People on the Move

Country Bank  announced the following:
• Susan Teixeira has been promoted to Senior Vice President. Teixeira has been with Country Bank since 2007. She has 23 years of experience in the financial-services industry and manages the bank’s Operations and Compliance departments. Prior to joining Country Bank, Teixeira worked for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Woronoco Savings Bank, and Florence Savings Bank. She earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Western New England College and is a graduate of Stonier Graduate School of Banking. She is a board member for the Randall Boys & Girls Club/Ludlow Community Center and serves on the advisory board for the Springfield Salvation Army.
• Shelley Regin was promoted to Senior Vice President, Marketing & Retail Banking. In this position, she draws on her 20-year tenure with the bank to lead marketing and retail-banking efforts. Regin holds a bachelor’s degree from Western New England University and earned a certification from the New England School for Financial Studies, a Mass. Bankers Assoc. program at Babson College. She serves on the Carson Center Advisory Board and the River East School to Career Board.
• Phil Goncalves has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Commercial Lending. Goncalves has been with Country Bank since 1992 in the Commercial Lending department. He has 31 years’ experience in the financial-services industry and manages the bank’s Commercial Lending team. Goncalves earned his MBA at Western New England University with a concentration in the field of finance and economics. He also attended the Massachusetts School for Financial Studies and the National School of Banking. He is active in the community and serves on the board of Junior Achievement, the Randall Boys & Girls Club, and the STCC Foundation. In addition, he is an adjunct professor at local colleges.
• Denise Walker has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Retail Lending. Walker has been with Country Bank since 2008 as first vice president, director of Retail Lending. She has 35 years of experience in the financial-services industry and is responsible for Country Bank’s Retail Lending division, including origination, processing, underwriting, secondary market, and loan servicing. “Her commitment to exceptional service along with her strong leadership skills has made her a valuable asset to her team and to the bank,” Scully said. “We are delighted to recognize her for her efforts.” Prior to joining Country Bank, Walker worked at Springfield Institution for Savings, Woronoco Savings Bank, and Monson Savings Bank, holding different positions in banking throughout her career. She attended the Massachusetts School for Financial Studies and the National School of Banking. Walker was a treasurer for the Belchertown Football Assoc. for many years and started the Belchertown Salvation Army Community Unit in 2010. In 2013, Country Bank’s Retail Lending team was voted #1 Residential Lender by Banker & Tradesman. Country Bank is a full-service mutual community bank serving Central and Western Mass. with 15 offices in Ware, Palmer, West Brookfield, Brimfield, Belchertown, Wilbraham, Ludlow, Leicester, Paxton, Charlton, and Worcester. For more information, call (800) 322-8233 or visit countrybank.com.

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Longtime WGBY producer and host Jim Madigan has been named a 2015 inductee for the prestigious Silver Circle Award of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Boston/New England Chapter. He received his award in a ceremony in Boston. The Gold and Silver Circle Awards are a special recognition to honor television professionals who have “made significant contributions to their community and to the vitality of the television industry,” according to NATAS. Madigan is one of six Silver Circle award recipients, which honor those with more than 25 years of distinguished service to broadcasting. Madigan joined WGBY in December 1990 as senior producer for public affairs and is now director of public affairs. In addition to hosting WGBY’s Connecting Point public-affairs series, he is producer and host of “The State We’re In,” a weekly Connecting Point segment broadcast each Friday focusing on local, state, and national politics. Madigan is also a veteran moderator of seven gubernatorial debates over the past 20 years. Prior to joining WGBY, Madigan was a reporter and backup anchor for WGGB/ABC 40 in Springfield, where he specialized in political reporting and Massachusetts State House coverage. This included the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans and the presidential campaign of then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. Before that, he was news director for WLDM Radio in Westfield/Springfield. Prior to his broadcasting career, he served on the staff of the minority leader of the New York State Senate in Albany. In 1992, Madigan was honored with both a New England Regional Emmy and National Public Service Emmy as a co-producer of the documentary Out of Work, a co-production by WGBH-Boston, WHYY-Philadelphia, and WGBY-Springfield.

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Four new board members have been elected to the Bay Path University board of trustees. Delcie Bean IV, Kathleen Devlin, John Heaps Jr., and Hamline Wilson will each serve a three-year term.
• Bean is the founder and CEO of Paragus Strategic, IT, one of the fastest-growing privately held companies in America. He also established Tech Foundry, a nonprofit technology institute that seeks to solve the shortage of computer-science professionals in the region. Most recently, he has been working with Valley Venture Mentors and DevelopSpringfield to launch the Springfield Innovation Center, which will include his Innovation Café concept, providing a place where people can share ideas, energy, and great coffee.
• Devlin is a recently retired executive director from Johnson & Johnson. She spent several years in the healthcare industry, where she was responsible for sales, training, hiring, and strategic alliances. In her role as executive director, she managed the interface with the Fortune 40 employers and the major insurers for the 250 operating companies under the Johnson & Johnson umbrella in the Northeast. Prior to her advancement to executive director, she was responsible for negotiating large contracts for Johnson & Johnson, and earlier consulted to nine bioscience, pharmaceutical, and device companies, as well as negotiating large contracts for Roche and Syntex Laboratories.
• Heaps is president and CEO of Florence Savings Bank (FSB). He joined the bank in 1995 following a distinguished 24-year banking career in Western Mass. that began in 1971 at Valley Bank in Springfield. Since joining FSB as its president in 1995, the bank has grown its assets from $272 million to a $1.1 billion. Heaps is currently a board member of the Hampshire County Regional Chamber, the Western Mass. Economic Development Council, the Depositors Insurance Fund, and Savings Bank Life Insurance. He was recently named chairman of the Western Mass. Sports Commission.
• Wilson is a retired insurance executive with a career that spanned more than 30 years with the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. In his last position, he was the senior vice president and managing director of investments for the Springfield-based Fortune 500 firm. Among his many professional memberships, he was an avid supporter of the Rotary and Jaycees, and he served as a trustee for Johnson Memorial Hospital. He is currently on the pension board for the town of Somers, Conn.

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Drew DiGiorgio was appointed President and CEO of Consolidated Health Plans Inc. (CHP) by the Berkshire Hathaway board of directors, including CHP founder Kevin Saremi. DiGiorgio has served as CHP’s president since 2013, and was previously director of sales and marketing. He began his career at CHP in 1995, shortly after receiving a bachelor’s degree in business from Framingham State University. In his new role as CEO, DiGiorgio will provide oversight of the company, reporting to the board of directors. He will continue expanding CHP’s business services to best meet the needs of clients and customers, with a focus on quality service. CHP is a claim administrator providing affordable health insurance and special risk solutions for thousands of policyholders worldwide. It offers student health and accident plans, employee health and dental plans, FSA and HRA administration, and participant accident insurance and backroom claim administration for carriers. Since 2012, CHP has increased its workforce locally by 26%, and continues to forecast stable growth.