Donna Haghighat
Donna Haghighat, CEO of the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, has announced her plans to retire, effective June 30. Under Haghighat’s leadership, beginning in 2017, the Women’s Fund developed innovative programs, sought out effective partnerships, increased grantmaking, grew its corporate and individual donations, and focused on racial equity and trust-based philanthropy. She was also integral in the launch of the Young Women’s Initiative for girls and young women of color in Springfield and the Greater Springfield Women’s Economic Security Hub. Haghighat has facilitated the monthly meetings of the Women Heads of Nonprofits group in Western Mass., which the Women’s Fund hosts, and has served on the state’s Community Reinvestment Fund Advisory Board and the advisory board of the Center for Social Justice at Western New England School of Law. She was appointed by Gov. Maura Healey to the Massachusetts Cultural Council this year and is a board member for WAM Theatre in the Berkshires.
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Timothy Craw
Professional Drywall Construction Inc. (PDC) announced that Timothy Craw has joined the company as vice president of Business Development and Labor Relations. With 45 years of construction experience in nearly every industry segment, Craw will be responsible for expanding the company’s footprint in all areas of the Atlantic states. Most recently, Craw was a union business agent and building trades president. In his various positions over the years, he has developed and maintained relationships with union and non-union contracts for business development and market expansion, recruited and represented union journeyman and apprentice carpenters in collective-bargaining negotiations, mediated contract conflicts, and monitored federal and state public construction projects during the planning, design, and bidding processes. Craw received the Carpenters Union Local 108 Steward of the Year Award in 2001 and the BCBCTC Edward M. Kennedy Award in 2016. He is a member of the International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plans and the Assoc. for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. A graduate of the U.S. Army Engineer School, he served six years as a sergeant in the U.S. Army.
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Andre Motulski
Florence Bank has promoted Andre Motulski to the role of vice president/controller. Motulski joined the bank’s team as assistant vice president/controller in September 2019. He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Central Connecticut State University and is a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.-commissioned risk-management examiner. In his new role, which he assumed in December, he is responsible for managing financial records, ensuring regulatory compliance, and assessing risks associated with lending and investment activities. Motulski is involved in the community, serving on the finance committee for Hampshire Regional YMCA in Northampton.
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Big Brothers Big Sisters of Western Massachusetts (BBBSWM) announced that Chris Thompson has been selected as the nonprofit’s chief growth officer. In this role, Thompson will be responsible for strengthening the newly merged agency’s relationship with the communities of Berkshire, Franklin, and Hampden Counties. Thompson was honored with the BusinessWest 40 Under Forty award in 2009 and is active in the local community. He currently sits on the board of Arrha Credit Union and is a former commissioner for the Western Massachusetts Sports Commission and West Springfield’s Parks and Recreation Commission. As co-founder and owner of the Westfield Starfires of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, Thompson brings a wealth of experience to his new role in the areas of advocacy, community outreach, business development, and external relations. He will lead BBBSWM’s growth efforts in Berkshire and Franklin counties. Previously, Thompson served on the BBBS of Hampden County board of directors between 2014 and 2021. He brings with him more than 20 years of experience developing marketing partnerships and generating revenue for iconic Western Mass. brands, such as the Springfield Falcons hockey team, where he developed a comprehensive corporate partnership program, and where he led the launch of the Springfield Thunderbirds hockey club, serving as senior vice president of Sales & Strategy.
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Jeff Little
Governors America Corp. (GAC) welcomed Jeff Little as its new director of Product Management. As director of Product Management, Little’s responsibilities include aligning product strategy with business goals; driving product discovery, market research, and competitor research; driving innovation and new product development initiatives; communicating product vision and strategy to stakeholders; and monitoring and maintaining product health. Little received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Mississippi State University. He has garnered 27 years of experience in the industry, most recently as director of Product Management at Enovation Controls.
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MassMutual announced the appointment of Cindy Ryan to head of Human Resources. Ryan, who has more than two decades of HR leadership experience, will oversee and advance MassMutual’s people strategy, aligned with the company’s purpose, priorities, and aspirations. In this role, Ryan assumes oversight of MassMutual’s HR organization, which includes talent acquisition and management; total rewards; HR operations; employee relations; learning and development; and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). She will be responsible for continuing to evolve the company’s flexible, inclusive culture, supporting the holistic well-being and growth of MassMutual’s employees and attracting and retaining a talented, diverse workforce. Ryan joins MassMutual after spending nearly 25 years in various leadership roles of growing responsibility at Cigna, where she most recently served as the company’s chief Human Resources officer (CHRO). In this role, she led Cigna’s worldwide enterprise talent strategy and pandemic response, built its award-winning DEI approach, and enriched its engaged culture. Prior to her CHRO role, she served as senior vice president of HR for Cigna’s U.S. business lines, where she was responsible for talent-management strategies, employee engagement, and leadership effectiveness for the company’s health, life, and disability services lines as well as serving as the company’s chief talent officer, overseeing recruiting, learning, leadership development, and employee relations worldwide.
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Laurel Carpenter
Laurel Carpenter, associate professor of Environmental Science at Holyoke Community College (HCC), has been awarded a national fellowship focusing on STEM education at community colleges. The fellowship, from the Community College Presidents’ Initiative in STEM (CCPI-STEM), is intended for community-college faculty and administrators pursuing graduate degrees and conducting research related to STEM education and workforce development. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. Carpenter is part of a cohort of just seven CCPI-STEM fellows for 2024-25 and the only one from a college in the Northeast. Fellows are selected from a national pool of applicants, who are evaluated based on their education, STEM experience, leadership potential, community engagement, and research. A 2012 graduate of HCC, Carpenter is a wildlife biologist, chair of the HCC Environmental Studies department, co-coordinator of the HCC STEM Scholars program, and a graduate student at UMass Amherst, where she is pursuing a doctorate in education. CCPI-STEM fellows receive a $5,000 honorarium each year for two years to support their graduate studies. They also participate in professional-development activities and are paired with a professional mentor.
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Ute DeFarlo
Ute DeFarlo has been appointed director of Development by Shakespeare & Company, a nonprofit theater performance, education, and actor-training organization based in the Berkshires. In her position, DeFarlo is responsible for supporting Shakespeare & Company’s mission and vision through the development of new and expanded income streams, cultivation of the company’s donors and board of trustees, and various engagements with constituents in the Berkshire County community. Most recently, she served as director of Development for the Mount, Edith Wharton’s home, in Lenox and as Development officer at the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge. Her appointment marks her return to Shakespeare & Company’s Development team, which she first joined in 2004, serving as director from 2009 to 2015. DeFarlo holds a master’s degree in English and Russian language interpretation from the University of Mainz, Germany, and attended Georgetown University on a one-year Fulbright scholarship.
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O’Dell Women’s Center, Springfield’s first nonprofit women’s center, appointed Margaret Tantillo as its executive director. In her previous position as executive director of Dress for Success Western Massachusetts, Tantillo directed five distinct programs designed specifically for low-income women that resulted in hundreds of women finding gainful employment. These programs included workforce development, mentorship programming, and trainings in financial literacy, digital literacy, and dressing for the workplace. Toward the end of her tenure, she relocated Dress for Success Western Massachusetts to 45 Lyman St. as the anchor institution of the O’Dell Women’s Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization that offers low- and no-cost residency spaces to nonprofits that support its mission. Tantillo started her career working for the Girl Scouts. During her 13-year career with that organization, she rose through the ranks, started the first Girl Scout Advocacy Day at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn., and served in a senior leadership position, transitioning five independent nonprofits into one statewide organization with more than 65,000 members. Tantillo’s volunteer leadership roles in Springfield include serving on the core economic mobility hub of the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts and the coordinating committee of the Alliance for Digital Equity, and as a member of the core partners of Springfield WORKS. She earned her undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo and her master’s degree from Springfield College.
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Geoff Rice
Market Mentors, LLC recently welcomed Geoff Rice to its team as a senior Content Marketing specialist. In this role, he applies his two decades of marketing, communications, and creative experience to every challenge, from brand launches to engaging content for websites, social media, and campaigns of all sizes. Prior to joining Market Mentors, Rice focused his talents on the health and beauty industries, and he now extends his expertise to clients from a diverse range of businesses, including manufacturing, energy, insurance, and others. He is a graduate of Colgate University with a degree in English literature.
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Berkshire Money Management congratulates Nate Tomkiewicz on becoming a certified financial planner (CFP) professional. He is also a licensed financial advisor and chartered retirement planning counselor. Tomkiewicz specializes in retirement planning and maximizing employee benefits for people who have worked hard for their money and want to pass it on to children or charity. He is skilled at identifying opportunities within 401(k), 403(b), and 457 plans. With this knowledge, he helps nurses, doctors, and other professionals in the Berkshires find opportunities they didn’t know they had. With his new CFP certification, Tomkiewicz is looks forward to tackling a broader set of challenges for his clients, including helping them reduce their tax liabilities, secure their estate for the next generation, and plan a fulfilling retirement.
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Christopher Rivers
Phillips Insurance Agency Inc. is celebrating the 20th work anniversary of Christopher Rivers, CRIS, senior vice president. Since joining Phillips in 2004, Rivers has been instrumental in growth that has made Phillips Insurance one of the largest writers of insurance and bonds for contractors in the Northeast. Rivers was recognized in January by Sentry Insurance for his 2023 production and flown to Maui to be an honorary observer at the Sentry Tournament of Champions at the Plantation Course at Kapalua, where he walked ‘inside the ropes’ with Jordan Speith, Scottie Scheffler, and Victor Hovland. Rivers has coached basketball, soccer, and baseball in Belchertown throughout the years. He and his family are strong supporters of St. Jude Hospital.
