| The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of June 2005. | |
| AGAWAM All American Irrigation Systems AV Tech Beaver Camper Service Hair Spectrum Mass USSSA S.G. Exterior Image The Style Cottage Valenti Properties Zippity Co. AMHERST Express Travel Multi-Services Orchard Press SJM Accounting Wagner Farms CHICOPEE Alias Solutions Bourdeau & Sons Flooring Citizens Investment Services Gawron Provision K & K Jewelers Kim-D’s Nails & Tanning Patriot RDC Enterprises Stellar Grounds Care EAST LONGMEADOW Colorful Creations Luigi Landscaping HOLYOKE Alvarado Restaurant Bernie’s Jay’s Auto Repair Luciano Construction MD Beauty Salon & Supply Premier Salons Inc. Shell Food Mart Sportstuff Varaday & Assoc. HADLEY River Valley Electric Stuff-It Storage LONGMEADOW Citizen’s Investment Services JC Realty Consultants Inc. Knowing Cats | Shakespeare’s Garden NORTHAMPTON Birds Store Hair Designers Leeds Mart Quality Care Nursing Skyline Design Valley Properties SOUTH HADLEY Ancientroots JWC Home Improvement RJC Renovations SPRINGFIELD B. Bliss Novelties Clean Sweep Express Funding JD Publicity Studio Reydi Market WEST SPRINGFIELD A.S.H. Enterprises Adam’s Home Improvement Applied Software Technologies B.M.V. (Books, Music, Video Store) Class A Graphics Inc. Crystal Packaging Enterprise 2019 John Bliss Painting Khan Distribution Inc. Law Office of Caroline M. Murray Northern Granite Parish Cupboard Inc. RD.LDN R & R Tax Services Reliable Heating and Air Conditioning Salsa Con Clase Dance Studio Sutton Place Winger Construction Yulian Barber Shop WESTFIELD The Hamptons Salon Lori K’s Kitchen Northend Barber Shop Westfield Yoga Center |
The following business incorporations were recorded in Hampden and Hampshire counties, and are the latest available. They are listed by community.
AGAWAM
P & P Construction Inc., 468 Springfield St., Agawam 01030. Paul Campagna, same. Veteran owned and operated construction corporation.
AMHERST
USCHA Inc., 6 University Dr., Suite 206-148, Amherst 01002. Mark Dennehy, 15 College View Heights, South Hadley 01075. College hockey development camp and tournament.
CHICOPEE
Jenne Group Inc., 16 Yale St., Chicopee 01020. Daniel R. Myers, same. To provide real estate services.
EAST LONGMEADOW
E T Simones Inc., 18 Lombard Ave., East Longmeadow 01028. Eric T. Smith, same. To own and operate restaurants.
GRANBY
Granby Golf Center Inc., 172 West State St., Granby 01033. Patrick T. Wright, 14 East St., Easthampton 01013. Golf range, miniature golf, etc.
Northeast General Contractors Inc., 40 Batchelor St., Granby. Patricia O’Flaherty, same. To deal in real estate.
Pleasant Brook Farm & Feed Inc., 84 Pleasant St., Granby. Roger D. Ilnicky, same. Sale of feed grain and related products.
HAMPDEN
KAC Sales of New England Inc., 62 Pondview Dr., Hampden 01036. Kathleen A. Charest, same. To sell police equipment.
HATFIELD
New England Watershed Publications Inc., 8 Elm St., Hatfield 01038. Russell Powell, same. To deal in books, magazines, newspapers, etc.
HOLYOKE
Friends of the Massachusetts Memorial Cemetery at Agawam, Inc., 18 Center St., Holyoke 02040. Delfo Barabani, 98 Irene St., Chicopee 01013. (Nonprofit) To raise funds to build the memorial pathwalk, etc., for said cemetery.
LONGMEADOW
Maritime Smarts Inc., 141 Lawnwood Ave., Longmeadow 01106. Stephen Larivee, same. Maritime education.
LUDLOW
Cady Street Meat Market Inc., 2 Cady St., Ludlow 01056. Jose M. Matias, 38 Dinis Ave., Ludlow 01056. Butcher shop/grocery store.
KLR Transportation Inc., 53 Evergreen Circle, Ludlow 01056. Lisa A. Kalesnik, same. Trucking and transportation.
SOUTHAMPTON
All About Flowers Inc., 10 Susan Dr., Southampton 01073. Jill M. Malo, same. Retail and wholesale sale of flowers.
Aquarius Plumbing & Heating Inc., 14 David St., Southampton 01073. Daniel J. Bishop, Sr., 18 Hathaway Road, Westhampton 01027. Plumbing and heating.
SOUTHWICK
Con-Ash Development Corp., 141 Feeding Hills Road, Southwick 01077. Gerald A. Mongeau, same. To deal in real estate.
SPRINGFIELD
Murnell Inc., 237 Memorial Dr., Springfield 01101. Thomas Englert, 409 Montcalm St., Chicopee 01020. To manufacture and deal in cleaning products.
New Hope Community Health Clinic Inc., 915 Plumtree Road, Springfield 01119. Bev Premo, 555 Parker St., East Longmeadow 01095. (Nonprofit) To provide charitable, medical and educational services to those in need in Springfield, etc.
Northern Rail Services Inc., 25 Knollwood St., Springfield 01104. Jessica R. Mastromatteo, same. To repair railroad tracks.
Ohuhu Development Union Inc., 17 Lancaster St., Springfield 01118. Emmanuel Okonkwo, same. (Nonprofit) Classes for Igpo language, mathematics and sciences; economic development, health services, etc.
Springfield Fuel Inc., 100 Congress St., Springfield 01104. Mohamad H. Jabak, 6 Oak Meadow Lane, Methuen 01844. Gas station.
Springfield Tax Corp., 725 Sumner Ave., Springfield 01108. Jonathan Fein, same. Tax services.
WESTHAMPTON
Bright Spot Therapy Dogs Inc., 282 North Road, Westhampton 01027. Cynthia J. Hinckley, same. (Foreign corp; CT) To design and implement Therapy Dog Programs for needy persons including those in nursing homes, hospitals, etc.
WILBRAHAM
RSM Services Inc., 8 East Colonial Road, Wilbraham 01095. John William Collins, III, same. Sales agency.
A mill town once driven by the steady hum of factory work is now creating a different kind of buzz in Western Mass.; Easthampton is being seen as the region’s most promising community for artists of all types, and it’s the artists themselves, and the support of the city, that are making that happen.
Eric Snyder, president of the Greater Easthampton Chamber of Com-merce, said the best thing about the city’s recent turnaround is that it is tangible.
"Anyone who drives through can see what’s happening here," said Snyder, adding that the proof can be as large as a former mill now bustling with activity — everything from diners eating lunch at the Apollo Grill to people renewing their driver’s licenses at the local RMV office — or as small as an artful clay pot, a set of hand-crafted wind chimes, or a child practicing her violin on the front lawn.
The arts, in all forms, have become the primary economic driver pushing the city of Easthampton forward in recent years, transforming the former mill town into a haven for arts, entertainment, and culture, and revitalizing the city’s overall economic picture in the process.
"There has been a lot of talk about a renaissance in Easthampton," Snyder said. "The arts and crafts community definitely plays a big part in that. There are more people coming into the town because of the arts, and the artists are really marketing themselves, and that’s good for them and for the town."
Although many artists have resided in Easthampton for years, only recently have formal partnerships been forged between groups of artists, and, perhaps more notably, between those artists and city government, the Chamber, and other businesses.
Most artists work out of studio space located in one of three former mill buildings Eastworks, the Paragon building, and One Cottage Street once the hub of Easthampton’s economy and now becoming so again, though in a much different way.
Now, the buildings house potters, painters, jewelers, sculptors, and many other artists working in all types of media. They arrived to take advantage of large studio space, a convenient location, and attractive lease rates, and have since created a creative community unto themselves.
In addition, other businesses are also capitalizing on those low rents as well as the climate created by those artists, especially in the past year. Among them are restaurants like the Apollo Grill in the Eastworks building and Tucson and Savannah’s at One Cottage Street, niche businesses like Valley Women’s Martial Arts Inc. and In Touch Massage Therapy, and a Registry of Motor Vehicles branch office. Those businesses are not only benefiting from the location, but adding to the artists’ visibility, too; that has in turn provided for greater recognition of Easthampton in Western Mass., which is beginning to regard the city as the region’s next great cultural mecca.
"The word is getting out," said Lynn Latimer, an artist who works in fused glass out of the Cottage Street building. "We have a very large community of people who are enormously talented, but it’s recently that we feel a more solid sense of our arts community and the ways it benefits the whole city."
Canvassing the Area
One way the word is getting out is through the marketing efforts of Arts Easthampton, a collaborative organization of artists. The group began informally with a handful of artists in the One Cottage Street mill building, but has since expanded, especially in the last four years following the addition of the ’Arts Easthampton’ name and logo. The collective now includes artists working in the Eastworks and Paragon buildings, individual artists, businesses, and galleries and schools, such as the Guild Studio School, and the Pioneer Arts Center of Easthampton. The city’s own arts council is also very involved.
"It has only been in the last four years that we have all really started getting together," said Evelyn Snyder, owner of Kaleidoscope Pottery in the One Cottage Street building. Snyder explained that Arts Easthampton has gradually grown over the years. Two annual sales are still held now accommodating thousands of visitors to all three mill buildings and a smattering of individual studios, businesses, restaurants, and other venues but Arts Easthampton is becoming much more of a brand than a catchy name for an art show.
"We adhere to a mission statement and to strong rules of governance," said Justin Brown, an artist in the Eastworks building. "We make a real effort to meet and get groundwork laid down about five months before any event, and then we meet as needed until the date of the show. It’s only getting busier for us now."
Brown added that Arts Easthampton also created a common ground for a varied group of artists some production artists, completing large orders of their craft for customers, and others creating smaller quantities or single originals of work for sale. Brown is just such an artist, filling his studio with elaborate, personalized wall-hangings and sculptures. Snyder, although her work is no less unique, produces thousands of handmade plates, bowls, platters, and other items in her pottery studio. She agreed with Brown that Arts Easthampton created a bridge between all types of artists with different work, but common goals for success.
"It only made sense to pull all of the pieces together," Snyder said. "There was already some momentum that we could capitalize on; we had thousands of names on our mailing list, but now that has doubled, and we notice that there are definitely more people aware of and coming to our shows."
The visual arts aren’t the only artistic component of the city, however. Elizabeth Caine, president of the board for Pioneer Valley Summer Theater, located in Easthampton, said she too has noticed audiences increasing steadily over the theater’s three years in existence.
"What’s nice about Easthampton is that it is a city that’s actively looking for economic growth," said Caine. "We get great support, and in turn, our companies support the local economy by shopping, dining, and so on. In the long run, the relationship will make a huge difference in the community because of that mutual support."
And in response to that mounting success, the city has taken a broad interest in cultivating Easthampton’s arts community as an economic tool. It has secured grants for artistic programming and the improvement thereof, and fostering communication and further development of citywide initiatives either spotlighting or merely including the arts community, which includes a wide range of visual artists, musicians, writers, actors, and others working in cultural fields, often in conjunction with Arts Easthampton.
Ellen Koteen, grants coordinator for the city, explained that the first such grant was the John and Abigail Adams Grant, awarded to Easthampton by the Mass. Cultural Council in the amount of $12,500, which, as a condition of the grant, required the city to produce matching funds.
"We wanted to establish a formal arts and economic agenda, and the John and Abigail Adams grant was the first activity with that in mind," Koteen said, noting that the funds will be used to establish a new Web site for Arts Easthampton and to create a brochure and directory of the arts scene in the city.
She added that the matching component of the grant did more than add to the amount of funds available to the cultivation of arts programming — it also underscored the increasing faith the community has in its arts sector.
"The funds came through in February, requiring us to immediately search for funds for that one-to-one match," said Koteen. "We asked businesses to commit money and, in a short period of time, local companies kicked in almost $12,000. It demonstrated to the artists that the city recognizes their contribution, and there is a commitment to work with them."
Eric Snyder added that the arts also create a unique economic driver for the city, which he thinks Easthampton is ready to embrace. As most arts-based businesses are small, even consisting of just one or two people, there are dozens of independent businesses peppered across Easthampton, and that creates a different economic climate than a manufacturing plant or large retailer that could set up shop in the city and offer jobs to 100 or 200 people at once.
He noted that the city, once dominated by manufacturing, still has a few mainstays in the manufacturing sector among them Tubed Products, National Nonwovens, The October Company, and Stevens Urethane, which together employ about 1,200 people. The Williston Northampton School and Easthampton Public Schools round out the city’s major employers, adding another 500 employees to the tally. Viably, expansion of the manufacturing sector could benefit the town economically, and the city could have easily chosen to focus on that aspect if its financial picture, given its rich history.
But Snyder said the arts community has already proven in the last three to four years that its impact is just as important to Easthampton’s revitalization as any one employer could be.
"The chamber is open to this type of economic development," he said. "It is slower than the economic impact that could be generated by a large company, but the arts community has made our city much more rounded.
"It’s all about quality of life," he added. "Now, we still have our small town flavor, but we are also developing a metropolitan feel that is encouraging."
Artistic Integrity
The city has also planned ’visioning sessions,’ one in September of last year and the second just this month, designed to provide a platform for the city’s artists, government, business leaders, and other concerned citizens, specifically on the topic of cultivating and expanding artistic endeavors in Easthampton.
"It also studies the specific impact of the arts on the town," said Koteen, adding that part of that commitment the city has made includes hearing and addressing the concerns of the city’s artists.
"We have signed on to address the needs they have identified and how to best capitalize on and enhance their role in the city’s development," she said.
The need that is of the greatest concern to Easthampton’s artists is that of retaining affordable studio space. It’s a trait of many artists of all kinds that they will move to a community where affordable space can accommodate their work, contribute to diverse, healthy commerce in the area, and eventually be priced out of the studios for which they helped create a demand.
"The artists talk all the time of moving into affordable space, revitalizing the community, and getting priced out and moving on to a new, developing community," said Koteen, theorizing that Easthampton’s rapid improvement due to the art-based businesses is calling added attention to the nomadic nature of many full-time artisans, musicians, actors, and others working in cultural fields. "We have three old mills filled with artists. So far, the space is still affordable, and yet it takes years for a community to address such an issue, and then to implement whatever changes they see fit, so it’s definitely a concern."
Evelyn Snyder agreed. "It is a worry," she said. "But there is still more opportunity here for artists than in Northampton, which doesn’t have very many big, empty buildings, and that’s what brought us here, in addition to the low rent."
What is driving the Easthampton arts scene forward now is not just affordable workspace, though, she said; it’s the partnerships that have evolved between the artists in the community and local businesses, city government, and residents at large that are creating a sort of staying power, which is also unique within the world of art and artisans.
"All of us are excited about educating the public on the fact that you can make money as an artist," said Snyder, "and it’s nice to be in a strong group situation. It helps us to see the trends within the art world and to capitalize on good times and get through bad times."
Latimer added that getting a lot of different artists together on a project of this magnitude is no easy feat.
"It’s a bit like herding cats," she joked. "But this revitalization has come out of a lot of people pulling together in a grassroots sort of movement, and we’re seeing positive results that keep us going. The added notoriety of Easthampton as a thriving arts community is ultimately helping our businesses, and the added attention is making the city happy overall."
Brown said as the arts scene grows in the city, another challenge is how to best capitalize on the increased traffic, and the partnerships with the city’s government are helping to guide that process as well.
"The city has some great ideas and they’re getting more involved," he said. "They know why Easthampton is getting busier; now to keep it that way they’re helping us with the how."
Creating a Masterpiece
The annual Open Studio Sale held earlier this month by Arts Easthampton marked the city’s busiest weekend of the year, rivaled only by the Holiday Sale held in December. Throughout Saturday and Sunday, artists were busy wrapping pieces, businesses held sidewalk sales to capitalize on the traffic, and there was a bit of a wait for a table at the Apollo Grill. But Latimer said the signs of a community rising from the ashes are not best gauged on a busy weekend, but rather on the quieter days, when even then there is a marked change in the city.
"There’s definitely more life out there on the streets," she said.
Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]
The Sisters of Providence Health System is in the second year of a five-year strategic plan for philanthropy called "Catch the Spirit." While fund-raising is one of the ultimate goals of the campaign, its initial focus is on building awareness — and what organizers call "lifelong friendships."
They’re calling it a ‘friend-raising’ effort. That’s the term organizers are using to describe the Catch the Spirit campaign being conducted by the Sisters of Providence Health System (SPHS). Now in its second year, the program, orchestrated by the system’s fund development department, isn’t raising money — at least not at this stage.
Instead, the initial goal is to raise awareness, said Brenda McCormick, MSW, LICSW, who is vice president of fund development for the system, although she prefers the word philanthropy to describe what she does. McCormick told BusinessWest that the Catch the Spirit campaign was launched to educate the public about the SPHS and thereby also generate support — which can come in a number of ways, from people signing on as volunteers, and perhaps even trustees, to monetary donations down the line.
"At this stage, we’re building relationships," she explained, adding that the Spirit program included one large gathering last fall, called ’Continue the Legacy,’ that was attended by more than 300 people. But the campaign features mostly small (15-20 people) and intimate gatherings designed to inform and inspire attendees — some of whom are already familiar with the system, its history, and its current and future challenges, but many are not — while creating what organizers call a ’dialogue.’
"We want to build life-long friends," said McCormick, noting that the Sisters of Providence who founded and, in many cases, administered the health care facilities in the system, are passing on, and thus the SPHS wants to tell their story now, while also recruiting individuals to carry on their work.
Vincent J. McCorkle, president and CEO of the SPHS, said the Catch the Spirit initiative, part of a five-year strategic plan for philanthropy, was launched primarily as an awareness campaign. It is needed, he said, because there are many things that the public may not know and should know, starting with the Sisters of Providence and their mission.
Many in the community are not aware, for example, that some of the better-known health care facilities in the region, including Mercy Hospital, Brightside, the Providence Behavioral Health Hospital, formerly Providence Hospital, are all part of the broader SPHS system, he explained. Also unknown to many is the fact that many of the programs provided in those facilities — such as behavioral health services and care for the elderly — are essentially losing propositions, from a financial standpoint, and have been discontinued by other health care systems for that reason.
"We’re more than just a business, we’re a ministry," McCorkle told attendees of the May 24 forum. "This is a system that makes decisions not just on sound business models, but against a defined set of values."
McCorkle told BusinessWest that, while the Catch the Spirit campaign was created to allow the system to "tell its story," it has done more than merely inform forum attendees. It has also helped inspire employees, who hear and tell stories about how the sisters’ mission manifests itself today.
"It’s like a shot of adrenaline," he said of the sessions and the human interest stories relayed during them. "It reminds me of why I got into health care to begin with."
BusinessWest looks this month at the Catch the Spirit initiative and its many different goals.
Mission: In Progress
This year’s Catch the Spirit sessions start with an informational video (created earlier this spring) about the system and the sisters who created it. At one point, the narrator states that there are a mere 80 sisters still living.
As he addressed the May 24 gathering, McCorkle updated that figure to 77, and said it falls at the rate of one per month.
The passing on of the sisters, who once were the backbone of the health care system they created, and the desire to tell their story is one of the primary motivations behind the Spirit campaign, said McCormick. But there are many goals behind this strategic initiative she created for the system to take philanthropy into the future and to a higher plane.
"I was here only a short time when I realized that relationship-building wasn’t something that we put much focus on," she said. "In order to have people understand who you are and what you stand for — and to someday have them give support — you have to build relationships with these individuals. That’s what this campaign is all about."
The Catch the Spirit program is modeled, in many respects, after a fund-development strategy championed by Terry Axelrod, a noted expert and author on the subject of philanthropy — her latest title is called, simply, Raising More Money. At the heart of that strategy, said McCormick, is the premise that before individuals will back a cause or organization, they must know about it and become inspired to support it.
The Axelrod model has been used primarily with single entities, she explained, adding that the SPHS is different in that it has a number of interconnected facilities in several area communities. "We’re more complicated; we have a lot of moving parts," said McCormick. "Time and again, people would tell me they didn’t know these various facilities were part of our system — or that there was a system."
To explain all those moving parts, campaign organizers scheduled a series of sessions that would be attended by elected officials, business and civic leaders, and others involved in the community. The inivitation would be shaped by referrals from forum attendees. The individual events — there have been 16 to date, with 12 in 2004 — were designed to be informational, while driving home the point about the compassionate nature of individual programs and the people working within them.
In the campaign’s first year, the dozen conducted sessions featured detailed looks at Brightside for Families and Children in West Springfield and the Sr. Mary Caritas Cancer Treatment Center at the Mercy Medical Center campus in Springfield. This year, the sessions have focused on behavioral health care and services provided to the elderly.
One of the speakers at the May 24 session was Anne Nusbaum, nurse manager at the Farren Care Center, or ’The Farren’ as it’s called. This is a facility she described as the only one of its kind, a last resort for people (usually abandoned by their families) with psychiatric or medical conditions that essentially make them dangerous. To be considered for admission, individuals must first have been rejected by five different nursing homes due to their behavioral patterns.
"Society has essentially rejected these people; this is the end of the line for them," said Nusbaum. "We take them because no one else will accept them."
But the facility does not warehouse these individuals; instead it works to improve their quality of life by helping them interact with others, she explained.
Other speakers included Lisa Golembiewski, manager of outpatient services with Providence Behavioral Health Hospital, who told attendees about the growing problem of substance abuse in the region, and also about the facility’s adolescent behavioral health services, the only program in the state west of Worcester.
Also taking the podium was George Kennedy, director of admissions at St. Luke’s Home in Springfield. As he talked about the facility, which has had a number of functions in its 150-year history, including stints as a birthing center and later a residence for the elderly, Kennedy displayed a painting of the home. A magnified image of the work revealed several Sisters of Providence taking a break, as he put it, on the home’s roof.
Those invited to the informational sessions are asked for input on what they’ve seen and heard, said McCormick, and also for the names of other area individuals to be invited to future programs. When the first phase of the campaign, the informational component, is completed, the system will move on to what she termed a "call to action."
This will come in the form of invitations to participate on a number of levels, she said, noting that the system will need everything from volunteers to serve within the system’s various facilities to trustees for the boards that administer them.
"There are endless roles for individuals who would like to spend some time with us in a volunteer capacity," she said, adding that, as more people become aware of the system’s programs and then become involved with them, philanthropic giving is a natural next step.
When asked how the system will measure the success of the program. McCormick said there will be several different yardsticks, starting with the number of individuals who agree to take an active role in continuing the legacy of the Sisters of Providence. Monetary support will obviously be another measure, she said, adding that the ultimate indicator will be the number of lasting relationships that are created — something that won’t be known for some time.
McCorkle agreed, but said that, in his mind, the campaign has already been successful, because of its dialogue-generating capabilities and the energy it is creating both within the system and outside it.
"This has re-energized me and many other people here," he said. "When you see the way people react to the stories being told, and when you see the pride displayed by our staff, you know that this is having a very positive impact."
When the Spirit Moves You
As she talked about the Catch the Spirit program and the individual informational sessions, McCormick compared them to inviting a guest to your home for the first time.
"That’s how relationships get started and how friends are made — you start with introductions and getting to know each other," she explained.
The SPHS wants to build some life-long friendships, and is starting by building awareness of the system, its mission, and its many challenges moving forward.
Only time will tell if the campaign and its various components are successful, but McCormick believes that by first focusing on friend-raising, the system will succeed in prompting many within the community to catch the spirit.
George O’Brien can be reached at[email protected]
They say silence is golden. Not in this case.
Since the abrupt firing of MassMutual chairman, president, and CEO Robert O ’Connell earlier this month, and the subsequent termination of two high-ranking women executives, the company has provided virtually no information on what led to this stunning turn of events.
It has provided only minor hints, through use of the words ’conduct ’ when referring officially to O ’Connell ’s termination. The only reference to the other terminated officials, executive vice president Susan Alfano and senior vice president and co-general counsel Ann Lomelli, was the rather weak comment that the new president and CEO, Stuart Reese, has the right to pick his own people. Right!
Other clues as to the cause of the O ’Connell ’s firing could be garnished from E-mails sent to employees (and published by the local newspaper) that talked about the need for "transparency," "accountability," and a "meritocracy" at the company, and that these traits start at the top. We can assume, then, that these corporate qualities were missing during O ’Connell ’s tenure.
But we shouldn ’t have to make assumptions, and we should have more than vague hints. Why? Because when people don ’t have the answers they tend to come up with their own. Indeed, the information vacuum that has resulted from the company ’s tight-lipped approach has served only to feed an already hungry rumor mill. And this isn ’t good for the community, the company, its employees, and especially its customers who have entrusted their investments to the firm. They deserve better.
But there ’s another reason why MassMutual should be forthcoming: Because it is, after all, MassMutual. It is a Fortune 100 company and now the largest business in the Commonwealth and one of the 10 largest insurance companies in the country. But in the Pioneer Valley, MassMutual is the company that everyone looks to for stability, community involvement, and employment opportunities. We shudder to think of what Springfield and its inventory of office space would be like without the company.
The region deserves to know what ’s happening with this corporate pillar, and it certainly needs to now why three top-level executives were abruptly terminated, with one of them escorted from the premises by security.
To be fair, MassMutual doesn ’t legally have to tell us anything. It is a mutual insurance company, which means it is not publicly held. The business is accountable, strictly speaking, only to its owners — the millions of policy holders around the world. We believe there is a higher accountability, however — to the company ’s employees and to the community at large.
We are told that the company and its various subsidiaries are fiscally healthy and that these terminations will not impact its overall financial health. This is somewhat assuring, although lacking. Also comforting is the fact that the company ’s board looked beyond MassMutual ’s strong bottom-line performance and decreed that ethical conduct unbecoming a CEO would not be tolerated.
Indeed, by firing a popular and, by all accounts, effective CEO in the manner it did, MassMutual sent a strong message to its 4,000 employees about what it expects from everyone and what it won ’t accept from anyone ‚ although it won ’t explain what that is — at any rung of the ladder or salary level.
The importance of MassMutual to this region and the stunning nature of these terminations are reflected in the fact that, for days after the announcement, these events were all anyone could talk about.
Unfortunately, the talk was all about rumors and innuendo. In time (how much time, we don ’t know) the talk will stop and MassMutual — and this region in general — will get on with business. That might have happened sooner, and with more conviction, had the company been forthcoming about its actions and the conduct that led to them.
For now, though, people are left to merely say, ’what ’s going on at MassMutual? ’ Sadly, we don ’t know and the company isn ’t telling.
| Acevedo, Ana M. Ali, Ahmed H. Atmaca, Eyup Balise, Brian A. Barron, Melissa A. Basile, Francesco Beauchane, George J. Bell, Michael L. Benjamin, Paul M. Benson, Tina Marie Bermudez, Wanda E. Berry, Joy L. Binette, Alan B Bourgault, Rachelle Brosseau, Cynthia H. Canuel-Cole, Pamela A. Castro, Yolanda Centerbar, Amy J. Chenier, Christopher Mikal Church, Karen L. Churchill, Elijah W. Cipriani, Anthony R. Colon, Aurelio Condike, James N. Condon, Kelly A. Contonio, Thomas R. Coolidge, Linda M. Corey, Joseph G. Cosme, Karen J. Cotto, Miriam L. Crutchfield, Lynn A. Cruz, Luz M. Cruz, Willliam A. Cunningham, Daniel A. Curtis, Jody C. Czeremcha, Gloria E. Dal Molin, Mary Ann Dane, Nadine G. Davis, John Wesley Davis, Olga Davis, Robert Eugene Dazelle, Richard H. Deceder, Melissa A. Dejesus, Herminihildo Delgado, David DeMars, Robert A Diamond, Glenn T. DiMaio, Leonilde R. Dreisch, Joseph F. Duby, Shirley Dyer, Michelle J Emet, Candice Ann English, Patricia A. Enko, Linda J. Ferraro, James Alfred Figueroa, Rogelio Foley, Erin B. Foley, John T. Fontaine, Timothy J. Ford, Leigh Durland Galarza, Margarita | Garcia, Luz M. Gaudrault, Gary P. Geraghty, Stephen E. Gerndt, Lorraine Y. Gibbs, Anthony E. Giberson, Angela Gilberti, Susan S. Girard, Martin Giroux, Melissa Ann Goncalves, Miguel F. Gonzalez, Nancy Goodman, Charlene S. Goodwin, Nancy J. Gruska, Jane Oliver Hall, Sheila G. Harper, Margaret L. Heisler-Kaczenski, Heidi Marie Henry, Adelaide D. Hernandez, Jeanette Hersh, Albert W. Hills, Elizabeth Abigail Hosford, Theodore R. Hughes, Raymond G. Ilano-Davis, Olivia S. Irizarry, Antonio J. Jacques, Dennis D. Janicki, Konstanty Johnson, Susan S Jones, Niki M. Joyce, Elizabeth C. Judge, John J. Kane, Randy R. Kegler-Ford, Mary Knott, Terry L. Kobylanski, Walter Kokaram, Edmund L. Kolodziey, Cortney A. Landes, Noreen M Laprade, Michael E. LeDuc, Timothy Lee, Hyoung S Lessard, Scott Emile Lopes, Manuel A. Luntta, Paul A. Lyons, Mary E. Mannix, John J. McCarty, Robert H. McCollum, Stephen McLean, James M. Mendoza, Benjamin Michael, Andri V. Moe, Jana L. Montalvo, Lydia Moore, Kathleen E. Moore, Megan Muniz, Luz C. Nardacci, John J. Newkirk, Marc Stevens Nichols, John Anthony Nieves, Melvin Norman, Elizabeth | Oakley, Deborah S. Ocasio, Miguel E. O’Connor, John J. Orlandi, Charles M. Pacheco, Daisy Pagan, Julia C. Palacio, Edilberto Panlilio, Sylvia D. Patruski, Karen A. Pena, Johanna Perez, Luis A. Perez, Persidian B. Perla, Tracy Ann Picard, Lisa M. Pike, Edward E. Poole, Robert A. Potito, Carla Jean Prado, Pedro J. Ricci, Richard J. Rios, Pablo J. Ritter, Charles A. Rivera, Eladio Rivera, Magaly Robillard, Roche, Diane M. Rodriguez, Carmen M. Rodriguez, Faith A. Rodriguez, Iris I. Rodriguez, Sharon A. Rogers, William I. Roig, Damaris Rolley, Kristine E. Rosario, Damaris Santiago, Rosa N. Savard, Donna M. Seltsam, Jean Elaine Silcox, David J. Skowron, Michael A. Smith, Richard R. Soffen, James R Soule, Jean A. Stone, Rebecca L. Strange, David C. Stuck, Edward Levi Sutter, Jeffrey Svadeba, Joseph D. Sweet, Adam R. Thomas, Kona Thompson, Michael Torres, Juan Truckey, Jacqueline R. Vargas, Damaris Velez, Gilberto J. Venancio, Michael G. Vigo, Quintin Walker, Karen White, Cathy A. Wight, Thomas M. Winter, Annette M. Zimmek, Christopher Johnlee |
The following building permits were issued during the month of May 2005.
AMHERST
Amherst College Trustees
58 Woodside Ave.
$50,000 — Convert single family dwelling into two-family
Amherst Shopping Center Assoc.
175 University Dr. Big Y
$347,060 — Interior alterations
Jones Properties LTD Partnership
995 North Pleasant St., Bldg. 1
$80,000 — Repair fire damage
CHICOPEE
Falls Machine Screwing Co.
680 Meadow St.
$20,000 — Interior renovations
Rent A Center
185 Exchange St.
$15,000 — Interior renovations
EAST LONGMEADOW
Healthtrax
45 Crane Ave.
$50,000 — Interior remodeling
HOLYOKE
Aquadro & Cerrati Inc.
Texas Road
$5,399,900 — Renovate school
Homestead Grocery
625 Homestead Ave.
$138,000 — Addition
Pyramid Co. of Holyoke
50 Holyoke St.
$13,600 — Remodel store/Clinton Exchange
Pyramid Co. of Holyoke
50 Holyoke St.
$112,000 — Remodel store/Abercrombe & Fitch
NORTHAMPTON
City of Northampton
125 Locust St.
$120,000 — Construct storage shed
Cooley Dickinson Hospital Inc.
30 Locust St.
$434,000 — Renovate interior basement/ground floor
Kollmorgen Corporation
347 King St.
$54,675 — Relocate women’s room, renovate men’s room
Northampton Housing Authority
155 West St.
$2,171,374 — Construct two story, four-unit building
Northampton Nursing Home Inc.
737 Bridge Road
$220,000 — Install new roof
Pine Street Enterprises
221 Pine St.
$19,300 — New roof
Robert Gougeon
32 Main St.
$111,000 — Renovations to building
Seven Bravo Two LLC
152 Cross Path Road
$70,000 — Upgrade sign structures
Smith College
College Lane
$2,270,000 — Renovate McConnell Hall
Smith College
79 Elm St.
$378,000 — Renovate kitchen area
Smith College
115 Elm St.
$11,770 — Combine two units
WEST SPRINGFIELD
C’Jack Realty Assoc.
1073 Riverdale St.
$300,000 — Erect office building
Green Bear Properties
31-33 Sylvan St.
$175,000 — Renovate space
WESTFIELD
Mercer Island Realty
300 North Elm St.
$285,000 — Addition.
| The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of June 2005. | |
| AGAWAM AJK Landscaping Eddie’s Nitro R/C and Hobbies Proden Ent. of America Poggi Transport St-art Construction Twisty’s Victorian Builders AMHERST Celebrity Beauty Human Rights Action International Simply Sweet Taste of India CHICOPEE Affordable Cleaning Apex Contracting Chicopee Scooters Citizens Investment Services Helen’s Salon Kim Nails Kiss My Glass Designs Ray Ma Towing Rubber Tree Mulch Xtreme Beauty EAST LONGMEADOW Body Tomes Spa 4 C’s Auto Body Statewide Siding & Roofing Inc. HADLEY Magnetic Media Ronkese Financial Valley Vintage Cars HOLYOKE Abercrombe Avenue Clowntique Jim’s Auto MacKenzie & Co. O’Brien’s Auto Ron’s Auto South St. Station Underground Station W. W. Moving Co. LONGMEADOW A.C.I. | Connecticut Valley Weathersby Guild Jimmy’s Remodeling NORTHAMPTON Beyond Builders Guild Art Supply Hair, Etc. Petal of Metal Skinsations That’s The Place SOUTH HADLEY Admark Spanish Advertising Avalon Industries Maximum Nutrition SPRINGFIELD Atlas Mini Mart Black & White Cleaning Da Hip Hop Spot H & M Construction MarDam Signs WEST SPRINGFIELD A G Assembly Services Co. ATC Associates American Home Improvement Ben’s & Viktor’s Tile Work Brazile Gal Cool Runnings Tanning Salon Dynamic Dock & Door Inc. Goffer Construction Kaz’s Kia of West Springfield Northeast Laser Center P.C. Omega PC Pompeii Pizza R & O Construction R & S Package Store Russian Radio Show Dialog Shamrock Associates Trade Mark Construction Yelena Sergeychik MBA Coverall WESTFIELD Eclipse Hair Salon Jenamy Inc. N.E. Landscapes Westfield Equipment Service |
The following business incorporations were recorded in Hampden and Hampshire counties, and are the latest available. They are listed by community.
AGAWAM
Mechanical Plastics Corp., 65 Moylan Lane, Agawam 01001. John M. Murphy, same. Plastics parts manufacturer.
MFK Enterprises Inc., 6 Sycamore Terrace, Agawam 01001. Max F. Kozynoski, same. Embalming and related services to funeral homes.
AMHERST
Amherst Rotary Good Works Fund Inc., 90 Gatehouse Road, Amherst 01002. Leslie Smith, 538 Market Hill Road, Amherst 01002. (Nonprofit) To solicit charitable donations to distribute to worthwhile community causes.
Education Without Borders Inc., Pratt Dormitory, Amherst College, Amherst 01002. Paige Fern, 202 South Dormitory, Amherst College, Amherst 01002. (Nonprofit). To advance education and literacy, improve the lives of children in developing countries.
One Northampton Street Enterprises Inc., 7 Pomeroy Lane, Amherst 01002. Valerie Hood, 28 Farmington Road, Amherst 01002. Purchase and management of a business.
BELCHERTOWN
Shelton Brothers Inc., 205 Ware Road, Belchertown 01007. Daniel Wesley Shelton, 5 Pointview Road, Ware 01082. Marketing.
BRIMFIELD
RAD Insurance Holdings Inc.,73 Dunhamtown Palmer Road, Brimfield 01010. Maria N. Thomson, same. (Foreign corp; DE) Insurance agency holding company.
CHICOPEE
Chester Village Market Inc., 29 Albert St., Chicopee 01020. David H. Befford, same. To operate a convenience store.
Dmitriy’s New England Construction Inc., 108 Meadow St., Chicopee 01013. Dmitriy Salagornik, 15 New Ludlow Road, Apt. 27, Chicopee 01013. New construction and remodeling.
J.P. Precision Machine Co. Inc., 165 Front St., Chicopee 01028. Zbigniew Szwedo, 69 Crestwood St., Chicopee 01020. Machine manufacturing and design.
Sturbridge Inn Inc., 357 Burnett Road, Chicopee 01020. Kamlesh Patel, 738 Main St., South Portland, ME 04106. Dinesh Patel, 357 Burnett Road, Chicopee 01020, treasurer. To operate and manage real estate.
Swamishri Corp., 1782 Westover Road, Chicopee 01020. Kamlesh C. Patel, 11 Trotters Walk., West Springfield 01089. Convenience store.
W1KK Wireless Association Inc., One Broadcast Center, Chicopee 01013. Robert P. McCormick, 116 Swan Ave., Ludlow 01056. (Nonprofit) To maintain amateur radio facilities for emergency communications and public service, etc.
EAST LONGMEADOW
Criterium Events Inc., 64 Brynmawr Dr., East Longmeadow 01028. Peppino Maruca, 44 Harkness Ave., East Longmeadow 01028. To engage in the management and services of marketing events.
Powday Management Inc., 444A North Main St., East Longmeadow 01028. Gregory Z. Szyluk, II, 117 Oakwood Dr., Longmeadow 01106. To deal in real estate.
Quilts & Treasures Inc., 325 Elm St., East Longmeadow 01028. Mrs. Valerie V. Morton, same. Retail sales of sewing and craft materials.
FLORENCE
45 Pine Street Associates Inc., 45 Pine St., Florence 01062. Virginia H. Hoener, same. To own and manage real estate, etc.
Kids Rule Playhouse Inc., 320 Riverside Dr., Florence 01602. Miadelia M. Marcus, same. Themed parties and supplies.
Tibetan Association of Western Massachusetts Inc.,
10 Matthew Dr., Florence 01062. Tashi Dolma, same. (Nonprofit) To preserve the rich cultural heritage of Tibet, practice the guidelines from the Tibetan government in exile headed by His Holiness The Dala Lama, etc.
GRANVILLE
Moore Money Inc., 191 Reagan Road, Granville 01034. Maryadele G. Moore, same. Lease of real estate.
River Hollow Golf Inc., 191 Reagan Road, Granville 01034. Scott A. Moore, same. To operate a golf driving range and miniature golf course.
HADLEY
Steel Structures Detailing Inc., 245 Russell St., Hadley 01035. Henry Lederman, 190 West Pomeroy Lane, Amherst 01002. Steel detailing.
HOLYOKE
J.T.’s Bakery and Caf» Inc., 514 Westfield Road, Holyoke 01040. John C. Taylor, 333 Nottingham St., Springfield 01104. Retail bakery and related sales.
Little Mountain Animal Hospital Inc.,
435 Northampton St., Holyoke 01040. Mark S. Restey, same. To operate a veterinary business.
HOLYOKE
Massachusetts Oncology Services, P.C., 5 Hospital Dr., Holyoke 01040. Daniel E. Dosoretz, M.D., 13221 Ponderosa Way, Fort Myers, FL. 33907; Corporate Service Co., 84 State St., Boston, registered agent. To provide professional radiation therapy services.
Bradford Builders Inc., 9 Harlo Clark Road, Huntington 01050. Bradford J. Moreau, same. Construction of buildings, etc.
INDIAN ORCHARD
DMG Promotions Inc., 250 Verge St., Suite 6 & 7, Indian Orchard 011151. Carmine Costantino, same. Distribution of gifts and novelties.
LUDLOW
Environmental Technologies Inc., 545 West St., Suite C, Ludlow 01056. Ewa Lupa, 2 Blossom Lane, Belchertown 01007. General construction including lead abatement and mold remediation and treatment.
MONSON
Norcross Restaurant Inc., The, 125 Main St., Monson 01057. Rita C. Belanger, 11 Advance St., Bondsville 01009. Restaurant, cafe and catering.
Prospect Lawncare Inc., 55 Reimers Road, Monson 01057. Christopher N. Russell, same. Lawncare and carpentry.
NORTHAMPTON
Extremes Inc., 73 Barrett St., #3103, Northampton 01060. Gulshan K. Arora, same. Software development and consulting, retail business.
McLain Fitness Inc.,141 Damon Road, Unit E, Northampton 01060. Laura McLain, 5 Lyman St., Easthampton 01027. Fitness center.
Pinecrest Acres Realty Corp., 35 Holyoke St., Northampton 01060. John Edwards, same. To develop and sell residential property at North Main St., Petersham, MA.
The Sandinista Barista Inc., 400 South St., Northampton 01060. Timothy J. Carey, same. To construct and operate one or more restaurants and food service establishments.
PALMER
S.M.G. Camp Inc.,
140 Breckenridge St., Palmer 01069. Edward P.
Gadarowski, R.D. #1, Box 232, 106 Kenyon Hill Road, Cambridge, NY 12816. William Mullen, 140 Breckenridge St., Palmer 01069, secretary. (Nonprofit) To maintain a free camping facilities for Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts — in memory of Stephen M. Gadaroswki and his love of scouting and camping.
SOUTH HADLEY
Dry Brook Development Inc., 14 Alvord St., South Hadley 01075. L. Philip Lizotte Jr., 390 Hadley St., South Hadley 01075. Real estate development.
KES Realty Corp., 33 Fairview St., South Hadley 01075. Patrick J. Spring, same. To deal in real estate.
SPRINGFIELD
Cobalt Financial Inc., 155 Maple St., Suite 402, Springfield 01105.
William B. Foster, same. (Foreign corp; DE) To deal in real estate
transactions.
Evinshir Inc., 827 State St., Springfield 01109. Evins C. Brantley, 91 Dunmoreland St., Springfield 01109. To deal in restaurants, inns, taverns, cafes, etc.
Filco Vending Inc.,1111 Sumner Ave., Springfield 01118. Philip A.
Frogameni Jr., same. Sale and lease of vending machines.
Jerry’s Lawn Sprinklers Inc., 307 Gillette Ave., Springfield 01118.
Gerald E. Dansereau, same. To install and maintain lawn sprinklers, etc.
JP&B Concepts Inc., 1334 Liberty St., Springfield 01104. John P. Gent, 26 Ivan St., Springfield 01104. To operate restaurants.
Mass Bottle & Can Redemption Inc., 23 Morgan St., Springfield 01107. Dany Nguyen, 230 Senator St., Springfield 01129. Bottle and can redemption center.
Upper Hill Resident Council Inc., The, 215 Norfolk St., Springfield 01109. Adrienne C. Osborn, same. (Nonprofit) To enhance the quality of life in the Upper Hill community of Springfield.
WESTFIELD
A & G Transport Co., 241 E. Main St., Suite 253, Westfield 01085. Andrey Krasun, 126 Union St., A 8-15, Westfield 01085. Transportation.
All In One Shop Inc., 1144 Southampton Road, Westfield 01085. George Mathew Changathara, same. Convenience store sales.
Mass Consulting Services Inc., 6 Clinton Ave., Westfield 01085. John Turner, same. Geotechnical testing, consulting and construction monitoring.
WILBRAHAM
Neighborhood Deli Inc., 2341 Boston Road, Wilbraham 01095. Ilyas Yanbul, 59 Cedar St., Ludlow 01056. Restaurant business.
Quinn’s Fine Jewelry Inc., 2040 Boston Road, Wilbraham 01095. Brian Alexander Quinn, 12 Kelly Lane, Hampden 01036. Retail jewelry store.
The following building permits were issued during the month of May 2005.
AMHERST
Amherst Cinema Center Inc.
28 Amity St.
$5,000 — Remove partitions for structural investigation
I.A.T., LLP
51 North Pleasant St.
$2,900 — Repair roof at Judie’s Restaurant
NORTHAMPTON
Danrich Realty Trust Company
225 King St.
$6,000 — Replace non-bearing walls
Hampshire Educational
97 Hawley St.
$10,850 — Construct partitions to create viewing room
Northampton Terminal Associates
Old South Street
$4,685 — Enlarge break room
SPRINGFIELD
Chapin Corner
136-140 Plainfield St.
$22,030 — Upgrade interior
N.E. Surgical Group
101 Chestnut St.
$34,000 — Interior renovations
New Leadership Charter School
Ashland Avenue
$174,729.70 — Install modular classrooms
Verizon Wireless
215 Bicentennial Highway
125 Paridon St.
$2,500 — Replace antennas on tower
WEST SPRINGFIELD
Dr. Robert Matthews
232 Park St.
$200,000 — Renovate existing building
| The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of May 2005. | |
| AGAWAM Bill Spear’s Tree Service Cormier Landscaping Neofit Holistic Studio Day Spa The Pool Guy Rodier Irrigation AMHERST Mura Gifts Studio 112 She’s My Handyman CHICOPEE Don’s Landscaping & Construction Hess Express Wyman Petroleum EAST LONGMEADOW N.E. Consignment Resale Theaterxtreme of Springfield HOLYOKE Holyoke Mini Mart N.E. Color Business Cards Springfield Lunfat Inc. NORTHAMPTON Center for Healthy Bones Drunk Stuntmen On The Level Staples Bros. Plumbing Vegancia SPRINGFIELD Custom Tile & Design Ennis Bell & Assoc. | Grass Roots Landscaping J & L Embroidery La Casa del Reggaenton Mod Enterprises North End Bottle & Can Return Pristine Roofing, Siding & Remdlng. Roy’s Equipment Co. Roy’s Towing Recovery Sales Now! Sroka Home Improvement Wipeout-Painting & Drywall WEST SPRINGFIELD Balise Lexus The Book Market #223 Century Buffet Griffin Tire & Battery Service Karen Charisma Roberts Sizzling Salsa National Amusements Inc. Showcase Straight Stitches West Side Courier WESTFIELD Bethel & Sons Logistics Disaster Relief Entertainment John’s Appliances M.J. Griff Steve’s Land Clean-Up Service |
The following business incorporations were recorded in Hampden and Hampshire counties, and are the latest available. They are listed by community.
AMHERST
New Paradise Inc., 87 Main St., Amherst 01002. Tarlochan Singh, 279 Amherst Road, 37B, Sunderland 01373. To operate a restaurant.
BELCHERTOWN
Fabbo Enterprises Inc., 11 Martin Circle, Belchertown 01007. Frederick P. Fabbo, same. Retail/wholesale garden center and landscaping.
CHICOPEE
KOA Inc., 574 Chicopee St., Chicopee 01013. Richard S. Buffum, 48 Holy Family Road, No. 220, Holyoke 01040. Food service.
LBI Trucking Inc., 1081 Montgomery St., Chicopee 01013. Peter Burkovsky, same. Trucking.
Susan A. Birkner, CPA, P.C., 21 Old Chicopee St., Chicopee 01013. Susan A. Birkner, 1181 Amostown Road, West Springfield 01089. Professional accounting services.
EASTHAMPTON
Optical Communication Interconnect Inc., 193 Northampton St., Easthampton 01027. Ray Desanti, 29 Valley Forge Circle, West Boylston 01583. To manufacture and deal in fiber optic components and systems, etc.
HOLYOKE
Auction N Sold Inc., 395 Maple St., Holyoke 01040. Jonathan G. Giannone, 734 Franklin Ave., Garden City, NY 11530; Jonathan Giannone, 395 Maple St., Holyoke 01040, registered agent. Auction sales via E-bay
Cold River Realty Corp., 330 Whitney Ave., Suite 400, Holyoke 01040. Yves Demers, 9455 108th Ave., Vero Beach, FL 32967. Edward Mrozinski, 138 Slate Road, Chicopee 01020, treasurer. To deal in real estate.
New England Radiation Therapy Management Services Inc., 5 Hospital Dr., Hoyloke 01040. Dr. Michael Karin, same. To provide management services in connection with the provision of radiation therapy services.
LUDLOW
Castle Homes Inc., 202 Woodland Circle, Ludlow 01056. Alan J. Coulombe, same. To remodel and build homes.
NORTHAMPTON
BGHP Inc., 150 Main St., Northampton 01060. Philip Hueber, same. Retail sales.
Pioneer Heating and Cooling Inc., 23 Hooker Ave., P.O. Box 531, Northampton 01061. Timothy F. Gochinski, same. To install and repair heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration, etc.
Sabin Starlock Security Inc., 16 Crafts Ave., Northampton 01060. Scott Phaneuf, same. To install and repair locks, security devices, safes, etc.
The Taxi Inc., 1 Roundhouse Plaza, Suite 5, Northampton 01060. Chester L. Krusiewski, same. Taxi service.
PALMER
Andcole Inc., 1037 Thorndike St., Palmer 01069. William P. Michaud, 10 Pheasant Lane, Charlton 01507. To own and operate a restaurant.
SPRINGFIELD
1060 Wilbraham Road Corp., 1060 Wilbraham Road, Springfield 01109. Thomas Dineen, 2 Buckley Road, Wilbraham 01095. To operate a pub/tavern/cafe.
51-59 Taylor Street Inc., 57 Taylor St., Springfield 01103. James
Santinelli, 582 Pinewood Dr., Longmeadow 01106. To deal in real estate.
ACARI Inc., 1795 Main St., Springfield 01103. Kevin Coughlin, same. To manage ACAEI Cranial & Facial imaging LLC.
H.P.G. Enterprises, Ltd., 1 Monarch, Springfield 01144. Ed Borowsky, same. (Foreign corp; DE) To conduct theme and promotional sales in the retail industry.
M G Mortgage Inc., 135 State St., Springfield 01103. Michael S. Amaral, same. Mortgage origination.
Mama’s Retirement Inc., 234 Chestnut St., Springfield 01103. Lynn Marie Merkel, 1115 Page Blvd., Springfield 01104. To own and operate one or more bars, traverns, cabarets, restaurants, etc
Scorpion Enterprises Inc., 91 Fresno St., Springfield 01104. Gregory S. Moran, same. Delivery of packages service.
WEST SPRINGFIELD
Kuras Gardens Inc., 961 Morgan Road, West Springfield 01089. Richard M. Kuras, Jr., same. Producer and manufacturer of agricultural products.
WESTFIELD
Country Club Grille Inc., 129 Glenwood Dr., Westfield 01085. Thomas J. Dirico, same. Restaurant.
Hope For Limpopo Inc., 351 West Road, Westfield 01085. Vaughn Churchill, 116 Pleasant St., Easthampton 01027. (Nonprofit) To support educational opportunities, training, services, etc., for the Limpopo Province of South Africa, etc.
North East Sand and Stone Inc., 162 Union St., Westfield 01085. John W. Johnson, same. To deal in sand, stone, and gravel.
SFCC Inc., 866 Shaker Road, Westfield 01085. Daniel P. Kotowitz, 66 Zephyr Dr., Westfield 01085. To own and operate a golf course, golf shop, etc.
WILBRAHAM
Cantalini Holdings Inc., 3 Belli Dr., Wilbraham 01095. Christopher
Cantalini, same. To deal in real estate.
WHG Inc., 3 Seneca St., Wilbraham 01095. William H. Goodnow Jr., same. To own and operate a tavern or salon.
The following building permits were issued during the month of May 2005.
AMHERST
Amherst College Trustees
395 South Pleasant St.
$13,000 — Re-roof
Slobody Development Corp.
479 West St
$8,300 — Renovate hair salon space for re-opening
AGAWAM
Six Flags New England
1623 Main St.
$25,000 — Pour concrete for game unit
EAST LONGMEADOW
Mark Czupryra
135 Denslow St.
$123,500 — Self-storage facility
HOLYOKE
Holyoke Mall LP
50 Holyoke St.
$172,000 — Remodel existing store
NORTHAMPTON
Cooley Dickinson Hospital Inc.
30 Locust St.
$57,108 — New offices and storage areas
Hampshire County
222 River Road
$6,238 — Renovations
Seven Bravo Two LLC
152 Cross Path Road
$432,000 — Construct two hangers
SPRINGFIELD
C & W Real Estate Co.
101 State St.
$13,000 — Renovate offices
Mass Mutual
1500 Main St..
$124,674 — Office renovations
WEST SPRINGFIELD
CSK Intermodel
151 Day St.
$25,000 — Erect modular structure
The following business incorporations were recorded in Hampden and Hampshire counties, and are the latest available. They are listed by community.
AGAWAM
Trimboard Inc., 25 Century St., Agawam 01001. David W. Townsend, 227 Farmington Road, Longmeadow 01106. Manufacturing.
AMHERST
Art and Music Games Inc., 70 Columbia Dr., Amherst 01002. Roman Yakub, same. Publisher of art and music software.
Umoja Too Performing Arts Company Inc., 560B Riverglade Dr., Amherst 01002. Tashina Bowman, same. (Nonprofit) To expose children to the performing arts, West African Dance and Drum, Japanese Song, South African Dance and Song, etc.
CHESTERFIELD
Golden Sunset Farm Inc., 103 Bryant St., Chesterfield 01012. Gary W. Wickland, 191 South St., Chesterfield 01012. Dairy farm operation.
CHICOPEE
Economy Transmission Repair Inc., 959 Meadow St., Chicopee 01013. A. Timothy Tetrault, same. Automotive repair services.
Ginka Construction Company Inc., 71 Lambert Ter., Chicopee 01020. Jeanne E. Fleming-Armata, same. General construction.
Iglesia Cristiana Casa De Bios Inc., 454 Grattan St., Chicopee 01020. Miguel A. Jusino, 28 Simard Dr., Chicopee 01013. (Nonprofit) To function as a church, etc.
Min Royal Inc., 1503 Memorial Dr., Chicopee 01020. Shan Min Li, 63 Voss Ave., Chicopee, president, treasurer and secretary. Restaurant (Chinese buffet).
EASTHAMPTON
DiGrigoli Easthampton Inc., 66 Northampton St., Easthampton 01027. Paul DiGrigoli, 6 Westernview Road, Holyoke 01027. Beauty salon and spa services.
EAST LONGMEADOW
G & A Import Auto Repair Inc., 41 Fisher Ave., East Longmeadow 01028. Giovanni Gioiella, 40 Highland Ave., E. Longmeadow 01028. To repair imported automobiles.
GRANBY
Granby Educators’ Association Inc., 393 East State St., Granby 01033. Nancy Karmelek, 17 Sherwood Dr., Belchertown 01007. (Nonprofit) To improve the quality of education for all, advance the socioeconomic well-being of educators, etc.
HAMPDEN
Pamerica Inc., 487 Glendale Road, Hampden 01036. Erica Dwyer, same. The practice of law.
HOLLAND
Holland Elementary Parent Teacher Organization Inc., 28 Sturbridge Rd., Holland 01521. Scarlett Ferrar, same. (Nonprofit) To raise funds to help meet the financial and educational needs of our small school.
HOLYOKE
Healing Waters Family Church Inc., 98 Suffolk St., Holyoke 01010. Mark Thomas, 100 Beacon Ave., Holyoke 01040. (Nonprofit) To operate as a church for the propagation of the Christian faith, etc.
Soxology Inc., 10 Hospital Dr., Suite 306, Holyoke 01040. John J.
Swierzewski, D.P.M., same. To deal in items relative to baseball, history of baseball, online and in print, video and other media.
Worlds Famous Hot Dogs Inc., 1597 Northampton St., Holyoke 01040. Kevin J. Chateauneuf, same. To carry on a restaurant business.
LONGMEADOW
East Longmeadow Grille Inc., 153 Elm St., Longmeadow 01028. Laura L. Lacrosse, same. Diner/restaurant.
LUDLOW
Keloo Inc., 245 East St., Apt. A, Ludlow 01056. Sezgin Turan, same. Food service/restaurant.
NORTH HATFIELD
Dermal Direction Inc., 166 Depot Road, North Hatfield 01066. Marian Ruth Curran, same. Wound care consulting and education.
NORTHAMPTON
J&S Trading Inc., 776 North King St., Northampton 01060. Tariq Javaid, 380D Hatfield St., Northampton 01060. Gasoline and all convenience store items.
PALMER
A Clear Vue Auto Glass Inc., 1219 Thorndike St., Palmer 01069. Kevin C. Samble, 66 Hillside Manor Ave., Vernon, CT 06066. Charles T. Samble, 2 Blacksmith Road, Wilbraham 01095, treasurer. To deal in automobile glass.
SPRINGFIELD
Atlantic Cascade Corp., 1272 Morgan Road, Springfield 01089. Claudia H. Mick, 234 Timpany Blvd., Gardner 01440. Business consulting services.
Blue Planet Enterprises Inc., 904 State St., Springfield 01109. Minerva Willis, 18 Stanhope Rd., Springfield 01109. To deal in clothes, telephones/cell phones, lottery sales and retail management.
Torres Insurance Agency Inc., 2652 Main St., Springfield 01107. Daniel Torres, 20 Lafayette St., Springfield 01109. An insurance brokerage business.
THREE RIVERS
New Future Development Corporation II, 2 Springfield St., Three Rivers 01080. John W. Morrison, 166 Peterson Road, Palmer 01069. General contracting, build homes, sell real estate.
WEST SPRINGFIELD
bdfhklt Inc., 233 Western Ave., West Springfield 01089. Eric J. Wapner, same. Commercial printing.
Center for the Traditional Family Inc., 183 Ashley St., W. Springfield 01089. Dean C. Vogel, Sr., same. (Nonprofit) To provide information regarding the value of the traditional family and marriage for raising children, etc.
MacKenzies Furniture Inc., 1680 Riverdale St., West Springfield 01089. Barbara Spear, 285 Christopher Ter., West Springfield 01089. Retail.
WILBRAHAM
Worldwide Freight Service, Inc., 4 Highridge Road, Wilbraham 01095. Richard Francis Faille, same. Transportation brokerage of freight.
"We have to save the place or change it." That was the message UMass-Amherst Chancellor John Lombar-di left with state legislators at a hearing last month held by the recently created Committee on Higher Education. Lombardi told the panel, which includes state Sen. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, that the campus is at a critical crossroads and, "under enormous stress."
He talked about neglected buildings that were falling apart, laboratories that needed new equipment, faculty that needed to be added, and fees that have been consistently increased about 40% over the past four years alone.
The basic message he was sending? That unless something is done unless a major commitment is made to the university the campus will have a very hard time merely maintaining its current levels of quality, let alone becoming the major research center that everyone hopes it can some day become.
We hope the message resonates not only with the higher education committee, but with the full Legislature.
Before we elaborate, we must say that there are plenty of budget priorities in this state and, as Michael Widmar, president of the Mass. Taxpayers Foundation, points out in the opinion piece below, the state is far from being out of the woods when it comes to sound fiscal health.
Indeed, the list of new and existing programs that need a boost in the next few budgets is long and getting longer. It includes new health care initiatives, school building programs, infrastructure projects, capital spending, and a widely supported proposal to fund early childhood education for all children in the Commonwealth.
UMass, and especially its Amherst campus, have a place on this list although the House Ways and Means version of the fiscal ’06 budget, released late last month, does not appear to make the university a priority. That budget plan includes only a $5 million increase for the entire five-campus system, which has an overall budget of $392 million (down from $529 million in 2000). You can do the math, but we’ll do it for you. That’s a mere 1.2%.
The state university needs, and deserves ,much more.
We’ve said many times and as recently as last month, when we came out in support of a recommendation from a task force on higher education to boost spending on state and community colleges and UMass by one-third over the next several years that the Legislature must look upon spending in this area as an investment, not an expense.
Why? There are several reasons, starting with the fact that state schools wind up educating many of those who will eventually live and work in the Commonwealth. But also because these schools, especially UMass and its Amherst campus, are more than seats of higher learning they are drivers of economic development.
If the Pioneer Valley wants to some day move out from under the enormous shadow of Boston and the Route 128 corridor and be a center of job creation, the Amherst campus will be the driving force that makes that happen.
But it can’t handle that assignment when it is fighting to keep its head above ground.
During his testimony before the higher education committee, Lombardi referenced the Old Chapel, the university’s oldest and most photographed building. It’s been closed to the public for six years because it is such deteriorated condition it has been deemed unsafe.
This sad state of affairs is tragic and clearly symbolic of a university in neglect, but the chapel is not the reason why the Legislature needs to ante up and give the Amherst campus a meaningful budget increase.
A boost is needed because if current patterns continue, the university will not only fail to move forward, it will slide back in terms of reputation, research, and the number of quality programs. And if that happens, the state will pay a price.
It’s like Lombardi said; ’the university is at a critical crossroads.’
Recent Tourism Initiatives Beckon
Amherst
In the summer months, the streets of Amherst are bustling. And in the fall, spring, and winter, the foot traffic isn’t too shabby, either.
In recent years, this college town has stepped-up its tourism efforts in order to attract a broader range of people from all over the world. Those initiatives have been capitalizing on the town’s strong hospitality infrastructure, which includes several restaurants, unique businesses, and historical and cultural attractions, not to mention the constant draw of the Five Colleges, three of which are located in Amherst UMass, Amherst College, and Hampshire College for prospective students, current students, and their families.
And according to some of the people who keep their fingers on the pulse of Amherst’s tourism industry, the town’s new lease on leisure is working.
John Coull, president of the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce, said many smaller communities struggle with how, when, and to what extent to market their tourist attractions in order to create the best outcomes and address the appropriate audiences.
Larger or more well known communities can use one major attraction Cooperstown, N.Y., and the Baseball Hall of Fame are an apt example as the base for more expansive tourism initiatives. And Amherst’s reputation as a college town could be viewed as a similar advantage over regions without such a draw.
But as the chamber moved to increase its focus on tourism within Amherst, the search for one main selling point soon ended. Rather, the idea of selling a collection of attractions that would act in collaboration with one another came up again and again between local businesses, other towns, museums, and of course, the local colleges and universities.
"Amherst has a number of small but important attractions," said Coull. "Right now, we are learning how to best group them to create a certain magnetism and attract more visitors. Collaboration is the key to it all."
Strength in Numbers
Coull explained that Amherst’s issues regarding tourism are somewhat unique. For many years, the town has had little trouble attracting visitors; the college community alone beckons thousands of people each year to tour the three institutions, visit current students, or attend commencement ceremonies.
The problem was, he said, that after people arrived in Western Mass., Amherst didn’t do enough to show them everything it, and the entirety of the region, had to offer.
"Parents were coming here for visits and had no idea what else was here to see," he said. "As a town, we really don’t have to find people and say ’hey, why don’t you come here?’ What we do have to do is say ’hey, while you’re here, why don’t you take a look around? Here’s what there is to see.’"
Over the past three years, Coull said the Amherst chamber has worked toward cultivating stronger relationships with area businesses and organizations, as well as Five Colleges Inc., in order to best market Amherst as a destination for many different types of individuals, from students to professionals to retirees. Those relationships, he said, are beginning to yield coveted results: catering to an already strong faction of college-related visitors, but also reminding travelers and day-trippers alike that ’college town’ often equates to ’cultural mecca.’
Several groups have contributed to the development of collaborations in tourism efforts, Coull added, among them PDA (Promoting Amherst Downtown), an affiliate of the chamber comprised of several downtown business owners, that has created a Web site and brochure, while also developing a sample walking tour of downtown Amherst. UMass has also stepped forward; it invited the chamber to become a partner in its ’First Week’ activities, developed to acclimate new students to the area.
Further, the town’s fledgling series of juried art shows has played a key role. ArtShow Amherst, entering its second year this month, has been expanded to include five dates in Amherst and six in Pittsfield, allowing for cross-promotion within the two towns.
There is also Museums 10. This is a recently formed partnership consisting of seven college museums, all located on Five College campuses in Amherst and at nearby Smith College in Northampton and Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, as well as two independent Amherst museums the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and the National Yiddish Book Center and Historic Deerfield. The group has completed a suite of materials promoting the museums as one cohesive group of attractions.
Carol Angus, director of information and publications for Five Colleges Inc., said Museums 10 was created out of a mutual understanding among the directors and staff of the various museums, as well as Five Colleges at large, that marketing the museums as a whole rather than separately would effectively increase their visibility.
"We’re learning a lot of lessons about the value of collaboration," she said, noting that one such effort has been ongoing with the Amherst chamber. "These college museums have really come of age over the past 10 to 20 years, and while they continue to serve the overall missions of their respective institutions, they are also very valuable collections, and worthy of public view. And the Eric Carle Museum and the Yiddish Book Center are attracting international visitors joining with them shows us how much potential we have."
Angus said often, the very nature of a museum located on a college campus discourages public visitation, and joining forces with independent museums has helped to define Amherst as a prime destination for cultural tourism.
"We realized that this collaboration was an opportunity to do something for our museums, but also to bring tourists into the area," she said, noting that similar partnerships between area museums and organizations have had success in the neighboring Berkshires. "It becomes a benefit for us as well as the community to market the fact that we have something here for everyone art, history, books Ö we are able to appeal to a wide range of audiences."
Efforts to marketing Amherst’s attractions as one package have also included some of the most successful projects the chamber has taken on recently, Coull said.
Just last year, the chamber produced its first professionally designed and printed brochure, listing the many sights to see within the Amherst area. The brochure details all of the area’s historic sites, art museums and galleries, family attractions, entertainment options, educational resources, shopping destinations, parks, nature trails, restaurants, accommodations, and maps, but bundles them all as smaller parts of one destination, not unlike more notable towns and cities that lean heavily on tourism dollars, like Orlando, Fla., and Hershey, Penn.
"The numbers of those brochures significantly diminished very quickly around town," said Coull. "People were happy to see them."
Crowding the Streets
In coming years, Coull and Angus agreed, plans to continue forging relationships with businesses and organizations across Western Mass., and to continue to promote Amherst as a diverse destination for cultural and historical tourism, as well as an eclectic vacation destination for international travelers, will intensify.
"I see Amherst as a mini-city that offers a great combination," said Angus. "We have wonderful places to eat and to stay, we offer an amazing cultural and aesthetic experience, and we have the safety and variety that attracts people to visit and to stay a while. It’s something for everyone."
Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]
The following building permits were issued during the month of April 2005.
AMHERST
Florence Savings Bank
383 College St.
$26,501 — Fit-out existing space for business use
Wardens/Vestry of Grace Church
14 Boltwood Ave.
$10,800 — Install roof
AGAWAM
Six Flags New England
1623 Main St.
$40,000 — Erect pumphouse
CHICOPEE
Larry Katz
307 Grattan St.
$8,500 — Add lean-to roof
HOLYOKE
Holyoke Mall LP
50 Holyoke St.
$590,000 — Remodel store
NORTHAMPTON
City of Northampton
20 West St.
$189,000 — Cut out and repoint mortar joints
Firehouse Realty Corp.
340 Riverside Dr.
$95,000 — Construct two-story addition
Kollmorgen Corporation
347 King St.
$27,500 — Install emergency generator on roof
Pine Street Enterprises
221 Pine St.
$65,000 — Construct antennas and cables, 12 x 20 shelter
WEST SPRINGFIELD
Big Y
503 Memorial Ave.
$42,000 — Remodel
| The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of April 2005. | |
| AGAWAM Affordable Makovers Celebration Entertainment Main St. Deli Olivera Landscaping S & R Builders AMHERST Equip for less Mystery Train Records CHICOPEE C & C Ventures Ground Zero Recordings McCarthy & Sons EAST LONGMEADOW Chestnut Hill Farm Quilts & Treasures Inc. Unique Choices HOLYOKE Accent Woodworking Hunter Logging & Tree Service Reliable Computer WaWah Kitchen NORTHAMPTON Anything Goes Craig the Psychic.com KNB Computers 3G Images Wood & Dye Works SPRINGFIELD Angel Grocery | Da-V Music G.R. & R.R. Rentals Hong Kong Combo King Limo Transportation Lucy’s Gifts & More N.E. Floor & Janitorial Inc. Outdoor Party Rentals Reiki for Animals Roy’s Shearing & Recycling Roy’s Towing Recycling Services Scott’s Pup Tent Steel Pan Networks WEST SPRINGFIELD All Star Towing Balise Toyota Fathers & Sons Inc. It’s a Good Life Massage Machine Control Engineering O’Connell’s Convenience Plus #38 Verizon Wireless WESTFIELD Al’s Custom Flooring Bill’s Repair Service Genesis Unizex Salon L & M Construction Maxxtone Vivid Hair Salon |
When the topic of discussion is economic development, most people think about jobs.
Specifically, they think about bringing jobs to a region from elsewhere. They think about large manufacturing plants that employ hundreds, if not thousands. They think about new and emerging fields, like bioscience, and the jobs they could create.
All of the above certainly fit the definition of economic development, but there is another component that is often overlooked, but shouldn’t be workforce development.
Why? Because before you can attract new manufacturers (or keep existing ones) or develop clusters of businesses in new sectors like biotechnology, there must be a workforce in place that can handle those demands.
And at the moment, there are serious questions about whether the Pioneer Valley, and the state as a whole, has the kind of workforce that will be needed to carry out that broad assignment. Many, in fact, see a number of warning signs on the horizon concerning the Baystate’s labor force.
The Workforce Solutions Group, comprised of a number of state business, labor, and higher education agencies, has identified what it calls a "perfect storm" of economic conditions that may imperil the state’s capacity to compete and prosper. The three crises facing the state, according to the group, are:
– A profound mismatch in labor supply and demand. Two in five employers say there are too few qualified applicants to fill openings, and that training resources are insufficient to prepare workers to meet employer needs;
– A recognized short supply of new, well-paying jobs. The state has a net loss of more than 200,000 jobs since 2001, and only 6,200 jobs have been added since December 2003; and
– The alarming fact that many available workers cannot obtain training and education opportunities. Almost one-third of the state’s workers, 1.1 million, lack the basic skills needed for employability in the new economy. Fully 746,000 workers lack a high school diploma and another 152,000 lack the strong English language skills needed to make them employable.
To address those concerns, the Workforce Solutions Act of 2005 has been filed. It contains a number of budget
and legislative proposals designed to ex-pand lifelong learning opportunities for Massachusetts workers, students, the unemployed, and underemployed. It’s not being referred to as an economic development measure, but it should be.
The bill, as filed, would help fill critical vacancies across the Common-wealth, provide flexible training funds so that businesses can respond better to market dynamics, target health care and other growth industries where a skilled, ready workforce will allow job growth and curb job loss and extend the life of the highly successful Workforce Training Fund (due to sunset this year), which has helped train more than 136,000 workers in 1,714 companies since 1998.
As area manufacturers told BusinessWest (see story, page 35) Workforce Training grants have helped offset the huge cost of the training needed to enable companies to remain competitive. And they stressed that the need for such training is ongoing, especially as global competition escalates.
Another highlight of the proposed legislation is a new program that would enable more than 4,000 low-income, under-educated working adults to attend community or state colleges and obtain an associate’s degree or industry recognized credential. Still another proposal would more than triple the current appropriation earmarked to build collaborative training, education, and skills development programs among employers in a given region or industry sector.
None of these initiatives would warrant banner headlines, nor would they would likely come up in discussions about regional economic development efforts. But they are very important components of a broader strategy to help Massachusetts remain competitive on the global stage.
And we hope they become reality.
Chamber, Western New England College Program Focuses on the Community
Michele Campbell-Langford says the Leadership Institute has helped her identify strengths, weaknesses — and areas in need of “tweaking.”
Keith McKittrick remembers one of the exercises in teamwork. His group, like the others in this particular session of the 2005 Leadership Institute, was hiking the Appalachian Trail (figuratively) when its most experienced hiker was attacked by a bear and seriously injured.
"We were presented with a number of options," said McKittrick, associate dean for Development and Law Alumni Relations at Western New England College (WNEC), "and essentially told to devise the best game plan.
"As it worked out, we all made better decisions in groups than we did individually," he continued, noting that he originally wanted to send some people ahead to get help, while the team decided it was best to carry the wounded member out together. "What we learned is that is it’s important to get input from people and make decisions together."
This was one of the many lessons imparted during the seven sessions of the Institute, a program created by the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce and conducted in partnership with WNEC. The Institute’s course of study was designed to groom the region’s next generation of business leaders andcommunity activists. The Class of 2005 graduated on April 5 and thus joineda list of about 900 area business and civic leaders who have taken part in the program since it was initiated in 1976.
Back then, the program’s primary focus was stressing the importance of community service, said Anthony Chelte, a professor of Management at WNEC, and Leadership Institute session facilitator.
And while that remains a key consideration, the program has expanded its mission to provide participants with lessons in leadership that will benefit their company or non-profit group.
"We want people to leave the program with skills and insight that they can bring back to their organization," he said. "At the same time, we’re emphasizing the value of giving back to the community in which they live and work."
By doing so, the Institute is helping a wide range of area businesses and non-profit agencies cultivate leaders who will follow those currently managing those organizations, said Russell Denver, president of the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield (ACCGS), who graduated from the Institute in 1989, when he was working as a staffer for what was then the Springfield chamber. He told BusinessWest that, 16 years later, he still recalls the tone and the direction of the program.
"I remember that they made it abundantly clear that it is important for people in business to become involved in the community," he said. "That’s something that’s stayed with me."
Many different kinds of lessons have stayed with program participants over the years a list that includes several judges, school principals, and elected officials including U.S. Congressman Richard Neal. BusinessWest looks this month at how the Institute has met its mission, and why that work is important to the Pioneer Valley.
Follow the Leader
Michele Campbell-Langford also remembers the hiking-the-Appalachian-Trail exercise. Like McKittrick, she said it gave her a new perspective on the art of decision-making and the dynamics of working within a team.
"The Institute helped me realize what kind of leader I am," said Campbell-Langford, an assistant principal at the Rebecca Johnson School in Springfield’s Mason Square area. "I realized that I’m fairly compassionate, but firm when I need to be firm. I learned that, in a group dynamic, it’s not always good to have people that are the same; when you have different leadership styles, you bring different interpretations to whatever situation you’re looking at."
Campbell-Langford told BusinessWest that the Institute helped her identify her strengths and weaknesses and the need to exploit the former and work on the latter. "I found out what I needed to tweak," she said.
Such learning experiences are what the creators of the Institute had in mind, said Chelte, noting that the program has historically had three main goals: leadership development, cultivating volunteers to serve on boards for area non-profit organizations, and enhancing the visibility of both the Chamber and the college. Each of those has been met, he said, adding that the Institute has helped forge a strong partnership between the college and the business community, while imparting lessons in effective leadership on two generations of Springfield area business people.
WNEC became involved in 1981, after Stanley Kowalski, dean of the School of Business, participated in the program and saw its many benefits for students and the community as well.
About 30 individuals attend the Institute each year, said Chelte, noting that participants are nominated by representatives of their companies or non-profits. Students range in age from their early 20s to their late 50s, but most would be considered younger professionals. Many area companies have sent a number of individuals through the program. That list includes MassMutual, Baystate Health System, Western Mass Electric Co., and several banks, colleges, law firms, and accounting firms. Non-profit groups represented this year include the New North Citizens Council, which had three participants, SAGE, and the Springfield School System.
The broad goal of the Institute is to leave people with practical lessons they can apply to their everyday work and life situations, said Nancy Creed, member of the Class of 2000, who told BusinessWest that there have been many opportunities to apply what she absorbed.
"I use a lot of what I learned," she said, adding that she participated while serving as communications director for the ACCGS "It taught me a lot about team building and my personal learning style and how that interacts with other people and the way they communicate and work together.
"As for my learning style, I learned that I need to do it; if I’m putting a bike together, I won’t read the instructions I’ll just put it together and when I’m done I’ll see if it came out right," she continued. "But if I know that someone I’m on a team with has a different style, where they need to read those directions, I’m very cognizant of that and won’t impose my style on them; I’d say, ’you read the instructions and I’ll put it together.’"
Creed served on the planning committee for the next session of the Institute after her graduation, and in that role she helped usher in a slight change in overall focus.
"When I went though the program, it was more focused on volunteerism, and there was a whole section on being on boards and what boards are looking for in members," she said, adding that the Institute has moved away from that strategy because most participants are already involved in the community. "So the Institute has really gone on to the next level, which is preparing the next business leaders of Greater Springfield."
School of Thought
Tony Chelte will be leaving WNEC after the current semester ends.
He’s taking on a new challenge, as dean of the College of Business Administration at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. He says he’ll miss many things about the Pioneer Valley, including the Leadership Institute, which he considers one of his career high points.
"I’ve taken a lot from the program," he said, "and I think it has made the local community stronger. Overall, it’s been an incredibly rewarding experience."
If asked, the Institute’s 900 graduates would say the same thing.
George O’Brien can be reached at[email protected]
| Adams, Debra A. Aldrich, Jamie W. Anderson, Kimberly Marie Bailey, Michael J. Barthelette, David J. Bednaz, John Berard, Karen H. Bernashe, Philip A. Bracey, David R. Brin-Martin, Gabriele T. Bryskiewicz, Edward A. Bugli, Brian J. Burns, Veronice H. Buxton, Charles A. Carr, Linda C. Coffey, Timothy Maurice Cormier, Peter R. Daignault, Robert M. DeLeon, Juan Alberto Demars, Ann Devine, Theresa L. Dombeck, Howard P Eddy, Joseph J. | Fiddler, Andrew E. Gagne, Joseph J. Glassanos, Paul C. Goggin, Paula Ann Gonzalez, Lynn Hall, Glen Hall, Kenneth John Howard, George A. Hutchins, Clayton Lee Joaquim, Damon Kelly, Jean L. Kelly, William A. Knight, Diane S. Kosel, Todd G. LaMontagne, Philip R. LaRock, Sally Lemanis, Diane MacDonald, Jeremy Robert Machos, Christine L. Malcolm, Andrea Mancini, Francis A. McGoldrick, Robert S. Melendez, Julio A. Mendel, Linda A | Mendoza, Hector J. Mesa-Melendez, Emma G. Norris, Carol Ann Patrickson, George K. Pauly, Avis E. Peoples, Willie Wayman Pereira, Maria C. Piette, Robert J. Popielarz, JoAnn M. Purcell, Richard Paul Remillard, Raymond Roy, Angela N. Sheehan, Brian N. Simard, Charles F. Simpson, Jean A Smith, Denise A. Tanhauser, Steven A. Townley, Margo D. Turner, Matthew J. Twining, Earl W. Vennell, Athan Voisine, Jane Widtfeldt, Priscilla B Wilgus, Brian E. |
The following building permits were issued during the month of April 2005.
AGAWAM
The Oaks
1676 Suffield St.
$39,290 — Staircase to new banquet hall
Six Flags New England
1623 Main St.
$542,000 — Pour foundations in waterpark
AMHERST
Boyden & Perron Garage
41 South Whitney St.
$12,000 — Construct connector between buildings
Trustees of Hampshire College
893 West St.
$64,000 — Install fume hoods
CHICOPEE
Top Flite
425 Meadow St.
$75,000 — Interior renovations
HOLYOKE
Pyramid Co. of Holyoke
50 Holyoke St.
$15,000 — Renovate Today’s Nails
Robert Varady
66 Beacon Ave.
$23,550 — Physician’s office build-out
NORTHAMPTON
Baldev Singh
207 Main St.
$10,000 — Replace store-front window
Harley Sacks
31 Trumbull Road
$41,184 — Interior refinishing and improvements to office areas
Paul D’Amour
138 North King St.
$40,000 — Relocate prepared food counter and prep area
Philip and James Greco
324 King St.
$35,000 — Remodel lounge
Smith College
91 South St.
$11,000 — New roof
WEST SPRINGFIELD
United Bank
95 Elm St.
$11,600 — Build storage room
The following incorporations in Hampden and Hampshire counties were filed between mid-February and mid-March, the latest available. They are listed by community.
AGAWAM
John G. Molta Real Estate Inc., 117 Park Ave., Ste. 152, Agawam 01001. John G. Molta, 21 Blairs Hill Road, Agawam 01001. To deal in real estate.
AMHERST
BBTech Corp., 181 Pondview Dr., Amherst 01002. Susan E. Corkill, same. Advanced software research, development, consulting and training services.
BELCHERTOWN
Sweet Music International Inc., 708 Federal St., Belchertown 01007. Adam Sweet, same. Import/export of music-related supplies, instruments, equipment and services.
CHICOPEE
Lance Berneche Construction Inc., 48 Fletcher Circle, Chicopee 01020. Lance N. Berneche, same. Construction, carpentry, electrical, roofing, etc.
Izzy’s Garage & Shop Inc., 564 Chicopee St., Chicopee 01020. Isaiah A. Salloom, 40 Cleveland St., Holyoke 01040. To deal in real estate, operate automotive service/repair shops.
Vendor Associates Inc., 20 Pendleton Ave., Chicopee 01020. Richard A. Burns, same. Vendor cooperative association.
EASTHAMPTON
Webster Hook Inc., 11 Ashley Circle, Easthampton 01027. Daniel J. Webster, same. To operate a restaurant, delicatessen, lunch and dining room.
EAST LONGMEADOW
WLC Consultants Inc., 296 North Main St., East Longmeadow 01028. James E. Walsh, 374 Pinehurst Dr., East Longmeadow 01028. To provide consulting on real estate permitting and related construction.
HOLYOKE
Advanced Orthopedic Products Inc., 92 Allyn St., Holyoke 01040. Stuart G. Lempke, same. Retail sales of orthopedic devices and products.
Springfield Pallets Inc., 25 Pinehurst Road, Holyoke 01040. Mary Jo Allen, same. Pallets sales and recycling business.
LONGMEADOW
Smily Inc., 641 Converse St., Longmeadow 01106. Satish Kumar, same. To deal in real estate.
Zephyr Imports Inc., 18 Homestead Blvd., Longmeadow 01006. Tahir Malick Sheikh, same. To import and sell rugs and various art objects.
LUDLOW
C. Lemek & Son’s Construction Inc., 49 Wood Dr., Ludlow. Christopher J. Lemek, same. Excavating, grading, landfill and earth moving operations, etc.
Direct Auto Promotions Inc., 90 Southwood Dr., Ludlow 01056. David J. DiCienzo, same. To deal in automobiles, power boats, bicycles, etc.
RUSSELL
DAS Alarm Systems Inc., 1029 Blandford Road, Russell 01071. Sharon M. Schenna, same. To deal in fire alarm and fire suppression systems, security and closed circuit television monitoring, etc.
SOUTH HADLEY
Danni and Me Boutique Inc., 15 College St., South Hadley 01075. Rita Choi-Boyer, 15 San Souci St., South Hadley 01075. Retail clothing sales.
SOUTHAMPTON
CHI Associates Inc., 8 Golden Circle, Southampton 01073. Craig Issod, same. Business consulting.
SOUTHWICK
Andy Terzian Home Improvements Inc., 5 Great Brook Dr., Southwick 01077. M. Andre Terzian, 5 Great Brook Dr., Southwick 01077. Home improvements.
SPRINGFIELD
DML Business Services Inc., 250 Albany St., Springfield 01105. Denise LaBelle, 164 Windsor St., West Springfield 01089. Financial and accounting activities.
International Food Market Inc., 921 Belmont Ave., Springfield 01108. Toqur Kurbanov, 60 Manor Ct., Springfield 01108. Retail sales.
Lokapala Organization Inc., The, 1296 Summer Ave., Springfield 01118. John Curtis Mertzlufft, same. (Nonprofit) To provide sustainable solutions for communities to create growth, etc.
Peskin, Courchesne & Associates, P.C., 101 State Road, Suite 301,
Springfield 01103. Judd L. Peskin, same. The general practice of law.
Sul-Lab Inc., 315 Cottage St., Springfield 01109. Linda Labranche, 36 Braywood Cir., Springfield 01009. Bar and restaurant.
Weiner Law Firm, P.C., 95 State St., Ste. 918, Springfield 01103. Gary M. Weiner, 259 Deepwoods Dr., Longmeadow 01106. To practice the profession of law.
WESTFIELD
B & K Landscaping Inc., 61 Woodcliff Dr., Westfield 01085. Brad Kreikamp, same. Landscaping services.
Center of Endless Possibilities Inc., 8 Pleasant St., B, Westfield 01085. Warren J. Savage, same. (Nonprofit) Spiritual consulting/coaching.
Gagnon DiPietro Inc., 635 Southwick Road, Westfield 01085. Gary J. DiPietro, 23 Maple St., Chester 01011. Restaurant.
WEST SPRINGFIELD
American Environmental Inc., 380 Westfield St., W. Springfield 01089. Jose Julio Bermejo, same. To engage in environmental contracting.
It has been said that the world comes to Massachusetts to be educated. The problem is, when theyre done with their educational experience, most of the world goes home.
Indeed, many of the best and the brightest graduates of the dozens of private colleges in Massachusetts take their collected knowledge and apply it elsewhere.
Many of those who stay and live here were born and raised here, and they are far more likely to be graduates of UMass, Westfield State College, and Springfield Technical Community College than they are Smith, Mount Holyoke, Amherst, or Harvard. And this phenomenon is one of many reasons why state legislators should heed the warnings contained in a recently released report on the states higher education system.
That report, compiled by the Senate Task Force on Higher Education, says that a dramatic infusion of state money is needed to stop a slide in quality and make education more affordable at public colleges in the Commonwealth. The reports authors, including Stanley Rosenberg (D-Amherst), propose that the state increase spending on public higher education by one-third, or as much as $300 million, in the next five to seven years.
"The public higher education system has been treated like a poor stepchild at a time when families are using it more and the state economy is going to rely on it more," said Sen. Steven Panagiotakis, a Lowell Democrat and task force leader as he capsulized the reports findings. "We will live and die economically with the kids who come out of public higher education, and if the systems not quality, we wont be where we need to be."
Leaders of taxpayer groups say the report has merit, but they dont know how the state can find a way to fund the plan, not when state revenues are likely to increase by only about 5% annually in the next few years and there are many spending priorities, including health care, pensions, and school building repairs.
We believe that the Legislature has to find some way to fund the bills
provisions or, at the very least, swing the pendulum back in other direction
toward more appropriate funding of state colleges and universities.
Why? Because other states are realizing the importance of public education, and their commitments have resulted in the creation of jobs and centers of new technology. Weve seen this in North Carolina, Texas,
California, and elsewhere. Massachusetts, meanwhile, has been going in the other direction, and the numbers tell the story:
– The state now ranks 49th in the nation in spending on higher education per $1,000 of state income;
– It ranks 47th in the nation in state spending on public higher education per capita;
– It has seen the largest decrease in state funding for public higher education: a 32.6% reduction, adjusted for inflation, between 2001 and 2004, out of the 50 states;
– It is the only state in the nation that is spending less on public higher education than it was 10 years ago; and
– Student charges have consistently been above the national average, and are among the highest in the country because of insufficient funding.
What does all this mean? Here things get subjective, rather than objective, but what it means is that fewer people are receiving a college education in the state because they can no longer afford it. And it also means that the quality of the educational experience is declining and will continue to decline unless the trend is reversed because individual schools have fewer resources and have to rely more on adjunct teachers rather than full-time faculty members.
Whats more, it means that the state universitys goal of becoming a world-class research institution will be that much harder to reach.
And what does that mean? That the state will continue to lose its competitive edge to other states and other countries. Locally, it will mean that many initiatives of the Plan to Progress including those to create a workforce capable of working in emerging technologies, and to diversify the regions economy in these sciences will be more difficult to achieve.
It will be difficult for legislators to find the money to fund the budget increases outlined in the task forces report. The only logical alternatives are tax hikes, which no one has an appetite for, or shifting some budget priorities.
We hope that some solution can be found however, because, as the evidence shows, the public colleges train the Commonwealths workforce and that workforce represents our future.
MichaelGolden Wants to Build Brand Equity at Smith & Wesson
Michael Golden says that when it comes to name recognition, the Smith & Wesson brand is as powerful as Coca Cola or Harley Davidson. But awareness doesnt necessarily translate into sales, said the companys new CEO, who wants to take this brand, what he called a ìtremendous assetî and manage it more effectively and profitably.
When asked what brought him to Springfield and the corner office of the historic, but recently troubled, Smith & Wesson company, Michael Golden answered quickly and succinctly.
"Its the brand," he explained, pausing for a moment as if to indicate that this might be all needed to say before elaborating. "Its one of the most famous brands in the country; its a powerful brand, one that I wanted to manage."
Golden, who arrived at Smith & Wesson in early December, knows all about famous brands. Hes helped develop and sell several of them during a 25-year career in business. He started at Proctor and Gamble as a unit sales manager, before moving on to Black & Decker, where he launched the Dewalt Accessory line, and, later Stanley Works and the Kohler Company, makers of kitchen and bathroom fixtures and accessories.
At each of those stops, he helped grow market share by leveraging, or managing, a highly recognizable brand name, and properly positioning it. And he wants to do the same at Smith & Wesson, a company that has battled back in some ways from years of declining sales in the wake of lawsuits against the gun industry and the companys widely criticized settlement with the federal government, but has historically struggled to take full advantage of its famous name.
Golden, the subject of this months BusinessWest CEO Profile, is the publicly held companys fourth president in the past six years, and the latest to take on the assignment of translating brand recognition into sales and profits. He is addressing that task with a broad strategic plan that includes everything from NASCAR sponsorship to heightened lobbying efforts in Washington and elsewhere designed to help Smith & Wesson capitalize on many post-9/11 global developments, as well as a broad emphasis on security and public safety.
The companys name now sits on the hood of the # 30 car, driven on NASCARs Busch Series by Scott Riggs. Its there to gain the attention of the sports huge fan base, which features demographics that mirror the target audience for the gun industry.
"We think this is going to be a great fit for us," Golden said. "This is an effective way to reach to reach out to a large, very brand-loyal audience."
As be builds visibility for the brand, Golden will also focus on sales, which have been improving third-quarter numbers were up 12% over the same period a year ago and will be driven by the companys ability to penetrate new markets and build better, stronger relationships in existing markets.
Golden has already made several trips to Washington, where he has lobbied decision-makers to consider Smith & Wesson products when arming the 1.8 million servicemen and women across the globe. He has made similar pitches to law enforcement agencies across the country.
And while the Smith & Wesson name is well-known, he explained, it does have its limitations, noting that recent attempts to many sell items with the companys name from watches to police bicycles have had only limited success.
Moving forward, the company will focus its attention on four key areas safety, security, protection, and sport, he said. "And they provide us with plenty of room to grow."
Golden added that he approaches his latest brand-building assignment with equal doses of confidence and realism. The former is a byproduct of his past success with other top-tier brands, while the latter comes out of recognition that the gun industry is a highly competitive environment, where history and nostalgia only go so far.
Under the Gun
As he talked with BusinessWest about his goals for Smith & Wesson and how he hopes to achieve them, Golden said he wants to borrow from experiences earlier in his career.
At Black & Decker, for example, he was charged with "creating excitement," as he put it, for the companys new brand of power tools and accessories, Dewalt. At Stanley, meanwhile, he said, he "learned how to manage a company."
And at Kohler, he said he gained experience in "protecting" a brand by taking cost out of the company and properly positioning the cabinet businesses he directed.
Golden actually had two stints at Kohler. The first came in 1996, when he served as vice president of sales, customer service, and distribution of its North American Plumbing Division. There, he grew sales from consistent, low-single-digit increases to double-digit jumps for two consecutive years. He also restructured the sales team, as well as customer service operations, moving from 14 independent sites to one centralized location.
That assignment followed a 15-year stint at Maryland-based Black & Decker, where he started as vice president of the so-called "Home Depot Division," and eventually rose to VP of the Canadian Power Tools Division and then VP of sales and marketing of the North American Accessory Division. During that last stop, he was responsible for sales, product development, and marketing programs for the Dewalt Accessory line, which included drill bits, saw blades, and related products.
In 1998, Golden went to work for Stanley Works, the hardware and tool maker in New Britain, Conn. There, he served as president of its Industrial and Construction Sales division. Specifically, he was responsible for a sales and organizational development of four business units, Stanley Hand Tools, Bostitch Fastening Products, Stanley Hardware, and Petro Mechanics Tools.
During his second stint at Kohler, he served as president of the cabinetry sector, where he was responsible for two separate businesses with combined revenues of $200 million.
Golden said he wasnt necessarily looking for work he was doing consulting work for a private equity firm when he was approached by a recruiter about the Smith & Wesson position. "I wasnt a shooter, and I admit to not knowing much about the gun industry," he said. "But I was intrigued by the brand, and Ive learned a lot about leveraging brands."
Since joining the company, he has been actively engaged in learning about the gun business hes even fired a few of Smith & Wessons products at its shooting facility and going about the task of more effectively leveraging the brand.
Hes also trying to take a company that has seen some recent turmoil especially in the CEOs chair and the Board of Directors and provide a measure of stability.
Golden succeeds Roy Cuny, who left Smith & Wesson last fall to join Charlotte, N.C.-based stun-gun maker Stinger Systems (Cuny subsequently left that company late last March, citing a difference of opinion with the CEO). Cunys stint lasted less than two years, and came after the departure of Robert Scott, the former head of sales and marketing for Smith & Wesson, who assumed the corner office when the Arizona-based company Saf-T-Hammer, which he joined in 1999, completed a fire sale purchase of Smith & Wesson from British giant Thompkins PLC in 2001.
It was Scott who led the company through the public relations and sales fallout that accompanied the companys March 2000 agreement with the federal government that effectively removed from Smith & Wesson from many of the law suits against the gun industry in exchange for several concessions.
Golden acknowledges the rocky recent past, but says his focus is clearly on the future and doing more with a brand he says has been "undermarketed."
"Historically, the company hasnt done all that it can with its brand," he explained. "I want to change that."
Lock and Load
Discussing his new brand, Golden said that when it comes to name recognition, there are few peers.
Coca Cola, Harley Davidson, and Ford come to mind, he said, adding quickly that those companies, like Smith & Wesson, know that awareness doesnt always translate into sales.
"Awareness and perception are two different things," he explained. "We dont want people to simply know about our products, we want them to feel good about our products.
"People hear our name and they know we make guns Ö it doesnt matter whether you like guns or not, you hear our name and you know what we do," he continued. "Thats something to build on; we have to take that awareness and drive sales."
The methods for achieving that broad goal will be outlined in a new three-year strategic plan that will be rolled out later this month. Golden touched on some of the highlights for BusinessWest.
The plan includes a number of broad and specific strategies for marketing, sales, new product development, and eliminating cost from operations, he said, noting that with many initiatives, the clock started running on Dec. 6, the day he took over.
On the sales side of the ledger, Golden said, the company will target several audiences, especially the three that offer the most growth potential law enforcement, the federal government, and foreign governments. Smith & Wesson has lost market share in each area over the past several years, and will be aggressive in its efforts to get it back.
"We dont do a lot of business with the federal government at the moment," he explained. "We want to get more, obviously, and as we lobby for contracts, were going to stress both the quality of our products and the fact that doing business us will keep jobs in this country."
Indeed, many government agencies and police departments have given contracts to foreign gunmakers, including Beretta, Glock, and Sig Arms, he said, adding that to get these former clients back, the company must stress more than the Made in the USA label. "We have to show them that we can compete with anyone," he said, "and I believe we can."
The broad sales strategy involves not only new and existing markets, said Golden, but also core products and new items that fall into those categories he outlined earlier safety, security, protection, and sport. This list includes everything from handcuffs to safety goggles to hunting knives. It also includes includes development of less-lethal products such as mace and stun guns.
As for marketing, the company wants to reach out to the many different types of customers it has the constituency groups include end-users, dealers, and distributors with messages that speak about both specific products (several new pistols are selling well), and tradition.
The NASCAR Busch Series car sponsorship will play a lead role in that mission, he said, noting that the sports enormous fan base is young, largely conservative, and outdoor-sports oriented. Golden noted that it may be hard to eventually quantify the results of the car sponsorship much depends on how well the team does and how much air time Riggs Chevrolet gets on TV but he believes it will prove a sound investment.
"Were excited about this," he said. "Were going to get some good exposure that should drive additional sales for us."
Hire Caliber Sales
As he discussed Smith & Wesson and his plans for it, Golden used the word legacy to describe both the companys workforce and the products it makes.
"Many of our employees are following their fathers and the grandfathers in working for Smith & Wesson, and when you walk through the plant and talk with people, they take pride when they tell you how long theyve been here," said Golden, adding that, likewise, generations of the same family have put their trust in the companys products.
His role as CEO is to build on that legacy through greater, more effective leveraging of the brand.
"The question for us is, how do we take this incredible asset and use it to grow our company?" he said.
George OBrien can be reached at[email protected]
| Adams, Gary W. Akers, Lyle W. Ambridge, Nelson L. Archambault, Jamie M. Axler, Alan J. Balcom, Mary J. Berry, Ashley P. Brown, Gloria J. Brunell, Matthew S. Burnett, Betsy L. Bushey-Pilon, Charlene Cantin, Judith L. Carroll, Larry John Carter, William Herbert Charvis, James N. Chase, Kimberly A. Coughlin, Kevin B. Cruz, Aileen T. Cruz, Primitiva Demers, Erin C. Deroche, Daniel B. DeSousa, Jose J. Eckert, John F. Fisher, Carole T. Fox, Maureen Ellen Gamache, Roger Robert Garib, Jesus M. Gero, Shirley J. | Giberson, Nissa Gilliam, Theora I Godfrey, Sarah B. Gonzalez, Miguel A. Gonzalez, Marilyn Ivette Hatt, Kenneth Leonard Hernandez, Natividad Isakson, David F. Jarrett, Laurel J. Keating, Juliana F. Kervick, James F. King, Lillian J. Kopy, Nancy A. Kratzer, Earnest J. LeClair, Darrin Jeffrey Lopez, Lilliam Lugo, Carmelina Mercedes, Maria M. Mills, Sally A. Mont, Sabra Ann Moore, Bruce E. Moore, Cornelia R. Morales, Eddie O. O’Neil, Joan Leslie Oppenheimer, Kathleen Ann Ortiz, Leonor Papile, Frank E. Perkins, Jodi S. | Philbrick, Clayton L. Picard, Jennifer A. Pike, Amie L Pimentel, Angel L. Pimpare, Christopher R. Proulx, Marianne Quinones, Rebekah R. Raczkowski, Roma T. Remillard, Margaret J. Robinson, Beverly Roncarati, Sandra A. Rudenko, Andrey Rzeszutek, Helen Stella Sanabria, Carlos A. Sanchez, Miguel Schenck, James C. Senecal, Katrina L. Shannahan, James J. Shepard, Joan Pauline Sherrin, Stephen E. Shirley, David B. Spagnoli, Anthony P. Teague, Daniel A. Thouin, Kellie R. Tosses, Evelyn Tranghese, Pasquale W. Tri-County Contractors, Inc. Trombley, Kelly A. Vega, Maria E. |
The following building permits were issued during the month of March 2005.
AGAWAM
Crestview Country Club
28 Shoemaker Lane
$10,000 — Interior remodeling
AMHERST
Amherst Court Trust
409 Main St.
$2,500 — Construct partition in north-side offices
Town of Amherst Library
Town Hall
$3,550 — Replace stair posts
CHICOPEE
Aldenville Credit Union
710 Grattan St.
$10,000 — Add one office
Frito-Lay Co.
90 Champion Dr.
$200,000 — Build 45’ x 50’ facility
HOLYOKE
Cabot Mill Realty LLC
107 Cabot St.
$9,500 — Install two handicap restrooms
NORTHAMPTON
APC Realty Trust
32 Main St.
$96,200 — Construct egress stairs
518 Pleasant St. LLC
418 Pleasant St.
$66,000 — Reconfigure office space
James & Michael Hogan
1 Corticelli St.
$4,680 — Construct walls for 3 offices and install replacement windows
Paul Gulla
134 Main St.
$3,500 — Install commercial exhaust hood
Smith College
29 Kensington Ave.
$16,000 — New roof
Smith College
32 Bedford Ter.
$32,000 — New roof
SPRINGFIELD
Joe Chang
87 Main St.
$10,100 — Create Chinese restaurant
WEST SPRINGFIELD
Rev. Charles Wimer
670 Prospect Ave.
$295,000 — Renovate building and build pre-fab
Riverdale Shops
935 Riverdale St.
$30,000 — Interior alterations
| The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of March 2005. | |
| AGAWAM Goodwill Accounting RRD Technologies Inc. Vernon Poolman AMHERST Amherst Communications Edith Howe Joella Realty CHICOPEE Augusti Brothers Pizzeria EZ Mart Jay’s Welding & Steel Fabricator The Rumbleseat Bar & Grill EAST LONGMEADOW Becken Hosting Case Handyman Service Dutko Electric Girly Girl Designs Maureen Slayton Therapeutic Massage Specialty Shoes United Insurance Agencies Group HADLEY Asia & America Food Market Dave’s Soda & Pet Food City HOLYOKE Bogey & Sons Renovation and Woodworking Service CE Enterprises Dairy Market Elmwood Seech & Language Therapy Services Exotic Custom Interiors Green Cleaner R & R Variety The Wherehouse LONGMEADOW A.C.I. Connecticut Valley Weathersby Guild NORTHAMPTON Candle of Hope Commercial News USA Flying Flea |
M.A. Roth Painting Quickie’s Dating Simply the Salon Watkin’s Gallery SPRINGFIELD A.W. Security Al’s Painting Arthur J. Bealand Best Towing Brother’s Distribution Express Gas & Foodmart Flynn’s Auto Sales Imperio Musical Joyce Financial & Insurance Services Kolari’s Mambo’s Merchant Services New England Wholesalers Respect for Life Childcare Center Small Smiles Dental Clinic Springfield A-1 Two Guys Pizzeria WEST SPRINGFIELD A & K Construction Alex Towing Beauty Nail Elms Cleaners Nick’s Transportation Red Carpet Inn Variedades Scarlet WESTFIELD Anatolii Kulyak The Baby Boutique Dionne Electric Gabi’s Flea Market J & L Delivery’s MiMi’s Fashion Variety Store |
The following incorporations were recorded in Hampden and Hampshire counties between mid-February and mid-March, the latest available. They are listed by community.
AGAWAM
Greenback Management Company Inc., 417 Springfield St., Suite 154, Agawam 01001. John G. Molta, 21 Blairs Hill Road, Agawam 01001. To deal in real estate, etc.
Top Knotch Tree Service Inc., 80 Howard St., Agawam 01001. Marilyn J. Kane, same. To own and operate a tree service business.
AMHERST
Hidden Tech Inc., 2 Teaberry Lane, Amherst 01002. Amy Zuckerman, same. (Nonprofit) To provide networking and educational opportunities for its members, etc.
CHICOPEE
Chessey Inc., 36 Steadman St., Chicopee 01013. Joseph J. Chessey Jr., same. Restaurant.
H & U Corp., 241 Chicopee St., Chicopee 01013. Fouzia Rafiq, same. Convenience store.
New England Aquatic Designs Corp., 297 Broadway St., Chicopee 01020. Mark Johnston, same. Aquarium installation, design work and holding.
EASTHAMPTON
Easthampton Woodworks Inc., 188 Pleasant St., Easthampton 01027. Richard E. Alcorn, 11 Dickinson St., Amherst 01002. Manufacture wooden windows and doors.
EAST LONGMEADOW
Body Tones Spa Inc., 22 Fernwood Dr., East Longmeadow 01028. Amy Impagnatiello, same. A tanning spa and related cosmetology services.
HAMPDEN
Domigi Baking Inc., 19 South Road, Hampden 01036. Lorraine A. Hanley, same. To deal in baked goods.
HOLYOKE
HHC Developer Inc., 230 Maple St., Holyoke. Jay Breines, same. To own and operate real estate.
INDIAN ORCHARD
E. Z. E. L. Inc., 567-569 Main St., Indian Orchard 01151. Norma J. Makol, 698 South West St., Feeding Hills 01030. A restaurant.
LONGMEADOW
SNEH Inc., 641 Converse St., Longmeadow 01106. Satish Kumar, same. To operate a restaurant.
LUDLOW
Buoniconti Company Inc., The, 391 Westerly Circle, Ludlow 01056. Michael A. Buoniconto, same. On-site computer services for businesses and consumers.
Commercial Machine Inc., 305 Moody St., Suite B, Ludlow 01056. Kevin J. Sullivan, 82 West St., Belchertown 01007. Machine and tool shop.
NORTHAMPTON
Angelo’s Golden Harvest Inc., 391 Damon Road, Northampton 02060. William A. Denucci, 110 High Meadow Road, West Springfield 01089. Garden center.
SOUTH HADLEY
Friends of Buttery Brook Park Inc., 15 Westbrook Road, South Hadley 01075. Linda Young, same. (Nonprofit) To improve and promote Buttery Brook Park, etc.
Exclusive Car Service Inc., 27 Hadley St., South Hadley 01075. David P. White, same. Limousine service.
SOUTHAMPTON
Wiseman and Son Transportation Inc., 38 High St., Southampton 01073. Jim Wiseman, same. A trucking company.
SOUTHWICK
Drakeview Sandwich Co. Inc., 327 North Loomis St., Southwick 01077. Nancy R. Cannizzaro, same. Retail food sales.
SPRINGFIELD
Diocesan Cemeteries of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts Inc., 65 Elliot St., Springfield 01103. Timothy A. McDonnell, 76 Elliot St., Springfield 01103. To promote and ensure the appropriate and respectful committal of the dead in the Springfield Diocese.
HTMD Inc., 494 Central St., Springfield 01105. Hong V. Tran, 469 Page Blvd., Springfield 01104. Liquor package store.
Lawn Sprinkler Company Inc., The, 63 Bridle Path Road, Springfield 01118. Dino T. Frigo, 57 Palmyra St., Springfield 01118. Lawn sprinkler sales and service.
Opportunity Guidance Support Inc., 46 Kent Road, Springfield 01129. Anthony L. Brice, same. (Nonprofit) To engage in charitable activities.
Pioneer Valley Recruiting Inc., 821 North Branch Parkway, Springfield 01119. Juliette Hahn Nguyen, same. Employment agency.
Springfield Multicultural Conservatory of the Arts Inc., 2754 Main St., Springfield 01107. Wilfredo Moreno, 119 Stafford St., Springfield 01104. (Nonprofit) To promote and assist emerging artists through instruction in music, art, etc.
The Keg Room Inc., 87 State St., Springfield 01103. Christopher J.
Kolodziey, 52 Colony Dr., East Longmeadow 01028. To operate a restaurant and food take-out.
WESTFIELD
Blanchard Homes Inc., 147 Eastwood Dr., Westfield 01085. Stephen D. Blanchard, same. To deal in real estate.
D G Manufacturing Inc., 362 Elm St., Westfield 01085. Dallas Grogan, 57 Telephone Road, East Otis 01029. To manufacture plastic products.
Westfield Girls Lacrosse Association Inc., 98 Woodcliff Dr., Westfield 01085. Gary O’Grady, same. (Nonprofit) To support amateur athletes and coaching staff providing a competitive Lacrosse program, etc.
WEST SPRINGFIELD
R & S Package Store Inc., 529 Union St., West Springfield 01089. Richard Lajeunesse, 71 Greentree Lane, Somers, CT 06071. Frank A. Caruso, 127 Mulberry St., Springfield 01105, registered agent. A retail package store.
The new convention center taking shape on Main Street in Springfield will open its doors in a few months. As the countdown continues, so does speculation about what this $50 million facility will mean for the city and the Pioneer Valley as a whole.
Indeed, depending on who is offering the opinion, the center will either be a huge boon to the local economy and the centerpiece of its growing tourism sector, or it will be a dud, an elephant of the color of the facilitys exterior walls white.
Our guess is that it wont be either at least not right away.
We believe that the convention center/civic complex, to be known as the MassMutual Center, will be an asset for the region, and that it can fulfill what is its basic mission to provide revenue for the state through the taxes that will be paid on the hotel rooms it will fill.
How soon the center can become this asset remains to be seen. For now, we believe it is important for area residents to keep things in perspective.
Thats because there are a number of factors that may contribute to a slow start for the center, beginning with the fact that convention planners often think several years out, and this facility has only been on the market for about 18 months or so. And what those marketing the facility have been able to sell with, to date, are color photographs in a brochure and on the Web. They should do much better when they can offer walking tours of the center.
But there are other considerations beyond mere timing.
The convention and meeting business is extremely competitive, and it will only become more so in the years ahead. Only a few miles down I-91, Hartford is creating a new convention center that will be larger than Springfields and offer more amenities. Meanwhile, other cities, including Worcester, Providence, and Lowell, are heavily marketing their cities and meeting facilities. And dont forget about Boston, which is having its own troubles securing business for its massive new convention center.
It would be a stretch to consider any of the smaller competing cities, especially Lowell and Worcester, as garden spots. But then again, Springfield certainly wouldnt be classified as an easy sell at the moment. Indeed, while those competing communities have their own problems, none are being managed by a control board and none are the focus of an ongoing corruption probe that yields a new, embarrassing headline seemingly every week.
Despite Springfields current public relations problem and the heightened level of competition in the meeting and convention market, we believe the MassMutual Center can enjoy some success if it is marketed properly and if it gets some help in the form of continued progress in downtown Springfield, especially another hotel.
Marketers must target the right audience for this facility. While it is possible that the city will play host to national associations or groups (some already come here regularly), it is more likely that it will attract the Northeast, New England, or Massachusetts chapters of those groups.
To draw them, those marketing the new convention center must focus on selling the region, not the city of Springfield. This is not meant as another dig at the city and its many problems, but merely acknowledgement that what will bring groups to the area isnt its capital city, but rather the sum of the Valleys parts.
Increasingly, meetings and conventions are family affairs, and, with its mix of attractions ranging from Six Flags to the Basketball Hall of Fame to Yankee Candle, the Valley has much more to sell than most of its direct competitors.
This doesnt mean that it will be easy to sell the MassMutual Center. For all the reasons weve listed above, the facility may struggle at the start. We hope that time is short and that the facility proves worthy of its pricetag.
The commonwealth needs the room-tax revenue and the region needs a facility to take its tourism business to the next level. We believe the MassMutual Center will eventually achieve both missions.
Companies Help Employees Crunch Thier Numbers
A more holistic approach to health and wellness within area companies is becoming the norm, due
to the benefits wellness programs can have on a workforce. And while employees shed pounds, many companies are also shaving expenses.
to the benefits wellness programs can have on a workforce. And while employees shed pounds, many companies are also shaving expenses.
InClaire DAmour-Daley, Big Ys vice president for Corporate Affairs, was reminded of how much her companys employee wellness program has evolved recently at a corporate meeting.
Reaching for a Big Y donut, she instead found a plate of apples. It was an interesting discovery; those apples had never been there before.
"Those donuts are so good," she said. "But its nice to have other options. Otherwise, wed eat the donuts."
That dozen apples on the boardroom table next to a dozen glazed was proof that health, nutrition, fitness, and overall employee wellness is becoming more of a focus in the corporate arena.
Many area businesses already have established wellness programs for employees, however a growing trend within companies of all sizes is added attention on those programs, and the expansion of wellness services for staff, with the goal of better integrating healthy habits into their lives at work or otherwise.
Some of those changes are small, such as encouraging employees to take the stairs whenever possible during their workday.
Others may seem subtle, but are poignant in that they reflect changing attitudes. At Big Y, for example, former fitness director, Pam Ouellette, recently received a new title wellness director and an expanded set of responsibilities in order to better address employee health within the Big Y corporation.
The reclassification of her position is indicative of the overall shift in focus within many corporate fitness programs from simply offering an in-house gym for employees to creating a broad spectrum of wellness initiatives and activities designed to improve employees overall health and happiness.
More and more businesses are taking the health of their employees seriously, and realizing that good employee health isnt just an altruistic endeavor, but a smart business move as well.
BusinessWest looks this month at some of the health and fitness programs in place within area businesses, and how they are growing and changing to keep the Western Mass. workforce on the road to wellness.
Heres the Skinny
Wellness programs are not relegated to more-corporate settings like MassMutual and Big Y; a wide spectrum of businesses offer comprehensive fitness programs to employees, including colleges, medical centers, and nonprofits. Western New England College, for instance, kick-started its employee wellness program 10 years ago, and, like Big Y, it recently made some staffing and programming changes to emphasize its growing importance to the staff pool.
The colleges core wellness initiative, WorkWell, has grown in and of itself over the past decade, said Cyndi Constanzo, wellness and recreation director for WNEC.
"There has historically been a lot of institutional support," she said. "We really bought into the notion of employee wellness, and we have had great opportunities to bring programs to employees and their families because of that support."
Costanzo said that for every dollar the college invests in employee wellness and fitness, $2 is returned. But that statistic is based on qualitative, not quantitative results and research, so she said the real value of wellness programs is often hard to prove. This is one of the reasons why more-comprehensive programs are only now being seen in organizations of all sizes.
"In the past I think it has been a hard sell," she said. "But now there is a move to jump-start employee wellness initiatives because the benefits the cost savings, especially in health insurance are being brought into the limelight.
"Now, most people see at least some value in the area of employee wellness."
Dr. David Artzerounian, MassMutuals medical director, agreed that wellness initiatives are at or near the top of many boardroom agendas.
"For us, good health is good business," he said. "Employees feel better, and they accomplish more; managers see it as a win, because they are more likely to meet their corporate objectives. And in the long run, the company saves money."
In fact, the Healthy Workforce 2010 initiative, a federal program that operates under the auspices of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, serves as the framework for many corporate fitness programs. The national initiatives sourcebook for employers states that the leading causes of death in America are, in some way, linked to personal behaviors, such as tobacco use and diet and activity patterns. Further, guidelines for employers instituting wellness programs in their facilities include the major reasons why healthy practices in the workplace are beneficial to employees as well as employers. These include increased productivity, reduced absenteeism, lower health care costs, and an improved corporate image.
Anne-Marie Szmyt, director of WorkLife Strategies for Baystate Health Systems, said the statistics that measure the success of wellness programs can take some time to develop, as the outcomes of prevention efforts are usually harder to gauge than initiatives put in place to address existing problems, health-related or otherwise.
"You dont see a change in health care costs immediately," she said, "but the anecdotal evidence is strong. A sense of loyalty begins to develop within the workforce very quickly, and later you see less turnover of employees.
"Companies need to decide which wellness programs they will invest in, and remain invested for the long term," Szmyt continued. "There are a lot of studies out there that show that any increase in a better sense of well-being among employees leads to better productivity."
And wellness programs can be facilitated at either a high or low cost, she added, depending on an individual organizations budget or size.
"There are a number of resources out there, many free, that can assist in setting up workplace programs," she said. "The important thing is that you dont put it off, in part because it takes a while to see those positive results."
Wellness programs are also generally ongoing and constantly developing initiatives. An organization might start with an on-site fitness center or program, for instance, and later move on to adjusting food choices, educational programs, and the promotion of behaviors that can be easily incorporated into daily life.
Szmyt said corporate wellness programs as a whole seem to be moving in a more holistic direction, moving away from solely fitness interventions and focusing on the overall health of all employees and their families. Costanzo agreed; while the facilities many companies have, like Baystates central fitness center or WNECs ëHealthful Living Center, are excellent capstones to fitness programs, they are only one piece of a much larger puzzle.
WNEC, for instance, has instituted classes in smoking cessation, ëbrown bag lunch talks on a variety of health issues, and courses specifically tailored to those employees with particularly physical jobs, said Costanzo, including maintenance and grounds staff, to help them avoid injury at work.
"You have to tailor wellness programs to the employees who need them most, and thats often the employees in jobs with large physical components," she said. "Employees need to be healthy to work, but also need to be well in order to care for their families and complete other tasks."
"Many wellness efforts extend far beyond the fitness centers," added Artzerounian. "We are focused on educating our employees on the health risks they may have, such as weight problems, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure, as well as lowering those risk factors."
Like many local companies, MassMutual has long had a comprehensive wellness department that has garnered added attention in recent years. To underscore the importance of wellness and fitness initiatives within MassMutual, the companys fitness center was moved into the main State Street building in 2003 (it had once been across the street), and all fitness programs were given an added boost in the form of increased budgets for new exercise equipment, educational programs, and other initiatives, at all MassMutual locations.
In addition to increased corporate support of wellness programs, employees in several organizations are also beginning to see added incentives to healthy living at their workplaces, designed to make fitness programs more attractive and more widely used as they become more expansive.
Costanzo said employees are now offered ërelief time, that is awarded after a certain number of hours of exercise, allowing staff to come in late or leave early from work. That incentive in particular has attracted several employees to the planned wellness activities at WNEC about 350 employees are regularly working out in order to earn time out.
DAmour-Daley said her company has a program similar to WNECs, offering employees that take advantage of corporate fitness programs extra time off from work. But, conversely, she said charging employees to work out in the Big Y fitness center has also proven effective.
"Memberships are available to all employees, but theyre not free," she said. "Weve found that people are more apt to go to the gym if they have to pay for it; they dont take for granted that its there for them to use, and the payroll deductions are a constant reminder to get up and go."
Big Y also holds weight-loss challenges intermittently, offering a cash prize to the employees that shed the most pounds. DAmour-Daley said the recent expansion of programming company-wide has been in response to a nationwide trend as well as the need to address fitness and wellness within a growing company and among the group of employees that work too far away from Big Ys Springfield-based corporate offices to take advantage of gym-centered programs.
"We started our fitness programs with an in-house fitness center," she said, "But the change in our fitness directors title and responsibilities is a direct reflection of the greater challenge we have taken on to address wellness in all of our locations. We want our wellness programs to get to the whole person."
Varied programs help the company bring wellness initiatives to each of its stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut, such as the dissemination of health and nutrition information, contests like the ë10,000 steps a day program that issues pedometers to all employees and challenges them to take 10,000 steps daily, and Weight Watchers groups. Employees also recently attended a screening of last-years smash documentary Super Size Me to glean information about smart food choices.
"Were in the food biz," said DAmour-Daley, "So health, fitness, and nutrition initiatives are a natural fit."
Paying attention to the everyday challenges that all people face, like a tray of donuts at a board meeting, is intrinsic to creating a fitness and wellness program that will be both effective and sustainable, said Tina Manos, manager of the Wellness Activities Center at MassMutual. Manos said each department of any given company has the potential to better the health of its direct staff, and addressing wellness in all corporate areas rather than just through a specific wellness department is the best way to incorporate a culture shift.
Everyone is different; those prone to grabbing fast food in the cafeteria can be helped with more healthy food options, for instance, and Manos said people new to exercise programs that may need some extra guidance could benefit from a daily walking group or nutrition class. Others still may need strategies to blend physical activity into their already hectic lives.
"Programs that address the hesitancy some people may have toward exercise are very important," she said, adding that one of the new initiatives MassMutual has incorporated into its wellness repertoire is a series of exercise options designed to fit into a compressed time period ideal for people who have little time in their busy schedules to add a fitness regimen. "The program is designed to help employees see that there are things they can do in a half-hour to exercise."
Donut Disturb
"There has been a huge commitment lately to wellness and a big part of that commitment is making fitness more accessible and convenient," said Manos.
Convenient, yes, but also all-inclusive, available to help employees through each part of their workday and beyond from that morning trip to the gym to that last, late afternoon pastry temptation.
Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]
Web Site Offers a New Alternative for Intrepid Travelers
GoNomad.com
On Sugarloaf Street in South Deerfield, there is a small, red-shingled building, in keeping with the areas quaint, New England architecture.
Inside, though, is a gateway to the rest of the world.
The building is the new home of GoNomad.com, an online travel resource for ëalternative travelers those in search of a thrill, an education, or a one-of-a-kind experience while traveling.
GoNomad.coms owner, Max Hartshorne, calls the site "a comprehensive resource center," designed to provide alternative travelers with both inspiration and information to plan virtually any trip.
The most prevalent aspect of the site is its editorial content essentially a Web-based magazine, GoNomad features hundreds of articles describing unique trips that stray from the more common Disneyland, Vegas, or cruise ship vacations.
"Our readers dont want to read about lounging on the beach," he said. "They want to learn how to hand roll couscous in Morocco. They want to take a cooking class in Croatia, or go on an archeological dig in Jordan. Its a very interesting niche of people."
And it was a niche that Hartshorne wanted very much to call attention to. He bought GoNomad.com from its founder, Lauryn Axelrod of Vermont, a travel writer and documentary filmmaker, in February, 2002. He already had some editorial and travel industry experience, having served as managing editor for Transitions Abroad Magazine, based in Amherst, for some time, but wanted to take the idea of alternative travel to a new level.
He also wanted to capitalize on the Internet market, and provide an extensive travel ëWeb-zine that would do more than just entertain readers.
"Working in the editorial world is my real love," said Hartshorne, who has also worked in sales for Bolducs Clothing in Agawam, among other ventures. "I love working with writers and photographers and Im also an extensive traveler. I knew I wanted to continue the work I had been doing at Transitions Abroad, but I knew utilizing the Internet was the way to go.
"If you look at all media as a triangle, at the end of the day the Internet is at the top," he said, creating a point with his hands and extending his forefinger for emphasis. "I think the best way to create a travel resource like this is to do it on the Web. Everything is right there the inspiration and also all the links you need to plan a trip from start to finish."
Charting a Course
But early 2002 was a risky time to take over an Internet-based business that centered on alternative travel.
Less than five months after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, travel and tourism was at an all-time low, and niche markets like ecotourism, work and study abroad programs, and cultural immersion tours all examples of alternative travel were suffering even more so.
"It was a big risk," Hartshorne said. "But the site was already up and running, and had a following. I decided it was a risk I wanted to take."
The venture has paid off for Hartshorne; since assuming control of the site, he has added several features meant to increase both traffic to the site and the convenience with which visitors can plan their own adventures.
GoNomad includes travel guides, links to travel-based companies such as travel agents, airlines, tour companies, and volunteer organizations, and key information for alternative travelers, ranging from unique places to stay to the latest recommended immunizations, and how to find a bathroom quick in any country.
Hartshorne said the travel stories are meant to serve as both motivation and guidance for would-be travelers, and the added links are the tools GoNomad visitors can use to plan any trip they can envision be it a weekend jaunt to Brooklyn, or a trek through Iran, taking daily meals with what else? nomads.
He updates the site regularly to reflect the most often viewed articles and resources, and said those updates are proof of the diversity of the site as well as of its core users. Alternative travelers dont always equal ëextreme travelers, he noted, but the common thread that links GoNomads typical visitor is they travel to enrich their lives, rather than take a break from it.
On any given day, GoNomad could feature a motorcycle tour of Bulgaria or the top 10 ëbare beaches worldwide. It could also extol the benefits of teaching English in Paris, Tokyo, Spain, or Ghana, or of volunteering in the Himalayas.
But the site also offers details on an historical weekend in Richmond, Va., and of an English garden tour.
"All of the articles and resources arent meant to be about one persons trip," Hartshorne explained. "They are meant to be about the readers potential trip. It should give people an idea of where to visit, where to stay, or where to eat, and also provide a general feel of the flavor of a place."
Hartshorne has also developed partnerships with a number of businesses, online and otherwise, to augment the services GoNomad offers and to capitalize on the ever-changing virtual marketplace. For one, Hartshorne has joined forces with airportparkingreservations.com, based in Suffield, Conn., allowing GoNomad visitors to secure a parking spot at one of several airports globally at a fixed rate.
"We are getting thousands of inquiries on that," he said. "In urban areas, its not easy to find a parking spot. Travelers are really latching on to this and taking advantage of great deals."
Hartshorne also offers free listings for hotels, bed and breakfasts, travel agents, work/study programs, and other businesses, as well as ëpremium listings for a fee, and, like thousands of other content-heavy websites, has joined Googles Ad Sense program, which places contextually relevant ads next to the stories on the Web site.
"This provides a pay-per-click revenue stream," Hartshorne explained. "The ads are extremely targeted, so a feature story on say, Brazil, will have ads for Rio hotels, airfare to Brazil and tours in the Amazon."
Hartshorne also benefits from the sale of travel insurance and travel books and other items in the ëGoNomad Marketplace, and this year, he will continue to add to the site, delving into the business of selling airline tickets his own private-label line of low priced European and Asian flights in addition to the railpasses, vacations, cruises, domestic and international ticket and hotel sales already offered.
To further increase revenues while remaining true to GoNomads original flavor, Hartshorne is creating a ëpod cast service audio versions of travel articles in MP3 format, which visitors can download and listen to in their homes or, he hopes, on the airplane that will deliver them to their chosen destination.
"Our revenue stream is varied," he said of the many business ventures in the works. "But we dont stray from our mission. Were not about cruise ships, were not about Vegas, and were not New York, Paris, and London. Were about participatory, learning travel. We will continue to grow and offer different services in order to keep that aspect of the site strong."
Plane Speaking
And as the business grows, so does its notoriety. GoNomad has been featured in a number of publications, including the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and Hartshorne has served as a guest expert on travel and the state of the tourism industry for several media outlets including CNN, on which he appeared twice recently in the wake of the Asian tsunami that hit Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India, and the once-booming vacation spot of Phu Ket, Thailand.
Having kick-started his business after the tourism industry, and in many ways the U.S. as a whole, suffered its most devastating blow in September, 2001, Hartshorne is indeed an expert on the fragility of the travel and tourism industry.
"The most important thing people needed to know after 9/11 was that America was still open for business," he said. "The same holds true for South Asia following the tsunami. People are donating millions of dollars to relief efforts, and I gladly donated as well. But the best way we, as Americans, as travelers, can help the countries that were hit by the tsunami is to go there.
"Many people equate those entire countries with the damage caused by the tsunami, but thats not accurate," he continued. "There are some great, inland areas that are just fine, and accepting tourists. Spending our dollars there will help the entire economy."
He added that GoNomad travelers are the ideal group to lead the way.
"These people want to see the whole world, not select parts," he said. "They want to go to South Asia, or to the Middle East. They want to learn about new cultures. That act of people connecting with people is what is needed most."
Hartshorne is hard at work monitoring those connections from his South Deerfield office each day… constantly welcoming new visitors to the rest of the world.
Fast Facts
Company: GoNomad.com
Address: 14A Sugarloaf St.,
South Deerfield, MA 01373
Phone: (413) 665-5005
Web site:www.GoNomad.com
E-mail:[email protected]
