People on the Move

The Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce announced the resignation of Executive Director Claudia Pazmany, effective Feb. 28. Pazmany has led the chamber for the past five and a half years, growing it to over 400 members while leading it through the pandemic. The chamber will launch a search for its next executive director immediately. With Pazmany’s help, the Amherst Area Chamber has built a strong foundation with deeply rooted partnerships year after year and a dedicated staff focused on meeting the needs of its members and the business community. The chamber has hosted valuable events for members and the broader community to network, enjoy locations in the Greater Amherst area, and meet new people. Events such as Margarita Madness, the annual golf tournament, and the A+ Awards have all grown in recent years. Under her leadership, the chamber also established a diversity, equity, and inclusion task force and has advocated with local town governments on items of interest to its members. The chamber has continued its outreach to members in an effort to promote their businesses through workshops and monthly Arrive at 5 networking events. In 2023, Pazmany and Gabriele Gould from the Amherst Business Improvement District were recognized by BusinessWest as Difference Makers for their joint work on pandemic relief for small businesses.

•••••

Liz Larson, currently director of Operations at the Amherst Business Improvement District (BID), has been named interim executive director, effective Feb. 26. Larson has been with the BID for six years and has worked closely with departing Executive Director Gabrielle Gould, creating events for the community, revitalizing downtown, and ensuring the health of the BID’s finances. She is the creative force behind the Makers’ Market at the annual Sip and Shop Stroll and the recently launched “Take a Dino to Dinner” campaign. With a background in arts administration and nonprofit management, Larson moved to Amherst with her family in 2007 and has been active in the community, serving on several boards and committees, including professional growth objectives for the public schools and the city’s Participatory Budgeting Commission. She is currently a trustee and board treasurer for the Amherst Historical Society. Prior to moving to Amherst, she spent 20 years in New York and Tokyo.

•••••

The board of trustees of Country Bank announced the appointment of Mary McGovern as president and chief operating officer, effective April 1. She will oversee the bank’s operations and drive its strategic growth initiatives. Paul Scully, who has been the president and chief executive officer, will remain the CEO. McGovern brings more than 30 years of experience in the banking industry, making her a valuable asset to Country Bank. She holds degrees from Emmanuel College and Babson College, and her extensive knowledge and expertise have been instrumental in the bank’s success. Mary joined Country Bank in 2011 as its chief financial officer and has since been an esteemed member of the bank’s Leadership Group. McGovern recently attended the American Bankers Assoc. (ABA) Wharton Leadership Lab at the University of Pennsylvania, earning an ABA Wharton Leadership Certificate. This accomplishment further solidifies her commitment to excellence and continuous professional development.

•••••

MCLA Physics Professor Emily Maher, one of 65 scientists in the MINERvA collaboration at Fermi National Accelerator Lab (Fermilab), has published work that has been chosen as one of the “Top 10 Physics Breakthroughs of 2023” in Physics World. Over a 10-year span, the MINERvA detector recorded the interactions of neutrinos and antineutrinos, the antimatter partners of the neutrino. The physicists working on the MINERvA experiment used the data to make a groundbreaking new measurement, which was published last February in Nature. The study, led by Tejin Cai at the University of Rochester in the U.S. and Canada’s York University, shows how information about the internal structure of a proton can be gleaned from neutrinos scattering from a plastic target. The team focused on isolating the signal from neutrinos scattered off lone protons within the background of those scattered off protons bound in carbon nuclei. Their innovative approach involved simulating and subtracting the carbon-scattered signal from experimental data. This provides insights into proton structure and enhances the understanding of how neutrinos interact with matter.

•••••

Holyoke Community College (HCC) recently welcomed Elizabeth Ollson as its manager of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving. Ollson is a 2018 graduate of HCC and also holds a bachelor’s degree in women, gender, and sexuality studies from UMass Amherst. She joined HCC’s division of Institutional Advancement in November. She came to HCC from Boston College, where she was the senior associate director of Annual Giving Programs. Prior to that, she worked at Amherst College as the Amherst Fund coordinator.

•••••

Lisa Zarcone, an author, speaker, and child mental-health advocate honored in December as one of BusinessWest’s Women of Impact for 2023, has released her second book, titled The Book of Joann: A Novel Based on Her Life Story, and the Lifetime Battle She Endured with Mental Illness and published by Joshua Tree Publishing of Chicago. “The Book of Joann is a powerful story of darkness and light, defeat and victory, hope and faith,” said Zarcone, whose first book, The Unspoken Truth, is a memoir of her experiences with — and overcoming — years of abuse. Zarcone is currently the Massachusetts National Ambassador for the National Assoc. of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse. She is dedicated to spreading awareness of child safety/abuse, as well as mental illness and the stigma that surrounds it. She is committed to educating people and promoting change in a flawed system as too many children continue to fall through the cracks. She is also a public speaker, radio personality, social-media influencer, and blogger on her own website, lisazarcone.net. The Book of Joann can be found at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

•••••

Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Co. announced that its CEO, Beth Spong, has been appointed to serve on the board of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA), a global organization dedicated to empowering women in the coffee industry, fostering gender equality, and promoting the inclusion of women at all levels of the coffee supply chain. Now in its 20th year, IWCA is committed to creating an equitable coffee industry by empowering women in chapters serving 33 countries around the world through leadership development, strategic partnership, and amplified market visibility. Spong brings a wealth of experience with nonprofit boards and a passion for promoting equity to her new role. Under her guidance, Dean’s Beans continues to be at the forefront of advocating for fair-trade practices, environmental stewardship, and social responsibility within the specialty coffee industry. As a board member, she will contribute her expertise to further IWCA’s mission and initiatives supporting women coffee farmers, exporters, importers, roasters, and entrepreneurs.

•••••

The law firm of Pellegrini, Seeley, Ryan & Blakesley (PSRB) announced the appointment of Amara Barbiero as an associate attorney. Barbiero graduated from Quinnipiac University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting prior to obtaining her juris doctorate from Western New England University (WNE) School of Law. As a law student, she was awarded the prestigious CALI Award in Workers’ Compensation, given to the highest-scoring student in each law-school class. She also worked as a clinician for the WNE Small Business Clinic in Springfield. Barbiero spent four years working as a legal assistant in Connecticut before joining PSRB as a law clerk in 2021. That immersion into the practice of law has helped her develop an experience-based sensitivity to issues of equity and justice across diverse communities. She is licensed to practice law in Massachusetts and awaits her admission to the bars of Connecticut and New Jersey.

•••••

New England Public Media (NEPM) promoted Elizabeth Román into the role of managing editor – daily and digital news. Although her title did not dramatically change, her responsibilities have evolved, and she will now take the lead on delivering daily news programming on the radio, NEPM’s website, and social-media channels. Román is continuing to focus on expanding the diversity of sources in news coverage and opportunities to create more Spanish-language news content. As the daughter of Puerto Rican parents who migrated to Massachusetts more than 40 years ago, she has intended throughout her career as a journalist to provide accurate representation of communities of color in Western Mass. She has felt empowered to do this at NEPM, and in this new role, with the addition of supervisory responsibilities, she looks forward to sharing her expertise with other journalists. Román is a graduate of Holyoke Community College and UMass Amherst. Prior to working at NEPM, she was a reporter at the Republican for almost two decades, edited El Pueblo Latino, co-founded Colectivo de Medios Latinos, and appeared as a panelist on NEPM’s “The Short List” and “Connecting Point.” She joined NEPM in 2022.

•••••

Friends of Children Inc. (FOC) announced it has appointed new leadership at the organization. Debi Belkin, MSW, LICSW and Sarah Segura, MSW, LCSW are the new co-executive directors of the nonprofit organization that works to support children and young adults whose lives have been affected by the child-welfare system. Belkin and Segura are both current employees of the organization. Belkin has more than 40 years of experience advocating for court-involved children and adolescents in Massachusetts, including more than 30 years as a supervisor at the Department of Children and Families. She has most recently been the director of Programs at FOC. Segura has been with FOC since 2021, sharing her experience in advocacy, case management, and program development, as well as a passion for working with individuals and families of diverse cultural backgrounds. She has most recently been the CASA program manager at FOC. This new co-directorship comes after the organization’s founder, Jane Lyons, retired in July 2023.

•••••

Market Mentors, LLC, a fully integrated marketing, advertising, and public-relations agency, recently added two new specialists to its multi-disciplinary team. Jack Antkowiak joined the agency as a digital marketing specialist, and Paige Auger started her role as a financial administrator. As a digital marketing specialist, Antkowiak manages, reports on, and optimizes paid digital ads and SEO campaigns. This involves taking deep dives into ad performance and website analytics data to uncover actionable insights and trends that can be used to improve both campaign performance and the overall user/customer journey. A graduate of the University of Connecticut, Antkowiak combines tried-and-true best practices with a deep understanding of the target audience to build engaging and impactful campaigns. With a degree in business administration as well as management experience in accounting, Auger joined the Market Mentors finance team to handle accounts payable, accounts receivable, billing, reconciliation, and 1099 reporting. She collaborates across departments to ensure accuracy in data input and is skilled at summarizing large amounts of data and presenting meaningful information for review. A graduate of Western New England University, she received the 2017 Lawrence H. Nath Management Award.

•••••

Following an extensive and thorough search process, Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts announced the appointment of Theresa Lynn as its new CEO. Lynn brings a wealth of experience in nonprofit leadership, having most recently served as senior vice president of the United Way of Central Massachusetts, where she focused on fundraising, communications, and some large grant-making opportunities. Her dedication to community engagement is evident through her roles as executive director for Back on My Feet, addressing homelessness and job insecurity in Boston, and executive director for ReadBoston for 14 years. She currently serves as a board member for the Worcester Education Collaborative and BioBuilder Education Foundation. Lynn holds a master of public administration degree from the Harvard Kennedy School, an MBA from Boston University, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the College of Holy Cross. Her contributions in the community have been recognized by the Boston Celtics, who presented her with a Heroes Among Us award, and by the Boston Business Journal, which acknowledged her as a Top 40 Under 40 leader in Boston.

•••••

Bill Mertz has been appointed Tighe & Bond’s next Transportation Business Line leader. Mertz joined the firm in 2023 with the acquisition of WorldTech Engineering. He has nearly 30 years of experience on a wide variety of roadway, bridge, transportation, and utility infrastructure projects. Throughout his career, he has overseen the financial performance, project management, and technical delivery of transportation and infrastructure projects. Additionally, he has worked on notable projects for state agencies, including the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and MassDOT, as well as local communities throughout New England. Mertz is based out of Tighe & Bond’s Woburn office. Outside of work, he serves as a member of the American Public Works Assoc. and the American Society of Civil Engineers, as well as local boards.