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Celeste Surreira, RN, BSN, CEN

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Uncategorized
Celeste Surreira says she’s always had a passion for emergency room nursing.

“I like everything about it … you can really make an impact on people here,” said Surreira, manager of the Emergency Department at Mercy Medical Center. “I enjoy the fast pace and I love dealing with patients. Then, there’s the diversity, which comes in many ways; you see people of many different ethnic groups and every socio-economic category, and we deal with every age group — pediatrics to geriatrics and everything in between.”

And there’s something else, as well — what Surreira calls the public relations factor.
She described the ER as the front door of the hospital, one where introductions are often made and critical first impressions formed.

“You’ve got about 30 seconds to make or break that visit,” she explained. “That’s why emergency room nurses, especially, have the ability to impact that person’s experience and, therefore, their relationship with the facility.”

Making first impressions as favorable as possible is one way to describe the work Surreira does as ED manager, a post she assumed about a year ago. There are others. “You might say I help replace chaos with organization,” she explained, noting that the medical center and its leadership have made a strong commitment in recent years to the ED and continuously improving the delivery of care there.

The initiative included an extensive renovation project completed last year that was designed to streamline patient flow and improve overall customer satisfaction, a term Surreira likes to use when describing her work.

“People who come to the ER are more than patients, they are customers.” She said. “We want to treat those customers in a way that will make them feel positive about their experience here. No one wants to be in the ER, but we can make their visit more bearable.”

Efforts to improve service to patients have contributed to a sharp rise in the ED census from 2004 to 2005, when the number rose from about 45,000 visits to nearly 55,000, or about 150 per day.

“Part of that results from a national trend — in general, numbers are up,” she explained. “And I’d like to think that some of it is due to the fact that we’re doing a better job and our reputation is steadily improving.”

As department director, Surreira does far less hands-on care delivery than she did several years ago, although she still does some, especially when the unit is busy, which is often. In her administrative role, her passion for the patients remains, but takes on a different, broader scope.

Wait-reduction Exercises

Surreira told BusinessWest that waiting is a fact of life in the emergency room.

People wait to see a triage nurse, for registration, to see a doctor, to receive test results, for a bed in the hospital … every step of the process, she explained. The waiting cannot be eliminated, she continued, not at Mercy or any other ED, but it can minimized and also be made more palatable.

“People have told me that they expect to wait, but they want information as to why they are waiting,” she said. “As long as I kept them updated, they were fine.”

Reducing wait times and improving the overall ED experience have been the focal points for Surreira since she became ED director, and, in many ways, since she first started working in that critical area of health care.

That was roughly a year after she graduated from the nursing school affiliated with what is now Baystate Health. Surreira told BusinessWest that, growing up, she knew that she wanted to work with people and impact their lives.

This is what drew her to nursing and, specifically to the ED.

“In emergency room nursing, there is good deal of autonomy, which I like, and also a good deal of patient-teaching, which I also enjoy,” she explained. “I just find this work very rewarding — you feel as though you’re making a difference.”

Baystate did not have any openings in the emergency department, so she left that system for Mercy in 1986. She worked as an ED nurse there for several years, before advancing first to the role of clinical nurse supervisor and then ED director.

In the former, she said, her charge was essentially patient flow during her shift. In the latter, meanwhile, she says, there is more accountability and direct leadership.

“I don’t like to think of myself as a manager,” she explained. “I like to think of myself as a leader.”

Her current assignment is one with a broad job description, one that includes everything from managing payroll for the 70 staff members in the ED to creating classes in customer service for those nurses, orderlies, and other professionals.

But she boils it down to just a few words.

“I’m the ultimate communicator,” she explained, noting that she acts as intermediary between the medical center’s administration and the ED staff, and also plays a key role in coordinating care and developing policies and procedures.

Surreira said broad changes in the health care environment, specifically the rising numbers of uninsured and underinsured individuals, has made the ER the first, and sometimes the only, option for people seeking care.

This phenomenon is reflected in the rising numbers of people visiting the ED, at Mercy and elsewhere, she said, adding quickly that while there are access-to-care issues impacting all providers, the emergency room has always played a key role in serving a specific population.

“Even if you have a doctor and you have insurance, that doctor may not be able to see you for several days,” she said, adding that the ED often becomes a second, critical source of primary care. “We’re really good at what we do … we can see you, do your tests, and give your results all at once.

“So we’re good at customer service, which is how American culture is today,” she continued. “It’s one-stop shopping, sort of speak.”

Bed-time Stories

Improving that shopping experience has been an ongoing obsession for Surreira, her staff, and Mercy administrators. It’s an process, she says, that involves taking the ED visit, breaking it down step by step, and initiating efforts to improve each of them.
And while reducing wait times is a critical piece of the initiative, there are other goals, she said, adding that the general mission is to reduce stress and anxiety from what can often be a traumatic experience.

It starts when the individual enters the door. “We greet every person on arrival,” she said, adding that, for their duration of their stay, staff members are committed to keeping patients and family informed and, in a word, comfortable.

That’s why, for example, the department added what are known as ‘patient

advocates’ to the roster of care providers. These individuals work in the waiting room as liaisons between staff and family members, facilitating the flow of communication and updating patients as to why they are waiting.

“If they see someone who is dissatisfied, angry, or anxious,” she said, “they intervene immediately and do what we call a “service recovery and address the issue at that moment.”

The broad process-improvement effort involves dissecting each step, crafting solutions, and measuring results to confirm progress. “The line is, ‘if you can measure it, you can change it,’ and we have measures in place for all of these steps.”

Listing them, she said the first is the time from when one walks in the door until he or she sees a triage nurse; the second is from that moment until registration is complete; then it’s from registration until one is placed in a room; from that moment until one is seen by a doctor; from the doctor’s visit to the booking for administration; and, finally, the time until one is actually admitted.

Improvement has been achieved at each of these intervals, from the time it takes to see a triage nurse to the time an individual must wait for a bed in the hospital, she said, noting that with the latter, the period has been reduced from 24 hours or more to less than two hours.

“In some cases, that’s a dramatic turnaround,” said Surreira, attributing it to a system-wide commitment to the ED. “It stems from this administration understanding the true value of the ER — this is the public relations door to the hospital — and dedicating itself to making it a real asset to the community and this facility.”

That commitment includes ‘Project 10,000.’ That was the first name given to the series of renovations that took place last year and included everything from enlarging the waiting area to making the triage room more private to increasing the ED bed count from 24 to 29. The name stems from a stated goal of increasing the ED census by 10,000, a goal that has largely been reached, said Surreira, adding that it was later called ‘Project 10’ to connote the highest score on customer-satisfaction surveys.

Bringing up those scores has been a labor of love for Surreira, who came back to her point about chaos and eliminating it.

“This can be a very chaotic environment — the key is to make it organized chaos,” she explained. “And when you truncate every step in the process and make it a system, then chaos goes away and organization takes over.”

The Bottom Line

As she talked about life in the emergency room, Surreira said she sees many familiar faces during her rounds of the department.

These patients, or repeat customers, as she called them, have in some ways become extended family, individuals she has come to know and care about.

This is the where the public relations component of work in the ED meets the part about impacting people’s lives.

“That’s why I’m passionate about emergency room nursing and taking care of emergency room patients,” she said, “and why ER nurses are very special people.”

 

Donna Truesdell, MS, RNC

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Uncategorized
It’s called ‘medication reconciliation.’

That’s a process for ensuring that patients are getting only the medications intended for them, and that these medications do not react negatively with anything the patient is already taking. Northampton’s Cooley Dickinson Hospital is addressing the matter through a number of programs, including medication cards, carried by patients, which alert caregivers to the full list of medications an individual is taking.

This is one of many patient safety initiatives in which Cooley-Dickinson is no longer trying to merely match industry best practices, but in many instances, establishing best practices.

And leading such efforts is Donna Truesdell, MS, RNC, CDH’s director of Quality Improvement, who says she takes enormous pride and satisfaction in her work.

She told BusinessWest that medication reconciliation is just one of several quality initiatives ongoing at Cooley Dicksinson, all designed to improve patient safety, reduce medical errors, and enhance the overall quality of care being administered, Other efforts include everything from a program to reduce the incidence of falls among patients to an effort to speed up the time it takes to make a room ready for a patient to a new system that dramatically reduces the time it takes to secure clean IV pumps and other equipment.

Quality has been the informal, one-word job description for Truesdell for much of her 25-year career in health care. Originally a staff nurse in a hospital in Punxsutawney, Pa. (home of the groundhog), she relocated to Massachusetts in the mid ’80s, and eventually landed at Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield. There, she assumed titles that included director of Quality, Diagnostic, and Clinicial Support Services, and director of Performance Improvement and Clinical Support Services.

In those capacities, as in her current one at CDH, the focus was on process improvement, she explained, and giving staff members — from those who make the beds and clean patient rooms to physicians and nurses — opportunities to do what they do better, and in the process, improve safety and save lives.

This is work much different than hands-on delivery of care, she said, but, in many ways just as rewarding.

“Early in my career, I was frustrated with systems that didn’t help people; I was frustrated when I saw barriers,” she explained. “When I moved into management, I sought to remove barriers and make it easier for people to do their work and care for patients.

“A good day for me,” she continued, “is when I know my work has resulted in a front-line staff person doing their job better.”

Care Package

Truesdell vividly remembers the two years she spent as a school nurse, first at the Academy at Charlemont, and then at Mohawk Trail Regional Schools in Shelbourne Falls.

“When people think of the school nurse they picture Band-aides and skinned knees,” she said. “That’s not what it’s like in many places, including Charlemont.”

Indeed, the school nurse was often the primary care giver for low-income families with no access to health care — real or imagined, she said. “Mothers with no health insurance would bring in pre-school aged children for me to look at and give assessments. Often, I would send kids home with supplies like bandages, because there weren’t any at home.”

There was an educational component to the school nurse duties — working with teachers to help young students learn the basics of health care, she said, adding that she sometimes referred to this period as the “vacation” in her career because of the less hectic, enjoyable nature of the work.

But in many ways, it created an effective bridge to the next stage of her career, which has focused primarily on the two words quality and safety. And they go hand in hand, she said.

From the Mohawk Trail schools, Truesdell moved on to FMC, part of the Baystate Health system, where she served first as manager of the hospital’s Education Department, a post she held from 1988 to 1992. From there, she moved up the ladder to manager of Education and Medical Information Services, where she managed hospital-wide education, patient registration, medical records, and ultilization management departments.

In 1996, she became senior manager at FMC, and a year later was promoted to director of Performance Improvement and Clinical Support Services. And in 2000, she acquired another new title, director of Quality, Diagnostic and Clinical Support Services.

In that role, she coordinated the hospital’s quality-management program and chaired its Performance Improvement Committee, among many other duties. And it was in that capacity that she developed a passion for quality and the processes for achieving it, especially the coaching and mentoring of front-line managers to solve problems.

She said she came to CDH in part for quality-of-life reasons — she had a 2-year-old at the time and desired a position with more reasonable hours — but also because of the facility’s commitment to quality and continuous improvement.

“I had never heard of a community hospital where the CEO, the medical staff, and the leadership team had such an obvious vision for quality care and putting resources toward that,” she explained. “It was that vision that attracted me — and the desire here to become one of the best hospitals in the nation for its size.”

Today, Truesdell, who oversees a staff of nine, is spearheading CDH’s efforts as part of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s 1000,000 Lives campaign, which is working to enlist 1,600 hospitals across the country to adopt changes in care that have been proven to prevent deaths due to medication errors. She also heads up the hospital’s participation in the Mass. Hospital Association’s Patient First program and other initiatives aimed at improving the quality of care delivered.

This assignment is carried on in many ways, she explained, and in every department of the hospital, from maintenance to the operating room.

Getting Pumped Ext. 6867.

That’s the number nurses at CDH punch when they want a clean IV pump. That’s what the numbers spell — pump — said Truesdell, adding that the extension was chosen, like all other elements of this particular quality initiative, to save people time and trouble.

And the IV pump is just one of 21 different pieces of equipment brought together in one area of the hospital for faster distribution by something called the Centralized Equipment Management Team. Working with survey data — time studies, employee surveys, and focus groups, the team identified one key concern; an inability to access common patient-care equipment when needed.

“Nurses were spending too much time searching for equipment,” said Truesdell, noting that initiatives like the new extension for pumps have helped reduce that time from several hours — and several phone calls — to an average of seven minutes and one call.

CDH has logged a number of other quality improvements over the past year, including:

  • A drop in the percentage of unreconciled medications from 30% in May 2005 to 5.22% in November of that year in the units where the medication-reconciliation program had been rolled out. (It has now been implemented in all inpatient and outpatient settings);
  • Decreased bed-turnaround time from an average of more than 90 minutes to less than 45 minutes from the time the Environmental Service office is paged to the completion of the discharge patient room cleaning;
  • Decreased facility-acquired pressure ulcers (similar to bed sores) by 8%, to a rate of zero, between December ’04 and December ’05. The achievement was attributed to hiring a dedicated wound and skin care nurse and implementation of a multidisciplinary pressure ulcer prevention program, and
  • The hospital even received commendation from the Northampton Fire Department for the reduction of hallway clutter over the past year.

Assessing these and other quality success stories, Truesdell said solutions usually come through common sense analysis and breaking a process into its specific steps, a methodology that manufacturers have employed for many years now.

In the case of the bed turn-around-time-reduction efforts, she said the solution was fairly simple — outfitting Environmental Service staffers with pagers that would enable them to notified the moment a room was ready to be cleaned and prepped for the next patient.

“Before, people simply put notes on the door alerting staff that a room was ready to be cleaned,” she said. “Sometimes, it would be a while before anyone saw the note.”
To effectuate changes and improvements such as the IV pump program, medication reconciliation, patient room-preparation, and a fall-reduction effort called “Striving for Zero,” Truesdell said CDH uses team of individuals on the front-lines, as she called them. These are the people directly effected by a problem or issue, and they are the ones best able to help brainstorm an answer.

“In hospitals, we have to continually remember to get the front-line people involved,” she said. “In the past, a group of managers would sit down in a room and think they were going to solve the problem. My experience has been that they will either solve the wrong problem or come up with a solution that doesn’t address the real issue.”

In the Q

Empowering staff members and providing them with the tools they need to develop answers to quality issues is one of the many rewards Truesdell says she derives from her current assignment.

Another is the successful — and ongoing — removal of the kinds of barriers that frustrated her when she was a staff nurse in Pennsylvania.

Her dedication to quality and CDH’s ability to establish benchmarks rather than aspire to reach them, has enabled her to have a number of good days — with the promise of more to come.

George O’Brien can be reached at[email protected]

How to Hire a Lawyer

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Opinion
At some point in life, everyone needs to consult with an attorney, but there are many things that should be considered when trying to find the right one.

Knowing how to approach the task of choosing a lawyer is perhaps the first step in the process.

Where to begin?

The best references are from trusted associates. These can include accountants, friends, insurance agents, clergy, bankers, stockbrokers, etc. Consider people with whom you serve on civic boards or church organizations. Is there an attorney on the board whose manner of handling matters demonstrates leadership and intelligence?
If you do not have access to people who know an attorney, you can consider contacting your local bar association to request a recommendation. There are also professional organizations and publications that you can consult for recommendations, including Boston Magazine’s “Super Lawyers” issue, BusinessWest magazine, and Martindale-Hubbell, (martindale.com.) This well-established organization rates attorneys and law firms on both legal ability and professional ethics, and it is widely used throughout the legal and business communities. The highest quality lawyers will be rated AV.

Making Your Initial Contact:

Once you have identified potential attorneys with whom you would like to speak, it is recommended that you contact them by phone and explain the type of problem you have, to see if they are interested in handling that type of matter. You should ask if they offer a free initial consultation, or whether you will be charged for the first meeting.

Ask their experience level within your particular area of the law. Several of the basic legal areas include family, business, estate planning, personal injury, employment, litigation, real estate, immigration, tax, and banking. Even general practitioners tend to specialize in a few of them. Ask how many similar cases they have handled, the number of years that they have been in practice, and the size of their firm and support system.

Next, check the background of the attorney and his or her law firm. A good way to do that is to review the firm’s Web site. See what awards the attorney has won, undergraduate and law schools attended, and whether he or she has published articles that correspond with your practice area. All of these are indicators that will help you to further gauge the attorney’s level of expertise within your required field. You may also want to check with the state licensing authority to see if there have been any ethics violations brought against the attorney. In Massachusetts, that information can be obtained from the Mass. Board of Bar Overseers, located in Boston.

Discuss Fees and Billing Procedures:

Ask how the attorney sets legal fees. There are a few fee options, including hourly, flat, and contingency. An attorney provides knowledge in return for a fee, which normally includes charging you for phone call consultations as well as office visits, so you should clarify how fees are calculated.

  • Hourly fees are most often used by an attorney in non-personal-injury cases, whereby the attorney will charge an agreed-upon fee for the amount of time spent on your behalf;
  • Flat fees are most common in certain types of consumer cases, including real estate closings, simple wills, simple bankruptcies, and other matters that can usually be estimated to take a certain amount of time. This should be discussed and agreed upon before the work is done;
  • In personal injury cases, and sometimes in other instances, an attorney will agree to handle a matter on a percentage basis, called a contingent fee. In those cases the attorney is paid a percentage of the money that is recovered on your behalf;
  • In some cases, an attorney will consider a combination of the above fee distinctions; for instance, a reduced hourly fee may be agreed upon in combination with a contingency fee.

In regard to attorney bills, you should ask how they are determined and how often they will be sent. Will you be required to pay a retainer? If so, will you be billed monthly, quarterly, annually; and what does the fee you are paying include? In addition to legal fees, will you be responsible for filing fees and additional expenses if a lawsuit is filed?

Come Prepared for the Meeting

To best prepare yourself for that initial meeting with your attorney, you should be organized. This will ensure that you present all of your important facts to the attorney, and this will better allow him or her to address your issues. It is a good idea to provide a written narrative of the facts as you understand them, and bring copies of all of your documents so that the attorney can retain a set for further review and discussion.

It is important that you disclose all of the facts to the attorney, both good and bad, and that you do not hide any information. Full disclosure is the only way that an attorney can give you honest advice and a fair assessment of the viability of your case. Generally, all of the facts eventually come to light, and it is both embarrassing and disheartening to realize that had you disclosed all of the facts at an earlier stage, your attorney may have been able to dramatically improve your case.

Finally, remember that the attorney wants to succeed on your behalf and needs to know that you are as committed to your case as he or she will be. You should have a clear expectation of your prospects for successfully obtaining your goals after the attorney has presented his or her analysis of the potential outcome. If you do not get a positive feeling from your discussion with the attorney, or you sense a lack of enthusiasm for your case, you are probably better off to consult with another attorney to see if you can make a better connection.

Most attorneys are educated, compassionate, and caring people, who genuinely want to do well for their clients. Working together as a team with your lawyer will substantially improve your chances for success, whether purchasing your first house, obtaining immigration status for your aunt, forming your new business, or obtaining damages from the contractor who failed to properly finish your kitchen.
Hopefully, you will have a successful outcome and will have made a new friend for life.

Michael B. Katz, Esq. is a senior partner with the law firm of Bacon & Wilson, P.C. A frequent author and lecturer on business and health care matters, he specializes in business, insolvency and health care legal matters in the firm’s Springfield, Westfield and Northampton offices; (413) 781-0560;[email protected].

Nothing But Net

By
Features
For years, Springfield, the birthplace of basketball, was also home to the finals of the NCAA Men’s Division II Basketball Championship. After a 12-year hiatus, the city has been awarded the Elite Eight for the next two years. Event organizers intend to use that time to make a solid case for establishing Springfield as a permanent home.

Of late, when the National Collegiate Athletic Assoc. (NCAA) awards the Division II Men’s Basketball Championship to a city, it’s a one-year proposition.

That’s the way it’s been since the start of the decade, with stops in such places as Lakeland, Fla., Evansville, Ind., Bakersfield, Calif., and, last year, Grand Forks … North Dakota.

But when a group of Springfield businesspeople and basketball enthusiasts made a bid to bring the tournament back to Springfield for what would the 50th anniversary of the Division II championship in 2006, they asked the NCAA for two years — and they got them.

But that wasn’t the real goal.

Indeed, their mission was and is to make The City of Homes a permanent home for what has come to be known as the Elite Eight. This is a nearly week-long series of games that climaxes a 64-team tournament staged over two weeks each March, with the championship game broadcast live on CBS.

The request for two years, says Don Senecal, vice president of Finance and Operations for the Basketball Hall of Fame, was a bid to give Springfield a chance to show what it can do.

“This will be our opportunity to show that Springfield, Basketball City, is the place where the Elite Eight should be,” he told BusinessWest, “and we’re going to do our best to convince them.”

Already, organizers have commitments from 22 area businesses, amounting to more than $100,000 that will be used to stage the event and purchase tickets, some of which will go to area young people as part of broad basketball-oriented educational program called MVP’s of Character. Senecal said the immediate goal is to build on that base of support and thus show the NCAA that Springfield’s desire to host the event is a region-wide phenomenon.

Springfield was home for the tournament’s final games throughout the ’80s and early ’90s, Senecal explained, and drew decent crowds. But with a desire to spread the wealth, and perhaps give the tournament a boost, the NCAA took the show on the road — specifically to Louisville, Ky. There it stayed for six years before moving on to Bakersfield, Evansville, and other locales.

But Bob Burke and others in Springfield believe the Elite Eight belongs here.

Burke, athletic director at American International College, a Division II school that has acted as official host for the tournament in the past, and will do so again in ’06 and ’07, called Springfield the “natural home” for the championship.

“This is the birthplace of the sport,” he explained. “And we have everything the NCAA needs — a great facility, a number of hotels, and some great educational opportunities for the athletes playing in the tournament.”

Burke said this is a different Springfield than the one that last hosted the event in 1994, one with a refurbished arena that is part of a new, $55 million convention center, and a new Basketball Hall of Fame, one with a number of facilities and exhibits that didn’t exist in the old Hall.

“We have a lot to offer here,” he explained. “This will be a great opportunity for Springfield, the NCAA, and the athletes themselves.”

Sal D’Amato agreed.

Chairman of this year’s tournament and executive vice president of the TD Banknorth Insurance Group, he said the Elite Eight is about much more than basketball.

He told BusinessWest that there are economic benefits for Springfield and the region — for starters, the event is expected to consume 1,000 hotel nights — but there are other dividends, as well. The event will provide a chance to showcase the city and its gleaming new MassMutual Center, for example, and in the process show the NCAA and other groups it is a fitting site for conventions, meetings, and other sporting events.

Meanwhile, the games and the accompanying festivities could provide a needed psychological boost for the city at a time of extreme fiscal duress and headlines about possible bankruptcy or receivership.

“Springfield has had some difficult times, to be sure, but it’s starting to climb back,” D’Amato said. “The Elite Eight can be a big part of that comeback.”

BusinessWest looks this issue at how Springfield intends to make the most of its two-year window, and soon make the city and the name Elite Eight synonymous.

Bouncing Back

The colleges are not exactly household names.

Kennesaw State. Fort Hays State. Virginia Union. North Carolina Central. Kentucky Wesleyan. Metro State. These are some of the recent Men’s Division II champions, and most people would be hard pressed to find some of them on a map.

But while the schools may be small and somewhat obscure, the basketball they play is still top caliber, said Mark Morris, vice chairman of this year’s event and director of public relations for Health New England.

Tracing the history of the event, Morris said it all started in 1957 in Evansville (with Evansville College as the host school) and remained there for 20 tournaments, five of which were won by the hosts.

When Evansville became a Division I school, the tournament had to move, and Springfield earned its first opportunity to host the event in 1977. The event moved to another Springfield, the one in Missouri, for the next two years, before it returned to the Pioneer Valley for a 15-year run.

It was during that time, that area residents became familiar with such schools as Central Missouri State, Florida Southern, St. Augustine’s, Alaska-Anchorage, and Mount St, Mary’s. Attendance for the final games was fairly steady through those years — championship game turnout ran from a high of

6,894 in 1987 to a low of 3,555 in 1980 — and often reflected the proximity of the teams to the region and the number of fans they brought with them, Morris explained.

But by 1994, the NCAA wanted to take the event to other sites, said Morris, noting that this is the policy with Division I basketball finals, the hugely popular Final Four, and other tournaments. Louisville played host for six years, drawing attendance numbers similar to Springfield’s. But turnout has declined in the past few years, with only 2,378 coming out for the championship game in 2002 in Evansville, 1,600 for the 2004 game in Bakersfield, and about 1,500 for last year’s tilt in North Dakota.

“Grand Forks had a great facility, a wonderful place to watch a basketball game,” said Morris. “But they didn’t get the turnout; there were some logistical challenges — only one airline actually flies into the city.”

But even before the tip-off in Grand Forks, Springfield was making its case to bring the tournament back to Springfield, said Senecal, noting that as it did so, it had commitments from 22 area businesses and organizations that helped sell the NCAA on the city and the region.

Net Results

As he talked about Springfield’s two-year window of opportunity to impress the NCAA and make the Elite Eight a fixture in the city, D’Amato said organizers have to do more than fill seats — although that is an important consideration.

Indeed, there must be a broad base of support that includes business and civic leaders and area residents. Building that base is a process that started more than a year ago, he told BusinessWest, adding that it started with a commitment on the part of officials at the Hall of Fame and others to bring the championship back to Springfield.

To make that happen, the city needed to make a bid to the NCAA, and to do that it needed a solid case.

There are many elements to that case, said Senecal, including accessibilty — getting teams and fans to the game — and also facilities and accommodations. Beyond those essentials, however, he added, the city needed a solid core of supporters.

Springfield had one in the form of an organizing committee for the championship comprised of those 22 businesses and groups, also known as ‘Community shareholders.’

They include the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield, TD Banknorth, the Hall of Fame, Chicopee Savings Bank, Comcast, the Economic Development Council of Western Mass., Freedom Credit Union, the Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Burea, Health New England, Houser Auto Group, and Verizon. Also, MassMutual, the Northeast-10 Conference (which includes AIC), Peoplesbank, The Republican, Sheraton Springfield, Six Flags New England, Spalding, the MassMutual Center, Springfield Marriott, the Tip Off Committee, and Western Mass. Electric.

“Having that base of supporters really convinced the NCAA that Springfield could do this, that we could put on a great championship,” said D’Amato, adding quickly that organizers are seeking additional sponsorships from area businesses. “That’s what sold them.”

Now that Springfield has the Elite Eight for this year and next, said Senecal, the assignment is to put on tournaments that will give the NCAA reason to keep the event here. He said the facilities such as the MassMutual Center, the new Hall of Fame, the downtown hotels, and the proximity to Bradley International Airport will all help in that regard.

But another key ingredient in the equation is making the Elite Eight more than a series of seven basketball games, he said, and instead a community event.

This was the motivation behind such initiatives as MVP’s of Character, which is expected to include nearly 1,000 area students. They will hear several speakers, including Bob Amastas, founder and director of Students Against Drunk Driving, and former Olympic gold medalist and motivational speaker Tim Daggett.

“There is an important philanthropic component to this,” said D’Amato. “We’re going to have 1,000 kids at the MassMutual Center to watch some basketball, but also listening and learning.”

Senecal told BusinessWest that there are no hard estimates on the overall economic impact of the championship on the city and region. Beyond the 1,000 hotel nights, however, the event is expected to be a boon for area restaurants, clubs, the Hall of Fame, and other hospitality related businesses.
But there will other benefits, he contin

ued, including the opportunity to showcase the city before a fairly large and diverse audience (the final game will be broadcast nationally) that includes the NCAA, which stages hundreds of championships and events each year.

“This will be a chance for us to show we a great city this is,” said D’Amato. “And if we do a good job hosting this event — and I’m very confident that we will — there may be opportunities for us to host other NCAA events down the road.”

In the meantime, the event should provide a psychological boost, the size of which is still to be determined.

“There will be a sense of pride to come with staging this event and making it successful,” said Senecal. “

Fast Facts

What:The NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship — the Elite Eight.
When: March 22-25
Where: Springfield, Mass., the MassMutual Center
Contact: For tickets, information, or sponsorship details, call (413) 231-5515.

Courting History

The tournament committee has chosen the marketing slogan The National Championship Happens Here for the upcoming Elite Eight.

The plan, however, is to be able to use the branding tool for a long time.
Armed with a solid game plan and a team of business leaders supporting the effort, organizers believe they have a winning proposition.

They’ll have two years to make their case.

George O’Brien can be reached at[email protected]

By
Departments

Mercy Receives Grant To Improve Access to Health Care

SPRINGFIELD — Mercy Medical Center recently was awarded a $20,000 grant from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation to improve access to health care for uninsured and low-income residents. The “Connecting Consumers To Care” grant will target services to the local homeless population and Vietnamese residents. The grant will support assistance with eligibility, enrollment, primary care provider selection, and post-enrollment services. The funds will also be used to provide case management for preventative, medical and behavioral health services. In administering the grant, Mercy Medical Center will collaborate with the Mental Health Association of Greater Springfield, Vietnamese American Civic Association, and Friends of the Homeless, Inc.

Hudson United Bancorp, TD Banknorth Shareholders Approve Merger

PORTLAND, Maine — TD Banknorth Inc. shareholders recently voted at a special meeting to approve the acquisition of Hudson United Bancorp. More than 99% of the votes cast were voted in favor of the transaction. In a separate meeting in Mahwah, N.J., the shareholders of Hudson United Bancorp also voted heavily in favor of sale to TD Banknorth. More than 98% of the votes cast by Hudson United shareholders were in favor of the transaction. Pending approval by the Federal Reserve, the transaction is expected to close later in the first quarter of 2006. On a pro forma basis, the transaction creates a regional financial services company with approximately 590 branches, 751 ATMs and more than $26 billion in deposits across eight northeastern states. In other TD Banknorth news, bank officials recently said that fourth-quarter earnings per share will be 62 cents, 2 cents lower than analysts’ projections. Company officials cited the lower earnings per share because of declining net interest margins. TD Banknorth will release its fourth-quarter and year-end earnings report on Jan. 23.

Virginia Police Purchase Smith & Wesson Pistol

SPRINGFIELD — The sheriff’s department of Patrick County, Va., recently signed a deal to purchase 32 of Smith & Wesson’s new M&P 40 pistol – the first sale for the new military firearm. The new gun’s safety features, low recoil, and ease of handling were reasons cited by Patrick County Sheriff David E. Hubbard regarding the purchase. The M&P models load .40-caliber ammunition. Smith & Wesson also recently announced that the company plans to add more versions of the gun in the coming weeks. For example, new models will fire .357-caliber SIG rounds as well as 9 mm ammunition. The new handgun, with a retail price of $695, will also be available to individual customers through retail outlets.

Center For Teaching Receives High Marks

AMHERST — The Center for Teaching at UMass, Amherst has been recognized in a national survey as one of the top faculty- development programs in the United States and Canada. Nearly 500 faculty developers at 300 higher education institutions responded to the survey, which is part of a recently published study, “Creating the Future of Faculty Development: Learning from the Past, Understanding the Present.” The survey identified faculty development programs at UMass, Amherst, University of Michigan, University of Delaware and Miami University of Ohio as the four best in the U.S. and Canada. The Center For Teaching also had the distinction of being named most often as a ‘model program’ that guided best practices by developers across every institutional type – from community colleges to research universities. The survey was sent to 1,000 members of the Professional and Organizational Development Network, the oldest and largest professional association of faculty development scholars and practitioners.

Schools Benefit From Civic Action Program

GREENFIELD — Greenfield Savings Bank’s Civic Action accounts raised $10,000 in its first nine months for 11 participating school districts, according to Joan Cramer, Vice President and Marketing Officer. Launched last March, the unique civic action bank accounts give back to schools in Franklin County and in Amherst. Bank customers participating in the program use their Greenfield Savings Bank card to swipe and sign – for everything from groceries to gas. “It all adds up,” said Cramer. All revenues are spent by school districts as they deem appropriate. Participating school districts include Amherst-Pelham, Franklin County Technical, Frontier Regional, Gill-Montague, Greenfield, Mahar Regional, Mohawk Trail Regional, Orange, Pioneer Valley Regional, Four Rivers Charter and Union 28. Union 28 serves the elementary schools of Erving, Leverett, New Salem, Shutesbury and Wendell.

Insurance, LLC Becomes Encharter Insurance Group

AMHERST — Neighborhood Insurance, LLC recently changed its name to Encharter Insurance Group. Blair, Cutting & Smith Insurance, the local office of Encharter Insurance Group, will continue to be known by its local name. As a member of Encharter’s group of agencies, Blair, Cutting & Smith Insurance will continue to improve its technology, and support its staff members’ increased involvement in community service projects. Both insurance agencies offer security against loss and financial services.

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Departments

Renaissance Manor in Holyoke announced the following:
• Diane Tillman has been named Nursing Home Administrator, and
• Gretchen A. McDonough has been named Director of Marketing and Admissions.

•••••

William Steplar

• William Steplar has joined the Investment Services Department of Easthampton Savings Bank. He will work out of the 21 Locust St., Northampton, office.

•••••

Sonya Williams has joined the Agawam office of Carlson GMAC Real Estate as a Sales Agent.

•••••

Nancy L. Velozo

• Chicopee Savings Bank announced the following:
• Nancy L. Velozo has been promoted to Vice President, and
• Teri Szlosek has been promoted to Administrative Officer.

•••••

Terri Szlosek

• Jeanmarie Deliso, owner of Deliso Financial and Insurance Services in Springfield, has been elected to New York Life Insurance Co.’s Agents Advisory Council. She has been a New York Life agent for 10 years.

•••••

Gregory M. Schmidt

• Gregory M. Schmidt has been named an Associate at Doherty, Wallace, Pillsbury and Murphy, P.C. in Springfield. Schmidt’s practice includes general bank, commercial and real estate law.

•••••

The Mass. Association of Realtors in Waltham announced the following:

Corinne Fitzgerald

• Corinne Fitzgerald, a partner with Key 100 Real Estate in Greenfield, has been appointed Vice President of Business Development for the second consecutive term. Fitzgerald is responsible for coordinating the initiatives of the organization’s business plan relative to research and business development, standard forms, and electronic information services;

Charles Sawyei

• Charles Sawyer, broker with Dayspring Inc. Realtors in Pittsfield, has been elected Western Region Vice President. Sawyer will coordinate objectives and activities within the Berkshire County Board of Realtors and Realtor Association of Pioneer Valley, and meet regularly with local and regional leadership to discuss real estate industry issues of statewide importance, and

Susan Renfrew

• Susan Renfrew, broker and co-owner of Renfrew Real Estate in Greenfield, has been appointed Vice President of Professional Development. Renfrew is responsible for coordinating the association’s internal and external communications programs and its educational outreach efforts to realtors.

•••••

John B. Hesslein has been named Station Manager at WSHM, Springfield’s CBS affiliate. He will oversee the daily operations of the station.

•••••

Mass. State Rep. Daniel F. Keenan has been named Vice President, Government Relations, for the Sisters of Providence Health System, based in Springfield. Keenan currently represents residents in the Third Hampden District. He assumes his new role in February.

•••••

The Hotel Northampton in Northampton announced the following:
• Mark Schoenberg has been named Food and Beverage Director, and
• Connie Foster has been named Sales Manager.

•••••

Robert Cartelli, President of Fathers & Sons Inc. in West Springfield, has been named Chair of the American Heart Association’s 2006 Greater Pioneer Valley Heart Ball. The event is planned March 3 at the Log Cabin in Holyoke and raises funds to fight heart disease and stroke.

•••••

Catherine H. Snow

PeoplesBank in Holyoke announced the following:
• Catherine H. Snow has been named Assistant Vice President in the Commercial Lending Division;
• David Thibault has been named Assistant Vide President in the Commercial Lending Division, and
• Colleen A. Brown has been named a Loan Officer in the Residential Lending Division.

•••••

Francis D. Dibble Jr., a Partner at Bulkley, Richardson and Gelinas, was recently inducted as a Fellow into the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.

•••••

Kimberly A. Andrews has been elected President and Chief Executive of the Visiting Nurse Association of Central Connecticut.

•••••

William C. Jones, Executive Vice President of Berkshire Healthcare Systems in Springfield, has been elected Chairman of the Massachusetts Extended Care Federation.

•••••

Dr. John Frangie of the NorthEast Laser Center in West Springfield is among the first physicians in Western Massachusetts to receive an IntraLase Luminary Award for his commitment in refining the surgical techniques used with IntraLase-initiated LASIK.

•••••

Dr. William Smith recently opened an adult medicine practice at 170 University Dr., Amherst. He has practiced medicine in Hampshire County for 18 years.

•••••

Bernadette Harrigan was named a Shareholder of Doherty, Wallace, Pillsbury and Murphy.

•••••

David M. Clark has joined Berkshire Bank as Assistant Vice President and Mortgage Origination Officer in the Westfield and Springfield areas.

 

A Safe Bet

By
Sections Supplements
Edward Murphy, president of First American Insurance Agency in Chicopee, has a neat stack of poker chips sitting on the corner of his desk, ready for a friendly poker game.

But while Murphy might like to blow off some steam with a game of blackjack or Texas Hold ’Em every once in a while, in the ever-changing insurance industry, he never gambles with his own company. Instead, he has plotted a course for First American that, as the company celebrates its 20th anniversary, has allowed for steady growth, some national reach, stability in a difficult industry, and the creation of some community-focused business goals for the coming years.

And while the company remains ready for the current challenges within the industry – auto insurance reform and the trickle-down effects of Hurricane Katrina, which include price adjustments and an overall tightening of the types of policies that can be written, for instance – its specialty is anticipating the challenges ahead.

The company’s very reason for being, Murphy explained, is the need for services that didn’t exist in the mid-1980s.

“In 1986 when we first started, there were a lot of services that weren’t being offered in Western Mass.,” he said. “There was a need for new programs and new ideas, and it boiled down to providing the services that people needed most – insurance for life, as we know it.”

And that practice has become First American’s trump card. The company now enjoys a strong local presence as well as some reach into markets in other parts of the country, thanks to the niches created by addressing issues some other companies might have missed, and a growing strength within the small business community and industries such as manufacturing.

But despite that national success, Murphy said the company’s roots are in Western Mass., and that’s where they’ll stay.

“All companies, small or big, have to a part of their community,” he said. “And we’re not going anywhere.”

Movin’ On Up

First American’s first location was at the ‘X’ in Springfield, but as it grew, Murphy and his staff made a few moves to accommodate an expanding client base. The company moved from Springfield to West Springfield in 1990, and in 1994 moved again to Chicopee, where it has remained, having recently relocated to a new location on Front Street.

“We just kept growing beyond the space we had,” said Jim Lagodich, marketing director for First American. “We were continuously looking for buildings in which we could expand, that would remain customer-friendly and service-oriented.”

Lagodich added that First American has been a company that has worked to provide products that other agencies don’t offer in order to stand apart from the competition.

The company has been a front-runner, for example, in the areas of workers’ compensation and self-insurance, with programs such as COMPro, a workers’ compensation administrative service for stand-alone self-insureds, self-insurance groups, and large employers. Other specialties include bundled programs, which offer a number of insurance products within one package, claims administration, a service typically outsourced by agencies of First American’s size, and payroll deductible products for employers and the self-insured.

Dave Matosky, operations director at First American, said each of those products are good examples of initiatives that have led to increased flexibility when dealing with a diverse set of clients, and consequently growth within some specific areas, including small business.

“They allow us to react to market changes more quickly, “ he said, “and to serve clients more effectively. When working with larger employers, we can suggest programs and services they may not have known existed, or would be a good fit for them. And when working with smaller businesses or individuals, we can offer their core insurance needs in one package.”

That has made First American an attractive choice for many businesses, but also for municipalities, niche businesses, and, particularly, new start-ups.

“We get a lot of calls from people who are still just thinking about starting a business,” Matosky said. “Most have no idea what’s involved with things like workers’ compensation or group insurance at first, and they need a tailored approach and most importantly answers to those tough questions.

“The very fact that we don’t offer ‘the product off the shelf’ is what attracts those types of entrepreneurs to us,” he added, “and what helps us to retain them as clients and grow with them over the course of time.”

Soaring to New Heights

In fact, a greater push within First American to market itself through community outreach and educational programs has stemmed from that strength within the small business market. It began with seminars for managers and supervisors in a number of industries, addressing topics such as accident investigation, and the key points anyone in a supervisory capacity needs to know.

“We spend a lot of resources on education, for others and within the company,” Lagodich said. “That has allowed us to reach new audiences and has also expanded our boundaries – we’re not intimidated by new moves forward.”

One of the first educational seminars, that accident-investigation course, was open to new business owners and supervisors, and was held in Natick, Mass. But First American has also extended its reach into other locales, including New York, New Hampshire, and even Chicago, working with a large manufacturer.

“Educational outreach programs also contribute to retention of our employee base,” said Lagodich. “It fosters more contact with clients, helps build relationships, and keeps the job fresh, so overall, our employees are happier.”

But on the occasion of the company’s 20th anniversary, not all of the programs First American is rolling out are aimed solely at business growth. Currently, one of the most often-discussed initiatives within the agency’s offices is the S.O.A.R. program, a partnership with Chicopee’s Selser Memorial School that rewards students for good behavior.

The program – an acronym for staying Safe, Offering a helping hand, Aiming to achieve, and Respecting yourself, others, and your school – is a response to issues surrounding behavior, conduct and delinquency. The school originally solicited businesses in the community to sponsor the project in hopes of creating a turn-around within the young student body before the children reach high school age. But Corey Murphy, vice president at First American, said the company took the offer to partner with the school very seriously, and pledged support beyond financial assistance.

“Like most businesses, we’re constantly asked to help, but we really bought into this program,” he said. “It has become our one big, public program and has really helped to strengthen the ties between us and the community of Chicopee.

“As a business in this community, it is our responsibility to help the community, and we decided early on that our focus was going to be on the city’s kids,” Murphy continued.

And while programs like S.O.A.R. are sponsored by businesses across the region, First American has actually made community service one of its primary business goals for 2006, a move that Murphy said underscores the importance of such initiatives to the overall well-being of the region as well as to the business health of the company.

“We hope to begin more community programs like this within the year,” he said, noting that one such partnership might be with the Chicopee Boys and Girls Club. “It’s something we’ve decided to focus on in an effort to strengthen our role as a good corporate citizen.”

High Rollers

In addition to those community-oriented projects, Matosky added that additional goals for 2006 will be to continue to expand the company’s ability to find solutions to emerging issues within the insurance sector — the game is constantly changing, he said, bringing a new meaning to the word ‘proactive’ for all insurance agents – and to continue to foster steady growth.

“We’re going to continue to focus our resources on education, and there are the inevitable technology upgrades to think about,” he said. “Like a lot of offices we’re moving forward with going paperless, in part because of the changes in the industry. Things are moving at such a rapid pace that books are becoming obsolete. Now, it’s necessary that our resources be accessed quickly in order to stay current and do research for our clients – only online resources and databases make that possible.”

So as the stakes grow, First American plans to hold strong. And that’s a bet Edward Murphy is willing to take.

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

By
Departments

Open House
Feb. 1: The Western New England College Law and Business Center for Advancing Entrepreneurship will host an open house from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Scibelli Enterprise Center, 1 Federal St., Springfield. The new center was established to provide graduate business and law students with an opportunity to offer practical consultation to entrepreneurs starting new and building existing small businesses in the community. From 4 to 5 p.m. in the Teleconference Room, a panel of intellectual property experts will discuss how entrepreneurs can legally protect creative output and innovations. Also, they will review patents, trademarks, and copyrights of small businesses. To register or for more information, E-mail Aimee Munnings, Director, at [email protected] prior to Jan. 25.

Contractual Liability Seminar
Feb. 6: Geoffrey Smith, senior vice president, TD Banknorth Insurance Group, will be the featured speaker at a free luncheon hosted by TD Banknorth Insurance Agency Inc., from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 2077 Roosevelt Ave., Springfield. His presentation during the Lunch & Learn session is titled “Contractual Liability?” and will explore what to look for and what to look out for in the risk-transfer provisions found in everyday contracts. To sign up, E-mail your request to [email protected]. Seating is limited.

Western Mass. Economic Review
Feb. 8: The Regional Technology Corporation will sponsor a presentation on the economic profile of the region from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. in the TD Banknorth Conference Center, 1441 Main St., Springfield. The profile is based on Western Massachusetts Electric Company’s annual report to its customers titled Western Massachusetts Economic Review. The free presentation will summarize key findings from the 2005 Review and provide a regional economic outlook for 2006. Seating is limited and advance registration is required. For more information, contact April Cloutier at (413) 755-1314 or [email protected].

‘Double Bottom Line’ Lecture
Feb. 9: Lisa Fairfax, an associate professor of Law at the University of Maryland Law School, will present “Achieving the Double Bottom Line: A Framework for Corporations Seeking To Deliver Profits and Public Services” at 5:30 p.m., hosted by the Western New England College Law and Business Center for Advancing Entrepreneurship. The lecture will take place in the S. Prestley Blake Law Center on WNEC’s main campus, 1215 Wilbraham Road, Springfield. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call (413) 736-8462 or visit www.law.wnec.edu/lawandbusiness.

Outlook 2006
Feb. 10: Howard Fineman, chief political correspondent for Newsweek magazine, will deliver the keynote address for Outlook 2006, hosted by the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield. The annual legislative event will be conducted from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Chez Josef in Agawam. In addition to Fineman’s presentation, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey will discuss the state outlook, and Northampton Mayor Claire Higgins will present remarks for the region. Higgins is also serving as this year’s president of the Mass Municipal Assoc. Tickets are $40 for Chamber members, $60 for nonmembers. Tables of 10 can be reserved. Deadline for reservations is Feb. 3. For more information, contact Diane Swanson, Events Manager, at (413) 787-1555.

Business Entity & Basic Contracts
Feb. 22: The Mass. Small Business Development Center (MSBDC) Network will present Business Entity & Basic Contracts from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Scibelli Enterprise Center, 1 Federal St., Springfield. The workshop will look at ways a business can be run, the advantages and disadvantages of corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships and sole proprietorships. In addition, the workshop will look at income tax issues as well as the minimum needed to protect the business owner in writing when they enter into contracts with third parties. The cost of the workshop is $25. For more information or to register, contact Diane Randall at the MSBDC Network, (413) 737-6712.

Running A Successful Restaurant
March 14: The Mass. Small Business Development Center (MSBDC) Network will sponsor Food For Thought: Tips For Running A Successful Restaurant from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, 75 North St., Suite 360, Pittsfield. The program will discuss the key ingredients of successful restaurants and the pitfalls that can lead to failure, and will offer tips for improving a restaurant operation from the dining room to the kitchen. The cost is $25. For more information or to register, contact Diane Randall at the MSBDC Network, (413) 737-6712.

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Departments

Lenox Recertified With OSHA ‘Star’

EAST LONGMEADOW — Lenox’s American Saw & Manufacturing Co. has been recertified for an additional five-year membership in the prestigious ‘Star’ Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) of the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The plant, which employs 646 workers, manufactures saw blades and hand tools, including band saws, hack saws, tubing cutters, and utility knives. With its “Star” recertification, it continues as part of an elite corps of about 1,370 workplaces nationwide that have earned VPP recognition. The latest recertification came after an OSHA team’s thorough on-site review of the plant’s safety and health programs, interviews with employees, and a tour of the work site. The plant was first certified as a ‘Star’ site in June 1997 and re-certified in September 2000. The latest review of the plant’s safety and health management programs found that Lenox remains consistent with the high quality of VPP programs, according to Marthe Kent, OSHA’s New England regional administrator. In addition, the plant’s illness and injury rates remain well below the industry average for saw blade manufacturing, added Kent.

Firm Adds Three Clients at Year’s End

HOLYOKE — Bauzá & Associates closed out the year by landing three major accounts – Manny’s TV & Appliances, Williams Distributing, and Economy Insurance, Inc. Hector Bauzá, founder and CEO, said the firm had a “stellar year in 2005” by adding three clients who understand the importance of marketing to Hispanics as a prudent business objective. The firm’s main focus for these companies will be to develop strategic marketing platforms and media campaigns aimed at the Hispanic market, according to Bauzá.

TD Banknorth Massachusetts Ranked #2 in Small Business Lending

WORCESTER — TD Banknorth Massachusetts, a division of TD Banknorth, N.A., recently announced that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has ranked it the state’s second-largest lender in terms of dollar volume of SBA-backed loans, and fifth in terms of the number of loans made. For the year ending Sept. 30, TD Banknorth Massachusetts made 131 7 (a) SBA loans for more than $19 million, marking the fourth year in which the bank has ranked among the state’s top- 10 small business lenders. SBA loans, which are guaranteed by the SBA, help banks lend to small businesses that might not otherwise qualify for a loan. TD Banknorth, which is an SBA Preferred Lender, works in partnership with small business clients and supports them with loan decisions that are made locally.

Yankee Candle Exec Assumes New Duties

DEERFIELD — Harlan M. Kent, President of Yankee Candle Co., recently added the title of chief operating officer to his role. The COO position did not exist prior to Kent’s promotion. With his new duties, Kent will also oversee the company’s manufacturing and finance areas. He joined Yankee Candle in 2001 as senior vice president for the wholesale division, and was promoted to president in 2004.

Maryland Company Purchases Computer Services Firm

SPRINGFIELD — TEKsystems of Hanover, Md., recently purchased CSA-Tobin, a computer services company, for an undisclosed price. CSA-Tobin was created in 2004 by a merger of Tobin Systems, based in Springfield, and Computer Staffing Associates, based in Connecticut. Approximately 200 technical professionals are employed at the company, which specializes in creating custom programming and offering contract programmers for companies. The Farmington, Conn.-based firm has offices in Springfield, Stamford, Conn., and Tampa, Fla. TEKsystems offers temporary staffing for the computer industry, as well as provides project services to information technology companies.

Big Y Education Express Program Extended

SPRINGFIELD — Due to an overwhelming response from almost 2,000 participating schools, Big Y Foods has extended the fourth round of its Education Express Program to June 28. Education Express is a program in which Big Y shoppers purchase money saving products featured with the Big Y Express Savings Club electronic discount card to earn merchandise points for the school of their choice. Schools redeem these points for free equipment and supplies including computers, software, textbooks and sports equipment. Since the program started in 1994, Big Y has awarded more than $7.5 million in free teaching materials and classroom equipment to more than 1,900 schools in its market area. In this fourth round alone, schools have accumulated more than $2 million in Education Express points.

Bay Path to Offer Criminal Justice Major on Saturdays

LONGMEADOW — Bay Path College will expand the degree offerings available in its accelerated One-Day-A-Week Saturday College for women by adding a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice to its curriculum in January. The B.S. degree for One-Day students, with specializations in either fraud investigation or counseling, will prepare them for a career in the criminal justice field. For more information, call (413) 565-1273, (800) 782-7284, ext. 273, or visit www.baypath.edu.

By
Departments

The following is a compilation of recent lawsuits involving area businesses and organizations. These are strictly allegations that have yet to be proven in a court of law. Readers are advised to contact the parties listed, or the court, for more information concerning the individual claims.

NORTHAMPTON DISTRICT COURT

The Binding Source LLC v. Etchell’s Technology Corp.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $25,000
Date Filed: Dec. 5

HAMPSHIRE SUPERIOR COURT
C & S Distributors Inc. v. Michelson Properties Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $40,692.98
Date Filed: Dec. 15


HOLYOKE DISTRICT COURT
Broadcast Music Inc. v. Pearl St. Night Club Inc. a/k/a-d/b/a Pearl Street
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for services: $10,333.92
Date Filed: Nov. 25

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Valley Industries Inc. v. Todd Hanks d/b/a New England Cap & Hitch
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $8,880.91
Date Filed: Dec. 6

Project Graphics Inc. v. Prodigy Sign Innovations LLC
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $5,970.15
Date Filed: Dec. 12

Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. v. Autumn Rose Corp.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for workers’ comp insurance: $5,139
Date Filed: Dec. 12

WESTFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Industrial Technical Services Inc. v. Delray Contracting Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for services: $8,319.91
Date Filed: Nov. 21

Combating the Physician Shortage

By
Uncategorized
Almost anyone who has sought medical services in Western Mass. lately can attest in many instances to waiting months for even the most routine appointments. While this can, to a certain degree, be attributed to the desirability of the particular physician, it is more often than not due to the general shortage of doctors in our region.

Organizations such as the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS), which keeps a close eye on the physician labor market, have long since identified a severe and critical shortage in the Massachusetts physician labor market, and the situation is predicted to worsen in Massachusetts over the next 20 years.

Fingers are often pointed at the legal community with its naturally litigious nature as one reason why physicians are dissuaded from practicing in the state. High malpractice insurance premiums are the byproduct of such litigation. Alternatively, the legal community argues that if not for physician carelessness, malpractice insurance would not be so frequently utilized, and that the threat of litigation may have the effect of improving the quality of care.

Regardless of which side of the argument come down on, the physician shortage affects us all. Hospitals, large private practice groups and clinics must therefore have ongoing physician-recruitment programs in order to meet patient demand and to ensure the continuity and existence of the organization. Before embarking on any such recruitment effort, organizations need to establish a common sense recruitment approach that includes determining the organization’s recruitment objectives, employs various recruiting sources, assesses whether the candidate is a good fit for the organization, and has personnel in place to clearly explain employee benefits to candidates.

Incentive packages are often successful tools that may be utilized in physician recruiting. Reimbursement for relocation expenses, payable if the physician stays for a predetermined amount of time, may be an attractive incentive. Another option may be a bonus, also to be paid if the physician remains for a certain period of time. A third attractive incentive is the extension, by the employer, of a low-interest loan to assist the physician’s purchase of a home by providing a down payment. These and other packages have been used successfully by many organizations.

While legal problems often arise due to questionable hiring decisions, organizations can sometimes find themselves in hot water from the outset by asking the wrong types of questions of potential employees. If your hiring staff is not familiar with the law, they are strongly encouraged to review the information provided by the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) and found at its website, prior to posing what may be an improper battery of questions to candidates in an interview or on an application.
(Seewww.mass.gov/mcad/preemployfactsht.html)

Before starting the recruitment process, your organization needs to identify what type of physician it is seeking; i.e. a staff physician, physician partner, or potential partner. The methods you utilize to find your next employee could vary depending on the role he or she will be playing in your organization. In addition, the new employee’s effect on your budget needs to be identified early on. A new doctor often means additional professional and administrative staff support as well as extra burdens on space and equipment.

The best way to ensure hiring the best possible employee for your organization is to have a well-thought-out hiring program in place. Your organization needs to have a manpower plan that identifies the number and types of doctors it requires, now and in the future, broken down by specialty if necessary.

Your organization also needs to mobilize adequate resources for the recruitment process. This means having enough money set aside to fund the effort and also to hire competent, experienced internal or external recruiters. Organizations sometimes make the mistake of delegating this task, at least at the earliest stage, to a lower level administrative employee. Unfortunately, you run the risk of missing out on a good potential candidate due to lack of proper knowledge on the part of the screener. You may also lose a great candidate for lack of a timely response from your staff.

Like any good marketing campaign, your efforts should employ a variety of tactics. Networking among colleagues and physician groups is one of the most effective ways to attract new physicians and obtain leads as to out-of-area candidates. Organizations frequently look outside the United States for potential candidates, or attempt to recruit foreign physicians completing programs in the United States. If you are considering such an applicant, you need to be aware of the immigration procedures necessary to put someone on your payroll.

Generally speaking, due to the physician shortage, organizations do not need to go through the extensive ‘labor certification process.’ This is the procedure in which an employer proves to federal and state authorities that there are no suitable candidates who are United States citizens or lawful permanent residents. However, although sidestepping this lengthy procedure is an ironic benefit of the physician shortage, not all foreign candidates can be easily and quickly hired because of their individual immigration status. You should consult with an experienced immigration lawyer before making an offer to a foreign candidate.

Once you have spent the time and money to attract and hire your chosen candidate, you should monitor them during an initial two- or three-year period. Professional and, to the extent possible, personal issues that may result in their leaving the practice, should be identified and addressed.

When physician recruitment programs are properly developed and managed, organizations can achieve outstanding results. Successful programs can enable employers to recruit the desired number and quality of physicians, while retaining those physicians for years to come and perhaps avoiding costly litigation in the future due to a bad hiring decision.

Gary L. Fialky is chairman of Bacon & Wilson’s P.C. Corporate Department. His practice is concentrated in Business and Banking Law, with an emphasis on business formations, as well as the purchase and sale of businesses and the representation of physicians, medical groups and financial lending institutions; (413) 781-0560 or[email protected]

Martin C. Dunn, Esquire is an associate with Bacon & Wilson, P.C. He is a general practitioner who possesses expertise in the areas of immigration law, real estate, commercial business transactions, contracts and agreements; (413) 781-0560;[email protected]

By
Departments

Local Jobs Outlook Positive

SPRINGFIELD — A new survey suggests that employers in the Greater Springfield area are poised to hire staff during the first quarter of 2006. Manpower
Inc.’s quarterly survey for Western Mass. is very positive, according to Cathy-Ann Paige, Northeastern vice president for Manpower. Paige acknowledged that hiring has not gone as fast as it has in the past, particularly because there are fewer prospective employees with the right skill sets for the jobs available. She added that survey results indicate businesses remain cautious when making hiring decisions, however, if the right person comes along, they will be hired. Paige estimates that 47% of area businesses interviewed expect to add jobs in the first quarter. Manpower surveys approximately 16,000 employers nationwide for its quarterly report.

CFOs: Financial Incentives to Hold Steady in ’06

MENLO PARK, Calif. — The majority of the nation’s employees are not expected to receive larger raises and bonuses in 2006 than they did in 2005, a recent survey finds. Less than one-third (29%) of chief financial officers (CFOs) recently polled said they will give higher salary increases in the coming year, and just 20% anticipate boosting bonus amounts. The survey was developed by Robert Half International Inc. and was conducted by an independent research firm that includes responses from more than 1,400 CFOs from a stratified random sample of U.S. companies with 20 or more employees. CFOs who said they expected to increase raises and bonuses in 2006 were asked by what percentage these forms of compensation would rise. The mean responses were 5% for raises and 7% for bonuses. Many companies may be hesitant to increase employee compensation because of other expenses impacting the business, including rising health care and energy costs, according to Max Messmer, Chairman and CEO of Robert Half International Inc. Messmer added that being overly cautious can be detrimental, particularly as the competition for top candidates intensifies. Firms that fail to reward good performance risk losing their best talent, he added.

MassMutual Cites Harassment by Galvin

SPRINGFIELD — MassMutual Financial Group recently filed papers in Suffolk Superior Court accusing Secretary of State William F. Galvin with making “baseless, inflammatory and harassing public statements” that are causing harm to the company. Galvin is quoted as saying in a Nov. 23 Reuters dispatch that MassMutual continues to “stonewall the process at every turn.” Galvin has made several legal attempts over the past few months to force MassMutual to turn over
documents that involve the dismissal of Chairman and CEO Robert J. O’Connell last summer. MassMutual contends it has provided all relevant documents to Galvin, and would include two internal reports on O’Connell’s dismissal if Galvin agrees to keep the reports confidential. On numerous occasions, Galvin has refused to promise confidentiality since the reports come under the state’s public access law. MassMutual has also provided the internal reports to the state Division of Insurance and the attorney general’s office, which are continuing their inquiries. Galvin, as the state’s chief securities regulator, has jurisdiction over fraud in the sale or purchase of securities or in advising people on the purchase of securities. However, MassMutual contends that the information Galvin seeks involves only alleged violations of nepotism and company policy, not securities fraud.

WNEC Announces Admissions Agreements With STCC and HCC

SPRINGFIELD – Western New England College President Dr. Anthony Caprio, Springfield Technical Community College President Ira Rubenzahl, and Holyoke Community College President William Messner announced today that WNEC will offer HCC and STCC students dual admission under a new joint admissions program. The agreement will allow students accepted to HCC and STCC to also be accepted at WNEC. It also provides for academic support for students at WNEC while they attend one of the two community colleges. The agreement between the college and the two community college will emphasize collaborative communication and jointly supported advisement of students, and students who take advantage of the joint admissions option will be encouraged to use the WNEC library and support programs, engage in frequent contact with faculty and advisors, and to attend campus events. Students will also be eligible for scholarships at WNEC.

By
Departments

The following is a compilation of recent lawsuits involving area businesses and organizations.

These are strictly allegations that have yet to be proven in a court of law. Readers are advised to contact the parties listed, or the court, for more information concerning the individual claims.

NORTHAMPTON DISTRICT COURT
Select Energy Inc. v. Olde Hadleigh Grill
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure
to pay for goods and services: $6,925.89
Date Filed: Nov. 21

HOLYOKE DISTRICT COURT
Guard Insurance Group v. Quality Looseleaf Co. Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure
to pay for workmen’s comp insurance:
$2,606.00
Date Filed: Nov. 10

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Select Energy Inc. v. Orlando Alban Jr.
d/b/a Mason Food Market
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure
to pay for goods or services: $6,097.03
Date Filed: Oct. 26

CACV v. Gary E. Dion and Chicopee
Concrete Services Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure
to pay for services: $2,699.24
Date Filed: Nov. 18

Acme Site Work Inc. v. Sentry Services Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure
to pay for goods and services: $10,435.73
Date Filed: Nov. 22

Compensation— Reward or Entitlement?

By
Sections Supplements
How to Make Your Program Cost-effective and Motivational
Most small business owners will say how their employees comprise their most valuable asset. In fact, very few businesses can succeed and grow without employees. Small businesses employ the largest segment of our country’s workforce, yet many business owners fall short in one aspect of effectively managing this resource: compensation.

Employee payroll and related benefit costs comprise the highest segment of overhead for most small businesses, averaging 40% or more of revenue. The new fiscal year is upon us and overall cost-of-living increases of 2% or more means business owners need to look for increased revenue sources and opportunities for cost containment.

Here are some options to consider to more effectively compensate your employees, and to reward and motivate them while keeping these costs in check.

Compare and Contrast

You first need to compare your employee numbers, compensation, and benefit levels with those of your peers and the market. Your competitors may not be open to sharing their numbers with you but your company’s CPA firm may be a valuable resource. Also, surveys are published every year by various industry groups on both a national and regional level. These surveys can give you an indication of whether your employee costs and personnel levels are generally in line or above the norm, overall.

Next, list each employee by job description, full-time equivalent status (FTE) and compensation expressed in terms of total annual compensation and hourly wage.

Compare this with survey data to find out where each individual is within the compensation range. Highlight those individuals at or above the upper range. This is important because you need to periodically assess whether you are paying your employees fairly relative to the market, whether each employee’s duties are still appropriate, needed and commensurate with compensation, and whether you are over or understaffed.

Pay Raises

Across-the-board pay raises are generally not a good idea. They don’t motivate employees, they send mixed messages, and eventually lead to overpaid individuals and disproportionate compensation levels. Pay raises should be granted on an individual level and only after a performance review.

A pay raise may be given to bring compensation to a level within the market range of that position if performance is as expected and the individual has achieved a noticeable and expected improvement in professional development.

A pay raise is also appropriate if an individual assumes more responsibility than originally assigned and obviously if one is promoted to a new position. Cost-of-living increases are appropriate but may not necessarily have to be made on top of other aforementioned increases. For example, an employee is paid $13.50 per hour and the market range for that position is $13 to $17.

If a 50-cent raise is granted to bring that employee higher within the market range based on performance and development, this represents a 3.7% raise which exceeds the cost-of-living increase of 2.5% and therefore, no further adjustment is necessary.

Once an individual’s compensation reaches the upper market range, you need to weigh carefully any pay raise beyond that upper limit because, if the individual is now above the range in the following year, the cost becomes compounded. You can’t just cut pay and benefits. You need to inform the employee of the condition and plan over time to get this back into the market range.

Bonus or Entitlement?

Bonuses are an important part of an employee-compensation program when utilized appropriately. Unfortunately, they are often misapplied, overused, and lose their effectiveness. Prior to implementing a bonus program you need to make sure your base pay and benefits are relative to the market, as discussed above. If they aren’t, fix them. A bonus program is not a substitute for an inadequate base compensation package.

If a company gives an across-the-board bonus year after year, employees see this as a part of their recurring compensation and in some cases spend more or plan in anticipation of receiving it. The “Clark Griswold” syndrome comes to mind and pity the owner who doesn’t come through with that annual Christmas bonus. He may end up at the bottom of the planned family swimming pool. I’m not suggesting you immediately scrap small goodwill holiday gestures, but consider the following. A bonus program should be communicated as a not necessarily recurring but discretionary reward for past exceptional performance. It should be based on profitability and, ideally, targeted performance goals.

A bonus program should be aligned with company goals, such as increased sales, quicker inventory turnover, decreased sick time and overtime, more-efficient customer flow, decreased order processing and customer waiting time, reduced customer write offs and lower days of revenue in accounts receivable. These should be specific and directed to appropriate departments.

For instance, an accounts receivable clerk can’t impact sales volume or inventory turnover. A bonus pool should be budgeted, based on targeted levels of achievement and communicated to the employees so that they understand how it works and what they have to do.

Actual monthly and year-to-date results should be posted so employees can monitor progress. Manager and supervisor bonuses should be based on the results of their departments. This promotes individual and group effort. Part of the pool is awarded across the board for team effort and part is awarded to selective individuals based on relative work ethic, achievement, and attitude.

An individual that stepped up to the plate above expected levels is rewarded for that particular achievement. Employees must know that each year stands alone and there will be good years and better years — the better years count.

Occasionally missing a bonus period can be as motivating as receiving the bonus because it reminds employees that these are not entitlements and must be earned. Look closely at your bonus program and find out if it needs restructuring. It can save you wasted dollars, promote efficiency and productivity, and motivate employees.

Employee Benefits

Employee-benefit costs have soared in recent years and, in some cases, are more important than the hourly pay rate. Some companies hand out to each employee an annual benefits value sheet that shows the dollar value of every employer provided benefit. In doing so, employees are made aware of their total compensation package, which is important if they are comparing to employees of other companies, which they do.

Offering additional fringe benefits can actually be less costly when adding these in lieu of or in addition to a smaller pay increase. The following are employee benefits that, properly structured, can be less expensive in the long run than employee raises and yet may be worth the same amount dollar wise to employees than a pay raise because they are tax free:

  • Pre-tax flexible spending accounts
  • Short-term disability insurance
  • Group term life insurance
  • Increase in employer portion of health and dental insurance premiums
  • Increase in employer match on 401(k) s
  • Dependent care plan

These are less expensive than comparable pay raises for two reasons. First, they are not subject to payroll taxes and second, if the employer cost is in terms of actual dollars rather than a percent, their cost will not compound annually like a pay raise will. One employee administrator who was already earning at the upper compensation range for her position was given the choice of a lesser raise or long-term disability insurance coverage. She opted for the disability coverage.

Reduce Staff Through Attrition

Companies that find themselves overstaffed may find it difficult to identify certain individuals to terminate, especially if it results in retained employees picking up their less-than-full-time duties. This could create unwanted morale problems.

However, individuals retiring or otherwise voluntarily moving on often provide an opportunity to reorganize and reassign duties and job descriptions to save the costs of a full-time position. It may require a parttime replacement or it may require a small increase in pay for affected individuals but the savings could be substantial. Base your department managers’ bonuses on targeted staffing levels and watch what happens.

Control Overtime

As indicated above, lower overtime targets could be a basis for bonuses. Overtime is sometimes necessary, especially when someone is absent or in peak business periods. However, in most businesses, overtime is excessive.

Have your accountant or bookkeeper tabulate last year’s overtime hours and related cost as a starter. In monitoring overtime, don’t forget to also track the hours and costs of outsourcing to temp agencies.

A decrease in one may result in an increase in the other. Savings could be achieved by allowing employees to take up to a week of overtime earned in additional paid vacation, but check your state labor laws first.

Restructure Retirement Plans

The laws and regulations governing the design and coverage of employer retirement plans has changed significantly in recent years, yet many companies have the same plan structure in place. More-recent safe harbor rules and discrimination restrictions have enabled some employers to change their plan design so as to enable owners to maximize their annual contributions at a lesser cost overall.

This may be done without reducing the current benefit to non-owners. If your retirement plan has not changed, it may be worthwhile to have a benefit plan consultant review your current plan design and employee census to see if you could benefit from a new plan design.

Conclusion

Business owners should view their employee compensation and benefits as a program to promote the well-being and objectives of both the individual and the organization. Hopefully you will find one or more useful ideas in this article to make your compensation program more cost effective, rewarding and motivational.

James B. Calnan, CPA, is a partner with Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C., Holyoke, Certified Public Accountants and Business Consultants; (413) 536-8510.

By
Departments

Bulkley, Richardson and Gelinas, LLP in Springfield announced the following:

Daniel J. Blake

• Daniel J. Blake has been named Counsel. He is a member of the Litigation/ Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Department and
Employment Law Practice Group;

 

 

Gastón de los Reyes

• Gastón de los Reyes has been named an Associate. He is a member of the Litigation/ADR Department;

 

 

 

Jennifer K. Cannon

• Jennifer K. Cannon has been named an Associate. She is a member of the Litigation/ADR Department;

 

 

 

Daniel A. Leonardo

• Daniel A. Leonardo has been named an Associate. He is anew Associate in the Boston office and a member of the Litigation/ADR Department, and

 

 

 

Seth M. Wilson

• Seth M. Wilson has been named an
Associate. He is a member of the Intellectual Property Group.

 

 

 

•••••

Meyers Brothers Kalicka of Holyoke and Greenfield announced the following:

• Brenda D. Olesuk has joined the firm as the Firm Administrator in the Holyoke office, and
• Daniel J. Eger has joined the firm as an Associate in the Holyoke office.

•••••

Western New England College Professor of Management Dr. William P. Ferris has been appointed Associate Editor of the Journal of Management Education. Ferris is an expert in team-building, leadership, and management education. It is his second stint as associate editor, having previously served from 1999-2002. In addition to this appointment, Ferris was recently named the Editorial Board Member of the Year for the Academy of Management and Learning, the educational journal of the National Academy of Management.

Edward J. Terault, President of Reil
Cleaning Services in Greenfield, recently attended the SSA/Interclean Conference and Trade Show in Las Vegas, which showcased new processes and cost-cutting methods in the commercial cleaning industry.

•••••

Tereza Perez-Morale recently joined the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission in West Springfield as a Secretary.

•••••

Junior Achievement of Western Mass., based in Springfield, announced that the following individuals have been elected to the Board of Directors:

• Sara McFadden, Assurance Manager for ricewaterhouseCoopers LLP;

• Lynn Starr, Vice President, Systems & Operations for Easthampton Savings Bank;

• Ravi Kulkarni, Business and
Professional Coach, and

• Russ Davies, Director, Manufacturing Logistics & SAP Operations for Hasbro Games.

•••••

PeoplesBank in Holyoke announced the following:

• Mary J. Meehan has been named Vice President for Commercial Loans;

• Joyce A. O’Connor has been named Assistant Vice President and Manager of the new Westfield office, opening in early 2006;

• Heidi Nowak Leonard has been named Mortgage Consultant for the new Westfield office;

• Halena Ramos has been named a
Mortgage Consultant for the Chicopee, Ludlow, Monson, Palmer, and Springfield areas, and
• Brady D. Chianciola has been named Branch Officer for the Chicopee office.

•••••

Hampden Bank announced the following:

• Donna J. Kennedy has been hired as a Customer Service Representative and Sales Manager in the Agawam office, and • Sheryl Shinn has been named Vice
President of Information Technology.

•••••

Two MassMutual Financial Group executives were recently elected to posts in industry associations:

• Matthew M. Abraham, National
Managing Director of Public Markets for MassMutual’s retirement services division, has been elected President of the 2005- 2006 Industry Committee of the National Assoc. of Government Defined Contribution Administrators. He will also serve on the association’s seven-member executive board, and

• E. Thomas Johnson Jr., Senior Vice President of Enterprise Marketing for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America. He will serve a three-year term.

Introducing the Roth 401(k)

By
Sections Supplements

On Jan. 1, the U.S. government will allow businesses to offer employees a new retirement option ­ the Roth 401(k).

The new Roth 401(k) plan combines features of a traditional Roth IRA account with those of regular 401(k) account. This new program enables employees to contribute after-tax dollars to their retirement funds in place of, or as part of, their percentage of contributions. The advantage of an after-tax contribution is a tax-free withdrawal of the contributions and their earnings at retirement.

Although this plan has such benefits, it is important to understand what is involved when implementing a Roth retirement package. With so many retirement options to choose from, education regarding the effects this program can have for businesses and employees is of paramount importance.

The Pros

From an employee perspective, the greatest advantage of the new Roth 401(k) is that no income taxes will ever be paid on the earnings for these contributions. Moreover, it also provides an avenue for individuals with extra cash for investment, or those near retirement, to add to or build up their savings. Unlike a traditional 401(k), the Roth option enables a person to roll their account into a Roth IRA that doesn¹t have minimum distribution amounts at age 70. Because of these benefits, it is easy to understand why a Roth 401(k) might be an attractive retirement option for certain investors.

From an employer¹s point of view, the biggest benefit is easy to see. Since there is no additional cost to add a Roth option to a 401(k), other than a plan amendment, employers can add a benefit without any major hassles. The Roth 401(k) enables employers to broaden their retirement options and help their employees save for retirement at no real cost.

The Cons

Despite these benefits, businesses and employees need to be aware of some of the changes created by a Roth plan. For example, employees need to realize
that participation is with after-tax dollars and will affect their weekly take-home pay. Contributions made to a regular 401(k) are pre-tax, which means you get the benefit of investing your money before the government gets its cut.

With the Roth 401(k), any monies you contribute will have already been taxed. Because of this, employees need to make sure that it makes sense mathematically for them to participate. After retirement, most people will find themselves in a lower tax bracket because they no longer have an income from a job. Why pay taxes now when you are in a higher tax bracket, which is what the Roth 401(k) requires, versus in retirement when your tax bracket is likely to be lower? For example, a pre-tax investment of $15,000 requires you to earn $15,000. However, when utilizing an after-tax plan, you will need to earn $25,000 (assuming a 40% tax bracket) to make the same contribution.

Businesses also face a significant issue when utilizing a Roth 401(k). Employers have a fiduciary responsibility to educate their employees about the risks and rewards of their retirement offerings. That process is already difficult, but now businesses will be required to communicate the advantages and disadvantages of pre-tax and after-tax contributions which, if not done effectively, could create confusion. This uncertainty might reduce overall participation by employees because they may not feel well enough informed to make a decision. Also, as the implementation of these Roth plans has never been done before, there could be challenges for the testing and administration of these plans.

Making the Roth Choice

Since the Roth 401(k) plan is currently only in effect until 2011, many businesses might decide against offering it because it could be repealed after only six years. However, if they do decide to make this extra benefit available, there are clearly some individuals who might benefit from a Roth 401(k) package, especially those who have extra cash to invest in their retirement.

As always, the key to any retirement plan is moderation and diversification. Therefore, it is important for businesses and employees to fully understand their options before making any decisions.

Aviva Sapers is the CEO of Sapers & Wallack, an asset management firm specializing in insurance and benefits planning; (617) 225-2600.

By
Departments

The following is a compilation of recent lawsuits involving area businesses and
organizations.

These are strictly allegations that have yet to be proven in a court of law. Readers are advised to contact the parties listed, or the court, for more information concerning the individual claims.

NORTHAMPTON DISTRICT COURT
Quality Care Nurse Staffing Agency v. Poets
Seat Healthcare Center
Allegation: Breach of
contract — Failure to
pay for nursing services:
$18,486.85
Date Filed: Nov. 7

HOLYOKE DISTRICT COURT
George Weston Bakeries Inc. v. La Sequnda Food Corp.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure
to pay for goods sold and delivered: $7,575
Date Filed: Nov. 9

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Dion Label Printing Co. v. Paper City
Brewery Co. Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure
to pay for goods sold and delivered:
$4,486.49
Date Filed: Oct. 26

Delta Dental Plan of MA v. Specialty Looseleaf Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for insurance coverage: $6,850.17
Date Filed: Oct. 31

Abide Inc. v. Barrett Co. Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for asbestos removal: $4,550.00
Date Filed: Nov. 21

WESTFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Ford Motor Credit Co. v. Southwick Couriers Inc., John Autonuzzo a/k/a
John Rosario Autonuzzo, Sr.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay money loaned by way of Retail Installment Sale Agreement: $8,068.70
Date Filed: Nov. 10

The Elephant in the Room

By
Opinion
Massachusetts stands at a crucial point in the push for health care reform. Gov. Romney and the state Legislature are in agreement about passing health care legislation to extend care to more of the 750,000 uninsured in Massachusetts. A driving force for reform is retaining current federal funding for Medicaid; Massachusetts stands to lose significant federal funding if legislation to cover more of the uninsured is not in place by June 2006.

As a result, the government is tinkering with the health care insurance system to try to cover more patients who do not have insurance.

Romney, Senate President Travaglini, and House Speaker DiMasi have each proposed their ideas for this “reform,” and the Legislature will hammer out the details.

Meanwhile, everyone is ignoring the elephant in the room. That would be the private health insurance industry, which siphons off a huge percentage of the health care budget. In fact, the United States would save $200 billion per year if this elephant were eliminated.

Private health insurance through employer-based plans, which all three of these Massachusetts legislative proposals would perpetuate, funds only 19% of the health care in the United States. The other 81% comes from taxpayer-funded public programs and private spending. Yet our legislators choose to support and take care of the private insurance companies, rather than the citizens of the Commonwealth.

For example, the nation’s largest private health insurer, Wellpoint, more than doubled its earnings in the third quarter of this year. Our state and national policies have been designed, and are continuing to be fashioned right now in Massachusetts, to protect and nurture the private health insurance industry, even though more and more burdens are being placed on employers, towns, patients, doctors, and hospitals.

Employment-based health coverage segregates a large sector of primarily healthy working individuals, and places them in a low-cost and low-risk pool for the insurance companies, while the state and federal governments pick up the costs of those with significant health care needs.

And what do we get for all the money that is funneled into the private health insurance industry? We get high administrative costs and exorbitant insurance company profits, while the price of insurance keeps going up and up, and patients are required to “share” more of the costs of their health care. (For example, the CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts earned more than $3 million in salary and benefits in 2002).

Why don’t we extend government insurance coverage to everyone, and eliminate the middlemen? Why should administrative expenses consume 30% of the health care dollar, when a government program like Medicare takes only 3%?

Single-payer health care is the name for government-funded and administered health insurance; instead of many insurance companies, the government is the single payer. The legislation for single-payer health care in our state, The Massachusetts Health Care Trust, Senate Bill 755 (S.755), would cover everyone in the Commonwealth. But S.755 is not even on the negotiating table in this go-around for health care reform in the Legislature.

This affordable and comprehensive bill is the only one that meets the five criteria of the Institute of Medicine for coverage that is (1) universal (covers everyone), (2) continuous (not tied to a job), (3) affordable for individuals and families, (4) affordable for society, and (5) equitable and patient-centered (choice of doctors and hospitals). Yet single-payer legislation is being ignored by Romney and the state Legislature.

The insurance company elephant looms large; many politicians are ignoring it. Towns can do something about their out-ofcontrol costs, and citizens can create a grassroots movement to influence their politicians to legislate real health care reform. Suzanne L. King is a practicing physician and health care reform activist based in Lenox.

By
Departments

PeoplesBank announced the following:

• Joyce A. O’Connor has been appointed Assistant Vice President and Manager of the Bank’s new Westfield office, opening in early 2006.
Joyce A. O’Connor  

•••••

• Halena Ramos has been named a Mortgage Consultant. She will develop residential mortgage business in Chicopee, Ludlow, Monson, Palmer, and Springfield.
Halena Ramos

•••••

Attorney Brian Ladouceur Jr. of Nicolai Law Group P.C. in Springfield, was recently sworn into the Massachusetts Bar. He was previously admitted to the Connecticut Bar.

•••••

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc. of Pittsfield announced the following:
• Thomas C. Crowley, an Albany-area banker, has been named President-New York Region for a separate business unit in downtown Albany, N.Y., and

• Joseph P. Richardson, an Albany commercial banker, has been named Director of Business Development-New York Region for the Albany, N.Y. office.

•••••

UMass Amherst announced the following:
• William J. Gerace, professor of physics and director of the Scientific Reasoning Research Institute at the university, has been awarded a Fulbright grant to South Africa, where he will work with educators to improve physical science instruction. During his six-month term at the University of Fort Hare, Gerace and Professor Yaliwe Jiya of the faculty of Education will collaborate on a research study to define the needs and barriers faced by rural in-service teachers, and deliver workshops and visit rural schools to help address these needs. Other UMass faculty members awarded Fulbright grants this year are Joyce Avrech Berkman, history; Eduardo H. Cattani, mathematics and statistics, and Robert L. Wick, plant, soil and insect sciences.
• Faculty member Lynne Baker, Philosophy, has been named a Distinguished Professor, and • Faculty member Vincent Rotello has been named to the Charles A. Goessmann Chair in Chemistry. The designations recognize Baker and Rotello for outstanding academic distinction.

•••••

Patricia Hurteau has joined Century 21 Pioneer Valley Associates in Northampton as a Sales Person.

•••••

Berkshire Bank of Pittsfield announced the following:
• Susan L. Bettis has been appointed Mortgage Administration Officer;
• Susan Bianchi-Smith has been appointed Mortgage Originator in the Great Barrington office;
• Sally A. Angers has been appointed Security Officer;
• Michael T. Macy has been appointed Assistant Treasurer, and
• Patricia N. Sinclair has been appointed Credit Officer in the Commercial Department.

•••••

Michael Poggi, a Registered Representative with Morgan Stanley in Springfield, has earned membership in the Leadership Council of PLANCO, a subsidiary of Hartford Life Inc., and a wholesaler of investment and insurance products for The Hartford.

•••••

Betty Ann Learned, Assistant Vice President for Administration and Finance at Springfield Technical Community College, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Educational and Institutional Cooperative Services Inc., a North American higher education purchasing organization.

•••••

G. Patrick Leary has been admitted as a shareholder of Moriarty & Primack P.C., and was recently elected Vice President and Director. Leary is the partner in charge of the firm’s audit division. The firm has offices in Holyoke and Springfield.

•••••

David L. Rainey of Longmeadow recently authored Product Innovation: Leading Change Through Integrated Product Development, published by Cambridge University Press. Rainey is Chairperson and Associate Professor in the Hartford department of the Lally School of Management and Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Betty Ann Learned

•••••

Anna Nagurney of the Isenberg School of Management at the UMass Amherst is the leader of a team that has translated a 1968 paper on the Braess paradox that states within some types of transportation networks, the addition of a new road may not improve travel time, and instead may make the area worse off. The original article that was published in German appeared in the November issue of the journal Transportation Science.

•••••

Wolf & Company P.C., with offices in Springfield and Boston, announced the

• Carol E. Tully, CPA, JD, AEP, has been elected President of the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils for 2006. She will lead an organization of professional estate planners comprised of 175 affiliated estate planning councils;
• Ruth A. Atchison has been promoted to Tax Supervisor;
• Michael J. Farrell, CPA, has been promoted to Audit Supervisor;
• Derek M. Graves, CPA, has been promoted to Audit Supervisor;
• Erica Hague-Antos, CISA, has been promoted to IT Supervisor, and
• Brian S. Westerlind, CPA, has been promoted to Audit Supervisor.
Carol E.Tully

•••••

The law firm Bulkley, Richardson and Gelinas, LLP in Springfield announced
the following:
• Attorney Sandy Dibble has been inducted as one of 500 American Fellows in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, as well as being named for the second year in a row as one of the top 100 lawyers in Massachusetts. She has also been recognized for being listed in Best Lawyers for 10 years or more;
• Peter Roth, Family Law, has been listed in the 2006 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. He has also been recognized for being listed in Best Lawyers for 10 years or more, has been named a Massachusetts Super Lawyer in Boston magazine and a “Top 100 Massachusetts Super Lawyer” for 2005;
• Ronald P. Weiss, Corporate and Tax
Law, has been listed in the 2006 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. He has also been recognized for being listed in Best Lawyers for 10 years or more and has recently been named a Massachusetts Super Lawyer in Boston magazine. The following lawyers were listed in the 2006 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® and also named a Massachusetts Super Lawyer in Boston magazine;
• Michael H. Burke, Personal Injury
Litigation;
• Francis D. Dibble, Jr., Commercial
Litigation;
• Daniel J. Finnegan, Construction Law;
• Robert A. Gelinas, Personal Injury
Litigation;
• Christopher B. Myhrum,
Environmental Law; and
• David A. Parke, Corporate Law;
The following lawyers were named
Massachusetts Super Lawyers in Boston magazine;
• Peter H. Barry, Schools and Education;
• James C. Duda, Intellectual Property
Law;
• Felicity Hardee, Real Estate Law;
• Mary J. Kennedy, Labor and
Employment Law;
• Kevin C. Maynard, Business Litigation;
• Kelly A. McCarthy, Health Care Law;
• Donn A. Randall, Banking;
• Ellen M. Randle, Family Law.

Death Without the Estate Tax?

By
Sections Supplements
Although Congress has often discussed the elimination of an estate tax, it has yet to do so.

When George W. Bush was first elected president, part of his campaign was based on his promise to eliminate the estate tax.

At the time of this writing, the law currently stands that the exemption through 2008 will be $2 million per person for federal estate taxes. In 2009, the exemption becomes $3.5 million. In 2010, an unlimited deduction is available for any United States citizen, so anyone who dies then will pay no estate tax.

In fact, many practitioners have suggested that in 2010, wealthy clients who are not physically well should consider chartering a plane to the Netherlands or some similar country that permits assisted suicide.

Although this may be a harsh statement, this would completely eliminate federal estate tax as the law now stands. The government’s plan is to return the limitation back to the amount of $1 million in 2011.

With the current economic and budget crisis in the United States and with the need for additional funds to be raised, it is unlikely that a full, unlimited estate deduction will be available for every individual.

Many proposals have surfaced providing that each decedent will have an exemption credit of between $2 million to $5 million, and this would certainly eliminate estate tax for most individuals. Therefore, with proper planning, a married couple would have the benefit of up to $10 million in assets that could pass to family members or friends without any estate tax.

With estate taxes making up less than 1% of the income received by the federal government from all sources, it is hard to imagine why the government would not consider eliminating this tax. It has been suggested that there be should be a tax on the very wealthy. Certainly, they can either afford to pay the taxes or leave a significant portion of their wealth to charity, which eliminates estate taxes.

Many charities are concerned that without an estate tax the charitable intention will be lessened, and wealthy individuals will plan fewer gifts without the incentive to reduce their tax liabilities. However, in light of Hurricane Katrina and other recent natural disasters, it appears that many companies and individuals may make significant gifts without regard to the value of a tax deduction, even though recent legislation has allowed increased gifts with fewer limitations for deductibility on income tax returns.

There are two other reasons for maintaining at least some form of estate tax.

The Internal Revenue Service needs to left many of its employees in the estate and gift tax area. There are thousands of individuals who process estate tax returns, audit them, and process payments. They could possibly lose their jobs, and may not be able to reclassify their positions within the government if the estate tax was totally eliminated.

Another group lobbying for a persistent estate tax includes insurance companies. Life insurance is often sold in order to replenish wealth as a result of payment of estate taxes. In order to alleviate the requirement to sell property, force a closing and sale of businesses, or liquidate other stocks or personal assets, life insurance is often used as the means to obtain ‘fast cash’ for payment of estate taxes, which are due nine months from date of death.

Another frequently sold option is the socalled joint and survivorship policy, or second- to-die policy, which is marketed as one policy on two lives, normally a husband and wife. Since all estate taxes may be deferred until the second death, the second-to-die policy is available as a resource that provides for liquidity upon the second death, when the significant tax liability is due.

If there were no estate taxes, there would be less of a need for life insurance in the role of estate tax liability. However, there may still be a need for life insurance if a person has a spouse and children, and also wishes to ensure that funds are available to pay mortgages, provide liquidity for college education or otherwise supplement the surviving spouse or children in order to meet their future needs.

The government has also suggested that in the event that estate taxes are eliminated, there may be an adjustment to the basis of assets that are passed on to heirs upon death. This will result in significant income tax issues for heirs to review in lieu of estate tax issues.

Under the current rule, in most situations, assets passing to children receive a date-of-death basis if as the asset is includable in the estate for estate tax purposes, even if there is no estate tax due. Under suggested rules, there may be a threshold of between $1 million and $1.5 million for basis adjustment, but assets in excess of this amount will be taxable at the basis of the person who died.

Since assets included in the exempted amount are flexible, this could cause significant problems within families who may argue about one sibling’s inheritance being included as a step up asset and another sibling’s inheritance being taxed at the lower basis.

Therefore, it will be essential to do prior estate planning around the allocation of the basis adjustment and make decisions about which assets will be sold and which assets will be maintained upon death.

Hyman G. Darling, Esq. is chairman of Bacon & Wilson’s Estate Planning and Elder Law Department. His expertise includes all areas of estate planning, probate and elder law; (413) 781-0560;harling@baconwilson. com.

Not an Impossible Dream

By
Sections Supplements
Single? You Can Still Own A Home!
I’ve had many opportunities to go to Hawaii in my life, but I always found a way to put it off because I was saving it “for my honeymoon.”

Twenty years later, I am still single and have yet to go to Hawaii. The lesson here is that you don’t have to wait for Mr. or Mrs. Right to come along in order to enjoy life, own a home, invest in your future. or even start a family.

Whether you are single by chance or by choice, owning a home does not have to be an impossible dream. Let’s look at some of the obstacles that you may think stand in your way.

•“I need sufficient savings for a down payment and closing costs.”

Today there are many programs available that require little or no money down. It is also very common today for a seller to contribute toward the closing costs. Loans close every day where borrowers do not have to bring a cent to the closing.

•“My credit may not be good enough or I don’t have any credit.”

You might be surprised to learn of the programs available that cater to borrowers with credit issues. If you have no credit, there are programs available that will accept alternate sources of credit, such as rent payments, utilities and insurance payments.

If you have had some difficulty in the past, there are programs that will accept lower credit scores. Perhaps, if you need to repair a few items before purchasing, the lender can recommend a plan to get you back on track.

•“Living in a single household may not give me enough income to qualify for a mortgage loan.”

Today, with the exorbitant costs of rent, you may be able to find a home where the mortgage payment is comparable to renting. Many lenders have programs available that will allow you to use alternate sources of income, (cash income, boarder income, etc.) In the past, the debt-to-income ratio was very conservative, but today it has been stretched to allow more borrowers to purchase a home.

•“Homes are a money pit ……what if I cannot afford the expenses that go along with owning a home?”

Yes, you will have additional expenses that will include the maintenance and repair of your property. If the furnace goes, the roof needs repair or the faucet needs to be fixed, it is your responsibility. However, there are many other positive reasons for owning a home.

Owning a home is one of the best ways to create future wealth. Each time you make a mortgage payment a portion of that payment goes toward your principal balance, which in time creates equity. That equity can eventually provide you with the ability to purchase a larger home, assist your children with their educational expenses or provide for future investments.

It could also provide for you in your retirement years.

Owning a home has tax benefits. The mortgage interest you pay each month can be deducted from your taxes up to certain limits of debt. Every person’s situation is different and it is always a good idea to check with your tax accountant.

Owning a home of your own allows you the freedom to live your desired lifestyle. If you want pets you can have them. If you want to paint your walls with polka dots, you don’t have to ask anyone. Perhaps you might like to plant a vegetable garden, put in a swimming pool or play your guitar into the night …. the choice is yours. Of course, normal limits should be observed. In most of these scenarios you won’t run into the“it’s not in the lease,” like you would if youwere renting your house or apartment.

If you have children, both national and regional studies have shown that children of homeowners are more likely to stay in school through high school, score higher on math and reading achievement tests and are more likely to graduate from college.

Besides, there is nothing like having your own backyard to play in.

There are fears associated with home ownership and those fears may be increased if you are in a single household.

However, the benefits are substantial. Paying rent will not provide you with future equity as it will your landlord. If you wait until you find someone to share in the expense and the responsibilities, you may prolong the ability to create equity, provide for your retirement and live more freely. It may be time for you to sit down with a mortgage professional to review your financial situation and explore the many options available.

Jeannie Boudreau has 23 years experience in residential lending and is branch manager of National City Mortgage in West Springfield; (413) 788 – 9924.

By
Departments

Bank Named Philanthropic Corporation

EASTHAMPTON — Easthampton Savings Bank was recently recognized by the Western Mass. Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals as the 2005 Outstanding Philanthropic Corporation of Western Mass. In other company news, the bank continued to experience steady growth in assets, deposits, loans, and capital during the third quarter, according to William S. Hogan, Jr., President and CEO. The bank’s total assets increased $28 million from a year ago, and an increase of $8 million over the last quarter. Also, total assets now stand at $656 million. The loan portfolio totaled $482 million at the end of September, an increase of $7.7 million or 6% for the quarter and $23.1 million or a 5% increase since the end of September last year. The bank also experienced a deposit gain of $13.1 million from a year ago.

Advertising Club Sports New Logo

SPRINGFIELD — The Advertising Club of Western Mass. has a new logo, created by Lilly Pereira of Bidwell ID in Florence. The logo was selected from more than 40 submissions sent to the Ad Club in response to a design contest last February. The Ad Club, celebrating its 90th anniversary, called for designs that would update as well as reflect the image and mission statement of the club. As the contest winner, Pereira will receive a one-year Ad Club membership and her logo will be entered into the 2006 Ad Club awards competition.

Fair Trade Coffee Served At UMass

AMHERST — UMass Amherst has joined the Fair Trade coffee movement by adopting Pura Vida, a fair trade coffee provider, as one of its coffee suppliers in the dining commons and other retail outlets on campus. Pura Vida Coffee sells Fair Trade, organic coffee throughout the United States. It was founded by John Sage and Chris Dearnley, and is based in Seattle, Wash. The partners actively promote a business model based on more humane capitalism built on economic fairness, environmental sustainability, and philanthropy. The mission of Pura Vida is to use capitalism to empower producers, motivate consumers, inspire business leaders, and ultimately serve the poor. The Dining services Department completed extensive market research that indicated that 59% of students agreed they would like to see Fair Trade coffee provided on campus. In addition to Pura Vida, dining services will still provide coffee from other suppliers, including local coffee from Rao’s, an Amherst coffee shop, New England Coffee and Starbucks.

MassMutual To Pay $1.2B Dividend

SPRINGFIELD — MassMutual Financial Group recently announced the distribution of nearly $1.2 billion to eligible participating policyholders under the dividend payout for 2006 – a double-digit increase over the 2005 dividend payout. Nearly all traditional life insurance policyholders will receive a 2006 dividend larger than or equal to the dividend they received in 2005. More specifically, more than 89% of traditional life insurance policyholders will receive a 2006 dividend at least 10% larger than they received in 2005, and 54% will receive a 2006 dividend at least 20% larger than they received in 2005. Dividends for a given policy are influenced by factors including policy series, issue age, policy duration, policy loan rate and changes in experience. For more information, visit www.massmutual.com.

WNEC Named Employer of the Year; College of Distinction

SPRINGFIELD — Western New England College (WNEC) has been honored as “Employer of the Year” by the Employers Assoc. of the Northeast in the nonprofit/over 100 employees category. Awards are based on several criteria, including effective communication, fostering employee input and feedback, encouraging professional development, fostering work/life balance, and promoting a positive, professional culture while valuing diversity and individuality. In presenting the award, the Employers Association saluted WNEC as an organization that values and respects its employees’ commitment to the organization. In other campus news, WNEC will be featured in Colleges of Distinction, a new college guide and Web site profiling some of America’s best bets in higher education. Based on the opinions of guidance counselors, educators and admissions professionals, Colleges of Distinction honors colleges that excel in key areas of educational quality. In order to qualify for inclusion, WNEC was evaluated for its performance in the Four Distinctions: “Engaged Students,” “Great Teaching,” “Vibrant Communities” and “Successful Outcomes.” Guidance counselors and admissions professionals around the country recommended WNEC in every category. WNEC was also noted for its active student body, devoted faculty, and academic programs based on developing collaboration, communication, and problem-solving skills. WNEC will also be profiled in the forthcoming book, Colleges of Distinction, which will be published in 2006.

By
Departments

The following is a compilation of recent lawsuits involving area businesses and organizations. These are strictly allegations that have yet to be proven in a court of law.

Readers are advised to contact the parties listed, or the court, for more information concerning the individual claims.

NORTHAMPTON DISTRICT COURT

Todd Campbell d/b/a Millenium Painting v. Haydenville Woodworking & Design Inc. Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods and services: $11,500 Date Filed: Oct. 14

HAMPSHIRE SUPERIOR COURT

The Street Lumber Co. v. Steven R. Wolf a/k/a Steven Wolf a/k/a Steve Wolf d/b/a Steve Wolf General Contractor Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $26,428.56 Date Filed: Oct. 28

HOLYOKE DISTRICT COURT

Marken Properties Inc. v. Millar Elevator Service Co. and Schindler Elevator Corp. Allegation: Breach of contract — Nonpayment of deposits on cancelled contracts and refund of monthly service charges on elevators that did not work: $21,008.65 Date Filed: Oct. 17

Hamel’s Creative Catering v. Hampshire Community Action Commission Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for services: $3,103.68 Date Filed: Oct. 24

CHICOPEE DISTRICT COURT

Accutech Insulation & Contracting Inc. v. Target Restoration Inc. Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for services: $4,860 Date Filed: Oct. 21

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT

Liberty Mutual Insurance v. Properties of Elmwood Cemetery Inc. Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $8,656.90 Date Filed: Oct. 6

Bradco Supply Co. v. Ellsworth, Allen & Anthony Inc. and Gregory K. Coons a/k/a Greg Coons Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $3,226.24 Date Filed: Oct. 7

Clear Channel Communications v. Randy Sefton d/b/a Automotive Restylers of N.E. Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for advertising: $9,345 Date Filed: Oct. 11

Everett J. Prescott Inc. v. J. D. Contracting Inc. Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for supplies: $16,582.24 Date Filed: Oct. 13

Associated Rubber Co. v. Paul-Martin Rubber Corp. Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $5,217.44 Date Filed: Oct. 13

WESTFIELD DISTRICT COURT

Tri-State Industrial Laundries Inc. v. Air Compressor Engineering Co. Inc. Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $10,472.38 Date Filed: Oct. 8

The Time Has Come for Health Reform

By
Opinion
On Beacon Hill, legislators are debating ways to increase the number of people with health insurance coverage. The outcome of that debate will reshape the health insurance landscape, protect the health of more of your friends and neighbors, and affect your medical costs.

Change is coming, and it is needed. Though they differ on specifics, the governor, the Senate president and the speaker of the House all agree on that point. For the wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents, we must seize this once-in-a-generation moment.

Health insurance enables patients to access the preventative care that saves lives, so it is time to set ourselves on a path to affordable, meaningful coverage for everyone. It is at the heart of what hospitals stand for in this debate.

Coverage should take the form of expanded Medicaid for the needy and new, more affordable private health insurance.These options should truly meet peoples’ medical needs. Reform that offers benefits that are low and co-pays and deductibles that are high will not work.

There must also be a recognition that no matter how generous the benefits, no matter how broad the coverage, there will still be those who will fall between the cracks.There must be a safety net for them and for those who provide their care. The form of such a safety net can be debated, but there should be no disagreement about its necessity.It’s not realistic to assume that we won’t need a safety net once health reform becomes law. That will put vulnerable people in harm’s way.

As lawmakers focus on reform, one of the great challenges confronting them is affordability to consumers, businesses and taxpayers. As you might expect, in the current system, all sides try to reduce costs.But if a business chooses to cut expenses by dropping coverage for employees, we all end up paying for that choice as those employees become state-subsidized ‘free care’ patients. At the vast majority of good businesses that offer health benefits, some employees who are financially capable of enrolling sometimes gamble by opting out. And these aren’t the only “free riders.” The state has a track record of consuming services through Medicaid and paying for far less than the cost of those services.

That is why coverage for all requires ‘shared responsibility’ by all. Without it, the cost of caring for the uninsured will still be unfairly carried, in the form of higher premiums, by responsible citizens and companies. For state government, shared responsibility means stepping up with fair Medicaid payments.

For individuals, it means living up to the personal responsibility to purchase insurance.Reform can help make insurance more affordable, and it is fair to offer public subsidies to help those who find that insurance is just beyond their financial grasp.

Employers – including hospitals – that provide coverage to their workers should not have to bear the cost for those who do not. Businesses that are struggling to offer health benefits should not be put at a competitive disadvantage against those that are not making the same effort. It may also require assistance to small businesses that want to step up and do the right thing on health benefits.

Hospitals have a critical role to play in the affordability challenge. We support efforts to reduce administrative costs, to manage costs more effectively, and to be publicly accountable for the care we provide.Better information technology is a key component. We also know that, depending on the needs of a patient, care should be delivered in lower cost settings. All patients deserve the right care, at the right place, at the right time.

These lofty goals can be realized. But, it will take more revenue, whether it comes from tobacco money, gaming revenue, assessments on employers who do not provide coverage, or increased Medicaid reimbursements.

This is Massachusetts and this is the moment. With commitment, collaboration and, most importantly, leadership, we can make coverage for all a reality. Let’s do it.

Ronald M. Hollander is President and CEO of the Massachusetts Hospital Association. (781) 272-8000.

Full Speed Ahead

By
Dr. Charles Cavagnaro
Sections Supplements
Beacon Hill Pushes for A Consensus on Health Care Reform
Dr. Charles Cavagnaro

Dr. Charles Cavagnaro said the quick pace at which lawmakers are approaching heath care reform is necessary to securing federal funds.

The fast track. That’s where the Commonwealth’s health care reform efforts currently sit, only temporarily stalled after speeding toward the point at which the House and Senate must hammer out a compromise between rival plans. While it’s true that the proposals have some similarities, they also have some major differences, especially when it comes to their effect on the business community.

When reached, that compromise will go to Gov. Mitt Romney, who has forwarded his own health care reform proposal, giving lawmakers three measures from which to craft a response.

It remains to be seen what the final draft of this, the most recent attempt at reform legislation in Massachusetts will look like. But legislators hope to have a plan in place by early January ‘ an ambitious goal, given that the House and Senate approved their respective bills on Nov. 3 and 9. But time is of the essence — and it’s a big part of the story.

A plan must be in place soon if the state is to qualify for $335 million in federal funding used as both the carrot and the stick in an effort to compel states to provide health insurance for more of their residents. According to Eileen McAnneny, vice president for Government Affairs for the Associated Industries of Mass. (A.I.M.), an original deadline of March 1 was set by the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Studies (CMS), however the center recently requested that Massachusetts file its proposal by Jan. 15.

“The state and federal governments have a binding agreement that all proposals are submitted at the absolute latest by March 1,” she said, “but since that agreement was made, CMS has requested that the work be done by Jan. 15. Some would argue that the request is not legally binding, but there are millions of dollars riding on this and it is probably best to honor that request.” All states are currently working under the same federal guidelines that require health care reform packages be approved at the state level and later at the federal level, in order to receive federal dollars that have been earmarked for state health care programs by CMS. It’s also money that is necessary for most states, including Massachusetts, to put new programs into place for the coming year.

Jeffrey Ciuffreda, vice president for Government Affairs with the Western Mass. Economic Development Council, echoed McAnneny’s comments in regard to the importance of chasing those dollars. “We’re talking about matching funds for health care for all of the states,” said “It’s roughly 50 cents on the dollar that came into the picture a few years ago when the feds said the states needed to start better controlling their costs and revamping their health care systems.

“There’s some debate as to where that deadline will finally fall, but it has to be soon,” he said. “The original date was last year, but a waiver was granted to all states, so that’s why there is such a push on now.” The speed at which Massachusetts legislators have moved to craft their respective measures — not to mention individual provisions — has been cause for concern for some, who fear that a hastily drafted plan could lead to problems in the future, such as health insurance plans with high deductibles or penalization systems. In a statement issued on Nov. 1, Richard Lord, president of A.I.M., criticized the House for rushing its proposal.

“A hasty process lends itself to errors, omissions, and unnecessary confusion, particularly when we are analyzing, reviewing, and digesting a proposal of this magnitude,” he said. Later, on Nov. 9, Lord targeted the Senate, saying that A.I.M. was “disappointed that this far along in deliberations, the current Senate bill has serious shortcomings.” He went on to list several bullet points the organization had previously cited as important to a complete reform package, including a vehicle or entity to facilitate use of pre-tax dollars by individuals to purchase health insurance. Still, many, A.I.M. officials included, contend that garnering that $335 million is necessary in order to foster change in the health care system, and therefore the quick turnaround of the House and Senate bills is also essential, especially as the deadline approaches. “We recognize the pressures,” said McAnneny.

“We understand the importance of submitting these proposals soon, so we’re certainly not asking the Legislature to take its time.” Dr. Charles Cavagnaro, chief executive officer for Wing Memorial Hospital, and also a practicing physician, also underscored the importance of those federal dollars by pointing out that without them, health care reform will be delayed substantially in the future. “It is not the plan that is important now, but the funding behind it,” he said. “Without it, we can’t implement anything. That federal funding is important to the state and the legislators, and they don’t want to lose it.”

The Power of Three

The three rival health care reform initiatives have similar goals: increasing coverage to the uninsured — thus shrinking or eliminating the Uncompensated Care Pool — and streamlining the state’s health care system. All three plans, however, differ in several respects. Both the House and Senate bills followed an early, more global health care reform proposal set forth earlier in the year by the governor. That proposal included a mandate that all Massachusetts residents obtain coverage, either on their own, through a state-controlled program such as MassHealth, or through a low-cost-policy program.

It also advised improvement of the malpractice system and consumer access to health care provider quality and cost information, and increases in Medicaid reimbursement rates for providers. Both the House and Senate bills include some provisions similar to Romney’s, however they also approach several issues, particularly the uninsured population, in different ways The House bill requires that people who can afford insurance purchase it, and would increase the number of people covered by Medicaid by tapping the tobacco settlement fund (in its entirety) ‘ a figure of about $255 million a year. The House bill also mandates that busi-ness owners provide insurance for their employees or pay into an insurance fund ‘ essentially, a tax is levied on employers with 11 or more employees ‘ employers with 10 or fewer employees are exempt.
This controversial provision has drawn fire from state business groups including A.I.M. “Proponents of the new tax are characterizing it as a ‘fair-share assessment’ designed to require businesses that don’t offer health insurance to pay into our health care system. This description is patently false,” said Lord. “By providing a carve-out to really small businesses (10 or fewer employees), the bill would exempt 95% of employers that do not currently provide health insurance to their workers from this new tax, estimated to cost $700 million annually. This bill is really about asking employers of Massachusetts that already provide insurance to foot the bill for health care expansion.” Currently, only Hawaii uses a system similar to that contained in the House version, and Lord believes that such a move would hurt the Commonwealth’s already fragile economy. “Simply shifting the burden to pay for an inefficient system is not reform,” he said. “Controlling costs is the linchpin for addressing access and accountability. We must examine the way that health care is delivered in this state and begin to reshape our delivery system into a more efficient, financially viable system that can be sustained over time without sizeable new contributions from the paying public each and every year.” The Senate bill does not include such a mandate, but it does stipulate that employers who don’t pay for health insurance cover the health care costs of those workers who receive health care services.

Romney opposes the employer mandate set forth by the House, but has said he wants legislators to move quickly to reach a compromise, in order to tap $335 million in federal money to fund the finalized plan. Ciuffreda said that Romney got the ball rolling with an early set of health care reform proposals, in part to meet the deadline for acquiring those federal funds, but stepped back while the House and Senate drafted their bills. “He deserves the credit for getting this started by using the bully pulpit and fueling the fire,” said Ciuffreda. “There were three pieces to this debate and there are still many, many moving parts, but now it comes down to the House and the Senate, and the plan they’re going to decide on between them.” While Romney has steered clear of threatening a veto of any legislation that proposes mandated health insurance for employers, or penalties for those who do not provide it, Ciuffreda added that the governor is likely to enter the ring again if the provision shows up on the draft of the bill that emerges from conference committee sessions. “He’s firmly against that employer mandate, and if needed, that’s where we’re going to see him weigh in,” he said.

Drawing Distinctions

Arguably, Romney’s proposal and the Senate bill are most similar in their approach to reform. The Senate measure is considered more cautious than that of the House; Ciuffreda explained that the Senate bill lays out a plan to cover about half of the state’s uninsured over the next two years, whereas the House bill proposes that 95% of that population’s insurance needs be immediately addressed through the mandated insurance requirements.

“The Senate’s bill could be considered conservative, while the House bill is more aggressive,” said Ciuffreda. “The House is trying to take 95% of a problem and solve it, but the Senate is trying to help 50% or 60% of the uninsured population and provide assistance, then look at how the plan is working in a couple of years.

“That might mean that we have a better handle on who those people are in two or three years,” he continued, “and at that time it’s possible that an even better bill can be drafted.” Not unlike the bills themselves, the impressions of professionals in health care of the current trifecta of legislation are varied.

Cavagnaro said hospital administrators support the general concept of reform as a step in the right direction. “It’s safe to say that all hospitals are united in believing that this is something that needs to be done, but we are not as united in how that should be done,” he said. Cavagnaro noted, however, that most hospitals agree that the impetus behind each piece of legislation is a good faith effort to improve health care in Massachusetts. “In general, all three versions have merit,” he told BusinessWest. “I’m hopeful that all three parties will come to a compromise without trying to get each other’s goat. “The bottom line is the health care system is broken across the country,” he added, “and it is particularly broken in Massachusetts, so it’s clear that something needs to be done.”

Cavagnaro said the uncompensated care pool has become the crux of the issue for many of the Commonwealth’s hospitals. “For some, it is a huge burden,” he said. “It’s behind all of this legislation. Even a compromised bill would begin to address the needs of the free care pool.”

Proceeding With Caution

And, he added that the speed at which the proposals have been drafted on Beacon Hill will likely contribute to a plan that will prove to have some holes. However, Cavagnaro said it could also be a necessary risk. “It has definitely moved the discussion to a new level,” he said. “And it has put greater importance on it than has ever been there before. The attention to the matter alone is a step forward.”?

By
Departments

The following is a compilation of recent lawsuits involving area businesses and
organizations. These are strictly allegations that have yet to be proven in a court of law.
Readers are advised to contact the parties listed, or the court, for more information concerning the individual claims.

NORTHAMPTON DISTRICT COURT

Energy East Solutions Inc. v. LaVera Cruzana Restaurant
Allegation: Breach of contract —
Failure to pay for goods and services:
$3,331.91
Date Filed: Oct. 7

HAMPSHIRE SUPERIOR COURT

Patrons Mutual Insurance Co.
of CT as surrogee of S. Michael Figarsky v. Cook Builders Supply, Hearts & Home Technologies Inc. and Valley Home Improvement, Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to do work in a workman-like manner:
$400,000
Date Filed: Oct. 7

HOLYOKE DISTRICT COURT

The Darcy Co. v. Aekara Inc. d/b/a Red
Rock Pizza
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure
to pay for goods and services: $1,372.87
Date Filed: Oct. 5

CHICOPEE DISTRICT COURT

Instar Services Group LP d/b/a Action
Fire Instar Services Group v. John
Leslie and Robert W. Hawley, Jr. d/b/a
U-Save Quality Builders & Remodelers
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure
to pay for services: $5,193.50
Date Filed: Oct. 17

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT

Electrical Wholesalers Inc. v. Kevin
Garibian d/b/a Garibian Electric
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure
to pay for goods sold and delivered:
$2,760.47
Date Filed: Sept. 23

Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. v..

M & J Co. Inc. d/b/a Roof
Remedy Associates Allegation: Breach of contract —
Failure to pay for workmens comp insurance: $7,826.20
Date Filed: Sept. 27

Mountainview Landscapes & Lawn

Carev. Techni Products Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for lawn care services: $10,412.81
Date Filed: Sept. 27

Cordi Foods Inc. v. Crescenzo

Enterprises Inc. d/b/a Little Italy Pizza
Alligation: Breach of contract — Failure
to pay for goods sold and delivered:
$11,202.32
Date Filed: Sept. 28

HDC Three LLC v.. Harding of N.E. LLC

Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure
to clean trash and debris: $20,000
Date Filed: Oct. 3

WESTFIELD DISTRICT COURT

Salt City Inc. v.. Metro West
Management Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for road salt sold and delivered:
$16,818.04
Date Filed: Oct. 7

Making A Case For The RN/JD

By
Jill Lyons, Diane Fernald, and Heather Beattie
Sections Supplements
Nurses Bring Unique Background to Practice of Law
Jill Lyons, Diane Fernald, and Heather Beattie

RN/JDs, from left: Jill Lyons, Diane Fernald, and Heather Beattie

They’re called RN/JDs – nurses who have gone on to earn a law degree. Their ranks are growing as law firms recognize the value of having individuals with a strong health care background on their team, not only to evaluate malpractice cases, but to help both individual physicians and giant health care systems navigate in an increasingly regulated environment.

As an administrator at Wingate at Wilbraham, a skilled nursing facility, and before that as vice president of Nursing for Noble Hospital in Westfield, Diane Fernald said she would often ‘bump against the law” in her work.

By that, she meant that, in addition to the obvious health care aspects to her duties, there were also legal issues – everything from real estate questions to new state and federal regulations to matters of liability to contend with. The more she encountered these legal questions and answers, the more intrigued she became.

So, in 1994, she decided to do more than bump against the law; she decided to make it a new career.

That was the start of a sequence of events that eventually made Fernald part of the Health Care Practice Group at the law firm Morrison Mahoney LLP, which has offices in several major cities throughout the Northeast. Fernald is one of three (soon to be four) registered nurses working in the firm’s Springfield office who left that field to earn law degrees and now blend their talents in both realms to provide a unique level of experience to clients.

Indeed, the group, which also includes fellow RN/JDs Heather Beattie and Jill Lyons, is enabling Morrison Mahoney to expand its scope of work – primarily in medical malpractice defense – to areas that include regulatory compliance, managed care contracting, credentialing, licensing and privileging issues, peer review, practice formation and acquisition, risk management, and others.

The nurse-lawyers bring to each of these specialty areas a unique eye, said John Bagley, a partner with Morrison Mahoney. “We’re able to review regulations notjust with a lawyer’s eye, but with the help ofnurse-attorneys who can talk the talk, ifyou will, understand medicine, and alsounderstand the practical aspects, as well,”he explained. “So it’s not just a bunch oflawyers sitting around telling doctors howto practice medicine; it’s lawyers with theknowledge of how the real world of healthcare works counseling clients.”

And by melding their experiences in health care and law, Beattie, Fernald, and Lyons, can offer some unique insight that can help clients after a suit has been filed, but also assist them avoiding claims, and thus the courtroom.

“We’re not just assisting clients in litigation,” Bagley explained. “We’re helping them avoid litigation.”

The Verdict Is In

Beattie recalled for BusinessWest one recent case involving a caregiver and a malpractice suit filed against her.

“She cried for two hours; she just didn’t believe that someone would question the care she gave and believe she was negligent,” said Beattie. “I explained to her how simple it is for someone to bring a lawsuit these days and how she shouldn’t be upset by it”

That case offers just one example of how attorneys with a background in nursing understand both the technical and emotional aspects of legal matters involving health care professionals. Thus, they can provide a level of service that someone with a JD (juris doctor, or law degree) and not a degree in nursing couldn’t bring to the table, said Bagley.

He told BusinessWest that he and partner Dennis Anti recognized an emerging trend in the health and legal professions – nurses going back to school to obtain law degrees – and have expanded their practice to include many of these unique professionals.

There are many reasons why individuals choose to take that route, said Beattie, who worked as a nurse for 20 years – mostly in neurosurgery and intensive care – before earning her law degree from Western New England. Some get tired of the long hours, strange shifts, and lost holidays, she said, while others (and she put herself in this category)“get tired of assisting 300-poundpeople out of bed.”

But perhaps the biggest reason for the career shift is the growing number of opportunities for those who can place ‘RN, JD’ after their names, said Fernald. The increasingly litigious nature of society has created some of these opportunities, she said, noting that long-term care, one of her many specialities (as both as a nurse and a lawyer) has found itself the target of a growing number of negligence suits.

But there are also new waves of rules and regulations that health care providers must live under, said Lyons, listing HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountabilty Act of 1996, as just one example of new compliance issues facing constituencies ranging from single-physician practices to health care systems.

To help providers navigate these increasingly treacherous waters, law firms are reaching out to individuals with a legal and health care backgrounds, said Anti, noting that Morrison Mahoney is setting the standard in this new hiring trend.

“We’re not creating a market for these services,” he explained. “The market was already there; we’re trying to meet a recognized need in the health care community.”

Together, Beattie, Fernald, and Lyons have more than 70 years of work in nursing and health care administration to their credit. They pursued law degrees for different reasons, but Beattie might have spoken for all of them when she said, “I wanted to pursue something I could do until I was 70 or 75.”

A growing number of nurses are thinking in those same terms, said Fernald, noting that most law school classes now include at least one RN, and many have several. Meanwhile, many colleges have created courses or degree programs to address the emerging trend; Elms College in Chicopee has a new program in ‘Legal Nurse Consulting.’

There is a also a national organization for such professionals – The National Assoc. of Nurse Attorneys, which has more than 1,000 members and dozens of chapters, the closest in Boston.

The reasons behind the surge in RN, JDs are many, said Bagley, but primarily, such individuals can offer a perspective – and, therefore, a level of expertise – that those without a background in health care cannot.

“Dennis and I come from strictly a legal background – legal education and legal training – and, over the course of 20 yearsplus each, we’ve learned a lot of medicine,” he explained. “But the RN, JDs … they’ve worked in those environments and that makes it easier for them to communicate with the client and advise the client on how to address these problems we’re seeing in these lawsuits.”

Case Files

The three RN, JDs at Morrison Mahoney bring different strengths and layers of experience to the table. Fernald, who served as administrator of Wingate at Wilbraham for six years (1988 to 1994) and before that served the facility as director of Nursing, specializes in long-term care defense. This includes work with nursing homes, rehab centers, and assisted living facilities. She also handles medical malpractice defense, product liability, and professional liability representation.

She first worked with Bagley at the Springfield firm Egan Flanagan, and Cohen, and later worked for the Commonwealth as an attorney and Medicare program manager, handling Medicare and Medicaid appeals and thirdparty liability.

Beattie told BusinessWest that, while in law school at WNEC, she considered getting into criminal work. She interned at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Hartford, and, later, in district court in Springfield. She opted, ultimately, for work that involved both of her professional degrees.

In 1999, she became the first RN / JD to join Morrison Mahoney, and since then has cultivated a multi-faceted practice that includes medical malpractice and product liability defense, general insurance defense, representation of physicians and nurses in Board of Registration in Medicine and Board of registration in Nursing complaints, and general health-law litigation.

Lyons became the latest addition to the team in June. A 2003 graduate of the Massachusetts School of Law, she did some consulting work for the Nashoba Valley Medical Center and also served as interim director of its emergency department. She later joined Worcester Medical Center as director of risk management and patient safety officer.

In those roles, she actually became a client of Morrison Mahoney, working extensively with Beattie and Anti. As the need for additional RN, JD at the firm became evident, work to recruit Lyons ensued and then escalated.

A fourth nurse/lawyer could be hired in the near future, said Bagley, noting that, while law firms are generally conservative when it comes to expanding staff, there is a definite need within the market for the unique blend of talents that RN/JDs can provide.

Together, the RN/JDs will help Morrison Mahoney achieve goals common to every law firm, said Bagley – expanding the client list, while also providing a wider array of services to existing clients.

Final Arguments

As they talk about the health care profession and their work as nurses, Beattie, Fernald, and Lyons all use the present tense – and with good reason.

That’s because while they’re all working a law firm, they are still nurses. In fact, as Fernald told BusinessWest, they are better nurses now than when they were in the field because of what they’ve learned in their new profession.

But, ultimately, they are more than nurses. They are RN/JDs, and thus on the cutting edge of what would have to be considered a healthy career track – literally.

George O’Brien can be reached at[email protected]

Facts About Retirement Planning for Women

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Retirement planning
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Because They Live Longer, Women Must Be Better Prepared
Retirement planning

Retirement planning

Retirement planning is an important issue for everyone. Unfortunately, most people aren’t as prepared as they should be. According to Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) in Washington, DC, 45% of all American workers over the age of 55 have less than $25,000 in savings. Women, especially, don’t save enough for retirement.

But, in reality, they are the ones who should be most concerned.

Women need to be even more concerned about their retirement planning than men for a number of reasons. According to the Bureau of Statistics, women live an average of four years longer than men. Seventy-one percent of women will live past the age of 85. Second, most women over the age of 65 are single, so they have to support themselves.

Because of their longer life expectancy, women should save more for retirement than men. But saving and retirement planning seem to be more difficult for women. They still bring home 76% less than men, according to EBRI. In fact, from 1983 to 1998 women, ages 26 to 59, made 38% of what men made, according to the Institute for Women’s Research.

Women also generally spend more time out of the workforce, taking care of children and elderly parents. The shorter length of time spent in the workforce, compounded by the fact that women are more likely to hold jobs that pay lower wages, means fewer retirement benefits. Social Security benefits are based on earnings and total years of employment, and a shorter lifetime of earnings translates into lower Social Security benefits.

According to the Social Security Administration, the average man received $1,008 a month while the average woman received $774 in 2003.

Pensions, like Social Security, are based on total years of service and earnings while you work at the company. Again, women are probably going to receive a lower pension benefit. According to the Women’s Institute for Secure etirement, women are half as likely as men to have pensions, and if they do, their accounts are half the size of men’s.If any of these situations sound familiar,you are robably asking yourself, “Will I have enough money?” “What happens when my savings runs out?” and “Am I prepared for the unexpected?” These questions are common for many women. In fact, the EBRI Retirement Conference Survey found that women are less assured than men that their savings will last through retirement.

The good news is you can take charge of your finances and build confidence in your retirement plans by using the following tips:

Don’t be Afraid to Invest

When women invest, they are often afraid they will lose what they have. In general,women tend to be more cautious in many areas of life. For example, women often make excellent pilots because they are less likely to take irresponsible risks. But when it comes to investing, women need to take on some level of risk to get the most out of their efforts.

The real risk of retirement is not loss of money, but rather not planning to have enough. Therefore, women need to develop an asset allocation plan that will meet their future needs. An Asset Allocation Plan is designed to suit an individual’s goals and personality. If you are a conservative investor, your financial advisor will develop a plan appropriate for you. Find a trusted financial advisor and a CPA and work with them to develop a plan.

Force Yourself to Save More

Most people like to live for today. They don’t like to think about the future and retirement. So people put off saving until they are in their 40s and realize they want to retire early, but you can’t retire unless you have money saved. Use your 401(k) or 403 (b) at work to force yourself to save for retirement. Start small and increase the percent you add every year. Your goal should be generally 10% of your income every year.

And do not forget your IRA. Even if you work from home, you can still add to IRAs.IRAs grow tax deferred, while Roth IRA s grow tax free. Talk to your financial advisor or CPA to see which works best for you.

Plan With Your Spouse

Too often women let their husbands handle all the investments. They either take the backburner on investment issues, or they don’t feel confident handling them. As a result, many women have no clue where their money is. You need to ask your husband what you are saving and where it is being invested.

When your husband retires, make sure you fully understand what he is doing with his pension and 401(k). Often men roll over their accounts with a short-term horizon.During this planning phase you should always be involved in meetings with your

Financial Advisor. When your husband is getting ready to retire, you need to consider your survivor benefit, life insurance, and your life expectancy. Does your husband have the option to choose from a survivor benefit and a single life expectancy on anannuity? If he takes the single-life-expectancy option and dies a few years later, his pension benefits will cease. You’ll be used to living off his pension with him, and be left with no income from his pension at all.

Many husbands take the single-lifexpectancy option because they get a higher income from their pension, but taking a survivor benefit option gives the wife the full amount or portion of his benefit until her death. While many couples take the singlelife-expectancy pension and supplement it with a life insurance policy, this may not be the most beneficial route. A survivor benefit is usually the better way to go.

Also, if your husband is taking a 401(k)or pension rollover, you need to know where the money is going. Women who are going through a divorce need to work with lawyers who have experience in evaluating pensions and tax consequences.The real risk of retirement is not loss of money, but rather not planning to have enough.

Plan for the Unexpected

Many people dip into their retirement savings when something unexpected happens.This can result in a 10% penalty for early withdrawal if you’re under 59 1/2 years old, plus state and federal income taxes. So don’t forget to put three to six months’ income aside in case of the unexpected,such as a job loss, divorce, or death of a spouse.

Secure the Future

While retirement requires major planning for everyone, women need to most concerned about their finances. A longer life expectancy, less time in the workforce and lower wages make it more difficult for women to save enough money to last for a retirement lifetime. However, by following prudent measures to take charge of your finances, you can help secure your future and live your retirement years with confidence.

Doug Charney is a financial advisor,with the Harrisburg office of Wachovia Securities; (888) 529-2973.

BROKERAGE FIRMS

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Uncategorized
Company LicensedBrokers in W. Mass.  Offices inW. Mass/Statewide  Branch Manager Services 
Morgan Stanley 1500 Main St., Suite 1720, Springfield, MA 01115(413) 452-0100; Fax: (413) 781-3828www.morganstanley.com 38 1/N.A. Richard Carter Full range of financial products and services for individuals, businesses, and institutions
UBS Financial Services 1 Monarch Place, Suite 1400, Springfield, MA 01144 (413) 785-4900; Fax: (413) 785-1058www.ubs.com 33 2/9 Rick Crews Full-service brokerage firm catering to high-net-worth individuals; cash, portfolio management;$2 billion in assets under management locally
Smith Barney
1500 Main St., 19th Floor, Springfield, MA 01115 (413) 734-7311; Fax: (413) 736-0361www.smithbarney.com		 30 2/10 Paul Chiampa Part of CitiGroup, a full-service brokerage firm specializing in high-net-worth individuals
Linsco/Private Ledger 175 Dwight Road, Suite 200, Longmeadow, MA 01106 (413) 565-2950; Fax: (413) 565-2225www.lpl.com/richard.duncan 25 8/153 Richard G. Duncan Full-service brokerage firm specializing in asset 4
management, retirement services, estate planning,trust services and insurance products.
Merrill Lynch1 Monarch Place, Suite 2300, Springfield, MA 01144 (413) 747-6900; Fax: (413) 747-6931www.ml.com 23 2/10 David Lusteg Services include brokerage, personal credit,5
insurance, home financing, trust and business financing services; retirement and group employee benefits
A. G. Edwards 1350 Main St., Springfield, MA 01103413) 788-6111; Fax: (413) 739-1526www.agedwards.com 13 1/14 Jack Sullivan Full-service brokerage firm; stocks, bonds,annuities, mutual funds, insurance products
Advest Inc.1441 Main St., Springfield, MA 01103 (413) 735-2000; Fax: (413) 735-2001www.advest.com 9 1/8 Jim Poliner Full-service brokerage firm; stocks, bonds, retirement plans; insurance products; access to IPOs
Wachovia Securities Inc.1350 Main St., Springfield, MA 01103(413) 750-5600; Fax: (413) 733-5164www.wachoviasecurities.com 6 2/11 Mark Brown Full-service investment brokerage firm; stocks,bonds, financial planning, and professional portfolio management
St. Germain Investment Management 1500 Main St., Springfield, MA 01115 (413) 733-5111 or (800) 443-7624; Fax: (413) 747-0848www.djstgermain.com 5 1/1 Paul Valickus Full-service investment management
Berriman & Associates, Inc.270 Benton Drive, East Longmeadow, MA 01028(413) 759-000 or 800-779-1262 Fax: (413) 525-2494www.Berrimanco.com 2 1 Robert Berriman Investment programs, retirement plan services,full plan administration services, business planning, employee benefits
Raymond James Financial Services20 Hampton Ave., Northampton, MA 01060 (413) 584-9988; Fax: (413) 584-9955 2 1/1 Kelly Fradet Financial planning firm specializing in stocks,bonds, and mutual funds
Corridan & Co.1365 Main St., Springfield, MA 01103 (413) 746-2701; Fax: (413) 746-2819 1 1/1 Brian Q. Corridan Full-service brokerage firm specializing in stocks,bonds, mutual funds, and other investment products;
Epstein Financial Services 1500 Main St., Suite 1204, Springfield, MA 01115 (413) 734-6418; Fax: (413) 737-9212www.epsteinfinancial.com 1 1/1 Charles Epstein Specializing in fee-for-service financial planning,business and estate preservation programs,executive compensation planning, and retirement plan design and administration
Edward Jones 351 Newton St., South Hadley, MA 01075 (413) 536-2494; Fax: (888) 759-8096www.edwardjones.com 1 7/40 Norman Stafford Full-service brokerage firm specializing in one-to-one service

Bay Path Expands Entrepreneurial Lecture Series into a ’Summit’’

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Brenda Wishart
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Brenda Wishart

Brenda Wishart says Bay Path·s expanded Entrepereneurship and Innovative Thinking program will broaden the school’s audience.

Brenda Wishart says the E-mail responses started coming in only a few hours after the invitations to Bay Path College’s Innovative Thinking & Entrepreneurship Summit went out.

She soon became intrigued not only with the quantity of RSVPs, but the diversity as well.

“We started hearing from students and professors here, as well as from several area organizations,” said Wishart, director of the Entrepreneurship Program at Bay Path. “But we also heard back from a number of area small business owners, and this was something new.”

And it was also one of the primary motivations behind Bay Path’s initiative to
expand its Innovative Thinking and Entrepreneurship lecture series, launched
two years ago, into what organizers are now calling a “summit.”

The free, evening program, set for Nov. 14, will feature a number of speakers and panel discussions designed to help those thinking about starting a business to take the first step — and those already doing business to take the next step, said Wishart.

The summit is just one of many entrepreneurship- related ventures that will be funded by a $143,000, three-year Coleman Foundation grant received this past summer.Other programs to be supported by the grant include everything from a cooperative education initiative to a summer program in entrepreneurship for area high school girls.

Wishart said the Nov. 14 summit will be a combination information exchange, networking opportunity, and business resource program, and it was conceived as part of a broad effort on the part of Bay Path administrators to broaden the school’s focus on entrepreneurship and innovation.

Wishart borrowed from both of those words to create a term — entrevation — that she uses to describe a course she teaches within Bay Path’s business program each spring. But that same characterization can be applied to the summit, she said, which was created, much like the class, to help inspire potential entrepreneurs — but also to assist those who have already chosen that
path, individuals who started with an idea and a rough idea of where they wanted to go with it.

People like Nadja Piatka.
The summit’s keynote speaker, Piatka was an unemployed, single mother who took a passion and talent for baking — and a $100 investment — and founded a venture called Three Blondes and Brownie. That venture grew and eventually took the name Najda Foods Inc., a multi-million venture that supplies what are known as ‘healthy muffins’ to McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada and ‘healthy brownies’ to Subway restaurants throughout Canada and 27 U.S. states.

“Her story offers some inspiration and some important lessons for everyone,” said Wishart.

BusinessWest looks this issue at the Bay Path summit, and also at the school’s wider efforts to foster entrepreneurial thinking in the Valley.

Peaking Their Interest

The titles given to the various breakout sessions scheduled at the summit speak to the event’s mission: Accessing Capital to Finance New and Growth Ventures;Integrating Branding and a Customer-centric Sales Culture; Launch — There’s Help at Every Step of the Way; and Attracting and Retaining Stellar Employees.

The sessions address the many challenges facing small business owners today, said Wishart, including the need to seek help when it’s appropriate and knowing where to go to get it.

Providing a forum where such questions can be asked and answered was one of the many goals set by Bay Path administrators as they set about the task of expanding their focus on entrepreneurship and innovative thinking and community involvement in that realm.

The college created its entrepreneurship program in 2001 to provide broad, experiential learning opportunities for students aspiring to become entrepreneurs and innovators.

Early components of the program included curriculum, in the form of three courses related to entrepreneurship; Innovations in Business, Entrepreneurship, and Wishart’s Entrevation, and also an Innovator’s Roundtable, comprised of area CEOs and business owners. They provide advice and expertise regarding the skills required of students interested in starting their own business or in entering the job market.

In 2003, with the help of an elevator grant from the Coleman Foundation, the
school launched its lecture series with an address from now former MassMutual
Chairman and CEO Robert O’Connell. The program continued last year with an inspiration address from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and will continue on Nov. 15 with an address from Yankee Candle President and CEO Craig Rydin.

The lecture series attracted a number of students and faculty at Bay Path, said
Wishart, as well as area economic development leaders, business executives, and representatives of area business-development agencies ranging from local chambers of commerce to the Mass. Small Business Development Center Network.

The school wanted to broaden the audience to include area small business owners, and conceived a program around their many needs and challenges. The end product is the inaugural summit, she said, adding that college plans to continue the event for at least the next three years.

Other programs to be funded by the Coleman Foundation grant include:

• A cooperative education program, in which students will be placed in area small businesses, where they will gain hands-on experience in an environment that will allow them to fully explore what is required to be an entrepreneur;

• Expanded business partnerships beyond the summit, including an expansion
of the Innivators’ Roundtable;

• Student development and networking, a program that would provide additional opportunities outside the classroom for students to develop their interest in business ownership; and

• A summer program in entrepreneurship for high school girls that would act as a bridge between area youth entrepreneurship programs and the initiatives at Bay Path.

Summit attendees will have the opportunity to attend two of four scheduled breakout sessions, said Wishart, adding that each offers information and insight that people can take back to their businesses the next morning.

‘Accessing Capital to Finance New and Growth Ventures’ addresses one of the most challenging — and intimidating — aspects of putting an idea or business in motion, said Wishart. The session will provide navigational
advice from Maria Goncalves, senior vice president of TD Banknorth; Richard
Steele, managing member of Longmeadow Capital, a venture capital firm; Marjorie Feldman, owner and president of Al’s Beverage Company, a soft drink concentrate distributor; and Daniel Roulier, founder and president of Roulier Associates, a real estate development company.

Lori Klimach, senior vice president of the Wholesale Division at Yankee Candle, will lead the discussion titled ‘Integrating Branding and a Customer-centric Sales Culture.’ The program will focus on the critical mission of establishing a brand identity at both an organization and a product/service level.

Donna Mullen Good, CEO of the Center for Women & Enterprise (CWE) will lead the session titled ‘There’s Help at Every Step of the Way.’ Her non-profit company has helped more than 10,000 entrepreneurs (of both genders) start and grow their businesses, and provides education, training, technical assistance, legal advice, and access to debt and equity capital at each stage of business development.

Team-building will be the focus of discussion at the fourth of the break-out sessions, ‘Attracting and Retaining Stellar Employees.’ It will feature Marc Criscitelli, vice president of Employee Benefits for the insurance agency Field, Eddy & Bulkley, John Mayhbury, owner and president of Maybury Material
Handling, and Dave Rattner, owner and president of Dave’s Soda and Pet Food City.

Together, they will address subjects to include motivational tips, special incentives, and competitive benefits that are cost-effective and rewarding to employees and employers alike.

View from the Top

Wishart is expecting at least 200 attendees for the summit, and perhaps as many as 350 — she was still amassing RSVPs at press time.

While she doesn’t know the final tally, she does know the event will further the
school’s mission to expand its entrepreneurship and innovative thinking programs, and thus help create and grow more of the small businesses that drive the local economy.

To register for the summit, or for more information, call (413) 565-1229, or visitwww.baypath.eduand select ‘entrepreneurship summit.’

Chamber Salutes Top-performing Companies

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Super 60
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Chamber Salutes Top-performing Companies
Super 60

Super 60

The Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield’s Super 60 companies reveal the strong diversity of the region’s economy, and the breadth and depth of the small companies that form its backbone. From a manufacturer of cremation urns to a maker of high-powered hand dryers; from a day care center to a private college, the companies on the list have a common denominator — success.

Higher education and health care. Those are two of the economic sectors displaying strength and resilience in the Pioneer Valley, and areas producing many of the area’s new jobs.

So it’s not surprising that both realms are well represented on the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce (ACCGS) Super 60 list for 2005. Indeed, three of the top performers on the ‘Total Revenue’ chart are private colleges based in Springfield — Western New England College, American International College, and Springfield College. Meanwhile, both the Revenue and ‘Revenue Growth’ lists are dotted with health care and health care-related businesses — from physician groups to a chain of drug stores.

But there are many other business sectors represented on the lists as well, from retail to manufacturing, transportation to hospitality.

“Diversity — that’s the strength of our local economy; we’re not dependent on any one area,” said ACCGS President Russell F. Denver. “The Super 60 list has always reflected that diversity; it’s an accurate barometer of the health of our business community.

BusinessWest looks this issue at those barometric readings, and what the Super 60 list reveals. Scanning the names, Denver said the compilation, which includes a mix of familiar names and new faces, reveals that many companies of all sizes are doing well, and that bodes well for the Pioneer Valley.

Blanket Coverage

The diversity that Denver spoke of can be clearly seen in the Super 60’s Revenue category.

At the top of the chart is a veteran of the program, Pride Convenience Inc., which operates gas stations and convenience stores, and is advancing plans to build more (see related story, page 19). But there are also the three colleges on the list, some retailers — including two auto dealerships, a recreational vehicle seller, and Manny’s TV and Appliance — and an engineering firm specializing in the design of food-processing plants (the Dennis Group).

And then, there’s Berkshire Blanket, the Ware-based manufacturer of fleece blankets that has seen strong, steady growth over the past several years.

The health care sector is also well represented in the Revenue category, with a mix of ventures, including Disability Management Services Inc., Louis & Clark Drug, Hampden County Physicians Inc., and the Mental Health Association.

“Diversity — that’s the strength of our local economy; we’re not dependent on any one area. The Super 60 list has always reflected that diversity; it’s an accurate barometer of the health of our business community.”

To qualify for the Revenue list, companies needed to compile at least $1 million in sales in 2004. The average for the 30 companies that made the list, however, was more than $30 million. Combined the Revenue winners logged more than $1.1 billion in total sales.

The top five Revenue companies were:Pride, Peter Pan Bus Lines, Springfield College, Western New England College, and Northeast Treaters. Berkshire Blanket was one of nine newcomers to the list. The others were Astro Chemicals, Environmental Compliance Services (previously listed on Revenue Growth lists), Heatbath Corp., M.J. Moran Corp., Manny’s, Mental Health Associates, Sound Seal, and Springfield College.

While diversity is prevalent on the Revenue list, the word defines the Revenue Growth chart, as a look at the top-five performers reveals.

First-place finisher Brookdale Associates is a machine tool distributor. The runner-up, meanwhile, a Westfield-based venture called Little Rill Corp., specializes in the packaging of ice-melt and other products for national manufacturers. Third on the list is a staffing agency (United Personnel Services), followed by Dimauro Carpet and Tile, and an insurance agency (Field Eddy & Bulkley).

Further down the list one finds a day care center, a farmers’ supply company, a truss-making venture (see related story, page 22), a company making a new, more powerful line of hand dryers, Springfield Spring , and MacKenzie Vault Inc., the East Longmeadow-based maker of cremation urns.

There are also several health care-related businesses on the Growth list. They include Baystate Ob/Gyn Group , Micro Test Laboratories, a pharmaceuticals manufacturer, Consolidated Health Plans, and Pediatric Services of Greater Springfield.

Nearly half the companies on the ‘Growth’ list are newcomers. They are ACT Vehicle Equipment Inc., Allston Supply Co., Amherst Farmers Supply Inc., Dimauro Carpet & Tile, Excel Dryer, Field Eddy & Bulkley, James J. Dowd and Sons Insurance Agency Inc., Little Rill, Mackenzie Vault, Norman B. Keady Const. Co., Pediatric Services, Springfield Spring, Truss Engineering Corp., and Wright Architectural Millwork.

To make the Growth chart, companies needed to log at least 20.6% growth over the past three years. The average for the group, however, was 49%, and three-quarters of the firms on the list recorded at least 30% over that time.

The Super 60 companies will be honored at a luncheon at Chez Josef on Oct. 28. For more information, or to order tickets, call (413) 755-1313, or visitwww.myonlinechamber.com.

Insurance Agencies

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Uncategorized
Company Phone/Fax   FT Agents/
Employees		  Offices(Locally) Top Local Officer(s)/Web Site  
Novak Charter Oak1500 Main St., Suite 1200, Springfield, MA 01115 (413) 781-6850
(413) 747-0336		 125/175 9 Peter S. Novak, General Agentwww.novakcharteroak.com
Northwestern Mutual Life/The Steffen Agency1351 Main St., Springfield, MA 01103 (413) 748-6000
(413) 788-5796		 50/65 3 Paul J. Steffen, Managing Partnerwww.northwesternmutual.com
TD BankNorth Insurance Agency, Inc.P.O. Box 9040, 2077 Roosevelt Ave., Springfield, MA 01102-9040 (413) 781-5940
(413) 733-7722		 42/75 1 Rick Black, Regional Presidentwww.banknorthinsurance.com
Protector Group Insurance Agency Inc100 Front St., Worcester, MA 01608 (508) 852-8500
(508) 852-8600		 30/95 4 Robert Vaudreuil
www.protectorgroup.com
Blair, Cutting & Smith Insurance Agency25 University Drive, Amherst, MA 01002 (413) 549-4971
(413) 549-4974		 20/56 1 Bill Dowd, President
www.neighborhoodinsurancellc.com
Gaudreau Group Inc. Insurance & Financial ServicesP.O. Box 369, 1984 Boston Road, Wilbraham, MA 01095-0369 (413) 543-3534
(413) 543-4153		 15/16 3 Jules O. Gaudreau Jr., President
www.gaudreaugroup.com
Remillard Insurance Agency79 Lyman St., South Hadley, MA 01075 (413) 538-7862
(413) 538-7179		 15/25 1 Charles Remillard
www.remillardinsurance.com
Field, Eddy & Bulkley IncP.O. Box 2979, 959 Main St., Springfield, MA 01101-2979 (413) 733-3131
(413) 733-3191		 14/45 5 Samuel Hanmer, President
www.fieldeddy.com
Webber & Grinnell Insurance Agency8 North King St., Northampton, MA 01060 (413) 586-0111
(413) 586-6481		 14/25 1 William D. Grinnell
www.webberandgrinnell.com
Phillips Insurance Agency97 Center St., Chicopee, MA 01013 (413) 594-5984
(413) 592-1142		 13/16 1 Joseph M. Phillips
www.phillipsinsurance.com
Amica Mutual Insurance Company330 Whitney Ave., Suite 200, Holyoke, MA 01040 (888) 532-6422
(413) 532-7360		 10/30 1 Daniel C. Heinold; LuAnn Trigo
www.amica.com
Berkshire Bank24 North St., P.O. Box 1308, Pittsfield, MA 01202 (800) 733-5601 9/13 11 Charlie Berkury
www.berkshirebank.com
Canary Blomstrom Insurance Agency Inc868 Springfield St., Agawam, MA 01001 (413) 789-3995
(413) 786-7004		 9/10 1 Richard V. Blomstrom
www.canaryblomstrom.com
Goss & McLain Insurance AgencyP.O. Box 1128, 474 Appleton St., Holyoke, MA 01041-1128 (413) 534-7355
(413) 536-9286		 9/13 1 Deborah Buckley, President/Owner
www.gossmclain.com
Haberman Insurance Group Inc.95 Ashley Ave., West Springfield, MA 01089 (413) 781-7000
(413) 733-9545		 9/30 1 Edward Adamczyk, President
www.habermaninsurance.com
James J. Dowd & Sons Insurance Agency IncP.O. Box 10300, 14 Bobala Road, Holyoke, MA 01041-1900 (413) 538-7444
(413) 536-6020		 9/34 3 Robert Gilbert, President
www.dowd.com
Moulton Insurance Agency Inc.143 West Street, P.O. Box 90, Ware, MA 01082 (413) 967-3327
(413) 967-4607		 9/15 3 Cynthia Moulton St. George, Pres.
www.moultoninsurance.com
Chase, Clarke, Stewart & Fontana Insurance AgencyP.O. Box 9031, 101 State St., Springfield, MA 01102 (413) 788-4531
(413) 731-9234		 8/21 1 Robert Clarke, President
www.chaseins.com
King & Cushman176 King St., Northampton, MA 01061 (413) 584-5610
(413) 584-9322		 8/12 1 Scott King
www.kingcushman.com
First American Insurance Agency Inc.510 Front St., Chicopee, MA 01013 (413) 592-8118
(413) 592-0995		 7/20 1 Edward Murphy, President
www.faiagency.com
Ross Insurance Agency Inc. 150 Lower Westfield Road, Suite 2, Holyoke, MA 01041-0709 413) 536-8380 (413) 536-8386 7/9 1 Maureen Ross O’Connell, President
www.rossinsurance.com
Axia Group 73 Market Place, Springfield, MA 01103 (413) 205-2942 (413) 886-0190 6/13 3 Michael Long, CEO
www.axiagroup.net
Insurance Center of New England 246 Park St., West Springfield, MA 01089 (413) 781-2410 (413) 731-9539 6/31 1 Dean Florian
www.InsuranceCenterNE.com
Nathan Agencies 20 Gatehouse Road, Amherst, MA 01101 (413) 253-5555
(413) 256-8354		 6/19 2 Ron Nathan, President
www.nathanagencies.com

By
Departments

The Springfield-based accounting firm Downey, Sweeney, Fitzgerald & Co., P.C., announced that Janelle A. Davenport has joined the firm as a Staff Accountant.

•••••

Nicholas DeCristofaro has been named the Director of Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property at UMass Amherst. He has served in a variety of research, technology and business leadership roles throughout his industrial career, with a primary focus on new-product development.

•••••

Bay Path College in Longmeadow announced the following:
• Sheila J. Foley has joined the full-time faculty as Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice. An adjunct professor at Bay Path for three years, she earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in criminal justice from Westfield State College and has more than 20 years experience in the field.
• June Sullivan has joined the faculty as Professor of Law and Chair of Bay Path’s Legal Studies Program.

•••••

Gene Talsky has been named Director, Small Business Development, for the Valley Community Development Corp. in Northampton. He will help low-and moderate- income and minority entrepreneurs launch their own businesses. He will also work with existing small business owners, helping them to grow their ventures. Services are available to those who live or work in Northampton or Easthampton.

•••••

The Springfield Museums announced the following:
• Michael F. Golden, President and Chief Executive Officer of Smith & Wesson Holding Corp., has been named a Corporator;
• Michael Matty, Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at St. Germain Investment Management, has been named a Corporator, and
• Peter A. Picknelly, President of Peter Pan Bus Lines Inc., has been named a Corporator.
Golden, Matty and Picknelly will serve three-year terms.
• Re-elected to the Springfield Museums’ Board for three-year terms were Richard B. Collins, David W. Glidden, Noel R. Leary, Elsie Smith, and J. Michael Wallace, Esq.
• The annual corporators meeting was followed by the organizational meeting of the Board of Trustees at which the following officers were elected for one-year terms: J. Michael Wallace, Esq., Chairman; John M. O’Brien, III, CPA, Treasurer; Richard B. Collins, Assistant Treasurer; Frances M. Gagnon, Clerk, and David Starr, Assistant Clerk.

•••••

Francis X. McCarthy has been named to the Springfield financial services practice of Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America.

• Frank Bullard has joined the Wilbraham office, and
• Robert W. Schwaber has joined the Westfield office.

Sarah Jewell has been named General Manager of the new Homewood Suites by Hilton in Holyoke. The 114-room hotel, owned by Buffalo Lodging Associates, is scheduled to open in early 2006.

•••••

Attorney Caroline E. Nicolai of Nicolai Law Group in Springfield, recently published an article in the Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce on the treatment of women under Islamic law. She is a 2004 graduate of the Syracuse University School of Law.

•••••

Michael Behaylo has joined Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage of New England as a Sales Associate in the Longmeadow office.

•••••

Kurt MacDonald has been named National Sales Manager of Janlynn Corp. in Chicopee.

•••••

American International College in Springfield announced the following:
• Judith Syner, Registrar, has been named Executive Director of Student Financial Services;
• Pauline Mortenson has been named Director of Transfer and International Admissions, and
• Denise Carmody has been named Budget Director and will continue to serve as Assistant Comptroller.

•••••

Sanjay Kumar, M.D., joined the staff of Johnson Memorial Hospital and is in practice with Enfield Orthopedics of Enfield.

•••••

Banana Publishing Inc. publisher of the Border Busters Yellow Pages community directory, announced the following:
• Christine Cox has joined the staff as Art Director;
• Bruce Beard was recently named Sales Manager;
• Samuel O’Connor, Ronny Sinn, Mark Villano, Michael Burnham, and Lindsey Palumb have joined the sales staff.

•••••

Berkshire Bank announced the following:
• Shelley K. Guyette has been named Assistant Vice President for Human Resources, and
• Ronald H. Spring has been named Assistant Vice President for Facilities and Purchasing.

Dorothy Varon

By
Dorothy Varon
Sections Supplements
Making A Case for an Effective Career Change
Dorothy Varon

Dorothy Varon

Dorothy Varon says that when one makes a career change, that individual tends to feel older and younger at the same time.

“It’s a paradox; many of your new colleagues are on their first career, so they would be younger, and sometimes much younger, than you,” she told BusinessWest, in reference to the first part of that equation. “At the same time, though, you feel energized by the change, so you feel younger.”

Varon experienced both phenomena as she transitioned from work in the health insurance field and later as a consultant within that industry to a career in law that has seen her move from private practice to the attorney general’s office to the Springfield firm Robinson Donovan. She’s also transitioned from New York City to Springfield, and there are no regrets about that decision.

Since moving to Western Mass. and entering the legal community, Varon has encountered many colleagues younger than her — she didn’t graduate from WNEC Law until she was 43 and didn’t arrive at Robinson Donovan until she was 48 — but she’s also witnessed that burst of adrenaline she described.

“There is a learning curve to be a lawyer that only another lawyer would understand.”

“You are energized when you start something new,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like the same old thing, day in and day out. You’re doing something new — and you’re learning.”

At Robinson Donovan, Varon has developed a diverse practice in civil litigation and appellate cases, as well a growing volume of work for area non-profit agencies. Her efforts recently earned her designation as an ‘Up and Coming Lawyer’ from Mass. Lawyers Weekly, in the category of individuals who have been members of the Bar for 10 years or less.

‘Up and Coming’ is not a phrase usually applied to professionals 53 years of age, but, in this case, Varon believes it is appropriate.

The Dorothy Varon File

Education:Western New England College, J.D., 1995; City College of New York, B.S., Psychology and Pre-med, 1974
Current Position:Associate with the Springfield firm Robinson Donovan
Areas of Practice:Civil Litigation
Professional and Community Activities:Board member, Women’s Bar Assoc. and Women’s Bar Foundation; Board of Directors, Sunnyside Child Care Center at Smith College; former member of the Board of Directors of All Out Adventures

“I’ve had some good success in recent years, and I’m going to be practicing for many years to come,” she said, noting that she recently adopted a young boy from Cambodia. “I have to.”

Transitioning to a new career has its rewards, as well as its challenges, especially when that new career is in law, said Varon, who said her personal experience could serve as inspiration to those who have considered changing their professional course, but then thought that advancing years would or should prohibit them from doing so.

“I never thought I was too old to do this — that never entered my brain,” she said. “I don’t think you’re ever too old to do anything, with the possible exception of me being a ballet dancer.

“If you use the brains you were given, and work hard, you can do pretty much anything.”

Changing Course — and Courses

When asked if law school is any more challenging for someone in their 40s than for individuals much younger, Varon offered a telling laugh.

“Obviously, law school is difficult by its very nature,” she said, “but I remember that first day of classes; they described what our typical day would be, and I kept waiting to hear what would happen after our three classes. I thought, ‘that’s it?’

“When you’ve worked for 20 years, going to school, even if it’s law school, as grueling as it is, is not the same as putting in 9-, 10-, or 12-hour days,” she continued. “So I thought it was easier in that regard, but I wasn’t trying to raise a family at the same time, either. Some of the older students had many different responsibilities.”

Indeed, Varon stressed that neither her years at WNEC, nor her transition into the legal profession were a snap. She told BusinessWest that the route she took to that classroom was long and circuitous.

“There is a learning curve to be a lawyer that is one that only another lawyer would understand,” she said of her career shift. “You find out you have a lot to learn; it’s exhilarating, but, at the same time, scary.

“It’s shocking how much you need to learn after you get out of law school,” she continued. “You say to yourself, ‘I just passed the bar exam — or two bar exams — and I must know a lot.’ But when you get out, you realize you have a lot to learn.”

Varon actually majored in Psychology and Pre-Med at City College of New York, and then went to Paris to study medicine. She knew, however, that a medical career was not in the cards. “I grow faint at the sight of blood.”

She eventually went to work for Mercer Computer Systems in New York, where she consulted on- and off-site for major health insurance companies. She also opened new consulting markets within the health insurance industry and recruited consultants for those markets.

In 1989, she opened her firm, JAHM Consulting (the name was drawn from the first initials of family members), which provided consulting and management services to the health insurance industry in the areas of system design, project management, indemnity, and managed care product design and development.

Her seven-year stint as consultant and entrepreneur were marked by financial success and professional growth, she said, but changes to the health insurance and her private life prompted her to seek a new career path.

“When the health insurance programs became more managed care oriented, I became less interested in staying in that business,” she said. “I didn’t particularly like the direction; meanwhile, I had always liked the legal aspects of what I was doing, and my dad was an attorney for many years.

“At that point in my life, I was examining where I wanted to be 15 or 20 years down to the road,” she continued. “Do I want to be in this business or some other business? I always wanted to be a lawyer, so I thought this was the time to do it.”

Varon said her financial success from her years at the helm of JAHM put her in the enviable position of being able to essentially take three years off and focus exclusively on school. And she took full advantage of that opportunity.

“I was very fortunate to be able to do it the way I did it,” said Varon, who ranked third in a class of 230. “I would have stayed a student forever if the economics permitted it — which they didn’t, of course.”

Upon graduating from WNEC, Varon worked briefly, and on a part-time basis, for the Springfield firm Cohen Rosenthal, P.C., where she had clerked while attending law school. Part-time work was desired because her father had taken ill, and she needed flexibility in her schedule. She found it, and also a unique chance to blend her wide range of skills in a position with the Northampton publishing company Kitchen Sink Press. There, she served as director of Legal Affairs and Human Resources, a role that saw her take on everything from negotiating license agreements to handling compensation and benefits for employees.

After a short stint in private practice, Varon served as judicial law clerk for Mass. Appeals Court Judge Elizabeth Porada, and, later, became an assistant attorney general in the Springfield-based Western Mass. Division. She came to Robinson Donovan in 2001, and has specialized in plaintiffs’ and civil defense litigation.

Like her mostly younger colleagues, Varon has the twin challenges of growing a legal practice and balancing work and her life outside it. Her adopted son keeps her busy, as does her work with the Women’s Bar Association and other groups, as well as pro bono work for some of the region’s starving artists and other constituencies.
She recently helped stage a program organized by the Women’s Bar about the complex track to a judgeship.

“We wanted to help them understand the process, or de-mystify it, if you will,” she explained. “This means both the application process, and the process of deciding if this is what you want to do, and if you can do it.”

When asked if that was one of her ambitions, she hedged, and said, “I don’t know, I’m still pretty new in this career.”

Bronx Cheer

Summing up her career to date — as well as what may happen in the future — Varon told BusinessWest, “life has a way of running the show.”

It does, and it has taken her on an intriguing journey, from successful entrepreneur to the courtroom; from the Bronx to Northampton. Many things have changed, but some things haven’t — she’s still a die hard Yankees fan.

And she’s in a new career, where she feels older and younger at the same time.

George O’Brien can be reached at[email protected]

Bra None

By
Show Us Your Bra
Sections Supplements
Unique Program Offers A New Kind Of Support To Breast Cancer Survivors
Show Us Your Bra

Show Us Your Bra

Since its inception in the early ’90s, The Breast Form Fund has been bolstered by the generous contributions of the Western Mass. business community and by one unique, far-reaching fundraiser: the Show Us Your Bra event held every two years in October. This year, the continued support of businesses, organizations, and individuals alike has provided for an even
larger month-long celebration of art, community involvement, and, most importantly, women’s health.

Pine cones, pennies, red sequins, ketchup bottles, Wonder Bread bags, fake fur, fishing line, and plenty of underwire.

This laundry list of materials seems strange and random at first. It’s downright absurd when put into context — as the materials used to create one-of-a-kind, and often wild and wacky, pieces of art that all share one common trait: they’re bras.
Indeed, the Show Us Your Bra event, held biennially to benefit the Breast Form Fund, a non-profit that began at Gazebo, a lingerie and post-mastectomy shop in Northampton, is a one- (or shall we say two) of-a-kind event. But kidding aside, its also one of the most effective and imaginative fund-raising activities devised to assist survivors of breast cancer in living and feeling well.

“It’s an artsy, humorous, light way of addressing a serious issue,” said Judith Fine, owner of Gazebo and co-founder of the Breast Form Fund, along with Gazebo manager Emma Dostal. “It’s also all-inclusive — all are welcome to submit a bra they’ve created — boys, men, children, the elderly, everyone. I think that’s one thing that has made us so successful.”

BraStory

Show Us Your Bra has become the defining aspect of the Breast Form Fund, which supplies funding for uninsured and underinsured women who have had mastectomies to allow them to purchase breast prostheses and post-mastectomy bras. Fine explained that, for many years, the American Cancer Society supplied grant money for women in need of breast forms. But in 1992, that funding dried up, and Fine and Dostal saw an opportunity to help breast cancer survivors by creating a fund derived from a percentage of all of Gazebo’s sales.

“We addressed the issue by taking a percentage of sales and immediately saw that start to help people,” she said.

The Breast Form Fund functioned in that way for several years, essentially as a separate bank account operated by Gazebo that supplied $400 grants to breast cancer survivors for a breast form, which costs about $300, and two bras.

Soon, though, said Fine, the Breast Form Fund concept began to grow, and take on a life of its own, making its biggest leap on the occasion of Gazebo’s 20th anniversary in 1997. A unique celebration was planned that put the creative mettle of Western Mass. residents to the test, charging people of all ages and walks of life to create an artful rendition of a bra, and give it a clever moniker.

“The event was only meant to be held once,” Fine explained. “It was devised to commemorate our 20th anniversary and we were happy to see it become such a hit, but the next year, when we began telling people that it wasn’t going to happen again, they started demanding it.”

Thus, the Show Us Your Bra fundraiser was born. The following year, the event garnered 30 entries, and the year after that, it received 40. The most artful and cleverly named bra creations were chosen to create a Show Us Your Bra calendar, which raised additional funds for the Breast Form Fund and remains a large part of the event. Shortly thereafter, the fund became an official 501C-3 non-profit, merging with Tapestry Health.

Support System

As Show Us Your Bra continued to grow, Fine said she and fellow coordinators made the decision to hold it only every other year, as the number of entries was actually getting too large. The off-year also provides time to plan the event and to concentrate on marketing and promoting the Breast Form Fund.
But that’s not to say the event’s popularity waned. Since 1998, Show Us Your Bra has added a gala auction to its fundraising repertoire, at which visitors bid on their favorite bras.

“That was the year we went really big,” Fine said, noting that it was also the year that specific dates marking the event’s gradual growth and success began to get hazy, as positive momentum made the Breast Form Fund and Show Us Your Bra less a free-standing event and more a regional fixture.

The fund ended its partnership with Tapestry Health in the early years of this decade and formed a new one with the Cancer Connection in Florence, and now functions as an independent non-profit.

“It’s an artsy, humorous, light way of addressing a serious issue. It’s also all-inclusive — all are welcome to submit a bra they’ve created — boys, men, children, the elderly, everyone. I think that’s one thing that has made us so successful.”

The 2003 show displayed a staggering 240 bra creations, many from local artists, cancer survivors, support organizations, schools, and individuals, but others from as far away as California or Colorado.

Fine said the expansion of Show Us Your Bra has allowed the Breast Form Fund to help a greater number of women, and to assist them more efficiently. In the past, she said, women had to come directly to Gazebo to be helped, but now women within a 50-mile radius of downtown Northampton can easily apply for a grant through the fund and receive assistance and information due to the fund’s expanding resources, now hovering around the $40,000 mark. Fine and the Breast Form Fund’s Board of Directors are currently at work extending that radius to 100 miles, with the goal of reaching across New England and, eventually, the country.

And Show Us Your Bra continues to grow in its splendor, too. This year, several major sponsors are involved, including Baystate Health System, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Florence Savings Bank, Gazebo, Paradise City Arts Festival, State Street Fruit Store, the Valley Advocate, AM Lithography, Lathrop Retirement Communities, Whole Foods Market, and countless businesses that have contributed time, funding, and services to augment the Breast Form Fund’s account balance through Show Us Your Bra activities, which will span the month of October (also Breast Cancer Awareness Month).

Sandra Hubbard, a nurse practitioner with Baystate’s Regional Cancer Program and Comprehensive Breast Center, said Baystate has been involved on some level for many years, and sees the importance of the Breast Form Fund first-hand everyday.
“I’ve been personally involved for some time,” said Hubbard, “sending clients to the fund since it began. It’s important to work with and fundraise for the Breast Form Fund because it is the only service of its kind in the area.

“I see newly diagnosed patients all the time that do not have adequate insurance coverage to purchase mastectomy bras or prostheses,” she continued. “Our staff became aware of the Breast Form Fund early on because it was one way for us to address the many needs of our patients.”

Hubbard added that representatives from the D’Amour Center for Cancer Care or the Comprehensive Breast Center are routinely on hand at Show Us Your Bra events, which this year will include the original contest and display of art-bras, to be located at the Northampton Center for the Arts throughout the month with an auction on Oct. 22, the auction, and a black-tie kick-off celebration to be staged on Oct. 6 in conjunction with the Paradise City Arts Festival at the Hotel Northampton.

At the gala, eight artful bras, created by juried Paradise City ‘bratistes,’ such as Josh Simpson of Shelburne Falls who is famous for his intricate glass planets, will be auctioned off.

Cups Runneth Over

“It’s the twist this year that is going to help us continue to ‘raise the bra’ on the artistic merit of this event,” Fine quipped.

“A lot of the bras that people contribute are funny, but many are poignant, too,” she continued. “And the fact that Show Us Your Bra just keeps getting bigger and bigger is proof that everyone knows someone who has had breast cancer, and everyone’s lives are touched by it. But gradually, we’re addressing a real need here with the help of many, many people.”

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

By
Departments

The following is a compilation of recent lawsuits involving area businesses and organizations. These are strictly allegations that have yet to be proven in a court of law. Readers are advised to contact the parties listed, or the court, for more information concerning the individual claims.

NORTHAMPTON DISTRICT COURT
Rugg Lumber Co. Inc. v. Federal Management Co. Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $14,400.68
Date Filed: Aug. 31

HOLYOKE DISTRICT COURT
Carrier Nationwide Trucking Systems Inc. v. Specialty Loose Leaf Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for services: $8,075
Date Filed: Sept. 9

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT
David Collins d/b/a Collins Insurance Agency v. James A. Velis d/b/a Velis Insurance Agency
Allegation: Breach of promissory note: $14,622.80
Date Filed: Aug. 23

Standard Tools & Equipment Co. v. America’s Pride Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $5,281.27
Date Filed: Sept. 2

Network Employment Services Inc. v. The Holyoke Card & Paper Co.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for services: $3,548.16
Date Filed: Sept. 7

Medical Diagnostic & Rehab LLC d/b/a MVA Center for Rehab v. Hanover Insurance Co.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for services: $4,639.30
Date Filed: Sept. 12

Webster Architectural Woodworking Inc. v. Comcolor Photographics and Imaging Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $14,070
Date Filed: Sept. 14

HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT
Westover Building Supply Co. v. Andrew Mitchell d/b/a Mitchell Drywall & Plaster
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $66,477.89
Date Filed: Aug. 24

By
Departments

Stephen M. Quink has returned to the Lending Department of North Brookfield Savings Bank as Vice President/Lending.

•••••

Ernestine “Tini” Sawicki, a broker and owner of Realty World Sawicki in Amherst, has been named recipient of the Mass. Association of Realtors® (MAR) Milton H. Shaw Distinguished Service Award for 2005. The award is presented annually to one Realtor® member or staff executive who has demonstrated leadership abilities and volunteered countless hours of personal time to serve on state association committees and participate in MAR activities.

•••••

The Bank of Western Massachusetts in Springfield announced the following:
• Tracy L. Fleming has been promoted to Business Services Officer, with responsibility for the development of new business services accounts, including payroll, merchant processing and cash management and the servicing of existing accounts.
• William A. Fontes has been promoted to Senior Vice President/Commercial Loan Officer, with responsibility for administering an existing portfolio of commercial loan accounts as well as acquiring new business in Hampshire County.
• Gail A. Goraj has been promoted to Business Services Officer, with responsibility for the development of new business service accounts, including payroll, merchant processing and cash management and the servicing of existing accounts, and
• Antonios D. Liberopoulos has been promoted to Senior Vice President/Commercial Loan Officer, with responsibility for administering an existing portfolio of commercial loan accounts as well as acquiring new business in Hampden County.

•••••

Nathan Winstanley, founder and president of Winstanley Associates in Lenox, was the guest speaker at the Western Mass. Ad Club’s Sept. 28 luncheon. Winstanley is also president and founder of Lenox SoftWorks, a software development company.

•••••

Gary E. Rosentreter, Ed.D., has been appointed Executive Director, Connecticut Quality Council (CQC), located at Rensselaer’s Hartford (Conn.) campus. CQC is associated with Rensselaer’s Centers for Professional Development.

•••••

Moriarty & Primack, P.C., Certified Public Accountants, in Springfield announced the following:
• Melissa English has been promoted to Senior Associate, and
• Stacey St. Pierre has been promoted to Senior Associate.

•••••

Attorney Dorothy Varon of Robinson Donovan, P.C., with offices in Springfield and Northampton, has been selected by the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as an “Up and Coming Lawyer.” She joined the law firm in 2002 and concentrates her practice in the areas of federal litigation, civil rights, health insurance law, publishing law and civil litigation.

•••••

 

Jeremy Redmond has recently joined Innovative Business Systems, Inc. in Easthampton. Redmond holds CompTIA A+, Network+, and Security+ certifications, as well as being a Microsoft Certified Professional, Systems Administrator, and Systems Engineer (MCP, MCSA and MCSE).

•••••

Bobbi Pitkin has joined Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage of New England as a Realtor in the Longmeadow office.

•••••

Jill T. Lyons has been appointed an Associate at Morrison Mahoney in Springfield. She will concentrate her practice in health law and defense of medical malpractice claims.

•••••

Matthew McDonough, formerly of Holyoke, has joined Yale-New Haven Health System as Administrative Fellow for the 2005-2006 program year.

•••••

Richard T. O’Connor has been named Legal Counsel at Holyoke Medical Center.

•••••

Karen E. Eaton has joined Martinelli, Discenza & Hannifan in Longmeadow as an Associate. She will practice in estate planning, real estate development and finance law, municipal law, and general business practice, securities law, and investment management law.

•••••

Jacqueline McNinch has joined the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency’s Home Ownership Business Development Group as a regional Business Development Officer for Western Massachusetts.

•••••

Jane E. Fountain has joined the faculty of the UMass Amherst in its Center for Public Policy and Administration and the Department of Political Science.

•••••

Christopher Camerlin has been appointed Manager of William Raveis Real Estate and Home Services in East Longmeadow.

••••••••••

Banana Publishing Inc. of Springfield announced the following:
• Christine Cox has been named Art Director;
• Bruce Beard has been named Sales Manager;
• Samuel O’Connor has been named to the Sales Team;
• Ronny Sinn has been named to the Sales Team;
• Mark Villano has been named to the Sales Team;
• Sarah Clark has been named Office Manager, and
• Donna Fein has been named Sales Representative.

By
Departments

St. Germain Opens Hartford Office

HARTFORD — St. Germain Investment Management, with offices in Springfield at 1500 Main St., has opened a new office in downtown Hartford. Company president, Paul Valickus, CFA, said a steady increase from Connecticut investors requesting more of St. Germain’s financial management services has prompted the firm to open the new facility at 100 Pearl St. in Hartford.

MicroTest Laboratories To Expand

AGAWAM — MassDevelopment recently announced an $800,000 Emerging Technology Fund loan and a $370,000 mortgage insurance guaranty to MicroTest Laboratories Inc. and MicroTest Properties, LLC for expansion plans. The company, which provides laboratory and environmental testing services to the medical device, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries, will use the funds to expand its manufacturing and new virology laboratory facility, upgrade utilities, and purchase equipment to accommodate its growth into the biopharmaceutical product testing and manufacturing business. MicroTest employs 89 and expects to create an additional 49 jobs when the expansion efforts are completed. Administered by MassDevelopment, the state’s $25 million Emerging Technology Fund provides loans and guarantees for facilities and specialized equipment for technology-based companies.

Rocky’s Ace Expands to Norwood

SPRINGFIELD — A new Rocky’s Ace Hardware Store will open in Norwood in November. The new store is part of Rocky’s Ace Hardware’s and Ace Hardware Corp.’s progressive strategy to spark growth and expand customer service by opening additional stores in New England. Since 1999, Rocky’s Ace has grown from eight stores in Western Massachusetts, to 26 stores across New England.

VPT Consulting Opens Springfield Office

SOUTH DEERFIELD — Vincent P. Traina Jr., founder and principal of VPT Consulting, has announced the company’s expansion with new offices at 1441 Main St., TD/Banknorth Center, in downtown Springfield. VPT Consulting offers a full range of marketing, advertising and business development services.

PIP Printing Receives Industry Awards

SOUTH HADLEY — PIP Printing and Document Services recently received a “Top 25” award for sales performance during the PIP Annual Convention in Tampa, Fla. This is the fifth time that owners Dorene and Wendell Pennell and John Bledsoe have received the annual award. Also, PIP Printing has received a “Franchise of the Year” Award by the International Franchise Association. The annual award is given as a symbol of recognition for the brightest and best leaders in franchising.

Berkshire Bank Opens N.Y. Branch

PITTSFIELD — Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc., the holding company for Berkshire Bank, recently announced the opening of a full-service branch in Shoppers World Plaza in Clifton Park, N.Y. This is the bank’s second branch opened this year in the Albany region and its third in New York.

UMass Amherst Construction Projects Exceed $40M

AMHERST — As students returned to UMass Amherst this month, the campus is sporting some $40 million in new construction projects and improvements. Ongoing projects include the deck replacement at the DuBois Library, which began last year. The $6.35 million state-funded effort involves the installation of a new, waterproof membrane and concrete deck over an underground section of the library. Also taking shape is a $3.1 million athletic track facility, located near the softball and soccer fields at the north end of Stadium Drive. The new Llewellyn Derby Track, which is expected to be ready by the end of September, replaces an outmoded facility on the site of a planned central heating plant for the campus. Several health and safety projects were also completed or are continuing. These include new fire alarm systems in Goessmann Laboratory, Morrill Science Center, Fernald Hall and Goodell at a cost of approximately $3 million. Construction efforts also include security cameras, health and fire safety-related projects, roof replacements and work in residence halls.

Monson Savings Bank Opts For New Structure

MONSON — Monson Savings Bank is in the process of converting to a two-tiered mutual holding company structure that will create Monson Financial Services Mutual Holding Co. and Monson Financial Services Corp. The Monson Financial Services Corp. would be a stock bank owning Monson Savings Bank. The bank has three branches in Hampden, Monson and Wilbraham, with total assets of $177 million.

By
Departments

The following is a compilation of recent lawsuits involving area businesses and organizations. These are strictly allegations that have yet to be proven in a court of law. Readers are advised to contact the parties listed, or the court, for more information concerning the individual claims.

NORTHAMPTON DISTRICT COURT

Rugg Lumber Co. v. Pinncon Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $21,534.34
Date Filed: Aug. 18

HAMPSHIRE SUPERIOR COURT

The Travelers Indemnity Co. of Illinois v. Drywall Systems Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay workmen’s comp insurance: $73,752.00
Date Filed: Aug. 8

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT

K.S. Trading Corp. v. Hot Fashions II
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $2,315.95
Date Filed: Aug. 8

Longhorn Carpet Co. Inc. v. Chase Décor Inc. f/k/a Chase House of Décor Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $11,724.51
Date Filed: Aug. 9

Saga Communications of N.E. Inc. d/b/a WHAI/WHMP/WLZX/WAQY v. Bare Furniture & Reproductions Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $7,385.60
Date Filed: Aug. 11

Arrow Oils Inc. v. Alice Stepanik d/b/a Alice Stepanik & Sons Farm
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods and services: $11,227.06
Date Filed: Aug. 15

John Deere Landscapes Inc. d/b/a Century Supply Corp. a/k/a Century Rain Aid v. Joseph Barrepski f/d/b/a Aqua Flo Lawn Sprinkler
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $12,028.82
Date Filed: Aug. 22

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

Morris Switzer Environments for Health Inc.
v. Loomis Communities Inc. f/k/a Loomis
Village Inc. and Loomis Communities
Allegation: Breach of contract and mechanic’s
lien: $1,997,101.50
Date Filed: Aug. 9

By
Departments

Global Business, Global Risks

Sept. 27: TD Banknorth Insurance will host a free luncheon seminar, Global Business, Global Risks, from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. at its offices at 2077 Roosevelt Ave. in Springfield. The featured speaker will be Kim Finlay, CPCU, Are, New England international manager for ACE USA. The presentation will guide businesses through the need for international insurance, international exposure identification, the basic international coverages, and tips for choosing an international carrier. For more information, call (413) 750-4438.

School Law Seminar

Sept. 28: The South Hadley-based Sheridan law Offices, L.L.C. will host a seminar focusing on the latest developments in School Law. The program, slated for 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Hotel Northampton, is ideal for superintendents and assistants, business managers, principals, and other school officials. The event will feature a case law update, and such specific topics as: ‘what constitutes due diligence in hiring teachers and educational staff’, ‘reporting teacher misconduct to the Department of Education — what is the obligation of the school district?’ and others. Cost of the program is $120 per person. For more information, call (413) 536-8523.

Branding Symposium

Nov. 1: The strategic identity firm Bidwell ID and the Mass. Small Business Development Center Network will convene panelists from diverse sectors encompassing the arts, business, education, and health, to examine the
elements of effective branding at a program at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. The event, called brandnew 2005, will be staged from 8:30 a.m. to noon. The program will feature several local case studies in branding and a panel of experts who will put questions to those business owners. The case studies will include Amherst College, The Eric Carle Museum, the Amherst Nursing Home, Banana Publishing, and Cooley Dickinson Hospital’s Way Cooley
brand of coffee. The expert panelists will be Lee Phenner, vice president of Hill Holiday Design in Boston, Cheri Cross, partner and communications professional with Slate Roof Studio, and Rick DeBonis, senior vice president and director of Marketing for Hampden Bank. Cost of the program is $35 per person. For more information, visit www.brandnew2005.com