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Night at the Museum

At a sold-out Holiday Gala 2013 on Dec. 5, attendees enjoyed cocktails at the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts before strolling across the Quadrangle for an elegant dinner in the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History.  The annual event, which benefits the Springfield Museums, featured live jazz by Berkshire Jazz Underground and vocalists from Springfield College. Top right: from left, Brian Lees, former Hampden County Clerk of Courts; Heriberto Flores, executive director, New England Farmworkers Council; Mary-Beth Cooper, president of Springfield College; Tim Allen, United Way of Pioneer Valley and Springfield city councilor; and Vanessa Otero, director of the North End Campus Coalition. Bottom left: from left, Stuart Prall; Holly Smith-Bové, Springfield Museums president; Carol Leary, president of Bay Path College; and her husband, Noel Leary.
Photos by Ed Cohen

Going Out in Style

More than 175 friends, colleagues, and area business owners and managers turned out at the Castle of Knights in Chicopee on Dec. 9 to honor Gail Sherman, who recently announced that she will be retiring after 17 years as director of the Greater Chicopee Chamber of Commerce. At left: Sherman with Ron Proulx, business director of Dave’s Truck Repair in Springfield and chairman of the chamber’s board of directors. Right, Sherman shares a moment with Joe Peters, former chairman of the chamber’s board and CEO of Universal Plastics, and Doris Ransford, longtime director of the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, who partnered with Sherman on a number of initiatives and retired herself in 2012.

Into the Next Phase

The Regional Employment Board (REB) of Hampden County staged a retirement party for long-time executive director Bill Ward on Dec. 10 at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House in Holyoke. More than 300 friends and associates, including local, state, and national political leaders, honored Ward — who was one of the first winners of BusinessWest’s Difference Makers award — for his more than 30 years of tireless work to address and improve workforce issues. Left to right from top left: Ward poses with Michael Ashe, Hampden County Sheriff; Team Hoyt, son Rick and father Dick, with Ward, a one-time chairman of the board at Kamp for Kids, a camp for physically disabled and able-bodied children founded by the Hoyt family; Ward is flanked by son Christopher, customer service representative for Fedex, and daughter Michelle Ward, a writer and reporter for People magazine; REB staff members gather around Ward after the festivities.Photos by Michael Epaul

Bottom right photo by Ed Cohen