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Seven Railroads Brewing Co. Aims to Be a Welcoming Space

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Rachel Rosenbloom says plenty of regulars come to Seven Railroads Brewing Co. for the beer, the fun, and the community connections.
Breweries & Wineries

Brews, Tunes, and Dogs

Rachel Rosenbloom says plenty of regulars come to Seven Railroads Brewing Co. for the beer, the fun, and the community connections.

Rachel Rosenbloom says plenty of regulars come to Seven Railroads Brewing Co. for the beer, the fun, and the community connections.

When Rachel Rosenbloom and Michael Bedrosian thought about what customers might enjoy in a brewery, they considered the sorts of things they liked — from music to dogs to good old-fashioned conversation.

“We wanted there to be something else to do besides just going somewhere and drinking or having a meal — something fun to do,” Rosenbloom said of the environment at Seven Railroads Brewing Co., which the married couple opened two years ago in Palmer. “My biggest goal here was to make it comfortable, like a community, like you were coming and hanging out at my house — just something to help connect a lot of the people that live in the area that wouldn’t necessarily meet each other.

“I have a lot of regulars, and they’ve all become friends, and they do things together now. It’s been really cool to see that from the other side, seeing all the connections that have been made,” she went on. “It happens all the time. It’ll be someone’s first time here; they’ll sit at the bar, and they’ll strike up a conversation with one of my regulars that sits next to them. And they’ll end up being here for a couple hours, and they’ll be talking to everybody in a big group: ‘oh, a new guy — let’s make him feel welcome.’”

Then there’s the music scene at Seven Railroads, which includes live music every weekend and an open mic night every Thursday that has become very popular, thanks partly to a small cadre of musicians who show up to give brave singers something more than a pre-recorded backing track.

“There’s a drummer that comes every week, and he’ll drum for anybody. There’s a bassist that comes in every week, and he’ll play bass for anybody. And there’s a guitarist that comes most weeks, and he’ll join in and back people up,” Rosenbloom said. “When somebody wants to come sing, they’ll tell them what song they want to sing, and most of the time, they’ll either know it, or they can figure it out.

“We wanted there to be something else to do besides just going somewhere and drinking or having a meal — something fun to do.”

“Everybody’s really happy and welcoming,” she went on. “It was every other week last year, and after the last one at the end of the year, I announced that I was making it every week this year, and the whole room started applauding, so they were all very happy about that.”

For vinyl enthusiasts, Rosenbloom also hosts a record sale event every other month, with four or five vendors setting up shop while she plays (and sells) music from her own collection. “I have the whole list printed out so people can look through and choose something, or just listen to what I have. My collection is over 900, so they’ll never hear the same album twice.”

In other events, the brewery also hosts yoga — led by Ashley Bousquet of Beyond Yoga & Wellness, who specializes in Yin yoga and Vinyasa flow — the first Sunday of every month, as well as other fun wellness events, like Pilates and yoga with goats or puppies or pigs and bunnies. “They’re just wandering around being cute while people are doing yoga,” Rosenbloom said.

Which brings us to the dogs.

“We’re actually known as one of the most dog-friendly breweries in the area,” she noted. “I have a lot of regular dogs. A lot of people come in, and I know their dog’s name, but not their name.”

The owner of two beagles — one of them a rescue — she hosts fundraisers for Happy Life Beagle Rescue on their birthdays, and this past December, patrons could get their dog’s picture taken with the Grinch in exchange for a donation to the rescue. “For two hours solid, dogs were rolling in from all over.”

A truly dog-friendly establishment, Seven Railroads has a wall full of photos of patrons’ best friends.

A truly dog-friendly establishment, Seven Railroads has a wall full of photos of patrons’ best friends.

In addition, she sells dog biscuits made by Tori’s Pet Services in Southwick. “She takes my spent grain from when I’m done brewing, and she makes dog treats out of it. I sell those here in the tavern, and I go through about a hundred a month.”

It’s just another way Seven Railroads emphasizes community and connection.

“You can see I don’t have a big-screen TV or anything else like that,” she said. “It’s all about sitting down and having a conversation with the person sitting next to you. And it’s just comfortable. You come in here, and it’s just like you’re hanging out at my house.”

 

A Taste for Brewing

Rosenbloom and Bedrosian’s journey into the brewing business began when he was in the Air National Guard.

“At one point, he was sent to Alaska, and there was a beer that he was drinking over there that he really liked. And when he came back here, they didn’t distribute in the continental U.S., and he was like, ‘why don’t we just try making it? Like, this seems like something fun that we could do,’” she recalled. “So we ordered a kit online and made a five-gallon batch in our one-bedroom apartment on the kitchen stovetop. That was the first beer we ever brewed.”

That was about 15 years ago, Rosenbloom said, “and it kind of sparked something. We really enjoyed the process and just decided to keep doing it and upgrading our equipment along the way and getting more into it.”

When they moved to a house with more space, they were able to make more beer, and started entering home brew competitions (one of which they won, while earning honorable mentions in others).

“We started saying, half-jokingly, ‘maybe one day we’ll open our own brewery,’” she went on, and a few things happened to push them in that direction. She was working for a print marketing group, but took a job with Atlantic Beverage Distributors, a beer, wine, and liquor distributor.

“That got me into the industry, and it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed that job a lot. I got to learn about that part of the industry — the sales part. From there, we just kept entering competitions and meeting more people in the industry. I got to know a lot of the local restaurants and bars and package stores because of that.”

From there, she got a job offer around 2018 to become an assistant brewer with Fort Hill Brewery in Easthampton. That’s where she learned about all the work that goes into brewing, production, selling, and packaging — to the point where she and Bedrosian were ready to set out on their own, opening Seven Railroads in early 2024.

“We’re actually known as one of the most dog-friendly breweries in the area. I have a lot of regular dogs. A lot of people come in, and I know their dog’s name, but not their name.”

They specialize in German lagers and English beers, but also offer IPAs — including their flagship IPA, called Old Exit 8, after the former name of nearby Mass Pike exit 63 — stouts, ales, and more.

“We also have British cask ale. Those are naturally carbonated in a cask or firkin, and you have to pump it out with a beer engine. A lot of people get really excited when they see that we have that.”

She also noted that she and Bedrosian doesn’t get too exotic with flavorings. “It’s kind of a pullback from the way that the industry was going,” she explained. “I get a lot of people that are glad my beer isn’t really gimmicky. I like to say I make beer-flavored beer.”

Seven Railroads distributes to three local package stores and a number of area restaurants, but focuses most of its business on the taproom on Park Street in Palmer. And while the brewery doesn’t prepare food, it sells locally made snacks, brings in food trucks when the weather warms up, and has a partnership with a charcuterie business that shows up for open mic nights and weekend music events.

“Most of my focus is on the beer and the atmosphere,” Rosenbloom said. “It’s been great providing a place for people to come hang out and meet other people in the community. Like I said, the biggest positive for me has been all the friendships that I’ve seen formed from that. There are certain people that will walk in, and the bar will be full of regulars, and they go, ‘Norm!’ That happens a lot here, and it’s awesome.”

 

Home Sweet Home

Breweries everywhere are dealing with a time of contraction in the industry (see the stories on pages 14 and 20 for more on that), but Rosenbloom is happy with the growth and success of Seven Railroads, which she partly attributes to the lack of other breweries in town.

“It helps that there wasn’t anything here. There are a lot of local restaurants and bars, but a brewery is a different sort of atmosphere than a bar. I feel like people go to a brewery with a group of friends to hang out and do stuff, versus going to a bar. It’s a good spot to go on a date or for a night out with your friends.

And for underage patrons, “I sell non-alcoholic beers and sodas here, and they’ll come here when there’s music playing, and it’s a fun night out. Lots of kids come to the yoga, for the animals, or the record sales. Those bring a lot of people in as well.”

In short, Rosenbloom’s dream of a gathering space that feels like home has been well-received in Palmer.

“We’re pretty thrilled — the community has accepted us wholeheartedly. Everyone’s so happy we’re here. The regulars are happy we’re here. It’s still kind of surreal sometimes to look at that. Like, I’ll be in here when the taproom’s full, and I look around and see everybody having a good time, and it’s still like, ‘is this actually happening?’ Because we talked about it for so long, and then we actually managed to pull it off, and it worked.”

Four Phantoms Brewing Co. Emphasizes Community Connections

By
Four Phantoms Brewing Co. owner Drew Phillips.
Breweries & Wineries Special Coverage

Good Times in Season

Four Phantoms Brewing Co. owner Drew Phillips.

Four Phantoms Brewing Co. owner Drew Phillips.

 

 

When it comes to brewing, Drew Phillips enjoys something a little off the beaten path.

“I love offbeat styles, things that don’t get a lot of love, especially with IPAs being so popular in taprooms,” he said before talking about the ciders and meads he produces at Four Phantoms Brewing Co. in Greenfield. “Cider is one of the only sectors in bev-alc that is actually growing right now, whereas craft beer is shrinking in a period of closures and consolidations. And the sector hasn’t even started to figure out what it means to be an American meadery, really.”

But there’s some cider history in the region; in fact, West County Cidery in Shelburne is the founding post-Prohibition American cidery, he noted.

“We are what’s called a single-source cidery. All of our cider is made with fruit from Pine Hill Orchard in Colrain. So we get to highlight the great character of their fruit and really just celebrate Western Mass. apples.”

“Being in Franklin County and farm country, we’ve got access to a ton of local apple orchards, peach orchards, and all kinds of stuff around here. So we wanted to take the mindset that, when we can use local, we will.”

Meanwhile, Phillips plans his beer offerings seasonally. “We don’t really have what you would call a flagship beer, so our taps are constantly rotating. There are certain styles that people like, and that I like brewing, that we’ll bring back every now and then, but it’s not like we’re always going to have something on tap. We’ll always have something new depending on what season you visit in.”

Some have developed enough of a following to be mainstays, like an Irish stout called Cork by Candlelight and an English nut brown ale. “We try to keep those on just because we can consistently sell them over the entire year; they don’t really need to rotate out,” he explained.

“But in terms of spring and summer coming up, we’re going to dip into lagers and Belgian styles and get into those easy-drinking styles for when it’s hot outside, those really approachable classic pub styles.”

All artwork on the brewery’s cans is created by local artists.

All artwork on the brewery’s cans is created by local artists.

But he’s also got a doppelbock on tap now, which is made from black birch in Cummington — specifically, a property owner with a lot of black birch stands on his land.

“Every winter, there’s usually a storm that comes in that knocks down a bunch of the trees. So we can go in there with a chainsaw, and the wood gets used in the mash. And then, depending on how I’m feeling about it, sometimes I’ll hang a sack of it in the fermenter as well.

“That’s our overall approach to beer,” he added. “We try not to lean completely into what everybody else is doing.”

 

Fruits of His Labor

Phillips has been brewing for a long time, starting out with volunteer work for breweries before brewing professionally starting in 2012. Four Phantoms began its life as a contract brewery in 2019.

“At the time, I was making cider for Artifact Cider Project in Florence as their lead cider maker and running Four Phantoms as a contract brand on the side. But we always knew we wanted to do bricks and mortar,” he recalled.

“It was that personal engagement, I think, that was very attractive about craft beer and made it grow so quickly, which we are losing quite a bit of.”

The pandemic interfered with the timeline but was also good for cider sales at a time when bars were locked down and the beer business was shaky. “We took that windfall and bootstrapped up the brand to be able to open this place. We got a loan from Greenfield Savings Bank and then opened on Halloween in 2021.”

The name Four Phantoms is a way to metaphotically evoke the passing of the four seasons, he explained.

Four Phantoms opened its physical location in Greenfield in 2021.

Four Phantoms opened its physical location in Greenfield in 2021.

“Brewing has always been, at least in American craft beer, very seasonal. So we wanted to highlight that. Being in Franklin County and farm country, we’ve got access to a ton of local apple orchards, peach orchards, and all kinds of stuff around here. So we wanted to take the mindset that, when we can use local, we will — and then, just celebrate what we love about the passing seasons.”

In addition, “we wanted it to be an old-school pub style — we really wanted people to feel like this was an extension of their living room,” Phillips told BusinessWest. “Coming out of the pandemic, I felt there was going to be a slow transition to going back to bars after lockdown, especially in Massachusetts, which had one of the more aggressive policies in terms of COVID and bars shutting down.

“So we wanted it to feel like a family environment — we really wanted to drill down and make sure our neighbors felt comfortable here. And so far, that strategy has been great,” he went on, adding that about 100 patrons have a taproom membership, getting discounted access to events and other perks, and most live within a few blocks of Four Phantoms’ Wells Street address.

As for those events, game nights have become hugely popular, with 50 to 60 people reliably showing up for Dungeons & Dragons on Monday nights, and Magic: the Gathering and other games bringing in crowds as well.

“Even if you’re not interested in craft beer or you’re not a drinker, we’re trying to make this space comfortable for everyone.”

“We also have fundraisers for community organizations, and a lot of people who attend those have never been here before, but end up becoming regulars, which is awesome,” Phillips said, noting that Four Phantoms has used trivia and bingo nights to fundraise for nonprofits ranging from local survival centers to the Immigrant Justice Coalition.

Meawhile, Four Phantoms hosts some music shows, and meetup groups are welcome to use the space as well. The brewery also supports local artists by soliciting them to illustrate its cans and featuring their work on its website.

“I’m just trying to support fundamental organizations in our community and functioning the way that I observed while traveling through Ireland — the pub is like a cornerstone of the community,” Phillips went on. “So that’s what we set out to do, and so far, I feel like it’s been successful.”

That’s despite the industry encountering some rough sailing in recent years, with people drinking less in general — and the pandemic itself may be one reason, as many people may have turned to alcohol during the dark days of isolation and are re-evaluating their relationship with it now, Phillips noted. But that doesn’t mean they can’t come out for a good time.

“We have a pretty extensive menu of non-alcoholic beverages. Our mocktails are really nice beverages. And we have locally made root beers and ginger sodas and stuff like that. We try to make it feel special instead of ‘well, you’re getting whatever we had lying around.’ I’ve noticed, in some bars I’ve gone into, that non-alcoholic beverages can be an afterthought. We try to be a little more thoughtful about it.”

Another downward trend is simply that the youngest generation of drinking age just isn’t patronizing bars and taprooms as previous generations did.

“Craft beer exploded when I started in 2012; we had just come off the financial recession that started in 2008, but we still enjoyed periods of exponential growth during that time. People took it very seriously and were very enthusiastic, but that has definitely cooled off quite a bit.”

One effect of all that is consolidation in the brewing industry, with large companies buying up craft brewers that once thrived in a smaller space, but have since struggled.

“When I was coming up, I saw people putting things they cared so deeply about into their brand identity. And when you get acquired by Anheuser-Busch, it’s sort of hard to believe in that ethos anymore,” Phillips said. “It was that personal engagement, I think, that was very attractive about craft beer and made it grow so quickly, which we are losing quite a bit of.”

In addition, “it makes the sector as a whole a lot less interesting when there’s less variety in terms of styles.”

 

Supporting an Ecosystem

Four Phantoms is doing its part to bring variety through its products — and community-minded values and personal connection through its events. Phillips distributes his beers, ciders, and meads in some local package stores and restaurants, but he’s most proud of the culture he’s built at the brewery and taproom.

“I feel really grateful, especially at this turbulent time in the craft, to have a reliable community of people who support us and are enthusiastic about the product, but also enthusiastic about coming to the space to see people they know. A lot of our regulars became friends by hanging out here.”

That includes furry friends in this decidedly dog-friendly destination. “It’s cool to me to see a dog that was brought in as a 14-week-old puppy now grown up and still sitting in the same barstool that its owner put it in when it was a little pup.

“Even if you’re not interested in craft beer or you’re not a drinker, we’re trying to make this space comfortable for everyone,” Phillips went on. “And sometimes, I think folks on the outside don’t understand that this doesn’t exist in a vacuum. We’re supporting other local businesses. That’s where we get our local root beer from. We’re supporting local orchards by making cider with their apples exclusively. We’re not just existing in a sort of island. Other shops depend on us patronizing them as much as we depend on our customers patronizing us.”

That’s why he’s committed to being mindful of those community connections and encouraging others to do the same.

“You never know, when one of those businesses closes, how many others are going to follow it. So if you really appreciate your local businesses, and there’s stuff in your community that you’re into and you appreciate the work that they do, try to get in there and show them love,” he went on. “Try to get in there regularly — because we need it right now.”

Heather Caisse-Roberts Leads the SSO with Passion, Purpose

By
Heather Caisse-Roberts
Special Coverage Women in Businesss

Orchestrating Change

Heather Caisse-Roberts

Heather Caisse-Roberts

Heather Caisse-Roberts never gets tired of seeing people enjoy the symphony.

“I think one of the most gratifying things for me has been watching individuals’ perception of the symphony change,” she told BusinessWest. “I’ve been able to see young children go into Symphony Hall for the first time and think they’re in a castle; they’re truly taken out of the world that they’re living in. And I have seen 80-year-olds walk into Symphony Hall for the hundredth time and still get their breath taken away.

“I don’t think you get that anywhere else,” said Caisse-Roberts, who was named president and CEO of Springfield Symphony Orchestra (SSO) last summer. “Like I’ve said a million times over, music is so powerful. It is so innately important to me. So, to be able to put it back into the world is something that I feel honored to do. This is a dream job for me. Every day, I wake up and am excited to come here. It’s a beautiful thing. I’m really lucky.”

Caisse-Roberts came on board in 2022 as previous President and CEO Paul Lambert’s first hire; he retired from that role this past October. Over those post-pandemic years, she has held a series of senior leadership roles, from development and grants associate to chief development and operations officer to, most recently, chief operations officer.

“I’ve been able to see young children go into Symphony Hall for the first time and think they’re in a castle; they’re truly taken out of the world that they’re living in. And I have seen 80-year-olds walk into Symphony Hall for the hundredth time and still get their breath taken away.”

Across Lambert’s tenure, during which time two labor agreements with musicians were completed, Caisse-Roberts played a key role in driving the strategic growth and sustainability of the organization, overseeing the areas of development and grants, sponsorships, box office, office administration, and marketing.

“Paul was brought on board right after COVID — actually, it was still here, and had started to come back to life a little bit again. We were in the middle of the negotiations with musicians,” said Caisse-Roberts, whose jobs before the SSO included a decade at American International College and a short stint at New England Public Media (more on those later).

“Paul came here because he had such a love and passion for this. We had worked together briefly at NEPM, and when I was at AIC, I had worked with him at the Basketball Hall of Fame for events. He was like, ‘any chance you’d want to come and maybe help write a grant or two or do a little fundraising?’”

She was certainly interested. “I love music. I mean, I love it. I am not blessed with the talent to play an instrument. But if I can’t do that, at least I’m able to put it back into the world on some level. But so I said yes.”

Symphony Hall in downtown Springfield hosts about nine SSO concerts each season.

Symphony Hall in downtown Springfield hosts about nine SSO concerts each season.

A part-time role became a full-time one, and Lambert — a long-time veteran of the Hall of Fame who had come on board to provide the SSO with some stability and leadership at a critical time — eventually started talking with her about a succession plan. And Caisse-Roberts was enthusiastic about the opportunity, bringing to her new role an expansive vision.

“The symphony is important for a million reasons: economically, artistically, culturally. It’s an outlet for people. Music has so many proven benefits on top of what it can bring into the city. So we’re just trying to educate people about that,” she told BusinessWest, adding that one goal is to help people understand that a symphony concert is for everyone.

“One of the goals I have is to make our symphony in Springfield the most accessible symphony in New England over the next five years. Because music changes people, and it changes communities.”

“I think there’s been a long-standing assumption about what the symphony is and what you have to be to go to the symphony. You look back, and it was always black tie and top hat and very fancy. One of the goals I have is to make our symphony in Springfield the most accessible symphony in New England over the next five years. Because music changes people, and it changes communities.”

 

Changing with the Times

One major undertaking in Caisse-Roberts’s early tenure is an ongoing search for a music director, a position the SSO hasn’t filled since Kevin Rhodes served in that role from 2001 to 2021.

The next music director — finalists will conduct one concert each during the 2026-27 season, and a director will be chosen in 2027 — will serve as the SSO’s principal conductor while driving the artistic vision of the SSO, and also participating in the organization’s long-standing education programs and building bridges with schools, universities, and cultural organizations with the aim of growing audiences and inspiring the next generation, among other roles.

That vision, Caisse-Roberts said, will continue to honor traditional symphonic music while embracing innovation in the concert programming as well.

“There is a lot of new music out there. There are a lot of new composers. There are also really beautiful, updated ways to play traditional pieces,” she explained, citing, as one example, a concert in January that incorporated Motown and the Philly Sound.

“So, not a typical classical concert, right? But we had a full house, and no one was on their phone. People were up and dancing. We had an actual love train going through the aisles at Symphony Hall. There were little kids singing, people ballroom dancing together. It was one of those moments where I took a step back and was like, ‘wow. This is what the world needs.’ So we have to keep figuring out how to do that.”

A typical show — the SSO schedules about nine of them at Symphony Hall each season — will offer both traditional compositions and pieces by modern composers, and Caisse-Roberts admits that not all long-time concertgoers appreciate that expansive vision equally.

“Change is scary. I get feedback constantly in both directions. I get feedback from our very traditional patrons that they are just appalled that a screen came down and we had a video experience along with the music, for example. And then I hear from a family who had their two kids in the house, and were like, ‘this was the most incredible way to introduce our children to symphonic music.’

“It’s not about ‘classical’ or ‘pops’ — it’s just a way to introduce them to this type of music. It’s about access,” she reiterated. “We don’t live in 1955 anymore. If we think we do, we’re not going to survive.”

Also key to the survival of symphonies in general is cultivating the next generation — of both patrons and musicians. That’s why the SSO maintains a youth orchestra program, in which 115 young people currently participate in three groups of varying skill levels.

“I would love to keep seeing that grow — this commitment to putting art back into the world is something that we need to cherish and expand upon hugely,” she said. “They should be the musicians that are playing on our stage in the next 10, 15, 20 years.”

In addition to each group rehearsing throughout the year and performing their own concerts, young musicians were also able to perform side by side with the SSO at Symphony Hall during its season opener last fall.

“That was the coolest thing ever. I cry a lot because I’m an emotional human, but seeing the two generations next to each other was incredible.”

Caisse-Roberts noted that kids don’t get the music education they used to in school, and they’re growing up in a much more fragmented media landscape, with fewer shared experiences.

Heather Caisse-Roberts says the symphony’s importance to Greater Springfield is both cultural and economic.

Heather Caisse-Roberts says the symphony’s importance to Greater Springfield is both cultural and economic.

“They’re not being introduced to music the way we all once were, the way our traditional concertgoers once were. Sitting and listening to a symphony was something you did with your family. Now, you can listen to whatever you want, whenever you want, by yourself on your phone. So we have to teach people that this is an experience and teach them about these different types of music.”

She also touted community partnerships, such as with the MGM HCC Culinary Arts Institute, whose culinary students cater SSO events, as well as the nonprofits whose work is boosted at the start of shows. But another type of partnership is essential to the symphony’s very survival — the businesses, organizations, and individuals who financially support the SSO’s work.

“Ticket sales don’t even touch the costs of a concert. That’s such a common misconception in the arts world in general,” Caisse-Roberts said. “So the community support is so important, whether that’s corporate, individual, foundation, all of the above. Every little bit of support helps us — sharing a post on Facebook so more people might buy tickets, or coming to a concert and bringing someone who’s never been to one, or buying an ad for our program, or maybe backing one of our concerts.

“So many cities have lost their symphonies. The fact that Springfield has one is something that people cannot take for granted — because when it’s gone, it’s gone. It won’t be back.”

“I mean, we have so much that we’re doing,” she went on. “We have a large group of youth students that are on scholarship because they are unable to pay, and they would never be able to experience this if we couldn’t provide support. So we’re very grateful.”

 

Impactful Work

That said, Caisse-Roberts noted, “we’re going to be heavily focused on sustainability over the next three years, which means we will probably be out asking for support. So many cities have lost their symphonies. The fact that Springfield has one is something that people cannot take for granted — because when it’s gone, it’s gone. It won’t be back.”

And that would be a blow not just culturally, but economically.

“We’re trying to get people to understand that it’s more than just the Brahms or the Mendelssohn. It’s the experience, it’s community, and it’s helping support our city,” she said. “Every time somebody comes downtown, they’re eating at a restaurant, staying at a hotel, parking in a parking garage, stopping at the casino. We’re not blind to any of that. We are trying to build up this really strong partnership base in Springfield because, if we don’t do this together, none of us succeed. I feel very strongly about that.”

Caisse-Roberts is no stranger to fundraising and development. As noted earlier, prior to the SSO, she worked at American International College for about a decade, first in alumni relations and events, and later as executive director of Institutional Advancement. Her stewardship work with alumni yielded significant growth in alumni engagement and landed one of the largest-ever single donations to the college. She also worked closely in supporting the grant director to secure Title III funding and develop scholarship funds to help AIC students continue their education.

More recently, she was senior director of Development at New England Public Media, where she focused on overseeing the nonprofit organization’s fundraising efforts, including grants, on-air fundraising campaigns, and planned and major giving programs. She also served as development director for the Young@Heart Chorus, reflecting her passion for music and its power to connect communities.

All this work represented a shift in what she wanted from her career. After teaching elementary school in Vermont early on, then working overseas for a while, she moved back to Western Mass. hungry to work for hyper-local, community-based organizations that make an impact in Western Mass. She certainly realized that ambition at AIC and NEPM, and is still passionate about it — and about the power of music in general — today at the SSO.

“I hope people will continue to get to know us more because we can’t exist without the world around us supporting us,” she said. “It’s only way we can succeed.”

Community Bank Expands Presence with Second Springfield Branch

By
Community Bank hosted a ribbon cutting at its new Boston Road branch in January.
Banking and Financial Services

Doubling Down

 

Community Bank hosted a ribbon cutting at its new Boston Road branch in January.

Community Bank hosted a ribbon cutting at its new Boston Road branch in January.

 

For Community Bank, N.A., Springfield was originally a remote outpost. But now, the institution is increasing its footprint in the City of Homes.

“We really are excited about Springfield as a market,” said Matt Plasse, regional president for New England. “I think it looks pretty similar to a lot of the markets where we operate — like, in upstate New York, I think of Syracuse or Rochester or Binghamton, markets where we really do well. There’s no single industry that dominates any one of those markets. It’s pretty diverse, small to mid-sized, family-owned businesses.

“And that’s what we do,” he added. “We’re a relationship bank. We don’t get too specialized in any one area. And at the end of the day, in order to be a community bank — which is part of our name, but it’s at the heart of what we do — you’ve got to have people in the market. So that’s why we are expanding in Springfield, and investing in that community.”

When Community Bank, whose strongest roots are in New York and Pennsylvania, acquired Merchants Bank in 2017, it gained a large network of branches in Vermont … and one in Massachusetts, in downtown Springfield’s Tower Square, which had been NUVO Bank before hanging the Merchants banner for a short time.

Located far from any other Community location, it would have been a prime candidate to be shed altogether, but instead, not only did it become a strong-performing branch, but its success has led, almost a decade later, to a second Springfield branch, which opened on Boston Road in late January.

Matt Plasse

Matt Plasse

“At the end of the day, in order to be a community bank — which is part of our name, but it’s at the heart of what we do — you’ve got to have people in the market. So that’s why we are expanding in Springfield, and investing in that community.”

“It’s not a small investment. We’re excited about this area,” Plasse said. “Boston Road is on the upswing. There’s a lot of investment going on in that side of the city, and we’ve already got great people in Springfield. And now, we’re putting more people on the ground.”

Like the first Springfield branch, Plasse said, the Boston Road office offers the usual range of banking services, from checking and savings accounts to lending, both personal — mortgages, home equity loans, auto loans, and the like — and business loans, from real estate to traditional commercial and industrial borrowers.

“We do have to be somewhat generalists and meet every customer where they’re at, so we have to offer everything,” Plasse said.

The Tower Square location has proven to be a strong performing branch over the past eight years, he added, which paved the way for the expanded footprint.

“That team has proven itself, and we like the market in general; it looks very similar to other places where we thrive. So it just reached a point where we said, ‘OK, we want to invest in Springfield.’ It’s a great opportunity for us.”

 

What’s in a Branch?

Most community banks have found over the past two decades that online banking did not make physical branches obsolete.

“That’s really how we deliver our model: having people in the markets, in our communities, establishing relationships. Customers can’t do everything online, so they’re coming to us to help their families or their businesses,” Plasse explained.

Even for routine transactions, “there’s still certainly a bunch of folks that just love to come in; maybe it’s part of their day. They’re very loyal customers, and we establish relationships with them,” he added.

“But certainly over my career, I’ve seen a shift. It used to be a very transactional role — high volume, you have people lined up out the door, you’re just trying to help everybody get their transactions completed. Now that role — and this is why we train our folks differently now — is more consultative. You’re asking them questions about why they’re there, what they’re looking for, how we can help them, and we have a lot more services to offer that can be super helpful.”

“That’s really how we deliver our model: having people in the markets, in our communities, establishing relationships. Customers can’t do everything online, so they’re coming to us to help their families or their businesses.”

Community Bank, in fact, offers what Plasse characterized as a four-legged stool when it comes to financial products, including its banking services, a wealth management group, an insurance entity, and retirement and benefits administration products.

“We position ourselves as a diversified financial services company. We see that as our differentiator from other banks in terms of our business model. And those entities really run on their own as fully scaled businesses, and they contribute an outsized portion of our revenue,” he went on.

“So, compared to our peers, we’re number one by far in terms of our revenue mix, the revenue that comes from non-bank fee income. But the only way to cross-sell those is to interact with your customers and consult with them and deliver those other options to them every day. So that’s the synergy we’re trying to get, and to have branches on the ground is the way to do that.”

At the same time, the bank intends to get involved in — and give back to — the local nonprofit landscape.

“It’s in our name, and it’s what we do every day, but as an institution, we give about $4 million a year to the community by way of donations and sponsorships, that sort of thing. Last year, we supported about 2,200 different organizations.”

The bank does so with a regional model, Plasse added, noting that the existing Springfield branch contributed about $61,000 to 22 different organizations last year, while team members volunteered more than 200 hours in the community.

“I’m the regional president for New England, which, for us, includes Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. And we have separate committees within each region to identify what the community needs are. We don’t want to have a blanket approach. I’m part of that committee, and we decide where to put our dollars into the community along with members from each one of those states. So we have people representing Massachusetts on that committee and advocating for local nonprofits in the Springfield area, and then we have other folks from New Hampshire and Vermont as well.”

As part of the recent ribbon cutting event on Boston Road, Community Bank donated $5,000 to the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and also committed $25 per loan or deposit opened at that location to Rick’s Place, which supports grieving young people and their families.

“And it’s not only dollars — it’s volunteering, too,” Plasse added. “In New England alone, it was 2,700 hours last year, and bank-wide, it was 17,800 hours of community service from our teams. Everyone is really encouraged to live and breathe the bank. We put our orange on — we kind of stand out. We look like a bunch of hunters out there, but it’s pretty fun when everyone gets together.”

 

Focus on the Future

Plasse said Community Bank has its eye on further growth, both organically and, when opportunities arise, with new locations.

“The big headline the other day was about the Webster and Santander merger. So we we expect we’ll see some opportunities out of that; when there’s a merger, sometimes divestitures of locations can come up,” he explained.

In any case, “we’re not done in Springfield. I don’t know what the next expansion might look like, whether it’s a de novo branch like we did on Boston Road or something else. But ideally, you have a hub and the spokes of the branch network, with the hub being downtown and several spokes around it.”

While regional expansion in Western Mass. is certainly possible, he added, the focus now is building in and around Springfield.

“We are certainly opportunistic if we feel like it’s the right time to strike. Our CEO is not afraid to do that, and we’re actively looking at similar things in New Hampshire and other places,” Plasse explained. “But in in terms of market share in Western Mass., the branch up and running downtown obviously has done very well, and we will attempt to replicate that on Boston Road.

“We’re very excited about our customers in Springfield. They may not root for the same football team as our friends in upstate New York, but they they look and feel the same, and they appreciate our core values of integrity, excellence, teamwork, and humility,” he said, while putting emphasis on the last one.

“I’ve worked at other institutions where I didn’t necessarily feel like that was evident, but humility is huge; there are no egos at this bank. We had an entire executive team came to show up in Springfield, which hopefully tells the community how important it is. The CEO was there, the CFO was there, head of HR was there, and all the CEOs of the business lines were there — the four legs of the stool. They’re all zero-ego, totally approachable people, which has been really encouraging. And I think once people come in and interact with us in the branch, they feel that.”

Window World of Western Massachusetts Continues to Grow

By
Window World of Western Massachusetts team members
Home Improvement

Home Team

Window World of Western Massachusetts team members

Clockwise from left: Window World of Western Massachusetts team members Grace Drost, Nick Drost, Lanéa Bushey, Anna Drost, and Tim Drost.

 

Growing a company from within is a philosophy Tim Drost has lived out for a long time. So is the value of a family business.

That much was evident as Drost, CEO of Window World of Western Massachusetts, sat down recently to talk with BusinessWest at his Belchertown headquarters alongside four key members of his team: wife Anna Drost, son Nick Drost, daughter Grace Drost, and Lanéa Bushey, the daughter of Tim’s former business partner.

“I grew up in the business; I had a lot of family in the home improvement and construction business — everybody was in that space,” he said, explaining that he and Bob Bushey worked for many years at a large home improvement company.

“We had a crew of guys that we worked with, and we developed installation standards across the country and Canada for them,” he noted, before Bob left in 2010 to launch Window World of Western Massachusetts. “Then, as Lanéa’s dad was getting older, looking toward retirement, I came on in 2018 — I took my whole install team with me — and continued to grow this company.”

Grow is an understatement. From about $2 million eight years ago, the enterprise now records between $40 million and $50 million in annual sales through what are actually four companies under one umbrella — Window World of Western Massachusetts, Go Green Home Performance, Hometown Exteriors, and the Kitchen & Bath Co. — with more expansion planned in the near future.

Those moves have come about in different ways. The Kitchen & Bath Co. arose from the acqusition of the Kitchen Squad, a company that had been in business for 40 years.

“We had a great relationship with them, and their father was looking to retire. So we brought their team here. And we just built a new, almost 70,000-square-foot warehouse down the street. We renovated that whole property.”

One of the buildings on that site is a fabrication shop, the equipment for which was purchased from a millwork and fabrication company that had gone out of business. “So we put those two together and expanded that service in-house, and the kitchen business has been phenomenal for us,” Drost said.

“We want to be having an intelligent conversation with our customers when they’re replacing things, to not just look at fixing the thing that’s broken, but also improving the spaces where they live.”

Go Green, on the other hand — which specializes in insulation and the performance of a building’s envelope — was built from the ground up.

“We brought in some experienced guys that we’d been working with for years and years at a local company, brought their team in, and developed that,” he said. “You need to be looking at the building, not just from a carpentry standpoint, but also from a building performance. Obviously, with all the ice dams and things like that, people really can see it this year. But we want to be having an intelligent conversation with our customers when they’re replacing things, to not just look at fixing the thing that’s broken, but also improving the spaces where they live.”

All these companies — and Window World is also looking to purchase another local company in the HVAC and solar realm — essentially work together to give clients, which include builders, developers, and homeowners alike — a one-stop shop for anything they may need.

“I understand the service portion of the business and how companies need to evolve to meet customers’ needs today,” Drost added. “Also, I realized that there’s a massive gap in the way that home improvement businesses are managing the field today, compared to years ago, with a lot of the work being done by subcontractors and poor-quality labor. You don’t have an unbelievable labor pool today like you did when I was a kid, 30, 40 years ago, where people were passionate about being in the trades.

“I mean, if you look at the roofing business today, probably 90% of it is done by subcontractors or inferior labor. That’s a weakness in the marketplace, and it’s become accepted because everybody’s doing it,” Drost went on. “So we’re very focused on developing labor.”

He said he works closely with manufacturers in developing in-house apprenticeship programs.

“Then we break it down by trade. So window guys just do windows, door guys just do doors. We feel it’s been the rocket fuel of our growth — because it’s not normal to deal with subcontractors and unskilled labor. Customers want things done right,” he said. “So as we bring these other trades in to the family business, we can offer a complete service for the customer, and take the complexity out of doing home improvement. We’re very focused on that, and we will continue to be.”

 

From the Ground Up

Window World’s leadership, however, often wear many hats, Lanéa Bushey said.

“We have our hands in everything. But primarily, what I’m focused on is working directly with our customers, talking about energy efficiency, making sure their installation is perfect,” she explained. “I go to customer homes and do assessments; I love to work directly with our customer base and be able to be in the field, seeing what’s going on.

“And we all are heavily involved in our marketing and making sure that all of our businesses align and present a clear representation of who we are,” she added.

Grace Drost said she handles more of the back end in the office, speaking with customers at the start of the process and ensuring that the process goes smoothly on projects.

“With both Grace and Lanéa, we think that the brick and mortar is a massive piece,” Tim said of the company’s showrooms in Belchertown, Westfield, and one soon to open in Adams. “A lot of times, planning for home improvement is done on people’s kitchen tables, and you can’t get a real feel for what that actual building material is. With our showrooms, you can actually touch and feel and see those pieces installed. It helps customers make educated decisions.”

“Our family’s been in the trades for generations, so we’re passionate about that, and the apprentice program has been fuel for our growth for sure. People love working for a company that’s passionate about what they do.”

Nick Drost, meanwhile, is more focused on installations and spends most of his time in the field handling everything from the design phase and assembling a material list to seeing the job through to completion.

“I’m at pretty much every job, or at least I try to be. And if not me, one of our other project managers is,” he explained. “We decide how we’re going to handle a job, and we make sure that we’re there with the customer at the beginning, throughout the job, and at the end — that there’s always someone there for the customer to talk to and make sure that they have the exact experience that we promised them at the sale.”

That requires plenty of continuing education and staying up to date with changing codes and new technology, meaning training at the company goes far beyond its apprenticeship programs.

“We need to be able to look at the whole building envelope and the science behind it and understand the effects of what we’re doing on the house,” Nick said. “We’re doing training for energy and to understand even things like HVAC systems, things we don’t install ourselves, so we can understand what’s going on in the building, why is this happening, how we can help the customer on every front, not just saying, ‘OK, we can put this window in, and that’s the only thing we’re worried about.’ We want to help the customer in every aspect of it.”

Meanwhile, Anna Drost runs the kitchen business and also focuses on internal processes to ensure a better experience for customers, as well as technology initiatives, worker safety, and training.

The emphasis on apprenticeship and training programs helps ensure that this company — now 120 employees strong — can continue to grow from within, at a time when recruitment and retention are challenges across all building trades.

“There’s zero turnover,” Tim said. “Our family’s been in the trades for generations, so we’re passionate about that, and the apprentice program has been fuel for our growth for sure. People love working for a company that’s passionate about what they do.”

Nick agreed. “One reason why I feel like our retention is so good is, at the end of the day, people want to work somewhere they can grow and get better and have something new to learn, and continue evolving,” he said, adding that manufacturers often come out to participate in trainings on codes, technology, and the like, and the company partners with Milwaukee to make sure teams are using the latest tools.

And the passion of the workforce gets relayed to customers through constant communication, Tim added. “There’s not different companies converging on one project. It’s our employees. We have the same messaging, the same communication, and everybody’s on the same page.

“That’s why most of us live in the field — because that’s where our business is. We’re not a sales organization; we’re an installation organization. So how we communicate and how we develop our teams is part of that communication piece for our customers.”

 

View to the Future

Another priority at Window World of Western Massachusetts is constant growth from within, Tim explained.

“I’ve been working with some of our project managers for 30-plus years, but everybody in this company has started in the field,” he told BusinessWest. “The apprentices are working with skilled guys who have been there and worked their way up. All our foremen started off at the bottom and were very focused on constant education. We work both locally, where we see opportunities to develop our guys, and then with national programs to bring all those pieces in.”

And, as noted earlier, Drost and his team aren’t done evolving.

“We think building performance and that envelope piece are huge for our customers, and that is the future, whether it’s in remodeling or home building. So we’ll continue to add pieces,” he said.

“We really want to be a great service for our customers,” he added. “And the great thing for me is, even though I’m an old guy, the next generation is already in the business. So I think the businesses are in good hands, and our customers are in good hands.”

HVAC Contractors Find Plenty of Opportunity

By
Scott Cernak says customers have long valued air quality, but the pandemic escalated that interest.
Home Improvement

Air Time

Scott Cernak says customers have long valued air quality, but the pandemic escalated that interest.

Scott Cernak says customers have long valued air quality, but the pandemic escalated that interest.

Scott Cernak recalls that, during the pandemic, the HVAC company he had just started was doing a lot of work with indoor air quality.

“But it certainly wasn’t a phase,” he said. “I’d say the pandemic probably escalated it a lot faster than it would naturally have. But people valued indoor air quality even before the pandemic — I just think we were paying more attention to it during the pandemic.”

It’s just one way the HVAC field continually morphs — for example, a recent shift toward heat pumps for people who value renewable energy — but essentially has always come down to keeping people as warm or cool as they’d like, and breathing easier, in more than one sense.

Cernak’s first interest in vocational school was plumbing, and he eventually got into HVAC as well. He started working for M.J. Moran Inc. as an intern at age 16 and turned his stay there into a career; he later spun his own company off that firm, opening Western Mass Heating, Cooling & Plumbing in 2020.

“The business has grown a lot — we were 24, 25 employees, and we’re up to 55 now,” he said. “And the revenue has more than tripled since the first year.”

He started the business in Haydenville but grew out of that location and opened a new building in Deerfield. “I always knew I wanted to grow the business. Maybe it was a little faster than expected because demand is high,” Cernak explained, noting that he’s made investments not only in new technology, but in training people who share his growth mindset in a field where there’s plenty of opportunity.

“The business has grown a lot — we were 24, 25 employees, and we’re up to 55 now. And the revenue has more than tripled since the first year.”

Sam Pomeroy, president of Climates by Pomeroy, with locations in Colrain and Deerfield, was also introduced to the HVAC industry in a vocational school setting.

“I was the youngest in a big family, and my brothers and sisters had gone to trade school also, and they were doing pretty well in life. At school, they send you through all the different disciplines, and HVAC was really interesting. Thirty-nine years later, it continues to be interesting.”

Pomeroy worked for a series of other companies before setting out on his own 12 years ago with a venture called Cornerstone Mechanical. He soon changed it to Climates by Pomeroy as a way to honor his father’s name, and said he takes pride in finding low-emission, high-efficiency solutions to customers’ comfort needs — and in sharing his passion for this work with others.

“The trade needs workers, and there are good jobs,” he said. “ Everyone that works here has got a good job, and they’re getting paid good money. And it’s a very specific job — robots won’t be doing our job anytime soon.”

As for still being enthusiastic about the work four decades in, “I guess I’m just wired that way, and I think a lot of us are wired this way,” he told BusinessWest. “And part of what keeps it so interesting is that it’s new all the time. It’s definitely not boring. I’ll work on a farm, on some refrigeration equipment for potatoes, and then go work at a bicycle shop; you see behind the scenes of lots of different businesses, so it’s forever fascinating.”

 

Heating Up

Pomeroy said his company’s work is typically split 60-40 between commercial and residential, though which comprises 60% can go back and forth. And he’s seen plenty of changes on the residential side, from the rise of mini-splits to much more efficient heating systems.

“When I was a kid, every house was a cookie-cutter, 100,000 BTUs. Now, the construction is so tight, we’re putting 25,000 BTUs in a house to heat it. It’s amazing to me,” he said. “When you change out a furnace in your house, it’s probably going to be smaller because, at some point, you’ve updated the windows, you’ve put a new roof on with another layer of insulation, and now you really have to think about what you’re doing. You can’t just compare apples to apples. If you are, you’re probably making a mistake.”

Sam Pomeroy

Sam Pomeroy says he enjoys fixing things for customers, and it feels good to be a “hero” in their time of need.

While the volume of work leans slightly to the commercial side these days, Pomeroy isn’t taking new residential customers right now because he wants to keep service response times quick. “There’s only a certain amount of us, and if I can’t get to your house tonight, that’s not so good for my business brand.”

Cernak’s business at Western Mass Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is currently about half direct-to-consumer residential service repairs, installations, and replacing existing heating, cooling, and plumbing systems; then about 30% residential new construction and renovations, and 20% small commercial customers.

He attributes his company’s growth and talent retention with finding the right people with a growth mindset, noting that skills can be trained, but the right mindset — one that buys in to the company’s ideals, learns from mistakes, and is hungry to grow — is particularly valuable.

“I also surround myself with a lot of the right people — not only employees, but also colleagues and peers throughout the construction and service industries, as well as the right partners: our bank, insurance company, accounting firm, financial advisor. When you surround yourself with enough of the right people, I think it becomes contagious.”

Tim Drost, CEO of Window World of Western Massachusetts (see story on page 23), is looking to add an HVAC service to his small group of ancillary companies, recognizing its importance as part of home design today, whether building or renovating.

“Ultimately they all go together” he said. “If you have a heating and cooling guy having one conversation, and the window and siding guy having a different conversation, and the framer having a different conversation, the customer might get good information, but if we’re all at the table in the morning, we can collaborate together.”

 

Cool Career

Cernak called recruiting and retention a challenge, but also an opportunity to grow the field.

“It’s not an unlimited pool to pull from, that’s for sure. But we’ve had success doing training programs. We’ve made a good investment in virtual learning and vendor training and then our own in-house trainings. I built a classroom in this new building, where we can do a lot of in-house training.

“It’s an investment we made three to four years ago in younger, talented apprentices,” he added. “They have now become leads, and we’re now hiring more apprentices and helpers, and we hope that they’ll eventually become leads as well. It’s really starting to pay off.”

That said, “anyone who’s patient will be successful in finding good people to work. You’ve got to pay well and provide good benefits, but it’s also about training and making people feel part of something bigger.”

“When somebody calls, they’re without heat, they’re desperate, and they’re grateful. When we go there and fix their heating system when it’s zero degrees, or they have no hot water and you replace the water heater — that’s very satisfying.”

But there’s another aspect of this career he feels is attractive to people who work in it.

“When somebody calls, they’re without heat, they’re desperate, and they’re grateful. When we go there and fix their heating system when it’s zero degrees, or they have no hot water and you replace the water heater — that’s very satisfying.

Pomeroy agreed. “I joke all the time that a lot of the people that are in this industry have hero syndrome. It feels so good to be like, ‘I fixed that,’ and the people are like, ‘yay!’

“I’ve left houses where it was five below zero, and I got the heat going. I was off this past weekend, and a little place I take care of, their walk-in freezer died, and I went down there and fixed it on my day off, and they were super psyched because everything important is in the walk-in freezer at the little store.

“So those kind of things really nourish me. You feel like you’re a hero, and it feels good,” he went on. “That’s one of the gifts of the job — a pat on the back for a job well done. So many jobs don’t have that; it’s just on to the next pile of papers. So it’s a rewarding career.”

New construction projects have their own type of gratification, Cernak said.

“It’s neat going into a new building, seeing it from the ground up, and you put the plumbing and the HVAC underground, and a few months later, when all the finishes are in, you know you put everything in the walls to make that house work and make the occupants comfortable and able to enjoy the modern amenities we have here in America. That’s pretty satisfying for people.”

And then there’s the bottom line view, which is another plus, Cernak added. “It’s actually a pretty high-paying industry with high demand and almost nobody with student debt because we pay for training, and so do many many companies in our industry. So you can make six figures and have no student debt.”

All that and being a hero too? For many HVAC technicians, that’s truly a breath of fresh air.

James Murning Creates Memories at Aurora Jewelers

By
James Murning
Cover Story

All That Glitters

James Murning

James Murning

James Murning designs a lot of jewelry — some of it for pretty notable names. You might have seen — and heard — one of them at the recent Super Bowl halftime.

“I design a lot of pieces for musicians,” said Murning, owner of Aurora Jewelry in Easthampton. “I just sent out a piece for Bad Bunny, called the heritage necklace, which essentially is paying homage to Puerto Rico.”

Elaborating, he noted that “the centerpiece is a diamond-encrusted star for the flag of Puerto Rico, and two bezel-set aquamarines represent Bad Bunny’s birth month. And then there are three-dimensional flor de maga flowers, which are the national flower of Puerto Rico, and there is actually a dog tag hanging off the back of the chain with the city coordinates of the city block he was born in.”

For such big-name commissions, “we work with a variety of different people in rock, country, and EDM,” Murning added, but he takes as much pleasure in creating meaningful pieces for everyone — jewelry that’s not only aesthetically pleasing, but offers plenty of meaning in the design itself.

“We also do a ton of repurposing,” he said. “So if somebody comes in and says, ‘I’ve got some stuff from my grandmother or grandfather, these are heirloom pieces, I want to melt them down and get paid cash,’ 90% of the time, if it’s something really cool, I will tell them, ‘you should not melt this. Let us repurpose it and give it a new life.’ We can take the stones out and put them in a new ring; that way, they have a story to tell 20 years from now.”

“If somebody comes in and says, ‘I’ve got some stuff from my grandmother or grandfather, these are heirloom pieces, I want to melt them down and get paid cash,’ 90% of the time, if it’s something really cool, I will tell them, ‘you should not melt this. Let us repurpose it and give it a new life.’”

Just to mention one example, “I had a lady come in one night. She had this incredible, 22-karat solid gold Peruvian cross, handmade in Peru. I mean, the design work and the soldering that went into this it was incredible. And she said, ‘I want you to polish this cross for me; I want to put it in a shadowbox.’”

Instead, he convinced her to repurpose it into three new pieces, one of which was a ring she gave to her daughter. “That was a very rewarding thing — and they’ve come back. They’re really great people. But that was one of those moments where I was repurposing people’s pieces and giving them a new life and a new story. That’s so important. Because once it’s melted, it’s gone. And the cash will be gone, too.

Aurora Jewelers has a wall of engagement photos featuring rings purchased there.

Aurora Jewelers has a wall of engagement photos featuring rings purchased there.

“I love the stories of jewelry. Not only is it art, but you get to hear about people,” Murning went on. “It’s one way you keep people alive. Like, ‘my grandfather bought this for my grandmother in 1915 on 46th Street in New York City.’ You know what I mean? And you can imagine what that scene looked like. So the romance behind it is really nice too.”

One of the most significant aspects of Murning’s business is engagement rings and wedding bands. In fact, he has a wall of photographs on his wall taken by happy couples right after proposals using his rings — another way he sees his job as celebrating history in the making, not just selling jewelry.

“I had a fun couple come in; they said, ‘we’re obsessed with the galaxy.’ And I was like, ‘OK, why don’t I make you a ring that looks like the galaxy?’ And they’re like, ‘you can do that?’ I was like, ‘of course I can.’ It was three rows of diamonds that were circling like a hurricane. And then, in the center, was a mystic topaz which shimmers different colors. So the whole ring looked like the galaxy. And they were blown away by it.”

Murning can wax nostagic when he talks about the value of what he does, and the way his pieces reflect history as much as they reflects light.

“I mean, growing up around my great-grandparents and seeing my great-grandfather get into his light blue Cadillac and open the door for my great-grandmother was … well, you don’t see that kind of culture anymore. It’s just gone. So if I can keep some of that still living, I’ll totally try to do that.”

But Aurora Jewelers has been a success in the bottom line as well.

“Our first full calendar year was 2024, and it was great — way better than I ever expected. In 2025, we did 39% higher. So it just keeps growing,” he said. “There are many factors that come into play when you have a brick-and-mortar jewelry store, not an online business. You just hope that people want to come in and have a conversation. That’s really important. I think COVID really hurt that whole atmosphere of people just wanting to talk to people.”

On a recent afternoon in the Easthampton store, Murning was happy to talk to BusinessWest about the early success of his business, the ways he gives back to the community, and why he’s gratified by all of it.

 

Shades of a Career

Murning’s path into the jewelry business started at a Sunglass Hut in West Hartford, which he managed when he was around 20 years old. He struck up a friendship with members of the Hannoush family who operated one of their stores there, and was eventually offered a job.

“Joe Hannoush [one of the company’s eight founding brothers] essentially took me in, and his kids are the ones who molded me to the person I am today. Without them, there would be no Aurora Jewelers. Joe was a staple in my career.”

He credits several other mentors with influencing him along the way, including Marc and John Green of Lux Bond & Green, a family jewelry business with a 127-year history.

“Everybody deserves some type of luxury. It doesn’t matter if you’re a farmer or if you’re a construction worker, it doesn’t matter. People like to feel good.”

“I managed one of their locations in Glastonbury, Connecticut — a Rolex store,” Murning said. “And I was very honored to be able to go to Rolex trainings, which not many people get to do. To put myself in that position, where I was able to be inside the room with all these Rolex executives, was a really big thing.”

He also took some courses with the American Gem Society and eventually got to the point where he felt comfortable opening up his own jewelry store, and Aurora Jewelers opened its doors in Easthampton two years ago.

Aurora now sits in an expanded space on Union Street in Easthampton; Murning originally operated out of a smaller spot next door.

“When I walked in there, it was studs, no floor, no ceilings, completely exposed, it was gutted. And I immediately saw exactly what I wanted the store to look like,” he said, from the layout to the color palette, dominated by a blue shade called Salty Dog. “I wanted something that would aesthetically showcase the midnight sky, because that’s the only time the aurora borealis comes out. So there’s significance to everything — the coloring of the store, the greens, the purples, the blues; those are the colors of the aurora.

“Every jewelry store I’ve ever been in, aesthetically, has always been kind of white walls, light gray, and aesthetically, I’m not that kind of person. I’ve always been volume turned up, big color palette. And people have received it really well.”

James Murning has ambitions to expand his brand, including in Boston.

James Murning has ambitions to expand his brand, including in Boston.

But running a business is much more than picking out wall colors.

“I was nervous in the beginning because I didn’t know I didn’t know if Western Mass. could handle a luxury store, and I got told by a few people that this would be better in Boston,” he recalled. “But I said, ‘you know, everybody deserves some type of luxury. It doesn’t matter if you’re a farmer or if you’re a construction worker, it doesn’t matter. People like to feel good.”

The ‘luxury’ description, he said, comes from the fact that he sells more exclusive and higher-quality items — many of which he designs himself — than other stores.

At the same time, giving back to the community is a priority for Murning, and he accomplishes this in a variety of ways, from being a major sponsor of Girls on the Run Western Massachusetts to sponsoring Easthampton athletic programs.

“The people who run Girls on the Run are amazing people, just incredible human beings,” he said of the organization, which blends a life skills curriculum with healthy activity for girls, culminating with a celebratory 5K run each spring and fall. “It’s a great cause. I went and volunteered this past fall. They do a Sneaker Soiree fundraiser, and I told them I’ll raffle off a diamond, and I’ll do some other stuff to help raise as much money as I possibly can.”

Then there’s a group of Easthampton High School students Murning has dubbed the Easthampton Sandlot; he even has a movie poster of The Sandlot that they’ve all signed.

“They’re convinced I’m in the mafia. They think I’m making millions of dollars and drive a Ferrari,” he joked. “But I have always encouraged them. And I tell them, ‘if you get a B-plus or better in school, I will rent a Rolls-Royce and drive you to New York City on graduation weekend, and I will take you to dinner wherever you want in New York City.’ This is important to me because I see a lot of myself in the youth. And I’ve been doing this since I opened the doors.”

“Boston is so consistent because there are so many young people out there, and they’re going to talk to one another: “where’d you get your ring? Where’d you get your ring?’”

He also just started the Aurora Foundation, to which he’ll dedicate a certain percentage of the year’s revenues to help deserving but needy local students attend college — with the goal of expanding it to much more good work. And he created the Aurora Achievement Award, which acknowledges an Easthampton High School basketball player who shows the most leadership or morale-building qualities — another program he’d like to expand.

 

What’s Next

Murning has a few business plans in the works, including the Foundry on Union, a luxury gift store that will open this summer in his first, smaller space next door, specializing in corporate gifts. He also recently released the first engagement ring created for a new private label called Daybreak. And he’s been making plans to open a location in Boston, where he said he already has a following.

“Out here, the population is a little less, so we’re hitting somewhat of a ceiling with certain things — it will be heightened again, then it’ll drop back down, then heighten again and drop back down. Boston is so consistent because there are so many young people out there, and they’re going to talk to one another: “where’d you get your ring? Where’d you get your ring?’”

What they’ll hear is that their friend got it at Aurora Jewelers, a small business whose owner has some big plans to create more jewelry — and more memories.

Britt McGrath Helps People Achieve Healthy Bodies — and Healthy Self-image

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Britt McGrath opened the Hadley studio of My Health Matters Fitness in late 2023.
Healthcare News Special Coverage

Creating a Movement

Britt McGrath opened the Hadley studio of My Health Matters Fitness in late 2023.

Britt McGrath opened the Hadley studio of My Health Matters Fitness in late 2023.

 

In her bio on the website of My Health Matters Fitness, Britt McGrath makes it clear what she thinks of ‘diet culture.’

“I have been on a decades-long journey of learning to look at my body for everything it is, rather than everything it is not. And through years of certifications, training, and actual hands-on work, I’ve found my purpose. I’ve found my worth again,” she wrote. “And that is to help other people who have had similar histories as mine give diet culture and all of its toxic friends a huge middle finger — to finally start living our lives in ways that do not revolve around how our bodies look, but rather everything else life has to offer.”

Now in her sixth year of helping a growing roster of clients make fitness and wellness work for them, she believes in that philosophy even more.

In short, too many people have been let down by a fitness and diet industry that puts too much emphasis on weight numbers and body shape, and have grown up in a society that overly focuses on the way they look, and places all the value on that, McGrath told BusinessWest during a broad conversation at her Hadley fitness studio.

“For as long as I can remember, I always fixated on my body. I was an athlete for many years, and I felt strong, but once I stopped playing, that’s when my eating disorders started happening because I didn’t know how to control my body anymore,” she said. “And over the years, as I started healing my own body image, I started making more connections with other people speaking out and letting me know they’ve also experienced that.”

“Over the years, as I started healing my own body image, I started making more connections with other people speaking out and letting me know they’ve also experienced that.”

My Health Matters contains many trappings of a traditional gym — weights, circuit training, boxing, group classes, personal training, and much more — but with a few key differences, from a lack of mirrors to a deliberate de-emphasis on number of pounds lost. Instead, fitness plans are individualized to each member’s needs, goals, and body type, with an emphasis on improving quality of life rather than chasing specific numbers.

“We’ve created a community of people who have been wanting something like this, to be able to escape a lot of what they’re exposed to in other places or by their own families and friends — whoever is telling them, ‘you have to look a certain way, or else you’re unhealthy,’” McGrath explained.

My Health Matters features a host of different exercise modalities, plus group classes and personal training.

My Health Matters features a host of different exercise modalities, plus group classes and personal training.

“A lot of folks are coming in and saying, ‘thank God there’s a place where I can just be me. I can say no to a movement that I don’t want to do. I can flip off the trainer if I want to. I can leave halfway through class if I feel like that’s what I needed.’ And I think the bodily autonomy of it, being able to make those choices without shame or guilt, is really important for us here.”

It’s an idea she’s become passionate about, and which drove her to create a safe space that’s welcoming to all body types — and women and men of all ages and backgrounds who want to express themselves and find their own path to wellness.

“I think it’s important to go against the grain a little bit,” McGrath said. “How many centers are talking about, ‘lose the weight,’ ‘burn this off,’ ‘eat this.’ There’s constantly another diet, another thing that’s coming up. But if all these diets were supposed to work, then why haven’t they worked? It’s because they’re not supposed to work, and they’re damaging to our bodies, and they’re damaging to our mental health. And they make us feel like failures if nothing happens.

“And also, why do we have to lose the weight? Why do feel like we have to hate our bodies if they don’t fit into a little box that society has deemed as appropriate this year? And that changes every year. I just felt like this needed to change,” she went on. “We have many amazing companies in our area, and a lot of personal trainers that I started getting to know as I was developing this space, who are practicing these things, but only in bits and pieces.”

 

Body Talk

McGrath didn’t always intend to work in this field; she has a background in environmental studies. But in many ways, fitness was always at the back of her mind.

“I was an athlete growing up; soccer was my baby. I ended up playing lacrosse for a few years, but soccer was always at the forefront.”

She picked up soccer at age 9 because a close friend was playing, and she wound up competing in a municipal league in Belchertown, then Belchertown High School, and was scouted by colleges — but a knee surgery early in her college career shut everything down. She did wind up coaching soccer at the high school level, which she enjoyed.

“Playing sports always felt really at home for me and made me feel connected to my body — but then, also disconnected, because I didn’t know how to feed it and how to take care of it when I wasn’t being an athlete.”

Britt McGrath says she wants to be the kind of positive fitness example to people that she wishes she had growing up.

Britt McGrath says she wants to be the kind of positive fitness example to people that she wishes she had growing up.

Seeking to get back in touch with what she enjoyed about movement, McGrath started working as a spin instructor at Energia Fitness in Hadley, now known as 50/50 Fitness/Nutrition. Later, she became a high school physical education teacher and a personal trainer, before launching her own business in 2020 that started with remote classes and home visits, before she hung out a shingle on Route 9 in October 2023.

“What I love is teaching folks, helping people see that there’s always potential, there’s always a possibility of finding a way that feels good in your body rather than feeling like you’re stuck. You should never feel stuck,” she said. “There should always be another option that someone can provide you so you’re like, ‘wow, look how cool my body is doing these things.’ That’s what I want to teach people — I want people to experience how good it can feel to be like, ‘my body is cool,’ rather than, ‘what’s wrong with me all the time?’

“We don’t need that, especially with everything going on these days,” she went on. “The last thing we need is feeling bad about ourselves continuously. So fitness is an opportunity to be able to connect with our bodies and with other like-minded folks and be like, ‘yeah, let’s do this.’”

Having struggled with body image and eating disorders in her past, McGrath is convinced that, had she encountered a role model with a body-positive take on fitness, her experiences might have been very different — and she wants to be that kind of positive influence for her club members today.

“I wanted this to be inclusive — different bodies, different identities, different lived experiences. We wanted to have a lot of variety for folks to be able to choose what works best for their bodies,” she explained. “So we have a mix of some higher-engaging classes like spin classes and boxing and strength classes. And then we wanted classes that have a sweet balance of making sure that you’re not just like beating your body into submission to feel like your value based on that — so we have mat pilates, yoga, we’ve even had meditation in the past. Bar classes are also nice because they work the smaller muscle groups and help keep your joints supported in those ways that you might not in the larger muscle groups.”

“I hear so many stories from our clients about the crap they’ve dealt with. Then they connect with other community members and are like, ‘my God, that happened to you too.’ And then they become closer.”

Aubrey Endress gets to the heart of choosing the right activities in a recent post about ‘joyful movement’ on the My Health Matters Fitness blog.

“Whether you’re walking with a friend, dancing solo to your favorite song in the kitchen, or finding your center in a yoga class, finding joyful movement establishes a level of trust within ourselves. You are taking the time to really listen to your body and respect it by choosing movement that supports what you need in the moment. No guilt, no shame, no punishment — just connection with what your body truly will benefit from.”

McGrath loves seeing members, many of whom have been scared off by other gyms and who have struggled with body image, find their connection — and a new passion for movement.

“I hear so many stories from our clients about the crap they’ve dealt with. Then they connect with other community members and are like, ‘my God, that happened to you too.’ And then they become closer,” she told BusinessWest. “I think it’s so needed. To be able to make those connections with like-minded folks is really important for a lot of us. And it’s really beautiful to see.”

 

Down to Business

McGrath reiterated more than once that opening a physical location and bringing on employees — she has 14 of them now — has been challenging and scary, but also deeply gratifying.

“I was terrified to do it — still am, sometimes. At the beginning, I really was trying to figure out what was best for my mental health and how to mix the balance of work and my personal life. With the pandemic, my mental health got pretty bad, and that gave me some perspective of what I was looking to do.

“Then a lot of my clients were starting to express that they wanted to lift heavier weights and be able to go somewhere and do that. That was at a time where a lot of us were saying, ‘OK, maybe we can start going out in public more.’”

She has partnered with other like-minded businesses, like Happy Valley Nutrition, a group of dietitians who, led by founder Amanda Mittman, also promote an anti-diet, weight-inclusive view of fitness and wellness.

“I love connecting with people and making people feel strong and validated in their experiences and their bodies,” McGrath said. “A lot of times, we go through the world thinking that everyone either hates our bodies or sees things about our bodies that aren’t there, and we develop bad body image or eating disorders.

“A lot of people have specifically sought us out because they’re like, ‘you’re different. This is cool.’ This is something they’ve actually been wanting to do, but might not have had the means yet. Or they’re looking for something that can heal their own trauma with movement. I say all the time that I needed this growing up so I could have healed my relationship with my body and my mind. And a lot of people working for us have specifically come here to help people with that.”

Clearly, McGrath has figured out that relationship for herself, and is passionate about helping others get there as well.

“I think this is the first job I’ve had where my cup is filled after I leave, rather than being completely depleted,” she said. “I feel very grateful. I mean, owning a business is no joke. That can be draining. The people are not.”

Insurance Industry Grapples with Need for Young Talent

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Insurance Special Coverage

Protecting the Future

Lisa Johnson admits an insurance career can be challenging — and a constant learning experience.

“Even our veterans will tell you, nobody knows everything about insurance. They’re learning something new every week — from each other and from formal education,” said Johnson, chief operating officer of Encharter Insurance in Amherst. “We make sure we have people taking classes every year. We incentivize learning; it improves our businvess.”

And that goes double for new employees; even after landing a job, she said, it takes about a year of training to fully ramp up on personal lines, and three years on the commercial side.

“It’s a complicated business. As an agency owner, you have to be willing to put in the time and the energy to make sure people are getting the training they need,” Johnson told BusinessWest. “Sometimes people underestimate the learning curve, and it’s tough to stick with it and get licensed and have a career. You’re dealing with a lot of regulations, it can be a very technical business, and it can be very overwhelming.”

That may not sound like the most appealing pitch, but there are rewards on the other side, she said.

“We have a career that’s not stagnant; you’re always learning new things, learning to manage obstacles, and that should be presented as an opportunity. It’s enrichment for your career. It’s furthering your personal value. This career offers exceptional long-term benefits, a lot of stability. It’s recession-proof, with a lot of variable and transferable skills like customer service and sales. I always tell people, a great salesperson will never starve.”

That said, according to a recent article in Insurance Journal, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the industry will face approximately 21,500 job vacancies each year over the next decade, and “this growing talent shortage is compounded by a rise in the severity of claims and by the industrialization of plaintiff litigation. As veteran employees leave the workforce, the industry loses invaluable expertise. That creates a ripple effect of challenges for claims-management organizations.”

Lisa Johnson

Lisa Johnson

“It’s a complicated business. As an agency owner, you have to be willing to put in the time and the energy to make sure people are getting the training they need.”

And that leaves growing agencies with a real challenge. John Dowd Jr., president and CEO of the Dowd Agencies in Holyoke, said recruiting may be more of a problem in the 413 than elsewhere.

“It has been a challenge for a long time to attract more people into this industry. I don’t think that’s unique to Western Mass., but compared to Eastern Mass. or more metropolitan areas, we just have fewer candidates that are drawn to the industry.”

Still, “I think it’s a great industry,” Dowd said. “We have many people come here to work with us, and most stay. Some don’t because they either don’t like it or they move to a different area, whatever the case may be.”

Recruiting the right people, those who will stick for the long term, has become so important, in fact, that the firm has, for the first time, hired a talent recruiter, as opposed to running ads in newspapers or working through headhunters.

“We’ve done those things for years, trying to attract people, both young people interested in the industry and seasoned people who have been in the industry for a period of time,” Dowd said. “Obviously, it’s easier to hire an experienced person to step in with minimal training and be effective at their job. But those people are not that easy to find. So a lot of times, we’ll say, ‘let’s recruit young people and train them and teach them our way.’ That way, they’re more likely to assimilate into our company’s culture.

“It is a great business, with a lot of different things you can do, depending on what your skills and interests are, and what your long-term ambitions are,” Dowd added, noting that the new recruiter will help build a pipeline of young talent. “We have multiple locations in multiple states. We’re going to have people retiring, people moving out of the area, and we have to fill those positions. We’re excited about this new role because we really think it’s going to help us fill positions and find better-qualified people — either experienced or inexperienced with lots of upside.”

Because of the training involved in hiring younger people, Johnson said, “it’s a huge savings if you can grab one of the seasoned people in our area, but I think it’s kind of a small group of people rotating from one agency to another.”

John Dowd

John Dowd

“Colleges typically don’t direct course curriculum to the insurance industry, and people don’t get introduced to it in high school or college unless they’re looking for that. And even then, it’s difficult to find courses specific to the insurance industry.”

So the industry absolutely needs an influx of young talent — and insurance careers can be appealing to them in a number of ways, she added.

“I do think it’s been a challenge in today’s labor market to find the right people. We’re competing with banks and other roles that appear more modern to younger candidates,” she said. “But it’s definitely an industry that is going to supply young people with a lot of upward mobility, particularly because they’ll bring their technical knowledge that some of the folks retiring don’t have.”

 

School’s Out

Part of the problem, Dowd said, is educational. “Colleges typically don’t direct course curriculum to the insurance industry, and people don’t get introduced to it in high school or college unless they’re looking for that. And even then, it’s difficult to find courses specific to the insurance industry.”

Considering that landscape, Sam Hanmer, president and CEO of Rush Insurance Group in Chicopee, said it’s valuable to work with community colleges and high schools to recruit through internships and generally expose students to opportunities in insurance.

“We have plenty of work, and they’re paid internships, so we hope we can get some young people to stick around,” he told BusinessWest. “We’ve even reached out to local high schools as well, creating opportunities for them. We want them to come work after school, do some data entry work, that kind of thing. We’re talking to guidance counselors about the potential for them to send over kids who are looking for after-school jobs.”

Sam Hanmer

Sam Hanmer

“Depending on what side of the fence you want to be on, there’s also a lot of financial work, payables, receivables, billing, all of that. And as an agency, we also need IT support. So there are a lot of different areas.”

The problem, as noted earlier, is that only a handful of colleges in the country actually offer coursework in insurance.

Hanmer noted that the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst has put together an insurance club — one more oriented toward the carrier side of the business, not the agency side, but it’s a start toward exposing more young people to career opportunities.

“These are good jobs; they’re actually very-well-paying jobs relative to Western Mass. It’s really about educating people, getting them interested in trying this career path,” he added. “And the interns, we’re paying $22 an hour to keep them engaged. Minimum wage is not going to keep them engaged.”

Dowd, obviously, had an unusual level of exposure to insurance, as his family has been in the business for 128 years, and the business now includes the fifth generation of company leaders.

“I had plenty of introduction to the industry, and I always had an eye on it because it was a family thing. I watched my father and uncle over the years, and I went to work right out of college for an insurance company in New Jersey as an underwriter.”

That said, “I knew being an underwriter wasn’t something I wanted to do for the rest of my life, so I came back and joined the agency as a salesman. I knew that was the area I wanted to focus on. I liked interacting with people, helping them sort through the complexities of the insurance business and insurance policies.”

That movement speaks to one of the draws of an insurance career, Hanmer said.

“Insurance is a lot of contract law, and you get to learn a lot of insurance policy,” he said. “But, depending on what side of the fence you want to be on, there’s also a lot of financial work, payables, receivables, billing, all of that. And as an agency, we also need IT support. So there are a lot of different areas. Someone could come in and hang around and say, ‘hey, there’s an area I want to potentially continue my career path on.’”

Dowd agreed. “What I say to them is, ‘look, there are a lot of different things you can do in this business. You can be in customer service as an account manager, or be on the claims end of things, or be on the accounting end of things, or be in sales, or start as a receptionist and work your way up,’” he explained. “We’ve had some of our best people start as receptionists and work their way up to senior account manager positions or claims directors; it’s really about how ambitious you are, and we nurture them along the way.”

In fact, three current employees in leadership roles started as receptionists, he noted. “They’re thriving, and they’re happy, and we’re happy with them.”

Of all those roles, salespeople may be the hardest to find, Dowd said. “Or, I should say, good salespeople. Everyone thinks they can sell until they find out how hard it is. But it’s easier if you like people, if you’re ready to work hard, and if you’re patient, knowing you have to work your way through and gain experience and gain the confidence of clients. That takes time.

“You have to have perseverance and dedication to the process, becoming a student of the business, to be an effective service professional and service customers far and wide,” he went on. “If you are of that personality and have that dedication, you can thrive in our business.”

Johnson also has senior employees who started as receptionists, so she can testify to the opportunities for advancement.

For most young recruits, she noted, “whether they’ve just come out of high school or they have a PhD, we’re still training them from square one. Typically, our agency is looking for people with experience, but it’s not that we don’t take people without experience — we have done quite a bit of that.”

Youth Movement

Hanmer told BusinessWest that the insurance business may not be flashy enough for teenagers considering career paths, and they’re more likely to gravitate toward more technology-oriented fields.

“Insurance is not tech-heavy, although it’s evolving,” he noted. “So I don’t think insurance is exciting enough for them, and it’s too bad because it’s a great business. When I find a young person and I can bend their ear for a minute, I encourage opportunities to be in the insurance world.”

The Insurance Journal article argues for better efforts at understanding the workplace needs of younger generations, which include remote work, modern tools and technology, a collaborative environment, and clearly outlined core corporate values.

Johnson said Encharter has cultivated an environment that not only values constant learning, but the importance of relationships.

“It’s a person-to-person business, and that’s how you build relationships. I can’t overestimate how important that is,” she explained. “Also, if they think they’re valued and what they do matters, it’s a much more rewarding career — and that’s something we build on with that team environment.”

Dowd said agency leaders check in with new hires 90 days after onboarding process, “to find out not only how they’re doing, but how we’re doing. Are we living up to the promises we made, to the commitments we made, to provide training and support so you can thrive in your new position?

“It’s a great business because you meet all kinds of new people and learn about businesses of all types, inside and out, and the clients become your friends. Oftentimes, you can have decades of relationships with these people who really become your friends,” he added.

“I say to every one of them, ‘we want you to retire here.’ We’re proud when we can see somebody employed and happy. I always say, ‘we can’t do it without you. And together, we can survive and thrive in a competitive industry.’”

Margaret Tantillo

By
Margaret Tantillo
Class of 2026

Executive Director, O’Dell Women’s Center

Her Life’s Work Centers on Helping Women Overcome Barriers to Success

Margaret Tantillo has spent her entire career in the nonprofit space, much of it with the Girl Scouts, and then for almost a decade leading Dress for Success Western Massachusetts.

“I’ve always worked in organizations in support of women and girls — and that was purposeful. I had a passion for it,” she said.

“There were some experiences that led me to understand that women are treated differently, and that there’s a need for women to support each other,” she added, citing a persistent wage gap between men and women as one example.

“Women take the more responsibility for childcare, for elder support. So there are benefits to lifting women up — especially the women that we serve,” she went on, referring to her latest role, which she accepted in early 2024, as executive director of the O’Dell Women’s Center, a philanthropic organization that supports low-income women in and around Springfield in a variety of ways.

“I’ve always said that not everybody gets dealt the same cards, and my hope, personally, is to sort of even the playing field,” Tantillo explained. “I could have just as easily been born into a household that was not well-off financially, and that would have been my barrier to overcome. But the hand I was dealt was middle-class, and there was no question I was going to go to college.

“Margaret’s dedication ensures that women and families have stability and access to essential resources during difficult times.”

“So for me personally, it’s like, where’s the fairness?” she went on. “We’re all getting different opportunities, and and they’re just not equal, so by working in women’s organizations, what can I do to even the playing field?”

The O’Dell Women’s Center was inspired by Connie O’Dell, who served for more than 40 years as a maternity nurse at Providence Hospital and dedicated her life to caring for women with dignity, compassion, and respect. Founded in 2023, the center occupies a 10,000-square-foot facility in the heart of Springfield.

Its most visible arm is its foundation, which provides grants, typically ranging from $10,000 to $75,000, to local nonprofits that advance educational, workforce, and career development opportunities for low-income women, as well as nonprofit organizations that address systemic barriers, such as food insecurity, childcare access, transportation, and housing instability.

The foundation distributed $550,000 in 2025 to support women and families across Springfield, and an estimated $750,000 in grants will be awarded in 2026.

The center also houses Dress for Success Western Massachusetts, which was displaced from its longtime home at the Eastfield Mall when that complex was about to be torn down and redeveloped. The O’Dell Women’s Center offered it about 5,000 square feet of space — more than $80,000 in free rent annually — to continue its work without interruption, said Jessica Roncarati-Howe, who succeeded Tantillo as head of the organization in 2024 — and is one of two individuals who nominated her as a Difference Maker.

Margaret Tantillo says she understands Springfield and its needs, and is grateful to be in a place where she can make an impact.

Margaret Tantillo says she understands Springfield and its needs, and is grateful to be in a place where she can make an impact.
Photo by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

“This single act ensured that hundreds of women in Springfield and surrounding communities could still access professional clothing, employment coaching, career development, programming, and the support networks that help them thrive,” Roncarati-Howe said. “The O’Dell Women’s Center did not just give us space; they gave us stability, dignity, and the ability to keep serving women who rely on us every day.

“What impresses us most is that this generosity is not an exception — it is the model,” she added. “The Odell Women’s Center provides free gathering and meeting space for women’s groups and is actively seeking additional nonprofits to join the building at low or no cost. Their goal is to create a true community hub where women can access multiple resources under one roof, reducing barriers and strengthening the social and economic fabric of Springfield.”

“We’re hoping to see quality relationships that align with our values of treating women with compassion, not assuming what other women need, but kind of walking hand in hand to provide that support.”

Mydalis Vera, founder of Guerrera Writer and a volunteer at the center, noted its support of food pantries during a particularly challenging time for food insecurity, pointing out that the center distributed $100,000 in emergency support to Springfield-area pantries late last year, helping families navigate the pressures of SNAP benefit changes and a temporary federal government shutdown.

“Margaret’s dedication ensures that women and families have stability and access to essential resources during difficult times,” Vera said, adding that Tantillo also spearheaded a successful diaper drive, partnering with local agencies to collect more than 40,000 diapers and registering more than 200 families to receive this essential support. “Her tireless commitment to uplifting women and families, providing practical assistance, and fostering long-term stability truly sets her apart as a leader and changemaker in the community.”

 

Spreading the Wealth

In her former role as executive director of Dress for Success Western Massachusetts, Tantillo increased the budget sevenfold and grew the organization from one program to five, all in the service of helping unemployed and underemployed women achieve economic independence. And, as Roncarati-Howe noted, it was a natural fit to operate out of the O’Dell building in downtown Springfield.

“Dress for Success is its own nonprofit; they have their own board of directors and run their own thing,” Tantillo explained. “We have a very collaborative relationship, and now it’s like, ‘what else can we bring in to support women?’ It’s a slow build. In some ways, we’re providing the next step, the next circle of resources for women.”

The funding for Dress for Success’ rent-free tenancy comes from the O’Dell Women’s Center’s family foundation, she added.

Margaret Tantillo says it’s important to lift women up,

Margaret Tantillo says it’s important to lift women up, and she’s spent much of her career doing just that.
Photo by
Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

“These partnerships reflect our belief that economic stability is built through coordinated, community-driven solutions,” said Keely Krantz, founder and president of the O’Dell Women’s Center Foundation. “When women have access to basic needs, education, and career opportunities, entire families and communities are strengthened.”

To demonstrate how the O’Dell grants target the upward mobility of women, the 2025 grantees included:

• Bay Path University, to support a new emergency assistance initiative for Springfield-based students facing unexpected crises, including housing instability, transportation challenges, and lack of basic necessities, helping women remain enrolled and complete their education;

• Dress for Success Western Massachusetts, to provide a continuum of career support, including professional attire, career readiness, coaching, and advancement services that help women achieve long-term financial independence;

• Girls Inc. of the Valley, to continue supporting the Eureka! Program, a no-cost, five-year STEM initiative that empowers girls to envision themselves as part of the future workforce through hands-on learning and sustained mentorship;

• The Gray House, to strengthen adult education services for low-income migrants and refugees, including ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) instruction paired with essential life and job skills training;

• It Takes a Village, to expand basic needs programming that fills critical service gaps for low-income women and families, helping remove survival-level barriers to economic stability;

• MassHire Holyoke, to implement the GLOW program in Springfield, a holistic workforce initiative combining intensive case management, job placement, and wrap-around supports to address barriers such as childcare, transportation, housing instability, and digital skill gaps;

• South End Community Center, to provide out-of-school programming that offers safe, reliable childcare through after-school, vacation, summer, and school-closure programs, supporting parents’ ability to work and pursue education;

• Tech Foundry, to deliver digital literacy instruction, professional development, and career mapping for women participating through YWCA programming; and

• United Way of Pioneer Valley, to expand direct services for underserved women by increasing food pantry access and strengthening Thrive Financial Wellness programming through individualized financial coaching.

As the center’s executive director, Tantillo ensures that the grants are directed in the most impactful ways and that the building’s physical resources are used responsibly, and most of those efforts specifically help women navigate barriers to stability and build sustainable futures, she explained.

“I understand Springfield and its needs, and I work very closely with the founder, who is one of the kindest, smartest women I’ver ever met,” she said of Krantz. For example, “with that emergency food funding, I said, ‘this is what’s going on with SNAP. I think we need to do this.’ And she said, ‘yes, that makes sense.’”

The decision wound up putting the planned grant outlay for 2025 $50,000 over the original budget, but the issue was deemed an urgent one. So Tantillo went about approaching area food pantries directly to get a sense of how many people they serve and what their needs were, then facilitated the grants.

While most of the center’s work focuses on providing a path to academic stability through career advancement and education, the $100,000 outlay for food pantries isn’t as much of an outlier among the other grants as it might seem.

“In the organizations that we provided funding for, you’ll see those [career] paths as well as some basic needs, because there are a lot of barriers for women,” Tantillo explained. “Like, we didn’t necessarily fund childcare, but we fund out-of-school programming, so when women are working, there’s a safe space for their children to go. So we’re going from immediate needs, basic needs, to supporting long-term opportunities.”

 

Walking Together

As part of that effort to connect women with education and career opportunities, the center is piloting something called the Bridging Navigator Peer to Peer mentorship program, which pairs mentors with lived experience with low-income women to help connect them with resources and pathways that lead to educational and career advancement.

One of those navigators is Areliz Barbosa, an assistant professor at Bay Path University and one of BusinessWest’s Healthcare Heroes last fall, who has often spoken about the dire challenges she has had to overcome in life.

“I was shocked to hear that she slept on a bench for a little while,” Tantillo said. “We’re going to pair her with a woman who may be in a situation where she can’t see her future — because she certainly has achieved a professional level of success.”

If the pilot expands, she added, “we’re hoping to see quality relationships that align with our values of treating women with compassion, not assuming what other women need, but kind of walking hand in hand to provide that support. The Bridging Navigator program will probably help women access social services or steer them toward Dress for Success or encourage them to take a training or go to community college to get that certificate.”

The O’Dell Women’s Center also offers free space for clients and community nonprofits to use, including a small, private conference room; an office with several desks; and a large, central meeting or presentation space. Tantillo said the center has also forged a partnership with MassHire Hampden County Workforce Board, which will physically place a representative in the building.

Meanwhile, she added, with nonprofits facing a tough funding landscape, she would like to bring area organizations together to determine what efficiencies exist and how they can complement each other’s services.

These are just some of the ways Tantillo brings people and resources together with the general goal of elevating women — which she has done, in some form, over her entire career.

“I just provide the opportunity, and people kind of join in,” she said. And by doing so, she continues to be a true Difference Maker.

Jess Miller

By
Jess Miller
Class of 2026

Comedian and Founder, The Kind Squad

She Leads Thousands of People Whose Small Gifts Make a Big Difference

Jess Miller has survived plenty of struggle.

She lost her mother to a divorce when she was 8, then had a traumatic experience in the Army, then lost her mother again — this time permanently, to suicide — a few years after that.

But difficult experiences can be motivators, too — in her case, to spread kindness in a hard world.

“Being kind is just caring about people, right?” she said. “If you’re kind, you actually care about doing good things for other people. That’s kind of my philosophy.”

It’s a credo that led to Miller performing stand-up comedy starting about 15 years ago and turning those shows into benefits for local nonprofits — and, eventually, to her creation of the Kind Squad. First a Facebook page launched in 2015 and now an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit, it’s essentially a collection of people who gather online to donate to fundraising drives aimed at helping people in need — or just making someone’s day.

Miller explained the humble origins of the organization. In 2020, during the pandemic, she wanted to do something to contribute to the community and started a campaign called Art Kits for Foster Kids, posting about it in the Facebook group to solicit donations.

One member expressed interest in donating, but mentioned not having enough money to pay her own water bill. Miller calculated that, if 100 people donated $3 each, they could help cover the bill. So they did, and the model was born — what is now thousands of people who take up the call for small donations that collectively add up, leading annual campaigns ranging from Art Kits for Foster Kids and Mother’s Day Flowers for Foster Moms to the pre-holiday Western Mass. Toy Drive, which, this past December, collected more than $100,000 in toys, which were distributed in partnership with numerous agencies.

“The Kind Squad is built on a simple but powerful mission: to show children and families in need that they matter — and that their community truly cares.”

In all, the Kind Squad has raised approximately $300,000 not just for those annual campaigns, but for one-time requests that come in from across the region — and the entire U.S., for that matter.

“Maybe this homeless shelter needs a little jungle gym. I literally write everybody’s donations out, I buy the stuff, I put the receipt out — 100% in, 100% out. And that’s kind of how we’ve been. It’s micro-philanthropy — just people who want to give.”

Karin Jeffers, president and CEO of Clinical & Support Options (CSO), who nominated Miller as a Difference Maker, appreciates how the spirit of the Kind Squad goes well beyond helping others and speaks to the meaning of kindness itself.

“The Kind Squad is built on a simple but powerful mission: to show children and families in need that they matter — and that their community truly cares,” Jeffers said. “The Kind Squad has helped literally thousands of children and families, providing toys, essential items, emotional support, and moments of joy during some of the most difficult times of their lives. Jess leads this work with no expectation of recognition or reward. Her motivation is purely selfless: to make a real difference, one family at a time.”

Long before Jess Miller launched the Kind Squad, she was using her comedy platform to raise funds for nonprofits.Photo by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

Long before Jess Miller launched the Kind Squad, she was using her comedy platform to raise funds for nonprofits.
Photo by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

Jeffers pointed out the recent toy drive’s haul and its “extraordinary impact” on families. “She ensured that countless kids experienced the magic of the holidays — many for the first time. But Jess’s work goes far beyond gifts. She understands that what families often need most is reassurance: the knowledge that they are not forgotten, that someone sees them, and that kindness still exists. By showing up with compassion, consistency, and heart, Jess delivered something even more meaningful than toys — hope.”

That’s real impact — generated by a true Difference Maker.

 

Early Stages

Miller’s foray into performing in public didn’t get off to the most auspicious start — she tried out for America’s Got Talent.

​“I didn’t do comedy; I sang. And I killed the song. I literally killed it. Not in a good way, but in a very, very bad way,” she recalled. “But I had fun, and I wanted to do that again. I love performing.”

So she took some acting classes — “because I really sucked” — and eventually landed a part in the musical Rent at Exit 7 Theater in Ludlow. She enjoyed that a lot, but had an itch for comedy, so she took a comedy class at Carolines in New York City, then tried some improv in Boston.

Progress was slow — she auditioned for another musical as well, but didn’t get cast — before one of her teachers gave her some advice: “if you want to do comedy and you’re not getting gigs, book yourself — post your own shows.”

So around 2013, Miller produced her first comedy show — a fundraiser for foster kids for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC). In fact, comedy benefits were the model right from the start — make people laugh, raise money for a good cause.

“Then I started doing monthly performances called the OMG! It’s Only Wednesday comedy show. Every month, we would try to do something to benefit the community. So, if it was bringing a can of food, you’d get five bucks off a ticket. Tickets were already cheap. But bring a coat, bring in hygiene products, you get five dollars off a ticket,” she explained. “I think, when you’re in business, you should be grateful that people support you, and try to give back to your community.”

A few years later, she opened up a venue in downtown Springfield, called the OMG! Comedy Club, that ran into issues with the landlord, and that project eventually shut down. “That was just before COVID, though, which may have been a good thing,” she said.

Which brings her story to 2020, when the Kind Squad — due to that woman reaching out about an unpaid water bill — started to become more than a Facebook page. “It just stacked up from there. We’re close to $300,000 at this point, just doing little missions like that.”

The week before she spoke with BusinessWest, Miller and her team of volunteers had completed a coat collection for a homeless shelter, and they’re constantly receiving other requests from far and wide that the Kind Squad community, currently about 2,700 strong, quickly responds to.

Miller’s wife, Stephanie Greenberg, partially explained why foster kids and foster moms are so important to the nonprofit’s work.

“I think it’s important to be able to give to kids because they don’t have a voice — especially foster kids. I mean, they get nothing. I used to be a teacher, and when they get moved, they just get a trash bag full of whatever they had in their house that they were able to grab at the time. And it’s just sad to see that. So anything we can do to make their lives, especially the holidays, a little happier for them, I think it’s good.”

Kim Dougherty, a volunteer with the Kind Squad, said the model works because each individual commitment is very light — the power is in the accumulation of all those tiny donations.

“It’s not a matter of, ‘oh my God, we need to give 100 bucks.’ You can give $1.25, and if we all give $1.25, look at what we can do. It gets infectious because you want to spread it to everybody else — to say, ‘hey, look at this. It’s minimal; it’s really not a lot.’ How many people can throw a dollar aside? Most of us can. So I think the simplicity of it was what drew me in — it’s not going to take all my time. It’s not going to take a ton of money. It’s simple. And that’s why it works.”

“And if you can’t give a dollar,” Greenberg added, “it’s not a big deal — there are other missions and other ways you can help. Like, for the toy drive, people brought in their gently used Christmas bags, and we can use them next year. That was a game changer.”

 

Kind Words

Sometimes Miller asks herself a troubling question: “why is it so hard to be kind?” And she realizes that the best way to answer it is, simply, to model kindness, showing others that it’s not that hard after all.

“In 2020, after George Floyd got killed, I was just like, ‘I don’t know what to do.’ Like, on a national or global level, what can one person do? But on a community level, a local level, you can do a lot.”

And some of it goes beyond the micro-philanthropy.

“In addition to toy drives, food drives, and fundraising campaigns to help families in need, Jess and Steph and the Kind Squad have helped families dealing with children diagnosed and going through treatment for cancer, using her Kind Squad page to gather emotional support, physical donations, and volunteers to support the family and visit them in hospitals,” Jeffers noted in her nomination.

“Jess has an exceptional ability to mobilize generosity and unite people around kindness,” she added. “She pours her time, creativity, and personal energy into the Kind Squad, building trust with families and inspiring others to give, volunteer, and care. Her leadership has created a ripple effect that continues to strengthen the community long after any single event ends.”

“I post it, and then people donate, and if we can get enough money, then the mission is completed — and we do that over and over and over again. But it never comes from me. It’s always from the Kind Squad.”

Amid the surprising success of December’s toy drive, Miller teamed up with organizations like the MSPCC’s Kids Net program, CSO, the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, and others — “basically, we partner with whoever needs toys.”

And now, she’s thinking bigger. “If I can get the systems in place the right way, I have an idea for the Great American Toy Drive, which is all of America, all helping foster kids. It’s either me going on tour or getting at least 50 other comics involved from all 50 states, and then doing the toy drive on one night.”

She then looked around at the small, rented office in downtown Chicopee that the nonprofit calls home, and thought about the long week spent moving $100,000 worth of toys to people and organizations in need.

“If I have my own space, then I’ll be able to do a lot more. This is not big enough for us to do $100,000 worth of toys. But we have to stay small until we can afford it — because we really haven’t done a lot in terms of income. It’s mostly small grants. They’re not even grants, just very small donations to get us through. In 2024, it was tough because the focus went from helping people to paying for the space. I’m like, ‘this doesn’t feel right.’”

But since then, the volunteers — a core team of eight, plus about 30 who help with the toy drive — have eased the load significantly, allowing Miller to dream of what might be next in her mission of kindness.

“I don’t know what I’m doing. I have no clue. I jump in and I’m like, ‘I’ll figure it out,’” she told BusinessWest. “I post it, and then people donate, and if we can get enough money, then the mission is completed — and we do that over and over and over again. But it never comes from me. It’s always from the Kind Squad.”

Still, it’s gratifying to be called a Difference Maker.

“I like to make a difference. I want to make a difference,” she said. “I guess that’s what I’m getting at. I think I just want people to know that they’re not alone — and that a lot of people feel the same way. And I’m surrounded by those people. If you’re part of the Kind Squad, that means you have some humanity in you, and you care what’s happening in the world.”

Rachelle Hannoush

By
Rachelle Hannoush
Class of 2026

Director of Youth, Violence Prevention, and Court Support Programs, YWCA of Western Massachusetts

She Has a Passion for Improving the Lives of Women, Children, and Families

Rachelle Hannoush often talks to teenagers about red flags and green flags in relationships — because, at that young age, it’s easy to mix up the two.

“Say a guy is isolating you from your family, isolating you from going to your volleyball practice. And when I ask about it, you say this is actually a green flag because it shows that they love you and want to spend time with you,” said Hannoush, whose title — director of Youth, Violence Prevention, and Court Support Programs at the YWCA of Western Massachusetts — hints at the many hats she wears there.

In this particular part of her conversation with BusinessWest, she was explaining the ‘prevention’ part of her job, especially an initiative called the HERE (Healthy and Empowering Relationship Education) Project, which helps students between ages 12 and 18 how to navigate everything from dating violence to gang activity to sex trafficking risks.

“We go into schools and teach youth different curriculum that enhances their skills on healthy relationships, violence prevention, bystander intervention. Like, if you see something, what do you do? Who do you talk to? How do you stay safe? And also, how can we have healthy relationships? What are the green flags? What are the red flags? During high school and middle school, a lot of things happen. So it’s really equipping them with skills to be able to make good decisions as they get through those teenage years.”

“What empowers our work and makes the biggest impact is when different organizations work together. And I see that here at the Y — all the departments truly live its mission, which is to empower women.”

Hannoush said prevention is effective — and is more important than ever in the age of social media and the extra pressure it places on kids.

“They can see, ‘oh, she got to go to the Caribbean for April vacation,’ or ‘she got this purse,’ or ‘she’s hanging out with this friend, and they didn’t invite me.’ There’s much more transparency and knowledge, and sometimes it can be very toxic.”

Another of Hannoush’s roles involves supervised visitation centers in Hampden and Hampshire counties, which provide secure, neutral visitation services for families experiencing domestic violence, divorce, custody, and probate issues. The program provides a structured environment for children to connect and visit with their non-residential or custodial parents.

Rachelle Hannoush says her own early struggles as a high school student in Lebanon have influenced the significant empathy she has for teenagers today.Photo by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

Rachelle Hannoush says her own early struggles as a high school student in Lebanon have influenced the significant empathy she has for teenagers today.
Photo by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

“We ensure an environment that’s safe; the most important thing is the child in that scenario,” she explained. “We want the child to have this special bond with their parents, and supervised visitation creates an environment where the parent can connect or the caregiver can connect with the child in a safe environment.”

The third leg on the stool of her job description is working with SAFEPLAN, which provides vital court advocacy services for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking in five area district and probate courts. These advocacy services include assistance in obtaining restraining orders, harassment orders, safety planning, and resource and referral information.

“In each of the courts, there’s a SAFEPLAN office and a SAFEPLAN advocate. And anyone that is looking to do a restraining order or harassment order, the advocates help them,” she said. “Sometimes we’re making referrals to other community organizations, or for other programs within the YWCA.”

So … it’s definitely more than a long job title for Hannoush — it’s a lot of work. And that’s not even touching on some of her other community-centered projects outside the YWCA (but we will touch on those a bit later).

But she’s gratified by her copious responsibilities at the YWCA, where she started working last September after years of being connected to the nonprofit as a volunteer and advocate.

“It’s amazing work, and I’ve always been a fan of the YWCA, even before I started working here,” she said. “What empowers our work and makes the biggest impact is when different organizations work together. And I see that here at the Y — all the departments truly live its mission, which is to empower women.”

 

Humble Beginnings

Hannoush grew up in Lebanon, and to say she encountered struggles in school would be an understatement.

“The reason my family moved was because I was, you might say, the troubled child. I remember to this day, my principal telling my mom, ‘don’t bother with her; she will be nothing in life.’ And I had to redo my freshman year because I failed it. I was going through a lot back then — just teenage stuff — but nobody stopped to ask, why is she doing this?’” she explained. “I think that’s why I care so much — that experience really informed my work. But I didn’t come to that conclusion until much later.”

First came a dramatic turnaround when her family settled in Holyoke.

“It was my sophomore year of high school, and the change in school environment shifted me to become almost a straight-A student,” she recalled, adding that she still derives motivation from her high school experience in Lebanon. “That principal’s words will never leave me — I will be something, and I will do my best, and I will always be looking for more.”

Those years also gave her a deep empathy for the challenges of young people, which is why she found herself working in early education.

Her path there wasn’t exactly linear; she originally went to school for nuclear medicine. But she loved spending time with the children during internships at Boston Children’s Hospital, and when she had her first child, she began to understand the critical role of early education for a working parent — and its cost and access challenges — and she began to explore that as a career.

“I love science, so I was able to blend science with motherhood and education,” she said. “I started as an assistant teacher and then went back to school and got my teacher certification, then lead teacher certification, then director certification. And that started my educational leadership journey.”

A few years later, in 2019, Hannoush found herself developing a passion for professional development and also came across across the Children’s Trust, a Boston-based organization that addresses child abuse and neglect, which was looking for trainers.

“As early educators, as caregivers, we’re mandated reporters, which means, if you see something, you have to report it. My staff had always taken the mandated reporter training, but the training only shows you how to report; it doesn’t teach you how to respond. Like, if a child comes and discloses something to me, what’s the appropriate thing to say? That caught my attention and started my journey deep diving into prevention.”

The Children’s Trust eventually appointed her outreach coordinator for Western Mass. “I would reach out to different schools, different programs, anyone serving children, to say, ‘hey, we will give you training on how to create policies and procedures that ensure safe environments for children.’ Then I started doing parent workshops. With everything I do, the child is always center.”

“Rachelle has spent years working on the front lines and behind the scenes, creating systems of support and bridging gaps between agencies, schools, nonprofits, and families. Her ability to mobilize networks, build trusting partnerships, and bring diverse sectors together demonstrates the very essence of making a difference.”

That mindset led Hannoush to create an organization called Rooted Leaders, which partners with area schools, early education programs, and youth-serving organizations through parenting workshops, educator workshops, leadership services, and coaching and consulting programs.

“You cannot act in silos when you are serving children and families,” she told BusinessWest. “And if you want to have a really big impact, the impact comes from working together.”

The COVID years, especially, posed challenges for educators.

“Social and emotional development got really bad. So a lot of support was needed within the classrooms when we came back. I remember, when we came back into the classroom after COVID, the kids had to be in what I called islands. I’m like, how do we keep 3-year-olds separated? So we created islands. I got different colored rugs and it was like Pirate Island, or Lego Island, and each child got to have an island per day.

“That takes creativity and planning; we knew that it wasn’t right, but it’s what we had to do,” she added. “So how do you make it fun and exciting so children don’t feel it?’”

 

Willing to Serve

Hannoush has taken on other civic responsibilities as well. As president of the Massachusetts Assoc. for the Education of Young Children, she represents thousands of early educators across the state, advocating for policies and professional supports that strengthen the early education workforce.

And her commitment to young women is further amplified through her role with the Hampden County Commission on the Status of Women, where she champions opportunities, safety, and leadership development for girls and young women across the county.

“Her voice and advocacy contribute to meaningful conversations and initiatives that uplift the next generation of leaders,” said Lauren Kidrick, a registered behavior technician with Beacon Mental Health Services, who nominated Hannoush as a Difference Maker.

Hannoush is also an adjunct professor at the Urban College of Boston, a role she took on after earning her master-of-education degree last spring from Bay Path University. “One of my goals was to teach in higher education. I’ve been doing professional development, and I’m training everywhere, but I really wanted to experience the higher ed field.”

This depth of commitment impresses Kidrick. “Across all her roles — nonprofit leadership, statewide advocacy, higher education, and community service — Rachelle has spent years working on the front lines and behind the scenes, creating systems of support and bridging gaps between agencies, schools, nonprofits, and families. Her ability to mobilize networks, build trusting partnerships, and bring diverse sectors together demonstrates the very essence of making a difference.”

Hannoush said she’s not afraid to say no, but she also makes sure time with family comes first, noting that she and her husband, Ziad Hannoush — “my support and cheerleader from day one” — make sure their children, ages 13, 10, and 6, come first.

She’s also quick to credit others in her life, from her mother, Carol Tatarian, to her grandfather, George Tararian, for their influence on helping her overcome obstacles to success.

“My grandpa was a big supporter of mine,” she recalled. “He always really believed in me, regardless of what was happening at the school in Lebanon. He would say, ‘you are smart; you just have to put your mind to it — never give up.’ And he would spend hours teaching me, doing homework and preparing me for tests. So, whenever I succeed in something, he’s always there with me.”

That said, “I’m still figuring it out as I go,” Hannoush went on. “I do the best that I can today. I don’t think 10 years from now; I think one day at a time, one month at a time. Wherever I see an opportunity to make a difference, to help someone, I take the opportunity — because that’s what stays. That’s our legacy — our legacy is our impact.”

And that’s why she’s able to take on so much, to be a true Difference Maker — because helping others succeed, as others helped her, is deeply meaningful.

“Entrepreneurship has given me the ability to dream beyond survival and focus on legacy,” she said. “I come from a place where nothing was handed to me, and that reality fuels my passion to build something meaningful for my family, my children, and the community I serve. I want to show that it’s OK to want more, to pursue different goals, and to redefine what success looks like. Breaking generational cycles means not only changing our circumstances, but also creating access, hope, and opportunity for the next generation.”

Ryan Alekman and Robert DiTusa

By
Rob DiTusa (left) and Ryan Alekman
Class of 2026

Partners, Alekman DiTusa, LLC

Beyond Helping Clients, They Have Created a Culture of Giving Back

Rob DiTusa (left) and Ryan Alekman

Rob DiTusa (left) and Ryan Alekman    Photos by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

 

While talking about the culture of giving back that permeates their Springfield-based personal injury law firm, Ryan Alekman and Robert DiTusa brought up a new tradition — one that has been part of their last two Thanksgiving potluck lunches, and will continue going forward.

“Every staff member gets $100 with a letter that says, ‘you can do whatever you want with this $100. You can put it in your pocket, no shame; everyone’s got their own needs. But we ask that you consider paying it forward,’” Alekman explained.

A month later, at the firm’s holiday party, employees are asked to share, if they’d like, what they did with the money.

“Invariably, everybody has done something to give back to another person. Somebody will say, ‘I took that $100 and added my own $100 and I gave it away.’ And everybody’s clapping because they’re so excited that they work with people who think that way.”

DiTusa added, “it always shocks me, the diversity of things that people do. Somebody gave it to a stranger; they literally saw a stranger in need at a store, who didn’t look like they had much, and they paid it forward right there on the spot. They said the person was in tears. Other people say, ‘my church has a charity drive, or a toy drive.’ Somebody else said, ‘I brought my kid to Target and told him we’re buying toys today, but none of them are for you.’ They were showing their kid how to give back.

“The community has really embraced us; we have a very successful business, we help a lot of people, and that, by itself, is great. But watching everybody who works here have that same value set of wanting to make the world a better place … that’s fantastic.”

“It really does warm my heart to know how many lives you’re able to touch just by sending people out with $100 to do some good,” he said — just one way in which giving back to the community has become firmly embedded in the company culture.

“We’re very fortunate,” Alekman said. “The community has really embraced us; we have a very successful business, we help a lot of people, and that, by itself, is great. But watching everybody who works here have that same value set of wanting to make the world a better place … that’s fantastic. These are incredible people that we work with.”

That emphasis on giving back is something potential hires understand before they join the firm, Alekman and DiTusa told BusinessWest; it takes many forms, and it’s something that has been honed over time. And because these two partners set the tone, they’ve earned a spot among the Difference Makers class of 2026.

Rob DiTusa

Rob DiTusa says giving back to the community has become an infectious part of the law firm’s culture.
Photo by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

Alekman thought back to the tornado of 2011 as a time when much of this community involvement was coalescing. They were already supporting nonprofits like the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and the Red Cross, but the tornado threw the need into stark relief.

“The Red Cross reached out and asked me, as somebody who was known in the Latino community because I’ve been on Spanish TV and radio for many years, if I would be a face that people would trust, and go on the radio and explain what the Red Cross was doing for people who had been harmed by the tornado,” he recalled. “So Rob and I did that. We raised a significant amount of money for the Red Cross back in 2011.”

The firm has also been a longtime supporter of the WillPower Foundation, which helps families with different abilities, and Revitalize Community Development Corp. (CDC), not only giving money to the latter, but sending teams of employees to its #GreenNFit neighborhood rebuild days, helping provide home repairs for area residents in need.

Chelsea McGrath — who met Alekman and DiTusa in 2019 when she was executive director of the WillPower Foundation, and is now vice president of Operations & Finance for Revitalize CDC — nominated them as Difference Makers.

“They are extremely financially generous, donating extensively to many nonprofits in the area and abroad,” McGrath said, citing the aforementioned nonprofits as well as Square One, Rachel’s Table, Community Legal Aid, Ronald McDonald House, Suit Up Springfield, and New North Citizens’ Council, a few of the dozens of nonprofits the firm supports.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, when WillPower’s funding was significantly limited, I asked them to increase their already very generous annual contribution, and they did not hesitate to do so,” McGrath added. “However, they don’t just write a check and go about their day. They are extremely generous with their time and commitment to community service as well.”

But the partners are always sharing credit with their team.

“They enjoy it. They feel like they’re part of it. They see what we’re doing, and then they engage in it,” DiTusa said. “When it comes to giving, some people are natural givers — they’ve grown up with it, maybe they knew somebody that was philanthropic and they want to emulate that, or maybe they were helped by a charity at some point in their life and they thought, ‘I’m going to give back when I have my opportunity.’ Whatever drives you to it, you get there.

“But sometimes,” he added, “you can show other people how to give, and it’s really infectious.”

 

Courting Success

Alekman has been practicing law for 28 years, while DiTusa has been in business for more than 30 — and at one point was renting an office from the former. They found they got along well, so in 2010, they decided to team up.

“When I was renting space, we started to do some cases together, and we discovered that our skill sets were so complementary that we made a really good team,” DiTusa added, explaining that he specializes in litigation, and Alekman prefers negotiating with insurance companies and pressing for settlements.

“So putting those two skill sets together made a whole lot of sense,” he added. “And we both love what we do; not all lawyers can say that.

Ryan Alekman

Ryan Alekman says it’s gratifying helping people who call on their worst days to find fair resolutions.
Photo by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

“When I look back at the past 15 years, the most satisfying thing is the fact that we’ve grown this firm from two lawyers to seven lawyers, and from five people to 25. That’s something I didn’t necessarily imagine. It’s been incredibly satisfying to be able to grow something very small to what I think is a pretty decent-sized firm, and be able to serve as many people as we do.”

DiTusa said he was drawn to personal injury law because he’s always considered himself an underdog and wants to advocate for people like that.

“As a lawyer, I see myself as somebody who stands up for underdogs, somebody who’s willing to fight really hard and for people that have been taken advantage of.”

Alekman encountered the personal injury discipline in a more random way. His mother was a lawyer in Boston, and after his undergraduate studies, he took a job at a personal injury firm, where he developed a knack for the customer service side of the business — communicating with clients in a way that his co-workers did not. He developed a taste for it and attended law school, eventually working in personal injury and criminal defense, but eventually focusing solely on the former.

“Every day, we wake up, and we get to help people. And I’m passionate about helping people,” Alekman said. “I know that sounds cliché, but we literally wake up in the morning, and someone’s going to come to us with a problem, and we we get to solve that problem, and it just feels really good.”

Both were quick to credit their team for the firm’s legal successes.

“Every time that we get a large settlement, every time we do something that’s really good for a client, I make sure I go around to the staff and say, ‘hey, you were part of this. This isn’t just our victory,’” DiTusa said. “If we’re not all rowing in the same direction, we don’t get the results that we’re able to get.”

And that goes for both their work with clients and the firm’s community service, with priorities ranging from food insecurity to anything having to do with children — and sometimes both.

“We’re just one part of a bigger system that gives back to people. And, trust me, there is great need in Springfield, but there are also a lot of great people in Springfield that help fill the need.”

“Nobody should go to sleep hungry. We live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and people go to sleep hungry. It’s insanity. That shouldn’t be a thing, right?” Alekman said. “We hear from people at Square One about how they provide food to kids to bring home on the weekends because otherwise they’re not sure those kids are going to eat. How can you not want to support an organization that’s doing that?”

 

Case in Point

Many walls at Alekman DiTusa feature nature photographs that Alekman has taken on trips around the world.

“I share my photos on Facebook, and a friend of mine said, ‘hey, you should do a calendar,’” he recalled. So he did — but he wanted to use the proceeds to give back, so for the past four years, he has sold those calendars of his international photos to support Mara United School in Masai Mara, Kenya.

The first year, he donated $1,500 from those sales to get the school tied into a nearby village’s well, the first time the kids were able to access fresh water. Other years have funded electricity at the school, a small tractor to help with agriculture, and, most recently, 48 triple bunk beds, mattresses, and other items for a new girls’ dorm.

“I’d love to be able to fund every project,” Alekman said. “One of the things that we don’t get to do very often is to see how our support makes a difference, and going to that school — I’ll actually be back in October, and I’ll get to visit the kids again — it’s amazing how much they do with so little and the difference a small amount makes to change lives over there. So Rob and I are fortunate because we get to do what we do — we get to help people.”

And so does their staff, he added. “They put us in a position of success every day. They come to work with the same attitude — to help somebody. And we’re helping people on their worst days. I mean, nobody’s like, ‘yay, I get to call a lawyer.’ No — someone got injured, or something horrible happened to a family member.”

With their success, he added, comes a responsibility to give back, which is why the firm’s success in its legal cases is so tightly interwoven with its work in the community.

“We’ve worked hard and been fortunate enough to be in a position to be able to give back, so we do,” DiTusa said. “We’re just one part of a bigger system that gives back to people. And, trust me, there is great need in Springfield, but there are also a lot of great people in Springfield that help fill the need.

“I always think, if you’re in a position to be able to give and you do it, you make yourself a better person,” he added. “I think it’s called selfish giving. Giving is good for everyone, and we have to do it as a community. But it’s also selfish in a way because, by doing it, you also feel good. The moment you make that gift, you feel better about life, about everything. And the more you do it, the better you feel.”

McGrath, who has been on the receiving end of the firm’s generosity in more than one setting, doesn’t see it as selfish at all.

“Their honesty, integrity, and dedication shows in their commitment to service,” she said. “They truly embody every aspect of what it means to be a Difference Maker.”

Enfield Development Projects Remain on Track

By
Aaron Marcavitch says Enfield residents tend to take a wait-and-see approach to development, but they’ll soon be seeing some shovels in the ground.
Opinion

Community Spotlight

Aaron Marcavitch says Enfield residents tend to take a wait-and-see approach to development, but they’ll soon be seeing some shovels in the ground.

Aaron Marcavitch says Enfield residents tend to take a wait-and-see approach to development, but they’ll soon be seeing some shovels in the ground.

Development projects — whether for much-needed housing, a transportation hub, or the reimagining of a long-dormant retail center — aren’t done in a day, or a year. That’s certainly true in Enfield, Conn., which is looking forward to all of that and more. The good news is, progress in evident across the board.

“Enfield is kind of ‘we’ll believe it when we see it.’ There’s always a little bit of hesitancy to celebrate something until they see a shovel in the ground,” said Aaron Marcavitch, the city’s Economic & Community Development director.

“These projects are either in their permit process, or they’re moving through different gyrations. But the redevelopment of the mall is still moving ahead, the North River Street project is still moving ahead, and the MassMutual site is still moving ahead,” he added, referring to three projects that all involve new residential units. “They’ve not stopped for any reason — they’re just moving through their process.”

“The redevelopment of the mall is still moving ahead, the North River Street project is still moving ahead, and the MassMutual site is still moving ahead.”

In 2024, most of the Enfield Square property — one of the region’s most notable dead malls — was purchased by Woodsonia Acquisitions, which proposed a $250 million project that will feature retail and restaurant businesses and 465 residential units. Site work on what will be called Enfield Marketplace could begin this spring.

Woodsonia will serve as the project’s master developer and seek other developers for the various components. “There’s a set design to the overall layout, and they’ll come in with each piece — the housing piece, the retail piece, the outparcel pieces — over time. So that will take some time,” Marcavitch explained.

“The overall concept has not changed dramatically,” he added. “They did a market study and found that a hotel really wasn’t going to work. So that’s the biggest dropout from the plan. And then they ran into a few issues with agreements that already existed on the property between other tenants that are staying, so that caused them to move the design around a little bit. But the overall concept of a housing component, a retail component, and an outparcel component still remains the same.”

The former MassMutual site on Bright Meadow Road is being redeveloped for hundreds of residential units along with some commercial space.

The former MassMutual site on Bright Meadow Road is being redeveloped for hundreds of residential units along with some commercial space.

For this issue’s Community Spotlight, we update not just that project, but several others in various phases of progress, most emphasizing a key priority for many towns these days: new housing.

 

Home Sweet Home

The wait-and-see mindset of many in Enfield is why Marcavitch is especially excited about a project on North River Street that will add 140 units of housing, perhaps with more to come.

“They’re expecting to put shovels into the ground in quarter one — soon. So people will say, ‘oh, there is actually something happening in Thompsonville right now. People have shovels in the ground.’”

The project is being developed by HGRE Ventures, a partnership between Avon-based Honeycomb Real Estate Partners and GRAVA Properties of West Hartford. HGRE plans a $100 million, two-phase project that could eventually bring more than 300 units to the riverfront section of Thompsonville, near the much larger Bigelow Commons apartment complex.

Meanwhile, South River Realty, which owns a series of parcels on South River Street, has proposed a 160-unit residential building there, while MB Financial Group is looking to develop a 464-unit housing project, with some commercial space, at the former MassMutual site on Bright Meadow Road.

The housing element is especially intriguing at a time when most cities and towns in the region need more of it. At the same time, Enfield officials are eager to see more progress at the train stop project taking shape in the Thompsonville neighborhood, not far from the North River Street development.

The Enfield train station aims to connect the town to Springfield, Hartford, New Haven, and beyond. The $45 million project includes Main Street bridge work and new track, and ties into broader revitalization efforts for the riverfront and other areas of town. The station is expected to be more than a metro stop, bringing locals to work; it will also be a larger Amtrak hub for more distant destinations, while a planned spur off the Windsor Locks stop will bring people to and from Bradley International Airport.

Late in 2023, the Connecticut Department of Transportation attached dates to the project, including the summer of 2024 for the final design to be completed, the winter of 2025 for the construction bid to be awarded, the spring of 2027 for accompanying rail and bridge work to be completed, and the fall of 2027 for completion of the station and platform. But those dates have shifted — more than once.

“We had some recent meetings with the folks at DOT. And the train station is still on track — those are the only words that ever come to my head when I think of it,” Marcavitch said with a laugh. “They were saying maybe the end of ’28, but now they’re somewhere in ’29 for being finished.

Enfield at a Glance

Year Incorporated: 1683
Population: 42,141
Area: 34.2 square miles
County: Hartford
Residential Tax Rate: $31.50
Commercial Tax Rate: $31.50
Median Household Income: $67,402
Median Family Income: $77,554
Type of Government: Town Council, Town Manager
Largest Employers: Empower Retirement LLC, Town of Enfield, Advance Auto Parts Distribution Center, Eppendorf Manufacturing
* Latest information available

“I don’t think we were surprised by that in any way; that’s sort of standard for these types of projects,” he added. “Seeing how long it’s taken to finish the Windsor Locks station, I have a feeling it may even shift another couple of months, but that’s just the way it goes.”

A few components have added to the complexity, including creating a service road from Route 5 to the station, determining a new spot for commuter bus service, and altering an undersized Main Street underpass at the train station, Marcavitch explained.

“But it’s continued to move. They’re done with their design process, and they hope to go out to bid sometime soon for the construction part of this. So in theory, we’re going to see shovels in the ground sometime in 2026.”

He said the combination of more public transit and more housing should create more mobility and economic opportunities for people in town. “People who may be working in Hartford, or working in Springfield, and taking the train to those locations — they’re not going to need a vehicle as much. Maybe they only need one car; maybe one person is working from home, and the other person is taking the train.

“So it’s going to be important for us to not only have that, but then also have our own local bus connections that somebody could pick up at the train station and take to the mall, take to Costco. And we have to work on our bike connections so that people can use their bikes to do that. We want to try to reduce car dependency for folks who live in that area,” he added. “It really is going to be beneficial in that way. Once we start to get some momentum, that’ll be really good.”

 

Setting Down Roots

The town has been making progress on other fronts as well, from an Amazon distribution facility moving ahead on Bacon Road to continued streetscaping in North Thompsonville.

Efforts like the latter, Marcavitch said, “aren’t huge projects, but they’re really going to impact how people perceive Enfield as a place they want to bring their business to. And we’re going to continue to work with commercial retail and food options in town to make sure we’re bringing in stuff that people in the town want.

“We’re very driven, in many ways, by the traffic on 91, where people are coming off the highway, grab food quickly, and jump back on the highway and head off to Vermont or wherever they’re going,” he noted. “We tend to be a very good rest stop in that way, but we also want to make sure we’ve got diverse retail and diverse food options for people in town.”

He said town officials appreciate that travelers and residents of local communities are coming to Enfield to use its services and enjoy its restaurant and shopping offerings. But he wants it to be seen as more than a drive-through community; after all, more than 42,000 people live there.

“If we’re going to have businesses moving in, we need to make sure that they’ve got the services and the experiences they need to stay. We want to keep them here. We’re going have new people moving into the community with these apartments. What kind of activities are there for them? So I think the natural next step is a big conversation about that. We’ve got to make sure we’ve got community amenities.”

Colleges Help Students Overcome Barriers to Staying in School

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Renee Tastad says HCC’s vision centers around helping students overcome barriers to success.
Education Special Coverage

More Than Food for Thought

Renee Tastad says HCC’s vision centers around helping students overcome barriers to success.

Renee Tastad says HCC’s vision centers around helping students overcome barriers to success.

 

Renee Tastad says Holyoke Community College (HCC) takes it seriously when a student withdraws from classes, whether for a semester or permanently.

But the conversations that followed those withdrawals, over the years, have helped many more students avoid that path.

“I think it comes down to our vision, which is to be a college of academic excellence known for helping students overcome barriers to success,” said Tastad, assistant vice president of Student Affairs and dean of Enrollment Management at HCC. “So we’ve called those students to find out, ‘what prevented you from being successful? And how can we get you back on track?’

“Primarily, their concerns were childcare, transportation, cost of living expenses — ‘I had to take on extra hours at work that prevented me from committing all of my time to my studies,’” she went on. “With the help of the HCC Foundation, which has been really tremendous, we’ve been able to say, ‘OK, what can we assist with? What are things that we can reasonably do to help lessen the burden on the student to have to work those extra hours, which takes them away from their studies?’”

What has emerged from those conversations is an evolving array of student supports at HCC, from the Thrive Center food pantry to the Itsy Bitsy Child Watch service to the President’s Student Emergency Fund, which helps students with unexpected expenses.

“We’ve called those students to find out, ‘what prevented you from being successful? And how can we get you back on track?’”

“If a student’s car breaks down, that expense could derail them — they have to determine, ‘am I going to put the rent money that I had set aside toward this car repair so I can get to class? Then I’m going to be behind on rent,’” Tastad said. “So the emergency fund is one of those ways to bridge that gap for these unexpected situations that could derail their progress in school.”

American International College (AIC) in Springfield also maintains an emergency fund for students to access in times of unexpected need.

Melisa Loa says AIC leaders don’t want students going to class hungry and unable to focus on learning.

Melisa Loa says AIC leaders don’t want students going to class hungry and unable to focus on learning.

“Students may request funds for emergency situations or unanticipated circumstances that make it difficult to continue in school,” said Melisa Loa, dean of students and director of Residence Life. “They’re able to request anywhere from $100 to $1,000, depending on need. We just ask that they’re currently enrolled as a full-time undergraduate student. We review those on an ongoing basis, and we’re able to help students through that fund.”

AIC maintains numerous other non-academic student supports, from its recently opened Buzz Stop food pantry to a program called the CARE Team (the acronym stands for Concerns, Assessment, Referral, and Education) that reviews concerns around mental health and helps students struggling with such issues to access the help they need to address them.

“It’s a robust team that does a lot of great work,” Loa said. “We’re following up with students to make sure they have appropriate resources, both on and off campus. We work really hard to make sure students’ mental health concerns are addressed in a timely manner.”

Just down the road, the Center for Access Services (CAS) at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) provides students with a broad range of non-academic supports, helping them overcome barriers that stand in the way of self-sufficiency, allowing them to succeed and stay in school.

Specifically, the CAS office houses a variety of services and initiatives, including free school supplies and the RAM Mini Mart, which provides groceries and meals to students facing food insecurity. CAS staff also connect students to on-campus resources and provides referrals to community agencies that assist with financial challenges, food insecurity, homelessness, substance abuse, and various state and federal benefits.

“STCC is a contemporary community college in that there are so many non-academic supports that we provide students,” the college notes. “These range from an on-campus food pantry and food lockers to housing agreements with Elms College and AIC, a mental health counseling partnership with Uwill, and a long-standing, federally funded TRIO program investing in first-generation college students.”

“We’re following up with students to make sure they have appropriate resources, both on and off campus. We work really hard to make sure students’ mental health concerns are addressed in a timely manner.”

In short, colleges are invested in student success, and that begins with making sure they stay in school, and have the resources they need to do just that.

 

Hunger to Learn

At a time when food insecurity has been in the news, the food pantries available on area campuses take on greater importance. HCC and AIC both have partnerships with the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, which provides many staples. HCC’s Thrive pantry also receives funding from Stop & Shop for food and personal care items, and the campus community has been generous in donating as well, Tastad said.

“We give out thousands of pounds of food every month to any students, faculty, or staff who has a food need. You don’t have to demonstrate your need; you just have to say, ‘I need some food today.’ And we got an earmark in last year’s budget to purchase refrigerated lockers outside Thrive, for non-perishable food. That’s really helpful because a student or anybody can put their order in, and our pantry staff will fill the order and put it in the refrigerated locker, and they can pick it up anytime the building is open, not just during the hours the pantry is open. That’s been really fabulous.”

At AIC, the Buzz Stop also provides perishable and non-perishable food as well as self-care items, which can be accessed outside normal pantry hours, Loa explained. “If a student needs an item in the middle of the night, they can contact the campus police, and the police will open it for them.”

“Their primary identifier is not necessarily a student — they’re a parent, they’re an employee, or they’re a caregiver, something other than a student. So we want to make sure that we’re respecting the time that they have here on campus.”

Like HCC, supplies from the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts have been supplemented by numerous monetary donations at AIC. “That’s really helpful to keep the pantry going, especially for items we’re not able to get from the Food Bank.”

Loa emphasized the importance of this simple service.

“We don’t want students going to class thinking about where their next meal is coming from, whether they’re residential or commuter. We want students to be happy, healthy, and fed, and able to focus on their academics. We want their basic needs to be met. That’s what these resources are for — to meet those needs so they can come to school and focus on their academics.”

Many students have become regular users of the Buzz Stop, she added, and many off-campus students who are food-insecure have said other community pantries don’t always offer the same amount of food.

“In the last couple of months, with things happening with SNAP, we’ve been very thankful that we’re able to provide food, and they’re really thankful and appreciative that this is a resource on campus.”

At HCC, the Thrive Center also helps students access housing in the area, Tastad told BusinessWest, partnering with AIC and Elms College to have students live on those campuses, and maintaining housing agreements with the Holyoke Housing Authority, with vouchers reserved just for HCC students to access Section 8 housing, among other options, including housing available through Gándara Center and at Westfield State University under a state homeless youth initiative.

Meanwhile, HCC recently expanded its Itsy Bitsy Child Watch Center, doubling its capacity. The center is a free, drop-in service for student parents who need short-term child care while they attend classes, study, or meet with tutors and advisers. It opened as a pilot program in fall 2022 after a $100,000 state allocation, and expanded with the help of a $600,000 grant from the Davis Foundation in late 2023.

The Itsy Bitsy Child Watch Center is now located next to the HCC Parent Learning Center, a study lounge and play area for parents and their children, and the Marieb Adult Learner Success Center, a support program for student parents and students ages 24 and older.

“So the students, when they’re in class, can drop their kids off at the child watch, but when they’re not in class, they sometimes go over to the Parent Learning Center because they can be in that space with their kids,” Tastad explained.

 

Springboard to Success

The throughline in all these efforts, again, is identifying what might derail a student from completing their degree, and then filling those gaps, Tastad said, all with the understanding that many students aren’t traditional, full-time attendees, but older part-time students with families, jobs, and other responsibilities to juggle.

“Their primary identifier is not necessarily a student — they’re a parent, they’re an employee, or they’re a caregiver, something other than a student. So we want to make sure that we’re respecting the time that they have here on campus.”

And make sure their studies continue — which not only helps the college and the student, but a regional economy that, in many cases, is struggling to recruit skilled talent in many fields.

“We take it seriously,” Tastad said. “We are a part of the Greater Holyoke community, and everything we can do to support the students and create that network is going to help everyone prosper. Student success is built into our strategic plan. We’ve put it out there that this is what we are known for, and it’s true.”

Banks, Credit Unions Leverage Evolving Technology

By
Marco Bernasconi says Country Bank’s adoption of new technology must be done smartly, with the needs of customers in mind.
Banking and Financial Services Special Coverage

Tools of the Trade

Marco Bernasconi says Country Bank’s adoption of new technology must be done smartly, with the needs of customers in mind.

Marco Bernasconi says Country Bank’s adoption of new technology must be done smartly, with the needs of customers in mind.

It’s no secret, Marco Bernasconi said, that all banks use similar technology. The difference lies in how they deploy it, and which services they emphasize.

“It’s not just about getting bigger, or being involved in more technology; it’s about operating with intelligence and leveraging efficiency and automation to drive sustainable growth,” said Bernasconi, chief Operating and Innovation officer at Country Bank. “For us, it’s about being smart and determining how to serve the needs of customers.”

Glenn Welch, president of Freedom Credit Union, agreed.

“A lot of us use services provided through a third-party provider. So if you go to our websites, they’re fairly similar — different colors, but the same tools,” he said. “So a lot of it comes down to service. You have to have the tools on the websites, but customers have to like you, too. You have to provide good service to the members.”

Both were speaking to a reality shared by all banks and credit unions these days — at a time when fewer customers actually visit a branch to do business, instead conducting most of it online, institutions need to ensure that those digital tools are robust, easy to use, and, especially, secure.

At the same time, though, there will always be a need for a physical branch presence for the business that people like to conduct there — opening accounts, loan applications, and, for some, normal deposits and withdrawals — so banks can’t afford to neglect that side of their business while they focus on developing and evolving their digital platform.

“We’re modernizing digital channels and continuing to leverage digital investing and marketing tools, and constantly reassessing different technologies to keep customers secure. But we also need to be equipped to train the team when people come in for traditional transactions,” said Bernasconi, noting that Country’s branch strategy includes its first branch in Springfield, opening this year.

“We’re modernizing digital channels and continuing to leverage digital investing and marketing tools, and constantly reassessing different technologies to keep customers secure. But we also need to be equipped to train the team when people come in for traditional transactions.”

The volume of branch visitors has changed from the time he was a teller, he added, “but they’re coming in with more difficult problems, and we’re spending more time with them on education, explaining different products, helping move their financial lives forward. So we certainly need traditional transactions at branches.”

A balance between high-tech and high-touch resources is important to commercial customers as well, said Aleda De Maria, executive vice president and chief operating officer at PeoplesBank.

“A lot of our small business owners are all things to their users — CEO, CFO, HR person, day-to-day manager. So we want to make sure we’re offering services through technology to make their lives easier,” she explained.

Aleda De Maria says PeoplesBank has bolstered its internal fraud detection tools to protect customers.

Aleda De Maria says PeoplesBank has bolstered its internal fraud detection tools to protect customers.

For example, “last year, we implemented some smaller balance lending that our customers can apply for 100% digitally and get answers from us within days, in some cases. We’d like to push that in 2026, optimize that to bring it to a wider audience. That’s something I’m super excited about.”

Last year, PeoplesBank underwent a core conversion of its technology and systems, building on the early growth of its digital brand, ZYNLO Bank, which it launched in 2020 in partnership with Nymbus.

“We didn’t just do the conversion to say we did it. We did it to continually evolve what we offer customers,” De Maria said, adding that the focus was on both back-end technology and front-end interface.

“We are constantly focused on the front end. That’s the window into PeoplesBank. If the customer opens an account and we’re not seeing them after that, what are they doing? They’re online and mobile,” she went on. “Because of the conversion, we have more control over the customer experience and can be more aggressive in updating user experiences — and to ask ourselves what services are available, how can we improve, and what we can add to that.”

Bernasconi said banks must decide whether to crawl, walk, or run toward new technology, but all are asking similar questions — how to deal with the rise of AI, from both a technical and governance perspective; how to help customers access new business products; and, through all of it, how to ensure a crisp customer experience.

“We’re competing with the Apples and Amazons, the fintechs now; it’s not competing only with banks and credit unions anymore,” he added. “The world has changed.”

 

Battling Back

All the area financial leaders who spoke with BusinessWest said fraud prevention — and the increasingly powerful tools that enable it — are critical to any institution’s technology strategy.

“One of the biggest things we’re talking about is fraud detection,” De Maria said. “I recently read an article saying financial scams are an industry now, and one of the things the scammers have going for them is the use of AI. So we’re having internal conversations about how to leverage new technology to detect and prevent these scammers from getting a foot in the door or gaining access to customer accounts — the concept of how to fight AI with AI, using different fraud detection tools.”

Last year, PeoplesBank launched a new fraud detection module developed through ZYNLO.

“We saw some success immediately in detecting fraud specific to account-to-account activity,” she noted. “We’re looking to expand that and get into other areas like mobile deposits, and also things like devices; the technology that we’re dealing with can look at a device somebody’s on and better detect whether that’s your device or not because of how they interact with the screen, where normally they’d spend three seconds on a screen, and they’re now spending 10 because it’s not as familiar to them.

“From a customer perspective, those things may not sound exciting — unless you’ve been the victim of fraud — but it’s certainly something we are extremely excited about as a bank, to be able to step up our game in this industry that has been created around fraud and scams.”

“From a customer perspective, those things may not sound exciting — unless you’ve been the victim of fraud — but it’s certainly something we are extremely excited about as a bank, to be able to step up our game in this industry that has been created around fraud and scams. So we’ll be looking this quarter at deploying more of those fraud technologies at PeoplesBank.”

Such efforts are critical, De Maria added, at a time when many people do the majority of their banking online.

“We still see a significant amount of accounts open in person — those are still greater than the accounts we open online — but after that, we may not see those customers often; they’re relying on the bank’s investment in technology. There is an expectation that, if they use that technology, they’re going to be safe; they’re going to be protected. I think customers should have the expectation that banks are investing in technology to make things safer and more secure.”

Welch said Freedom has also developed a robust set of fraud prevention tools on the back end, which can detect transactions that are unusual to an account at any given time. The same goes for wire fraud or other types of social engineering attacks designed to separate customers from their money.

“At times, I think we have annoyed members by asking them too many questions, but we want to keep them safe. And we’ve stopped a lot of fraud up front by just knowing our members, knowing what their normal transactions are, reaching out to them, and making sure that is something they want to do.”

Along with its wide array of digital banking tools, Country Bank also hosts numerous online financial literacy and fraud prevention resources, in addition to community outreaches like its Credit for Life fairs at area high schools.

Glenn Welch says people became more comfortable during the pandemic conducting basic transactions online, but many were relieved to return to face-to-face interactions.

Glenn Welch says people became more comfortable during the pandemic conducting basic transactions online, but many were relieved to return to face-to-face interactions.

“It’s extremely important that we spend a lot of time in our community and with the high schools, educating them in financial literacy and credit reports and how to manage budgets,” Bernasconi said, noting that it’s in the bank’s interest to engage young adults. “We spend a lot of time understanding the needs of younger generations. We’ve got to cater to the customers that we have, but also onboard the next generation and be astute to their needs as well.”

 

Face to Face

One way banks and credit unions have melded high tech with high touch is with interactive teller machines, or ITMs, which offer the functions of a traditional ATM with some enhanced services, such as making loan payments, cashing large checks, opening accounts, and, most notably, speaking live with a teller over a video feed.

“We launched our first ITMs in 2019. I like to say we had a crystal ball before COVID hit,” De Maria said. “Our ITM fleet is pretty significant — we have ITMs at every banking center, and also standalone remote locations throughout Western Mass. And we’re seeing, on average, about 25% of our in-person transactions occurring through the ITMs. At some banking centers, it’s as much as 35% to 40%.”

And it’s not just personal lines — about one-quarter of PeoplesBank’s commercial clients have used an ITM at least once. “We’re really seeing a good adoption of the ITM technology,” she said, noting that they operate seven days a week. “They’re what I would consider the next generation of drive-up teller, essentially.”

Country Bank has a fleet of ITMs as well, and while Freedom Credit Union offers one at its Springfield main office — and has the technology ready to deploy at other branches — Welch said questions remain about whether customers are clamoring for more.

“People are using it a lot like an ATM. We might need it more at remote sites because, if the branch is open, customers like to see people,” he explained. “These were perfect during COVID; we couldn’t let people in, or they had to wait in a long line. But now, I think if people travel to the branch, if they want the convenience of a drive-up ATM, they do that, but if they want to talk over transactions, we find they’re coming inside.

“We’ve stopped a lot of fraud up front by just knowing our members, knowing what their normal transactions are, reaching out to them, and making sure that is something they want to do.”

“So we’re going to turn on the remote one that we have in Ludlow to see if that makes a difference,” he went on. “If it’s not attached to a building or a branch in a remote area, and they have transactions they want to discuss with someone, they might get more out of it. So that’s part of our strategy this year — we’re going to test it in Ludlow and see how that goes.”

Part of any institution’s strategy, Welch added, has to be how to engage multiple generations, which is why all this technology is important.

“The younger generation doesn’t necessarily want to come in to do transactions. If they want to do an auto loan, they may not want to do it online, and definitely for mortgages, they want to be walked through the process and talk to people,” he said, adding that Freedom also has a secure video call platform where people can engage in these conversations from home and even download documents.

But since the pandemic, he added, “I think a lot of people got more comfortable doing basic transactions online.”

Across the industry, that’s especially true of younger customers, so Freedom — whose average customer age is around 50, a number Welch would like to see creep into the 30s — will, like all financial institutions, continue to evolve its digital platforms and other high-tech offerings in order to strike that generational balance and meet customer needs.

“When people age out of here, we need to have new members filling in the pipeline,” he said. “And we need to keep them here.”

Engineering Firms Prioritize Ways to Attract, Develop New Talent

By
Two Western New England University students work on a jet engine they built
Environment and Engineering Special Coverage

Something to Build On

Two Western New England University students work on a jet engine they built

Two Western New England University students work on a jet engine they built. (Photo courtesy of Western New England University)

 

Among the courses Mike Rust teaches at Western New England University (WNE) is “Introduction to Engineering,” a very hands-on class that teaches the engineering design process to freshmen through a robotics development project.

At first, “they’re looking at me like, ‘I don’t know how to do these things.’ And then we train them in all the technical things that they need to do,” said Rust, professor of Biomedical Engineering and director of Experiential and Entrepreneurial Learning at WNE. “Over time, they’re weaning off, and at the end of the course, the faculty’s checking in, but the students are doing it themselves. They almost don’t notice, but by the end, they’re acting like an engineer; they’re thinking like an engineer — because they’ve lived and breathed it their first year on campus.

“When I was a student a couple decades ago, we didn’t get a project like that to work on until junior year,” Rust said, adding that giving students hands-on experience from day one helps them thrive throughout college — which can translate into success in internship experiences and their early career. “The context sticks a little better when they have the muscle memory because they’ve experienced it, not just thought about it.”

It’s not just in class that WNE engineering students are preparing for the real world. At the Delbridge Career Center, the university’s career services hub, a professional adviser is assigned to each student, and available resources include résumé development, mock interviews, internship connections, and an alumni network.

“Engineering is a professionally oriented field, and students, when they’re coming through our programs, are already thinking in these terms when they start: where are they going to go with this degree? What are they going to do long term?” Rust said, explaining how those career services tie into the hands-on classroom model.

“The context sticks a little better when they have the muscle memory because they’ve experienced it, not just thought about it.”

“We teach theory, but we’re always putting that theory into practice with projects; students are actually doing it. So when they go to the interview, they can say, ‘I have done these things; this is the value I can provide your company.’ And when they get their first job after graduation, they can hit the ground running.

“Everyone needs to be trained when they join a company,” he added, “but what we hear from companies is that the learning curve is a little flatter because they’ve got a lot of that hands-on exposure.”

That’s appreciated by firms like Westfield-based Tighe & Bond, a very large, multi-state engineering firm that hires close to 100 new employees each year.

Bob Belitz says Tighe & Bond’s robust internship program aims to give aspiring engineers as much real-world, hands-on experience as possible.

Bob Belitz says Tighe & Bond’s robust internship program aims to give aspiring engineers as much real-world, hands-on experience as possible.

“In such a competitive marketplace, we’re trying to build relationships and connections as early as possible, so we get connected to students and universities whenever we can,” said Bob Belitz, the firm’s president and CEO. “We’re participating in educational programs, going into elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools to judge fairs or just explain to these students what a career in STEM could look like.”

Those efforts are complemented at the college level with scholarships and an internship program that brings in about 30 students per year to work on real-world projects.

“What we’re trying to do through these programs is give these students a real-life, hands-on experience, to get them on as many projects site as possible. The more practical exposure they get to the work we do, the better, so our mission is to do as much of that as we can,” Belitz said, adding that interns also get professional development opportunities like help writing résumés, enhancing speaking and interview skills, and even a career fair where they present a poster board on the projects they worked on during the summer.

“In such a competitive marketplace, we’re trying to build relationships and connections as early as possible, so we get connected to students and universities whenever we can.”

“A large majority of them either come back for another internship, or we offer them full-time employment. They’re exposed to the culture of the company; we assign them buddies and team leaders throughout the course of the summer when they’re here. Hopefully they appreciate that direct investment,” he went on.

And if they choose to pursue work somewhere else, well, “it helps enhance the profession either way.”

 

Values and Purpose

All these efforts at recruitment and career development are important for an industry that needs new blood, said Ashley Sullivan, president and CEO of O’Reilly, Talbot & Okun Associates (OTO) in Springfield.

“For the past few years, it has been very challenging to recruit and find people. We have a shortage of people, it seems,” she noted. “We have a big exodus with retirements — through the whole COVID pandemic, there were people rethinking engineering. So there’s a lot of work, and there seems to be not a lot of people.”

Ashley Sullivan says today’s young recruits are looking for a company that aligns not only with their work interest, but with their purpose, goals, and values.

Ashley Sullivan says today’s young recruits are looking for a company that aligns not only with their work interest, but with their purpose, goals, and values.

One way to attract talent is through a workplace culture that resonates with young people, she explained, and OTO started to put more emphasis on that when she transitioned into company leadership in 2020, better defining its brand; emphasizing workplace values like transparency, respect, and togetherness; and operating according to the mission statement, “we will elevate our industry to create and deliver the best solutions for natural and built environments.”

“We asked, ‘who are we? Who do we want to be?’” Sullivan said. “And we need to live by that so we can communicate it and say, with full transparency, ‘this is what we are. If you want to work at a place like this, this is what you’re going to get.’”

Meanwhile, the recruitment process involves not only interviews with top leadership, but eventually meetings with field staff and project managers. “We invest a lot in the interview process — by that time, we know this is a great candidate, so how do we show them how they would fit into our business model and fit in with our people?”

Belitz also emphasized the value of workplace culture in attracting what he characterizes as a more purpose-driven generation of young job applicants than he’s seen before.

“The narrative has changed a little bit. This generation is interested in the stability of the company. I don’t know if it’s the uncertain economy driving it, but to be able to say to these prospective interns that the company has been around over 100 years, we’re very financially stable, we do purpose-driven work, we’re 100% owned by employees — that’s a nice difference,” he explained.

“The big picture is that we’re trying to train engineers who are value creators — technically strong, skilled at math and science, but they also have that vision of how the world can be a better place.”

“We’ve also put in some really good benefits for students, like loan repayment. Benefits are a hot-button issue, so we’re really trying to promote this overall climate of stability and of the company investing in the people we bring into the firm,” Belitz added. “And giving back to the community is another key part of the puzzle — and a big selling point for young people.”

Sullivan agreed with that emphasis on culture and purpose.

“I think this newest generation wants a company that knows who they are and has a purpose — one that aligns with their purpose or what their goals are,” she told BusinessWest. “It could be that they want to see their projects have an impact on the community — they’re really community- and impact-driven, much more than the rest of us that were just looking to get a job, which is really neat. I think culture and the big picture is important to them.”

In short, she said, “they want to matter. They want to know their value, and they want to be valuable. And they want that from the beginning.”

Meanwhile, retention is as important as recruitment, which is why Tighe & Bond invests thought, time, and energy into cultivating career tracks for employees, Belitz said.

The firm’s onboarding and training program consists of not only leadership training, but anything people need to do their jobs: project management, quality management, safety and health principles, and more — efforts branded internally as Tighe & Bond University.

Mike Rust says higher education has seen a shift toward giving engineering students more hands-on, project-based experience right from the start of their college careers.

Mike Rust says higher education has seen a shift toward giving engineering students more hands-on, project-based experience right from the start of their college careers.

“We’ve also started investing more in training around technology, making sure folks have a good understanding of how to appropriate and use things like artificial intelligence and other investments we’ve made in digital toolsm” he added. “There’s a lot of energy around that, especially with the younger generation.”

Sullivan said many recruits want to see a clear career ladder at work.

“I think it’s important for them to be able to see where they could be in a few years, so they feel like they’re moving along. I think they want to see opportunity; they don’t want to get stuck in a rut or doing one task.

“And for me, leading a small business, I want people that want to do that because I love that people will develop and can do a little bit more of a project. If that means they’re more valuable, then the pay comes with that,” she added. “At OTO, those two things are aligned. It’s always in our benefit to develop people, so we’re looking for people that really want to do more.”

 

Surveying the Landscape

While Tighe & Bond is a civil and environmental engineering firm and OTO specializes in geotechnical, environmental, and industrial hygiene consulting services, Western New England, like many universities with strong engineering programs, is sending graduates out into myriad engineering disciplines — mechanical, electrical, civil and environmental, biomedical, industrial, and more. And placement rates are high, with 97% of engineering graduates placed in jobs within six months.

“Engineering tends to be pretty steady regardless of what’s going on in the economy,” Rust said. “The big picture is that we’re trying to train engineers who are value creators — technically strong, skilled at math and science, but they also have that vision of how the world can be a better place.”

Elaborating, he added, “they’re encouraged to think in those terms — to take an existing product and improve it, or talk to the customer about what the pain points are and how to address them. They’re thinking not only about what a company does, but what it could do. And companies come back to us and say, ‘can you get me five more of that student you got us last year? They were what we want.’ Because they’re not satisfied with the status quo.”

Sullivan, who has taught classes at WNE, still participates in engineering advisory boards there, connecting area industry leaders with educators.

“We talk about what we looking for for graduates and who are we looking to hire. But they also talk to us about the exciting research they’re doing, the programs they have, the outreach they have, where they have challenges, where they may need support,” she explained. “And I really feel like, whenever you have two or more groups together working to solve a problem, the ideas that come out of there are amazing.”

Like Rust, Sullivan appreciates when young people emerge with a problem-solving mindset, but also an appreciation for how they can change the landscape, both literally and figuratively.

“We get to work with a lot of people, and we get to see new development and help with projects that impact our own lives or the people we care about,” she said, naming the recently opened Square One expansion in Springfield and DC Station, the new electric vehicle charging hub in Northampton, as two examples.

“I can bring my daughters to an urgent care and know that I worked on it,” she added. “That’s one of the reasons why we try to encourage people to come to OTO, or to be in civil engineering: you impact people. The work is hard, but it’s so rewarding, and you’re constantly reminded why you do it.”

From New Coverage Risks to Emerging AI, the Insurance Landscape Is Shifting

By
Insurance Special Coverage

Rate of Change

 

Insurance isn’t any home or business owner’s favorite topic — well, except for insurance agents, maybe — and the many pressures on rates over the past several years, from inflation and supply chain issues to adverse weather events and jury verdicts, has made it an even more difficult conversation.

The good news, said Sam Hanmer, president and CEO of Chicopee-based Rush Insurance Group, is that, while the rate environment has continued to move north, he’s seeing a slowdown on the property side.

“Property took the biggest hit after COVID. When supply was so hard to come by, it shot pricing up. Everyone’s experienced that. As an industry, we were relatively slow to figure that out,” he explained, noting that insurance carriers eventually increased rates to reflect that reality, some numerous times. “So the industry has caught up in terms of costs of construction.”

Still, rate changes vary with the age of a property, said Mark Rosa, senior account executive with Borawski Insurance in Northampton. “With newer homes, rates are fairly stable. Someone with an older house could see some rate increases because there are some insurance credits on new homes that someone with a house built in 1978 is not going to qualify for,” he noted. “But I don’t expect what we saw the last few years, 10%, 15%, 20% rate increases. That’s gone away slowly, and I expect to see some kind of stability.”

“I don’t expect what we saw the last few years, 10%, 15%, 20% rate increases. That’s gone away slowly, and I expect to see some kind of stability.”

That said, climate change and natural disasters have continued to impact the rate environment in unpredictable ways.

“I think that we as insurers would like to have that buttoned down, but with weather patterns, I think we’ll have to wait a little while longer; I think that’s going to continue to plague the insurance industry,” he said, as opposed to, say, construction costs, which have settled a bit: “I think we’ve handled that with the rate increases in the past.”

Automotive insurance has seen rate increases as well, but for different reasons, one of which is simply today’s technological sophistication, Hanmer said. “A fender bender used to cost $500, now it’s six grand, with all the cameras in these cars now.”

Another issue causing auto rates to rise is what Rosa, and others in the insurance industry, characterize as “legal system abuse,” or a trend toward massive payouts in lawsuits that wind up being borne by insurance payers and, eventually, passed on to customers. It’s a concern across all types of insurance, but particularly product liability and auto accidents; in those areas, verdict payouts rose 7.1% annually, on average, between 2016 and 2022, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

A 2025 Perryman Group study, “The Economic Impact of Excessive Tort Costs on U.S. Households,” says consumer prices in the U.S. are estimated to be 1.32% higher than they would be without excessive litigation.

Sam Hanmer

Sam Hanmer

“People believe they can buy insurance online, which a lot of people do, and they never have problems — until they have one. So where do they turn? They need an advocate in the form of an agent.”

Meanwhile, the median size of so-called ‘nuclear verdicts’ — defined as jury awards of $10 million or greater — has more than doubled since 2020, according to Marathon Strategies’ “Corporate Verdicts Go Thermonuclear: 2024 Edition.” And it’s not just the severity of the verdicts that’s trending upward, but the frequency of litigation as well.

All these statistics were compiled in a recent Legal System Abuse Toolkit prepared by Trusted Choice and the Big I for use by independent insurance agents.

“Legal system abuse is a problem for policyholders, consumers, and the economy as a whole,” the toolkit argues. “It drives up prices, drives out insurers and investors, and clogs the court system with frivolous cases that could be handled fairly without litigation. Moreover, the beneficiaries are opportunists in the legal field and their financial backers.”

There are other trends at play as well. Hanmer said umbrella insurance is seeing higher rates these days, and Rosa noted that some types of contractors, such as snow plowers, have found it harder to secure affordable policies. “But most classes of businesses are seeing some stability, and even some rate softening,” Rosa added.

 

 

Knowledge Is Power

Like many indepenent agencies have expressed to BusinessWest over the years, both Hanmer and Rosa took the opportunity to underline the importance of working with an agent to navigate these complexities.

“We have to understand their business before we put a program together,” Hanmer said. “We need to understand the business they’re in, their risks, the exposures they face, and how best to mitigate them. There’s more to that than buying insurance, but insurance is still primarily how you protect yourself from unknowns and risks. So with in-depth knowledge, we can put a program together and best fit what those exposures are.”

That creates relationships that go well beyond just buying a policy, he added.

“People believe they can buy insurance online, which a lot of people do, and they never have problems — until they have one. So where do they turn? They need an advocate in the form of an agent. It’s so important to educate people that there is a need for an agent. When you buy insurance, you hope you never use it, but when you need it, you’re glad you have it — and you’re glad you have an advocate.”

Mark Rosa

Mark Rosa

“We’re seeing cyber claims for classes of businesses I never thought possible. And there are legal fees that come with cyber strikes.”

Rosa agreed. “Obviously, you need to ask the right questions. Without an intimate knowledge of a business, you’re not able to do the job in the right way,” he said. “There’s so much in every one of these policies; they aren’t just one size fits all. There’s a lot of time involved in order to do the job correctly.

“So it’s a lot of learning what the business does, spending time with the owner, asking lots of questions. Otherwise, we don’t know how to fill certain gaps,” he went on. “I think what differentiates one agent from the next is what the experience is like and how unique it is. Everyone’s business is unique. While you might qualify for a certain policy type, it doesn’t mean you don’t need to go above and beyond that.”

Rosa added that insurance isn’t something business owners always want to talk about, but the conversations are necessary, if only to regularly check in on changes to the business and evolving risks and exposures.

One of those is cyber liability, which over the past decade has become an essential part of commercial insurance — for businesses of all sizes and sectors.

“More and more, the hackers are incredibly adept and professional in how they do things — it’s amazing how good these guys are. So cyber insurance is something that everybody needs now,” Hanmer said. “It used to be, people thought only big companies were targeted, but that’s not true anymore. Everyone is getting targeted. Cyber insurance is a must buy in this market.”

Rosa agreed. “We’re seeing cyber claims for classes of businesses I never thought possible. And there are legal fees that come with cyber strikes,” he noted. “Some business owners say, ‘the data was backed up from the day before, so I don’t care.’ Well, that’s understandable, but what happens when the state or the federal government comes and slaps you with a fine, and now you’re paying for credit monitoring? We’ve seen a small business pay $63,000 between the fines and the legal paperwork. And that business could have had a cyber policy anywhere from $1,200 to $1,500 over the year.”

 

Career Opportunities

Beyond the financial numbers, Hanmer said, the biggest challenge the industry faces — not just regionally but nationwide — is a shallow talent pool of young people clamoring to enter the field.

“They’re not migrating into the insurance world like they had in the past. So staffing and talent is our biggest challenge right now. Ask any agent, and they’ll say the same thing — we can’t find anybody,” he explained, before offering a few thoughts on why that might be.

“It’s not flashy enough, I think, for kids. All the technology and the tech startups, that’s where they’re migrating — the more tech-oriented world. Insurance is not tech-heavy, although it’s evolving. So I don’t think insurance is exciting enough for them, and it’s too bad because it’s a great business. When I find a young person and I can bend their ear for a minute, I encourage opportunities to be in the insurance world.”

Rosa noted that technology is creeping into the insurance world in some intriguing ways. For one, underwriters are using it to adjust what they currently have on the books, using drone or satellite footage.

“When they see your house was built in 1978, now they’re subscribing to third-party technology to show an image of your roof. And hey, this roof looks like it might be 20 to 30 years old. So are the rates increasing? They might be,” he said — if the company wants to keep insuring that property at all.

If not, he went on, “now you’re going from a carrier with a favorable rate to your options being more limited, and it’s gone from $1,200 to $1,600. It’s about insurability and certain risks and what insurance companies are willing to insure.”

At the same time, insurance companies are increasingly determining how they can incorporate artificial intelligence into those processes, and that will affect rates as well, Rosa noted.

“For homeowners and our business clients, AI will shake things up. Carriers have access to so much data, and they might say, ‘hey, we can’t insure this type of business any longer.’ And that will force rates higher. It might even be a good opportunity for carriers that don’t use the technology.

“It’s too hard to say what will happens,” he added, “but I do think insurance is an industry that’s been kind of slow on technology for many decades, but that will accelerate in the next two to five years — and insurance is going to be different from what it is today.”

Rare Forms Aims to Create Healthier Homes

By
President Greg Bossie
Building Trades Special Coverage

Sustainable by Design

President Greg Bossie

President Greg Bossie

 

Greg Bossie jokes that negative ideas around building with straw starts in childhood.

“We all grew up with the Three Little Pigs,” he said. “So people have a lot of misconceptions about the viability of straw as a building component.”

But no one’s huffing, puffing, and blowing houses down that are constructed or renovated by Rare Forms, a unique, mission-driven construction company that Bossie launched in 2020.

At the heart of the business model are what’s known as seed straw panels, which are assembled to form the exterior of a house or business.

“I really felt that I wanted to push further into a values- and mission-based structure, particularly around the use of bio-based building materials and internal structure.”

“We build a wood frame, so they are structural. We build it in a steel jig table, and then the straw gets compressed with a pneumatic press,” he explained. “So there’s no binder, there’s no lime or cement or anything like that in it. It’s just compressed straw, which performs really well in terms of the comfort and insulation of a structure.”

And straw is not hay, he added, knocking down another one of those misconceptions. “Straw is just the woody stalk of the grain plant, which could be wheat, rye, oat, rice, any grain that has a woody stalk. We use rye from Plainville Farm in Hadley.”

He explained that the hard, compressed straw, wrapped in a sealed panel, has the same base molecular structure as wood, and is not prone to decomposition, partly because of the way it’s airtight, yet ‘vapor-open,’ allowing any water entering the structure to exit quickly, preventing moisture damage.

The straw panels are also fire-resistant, whereas foam insulation is flammable, he added.

“Lots of people worry about fire, justifiably. But compressed straw, when compressed in a panel, behaves like timber, which means that, when exposed to fire, it chars on the outside and protects its inner core. With a straw panel, we can get a one- or two-hour fire rating, so it’s actually far less fire-prone than, say, any fluffy insulation that allows air movement, because you need oxygen movement to fuel fire, and when you’ve got this incredibly compressed structure that doesn’t allow any air movement through it, it’s really fire-resistant.

“Straw-based building systems have been used for millennia,” Bossie noted. “But actually encasing straw — compressing straw into a wood frame and panelizing it in this way — is really an innovation of the last maybe 12 years or so. It’s a combination of two well-worn building technologies — wood frame and straw bale building combined into one system.

Compressed straw panels, like those in this home under construction, are both structural and insulating.

Compressed straw panels, like those in this home under construction, are both structural and insulating.

“That allows us to utilize the advantages of off-site construction methodology, meaning that we can do all of this in a climate-controlled environment,” he went on, while walking BusinessWest through the shop where bales of hay are stacked, ready to be compressed and panelized.

“One of the risks of traditional straw bale building, particularly in our climate, is that, during construction, it can be exposed to a lot of moisture. Straw panels allow us to work in a controlled environment,” he noted. “We can compress the straw into these wood panels, wrap those panels in weather-resistant barriers, and then install them on site in a relatively short period of time, so that we can limit any potential water exposure during that time. Roof panels tend to take a little bit longer than wall panels, but we can basically assemble this high-performance envelope very quickly.”

 

Building a Passion

Bossie went to school for architecture and worked in that field for a number of years, but when he moved to Massachusetts from California in 2011, he ended up co-owning a company called Stone Soup Concrete, which specializes in concrete countertops. Later, he was project manager for a design-build company working in the residential sector.

“That got me into building science and high-performance building. But I really felt that I wanted to push further into a values- and mission-based structure, particularly around the use of bio-based building materials and internal structure.”

That idea became Rare Forms, which was just Bossie at first, actually doing the construction before the company started to grow; it now totals about a dozen employees.

“Operational carbon is really important; it adds up over the lifetime of a building. But all of that embodied carbon happens now.”

“We were doing residential design-build, primarily retrofit and addition work to start, and then got into doing some new construction homes,” he explained. “And then, a year and a half ago, we actively pushed into the straw panel aspect of things, which had been my goal for quite a while.

“Straw panels allow us to build homes and additions that actually store more embodied carbon than they emit in the construction process,” he went on. “The construction industry has been focused on what we call operational carbon for a long time, which is energy usage — and trying to reduce our energy usage — and we’ve made incredible strides with that over the last 30 years or so.

Greg Bossie says it was important to him to launch a mission- and values-driven company.

Greg Bossie says his company’s values extend to environmental impact, homeowner health, community support, and more..

“But in the last 10 years — really, the last five to seven years — people started to seriously look at embodied carbon and realize that, in the current state of climate crisis, operational carbon is really important; it adds up over the lifetime of a building. But all of that embodied carbon happens now. And lots of buildings get built in such a way that they have an incredibly high embodied carbon footprint.”

What Rare Forms does, Bossie explained, is use bio-based building materials to substantially reduce or even invert the embodied carbon aspect of building, while also maintaining high building performance and the low energy usage. Another motivation is better indoor air quality, meaning greater comfort and health for building occupants.

“There’s a lot of asthma issues that are caused by building materials from all the foams, so we’re trying to build with completely foam-free assemblies wherever possible, which, in new construction is very achievable; with retrofits, it can be a little bit more difficult with older structures.”

While the straw to create the wall panels is sourced from Hadley, the company’s roof panels are insulated with a product called TimberHP, a wood fiber insulation product manufactured in Madison, Maine, from waste timber from that state’s sprawling timber industry.

In short, “we think about sustainability pretty holistically,” Bossie told BusinessWest. “There’s the materials side of things, which is choosing what you build the house out of. There’s also the waste management, doing as much selective deconstruction as possible, meaning saving fixtures, finishes, any building materials you can, keeping as much out of the landfill to begin with as possible, either saving materials for use in the project or donating those materials.”

Meanwhile, the company works with local sawyers to source timber locally, and also strives to reduce transportation emissions. For example, while Rare Forms mainly works in the 413, it’s currently working on a project in Peru, Vt., and has come up with a way to lessen travel impact on the environment.

“Our team meets here at the shop, and they carpool in one vehicle up there. They stay overnight during the week and then drive back so that we don’t have a team of four people each taking individual vehicles two hours each way every day,” he explained. “Trucking building materials is an incredibly high emissions aspect of building.”

 

Mission Driven

The seed panel system was designed by New Frameworks in Essex Junction, Vt., one of three founding member companies — Rare Forms and Building Integrity in Columbia, Mo. are the others — in the Seed Collaborative, a partnership that aims to create a broad network of companies using local materials to build carbon-positive systems.

“The function of buildings is to provide shelter for people. Ultimately, I think that how we relate to other human beings is what defines our lives. How we take care of each other is what defines the value of a society. How we shelter people defines our culture of care.”

“We share the methodology of manufacturing straw panels, as well as other shared services — we’re sharing marketing services and business consulting services, and trying to consolidate a lot of the infrastructure of each individual business to make this endeavor more accessible from a business perspective, and also to help make the kits and panels themselves more affordable, so these homes can be more accessible to middle-class homeowners,” Bossie explained, adding that the Seed Collaborative will continue to expand across the U.S., starting with the next set of partners in Colorado, Maryland, and Washington.

Rare Forms has also carved out a niche in prefabricated accessory dwelling units (ADUs), tiny homes that blend efficiency, sustainability, and aesthetics. The company recently won an award in an ADU design competition staged by the North Adams Partnership and AARP.

Greg Bossie says Rare Forms essentially combines two well-worn building technologies, wood frame and straw bale building, in innovative new ways.

Greg Bossie says Rare Forms essentially combines two well-worn building technologies, wood frame and straw bale building, in innovative new ways.

“The state is really inclined to push ADU expansion right now; it’s one way that we can increase housing density and available housing units,” he noted. “We have a housing affordability and availability crisis, and ADUs are one way that we can increase housing density in existing neighborhoods without substantially impacting the character of those neighborhoods.

“It is, unfortunately, a really expensive way to do that,” he admitted. “The cost per housing unit for ADUs is high because you’re taking essentially all of the infrastructure that you need for a 1,500- or 3,000-square-foot house and compacting it into, say, a 600- or 900-square-foot house. You’ve still got all the utilities, all the electricity, all your mechanicals and plumbing and kitchen and bath. So the cost per square foot for an ADU tends to be substantially higher than for a larger house. But we’re working hard to find ways to make them accessible to middle-class homeowners.”

The company’s values extend beyond building materials and environmental impact; they include work in the community as well. Rare Forms donates 1% of all its revenue each year to nonprofit organizations, including the Hitchcock Center for the Environment, the Connecticut River Valley Conservancy, Leave No Trace, the Venture Out Project, and Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture.

“We focus on both donating monetarily to local organizations and also using our space to help build communities,” he noted, which includes hosting events focused on everything from building science to promoting women and people of color in the trades.

From a broader perspective, “it’s about people,” Bossie said. “The function of buildings is to provide shelter for people. Ultimately, I think that how we relate to other human beings is what defines our lives. How we take care of each other is what defines the value of a society. How we shelter people defines our culture of care.

“And I wanted to — both personally and from a business perspective — really invest in building something that can care for people, both in terms of what we build and how we build it and how we build the business as well, making sure that we are investing all of our resources back into the people that are here, employees of Rare Forms, but also our trade partners, our clients.”

So when Bossie calls Rare Forms a mission- and values-based business, he’s got a lot on his mind.

“I like people,” he said. “I also have three daughters, and, while I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about legacy, the way that I want to define the success of my own life is — like a lot of people, I think — can I leave the world a little bit better for my kids than I found it?”

Cybersecurity Offers Promising Career Paths

By
Sean O’Brien says cybersecurity used to be seen as a niche issue
Cybersecurity Special Coverage

Evolving Threats

Sean O’Brien says cybersecurity used to be seen as a niche issue

Sean O’Brien says cybersecurity used to be seen as a niche issue in many business sectors, but has become a central concern.

As high-tech businesses grapple with the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) — and workers worry what that might mean for their job security — those who work in cybersecurity may have reason for optimism, Sean O’Brien said.

“Even though we’ve seen a shift, certainly, in IT careers around AI — folks getting laid off and so on — cybersecurity is still humming along. It’s one of the hot industries, essentially,” O’Brien, director of Cybersecurity at Bay Path University, recently told BusinessWest.

A few days earlier, O’Brien had led Bay Path’s 13th annual Cybersecurity Summit, where he and other experts discussed how artificial intelligence is reshaping cybersecurity, education, and workforce development, and what all that means for career paths in this quickly evolving field.

Some young people might be scared off by what they perceive as the highly technical nature of cybersecurity, but he emphasized that the field, and the work being done within it, is strikingly diverse.

“One of the reasons I keep emphasizing the non-technical nature of cybersecurity is because I think that tech can scare people,” he said. “First off, we’re talking about things that are actually scary — things that keep me up at night. But also, people don’t want to feel like they’re going to be a code monkey, so to speak, sitting at a keyboard all day. So I try to emphasize the more exciting cases, the sort of weird and interesting stuff that we can do in cybersecurity.

“Cybersecurity is wide-ranging. There are people who analyze malware — they look at what’s in our software and how it spies on people and breaks their stuff and steals their info, or even drains their Bitcoin wallet, those kinds of things. There are folks who do digital forensics work — they may be looking at evidence and preparing it for a court case or even just an investigation or an audit of an organization.”

Then there are people who work at security operations centers like the one now located at the Richard E. Neal Cybersecurity Center of Excellence in Springfield, which help organizations detect, prevent, and respond to threats.

“When people talk about AI being a threat, what they really mean is generative AI being a threat, large language models being a threat. And just like AI had been used for defensive good purposes before, we can still take generative AI and use it for good purposes as well.”

“That’s a burgeoning field, being the individual who looks at a dashboard, sees all the information coming in, and makes conclusions and reports and even post-mortem analysis,” O’Brien explained. “Even after something has gone wrong, you need the individual who’s going to say, ‘well, here’s how it went wrong,’ and provide that report to the C-suite in an organization.”

Then there are individuals moving to cybersecurity from other fields — or vice versa — and incorporating it into other disciplines.

“I want to have folks who are managers, essentially, who are able to take all of this information, come up with security plans and risk management scenarios, and talk about security architecture and those kinds of things, because those don’t change no matter what goes on with the technology,” O’Brien told BusinessWest. “In my time — and I’ve been doing this since I was a kid, essentially — I have seen technology shift so much, but the fundamentals don’t change.”

In short, it’s a field broad enough to welcome people from any discipline or interest, and that, combined with the fact that it’s certain to remain important, makes cybersecurity an attractive career option.

“You’ve got to have the hunger for it, certainly,” he added. “That’s why it’s always fun to be around other cyber folks, because they’re always energetic.”

 

Future Shock

The keynote address at the Cybersecurity Summit was delivered by Scott Shapiro, a professor at Yale Law School. O’Brien met him years ago when he worked there, and the two of them co-founded a cybersecurity lab for Yale law students.

“We took folks who are non-technical, primarily — great legal minds, certainly, but not technical people — and we got them to use the command line. We got them to do hacks on their own,” O’Brien said. “We would say, ‘here’s why strong passwords are important. By the way, here’s how to crack a weak password.’”

Now in charge of Bay Path’s cybersecurity program, O’Brien is passionate about sparking that interest in young people.

Sean O’Brien (right) conducts a ‘fireside chat’ with Yale Law School Professor Scott Shapiro about advances in cybersecurity and AI during the recent Cybersecurity Summit.

Sean O’Brien (right) conducts a ‘fireside chat’ with Yale Law School Professor Scott Shapiro about advances in cybersecurity and AI during the recent Cybersecurity Summit.

“Bay Path, an amazing program, really has an innovative approach, which is one of the reasons they recruited me,” he told BusinessWest. “They said, ‘hey, you’re doing some cool and interesting things with cybersecurity, we’re doing cool and interesting things with cybersecurity, so let’s hang out.’”

Shapiro’s address — and ‘fireside chat’ discussion with O’Brien — touched numerous times on the role of AI in cybersecurity, and why it’s not all bad news.

“The first thing is to recognize that every tool can be used for good or for bad. A gun can be used either to defend yourself and your family in your home or to hold up a convenience store. And encryption — we love encryption when it protects our private communication; we hate it when it’s called ransomware,” said Shapiro, who is also the author of Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age in Five Extraordinary Hacks.

He applied the same message to AI, after a quick history lesson explaining the difference between classical AI and generative AI, which is a much more recent phenomenon.

“AI has been part of cybersecurity for such a long time. You had very basic symbolic systems that helped detect for intrusions and exploitations. In the 2010s, you could not walk through a trade show without people telling you about their AI that protects everyone, and that was machine learning that tried to correlate usage with time, with location, and try to figure out the markers of a threat.

“Now, when people talk about AI being a threat, what they really mean is generative AI being a threat, large language models being a threat. And just like AI had been used for defensive good purposes before, we can still take generative AI and use it for good purposes as well.”

The bad purposes are plenty, Shapiro said, from deepfakes to malware. But in many ways, AI is simply sharpening the sort of threats that already existed.

On the traditional internet, O’Brien told BusinessWest, “we had things called botnets. These are automated computers that are being controlled by a command and control computer somewhere. So your grandmother’s TV set or set-top box or router can be controlled by some adversary somewhere on the other side of the world. You get enough of these machines talking together, they can attack websites; they can break stuff down. Those kinds of threats have been going on for a very long time.

“I would say what’s going on right now is AI is an accelerating force,” he went on. “We still have these threats; everything old is new again. But because AI is able to sort of think on its feet, it’s able to probabilistically change direction and try certain things very easily.”

During the Cybersecurity Summit, O’Brien talked about a botnet called Aisuru that was the most highly trafficked domain in the world during November — more than Google, Yahoo, Facebook, you name it — because of the ease with which it insinuated itself into everything from routers to cameras to gaming platforms. Its goal? Distributed denial of service attacks trying to take down websites.

That sort of threat takes cybersecurity out of the business realm and makes it everyone’s concern.

“Now that everybody’s online constantly, we have devices in our pockets which are basically supercomputers. We’re surrounded by devices, cameras, thermostats, all the stuff that’s connected to the internet. Cybersecurity is now a central topic. It’s encompassed so many aspects of our life,” he explained. “Chat GPT was released to the public a few years ago, and there is a real revolution in computing, and people are starting to see how these algorithms can do incredibly useful stuff, but also incredibly dangerous stuff.”

But AI can also be a strong weapon against those dangers.

“I remember old-style viruses. We had some Macs in our elementary school that got a virus, and everything went down. But then we started having virus detection engines — they look for signatures, and they react. AI is very good at this sort of signature detection and being very agile, being able to look at some things and say, ‘this looks like activity that shouldn’t be happening in the network.’

“So those detection tools, this ability to read through long logs of text, which is what people use ChatGPT and these types of technologies for anyway, are security tools that are speeding up the pace of action and analysis and giving cybersecurity analysts a lot more detailed information a lot more quickly.”

 

Always Watching

One reason O’Brien likes being an educator is seeing what students are actually interested in, and the way they think of new threats and new applications.

“The students are coming to us with scenarios that are interesting, their own ideas about unique hacks that could be happening. I had a student, for example, demonstrate for me a hack of a Roomba. I hadn’t thought much about a Roomba, but you think about a Roomba, it moves around, and it actually has a lot of data about the physical space,” he said.

“Having that surprise at this point in my life, after I’ve thought I’ve seen everything, is a really big part of this. I’m excited to see where things go.”

And that constant learning is yet another reason why cybersecurity careers will remain attractive — and why shepherding a new generation into that work is so important.

“I think it’s going to be hard to eliminate the need for cybersecurity folks, no matter what comes around the corner technologically,” O’Brien told BusinessWest. “We’ve got to stay on our feet. We’ve got to lock our things up.”

Partners Restaurant Celebrates 40 Years of Food, Community

By
Sue and Mark Tansey are partners in both business and life.
Features Restaurants

Morning Glory

Sue and Mark Tansey are partners in both business and life.

Sue and Mark Tansey are partners in both business and life.

Mark Tansey didn’t exactly plan his path into the culinary world.

“My brother kind of pushed me into the business,” he recalled. “My mother died when I was 15, and I had to cook at home. I wanted to go to college, and he goes, ‘why don’t you go to cooking school?’ So I ended up going to Johnson & Wales.”

In addition to completing that two-year program, Tansey worked at the Monte Carlo in West Springfield, and later at Hillbrook House in Westfield, then Springfield Country Club. The first two of those establishments are long gone, but his next venture — Partners Restaurant & Catering in Agawam — is still going strong, more than 40 years later.

“A woman came to me and said, ‘I have this little breakfast-lunch place in Agawam, Mark, if you want to think about it,’” he recalled. That was 1984, and Partners had been open just a couple of years when its then-owner wanted to unload it. Tansey, then just 24 years old, liked what he saw, secured a $45,000 loan from Westbank, and started crafting a plan, both culinary and financial.

“I had to learn how to write the financials, how to figure out, ‘well, if I have one dishwasher and a cook and a server, how much do I need?’ But then I realized, for the first couple of years, I was the dishwasher and the cook.”

His first marriage would end in those early years, and he wound up bonding with his current wife (and business partner) of 33 years, Sue, over food; her family owned Angy’s Tortellini at the time, and she ran a small catering business.

And now, they’re celebrating four decades running a restaurant and catering business that has outlasted challenges ranging from a devastating fire in 2014 to the COVID-19 pandemic (more on both later), emerging from it all with a loyal clientele, about 50 employees, and even a succession plan (the Tanseys’ daughter, Siena, is deeply involved in the business).

In short, there’s plenty to celebrate, which they did on Nov. 22 with an admittedly late 40th anniversary event (the actual milestone was last year) at the restaurant, where they expected about 400 people to show up.

“We have a lot of repeat business, and we have people that say, ‘I can’t wait until they put out those specials because I want to see what I’m going to have this weekend.’”

The clientele has been multi-generational, Sue said, but so has the staff.

“We’ve had multiple third-generation family members working for us. We’ve had the mother, then their daughter, and now the granddaughter working for us — I’d say a good five families like that. It’s so cool.”

Both Tanseys attribute much of the restaurant’s success to its staff. In the early days, Sue said, “if we came home on a Sunday and we were over $1,000, we’d be like, ‘oh my God.’ Now, we serve 400, 500 people on a Sunday.” And they appreciate those putting in all the work to make that happen.

“Everybody makes fair money; I pay them well. I don’t chintz around. And if we do have a great week, they get extra,” Mark said. “How is that money going to enhance my life? I could use it, but in the long run, by giving everybody 50 bucks, it works out better, because they’re going to stay, we have less turnover, less training. I didn’t know that in the first five years of business, but after a while, we did.”

The result is clear in the waitstaff’s hustle and demeanor, he added. “That’s how we want it. I want people to feel fun and not have a grumpy person greeting them.”

 

Serving Up Challenges

Sept. 3, 2014 was not one of those fun days.

That’s the night the Tanseys were summoned to the restaurant, which had suffered a major electrical fire caused by degraded conduits across the street.

“If you looked in the window, you wouldn’t think we had a fire, but it was all electrical damage; everything was permeated with smoke,” Sue said. “They ended up having to take the building down.”

Thankfully, an insurance policy allowed them to operate at another spot, and they opened Partners at the Cup on Route 20 in West Springfield the following June. Before that, however, “we still had catering to do,” Mark said. “Because I had a rapport with Six Flags, they had a kitchen out in the back. It was winter, and they weren’t using their stoves and ovens, and they didn’t charge us at all.”

First Baptist Church of Agawam also allowed the couple to cater from there, so they paid rent to the church to do that for a while. “We had people come out of the woodwork to help us rebuild,” Mark said.

Partners reopened in December 2015, and the couple ran both locations until 2020, when the Cup closed for good.

As difficult as the fire was, however, COVID may have been worse. “I think I still have PTSD,” Sue told BusinessWest. “It was difficult to figure out the PPP, but we rallied, and we came up with menus. We had family dinners. We did takeout. We had a few employees that weren’t afraid, and we ran a skeleton crew.”

That was when Siena came home from Boston, where she had she studied hospitality and was working at the Omni Parker House until it closed, and started a new career at Partners.

“We also fed our employees; we would have employee dinners.” Sue recalled. “It was very hard work. We did fish and chips Friday night, and people would pre-order. We had a little side window that worked out perfectly, so people didn’t have to come in.

“But every Monday, we waited for [then-Gov.] Charlie Baker to drop another hammer. Every Monday, there was another restriction on us. It was awful. But then we were able to open outside, and we put up a big tent. Eventually, we ended up coming back inside, though we had to go from 80 seats down to 40, with barriers between them. But we still had our loyal employees.”

“Thank God for them,” Mark quickly added. “Especially during COVID. We were not surprised, but taken aback by how much support we got.”

It’s not just the restaurant that has succeeded, but a catering business that has taken many forms and operated in many settings over the decades, and now includes an event space that opened two years ago right on the Partners property, which can accommodate parties of more than 400 people.

On both sides of the business, Mark said, they use as much locally sourced, fresh food as possible, from produce to breads — no canned vegetables anywhere. And patrons look forward to the ever-changing specials board, which benefits not only their taste buds, but the bottom line.

“You can get bacon and eggs anywhere at $6, $7, $8. But I want to get a higher check average because I have a good payroll,” he explained. “So I’ll try to do dinner entrees for breakfast specials. Like, this weekend we have beef brisket. And now, instead of getting steak and eggs for $14.95, you can get smoked beef brisket for $16.95.

“We have a lot of repeat business,” he added, “and we have people that say, ‘I can’t wait until they put out those specials because I want to see what I’m going to have this weekend.’”

 

 

Off the Air

Mark has taken his passion for cooking to the airwaves in past decades, hosting a local cooking TV show, Continental Cuisine, and a talk radio show, The Latest Dish, as well as participating in cooking demos and seminars for the Big E, Angy’s Tortellini, Big Y Foods, and various clubs and organizations.

“At that time, people wanted quick meals they could make at home,” he told BusinessWest. “People can go to a restaurant and get chicken parm; I would show them how to do a chicken parm or something simple. Speed scratch cooking — that’s kind of what I did. And then I did some more upscale stuff, because I have some background in that too. But I wanted the people to know that you can do this at home.”

Sue thinks her husband could have become nationally known.

“Food Network was just starting to come out, Emeril was getting popular, and I remember thinking I should send in a tape for Mark,” she said. “And I never did it.”

“I could have been famous,” he said, then flashed a warm smile at his partner. “But look at our life.”

Partnerships Like Early College Make Higher Education More Accessible

By
American International College Provost Michael Dodge
Education Special Coverage

Moving On Up

American International College Provost Michael Dodge

American International College Provost Michael Dodge

 

When Michael Dodge thinks about the 227 students from Duggan Academy in Springfield currently taking classes at American International College (AIC), he understands who benefits the most — and it’s not necessarily the academic high achievers who already have their eyes on college.

“We’re reaching the ones saying, ‘college isn’t for me,’ or ‘I’m not smart enough,’ or ‘no one in my family has gone to college.’ And we’re saying, ‘this program is for you.’ We’re helping students that might not have thought of college as an option — helping it become an option for them.”

Dodge, AIC’s provost, was describing the college’s relationship with Duggan, which began three years ago with high-schoolers taking classes for college credit, and has now become much more robust with AIC being designated as a Massachusetts Early College Program by the state’s joint Early College Committee.

AIC, in partnership with the Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership (SEZP), is one of 18 new Early College programs announced this year by the Healey-Driscoll administration, and the only private college west of Worcester to receive this designation.

“Those students are taking a total of 900 credits,” Dodge said. “Given our successful pass rates with Duggan, that’s bringing in a significant number of students who are picking up a lot of college coursework that they now have under their belts as they think about where they want to go after high school.”

Notably, the program is a ‘wall-to-wall’ model in which every Duggan student participates. Students have the opportunity to earn up to 60 college credits — at no cost — before graduating from high school. Courses focus on high-growth, high-wage fields including allied health, education, and criminal justice.

“We’re reaching the ones saying, ‘college isn’t for me,’ or ‘I’m not smart enough,’ or ‘no one in my family has gone to college.’ And we’re saying, ‘this program is for you.’”

“We wanted to focus on fields that are in demand and lead to well-paying jobs,” Dodge said. “This puts them on a path to pursue an associate degree either at AIC or a community college or another four-year institution.”

The model ramps up the college coursework as they advance, he explained. Freshman year orients them to the expectations of a college class, and what follows is coursework in general education classes that are easily transferable, regardless of institution.

“Those include things like English composition, analytical writing — things that can help them be better writers and critical thinkers, which sets them up for success when they get to their junior year and senior year,” Dodge noted.

In those final two years of high school, students are blending college-credit courses at Duggan with classes they actually take on the AIC campus, he explained. “We want you to come to AIC, but regardless of where you go, you’re setting up a strong foundation to help you be able to keep pace with the academic rigor that exists at a college.”

While Duggan students have already been earning AIC college credits, the new designation is designed to build on that success and help even more students access college by removing common barriers.

Key program features include personalized support, including small cohorts, academic coaching, and dedicated advisors for multilingual and exceptional learners; advising to promote college readiness; culturally responsive teaching and staffing to reflect and support the student population; and universal access, with 100% of Duggan students participating regardless of prior academic performance.

Tricia Canavan

Tricia Canavan

“Tech Foundry’s senior team has been collaborating with various members of UMass leadership in a variety of ways over the last couple of years. Our partnership has evolved to include working with the IT staff on workforce priorities and employment opportunities.”

“All students deserve opportunities to succeed,” Dodge said. “Early College is about more than earning credits — it’s about building the skills, confidence, and support networks students need for college and life.”

 

Priming the Pump

Early College is just one way the state has been trying to draw more students into the college pipeline. The most notable ones, of course, have been MassReconnect, which made community college free for Massachusetts residents age 25 or older, and, more recently, MassEducate, which extended that tuition- and fee-free model to any resident, regardless of age, who has not yet earned a bachelor’s degree.

Beyond that, many of the state’s community colleges have forged articulation agreements with four-year institutions, under which students who satisfactorily complete an associate degree program are guaranteed admission into a bachelor’s degree program at the four-year school.

One of these partnerships, between Elms College and both Holyoke Community College (HCC) and Springfield Technical Community College (STCC), deepened recently by allowing students of those two community colleges to reside in residence halls at Elms.

STCC and HCC are commuter colleges and do not provide on-campus housing, so the agreement benefits STCC and HCC students who have housing needs, while creating the kind of familiarity with the Elms campus and culture that makes it more likely they’ll pursue a baccalaureate degree there.

“Elms College, for nearly 100 years, has prided itself on promoting educational opportunities to those who would otherwise not have access, and being a collaborative partner with our neighboring colleges. This agreement accomplishes these goals and expands our strong partnerships with HCC and STCC,” Elms President Harry Dumay said. “Our campus has always been a welcoming, inclusive community, where we work hard to ensure that everyone feels like they belong in the spirit of our founding mission. HCC and STCC students now get to discover that aspect of the Elms experience.”

Other regional partnerships target an older demographic — people who either never attended college or started but didn’t finish.

Elms College President Harry Dumay recently announced that the college expanded its articulation agreement with HCC and STCC to allow students at those colleges to live on the Elms campus.

Elms College President Harry Dumay recently announced that the college expanded its articulation agreement with HCC and STCC to allow students at those colleges to live on the Elms campus.

One recently announced collaboration between UMass Amherst and the Tech Foundry — the Springfield-based workforce development nonprofit that trains local residents for IT careers — enables Tech Foundry staff and community members to complete their undergraduate degrees through the university’s flexible, customizable online program.

Specifically, Tech Foundry members can take classes, receive academic counseling, and map their educational pathway through UMass Amherst’s University Without Walls Department of Interdisciplinary Studies (UWW-IS).

Current UWW-IS admission requires 12 transferrable college credits and a 2.0 GPA for adults who did not previously attend UMass Amherst. As part of its program, however, UWW-IS offers credit for prior learning or life experience. Under the new agreement, students who are accepted into UWW-IS and have completed Tech Foundry’s 18-week immersive hybrid training program will receive 15 credits via special transcript, which is equivalent to a full semester courseload. The collaboration builds on earlier programs in which UMass Amherst IT provided internships for Tech Foundry trainees.

“Tech Foundry’s senior team has been collaborating with various members of UMass leadership in a variety of ways over the last couple of years. Our partnership has evolved to include working with the IT staff on workforce priorities and employment opportunities,” said Tricia Canavan, CEO of Tech Foundry, who called the new collaboration an important expansion of opportunity for Tech Foundry students.

“We’re really centering equity efforts. We don’t always want to polish just the shiniest of apples, but we’re making sure we’re reaching out to that student who may not have thought of college as an option — but help them do it in ways that make sense.”

UWW-IS Department Administrator Siobhan Henderson said the collaboration also enhances University Without Walls’ longtime relationship with Springfield residents. “We are committed to meeting learners where they are — professionally, academically, and geographically. This collaboration aligns with our UWW-IS mission that was founded more than 50 years ago: to open doors to adults who thought achieving a bachelor’s degree was unattainable.”

 

Opportunity Knocks

Gov. Maura Healey has called Early College programs a central element of her administration’s Reimagining High School initiative to prepare students for college or careers and expand access for those historically underrepresented in higher education — at a time when higher education is already facing demographic headwinds in the form of fewer high school graduates.

“Early college is an important and effective tool for making higher education more accessible and affordable for every Massachusetts student,” she said earlier this year. “These new partnerships give more young people the opportunity to earn college credit at no cost while still in high school, setting them on a path to success and helping to close opportunity gaps.”

Dodge sees such efforts as steps in the right direction, and considers the college campus immersion element an important part of the process.

“The intent, in senior year, is to have students be on our campus taking college-level courses, similar to the models for dual enrollment in the past,” he explained. “Students can take 12 to 15 credits over the course of senior year — typically four to five classes — develop some affiliation with the institution, and be able to take some independent coursework and things very specific to their planned major, so it’s not just, ‘oh, I come to campus for one class and then leave. Instead, they’re thinking about being on campus most of the day for Tuesday and Thursday, or Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”

He also appreciates the Healey administration’s focus on equity and helping close performance gaps.

“That’s one of the reasons why we applied for this designation with SEZP and the Department of Higher Education. We’re really centering equity efforts. We don’t always want to polish just the shiniest of apples, but we’re making sure we’re reaching out to that student who may not have thought of college as an option — but help them do it in ways that make sense. That’s why we start small, one or two courses freshman year, then building up intentionally and bringing them into the fold in college.

“We’re really thankful for the support from SEZP and the Department of Higher Education, and we value the partnership we have with Duggan and the Springfield Public Schools,” Dodge went on. “We think it’s a partnership that makes sense in this current environment, this academic cliff where fewer 18-year-olds are going to college. It seems like what the future of higher education needs to be.”

Ty Vinick Continues a Family Legacy at Moors & Cabot

By
Ty Vinick
Special Coverage Wealth Management

Lessons Learned

Ty Vinick

Ty Vinick

Ty Vinick says his grandfather, the late Jim Vinick, had been “training me my whole life.”

That’s not surprising to anyone who knew Jim, the former managing director of investments at Moors & Cabot — and a 2013 BusinessWest Difference Maker — who passed away in June, and was known for his passion for financial literacy.

“When I was like 8 years old, he was teaching us stocks and bonds and everything else,” Ty recalled. “I came to work with him at the start of this year, and I was hoping to work with him longer — I mean, he’d been teaching me my whole life though.”

That wasn’t meant to be, however. “Three days before he passed, we were in the hospital, and he was asking to check on his portfolio. So he was working right up to the end. He went out with his boots on.”

Those are certainly massive boots to fill — Jim was one of the driving forces behind the establishment and evolution of the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, as well as a longtime, respected wealth manager and financial expert — but Ty is up for the challenge, recently taking over his grandfather’s book of clients and running the Springfield office of Moors & Cabot, a Boston-based financial planning firm with numerous locations across the U.S.

“He loved his job,” Ty recalled. “Outside of his family, he loved his job, and he loved the Basketball Hall of Fame. Anyone who ever met him heard all about both things. He had incredible relationships with people, and I feel really fortunate that I get to do the same thing he did.

“I had a lot of teaching experience, which I actually find helpful now because I spend a lot of time explaining different concepts to people in terms of investing, or different investment vehicles they might not know about.”

“I see a side of him that maybe even other people in our family don’t get to see, where I’m talking with people, and they say, ‘you know, he was like a father figure to me. He was there for me when my husband passed or when my parents passed, and I didn’t know what to do, and there was money, and I needed help handling it,’” he went on. “And then they’re like, ‘but he was also just there to talk about life and what I might need.’ So it’s good to see, not just coming from him, but from other people, the impact he had on them, where they say, ‘you know, when I really needed somebody, he was someone I could turn to.’ That’s pretty cool.”

And the younger Vinick finds it gratifying to help people in the same way.

“Life keeps on going for everybody, and different things come up, and people call me because they had someone pass or they’re planning for their kids,” he told BusinessWest. “Sometimes you’re helping them because it’s a good situation that you’re trying to manage, making things a little more secure, like parents paying for college. And sometimes you’re helping them because it’s a sad situation; if a partner dies or spouse dies or a parent dies, they’re in a really tough moment, but at least you’re there to make that tough moment a little more manageable and a little bit smoother to get through.”

 

Let’s Talk

Vinick’s title is financial professional, though, as noted earlier, it involves a lot of education, too. That makes sense, considering his career journey.

At Tufts University, he majored in economics and also studied pre-med, thinking he might want to be a doctor. But after that, he went to Spain for a year and worked as a teacher in a rural village of about 700 people; he had also done some tutoring in college.

“I had a lot of teaching experience, which I actually find helpful now because I spend a lot of time explaining different concepts to people in terms of investing, or different investment vehicles they might not know about. So, in a weird way, it actually ended up being very, very helpful.”

After returning to the States and working in a few doctors’ offices, he realized he had lost enthusiasm for the medical profession. So he worked in biotech for a time, then returned to his native Western Mass. and entered the family business. In retrospect, it was the logical choice.

Jim Vinick, pictured here in 2013, when BusinessWest named him a Difference Maker, was well-respected in the region for wealth management, financial literacy, and civic commitment, particularly with the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Jim Vinick, pictured here in 2013, when BusinessWest named him a Difference Maker, was well-respected in the region for wealth management, financial literacy, and civic commitment, particularly with the Basketball Hall of Fame.

“I think I took a lot of it for granted growing up. We would sit with my parents and with my grandfather at the table, learning about investing and things like that, and now that I’m working in this role, a lot of times, I’m explaining things to people that I’ve been taught my entire life, and he was so good at teaching all that.”

It’s an ethos he brings to each client interaction today.

“I’m constantly talking to my clients, pretty much every month. So I get to really know them as people,” Vinick said. “A lot of the planning and understanding their finances is ongoing, rather than just sitting down and having it be a one-time conversation. It’s ongoing conversations, understanding where people are in life and meeting their shifting needs.”

Those clients, he said, range from young families all the way up through retirees working on estate planning matters, and they come to Moors & Cabot with a wide range of income levels and assets. Obviously, the investing strategies — and those conversations — are far from cookie-cutter.

“It definitely changes with retirees who might be looking more for income and living off of the savings that they have, versus younger people who might be looking to build something for the future, planning for a house or college,” Vinick said. “There are a lot of key factors that most people want to consider, so we just talk through those. You can always start with the big picture and then hone down as you go.”

As for clients closer to retirement, at a time when people are living longer than ever, it’s important to help them understand they might be looking at 25 years or more of post-work years — and how much money it will take to live the lives they want.

“Part of it is factoring in the fact that there’s going to be inflation in that path, and expenses might vary even during retirement. Health concerns can come up. Do you plan on traveling, and do you have certain goals or a certain lifestyle you want to maintain during retirement? Those costs can change as you go,” he explained. “So you want to consider that variability. You don’t want to get to retirement and then run out of money because that would be a tough position. So that’s part of the plan as well.

No matter what one’s age, Vinick said, it’s important to start crafting that life plan as soon as possible.

“The best time to start was yesterday, and the second best time to start is today. So even if you didn’t start yet, you can always get started now, and it’s better than not getting started at all. Better late than never, they say.”

“Some people can see volatility and say, ‘it’ll be fine. I know I’m not investing for tomorrow; I’m investing for 10 years.’ And for some people, there could be a 1% change in their account over the span of a month, and it will worry them.”

Another element of helping clients is guiding them through periods of uncertainty in the market, like during the roller-coaster ride this past spring when the market kept diving and rising amid constant tariff rumours, announcements, and rollbacks.

“Part of investing for different clients is meeting the level of risk that they’re willing to accept,” Vinick said. “Some people can see volatility and say, ‘it’ll be fine. I know I’m not investing for tomorrow; I’m investing for 10 years.’ And for some people, there could be a 1% change in their account over the span of a month, and it will worry them. It’s something to keep in mind for each client, how much risk they can accept or how much tolerance they have for it.

“And then part of it is explaining to them, ‘hey, something may have happened last month, but overall we’re doing OK,’ or ‘this is the vision for the long term, and this is what we’re looking to do,’ and keeping them on track rather than giving in to either overjubilance when things go really, really well, or panicking when things get a little rocky for a month here or there, whatever it might be.”

That’s easier to do with somebody who’s at an earlier stage of life and can take a longer view, but it’s also a matter of personality, he added. “Younger people can still panic, too. I think it just depends on the personality, the person, and the risk they can accept.”

 

Back to School

Vinick’s father, Michael, didn’t choose the financial services path, but rather forged a successful career in the HVAC trade; he’s president of Duct & Vent Cleaning of America in Springfield. But Ty’s transition into leadership at Moors & Cabot ensures a multi-generational family legacy there — serving clients that are often also multi-generational.

“My grandfather had clients that were parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and then, with his passing, I now have them as clients,” he said. “I’m the fifth generation of my family that’s in Springfield, and part of the business for me will also include being involved in the community that my family’s been involved in.”

And also education and communication. Vinick is already thinking about not only how he can become more involved with community organizations, as Jim was, but also how to continue his grandfather’s work on financial literacy, which included, many years ago, The Vinick Report, a local TV show on that topic.

“I love talking to people. I get to be on the phone all day with people, and you get to know them quite well,” he said. “You get to build these very meaningful relationships with people where you can kind of track them through their life. I think that’s the part that I enjoy doing.

“And I get to have a meaningful impact on their lives as well — I’m genuinely helping people reach milestones and achieve their financial goals,” he added. “You know, outside of their health, making sure they have a reasonable financial plan creates the foundation for everything else they want to do.”

Banks Eye Impact of Fed Rate Cuts, and Potential for More

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Matt Garrity says declining interest rates are typically good for the consumer and good for business.
Banking and Financial Services Special Coverage

Lending Perspective

Matt Garrity says declining interest rates are typically good for the consumer and good for business.

Matt Garrity says declining interest rates are typically good for the consumer and good for business.

The Federal Reserve’s decisions to lower its federal funds rate by a quarter-point in September, then another quarter-point in late October — landing at 3.75% — were good news to consumers and borrowers.

“A declining interest rate is good for the consumer and good for business; a business that’s borrowing on a regular basis for working capital can enjoy lower costs from that,” said Matt Garrity, president of Florence Bank. “A higher rate is more difficult for consumers.”

But the story is more complicated than that for banks themselves. The interest rate environment tends to be a mixed bag for financial institutions, impacting their core profitability, demand for loans, and the value of their balance sheets.

The primary mechanism for this calculation is net interest margin, the difference between the interest income banks earn on assets (loans and securities) and the interest expense they pay on liabilities (deposits and borrowed funds).

In a rising interest rate environment, banks’ profitability often increases, particularly in the short term. They can increase the interest rates they charge on new variable-rate loans more quickly than they raise the interest rates they pay on customer deposits, which widens the net interest margin. Meanwhile, yields on new loans and short-term securities increase, boosting overall interest income.

“When there’s a lot of volatile movement, like a couple of years ago, when the rates went up 400 basis points in a very short time, that causes a lot of problems because the market is moving too fast, and it’s hard for banks to rightsize, and it usually causes volatility on the lending side of things.”

At the same time, however, as borrowing becomes more expensive, consumers and businesses may be less willing to take out new loans for major purchases, which can slow loan growth.

Conversely, in a falling interest rate environment, bank profitability tends to be challenged, especially over the medium to long term. The rates banks earn on new and existing variable-rate assets fall faster than the rates they can cut on deposits, squeezing net interest margins.

“Banks are impacted in different ways when the Fed reduces interest rates. Most banks use the Federal Home Loan Bank, which borrows based on fed fund rates, so as the Fed reduces rates, those costs go down for banks,” Garrity said, while revenue falls for variable-rate loans.

Meanwhile, borrowers are more likely to refinance existing high-interest loans into new, lower-interest loans, which reduces the bank’s expected interest income on its existing portfolio.

However, lower interest rates make borrowing cheaper, which encourages consumer spending and business investment, increasing the volume of loans and potentially offsetting some of the margin pressure. “Certain investments make more sense with the lower rate,” Garrity said.

PeoplesBank President Brian Canina noted that, “when the Fed adjusts rates, it has a more immediate impact on deposit rates. On the loan side, it’s typically based off of a long-term rate. For example, a 30-year fixed rate more typically correlates with a 10-year treasury rate. There are some exceptions to that with credit cards and some home equity lines of credit; those are going to be more tied to the fed funds rate. But for the most part, when there’s a spread between the fed funds rate and the 10-year point of the treasury curve, that’s what drives profitability for the bank.”

Whether interest rates are high or low, Brian Canina says, what bankers are looking for is stability.

Whether interest rates are high or low, Brian Canina says, what bankers are looking for is stability.

What banks don’t like, he said, is a situation in which short-term rates rise faster than long-term rates, causing a flattened or inverted yield curve, which is what happened when rates shot up in 2022. “Banks were challenged by these underwater rates, but over time things normalize, and profitability comes back.”

Essentially, Canina added, what bankers are really looking for is stability in the interest rate environment.

“When there’s a lot of volatile movement, like a couple of years ago, when the rates went up 400 basis points in a very short time, that causes a lot of problems because the market is moving too fast, and it’s hard for banks to rightsize, and it usually causes volatility on the lending side of things. Essentially, more of a stable environment in interest rate changes, whether that be increases or decreases, and maintaining a steepness in the yield curve is ideal for a banker.”

 

Home Sweet Home

Interestingly, mortgage rates rose in the wake of both Fed fund cuts, jumping from 6.13% to 6.33% in the hours around the Oct. 29 Fed meeting. The reason is that the bond market had already priced in a cut, and commentary from Fed Chair Jerome Powell tamped expectations for another rate cut in December.

In fact, typically, when a fed funds rate cut is anticipated, mortgage rates usually fall in the weeks leading up to the meeting, but don’t necessarily continue to decrease afterward. In 2024, mortgage rates fell sharply throughout August and early September as people expected the Fed to lower its rate at its September meeting, but they stopped decreasing significantly after the meeting, a trend repeated after two additional rate cuts later that year and, as noted, twice again in recent weeks.

Mortgage rates remain problematic for a number of reasons.

“Folks who are currently paying a lower interest rate don’t want to give that up for what could be a higher rate, which causes lower inventory — people are not putting their homes on the market, and that impacts affordability.”

“We’ve seen, across the country and in our region in the last few years, how it’s impacted folks and led to lower inventory on the market because folks who are currently paying a lower interest rate don’t want to give that up for what could be a higher rate, which causes lower inventory — people are not putting their homes on the market, and that impacts affordability,” Garrity explained.

Canina agreed. “What’s causing fewer homes to be available for purchase is that so many of them are tied to a sub-3% mortgage,” he said, a situation that took many years to develop.

Essentially, when interest rates cratered after the Great Recession (and fell again in the immediate wake of the pandemic), many homeowners refinanced to take advantage. And many of them who might otherwise looking for a new home don’t want to trade in that rate for something around 7%, so they’ve been sitting on their homes, reducing inventory in the market.

“I don’t know how long it’ll take before that changes, because so much of the banks’ books are now 3% on 30-year mortgages,” he explained, and the refi market has been non-existent.

“Once you get below 6% mortgages, you could start seeing an increase in residential lending refinancing, as people with 7% mortgages might want to refinance to, say, 5.5%,” he added — but that won’t be immediate. “Typically, you have a delay. No one wants to jump in immediately, and we don’t know what the inflection point will be to spur increased demand.”

“It’s been steady. I think, because of general uncertainty, you’ve got people sitting on the sidelines. I wouldn’t say it’s robust market, but it’s not a stalling market. There is activity going on; it’s just modest.”

Still Canina stressed that, “for new mortgages, the demand is not being driven by an interest rate; it’s being driven by the availability of homes in the market” — which causes prices to soar, creating another barrier for people to get into homeownership.

 

Broad View

Overall, banks are generally optimistic about the current environment, after struggling with profitability following those sharp rate increases in 2022 and 2023 and building back from that ever since.

“As we move through this environment, it’s been a very good year for us,” Garrity said. “We continue to grow customers, and we’re growing and expanding our footprint, opening a new branch in Holyoke early next year. It’s been a successful 2025 for us, and it’s looking to be a successful 2026 as well.”

On the lending side, Canina noted, “it’s been steady. I think, because of general uncertainty, you’ve got people sitting on the sidelines. I wouldn’t say it’s robust market, but it’s not a stalling market. There is activity going on; it’s just modest.”

He believes lending activity will respond to clearing skies, however, and lowering rates won’t hurt.

“The uncertainty is due to what’s happened and what’s going to continue to happen in the economy. People don’t want to make a commitment because they’re unsure where the Fed’s going to go, where the economic indicators are going, where the administration is going with tariffs. When that finally gets played out and there’s more stability, we’ll see what will happen. We could end up with lower rates in lending, but not an increase in economic growth because a lot of that could be potentially from refinancing.

“Anytime you have a very low interest rate environment — for example, coming out of the Great Recession or coming out of the pandemic, when interest rates were at all-time lows — you then have a period of significant increases in refinancing loans, and mortgage financing goes way off,” Canina elaborated. “Even on the commercial side, we will always have a lot of borrowers coming back to the table looking to see if they can refinance. If rates go up, it’s going to have an opposite effect.”

For now, interest rates seem to be on the decline — not to those post-pandemic levels, but lower than the past few years — which comes as good news for borrowers, and an optimistic yet still complicated picture for banks.

JGS Lifecare Puts Focus on Effective Memory Care

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From left: Beth Cardillo, Mary-Anne Schelb, and Dalila Jones of JGS Lifecare.
Healthcare News Special Coverage

Empathy and Engagement

From left: Beth Cardillo, Mary-Anne Schelb, and Dalila Jones of JGS Lifecare.

From left: Beth Cardillo, Mary-Anne Schelb, and Dalila Jones of JGS Lifecare.

While explaining the many ways in which JGS Lifecare folds memory care into all its services, Delila Jones noted that she’s a certified trainer in the Virtual Dementia Tour, a process that every employee on the campus goes through, no later than day two.

“We put our staff in the shoes of someone who has dementia. That’s done by providing external stimuli and an environment to replicate what would be confusion, anxiety, neuropathy, lack of dexterity in your fingers, visual limitations,” said Jones, Life Enrichment director at JGS.

“We do all those things as kind of a crash course into what it would feel like to be in the shoes of someone with dementia for a total of eight minutes — and that’s really all it takes. Eight minutes, and staff members cry. They come out changed because they’re getting an understanding, on a personal level, of what it feels like to be out of control. It allows us to reach the heart of what it’s like and then give them the compassion and empathy they wouldn’t receive if they didn’t go through the experience.”

Beth Cardillo, a long-time regional leader in the memory care field who now works part-time at JGS as a geriatric social worker in the Leavitt Family Jewish Home, a skilled nursing facility, has plenty of experience with the Virtual Dementia Tour, which simulates the physical and sensory challenges of dementia using special goggles, headphones, and gloves that distort vision, hearing, and touch. And she understands its impact.

“This is a truly unique experience. One of the takeaways we hear from everybody when we ask, ‘what did you get from this eight-minute experience?’ is ‘slow down, slow down your life, slow down the way you talk to people.’ It takes 90 seconds for somebody with Alzheimer’s to process what you say to them. Normally, we talk so fast and we’re so busy and really haven’t learned to slow it down. And it just makes a huge difference.”

Jones agreed. “I kind of measure the success of our training with how many people cry because I feel like you’ve got to touch the heart. You have to reach the heart in order to really get that point driven through — because, unfortunately, dementia breaks hearts. So in order for us to care properly, we have to kind of have a broken heart for them.

Beth Cardillo

Beth Cardillo

“It takes 90 seconds for somebody with Alzheimer’s to process what you say to them. Normally, we talk so fast and we’re so busy and really haven’t learned to slow it down. And it just makes a huge difference.”

“And it’s truly effective,” she went on. “Just this week, we did our dementia training, and I had two or three CNA staff say, ‘we were CNAs for years, we know that we’re good staff, but I need to up my game. I didn’t realize that I can improve.’ And to have someone reach a point where they’re evaluating themselves and looking to improve because of this training, because they’re learning something new about what it’s like to have dementia, I think that’s a success.”

The Garden, a separate, secure neighborhood in the Ruth’s House assisted living facility on the Longmeadow campus, specifically caters to individuals with increased cognitive and physical limitations, including Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. But JGS has, over the years, incorporated specific memory-care training across its continuum of services, from Legacy Lifecare VNA & Hospice to Wernick Adult Day Health Care; from the Leavitt Family Jewish Home (where 80 of 200 beds are secure) to the Sosin Center for Rehabilitation.

That’s because the memory-care population is on the rise as Americans live longer than ever — and early-onset dementia in younger people is ticking up as well. So the model JGS has adopted, making sure all the points along its continuum of services can handle different levels of dementia, has become dominant in the world of senior living and care.

“I really work hard with families to help them understand that their loved one is in the right place, and that we are going to do everything for that experience to be as purposeful as possible,” Cardillo said.

“People just feel an incredible amount of guilt: ‘my mother took care of me, but I can’t take care of my mother at home anymore.’ But at some point, things change. ‘I promised my mother she would never go into a nursing home.’ Well, at some point those negotiations are off the table. You just can’t do it,” she added, explaining the transition so many families experience when choosing a residential memory care situation, whether assisted living or skilled nursing.

“The nursing home is more of a medical model. We’re more equipped to deal with medication changes and things like that more quickly,” she said. “And the training with the staff is called a habilitation model, where, unless it’s a safety issue, the resident is always right. We want to avoid conflict. We want to make it as engaging as possible.

“I really work hard with families to help them understand that their loved one is in the right place, and that we are going to do everything for that experience to be as purposeful as possible.”

“Do I care if someone thinks it’s Friday, and it’s Tuesday? No. Whatever he thinks, unless it’s safety, I don’t care. Make it Friday, make it Christmas, make it whatever. All good,” she went on. “And I think we work hard at promoting that. It’s all about relationships that we develop with our residents in the nursing home. They can read your mind. They know if you’re on your game that day or not. And it’s up to us to provide the best relationship we can with each person.”

 

Home and Garden

Then there’s Ruth’s House, the assisted living facility with its own dedicated memory neighborhood, the Garden, where employees are specifically trained to care for this population.

“When it comes to caring for those who have memory issues, we adapt to them, as opposed to someone who may not have those issues, and are able to communicate their needs properly and efficiently,” Jones said.

“When it comes to someone who’s living with dementia, we are the ones that have to adapt. We are the ones that have to become the detectives and be purposeful in everything that we do for them. We are more sensitive and gear everything toward how they may respond. We are more fluid. It’s more organic,” she went on.

“When we are facilitating programs, we’re also seeing how this person feels today. It’s very important that all of the staff are trained and educated to work with those living with various forms of dementia because it’s a whole different world. It’s a whole different way of communicating.”

In that setting, Jones said, the staff makes sure to provide a daily schedule of activities that engage the whole person — physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually — while also communicating with families who may be anxious about their loved one’s experience.

“The families are pivotal in the care of the seniors. So, we must maintain a very healthy relationship with the families.”

“We take the same approach we’d have toward all the seniors [at JGS Lifecare], which is compassionate care, understanding, empathy, making sure that their feelings are validated, and then working together as a team to accomplish a goal together collectively,” she explained. “That’s really important when it comes to families as well — because we are that bridge to connect the families to these seniors living with various forms of dementia. The families are pivotal in the care of the seniors. So, we must maintain a very healthy relationship with the families.”

Families — often with the help of the resident — also fill out what’s called a resident profile, a kind of life story including a social history, background, education, interests, hobbies, and more. “It allows us to have the information and the tools to have a personalized approach to care as they join us in living here,” Jones said. “With that information, if I know Mary was a teacher, then I can definitely tap into that, no matter what stage of dementia she’s in.”

Tapping into personal history is important across the campus, even outside the dementia neighborhood. One five-year resident of Ruth’s House, Johnny Scalia, affectionately known as “Johnny Rocket,” is a DJ with infectious energy who has shared his musical mixing skills with residents and families over at the Leavitt home. “I’m living my best life here,” he said. “The music keeps me going — and I love making people happy.”

Mary-Anne Schelb, regional director of Business Development at JGS, told BusinessWest that care at any of the JGS facilities is “really a matter of meeting people where they are.”

The Garden at Ruth’s House also features a sensory room, highlighted by a high-definition projector that shows soothing scenes on a wall — think ocean, nature, and the like.

“It’s so soothing and calming and inviting,” Jones said. “Just recently, for a resident who is on hospice and who has a hard time connecting in certain programs, we played a classical symphony through this projection. It was like you were there. And his caretaker was in tears, seeing how he was able to enjoy that moment with something that he passionately loved.”

Schelb added that the room is also used to de-escalate if somebody gets a little bit agitated or is sundowning. “It’s a very calm space that is utilized to decompress or kind of level them out. And it’s been very, very successful.”

 

Growing Need

About 7 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease, a number projected to rise to nearly 13 million by 2050, according to the Alzheimer’s Assoc., mainly due to the aging of America and the soaring over-65 population. That makes it critical for senior living communities to offer specific care to people with memory issues.

“However, I would like to point out the advent of new medications and infusions that are happening now,” said Cardillo, who serves on the executive leadership committee of the regional Alzheimer’s Assoc. chapter. “In the last five years, we have some medications that are actually looking at getting rid of the amyloid plaque in the brain, not just treating the symptoms. We have some new medications for people that are in the beginning stages, and it’s promising — I think it’s a springboard for better medications to come.”

What that means, she believes, is that “we are going to see the first survivor of Alzheimer’s in our lifetime.”

In the meantime, JGS Lifecare will continue to take care of those living with dementia locally.

“We genuinely want to take care of the person as a whole, and we’re providing various forms of engagement and opportunities to provide quality of life to our seniors,” Jones said, noting, as one example, a staff member who helps residents use an Oculus Quest headset to allow residents to access virtual reality experiences, “to walk through an ocean or get an experience on a different side of the world. And this is all thanks to the technology that we have today.

“So we’re growing; we’re expanding. We’re providing quality of life with just crayons and paper, if that’s something that they enjoy, or paint. But we’re also transforming for the current age, moving forward with technology, and I’m pretty proud of where we’re going.”

“And,” Cardillo was quick to add, “we’re not just treating our residents — we’re treating our families.”

Ludlow Features Some Developing Stories

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Marc Strange calls new and growing businesses “the economic engine that supports our budget.”
Community Spotlight Special Coverage

Community Spotlight

Marc Strange calls new and growing businesses “the economic engine that supports our budget.”

Marc Strange calls new and growing businesses “the economic engine that supports our budget.”

 

It’s called Get Lost in Ludlow.

That’s the theme of a campaign — being promoted in many ways, including a website and streetlight banners — in this town of just over 21,000 residents, encouraging locals and visitors alike to explore the amenities of Ludlow, from local produce, baked goods, and craft beer to scenic outdoor spaces; from historical landmarks to Lusitano Stadium, home of the Western Mass Pioneers soccer team.

“We’re trying to let people know what Ludlow has to offer,” Town Administrator Marc Strange said of the grant-funded campaign, noting that each banner is also visibly sponsored by a local business, “which adds a little bit of placemaking to the area.”

With his deep background in economic development — he came to Ludlow Town Hall in the spring of 2022 following stints as director of Planning and Development in Agawam and selectman in Longmeadow — Strange has been focused on ways to boost business in town and especially draw new business.

One focus over the past few years has been development and infrastructure improvements around the ongoing Ludlow Mills project and along the nearby East Street corridor, as well as expanding the town’s District Improvement Financing area, which had previously covered just the footprint of the mills, to East Street.

“The plaza that I eventually purchased, as you’re crossing over the bridge, it’s just to your right. And it began to look a little outdated and not really well kept up. Businesses started leaving, and I started noticing that.”

“We have some really iconic businesses, but on East Street, we just need to make it welcoming for new businesses,” Strange said, noting, as one example, the arrival in 2024 of BarBurrito, a new eatery from Bill Collins of Center Square Grill fame in East Longmeadow. “We feel like, if we can redo the infrastructure and make it more aesthetically attractive for new businesses, people will come in from out of town.”

As for the ongoing work by Westmass Area Development Corp. and WinnDevelopment on Ludlow Mills — which has added 170 housing units to its mixed-use complex over the past couple of years — “one of the aspects that really attracted me to Ludlow, coming from an economic development background, was seeing the potential of the mills and everything that we can create in the downtown area,” Strange said. “That continues to be our future, and where my mind goes when we talk about economic development.”

Marco Vieira, in front of the new Grit 24 Fitness, says his plaza on East Street can be a key cog in building economic momentum in that area of town.

Marco Vieira, in front of the new Grit 24 Fitness, says his plaza on East Street can be a key cog in building economic momentum in that area of town.

Some of the destination spots in town, such as Randall’s Farm, Vanished Valley Brewing, and Sole Syndicate Brewing (formerly Iron Duke) — have been complimented by new businesses, like Tandem Bagel, which opened near Ludlow Mills last year.

“They’re doing well, and that adds a little bit more to the mills and to Riverside Drive,” Strange said, also noting success stories like the business park on Moody Street that’s typically fully occupied.

“So we have a lot going on. But certainly, any time we think about economic development, it always starts with the mills. It’s our future. It’s our economic engine that supports our budget.”

That’s a budget that’s constrained by Proposition 2½, which restricts how much a town can tax property. “Between the limitations of Prop 2.5 and limited state aid, you really need new growth. It’s really the buttress of our budget.”

“Our parks in town don’t have the best reputation, and I think that’s deserved. We really haven’t invested too much in our parks in terms of new equipment, the turf, the grass.”

Marco Vieira is one developer who sees potential in the area around the mills. That’s why he purchased the plaza on East Street near the Route 21 bridge connecting Ludlow to Springfield, which includes 39,000 square feet of commercial space and nine separate businesses.

“This side of town has struggled over the last decade. It used to be thriving back when the mills were open. Once they shut down, it started to look a little abandoned,” Vieira told BusinessWest. “The plaza that I eventually purchased, as you’re crossing over the bridge, it’s just to your right. And it began to look a little outdated and not really well kept up. Businesses started leaving, and I started noticing that.

“But then when Mill 8 and Mill 10 were built [at Ludlow Mills], they came out beautiful. And this side of town began to look like it was starting to wake up again — they rebuilt this whole riverwalk over here, too. So when that all came to life, it just so happened that the plaza came up for sale, and I jumped on the opportunity to purchase it with a couple of my partners.”

Tandem Bagel on Riverside Drive has been one of Ludlow’s recent success stories.

Anchored by a Walgreens and featuring an array of smaller businesses, the plaza used to be home to a gym, so Vieira’s largest improvement at the site was the design and construction of Grit 24 Fitness, a 24-hour gym that also offers personal training, which opened last year. Vieira said he wanted the atmosphere to evoke a gym that might be found in Miami or New York City in its elements of design, lighting, sound, and equipment.

“We’re trying to create something where we can bring the community together and gather — and it’s also going to help out the businesses in that plaza,” he explained. “East Street has about 20,000 vehicles passing through daily. So it’s not a dead zone. There’s a lot of potential there.”

 

Walk in the Park

The city is also planning infrastructure improvements downtown, including repaving, traffic calming elements, and new sidewalks.

“There’s also a new Select Board member who got elected in March, Anthony Alves, and he’s really prioritized the parks,” Strange said. “Our parks in town don’t have the best reputation, and I think that’s deserved. We really haven’t invested too much in our parks in terms of new equipment, the turf, the grass.

“So with Anthony’s leadership and the board’s support, we’re looking at improving Whitney Park and Veteran’s Park, and then Memorial Park. We really just need new equipment, to give them some attention. Those projects are going to be coming down the pike.”

Whitney Park, which is where the town’s summer camp has been held, includes a baseball field and a football field, he noted. “Years ago, it was very heavily used, but it’s not as attractive as it really needs to be, and the equipment is old; it’s not ADA-accessible. We’ve already gotten quotes for replacing all the equipment, so it can be a more exciting place for kids to go. Hopefully, when we replace the equipment, that’ll drive more traffic. We’re also looking at potentially redoing the tennis courts into something; we’re not quite sure what that’s going to look like yet.”

Meanwhile, “Vet’s Park is where the elementary school used to be, and right now it’s basically just open space, green space. There’s a soccer field there now, and a baseball field, but we’re working with Tighe & Bond on a redesign to put in a full, 11-on-11 soccer field and a 50-yard practice football field because the high school teams don’t really have any place to practice. And we’ll be redoing the softball field that’s over there, but also putting in pickleball and then some awesome playground equipment for the kids.”

In other municipal business, Strange noted that a recent town meeting approved the creation of a Finance Department and the hiring of Ludlow’s first Finance director, likely early next year. The same town meeting also allowed the town to create a capital stabilization fund and a Parks and Recreation stabilization fund.

Ludlow at a Glance

Year Incorporated: 1774
Population: 21,002
Area: 28.2 square miles
County: Hampden
Residential Tax Rate: $17.35
Commercial Tax Rate: $17.35
Median Household Income: $53,244
Median Family Income: $67,797
Type of Government: Board of Selectmen, Representative Town Meeting
Largest Employers: Hampden County House of Correction; Encompass Rehabilitation Hospital; Massachusetts Air National Guard; Kleeberg Sheet Metal Inc.
*Latest information available

“That will allow us more transparency and more more predictability in terms of how we’re spending our money on capital projects in general, but also how we’re spending capital money in the parks. That’s important to us,” Strange said.

The town meeting also approved a noise bylaw, he added. “Throughout the year, we’ve gotten noise complaints about early trash pickups, noise from construction, noise from the pike, noise from some music venues. They were building up, so we felt like we had to do something. There was a lot of discussion on that, and it was a very close vote, but I think it’s necessary to give our Police Department more authority to enforce things.”

 

It Takes a Village

Vieira has always loved building.

“Creation was my big thing, even growing up. My parents didn’t have much money, so if I wanted a toy or something, I’d figure out a way to make it, build it — out of cardboard or paper mache, whatever. I just always loved to build.”

That passion carried over into adulthood, and in 2008, he opened his own building and remodeling company, Vieira Building & Home Improvement, in Ludlow.

“It eventually turned into a lot of additions and new construction, and I slowly got into commercial,” he told BusinessWest, noting that his purchase of the plaza and opening of Grit 24 is just the latest blending of his passions for building, creating, and his town.

“One year, my wife and I went to Florida, and what stood out the most was the gyms in Miami. You could walk in there, and you didn’t want to leave. So we ended up hiring a gym designer out of Miami.”

He said he takes pride in being just one piece of the puzzle downtown.

“In order to bring life back into a section of town, you can’t just depend on one person. You need to depend on the town leadership, the business owners, real estate owners, whether it’s just giving something a makeover or a facelift or opening up a small business — everyone needs to chip in. You can’t depend on WinnDevelopment or Westmass to improve the whole area.”

Strange agrees. “With respect to our downtown area, I feel like that’s the location with the most promise. And economic development is everything. You want an exciting space that people are going to go.”

That’s the idea behind the Get Lost in Ludlow campaign — to let people know there’s plenty to do, and stick around for.

“If you live in another town and you always come to Randall’s to do some pumpkin picking and stuff like that, but you don’t really know what else is in Ludlow, you can go to getlostinludlow.com, and there’s a calendar of events and a listing of businesses with pictures and links to the websites, so you can see what’s going on,” Strange added.

Vieira, for one, is grateful for that sense of connectivity. “It all goes back to everyone helping, helping pitching in and shining a light on the community, on this whole area.”

Angelina Ramirez

By
Angelina Ramirez
Women of Impact 2025

CEO, Stavros Center for Independent Living

She Helps People with Disabilities Live the Life They Desire

 

When Angelina Ramirez went to work at Stavros Center for Independent Living as a secretary in 1990, it was supposed to be a transition plan to something else.

Thirty-five years later, she has certainly done plenty of transitioning, but all of it within this organization dedicated to helping people with disabilities achieve independence — with roles including outreach, special programs, community relations, and development … all the way to CEO in 2019.

As for why she never left, it was a matter of simply connecting with a mission.

“I’m a person with a disability myself, and finding a job when you have a disability can be hard, and trying to get through life can be challenging. So the mission of Stavros really spoke to me because it’s making sure that, whatever your goal is, whatever your initiative in your life is, wherever you want to go, we will be there to support you.”

Whether it’s helping people with disabilities access housing, education, and benefits or helping them access personal care management services necessary to stay in their homes, Stavros has impacted countless clients over the decades. But they’re not just numbers; Ramirez can relate many individual stories.

Like young adults who have secured internships through Stavros. “One of my favorites is this kid whose school kept telling him, ‘no, you’re too disabled; you can’t do auto repairs.’ And we talked with an auto repair shop, and they said, ‘well, if he wants to do an internship, we’ll take him.’ And they ended up hiring him because he was so good at mechanical stuff.”

“The mission of Stavros really spoke to me because it’s making sure that, whatever your goal is, whatever your initiative in your life is, wherever you want to go, we will be there to support you.”

Or another client who arrived at Stavros homeless. “The police brought her in and said, ‘we need you to do something because we don’t know what else to do with her.’ And over the years, we helped her get medication, get the services she needed, get her an apartment, and eventually get a job. And now she’s retirement age. I mean, in 35 years, you see someone’s whole life. And when you see that, you say, ‘yeah, I made a difference.’”

Jason Montgomery, Stavros’ director of Development, repeatedly noted that passion for making a difference when he nominated Ramirez to be a Woman of Impact.

“No one in Western Massachusetts has done more to advance disability rights and equity than Angelina Ramirez,” he wrote. “Her leadership is both visionary and practical, driving systemic change while ensuring immediate, tangible results for people in need. She embodies the independent living movement’s core values: equity, self-determination, and community leadership.”

Angelina Ramirez (center) with some of the team at Stavros.Photo by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

Angelina Ramirez (center) with some of the team at Stavros.
Photo by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

It’s a measurable impact, Montgomery went on. “Under her leadership, Stavros transitioned hundreds of people from institutional living into the community and provided thousands with durable medical equipment and home modifications. For decades, she has championed legislation ensuring equity and independence for all.”

One well-known Stavros program is called Home Sweet Home, Ramirez told BusinessWest. “Every year, we build around 60 to 80 ramps, depending on funds. That is a phenomenal program that has to raise a whole lot of money to be able to get all that done. But it’s thanks to partnerships in the community and a great team of people here that it happens.”

Another example of creative problem solving is a contract Stavros recently secured with the Executive Office of Health and Human Services to repair wheelchairs. “One of the issues that we have seen over and over is that, for people with disabilities, their wheelchairs will not be fixed in a timely manner, so essentially they’re stuck at home,” she said.

“Her leadership is both visionary and practical, driving systemic change while ensuring immediate, tangible results for people in need. She embodies the independent living movement’s core values: equity, self-determination, and community leadership.”

In all, Stavros serves about 10,300 individuals across Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire counties at any given time, currently ranging in age from 4 to 89 — and it’s critical work, Ramirez noted.

“When people don’t know about our services, they end up in nursing facilities. Not to say that nursing facilities are not a good thing for some people, but say you’re 25 and you got into a car accident, and now you use a wheelchair. Do you want to spend rest of your life there? The answer is no.

“So one of the things that we do is help people to make sure that they don’t end up in situations like that. But also, a lot of people with disabilities want to go back to work, and they don’t have the resources or the peer support that they need to do that. So one thing we see over and over again is that, because we’re here, more people go back to college, and more people end up working.”

That’s real impact. And it explains why Ramirez, who has dedicated most of her life to this mission, is being recognized as part of the Women of Impact class of 2025.

 

Sharing the Spotlight

Under Ramirez’ leadership, Stavros has become one of the largest and most effective independent living centers in Massachusetts, Montgomery noted. It was named one of the Top 100 Women-Led Businesses in Massachusetts by Boston Globe Magazine in 2022 — the same year the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce presented Ramirez with its A+ Lifetime Achievement Award.

She is quick to deflect such praise, however. “I feel like I don’t do anything half the time — it’s all the team, and I just get credit for all that they do. But it’s really gratifying.”

Angelina Ramirez says the mission of Stavros has always spoken to her — supporting people with disabilities and helping them succeed in life, no matter what their goals are.

Her impact only continues to grow. In 2024, the year she guided Stavros through its 50th anniversary, she secured a $153,000 grant from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts to expand community-based mental health support across Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties. And this year, she launched Rock, Roll & Gather, a regional event blending music, art, and activism to celebrate disability pride, while building community support for access initiatives.

About 80% of Stavros’ income comes from contracts with the state, and many of those contracts originate with the federal government, so there is some long-term anxiety about shifting federal priorities — a concern shared by nonprofits across the U.S. — and short-term worries as well, from a government shutdown that had not abated as this issue went to press.

Still, in the Pioneer Valley, “a lot of the nonprofits help each other out,” Ramirez said. “Every year, we do this small breakfast with our legislators, and we bring in other nonprofits to talk about what issues are of concern right now and how we can address them.

“We have good relationships with the Amherst Survival Center and the Northampton Survival Center and other nonprofits in the area,” she went on. “Sometimes we get employees from them, from the people they serve who are looking for jobs, and they end up working here. And at the same time, our consumers go there and get the services and supports that they need.

“That’s one good thing about working here in the Pioneer Valley — even though there is some sense of competition, because there are not a lot of funds out there, there’s also camaraderie, and the main interest is serving people. That’s very different in this area. I talk with other people in other parts of the state that don’t have that.”

Montgomery noted that Ramirez’s leadership has been especially crucial during periods of crisis. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, she oversaw the successful transition of more than 140 individuals from nursing facilities into community living and facilitated the construction of more than 100 ramps for accessibility. She also ensured that Stavros offices were kept open for the duration of the pandemic, and, at the height of pandemic shutdowns, facilitated meal deliveries for clients who couldn’t otherwise access them.

At the same time, Montgomery said, Stavros staff — 80% of whom are women — are empowered to lead, innovate, and serve as peer mentors. “She creates a culture where women’s voices are not only heard, but elevated.”

That’s an especially gratifying part of her job, Ramirez said.

“When people don’t know about our services, they end up in nursing facilities. Not to say that nursing facilities are not a good thing for some people, but say you’re 25 and you got into a car accident, and now you use a wheelchair. Do you want to spend rest of your life there? The answer is no.”

“It is a great opportunity to see people succeed, see people that came in like me as a secretary or as a skills trainer and now see them in supervisory positions or management positions. There’s one person in the building who started coming in here with her mom when she was a teenager, and now she is the assistant director of one of our programs. So there is opportunity for mentorship here. You get to do good while you’re doing good for yourself.”

 

A True Problem Solver

Ramirez also contributes to civic and professional organizations across the state. She serves on the board of Housing Navigator Massachusetts Inc., which works to expand access to affordable housing through user-friendly, publicly available tools. She is also a member of the Health Equity Compact, a coalition of 85 leaders of color dedicated to advancing health equity and dismantling systemic disparities throughout Massachusetts.

“I remember when the Housing Navigator approached me in 2019 — they had an idea to create this nonprofit to identify housing in the whole state and see where the gaps are. I said, ‘well, I want to be part of that.’ So they created a tool, and now we can see that, here in Western Mass., the availability of housing is minimal to nothing.”

It’s a major problem, especially for an organization trying to keep people in their own homes, but Ramirez is no stranger to tackling problems.

“Anyone can look around and see what is happening and what impact they can have, whether it’s health equity, housing, mental health, whatever it is. If there is a crisis, we need to meet it. That’s what I’m passionate about — when you look at what’s going on with the people that you serve and you start formulating plans. That’s what makes this organization and the teams here successful — they’re always looking forward.”

On its website, Stavros explains that, for the past 50-plus years, it “has worked tirelessly to remove barriers to accessibility and provide essential resources that support independent living. From advocating for disability rights and accessible housing to offering peer counseling, skills training, and vocational support, Stavros has been a trusted ally for thousands of individuals across Western Massachusetts and beyond.”

For Ramirez, the throughline across all that work has been identifying barriers people have to living the life they desire — and then identifying solutions to overcome those barriers. That’s a legacy befitting a Woman of Impact, but, again, she always seeks to share the credit.

“Surrounding yourself with a great team of people that can make it happen is the most important part of it because a lot of this stuff, you can’t do by yourself,” she said. “You have to make sure that the people around you are capable of doing it.”

Chelsea Kline

By
Chelsea Kline
Women of Impact 2025

Executive Director, Cancer Connection

She Brings Connectivity and a Punk Rock Ethos to a Scrappy Nonprofit

Two decades before Chelsea Kline took the reins at Cancer Connection, her mother was one of its early participants.

“It was such a relief to me that she had supports here at Cancer Connection that I could not provide,” Kline recalled. “I was young, I was a single mom, and she was going through such a terrible time, so I was grateful to have a place where people really understood and had connections to resources and were able to listen deeply and support in a way that that I couldn’t — which I think is the case for many caregivers. It’s hard to watch someone you love be in pain.”

The organization’s impact on Kline’s mother was so profound that her daughter emptied her piggybank on numerous occasions to donate to Cancer Connection because she knew how much

it had benefited her grandmother. And through her time working there, and especially since becoming executive director in 2022, Kline has come to appreciate that impact even more.

“When caregivers and people with a diagnosis come to us, they don’t have to put on a front; they don’t have to smile or brush it off — they can be real here. I saw that with my mom, that she had a place where she could just be real and honest with her fear or her pain or her anger, whatever it is. There are so many emotions that come along with a diagnosis.”

Kline, who earned a bachelor’s degree in religion and biblical literature at Smith College and a master’s degree in theological studies at Harvard Divinity School, spent several years overseeing leadership and organizational studies at Bay Path University before operating Chelsea Sunday Coaching for four years, a consulting business that helped many nonprofits in transition. In between, she ran for Massachusetts State Senate in 2018, garnering 41% of the vote.

But her interest all along was in supporting people who are struggling, and alleviating suffering. She found the perfect outlet for both at Cancer Connection.

During her graduate studies, “that’s where I really dug in with pastoral care and counseling and the whole concept of being present for people in hard times and in transition, and also the whole concept of the third space: we have our home, we have our work, and where’s the third space that we go? Is it a bar? Is it a church? Is it a community center? Is it a barbershop?”

Especially since COVID, she went on, those third spaces have become less robust and well-attended. But Cancer Connection can be a very particular kind of third space for people who need it.

“Our mission is very focused, but it’s a a really important community space where people can come and be held and be heard and feel connected and feel that they belong. And that, to me, is like magic,” Kline said. “That is so beautiful and so important. What could be more important?”

“Our mission is very focused, but it’s a a really important community space where people can come and be held and be heard and feel connected and feel that they belong. And that, to me, is like magic.”

When founders Jackie Walker and Deb Orgera launched the Northampton-based nonprofit in 2000, Kline said, their vision involved a concept known as befriending, which evolved out of the Samaritans model, which is a hotline for people in crisis. Essentially, Cancer Connection is a place to talk to someone, free of expectations or judgment.

Meanwhile, the nonprofit has evolved over the years to include support groups for different types of cancer and aspects of the cancer experience, from caregiving to self-care; integrative therapies like massage, acupuncture, Reiki, and energy balancing to treat cancer symptoms, boost comfort, and relieve stress; and programs that nourish the body, mind, spirit, and creativity, like Qigong yoga, mindfulness in nature, knitting, music and movement, equine therapy, and more.

Chelsea Kline is gratified that so many people find calm and courage during a difficult time in their lives through Cancer Connection.Photo by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

Chelsea Kline is gratified that so many people find calm and courage during a difficult time in their lives through Cancer Connection.
Photo by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

“If people are hurting,” she said, “if people are feeling isolated, if people are feeling scared and alone, we have these open doors and this beautiful space, and we can say, ‘we understand, we want you to feel protected, we want you to feel cared for, and we’ll do our very best.’”

For her role in connecting people in need with a community that cares for them — and cultivating the support of a much larger community outside its doors — Kline can certainly be called a Woman of Impact.

 

Calm in the Storm

“I can breathe deeper, feel lighter, calmer.”

“The class was exactly what I needed. Being part of a community of other cancer survivors gave me a such a feeling of connection and courage.”

“I met amazing women at various stages of healing. The beauty and grace that each of them expressed helped me realize I am not alone.”

Those are some of the many quotes the team at Cancer Connection have collected from people who have accessed its services. They speak to a sense of calm in the storm, and that’s exactly what Kline intends.

“Every time someone has a massage or an integrative treatment here, we have a form where they fill out — how they’re feeling before and how they’re feeling afterwards. And it’s so moving to see someone who was in pain, they were exhausted, they were scared, they were uncomfortable, they were feeling like a 1 when they got here, really low on the scale, and after they work with the integrative therapist, whether it’s massage or acupuncture or Reiki, they’re feeling at an 8 or a 9. They’re feeling so much better; they say, ‘I’m feeling soothed. I’m feeling more hopeful.’

“And every time I read those forms, I send them out to the staff and I’m like, ‘look at how beautiful this is. Look at how important this work is.’ It keeps us all grounded.”

They’re doing the work with no federal grants — a comforting model at a time when such funds are being threatened across the nonprofit world. Instead, Cancer Connection relies on local corporate sponsors, a monthly giving program for individual donors, and a variety of events, from the annual Harvest Dinner to a Mother’s Day half-marathon that celebrated its 15th year this past spring. A new event, a ladies’ golf tournament, recently raised $20,000.

Other community groups have helped as well, from Crippled Old Busted Bikers putting on a comedy show to raise funds for Cancer Connection to a drag revue called Camilla’s Extravaganza that has taken the nonprofit on as a fundraising beneficiary, to the annual Bed In for Cancer Connection — launched by radio personality Monte Belmonte as Monte’s Camp Out for Cancer Connection, and how hosted by Greenfield Savings Bank’s Tara Brewster, one of this year’s other Women of Impact.

“We’re just lean and scrappy because the point is caring, and that’s counterculture to capitalism. This organization is kind of punk rock, in a way.”

Then there’s the Cancer Connection Thrift Shop on South Street in Northampton, which just celebrated its 10th anniversary.

“I often joke that the thrift shop is the fun part of Cancer Connection. There’s aways great music playing, friendly people, and treasures to be found,” Kline noted, adding that the shop is also in line with her belief in reusing and repurposing in an effort to have a lighter impact on the planet.

“I am profoundly grateful for the visionaries that came before me that dreamt up the shop and worked so hard to bring it life,” she added. “My oldest friends are all amused by the fact that I landed at an organization that has an awesome thrift shop, given that I am a lifelong diehard thrifter.”

In nominating Kline to be a Woman of Impact, Jean Einstein, co-president of Cancer Connection’s board of directors, noted that, “through her leadership and tireless energies in creative fundraising in the community and her talent to recruit talented development staff and board members to expand funding opportunities, Cancer Connection is well-positioned for the next 25 years to continue making a difference in the lives of with those with cancer, their loved ones, and caregivers. Chelsea Kline’s powerfully positive impact on Cancer Connection, and its ability to continue its legacy as a place to find strength, cannot be overstated.”

When Kline hears that, however, she immediately credits so many others who support the work, from staff to board members to volunteers.

Chelsea Kline (right) with Shelley Daughdrill of Florence Bank, which continues to be a sponsor of Cancer Connection’s Harvest Dinner — one of many examples of how the community supports the nonprofit’s work.

Chelsea Kline (right) with Shelley Daughdrill of Florence Bank, which continues to be a sponsor of Cancer Connection’s Harvest Dinner — one of many examples of how the community supports the nonprofit’s work.

“The thrift store alone has about 50 volunteers a year, people of all ages who show up and give their time to help support our mission,” she told BusinessWest. “The staff at the shop serve as amazing mentors for people of all ages in how they listen deeply and with profound compassion when shoppers and donors share their cancer stories.”

She also has an eye firmly on those who will take up the mantle in the future.

“Working in a nonprofit, it’s really important to think about how we’re going to be bringing in new generations of people who are going to be doing this work. Who are the helpers? How can you be a helper? How can you be a professional helper?

“That’s a really important career track,” she went on. “But it’s a counterculture career track for a lot of people because I think, in a capitalist society, it’s like, ‘money, money, money.’ And what’s so cool about Cancer Connection is we’re kind of outside of that; we don’t take insurance, we don’t charge people. We’re just lean and scrappy because the point is caring, and that’s counterculture to capitalism. This organization is kind of punk rock, in a way.”

 

Crank It Up

Kline doesn’t use that term lightly; she was deeply involved in the punk scene in Washington, D.C. back in the ’90s.

“I’d to all the shows that were free in D.C., and I was part of the Beehive Collective and zine publishing, and I had a shaved head. And the sweetest people I ever knew were all the punks at the shows. They would look out for each other. I was totally involved in Food Not Bombs. We would make huge meals from donated foods and give it away in the park,” she recalled.

“A huge part of my punk rock upbringing was, how do you take care of people that are hungry? It’s so basic and so essential, and it’s getting lost, and how can that be? How can we have so many hungry people? How can we have so many lonely people? How do we fix it? It drives me crazy.”

“I want people to see this work and grasp it and appreciate it and respect it and want to be part of it.”

She mentioned all that context to explain her listening choice while driving to the Florence Bank Customers’ Choice grant awards this past spring.

“It’s a bank event, right? Like, I’ve got to be buttoned up, to look like a professional lady, but I’m blasting Fugazi on the way. But there’s so much about the punk rock ethos that really does translate to working in nonprofits. It’s about just doing what you can with what you’ve got and living by your values, and not being fake and not being stuffy and not trying to hurt anybody else or try to take advantage. And I’m a little punk rock at heart.”

That punk ethos, she said, means authenticity, anti-consumerism, and helping others whenever possible, which also relates to being a social justice advocate, with an emphasis on anti-racism and LGBTQ+ rights.

And, of course, helping people through one of the most difficult journeys in life: cancer.

“I want people to see this work and grasp it and appreciate it and respect it and want to be part of it,” she said. “So my work is not work, per se; it’s an honor to be able to use my energy and my enthusiasm to bring people along and say, ‘hey, this is really important. Come and be part of this.’”

Ayanna Crawford

By
Ayanna Crawford
Women of Impact 2025

 

President, AC Consulting and Media Services

Through Many Roles, She Elevates Young People — and the Entire Community

 

Ayanna Crawford, it needs to be said up front, is the model of a Woman of Impact, who has made her mark — and made people’s lives better — in numerous ways: as a public speaker helping young people find their own voice, as a community leader both locally and in legislative circles in Boston, as a media consultant boosting local businesses and nonprofits … the list goes on.

But it’s an honor she finds both gratifying and a bit humbling.

“It’s not something I look for. I’m just humbled by it, and sometimes I feel, is this really for me? Am I worthy enough? Did I do enough? Is there more that I need to do before I get recognized?” she said.

“That’s always in the back of my mind because I think about so many great leaders in our community, in our world, that have gone unnoticed or not been recognized,” she added. “But I’m grateful for the recognition. I’m grateful that someone has seen the work that I’m doing.”

To be sure, many have noticed, including LaTonia Monroe Naylor, a member of the Women of Impact class of 2024, who nominated Crawford for this year’s honor.

“Ayanna doesn’t seek recognition — she builds infrastructure: programs, relationships, and movements,” Naylor wrote. “She mentors emerging leaders, elevates marginalized voices, and constantly returns to the core question, ‘what did I do for someone else today?’”

Naylor knows Crawford well; the two of them co-founded a nonprofit seven years ago called Parent Villages, which connects families, educational institutions, and community partners to enhance learning and support systems for children. It was born from the sobering statistic that 93% of local children aren’t ready to succeed in kindergarten.

“She thought, ‘what could we do to encourage parents and families, and help their children get ready for kindergarten?’” Crawford recalled about the origins of Parent Villages, which Naylor still leads as CEO. “We did meetups and focus groups around the city at different libraries and community centers to talk to parents and families about how can we help children get ready for school.

“It has grown immensely, to the point where we’ve bought a building, we have over a million-dollar budget, we’ve got staff, we have six or seven different types of programs. It’s just flourishing,” said Crawford, who serves on the board.

But that’s only one of the ways she has demonstrated a passion for helping children. Originally interested in a broadcast journalism career, she switched to an education track at Westfield State University and became a teacher, teaching creative writing in middle school and reading and language arts in elementary school over the years.

“Ayanna doesn’t seek recognition — she builds infrastructure: programs, relationships, and movements. She mentors emerging leaders, elevates marginalized voices, and constantly returns to the core question, ‘what did I do for someone else today?’”

It was in the latter setting that she noticed many children were shy about giving presentations — some so shy, they would cry. So she asked her principal if she could conduct a mini-lesson around public speaking — which turned into an afterschool program, which soon drew middle-schoolers as well, and eventually emerged in the broader community as a still-flourishing initiative called Take the Mic.

Backed by a group of interns and volunteers, Crawford has partnered with colleges, especially Springfield Technical Community College, creating a curriculum within its College for Kids summer program, and also conducted programs in the Springfield Public Schools and an afterschool program at the East Springfield branch of Springfield City Library. In all, the program serves young people from ages 6 to 18. She also conducts workshops for adults who want to improve their speaking skills and confidence.

Ayanna Crawford says some of her priorities in her work with state Rep. Orlando Ramos include education, mental health, parks, and the environment.
Photo by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

“About 75% of the world’s population is afraid of public speaking,” she said. “Even myself, growing up, I was afraid to as well. But there are strategies, techniques, resources, so many different things that you can use. I’ve done a lot of training myself to make sure that I’m on the cutting edge of the nuances of public speaking and making sure that not only the students have what they need, but the adults, too.”

Helping both children and adults achieve what they need — in these ways and others we’ll talk about — is a hallmark of a life of passion and purpose. It’s the life of a Woman of Impact.

 

Community Champion

When asked when she developed a passion for young people, Crawford said it’s always been there.

“I remember, when I started teaching, having students from all different socioeconomic statuses and wanting to see all of them flourish and thrive. Then, I was always the one at my schools to either help organize the open house or get the parents together, get them excited about events we had with our school, or go out in the community and talk to families about the work that we do in our school.”

Her teaching career was also the fountain from which her business, AC Consulting and Media Services, sprung. Her principal noticed she was doing a lot of community work, so she became the go-to person for connecting the school with community leaders, elected officials, and the media as well. From there, other businesses and nonprofits started asking her for help with press releases, media invitations, flyers, and other forms of marketing, and the enterprise was born.

“Our mission is to provide media and public relations services and supports to nonprofits and corporate businesses to enhance their brand awareness and client base,” she explained. “We simply are a firm that believes in amplifying the message and awareness of our clients in their communities.”

Her foray into politics, culminating with her current role as chief of staff to state Rep. Orlando Ramos, also began with her volunteer service on school PTOs, neighborhood councils, and, eventually, political campaigns. She later became chair of the Democratic City Committee for Springfield’s Ward 8, worked on Ramos’ campaign for the State House, and then joined him in that work, much of which she’s personally passionate about, especially when it comes to issues that affect young people, like education, healthcare, parks, and the environment.

An advocate for neighborhood safety, Crawford spearheaded a local Stop the Speed initiative, a public safety campaign born out of Springfield residents’ concerns about dangerous driving through residential streets. It was born out of an incident in which a vehicle her daughter was riding in was struck by a speeding car. Another passenger was in the ICU for weeks.

Ayanna Crawford took the stage at the MassMutual Center this past June as co-emcee of BusinessWest’s 40 Under Forty Gala.
Photo by Underwood Photography

“It was very traumatic; it was a very serious accident. So I said, ‘what can I do to help curtail it, to stop it? I knew that the East Springfield community had done some Stop the Speed events … so I started them here in Springfield on Boston Road, particularly.”

With Ramos’ backing, she spearheaded monthly awareness events for about a year, and other legislators and community leaders, in 16 Acres and the North End, picked up the cause as well. “So, through my efforts raising some more advocacy around it, other communities decided to start doing them.”

It’s typical of the impact Crawford can have when she has a goal in mind, Naylor said. “Through this work, she’s not just raising awareness — she’s organizing, coordinating with city officials, and pushing for tangible policy solutions. Her leadership reflects a commitment to safety, accountability, and resident-led change.”

Crawford has long been committed to the revitalization of the Indian Orchard community. To that end, she has organized food truck festivals, promoted small business development, and supported entrepreneurial opportunities, creating accessible platforms for local vendors and artisans to thrive.

She also founded the annual Sylvia Barksdale Wilson Scholarship in Nursing Brunch, a program that provides scholarships for individuals going into the nursing field in honor of her mother, who was a nurse. She also founded the Literacy Champion community event held annually at the Brookings Elementary School to promote literacy and showcase local authors, and she is president of the Springfield Women in Business Club, which highlights and provides support to women entrepreneurs and executive leaders.

“Through this work, she’s not just raising awareness — she’s organizing, coordinating with city officials, and pushing for tangible policy solutions. Her leadership reflects a commitment to safety, accountability, and resident-led change.”

“From the classroom to the Capitol, from Indian Orchard streets to statewide strategy rooms,” Naylor wrote, “Ayanna is not just making an impact — she is building one and deserving of finally being recognized for what she has done to contribute to our region.”

 

Fearless and Impactful

When Crawford takes the stage at the Log Cabin on Dec. 9 to accept the Women of Impact honor, it will cap a busy year of recognition.

This past April, the Springfield Symphony Orchestra chose her as a recipient of its annual Fearless Women Awards, which are given to area women who embody bravery, advocacy, passion, perseverance, and authenticity. And in June, she co-emceed BusinessWest’s 40 Under Forty Gala at the MassMutual Center.

Asked to give some perspective on her many roles in the community, she said, “I never know the extent of what I do and how it is really impacting others. I just do it because it’s important to me.” But she said she’s equally proud of her role as a mentor to her now-grown children.

“We have what we call healthy conversations with my adult children, helping them navigate through life and being an example to them. I want them to see what I’ve done, and I want to see what they can do,” she told BusinessWest. “And I have two grandsons, and I want them to also know that this is a legacy that I’m building for our family, for our community, and for folks that are yet to be born.

“Again, I’m not looking for recognition because I’ll do it regardless. I’ll continue to work to elevate voices, to elevate our community, especially women, but men, too, because I have a daughter and a son. I want men to see me as an example too; I’ve mentored young men in my lifetime as well as young women.”

And she aims to continue to be a leader, in all her different roles and maybe some she hasn’t discovered yet.

“My children keep on telling me, ‘mom, you’re getting a little older now. I think you need to slow down.’ But I’m fine. I feel like I’m just hitting my apex, where I can do this work and know I have the tools and the skill set to do it. I’ve got the training; I’ve got the wherewithal and the tenacity and the capacity.”

And now she’s got the title of Woman of Impact.

Tara Brewster

By
Tara Brewster
Women of Impact 2025

Vice President of Business Development and of Philanthropy, Greenfield Savings Bank

She Makes Purposeful Connections to Multiply the Impact of Good Works

Tara Brewster

Photos by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

Tara Brewster has told the story on many occasions about accepting her current job at Greenfield Savings Bank and being asked by John Howland, then then bank’s president, where she wanted her office. She said she didn’t want one.

“I said, ‘I’m good.’ He said, ‘what do you mean you’re good? Everybody has an office.’ And I said, ‘you expect me to be making relationships in the community. You expect me to be having meetings with people. Nobody’s going to want to come into the bank to have a meeting with me in my office. So I’m not planning on being in my office hardly ever because I’m going to be out in the community. And he was like, ‘OK, prove it.’ So for nine years, I’ve never had an office. This is my office.”

By ‘this,’ she meant the restaurant where she sat with BusinessWest for this interview — and not just that establishment, but any number of eateries and other community meeting places where she meets potential clients on financial matters, but also nonprofit leaders, as her title spans the worlds of both business and philanthropy. As does her life.

“We’re not going to fill that gap alone; we’re only one organization. But we need to be intentional and focused about the different times that we’re living in.”

“So many people don’t get out — they work their 9 to 5, they work their desk job, they have their own obligations. I feel privileged that that I’m able to create my own schedule, go where I’m needed, and be really intentional, purposeful, and independent on where I need to go and who needs me. That’s not lost on me.”

She’s especially gratified by her philanthropic role; the bank now gives away about $1 million each year to some 300 nonprofits.

Tara Brewster (center) with four of the valued mentors who have supported her for many years: from left, Chia Collins, Barbara Jones, Sidonia Dalby, and Mark GrumoliPhoto by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

Tara Brewster (center) with four of the valued mentors who have supported her for many years: from left, Chia Collins, Barbara Jones, Sidonia Dalby, and Mark Grumoli
Photo by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

“We don’t do the big check presentation. That’s not how we roll. I like to send all the contribution checks to all the branch managers and have them make the connection and go deliver them and say hi, because it’s not about my relationship with the nonprofit; it’s about our relationship.”

Since COVID, Brewster explained, the bank’s philanthropic priorities have included healthcare, human services, housing, food security, safety, and children. “We try to look through that lens and meet the needs where we can.”

It’s especially important, she added, at a time when nonprofit funding, already a challenging landscape, is being threatened on a massive scale by federal cutbacks.

“I would like to have a conversation with senior leadership about, ‘OK, who is really being targeted? How can we allocate a little bit more funding to those groups? How can we step up a little bit more to try to support them and fill in the cracks from holes in federal funding and the decimation of their livelihoods?’ We’re not going to fill that gap alone; we’re only one organization. But we need to be intentional and focused about the different times that we’re living in.

“You know, if we didn’t have nonprofits, we would be screwed,” Brewster added, “because government — even in the best of times, with the best of leaders, who have the heart to do it — could never take care of all of the issues that exist and the needs of all the people. They haven’t figured out how to do that. So it makes the role of institutions like banks, foundations, and individuals so much more important, because they do so much.”

Those who know Brewster understand her passion for supporting the community didn’t start with her current job. She currently serves on four nonprofit boards — Cutchins Programs for Children and Families, Riverside Industries, Downtown Northampton Assoc., and Double Edge Theatre — as well as several local committees, including Community Action of Pioneer Valley, Look Memorial Park, North Star Self-Directed Learning for Teens, the David Ruggles Center, and the Treehouse Foundation.

 

She is also a top fundraiser for numerous regional events, including the Hot Chocolate Run for Safe Passage, Dancing with the Local Stars for Cutchins, and two annual events — the Mother’s Day Half Marathon and the Bed In fundraiser — for Cancer Connection, whose executive director, Chelsea Kline, is also a Woman of Impact this year; see story on page W19).

“Respected equally by business leaders, nonprofit executives, and grassroots organizers, Tara is a force multiplier for good,” wrote Ira Bryck of Helping Leaders Grow, who nominated her as a Woman of Impact. “She is present in every role she plays — mother, wife, colleague, volunteer — leading with an open heart and strategic mind. Western Massachusetts is better because Tara Brewster calls it home, and her impact continues to ripple outward through every organization, partnership, and person she touches.”

 

Road to Success

This is Brewster’s third BusinessWest honor; she was part of the 40 Under Forty class of 2009, when she co-owned Jackson & Connor, a men’s clothing store in Northampton, and a Difference Maker in 2022.

Since joining Greenfield Savings Bank in 2016, she has generated over $200 million in deposits, loans, and mortgages while shaping and expanding the bank’s annual philanthropy budget — a success on every level. But the road to her current career was a winding one, marked by early tragedy.

As a teenager, she planned on moving far away from Massachusetts and attending college in Montana, with the goal of becoming a pediatrician. But her mother was diagnosed with stage-4 ovarian cancer when Tara was just 15, a turn of events that would not only alter her plans for college, keeping her close to home, but inspire her to reach higher and serve others more purposefully following her mother’s passing.

She eventually graduated from Smith College, majoring in government and anthropology, and found her way into the men’s clothing business. She started at Taylor Men, which had a store in Thornes Marketplace, while she was at Smith, and would later be regional sales manager for seven stores in the Northeast before moving to Manhattan and working for a men’s wholesale apparel company.

Eventually, Brewster returned to Northampton and opened Jackson & Connor with a business partner; they ran the store for eight years before selling it. It was there, she told BusinessWest, that she began to understand the importance of community connections.

“Respected equally by business leaders, nonprofit executives, and grassroots organizers, Tara is a force multiplier for good.”

“I was like, ‘oh, my success is tied to the community’s success. It’s tied to others. It’s tied to me supporting you and you supporting me, and one hand washes the other.’ It was very clear. Before that, when I worked for these larger companies, in bigger cities, they weren’t very philanthropic, and they didn’t really push us to do a lot of charity work. But when your livelihood is dependent on local customers coming in and supporting you, that’s how you eat. That’s how you pay the bills. It’s how you pay your employees. I really got it then.”

After selling the store, Brewster segued into consulting before Mark Grumoli, senior vice president and commercial loan officer at Greenfield Savings Bank — who, years earlier, had helped the partners secure funding to launch Jackson & Connor when he was with Florence Bank, convinced her to become the new vice president of Business Development.

In addition to her dual role at work and her robust involvement with nonprofits outside of it, she also hosts the Western Mass. Business Show on WHMP, a radio interview program with local business leaders that she inherited from Bryck.

“Tara is a creative spirit, an entrepreneur, media mogul, and supports philanthropy,” wrote Tina Champagne, another nominator. “When there is a community need of any kind, Tara knows who to call and how to help raise funds to support those in need. She is brilliant at luring others in with her passion, care, and positive energy.”

Still, Brewster admits there’s only so much one person can do, especially someone who is widely recognized as a go-to helper.

“It’s not about being in all the rooms anymore. When I first started, I felt like I had to be at all these events, I had to meet this person, I had to go to this, I had to go to that, I had to show up. But really, it’s about being more calculated and smart about how I can actually effect change — who are the people that I need to call in, sit at a table with, connect with, strategize with?”

Sue Monahan (left), creator and director of the Mother’s Day Half Marathon, with Tara Brewster, host of Bed In for Cancer Connection.

Sue Monahan (left), creator and director of the Mother’s Day Half Marathon, with Tara Brewster, host of Bed In for Cancer Connection.

Especially, as noted earlier, at a particularly rough time for nonprofits.

“A lot of the meetings and spaces that I’m in, people are talking about ‘how are you taking care of yourself in order to be a freedom fighter and a warrior and someone who shows up and has capacity for other people and the work?’ And ‘how do you choose what’s important?’”

For one thing, Brewster would like to see more conversations between nonprofits whose clients have needs that dovetail.

“If we’re having a meeting about federal funding or food security or another need, let’s not just have it be like a siloed meeting,” she said. “Let’s have it be an integrated meeting — who needs to be in the room, who can do what, and how we can get it done? — rather than just thinking, ‘I’m me, and I have these resources,’ and ‘you’re you, and you have these resources.’ We just need to be more collaborative and more strategic than we’ve ever been going into these times.”

 

Setting an Example

Just as important as who’s making an impact now is who will follow in their footsteps, which is why Brewster values mentorship, both giving and receiving. In fact, she asked to take a photo for this story with four of her mentors, people who have helped shape her path and work.

One of them is Chia Collins, a local small business owner and volunteer. “Tara Brewster is my sister from a different mother, as she has said to me. She is truly a saint in the valley,” Collins said. “I adore moving mountains with her and for her. What nourishes her seems to be her love to connect people and to better the world. Tara is truly a force of nature.”

Brewster, like others honored in this year’s class of Women of Impact, is quick to deflect, or at least share, credit for such accolades, but said the award is still a meaningful one.

“I’m incredibly honored. It’s very humbling, and it makes you want to do more; it makes you want to keep going. To be recognized and acknowledged says, ‘OK, I must be doing something right; I must be helping people, or my impact must be having a ripple effect, so I need to keep doing it,’” she said.

“What are we here for — like, seriously, what are you here for — if not to make a difference, if not to improve someone’s life?” she added. “I want to die having left a mark, having a purpose, helping others, something other than just self-service.”

Local Burger Has Continued Growth on the Menu

By
Co-owner Jeff Igneri
Cover Story Restaurants

On a Roll

Co-owner Jeff Igneri

Co-owner Jeff Igneri

 

Aromance can spark a lot of things. For restaurant patrons in Western Mass., it sparked a successful burger chain that continues to grow.

Jeff Igneri, who earned degrees in hotel restaurant management and hospitality administration at Johnson & Wales University, was looking to open a restaurant in the Providence, R.I. area, or maybe Worcester, but he happened to be dating a woman — now his wife, April — who was enrolled in a master’s degree program at Smith College.

“I came and visited her once, and as we were walking down the streets of Northampton, I saw an open location and said, ‘let’s check that out.’ I called the landlord, and things worked out.”

It took some work and a $65,000 investment to renovate the Main Street space, but Igneri and three family business partners — his father, Joe, and brothers, Chris and Steve — opened Local Burger in 2008, and found it to be an immediate success, despite some initial naysayers.

“We always wanted to do burgers, but as we were renovating the place, people came by and said, ‘burgers won’t work here; it’s a vegetarian town,’” Igneri recalled. “But when we opened up, it was just go, go, go — thankfully.”

Local Burger does offer more than one meatless burger, along with a wide variety of other burgers and sandwiches — not only beef, but chicken, pastrami, hot dogs, and more — as well as chicken tenders, donut-sized onion rings, and a wide array of starters. Some of its most famous fare was developed during those early days.

“Obviously the food has to be good, and the service, too, but it feels fun when you’re here. It feels like a carefree break from the chaos. You can come in here, be who you are, eat what you want to eat, and just chill out.”

“We created the Cap’n Crunch chicken tender right away. We played around with cornflakes and said, ‘huh, cereal sounds good on chicken. Let’s try something different. Cap’n Crunch, why not?’”

What has almost certainly raised the profile of a restaurant chain that launched in Northampton is Local Burger’s emphasis on buying ingredients from local farms, from beef to produce. Early on, Chicoine Farm in Easthampton supplied most of the beef, but these days, Igneri sources meat from several local farms, including Porter Family Farm in Ashfield, Holly Berry Farm in Chesterfield, and Mayval Farm in Easthampton.

Meanwhile, all the chain’s potatoes come from Szawlowski Potato Farms in Hatfield, the ice cream comes from Maple Valley Creamery in Hadley, and other farms supply a variety of produce.

“I had lived in New York, Providence, Eastern Massachusetts,” Igneri told BusinessWest. “So coming out here, seeing all the farms with all the local meats, local produce, it was not typical for me. I wasn’t used to it.

“So we just talked to a bunch of different farmers and asked what they had, what meats they had, what produce they had, and that’s how it all started — just going to different farmers and checking to see what they had for us,” he added, noting that he wasn’t initially thinking of partnering with farms when he first thought about opening a restaurant. “It wasn’t even on my radar until I came out here and saw everything that’s available. There was so much out here.”

Tabitha Saalfrank

Tabitha Saalfrank says it’s critical to keep loyal, reliable employees happy in an industry where workers can be hard to find.

Today, Local Burger has grown to four locations — the Keene, Vt. restaurant opened 13 years ago, a spot in Haydenville opened nine years ago, and Igneri and his father (his brothers are no longer partners) moved into the former Riff’s Joint space at Eastworks in Easthampton last year. In addition, they also maintain a food truck and a catering operation.

And throughout all of it, buying and serving local ingredients comes first.

“At first, there weren’t as many restaurants doing that,” he said. “So ‘Local Burger’ has two meanings. One is using as much local products as possible, and one is being the local burger joint. It wasn’t necessarily using local produce at first — it was just supposed to be the local burger place. But it worked out with the other meaning.”

 

Moving On Up

Tabitha Saalfrank has been with Local Burger for eight years and has moved from working in the food truck and catering aspects of the business to managing the Easthampton location. So she has interacted with customers in many different ways, and said that, besides the food, what keeps customers coming back are the people and the experience.

“People will recognize me. I’ll be wearing a plain black sweatshirt at the gas station, and someone’s like, ‘oh, it’s the Local Burger girl.’ So, not to be cliché or corny, but it feels like family,” she said. “We have a customer that’s been coming here since she was pregnant with her first kid, and she’s now pregnant with her second kid, and I’m watching that baby grow up because they come here so often.

“I think it’s the vibe that we’re able to give off as well, just the experience and the environment. Obviously the food has to be good, and the service, too, but it feels fun when you’re here. It feels like a carefree break from the chaos. You can come in here, be who you are, eat what you want to eat, and just chill out.”

“People perceive burgers to be a low-cost item because you can go to McDonald’s for X amount of dollars and buy something that’s not a great product. But beef is one of the highest-priced proteins out there.”

Igneri said he’s made a point of promoting from within — the manager of the Keene location, Mike Collins, joined Local Burger as a dishwasher in 2012, and many employees have been in the organization for most of its history — but giving managers an ownership stake as well.

“Mike is a great story,” he added. “He came in, started washing dishes, went on to be a cook, and now he’s running it, and he has part ownership there. I think that’s why we keep our employees so long. We try to get people involved and keep them happy and give them a piece of the action. I just wanted to do something to make them feel like they’ve earned it.”

Saalfrank, for one, is excited to work for a company that allows room for growth.

“I had been working for a while, and Jeff was like, ‘what can I do for you? If we were to buy Riff’s, would you want step up and take over?’ And I was like, ‘sure,’” she said. “He’s actively looking around and considering the staff when opening a location — like, ‘OK, who’s up next?’”

Igneri said he has always kept a community focus with Local Burger, supporting events like Bikes Fight Cancer and Magic for Maddie (a pediatric cancer fundraiser), as well as local schools and nonprofits, like Tapestry Health, Cutchins Programs for Children & Families, and Cancer Connection.

The former Riff’s Joint space in Eastworks has turned out to be an ideal site for the fourth Local Burger location.

The former Riff’s Joint space in Eastworks has turned out to be an ideal site for the fourth Local Burger location.

“We have this core of people who have been here for so many years that just represent us in such a great way. We’re lucky to have them,” Igneri said. “The community supports us, and we support them.”

 

Serving Up Challenges

While Local Burger is clearly a success story, the restaurant business is fraught with challenges, Igneri said, from rising ingredient prices — and the resulting balancing act in pricing between making a profit and keeping customers happy — to maintaining a loyal, reliable workforce.

“That’s a challenge in Haydenville because it’s seasonal — we’re six months out of the year. Trying to hire people for six months is difficult for us. Luckily, we can take the staff in Haydenville and put them in the other locations when workforce needs arise there,” he explained. “So we don’t let them go — we try to keep them as long as possible.”

Saalfrank said it’s critical to hang onto the best talent because it can be hard to find.

“Finding people who want to work is my biggest challenge lately. I get so many applications, but the people with the work ethic who are determined to actually get the job done, I feel like that’s rare. It’s a job, yes, and I don’t expect more from them than their job, but it sometimes seems like they don’t want to be here at all. So when I find the ones that do, I hang onto them.

“We take care of our staff, too,” she went on. “If you have an idea or you think something’s not working, we’re going to listen, and we’re going to try to make it so that everybody’s happy. To find people who still don’t want to be here after that, it’s just like, ‘OK, well, maybe this just isn’t it for you.’ But I’ve noticed there is a work ethic issue, especially in the younger generation.”

As for the challenge of rising prices, “there’s a perception with burgers,” Igneri said. “People perceive burgers to be a low-cost item because you can go to McDonald’s for X amount of dollars and buy something that’s not a great product. But beef is one of the highest-priced proteins out there; it fluctuates from $5 to $6 a pound. And you can’t adjust your prices on a daily basis, even though a lot of the prices fluctuate weekly. So you just have to shop around different providers and do the best you can. It’s a constant battle with prices.”

That said, Igneri is gratified by the business he has built.

“On a busy night, you look around, you see people eating, having a good time, and it makes it all worth it. You see families laughing, having a birthday party here. We rent out our bar area for rehearsal dinners. So to pull Local Burger into those big moments in your life — it’s not a small thing finding where you want to have your birthday party or your rehearsal dinner. So it means a lot.”

Speaking of the bar area in Easthampton, Saalfrank said the team recently launched Thursday night bingo games there, and they have been a big hit.

“Our Thursday night will sometimes be busier than our Friday because of the people that are here for bingo,” she said. “It’s a new, fun thing that I feel proud to have been able to get started. It’s a good vibe.”

Igneri reiterated toward the end of his conversation with BusinessWest that the three things that make Local Burger stand out are food quality, the staff, and community connections.

“We’re lucky to be in the west of Massachusetts, where people support local businesses — local farms, local restaurants … it’s important to people,” he said. “I sometimes ask, ‘how did this happen?’ I remember opening the restaurant in Northampton saying, ‘what am I doing? I’m in way over my head. Why am I doing this?’”

Seventeen years — and a lot of happy customers — later, he understands why.

Employing People with Disabilities Can Be a True Win-win

By
Emily Benoit (left) and Erika Lamere say the Lincoln Street Stop & Shop in Holyoke has strived to cultivate an inclusive workplace.
Features Special Coverage

Hire Calling

Emily Benoit (left) and Erika Lamere say the Lincoln Street Stop & Shop in Holyoke has strived to cultivate an inclusive workplace.

Emily Benoit (left) and Erika Lamere say the Lincoln Street Stop & Shop in Holyoke has strived to cultivate an inclusive workplace.

 

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. But for Lhea Destromp, it’s a year-round effort.

“This isn’t just seasonal. It’s about carving out intentional opportunities and making our workspaces more inclusive. And that’s a slow and thoughtful process,” said Destromp, an employment counselor in Regional Employment Services for the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services (DDS).

That said, the increased awareness in October does present an opportunity to create more dialogue around the value that workers with disabilities add to the workforce, the importance of inclusive employment policies, and barriers to employment that people with disabilities may face.

“When I’m talking to employers, I’m talking to them in terms of value and what they’re looking for, so I need to be able to convince them that an individual, or a whole group of people, are reliable and not a risk — because, at the end of the day, business people are thinking about risk. So it’s about putting the facts in front of people so that they can make informed decisions. And a lot of people don’t realize that individuals with disabilities tend to have the greatest longevity in their careers.”

As an example, she connected BusinessWest with the Stop & Shop store on Lincoln Street in Holyoke, where a man with a developmental disability named Michael has been bagging and retrieving carriages — and occasionally other tasks — for the past 35 years.

“Michael has been like a brother to me,” said Erika Lamere, an administrator at the store who has roughly the same tenure at the store. “We grew here together. And he feels like this place is his home because he’s been here so long.”

Emily Benoit, a department head who works closely with Michael, said there are rough days when he’ll get a little overwhelmed.

“Whenever something’s bugging him, like if he had a bad interaction with a customer, he’s able to talk to us and explain what happened and what he’s feeling, and we can kind of direct him — ‘OK, that’s all right, this happens, it’s normal.’ And talking about it helps him and brings him down a level so he’s not overwhelmed.”

That said, Michael’s time at Stop & Shop is marked by mostly good days, and the same goes for Chris, another employee with a developmental disability who mainly bags groceries. They’re popular with customers and — importantly — extremely reliable, Benoit said, something Destromp says is true for many of the clients she works with and helps connect with jobs.

Lhea Destromp

“It’s about putting the facts in front of people so that they can make informed decisions. And a lot of people don’t realize that individuals with disabilities tend to have the greatest longevity in their careers.”

“Why should these people not be included?” Lamere asked. “We’ve had supervisors come through the building that say, ‘what do they do?’ Well, they can do anything anyone else can do if they’re just taught how to do it.

“That’s one thing I love about this place — in all my years here, we have always made sure that everyone is included, no matter what it is: a disability, your race, your sexual preference, I don’t care,” she went on. “Everyone is a person and deserves to work if they want to. And yes, they may not be able to perform all tasks, but that doesn’t mean places shouldn’t hire them. And once they get comfortable, you’d be very surprised with the other things they are willing to do and end up doing.”

And doing well, Destromp added.

“Not only do many of these folks work in their positions for a long time, they’re very reliable, they very seldom call out, and individuals with disabilities have the lowest of workers’ compensation claims. So when we think about how an employer defines risk within the context of an employee, we’re checking all the boxes here.”

 

Meaningful Connections

Destromp, as noted, helps people with developmental disabilities secure meaningful work, and she does this from both sides.

“I work with job coaches on job development with individuals who are looking to get jobs. Typically they have a number of obstacles and barriers that have led to a pattern of instability that has made it so they can’t retain work. So I help create goals and strategies to work with these folks so that they can resolve these issues,” she explained.

“At the same time, on the other end, I’m working with employers and helping to prepare them so that they can embark on this journey. For some of them, it’s an easy job, and it’s just about placement. For others, we’re really carving in — helping them identify roles for people and supports.”

In many ways, she said, her department acts as a training program to determine where the barriers are and what someone needs to overcome them and secure employment.

“It really depends on the individual, almost how you think about physical therapy. If somebody has an issue with their leg versus an issue with their back or their core, they’re going to have a whole different regimen to support them and strengthen what they need. So, for us, it’s really about targeting those areas,” she explained. “We’re working to assess where the deficits are, and then we can identify strategies to support them.”

She’s also busy with engaging different constituencies around the issue of inclusive workplaces and what that means to both job seekers and employers.

“I’m doing more around community engagement and around finding places where folks can be establishing and deepening their skill sets and then connecting them more meaningfully to opportunities in the community, and then also working more closely with employers and helping them figure out ways to establish value and take that leap of faith.”

Jason Randall

Jason Randall

“When they find an employer like ours and get into an environment where they feel accepted and wanted, their loyalty is increased, and their length of service with us is higher than others.”

As one motivation, she directs them to tax incentives for hiring disabled workers. The federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit reimburses 40% of up to $6,000 in wages to any employer that hires disabled individuals certified by a state workforce agency. Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Disability Employment Tax Credit provides up to $5,000 or 30% of the wages paid to each qualified employee with a disability in the first taxable year of employment, whichever is less, decreasing to $2,000 or 30% of the wages paid, whichever is less, in subsequent years.

Those are attractive incentives, Destromp said, but they’re not the whole picture — more important is tapping into an employee pool that, as she noted, tends to be longer-tenured and more reliable than workers in general, at a time when businesses of all kinds are struggling with maintaining a workforce.

“It’s smart business, and the data doesn’t lie,” said Jason Randall, executive director of Human Resources at MGM Springfield, another employer that has embraced inclusivity in hiring.

“These employees do have a longer tenure with us. And in return, they find loyalty in a company that is taking a chance on them because other doors get closed on them through various interview processes or companies that don’t want to engage,” he noted. “When they find an employer like ours and get into an environment where they feel accepted and wanted, their loyalty is increased, and their length of service with us is higher than others.”

Randall explained that MGM has partnered with a number of organizations, not only DDS, but also the Western Mass Employment Collaborative, Viability, and ServiceNet — that support individuals with disabilities who are looking for work.

“We have great relationships with these organizations, meet with them frequently, and are very candid up front about the environment that we provide as a workplace as they’re trying to match their constituents to employment,” he noted. “We know that this environment may not be for everybody. Certainly, working front of house with guests isn’t for everybody, and working back of house, without guest contact, isn’t for everybody. So being candid and having dialogue up front helps create an expectation that these agencies can place or help their candidates apply for appropriate positions.”

The partnership doesn’t stop after hiring, onboarding, and training, Randall added, as the casino complex provides employee accommodations when needed, and works with the aforementioned agencies to determine those needs. “We’ve worked with employees who have a variety of disabilities, and some you can notice by sight, and some you don’t know what’s going on in their life, but they do have a disability.”

Destromp noted that employers she works with are never asked to hinder their productivity with a hire that’s not the right fit.

“If you’re accommodating an employee in a way that is impacting the flow of your environment, then that’s not a reasonable expectation, and you, as an employer, are not expected to meet that expectation,” she said. “But, while that will be a difficult conversation, some difficult conversations yield high rewards — you may say to that person, ‘this is not the right role for you. Let’s examine the other things that are going on in our place of business and needs that we have that you may be able to fill.’”

 

Continuing the Conversation

To mark not only the 80th year of National Disability Employment Awareness Month and 35 years since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the DDS will present a panel discussion on disability inclusion practices in collaboration with the Springfield Regional Chamber, New England Business Associates, Springfield College, and the ADA National Network.

The event, to be held on Monday, Oct. 27 from 9 to 11 a.m. in the Springfield College Learning Common, will bring together leading employers to share innovative strategies for building inclusive workplaces — including how companies have successfully carved out roles tailored to employees’ strengths and support needs, creating true win-win outcomes. Panelist topics will include ADA recommendations, universal supports, expanding one’s labor pool and cultivating an inclusive culture, and addressing difficult disability-related questions. Email Tina Macy [email protected] with questions and to register.

“I think that individuals with disabilities have long been an overlooked and undervalued and marginalized group of people,” Destromp said. “I think that’s such a shame because these are people who are so eager to prove their worth, to prove their value, and who deserve just the same as anybody — that opportunity to be able to feel the value and the worth that comes along with contributing to your community.”

She said she was excited to meet Michael at the supermarket in Holyoke. “Everybody’s eyes lit up when they saw Mike — he was like the mayor of Stop & Shop.”

That’s gratifying for Lamere, who appreciates what her employees with disabilities have contributed to the store.

“Michael comes in every day, he stays his whole shift, he is reliable. And Chris is the same way. He was hospitalized recently, but he came right back to work. They’re both very reliable. We’re lucky to have them.”

At the same time, an inclusive workplace helps all employees understand differences, and that’s valuable in itself, she added.

“It gets you to open up and see they are people too, and they’re very capable of doing the things we do if they’re just given a shot. [Employees] learn very good lessons — that if you have the right people showing them and the right people giving them the courage or whatever they need, they end up doing it.”

That said, “some customers can be pretty rough,” Lamere went on. “With Michael, he sometimes will struggle with that because his feelings get hurt easily or he feels like he did something wrong. We’ve had customers call him stupid before. And the second I hear that, I’m flying downstairs, because nobody’s doing that. We try to make sure they feel protected.”

Randall said an inclusive workplace, like MGM Springfield, benefits everyone, including the company as a whole.

“Whether it’s a member of the LGBT community, veterans groups, women in the workplace … having an environment that accepts, promotes, and encourages everyone helps from a retention perspective,” he explained. “When employees feel proud about the workforce they are a part of and the company they work for, they become your recruiters. They’re going to tell their friends or family members the experience that they’ve had, and that brings us more candidates coming in the door.”

Destromp agreed. “I think it’s about shining that light and helping local employers see that value and understanding the many unique characteristics and qualities that individuals with disabilities bring to the table as a whole — and that’s even before we take a step closer and get to know each individual better and unpack their unique qualities.”

Bill Collins Reflects on a Satisfying Culinary Journey

By
Where Are They Now?

Where are they now?

Seventeen years after being honored among the 40 Under Forty, Bill Collins says he hasn’t lost any of the enjoyment he gets from seeing people enjoy good food — and each other.

Seventeen years after being honored among the 40 Under Forty, Bill Collins says he hasn’t lost any of the enjoyment he gets from seeing people enjoy good food — and each other.

When BusinessWest caught up with Bill Collins this month at his East Longmeadow restaurant, Center Square Grill, he was about to head over to the Big E. It’s a relationship that started in 2014 when the director of the fair’s agricultural programs asked him to stop by.

“She said, ‘hey, I’ve got a group of 4-Hers, and I’ve got some lamb. Any chance you’d come in and cook a recipe?’ So I did that. And 11 years later, I’ve surpassed 96,000 samples of recipes that I’ve cooked there and given away. Every day of the fair from 11 to 1:30-2, I go in, get on a microphone, and cook a dish, and all the dishes I prepare are from local farms around New England.

“It has become a little bit of a passion for me,” Collins went on. “It’s a cool experience to be able to take somebody who might not understand the economics of where the money goes in the community if you buy local, versus at the big box store, and the differences in the meat. To be able to talk about that stuff is pretty cool.”

The same year he started demonstrating recipes at the Big E, Collins opened Center Square Grill, which was a success out of the gate and has remained so, albeit not without some challenges, from the difficult pandemic years to the current inflationary landscape that has made everything more expensive, to a sprinkler system that malfunctioned last year and shut the place down for a few months — followed by a fight with the insurance company.

“We paid all of our front of the house and back of the house employees for eight weeks while we were shut. And I paid the employees in the front the average of their tips as well, because we felt there was some gray area in the way our policy was written, and we felt that we could get paid back for that,” Collins said.

“When I talked to my wife, I said, ‘listen, we’re going to do this, and I’m scared because it’s a lot of money.’ But if we didn’t, the employee market was so competitive at that point. And everybody was so well-trained that if we didn’t do that, you know, it wouldn’t have been two months we were closed — it would be more like six by the time we hired, retrained, and everything.”

So Collins cashed in a retirement policy to pay his staff in full, and when the insurance company initially refused to cover the tip pay, he stood firm and made it clear he’d fight that decision — and eventually was reimbursed for all of it.

“What was the alternative? Center Square Grill goes away for six months, right? Nobody wins there,” he recalled.

When Collins was named to BusinessWest’s second-ever 40 Under Forty class in 2008, he was 28 years old, working as director of Operations in the Spoleto Restaurant Group, overseeing six dining locations owned by noted restaurateur Claudio Guerra.

“You know, it’s funny — when I met Claudio, I was 19 years old, and I didn’t have two nickels to rub together, but I always envisioned being in business for myself. I was always a hustler,” Collins recalled.

“I don’t believe I actually deserved to win that award in 2008,” he added. “I think now I do; we’ve accomplished a lot. But I don’t know that I was fit to be in that group of people at that point, but I’m still appreciative — it was an awesome honor.

“But at that point, I was definitely thinking about being on my own. And when I did go on my own, I probably wasn’t economically in the right position to give it a shot, but when is the right time, you know? You eventually have to go for it. And it had been in the back of my head since I was a kid.”

The original vision for Center Square Grill was a creative American eatery with multiple culinary influences, where people would want to visit more than once a week.

“We didn’t want to be too specific. Everybody in town already had their favorite Italian place, they already had their favorite Chinese place. What I felt was lacking was a quality, slightly upscale version of a tavern — a place where you can get a burger and a beer or come in for a date night for steak and oysters.”

“We didn’t want to be too specific. Everybody in town already had their favorite Italian place, they already had their favorite Chinese place. What I felt was lacking was a quality, slightly upscale version of a tavern — a place where you can get a burger and a beer or come in for a date night for steak and oysters.”

These days, Collins employs around 90 people at his businesses, most of them at Center Square. He also owns a percentage of Barburrito in Ludlow, and is a partner in Hawks Landing, a farm in East Longmeadow that the owners plan to use for everything from pumpkins, apples, and a corn maze in the fall to an activity space for community events — while producing farm-fresh produce for their various other businesses, which include One Way Brewing in Longmeadow. He also recently launched a food, travel, and lifestyle TV show on WWLP called The Food Explorer.

Meanwhile, “my wife and I know that the restaurant business is tumultuous. So we decided to live on a fixed income from the restaurant, and anything extra that we earn, we’ve developed into a real estate company. We have about 20 doors in this area for rentals, and a lot of our employees actually live in them. And we continue to be on the hunt for quality properties to add in the portfolio. That, I think, might eventually be bigger than my other businesses.”

Bill Collins said Center Square Grill was an immediate success, but has had its share of challenges, from the pandemic to last year’s sprinkler malfunction.

Bill Collins said Center Square Grill was an immediate success, but has had its share of challenges, from the pandemic to last year’s sprinkler malfunction.

Like he was mentored under Guerra and others in his younger years, he takes pride in seeing his own employees spread their wings, like Andrew Brow, who started working with Collins at age 16 and eventually struck out on his own with a series of area restaurants (and 40 Under Forty honors himself in 2023).

“It’s been a cool journey,” Collins said. “I always say it’s one part luck, it’s one part hard work and smarts, and it’s one part being in the right position and knowing the right people.”

As for what he enjoys most about coming to work each day, Collins may have put it best during a visit last year to the BusinessWest podcast, BusinessTalk.

“It’s the people,” he told us. “When I sit back in the corner of a restaurant that I’ve built and I see people enjoying themselves and having this little bit of escapism going on — whether they got a babysitter and they’re having a date night or they’re celebrating a birthday or an anniversary — and the whole vibe is good, the music’s spot on, the lights are right, the food is good, and I just see two people so happy together, enjoying their night … that’s what does it for me. I love giving people that small escape, even if it’s just for an hour.”

Western Mass. Offers Plenty of Autumn Fun

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Special Coverage Tourism & Hospitality

Cool Happenings

 

Western Mass. is known for its wide range of tourist destinations and attractions, but the fun doesn’t have to end once the weather cools down. In fact, thanks to the perennial popularity of Halloween with families, October is one of the most lively months on the calendar for fun in the 413. Here are eight ways to enjoy the season.

 

 

The Great Halloween Drive-Thru

1911 Poquonock Ave., Windsor, CT

thegreathalloweendrivethru.com

The Great Halloween Drive-Thru is a unique family- and kid-friendly attraction, conveniently located next to Brown’s Harvest Farm in Windsor, Conn., just 15 minutes from Hartford and 25 minutes from Springfield. Visitors stay in their vehicles for a 45-minute journey through a farm full of spooky holograms, projections, and special effects. The Great Halloween Drive-Thru is not scary. There are no live actors and no jump scares, making this an ideal attraction for families with children. Spooky fun without the scare, the attraction draws visitors from all over Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. The Great Halloween Drive-Thru is open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in October from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., with the last ticket sold at 9 p.m. Admission is $30 per carload.

 

Hancock Shaker Village

1843 West Housatonic St., Pittsfield, MA

hancockshakervillage.org

With 20 historic buildings and a working farm and garden, Hancock Shaker Village is open April through December for self-guided tours, demonstrations, talks, and programs. Admission is $8 to $20, with children under 12 free. On Oct. 17, 18, 23, 25, and 30, the village offers the Haunted Hancock Tour at 7 p.m. ($30 additional cost). Guests can walk the dark halls of the Brick Dwelling and hear about all the haunted stories of this old building. For the younger set, Haunted Hancock for Kids (Oct. 18 and 25, 5 p.m.) is a tour of Shaker ghosts and mystery especially designed for kids ages 8-12 (and at least one adult companion). The 45-minute walking tour ($10-$15) includes a spooky walk through the Village and a visit to the Brick Dwelling. Finally, included in the Hancock admission is the Halloween Pumpkin Extravaganza at the Village on Oct. 18, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Guests are invited to wear a costume, trick or treat through the Village, meet Valerian the Garden Witch, and decorate a pumpkin.

 

A family enjoys pumpkin picking at McCray’s Farm.

McCray’s Farm

55 Alvord St., South Hadley, MA

mccrays-farm.com

McCray’s always gets its terror on in the fall, and this year’s Fear on the Farm spectacle includes the Monster Mash Haunted Hayride, Massacre Manor, and the Diagnostic, Operations, Nexus Genetic Research Facility (DONGRF). The farm is open every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in October. The ticket box office opens at 6:30 p.m., and the haunted attractions open at 7 p.m. General admission is $30, and the fast pass option (to skip to the front of the line) costs $55, available online only. McCray’s also offers pumpkin hayrides every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The ride to the pumpkin patch costs $5, and the pumpkins range in price depending on size.

 

Mike’s Maze at Warner Farm

23 South Main St., Sunderland, MA

mikesmaze.com

Visitors to Mike’s Maze, now celebrating its 25th year as one of the country’s most recognized corn mazes, will encounter activities, games, and amusements to entertain the entire family. Every year, the farm concocts a new maze, along with themed games that will challenge guests to solve puzzles and problems and guide their exploration through the corn. Outside the maze, the attractions include a horse-drawn wagon ride, potato cannons, pumpkin picking, and lunch at the Corn Café. Young kids will enjoy a playground featuring a giant double drain-tube slide, a jump pad, a tractor tire jungle gym, and giant games. Older kids and adults can race around the track in pedal carts at Dave’s Derby. And folks love to check out the view of the maze from the perspective of a giant walk-in camera obscura. General admission ranges from $10 to $14 and is free for kids 4 and under. The site is open through Nov. 2, Fridays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays, Sundays, and Columbus Day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

 

The Mount, Edith Wharton’s Home

2 Plunkett St., Lenox, MA

edithwharton.org

The Mount is a turn-of-the-century home, designed and built by Edith Wharton in 1902. Today, this historic landmark is a cultural center with a robust year-round calendar of events. On the Ghost Tour of the Mount (selected Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays in October; see edithwharton.org/visit/ghost-tours for a full schedule and reservations), guides lead guests through the darkened halls of the Mount, sharing tales of the many eerie encounters that have been reported there for years. Ghost Tours last approximately two hours and include a half-mile walk — rain or shine — between buildings on the Mount’s campus. This tour contains adult content that is not appropriate for young audiences, and children under 12 will not be admitted. Fortunately, families may also choose a Ghost Tour for Kids on Oct. 3, 24, or 30.

 

One of the performers lurking in a scare zone at Six Flags New England.

Six Flags New England

1623 Main St., Agawam, MA

sixflags.com/newengland

On weekends and select days through Nov. 9, the annual Fright Fest promises plenty of thrills and scares on weekends and select days through Nov. 2. Fright Fest features more than 20 attractions, including five haunted mazes: Nightmares, Terror Tales, Slasher Circus 3D, Midnight Mansion, and Camp Killamore. Guests will also encounter seven immersive scare zones located throughout the park, where creatures lurk in the fog and sinister performers emerge from the shadows. Each zone delivers its own brand of fear, from a toxic wasteland to a city overrun by demons, and even a carnival of sinister clowns. Live shows include Midnight Uprising, The Awakening, Mort’s Used Coffins, and Love at First Fright. Park admission is $39, and entry into the five haunted mazes is an additional $24.

 

Sonny’s Place

349 Main St., Somers, CT

sonnysplace.com

Halloween at Sonny’s takes place throughout October. In addition to more than a dozen year-round attractions, Sonny’s offers a pair of seasonal highlights. Haunted Mini Golf costs $18 per person and features terrifying themes and live scare actors roaming the course from sundown to 10 p.m. every Friday and Saturday through Nov. 1. In addition, the Trick-or-Treat Trail is a chance for kids to trick-or-treat at Sonny’s. Kids can purchase a bag and punch card ($6) and visit highlighted attractions to collect a prize or candy at each one. The trail is open Friday through Sunday during operating hours.

 

An illustration used in the “Witch Panic!” exhibit at the Springfield Museums.

Springfield Museums

21 Edwards St., Springfield, MA

springfieldmuseums.org

Through Nov. 2, the Wood Museum of Springfield History is showcasing an exhibit called “Witch Panic! Massachusetts Before Salem.” Forty years before the infamous trials in Salem, fear gripped the small settlement of Springfield. Neighbors whispered about Mary and Hugh Parsons as rumors simmered for years, exploding into hysteria that eventually consumed the town. “Witch Panic!” dives into the daily lives of the couple, examining the circumstances that led to their 1651 accusation and arrest for witchcraft. Guests can learn about the folklore surrounding witches, like their association with broomsticks, black cats, and cauldrons; design their own ghoulish familiar, a small creature believed to help witches; and review the evidence of the Parsons’ witchcraft as a member of the jury and determine their innocence or guilt. Admission to all five Springfield Museums ranges from $13 to $25, with children under 3 free.

 

Wistariahurst Museum

238 Cabot St., Holyoke, MA

wistariahurst.org

The 19th-century mansion and gardens at Wistariahurst comprise a cultural center that engages with the community and hosts exhibitions, performances, and private events throughout the year. October offers two seasonally appropriate events. Cemetery Tours at Forestdale Cemetery will take place on Oct. 11. Guests will discover all there is to know about living and dying in Holyoke from narratives of the people who now find solace in these hallowed grounds. Four tours kick off between 3 and 4 p.m., and the cost is $15. Then, on Oct. 15, the Darkened Hallways Tour (5:30 p.m., also $15) is a chance to get to know Wistariahurst Museum after dark as guests are led through its halls by candlelight.

Area Contractors Report Steady Pipeline of Projects

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A finished project from Sexton Roofing & Siding.
Construction Special Coverage

Looking Up

A finished project from Sexton Roofing & Siding.

A finished project from Sexton Roofing & Siding.

 

The construction industry remains one marked by both challenge and opportunity — and that goes for businesses that have been around for just a few years, or many decades.

In the former group is Sasha Wilde, who bought Sexton Roofing & Siding two years ago and has continued to grow the Hatfield-based business with a mix of residential roofing projects — the company’s bread and butter — and other services, including siding, windows, and exterior doors.

“We’re still doing all of that, making sure we can provide clients with a seamless experience. There’s a huge amount of opportunity,” she told BusinessWest.

“Last year was pretty down across the industry,” Wilde noted. “There was a hangover from COVID. So many people had accelerated home improvement projects during COVID, and last year, it seemed like everyone took a breath. And with the political climate uncertain, they didn’t want to spend as much money. This year, we’ve definitely seen people’s willingness to pull the trigger on projects. That’s been really helpful for us.”

“So many people had accelerated home improvement projects during COVID, and last year, it seemed like everyone took a breath. And with the political climate uncertain, they didn’t want to spend as much money. This year, we’ve definitely seen people’s willingness to pull the trigger on projects.”

In the more venerable category is Mowry & Schmidt in Greenfield, which has been in business for the past 78 years and is also extremely busy.

“I don’t see anything slowing down in the near future, which is a good thing,” co-owner Bob Provost said. “We’re usually trying to finish up some of the big spring, summer, and fall projects before the winter, but we’re just rolling right through. I don’t see a slowdown.”

The firm takes on a robust mix of new construction and renovation work, typically about 60% to 70% on the commercial side, with the rest residential, he explained, a diversity that buffers the company against industry trends.

Mowry & Schmidt is building a new ice hockey arena at Northfield Mount Hermon School.

“The last couple years, we’ve seen a steady flow of new home construction and higher-end kitchens and bath renovations, but the commercial volume is still a little higher. If the economy seems to affect one type of building and not the other, we’ve been able to adapt and make that transformation back and forth. It’s definitely key to staying busy, no doubt.”

Two of Mowry & Schmidt’s more interesting current projects are the construction of an ice hockey arena at Northfield Mount Hermon School and the renovation of the historic Leavitt-Hovey House — the former home of Greenfield Public Library — into a location for Greenfield Savings Bank.

“That’s a historical building, so there are a lot of facets there,” Provost said. “You get ready to go in a direction, then hold up, wait a little bit to get clarifications from the historical society, wait for approval, continue on. But it’s going well. It’s a nice property to work on.”

Clearly, despite challenges ranging from supply costs to workforce needs, contractors in Western Mass. are finding plenty of opportunities to grow their business.

 

Growth Opportunities

One of those is Keiter, a 17-year-old firm based in West Springfield that recently announced it is expanding into Berkshire County with a physical presence in that region, specifically the Clock Tower Business Center at 75 Church St. in Pittsfield. This marks the company’s second expansion in two years.

The move made sense, CEO Scott Keiter said, with past clients in the Berkshires including Mass Audubon Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, Bousquet Sport, Premium Waters, Berkshire Medical Center, the town of Lenox, Saint Patrick and Raphael Church, as well as several residential clients. 

“Since we started doing a more regimented and strategic interview process, we’ve been able to find better people. We’ve weeded out the folks that look good on paper but are maybe not so aligned with the way we think.”

“For several years, we’ve had the opportunity to work with incredible clients and professionals throughout the Berkshires, and it felt like the right time to officially set roots,” he noted. “We’re proud to continue to grow in a region where we’ve already begun to build strong partnerships.”

Wilde said trying to grow her company is complicated by a tight potential worker pool, a persistent problem across the construction field.

“The home improvement business has been great, but not without its challenges, since we are trying to grow and scale this business. Scaling sometimes comes with its own set of challenges, one of them being just finding great people to add to the team,” she said, adding that she’s dealt with some “hiccups” in that area, but still saw her staff expand to nine this year, in addition to the subcontracting teams.

“I tried hard to get referrals from people we know, and we listed on the major sites like ZipRecruiter and Indeed. But it really comes down to the interview process,” Wilde told BusinessWest, adding that the way she handles that process has changed in positive ways.

Sasha Wilde (right) has grown her team to nine at Sexton Roofing & Siding — and wants to grow it further.

“The first interview anyone does with the team, I wind up talking about our company’s mission and core values, and whether they’re a cultural fit with us,” she explained. “Since we started doing a more regimented and strategic interview process, we’ve been able to find better people. We’ve weeded out the folks that look good on paper but are maybe not so aligned with the way we think.”

And finding talent that will stick is important in an industry where retirements continue to outpace young, incoming talent, she noted. “When I think about fellow business owners in construction, their people are approaching retirement age, and from what I can tell, there’s a shortage of actual people to do the work.”

Provost said Mowry & Schmidt typically employs between 13 and 15 people in the field and three or four more in the office.

“We’re pretty fortunate. We’ve got our employees that have been with us for quite some time. But it does create some challenges looking down the road. When we have to bring in new people, the new hires just aren’t there. I still have to rely on subcontractors, and you want them to be a good extension of what you’re offering in-house; you want to make sure that the subcontractors you bring in are equally good as our employees. There’s a definite shortage of construction trade workers out there.”

To that end, Provost has been involved with Franklin County Technical School to cultivate young talent and interest them in construction careers.

“We’ve brought in some work co-op kids. It’s a way to start them at a young age and keep them going. But it’s rough. Kids come out of school, and they’re not sure what they want to do.”

The other major challenges of the past few years, supply costs and availability, have settled down to an extent, Provost added, although tariffs have thrown in a new wrinkle.

“Supply of materials has gotten better,” he said. “Windows and doors and cabinets have caught up, but it can be challenging depending on certain materials.”

One new challenge is private equity firms moving into roofing, Wilde said.

“In prior years, they were focused on other trades, but they are now honing on roofing. We’ve had a couple of new competitors this year backed by private equity, and we’re trying to stay relevant and outmaneuver them in this market. But they have an unlimited marketing spend — I can’t spend that kind of money.”

One key is focusing on the local angle — not just being based in Western Mass. and doing projects here, but being involved in the community, she said.

“That’s how I think we’ll maintain our competitive edge over those companies. Western Mass. wants to take care of Western Mass. and support people who are here. We are your neighbors.”

 

Spreading the Word

Another key to growth is improving internal processes and communication with clients, so everything turns out the way the client expects with no surprises, Wilde noted.

“We’ve had a lot of learning around what documents to create to make sure that the jobs are communicated very clearly, to translate what’s in the homeowner’s head to what they’re building, and making sure that happens. We’ve done a lot of improving in this area.”

The team also tries to communicate with customers’ neighbors about work on their street, which is another chance to make connections; meanwhile, Sexton gives a discount on projects when the client keeps its yard sign up for four months — another way to raise the company’s visibility in an increasingly competitive market.

Provost said he takes pride in having a good base of repeat customers, which is essential to landing opportunities and responding to demand.

“We’re fortunate to be going strong here. We’re facing some uncertainties, but there’s a lot of work out there,” he said. “People are being more selective in the process of who’s going to do the work for them. Customers are more savvy these days, and they’re looking to make sure that the people that are working for them are qualified.”

MassHire Merger Streamlines Services for Employers, Job Seekers

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Executive Directors Sarah Wilson (left) and Maura Geary
Features Special Coverage

Making It Work

Executive Directors Sarah Wilson (left) and Maura Geary

Executive Directors Sarah Wilson (left) and Maura Geary

 

To explain why the MassHire Franklin Hampshire Career Center and the MassHire Franklin Hampshire Workforce Board merged their operations in July, Maura Geary first explained how the MassHire network is set up.

“There are 16 workforce areas in the state of Massachusetts, and every area has one workforce board and at least one career center,” she noted. “And the career center has two customer bases. One is job seekers; one is employers. We work with employers to find out what jobs they have, how we can help them find the talent they need, and we work with job seekers to find out what barriers they may have to employment in the jobs that exist in our region, and how can we help them overcome the barriers so that they’re prepared with the skills they need to enter the workforce.”

Meanwhile, the Workforce Board is more of a “30,000-foot view,” Sarah Wilson said. “We’re looking at regional trends, labor market information for the region. We’re convening employers. We’re bringing all this information to the Career Center, which does more on-the-ground work.”

Until July 1, Geary headed up the Career Center, while Wilson helmed the Workforce Board. But today, they’re co-executive directors of the first MassHire operation in the state to merge their operations into one, simply called MassHire Franklin Hampshire.

“Having the labor market information and understanding what trends are happening, we ask, ‘what are the challenges that exist in our region? Where are there opportunities? How can we bring in more resources to support the workforce that we have or the economy that we have?’” Geary told BusinessWest. “This merger really helps us align even more closely with the big picture of the region and the strategies that exist.”

When the MassHire Franklin Hampshire Career Center and the MassHire Franklin Hampshire Workforce Board announced the merger, they characterized it as a strategic unification and a significant milestone in the region’s efforts to deliver more coordinated, efficient, and impactful workforce development services across Franklin County, Hampshire County, and the North Quabbin region.

“They basically have paid internships at local businesses, where the grant pays for the wages of the participants. Employers get that labor, and they also have the opportunity to expose their businesses and their career pathways to the next generation of the workforce.”

The newly merged organization aims to streamline operations and enhance services for job seekers, employers, training providers, and community partners by combining the strategic oversight and policy leadership of the Workforce Board with the direct services and employer engagement expertise of the Career Center.

The merged organization will continue to operate offices in Greenfield and Northampton; its headquarters are still in the Greenfield Corporate Center, where the two halves formerly had separate space on the same hallway but now operate out of shared space.

“We were sort of set up for this in some ways because we were already co-located; the Workforce Board used to be just across the hall,” Wilson said. “And we shared resources — besides the space, we also shared HR and IT. And we’d been working hand in hand for many years.

“But this really solidifies it, and it brings together disparate teams and disparate strategies,” she went on. “I had my own thing on the Workforce Board, and Maura had her own thing in the Career Center. We would collaborate, but it wasn’t as structured as it is now. The communication between teams is now streamlined, so we can really streamline the work. This makes it much more efficient.”

The two MassHire Franklin Hampshire divisions were both located in separate offices at Greenfield Corporate Center, and now share space — and operations — as a single entity there.

The two MassHire Franklin Hampshire divisions were both located in separate offices at Greenfield Corporate Center, and now share space — and operations — as a single entity there.

Allison van der Velden, chair of the MassHire Franklin Hampshire board of directors, agreed.

“The merger is a natural next step in the evolution of our work,” she said when the merger was announced in June. “It strengthens our ability to deliver results and ensures that public workforce dollars are used efficiently, effectively, and equitably.”

 

Early Exposure

Another example of how the merger makes sense has to do with its young adult programs, Geary said.

“There’s separate funding for three different young adult programs, major funding that we oversee. Some of that funding was directed to the Workforce Board, and some of it was available to the Career Center. But now that we’re under one roof, we have completely merged all three of those programs into one unified program.

“When they existed between the Workforce Board and other providers and the Career Center, we were not maximizing those funds,” she went on. “So there’s a lot of opportunity to integrate programs on the ground, and we weren’t able to do that before because of the artificial silos that were in place.”

Mass Hire Franklin Hampshire’s state-funded YouthWorks programs are, in fact, among its most robust offerings; the organization receives about $530,000 in funding over both a summer cycle and a year-round cycle, and serves youth from ages 14 to 25.

“For the youngest participants, we’re going into the schools during the year and setting up after-school programs or different ways to engage them so they are learning about what career pathways are available. So the earliest contact is really about career awareness,” Geary explained. Meanwhile, the second tier serves 16- to 18-year-olds with paid work experiences.

“It’s the future of workforce development — it makes us more streamlined, more efficient. I think it’s better for the customer as well, whether that’s an employer or a job seeker.”

“They basically have paid internships at local businesses, where the grant pays for the wages of the participants. Employers get that labor, and they also have the opportunity to expose their businesses and their career pathways to the next generation of the workforce.”

Young people can also access a curriculum that delivers work readiness skills, financial literacy, and other competencies needed to enter the workforce.

“And with our oldest participants in YouthWorks, we actually are paying for them to enter into training programs and get their first job,” Geary went on, giving as one example a partnership with Greenfield Community College (GCC) to help young people earn clean energy HVAC certifications.

Meanwhile, from a Workforce Board perspective, MassHire convenes employers to learn about the different needs of the region, Wilson said. “But we can also think of training opportunities, grant opportunities, how we can bring funding into the region to help support some of those needs. It’s not just connecting to the workforce, but determining how we can go about that.”

One strategy is through on-the-job (OTJ) training and registered apprenticeships.

“Both of those get money to the employer, and they are also paid training opportunities. With OJTs, we can reimburse the employer up to 50%. And we’ve been doing that for manufacturing over the past year.

“We’re starting to get into registered apprenticeships, but there’s a tax credit that could be applied to that,” Wilson added. “It really helps with retention for the employer because they’re investing in that employee. There’s a structured training program and wage boosts that are built into that. There’s mentorship. So we see a lot of positives other than just the tax incentive.”

Much of MassHire Franklin Hampshire’s funding targets workforce training in its priority industries of education, healthcare, and manufacturing, Geary explained, while helping job and career seekers find a path that works for them.

“One of the models that we’re moving toward is recognizing that most people, when they’re looking for a job, can’t afford to go to training. It’s a paid training, and that’s amazing, but most people can’t take 12 or 16 or more weeks in a free training without having an income. So we’ve been promoting, with our employers, models where people are getting paid while they’re in the training. That’s something we’re excited about.”

 

Ready to Learn

Geary noted that, when MassHire surveys employers about what they’re looking for, they often say they can give people the technical training needed to do this job, but too often, prospective employees are coming in without professional skills or soft skills — what she and her team more commonly call ‘work readiness skills.’

“So we have a workshop team here developing content that is specific to different trainings. We’ll go into a training program and deliver the work readiness workshops and make sure that we’re preparing people across multiple industries to just be ready to be good employees.”

Speaking of training, MassHire Franklin Hampshire also has a strong relationship with GCC.

“We’re really lucky that GCC is a community college that is really interested in being innovative and responsive to the employers in our region,” Geary said, adding that the college has expanded and invested in its workforce training programs on campus over the past few years.

“If you look at their website, you’ll see they have really comprehensive career pathway programs that match our priority industries and engage employers and students. So we partner with them all the time. When they have a new grant-funded training program, we help them recruit students. We help provide the work readiness.”

MassHire is also expanding its business services team that works directly with employers, she added. “We want to make sure that, when GCC has any training program ending, we have employers who are in that industry lined up to receive them. So we’re doing more events early on, helping people prepare for the employers that are going to come to a job fair that are specific to that training cohort.”

Besides key sectors like education, healthcare, and manufacturing, MassHire Franklin Hampshire also keys in on industries that are particularly relevant to its region, including clean energy, outdoor recreation, and agriculture.

“We are seeing, nationwide, a decrease in the agricultural industry. But in Massachusetts, we’re seeing a slight increase. And Franklin Hampshire holds about 20% of the state’s agricultural industry right here,” Geary said. “So we’re really looking at what we can be doing with small and mid-sized farms. It’s a lot of small businesses, so we want to have an industry sector partnership where we do some of the legwork and say, ‘what do you need? Let us help you design some strategies that will meet your workforce needs.’

In the realm of clean industry, she noted that GCC has partnered with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, which funds clean energy grants and workforce training, among other things.

“They’re really developing a comprehensive career pathway and training program, and we’re working on engaging young adults, but also the adult population, to get trained in that industry as we’re seeing more and more employers start to pop up in our region.”

It’s a region that has unique challenges in that it has the largest geography of any of the 16 workforce areas, but with relatively few residents.

“We’re serving 50 cities and towns in Franklin, Hampshire, and the North Quabbin, and a lot of it is rural. So we have fewer funds than other workforce areas that have larger populations. And some of the challenges of the rural communities that impact the workforce are the same challenges as everywhere else, like transportation and childcare, but they have a little different flavor up here,” Geary explained.

“So those are really difficult barriers to overcome when we have people trying to get to jobs over this 1,400-square-mile region, and there’s not really any transportation infrastructure to speak of.”

 

One-stop Shop

The majority of MassHire’s funding comes through the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which brings up another current challenge: the general uncertainty organizations of all kinds are feeling about federal funding.

“That’s very much up in the air. We don’t really know what’s going to happen,” Wilson said. “So coming together gives us a little more stability to be able to weather that. But it’s also setting us up for the future, no matter what. It’s the future of workforce development — it makes us more streamlined, more efficient. I think it’s better for the customer as well, whether that’s an employer or a job seeker.”

Geary said that speaks to something she hears all the time from clients on both sides.

“Once they’re engaged with our services, they all inevitably say, ‘oh my gosh, I had no idea I could get so much help by working with you. I didn’t know you existed.’ We hear that all the time, so streamlining our messaging helps with that, too. We don’t have to get into that confusing conversation — ‘you’re going to work with them over here for that, and then you’re going to come to us for this over here.’”

Instead, she said, “we can eliminate that point of confusion and just say, ‘come to MassHire Franklin Hampshire, and we’re going to help you solve your workforce needs.’”

Springfield Celebrates New Parking Garage, Activity Space Downtown

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The new garage replaces a half-century-old structure that was torn down in 2022.
Commercial Real Estate Special Coverage

On a Roll

The new garage replaces a half-century-old structure that was torn down in 2022.

The new garage replaces a half-century-old structure that was torn down in 2022.

 

As dignitaries gathered for a celebration of the recently opened Convention Center Carpark in downtown Springfield — and a ribbon cutting for the Landing, a neighboring plaza that will host gatherings, activities, and performances directly across Bruce Landon Way from the MassMutual Center — Nate Costa took it all in and considered what it means to the Springfield Thunderbirds.

“I think the Landing is going to be an extension of the arena. That’s the idea behind it,” the hockey team’s president told BusinessWest. “We’re hoping this is going to add that Yawkey Way type element to what we do here.

“It’s not going to be a drive-through street anymore,” Costa went on. “We’re just hoping this is a place that people come and congregate before games. I think we’ll be doing some food trucks and some other activations and live music — really trying to have it be an extension of what we do in our building, night after night. We want to find ways to program this space and drive people to our games and around our games.”

Those who spoke at the ceremony also drew parallels to Yawkey Way in Boston, which is packed with activity before Red Sox games, with fans eating, shopping, and having fun.

“I can see this place just lit up in a good way, with so many activities and parties,” Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno said. “And what they’re going to do is much of the stuff you’ve seen done at Fenway Park. They’re going to gear it to whatever events are going on here, so people can come out, pre- and postgame, and go to other establishments in downtown Springfield.”

Dignitaries gather to cut the ribbon for the Landing, which is nestled between the MassMutual Center and the Convention Center Carpark.

The Landing opens at a time of momentum for the MassMutual Center itself, said Sean Dolan, the facility’s general manager.

“We just concluded fiscal year 2025 with the highest revenue growth in the convention center that the building’s ever had. And we’re going into fiscal year 2026 with the highest amount of revenue on the books that the building’s ever had,” he told the assembled crowd, touting events like WWE Monday Night Raw, which descended on the arena on Sept. 15, and, of course, the Thunderbirds, who averaged 6,369 fans last season, in a bowl that seats only 6,700. Fridays and Saturdays are typically sellouts.

“The MassMutual Center is a cornerstone of Springfield’s economy — a place that drives opportunity, brings people together, and supports the growth of this entire region.”

The Landing, then, “allows us to not only program and feed off of the 220 events we do in a year, but allows us to book stand-alone events out here that serve the community, that make this a space to gather and build that pride in Springfield,” Dolan said. “Everybody that had something to do with this here, thank you so much for believing in Springfield. Thank you for making it look like it looks.”

 

A New Era Downtown

The former Civic Center Garage at Harrison and Dwight streets, built in 1971, had fallen into disrepair by the early 2020s; sections of more than one level had closed due to safety issues before the garage was closed and demolished in 2022. The new Convention Center Carpark opened to the public this past April, and construction was completed later in the spring.

The 350,000-square-foot structure includes more than 800 parking spaces, as well as electric vehicle charging stations. Unlike the former garage, which opened only onto Harrison, it features entrances onto both streets.

That development was a big deal for the Thunderbirds franchise, which had to endure multiple seasons with no garage on site.

From left, Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno credits the contributions of MCCA CEO Marcel Vernon Sr. and MassMutual Center General Manager Sean Dolan.

“It’s been a long time coming for us,” Costa told BusinessWest. “It’s been tough sledding for us getting through that, so it’s fantastic to have it open.”

The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) hosted the Aug. 27 gathering both as an official celebration of the garage and a grand opening of the Landing, an event featuring live music, food, games, and several speakers.

“The MassMutual Center is a cornerstone of Springfield’s economy — a place that drives opportunity, brings people together, and supports the growth of this entire region,” said Marcel Vernon Sr., CEO of the MCCA. “We are proud to be part of this community. The carpark and the Landing represent more than just two new facilities. They symbolize three important things: more jobs, more economic opportunity, and more vibrant, thriving downtown business activity. We are proud of these investments, but we are even more proud of the partnerships that have made them possible.”

Xiomara Albán DeLobato, an MCCA board member and vice president and chief of staff at the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council, expressed pride, as a lifelong Springfield resident, in signs of downtown progress like this development.

“The reason why this is so exciting for us is because of the amount of impact this type of development has for our region. We have direct spending in our restaurants, our hotels, our shops, our museums. They receive direct impact when visitors come to the area, when tourists come to the area, and it’s instrumental for the progression of our economy.

“When you bring thousands of people down here, they’re feeling good, vibrant, they’re having a good time, right? That means they spend money — money in your businesses, folks. And then they leave the city saying, ‘gee, you know what? I had a pretty good time.’ You can’t put a price tag on that.”

“The other piece that sometimes we don’t think about is that ripple effect that happens when we have billions of dollars that funnel into our area, into our region. It impacts our workforce, it impacts our supply chain, it impacts our transportation companies, and all of the other stakeholders that are critical to the entire ecosystem of our economy here in the region. And when that ripple effect continues to move, it impacts our schools, it impacts our parks, it impacts our neighborhoods. The hospitality and tourism industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry in the Commonwealth, and we see and feel it in Western Mass. So I’m thrilled about this.”

Sarno added that “this is important to the the business community in the city of Springfield to have this first-class parking. And here’s the other thing — when you bring people to downtown Springfield, which is a neighborhood, when you bring thousands of people down here, they’re feeling good, vibrant, they’re having a good time, right? That means they spend money — money in your businesses, folks. And then they leave the city saying, ‘gee, you know what? I had a pretty good time.’ You can’t put a price tag on that.”

 

Working Together

Sarno noted that the $80 million project — including the garage, the Landing, and other improvements — is a smart investment of state and local funds.

“There have been a number of naysayers, within the city of Springfield and in Massachusetts, who say, ‘what do you expect from Springfield?’ And I’ve always said, ‘why not Springfield?’ And this is another project under my administration team, working with the state, that they say would never get done. But it’s gotten done.”

State Rep. Carlos González agreed, touting the project as forward momentum for the city. “We have so much to celebrate, and yes, we have some issues that we have to resolve, and we’re doing that on a daily basis, but with the bright stars like MGM and so many others, the hospitality industry, we’re going to continue to succeed here in the city of Springfield.”

Albán DeLobato emphasized the importance of the city and state working in tandem.

“This type of development — and this is just the first of many that we’re going to see — is successful because of this local and state partnership. We cannot make this happen without the stakeholders at the table together, being thoughtful with their decision making, being able to forecast how this is going to impact our economy at the present and in the future.”

Hadley Faces Challenges, Decisions

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Community Spotlight Special Coverage

Community Spotlight

Paragus Strategic IT has become a regional success story from its Route 9 headquarters in Hadley.

Leaders and business owners in Hadley know the value of Route 9, which accounts for the vast majority of non-farm commerce in this community otherwise dominated by agriculture. Roughly 100,000 cars traverse Russell Street every day, but they’ve been slowed — and business owners have been frustrated — by a massive project to widen and reconstruct about 2.5 miles of the thoroughfare.

But relief in in sight, as the project is expected to wind down by next spring, and most agree the end result will be worth the trouble.

At the same time, Hadley residents are also being asked to make tough decisions about the town’s budget and its impact on their property tax bills.

Specifically, they’re being asked to consider a Proposition 2½ override. Proposition 2½ is a 1980 Massachusetts law that limits the amount of property tax revenue a municipality can raise. Each year, a community’s levy limit can increase by 2.5% of the previous year’s limit in addition to added value from new construction, renovations, and other property improvements.

To raise taxes above this limit, a community must seek voter approval through an override. By passing an override, the town can raise taxes beyond the automatic 2.5% annual increase and new growth allowed under Proposition 2½. This results in a permanent increase to the levy limit, meaning the approved amount becomes part of the tax base in all future years.

Ed Augustus

Ed Augustus

“This funding round is about more than bricks and mortar, it’s about people.”

As BusinessWest went to press on this issue, a Sept. 9 town meeting loomed in Hadley to determine whether two measures make it to a Sept. 29 special election: a $2.25 million general override to cover various operating expenses for town and school departments, and a $300,000 capital stabilization override to pay for various assets and infrastructure.

The larger measure stems from several budget needs in town, including $579,435 for an around-the-clock fire department; $824,404 for increased operational expenses, including town and school budgets and a mid-year health insurance increase; and $846,785 to cover free cash that was used to balance the budget approved by a town meeting in May.

Should both measures pass, the town’s property tax rate would increase from $11.63 to $13.57 per $1,000 valuation. That would mean a $679 difference in the annual tax bill for a house assessed at $350,000, $873 for a $450,000 home, and $1,067 for a $550,000 home.

Then there’s the search — currently paused — for a new town administrator. Carolyn Brennan stepped down from the role in December after more than four years in the chair, and Police Chief Michael Mason has been serving in that role on an interim basis. In June, the Hadley Select Board postponed the search for a permanent replacement after members decided not to offer the job to either of the two finalists — Nate Malloy, an Amherst senior planner, and Nick Caccamo, Williamsburg’s town administrator — who conducted in-depth interviews.

“There’s work that needs to be done on the Russell School. However, it is a strong building, one that is ripe for redevelopment, and one that we think should have a future in this town, from our perspective.”

Select Board members cited the Proposition 2½ matters and the looming town meeting as circumstances making it difficult to focus on hiring a permanent town administrator, and determined to resume the effort soon. In all, the search committee reviewed 16 applications and interviewed five semifinalists before narrowing the list to two and, ultimately, turning both down.

 

No Place Like Home

Affordable housing remains an issue in Hadley, as it does in most communities in Western Mass., and while it’s far from a broad solution, one state-funded project aims to make a dent.

On July 31, the Healey-Driscoll administration announced $182 million in low-income housing tax credits and subsidies to 21 rental housing developments that will create or preserve 1,245 homes across Massachusetts.

Paul Kozub

Paul Kozub

“This anniversary is not just a celebration of V-One’s growth, but also of the passion and vision that have driven us since day one.”

One of those projects will be the EconoLodge redevelopment in Hadley, the adaptive reuse of a closed hotel as permanent supportive housing. The nonprofit sponsor is Valley Community Development Corp. The completed project will include 50 units for individuals or small households earning less than 60% of area median income (AMI), with 31 units further reserved for individuals or small households earning less than 30% of AMI. The completed project will primarily serve homeless individuals.

These awards were made possible in part through the Affordable Homes Act and by Gov. Maura Healey’s tax cuts package, which raised the low-income housing tax credit to $60 million annually, a $20 million increase that allows the state to support more affordable housing production.

“Our administration is working on all fronts to build more reasonably priced housing and lower costs for everyone,” Healey said. “These awards are creating thousands of apartments that people can actually afford. This is helping seniors age independently and close to their families and helping workers afford to live in the communities where their jobs are.”

Other Western Mass. projects receiving funding from the program include Ferry Street, a new construction project in Easthampton, which will offer 96 units on a site including former mill buildings; South Holyoke Homes Phase 3, a new construction family housing project in the Paper City that will offer 40 total units; and Eagle Mill Phase II, a new construction project adjacent to Eagle Mill Phase I, a mill conversion project now underway in Lee; Phase II will offer 44 units.

“This funding round is about more than bricks and mortar, it’s about people,” Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus said. “Whether it’s a formerly homeless individual in Boston, a senior in Topsfield, or a working family in Easthampton, the homes we’re supporting will change lives.”

In Hadley, housing is one option being considered for the iconic, 131-year-old Russell School, which has been vacant since 2015. A reuse study has identified several alternatives, including keeping the property as a municipal building and renovating it and creating a public-private partnership.

Pulse Café, a popular vegan restaurant, is among the many eateries located along Route 9 in Hadley.

This past spring, Architectural Heritage Foundation (AHF) Boston, working with Allegrone Companies of Lenox, completed a report on the 1894 building at 131 Russell St. That feasibility study determined that the structure can be rehabilitated into micro apartments, office space, or classrooms and art studios for less than $10 million. The study and resulting 24-page report were funded by the town and the Community Preservation Act.

“There’s work that needs to be done on the Russell School. However, it is a strong building, one that is ripe for redevelopment, and one that we think should have a future in this town, from our perspective,” said Jake Sanders, project executive for the nonprofit AHF Boston.

Hadley at a Glance

Year Incorporated: 1661
Population: 5,325
Area: 24.6 square miles
County: Hampshire
Residential Tax Rate: $11.63
Commercial Tax Rate: $11.63
Median Household Income: $51,851
Median Family Income: $61,897
Type of Government: Open Town Meeting, Board of Selectmen
Largest Employers: Super Stop & Shop; Evaluation Systems Group Pearson; Elaine Center at Hadley; Home Depot; Lowe’s Home Improvement
* Latest information available

“In our research, we have found the Russell School is an ideal candidate for housing or a community use,” he added, noting that options range from active use to repairs to demolition. “We have a path forward for the town.”

 

Something to Celebrate

Meanwhile, business owners along Russell Street continue to anticipate the finish line of the road project — and they are myriad, from law firms, restaurants, and car dealerships to big box stores at Hampshire Mall and Mountain Farms, to well-established local success stories like Paragus Strategic IT and V-One Vodka, which, in fact, just marked 20 years since opening its doors in Hadley.

“This anniversary is not just a celebration of V-One’s growth, but also of the passion and vision that have driven us since day one,” owner Paul Kozub said.

And while Hadley has plenty on its plate, grappling with budgetary realities, leadership discussions, housing, and more, it’s also a town on the move — and hoping to move a little more quickly down Route 9 next spring.

Andrea Bertheaud

By
Healthcare Heroes

Healthcare Educator

Clinical Assistant Professor, Elms College

She’s Raising Up a Young Generation of Nurses with Empathy, Conviction

Andrea Bertheaud

Andrea Bertheaud

 

Andrea Bertheaud’s early career in nursing found her in challenging settings — a year on an oncology unit followed by 15 more in critical care, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

After retreating from the field for a dozen years to raise her kids, she went back to work in a nursing home in 1999, then decided to go back to school for her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. And that’s when she found her true calling.

“One of my classmates was a psych nurse, and I did a project with her at Roca,” Bertheaud recalled, referring to the successful violence-prevention program. “She was so inspirational. I saw her work with this clientele; there were maybe 15 young men between the ages of 18 and 26, and I saw how she brought them in and controlled the room. And I said, ‘that’s the skill I want.’”

So she became certified in mental health and eventually worked in that field at Providence Behavioral Health Hospital and Baystate Health. And those experiences sparked in her a desire to teach others.

“It was mainly psychiatric patients, a lot of co-morbidities with substance use. And patients were frequently recurring, so I got to know them over and over through a lot of admissions. And I felt like we weren’t supporting them enough in the community,” Bertheaud said. “I also found there was a lot of stigma toward mental health, which I have to admit I had. And I found it was a different skill set. In the ICU, in an open heart or trauma, that’s a skill. But being a mental health nurse is a different skill set. And it kind of called to me.”

Today, Bertheaud teaches mental health and population health to aspiring nurses in the Elms College School of Nursing, preparing them — and, many times, inspiring them — to work in challenging settings.

“A lot of it is communication skills,” she explained. “If you want to be safe, it’s not about controlling the situation; it’s communicating and getting the situation opened up so that everybody is safe. Even a psychotic person, they’re not intent on hurting themselves or others. They’re intent on controlling the situation through their perception. I have to understand that before I can approach them safely. And a lot of nurses don’t quite understand that.

“I hear all the time about nurses getting hurt because we want to save the situation,” she went on. “We want to run in like the firemen or policemen, and we have no protection, and we are not taught how to assess the situation. Now I never run in a room, no matter what’s happening. I’m looking around. I’m seeing where everybody’s at. I’m reading the room. And those are skills I learned as a psych nurse.”

Population health, on the other hand, is more of a global view of nursing. “Instead of just looking at your community, it’s stepping back a little bit and looking at the difference between the European healthcare system versus the United States healthcare system versus healthcare in Africa or Asia, and what works for them and what doesn’t, and what are their health outcomes,” she explained. “One example is maternity health — we have really low numbers in maternity health compared to a lot of developed countries in the world. Why is that? Those are the questions we look at in population health.”

“One of my classmates was a psych nurse, and I did a project with her at Roca. She was so inspirational. I saw her work with this clientele; there were maybe 15 young men between the ages of 18 and 26, and I saw how she brought them in and controlled the room. And I said, ‘that’s the skill I want.’”

In the decade Bertheaud has been at Elms College, not only teaching students but helping them gain valuable experience in community health settings locally, she has become “the face of Elms College nursing to many community members,” said Julie Beck, dean of the School of Nursing, who nominated Bertheaud as a Healthcare Hero.

“In her courses, Andrea synthesizes the physical and mental needs of the clients that she cares for. She utilizes humor, patience, skill, education, and wisdom when teaching her classes and leads by example when working with clients out in the field. Andrea serves as a Healthcare Hero not only to community members, but also as a nurse educator here at Elms College.”

 

Behind the Locked Doors

She does so with raw honesty and a belief in hands-on experience, especially when it comes to the challenging settings young nurses may face in the mental-health world.

“Last year was the first year I was able to get every single student into inpatient, which was really important, and which was a request of the students because they may never see the inside of a psychiatric unit, an acute locked ward, unless they have experience through school. It’s a completely different kind of unit. I’ve had nurses that have been teaching or practicing for 50 years, and they’ll say, ‘what happens behind those closed doors?’

Andrea Bertheaud (right) participates in a service trip to Jamaica with Mustard Seed Communities.

“I’ve actually invited people in the hospital I worked at, in administration, for three or four hours on my shift doing direct care and have them follow me so they’ll understand what a psychiatric nurse does and how we approach people, how we set boundaries,” she went on. “And they have really interesting questions because, again, they don’t know the skill. I didn’t learn it in ICU.

“So this is a very different skill set,” she went on. “I try to get as many students exposed to that and help them destigmatize that population. They come in terrified the first shift. One group was panicked, and I had to hold them off from going onto the unit because they were so nervous. I had to sit there and talked about their feelings until I had them settled enough so I could go onto the floor — because you don’t want to bring that kind of energy onto a psychiatric ward. They have enough energy and dysfunction as it is.”

But while teaching safety and boundaries to students, Bertheaud also emphasizes empathy and humanity.

“I want them to realize, ‘that could be me. I’m one car accident away from having a traumatic brain injury. Then my whole world would change, and this is how I would act.’ Elms students tend to be very, very smart, but because of their background, some of them — not all, but some of them — don’t have exposure to people who have had challenges.

“So I try to work on teamwork,” she added. “I’ve worked with some of the best teams in nursing, where I called it a symphony — all of a sudden everybody’s getting into their spot, and everybody knows what they’re doing to do. It’s just like music, and we can handle anything that comes through that door. But it takes skill. It takes working together with people who are very, very different.”

“In her courses, Andrea synthesizes the physical and mental needs of the clients that she cares for. She utilizes humor, patience, skill, education, and wisdom when teaching her classes and leads by example when working with clients out in the field.”

Bertheaud was also recently certified in bioethics and medical humanities, having taken classes with Dr. Peter DePergola, one of the region’s foremost medical ethicists and an associate professor at Elms.

“It’s about understanding the history, how we got here, and understanding how we can be more ethical,” she said. “Nurses are generally ethical — some of them not so much, but I think we’re at an advantage because we work with patients one on one, so we want better outcomes. I think when you get up to administration, that’s where we drop the ball — when you go up and you’re away from those patients; you’re not doing direct care. That’s when we get into making decisions that aren’t always outcome-based.

“In the last 40 years, I’ve seen healthcare become very monetized and profit-minded,” she added. “So I want to kind of instill that back in and have these young nurses challenged in this way. I want them to be able to see the bigger picture and look for the best outcomes and really be ethical nurses, challenge the system.”

And, again, challenging the system means understanding it, through real-world experience, from very early on.

Andrea Bertheaud with some of the medical simulation ‘babies’ used to demonstrate everything from fetal alcohol syndrome to shaken baby syndrome.
Staff Photo

“I think, in leadership, we’re focused on degrees, which is helpful. I’m all for education, but I think we need to incorporate experience a little bit into it. I’ve seen nurses that come into nursing school going, ‘I want to be an NP,’ ‘I want to be a DNP,’ ‘I want to be a provider.’ And I’m like, you’ve got to walk before you run. You’ve got to know all these things before you can get to the next level.”

 

Outside the College Walls

Bertheaud’s impact extends well beyond the walls of Elms College; she has participated in service trips outside the U.S. and regularly teaches parents in the local community about any number of issues, often employing medical simulation ‘babies’ from the college’s expansive collection of lifelike sims.

“In the community, we can go in and teach a group of parents how easy it is to get shaken baby syndrome. And then we have a fetal alcohol syndrome baby [sim], and we can talk about those characteristics compared to a normal baby and what that looks like. And we can talk about brain development.”

She involves students in community health as well. “Last year, I had 86 students in 20 different placements. We were in high schools and Head Start and Square One, and I’ve been to Roca, you name it. If they let me in and it’s challenging, I’m like, ‘oh, I’ll put a student there.’ I have students at the jail. I bring in six students, and we do that two days a week.

“I’m in the community, and we’re doing teaching at senior citizen centers, we’ll do high blood pressure screenings, we’ll do healthy eating and sleeping for older people, which is a problem, fall prevention, you name it.”

As for her mental health focus, not many students were choosing that field as their entry into nursing, “but now I’m seeing a lot more. Especially after COVID, people have realized that mental health and population health are two things that are really important. I think students can be so focused on learning how to put in an IV and take blood pressure that they forget that there are bigger things.”

For Bertheaud, teaching has been that bigger thing, in many ways.

“When you’re a bedside nurse, you’re affecting your patient. Or maybe you’re precepting one nurse every couple months. But when I’m teaching, I can affect 60 or 90 students in a semester. And then I get to see them the next year and see how they’ve grown.

“I like to see them after they graduate,” she added. “I’m like, ‘oh my God, you’re going be somebody.’ The energy of a 20- or 30-year-old is just so cool. They’re unstoppable.”

For never stopping until she found her place of greatest impact, Andrea Bertheaud certainly earns the title of Healthcare Hero.

Areliz Barbosa

By
Healthcare Heroes

Community Health

Clinical Assistant Professor and Senior Project Coordinator, Bay Path University

She’s a Fighter and Advocate Who Helps Others Overcome and Thrive

Areliz Barbosa

Areliz Barbosa

 

Areliz Barbosa says she was born a fighter.

“My midwife, her name was Olivia. And my mom was screaming at the top of her lungs, and she had to get on top of my mom and literally forced me out before they grabbed the forceps to pull me out,” she related. “My mom was so grateful to her that she gave me her middle name.”

It’s a name, she said, that derives from the olive tree, and Barbosa said it also has connotations of strong roots — and it’s a middle name she has often reflected on.

“In order for her to thrive and survive, you need strong roots. And in order for me to be able to overcome the things I’ve overcome is because of the roots I’ve been able to make here in Western Mass. and my mentors and people that I’ve been able to connect with.”

While she’s a professor at Bay Path University and juggles many other roles as well (more on those later), Barbosa also recently founded Olivia’s Mission LLC, a social impact business dedicated to advancing health equity.

“I often say, like Mother Teresa, ‘I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.’ It’s really about investing in other people and helping them,” she told BusinessWest. “I also am a plant lady, and a lot of teachers or professors use the analogy of planting a seed so people can grow into their full potential. So these are just little seeds that I’m planting to better serve our world and inspire the next generation.”

Her specific role at Bay Path is clinical assistant professor and senior project coordinator of SAMHSA initiatives, she explained, referring to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

“In order for her to thrive and survive, you need strong roots. And in order for me to be able to overcome the things I’ve overcome is because of the roots I’ve been able to make here in Western Mass. and my mentors and people that I’ve been able to connect with.”

“I work within our physician assistant program, which sits in our Health Science department. I help develop a curriculum that’s focused on substance use disorder, multiple pathways to recovery, harm reduction, co-occurring disorders, and addressing the stigmas around substances.”

She also has an adjunct role in workforce development at Holyoke Community College (HCC), providing support and training to community health workers.

“Areliz co-develops interdisciplinary curriculum focused on public health, mental health, and substance use. She mentors future healthcare professionals through a lens of cultural humility and community engagement, preparing them to meet today’s complex health challenges with compassion and competence,” said Terry DeVito, academic dean in the School of Health & Natural Sciences at Bay Path, one of an impressive five individuals who nominated Barbosa as a Healthcare Hero.

“Areliz’s body of work reflects a lifetime of achievement rooted in resilience, faith, and service,” she added. “Her career has empowered thousands, not just through direct care or education, but by inspiring others to lead, advocate, and believe in their own capacity to heal.”

 

Up from the Ashes

Barbosa’s career began 28 years ago as a CNA at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y. But she said the experiences that shaped what she wanted to do with her life began much earlier.

“I identify with lived experience. And what I mean by that is, I’ve experienced racial trauma and physical, mental, and sexual abuse. So a lot of the things that I do now in my roles is advocating and bringing that into classroom settings, into the curriculum, to better strengthen students’ knowledge, but also improve the system.”

For the past 23 years, Areliz Barbosa (second from left) has coordinated a program that provides free Thanksgiving meals to people who need them.

DeVito agreed. “What distinguishes Areliz as a community health hero is her ability to connect with individuals while transforming systems,” she wrote. “Whether she is guiding students, designing wellness models, or speaking truth in clinical settings, she brings both empathy and strategy to every initiative she leads.”

Barbosa said it’s personally rewarding to bring a lived experience perspective into the classroom.

“I feel like my story is a story of resilience, when we choose not to give up. And it’s not easy to break generational poverty. But being that person that I wish I had growing up, that gives me the reward. And also knowing what I’ve been able to overcome, there are lessons in there — multiple lessons to be shared so people can learn. It doesn’t define who I am today, but there are lessons to be learned from it.”

She intends to share those lessons in a number of ways outside the classroom, starting with a memoir she’s writing titled There Is a Purpose for Your Pain. She’s also speaking at the annual Rise Up conference, taking place on Oct. 9 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.

Her lived experience as a trauma survivor — not only as a child, but as an adult; she came to Western Mass. from New York due to a domestic violence situation — also informed the creation of Olivia’s Mission, which aims to create a safe, empowering space for women through peer support groups and specialized training opportunities on behavioral health education; grief, loss, and healing; public health core competencies; family planning; and more.

“I am a domestic violence survivor, and I want to use my story to inspire other women,” she said. “Even local businesses have started to reach out to me — maybe a customer needs help, or is experiencing a crisis, and they’re asking, ‘can you help him with some resources?’ So, again, it’s a resource to anyone that needs help.”

As DeVito put it, “through Olivia’s Mission, Areliz collaborates with faith-based organizations, healthcare institutions, and academic programs to design wellness solutions rooted in cultural responsiveness and community empowerment.”

“I know what it’s like to be homeless, having to sleep on a park bench. So I never forget where I came from. It’s just having that heart of gratitude that I was able to overcome a lot of these things and serve my community.”

But Barbosa is active in the community in other ways as well. As a member of the New England Public Health Training Center advisory committee, she advocates for the voices of community health workers and calls for inclusive representation across all levels of public and healthcare systems.

She also provides expert insight to medical students through several initiatives, including Baystate Health’s Wellness on Wheels, where she emphasizes trust building between providers and patients; Baystate’s Population-based Urban and Rural Community Health committee, where she contributes to culturally informed panel discussions; and Bay Path’s Health Resources and Services Administration advisory board, where she shares strategies for culturally humble engagement and serving diverse populations.

She also just created Healing Through Motherhood, a support group for mothers of adult children (her own son is 23). Participants, she explained, will include mothers facing the challenge of supporting an adult child (or children) through trauma, unhealthy behaviors, or emotional distress. Here, they can access a safe space to connect, share, and heal together, while building community and support and navigating life transitions that aren’t often talked about.

In addition, for the past 23 years, Barbosa has coordinated a Thanksgiving outreach that provides free meals to individuals.

“When I started it from my home, we served 34 meals. Last year, we were able to serve over 1,000 meals,” she said, noting that, this November, the HCC MGM Culinary Arts Institute will collaborate on the project. “It’s just getting bigger and better.”

This is, in fact, one more way Barbosa’s lived experience informs her work today.

“I know what it’s like to be homeless, having to sleep on a park bench. So I never forget where I came from. It’s just having that heart of gratitude that I was able to overcome a lot of these things and serve my community.”

 

Matters of Perspective

That’s a lot of roles, for sure, and it’s not even the whole list of what Barbosa does. For example, she also mentors emerging entrepreneurs through EforAll Holyoke, and as the Massachusetts coordinator for Power 4 Puerto Rico, she champions just recovery and economic self-sufficiency for the island, demonstrating another way in which public health intersects with national policy, disaster resilience, and social justice.

In talking about her memoir and her upcoming appearance at Rise Up, Barbosa was reflective on the ways in which she has turned hardship and trauma into a tool for helping others.

“I’m just excited to be where I’m at, to be able to overcome the challenges that I have overcome and be a productive individual, able to contribute to my community.

“It all comes back to our perspective,” she added. “How do we define success? For me, it’s having a sound mind, emotional intelligence, being able to connect with people, building community, and overcoming the trauma, the anxiety, the depression. It’s so rewarding to be able to inspire others so they, too, can overcome these things with the right support and the right environment.”

Areliz Barbosa says her work is rooted in faith, empathy, gratitude, and resilience.

Barbosa also talks enthusiastically about her Christian faith, which she said began when she was pregnant with her son.

“That’s really where my healing started. I knew, when I moved here, it was my second chance. I knew that I didn’t want my son to go through what I went through. I wanted to change. I wanted better for him.”

And she also wanted to give back, as evidenced by the Thanksgiving outreach that began shortly after.

“I remember telling my mom, ‘I want to do this — it’s just something that I feel was put in my heart.’ I didn’t have a car, and I remember putting all the meals in a little warmer in my son’s Eddie Bauer stroller and walking with him. That was the year it snowed a lot.”

Her faith is, in fact, deeply veined with both service and empathy, something she’s quick to explain at a time when many Christians are at odds with certain marginalized populations. “I believe in respecting people’s autonomy and choice, and it’s important for me to vocalize that in spaces where I have opportunities to be, because there are a lot of people being targeted who identify with the LGBT+ community.”

Add it all up, and the picture that emerges from Barbosa’s life is one of an inspiring — and very busy — community leader who, as DeVito put it, blends lived experience with academic and professional expertise to bring dignity, healing, and justice to underserved populations.

“Areliz has consistently built bridges between healthcare and the communities it must serve. Olivia’s Mission stands as a model for how community-led health promotion can be both effective and sustainable,” she added. “For her visionary leadership, tireless advocacy, and enduring impact, Areliz Barbosa is a true Healthcare Hero. She doesn’t just serve the community — she uplifts, empowers, and transforms it.”