Home Posts tagged leadership

Leadership, Commitment Mark Holyoke Schools’ Emergence from Receivership

By
Anthony Soto, interim school superintendent and former receiver in Holyoke.
Cover Story

Taking Back Control

Anthony Soto, interim school superintendent and former receiver in Holyoke.

Anthony Soto, interim school superintendent and former receiver in Holyoke.

As he talked about the Holyoke Public Schools’ emergence from a decade of receivership last month, Anthony Soto said that accomplishment results from several factors, but the overriding dynamic has been leadership.

That applies to the receiver’s office, the commissioner of Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE), Holyoke’s School Committee, the mayor’s office, and within the ranks of the city’s teachers, principals, and other administrators, said Soto, who has been the receiver for the past five years and is now interim superintendent in Holyoke, adding quickly that leadership will ultimately determine how this district performs moving forward.

And on that front, there are some question marks, he said, noting everything from the upcoming election this fall, at which every seat on the School Committee will be contested, to the superintendent’s office (a nationwide search will soon commence, and Soto declined comment on whether he will be a candidate) to the ongoing challenge of retaining teachers and principals everywhere, but especially in Holyoke.

Indeed, when asked if he was worried about backsliding from the systemic changes and resulting progress that enabled Holyoke to emerge from receivership, Soto said, “not with the leaders we have in place.”

He added, “I would worry if we suddenly had seven principals leave and three or four district leaders leave — then I would be very concerned. I’m confident with the School Committee that we have, but the unknown is what worries me.”

While there are questions about the future and what will happen with this school district, Soto and Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia certainly wanted to take a moment and reflect on Holyoke’s ability to emerge from receivership — something the two other districts placed in that same state (Lawrence and Southbridge) have yet to do.

“This had never been done before; there was no blueprint for this, and I believe that Holyoke has perhaps created a blueprint,” said Garcia, who made emergence from receivership a campaign pledge when he first ran for the office more than three years ago. “This is a big win for Holyoke; we’ve proven to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that we’re capable of self-managing our public schools.”

Soto agreed and said this return to local control is an accomplishment marked by dramatic improvement in the graduation rate — 52% to 77% — and progress on other fronts ranging from early literacy to reduced suspension rates; from restructuring of the schools in a middle-school model to the building of a new middle school, the city’s first new school construction in nearly 40 years.

MAYOR JOSHUA GARCIA

Mayor Joshua Garcia

“There’s a commitment from the district to continue our turn-around plan so that we don’t untangle any of the work over the past 10 years and go backward.”

That project was achieved despite the extreme challenge of a global pandemic that arrived as progress was building, isolating students and setting the district back several years, in Soto’s estimate, as it went about the work of transforming its schools, while also exacerbating a laundry list of stern societal challenges that have historically taxed students, families, teachers, and administrators alike.

“In a community like Holyoke, the pandemic just hits much harder,” he explained. “This community is already plagued with a high percentage of families living in transition or that are housing-displaced. We have a community living in poverty and with a high level of drug addiction … the things that our students have to go through in the community definitely have an impact when they walk through our doors. It’s hard; this isn’t a walk in the park.”

Garcia agreed, noting that, beyond the accomplishments in the classroom — where there is certainly still room for considerable improvement — Holyoke emerged from receivership by showing it has the commitment and leadership to manage its own schools and not slide back to the conditions that resulted in the state taking control.

“There’s a commitment from the district to continue our turn-around plan so that we don’t untangle any of the work over the past 10 years and go backward, and there’s a commitment from our committee to make sure we stay the course on that turnaround plan and continue the strategies that have achieved the progress we’ve seen,” he said, adding that these factors have enabled the city to earn the state’s trust when it comes to managing its schools.

“The Commonwealth can say, ‘the changes were made, they’re on a good path, they’re showing notable gain, there’s some strong leadership in their form of government,’” he went on. “Those buckets are what allowed the Commonwealth to say, ‘it’s time to transition to local control.’”

“When I first got here, there were 150 kids at Dean, and it was a dumping ground and at risk of closing. We have since invested in Dean and completely brought it to life; we now have over 400 kids attending, with more than 100 on the waitlist.”

For this issue and its focus on education, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at how the Holyoke school system fell into receivership, how it emerged, and what happens next.

 

School of Thought

Soto was certainly familiar with Holyoke’s schools when he became the third receiver to oversee the system.

Indeed, he grew up in the city and graduated from Dean Tech High School. After working in Springfield Public Schools for several years, he became the chief of Finance and Operations for the Holyoke schools in 2016, soon after the system went into receivership.

When the first receiver left after more than five years in that role to take a position closer to home in the eastern part of the state, Soto was asked to take on that role, but declined, saying he didn’t think he was ready. But when the second receiver lasted only seven months, he was again asked to step in, and this time accepted the challenge.

And a stern challenge it was. Indeed, Holyoke met the basic criteria for entering receivership — chronic underperformance and not showing any improvement over time — and had the lowest graduation rate in the state and one of the highest drop-out rates.

“The state conducted reviews and determined that there needed to be some serious intervention to fix the systems and make sure there’s a foundation for high-quality instruction and to give our kids a shot,” said Soto, adding that he was working in Springfield when the Holyoke schools went into receivership, but was well aware of the factors that led to that decision.

With receivership, the receiver essentially takes on the duties of both the superintendent and school board, said Soto, which eliminates bureaucracy and politics, but places an enormous amount of power in the hands of one person, which may or may not work out depending on how committed that individual is and how much leadership that office provides.

How Holyoke emerged from receivership a decade later is an intriguing story, one that involves what both Garcia and Soto called a true partnership with the state, and especially with Russell Johnston, the former interim commissioner of ESE, to create a blueprint where none had existed before — and, even more importantly, to follow that blueprint.

“He came to every meeting of the local control subcommittee of the school board to map out a plan, and once we mapped out a plan with clear benchmarks, we executed,” Garcia explained, adding that this execution prompted the state to remove a provisional transition to local control this spring and make it permanent. “We hit our benchmarks, and we did what we said we were going to do.”

That sentiment applies to everything from progress in the classrooms to a capacity-building plan that would assure a smooth transition to local control and enable the city to hit the ground running on July 1, to a commitment to strong, local governance that would hopefully prevent a return to the conditions that put Holyoke in receivership.

As he talked about those improvements registered in the classroom, Soto said there have been many, including curriculum changes, a sharp reduction in drop-out rates, and improvement in graduation rates, attributable to creative efforts to keep students from falling through the cracks.

“Overall, we have shifted our mindset as a district that we are not giving up on our kids and doing everything we can to re-engage them when they are at risk of dropping out,” he said, citing initiatives such as the Opportunity Academy. This is designed for students who are “over-aged and under-credited,” said Soto, adding that, in the past, these students would just drop out, but now they can re-engage through a more personalized path that enables them to attain credits and graduate.

There has also been what he called a revival at his alma mater, Dean Tech. “When I first got here, there were 150 kids at Dean, and it was a dumping ground and at risk of closing,” he told BusinessWest. “We have since invested in Dean and completely brought it to life; we now have over 400 kids attending, with more than 100 on the waitlist.”

Another dramatic change was the restructuring of the city’s schools (accompanied by rezoning), moving away from the long-entrenched K-8 model to a middle-school model, punctuated by the building of the new William R. Peck Middle School, which will serve 550 students across grades 6-8.

 

Grade Expectations

As he offered BusinessWest a tour of the new facility, where construction crews were working on the finishing touches, Soto said there were certainly some growing pains with the restructuring and rezoning, but those changes are starting to pay dividends.

Garcia agreed, and said the building of Peck, as well as other investments made in city schools, represent a change of tone within Holyoke and provide more evidence that the city is ready, willing, and able to manage its schools.

“The fact that we got unanimous support from the City Council for that project … that never happened before,” he said. “I was on the school board when I was 23, 24 years old. The amount of investment we’re doing in our public school buildings, including building the new middle school, was never done before; it was always ‘let’s kick the can down the road.’ It wasn’t prioritized.”

There are many new priorities, said Soto, citing, among them, professional development and other measures to attract and retain teachers and principals and maintain the strong levels of leadership that helped enable the city’s schools to emerge from receivership.

“One of my theories of action is that, if you have a strong principal and you give them the tools and resources, they need to improve the quality of instruction, which will have an impact on student achievement,” he explained. “We’ve invested heavily in developing our leaders.”

These investments, as well as curriculum changes and other steps, have helped create the “Holyoke way of doing things,” as Soto put it.

“This is how we’re going to get out instruction, these are the teaching strategies we want teachers to use, and when we walk through classrooms, this is what we expect to see,” he explained. “Our leaders have been doing a very good job implementing those practices.”

“One of my theories of action is that, if you have a strong principal and you give them the tools and resources, they need to improve the quality of instruction, which will have an impact on student achievement.”

Looking ahead, Soto and Garcia said the plan is to … well, keep following the blueprint, stay on the path that led to the return of local control, build on what’s been accomplished, and address areas where progress has been elusive, such as MCAS scores.

“We’re starting to hit our stride now,” Soto said. “With students, we have a strong focus on early literacy, our graduation rate is up to 77%, we have strong strategies in place … we’ve invested well over $130 million in our schools. We’ve been working on all those things over the past three years, and we’re finally starting to see some promising data.”

Garcia agreed. “Are we where we want to be right now as far as performance? No, but have we shown incremental gain and progress? Yes,” said the mayor, adding that the right systems and leadership are in place for continued improvement.

Meanwhile, Holyoke’s progress over the past several years, and its eventual emergence from receivership, has caught the attention of the other two school systems still under state control, Garcia said, adding that the School Committee continued to meet every month for 10 years, despite the presence of a receiver, and it also met regularly with the various receivers.

This commitment and level of collaboration does not exist in Lawrence and Southbridge to his knowledge, the mayor noted, adding that this page is one of many that those communities could, and should, take from Holyoke’s playbook.

Or its blueprint. As he said, there wasn’t one for a community emerging from receivership. But now, Holyoke has created one.

Discovery High Students Get Taste of Working World

By
From left, Declan O’Connor, Kelley Gangi, and Evan Plotkin in a classroom in the new Discovery High School.
Modern Office Special Coverage

View to the Future?

From left, Declan O’Connor, Kelley Gangi, and Evan Plotkin in a classroom in the new Discovery High School.

From left, Declan O’Connor, Kelley Gangi, and Evan Plotkin in a classroom in the new Discovery High School.

Bob Bolduc remembers getting the call from Bill Low, a commercial real-estate broker based in Springfield.

Low was working with Bolduc on finding a new home for Discovery Polytech Early College High School, then located in cramped quarters within Chestnut Middle School, and he had an intriguing suggestion.

When Low explained that the space in question was the top two floors of 1350 Main St. in the heart of downtown Springfield, former home to BankBoston’s regional headquarters, Bolduc, former owner of the Pride chain of stores and gas stations who created the Hope for Youth and Families Foundation with proceeds from the sale of that chain, thought that concept had promise, but it was outside the box. As in way outside the box.

He recalls phoning Matt Brunell, co-executive director of the Springfield Empowerment Zone, which Discovery High is part of, and saying, “this is crazy … but we should at least give it a look.”

“Our school is a STEM high school — we’re an early-college high school, but we’re also a STEM school. Most of our kids are going to work in companies that look like our school. I had the amazing opportunity to work with a team and an architect to design a space that looks like a tech company.”

They did, and that was the official start to a journey that ended on Aug. 28, when the 250 students at Discovery High turned out around 7 a.m. for a different kind of first day at a different kind of school.

One with lots of windows and penthouse (literally) views of the city, the Connecticut River, neighboring communities, and much more. One where students take an elevator to get to class, and might share one with a lawyer, accountant, or nonprofit manager — or maybe one of each. One where they take a PVTA bus, not a yellow school bus, to school. One where the cafeteria looks like your typical school cafeteria … except it’s 17 floors up and has seats that face windows that provide those views.

That aforementioned journey came complete with a whole host of challenges, a super-tight deadline (the first day of school can’t be moved), and the chance to do something really special, said Evan Plotkin, president of NAI Plotkin and co-owner of 1350 Main. He told BusinessWest that bringing a high school, especially this one, where students start taking college courses as freshmen, to downtown Springfield, presents intriguing opportunities for the students, faculty, the businesses in the building — and other buildings downtown — and the city itself.

These opportunities include student internships at downtown businesses, being next door (again, literally) to the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and a block or two from the Quadrangle and its many learning opportunities, and just being part of the dynamic in the city’s central business district.

Add them all up, said Declan O’Connor, principal of the school, and what emerges is an opportunity for students to attend school at a place that looks and feels like the world of work — where they will hopefully be in a half-dozen years or so.

The classrooms at the new Discovery High

The classrooms at the new Discovery High have glass at the front and back and were designed to resemble workspaces at tech companies.

“This was about identity building,” he explained. “Our school is a STEM high school — we’re an early-college high school, but we’re also a STEM school. Most of our kids are going to work in companies that look like our school. I had the amazing opportunity to work with a team and an architect to design a space that looks like a tech company.”

Meanwhile, the relocation of Discovery High to a downtown office tower might become a model for what other cities can do with office space that isn’t needed anymore and is too difficult (and too expensive) to convert into housing, said Plotkin, adding that, for cities and towns, it might prove cheaper to lease space in buildings like his than build and maintain schools.

“The more we looked at the program, and the more we looked at what we think students are really going to need to succeed in life — not only these early-college credits they’re earning, but also work-based learning — we realized that the best place for a school was going to one where students were going to get ease of access to work-based learning opportunities and see themselves as part of the industry and commerce of the city of Springfield.”

“It’s cheaper to buy milk than own cows, as my father used to say,” he noted, adding that this project should generate discussion on the subject.

For this issue and its focus on commercial real estate, we take an in-depth look at how this project came together and what it means for the many stakeholders involved.

 

School Daze

Ninety days.

That’s roughly how long Plotkin and the architects and general contractors he assigned to the project had to convert the office space on the 16th and 17th floors after all the involved parties — and there were many of them — had given their respective green lights to Discovery High’s relocation to 1350 Main.

Plotkin recalls being nervous as the days seemingly flew by in August. But those involved got it all done.

And what they created is, as O’Connor said, a high school that not only helps prepare people for the world of work, but looks like the world of work.

Specifically, the classrooms look more like very large private offices, complete with glass at the front and back. There’s a grand staircase that connects the two floors and looks like it belongs in an elaborate corporate headquarters — and it did.

Then there’s the cafeteria, created in a space that was once home to rows of cubicles. As noted earlier, it looks like a traditional school cafeteria — but not really.

All this is what Low, Plotkin, Bolduc, Brunell, O’Connor, and others were able to picture back in the spring. Sort of.

Indeed, it would take a while for the picture to start to come together. Meanwhile, there were questions to be answered, said O’Connor, involving everything from security to how to get 250 students to school in elevators over a short time span.

The staircase linking the two floors at Discovery High looks like it belongs in a corporate headquarters — and it did.

The staircase linking the two floors at Discovery High looks like it belongs in a corporate headquarters — and it did.

One by one, these challenges were worked out, said those we spoke with, and now that the proverbial dust has settled — although this is still all very new — they can stop and reflect on what they and the students have here: an ideal setting for a still-young (this is only its fourth year) institution described by Brunell as a “wall-to-wall early-college” model, one where students can graduate from high school with enough credits for an associate degree.

The school had been located in Chestnut Middle School from the beginning, and, almost from the start, it had been looking for its next home, because that one wasn’t working, for many reasons. Cramped quarters was one of them, but high-school students being on a middle-school campus was the bigger one.

“The real innovation here was the city as a campus. The location here, more than any other, provided students with this very unique opportunity to have access to all the assets in the city.”

As the search commenced two and a half years ago, and especially over the past year or so as Bolduc and his foundation became involved in the project, the goal was always to think outside the box, said Brunell, meaning the consideration non-traditional spaces.

“The more we looked at the program, and the more we looked at what we think students are really going to need to succeed in life — not only these early-college credits they’re earning, but also work-based learning — we realized that the best place for a school was going to one where students were going to get ease of access to work-based learning opportunities and see themselves as part of the industry and commerce of the city of Springfield,” he explained.

Matt Brunell in the cafeteria in the new Discovery High School.

Matt Brunell in the cafeteria in the new Discovery High School.

A few different sites were looked at — within the downtown but also in commercial spaces near some of the college campuses where students attend classes. But after the initial visit, 1350 Main St. emerged as a “dream location,” one that married easy access to the school’s college partners with a space that could be tailored to Discovery’s programs and provide proximity to, and connections with, downtown businesses and cultural institutions.

“The real innovation here was the city as a campus,” said Kelly Gangi, chief of School Innovation for Discovery High. “The location here, more than any other, provided students with this very unique opportunity to have access to all the assets in the city.”

 

Setting the Stage

BusinessWest visited Discovery High mid-morning on a Thursday, which meant it was relatively quiet.

The sophomores, juniors, and the first batch of seniors — as well as some freshmen — were attending early-college classes at several different schools, including Springfield Technical Community College, Western New England University, and Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester. Most of the students who weren’t on the road were in class.

But it was still easy to see the many opportunities this site affords those attending the school. The accommodations, as noted, are both modern and different in that they look and feel more like class-A office space (which, again, this was) than a traditional school.

There’s also the opportunity to be more independent than in a traditional school setting — from taking a PVTA bus to being out in the downtown.

“The other day, Kelly and I were coming back from Starbucks and encountered some students walking in the other direction,” O’Connor recalled. “I said ‘where are you going?’ They said, ‘we’re going to Big Y … we have 12 minutes before school starts.’”

Such episodes help explain why the site offers much more than views out its many windows, said those we spoke with, noting that being downtown provides students with a chance to see and be part of their city in a way that simply wasn’t possible in their corner of Chestnut Middle School. And also a chance to maybe … well, gain some maturity in the process.

“One might think that students can’t handle a school that’s all glass — that they might be goofy with each other and be distracted by one another,” O’Connor said. “They’ve just settled into it because this whole experience is trusting them, as young adults, to exist in a space that they absolutely belong in.

“They’re learning how to move through the building, get on elevators and interact with adult professionals, ride the elevator up and enter a space and move through that space in ways that they are trusted to handle,” he went on. “It’s very much like working in a company, and I think that’s going to translate.”

And while this new downtown location is pioneering from an education perspective, the same is true when it comes to adoptive reuse of class-A office space, said Plotkin, noting that he hasn’t seen or heard of many — or even any — conversions like this one.

As he said, Discovery High might in time become a model for other cities with large portfolios of vacant office space in the wake of the remote-work surge — and there are many of them.

Plotkin said he’s thinking about writing an article for the New England Real Estate Journal on Discovery High landing in 1350 Main. In the meantime, a different kind of story is being written at the new Discovery High.

A story of innovation, outside-the-box thinking, teamwork, partnerships, and reaching higher. That’s what it took to get this done, and those are some of the things students are learning about in their unique new home.

 

UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy Looks Back on His Accomplished Tenure

By
UMass Amherst
Features Special Coverage

Moving Beyond a ‘Safety School’

chancellor in recent history at UMass Amherst

As the longest-serving chancellor in recent history at UMass Amherst, Kumble Subbaswamy has posed for more than a few photos during his tenure.

Kumble Subbaswamy recalls that, when he arrived at the UMass Amherst campus a dozen years ago, his first priority was to bring some needed stability to a school that had seen a number of leadership changes over the previous decade.

After that, he said, his main goals were to bring the school to a higher level in terms of national rankings, prestige, and reputation — locally, nationally, and internationally.

As he prepares to step aside in a few months and move on to next challenges and opportunities in his career, Subbaswamy, the longest-serving chancellor in the modern era at the school, talked with BusinessWest about how he believes those broad goals have been accomplished — and the manner in which they’ve been accomplished.

In a wide-ranging interview, he talked about everything from the school’s climb in the rankings, and what it means, to the challenges facing UMass and all colleges and universities today and tomorrow, to the pandemic — what it was like to lead the school through that tumultuous time, and how that period changed higher education.

He said he has a rather unique way of measuring how he fared with all that and his legacy, if you will, on the campus — the number of students, and others, who want to stop and take a selfie with him.

It’s an official measuring stick, to be sure, but one that indicates just how far this campus has come during his tenure, and how his leadership helped generate and sustain the very palpable sense of momentum at the school.

 

BusinessWest: Turn the clock back 12 years, if you will, and talk about the goals you set and how you fared with achieving those goals.

Subbaswamy: “One of the first goals was simply to create some stability. There had been a lot of turnover in a short period of time; there was instability, insecurity, and a lot of drama coming out of Whitmore [the school’s administration building]. So there was a strong desire to stabilize that situation so the campus could then go about its business of achieving its mission of teaching, research, and outreach. And there was no guarantee this would happen — it’s a complex job where you have multiple audiences. You have the system office; you have to keep them happy. You have to keep the campus happy, you have to keep the unions happy, you have to keep the local legislative group happy, and so on. So none of that was a given.

“But when we were able to focus on improving the campus … one important focus that became self-evident as I was looking at the data was that, while we claimed to be the best public university in New England, the data didn’t really show that, especially student-success data. We were much further behind UConn, for example.

“That was the beginning of what I’ll call installing a planning culture — always being data-driven and doing plan assessment and improvement on a continuous basis. That was not necessarily the culture on the campus, at least not in a systematic way. So when I look back and identify one important thing that helped turn the campus around, I would say it was creating a culture of strategic planning, being data-driven, and always thinking about improving those aspects in which we could be doing better or where we’re not doing as well as our competition.”

UMass Amherst

During Kumble Subbaswamy’s tenure, the UMass Amherst campus became much more of a destination for top students.

BusinessWest: What was the biggest step forward taken by the university during your tenure?

Subbaswamy: “Improvement in graduation rates would be one example, but there are other measures, such as people doing internships, job placement, and more, and all this showed up in U.S. News & World Report rankings, because there is strong weight given to graduation rates, and without being overly selective, when you achieve high graduation rates, you get lots of points.

“It’s not that we’re pursuing rankings, but those metrics that we care about, and achieving progress with them, really does help. And when we went from number 52 in national public university rankings to number 26 — we’re hovering right around 25 or 26 — that made people take notice of Massachusetts.

“That rise in the rankings gave everyone associated with the university a point of pride; alumni started taking notice, parents and prospective students started taking notice, guidance counselors started taking notice. It started a positive cycle where more and more highly qualified students started applying, our classes got better, and our results got even better.”

 

BusinessWest: Talk more about how that rise in the rankings was achieved.

Subbaswamy: “Back in 2013, based on what was going on, as well as part of our requirement for re-accreditation, we developed a strategic plan; we declared that our goal was to make UMass Amherst a destination of choice. We had been thought of as a safety school in previous decades, and we were essentially saying, ‘no, that’s not who we are — we’re the flagship of the Massachusetts system, we’re the flagship of the Commonwealth.’ In fact, that became our tagline.

“This was a strategic plan that sought ways to make improvements across the board, with a particular emphasis on undergraduate education, where we really did need to catch up with some of the neighboring states. It then became a rallying cry for the entire campus; every department, every college focused on what they needed to be doing better in order to retain our students, make sure they graduate on time, placement, bringing in more internships and other experiences that help students get jobs, improving student experiences, and improving student outcomes. And that culture is now part and parcel to who we are at UMass.”

Seen here with former Gov. Charlie Baker, Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy says managing the school through COVID was an intense challenge marked by decisions involving “life and death.”

BusinessWest: What has this experience of leading UMass at this critical time in its history been like for you, personally and professionally?

Subbaswamy: “It’s been exhilarating. It’s been the pinnacle of my career in terms of the personal satisfaction I’ve had in being able to rally the campus — all sectors of the campus — to a single goal of being better, serving our students better, serving the Commonwealth better.

“We’re trying to make people feel like they belong. In fact, belonging is a major theme in our equity and diversity efforts — we want people to feel that they belong here, and if they don’t, then we want to know why and see how we can improve that. It’s been very rewarding to see the campus feel like an entity with a purpose and with a vision.”

“That rise in the rankings gave everyone associated with the university a point of pride; alumni started taking notice, parents and prospective students started taking notice, guidance counselors started taking notice.”

BusinessWest: Is there an area where there is some significant work still to do on the Amherst campus?

Subbaswamy: “One issue that has come up recently, and one that has been partly exacerbated by the pandemic as well, has been housing in general. Housing, in Amherst and the surrounding communities where our students, faculty, and staff live, is becoming considerably more expensive and harder to find, especially in the past few years. We’re faced with not just a shortage of housing, but a shortage of affordable housing, because that’s a significant component of the cost of education for anyone who comes to Amherst.

“Some serious joint planning with the surrounding communities is needed to try to address the need for more affordable housing so that this university doesn’t become a university that can only serve the affluent.”

 

BusinessWest: We’re seeing some demographic shifts, especially with regard to the numbers of high-school graduates, as well as other trends involving enrollment. What do these mean for the university, and higher education in general?

Subbaswamy: “There has been a lot written about the fact that the number of 18-year-olds, across the country, but in the New England area especially, will drop significantly starting in 2025 for 10 years. But we’re already seeing a lot of changes taking place here. There are some smaller colleges that are really financially stressed, to the point where they may close or merge — we’ve seen both closures and mergers recently. We’ve also seen regional universities, and some of the state colleges, see some decline in enrollment, and we’ve seen community colleges see a similar decline in enrollment.

“What we’ve seen is that more and more students are beginning to apply to the large flagships, and so, nationwide, schools like UMass and others in our class have seen higher numbers of applications, and so we haven’t seen that pinch of demographic decline. I think that’s because of that shift in thinking; some people who used to apply to small colleges are now asking, ‘will that school be there in four years?’ and thinking they’re better off applying to the state university, especially one that’s robust in terms of enrollment and support from the state. There’s definitely some of that going on.

“Also, there was a time when state boundaries mattered, but now they don’t for education. The University of Pittsburgh and the University of Alabama actively recruit in Massachusetts, and we actively recruit in Texas and places like that. It’s a national — in fact, international — marketplace, so quality matters; education matters. So to keep focusing on those things is very important.”

 

BusinessWest: Beyond these demographic changes, what are the other significant challenges facing higher education today?

Subbaswamy: “Affordability is certainly a challenge … even when it comes to public options. For in-state residents, we’re now $31,000 to $32,000 a year, and for a middle-class family, this is a really big hit. So we have to ask, ‘is this model sustainable, and if it is not, how do we bring it under control?’

“What role does online education play in this? Does residency become more a luxury? Do we reduce it so there’s two years online and two years residency? There are many large questions to be answered, and I think this is going to become more and more of an issue moving forward.

“And this is for all public universities in all segments; this is not a UMass Amherst problem, and it’s not a UMass system problem. Affordability looms large for higher education in general, and what that implies for society.”

 

BusinessWest: Your tenure obviously included the pandemic years, a difficult and intense time for all those in higher education. What was it like to lead the school through that crisis?

Subbaswamy: “Toward the latter half of March 2020, we were just breaking for spring break, and just before then, we got the news that the virus was spreading, so we should shut down and send people home. We thought we were sending people home for one extra week; little did we know that was going to be a more-than-two-year deal before we returned to normalcy, whatever that means.

“Like everyone else in the country, we had the enormous task of adjusting to remote learning and remote work in a matter of two weeks … and, along the way, there were decisions for which there was no rulebook; in fact, whatever rules or guidelines were there were changing on a daily basis.

“There were decisions we had to make — like, in the middle of the semester, do we send everyone home? Or at the beginning of the semester, do we bring everyone back, or only a small percentage of the students? If so, how many, and who? And the town was worried: ‘you’re going to bring back 10,000 students? You’re going to bring back 30,000 students? Do you know what that’s going to do to our community?’ At that time, the business community was really struggling and wanted to see the students come back.

“The uncertainties and the competing factors that had to be considered, and the speed with which decisions had to be made, was nothing like what we were ever used to or learned or how any management book would tell you how to do it. We had to make decisions on a rapid basis with a lot of uncertainty, and it was unusual in that you could say that, literally, lives were at stake.

“You were making life-and-death decisions; I don’t ever want to go through that again, and I’m thankful that we got it right, and there weren’t any campus-related COVID deaths that I’m aware of.”

UMass

UMass Amherst made dramatic leaps in the national rankings during Subbaswamy’s tenure.

BusinessWest: Talk some more about some of the hard decisions that had to be made and what it was like for you, as chancellor, to be the one ultimately making them. What was it like day-to-day and week-to week?

Subbaswamy: “By not bringing the students back in the fall of 2020, were ended up having to furlough, for a long period of time, more than 800 employees. That hurts — these are members of our community, and we did our best to make sure that they kept their health insurance and so forth. But nonetheless, lives were disrupted because of that.

“These were difficult and consequential decisions that affected people’s lives and livelihoods, and I don’t wish this upon my successor. It was tense; from morning till evening, you were getting constant reports about what’s going on, how many people were in isolation, how many people are in quarantine, what’s going on in the town. — you were getting daily reports on cases, hospitalizations, if there were any, and much more. And in the middle of all that, we were having internal discussions about how to manage the budget because, between the two fiscal years, we had a $200 million revenue loss. How do you recover from that?

“It was a situation where we couldn’t govern by consensus, even within the leadership team, because there were members who felt very strongly, in one direction or the other, that they were right. But two factions can’t both be right, and I had to make decisions based on my best judgment rather than arriving at a consensus, which is what we usually do. It was very tense, and you just hoped that you made the right decision.”

 

BusinessWest: What did you learn about yourself as a manager and a leader through that time?

Subbaswamy: “I couldn’t show my own frustrations and my own self-doubt in terms of whether I’m making the right call. You have to provide confidence to everyone that we know what we’re doing. As a leader, you always have to put on a strong front, show composure, and show resolve, and that takes its toll, especially when you go back home and start reflecting on the decisions you’ve made.

“By listening and using what experience has taught you over the years, you tend to make the right calls. It was a very stressful time. That’s why you’re seeing a lot of people, even younger people, leave jobs, leave presidencies, because those were very stressful times. No one was happy, everyone wanted something different, and they took out their frustrations on the university.”

 

BusinessWest: How did higher education change because of the pandemic, and what has changed forever?

Subbaswamy: ‘Fundamentally, online education came to be accepted as a result of the pandemic. Until then, there was sort of a significant prejudice that online wasn’t good enough. Residential universities thought of it as second-class education. But once everyone was forced to go online, you saw two things: you can’t suddenly say, ‘we’re giving you a second-class education and charging you first-class rates,’ so people started taking notice of the fact that you can, and must, do just as well. And secondly, everyone was really surprised by how much technology had improved in recent times — and even in real time.

“Zoom became the coin of the realm, and its improvements became accelerated because they had the investment money to do so. In classes and in business, everyone started being connected online in very effective ways. The advantages of remote work, the efficacy and the ability to conduct business, including learning and teaching online, has fundamentally changed to the point where you’re seeing what we call UMass Flex — where flexible work is the way of the future. We will get to a state where UMass Amherst can be experienced almost just as well, in ways that matter, from wherever you are.”

 

BusinessWest: Finally, do you have any advice for your successor?

Subbaswamy: “I would first advise him to learn the local culture and work within those cultural norms in order to bring about change. You can’t bring about change unless you’re willing to understand and work inside that culture.

“Ours is a very consultative and participatory campus, where students have their say, and our faculty and staff have their say, both through normal governance but also unions. So someone who builds trust and is accessible and available, and works through our established procedures and consultative process, will succeed.”

 

Active Listening and Leadership

By Contributor
Opinion

Opinion

By Valerie Boudreau

 

It seems like people are talking at each other more than listening to each other these days. Think about how many emails, text messages, voice mails, and other interruptive, one-way communications we send and receive — there’s a lot more talking than active listening going on.

The ability to listen effectively is not only a critical communication skill, but also a strong leadership skill. Active listening allows employees, customers, and co-workers to feel that their ideas, thoughts and perspectives are heard, accepted, and understood.

To become a better listener, you need to understand what is involved in effective communication and develop the techniques to sit quietly and listen — a feat of true discipline and self-control! You must ignore your own needs and focus solely on the person speaking. Here are a few keys to active listening:

• Focus on the person and the message. Focus your entire attention on the speaker, and listen without judging or trying to come back with a response before they’re halfway through speaking. Look at the speaker’s body language in addition to their words.

• Communicate your attention. Use your body language and gestures to let the speaker know you are locked into what they’re saying. Face them directly and make eye contact. Sit or stand in an open position. Smile and nod occasionally.

• Acknowledge what the person is saying. From time to time, use “uh-huh” or “I see” to indicate you are following what the person is saying. This indicates that you are actively listening and following them, not necessarily that you agree with them.

• Don’t interrupt. Interrupting shows impatience and disrespect, especially if you interrupt with an argument rather than a question. It frustrates the speaker and limits your understanding of the message. Allow the speaker to finish each point before asking questions.

• Build rapport. Engage with the speaker by asking questions or reflecting back what you have heard. For example, say, “what I’m hearing you say is…” or “I’m not sure I understand…” This demonstrates that you are paying attention and will allow you to gain more information.

• Be authentic in your response. Your job as the listener is to gain information, perspective, and understanding. Be candid, open, and honest when responding to the speaker, but do so in a respectful manner. If there is conflict or disagreement, focus your response on the issue rather than the person.

As leaders, to make the best decisions for our organizations, we need as much information and as many different perspectives as possible. Active listening encourages people to proactively share information, ideas, thoughts, and perspectives because they know they will be heard and respected.

 

Valerie Boudreau leads the Learning & Development team at the Employers Assoc. of the NorthEast. This article first appeared on the EANE blog.

Government Must Take Lead on COVID

By Contributor
Opinion

Opinion

By Brooke Thomson

 

Companies from Facebook to Walmart to Google have begun to mandate that their employees get vaccinated to protect against COVID-19. Restaurants throughout the state have also started to require that guests provide proof of vaccination before eating indoors.

As the Delta variant causes COVID-19 infections to increase throughout the country, there is increased pressure on businesses and employers to protect their employees and customers.

Businesses have an important role to play in addressing the health and economic impacts of this crisis. Our businesses have stepped up in amazing ways in the name of public health during the past 18 months. They have enforced masking requirements, shifted to remote and online commerce, closed down to the public, and been on the front lines of the pandemic.

Now, they are again being asked to take responsibility to stop the spread.

But should businesses alone be in charge of leading on public-health emergencies? While federal, state, and local governments took difficult and important steps to protect public health during the pandemic, government leaders now appear to have taken a back seat, relying instead on the private sector to solve public challenges.

A core duty and primary function of any government is to protect the public’s health and safety. The pandemic highlights the need for governments to take their duties seriously. Our elected officials should provide leadership driven by science and evidence, not partisan politics.

State leaders have an opportunity right now to demonstrate this leadership by adopting statewide mask requirements, limiting gatherings in dangerous situations, and providing guidance for businesses to operate safely. Businesses should be focused on their employees and their customers and take their direction on public health and safety from the officials we elect to guide us.

Leaving public-health decisions to private businesses is not the right answer. It is the duty of state and local governments to protect our health. We need leadership on the pandemic to support our businesses and employers.

 

Brooke Thomson is executive vice president of Government Affairs at Associated Industries of Massachusetts.

Women’s Fund, HCC Partner on Course to Develop Leaders

By Contributor
Special Coverage Women in Businesss

Learning to Take Charge

By Mark Morris

Only one-third of all businesses in Western Mass. are owned by women, according to a recent survey. In the healthcare sector, one of the largest employers in the region, leadership positions are held by women 41% of the time — with outliers like one hospital where it’s only 16%.

These findings are from a 2019 study commissioned by the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts titled “Status of Women and Girls in Western Massachusetts.”

To address disparities like the ones in the survey, the Women’s Fund and Holyoke Community College (HCC) have teamed up on an eight-week training program this spring for women who want to enhance their leadership skills.

Titled “Women Leaning into Leadership: Empowering Your Voice,” the course begins March 25 and runs through May 13.

According to Michele Cabral, executive director of Professional Education and Corporate Learning at HCC, the idea for the course grew out of the Women’s Leadership Luncheon Series, hosted by the college.

Until COVID-19 forced it into a virtual meeting, the college hosted the luncheon every month for the past five years. With attendance limited to 28 attendees, four women leaders would each select a topic relevant to women and leadership, then break out the attendees into four groups to discuss their particular subject. The next month, the groups would rotate so they could discuss a different topic with a different leader. Areas of discussion have included dealing with different leadership styles, the role of communication, and conflict management when you’re the only woman in the room.

When COVID hit, Cabral said they pivoted to a remote video lunch and changed the format to having one person lead the discussion and opening it to anyone who wants to join via video. A recent conversation covered how to deal with changes brought on by the pandemic. Because some women wanted to discuss some of the topics in more depth, Cabral said, developing a course was a logical next step.

Michele Cabral

Michele Cabral

“These women want to get to know themselves better, to identify what skills they need to focus on and promote their strengths. They were looking for a more structured program to help guide them through that process.”

“These women want to get to know themselves better, to identify what skills they need to focus on and promote their strengths,” she explained. “They were looking for a more structured program to help guide them through that process.”

A few years back, Monica Borgatti attended the Women’s Leadership Luncheons at HCC. As chief operating officer for the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, she especially liked the cohort-style of learning (a collaborative approach in which individuals advance together in an education program) that took place at the events.

“The cohort model works well in this type of learning situation because people start to feel comfortable with each other, and they are more willing to be vulnerable as they share and learn together,” she said.

The luncheon reminded her of a program the Women’s Fund used to run known as the Leadership Institute for Political and Public Impact (LIPPI). While it had some success, Borgatti and her colleagues thought the program suffered from trying to be all things to all women and fell short in that effort. After compiling feedback from women who had gone through LIPPI, the Women’s Fund put the program on hold.

“LIPPI grads gave the program its highest marks in the cohort learning approach,” she recalled. The graduates also cited networking opportunities and making connections as solid benefits from the program.

After wrapping up LIPPI, Borgatti explained, the Women’s Fund’s emphasis shifted from creating and running programs to identifying leadership programs it could adapt for this area, as well as support for existing programs.

“When I learned HCC was developing a more in-depth leadership program, I thought it was worth exploring to see if there might be a partnership opportunity for the Women’s Fund,” she said.

 

Engaged in Equity

The course is targeted to women in mid-career, especially those who are emerging as leaders in their careers and the community. As part of its partnership, the Women’s Fund is offering sponsorships of up to $650 to defray the $799 tuition cost.

“The Women’s Fund is contributing in such a meaningful way. With their sponsorships, HCC is able to bring this program to people who would not have access otherwise,” Cabral said, adding that many employers do not reimburse the cost of training, so these sponsorships make the course more accessible for women who struggle to pay for self-development.

“HCC provides the education, the Women’s Fund provides the sponsorship, and together, we bring our common mission out to the community,” she noted.

Borgatti said taking part in the course was an easy call because it allows her organization to reach women who are seeking personal and professional development. “We want to see more women in leadership positions across our region, so we’re proud to partner with HCC to help more women become effective leaders.”

While the goals of the Women’s Fund address gender equity and gender justice, Borgatti also made it clear that her organization also strives to improve racial equity and racial justice.

“We know that women are not in leadership roles as much as men, and there are even fewer women of color in leadership positions,” she said, noting that the HCC course is one way to support the current and future leaders of color in the community.

“HCC provides the education, the Women’s Fund provides the sponsorship, and together, we bring our common mission out to the community.”

Borgatti added that her organization became involved to make sure affordability would not prevent anyone from taking the course. “We want to encourage more women of color in programs like this, and we want to make sure it’s financially accessible for all women.”

Cabral noted several highlights of the course, such as assessing communication styles and techniques, as well as working with each woman to develop a professional roadmap to help her reach her potential. Each program participant will also receive 30 minutes of private, one-on-one coaching from Annie Shibata, owner of Growth Mindset Leadership and Communication Coaching in Cincinnati, who will coach each student via video link.

“Incorporating one-on-one coaching elevates the course to a higher level of really personalizing the experience for each individual,” Cabral said.

One of the main reasons the Women’s Fund got involved was to encourage more representation of women in leadership. Borgatti hopes women who take the course emerge more confident in their skills and abilities to step into all sorts of leadership roles.

“We want to see more women CEOs, more women chiefs of police, more women judges,” she said. “Unless we support women being able to access these opportunities, we’re not going to see real change.”

At the end of the day, Cabral said, she and Borgatti share a common mission: to elevate the skills of women who are willing to put in the work. “We want to make sure those skills are here in Western Mass., and they stay in Western Mass.”

Former Soccer Teammates Now the Lead the Way at Monson Savings

By
Dan Moriarty, left, and Mike Rouette.
Banking and Financial Services Special Coverage

They’re Still Goal-oriented

Dan Moriarty, left, and Mike Rouette.

Dan Moriarty, left, and Mike Rouette.

Michael Rouette says he keeps a copy of the 36-year-old news story in his office. He’ll take it out and read it on occasion, and will proudly show it others, usually without much prompting.

“Moriarty-Rouette Team Buys Ticket to Finals” is the headline over that item in the Palmer Journal Register from November 1984, which goes on to note how goals by Rouette, then a junior, and Dan Moriarty, a freshman, along with a “tenacious defense,” propelled the Monson High School soccer team to a 2-1 win over Monument Mountain, giving the Mustangs, as that headline noted, a ticket to the regional finals in Chicopee a few days later.

Today, the Moriarty-Rouette team is still focused on goals, but now as president and executive vice president and chief operating officer (a new position), respectively, at Monson Savings Bank. They are the leaders writing the next chapter in the bank’s history after the retirement of long-term president Steve Lowell.

As the two talked with BusinessWest earlier this month, just weeks before Moriarty was to add the title CEO to his business card (Lowell is still acting in that capacity until mid-February), they talked often about their time on various fields together — they were both three-sport stars — and made frequent use of sports terms and phrases.

Indeed, when talking about the transition in leadership at the top and work to make it seamless, Moriarty said he will try to act as a good referee would — “you don’t know he’s on the field during the game.” And the two of them made early and very frequent references to the importance of teamwork at this (and any) institution.

Meanwhile, when it comes to the pandemic and this transition in leadership, both said there is no playbook for a such a challenging passing of the baton, so they will essentially write their own.

“We’re driven, we’re motivated, but we’re humble enough to know that teamwork gets you further than individual performance.”

“As far as meeting with customers and being out in the community more, Mike and I haven’t had the opportunity to really do that, for safety reasons,” Moriarty said. “And that makes things more difficult, but we’re adjusting and preparing for that day when this is over.”

As for that article, both men say it conveys more than coincidence that two high-school soccer teammates, now in their 50s, are leading the bank headquartered in the town where they grew up. Much more. They say it conveys other ‘C’ words, including commitment to the community and continuity.

“That article reminds me of who we are and where we’re from, and not to ever forget that,” Rouette said. “But it also speaks to how we’ve grown as individuals, as friends, as co-workers, as partners, and as leaders. That article symbolizes how our lives have changed but really haven’t changed, and how success can be built on people who have the same vision, the same mindset, and the same family values.”

Moriarty concurred. “We’ve known each other for so long, but the values are the same, even though we’re a long way from the soccer field. “We’re driven, we’re motivated, but we’re humble enough to know that teamwork gets you further than individual performance; we try to bring that culture to the bank and to our employees, and we try to lead by example. But we also understand that each individual in the bank is a contributor, and we want them to be part of the team and the success of the bank. We did that before we became leaders of the bank, and we’re just going to continue that and build on that culture of teamwork.”

The two take on their new roles at an intriguing time for the bank — and all banks. The pandemic has created both challenges and opportunities — certainly more of the former than the latter, and made some aspects of being a bank leader more difficult. Meanwhile, there is immense competition in a region described by most in the industry as ‘overbanked.’

Monson Savings’ newest branch, on North Main Street in East Longmeadow

Monson Savings’ newest branch, on North Main Street in East Longmeadow, was opened at the height of the pandemic last year, but it is nonetheless off to a solid start.

Both Moriarity and Rouette said that Monson Savings, now with more than $508 million in assets, has been on a steady growth trajectory and they are committed to moving the bank toward further expansion, geographically and otherwise.

 

They’re on the Ball

As noted earlier, Moriarty and Rouette were both three-sport athletes. While most noted for their exploits on their soccer field — both would go to play in college; Moriarty at Providence College and Rouette at Old Dominion — they were also teammates in baseball and basketball.

And as they recalled those days, they often leaned on some self-deprecating humor to make their points.

Indeed, when discussing their time as starting guards (and captains) on the hardwood, they made it clear they were not exactly go-to options when the Mustangs were looking for points.

“I was the point guard, and I couldn’t shoot,” said Moriarty, as he looked at Rouette, who nodded energetically, but said his front-court mate was ultimately the better alternative.

“I was pretty fast … I could steal the ball, but I could only dribble left-handed,” Rouette recalled. “I would have a breakaway, and our coach, Bill Devine, would essentially tell me to stop, hand the ball to Moriarty, and let him shoot it, because it would be like throwing a brick against the backboard when I let it go. I couldn’t put the ball in the ocean.”

Despite those references, the two were much-heralded for their exploits on various fields, and for their work together, even if it was only for two years.

Indeed, while Moriarty continued to make headlines at Monson High in the mid-’80s, Rouette was playing soccer at Old Dominion, majoring in Economics, and, when home from school in the summer and winter, working as a teller at Monson Savings Bank. During those short stints, he impressed those at the bank enough to get a job offer of sorts — specifically an invitation to become part of the lending team when he graduated.

“When I was a junior at Old Dominion, I already knew where I was heading,” he said, adding that he did join the bank and has been there ever since.

Moriarty, who would take a far more circuitous route to his hometown bank, has memories of seeing Rouette heading for a work in a suit while he was toiling for the town’s Highway Department while he was home from college for the summer. “It’s 95 degrees out, Michael’s going to work in a tie, and I’m thinking, ‘I want to work in air conditioning.’”

He would, first at Coopers & Lybrand in Hartford, and later at Aetna, HealthSouth, and then Unicare.

“But the attraction to Monson Savings was always in the back of my mind,” he recalled, adding that, during some conversations with Rouette, he brought up the possibility of joining the bank, and eventually did so in 1998 as an accounting manager.

The two have risen in the ranks over the years, with Rouette rising to senior vice president and chief lending officer, and Moriarty eventually climbing to senior vice president and chief financial officer in 2011.

When Lowell announced his intentions to retire not quite a year ago, both men sought to succeed him as president and CEO. Those titles would eventually go to Moriarty, but the two essentially form a new leadership team, one that brings complementary strengths and shared values.

Moriarty noted that, through his career at the bank, he’s been focused on the finance side of the equation, while Rouette has concentrated on lending and customer relationships, and, in his new role, will add retail to his list of responsibilities.

“Mike is very customer-focused, while I have somewhat different responsibilities — strategy, human resources, finance, marketing, compliance, and technology,” said Moriarty. “I think the bank is positioned to use our strengths in a proper way.”

 

Net Results

All this prompts more flashbacks, and the inevitable analogies, to 1984 and that soccer semifinal against Monument Mountain, where Moriarty notched the first goal of the game, and Rouette, then the all-time scoring leader for the Mustangs, recorded the game clincher.

As for the finals game … that did not go as well — a loss to an undefeated Wahconah team that still stings three and half decades later. (Moriarty wasn’t able to play in that contest due to a broken ankle he suffered in the semifinal.)

But while they do like to look back, Moriarty and Rouette are obviously far more focused on the present and the future.

As for the former, that means everything from coping with the many aspects of COVID-19 to growing the bank’s latest branch, on North Main Street in East Longmeadow, which opened last summer, in the middle of the pandemic.

That timing wasn’t perfect — many branch lobbies were still closed — but the new facility is off to a solid start.

“We had a good core group of customers in Longmeadow and East Longmeadow,” Moriarty said. “We transitioned them internally to the East Longmeadow branch, so we had a good start, and we’re looking to have that branch in a good position in a shorter period than you normally would in a new market.”

As for the pandemic itself, it’s been a time for the bank to play to its strengths — yes, that’s still another sports phrase — and use its focus on customer service to not only take care of (and retain) existing customers, but also gain some new ones. This has been the case on all fronts, but especially with the commercial lending portfolio and the bank’s strong track record handling applications for Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) loans.

“We basically got out in front of it,” said Rouette as he explained the bank’s basic strategy with the PPP program and its commercial customers in general. “We knew that that they [customers] couldn’t be chasing us. We had a great team effort to reach out to all our business customers; we said, ‘we know there’s an issue, we know PPP is coming down the road, and when the spigot opens, we’ll be there for you.’ And we did it.

“People needed to hear your voice,” he went on, adding that every commercial customer was called in an effort to gauge their needs and concerns and update them on the status of their application. “And that calmed people, that they weren’t on voice mail or weren’t able to get through.”

This high level of customer service enabled the bank to handle PPP loans for non-customers, gains that both Moriarty and Rouette chalked up to word-of-mouth referrals that should have some long-term benefits for the institution as a new round of the program begins later this month.

Dan Moriarty, left, and Mike Rouette both found a common denominator

Dan Moriarty, left, and Mike Rouette both found a common denominator between their soccer squad from the ‘80s and the staff at Monson Savings — the importance of solid teamwork.

Looking back, and ahead, Moriarty said he was mentored by his two immediate predecessors, Lowell and Roland Desrochers, and he understands what has made the bank successful — especially its employees and community-bank look, feel, and operating values — and has no intention of altering the game plan.

“The vision for the bank is to continue to be the community bank that these communities need,” he told BusinessWest. “From a business side, commercial customers as well as retail customers, we want to stay competitive in our delivery systems — digital, mobile … we can have people bank with us from Monson to the Cape and into Connecticut. We want to be relevant in the communities we serve for not just today, but for years to come.

“The culture will remain the same,” he went on. “And we’re just going to leverage the talent we have inside the bank.”

Meanwhile, both men intend to continue their active involvement in the community, which mirrors the work of Lowell, Desrochers, and others that came before them. This work comes in many forms, with Moriarty devoting time and energy to several groups, including the East of the River Chamber of Commerce (he’s a board member), the Baystate Health Community Benefits Advisory Council, the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, the Brightside Golf Classic, and Monson High School, where he’s the assistant varsity soccer coach.

As for Rouette, he is similarly involved, but focuses most of his time on the YMCA of Greater Springfield, with which the bank has long enjoyed close ties. “Everyone has a passion, and that’s mine,” he said, adding that he’s been a long-time board member and supporter on many levels.

 

Bottom Line

Summoning still another sports analogy of sorts, Moriarty said it is customary, at least with good teams, to look ahead, not back, when a season ends.

“Because it’s January, we say, ‘last season’s over … we finished December, we did well, but now it’s 0-0, and we’ve got a new season ahead of us,’” he noted, adding that, given the many variables confronting banks — and all businesses, for that matter — it’s impossible to know how this new season will go.

What these two do know is that Monson Savings Bank will, as noted, continue to play to its strengths, honed over many years and under leaders that these two have learned from.

In short, there’s a winning formula at the bank, and their only real plans for the future are to continue using it.

 

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