s chief financial officer and the individual who signed off on all the contracts and expenditures that are now being questioned by the Federal Transit Administration. The nature and timing of the suspension have some board members scratching their heads and wondering what’s going on the agency and who’s really running the show.
We’ve been asking that same question for months.

The Walkowski suspension caught many board members by surprise, which continues a pattern we’ve seen unfolding over the past several weeks.

Indeed, some board members said they didn’t know that federal funding had been frozen for three important economic development projects — redevelopment of Union Station in Springfield, renovation of a former fire station in Holyoke into an intermodal transportation center, and construction of a new intermodal center in Westfield — pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.

And some board members said they didn’t know about Shepard’s contract and its generous clause calling for him to be paid two years’ severance if he is terminated without cause — in this case defined as a felony conviction or insubordination. There are questions about whether the contract is actually valid — it was approved by only a handful of members who sit on the Finance Committee, but not the full board.

Disarray? It certainly sounds like it.

But it’s not surprising really, because the advisory board is a poorly structured body that, especially over the past several months, has been unable or unwilling to provide the oversight that might have prevented some of the chaos now engulfing the transit authority.

This is a byproduct of a misguided mindset that has existed for some time at the PVTA — that if the buses are running on time, then everything is fine. We could not disagree more. The PVTA is a large agency, with a $30 million budget, most of it publicly funded. Meanwhile, it has a very important function — it takes residents to work, school, area shopping malls, and other retail centers. In short, it plays a critical role in regional economic development, a role taken to a still-higher level with the projects in Springfield, Holyoke, and Westfield, where the PVTA is acting as a key development partner.

An agency with such a broad influence needs a strong board that can provide direction and oversight. Instead, the PVTA’s board has a weighted voting system that gives most of the power to a handful of larger cities, and allows politics to rear its ugly head and influence to decision-making, such as the appointment of directors. We think each city and town serviced by the PVTA should have an equal vote; similar to the U.S. Senate, where senators from Vermont and California each have an equal voice.

For the short term, the advisory board must hire an interim director — one who could be in the job for some time while this investigation plays itself out — who can bring some semblance of stability to the transit authority. This means focusing on abilities and experience, not politics.

Meanwhile, the board has to examine its own performance — it took two months to decide what to do with Shepard after PVTA offices were raided by the FBI — and make a stronger commitment to providing the requisite oversight.

As we said, there is much more to the Authority than making the buses run on time. The advisory board needs to step up and take some real responsibility for this important regional asset, because despite what St. Amand believes, the agency is in disarray and the wheels have definitely come off.

Incentive or Handout?

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In recent years, states have found themselves caught in an accelerating competition to offer ever-larger tax breaks to big businesses.

The rationale, aggressively marketed by corporate lobbyists, is that giveaways are necessary to attract business investment and jobs to a state, and that the resulting expanded business activity will more than pay for the lost revenues from the tax cuts.

Reality, however, contradicts these claims. Several studies, including one by economist Robert Lynch in 2004 called Rethinking Growth Strategies: How State and Local Taxes and Service Affect Economic Development, establish that state tax incentives have, at best, a minimal impact on businesses’ decisions about where to locate their facilities. State taxes are simply too small a fraction of business costs (typically 1% to 2%) to be a major factor in siting decisions. Moreover, since all states are offering competing incentives, the differences are usually very small.

When asked about the efficacy of business tax incentives during his confirmation hearings in 2001 to be US treasury secretary, Paul O’Neill, former chief executive officer of ALCOA, said: ‘’As a businessman I never made an investment decision based on the tax code. If you give money away I will take it, but good business people don’t do things because of inducements.”

The real effect of these tax breaks is a dramatic loss of state and local revenues. In 1997, the national cost of state and local incentives was estimated at $50 billion, and the numbers have grown dramatically since then. The result: heavier tax burdens on individual taxpayers and small businesses. And less money for education, infrastructure, and the other government services that the research shows are real factors affecting business decisions about where to locate.

Nonetheless, state policy makers find it hard to say ‘no’ to these giveaways. As long as other states are offering them, no one is ready to unilaterally disarm. And big businesses have become adept at playing states against one another to extract generous tax breaks. The states are caught in a vicious cycle of proliferating business incentives.

The best hope for saving the states from this destructive competition lies in the courts. Recently, the US Supreme Court heard a case, DaimlerChrysler v. Cuno, in which the lower court struck down Ohio’s investment tax credit, one of the most common incentive devices, because it discriminatorily favors in-state business activity.

In fact, one of the primary purposes behind the Constitution was to put an end to tax wars among the states that were threatening to balkanize the national economy. Over the years, the courts have repeatedly stepped in to stop the states from using their tax systems to pursue parochial aims in ways that ended up hurting all of them. In particular, they have repeatedly forbidden a wide variety of state tax measures providing preferential tax benefits that are restricted to in-state business activity. The present array of location incentives are just the latest examples in that long history.

Meanwhile, corporate lobbyists are already laying the groundwork for federal legislation to reverse the impact of a possible Supreme Court decision invalidating location-based tax incentives. But hopefully, once the court has acted, Congress will have the wisdom to save the states from the renewal of a rivalry that only lines corporate pockets.-

Peter D. Enrich, a professor at Northeastern University School of Law, is representing the plaintiffs in the Cuno case.

The Prodigal Sun

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Since Janet Wanczyk arrived at Springfield Technical Community College four years ago and started signing the checks in her capacity as vice president for Administration and chief financial officer, she has been on a mission to reduce the school’s enormous fuel bills.

“We’ve been scouring the Earth looking for ways to cut our expenses,” she told BusinessWest, noting that the campus, housed partly in former Springfield Armory buildings, occupies some 1 million square feet — perhaps three times the space of a more-modern school with similar enrollment — much of it very inefficient when it comes to heating and cooling.

The dire need to reduce fuel and electricity bills, which will reach $2 million for the fiscal year that ends next June 30 (a 33% increase over a year ago) has prompted the school to look at alternatives ranging from co-generation to windmills and to take steps that range from installing more energy-efficient exit signs to shutting down most buildings for two weeks during winter break.

And it also inspired a sequence of events that led to the installation of what is being called the largest photovoltaic (PV), or solar energy system in Western Mass. on one roof in the Technology Park that sits across the street from the STCC campus.

Installed in January and unveiled to the public late last month, the $255,000 system is comprised of 108 PV panels that effectively convert sunlight into electricity — roughly 33,000 kilowatt hours of it per year. That production rate will save the Technology Park, administered by the STCC Assistance Corp. (STCCAC) about $6,000 per year, making only a small dent in the park’s $1 million budget for fuel and electricity in FY ’06.

But the current system, which is expandable, is considered merely a “starting point,” said STCCAC Chairman Brian Corridan, who told BusinessWest that phrase refers to much more than the generation of electricity.

Indeed, he said the PV installation is expected to spark a number of academic initiatives, entrepreneurial ventures, and public-private partnerships in the broad realm of renewable energy. Looking down the road — and not very far down it — Corridan said he envisions developments in PV and other renewable energy products involving virtually every aspect of the college and its technology park.

This includes the training of individuals who will work in this field, the creation of new businesses focused on renewable energy, which could be nurtured in the Scibelli Enterprise Center within the tech park, and the emergence of a renewable energy business cluster, possibly at the tech park. Eventually, the STCC complex may become a teaching and demonstration center for photovoltaic energy in the Northeast.

“I think we’ve just taken the first steps in what will be a long journey,” said Corridan, adding that the ambitious expansion of the park’s focus into renewable energy, building on its base in telecommunications, is a natural progression — literally. “This is the kind of thing that a technology park should be doing.”

BusinessWest looks this issue at how the installation at the tech park came to be, and what it could eventually mean for the college and the region.

Shedding Light on the Subject

Chris Derby Kilfoyle became involved with photovoltaic energy pretty much out of necessity.

He had acquired a cabin in Vermont that was not served by the electric grid, and needed some way to light the place. He turned to what was then a technology still very much in its infancy. Indeed, in the early ’80s solar power was both less efficient and more expensive than it is now, but for some, it is essentially the only option.

Inspired by his own experience, Kilfoyle, a philosophy major in college but knowledgeable in the sciences, attended one of the first conferences on solar power in 1985 and later that year started Berkshire Photo Voltaic Services, which has installed more than 130 solar power systems (most of them residential) over the past 20 years, and was chosen to handle the project in STCC’s tech park.

He said the initiative is an intriguing one not merely for its size and cost-cutting capacity, but also for its ability to generate awareness for photovoltaic energy and to help that industry grow. And it comes at a time when President Bush is challenging the nation to reduce its dependency on foreign oil by expanding the use of alternative sources of energy.

“I get calls all the time from people who want to know about opportunities in this field … they’re excited about getting it, said Kilfoyle. “I believe it has a bright future, and what’s happening at the college is an exciting development.”

And it came about because Wanczyk was at wit’s end in her quest to do something, anything about the college’s staggering fuel and electricity bills.

Those bills and the need to reduce them eventually brought school administrators to the Mass. Technology Collaborative (MTC), a public agency and administrator of the Renewable Energy Trust, in search of grants to study photovoltaic systems and other forms of renewable energy.

The college was turned down in its initial bid for a $50,000 grant three years ago, said Wanczyk, but the tech park (STCCAC) later partnered with Appleton Corp., the management company for the park, and Western Mass. Electric Co., a park tenant) in a grant application that was eventually approved by the MTC.

The $123,000 awarded by the agency was essentially matched by STCCAC, she explained, and the project commenced last fall.

The 108 photovoltaic panels are placed at a 6-degree angle and positioned in rows at the southwest corner of what is known as building 111. Each cell contains 216 silicon semi-crystalline solar cells that produce power with no moving parts.

As Kilfoyl explained, electricity is produced as photons of sunlight penetrate the silicon, bumping electrons into a flow. This photovoltaic effect, as it’s called, produces direct current (DC) electricity, which is converted to alternating current (AC) to match the American standards of AC frequency and voltage.

Over the course of its 35-year lifetime, the PV installation at the tech park will replace the energy equivalent of 150 tons or coal or 31,000 gallons of gasoline, and avoids 756 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Meanwhile, it will save the park an estimated $5,800 in annual energy costs, and will help WMECO more easily manage peak usage periods in the summer.

Current Events

The installation covers only a small percentage of the roof space at the tech park, noted Kilfoyle, adding that it can be expanded onto both flat and angled sections of roof. The pace of expansion will be determined by economics, the availability of grant money, and a current worldwide shortage of poly-silicon, the main ingredient used in the production of solar cells, and also computer chips.

“That shortage will definitely limit the availability of product,” he said, adding that there are no real estimates on how long the shortage will last.

In the meantime, a small (10 kilowatt) photovoltaic installation is being planned for the college, said Wanczyk, adding that, like the tech park installation, it is environmentally friendly and another step being taken in the effort to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

And the benefits to the college and the tech park will far exceed cost savings, said STCC President Ira Rubenzahl. He told BusinessWest that the school has plans to revive its Environmental Technology associate degree program, with a focus on clean water or wastewater management, and will likely include options to that program in renewable energy.

Rubenzahl said the college offered an academic program in solar power in the’80s, but at that time, the field was not as technically advanced not as economically feasible for homeowners and smaller scale corporate applications. Now that the energy is more affordable and the technology more efficient, the school will look to take a lead role in the field.

“There are opportunities for initiating workforce development partnerships and training within the renewable energy industry,” he said, noting that the school’s Center for Business and Technology (CBT) is already talking with the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners, which offers a certification exam for PV installers. CBT is working with industry experts to develop a certification exam preparation course, which could be offered as early as the fall.

Meanwhile, for the tech park, the PV installation provides a foundation on which to build a renewable energy cluster to complement one in telecommunications that includes such tenants as Choice One Communications, CTC Communications, Northeast Optic Network Inc., WilTel (Williams Communications), Verizon Business, and MAP Internet.

“What we saw was an opportunity to draw companies that are in this field to the tech park,” he said, referring not only to photovoltaic energy, but also wind power, hydro, and other types of renewable energy. “These companies could use the college as a reservoir for talent that they need to grow.

“This would be a first step in that direction,” he continued, adding that as more companies in this broad field locate in the park, the environment will logically create a larger critical mass of businesses. “Telecommunications breeds more telecommunications, and renewable energy will breed more renewable energy.”

Watt’s Happening?

Wanczyk’s fight to reduce the school’s energy bills continues. The photovoltaic installation in the tech park, as well as the one soon to be installed at the college, will bring only minor relief.

But they are, as she and Corridan said, just the start of something bigger, and offer the promise of much more than some help with the bottom line.

They could help the school — and the renewable energy field itself — take steps toward a brighter future.

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

Telling Springfield’s Story

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The attic of the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum holds a curious collection of artifacts from Springfield’s history.

There are two lanterns that sat atop the Memorial Bridge the day it opened in 1922. There are a few of the earliest calculators ever made, used by workers at MassMutual more than a century ago. One drawer contains some of the early monkey wrenches produced by the Bemis & Call Company in the city’s North End. And, at last count, there were more than 1,300 handguns — most of them made by Smith & Wesson, but also a few from some of the 400 other arms makers who operated in Springfield over the years.

And then, there’s the first (circa 1893) and last signs put over the door of the landmark Johnson’s Book Store. Both feature images of a shallop, the sailing vessel (Dutch in origin) that took William Pynchon and his party down the Connecticut River to Springfield in 1636.

Those items and thousands more are in the attic — or the basement — because there is simply not enough room to display them on a permanent or even a rotating basis, said Joseph Carvalho III, president and executive director of The Springfield Museums. This is a situation he plans to rectify with the creation of a new museum that could be open as early as the spring of 2008.

The ‘Museum of Springfield History.’ That’s the working title of a facility that will occupy the Verizon building located across the street from the Quadrangle and adjacent to an auxiliary parking lot used by The Springfield Museums. It is being purchased (the closing is slated for June) with $1 million bequeathed to the museums by Allen Swift in order to provide a home for his 1928 Rolls Royce Phantom I S273, manufactured in Springfield, which was also donated to the museums.

The new facility will display many of the products once — and in some cases still — manufactured in Springfield, from ice skates to automobiles, said Carvalho, but it will not be an industrial museum per se. Rather, it will celebrate and chronicle innovation, he explained, and Springfield’s history is replete with it.

It can be seen in the many industrial breakthroughs that occurred in Springfield, starting with the Springfield Armory more than 225 years ago, he said, but also in arts (Dr. Seuss), sports (basketball was invented in the city) and even in marketing, with such examples as the famous Breck Girls created by local artist Charles Sheldon.

“Springfield has had an incredible number of firsts,” said Guy McClain, director of the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum. “A great many things were invented here or produced here and it wasn’t by coincidence — it’s because Springfield had all the ingredients needed to get ideas off the ground.”

Carvalho agreed, and cited as just one example, the Duryea brothers, Charles and Frank, who manufactured the first gasoline-powered automobiles in Springfield starting in 1893

“The Duryeas weren’t from Springfield,” he explained, “but they came to Springfield, because they realized this was the place to find the technology, the techniques, the workers, and the materials they needed. And that pattern was repeated countless times.

“This is a story that needs to be told,” he continued, “and soon, we’ll able to tell it.”

Plane Speaking

Carvalho pointed to the GeeBee racing airplane, built at an airfield that once existed on the site of the Springfield Plaza, that is now suspended from the ceiling in a small room off one of the galleries in the Springfield Science Museum used for lectures and presentations.

“That’s the only place we could put it,” he told BusinessWest, adding that many visitors to the museum don’t even notice it’s there. “Most people discover it almost by accident; we’d like to put it out where everyone can see it, and also put it in the proper historical context, but we just don’t have the room.”

This lack of space is not exactly a recent phenomenon, he continued, adding that museum administrators have carried out a search for additional room for several years now.

The quest has prompted them to consider properties ranging from the old Basketball Hall of Fame to what remains of the former Technical High School; the York Street Jail to the city’s school administration building on State Street. But those options were either not workable or not affordable.

However, a series of circumstances came together late last year that gave the Springfield Museums a solution to its problem — and right across the street.

Swift, who was 102 when he died last October, was a legend of sorts among Rolls Royce collectors for owning his Phantom I longer than anyone in the world had ever owned an individual Rolls. He decided several years ago that he would donate the car to a museum; the question was which museum.

He was aware of The Springfield Museums because of its many programs on the history of transportation, said Carvalho, adding that in 2002 Swift started talking with museum administrators about the car, and agreed to donate it to the facility — if a building could be found to house it.

Several options were considered, including new construction, said Carvalho, but when the 30,000-square-foot Verizon office building at 85 Chestnut St. came on the market last summer, museum administrators knew their search was over.

“It was the logical location … the building is in good shape and it’s right behind the historical museum,” he said, adding that the two-story facility is being acquired for just under $900,000.

It will provide museum administrators with roughly twice the space currently available in the historical museum, as well as the flexibility needed for larger displays.

With the acquisition of the property all but finalized, several committees are moving on to the next series of steps and challenges in the process of creating the new museum, said Carvalho. These include raising the nearly $2 million needed to renovate the building and create displays, and determining what will be showcased in the new facility and how.

Meanwhile, museum administrators are seeking the support of the business community in the endeavor, said McClain, noting that financial help is needed, as well as contributions of artifacts that will help in the telling of Springfield’s story.

Business Cycles

To illustrate the types of items that would be put on display in the new museum, Carvalho and McClain ushered BusinessWest to the second floor of the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum. There, in a hallway off the stairs, an early Indian Motocycle, manufactured a few miles down State Street, and a Knox automobile, made in Springfield and restored by Friendly’s co-founder and avid car collector S. Presley Blake, are on display.

In one of the galleries sits another Indian, this one used by the Army during World War II. On shelves along one wall are several of the early games created by Milton Bradley, and, in a glass case, are some of the first ice skates manufactured by Everett Barney.

These items will join Swift’s Rolls Royce, the GeeBee, an old horse-drawn fire pumper truck (circa 1872), currently sitting in the historical museum’s basement, and many of those aforementioned items stored in the attic.

But it won’t be merely a collection of items invented, manufactured, or put to use in Springfield, said McClain. Rather, the new museum will chronicle how a pattern of innovation, beginning with the Armory, made Springfield what he called the Silicon Valley of late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Elaborating, he said the craftsmen and engineers that came to work at the Armory eventually gave the region a critical mass of both skill and innovation that led to many industrial breakthroughs and business success stories.

McClain cited Milton Bradley as just one example.

“He came to work at the Armory, he was a draftsman,” he explained. “He later had an idea to develop a board game. Why did he start his company here? Because he was here and the workforce he needed was here.

“That’s a story that was repeated time and time again,” he continued, adding that the machine shops and skilled workforce spawned by the Armory provided the perfect environment for development and manufacturing of cars, motorcycles, airplanes, adjustable wrenches, guns, and countless other products.

“It is absolutely no coincidence that all these innovations came out of Springfield,” he said. “It’s because of that critical mass that existed; if the Duryea brothers needed a particular part for their car and needed a machine that could produce it, they could go down the street and find someone who could do that kind of work. That wouldn’t have happened in other places in America at that time.”

The challenge for museum administrators is to create a facility that effectively tells that story, said Carvalho, adding that work is already underway to assemble pieces and design displays that convey what he described as a “mindset of innovation” that existed in Springfield.

“It goes beyond industry,” he explained. “Theodore Geisel took the language to places no one had taken it before. He wasn’t just a writer, he was an innovator. We want to tell that story — Springfield’s story.”

Driving Force

Projecting a few years down the road, Carvalho said the new museum will help educate people from across the Valley and across the country about the many contributions Springfield has made to the nation’s culture and industrial evolution.

But while informing visitors, he believes it will inspire them as well.

“I don’t want people, young people especially, to think that success always happens somewhere else,” he explained. “We want to show them that it happened here, and that it can happen here again.”

In that respect, he continued, the museum will go beyond showcasing innovation, and perhaps generating more of it.

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

Go East

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Many times, succeeding in business means changing with the times. The Porfilio family has proven that for a half-century.

When William Porfilio Sr. launched Eastern Electronics in downtown Springfield in 1957, he specialized in antenna-based communications, from paging and intercom systems to radio repair. But when cable became the dominant mode of receiving broadcasts, Porfilio knew he had to make a shift.

That’s when he changed the company name to Eastern Electronics & Security, putting more emphasis on the security side of the business, which now encompasses a wide range of services to protect and monitor homes and businesses, as well provide tools to track the attendance and productivity of a company’s workforce.

“We had to change with the times, basically,” said William Porfilio Jr., the company’s current president. Heading into its 50th year, Eastern remains a family business, with another son, Richard Porfilio, serving as vice president and Porfilio Sr. continuing to act as CEO.

“Security will always be an important part of the business,” Porfilio Jr. continued. “Companies want to keep drivers from wandering around when deliveries are made. They want to control who’s entering the building, and they want to keep track of time and attendance.”

Those efforts not only keep companies secure, he said, but also benefit their bottom line – sometimes in unexpected ways.

This issue, BusinessWest examines how Eastern Electronics & Security, now based in West Springfield, has managed to remain ahead of the curve in the rapidly changing, increasingly technology-driven field of electronic security.

Shifting Landscape

Eastern Electronics had been a player in the Pioneer Valley for more than 20 years when Porfilio Jr. joined the business in 1979, followed by Richard Porfilio in 1982. Both have been there long enough to witness workplace security trends come and go.

For example, “right after 9/11, we were doing more in the food industry, but now we work with almost all industries, and everyone has their own needs,” William Porfilio said. “Some want to prevent people from entering the building, while some are monitoring employees or keeping an eye on production.”

Whatever the industry, Eastern tends to work with mid-sized and large companies more than smaller ones, in part because larger businesses have larger security budgets and more employees and facilities to protect.

“It is a long-term expense,” Porfilio explained. “I’m not saying smaller companies aren’t interested, but most of our growth has been with companies of 100 employees and up.”

“People want all the coverage. They want protection for their whole building,” Richard Porfilio added. “But when they find out what the bottom line is, they tend to do it in phases. It’s tough to do it all in one shot.”

Fortunately, Eastern offers an array of security options – including access control badges and biometric readers, video surveillance systems, fire and security alarms, and 24-hour remote monitoring – so that companies can prioritize them according to their individual needs. Clients can also purchase a range of communications products, including nurse call systems for health care facilities, digital phone systems, and paging and evacuation systems for industrial facilities.

In all cases, Eastern works closely with a client company to identify its security and communications needs, design a system to meet those needs, and install and service that system. It’s not a business that rewards complacency, Porfilio Jr. said, since the technology that supports these products is always changing.

“Unlike 20 or 30 years ago, most of this is computer-based,” he said. “So there’s definitely a learning curve – you have to know the software and the hardware, where years ago, it was all about the hardware.”

The march of technology has ushered in some effective tools. For example, only in recent years have employers had the ability to monitor their workplace on a laptop from a vacation spot across the country.

And certainly, GPS tracking devices for vehicles and shipped products weren’t part of the business landscape 20 years ago, but that’s yet another option for companies seeking ways to monitor their operations.

“That’s a new technology, and it’s still in its infancy stage, so it’s still on the higher end, pricewise,” Porfilio Jr. said. “But it will become more affordable. It’s the same as with any new technology – it starts out expensive, but as the technology improves, the price comes down.”

A Solid Investment

The Porfilios don’t shy away from the price factor in discussing their services. “Not everyone has the budget to do some of this,” Porfilio Jr. told BusinessWest. “There is a cost. But technology also allows us to do a lot more for the money than we could 20 years ago.”

He cited one local company that hadn’t addressed its security needs in 15 years. “As it turned out,” Richard Porfilio said, “it was more cost-effective to completely upgrade it than it would have been for them to work with the old system.”

Meanwhile, “there’s a lot of junk on the market, and you get what you pay for,” Porfilio Jr. added. For that reason, he said, Eastern deals only with high-quality vendors with proven track records, so clients can be confident they will be around five or 10 years down the road.

However, the Porfilios don’t allow costs to obscure what they believe is a financial return on investment – one that extends beyond preventing theft from outside intruders.

“There’s also theft of equipment and time” by employees, Porfilio Jr. said, which is why Eastern offers a number of workplace- monitoring products. He told of one company that discovered second- and third-shift employees hiding and taking naps over a long period of time. “That may sound funny, but that’s money,” he said. “You’re paying somebody to do the work, and they’re not producing.”

In addition, swipe cards can track the movement of employees, while GPS hookups in company vehicles can determine whether drivers are spending too much time taking breaks.

“Companies don’t realize what they’re losing,” Porfilio Jr. said. “You can track how many times someone takes a cigarette break over the course of the week, and how that affects productivity. So while this technology protects employees, it’s also there for the employer, to improve his bottom line.”

After all, a healthy bottom line is the best way to secure a successful future in business – and that’s what the Porfilio family has enjoyed for almost 50 years.

Ghost with the Most

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A typical day for Frank Campiti includes greeting visitors to his new business, balancing the books, updating order sheets, and feeding a room full of hungry bats.

The bats — all females, he greets them with a tray of apples and oranges and a jovial “hello, girls!” — comprise just one duty Campiti has taken on in the last few months, concurrent with the grand opening of what could very well be the strangest business Western Mass. has seen in many years — Dr. Spooky’s Animal Museum in South Deerfield.

But that’s not to say that strange can’t equal successful. A long road led to what is now a popular tourist attraction, created following months of research and weeks of careful construction.

Dr. Spooky’s — essentially, a haunted castle that is home to a number of live animal exhibits and caves of dinosaur displays — started with a vague idea and a goal to capitalize on the growing tourism industry in Western Mass. But it has grown to become a unique, and indescribable, attraction — one you have to see to believe. And in the tourism industry, that’s gold.

Campiti said it was a long-held dream of his to open a tourism-based business in Western Mass. What that venture would be, he wasn’t sure, but he had a few ideas.
A veteran of the construction industry, Campiti has specialized in the past in the design and construction of themed restaurants, bars, and attractions such as haunted houses. Some of the ideas he had for a tourist attraction harkened back to his days designing large props for businesses such as Chicopee’s Hu Ke Lau restaurant, and he hoped that something creative, fun, and larger than life would serve as an effective backdrop for an educational attraction geared toward school-age children.

“I always knew I wanted to open a tourist attraction,” he said. “I knew it would be an opportunity to put together a great concept that was educational and fun.”

He admitted he also loves animals and Halloween — and both provide impetus for a business that blends the science of animal studies with the scare-value of a haunted castle. But from a business standpoint, Campiti also saw the value in creating a new attraction in a region that has turned much of its focus to tourism in recent years.

“Tourist attractions are a non-consumable product,” he explained. “There’s very little turnover in resources. I’ve been involved in the restaurant and bar business, and in that industry, every $10 you touch turns into $1.50, if you’re lucky. This is the total opposite. We built it, and the people are coming.”

Out of the Mouths of Babes

The process of securing a plot of land for what would eventually morph into Dr. Spooky’s began in the spring of 2004. Campiti eventually chose to lease a site adjacent to and owned by the New England Candle Company on Greenfield Road in South Deerfield, a throughway already booming with several successful tourist attractions and businesses, including the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory and Yankee Candle Company.

Still, the business plan was nebulous, and Campiti, along with his wife, Kathleen, turned to what they viewed as their core audience to seal the deal.

“I had some ideas as to what I wanted to do,” he said, “but the real plans started to form after we surveyed students in the Springfield school system, and asked them what they would want to see.”

The students surveyed were in grades 2 through 8, and were given a brief set of questions meant to gauge where the most interest would fall within a cross-section of children in many age groups.

Students were given the choice, for example, of three potential themes for an attraction that would also include a strong educational focus, such as an archeological dig site, a mad scientists’ laboratory, or a haunted castle (the choice was clear). They were also asked what types of exhibits they’d like to see within the setting of their choosing, and the overwhelming response — Campiti said about 87% — was live animals, as well as some exhibits pertaining to prehistoric animals and dinosaurs.

Thus, the concept for Dr. Spooky’s was born — a haunted castle, complete with a graveyard, a creepy backyard (that doubles as a snack bar) and a series of sprawling caves that lead to dinosaur exhibits.

Campiti has been involved with all aspects of the business, from brainstorming a theme to actually executing the design inside. He said he and Kathleen traveled across the country visiting museums, tourist attractions, and other sites, in search of inspiration, but has yet to find an attraction that is similar to Dr. Spooky’s. That posed a challenge when it came time to begin design and construction work in the building’s interior — with such a unique business model, blueprints went out the window early on.

“That was the hardest thing, not having a set plan for exactly what the inside was going to be,” he said. “How could we? We were talking about something that just didn’t exist.”

Campiti said he and fellow construction and design workers literally walked through the building over and over again, deciding what could be placed where. He said he knew there were some design aspects he wanted at Dr. Spooky’s, such as a lot of overhangs, tunnels, and walk-throughs, that would take away from the cavernous feeling of the building.

With that in mind, corners was filled with sprawling trees, a statue perched on a throne took up residence in the lobby, and two giants clasping hands were constructed to create an entryway.

Construction was completed in November of 2005. Campiti added that Dr. Spooky’s operates on the land with the benefit of what he termed “a very long-term lease,” and with great cooperation from owner Henry Komosa and from area businesses and municipal entities.

“There’s a definite acceptance of new business in South Deerfield,” he said. “People want to see new businesses take off, and they’re fair and helpful. The town told us what we needed to do, and helped us to do it.”

The true test of the business came not long after Dr. Spooky’s opened its castle doors. Area schools closed for Christmas vacation, and Campiti said that without any marketing efforts, the business saw its first boom, and word-of-mouth began to spread. Last month, during February vacation, Dr. Spooky’s matched the success seen in December — and went on to triple its revenues.

Of Mice and Men

Campiti said word-of-mouth works in the case of Dr. Spooky’s because people try to explain what it is they’ve seen to friends and family, and end up merely saying “you just have to go there.”

He admits that even for him, Dr. Spooky’s is impossible to adequately describe. Indeed, there’s a lot going on behind the towering castle façade of the building. But the educational exhibits of live animals and of dinosaur replicas, the haunted castle theme, even Dr. Spooky himself — he’s a character who gives three lessons throughout the course of a visit, from a screen in the center of the building called the Magic Mirror — are tied together by one common bond: sheer and utter creepiness.
Upon entering Dr. Spooky’s, guests are greeted by a towering skeleton, who points the way to the ticket counter. Staff members assure visitors that the hoots and hollers they hear are merely the live animals in the exhibits, and all of those are friendly. Visitors then begin the journey down a winding path that walks them through a series of animal exhibits, all separated by animal groups — from the simplest invertebrate, to mammals of all sizes. It’s this aspect of Dr. Spooky’s, Campiti said, which has been most attractive to school groups; the exhibits follow lines similar to a middle-school biology curriculum.

But the animals aren’t your run of the mill lions, tigers, and bears. Instead, guests learn about various species by studying creatures such as poison dart frogs and African pygmy mice.

After a visit with Dr. Spooky, the journey continues through a series of caves that feature replicas of dinosaur teeth and claws. A massive quetzalcoatlus – which means flying dragon – looms overhead, and the visit ends in a large, military style-tent, where nervous visitors enter and stand, perplexed for just a minute — until they start at the sound of a T-Rex roar ‘outside’ and jump as the ground beneath them begins to shake.

Campiti said the entire attraction was designed to incorporate a lot of educational information under one roof, but in a setting that would resemble more an incredible field trip than a lesson in school.

“A lot of places that have exhibits with a lot of information are kind of boring,” he said. “Others are fun but aren’t educational. I wanted to do both – an educational experience, but in another world.”

Bats in the Belfry

That’s a world that now includes a varied set of responsibilities for Campiti, including answering questions about the many animals at Dr. Spooky’s as well as feeding them regularly. During that school vacation week last month, he often found himself performing both tasks at the same time, as he prepared dishes of food for the bats and answered a visitor’s question about a nearby dwarf possum.

It’s busy times like those that help convince Campiti that the utterly unique business he’s created at Dr. Spooky’s has some teeth — maybe even fangs.

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

Step By Step

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Clad in bright sweatshirts and comfortable walking shoes, four of the Eastfield Mall’s veteran mall walkers list the many benefits of participating in the well-known fitness activity.

Good exercise, improved health, and free gifts top the list.

But it has taken more than the occasional chotchke to keep the nationally known phenomenon in place for decades – welcoming thousands of participants during that time.

Many people hear of mall walkers, but never see them – most arrive at the mall before the stores open to get their laps in before the hallways get crowded. Still, there are mall-walkers like those who meet each morning at the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside, and organized groups like the Eastfield Mall Walkers Club scattered across the country. The groups entitle members to a number of perks – many free – in addition to early-morning walking privileges.

Physicians routinely recommend mall walking as an easy, inexpensive way to improve health through regular exercise, especially for seniors, and as an alternative to pricey gym memberships or unsafe walking conditions outside.

As part of that focus on improving health, many malls have taken steps to become more involved in the promotion of mall-walking benefits. Some measure out how many laps it takes to complete anywhere between one and five miles, allowing walkers to easily gauge how much exercise they’re getting. One lap around the Eastfield Mall, for instance, is five-eighths of a mile, and each level at the Holyoke Mall is three-quarters of a mile, so walkers can start slowly and work up to the level of exercise with which they’re comfortable.

Malls also often provide an informational packet when new members register and information sessions regularly, which include tips to maximize a workout – start slowly, pace yourself, maintain good posture, talk while walking (if you’re out of breath, you’re going too fast), cool down at the end our your workout, and have fun.

Talking the Talk

Lisa Wray, marketing director for the Holyoke Mall, said mall walkers are a constant fixture.

“We open our doors early, at 6 a.m., for mall walkers, but they are in and out throughout the entire day,” she said, adding that it can be hard to pin down an exact number of how many walkers pass through each day. “I would say hundreds walk throughout the week.”

As any mall walker will tell you, however, membership in a mall-walkers club entitles one to much more than access to a safe, warm place to exercise, at no cost.

Rather, many programs have evolved to include weekly health-related presentations, mini health fairs, annual get-togethers, discounts at mall stores, free gifts, breakfasts, and more.

Members of the Mall Walkers Club at the Eastfield Mall routinely brainstorm new ideas for programs, featured speakers, or events planned around mall walking – most are health related and take place in the morning. In addition to walking, free health presentations attract hundreds of guests.

“There’s always someone who comes in to talk with us and the programs are great,” said Warren Hudson of Indian Orchard, one of the club’s most seasoned walkers – he and his wife Jackie have been walkers since the club’s inception 18 years ago, even walking the perimeter of the building before an expansion was completed. “We’ve heard talks on every subject you can imagine – from Alzheimer’s to nutrition, and Social Security to changes in health insurance. It’s very informative, and all geared toward health. We even get our blood pressure checked twice a month.”

Those presentations are often held in partnership with local health care providers and businesses. Wray said programs are held in conjunction with Baystate Health at the Holyoke Mall, providing speakers to educate walkers through free presentations.

And according to Carolyn Varnadore, marketing associate at the Eastfield Mall, the Baystate Visiting Nurse Assoc. and Hospice and Baystate Senior Class, both aspects of the Baystate Health system, are the primary sponsors of the free health presentations at the mall. Meanwhile, quarterly health fairs are currently sponsored by Redstone Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in East Longmeadow and Springfield’s Boston Road Stop & Shop.

“We’re very proud of our mall walkers,” said Varnadore. “They are a wonderful group of people and a great addition to the Eastfield Mall, and we are always trying to add to the program for them.”

And the walkers themselves often participate in talks regarding improvements at the mall, she said, adding that they serve as a sort of built-in market research group and sounding board. As constant visitors to the mall, they weigh in on general issues concerning mall management and security, including safety, services for customers, and accessibility for the handicapped, children, or the elderly.

Jackie Hudson said she recommended, for instance, getting an indoor entrance installed within the mall leading to the 99 Restaurant.

“Before, you had to go outside, and it wasn’t as safe,” she said, noting that the improvement had an effect not only on safety at the mall, but also patronage at the restaurant, at least among her high-stepping associates. “We go there all the time now. It’s much easier.”

Ease on Down

But one of the most valuable aspects of the program, according to Janice Jones of Springfield, a four-year veteran walker at the Eastfield Mall, is the camaraderie.

“We all come to know each other,” she said. “We may not know your name at first, but we know the face, because we pass by walking, wave, and say ‘hello.’ It’s a very friendly atmosphere.”

Jones said she began walking as part of the Mall Walkers Club shortly after retiring.
“I didn’t know what was on television during the day, so I took some time to sit and relax, and bought all of my favorite snacks,” she explained. “Sure enough, my cholesterol shot up.”

Jones’ physician recommended walking, and soon thereafter she began regularly walking at the mall, her cholesterol lowered. The new friendships and the regular programs to look forward to help keep her going, she said.

Claire Lebel of Ludlow said her doctor also recommended walking, and advised mall walking over outdoor exercise, because her neighborhood doesn’t include safe sidewalks.

Lebel said she was skeptical of mall walking at first.

“He told me I should try mall walking, and I didn’t want to go alone,” she said, “but there were some other ladies in Ludlow that were in a club of their own and they asked me if I wanted to join. I made my mind up that I was going to do this and stick to it, so I came to the mall early one morning, and never stopped.”

Lebel added that walking does more than improve her health – it takes her mind off of her problems as well.

“You come in and sometimes you’re half asleep,” she joked, “but there’s always someone to say ‘good morning,’ and that’s a great feeling. It gets your day off to a good start and that’s important, because it stays with you all day long.”

The Finish Line

The mission of the club is still the exercise component, however, and those walkers who spoke with BusinessWest are all firm believers in mall walking as a fitness regimen that promotes overall wellness of the mind, body, and spirit.

In addition to Jones’ cholesterol numbers going down, Lebel’s health has also improved, and as she looks at a photo from a recent health fair, she smiles as she spots herself and her friends.

And Jackie and Warren Hudson have slightly different evidence of the health and longevity their mall walking has helped along.

“We’ll be married 58 years in June,” they say together with broad smiles, as Jackie jokingly waves a gold-ringed fist in the air, and Warren tightens the lace on his sneaker.

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

Deadlnes, Deadlines

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Just when you thought it was safe to put HIPAA aside, another deadline looms just around the corner.

The privacy rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) became effective for most health care providers, health care clearinghouses, and health plans on April 14, 2003. Now, three years later, those health plans that had to comply with the HIPAA privacy rule by April 14, 2003 will need to send a notice to its members by April 14, 2006 of the availability of its Notice of Privacy Practices.

Defining Privacy

The privacy rule protects health information from being disclosed without the individual’s authorization in most instances. There are several exceptions. These exceptions include a disclosure that must be made by the health care provider or the health plan for 1) treatment (i.e. a doctor may disclose an individual’s health information to another health care provider), 2) payment (i.e. a doctor may disclose health information to obtain payment from the health plan), or 3) health care operations (i.e. a health plan may disclose health information to its attorney when defending a claim for denial of coverage).

HIPAA allows disclosure of health information in other limited instances such as when: there is a threat to health or safety; the disclosure is needed to comply with legal duties; a government agency enforces state or federal regulations; the disclosure is needed during judicial and administrative proceedings, etc. These exceptions have additional safeguards that prevent unnecessary disclosures. Health care providers, health care clearinghouses, and health plans must provide a notice to the individual about how and when certain disclosures may occur. This notice is called the Notice of Privacy Practices.

Giving Notice

The Notice of Privacy Practices is a list of how the health plan will use and protect the patient’s health information. An individual has a right to adequate notice of the health plan’s legal duties with respect to the individual’s health information. The health plan must provide notification to the individual through the Notice of Privacy Practices.

A health plan is defined under HIPAA as an individual or a group plan that provides or pays the cost of medical care. Examples of health plans include employee benefit plans, health insurance companies, health maintenance organizations, nursing home insurance companies, Medicaid, Medicare, and state child health plans. Under HIPAA, these organizations had to send an initial Notice of Privacy Practices to their enrollees by April 14, 2003. Thereafter, the health plan must notify individuals at least every three years of the availability of the Notice of Privacy Practices and how to obtain it. If you are responsible for an entity that must comply with the privacy rule, now is a good time to re-examine the entity’s Notice of Privacy Practices and make any revisions that might be needed. The following is a review of the requirements for the Notice of Privacy Practices.

The Notice of Privacy Practices must have a header that states “THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY.” It also must contain a description and one example of the disclosure of health information for treatment, payment, and heath care operations and a description of other purposes that HIPAA permits the health plan to disclose health information without the individual’s written authorization.

The Notice of Privacy Practices must contain a statement that other uses and disclosures will be made only with the individual’s written authorization and that the individual may revoke such authorization to the extent that it has not been relied on.
Additionally, if the entity intends to use the individual’s health information for appointment reminders, information about treatment alternatives, or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to the individual, raising funds, disclosure to the plan sponsor (i.e. employer), then the Notice of Privacy Practices must have individual statements that specifically explain that these disclosures may occur.

The Notice of Privacy Practices must also describe the individual’s rights and how the individual may exercise these rights. In this respect, the notice must contain statements that the individual has a right to: 1) place restrictions on the disclosure of health information but that the health plan is not required to agree to a requested restriction; 2) receive confidential communications of health information; 3) inspect and copy his or her health information; 4) amend his or her health information; 5) receive an accounting of disclosures, and 6) request and receive a paper copy of the Notice of Privacy Practices.

Furthermore, the Notice of Privacy Practices must contain statements that the health plan is required by law to maintain the privacy of the individual’s health information and provide notice to the individual of its legal duties and privacy practices. The document must also explain that the health plan is required to abide by the terms of its Notice of Privacy Practices currently in effect. The health plan must describe how it will provide a revised notice, if there is a change in the health plan’s privacy practices. Also, if the health plan intends to apply a change to the health information that was created prior to a revised notice, the Notice of Privacy Practices must reserve the right to change the terms of its notice and to make the new notice provisions effective for all health information that it maintains.

Other mandatory statements include: the name or title and telephone number of a person or office to contact for further information or to file a complaint; how to file a complaint with the Secretary of Health and Human Services; and the date on which the notice becomes effective, which cannot be earlier than the date on which the notice is printed or published.

If the health plan, health care provider, or health clearinghouse makes a material change to either its uses or disclosures, the individual’s rights, the health plan’s legal duties, or other privacy practices, the Notice of Privacy Practices must promptly be revised to reflect the change.

A material change may not be put into practice before the effective date of the revised notice. If there is a material revision to the Notice of Privacy Practices, the entity must provide a revised Notice to individuals within 60 days of the material revision.

Sticking to the Plan

A health plan must provide a Notice of Privacy Practice to each new enrollee. The health plan satisfies the notice requirement by providing the Notice to the named insured of a policy. If a health plan has more than one Notice of Privacy Practice, it must provide the Notice that is relevant to the individual or other person who requests the Notice.

A group health plan that provides health benefits only through an insurance contract with a health insurance issuer or HMO and receives or creates health information, summary health information, or information on whether the individual is participating in the group health plan, must maintain a Notice of Privacy Practice and provide the notice to the individual upon request. A group health plan that provides health benefits only through an insurance contract with a health insurance issuer or HMO and does not create or receive health information is not required to maintain or provide a Notice of Privacy Practice. Both of these types of group health plans are exempt from providing notice every three years.

It is prudent to review your Notice of Privacy Practices on a routine interval to be sure it accurately reflects your entity’s information. The entity will need to revise its Notice of Privacy Practices if the entity moved to a different location, merged with another entity, changed ownership, changed privacy practices, designated a new contact person for HIPAA privacy issues or made other significant changes.

Minding Your Business

If your business is a health plan, you need to provide notice to enrollees by April 14, 2006 of the availability of your Notice of Privacy Practices. It is important to have a Notice of Privacy Practices that contains the correct information for the entity. The penalties for HIPAA violations can amount to thousands of dollars per incident.
Don’t be caught off guard.

June M. Sullivan, Esq. is an attorney with the Hartford-based firm Halloran & Sage LLP specializing in health care law, defense of health care providers, risk managment, and HIPAA compliance; (860) 241-4077.

Performance Driven

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Pat Montgomery says his job is be to the face of the MassMutual Center. By that he means it’s his responsibility to build the relationships and partnerships needed to make the $71 million facility a success, while also doing whatever it takes to provide event organizers and convention planners with a positive experience.

Pat Montgomery says the community of promoters and meeting and convention planners is a small, fairly close-knit group.

“They all know each other and they like to talk and compare notes,” he told BusinessWest. “That’s why you want them saying good things about you.”

Creating such positive talk could be considered a very broad job description for Montgomery, who last summer became general manager of the MassMutual Center, which opened its doors in October.

And that means that he’ll definitely be earning his keep this month.

Indeed, by the time March is over, there will be considerable talk within meeting and convention circles about Springfield and its new, $71 million convention center. Events on tap range from an auto show to a performance by Larry the Cable Guy; the Division II men’s basketball finals to Disney on Ice; the Governor’s Council on Travel and Tourism conference to a Motley Crue concert.

“It’s a big month … we’re going to be really busy,” said Montgomery, adding that the packed schedule brings both challenge and opportunity. The former will come in both the number and diversity of the various events — on a few dates there are big shows going on simultaneously in the arena and the convention floor — while the latter involves the potential for generating large amounts of that favorable talk he referred to.

“It’s all about creating a positive experience, and a lot goes into that,” he explained, adding that his broad assignment is to make Springfield and the region ‘convention-ready.’

To successfully carry out that assignment, Mongtomery said he and his staff must build a number of relationships and partnerships with groups and organizations that range from the Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau (GSCVB) to the city’s police department; the Spirit of Springfield to area hotel managers.

It is through such partnerships that the MassMutual Center can meet the financial goals set by the Mass. Convention Center Authority, which owns the building, and also make the Pioneer Valley a viable tourist and convention destination, said Montgomery, who added that as GM, he acts as the ‘face’ of the facility.

Elaborating, he said that means he’s very visible — in the building and in the community — and interfacing with a number of constituencies, from audience members to Chamber of Commerce leaders. This is an evolving role, one that Montgomery, who came to Springfield and the MassMutual Center from the Liacouras Center at Temple University in Philadelphia, says he’s growing into.

“This is a great opportunity for me … it’s been wonderful learning experience,” he said, adding that his education will no doubt be enhanced by the crowded March schedule. “Every day, every show, brings something new.”

BusinessWest looks this month at the many aspects of Montgomery’s new assignment, and how he goes about the task of putting his facility, and the region as a whole, on the map.

Pinning Him Down

Like most people, Mongtomery doesn’t exactly understand the attraction of professional wrestling. “I don’t get it personally, but to each his own,” he said, adding quickly that he was there, in the front row, for the December Smackdown put on by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the publicly traded conglomerate headed by Vince McMahon.

He wasn’t exactly taking in the action on the mat, though. Rather, he was doing what he does at every event staged at the facility — watching, listening, and doing everything in his power to make sure organizers leave with smiles on their faces.

“That show was amazing,” Mont-gomery said of the Smackdown, referring not to the wrestling per se, but the scope of the production staged by the WWE. “There were giant screens and this huge metal fist they brought in — it was great a show and a real test for us, one that we passed easily.”

Each show tests Montgomery and his staff of 22 in some way, be it parking, traffic, lighting, logistics, or making sure the carbon dioxide levels are within safe limits at the recent monster truck show. “Each event is different, and each one presents us unique challenges,” he explained. “That’s what makes this work fun and, in many ways, rewarding.”

Montgomery was drawn to the field of arena management as an undergraduate at Temple. He later earned a master’s degree in Sports Administration at the school and started his career as event manager and assistant general manager of the Liacouras Center.

That’s one of 40 arenas (the Mullins Center at UMass is another) managed by Philadelphia-based Global Spectrum, a subsidiary of ComCast and the world’s second largest management, consulting, and event development company for public assembly facilities. That category includes stadiums, ice rinks, and exposition centers, as well as convention centers in Palm Beach and Miami, Fla., Richmond, Va., Pueblo, Colo., and other cities.

That list grew by one last summer when the Mass. Convention Center Authority chose Global Spectrum to manage the MassMutual Center. Montgomery sought to come from Springfield because the facility here represents a larger, sterner challenge.

“This has both an arena and a convention center,” he explained. “This is a bigger, better facility that will provide me with experience in putting on a wide array of shows and events.”

The center’s first four months in business offer a glimpse of that diversity. In addition to the wrestling and monster truck shows, the facility hosted two performances of Dora the Explorer, a Martina McBride concert (the first sold-out concert in Springfield in more than 15 years), the Harlem Globetrotters, and several other events.

Work staging those shows has helped prep the MassMutual Center staff for its own version of March Madness.

The month started with the Inter-national Auto Showcase, a giant car show staged in the exhibition hall Feb. 28-March 1, as well as shows of Monsters, Inc. Disney on Ice and the March 6 Motley Crue concert. Other events on tap include:

  • The Northeast Campground Asso-ciation’s regional industry trade show and conference;
  • The NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball finals and Elite Eight Division II Men’s Basketball tournament;
  • The annual Mass. Governor’s Conference on Travel and Tourism;
  • A performance by Larry the Cable Guy, who offers what is called ‘redneck humor’; and
  • The annual conference of MATHWEST, the Association of Teachers of Mathematics in Western Mass.

The March events at the MassMutual Center will complement others in the area during the month, including a conference of the Mass. Municipal Auditors and Accountants at UMass, a gathering of New England District Key Clubs at Springfield’s Marriott and Sheraton Hotels, and a conference of the New England Cheerleading Assoc., expected to bring 3,500 people to Western New England College.

The sum of the various events is expected to generate, by the GSCVB’s estimates, more than 32,000 visitors to the region, nearly 5,000 room nights, and close to $1.2 million in overall economic impact.

“March will give us a great opportunity to introduce some people to Springfield and the region, and let them see that we can put on a good show,” said Montgomery, adding that the generation of positive experiences is a process, one that requires teamwork and cooperation.

Working in Concert …

As he gave BusinessWest a quick tour of the MassMutual Center and its many different facilities, Montgomery, referring to the designers and contractors, said, “they did it right.”

By that, he meant that the facility and its specific parts, from the arena bowl to the smaller meeting rooms, were designed and built to be user-friendly and to solve problems, not create them.

“This facility has all the bells and whistles, starting with the scoreboard — it definitely creates a ‘wow’ factor,” he explained, “but beyond that, it was designed with the users in mind. The designers anticipated virtually every need, from where to put electrical outlets on down the list, and they addressed them; it’s a great asset for the region.”

But the building itself is only part of the equation when it comes to making the MassMutual Center successful and able to meet its stated goals — generating revenue for both the Mass. Convention Center Authority and the region as a whole.

Other components include an aggressive sales strategy that focuses on selling not merely the MassMutual Center or the city of Springfield, but the region itself; continued building of partnerships within the broad tourism and hospitality sector in the region; and working to break through the perception that Springfield is a troubled city.

Competing cities, including Worcester, Lowell, Providence, and Hartford, no doubt help to create that perception, said Montgomery, noting that the business of attracting shows and conventions is like any other — it’s cut-throat. What Springfield must do, he continued, is counter those perceptions by addressing its issues with regard to crime and budget deficits, while also generating solid reviews within the meeting and convention community.

“We have to create a good name for ourselves … that’s how you break through the perception problems we have,” he explained. “And you do that by making sure that when people leave, they have a good taste in their mouths.

“You want to develop a good reputation,” he continued, “you want to have people saying ‘they do a really good job there, they took good care of us.”

Thus far, Montgomery believes he and his staff — and the many other players involved in bringing conventions and events to the region — have created positive talk about Springfield and its facility.

“The wrestling people loved us — they want to come back,” he said, noting that return visits will be one good barometer of how the MassMutual center is meeting or exceeding expectations. Another will be the number of new events that are gained through positive word-of-mouth referrals.

Using concerts as an example, he expects that promoters will look at both the numbers from the Martina McBride show and the smoothness of that concert and conclude that Springfield is ready and able to handle more of such shows.

“We had a lot of positive press from that event, and a lot of E-mails and letters from people who attended saying they had a good time,” he said. “That all helps to create that reputation you’re looking for.”

Closing Number

Montgomery said he attends virtually every event at the MassMutual Center. That includes Martina McBride, the monster trucks, and Dora the Explorer.

“It can wear you out a little, but it’s one of the things that makes the job fun,” he explained, adding that by attending in person he can get the look and feel of an event from a spectator’s perspective.

That’s just one of many aspects of being the ‘face’ of the facility and one of the strategies being employed to create positive experiences and, as Montgomery put it, “getting people to say good things about you.”

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

Fighting Inflation

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Springfield-based Spalding has been making a name for itself in recent years for essentially re-engineering the common basketball. It started with a product that placed the inflating pump inside the ball itself, and continued with the introduction last fall of something called the Never Flat™, a ball that is guaranteed not to deflate. The product has met with solid early reviews, and sales for the company have been anything but flat.

When Bob Llewellyn talks about concerns over inflation, he’s not referring to the economy and the threat of price increases that Alan Greenspan spent a career working to minimize.

No, he’s talking about filling a ball with air or, to be more specific, the challenge of keeping one filled.

Over time, air will eventually leak out, he explained, adding that this has been a long-time problem for many consumers; people often put their pump and inflating needle in a special place — and then forget where that is.

They may never need to remember, thanks to a new product rolled out (literally) by Springfield-based Spalding last fall. It’s called the NEVER FLAT basketball, a name that is also a slight exaggeration.

The ball stays inflated 10 times longer than a traditional basketball, said Llewellyn, Spalding’s director of Consumer Marketing and Business Analysis, noting that this amounts o perhaps 15 months or so, longer than the lifespan of many balls.

So, in that respect, the ball often never does go flat, he said, adding that the product has become a real hit with retailers and consumers alike. Meanwhile, the new science involved, which includes proprietary pressure-retention technologies and, in essence, changes the air inside the ball, has been nominated for several sports-innovation-related honors.

Indeed, for Spalding, the ball represents another step forward in the use of new technology to improve product quality and enhance sales, said Llewellyn. Five years ago, the company introduced a product called Infusion, which features technology that builds an inflating pump into the ball.

It was introduced with basketballs, but was eventually incorporated into new models in football, volleyball, and soccer lines, he explained, adding that Never Flat, which goes one step further — virtually eliminating the need for a pump — will likely be used in other Spalding products as well.

For now, though, the focus is on the basketball realm, where the Never Flat gives Spalding a real opportunity to expand market share by giving consumers even more options, said Christy Hedgpeth, a former college and pro player who now serves as Spalding’s senior manager of basketball marketing.

Gesturing to a display in the company’s main conference room featuring dozens of different styles and colors of basketball, she said Spalding has greatly increased its number of skews in recent years, a strategy that has succeeded it giving it roughly half of all basketball sales.

The Never Flat will complement the existing portfolio, not render other models, such as Infusion, obsolete, she explained.

“We want to establish is the notion that no matter what price point they may be looking at, people can rely on Spalding,” she explained. “Hopefully, we’ll have something to meet the needs of everyone looking for a basketball; that’s how we’ll gain market share.”

BusinessWest looks this issue at how this new product is helping Spalding in its broader mission to become a stronger, more versatile sporting goods company.

Pressure Points

Lebron James, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, and other NBA players were the real standouts of the NBA All-Star game and related festivities staged last month in Houston.

But there was another, far less heralded, individual putting up some impressive numbers.

Like 26.5. That’s the number of continuous hours that Joseph Odhiambo dribbled a basketball during a special promotion during all-star week, a performance good enough to break a Guinness world record. He eclipsed another one two days later when he spun a ball on his finger for a continuous four hours and 15 minutes, shattering the old mark by 16 minutes.

He accomplished both feats with a Never Flat ball, said Hedgpeth, noting that one was also in use when students from Duke and the University of North Carolina squared off in record-breaking 58-hour basketball game staged in mid-January. The final score was 3,688-3,444, with Duke prevailing. Also tallied, sort of, was the number of times the ball bounced. Using an average-bounces-per-minute multiplier, the final number was projected at 125,000.

These exhibitions and others — Never Flats were used in recent attempts to break the Guinness records for most free throws and three-point shots made in one minute — are part of a broad campaign to introduce the ball to consumers, said Hedgpeth. All-star weekend was the perfect launch platform, she explained, noting that the various events and exhibits — and Spalding had a presence at all of them — were attended by more than 120,000 people.

They took in Odhiambo’s efforts at a facility called the ‘Spalding Record Setting Court,’ and also were exposed to banners, video promotions, and a host of other marketing strategies. “The ball was everywhere people looked,” she said.

To top things off, the company gave a Never Flat ball to an entire section of fans at the Toyota Center during the All-star game— an estimated 200-250 people.

What these individuals took home looked just like a normal basketball — on the surface. Inside, of course, things are much different, and this is what allows the ball to take its name.

Left on a shelf or a ball rack, the average basketball will eventually lose air, Llewellyn explained, noting that the recommended pressure for a ball is 7 to 9 pounds per square inch, and that over the course of a year that number will fall to 3 or 4 psi. Looking at it another way, he said a basketball will fall out of game-ball specifications in three months.

These numbers provide the primary motivation for the Never Flat, which was developed over the course of only a few months through a partnership between Spalding and Primo Innovations, an invention laboratory started by two materials scientists, Dan Sandusky and Michael O’Neill, after they left DuPont. The product attacks air loss through several changes in basic basketball design.

First, the scientists addressed air loss through solid membranes by reducing the porosity of the ball’s internal bladder through the incorporation of new materials that reduce the size and number of holes in the bladder. Next, Primo’s team addressed air leakage from the standard ball’s rubber valve by incorporating a removable plug. The hole in a valve is tiny, said Llewellyn, but air can still get through. Meanwhile, the plug keeps dirt from getting into the valve, further reducing the loss of air.

But the biggest change is to the air inside the ball itself.

Primo developed a proprietary gaseous concoction called NitroFlate. It is comprised of a mix of large and small gas molecules that effectively block the exits used by air molecules as they try to escape through the pores in the ball’s inner membrane.

The combination of these ingredients has produced a ball that lives up to its name, said Llewellyn, adding that the Never Flat exemplifies Spalding’s ongoing work to take the hassles out of playing a sport, but preserving its core aspects.

“The company has adopted the slogan ‘True to the Game’ to describe the products it brings on the shelves,” he explained, “and Never Flat builds on that reputation.”

The new technology has gained the attention of Popular Science, which made it a semi-finalist in its ‘Sports Edge Product of the Year’ competition, and by the Sporting Goods Manufacturing Assoc. (SGMA) which made it one of five finalists for ‘New Sports Product of the Year.’ It is competing against, among other things, a treadmill, an elliptical machine, and a sports bra that comes complete with a heart monitor.

Round Numbers

What the Never Flat technology allows consumers and (soon) college and high school equipment managers to do is forget about the needle and pump. And if that sounds like a big step forward in sports technology — it is, said Llewellyn.

And this was reflected in the reaction by retailers when they were first shown the ball and told about its performance capabilities last fall.

“They all wanted to know when they could get the ball, how many, and if they could have exclusivity,” he said, adding that the product made its retail debut at a Dick’s sporting goods store in Danvers, Mass.

That launch time, around Thanksgiving, is a period when stores are loading up for the holidays and floor and display space is at a premium. “But for this ball, they made space on the shelves,” he explained.

And the balls moved off the shelves as well. Spalding saw its market share in the basketball market jump from just over 40% to nearly 55% in the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas, said Llewellyn, noting that the share dropped back to the mid-40s in the subsequent months, which are generally slow when it comes to sporting goods sales.

Things pick up in the early spring, however, as the weather gets warmer and March Madness and, later, the NBA playoffs commence, said Hedgpeth, adding that Spalding will utilize the marketing slogan ‘enhanced performance under pressure’ to convey how the ball and the individuals using it can perform.

The company is gearing up for the spring with a series of promotional strategies, including print ads, in-arena marketing, as Hedgpeth called it, and a recently debuted television commercial featuring Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce.

Produced in conjunction with Lenox-based Winstanley Associates, the commercial was crafted in a way that seeks to take the target audience (12- to 24-year-old males) inside the basketball. Describing the effects used in creating the ad, Winstanley’s Creative Director Ralph Frisina said they had a dual mission.

“They needed to be so descriptive as to be scientific,” he explained, “yet cool enough to elicit a ‘wow, did you see that?’ reaction.”

Whether total sales volume will eventually wow Spalding executives remains to be seen, but if the Infusion’s performance is any indication — the company projected first-year sales of 250,000 and then sold nearly 1 million — the Never Flat will do well.

“We’re very confident that consumers will embrace this ball because it solves what is, for many, a real problem,” said Llewellyn, who declined to release specific sales goals or projections. “We know this product is a winner.”

A New Spin

As part of its broad promotional strategy for the Never Flat, Spalding supplied retailers with displays that let the consumer know exactly how long the ball they were considering would go before losing perfect pressure and game-ball status.

It reads ‘374 days, 04 hours, and 21 minutes,’ and was calculated to account for several days or even weeks on the store shelf before purchase.

Early indications are that most of the balls won’t be in the store that long. The product, and the technology, seem to be scoring points where it counts the most — the court of public opinion.

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

Home Base

By
Uncategorized

With a number of recent expansion projects completed and more on the horizon, the national reach of Westover Air Reserve Base is extending rapidly. Rather than becoming more withdrawn from the community as the military steps up operations at the base, however, Westover is becoming even more integral to the Western Mass. Economy, bringing more visitors, more industrial activity, and most importantly, more jobs to the Valley.

It could be viewed as a town within a city.

Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee is the workplace of over 2,400 Air Force reservists and 600 civilian employees, including 50 active air force pilots. It’s home to the 439th Airlift Wing – capable of providing worldwide air movement of troops, supplies, equipment, and medical patients, and airdrop and combat off-load operations.

In terms of land area, Westover is the largest Air Force Reserve base in the country. In terms of staff, military and otherwise, it’s ranked third. In addition to its winding maze of internal roadways, building complexes, and airfields, Westover also features living quarters, food service facilities, and a full-scale bowling alley – it’s the only reserve base in the country with such an amenity.

It even has its own Galaxy – nickname to Westover’s fleet of 16 C-5 cargo aircraft.

But despite its breadth within the guarded gates, Westover is not an island within the Western Mass. landscape. As the base continues to grow, following a pattern that began shortly after 9/11 when the base’s importance to national security was realized more fully by the U.S. military, its relevance to the local economy has also become that much more prevalent. With a greater part to play in national security comes a greater influx of federal dollars, to fund increases in personnel, services, and facilities.

All of those initiatives lead to new jobs – both in the civilian and military sectors – and a trickle-down effect that benefits many businesses in Chicopee and across Western Mass., both directly and indirectly.

Major Patrick S. Ryan, deputy mission support commander at Westover, calls the phenomenon the “municipal-military bond.”

“The old paradigm that a military base must stand apart and separate from the community in which it functions is dead,” he explained. “Just like any other business, we need to consistently attract more and better employees, and being an active part of the Western Mass. community helps us do that.”

A Changing Skyline

Indeed, since 2001, some major additions and renovations have been undertaken at the base; some are being completed now, and others are slated to begin in the coming years.

One of the largest projects on the drawing board will be in response to the Army’s decision to constuct a three-building complex to house an Army regimental headquarters, bringing upwards of 1,000 new personnel. The details are still unclear in regard to the expansion, which is scheduled to begin in 2007, but Ryan noted that 1,000 is a cautious number in terms of additional staff and reservists.

“The Navy SeaBees will also be moving into a new facility here, and that will bring a 400-man battalion to the base,” he added, noting that change will come further on in the future, in 2008 or early 2009.

But other changes to the base are expected to begin this month, including the addition of a new base operations building, made possible by a recent surge of federal dollars following an emergency insertion by Sen. Edward Kennedy.

In addition, a new security forces building officially opened in January, after construction that began in 2003 was completed to construct a new home for the 140-member 439th Security Forces Squadron, allowing them to move out of the World War II-era building they once occupied. The base’s gym and dining hall are also both currently under construction.

Those projects are the latest in an ongoing surge of facility upgrades and additions in both staff and services at Westover that Ryan said began following 9/11, but has continued in part due to the base’s role in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“We are the closest base to Europe in the nation, so that means we can transport more cargo using less fuel,” he explained. “That becomes increasingly important during times that movements are happening on a large scale. We are also a reserve base with a large faction of seasoned, experienced personnel, some of whom have been here for 10 to 20 years and have an incredible depth of understanding in their field. People come here to tap into that experience – to tap into us when structuring movements such as Iraqi Freedom, or relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina.”

In 2001, for instance, the 2nd Lt. Michael J. Casey Reserve Training Center was constructed, moving all Marine offices at Westover into one facility, and a Military Entry and Processing Station (MEPS) was also built in 2001, replacing the former, smaller facility once located in downtown Springfield. The facility at Westover now serves as a physical and career testing and processing center for new or potential recruits, and serves not only Western Mass., but Connecticut, Vermont, and parts of New Hampshire as well. There is only one other MEPS in the state, Ryan said, in Boston.

“The MEPS is definitely busy,” he said, noting that when recruits or potential recruits visit the base for testing and processing, they’re using all of the base’s lodging, meal, and recreation services, as well as patronizing area businesses outside of the base.

Like a Good Neighbor

That’s a trend he said will continue as the base grows and expands, but the importance of the base to the local economy, as it expands on a level of national importance, is much larger than a few reservists grabbing dinner at a local eatery.

“Overall, our growth in the past four or five years has been exponential. We’ve had good luck with receiving (federal) money for construction projects, and a lot of that was driven by 9/11,” said Ryan. “At any given time, we have thousands of people living or working here, and those people are using the resources available to them in the community.”

Conversely, the base is an increasingly valuable asset to the surrounding community, as well. For one, the base provides those 600 full-time civilian jobs, ranging from maintenance crews to engineers to civilian flying operations personnel.

But the base has also been instrumental in other career-oriented arenas. Through a strong partnership with the Federal Executive Administration of Western Mass., military and civilian employees at Westover lobbied to change the locality rate – the salary awarded to employees working in a number of federal jobs, such as in Social Security offices and with the Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife – to mirror that of Hartford, Conn. That meant many employees received a 10% boost in pay last year, mostly ‘general schedule,’ or salaried employees. This year, paperwork is flying to get ‘wage grade’ employees – those paid hourly – a similar increase.

David Kocot, chief engineer at Westover and a civilian employee himself, said that on a more regular basis, local firms and individuals benefit when new projects are undertaken at Westover, and are encouraged to enter the bidding process, often winning the jobs. But even if a firm based outside the area is chosen, Kocot said the area still receives a boost.

“Even when a national firm accepts a job, often local employees are hired,” he said.
On an ongoing basis, for instance, two firms – Phoenix Management, based in Austin, Texas, and Burns and Roe, based in New Jersey – oversee a number of regular base services in-house, such as property management, supply transportation, and air field management, and all of the firms’ employees at Westover were hired locally.

Kocot agreed with Ryan that the civilian/military cross-over has created a unique bond between the base and Western Mass., the city of Chicopee in particular.

“There is tremendous communication with the mayor’s office and the base, and historically, that has been the case,” he said.

Ryan added that the base also wastes no time in forging new bonds with new mayors, including current Mayor Mike Bissonnette.

“It starts with extending a hand as soon as a new mayor takes office, and the commander meets the mayor as soon as possible. The municipal/military bond is very strong – we want to participate in community efforts, and we’re happy to have them as well.”

That bond touches on a myriad of issues within the city of Chicopee. Cooperation is essential during major events such as the annual Westover Air Show, which brings more than 300,000 people to the base and the city each year.

But it’s also important during quieter times, when cooperation can augment not only military organization and safety, but that of the community as a whole.

The base recently collaborated, for instance, in a mock emergency drill in the center of Chicopee, which simulated a plane crash. That drill was staged in order to create a better understanding between military emergency procedures and those of the city’s police and fire departments.

The base also partners regularly with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and local planning boards in surrounding communities such as Chicopee, South Hadley, and Granby, to address various environmental and community planning issues that might be affected by operations at the base.

For the Birds

“We collaborate on noise studies, planning efforts, and conservation efforts,” said Kocot. “For instance, if a school is going to be built, we want the community to know if our flight patterns are going to create a noise issue. If there is a particular type of bird that is prevalent in a certain area, we want to work with the community to make sure the activity at the base isn’t disrupting its population, or that the birds aren’t disrupting our flights.”

And while keeping an eye on the local bird population is just one small aspect of Westover’s operations, it’s an important show of solidarity from the base, extended to the surrounding communities; one that underscores the fact that Westover does not stand alone, but rather alongside a wide series of community partners.

The only thing they keep for themselves is the bowling alley.

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

By
Departments

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

Brown, Randy
117 Spear Road
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/27/06

Caputo, Laurence A.
536 East Main St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/31/06

Colon, Wilfredo
140 Chestnut St.
Unit No. M-1
Springfield, MA 01103
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/01/06

Daviau, Christopher M.
25 Taylor St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/01/06

Daviau, Lilaina W.
25 Taylor St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/01/06

Deliefde, Margaret J.
32 Daviau Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/01/06

Dion, Cathy J.
45 Hearthstone Ter.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/30/06

Dumaine, Adelard Pierre
79 Woodsong Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/27/06

Dumaine, Darcy Jean
79 Woodsong Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/27/06

Feuerstein, Derrick P.
72 Barrett St., Unit #215
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/24/06

Harris, Sarah A.
28 Woodcliff St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/19/06

Harvey, Wayne J.
P.O. Box 733
Warren, MA 01083
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/24/06

LeBlanc, Arthur
262 County Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/25/06

Matarazzo, Robert Philip
55 Stedman St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/01/06

Montagna, James J.
50 Armstrong St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/30/06

Morales , Ferdinan
979 Chicopee St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/23/06

Morgan, Gordon Samuel
86 Lakevilla Ave.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/18/06

Normand Thebodo,
Melissa J.
161 Chesnut St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/24/06

Packard, Regina V.
24 Berwyn St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/23/06

Pease, James R.
616 Center St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/18/06

Schmidt, Rosemary
370 Pochassic St.
Woronoco, MA 01097
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/17/06

Tripoli, Frank C.
34 Aspen St.
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/19/06

Vondell, Nancy A.
19 Lindbergh Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/27/06

Zambrana, Magda
71 Thompson St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/16/06

By
Departments

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.

HAMPSHIRE SUPERIOR COURT

Quincy Mutual Fire Insurance Co.
a/s/o Mary Lakowsky v. Donald Lakowsky d/b/a One Source Electric
Allegation: Defendant’s breach of contract caused extensive fire damage to plaintiff’s insured dwelling: $114,714
Date Filed: Jan. 27

Energy East Solutions Inc. v. Bioshelters Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for services: $29,631
Date Filed: Jan. 31

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT

Home Lumber Co. Inc. v.
Richard A. Neis, Jr. a/k/a Rick Neis d/b/a Pioneer Valley Construction
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for supplies: $15,941.12
Date Filed: Feb. 9

Medforce Inc. v.
Northampton Healthcare Assoc. Inc. d/b/a Northampton Rehab and Nursing Center
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for services: $23,007.60
Date Filed: Feb. 13

HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT

D.A. Sullivan & Sons Inc. v.
Young Women’s Christian Association of Western MA
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods and services: $100,305.73
Date Filed: Feb. 9
 

By
Departments

The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or
renewed during the month of February 2006.

AGAWAM

Agawam Roofing & Siding
378 Walnut St. Ext.
Wesley LaCross

Cascio Company Inc.
262 Meadow
St. Thomas Cascio

CHH Engraving Inc.
430 Main St.
John Barber

Clinical Psychology Assoc.
46 Suffield
St. Richard Schwartz

Control Pak of New England
81 Ramah
Cir South Ronald Bennett

EHS Compliance Services
36 Danny Lane
Bradley Wright

EyeCare & Eyewear
170 Main St.
Madonna Santos OD

Halo Creations
37 Orlando St.
Hal Vermes

JRS Agawam Flea Market
870 Suffield St.
Prospect Enterprises

Mario’s Pizzeria
4 Southwick St.
Mario Bongiovanni

Mill Realty Co.
168 Elm St.
Vincent Zucco

St. Anne Country Club
817 Shoemaker Lane
Paul Napolitan

Suburban Appraisal Co.
499 Springfield St.
Michael Nicora

CHICOPEE

Affordable Overhead Door
1743 Memorial Dr.
Chris Zimmek

Project Management Services
76 Chapel St.
Daniel Cruz

Webtixdirect
1491 Memorial Dr.
Timothy Tlusty

EAST LONGMEADOW

Emerald Productions
33 Rankin St.
Michael O’Shea

HOLYOKE

Basic Prints
200 High St.
Richard Soto

Mamita’s Market
349 Main St.
Monica Valez, Luis Rivera

Pat’s Fine Foods
1693 Northampton St.
Robert Cardinale

T & T Variety
362 High St.
Isidro Herrera

LONGMEADOW

A.F. Carosella Electrical Services
56 Cobblestone Road
Alexander Carosella

LeDuc Racing
25 Shady Knoll
Timothy LeDuc

Utilx Corporation
22820 Russell Road
Steve Maasch

NORTHAMPTON

irrell Builders
35 West Farms Road
Ronald Birrell

Foley Investigations
947 Barts Pit Road
Deborah Foley

Harrison Programming & Development Services
579 Coles Meadow Road
Mark Harrison

Nova Books
48 Old South St.
Vivian Smith

Side St. Café
42 Maple St.
Bodacious Cowboy Dining
LLC

WW2 Diecast Models
11 Bridge St.
David Morello

SPRINGFIELD

Alex’s Market
234 Orange St.
Alexandra Torres

Between Friends
22 Dunbar St.
Nocole Belbin

Candy n’ More
166 Boston Road
Ernest Warren

Double A Construction Co.
29 Blodgett St.
Frederick Albano

Enfield Sports Café
207 Worthington St.
Ronald Ross

Express Flooring
580 Dickinson St.
James Beach

Fix My Bug Computers
501 Main St.
Francis Carter

Gold Coast Market
253 Bay St.
Martha Ansali

Hathaway Construction Co.
834 Sumner Ave.
Scott Hathaway

Inci te Network
35 Wrenwood St.
Wesley Downey

J.B. Enterprises
49 Dearborn St.
Jay Brown

J & S Contractor
501 Berkshire Ave.
Svetlana Barrios

K & W CAD
52 Mapledell St.
Kenneth Guidry

Montessori School of Springfield
1644 Allen St.
Rani Jayatiloka

Pink Lemonade Design
130 Powell Ave.
William Creech

Rumba Music Shop
1233 C Main St.
Felix Perez

WEST SPRINGFIELD

A-1 American Eagle Oil
26 Roanoke St.
Bay State Fuel Oil of
Agawam

B & S Oil
26 Roanoke Ave.
Bay State Fuel Oil of
Agawam

Bay State/Cashway
26 Roanoke Ave.
Bay State Fuel Oil of
Agawam

Bay State/Quick Stop
26 Roanoke Ave.
Bay State Fuel Oil of
Agawam

Belmont Oil
26 Roanoke Ave.
Bay State Fuel Oil of
Agawam

Bunn’s Oil
26 Roanoke Ave.
Bay State Fuel Oil of
Agawam

Corbett Energy
26 Roanoke Ave.
Bay State Fuel Oil of
Agawam

Electrical Cost Estimating
208 Sawmill Road
Bart O’Connor

MRW Realty LLC/Re/Max
Teamwork
10 Chestnut St.
John Wynne

Ortolani Oil
26 Roanoke Ave.
Bay State Fuel Oil of
Agawam

Saveway Oil
26 Roanoke Ave.
Bay State Fuel Oil of
Agawam

Sweeney Associates
84 Cedar Woods Glen
Daniel Garvey

Westside Shearing Demolition
190 Day St.
Keith Villeneuve

WESTFIELD

The Brothers’ Shop
2 Russell Road
Frankin Tompkins

Dragon Fly Books
71 Elm St.
Susan Newman

Franklin Auto Body
11 Dwight St.
Bruce Neumann

Phone Zone Wireless
2 Main St.
John Krok

Shear Paradise
22 Church St.
Diane Truitt

By
Departments

Westbank in West Springfield announced the following:
• Michael J. Harrington has been promoted to Vice President, Commercial Loans. He will be working from the Westfield branch;
• Robert D. Fluharty Jr., Vice President of Leasing, has been appointed the additional responsibilities of a Commercial Loan Officer, and
• Joseph S. Lemay, Vice President of Indirect Lending, has been appointed the additional responsibilities of Head of Consumer Loans.

•••••

Winstanley Associates of Lenox announced the following:
• Brenda Gelston has joined the firm as Director of Marketing. She will be responsible for developing new business and determining the needs, issues, concerns and priorities of clients;
• Jenny Wright has joined the firm as Art Director, and
• Kelly Galbraith has joined the firm as Graphic Designer.
In their roles, Wright and Galbraith will be responsible for developing creative concepts and executing designs for several of Winstanley’s larger accounts, including Spalding, Polar Beverages, Legacy Banks, Hardigg Industries, Adirondack Beverages and Smith & Wesson.

•••••

Paul Nicolai

Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly recently featured attorney Paul Nicolai in an article on the subject of lawyers collecting fees from clients. The Jan. 30 cover story, “At What Cost?” examined whether lawyers should sue clients to get paid. Nicolai is President of the Nicolai Law Group, P.C. in Springfield, and is Chair of the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Fee Arbitration Board which settles attorney fee disputes.

•••••

Jeffrey L. Sedgwick, Associate Professor of Political Science at the UMass Amherst, has been nominated by President George W. Bush to be the Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the U.S. Department of Justice. Sedgwick, who is on a year-long leave from his faculty post, is awaiting approval of his nomination by the U.S. Senate’s Judiciary Committee. If the panel endorses his nomination, he must then be confirmed by the Senate. One of the nine largest statistical agencies within the federal government, the Bureau of Justice Statistics has a budget of nearly $46 million and 52 staff.

•••••

Commercial banker Michael J. Oleksak has been named Regional President for the Pioneer Valley for Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc., the holding company for Berkshire Bank in Pittsfield. A separate business unit for the region has been established at 31 Court St., Westfield, with local management.

•••••

Jenna Lisella, Manager of the West Springfield McDonald’s on Riverdale Avenue, has received a 2006 Ray Kroc Award. The award is given to McDonald’s employees who have continued the legacy of Kroc, founder of the company.

•••••

Kathleen Lodge has been named Sales Manager for Applied Software Technologies of West Springfield.

•••••

Project manager James E. Graf will oversee a new southern New England office in Wilbraham for Enterprise Engineering Inc., with offices in Freeport, Maine, and Anchorage, Alaska.

•••••

American International College in Springfield announced the following:
• Richard F. Bedard has been named Executive Vice President of Administration. He will oversee athletics;
• Edward D. Meyer has been named Executive Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness. He will oversee the grant-funded office for institutional research;
• Roland E. Holstead has been named Vice President for Educational Enterprise. His role will include marketing and creation of new programs, and
• Gregory Schmutte, Dean of the School of Psychology and Education, will also serve as Vice President for Academic Affairs.

•••••

Jewish Geriatric Services in Longmeadow announced the following:
• Lois R. White has been named Executive Vice President of Ruth’s House,
• Jane W. Sullivan has been named Director of Resident Care.

•••••

 

Lavena Pleva has been promoted to Unit Organizer for Princess House, based in Taunton.

•••••

Denise Deslaurier has joined For K-9’s & Felines in Westfield.

•••••

Lowell McLane has been appointed National Sales Manager of WWLP-TV, Channel 22, in Chicopee.

•••••

Environmental Compliance Services Inc. in Agawam announced the following:
• Kevin C. Sheehan has been appointed Chief Executive Officer;
• Mark A. Haynes has been promoted to Vice President and Corporate Operating Officer;
• Christopher C. Parent has become an Associate Stockholder;
• John C. Siedel has become an Associate Stockholder, and
• Mark C. Hellstein, the company’s founder, will remain President and a member of the Board of Directors.

•••••

Wesley John has joined Berkshire Bank in Pittsfield as a Vice President and Commercial Lender.

•••••

Lisa Kraus has been promoted to Branch Manager of Countrywide Home Loan’s West Springfield office where she will oversee operations and sales.

•••••

Plastic surgeon Colleen Jambor, M.D. has joined the Johnson Memorial Hospital Medical Staff and is in practice at Johnson Professional Associates, P.C., in Enfield, Conn.

•••••

Anderson Green has joined Reliant Mortgage Co. in East Longmeadow as Vice President and Regional Manager for Western Mass. He will oversee loan production and recruiting in Hampden and Hampshire counties, and will create markets in Northern Conn.

•••••

Andrew T. Henshon has been named Managing Partner for Renaissance in West Springfield, Pearson’s new venture of residential communities.

•••••

Wallace W. Altes has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc., the holding company for Berkshire Bank. He becomes the first Albany (N.Y.) Capital Region resident to serve as a Director of the Pittsfield-based financial institution. He is currently Executive-in-Residence at the Graduate College of Union University in Schenectady, N.Y.

•••••

Sales Agent Joyce L. Korona has joined Carlson GMAC Real Estate in its Westfield office.

•••••

St. Germain Investment Management announced the following:
• Paul J. Valickus has obtained the Certified Financial Planner designation from the Certified Financial Planning Board of Standards, and
• Brendon C. Hutchins has obtained the Certified Financial Planner designation from the Certified Financial Planning Board of Standards.

•••••

Srisubha Gadey has joined the accounting firm of Kostin, Ruffkess, Themistos & Dane LLC in Springfield.

•••••

Fuss & O’Neill’s West Springfield office announced these promotions:
• Eric Bernardin has been named an Associate and promoted to Project Director in the Civil Engineering unit;
• Kurt Mailman has been named Senior Project Manager in the Environmental Planning and Infrastructure unit;
• Gregory Russell has been named Engineer II in the Civil Engineering unit;
• Kyle Spear has been named Engineer II in the Facility and EHS unit, and
• Rebecca Budaj has been named Hydrogeologist II in the Environmental Assessment and Remediation unit.

•••••

Big Y Foods Inc. in Springfield announced the following:
• Thomas Morin has been appointed Food Safety Auditor;
• Theresa Jasmin has been appointed Senior Accountant;
• James Billingsley has been appointed Staff Accountant;
• Marybeth McNamara has been appointed Assistant Food Service Sales Manager, and
• Jennifer Eichorn has been appointed Store Merchandising Assistant, Eastern Zone.

By
Departments

Picture This

At top, hundreds turned out last month for the annual Go Red Breakfast in the ballroom of the Springfield Sheraton. The event was staged by the American Heart Association to create awareness of heart disease, the number-one cause of death among women.


Monarch Place served as one of the most prominent reminders of the Go Red for Women movement.


Traumatic Experience

Students and staff in the Springfield Technical Community College School of Health recently presented an unscripted emergency scenario in the trauma unit of the school’s Virtual Hospital. Using one of the simulators, who for the occasion was designated Scott Willard, a 20-year-old car accident victim suffering from severe chest pain and difficulty breathing, the students responded as they would if the incident was real. At below, students and staff tend to the ‘patient,’ while above, they watch a videotape of their actions, analyzing what went well and also what could or should have been done better.


 

Setting The Stage

By
Opinion
Ten years ago, the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School was still very much a dream for its founders. But now, its student body, as well as its reputation for excellence and creativity, is growing. The school, in a new home in South Hadley, is embarking on a capital campaign designed to make the PVPA’s next act as exciting as the first.

Upon an initial walk-though, the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts School looks much like any other high school. Students are hunched over books in classrooms and study halls, listening to iPods in the halls or pausing at the vending machines to talk to their friends.

Soon, though, subtle differences are noticeable. A Spanish class is held in a new theater, adjacent to the stage. A math class is one room over from a course in costume design, where the beginnings of Technicolor creations are fed into sewing machines.

A student on her way to class suddenly, randomly twirls, books in hand – a dancer’s spin to pass the time, or maybe some extra practice for an upcoming quiz.

From his new office on the first floor, Bob Brick, the school’s administrative director, observes all of this with a look of satisfaction. Only one semester into its 10th year and celebrating a new home in South Hadley, where the school recently relocated from Hadley, PVPA, a public charter school, has grown incrementally from its beginnings in 1996.

“Many people still don’t know we exist,” he said.

But the school is the culmination of a long-held dream for Brick. And the combination of PVPA’s move to South Hadley, the occasion of the school’s 10th anniversary, and its consistent success academically is beginning to move the school to center stage in Western Mass., and that’s a move that Brick hopes will help underscore PVPA’s unique mission.

Act One

Brick has been involved since PVPA was just a kernel of an idea – he founded the school along with educational director Ljuba Marsh. Previously, both had long careers in human services, but also in educational innovation – a fact they realized after knowing each other for years.

Brick was a founding member of the Project Ten experimental college at UMass Amherst in 1968, an attempt at revolutionizing the college experience. Similarly, Marsh has been involved with educational reform for more than 40 years, working with a number of institutions with a focus on academic and artistic integration.

“It had always been my dream to found a school that valued the performing arts, and it turned out it had always been a dream of Ljuba’s as well,” Brick said. “We never knew that about each other. But once we did, the process began to move very quickly.”

Coinciding with the Mass. Educational Reform movement, that process began with a call to the State Department of Education, initial approval, and that first class of freshmen in 1996, which included Brick’s daughter, now enrolled in medical school.

The PVPA now boasts a student body of about 400 in both middle school and high school, 40 full-time faculty members, and an additional 60 or so part-time faculty members and administrative staff. And Brick said he doesn’t want to see the school’s enrollment numbers grow too much more – that would affect the personal attention and small classes that are central to the school’s mission. But this year, the school received applications from more than four times the students it can accommodate – 300, with only 70 open slots available.

No auditions are necessary for admittance to the school – students are accepted based on a lottery system — but Brick says the large number of applications adds to the credibility of PVPA, and further bunks any notion that performing arts-based schools are heavy on creativity, but soft on academics.

In actuality, PVPA’s curriculum is one of the most stringent in the state, requiring students to attend classes for eight hours a day. Five of those hours are reserved for traditional, academic courses, and the remainder of the day is devoted to a variety of courses in performing arts, ranging from dance, theatre, and music to costume or set design.

“Everyone has to do eight credit hours per semester, four years of language, three years of lab sciences, and three consecutive years of a foreign language,” Brick explained. “In addition to performing arts requirements in their chosen concentration, students must also complete an internship and hours of community service. That’s not to mention the commute many of our students have.”

High school and middle school students from across the state are welcome to apply to PVPA, although Brick said special priority is given to those living in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties. Still, even across Western Mass., the school’s reach is extensive – the current student body hails from 60 cities and towns from east of Worcester to the Berkshires. Many commute to school an hour each way.

“They want to be here,” Brick said. “They’re a happy group of students, and many are in the beginnings of very strong careers in the performing arts.”

And the academic model at PVPA, which puts emphasis on creative, critical thinking is working, he noted.

“We value the individual needs of every student,” said Brick, “both academically and creatively. We work toward goals with the understanding that without the arts, most people aren’t complete … and our kids get into great colleges, and study both the performing arts as well as more traditional subjects. Our MCAS scores are some of the highest in the state.

“High school can be a very negative experience for people who are different,” he continued, shifting his focus from the academic success of the PVPA to the social aspects of high school life. “At some public schools, for instance, male dancers get shoved in lockers. Here, they’re gods. And everyone has something that makes them special, and that is appreciated.”

Set Design

Over the past decade, the school has existed at varying levels in terms of both its physical and academic presence in Western Mass. Brick explained that the school once offered only the ninth grade, sending students to different public or private schools for the remainder of their education. PVPA soon expanded, however, to include a full four-year curriculum in 2000 (the seventh and eighth grades were added in 2004) and to hold classes within several historic buildings on Route 9 in Hadley.

But Brick said the school was quickly outgrowing its facilities, and plans have been in motion for some time to relocate the school to a larger, more-consolidated location.

“Students had to walk 15 minutes sometimes to get to classes,” he explained of PVPA’s former digs. “They were rushing from building to building, crossing Route 9 … it could be awful, especially in the winter.”

Brick said the PVPA actually made five different attempts to relocate, conducting feasibility studies at three potential sites and actually purchasing 20 acres of land in Hadley with the hope of developing it at a later date – that land is still owned by PVPA, and Brick said the school is now planning to sell it.

None of the first four locations were suitable for a school, but a fifth option in South Hadley, situated on a hill on Mulligan Drive adjacent to the Ledges Golf Club, proved to be more promising. The property in which the school now operates had been vacant for years, having once served as a research and development facility for a chemical engineering firm, Intelicoat Technologies (formerly Rexham Graphics).

“It had been sitting around for five years, empty,” said Brick. “I don’t know exactly why … I can only surmise that the building hadn’t been right for a new business because it’s quirky – it’s only suited for certain uses, it’s big, and it’s sort of hidden up here.

“But for a charter school with students from all over the region, it’s perfect,” he added. “We’re four miles from I-91, there’s plenty of space that can be converted for specialty uses, parking, and plenty of land surrounding us. We saw very early on that this could work.”

The building and the land it occupies were purchased from Joe Marois, president of Marois Construction, in 2005. After examining the building and its potential for housing a performing arts school, Brick said PVPA soon began the process of purchasing the site from Marois and hiring his firm to renovate it – a $4.5 million endeavor.

“We used funds from some long-term fundraising we had been involved with, and a tax-exempt loan from MassDevelopment,” said Brick, adding that the renovation of the building was extensive. “In the end, we renovated about 98% of this building – we gutted it, added a third floor, installed new electric and plumbing systems, and an elevator.”

In actuality, the school’s new home encompasses less area than the former location in Hadley – about 50,000 square feet. But Brick said the space is better suited for academic use, and the students are, for the first time, under one roof.

“There is much more usable space,” he said. “We have three dance studios with sprung floors, a theatre, two sound studios, insulated rooms for music classes, a set design and costume shop, and a chemistry lab, all brand new and all in one building. It’s a huge improvement.”

And Brick said they’re not done, either. The school is currently in the middle of a capital campaign, raising money for a new, 450-seat theater at the school. Brick said he hopes to break ground on the project within the next two years, with the help of continued support from area organizations, businesses, and individuals.

He said the school has benefited from the financial help of what he terms “a few angels,” but added that there is still a need to increase the school’s visibility within the region’s business community, in order to continue to develop both the school itself and its unique curriculum.

He explained that the PVPA model is so different from most, it can cause some confusion – many people don’t realize that the school is a six-year, academic middle and high school that is open to any student with an interest in the performing arts. Fewer realize that the school has an exceedingly young alumni base that is, for the most part, still unprepared to give back substantially to their alma mater, unlike more-established specialty schools, public or private. After only 10 years in existence and only six including graduating classes, most PVPA alumni are still in college or starting their first jobs.

It has become part of Brick’s general duties to market the school as well as its needs, speaking to professional organizations such as rotary clubs regularly.

“It’s one of the most difficult needs we have to translate – that of the need for private support, even though we are a public school,” said Brick. “It’s similar to the challenges that all public schools face – yes, we receive support from the government. But it doesn’t cover everything, especially with the extended curriculum. We can use that support.”

Fame Seekers…

As the bell rings at PVPA and students begin to filter into the halls, Brick pauses to listen to the voices in the hall.

There’s the usual chatter, but it’s punctuated by bits of song, excited gossip about upcoming auditions, and the swinging whoosh of the theater door … little bursts of creativity, further cementing Brick’s dream in reality.

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

A Careful Strategy Is Needed for Memorial II

By
Uncategorized
There is considerable excitement in Springfield about the industrial park planned for an 86-acre parcel next to Smith & Wesson — and with good reason. It has been quite some time since a large tract of land was primed for development in the City of Homes, and there are great expectations about job creation, tax revenue generation, and a much-needed dose of good news.

But as city leaders and Mass-Development, the quasi-public agency hired to act as project manager for the initiative move forward, they must do so with both caution and patience. Memorial II could become a key component in the city’s broad economic development strategy, but only if that precious land is put toward uses that will bring significant long-term benefits, not short-term gains.

Springfield needs both jobs and tax dollars, but what it really needs are new jobs — not positions merely shuttled from one side of the city to the other or even from another Pioneer Valley community — and those proverbial good jobs at good wages; many of the jobs created in Springfield in recent have been in the tourism and service sectors, which are generally not high-paying.

And this is where the patience and caution come in.

MassDevelopment and Springfield’s leaders could probably fill Memorial II very quickly — the shortage of developable land in this region, especially parcels with easy access to major highways is nearing the critical stage. But, as we said, this is not a job to be done swiftly; it’s one to be done properly.

And it may take some time to do that, because attracting new jobs to a region is much more difficult than moving existing ones across town.

For evidence of this, one needs only look at the Chicopee River Industrial Park, a facility that straddles the Chicopee-Springfield line and is currently being earmarked for companies from outside the Pioneer Valley, and preferably those in technology-related sectors. At present, there is but one tenant, Convergent Prima, which has been alone in the park for nearly three years.

There are many possible reasons why the Chicopee River park has been slow to fill up — everything from the decline of the tech sector in recent years to the highly publicized fiscal and social problems facing Springfield. Whatever the reason, the Economic Development Council of West-ern Mass. is sticking to its guns and preserving those parcels for what can truly be described as new jobs.

Long term, this seems to be a sound strategy.

Doing the same with Memorial II will not be easy. Already there is talk that the site could become the next home of Performance Food Group (PFG), the giant food distribution company currently located on Taylor Street. Moving PFG a few miles down Route 291 would solve that company’s needs for larger quarters, but would it bring long-term benefits for Springfield and the region?

Probably not, especially since these are not those ‘good jobs’ that everyone wants Memorial II to generate. However, if Springfield faces losing PFG, its jobs, and tax revenue (taxes are paid on all those trucks that run in and out of the plant) if the company cannot expand elsewhere in the city, then one could make a case for allowing the company to move there.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, because there are other, better uses for that property.

These include light industrial operations, research and development facilities, and companies in emerging technologies such as the biosciences and medical device manufacturing.

Waiting for such opportunities will be difficult; there is enormous competition regionally and nationally for such jobs, and Springfield is at somewhat of a disadvantage due to its current fiscal and public relations problems. And it is these very same problems that will put enormous pressure on City Hall and MassDevelopment to fill Memorial II and fill it quickly.

We believe that this would be a mistake, because the tract is essentially Springfield’s last large piece of zoned, developable real estate. It is an enormous asset and it should used prudently, and not for any perceived quick fixes.

Ready to Launch

By
Uncategorized

Pedro Caceres says today’s businesses are — or should be — in a constant state of transformation.

“There is no time to rest,” said Caceres, vice president of Operations for East Longmeadow-based Hasbro Games. “That’s because the competition doesn’t just come from the company across town, but from companies around the world.”

This state of heightened competition, and the need for companies to respond to it, provided ample motivation for Caceres to step forward and assume a lead role with what is being called the Division of Business Excellence within the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield.

The DOBE, as it’s also called, is a mostly volunteer-led agency and the successor group to a membership-based organization known as the Springfield Area Council for Excellence. SPACE, as it was called, operated for more than a dozen years before ceasing operations last spring in favor of the new model for a business excellence division.

The ensuing months have been spent putting together a product and an operating strategy, said DOBE Executive Director and ACCGS Vice President Deb Boronski, who told BusinessWest that the group will roll out its ambitious plans at the chamber’s annual spring trade show on April 5 at the MassMutual Center.

Offering a preview, Boronski, Caceres, DOBE’s chairman, and other members of the group’s advisory board, said the new business excellence division will endeavor to fill the large void left by the demise of SPACE and, in so doing, help companies effectively compete in an increasingly global marketplace.

“There is a definite need for an organization that will promote business excellence and provide resources for area companies,” said Jeff Glaze, president of Westfield-based Decorated Products, who will lead the DOBE’s Business Process Improvement Team. “That’s why we came together … to address that need.”

John Maybury, president of East Longmeadow-based Maybury Material Handling and leader of DOBE’s Business Transformation team, agreed. He told BusinessWest that SPACE was created to help area businesses — and the region as a whole — remain competitive. It carried out that assignment through roundtables, assistance with implementation of specific excellence programs such as Kaizen, Six Sigma, and others, and creation of the Business Excellence Award, which provided a platform from which to promote excellence and show how area companies were achieving it.

The DOBE wants to do all that, said Maybury, but in a different format, one designed to reach a much broader audience.

Indeed, while SPACE tended mostly to its members — which numbered over 100 at its height — the DOBE will provide services and referrals for every company in the region, he said.

“We need to figure out how the Pioneer Valley and the Northeast as a region can stay competitive as we face wage issues, insurance issues, energy issues, and pressure from competition around the world,” he said. “We can do that by collaborating and working together to solve common problems.”

BusinessWest looks this issue at how the DOBE will carry out that challenging assignment.

Business Plan

Caceres told BusinessWest that after he attended an early meeting staged to outline what the new business excellence division would do and how it would do it, he came away impressed with the chamber’s intentions and desire to continue the work carried out by SPACE.

But he thought the DOBE lacked needed structure, and he set out to provide some. He was joined by Maybury and Glaze, also long-term SPACE members, and, working with Boronski, they have spent the past several months setting a tone and an agenda for the division.

The first step was creation of an advisory board, which includes several area business leaders. That group then went about generating a portfolio of events and activities that would enable the DOBE to meet its primary goal — becoming an effective resource for business owners who recognize the need for continuous improvement and need help to achieve it.

The DOBE will provide that help on a number of levels, said Maybury. First, it will conduct informational programs on specific issues and products in the broad realm of continuous improvement. It will also work to create an environment in which companies can share knowledge and experience in ways that make the region as a whole more competitive. The excellence division will also link business owners with consultants who will provide assistance on a fee-for-service basis.

Prospective consultants were being interviewed by the advisory board earlier this month, said Boronski, noting that a list of “excellence associates,” as they will be called, will soon be finalized. These individuals will provide direct support for implementation of a number of business excellence strategies, including lean manufacturing, Kaizen, the Japanese continuous improvement model, Six Sigma, various customer-satisfaction-improvement efforts, and others.

Lastly, the group will work to reintroduce and reinvigorate the Pioneer Valley Business Excellence Award, which was last awarded in 2004. Maybury, whose company won in the manufacturing category in 2002, described the process of applying for the award as a valuable learning experience.

“It helped make us a better company because we learned a lot about ourselves,” he said, referring to the review process carried out by a team of judges. “It was an awesome experience for everyone involved. We want more companies to benefit as we did.”

Entries for the award had dwindled in recent years, perhaps because of the time-consuming nature of the process, said Boronski, adding that organizers will seek to simplify it in an effort to prompt greater participation.

Re-establishing the PVBEA will be one of the duties assigned to the DOBE’s Business Transformation unit. That branch will have a number of sub-teams, including ones focused on small businesses, research, development, and innovation, and strategic sales and marketing. The Business Improvement Unit, meanwhile, will have teams focusing on lean enterprise, quality systems, “people development,” and top management.

The broad mission for all the teams is to promote the sharing of resources, said Glaze, noting that this is a key ingredient in efforts to enable the region to remain competitive.

“Sharing experiences and collective knowledge is important — that’s how all of us can get better at what we do, whether we’re in manufacturing or the service industry,” he explained. “The whole, in this case our combined knowledge, is truly greater than the sum of the parts.”

A long-time SPACE member, Glaze said that group was instrumental in helping his company, which produces nameplates, decals, and other promotional products, to incorporate continuous improvement programs and thus more effectively compete with competitors in China and elsewhere. But he said the membership fees charged by the group often served as a barrier, especially for small companies.

“What we’re doing is removing that barrier,’ he said, “and, in the process, creating opportunities to make programs available to all chamber members.”

Getting in Gear

Reflecting on the work performed by SPACE, Caceres said it was invaluable in helping companies operate in that state of continuous transformation he described.

“SPACE may be gone, but the need is still there and it’s real,” he said, explaining his commitment to the DOBE. “Comp-anies are in permanent need to re-examine how to improve, and it’s our mission to help them do it.”

For information on the Division of Business Excellence, contact Boronski at (413) 755-1309, or[email protected]

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

A Drop in the Bucket

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Uncategorized

The holidays have come and gone, and many times with that go our generous spirit and feelings of goodwill. Kind words or gestures and attitudes of gratitude are few and far between.

Believe it or not, the lack of positive sentiment can affect many aspects of a business, including safety, morale, employee retention, productivity, customer satisfaction/loyalty — and the bottom-line.

A recent survey conducted by Gallup of some 4 million workers on the topics of recognition and praise delivered startling results. According to the poll, the number-one reason people leave their jobs is that they don’t feel appreciated. In fact, almost two thirds of those polled said they received no praise or recognition for their good work, with an estimated 22 million workers presently disengaged or extremely negative in their workplace.

The cost to organizations from negativity and lost productivity is staggering. Between $250 billion and $300 billion per year is lost, and these figures do not account for absence, illness, and other problems that cause workers to be disengaged from their work and their companies. According to another study, negative employees can scare off every customer they speak with — for good — not to mention the negativity they spread to other employees. The contagious effects of disengagement and negativity are realistically costing the U.S. economy trillions of dollars.

While professional athletes know that ongoing acknowledgement and celebration improves ‘on-the-job’ performance and momentum, most workplaces do not foster opportunities for recognition. Unfortun-ately in today’s fast-paced and measured business world, we focus on how much still needs to be accomplished today, this week, this quarter, etc. and don’t take the time to recognize how much has already been accomplished. Businesses tend to operate from a deficiency mentality which can be draining to its workforce.

The late Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D., considered the grandfather of positive psychology and the father of strengths psychology by the American Psychological Associa-tion, believed that everyone has a proverbial bucket of emotions and a dipper which they can use to either fill or empty others’ buckets. Through his research, by filling the buckets around you, your own bucket benefits and your overall outlook is improved. It creates a ripple effect. Even the mere observation of a good deed can have a positive impact on bystanders.

By one study’s count, each of us experiences approximately 20,000 individual moments every day; some negative and some positive. The key is to increase the ratio of positive interactions to negative. Clifton believed the magic ratio is five positive interactions for every one negative interaction. While some individuals have a genetic predisposition to being negative, several studies suggest that positive emotion can improve and optimism can be learned, regardless of an individual’s innate starting point.

To prevent ‘bucket dipping,’ start by increasing your own awareness of how often your comments are negative. Keep track and modify as necessary. Investing in a coach can help create this sometimes difficult behavioral shift. However, toomuch of a good thing can also be detrimental. It has been found that 13 positive interactions for every one negative interaction could actually decrease productivity.

In order for appreciation to be truly meaningful, it needs to be genuine, timely, and specific. Therefore, managers should beware of randomly throwing around generic phrases such as ‘good job’ or ‘well done.’ Generic phrases are meaningless and may actually have a counter effect to their original intention. The receiver may wonder why this time they received the praise when they did nothing different than any other time. What about the job or task was good? How did their attitude, behavior, skill or talent improve the situation?

Identify the specific action or behavior and provide the feedback in a timely manner; otherwise, it may lose its impact. Fans don’t wait until the end of the game to acknowledge a good play; neither should managers. Don’t force recognition — make sure it is genuine and deserved.

Focus on what employees or peers do right rather than where they need improvement. Our culture tends to be weakness- and negative-focused. Make a point of catching people doing well and discover the power of reinforcing these good behaviors. Provide opportunities for employees to excel and play to their strengths. Adhere to the Platinum Rule – “do unto others as they would have you do unto them.”

Individualization is the key when it comes to filling others’ buckets. While some people may enjoy being praised in front of a group, others may cringe at the thought of being publicly recognized. Customize the method of praise to the individual. What type of recognition or praise is preferred; public, private, verbal, written, or other? What form of recognition is motivating; a note, E-mail, title, gift certificate, etc.?

Gifts are almost always welcome. A recent poll showed that the vast majority of people prefer gifts that are unexpected. Again, personalization works best. When you take the time to provide an employee with a gift that reflects their interests, they feel valued and cared about. If you are not sure, ask them. Gain an understanding of the individual; their style, preferences, interests, strengths, talents, etc. and make note. A little effort goes a long way.

Besides creating a positive work environment with better business results, positive emotions can improve your overall health, increasing your life span by 10 years as well as increasing your productivity, fueling your resilience, and broadening your thinking. Be conscious of your interactions with others and look for opportunities to turn negative interactions into positive. You’ll be amazed as your personal and business ‘buckets’ runneth over.

Lynn Turner is an executive coach and owner of Ironweed Business Alliance, a coaching and consulting firm specializing in leadership development, team building and work/life balance strategies. She is also the host and producer of a local radio talk show/Web site Business Link Radio; (413) 283-7091.

Motivating Factor

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Uncategorized

Steve Sobel says it’s much easier to give advice than take it. Fortunately, he took some of his own.

He was working as director of special education in the Hadley school system in the mid ’80s when he started moonlighting as a motivational speaker. His talks would vary with the audience and the specific goals for an event, but there were general themes, or messages, left with those in attendance.

One, in particular, was the thought that, no matter what one’s age might be, time is always relatively short, and thus one should make the most of it. Another is to develop a passion for what you do — or find something else.

“If you love what you do and you believe in what you do, whether you’re a company or an individual,” said Sobel, “that greatly enhances your chances of becoming successful.”

And it was with that mindset that he quit his full-time job, with its good salary and benefits, and went about making motivational speaking his career — and his passion.

It hasn’t always been easy, but he has no regrets. And the same could be said for most of the hundreds of thousands of people who have heard him over the years. This is a diverse population, and includes everything from patients at the Holyoke Soldiers Home to sales executives at MassMutual; professional athletes to area chamber of commerce members.

The shelves in Sobel’s cramped, window-less basement office in the Converse Business Park in Longmeadow tell part of the story. They are full of the small tokens of appreciation from client audiences— mugs, pens, a sleeve of golf balls, a clock, hats, shirts, you name it. But there are other, more significant gestures as well, including one of Sobel’s favorites.

It’s a mini-basketball signed by former Longmeadow High School and University of Connecticut hoop star Kevin Freeman with a note: “Thanks for the strength.”

Sobel provides strength through a number of messages about life and work. He tells audiences to enjoy their journey, whatever it may be, to treat people as they would want to be treated, and to be careful about which molehills they make into mountains.

And he always reminds people never to take themselves too seriously.

That’s one of the many points made during a presentation he calls Laugh More and Live Longer. It’s a talk on the power of lightheartedness, said Sobel, who urges audience members not to die from “terminal seriousness.”

No Laughing Matter

Sobel remembers the call from the coach of the 1998-99 Harvard men’s hockey team.

The squad was 0-8 and morale was as low as the team’s place in the standings. The coach was hoping Sobel could speak to the players and somehow motivate them to achieve more of their potential.

He agreed to try, and started by watching a few hours of practice.

“When I met with them, I told them they were skating as if they believed that life owed them success,” Sobel told BusinessWest. “I told them they weren’t skating with passion and playing as if they didn’t need to do much to win — and that’s why they were losing.

“I looked at the seniors, and said ‘this is your last dance,’” he continued. “I said, ‘shame on you, because a cancer survivor would put his arm around you and tell you the clock is ticking.’”

He then turned up the heat a little more with some rehearsed anger.

“I kicked a chair and said ‘I’m disgusted, I’m leaving and going home,’” he continued, adding that his words and actions must have inspired them because the team turned its season around and wound up in the playoffs. “I told them they had to play hard — every game and every minute. I later turned that message into something I used for a customer-service seminar, where I told them they had to treat each and every customer the same way — as if they were the most important customer.”

The Harvard assignment is like many Sobel has had over the years, in ways that range from his often-philanthropic compensation rates — NCAA rules forbid the school from paying him directly, but he received perks ranging from tickets to game to a chance for his son to skate with the team at practice — to his habit of taking messages sent to one group and borrowing from them for the next audience.

Sobel has been honing his motivational speeches and building his reputation nationally for more than 20 years now.

It started small, with talks mostly to school groups and sports teams — a shooting guard in college, Sobel has coached a number of basketball squads over the years and remains active in youth athletics. In time, he was discovered by the business community, for which he crafted talks on everything from the importance of teamwork to reducing stress in the workplace.

“Eventually, I ran out of sick days, mental health days, and personal days,” he said when describing his transition from part-time to full-time motivational speaker, a second career that was forged in many ways by his work in education.

Sobel spent four years as principal of Springfield’s Kathleen Thornton School, which takes what Sobel describes as “seriously disturbed” youngsters ages 5 to 13 from public schools across the state.

“That was a platform from which I learned a lot about behavior, life, and what it meant to have a staff full of morale,” he told BusinessWest, “because we were working with some very difficult clients — they were our customers.”

From Kathleen Thornton, Sobel went to the Hadley School System, where he served as special education director from 1983 to 1986 at the same time as he was gaining a reputation as an effective motivational speaker.

He said it was difficult in some ways to leave the steady paychecks and benefits that come with work as a school administrator, but, ultimately, he applied the messages from his speeches to his own life and career and made what he considered an obvious choice,

The list of organizations, associations, and corporations that Sobel has addressed gives an indication of how he has evolved from local fixture to national resource, and how his business has grown steadily in the process.

The roster of corporate clients includes Western Mass. companies such as MassMutual, Milton Bradley, Mercy Med-ical Center, and Lenox American Saw. But it also includes national giants such as AT&T, Anheuser–Busch, HBO, Pfizer, Xerox, GE, and even Readers Digest.

The list of associations meanwhile, includes everything from the Wisconsin Occupational Therapy Assoc. to the Alabama Society for Radiologic Technologists; the North Carolina Society for Respiratory Care to the Florida Health Information Management Assoc.

Sobel customizes talks for each audience, but has several themed, often highly interactive, presentations. They include:

• Yes You Can — How to Live Your Greatest Dreams and Get What You Want of Life, which he describes as an uplifting presentation that provides inspiration and direction to “go beyond what you think you are capable of”;

• Dancing with Wolves — How to Deal Superbly and Creatively with Difficult People. Audiences can learn about the most effective strategies for dealing with wolves, as Sobel, calls them, you can make life miserable for people at home and work;

• Relax! —Otherwise You Might Die All Tensed Up, which provides lessons in stress reduction that Sobel describes as “life and career savers.”

• Confidently Navigating and Riding the Winds of Change. Popular with many business owners, the presentation offers strategies on embracing change and using it positively.

There are other talks, including Team Power, Visionary Leadership — Only the Bold Need Apply, and Customer First, that are appropriate for many different types of audiences, said Sobel, who told BusinessWest that he averages about three speaking engagements a week, a number that provides a decent income and time to balance work and life.

“I don’t like all the travel … it does get tiring,” he said. “But I like everything else about it. It’s a fun job to go do every day.”

Indeed, there are rewards well beyond the financial compensation, he said, adding that he is continually fueled by comments about how his words have helped people — in their careers and in life.

“That’s the best part of this,” he said, “knowing that you made a difference in someone’s life.”

The Punch Line

Indeed, when asked to describe his work, Sobel said that’s a difficult assignment.
“I touch lives … I guess that’s the best way to put it,” he said. “I help people feel good about themselves, their lives, and their work. I tell them to never underestimate the difference they make in someone’s life.”

In the course of doing so, Sobel provides some laughs, as well as that strength that Kevin Freeman referred to.

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

Building Excitement

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Chuck Swider is a Chicopee native who has seen the city go through many ups and downs.

He’s hoping to give the community a shot in the arm with a new development project, slated to begin this spring, that could bring some new jobs to the city while bolstering efforts to spark improvement of Chicopee Center.

Construction is slated to begin on a two-story, 12,000-square-foot commercial building by April or May, on the corner of West and Center streets, adjacent to the route 391 on- and off-ramps. A specific end-use for the building has yet to be determined, but Swider is focused on exploring options in health care, and is now working to recruit tenants in a variety of medical fields, ranging from primary care to physical therapy offices, and everything in between.

Swider began acquiring the property – the site is actually eight separate parcels that have been combined into one – about six years ago. Now, the slightly sloping hill includes a farmhouse and a small, rickety barn that will be leveled, but also a billboard advertising for tenants in the proposed building.

Swider has received approval on site plans for the new building from both the city and the state (Center Street is a state-owned roadway), and is now in the process of securing the necessary building permits, with the goal of beginning construction in a matter of weeks.

He hopes to complete construction on the building by fall of this year, and secure occupants by spring, 2007.

“There have already been some inquiries,” Swider said, “and we have the support of the mayor (Michael Bissonnette) in this. I don’t foresee any major problems at this point. The mayor’s office understands the importance of developing Chicopee center to the entire city, and has made it a top priority.”

Preliminary plans for the building include the incorporation of medical offices as well as retail space, and plans have also been mulled for a possible café-style restaurant on the premises.

Health and Wealth

Swider said he’s most interested in securing tenants in the health care sector in order to capitalize on what he considers the region’s strongest business sector.

“This location is phenomenal, because it serves as one of the primary gateways to the city,” said Swider, who lives, works, and owns property in Chicopee, in addition to currently serving his second term on the Board of Aldermen. “There is an ongoing effort to continue to update the center of Chicopee and to blend new buildings and businesses with the old. Reaching out to the larger medical community in Chicopee, Springfield, Holyoke, and West Springfield is a great place to start. It’s my hope that we can reach out to that community and even become an outreach post for a larger organization.”

That idea has already drawn some interest; last year, plans were drafted for a new suite of offices operating under the auspices of Holyoke Medical Center, which mulled using 6,000 square feet on the second floor at the property. HMC later chose a different location on Front Street in Chicopee, which included more square footage. Swider said that, while his own project was not chosen by HMC, he was not entirely disappointed by the end result.

“They chose to stay in Chicopee in a location that ultimately worked better for what they want to do,” he said, “and that’s still great for the city.”

But he added that the plan itself was indicative of exactly the type of use he’d like to see on the West and Center street corner. With the top floor occupied by medical offices, the ground floor would be open for any use, including the proposed café, a plan that Swider said he still hopes will materialize.

“We would have a built-in lunch crowd from the staff upstairs,” he said, “and I also think the center could absolutely support more specialty eateries. Chicopee center needs more diversity in general, and new restaurants might help to achieve that.”

Healthy Alternatives

Swider noted that while he is targeting health care related businesses, he won’t rule out other potential uses for the building.

“We went into this with the hope that the majority of our tenants would represent the medical field,” he said. “But we will absolutely consider anyone who is interested in relocating to our city.”

The law field, for instance, is one that might be tapped as construction moves forward, Swider said.

“A law office at this location would have easy access to several courts,” he explained, listing facilities in Springfield, West Springfield, Holyoke, and Chicopee. “That would be attractive to several tenants, and it remains very much a possibility.”

That pliability is part of Swider’s larger effort to be part of an overall revitalization of the city, he said, adding that he hopes the development will be a part of Bissonnette’s ‘Bosch to the Bridge’ development focus.

The mayor has pledged that economic development outside of the Memorial Drive strip will represent a major portion of his work during the first year in office. That plan includes a long-range endeavor to spur development in abandoned mills including the American Bosch plant, and through the corridor that connects the Bosch to the former Uniroyal property adjacent to the throughway once known as ‘the singing bridge.’

Promoting Wellness

“The mayor would like to see some of the business now strong in Springfield’s North End, and that includes the medical businesses, extend further across the Chicopee line,” Swider explained, adding that some Chicopee business owners and residents are beginning to refer to that expansion as ‘the New North End.’ “A big part of that initiative is going to be adding a diverse set of businesses to Chicopee center.”

Swider added that he supports the mayor’s focus on bringing development to Chicopee, as well.

“He is dead-set on positive development projects, and that will only help building developments like my own,” he said. “It’s imperative that the city is on board with these types of projects, because it only helps to underscore one major fact: Chicopee is alive.”

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

Going Up

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After more than 30 years in business, the commercial real estate development firm of Development Associates has a keen understanding of the Western Mass. market, the emerging business sectors, and challenges facing area business owners. Armed with that knowledge, DA is forging ahead with a number of projects, many speculative in nature, designed to give new and evolving businesses the space to grow.

Fanning a stack of four-color postcards like a hand in a poker game, Ken Vincunas, general manager of Development Associates, said the cards are a small representation of DA’s growing presence in the region; they announce newly completed building projects and new space for lease across Western Mass.

“We have so many things going on right now that it can be hard to see what, if any, areas we’re missing,” he said.

Indeed, the company has its fingers spread across a large portion of the local landscape, and is continually expanding an already broad portfolio that includes the construction, renovation, brokerage, leasing, and management of properties from Connecticut to the Berkshires and beyond.

Based in Agawam, DA operates as a commercial and industrial real estate, construction, and development firm. Vincunas represents the second-generation management of a company started by his father and partner Edward J. O’Leary.

For the past 15 years, Development Associates has developed a strong foothold in the development of build-to-suit and multi-tenant lease facilities across the region. The company currently owns and manages several properties in Western Mass. and more than 1.1 million square feet of leased space in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire.

Today, business is brisk at DA. Several projects are in various stages of development across the region, ranging from new construction of office and industrial facilities — such as two projects underway in Agawam and Chicopee — to renovations to the leasing and management of existing properties.

The company’s diversity, both in terms of the types of work it handles and the wide array of business sectors it serves, has yielded keen insight into the state of the local economy, current trends and challenges, and prospects for future growth and economic development.

Overall, Vincunas sees strong organic growth in a number of sectors, especially health care, retail, and education, but also recent struggles in efforts by area economic development leaders to bring new employers to the area.

BusinessWest looks this issue at DA’s strong track record in property development and management, and how it is responding to recent trends and growth opportunities with confidence, in for the form of spec building that many developers shy from, and imagination.

Strong Suit

Vincunas doesn’t take the old Field of Dreams outlook — ‘If you build it, they will come.’ But he does believe that if he builds the right facility in the right location, then business owners will come, look, and often lease several thousand square feet of space.

This is what the company is currently doing in two area industrial parks in Agawam and Chicopee, and what it has done through much of history.

“We have space of all kinds for all people in all areas,” he said. “We have a commitment to the area and its businesses, and we’ve been able to serve those businesses well … many tenants in our buildings will work with us when they’re ready to expand, and relocate into other buildings that we own or have recently constructed.”

And that’s an area that is also strong for DA – the construction and renovation of buildings at some new, key locations. One will be located at Silver and Suffield streets in Agawam, near the Agawam Regional Industrial Park, and will include 25,000 square feet for lease. The project, dubbed the Agawam Crossing Professional Center, is expected to commence in June, with space available for professional offices and specialty retail.

Also under construction in Agawam is a 20,000-square-foot industrial flex building on Gold Street that Vincunas has targeted for light industrial, manufacturing, service, R&D, or distribution uses.

In addition, DA is building a 42,500-square-foot facility in Westover Airpark North on Griffith Road in Chicopee, which is geared toward office and light industrial uses, and has development sites available on about 25 acres of land on Route 10 and 202 in Westfield near Barnes Municipal Airport.

A Finger on the Pulse

All of the buildings are expected to house several tenants across a wide spectrum of industries, but as the health care sector strengthens in Western Mass., so do the numbers of businesses moving into larger office spaces. The Agawam Crossing site, for instance, is expected to house several medical offices – either physicians, dentists, and other health care professionals or satellite businesses such as legal services, medical equipment firms, or staffing firms.

“The interior can be finished to suit, and we hope to attract medical businesses because Agawam is in need of a purely professional building,” explained Vincunas, adding that other sites are also seeing strong interest from the medical community, including the Griffith Road site in Chicopee, which is slated to become the new home for Hudson Home Health Care, currently located in Agawam.

On a larger scale, New England Medical Practice Management (NEMPM) recently signed a three-year lease at the Greenfield Corporate Center earlier this month; 2,550 square feet will be used as office space where NEMPM provides medical practice billing services. A veteran’s outpatient medical clinic, as well as the Visiting Nurse Association have also located in the 145,000 square foot Greenfield Corporate Center, and some office space remains for lease.

In the future, Vincunas said he hopes to beckon more health care and medical businesses to Western Mass., by providing them with appropriate space for their needs — be it getting started or taking a venture to the next level.

In South Deerfield, for instance, an industrial center adjacent to route 116 has ‘high technology’ space available, appropriate for office, lab assembly, clean manufacturing, or medical production.

“We hope to bring some of the biotech industry to the area with properties like the one in South Deerfield,” he said, referring to a sector that many economic and regional planning groups, including the Regional Employment Board (REB), MassDevelopment, and the Economic Development Council (EDC), have targeted as possible areas for new growth in Western Mass.

Overall, Vincunas said most of the growth in the region has been organic, a trend area development leaders would like to change.

“One trend we see is that people aren’t generally coming to Western Mass. from other places looking for industrial space,” said Vincunas. “We’re just not attracting people from other areas right now.”

What’s more, the cost of doing business – from fuel costs to engineering expenses – is rising, and that’s putting a crunch on the entire commercial real estate industry.

“High commercial tax rates are also having an impact in many communities,” he said, noting that this has spurred a trend toward development in outlying suburbs, such as Greenfield, East Longmeadow, and Southwick, where tax rates and the cost of real estate is often lower.

A Hand in the Future

“We have to keep our eye on potential new uses and new creative ways to fill and manage our properties,” said Vincunas, noting that this helps DA-owned and managed properties remain viable and relevant in various economic climates and to many industries. “A lot of factors might keep people from coming here, but with good buildings in good locations, there is always at least some healthy turnover within those buildings regardless of the economic climate.

“We have many resources for many industrial opportunities,” he continued, “so a primary focus for us now is to continue to serve and invest in the area by providing quality space and bucking the negative trends.”

Fanning that set of announcement cards on the table in front of him, Vincunas said DA’s hand looks good … but as far as its role in the region goes, they’ll continue to aim for a full house.

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

Setting The Stage

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Ten years ago, the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School was still very much a dream for its founders. But now, its student body, as well as its reputation for excellence and creativity, is growing. The school, in a new home in South Hadley, is embarking on a capital campaign designed to make the PVPA’s next act as exciting as the first.

Upon an initial walk-though, the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts School looks much like any other high school. Students are hunched over books in classrooms and study halls, listening to iPods in the halls or pausing at the vending machines to talk to their friends.

Soon, though, subtle differences are noticeable. A Spanish class is held in a new theater, adjacent to the stage. A math class is one room over from a course in costume design, where the beginnings of Technicolor creations are fed into sewing machines.

A student on her way to class suddenly, randomly twirls, books in hand – a dancer’s spin to pass the time, or maybe some extra practice for an upcoming quiz.

From his new office on the first floor, Bob Brick, the school’s administrative director, observes all of this with a look of satisfaction. Only one semester into its 10th year and celebrating a new home in South Hadley, where the school recently relocated from Hadley, PVPA, a public charter school, has grown incrementally from its beginnings in 1996.

“Many people still don’t know we exist,” he said.

But the school is the culmination of a long-held dream for Brick. And the combination of PVPA’s move to South Hadley, the occasion of the school’s 10th anniversary, and its consistent success academically is beginning to move the school to center stage in Western Mass., and that’s a move that Brick hopes will help underscore PVPA’s unique mission.

Act One

Brick has been involved since PVPA was just a kernel of an idea – he founded the school along with educational director Ljuba Marsh. Previously, both had long careers in human services, but also in educational innovation – a fact they realized after knowing each other for years.

Brick was a founding member of the Project Ten experimental college at UMass Amherst in 1968, an attempt at revolutionizing the college experience. Similarly, Marsh has been involved with educational reform for more than 40 years, working with a number of institutions with a focus on academic and artistic integration.

“It had always been my dream to found a school that valued the performing arts, and it turned out it had always been a dream of Ljuba’s as well,” Brick said. “We never knew that about each other. But once we did, the process began to move very quickly.”

Coinciding with the Mass. Educational Reform movement, that process began with a call to the State Department of Education, initial approval, and that first class of freshmen in 1996, which included Brick’s daughter, now enrolled in medical school.

The PVPA now boasts a student body of about 400 in both middle school and high school, 40 full-time faculty members, and an additional 60 or so part-time faculty members and administrative staff. And Brick said he doesn’t want to see the school’s enrollment numbers grow too much more – that would affect the personal attention and small classes that are central to the school’s mission. But this year, the school received applications from more than four times the students it can accommodate – 300, with only 70 open slots available.

No auditions are necessary for admittance to the school – students are accepted based on a lottery system — but Brick says the large number of applications adds to the credibility of PVPA, and further bunks any notion that performing arts-based schools are heavy on creativity, but soft on academics.

In actuality, PVPA’s curriculum is one of the most stringent in the state, requiring students to attend classes for eight hours a day. Five of those hours are reserved for traditional, academic courses, and the remainder of the day is devoted to a variety of courses in performing arts, ranging from dance, theatre, and music to costume or set design.

“Everyone has to do eight credit hours per semester, four years of language, three years of lab sciences, and three consecutive years of a foreign language,” Brick explained. “In addition to performing arts requirements in their chosen concentration, students must also complete an internship and hours of community service. That’s not to mention the commute many of our students have.”

High school and middle school students from across the state are welcome to apply to PVPA, although Brick said special priority is given to those living in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties. Still, even across Western Mass., the school’s reach is extensive – the current student body hails from 60 cities and towns from east of Worcester to the Berkshires. Many commute to school an hour each way.

“They want to be here,” Brick said. “They’re a happy group of students, and many are in the beginnings of very strong careers in the performing arts.”

And the academic model at PVPA, which puts emphasis on creative, critical thinking is working, he noted.

“We value the individual needs of every student,” said Brick, “both academically and creatively. We work toward goals with the understanding that without the arts, most people aren’t complete … and our kids get into great colleges, and study both the performing arts as well as more traditional subjects. Our MCAS scores are some of the highest in the state.

“High school can be a very negative experience for people who are different,” he continued, shifting his focus from the academic success of the PVPA to the social aspects of high school life. “At some public schools, for instance, male dancers get shoved in lockers. Here, they’re gods. And everyone has something that makes them special, and that is appreciated.”

Set Design

Over the past decade, the school has existed at varying levels in terms of both its physical and academic presence in Western Mass. Brick explained that the school once offered only the ninth grade, sending students to different public or private schools for the remainder of their education. PVPA soon expanded, however, to include a full four-year curriculum in 2000 (the seventh and eighth grades were added in 2004) and to hold classes within several historic buildings on Route 9 in Hadley.

But Brick said the school was quickly outgrowing its facilities, and plans have been in motion for some time to relocate the school to a larger, more-consolidated location.

“Students had to walk 15 minutes sometimes to get to classes,” he explained of PVPA’s former digs. “They were rushing from building to building, crossing Route 9 … it could be awful, especially in the winter.”

Brick said the PVPA actually made five different attempts to relocate, conducting feasibility studies at three potential sites and actually purchasing 20 acres of land in Hadley with the hope of developing it at a later date – that land is still owned by PVPA, and Brick said the school is now planning to sell it.

None of the first four locations were suitable for a school, but a fifth option in South Hadley, situated on a hill on Mulligan Drive adjacent to the Ledges Golf Club, proved to be more promising. The property in which the school now operates had been vacant for years, having once served as a research and development facility for a chemical engineering firm, Intelicoat Technologies (formerly Rexham Graphics).

“It had been sitting around for five years, empty,” said Brick. “I don’t know exactly why … I can only surmise that the building hadn’t been right for a new business because it’s quirky – it’s only suited for certain uses, it’s big, and it’s sort of hidden up here.

“But for a charter school with students from all over the region, it’s perfect,” he added. “We’re four miles from I-91, there’s plenty of space that can be converted for specialty uses, parking, and plenty of land surrounding us. We saw very early on that this could work.”

The building and the land it occupies were purchased from Joe Marois, president of Marois Construction, in 2005. After examining the building and its potential for housing a performing arts school, Brick said PVPA soon began the process of purchasing the site from Marois and hiring his firm to renovate it – a $4.5 million endeavor.

“We used funds from some long-term fundraising we had been involved with, and a tax-exempt loan from MassDevelopment,” said Brick, adding that the renovation of the building was extensive. “In the end, we renovated about 98% of this building – we gutted it, added a third floor, installed new electric and plumbing systems, and an elevator.”

In actuality, the school’s new home encompasses less area than the former location in Hadley – about 50,000 square feet. But Brick said the space is better suited for academic use, and the students are, for the first time, under one roof.

“There is much more usable space,” he said. “We have three dance studios with sprung floors, a theatre, two sound studios, insulated rooms for music classes, a set design and costume shop, and a chemistry lab, all brand new and all in one building. It’s a huge improvement.”

And Brick said they’re not done, either. The school is currently in the middle of a capital campaign, raising money for a new, 450-seat theater at the school. Brick said he hopes to break ground on the project within the next two years, with the help of continued support from area organizations, businesses, and individuals.

He said the school has benefited from the financial help of what he terms “a few angels,” but added that there is still a need to increase the school’s visibility within the region’s business community, in order to continue to develop both the school itself and its unique curriculum.

He explained that the PVPA model is so different from most, it can cause some confusion – many people don’t realize that the school is a six-year, academic middle and high school that is open to any student with an interest in the performing arts. Fewer realize that the school has an exceedingly young alumni base that is, for the most part, still unprepared to give back substantially to their alma mater, unlike more-established specialty schools, public or private. After only 10 years in existence and only six including graduating classes, most PVPA alumni are still in college or starting their first jobs.

It has become part of Brick’s general duties to market the school as well as its needs, speaking to professional organizations such as rotary clubs regularly.

“It’s one of the most difficult needs we have to translate – that of the need for private support, even though we are a public school,” said Brick. “It’s similar to the challenges that all public schools face – yes, we receive support from the government. But it doesn’t cover everything, especially with the extended curriculum. We can use that support.”

Fame Seekers…

As the bell rings at PVPA and students begin to filter into the halls, Brick pauses to listen to the voices in the hall.

There’s the usual chatter, but it’s punctuated by bits of song, excited gossip about upcoming auditions, and the swinging whoosh of the theater door … little bursts of creativity, further cementing Brick’s dream in reality.

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

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Business Confidence Continued to Erode in January
BOSTON — The Associated Industries of Mass. (A.I.M.) Business Confidence Index lost 1.9 points in January to 54.7, a third consecutive loss that has left the monthly index at its lowest point since November 2003. There are rising concerns among employers about economic conditions in the state, especially as national growth appears to be weakening, according to Raymond G. Torto, co-chair of A.I.M.’s Board of Economic Advisors and Principal, CBRE Torto Wheaton. Torto added that employers surveyed were somewhat more positive about the situations of their own operations in the face of the slowdown. Confidence was off in January among both manufacturers and other employers. Manufacturers were on balance negative in their assessment of current and prospective conditions within the state, and expect national conditions to deteriorate as well. Readings were somewhat weaker outside Greater Boston, where confidence has declined in five of the last six months. Large employers were more positive than others on most questions. Rising energy costs, interest rates, and health insurance premiums erode both consumer and business confidence. The monthly survey of A.I.M. member companies across the state asks questions about current and prospective business conditions in the state and nation, as well as for their respective organizations. Readings above 50 on the 100-point scale indicate that the state’s employer community is generally optimistic, while a reading below 50 reflects a negative assessment of business conditions.

Five-Year Watershed Action Plan Underway
WEST SPRINGFIELD — The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC), in partnership with the Westfield River Watershed Association and ESS Group Inc., has been awarded a contract under the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs to develop a five-year watershed action plan for the Westfield River. Created by watershed partners, the action plan will outline various issues and priority areas over a five-year period, charting a course of action for state agencies, watershed communities, and other decision makers within or related to the watershed. A steering committee is currently being formed to guide development of the action plan. Current members include The Nature Conservancy, the Westfield River Wild and Scenic Advisory Committee, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, Mass. Department of Agricultural Resources, UMass Amherst and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. In addition, each of the 28 communities in the watershed has been asked to appoint a representative to the steering committee. A series of three public forums will be conducted this spring to solicit public comment and feedback on the plan. For more information, contact PVPC Senior Planner Anne Capra at [email protected] or (413) 781-6045.

Public Input Needed Online for Update-Use Plan on Land-Use Plan
WEST SPRINGFIELD — The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission invites public input via an online survey in the development of Valley Vision 2, the update of the region’s land use plan. Valley Vision 2 maps out a vision for smart growth in the Pioneer Valley based on more compact forms of development in and around existing community centers and preserved open space in outlying greenbelts. Public opinion is vital to developing this update, and PVPC relies on participation by citizens throughout the region in shaping the future vision of its landscape. To read the draft plan and take the survey, visit www.pvpc.org. For more information, contact Chris Curtis at the PVPC, (413) 781-6045,
or [email protected].

Mass. Hospitals Voluntarily Post Staffing Plans
BURLINGTON — Massachusetts hospitals delivered on the “Patients First” pledge beginning Jan. 27 to voluntarily post their staffing plans for public viewing. Through a Web site, www.patientsfirst ma.org, and notices in hospitals, consumers can now find the number and type of caregivers assigned 24/7 throughout each hospital in the state. A special consumer brochure, “It Takes A Team,” is also available at every hospital and explains the many professionals involved in patient care. The staffing plans that are posted on-site in each hospital and on the web will provide an overview of the staff available in each hospital unit, including RN’s and allied health professionals. In addition to the staffing plans, hospitals will document the quality of their care using a common set of nationally recognized measures. A pilot test of some of those quality measures is now underway, under the supervision of a team of leading patient care experts. The quality reports on all hospitals should be available by the end of this year.

Survey: Most Downsized Execs Anticipated News
HOLYOKE — The majority of recently downsized executives polled weren’t surprised to find themselves in career transition, according to a survey of 1,202 outplaced managers by Lee Hecht Harrison. Nearly 80% of executives anticipated their organization’s downsizing, and 57% weren’t surprised to learn they were among those to be laid off. Additionally, 35% of respondents said they had been downsized before and 65% had survived a previous downsizing with their most recent or prior employer. The good news for outplaced employees is that a significant number have become savvy about the changing world of work and have taken steps to ensure their future employability. For example, within the two years prior to their downsizing, 57% of respondents had updated their resumes, half pursued some form of career or skill development, 46% actively maintained their networks, and 44% explored other employment options. Lastly, one reason respondents had generally positive impressions of how their former employers handled their downsizings could be that they had received outplacement services.

Ashe: Housing Market Will Remain Strong in 2006
SPRINGFIELD — Residential real estate once again was the backbone of the U.S. economy last year, and in Hampden County, 2005 was statistically similar to the record-breaking year of 2004, according to Donald E. Ashe, Hampden County Register of Deeds. The number of deeds recorded in 2005 was only 0.7% less than the previous year. The total amount of money collected in 2005 did, however, increase by 3.6% over the prior year. The total number of documents recorded during 2005 was 122,837 and the amount collected from fees was $22.2 million. The most noteworthy change from 2004 to 2005 was the substantial decrease in attachments and foreclosures, according to Ashe. He predicts that the area housing market is in the process of “changing from record sales and double-digit price increases to a more stable condition.” Overall, Ashe said that the fundamental conditions in the housing market are strong and real estate activity will remain healthy in 2006. In other news, Ashe reported that the satellite office in Westfield completed its first full year of operation and collected more than $1.2 million in revenue and recorded more than 10,000 documents.

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Departments

United Bank Reports Growth in Earnings
WEST SPRINGFIELD — United Financial Bancorp Inc. recently announced a 23% increase in earnings in the fourth quarter of 2005. The company is the parent of United Bank, which has 11 branches across the region. Bank officials noted that earnings would have been up 19% without the effect of a charge resulting from a newly formed $3.6 million charitable donation for its new United Charitable Foundation. For the full year, net income stood at $4.4 million, compared with $5.5 million in 2004. Also, bank officials noted that total assets increased 17.4% to $906.5 million on Dec. 31, compared with $772.0 million in 2004, and deposits were $653.6 million at year’s end, when compared with $613.7 million a year earlier.

Berkshire Bank Reports Core EPS Growth
PITTSFIELD — Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc. recently reported $2.11 in core earnings per diluted share for the year 2005, a 10% increase compared to $1.92 for 2004. Core earnings totaled $15.8 million in 2005, increasing by 44% primarily due to the acquisition of Woronoco Bancorp Inc. on June 1. Core earnings per share growth was less than core earnings growth, primarily due to the issuance of shares for the acquisition. Berkshire Hills Bancorp is the holding company for Berkshire Bank. The company also reported that a quarterly cash dividend of $0.14 per share will be payable on Feb. 21 to stockholders of record at the close of business on Feb. 6. Total assets were $2.0 billion at Dec. 31, 2005, up from $1.3 billion at year-end 2004. Also, loans totaled $1.42 billion at Dec. 31, increasing by $588 million or 71% from year-end 2004.

Easthampton Savings Posts Strong Fourth Quarter
EASTHAMPTON — Easthampton Savings Bank reported exceptional growth in assets, deposits, loans, and capital in the fourth quarter, according to William S. Hogan, Jr., president. Hogan also touted the success of its Fuel Line of Credit program which was developed to help the community deal with the rising cost of heating fuels. The program features special payment terms for those who prepay fuel expenses, as well as a special interest rate for low-to moderate-income families. For the record, the bank’s total assets increased $33 million over last year, up 5%, while total loans increased 6%, a total of $27 million. Total loans now stand at more than $495 million. Also, the bank’s deposit growth was $17 million for the year, an increase of 3%, according to Hogan. Total deposits now stand at $514 million.

Wingate Introduces Pavilion Suites
SOUTH HADLEY — Wingate Healthcare recently conducted a grand opening of the Pavilion Suites at its Wingate at South Hadley location. Pavilion Suites offer area residents an attractive alternative to short-term rehabilitation services. The state-of-the-art rooms offer care in private and semi-private suites. Also, the suites feature half baths, new furnishings, including built-in dressers, closets, nightstands, and flat screen televisions with cable and DVD player, wireless Internet access, and a private entrance. Wingate at South Hadley is a 132-bed skilled nursing facility that provides individualized long- and short-term rehabilitation services.

Thales Joins RTC As Corporate Sponsor
SPRINGFIELD — Thales Broadcast & Multimedia Inc. recently joined the Regional Technology Corporation (RTC) as a corporate sponsor. Thales, based in Southwick, designs, manufactures, sells and supports inductive output tube-based transmitters for UHF analog and digital television worldwide. In addition, the company re-sells and services a full line of solid state VHF and UHF analog and digital television transmitters. Thales can now benefit from RTC initiatives which include coordinating and managing the region’s technology economic development strategy as it relates to business development, attraction and creation. For more information on RTC, visit www.rtccentral.com or call (413) 755-1314.

Monson Savings Introduces e-Statements
MONSON — Monson Savings Bank customers now have access to their bank statements on-line with e-Statements. The e-Statements are similar to the bank statements that customers receive in the mail – only now are in an electronic format. Customers who sign up for e-Statements receive an E-mail each month alerting them when the statements are posted online. For more information, visit www.monsonsavings.com.

ReStore Offers Solution to Wood Disposal Ban
SPRINGFIELD — The nonprofit ReStore Home Improvement Center of Springfield recently announced plans to create a dimensional lumber and plywood recovery service to help contractors, waste haulers, and others comply with the new ban on disposal of clean wood that goes into effect July 1. The ReStore will charge a fee to accept clean, reusable dimensional lumber that is not treated, painted or stained, and is longer than six feet and separated from all other construction waste. Nails and/or splintered ends will be acceptable. The ReStore is also seeking a free or low-cost property to house the operation, as well as potential partners for providing the service to the public. For more information on the program, visit www.restoreonline.org or call (413) 788-6900.

AIC Dedicates Registrar’s Office To Local Woman
SPRINGFIELD — American International College (AIC) recently honored a living legacy during a dedication ceremony for its Registrar’s office when it was renamed the Esther Frary Hansen Registrar’s Office in honor of Agawam resident Esther Frary Hansen. She was honored for her more than 40 years of service to AIC, first as its women’s athletic director, later as dean of admissions and registrar. She graduated from the former Classical High School in Springfield, and received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from AIC in 1938. She was named director of athletics for women in 1938, and in 1946, was appointed director of admissions. Three years later, Hansen became the registrar too. During the dedication ceremony, AIC President Vince Maniaci acknowledged that Hansen has been a large part of AIC’s history and he was pleased she was given her proper recognition for her dedication to the college.

“Star Wars” Toys Propels Hasbro Profits
EAST LONGMEADOW — Star Wars-themed toys helped push up revenues and profits for Hasbro Inc. in the fourth quarter, while the game division reported declining revenue tied to its trading card games and plug-and-play electronic games. Hasbro announced net income of $94 million in the fourth quarter, compared to $81.9 million in the same quarter of 2004. For the full year, Hasbro had profits of $212 million on sales of $3.1 billion. Games sales across the country were $236 million in the fourth quarter, down 13% from 2004.

Rifle Is Latest Smith & Wesson Product
SPRINGFIELD — Smith & Wesson recently unveiled its new military style rifle – the M&P15 tactical rifle – which is now available for sale in states that do not have restricted sales of assault weapons. The semiautomatic rifle is being marketed to the military and law enforcement agencies, as well as to hunters and target shooters in states where it is legal to sell them. The basic version, with a price tag of $1,200, features an adjustable stock, removable carry handle and adjustable sights. For $1,700, the rifle will feature folding sights and a rail system to add laser aiming devices and lights. The M&P15 is the first long gun being sold by the company in almost 20 years, according to company officials.

Westbank Earnings Up
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Westbank Corp. saw an 11% earnings gain in the fourth quarter of 2005, with net income of $1.2 million, compared with $1.1 million in the same quarter of 2004. For the year, Westbank had earnings of $5.1 million, compared to $4.6 million in 2004. Also, deposits increased by 2%, or $9.3 million, to total $599.4 million at year’s end. Total assets increased to $808.7 million which was up 7% over the previous year. Westbank Corp. is the parent company of Westbank, with 17 offices in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Aucella & Associates Garners Award
WESTFIELD — Aucella & Associates, a full service advertising agency, has received an American Graphic Design Award, presented by Graphic Design USA, a leading publication in the commercial arts industry. The award cited excellence in “communication and graphic design” and honored a presentation folder created by Aucella & Associates for Thales Broadcast & Multimedia. An international broadcast products and systems supplier serving radio, television, and wireless systems, MPEG-2 digital video processing, and multimedia distribution systems. Thales, Broadcast & Multimedia are located in Southwick. A nationwide panel of judges selected the project, which Aucella & Associates completed this year, to win the prestigious award. Graphic Design USA is in its 43rd year of publication; Aucella & Associates is in its 22nd year offering a wide range of advertising, graphic design, and Internet communications needs.

WGGB-TV Channel 40 Features High Definition
SPRINGFIELD — At year’s end, WGGB-TV Channel 40, the local ABC affiliate, began broadcasting some of its programming in high definition. Company officials said the move to high definition was based in part on the increased sale of flat-screen plasma and LCD television sets that needed the high-definition signal. High-definition broadcasts can be found on adjacent channels to the traditional analog signals.

By
Departments

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.

NORTHAMPTON DISTRICT COURT

Industrial Residential Security Co. v.
Guardian Systems Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract —
Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $10,990
Date Filed: Jan. 18

Quality Care Nurse Staffing Agency v.
Northampton Nursing & Rehab
Allegation: Breach of contract —
Failure to pay for services: $7,044.26
Date Filed: Jan. 20

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT

Anixter Inc. v.
Regenerated Resources MA f/k/a
Associated Professional Engineering Consultants Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract —
Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $7,885
Date Filed: Jan. 17

The Street Lumber Co. v.
A.J. Virgilio Construction Inc. a/k/a Virgilio Construction
Allegation: Breach of contract —
Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $6,354.94
Date Filed: Jan. 11

J.R. Kakley & Sons Inc. v.
CS & K Inc. f/k/a Coll, Sacchetti & Karpells Inc., Christopher C. Karpells a/k/a Christopher Karpells
Allegation: Breach of contract —
Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $12,426.14
Date Filed: Jan. 11

Custom Packaging Inc. v.
TDB Inc. d/b/a Taxi’s Dog Bakery
Allegation: Breach of contract —
Failure to pay for goods and services: $38,497.05
Date Filed: Jan. 12

Old Dominion Freight Line v.
Dorchester Industries Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract —
Failure to pay for freight services: $3,260.77
Date Filed: Jan. 13

Granite Creations Inc. v.
Mountainview Builders Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract —
Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $6,956.83
Date Filed: Jan. 13
 

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