People on the Move

Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C. announced three promotions: Emily White to senior audit associate, Brian Benson, CPA to senior audit associate, and John Veit to director of Marketing and Recruiting. White has been with the firm since 2016. In her new position, she plays a leading role in the Accounting and Audit department, serving commercial, pension, and not-for-profit clients. She also prepares individual, partnership, and corporate tax returns and reviews for commercial and healthcare entities. She attended Elms College, where she earned dual bachelor’s degrees in accounting and marketing and a master’s degree in accounting. As a senior audit associate, Benson is in charge of completing and monitoring staff on audit and review engagements of low-income housing and not-for-profit organizations. He holds bachelor’s degrees in accounting and business management from Elms College, where he will graduate in September with an MBA with a concentration in financial planning. He then plans to sit for the certified financial planner exam. In his former position as senior Marketing and Recruiting associate, Veit had been managing the day-to-day operations of marketing and recruiting for some time. The firm decided it was time for him to take the reins in all matters related to marketing, recruiting, and recruiting consulting for clients. He earned his BBA from the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst with a focus in marketing.

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Raúl Gutiérrez, assistant professor of Spanish at Holyoke Community College (HCC), has been selected as an Engaged Scholar for 2019-20 by the Eastern Region Campus Compact, a regional partnership of colleges and universities dedicated to promoting civic engagement. Gutierrez was one of 12 scholars picked for the inaugural, 18-month program that includes academics from 11 other institutions from Maine to Washington D.C., including Lehigh, Ithaca, Swarthmore, Dartmouth, Georgetown, and Yale. Scholars were selected from a highly competitive pool of candidates nominated by college and university presidents and chief academic officers. Gutiérrez is coordinator of HCC’s Foreign Language program, coordinator of the Center for Public Humanities at HCC, and adviser to the HCC LISA (Latino International Students Assoc.) Club. He also spearheaded the creation of a new Latinx Studies program at the college that will begin in the fall 2019 semester, and he teaches Spanish literacy to migrant farm workers through Head Start in Springfield. His specific projects will focus on two areas: building a civic-engagement/service-learning component into the new Latinx Studies program and continue to work with migrant farm workers. Gutiérrez was born in Mexico and holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and a master’s degree in Hispanic Studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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Two professors at Western New England University have been awarded $30,000 in seed funding by the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center (MTTC) Acorn Innovation Fund. Dr. Vedang Chauhan and Dr. Jingzhou “Frank” Zhao were among 13 grant recipients statewide, including researchers from Boston University Medical Center, Northeastern University, Tufts University, and UMass. The funding is designed to assist researchers in testing the viability of their technologies and potentially bringing the research to market. Continuously variable transmission technology is widely used in modern vehicles to improve fuel efficiency and performance. However, small engines currently cannot meet power requirements to utilize the technology. Chauhan’s goal is to build, implement, and test an E-CVT system for small engines, evaluating endurance, reliability, and performance. Zhao, an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering, leads the College of Engineering’s Advanced Manufacturing and Materials Processing Lab. The grant funding will support a project covering production of silica-coated metal nanoparticles using electrospraying, a technology that holds the potential to achieve much lower manufacturing costs and much higher throughput than existing methods. Acorn funding will support the research activities of Zhao’s team to obtain proof-of-concept evidence.

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James Wolfe has been appointed general manager of Seven Hills, a historic, 57-room boutique hotel in Lenox. Backed by 17 years of senior leadership experience in the hospitality industry, Wolfe joins the hotel in the midst of a repositioning and renovation that is slated for completion this spring. Wolfe comes to Seven Hills from Comfort Inn & Suites Sturbridge, where he also served as general manager. Over the course of his career, he has held general-manager positions at hotels throughout the Northeast and Midwest under the Courtyard by Marriott, Hyatt Place, and Residence Inn brands. As general manager of Newark Metropolitan Hotel in Newark, Ohio, he led the 118-room hotel through an acquisition, renovation, and grand opening. Wolfe has also served as director of operations for Crowne Plaza and the Lofts in Columbus, Ohio, and for Sage Hospitality’s Cherry Valley Lodge and Sheraton Kansas City Sports Complex.

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Connecticut-based Liberty Bank announced that David Glidden will serve as its new president and CEO, effective March 18, succeeding Chandler Howard, who has led the bank since 2007. Glidden brings more than 30 years of industry leadership experience to Liberty Bank. Most recently, he served as regional president for the Northern New England and Upstate New York Region for TD Bank. He was responsible for managing retail banking, small-business, wealth-management, commercial, and specialty banking operations and lending services. Glidden began his banking career at Shawmut Bank’s Commercial Lending Division in Boston and joined TD Bank in 1994, embarking on a path that led to numerous positions of increasing responsibility.

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As part of organizational changes previously announced by OMG Inc. to accelerate growth, the company has promoted Web Shaffer to the position of senior vice president and general manager for the FastenMaster Division. In this role, Shaffer is responsible for developing and executing the division’s overall strategy for the two recently created divisional business units, Decking and Structural Products. In addition, he is responsible for overseeing FastenMaster’s new product-development and innovation group and its sales and marketing teams, including retail sales, customer service, and technical support. Shaffer joined OMG Roofing Products in 2015 as vice president of Marketing and took on international sales responsibility in 2016. He was promoted in 2018 to vice president of the Fastener Business Unit. Prior to joining OMG, he spent eight years in the Newell Rubbermaid tool business, managing hand tools and power-tool accessories for the Lenox and Irwin brands. He also served as vice president of Marketing for the baby gear segment at Newell. Earlier, he was director of Product Management at Permatex, a division of Illinois Tool Works, and worked in sales, channel marketing, and market research at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College and an MBA from The University of Indiana.

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Michael Tucker, president and CEO of Greenfield Cooperative Bank, announced that Daniel O’Neill has joined the bank as vice president – Commercial Lending in its Northampton Cooperative Bank division. O’Neill, who will be based in the 67 King St. office of the Northampton Cooperative Bank division, earned bachelor’s degree from Assumption College in Worcester and is a graduate of the School of Commercial Lending held by the Massachusetts Bankers Assoc. He has been active in the community throughout his career with time spent as a volunteer board member with groups such as the Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, the Holyoke YMCA, the Chicopee Boys’ and Girls’ Club, and Blessed Sacrament School in Holyoke.

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Whittlesey announced that Amy Richards, CPA has been promoted to manager in its Holyoke office. In this role, she is responsible for expanding and managing assurance, tax, and advisory engagements. Richards has more than 11 years of experience providing accounting, tax, and advisory services. Over her career, she has managed client relationships, made process improvements, and analyzed data to provide actionable insights for her clients. Richards formerly served as a supervisor at Whittlesey. She has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Fitchburg State University and an MBA in accounting from UMass Lowell.

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The Amherst Survival Center, a regional resource serving low-income residents of Hampshire and Franklin counties, announced the selection of K. Lev Ben-Ezra as its next executive director. Ben-Ezra succeeds Mindy Domb, who has been director since June 2013 and has been elected state representative for the 3rd Hampshire District. Ben-Ezra’s experience includes extensive work over the past decade at Community Action Pioneer Valley, where she developed and implemented leadership and workforce-development programs for both youth and adults. Most recently, she served as director of Youth and Workforce Development, and previously as director of Youth Programs. She has also worked in several other youth-serving organizations, working to support youth at risk in a variety of settings. She has served as chair of the Franklin County/North Quabbin Communities that Care Coalition for the last eight years, as a steering committee member of the Hampshire County Strategic Planning Initiative for Families and Youth, and as a member of the Regional Employment Board’s Youth Career Connections Council, as well as on other local coalitions. She is also an adjunct faculty member of Marlboro College Graduate and Professional Studies and a board member of the Community Health Center of Franklin County.

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The Eastern States Exposition (ESE) announced the promotions of Robert Gottsche Jr. to Sales manager, Steve Ferraro to captain of Parking & Security, and Terri Brown to Creative Arts/New England Center program manager. Gottsche will be responsible for all Big E vendors and concessionaires, and will oversee ESE’s year-round event coordinators. He first joined the staff of the Exposition in 1983 and became an event coordinator in 1991. He worked in the Special Events department for eight years during the Big E as well as the Sales department as a show coordinator throughout the year. In 1999, he began overseeing Young Building exhibitors during the fair and quickly added vendor and vendor-space sales and contracting to his list of responsibilities. Ferraro will oversee all parking for weekend events and the Big E, as well as assist Cliff Hedges, director of Public Safety & Security, with scheduling security staff for 24-hour and event coverage. Ferraro started working at ESE at age 14 when his father, the late Albert Ferraro, a long-time Big E employee, oversaw parking for the Exposition. He stepped into the position of Parking manager in 2015. Brown has been affiliated with ESE since 2011 as the building’s 4-H coordinator, served as assistant to the Creative Arts coordinator in 2017, and became co-coordinator of the department in 2018. In her new position, she will oversee the management and administration of all contests, 4-H participation, displays, and the New England Center stage. Brown graduated from Southwick High School, Holyoke Community College, and the University of New Hampshire, where she earned a degree in zoology.

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Comcast recently announced the appointment of Evan Broslovsky as vice president of Customer Experience for the company’s Western New England region, which is headquartered in Berlin, Conn. and includes more than 300 communities in Connecticut, Western Mass., Western New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. In this newly created regional role, Broslovsky will be responsible for regional implementation of the company’s multi-year strategy to transform the customer experience. Prior to joining Comcast, he spent nine years as vice president of Contact Center Operations at Priceline.com, where he oversaw more than 800 customer-care agents in six locations across the country. He also has an extensive history in the cable industry that spans 17 years. His first role was that of a care agent, and he quickly grew in the ranks to supervisor, assistant manager, and finally to manager of care operations overseeing a team of six supervisors and 120 care agents at Cablevision and its predecessor companies. Broslovsky then joined Time Warner Cable as director of business operations, with responsibility for call centers that supported 1.4 million customers.

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PV Squared, a worker-owned cooperative and local solar design and installation company located in Greenfield, recently welcomed seven new worker-owners to the ownership team: Madeleine Geschwind, Brain (Craig) Lakas, Jeremy Latch, Jeff Molongoski, Todd Sessions, Nik Perry, and Matt Valliere. To become a worker-owner, employees must work at PV Squared for at least one year before participating in an additional one-year worker-owner in training (WOIT) program. The WOIT program involves in-depth education about all aspects of the cooperative, the development of a personal leadership plan, and additional learning opportunities about socially responsible business practices. PV Squared is a worker-owned cooperative that provides renewable-energy solutions to a range of clients, including business owners, commercial property owners, farmers, and homeowners.

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The board of directors of the Realtor Assoc. of Pioneer Valley (RAPV) recently welcomed Brendan Bailey as its new CEO. Bailey began his career in association management with the Raleigh Regional Assoc. of Realtors (RRAR) in Cary, N.C., a board of more than 8,000 members, where he served as chief operating officer. Prior to joining RARR, he served as policy coordinator for the American Assoc. of Colleges of Pharmacy and as a House legislative assistant in the North Carolina General Assembly. On the national level, Bailey currently serves as vice chair for the AE YPN Forum for the National Assoc. of Realtors.

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Tighe & Bond Inc. announced that Brian Brenner, has joined the firm as a principal bridge engineer in its Building Services business line. He has 36 years of experience in highway and railroad bridges, tunnels, and value engineering for large highway and transit projects. Brenner will serve Tighe & Bond’s clients across the Northeast, working from the firm’s Westwood, Mass. office. Brenner’s projects include the Central Artery/Tunnel in Boston and the Burns Bridge in Worcester. In 2016, the American Public Works Assoc. named the Burns Bridge its Project of the Year, and the National Steel Bridge Alliance named it the Best Steel Bridge Design (in the medium-span category). Other project examples include two accelerated bridge-construction projects across the MBTA Commuter Rail in Dorchester, an award-winning accelerated bridge-construction project in Back Bay, Boston, and value engineering for numerous Department of Transportation projects throughout Massachusetts. A professor of Practice at Tufts University, Brenner also teaches classes in bridge and concrete design, as well as introduction to engineering. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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At its 2019 annual meeting in Atlanta, the Assoc. of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) announced that Carol Leary, president of Bay Path University, was appointed board chair. Richard Guarasci, president of Wagner College, will continue to serve on AAC&U’s board as past chair. The members also voted to appoint William Craft, president of Concordia College, as vice chair of the board. Royce Engstrom, professor of Chemistry at the University of Montana, will continue his term as treasurer. Two new directors were also appointed to AAC&U’s board: Timothy Eatman, dean of the Honors Living-Learning Community and associate professor of Urban Education at Rutgers University Newark; and Mary Ann Villareal, assistant vice president, Strategic Initiatives at California State University Fullerton.