Kate Caligaris
Vice President, Human Resources Program Management, Liberty Bank: Age 34
It’s called the Mirror Ball Trophy.
It’s awarded by the organizers of the Fancy Steps fundraiser, a dance competition of sorts for the Children’s Museum at Holyoke, not to the best dancer — “I would never have gotten it if that was the case,” Kate Caligaris joked — but instead to the one who raises the most money for the institution.
In this case, for the 2025 event, Caligaris raised more than $15,000 by “getting creative,” with initiatives that included everything from celebrity bartending to soliciting Holyoke businesses for donations.
The trophy (yes, its main feature is a mirror ball) now sits on Caligaris’s desk at Liberty Bank, where she serves as vice president of Human Resources Program Management. It will soon be joined by a 40 Under Forty plaque, which she has earned through a combination of excellence in her day job and a strong commitment to community, especially in her hometown, and now her current home — Holyoke.
Her role brings a diverse set of responsibilities, she said, listing everything from administering the intern program to system integration initiatives; from serving as HR business partner for several members of the bank’s C-suite to overseeing the change to a new 401(k) provider. “It’s a little bit of everything, and that’s what I like about it,” she said.
As for her work in the community, it includes years of work on the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee, continuing a family tradition that started with her grandfather. In 2010, she was named Colleen, and today she serves as chair of the Colleen Pageant and oversees all that happens after that competition.
“I’m with the girls all through the green season — the school visits, the hospital visits, chamber breakfast … you name it,” she said, adding that she walks beside the Colleen float on parade day.
Caligaris is also a Board of Health commissioner in Holyoke, and served for many years on the board of the Children’s Museum and remains active with that institution. She is also co-chair of the American Cancer Society’s Massachusetts Golf Classic, which will be staged later this spring, and sits of the board of Magic for Maddie, a nonprofit created in honor of Madeline (Maddie) O’Hare Schmidt, who lost a courageous battle against pediatric brain cancer in 2022. Over the past four years, the agency has raised more than $1.3 million money for research, but also to assist families waging their own fight against the disease.
—George O’Brien
