Mike Simolo admits he’s not the handiest person in the world, and has developed a decent sense of humor about that subject, especially regarding his work with Habitat for Humanity.
“You don’t want me on the build site,” he said. “If I do show up there, they say, ‘go paint in the corner over there, and we’ll paint over it after you leave.’”
Such remarks, real or imagined, don’t bother him, because there are many ways to contribute to Habitat without wielding a paintbrush, and he’s found them — everything from fund-raising to serving on the committee that hired the current director; from strategic planning to rewriting policies and procedures.
“It’s a great board and incredibly rewarding work,” he said of Habitat. “It’s an incredible difference you’re making in someone’s life; you’re taking some of these families from very poor living conditions and providing them with a home that they can afford. It’s a step up, not a handout, and that’s very appealing to me.”
Comments like those make it clear that Simolo, an attorney with Springfield-based law firm Robinson Donovan, chooses his work within the community carefully. “It has to be something I’m passionate about,” he said, adding that this description certainly applies to his latest assignment serving on the board of Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society; he has two miniature schnauzers, Obi and Hobbes, and is a serious dog lover.
Finding time for community work is somewhat challenging, but Simolo makes the time, while spending the most of what’s left building a law practice that specializes in estate planning, administration, and business. A graduate of Hobart College and Cornell Law School, he started with a small firm in Amherst called Brown, Hart & Kaplan, and eventually became a partner there. His move to Robinson Donovan has him doing more complex work and positions him to grow his client list. Overall, he believes he’s in the right place at the right time, and in the right specialty — estate planning.
“It’s an interesting time to be in estate planning,” he said. “If you look at the statistics about how much money is going to be passed from one generation to the next, it’s a staggering number, and it all has to be done right.”
— George O’Brien
Danielle Klein-Williams has been taking pictures since she was a child.
“I’ve always been really fascinated with the ability to capture memories that will last a lifetime,” she said, recalling how she was inspired by a photo album that her mother received from close friends after her grandfather died. “It had photographs going back to when my grandfather was in the Navy. These black-and-white photographs told my whole family history. It made an impression on me.”
Soon after that, her parents bought her a camera for Christmas, and she dove headlong into taking pictures, learning about photography, and attending summer camps devoted to the craft. “I decided it was something I wanted to pursue after high school. My parents were definitely leery — ‘you’ll never be able to support yourself’ — but I made it work.”
But not right away. After high school, she trained at the Hallmark Institute of Photography in Turners Falls, then launched Dani Fine Photography with her husband in 1999.
“I was only 19. As with every business, it was hard to get started,” she said, adding that the first seven years were a struggle, with little profit to put back into the company; marketing consisted of delivering flyers door to door. “We did a lot of work for free; we wanted to build our portfolio and get our name out there.”
The enterprise eventually grew, however, and Klein-Williams started focusing more on event and wedding photography. The business now employs eight people, including four photographers, and has won a number of awards, including being voted “Best of Wedding Photographers” by The Knot, and landing on the cover of Connecticut Bride. Meanwhile, over the past couple of years, she has cultivated a niche in boudoir photography.
Klein-Williams is staying busy in other ways as well, donating time, money, and photography services to a host of causes, including the Easthampton Learning Foundation, the Assoc. for Community Living, the United Way, the Susan B. Coleman Foundation, the Shade Foundation, the Hot Chocolate Run, Stepping Out for Autism, the Cancer Connection, Safe Passage, Best Buddies Massachusetts, and more.
“Getting involved in local charities is a great way to give back to the community,” she said, adding that they inspire her. “They’re people who are trying to make a difference, and they really know the definition of hard work, so it’s great to work with them.”
Director of Psychology, Bay Path College; President and Founder, Angels Take Flight, age 31
As a licensed clinician working with children who have experienced loss and trauma, Tamara Blake knows about the big needs in troubled kids’ lives. But one day, she recognized a smaller, but still significant, need that she could help fill — literally.
In September 2010, while working at a transitional children’s home in Springfield, Blake saw kids getting picked up, and one had his belongings in a trash bag. “I said, ‘hey, wait a minute, I have a piece of luggage in my car.’ So I ran out, and we switched all the items from the trash bag to the piece of luggage. The face of the child was elated. You could see the posture change, the smile. I thought, that’s really, really easy to do.”
And she immediately wanted to do it on a larger scale. “That day, I created an e-mail, a flyer, and the name Angels Take Flight.” Within two months, she had gathered enough luggage for every child in the house for one year. With kids transitioning in and out every 14 to 45 days, that amounted to hundreds of pieces.
The nonprofit enterprise has been steadily growing ever since. “It became my goal to reach out to other homes, and now whoever has a need, whoever asks us, gets the luggage,” Blake said. “We give away thousands of pieces of luggage for multiple agencies, multiple families.”
In addition to soliciting donations and grants, Angels Take Flight conducts two major fund-raisers each year, a 5K run in the spring and a comedy show in the winter. Having connected with people across the country interested in the program, Blake believes her enterprise could go national. “I think it’s going to happen rather quickly — within the course of a couple of years.”
In addition to her other roles, Blake is an educator, starting out as a part-time teacher at Bay Path College, which hired her as director of Psychology for its one-day program in 2012. She’s also working to develop another nonprofit, Girls Will Shine, which will empower girls through the performing arts and media.
“I always knew I wanted to help people,” Blake said of the many facets of her professional life. “I just wanted to be that guide for people, to help them out any way I could.”
President, Click Workspace; Manager, River Valley Investors; Co-founder, Valley Venture Mentors, age 37
It was a gift from his mother.
That might be motivation enough for Paul Silva to wear the bright yellow ‘rubber duckie’ tie that takes a small but increasingly significant role within his wardrobe. But he has other reasons — or at least one big one.
“Whenever my students are having a graduation ceremony or they’re presenting at a competition, I’ll wear this tie, and I usually have a rubber duckie with me, and I squeeze the duck,” he said. “It’s meant to relieve students’ stress; if the guy in front is wearing a rubber duck tie, how bad can it be?”
Silva has had to pull the tie from the closet more often in recent years, as his responsibilities, and business cards, within the broad realm of entrepreneurship and venture capital multiply. Currently, he is the president of the incubator and co-working space in Northampton known as Click Workspace. He calls it “an office without a boss.” He’s also manager of the River Valley Investors (RVI) angel-investor network and co-founder of the Valley Venture Mentors (VVM) entrepreneurship-mentoring program. He also advises the UMass Amherst Entrepreneurship Initiative and the Smith College Draper Business Plan Competition. Last fall, wearing his now-famous tie, he was emcee for the inaugural pitch contest at the Western Mass. Business Expo.
And while this father of two young girls carries a rubber duck with him to a host of events, Silva is quite serious about what he does, and he summons words and phrases from his college work in computational physics, such as ‘critical mass,’ to describe how the region has made strides to inspire entrepreneurship and then keep young business owners in Western Mass.
Summing things up with more humor, though, he said some have called him the “romantic comedy of entrepreneurship.”
“I’m at the colleges, I’m at the intro, where boy meets girl, someone has an idea and meets a business partner, and they start to explore it,” he explained. “They go to VVM to revamp their idea, and then they go to RVI, and if it all works out, they get investors, they get married. Then the hard work starts, and I’m not involved anymore.”
Until he reaches into the closet for the tie again.
— George O’Brien
That’s the name that’s been assigned to projects that bring 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century buildings into the 21st century, at least when it comes to energy efficiency and ‘green’ practices. And that adjective ‘deep’ means that these endeavors go much further than conventional energy retrofits, and they achieve far greater energy savings.
Such retrofits have become a growing component of the portfolio for Easthampton-based Beyond Green Construction, a venture that founder and owner Sean Jeffords, the highest scorer in this year’s 40 Under Forty competition, has positioned for solid growth as demand continues to soar for reduced greenhouse-gas emissions and more clean-energy production for both residential and commercial buildings.
“I have a passion for wanting to be able to give homeowners options in the new landscape we live in, where we’re trying to reduce energy consumption,” said Jeffords, who has long had a fascination with historic-building restoration, and thus opted to focus his company’s energies on the huge inventory of older buildings rather than new construction.
“There’s a huge opportunity when it comes to the existing infrastructure,” he told BusinessWest. “We’ve got a lot of old Colonials around here, and people are spending tons of money shivering with multiple sweaters on. They don’t know what they can do, and many times there are inherent mold problems at the same time. We can give them a healthier, more efficient home.”
Jeffords’ growing reputation has earned him some airtime on the Discovery Channel’s Renovation Nation, among many other media outlets, and he’s taken home several awards, including the Green Giant Award from the local chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. But he said his greatest reward is helping home and business owners find solutions to their energy and air-quality programs and become much more green and energy-efficient in the process.
And while such work is his business, it is also his passion, and he is eager to share his knowledge within the community. He partnered with Greenfield Community College in 2008, for example, to spearhead the development of the Western Mass. Green Consortium, an organization focused on connecting tradespeople, homeowners, business owners, and municipalities to new building-science information and networking opportunities.
Jeffords’ most recent voluntary focus is developing a trades alliance called ProjectRetroFIT, an envisioned partner to the NorthEast Sustainable Energy Assoc., advocating for high-performing buildings, while acting as a platform and resource association for tradespeople.
— George O’Brien
Associate Attorney, Doherty, Wallace, Pillsbury & Murphy, P.C., age 39
bMichael Schneider studied theology and political philosophy as an undergraduate, and considered heading to divinity school for his master’s studies.
Eventually, though, “I didn’t think some of the work was for me,” he said. “I was happy with the education, and I really enjoyed learning about that field, but I didn’t enjoy the prospect of writing those books. I decided I wanted to work with people a little more.”
So he switched gears in favor of law school, and is now an associate attorney with Doherty, Wallace, Pillsbury & Murphy, with a general business practice that encompasses everything from zoning and permitting in commercial real estate to mergers and acquisitions, especially in the precision-manufacturing field.
“We did two fairly large deals in 2012 that involved European buyers,” he recalled. “That was a lot of fun; it gives you an opportunity to punch above your weight class. In a Chicago or D.C. law firm, there might be 10 or 12 people on a team for that project; here, there’s one or two of us.”
In addition, Schneider was the lead attorney for the permitting and financial work for the Sisters of St. Joseph senior residences at Mont Marie in Holyoke.
“I enjoy getting people over the goal line on things that are difficult or complex, but ultimately very rewarding for them,” he said. “It’s a pretty intimate relationship, and we help them do some major things in their life. And it’s satisfying to help facilitate that with someone.”
Schneider enjoys helping people outside of work as well, including serving on the Longmeadow Conservation Commission and as vice president of the Children’s Chorus of Springfield. “This great group is in its seventh year,” he said, noting that it fills — or at least begins to fill — a serious need in Springfield, where fewer than half of grade-school students have access to music education in their curriculum.
“The kids in this chorus come from about 25 different schools,” he continued. “Countless studies show that kids with access to music education do better in school. My mother is a teacher, and my brother is an opera singer, so I have a lot of respect for it. Music education was something I took for granted, and to help fill that gap now is important.”
Owner, Hurst & Crane Investments, LLC; Springfield City Councilor, age 35
Justin Hurst hasn’t exactly traveled a straight line to his current career.
First, he spent about 10 years in education, teaching English at Bridge Academy Alternative High School before moving to the Springfield High School of Science & Technology. Later, he earned his CAGS from UMass Amherst and went into administrative work, becoming the coordinator and later the director of Springfield’s Striving Readers Adolescent Literacy Initiative.
All the while, he was attending Western New England College School of Law at night, passing the bar in 2006. “But I was doing what I was passionate about,” he said. “The students were the driving force behind why I continued to teach for so long. It was a different challenge every day.”
But eventually, he found a different passion that would consume his time. He and a partner invested in a couple of houses, and that eventually became the enterprise known as Hurst & Crane Investments.
“What I love most is I that get to get dirty and use my hands,” he said. “I’m not one of those people who buys a property and hires someone to rehab it; I’m a hands-on guy, and I like to do a lot of the work myself.”
Having established deep roots in the city, Hurst eventually became interested in local politics and ran for Springfield City Council. He fell short on his first attempt, but in his second try, last fall, he was the top vote getter. “I love it,” he said. “In a classroom, you might impact 100 kids. But every single day as a city councilor, you have 150,000 residents to think about.”
Family is important to Hurst, who posed for his 40 Under Forty photo alongside his father, Frederick Hurst Sr. — publisher of the Point of View community newspaper — and his son, Justin Jr., to symbolize Springfield’s bright past, present, and future. Indeed, he and his wife, Denise, the first married couple to be named to the 40 Under Forty in the same year, are both vocal believers in their city’s future.
“I want to attract young professionals back to this city,” he said. “A lot of kids my age didn’t make it, or they made it out, but never came back. I think it’s imperative to do whatever we can to bring people back to the city.”
— Joseph Bednar
President and CEO, the Creative Strategy Agency Inc., age 29
October 2010. This was a time of extreme mixed emotions for Alfonso Santaniello.
On the one hand, he gained the first national client, Agway, for the Creative Strategy Agency, a digital marketing and communications firm with a focus on web, mobile, and video that he launched roughly a year earlier. But he also lost his only sister, Lucia. Looking back, he said Lucia ultimately became his “motivating factor” as he battled through a long and difficult stretch for his new venture and eventually put it on solid financial footing.
Today, his client portfolio includes Williams Distributing, the United Way, the Insurance Center of New England, and others who have benefited from Santaniello’s expertise in everything from website design to effective use of social media.
Recounting how his firm survived a slow start and has since enjoyed steady growth, Santaniello said that, when he started his venture, many firms, large and small, were still trying to find their way in the quickly changing landscape of social media, and were, by and large, unaware of how they could use the various vehicles to build brand awareness and reach new audiences.
So he started to educate them. Indeed, he launched and hosted an online webinar, which morphed into a web talk show, called Strictly Businews, focusing on local business with an entertainment-like feel. After two years of the show and preaching the many potential benefits of social media to companies up and down the Pioneer Valley, it all started to gel.
And while continuing to grow his company, Santaniello spreads what little time he has left among a number of area nonprofit organizations, including the United Way, Human Resources Unlimited, and the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield, and assisting events such Valley Gives. A 2013 graduate of Leadership Pioneer Valley and a spinoff project called Next Generation Pioneers, a resource for young professionals in the Pioneer Valley, he’s leading by example and feels that Western Mass. has a solid corps of young leaders.
“There’s a lot of synergy going on … a good vibe,” he said. “And over the next five to 10 years, I see young people doing more in the community.”
— Elizabeth Taras
Quality Improvement Manager and Human Rights Coordinator, Department of Mental Health; Vice Chair, School Committee, City of Springfield, age 34
To say Denise Hurst has a passion for advocacy would be an understatement.
“I started off volunteering at the Everywomen’s Center while studying at UMass Amherst; I was a trained rape and sexual-assault counselor and advocate,” she explained. “From there, I landed a position with the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office, doing a lot of work around domestic violence and restraining orders. But I realized I needed to go back to school in order to further my education and get the skills needed to really advocate for those in need, particularly children and families.”
So she earned her master’s degree in social work at Springfield College while working for the state Department of Children and Families, spent time overseas in London as a child protective supervisor, and eventually transitioned to the state Department of Mental Health, where she works on quality improvement and human-rights issues.
On top of that, Hurst won a spot on the Springfield School Committee in 2009, and was re-elected last fall.
“I’m passionate about education, in particular for children in the city of Springfield,” she said. “I graduated from the public school system, and did so at a time when Springfield’s public schools had a better reputation. Now we have a lot of challenges, and there’s a sense that your zip code could dictate your future or how successful you can be. I want to help fight that idea.”
Hurst and her husband, Justin — a business owner and Springfield City Council member — are the first married couple to be named to the 40 Under Forty in the same year, but that doesn’t surprise former winner Ryan McCollum, owner of RMC Strategies, who nominated both. “They are truly the first family of Springfield in my eyes,” he said. “They love Springfield dearly and show it through activism in government, nonprofit volunteerism, and their professional life.”
It’s all about that passion, Denise Hurst said.
“I know what I’m doing will have life-changing effects for the broader community, and that can only be beneficial to us all,” she told BusinessWest. “Having grown up in Springfield, being a child of color, I’m passionate because I’m not that far removed from the many ills that affect our city.
“My mother always made it very clear we’re to help others,” she added. “I think it’s our responsibility.”
Armed with a business management degree from Springfield College, Robert Raynor said he wasn’t looking specifically at the banking world. “But it was definitely the most interesting option out there.”
So he joined PeoplesBank as a management development trainee in 2009 and was soon promoted to risk oversight auditor and then risk oversight officer. In that role, he develops and completes detailed financial and operational audits to evaluate the effectiveness of management controls, accuracy of financial information, and policy compliance.
“It’s a lot of testing, a lot of report writing, and a lot of interactions with various departments,” he said, adding that he enjoys this diversity because he has the opportunity to learn about many different areas of the bank, including ever-changing regulations, processes, and technology.
But Raynor also appreciates how PeoplesBank provides plenty of opportunities to improve its internal culture, which he takes by serving on the institution’s social committee, professional book club, employee appreciation committee, and especially the environmental committee, for which he’s currently co-president. On that group, he helped launch a program to promote and track employee carpooling, helps plan and run an annual environmental fair, contributes articles to a newsletter about green initiatives, and coordinates community events like cleanup days and tree plantings.
“Sometimes I feel like I really lucked out with where I work, and being able to come here directly after college,” he said. “I feel extremely lucky because not only do I have a number of opportunities professionally, but many opportunities to get involved in things like the environmental committee. I feel very good about the work I do and know I’m helping an organization involved in helping the community.
“It’s something that gets all the employees active,” he added. “The bank is great about giving us the time and resources to do these things.”
His community involvement extends to other organizations as well, including extensive work on the board of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Holyoke.
“The Boys and Girls Club is such an amazing organization,” Raynor said. “I see the work that gets done there. It’s a great way to be involved in a community organization that directly helps children better themselves. It works.”
— Joseph Bednar
Vocal Music Director, Minnechaug Regional High School, age 29
Lee Hagon took her first piano lesson at age 9.
“As soon as I felt the keys under my hand, I fell in love with music,” she said. “I always wanted to be a musician, loved to sing, and loved music lessons in school.”
Since then, music and education have played major roles in Hagon’s life. The Hartford resident taught piano for a decade before becoming the vocal music director for Minnechaug Regional High School last August. There, she directs three choirs, teaches the history of pop music and guitar, and is faculty advisor for the a cappella group Vocal Vibe, which has performed in many venues.
Hagon has performed extensively herself in the U.S., Spain, England, Belgium, Italy, Mexico, and Portugal; is part of the piano duo Belo Som, which released a CD of Brazilian and Argentine music last summer; and leads an adult choir at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Wilbraham.
She became minister of music there while earning her master’s degree at the Hartt School in Hartford, which led to her civic leadership in Western Mass. She founded and directed the Girls Inc. Chorus in Holyoke and was vocal music director for the Children’s Chorus of Springfield until 2012. She also founded and directs the Veritas Children’s Chorus at Springfield’s Veritas Preparatory Charter School.
“I love watching kids learn music, build confidence, perform, and feel empowered by it; it’s really powerful to be part of the process,” she said.
Five years ago, Hagon founded and organized the Joy of Music concert series in Wilbraham, which has brought world-class musicians to the area and generated funds for local nonprofits. She is also co-founder and organizer of the Springfield Unity Festival Chorus and is looking forward to its October festival at Symphony Hall, aimed at promoting diversity and racial harmony through the arts.
Hagon has won many awards and loves making a noteworthy difference in people’s lives. “Music has a way of connecting people and helping us remember that we are all human,” she said. “And if it is part of someone’s childhood, they can create an adult community that values the arts.”
Nominations Are Being Accepted for the 40 Under Forty Class of 2014
Jeff Fialky called it “quality control.”
That’s how he chose to describe the third and final phase of his process for scoring the more than 100 nominees for BusinessWest’s 40 Under Forty Class of 2013.
Fialky, a member of the Class of 2008 and one of five judges of last year’s candidates, said he started his assignment by simply reading each of the nominations in their entirety, without assigning any scores, to get what he called a “flavor, and basis of comparison.”
“I then flipped the stack back over and went through them again,” he went on, adding that he did so with some gauges, or barometers, that would help him assign a number — 1 through 10 — to each of those nominations. The so-called quality-control work came the following morning, after a good night’s sleep and with some fresh perspective, when he went through the pile one more time to assess the numbers he assigned to each candidate to make sure he was totally comfortable with each one.
“I think I probably changed a dozen scores — not significantly, maybe one number up or down, based upon comparisons with the other nominees,” he said, adding that he’s not sure how the other judges went about their work last February, but he’s quite sure that the subjectivity that is part and parcel to the judging process is one of the things that makes the 40 Under Forty competition unique and what he called a “perfectly imperfect” undertaking.
“This 40 Under Forty program is about distinguishing oneself in the community,” he noted. “Whether it’s personally or professionally, it is truly a comparative exercise, and the fact that judges come at it in different ways makes it more compelling. And while those approaches are different from each other, the end result is a great compilation of leadership in the Valley.”
Mark O’Connell agreed. The managing partner of Wolf & Co., with offices in Boston and Springfield, he also judged the Class of 2013, and took a decidedly different tack, what he called a more “analytic approach.”
Elaborating, he said he assigned hard numbers to certain aspects of candidates’ résumés — with a specific total of points awarded for such things as owning one’s business, getting involved with area nonprofits, and earning acclaim within one’s profession. The process, he said, took some of the subjectivity out of the equation.
“It became a mathematical process, essentially, and I was able to draw a line under the first 40,” he said, noting that, while his method may have been different from those used by others, he believed it worked, because only a handful of “his” top 40 were not eventually identified as winners.
By mid-February, another group of five judges (they’re profiled on page 18) will be developing their own strategies for assigning scores for what will likely be another 100 or so candidates in this, the eighth edition of the 40 Under Forty competition.
It all began in late 2006, said BusinessWest Associate Publisher Kate Campiti, when the magazine decided to embrace a concept used by a number of business publications across the country to identify, profile, and celebrate rising young stars in a given community.
Over the years, individuals from nearly every sector of the economy — from healthcare to retailing; technology to law; banking to nonprofit management — have made the list and climbed to the podium in late June to accept their plaque and the applause of friends, family, colleagues, and fellow recipients past and present.
The Class of 2013 was especially diverse, with the list of winners including a charter school founder, a construction company owner, several lawyers, an environmental scientist, and the vice president of sales for a company making next-generation hand dryers.
It was a class that surprised Fialky in some respects, and in a positive way.
“What I really enjoyed about my experience judging was seeing all the talent potential in the valley,” he explained. “You know that there’s been so many honorees over the prior years, and you intuitively think that the talent pool has been exhausted. But then you look at all the nominations, and you realize that it’s only the tip of the iceberg that’s been tapped.
“Some years favor service providers, some years favor nonprofit managers, some favor entrepreneurs, and some favor strength of character,” he went on, referring to the general makeup of the previous six classes. “I think last year’s class had an element of all four of those things.”
O’Connell concurred. “I think this was a great class — I came away very impressed,” he said, “and also feeling very good about the future of this region.”
There are now 280 people in the unique fraternity that is 40 Under Forty, said Campiti, noting that many of them have moved on to different jobs and different challenges, and some of them now have a different area code on their cell phones, but their 40 Under Forty plaque usually goes with them wherever they go.
Fialky agreed.
“It’s become a symbol of excellence, a symbol of leadership, if you will,” he said, adding that 40 Under Forty has become both a brand and something to aspire to.
The popularity — and importance — of the 40 Under Forty program has been driven home by the steady growth and evolution of the annual 40 Under Forty gala, this year to be staged on June 19 at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House in Holyoke. Last year, the event drew a sellout crowd of more than 650 people, who were treated to fine food, perfect weather, and an eclectic array of music, chosen by the winners to accompany their ascension to the stage.
“The gala has become a happening, a not-to-be missed gathering that is also the year’s best networking opportunity,” said Campiti, adding that those who wish to attend must act quickly, because the gala traditionally sells out weeks before the event.
Before anyone can move to the stage to get their plaque, however, they must be nominated. And both Campiti and Fialky, who has been on both sides of the equation — as both candidate and judge — stressed repeatedly that 40 Under Forty is a nomination-driven process, something that is still lost on many who wish to forward a name and résumé for consideration.
“That’s where it starts, with the nomination,” said Campiti. “It needs to be complete, it needs to be thorough, and it needs to essentially answer the question, ‘why is this individual worthy of a 40 Under Forty plaque?’”
The nomination form requests the basic information on an individual, said Campiti, and can be supported with other material, such as a résumé, testimonials, and even press clippings highlighting an individual’s achievements in their chosen profession or within their community. Nominations must be received by the end of the business day (5 p.m.) on Feb. 7. Judges will then score those nominations, and the winners will be notified by mail by the end of the month.
The chosen 40 will be profiled in the magazine’s April 21 edition, with gala tickets going on sale soon thereafter. For more information, call (413) 781-8600, ext. 100.
Fast Facts What: The 40 Under Forty nomination process
Deadline: Feb. 7 at 5 p.m. How to Nominate: Use the form in BusinessWest (it will also appear in subsequent editions), or go here. For More Information: Call (413) 781-8600, ext. 100, or visit www.businesswest.com. The 40 under forty Gala: June 19 Where: The Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House
Tickets: They’ll go on sale in late April and will first be made available to winners and their families and employers.
More than 650 people flocked to the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House on June 20 to celebrate BusinessWest’s 40 Under Forty Class of 2013 and the many accomplishments of its members. Attendees enjoyed picture perfect weather, fine food, and perhaps the best networking event of the year. On the pages that follow, we offer a photographic look back at a memorable evening for all those in attendance, but especially those who walked out with the 40 Under Forty plaques, seen at left, just prior to the start of the gala.
The event was sponsored by:
Check out the intro video from Viz-Bang!
From left, Robert Hogan, quality control supervisor for U.S. Tsubaki, and his wife Samalid Hogan, senior project manager for the City of Springfield, with her fellow Class of 2013 honoree, Annamarie Golden, manager of Community Relations and Community Benefits, Baystate Health, and husband Hunter Golden, owner of Write Stuff Copywriting.
Elizabeth Beaudry, senior commercial credit analyst and information technology administrator, and Shonda Pettiford, assistant director of Commonwealth Honors College at UMass Amherst, two members of the Class of 201,3 share a moment before the awards ceremony.
Xiaolei Hua, credit analyst at PeoplesBank and fellow Class of 2013 honoree Geoffrey Croteau, financial advisor and managing associate sales manager at MassMutual Charter Oak Insurance and Financial Services network during the VIP hour in the Grand Edna Ballroom.
Representing one of the evening’s sponsors, Hampden Bank, is Nora Braska, assistant vice president and training officer; Peg Daoust, branch manager; and Amy Scribner, assistant vice president and senior marketing administrator.
From left, Jose Hernandez, machine operator for Rockbestos-Suprenant Cable Corporation; Alejandro Cameron, John Rivas, and Zydalis Zayas, WGBY-TV community engagement associates; Class of 2013 honoree, Vanessa Pabon, director of community engagement for WGBY-TV; Pabon’s daughter, Shayla Burge, and mother, Milta Franco, a case manager for Brightwood Health Center; and Veronica Garcia, WGBY community engagement assistant.
Emily McArdle, left, physical therapist and Jeanne Coburn, audiologist, both of Baystate Rehabilitation Care, one of the evening’s sponsors.
From left, Danielle Nicklas, an attorney with Cooley Shrair, and Jim Tinker, senior tax accountant, Burgess, Shultz & Robb, network with Amy Scott, president of Wild Apple Design Group, and Jennifer Schimmel Stanley, executive director of Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity, both members of the 40 Under Forty Class of 2011.
From left, Patrick Leary, Class of 2007, shareholder and vice president of Moriarity & Primack, P.C., an event sponsor, networks with Gwen Burke, senior advertising consultant with BusinessWest, her husband Chuck Burke, president of Action Marine and Water Sports, and Damon Cartelli, member of the Class of 2010, and president and general manager of Fathers & Sons, also an event sponsor.
The team at UMass Amherst Isenberg School of Management, an event sponsor, gathers before the awards ceremony. From left, Trista Hevey, program information specialist; Michelle Rup, office manager; Jennifer Meunier, director of Business Development; Kyle Bate, academic advisor and program developer; Melissa Garrett-Preston, academic advisor; Allison Furkey, media PR liaison; and Rachel Trafford, director of Organizational Metrix.
The NUVO Bank & Trust Company team supported Class of 2013 honoree, Elizabeth Beaudry (fifth from left), senior commercial credit analyst and information technology administrator. Front row, from left, Michael Buckmaster, vice president, commercial lending; Leslie Ross Lawrence, senior vice president/CCO and SOO; Beaudry; Jackalyn Guenette, loan deposit operations agent; Sue Fearn, assistant vice president, client sales and service; back row; Jay Caron, president and CEO, Bee-Line Corp., and NUVO board of director; Jeff Sattler, president and senior loan officer; Denise Perkins, corporate secretary; Dale Janes, CEO; Jay Seyler, vice president, commercial loan division; and Eric Jalbert, credit analyst.
Gary Popovich, left, and Daniel Duncan, accounting associates, chat with Rebecca Connolly, audit manager, all of Moriarty & Primack, one of the event sponsors.
Brenna Murphy McGee, Holyoke city councilor and member of the Class of 2013, with her husband, Todd McGee, Class of 2011, director, E&B Planning at Mass Mutual, and fellow Holyoke city councilor.
Delcie Bean, Class of 2008 and founder and CEO of event sponsor Paragus IT, spoke to the audience of more than 650 people about the need for a computer technology-mentoring program that will benefit local youths, create jobs, and attract businesses to the Pioneer Valley through the reorganization of Valley Technology Outreach. Here, Bean is assisted by children from the Westfield Boys and Girls Club, who demonstrated the national numbers that underscore the need for more educational support through computer technology.
Caitlin Casey, occupational therapist with Hartford Healthcare, and husband Jeremy Casey, assistant vice president and commercial service officer, Westfield Bank, celebrate his standing as a member of the Class of 2013.
From left, Darren Couture, painting contractor; Erin Couture, Class of 2013, vice president and commercial loan officer, Florence Savings Bank; Jeremy Leap, Class of 2013, vice president of commercial lending for Country Bank; and Andy Robb, Class of 2013, president, Burgess, Schultz & Robb, P.C.
Timothy Brunelle, employee of L-3 KEO, and wife Erin Fontaine Brunelle, realtor, Century 21 Hometown Associates, founder, co-chair of Buy Holyoke and a member of the Class of 2013.
From left, Evan Alberts, practice manager and financial services professional, MassMutual Charter Oak Insurance and Financial Services; Ian Vukovich, Class of 2010, director of product delivery, MassMutual-USIG; Erin Kates, Baystate Health; Matt Geffin, Class of 2011, vice president of business development, Webber and Grinnell Insurance; and Danny Kates, Class of 2013, managing associate, MassMutual Charter Oak Insurance and Financial Services.
From left, Michael Hayden, owner, Springfield Motors; Ashley Bernard, speech pathologist, Springfield Public Schools, Nick Zajac, loan officer, Top Flight Financial; Carla Cosenzi, Class of 2012, and Tommy Cosenzi, Class of 2013, co-owners of TommyCar Auto Group; Amanda Douglas, esthetician at Puffers Day Spa and Salon; and Trevor Wood, engineer, City of Westfield.
From left, Melissa Mattison, clinical assistant professor, Western New England University (WNEU); Kim Gallo, staff Assistant, WNEU College of Pharmacy; Kam Capoccia, Class of 2013, associate professor of pharmacy practice, WNEU; and Jill Popp, Department of Research, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, network in the Southampton Room.
Chris Thompson, left, Class of 2009, vice president, business development, Springfield Falcons Hockey, networks with Jill Monson, Class of 2010, CEO, Inspired Marketing; and Alex Morse, mayor of Holyoke.
From left, John Roberson, vice president, Children & Family Services; Ja’net Smith, program director, Juvenile Programs, both with the Center for Human Development; Jennifer Root, Class of 2013, clinical director for the Center for Human Development; and Kate Blachfield, manager, HP Hood.
From left, Joe Bednar, senior writer, and Elizabeth Taras, staff writer at BusinessWest, co-introducers of the Class of 2013, and George O’Brien, the magazine’s editor, await the next winner’s walk to the stage to receive their plaque.
Tommy Cosenzi always knew he would follow in his father’s footsteps. But when Tom E. Cosenzi died from brain cancer in 2009 at age 52, Tommy and his sister found themselves at the helm of their father’s company long before it was expected.
“He worked extraordinarily hard to build everything we had, and I knew how important it was to him,” said Cosenzi. “So it was extremely important to me to continue his work as a lasting legacy to him.”
Since that time, he and his sister, Carla (a 40 Under Forty winner in 2012), have driven the company down new roads and taken their father’s charitable bent in new directions. “He made a huge impact on my life and is behind everything I do,” Tommy said.
He is in charge of the company’s marketing and played a strong role in the success of Northampton Volkswagen, a new dealership for the auto group.
He also co-founded the Thomas E. Cosenzi Driving for the Cure Charity Golf Tournament, which has raised more than $304,200 to date. The money is given to the late Cosenzi’s neuro-oncologist at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute to conduct research on brain cancer.
“We saw first-hand what an awful disease it is and that researchers really needed help,” Cosenzi said, adding that there are not enough good treatments for the disease. “People who deal with cancer have a special place in my heart because I know what they are battling.”
Recently, he and Carla established the Tom Cosenzi Scholarship Fund for students who plan to attend college, and he reads every application and helps to assess each student’s level of need, qualifications, and goals.
TommyCar also takes part in the Cruising for Miracles program, which benefits Baystate Children’s Hospital and the Children’s Miracle Network. “We thought it was a really good cause,” he said.
In addition, the company supports a host of other organizations, including the American Cancer Society and Relay for Life, the Jimmy Fund, the Ronald McDonald House, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, to name just a few.
Cosenzi’s other volunteer efforts include working with the National Automobile Dealer Assoc. to mentor the next generation of auto dealers — yet another way he’s carrying on a worthwhile legacy.
— Kathleen Mitchell
Executive Director, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Franklin County, age 39
Danielle Letourneau-Therrien laughed as she explained that she has a magnet in her hand, and there always seems to be metal on the ceiling, no matter what room that ceiling is in.
In other words, whether it’s to raise funds for a student trip, serve as president of her high-school class, cheerlead for her high-school teams, fulfill a vacant city council seat, or serve on a board, that hand seems to be raised, “before I even have time to think about what I’m getting into,” she said.
A temporary job straight out of college landed her at the Northeast Foundation, a nonprofit organization that offers workshops and professional-development certificate programs for educators in early elementary education to integrate ‘responsive classroom’ learning into their curriculum.
“It’s basically a social, emotional, and academic learning component that offers a whole-child approach,” explained Letourneau-Therrien. ‘Temporary’ turned into 12 years, but along the way, her never-say-no, get-it-done attitude attracted the attention of neighbors in the Greenfield area. In 2006, she found herself filling a vacant position on the Greenfield City Council, and being elected and re-elected over the next five years.
During that time, her hand shot up when she was approached about a board position with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Franklin County. When the executive director position became available in November 2012 after a rewrite of the job description, she found herself saying, “I think they really need someone like me,” and pursued it.
“At some point,” she told BusinessWest, “I stopped saying ‘someone like me’ and looked in the mirror and thought … I really am interested in this position.”
And now that she’s in it, she’s spending more time fund-raising, performing outreach, and handling organization operations, while leaving the micromanagement — mainly matching screened adult mentors with children ages 6-16 — to the talented case workers that have the system down pat.
Still civically involved, Letourneau-Therrien is a recent recipient of the Fortin Family Volunteer Award for community leadership in overseeing the fund-raising and buildout of the Greenfield-based Beacon Playground Project — proving that, personally and professionally, she’s playing for keeps, with a hand always in the air.
Vice President and Commercial Loan Officer, Florence Savings Bank, age 34
Erin Couture has many accomplishments and examples of civic leadership on her résumé — everything from her large and diverse commercial-loan portfolio at Florence Savings Bank to the $10,000 she raised in 2012 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through the Team in Training program.
The contribution you don’t see on her résumé, though, was by far the most significant.
Indeed, in early 2012, she became a bone-marrow donor for her sister, who was diagnosed with leukemia that is still in remission one year later. Erin is one of six siblings, but the one deemed to be a perfect match. And today, her efforts to get more people in the registry for bone-marrow donations is just one of the many things vying for — and winning — some of her time.
First and foremost is her family, including her husband, Darren, and sons Brandon and Gabriel. Then, there’s that commercial-lending portfolio and all that goes into maintaining and growing it. And as she described that work, she said it doesn’t come down to crunching numbers — although that’s certainly part of it — but understanding people and working with and for them.
“Every loan, every business owner is different — they have specific needs, goals, and challenges,” said Couture, adding that she manages loans ranging from $10,000 to $7 million, in sectors from manufacturing to retail. “And this work is about much more than just giving someone a loan; it’s about helping them succeed in business, and that’s the part I find most rewarding.”
Then there’s her work within the community, which ranges from involvement with the Northampton Chamber of Commerce, which she serves on its finance committee, to the Big Brothers Big Sisters advisory board, for which she is vice president; from membership in the area young-professional societies to teaching financial literacy to high-school students, to running half-marathons to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (she ran her first not long ago, and is now gearing up for her fourth).
She’s also involved in the Daffodil Fun Run, a fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society that in three short years has grown to more than 700 runners, just another example of how helping others is a priority for Couture — right down to the bone.
Attorney and Owner, Law Office of Isaac J. Mass, age 36
Isaac Mass’s accomplishments include owning a law firm, serving four terms as a Greenfield town councilor, playing an active role in the town’s economic-development efforts, and being feted with a long list of awards and special recognitions. But the father of three girls, who are all named after cities in Massachusetts, says none of this would have been possible if people hadn’t gone out of their way to help him and given him opportunities to participate in a wide variety of activities when he was young.
“I came from humble beginnings and grew up in public housing, but a lot of people helped me out,” he said. “I consider myself an old-fashioned country lawyer, enjoy helping others, and have always felt it was my obligation to give back to the community.”
Veterans hold a special place in his heart because Mass served in the Army National Guard for eight years and was deployed to Bosnia during that time. “So, whenever I can, I try to help other veterans,” he said. One case he takes pride in was getting Social Security disability benefits for a veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and was injured in an IED attack. In addition, Mass was the first defense attorney to obtain inpatient treatment at Soldier On in Northampton as an alternative disposition for a case heard in Greenfield District Court.
Last year, Gov. Deval Patrick appointed Mass state ballot commissioner. He has held many civic positions in Greenfield and is active on the Greenfield Community College Alumni Scholarship Committee. He also enjoys aiding young people, and is state chairman of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Loyal Order of the Moose Assoc. Youth Awareness Program and district chair of the American Legion High School Oratorical Contest.
“Nothing makes me happier than watching people I have helped succeed and become involved in the community, whether they are clients or students,” said Mass, whose own drive to give back has led him to coach soccer, judge transactional law meets, and otherwise do all he can to make a difference in Greenfield and Franklin counties.
Financial Advisor and Managing Associate Sales Manager, MassMutual Charter Oak Insurance and Financial Services, age 33
Like many 40 Under Forty honorees, Geoff Croteau found success in a far different field than he studied in college — in his case, graphic design. “I couldn’t find a career in that field to save my life,” he said with a laugh.
So, about a decade ago, he switched gears and became a real-estate agent in Florida, eventually moving up to partner of the firm and recruiting and managing more than 80 agents. But in 2008, he moved back to his hometown of Chicopee and took a job soon after with Charter Oak.
Today, as a managing associate sales manager, he serves as a role model and mentor to new financial-services professionals — in effect, recruiting, training, and developing new agents while running a successful financial-services business of his own.
It makes for a diverse career with plenty of personal interaction. “I would consider myself a people person; all I do all day is talk to people and help people plan for their future. It’s rewarding. I help parents plan for their kids’ education, I help people plan to be able to retire, and I help protect families with life insurance.”
Croteau brings the same passion to his community involvement, notably as president of the Beavers Club, a nonprofit French businessmen’s organization that donates time, money, and resources to projects throughout Western Mass; recent beneficiaries include Sunshine Village, Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen, Holyoke Children’s Museum, the Volleyball Hall of Fame, Kane’s Krusade, Providence Ministries, and Relay for Life. “We have a lot of fun doing what we call work projects,” he said.
In addition, he’s vice president of the Holyoke Community College Alumni Assoc., raising scholarship money and helping students gain work experience through internships, and he also gives time and energy to the Marine Corps League, a service organization that helps disabled veterans and widows, raises scholarship money for veterans’ children, spends time with veterans at the Holyoke Soldiers Home, and helps Toys for Tots collect gifts for the less fortunate at Christmas. “I’m very proud of being a Marine, and I’m passionate about that,” he said.
That’s an impressive palette of work for someone who decided graphic arts wasn’t in the grand design.
Community Engagement Coordinator, HAPHousing, age 31
Springfield is a long way — in many respects — from the U.S. naval station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where Kelvin Molina served during Operation Enduring Freedom as a National Guardsman. But when a tornado hit Western Mass. on June 1, 2011 and devastated a 40-mile swath of homes and businesses in three counties, the scenes of bleakness weren’t much different.
As he took in the devastation from the twister, he recalled, “I was surprised — actually, shocked — but energized in trying to figure out what I had to do.”
Within hours, his Guard unit had been activated to provide logistical support for soldiers in Springfield, Monson, and Brimfield, dealing with a disaster that truly hit close to home for Molina, as the twister rendered his sister homeless.
Three years before, having earned degrees in Regional Planning/Environmental Science and Geographic Information Systems from Westfield State University, he caught the attention of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, landing a transportation-planning position with the agency. Molina moved laterally into community development there, but in 2012, he left for a similar position with HAPHousing that deals exclusively with Springfield, his hometown.
Now, he engages the Springfield community though the nonprofit, which provides assistance for homeless families and various services for homeowners.
“If we can’t answer the questions of people regarding housing,” he said, “we know who to contact, because we’ve been around for 45 years.”
As a recently certified national Neighborworks America leadership trainer, Molina has an additional role helping to train and empower community partners, city leaders, and interested residents to create safe, collaborative, and productive neighborhoods.
“We’ll be conducting training over the next two months,” he said, “and recruit 20 to 25 residents from the South End, Six Corners, and Old Hill neighborhoods and their corresponding councils to meet each other and learn from each other about tools that will empower them to make change.”
Whether he’s in a business shirt or a Kevlar vest, Molina always wants to be there to support and engage people — and transform communities, one neighborhood at a time.
Division Director, Outpatient Services Division, Gandara Center, age 39
William Davila is passionate about providing families in Springfield’s North End with the support and services they need.
“I tell my staff that it’s really personal for me to work here because I was born in the hospital about two miles away and grew up in the projects about a half-mile away. I understand this community and want to help people looking to improve themselves who are seeking a better way of life,” he said.
To that end, the father of two, who leads a staff of more than 70 employees at Gandara Center’s two sites in Springfield, makes sure everyone who calls or walks through the door gets immediate help. “People often have a moment of clarity in which they decide to seek help. But if they don’t get it right away, their motivation decreases,” he said. “And in inner cities, if families don’t get the services they need, it has a spillover effect that prevents parents from providing loving homes for their children.”
He has increased client access to mental-health services at Gandara by more than 20% in the past two years, brought services to more than a dozen locations throughout the community, consistently improved Gandara’s financial performance, and increased the number of staff members who can meet the community’s linguistic and cultural needs.
Family is critical to Davila, who recently earned his doctorate of Education from the University of Hartford, is an adjunct professor of Social Work at Springfield College, and serves on the advisory board of the Springfield College School of Social Work, as well as the boards of the Sisters of Providence Health System Foundation and Partners for a Healthier Community.
His history of civic involvement includes many other organizations and began when he was about age 12 and joined a peer-education program that did advocacy work in Springfield Public Schools.
“I always knew I would work in social services,” he said, adding that he believes education is critical to success in life and has afforded him the opportunity to “give back to my community and make a difference.”
Brenna Murphy McGee was waitressing and tending bar when she got the call into politics, accepting a job as chief of staff for former state Rep. Michael Kane six years ago.
“He was looking for a second staff member, another legislative aide,” said McGee, who had earned a degree in Psychology at UMass Amherst and hadn’t seen herself in politics before working with Kane and also supervising the research staff for the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government. However, “I liked the whole political world so much that I later became interested in running for City Council, and he encouraged me to do it.”
Her first campaign in 2010 was a successful one, as she finished third among 13 candidates. She currently chairs the Charter and Rules Committee and is vice chair of the Public Safety Committee, working with residents to address traffic and speeding issues. She also helped establish a crime-watch program.
“My home was broken into in May 2011, when I was home sleeping,” she said. “It really freaked me out. I helped the Ward 6 councilor — who is now my husband — to establish the Ward 6 Crime Watch. They don’t simply talk about crime; it’s a way for people to get together and discuss what’s going on in the ward and in the city.”
She and her husband, Todd McGee — who recently welcomed their first child, Myles — are the first married couple to serve concurrently on the Holyoke City Council, and they are now both 40 Under Forty winners as well; Todd was honored in 2011.
But McGee doesn’t get involved in civic life just for the safety of her own home; her passion for Holyoke extends to her volunteer efforts for the Holyoke Boys and Girls Club, the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade Committee, and the Innovation District Design and Development Task Force, which has worked to generate economic-development progress in the city’s ‘Innovation District’ around the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center.
“Holyoke is a really close-knit community,” said McGee, who was born and raised in the Paper City and is running for city clerk this fall. “When I was working for the representative, I was helping people in the city I love so much, and on the City Council, I’m still able to help people move the city forward.”
Ralph DiVito Jr. says the city of Springfield played a major role in his development.
“Where I grew up in Boston helped make me into who I am, but Western Mass. helped mold me into a productive adult and member of the community,” said the Springfield resident. “There is something about Springfield that is special and unique, and I feel at home here. I like everything the city has to offer, and every blessing I have been given, I am trying to give back.”
DiVito wants the City of Homes to return to its former glory, and has spent untold hours working toward that goal as the vice chairman of Rebuilding Together Springfield. His leadership and vision have helped chart the course for a long-term, sustainable future, and he has been a house captain two years in a row on National Rebuilding Day, recruiting volunteers, soliciting donations of building materials, and managing projects which help people improve their homes.
DiVito said there is a link between his professional and volunteer efforts. “I lead our division at work that helps independent store owners,” he said of his role at Yankee Candle, adding that they, as well as the homeowners Rebuilding assists, are “everyday people,” which is important because “Main Street is really the backbone of America, and when there are viable stores and viable homes, it helps make the community strong. So, in all aspects of my life, I am trying to create a place where people can coexist and support each other.”
His dedication at work has helped many locally owned businesses become stronger through marketing, communication, and grass-roots events. He also helped lead a fund-raiser for a shelter in Hoboken, N.J. when its resources were depleted following Hurricane Sandy.
DiVito said Springfield is a microcosm of America, as it is made up of different groups who form a great community. So he works tirelessly to help “get the city back on its feet. It’s my goal, one business at a time and one house at a time. I want to showcase to all of Western Mass. that this is a great place.”
Like most of those who work in public broadcasting, Vanessa Pabon has been caught up in the phenomenon that is Downton Abbey. She took a behind-the-scenes role in helping to stage an elaborate ball themed after the show in January, and, like everyone else, is eagerly awaiting season four.
But her work with WGBY-TV is far more focused on the here — meaning Greater Springfield — and now, as opposed to the 1920s. As her title, director of Community Engagement, suggests, she’s responsible for engaging people in communities within WGBY’s service area who are underrepresented in its audience and membership. And she does this by developing new engagement strategies and also overseeing and expanding existing programs, such as the Latino Youth Media Institute and something called TOLD (Telling Our Legacies Digitally).
“People get to share a personal story about themselves that they ultimately feel may make an impact within the community,” Pabon said of TOLD, adding that the five-minute videos have involved individuals primarily from Springfield’s North End, and of all ages. “It’s not just sharing, but something that becomes public, and the stories range from overcoming battles, like finding out they have HIV, to happy moments, such as someone who didn’t think they’d be going to the prom ultimately going and being named prom queen.
“They get to produce these pieces and then either share them with their family or in a public forum, as conversation starters,” she went on. “And for me, the power isn’t just the video you watch at the end of the workshop, but what happens within the process — the community building, relationships, and the healing that happens when people share stories.” Other job responsibilities include everything from recruiting interns to providing media training to researching and writing grants.
In addition to her work with the station, Pabon is very involved in civic life, through work with the North End Campus Coalition; the Greater Springfield YMCA, which she serves as a member of its Community Services Branch, Charter School Committee, and Hispanic/Latino National Health Initiative; the Springfield Promise Neighborhood; and the Stay in School Campaign, which she serves as head of its youth committee.
In other words, she emphasizes community engagement both on and off the job.
First Vice President, PeoplesBank, age 38 Shaun Dwyer has carved out a successful, 17-year career in commercial lending, but he’s never lost sight of the people behind the numbers.
He entered the field as a financial analyst and later assistant vice president at TD Bank, helping to finance real-estate transactions throughout New England and eventually managing a $130 million loan portfolio.
He transitioned to Berkshire Bank, where he was promoted in 2011 to first vice president and regional team leader; in that role, he served as the face of the bank after the June tornado and October snowstorm, reaching out into the community and donating significant volunteer hours in cleanup and rebuilding efforts.
In his newest role at PeoplesBank, he works with borrowers on a wide variety of commercial and real-estate loans in the $500,000 to $10 million range. While the work is busy and satisfying, Dwyer says it’s the one-on-one aspect of the job he values most.
“I appreciate the relationships I’ve been able to cultivate over the past 17 years, watching these individuals grow their companies, and grow in the Springfield region,” he said. “It’s neat to see the dollars we’ve provided benefit them, so that they’re able to do what they need to do and better themselves and their organizations.”
Dwyer also stays active away from work. He serves on the STCC Foundation, where he promotes the college as a workforce and economic-development engine, in the process helping to raise more than $650,000 for scholarships, technology, and program development. He also has a successful relationship with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, personally raising up to $75,000 each year — typically enough to fund three wishes.
In addition, he serves as vice president of the Springfield Riverfront Development Corp., an agency that oversees the development and management of some $10 million in real-estate assets along West Columbus Avenue and has helped persuade several marquee food and entertainment venues to set up shop near the Basketball Hall of Fame.
“That intrigued me because of how important the riverfront is to this region,” he said. “When I join a board, it’s for a purpose.”
That purpose, which runs like a defining thread through Dwyer’s career and community work, is creating opportunity and vitality in the region he loves.
Director of Franchise Support & Development and Field Consultant, Fitness Together; Owner, Elements Therapeutic Massage, age 34
It would be an understatement to say that John Pantera achieved business success, while also satisfying an entrepreneurial urge, as an operator of two new franchises for the Fitness Together chain in Eastern Mass. As a certified fitness trainer with a nutrition license and an MBA in Finance and Economics from UMass Amherst, he helped position Fitness Together on Entrepreneur magazine’s Franchise 500 list in 2007, its Fastest Growing Franchises compilation in 2007 and 2008, and on America’s Top Global Franchises magazine’s list in 2007.
But like most successful entrepreneurs, he was ready, willing, and able to aim higher. He sold his franchises, moved to Western Mass., and opened an East Longmeadow franchise of Fitness Together’s sister operation, Elements Therapeutic Massage, in 2009. But when he did so, the fitness-club side of the corporation wasn’t ready to see Pantera go.
A new position was created just for him to direct the network of 54 locations (globally, there are 300) in New Hampshire and Massachusetts that deliver more than $20 million in annual revenues. Pantera now supports operators in their sales, marketing, customer service, and employee relations.
Meanwhile, at Elements Therapeutic Massage, Pantera oversees 25 employees, 19 of whom are therapists, in one of the largest massage spas in the region. He said the extremely high and deeply personal level of customer service required by both the personal-fitness and therapeutic-massage industries is a perfect fit for his personality and style of business management.
“Think about it … we’re basically asking perfect strangers to come in, get naked, and trust us that we will provide them with a high level of professionalism and service,” he said. “So the delivery of the service has to be a perfect 10.”
He’s also an adjunct professor of Entrepreneurship at Western New England University, his alma mater, and is involved with the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield and Rotary International.
While doing all that, Pantera has found time to write a book titled All Diets Die: How to Win and Be Thin (for Life). “No matter your age or what condition you’re in, there are some foundational basics of a healthy lifestyle that can be permanent,” he said of the basic message. “And this is how to go about doing it.”
Balancing business acumen with a passion for wellness, Pantera is keeping plenty of balls in the air.
The Young Business and Community Leaders of Western Massachusetts
In 2007, BusinessWest introduced a new recognition program called 40 Under Forty. It was intended as a vehicle for showcasing young talent in the four counties of Western Mass. and, in turn, inspire others to reach higher and do more in their community.
Six years later, it has accomplished all that and much more. The program has become a brand, the awards gala has become one of the most anticipated events of the year, and the 40 Under Forty plaque that sits on one’s desk has become both a coveted prize and symbol of excellence, recognized by all.
On June 20 at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House in Holyoke, 40 more plaques will be handed out, to members of a class that is both distinguished and diverse. It includes bankers, lawyers, and accountants, but also a Holyoke city councilor, a contractor who specializes in blitz building, and Springfield’s senior project manager. And it represents virtually every business sector, from healthcare to education; from technology to the nonprofit realm.
With that, we introduce the Class of 2013 with words (enough to explain why they’re an honoree) and pictures that tell a big part of each story, whether the winner is captured with his or her children, dog, company mascot, or even a giant corpuscle. The stories are all different, but the common denominator is that these young individuals possess that most important of qualities: leadership.
Realtor, Century 21 Hometown Associates; Founder and Co-chair, Buy Holyoke Now, age 31
As a real-estate agent, Erin Brunelle was quick to share her favorite part of her job. “It’s handing someone their first set of keys. Everyone dreams about their first house, and getting to be a part of that is very rewarding.”
She’s had plenty of experience with that feeling, ranking in the top 10 in sales performance among all Century 21 offices in the area last year, handing out 21 sets of keys while posting more than $2.7 million in sales. Brunelle also helped Century 21 Hometown Associates open a new Holyoke location last year; after just a few months, that office boasts the top market share in the city.
But that’s not the only way she’s impacting home ownership in the city. Take, for example, a project she helped launch called Buy Holyoke Now.
“It’s a new homeowners initiative we launched in the city after Alex Morse was elected mayor,” she said. “We laid out why it would be important, and he was on board from day one.”
In a nutshell, Buy Holyoke Now is a collaborative effort by a network of lenders, real-estate professionals, nonprofit groups, attorneys, insurance agents, home inspectors, Holyoke Gas & Electric, and a number of other retail partners and local tourist attractions, who team up to offer discounted costs and other incentives to people who move to Holyoke.
“Just from the goal of economic development, to have tax dollars coming into the city is always a good thing,” Brunelle said, citing research suggesting that every two homes sold equals one job and $30,000 pumped into the local economy each year. The retail incentives of Buy Holyoke Now are intended to increase that figure further, by encouraging residents to direct their spending money toward locally owned businesses.
“I’m a hometown girl. I was born and raised here,” Brunelle said of her passion for the city, which extends to other civic volunteerism, including service to the Holyoke Winter Carnival and the Realtor Assoc. of Pioneer Valley Community Service Committee; she has also decided to run for the School Committee in Ward 7. “I get upset when Holyoke gets a bad rap from people who don’t know what the city is all about. I want to alter that perception.”
Owner, North Country Landscapes and Garden Center, age 34
Justin Pelis was making good use of his bachelor’s degree in Finance and Economics from UMass Amherst at a Boston accounting firm, but something just wasn’t right.
“I found myself spending more time in Boston Common than in the office,” Pelis recalled, and he made a move to head back to school with the goal of spending much more time outdoors.
With a second degree from the UMass Stockbridge School of Landscape Design and Horticulture, he purchased what was then a very small garden center in Westhampton called North Country Landscapes. With just two staff members at the start of the Great Recession, Pelis grew the business to 11 staffers who provide high-end, luxury landscape-design plans that include rock formations, stone patios, and walkways with integrated gardens.
Targeting what he calls the ‘aspirational gardener’ — the client who wants more of an artistic, outdoor living-room area that celebrates nature — Pelis took advantage of trends associated with the recession that impacted his industry.
“People were staying home more often, not going on vacations, and willing to put $20,000 or $30,000 into their backyard, with a patio and firepit,” he noted. “Now, they’re spending even more.”
While growing his business, Pelis has also broadened his involvement within the community, devoting more time and energy to civic causes that he finds personally rewarding and important in others’ lives.
Watching his late mother, who suffered for years with multiple sclerosis, enjoy an active quality of life through the Stavros Center, he decided to give back to that organization in her name by serving on the board beginning in 2012. Meanwhile, his love of art, and his desire to help others appreciate what is in their own backyard, has kept him active on the UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center board and gala committee.
A frequent attendee of Northampton Area Young Professionals and Northampton Chamber of Commerce events, Pelis donates time to bowl-a-thons, golf tournaments, and nonprofit auctions, as well as donating birdbaths and garden-themed gift baskets from North Country Landscapes for raffles.
“I find it to be the cheapest and the most rewarding form of advertisement for my business,” he said, “and it feels good.”
This year’s nominations were scored by a panel of five judges, who accepted the daunting challenge of reviewing more than 100 nominations and scoring individuals based on several factors, ranging from achievements in business to work within the community. BusinessWest would like to thank these outstanding members of the Western Mass. business community for volunteering their time to the seventh annual 40 Under Forty competition. They are:
Jeffrey Fialky
• Jeffrey Fialky, a member of the 40 Under Forty class of 2008 and a shareholder of the regional law firm Bacon Wilson, P.C., and member of the firm’s corporate, commercial, and municipal departments, where he specializes in all aspects of corporate and business law, banking, commercial real estate, and sophisticated commercial transactions. He joined the firm in 2006 after nearly a decade of living in Eastern Mass., where he held senior commercial attorney positions within some of the country’s most prominent publicly traded telecommunications and cable television companies. He previously served as an assistant district attorney in Hampden County.
Fialky is also active in the community, having served on a number of nonprofit and economic-development-related organizations. They include the Springfield Chamber of Commerce, Springfield Museums, the United Way of Pioneer Valley, the Jewish Federation of Pioneer Valley, the Springfield Technical Community College Scibelli Enterprise Center Advisory Board, the Alden Credit Union board of directors, the Community Foundation, the American Cancer Society, the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield, Leadership Pioneer Valley, OnBoard, the YMCA of Greater Springfield, the Mason Wright Foundation, the EDC Tourism Development Committee; and the American Red Cross Pioneer Valley Chapter.
Brendon Hutchins
• Brendon Hutchins, CFP, a member of the 40 Under Forty class of 2012, and senior vice president of Account Management for St. Germain Investment Management. Prior to joing the firm in 2003, he was vice president and financial advisor for the FleetBoston Financial Corp. Private Clients Group in Springfield. His prior experience includes eight years with Fidelity Investments as a vice president in the retirement division, with responsibilities across multiple locations during his tenure there.
In addition to being a certified financial planner, Hutchins holds NASD series 7 and 65 licenses for securities representation and investment-advisor services. He currently serves on the board of directors for the New England office of the March of Dimes, the Greater Springfield YMCA, and the Basketball Hall of Fame, and has also served on the board for the Springfield School Volunteers.
Mark O’Connell
• Mark O’Connell, president and chief executive officer of Wolf & Co., providing audit and financial reporting services to both privately held and publicly traded financial institutions and holding companies across New England, including community banks and mortgage banking institutions. In his current capacity, he is responsible for the strategic direction of the firm, while also providing audit and advisory services to financial institutions. His experience also includes consultation on audit and accounting issues related to mergers and acquisitions and with respect to debt and security offerings filed with the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
O’Connell has been involved with a number of industry and nonprofit organizations, including the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Massachusetts and Connecticut Societies of Certified Public Accountants, and the Children’s Study Home in Springfield. In 2010, he won the Human Services Forum Board Member Award.
Myra Smith
• Myra Smith, vice president of Human Resources and Multicultural Affairs at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC). Joining the college in 1978, Smith has helped transform the STCC community into one of inclusiveness that celebrates cultural diversity. Among her many accomplishments is the creation of the STCC Diversity Council and its event series, which brings national and international speakers and artists to the campus. Smith also was responsible for the creation of the STCC “Think Tank” series, which brings community leaders together to assist with the retention and graduation rate of young men of color.
Smith is also active in the community, serving on many local boards, including People’sBank, the National Conference for Community Justice of Western Mass., and the STCC Foundation. Smith is a founding trustee of the Martin Luther King Charter School of Excellence and a trustee for the Non-Unit Health and Welfare Trust Fund for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Smith was recognized in 2007 by Unity First with a Women of Leadership Award, and received a Women of Vision Award from the Elms College Step Forward Program in 2005.
Jeff Sullivan
• Jeff Sullivan, executive vice president and chief operating officer of United Bank. In that capacity, which he assumed Jan. 1, Sullivan is responsible for the bank’s retail deposit and operations division, advancements in technology and electronic banking, and franchise expansion efforts. In addition, he also oversees the Information Systems and Facilities Departments and the United Wealth Management Group, and is also responsible for the company’s enterprise risk management program. He previously served the bank as executive vice president and chief lending officer and, prior to arriving at United, served in commercial-lending capacities for the Bank of Western Mass. and BayBank.
Sullivan has been involved with a number of area nonprofit and economic-development-related organizations, including DevelopSpringfield, Better Homes Inc., Martin Luther King Jr. Family Services, Briana Fund for Children with Physical Disabilities, OnBoard, the Pioneer Valley Plan for Progress, the Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, and the Economic Development Council of Western Mass.
Vice President of Marketing, Excel Dryer Inc., age 36
William Gagnon was schooled in professional and personal values by his father, Denis Gagnon. “We have a family business, and he taught me to have strong business morals and ethics, do the right thing, be honorable, and be a person of my word, not only in business but in life,” he said, adding, “I have a strong belief that it’s important to be involved in the community and give back once you become successful.”
Which is exactly what he does in both arenas. Gagnon was involved in the development and marketing of the XLERATOR hand dryer, which has had a positive impact on the environment in addition to leading to a large expansion of Excel Dryer, allowing it to double its staff. “It uses 80% less energy than conventional hand dryers and lowers the carbon footprint of hand drying by 70%, versus even 100% recycled paper towels,” he said.
He is working with the U.S. Building Council on its Green Apple Program through its Center for Green Schools, an initiative to help build healthy and environmentally friendly learning environments for the nation’s students. “I have a passion for sustainability,” Gagnon said.
He is also involved in the local community and is a member of the board of directors for the Children’s Study Home. “It’s a great program that gives children in troubled families an opportunity to succeed in life and school and move on,” he explained. He is also a member of the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield and coaches football and basketball teams at Minnechaug Regional High School.
Gagnon also helped organize and market a golf tournament sponsored by the Anero Sports Agency to benefit victims of 9/11. Closer to home, he helped the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation raise money for families in Western Mass. after the June 2011 tornado. “I wanted to get involved,” he said. “We have family members who lived on the streets of Springfield that were most affected, so it really hit home, and I wanted to help in any way I could.”
Assistant Director of Communication, Commonwealth Honors College, UMass Amherst, age 38
Shonda Pettiford believes everyone has potential, and she takes pride in using her writing skills to tell the stories of students at Commonwealth Honors College. “I really enjoy being in the educational environment,” she noted. “It’s amazing to see students grow and develop over the years, and I enjoy giving voice to other people’s stories and accomplishments in the Honors College.”
But the mother of two daughters is especially vested in helping women realize their potential. “I think everyone should be treated equally and have equal access to opportunities,” she said. “And I’m passionate about supporting women and helping them to build their leadership skills, because historically, culturally, and socially, women have not always been valued for their gifts. So I do everything I can to make sure that every girl and woman recognizes exactly how powerful she is.”
Pettiford funnels much of that effort through the Women’s Fund of Western Mass. She has been involved with the organization since 2001 and has served in many roles there, including board member, vice president, and president. In fact, when her two-year tenure as president ended, she was asked to serve an additional year. “It’s been a significant part of my life,” she said.
Pettiford was recognized as the youngest board president in the organization’s international network, and says the fund offers grants and strategic initiatives that help girls and women, such as programs aimed at developing leadership skills.
She was one of 20 women selected for membership in the international Women’s Funding Network Bridge Builders Cohort, and was chosen to be the group’s spokesperson at one of the plenary sessions during its international conference in New York.
Pettiford has also served on the statewide advisory board for the Massachusetts Women’s Pipeline for Change. In addition, she was selected to be part of the Women’s Professional Fellowship Program, funded by the U.S. State Department, that focuses on women’s health and leadership.
As part of the exchange, she went to Brazil in January, and plans to continue her personal mission of helping women to succeed, because, as she said, “everyone deserves a voice.”
Tim Allen says he has a very basic approach to education and the students he serves.
“I feel that all students need to be valued,” said the man given the reins at Springfield’s new South End Middle School, which opened its doors in 2011. “And all students can achieve if they’re given the right environment in school, and if they’re given the tools they need to succeed.”
And he takes that same basic approach with the teachers in the classrooms.
“I believe in creating a family environment where people can work collaboratively,” Allen explained. “I believe in sharing leadership as much as possible, and I believe that teachers need to be supported, since what they’re doing is the most important thing in the building.”
To say that this philosophy is generating results would be a huge understatement. Indeed, the 300 students at the school — more than a third of whom are English Language Learners, or ELL — showed more improvement on the English portion of the MCAS tests in the school’s first year than any of the other six neighborhood middle schools in Springfield.
Meanwhile, 95% of the teachers who generated those results stayed at their positions for the 2012-13 school year, bucking a trend for extremely high turnover rates within urban schools.
Allen’s immediate goal is to continually improve on those results, a reflection of his habit of setting the bar high after he made that intriguing and often-difficult career decision to move from the classroom to the administrative wing in 2007.
“I like the challenge of leadership — I like leading adults,” he said in explaining that choice. “And I just felt that I could give a lot back by trying to help an entire school improve, as opposed to just one classroom; I really like that challenge.”
And while taking it on, he’s finding other ways to give back, especially through his work with Big Brothers Big Sisters. He’s been mentoring the same Springfield youth for eight years now, and says the relationship has been mutually beneficial.
“It’s been a real bright spot in my life,” he said. “He’s a very bright young man, and he’s come a long way, and I think the relationship has influenced both lives in a very positive way.”
Program Director, Clinical & Support Options Inc., age 33
Allison Garriss studied political science in college with the goal of becoming a political consultant, but eventually decided her heart wasn’t in that arena. “I always knew I wanted to help people; I just didn’t know how,” she said.
So she changed her major to sociology and discovered the world of human services. Today, she works at Clinical & Support Options in Northampton, where she developed and now directs RECOVERe, a program that utilizes technology to help women stay sober during substance-abuse recovery.
“Basically, we provide support via text messaging and cell phones, web-based support, and videoconferencing support. It’s very innovative,” she said of the federally funded program.
“Part of what we do is working with people where they’re at,” she explained. “If someone can’t get to therapy on a regular basis, if someone can’t get to a group, when you remove those barriers to treatment and use technology to support them, you can have a major impact on people’s lives.
“It’s exciting,” she added. “Helping guide people on their journey is without a doubt the most gratifying thing about what I do.”
Garriss has also devoted free time to a number of organizations, from the Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society to the Women’s Fund of Western Mass. to the Northampton Post 28 American Legion baseball team.
“Each of the organizations I volunteer with holds a very special and unique place in my heart. I don’t volunteer out of obligation or just to sit on a bunch of boards or committees because I think it’s the right thing to do. I like getting in there, contributing … even getting my hands dirty when required.”
It’s just one more way to, as she said, help people.
“Working in human services is not just what I do to pay the bills, but it is my passion. Well, really, people are my passion. I’m not at all ignorant to the life challenges that keep people from being the best possible version of themselves,” Garriss said, noting that every person has faced times of struggle — and she is no different — but making mistakes can be an opportunity to grow.
“Everyone,” she said, “deserves to have someone in their corner.”
One of those who nominated Shannon Reichelt for this year’s 40 Under Forty competition described her as a “new-age CPA.”
It’s a portrayal she didn’t disagree with. In fact, when presented with that phrase, she took the ball and ran with it.
“With the new-age CPA, it’s not just about doing the tax return — send me in your stuff, and we get it out like a factory type of thing. I like to help people be successful,” she said.
“I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty — I’ll go into people’s businesses and help them on the ground level,” she continued when pressed for a deeper explanation. “And I think that stems from the fact that I started as a bookkeeper, and I also run my own firm, so I know the pain points that business owners go through with their finances, their accounting, and their record keeping.”
Reichelt, whose company — S. Reichelt & Company LLC — has offices in West Springfield and Greenfield, describes herself as an entrepreneur first and a CPA second. That’s because she’s proud of the risk she took in 2006, when she left Springfield-based J.M. O’Brien and put her own name over the door and on the letterhead.
“I had reached a point eight or nine years into my career … and I just knew,” she said of her desire to go out on her own. “I wanted to be able to sit down and work with business owners at the ground level and have that be OK. I like big firms, but I had a different vision of how I wanted to help people.”
It was after she considered her business venture firmly established — and when it no longer consumed nearly all of her time — that Reichelt made a firm commitment to get involved in the community. This has been manifested by work with the Community Foundation, but especially her many contributions to the Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society.
A self-described animal lover (she has an English bulldog named Daisy, pictured, and a boxer named Katie), she now sits on the Dakin board of directors and stages a fund-raiser for the organization each tax season — just another way that passion for helping others shines through.
Associate Dean, Division of Graduate and Continuing Education, Westfield State University, age 33
Meaghan Arena’s career has gone to the dogs. And plenty of other places.
“I enjoy coming here every day,” Arena said of her role developing a host of Westfield State University’s continuing-education initiatives, many of them involving young people (and, occasionally, canines; more on that later). “I work with a really great staff, and no day is the same. I’ve been fortunate to be able to have a job that’s this flexible.”
Arena oversees a staff of 11, as well as seasonal and temporary employees, in maintaining programs such as College for Kids, a summer outreach for children ages 5-16, and Teen-U, a residential summer program for high-school students.
“In the kids’ program, they come to campus and take courses that are fun, but also learning-oriented,” she said. “There might be classes like Lego Engineering or Forensics Fun — and they are fun, of course, but they also have a science component to them.
“Teen U is similar, but for older students; they actually live on campus,” she said before listing a few of the offerings in that program. “This year, we’re running Westfield CSI, which is similar to Forensics Fun but more involved, teaching students about policing, fingerprints, and crime-scene investigation.” Other classes delve into subjects ranging from health to music.
“Meaghan helps serve the community by getting children and teenagers involved in college at an early age,” wrote Kelly Koch, a local attorney and former 40 Under Forty honoree, who nominated Arena. “She has taught them that college is within their reach and that it should be attainable for everyone.”
But Arena has other passions as well, including her work volunteering for the Dakin Pioneer Valley Animal Shelter; last year, she even involved Dakin staff and animals in College for Kids to teach children about kindness to animals.
“My master’s degree is in Humane Education, so animals and the environment have been part of my life for a long time. When I started working at the college, it was a wonderful opportunity to educate children about animals and about appropriate behavior with animals — again, in a fun way,” she said. “There’s a lot of flexibility here to do the things that mean something to you.”
Manager of Community Relations and Community Benefits, Baystate Health, age 32
It’s called the Pioneer Valley Community Health Needs Assessment Coalition.
That’s the name given to an initiative involving a number of area hospitals — Baystate Franklin Medical Center, Baystate Mary Lane Hospital, Baystate Medical Center, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Holyoke Medical Center, Mercy Medical Center, and Shriners Hospital for Children — that constitutes an imaginative response to state and federal directives requiring such facilities to compile comprehensive needs assessments involving the cities and towns they serve every three years.
And it was Annamarie Golden, in her capacity as manager of Community Relations and Community Benefits at Baystate Health, who saw the need for, and the benefits to be derived from, such a coalition, and actively engaged administrators at partnering institutions to make it reality.
“Many hospitals do not have dedicated community-benefits staff, and we don’t have a lot of resources lying around for this,” she said. “I looked at the region as a whole and said, ‘we have a lot of hospitals, and our service areas overlap, so let’s come together for the benefit of the community and the patients we serve and do a regional needs assessment.’”
Creation of the coalition is one of many undertakings Golden has led in her position at Baystate, which involves ensuring that federal and state community-benefit regulations and guidelines are met, and that community members are engaged and included in such efforts.
In addition to her professional duties, Golden is also involved in the community through work with the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield, which she serves as clerk and executive committee member, and as a strong supporter of the Western Mass. transgender and gay community.
And she’s passionate about another issue — the matter of work/life balance.
As the mother of two, including a 6-month-old, she said she’s keenly aware of the challenges facing people as they try to manage both a family and a career. At Baystate, she’s one of a group of employees working to create a support network that would assist such individuals.
“I’m working with HR to start a group right now, and hopefully we can create a model that can be replicated throughout the organization,” she explained. “There is a definite need for such a program — there are many working mothers who need some support.”
Andy Robb can almost understand why some people would consider accounting work to be monotonous and perhaps not as rewarding as some other lines of work.
That’s almost understand.
He told BusinessWest that many of those not in his profession are of the mistaken belief that accounting is about numbers and taxes. Instead, it’s about people, Robb said, and because each individual and each company is different, there is a great amount of variety in this field — and rewards as well.
At a recent presentation he gave before the Berkshire Brewing Co. stockholders meeting, the rewards were immediate and refreshing. “At what other job can you get a draught beer, any type you want, and talk financials?” he joked, adding that his goals are usually far more substantial and involve helping business owners achieve their ambitions, aim higher, and, overall, take their businesses where they want them to go.
He’s been reaping such rewards since joining the profession after graduating from Quinnipiac College with a degree in Accounting, and especially since forming what has become Burgess, Schultz & Robb, an East Longmeadow-based firm that specializes in corporate tax work.
Robb also strives to create a balance between his business, his family (his wife, Amy, and four children), his multi-faceted work within the community, and, yes, his golf game. And sometimes he gets to mix these passions — using time on the course to talk with clients and network with potential new ones, and work as a member of the Ronald McDonald House Golf Committee.
He is also a member of the Chicopee Chamber of Commerce and the Chicopee Rotary Club, serves as treasurer for the Chicopee Visiting Nurses Assoc., and holds that same post with the Chicopee Fest of All Inc.
Doing all that wouldn’t be possible, he said, without considerable support from Amy, a stay-at-home mother.
“Amy allows me to do what I need to do to be out there networking, marketing, growing the firm the way I need to,” Robb said. “Thanks to her for all that she does, because she helps make me what I am.”
Chief Operating Officer, Harold Grinspoon Foundation, age 31
‘Business savvy’ and ‘entrepreneurial skills’ are phrases that some might not associate with the management of a nonprofit. But Harold Grinspoon — one of the region’s most successful business leaders, a true entrepreneur, and a philanthropist — certainly knows better.
And that’s why he hired Adrian Bailey Dion to help lead the foundation that bears his name and become “a partner in my philanthropic work.” In his letter nominating Bailey Dion for the 40 Under Forty Class of 2013, Grinspoon had high praise for her entrepreneurial approach to operating and growing PJ Library, one of the foundation’s signature programs, which supports literacy and values development in children ages 1-8 through the purchase and delivery of age-appropriate Jewish books.
“When it started in 2006, it was my hope to grow the program and send Jewish books to 5,000 families in five years,” he wrote. “With Adrian on board in 2008, she was able to strategically think through the operations side of these growth goals. She helped build this program, which now has more than 200 partners across the globe, sends more than 100,000 books per month, and has given away more than 4 million books!”
This was accomplished through Bailey Dion’s efforts to create a new model of doing business within the publishing industry, as she positioned PJ Library to work like an agent as well as a client by proactively and collaboratively finding new manuscripts and story ideas, and structuring a purchasing process and timeline that allowed new books to be published for both PJ Library and the trade market.
“Having more families get more books is the way we measure success, and the way we do that is through efficiencies and economies of scale,” she explained. “The same principles that apply to business can also be applied to philanthropy.”
Personally, she’s been applying those entrepreneurial principles and passions to benefit local food pantries and kitchens. She worked tirelessly to make Share the Bounty, a program that supports shares in local farms, a more viable business; it was eventually adopted by Berkshire Grown, a nonprofit Berkshire County program that supports local agriculture.
In her home life, she and her arborist and horticulturalist husband plan on growing gardens and an orchard at their new, 13-acre home in Granville. Chances are, she’ll exceed growth goals there as well.
Associate Lawyer, Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C., age 39
As she prepared to enroll in Bay Path College in the fall of 1991, Alex Hogan decided she would be majoring in Travel, “because I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, and travel sounded like fun.” But then, in her last semester at Hampshire Regional High School, she took a law course that would take her down a different path.
“It really clicked with me — a light had finally come on,” she said of that class, which provided a great deal of simulation regarding what goes on in the courtroom. “I thought, ‘this is what I really want to do with my life. In terms of analytic abilities, problem solving, and rules … that’s who I am.”
So she switched her major to Paralegal Studies and started down a road that would eventually see her joining Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C. (where she was a paralegal for several years) as an associate. Today, she’s putting those analytic abilities and problem-solving skills to work in a practice that focuses on litigation, bankruptcy, and business law, while also putting them to use in the community.
Indeed, while proving pro-bono bankruptcy services to individuals who have been diagnosed with AIDS and HIV and have significant financial debt, she also visits classrooms on behalf of Junior Achievement to discuss both financial literacy and workforce readiness, among other contributions of time and energy.
She finds many rewards in both realms of her career.
“People don’t wake up the morning and say, ‘gee, this would be a great day to file for bankruptcy,’” she said, adding that she finds it very rewarding to help people through the financial, legal, and psychological rollercoaster of such a decision. “It’s my job to take the weight of the world off their shoulders and put it on mine.”
As for her work in the classroom talking about financial literacy, she said, “we talk about how people go wrong with spending and credit, and it opens their eyes a little bit. It’s surprising that many kids don’t know what a credit card is or what interest is; it’s rewarding to help them understand.”
Hogan never did get into travel, but for many people, she’s making a world of difference.
Health information can be confusing — but Stacy Robison says it doesn’t have to be.
With that simple idea in mind, she launched a business from her attic. Four years later, Northampton-based CommunicateHealth boasts 25 employees, annual revenues that have increased tenfold since the first year, and a second office in Rockville, Md.
“We’re founded on the core principle that people deserve clear information about their health,” she said. “When people are dealing with health issues, they’re often under a whole lot of stress, and it makes it really hard to understand information that’s already complicated. So we’re all about making things easier for people.”
Those efforts range from writing and designing interactive health websites to writing fact sheets and creating mobile apps aimed at making health information easier — and even more fun — to access. Government agencies comprise a good portion of her clientele, including ongoing work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We got to work on pandemic flu information with the CDC, and we worked on childhood-obesity messages with the American Academy of Pediatrics,” she explained. “It kind of runs the gamut, but in each case, we’re taking pretty complicated health information and making it easier to find and use.”
Robison leveraged a public-health degree into a career working with various health agencies, where she experienced first-hand how complicated the information could be. “I started rewriting things, and pretty soon other people were sending me their fact sheets and brochures, asking if I could rewrite and translate them into plain language. It was obvious there was a huge need, and that’s how this business was born.”
Robison runs CommunicateHealth with her partner, Xanthi Scrimgeour, “which is kind of nice because we can bounce ideas off each other.” In addition, she has become something of a national speaker and writer on the issue of health literacy.
“I think this business is in the right place at the right time,” she said, noting that, as insurance reform complicates the medical landscape, health leaders are beginning to recognize the importance of lessening confusion and anxiety.
“People need access to information they can understand,” she said, “and we’ve been able to capitalize on that.”
— Joseph Bednar
Mike Simolo admits he’s not the handiest person in the world, and has developed a decent sense of humor about that subject, especially regarding his work with Habitat for Humanity.
