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Greenfield Savings Bank’s State House Visit Emphasizes Collaboration

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Back on the Bus

Secretary Eric Paley says Massachusetts will not thrive as it should unless all regions of the Commonwealth, from the 413 to the 617, are doing well.

Eric Paley calls it “one of my biggest concerns — maybe my biggest concern that keeps me up at night.”

Specifically, “we have a very robust economy, but there’s tremendous economic dispersion. So how do we handle the fact that we have this K-shaped economy throughout Massachusetts?” said Paley, Massachusetts’ secretary of Economic Development, using a term for an uneven growth environment where different segments of the economy or population experience different outcomes.

And in grappling with that question, he knows he’s accountable to not only dozens of sectors, but 351 municipalities.

“The people on the ground, they’re the ones who know what matters in their community,” he went on. “So we can’t sit here thinking we know all the answers to solving the problems in those communities.”

In the spirit of mutual education, communication, and collaboration, Greenfield Savings Bank hosted its third annual bus tour to the State House on June 3, bringing about 50 regional business and nonprofit leaders to Boston to speak with legislators and department and committee chairs about economic development, discuss issues ranging from housing to clean energy to transportation, and hear about the legislative process that moves the needle on all of it.

The importance of those “people on the ground” is why Paley conducts roundtables in local communities, he said, in addition to the one that came to him on this occasion, as he gave the main address over lunch in a Senate meeting room.

“It’s why I want to talk to the bankers — because the bankers tend to invest in and support businesses that, on paper, make no sense whatsoever. It’s because they know the people, and they’re willing to commit and support those people,” he said. “Sometimes people have misconceptions about bankers, but community banks step up in ways that are extraordinary, and I see it all the time.”

Tara Brewster, Greenfield Savings Bank’s vice president of Business Development and director of Philanthropy, said the annual trip keeps building on previous successes.

“We have new people on the bus each year, making meaningful connections with each other in the 413 as we travel to the 617, to the State House, to make meaningful connections with the elected officials there,” she told BusinessWest on the ride home. “We heard from so many amazing elected officials, senators, representatives, chairs, all listening about how they want to help all of Massachusetts strengthen each other.

“We have amazing elected officials, and we know they do the hard work every day, every week, every month, to really champion us in Western Massachusetts, and it was time for us to start doing some of our own heavy lifting for them,” Brewster added, describing how the annual trip came together two years ago. “So this has been such an incredible trip, so meaningful, toward collaboration, friendship making, bridge building, and convening of Western Mass. constituents, both nonprofit and for-profit.”

“The people on the ground, they’re the ones who know what matters in their community. So we can’t sit here thinking we know all the answers to solving the problems in those communities.”

Paley pointed to a February report by JPMorgan Chase & Co. that surveyed business owners nationwide. Among Massachusetts employers, positivity about their own business was well above the national average, but when asked about the overall economy, they were much less positive than the national average.

“When I go to groups of business owners, a lot of people start shaking their heads and tell me, ‘I worry about it.’ But why are we so negative?” he went on. “I think some of it is, we are disproportionately affected by a lot of the federal policies today. The whole country’s felt a lot of volatility around this. You think of something like tariffs — we are a very heavy exporter of money. That doesn’t explain it alone, but that is key.

“Then there’s immigration — we are a top five immigration state. I didn’t know that we have more immigration per capita in Massachusetts than Texas does; that kind of blew me away. But as we’ve seen ICE crackdowns and all this anti-immigration stuff, the sense that people can’t get visas, borders are closed … I think that’s created a lot of anxiety. Some people are not coming to work because they’re so worried about raids.

“And then the biggest one that I think is unique to us is our research economy, which is a huge engine of our overall economy,” Paley explained. “We get more federal research dollars than any state in the country, and there’s been a huge cutback in federal research. So a lot of the universities are really struggling. UMass is a really great example of that, but every major research institution has massive uncertainty.”

Developing Matters

Peter Albero says legislators have responded positively to Greenfield Savings Bank’s annual bus trip.

In another session on June 3, Carole Fiola, House chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, addressed a number of topics, including the importance of both collaboration and persistence when it comes to getting things done — because no projects move as quickly as their proponents would like.

As one example, she cited South Coast Rail, a $1 billion project connecting Boston and Southeastern Mass. that was 30 years in the planning and development before coming to fruition last year.

“With 351 cities and towns, everyone wants the attention of the administration; everybody wants that infrastructure grant, right?” Fiola said. “So you’ve got to be focused, you’ve got to have a good message, you’ve got to have an idea of how the funding streams can work, and the private-public partnerships that would be needed.”

Especially over a 30-year timeline, she added, “administrations change. Some of the community leaders change. And as elected officials move and change, priorities can change — but if your priority hasn’t changed, you’ve got to stay with it. I can’t repeat that enough because, finally, after 30 years, it happened.”

Later, Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities Juana Mattias said constituents need to bring similar energy and persistence to matters like housing stock, which has become a serious concern for communities of all sizes across Western Mass.

“Showing up to those town meetings, showing up to those discussions and saying, ‘this is where the business community stands,’ ‘this is where the nonprofit community stands,’ writing op-eds in your local newspaper, all makes a huge difference,” Mattias noted. “We have to organize and understand, who are the partners at the state level, at the regional level? What are the stories we’re bringing to the forefront?

“It’s reminding [state and local leaders], ‘you had an opportunity to raise your family. Your kids had an opportunity to leverage the public school system. What we want to do is make sure that other people have the same opportunity.’ It has huge implications on our ability to remain the state that we are. So organizing and leveraging your voices is critically important.”

Others who spoke to the bus trip participants included state Sens. Jo Comerford and Barry Finegold and state Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, and the day concluded with a tour of the State House. But the liveliest conversation emerged from Paley’s talk, which touched on everything from Community One Stop for Growth, a streamlined application portal and collaborative review process of grant programs, to a recent effort to lower LLC filing fees for small businesses.

“We are a global competitor. People don’t even realize, if Massachusetts were a country, we would be the fourth most productive economy in the world by GDP per capita,” he said. “So we want to attract global investment. We get a lot of it anyway, but we need to really build business development programs and activities around this.”

He also touted a ‘one Massachusetts’ model, noting that “people in Greater Boston need to understand Boston ultimately will not thrive if the whole state is not thriving. The rest of the state also needs to appreciate it; if the region inside 128 or 495 is not thriving, the rest of the state won’t. We are one state.”

“We have amazing elected officials, and we know they do the hard work every day, every week, every month, to really champion us in Western Massachusetts, and it was time for us to start doing some of our own heavy lifting for them.”

Paley also discussed continuing conversations around affordability in Massachusetts and how that affects outmigration, and, as a related matter, the importance of talent capture amid all that movement. “We think we have the best talent engine in the world,” he noted, “but a disproportionate percentage of it leaves.”

Keeping the Conversation Alive

State Sen. Jo Comerford addresses a gathering of about 50 Western Mass. business and nonprofit leaders at the State House.

A former venture capitalist who shifted to a career in public service, Paley said he’s constantly learning new things every day, and those emphases on learning, communication, and listening framed a busy day in Boston for the Western Mass. contingent.

“I’m learning stuff I’ve never seen before, being challenged in ways I’ve never been before,” he said. “I literally feel like the limit might be my capacity to learn as fast as I want to learn. I remember feeling like that in college, wishing there was a way to inject the knowledge. I feel that way again. It’s been incredibly exciting and challenging.”

Peter Albero, president and CEO of Greenfield Savings Bank, said he hoped all the guests on the bus trip embraced the same spirit of learning and collaboration.

“We think it’s important for Greenfield Savings Bank to bring all these organizations in Western Massachusetts to Boston to voice their concerns and hear directly from the legislators about what they’re doing to address those concerns,” he told BusinessWest.

“We think, as a community bank, one of our main missions is to bring the community together, and we think this is one of the best ways we can do it,” he added. “This is our third year in a row doing this, and when we talk to legislators, they think it’s important for us to continue to do this year in and year out. So we’ll be back next year and in the years to come.” 

Tara Brewster

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Tara Brewster
Women of Impact 2025

Vice President of Business Development and of Philanthropy, Greenfield Savings Bank

She Makes Purposeful Connections to Multiply the Impact of Good Works

Tara Brewster

Photos by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

Tara Brewster has told the story on many occasions about accepting her current job at Greenfield Savings Bank and being asked by John Howland, then then bank’s president, where she wanted her office. She said she didn’t want one.

“I said, ‘I’m good.’ He said, ‘what do you mean you’re good? Everybody has an office.’ And I said, ‘you expect me to be making relationships in the community. You expect me to be having meetings with people. Nobody’s going to want to come into the bank to have a meeting with me in my office. So I’m not planning on being in my office hardly ever because I’m going to be out in the community. And he was like, ‘OK, prove it.’ So for nine years, I’ve never had an office. This is my office.”

By ‘this,’ she meant the restaurant where she sat with BusinessWest for this interview — and not just that establishment, but any number of eateries and other community meeting places where she meets potential clients on financial matters, but also nonprofit leaders, as her title spans the worlds of both business and philanthropy. As does her life.

“We’re not going to fill that gap alone; we’re only one organization. But we need to be intentional and focused about the different times that we’re living in.”

“So many people don’t get out — they work their 9 to 5, they work their desk job, they have their own obligations. I feel privileged that that I’m able to create my own schedule, go where I’m needed, and be really intentional, purposeful, and independent on where I need to go and who needs me. That’s not lost on me.”

She’s especially gratified by her philanthropic role; the bank now gives away about $1 million each year to some 300 nonprofits.

Tara Brewster (center) with four of the valued mentors who have supported her for many years: from left, Chia Collins, Barbara Jones, Sidonia Dalby, and Mark GrumoliPhoto by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

Tara Brewster (center) with four of the valued mentors who have supported her for many years: from left, Chia Collins, Barbara Jones, Sidonia Dalby, and Mark Grumoli
Photo by Bob Zemba, Simple Truth Imaging

“We don’t do the big check presentation. That’s not how we roll. I like to send all the contribution checks to all the branch managers and have them make the connection and go deliver them and say hi, because it’s not about my relationship with the nonprofit; it’s about our relationship.”

Since COVID, Brewster explained, the bank’s philanthropic priorities have included healthcare, human services, housing, food security, safety, and children. “We try to look through that lens and meet the needs where we can.”

It’s especially important, she added, at a time when nonprofit funding, already a challenging landscape, is being threatened on a massive scale by federal cutbacks.

“I would like to have a conversation with senior leadership about, ‘OK, who is really being targeted? How can we allocate a little bit more funding to those groups? How can we step up a little bit more to try to support them and fill in the cracks from holes in federal funding and the decimation of their livelihoods?’ We’re not going to fill that gap alone; we’re only one organization. But we need to be intentional and focused about the different times that we’re living in.

“You know, if we didn’t have nonprofits, we would be screwed,” Brewster added, “because government — even in the best of times, with the best of leaders, who have the heart to do it — could never take care of all of the issues that exist and the needs of all the people. They haven’t figured out how to do that. So it makes the role of institutions like banks, foundations, and individuals so much more important, because they do so much.”

Those who know Brewster understand her passion for supporting the community didn’t start with her current job. She currently serves on four nonprofit boards — Cutchins Programs for Children and Families, Riverside Industries, Downtown Northampton Assoc., and Double Edge Theatre — as well as several local committees, including Community Action of Pioneer Valley, Look Memorial Park, North Star Self-Directed Learning for Teens, the David Ruggles Center, and the Treehouse Foundation.

 

She is also a top fundraiser for numerous regional events, including the Hot Chocolate Run for Safe Passage, Dancing with the Local Stars for Cutchins, and two annual events — the Mother’s Day Half Marathon and the Bed In fundraiser — for Cancer Connection, whose executive director, Chelsea Kline, is also a Woman of Impact this year; see story on page W19).

“Respected equally by business leaders, nonprofit executives, and grassroots organizers, Tara is a force multiplier for good,” wrote Ira Bryck of Helping Leaders Grow, who nominated her as a Woman of Impact. “She is present in every role she plays — mother, wife, colleague, volunteer — leading with an open heart and strategic mind. Western Massachusetts is better because Tara Brewster calls it home, and her impact continues to ripple outward through every organization, partnership, and person she touches.”

 

Road to Success

This is Brewster’s third BusinessWest honor; she was part of the 40 Under Forty class of 2009, when she co-owned Jackson & Connor, a men’s clothing store in Northampton, and a Difference Maker in 2022.

Since joining Greenfield Savings Bank in 2016, she has generated over $200 million in deposits, loans, and mortgages while shaping and expanding the bank’s annual philanthropy budget — a success on every level. But the road to her current career was a winding one, marked by early tragedy.

As a teenager, she planned on moving far away from Massachusetts and attending college in Montana, with the goal of becoming a pediatrician. But her mother was diagnosed with stage-4 ovarian cancer when Tara was just 15, a turn of events that would not only alter her plans for college, keeping her close to home, but inspire her to reach higher and serve others more purposefully following her mother’s passing.

She eventually graduated from Smith College, majoring in government and anthropology, and found her way into the men’s clothing business. She started at Taylor Men, which had a store in Thornes Marketplace, while she was at Smith, and would later be regional sales manager for seven stores in the Northeast before moving to Manhattan and working for a men’s wholesale apparel company.

Eventually, Brewster returned to Northampton and opened Jackson & Connor with a business partner; they ran the store for eight years before selling it. It was there, she told BusinessWest, that she began to understand the importance of community connections.

“Respected equally by business leaders, nonprofit executives, and grassroots organizers, Tara is a force multiplier for good.”

“I was like, ‘oh, my success is tied to the community’s success. It’s tied to others. It’s tied to me supporting you and you supporting me, and one hand washes the other.’ It was very clear. Before that, when I worked for these larger companies, in bigger cities, they weren’t very philanthropic, and they didn’t really push us to do a lot of charity work. But when your livelihood is dependent on local customers coming in and supporting you, that’s how you eat. That’s how you pay the bills. It’s how you pay your employees. I really got it then.”

After selling the store, Brewster segued into consulting before Mark Grumoli, senior vice president and commercial loan officer at Greenfield Savings Bank — who, years earlier, had helped the partners secure funding to launch Jackson & Connor when he was with Florence Bank, convinced her to become the new vice president of Business Development.

In addition to her dual role at work and her robust involvement with nonprofits outside of it, she also hosts the Western Mass. Business Show on WHMP, a radio interview program with local business leaders that she inherited from Bryck.

“Tara is a creative spirit, an entrepreneur, media mogul, and supports philanthropy,” wrote Tina Champagne, another nominator. “When there is a community need of any kind, Tara knows who to call and how to help raise funds to support those in need. She is brilliant at luring others in with her passion, care, and positive energy.”

Still, Brewster admits there’s only so much one person can do, especially someone who is widely recognized as a go-to helper.

“It’s not about being in all the rooms anymore. When I first started, I felt like I had to be at all these events, I had to meet this person, I had to go to this, I had to go to that, I had to show up. But really, it’s about being more calculated and smart about how I can actually effect change — who are the people that I need to call in, sit at a table with, connect with, strategize with?”

Sue Monahan (left), creator and director of the Mother’s Day Half Marathon, with Tara Brewster, host of Bed In for Cancer Connection.

Sue Monahan (left), creator and director of the Mother’s Day Half Marathon, with Tara Brewster, host of Bed In for Cancer Connection.

Especially, as noted earlier, at a particularly rough time for nonprofits.

“A lot of the meetings and spaces that I’m in, people are talking about ‘how are you taking care of yourself in order to be a freedom fighter and a warrior and someone who shows up and has capacity for other people and the work?’ And ‘how do you choose what’s important?’”

For one thing, Brewster would like to see more conversations between nonprofits whose clients have needs that dovetail.

“If we’re having a meeting about federal funding or food security or another need, let’s not just have it be like a siloed meeting,” she said. “Let’s have it be an integrated meeting — who needs to be in the room, who can do what, and how we can get it done? — rather than just thinking, ‘I’m me, and I have these resources,’ and ‘you’re you, and you have these resources.’ We just need to be more collaborative and more strategic than we’ve ever been going into these times.”

 

Setting an Example

Just as important as who’s making an impact now is who will follow in their footsteps, which is why Brewster values mentorship, both giving and receiving. In fact, she asked to take a photo for this story with four of her mentors, people who have helped shape her path and work.

One of them is Chia Collins, a local small business owner and volunteer. “Tara Brewster is my sister from a different mother, as she has said to me. She is truly a saint in the valley,” Collins said. “I adore moving mountains with her and for her. What nourishes her seems to be her love to connect people and to better the world. Tara is truly a force of nature.”

Brewster, like others honored in this year’s class of Women of Impact, is quick to deflect, or at least share, credit for such accolades, but said the award is still a meaningful one.

“I’m incredibly honored. It’s very humbling, and it makes you want to do more; it makes you want to keep going. To be recognized and acknowledged says, ‘OK, I must be doing something right; I must be helping people, or my impact must be having a ripple effect, so I need to keep doing it,’” she said.

“What are we here for — like, seriously, what are you here for — if not to make a difference, if not to improve someone’s life?” she added. “I want to die having left a mark, having a purpose, helping others, something other than just self-service.”

BusinessTalk with Tara Brewster, vice president of Business Development and director of Philanthropy at Greenfield Savings Bank

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Business Talk Podcast Special Coverage

We are excited to announce that BusinessWest has launched a new podcast series, BusinessTalk. Each episode will feature in-depth interviews and discussions with local industry leaders, providing thoughtful perspectives on the Western Massachuetts economy and the many business ventures that keep it running during these challenging times.

Go HERE to view all episodes

Episode 209: April 15, 2024

Joe speaks with Tara Brewster, vice president of Business Development and director of Philanthropy at Greenfield Savings Bank

Tara Brewster has come a long way from her years in the world of men’s clothing. Over the past several years as vice president of Business Development and director of Philanthropy at Greenfield Savings Bank — a role in which no two days are the same, she says — Brewster has only grown her heart for the business community (which she also expresses as host of the Western Mass Business Show on WHMP) while continuing to find impactful ways to serve local nonprofits and community organizations. On the next episode of BusinessTalk, she talks with BusinessWest Editor Joe Bednar about all of this and more — and how she manages to find balance in a very busy and meaningful life. It’s must listening, so tune in to BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest.

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Tara Brewster, Vice President of Business Development, Greenfield Savings Bank

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Class of 2022

She’s Put Her ‘Superpowers’ to Use to Help Those in Need

 

Leah Martin Photography

Tara Brewster says she’s probably bought more than 100 copies of the children’s book — and given them all away. She joked that she’s waiting for the author to call and thank her for her consistent support.

It’s called The Three Questions, and it’s based on a story by Leo Tolstoy. It’s about a young boy named Nikolai who sometimes feels uncertain about the right way to act. So he devises three questions to help him know what to do:

• When is the best time to do things?

• Who is the most important one?

• What is the right thing to do?

He then commences asking several different animal characters for the answers, and by book’s end he’s still asking, although one of those characters, a turtle, points out that, through the course of some recent actions — and especially his efforts to save an injured panda and its child — Nikolai had answered the questions himself.

Those answers are: ‘there is only one important time, and that time is now,’ ‘the most important one is always the one you are with,’ and ‘the most important thing is to do good for the one who is standing at your side.’

And these, the turtle notes, are the answers to “what is most important in this world — why we are here.”

Brewster says the book and its message are more than a fun, informational, and inspirational story. The Three Questions sums up quickly and effectively how she has lived her life to this point — and what drives her, if you will, to lend her time and talents to several area nonprofits as a board member, cheerleader, and relentless fundraiser.

“These are questions that I really fall back on a lot in a day,” she explained. “They’re really simple, and they just help me think about what am I doing, who am I impacting, and when am I supposed to be doing the thing that matters most. When I get really stressed out and start thinking, I should do doing this, and I should be doing this, I realize that I can only focus on one thing at a time, and it’s the thing that you’re doing that you should be putting your heart and soul into.”

Brewster, who seems to possess enough energy to power all of Northampton by herself, is involved as a board member with several nonprofits in that area, ranging from the Downtown Northampton Assoc. (DNA) to the Hampshire Regional YMCA; from Double Edge Theatre to Cutchins Programs for Children and Familes.

“I can honestly say that I have never met anyone so dedicated to helping those that are less fortunate in our community than Tara. I’ve seen so many people join local not-for-profit boards for networking opportunities or to strengthen one’s résumé. Unlike anyone I’ve ever met, Tara works tirelessly to gain support and funding for the organizations that she serves.”

But she also volunteers for, and helps fundraise for, the Food Bank of Wester Massachusetts and Monte’s March, Tapestry Development Committee, Safe Passage and its Hot Chocolate Run, and the Cancer Connection and its Mother’s Day Half Marathon.

But it’s not what she does that makes her a Difference Maker, although that’s part of it, but how she does it. Bill Grinnell, president of Webber & Grinnell Insurance, who nominated her for this honor, explained it this way:

“I can honestly say that I have never met anyone so dedicated to helping those that are less fortunate in our community than Tara. I’ve seen so many people join local not-for-profit boards for networking opportunities or to strengthen one’s résumé. Unlike anyone I’ve ever met, Tara works tirelessly to gain support and funding for the organizations that she serves.”

To get some perspective on those comments, one needs only to listen to Brewster as she talks about how she set out to become the top fundraiser for the Hot Chocolate Run, and then made the goal reality.

Tara Brewster, right, poses for a promotional photo for the Treehouse Foundation’s ‘Stir Up Some Love’ fundraiser with A.J. Bresciano

Tara Brewster, right, poses for a promotional photo for the Treehouse Foundation’s ‘Stir Up Some Love’ fundraiser with A.J. Bresciano, first vice president and commercial lender at Greenfield Savings Bank, and Julie Kumble, director of Strategic Partnerships & Development for the foundation.

“Safe Passage has a leaderboard every year, and since I started doing the Hot Chocolate Run in 2009, it’s been my goal to be number one on the leaderboard,” she said. “And two years ago, I finally got there. How did I do that? I asked, and I asked, and I asked people that I knew — friends, family, those in the community — to donate to Safe Passage to help deal with domestic violence.

“That’s what it comes down to: doing what you can, and using your superpowers to help others,” she went on. “And everyone has the power to do something, some good, every day.”

Because she uses her power every single day, it seems, Brewster has earned her place in the Difference Makers class of 2020.

 

Buy the Book

Brewster grew up Florence, not far from where she lives now, which was certainly “not the plan,” she said.

She told BusinessWest that many of those she grew up with were firm of the belief that one had to leave this area to achieve whatever dreams they had made for themselves. And she came to that belief herself.

But her desired next destination was certainly different than most others had in mind.

“I wanted to go to Montana — I think Wyoming and Montana are my two favorites,” she recalled, adding that she had already been to several states by the time she was in high school, and had determined that the Rocky Mountain region was where she wanted to go to college. “I thought I would like Big Sky country and being out in the wilderness; I wanted to be a pediatrician, and I wanted to go the University of Montana Bozeman.”

But fate would keep her closer to home.

Indeed, her mother was diagnosed with stage-4 ovarian cancer when Tara was just 15, a turn of events that would not only alter her plans for college, but inspire her to continuously review how she was living her life, with the goal of reaching higher — professionally, but also in the way she was using her considerable talents to help others who were less fortunate.

“That completely changed the course of my entire life; I have no idea where I would be had that not happened. She fought like hell, and ultimately lost the fight,” she said, adding that, long before her mother died, she gave up the dream of going to Montana, knowing she could not leave her father and brother at that critical time.

Tara Brewster works a United Way annual campaign event with Markus Jones

Tara Brewster works a United Way annual campaign event with Markus Jones, senior Major Gifts officer at Northfield Mount Hermon School.

Brewster would eventually graduate from Smith College, majoring in government and anthropology, and found her way into the men’s clothing business. She started at Taylor Men, which had a store in Thornes Market, while she was at Smith, and would later be regional sales manager for seven stores in the Northeast before moving to Manhattan and working for a men’s wholesale apparel company and becoming what she called a “road warrior.”

Eventually, the road took her back to Northampton and where she started — sort of. Taylor Men in Thornes Marketplace had closed, and she began contemplating owning her own store on that site.

Later, she and partner Candice Connors would open Jackson & Connor, an entrepreneurial venture that would — with her already-significant involvement in the Greater Northampton community — earn Brewster her first honor from BusinessWest: a 40 Under Forty plaque. It would also help set the tone when it comes to how she would be “all in,” as she put it, with both her career and her involvement in the community.

“I call that business my ‘first child,’ because I gave it my all,” she said. “And Jackson & Connor really helped me understand purpose and place of myself as a human, as a community member, and as a business owner; it gave me a clear direction of how I wanted to be in my community and in my region, and how I wanted to use my resources, my influence, and my power to lead and have an impact. And from the epicenter, I’ve grown as a human, as a person, as an employee, as a member of a team.”

 

The Plot Thickens

Eight years after launching Jackson & Connor, the two partners sold the enterprise, which is still operating today, and commenced writing their own next chapters. Brewster segued into consulting before Mark Grumoli, senior vice president and commercial loan officer at Greenfield Savings Bank, who years earlier had helped the partners secure funding to launch Jackson & Connor when he was with Florence Bank, convinced her to become the new vice president of Business Development.

She recalls friends and family members saying she wouldn’t last long in that role, but five years later, she’s still in it. That’s because it gives her what she desires most in a job — a situation where each day is different, a role where she can flex her entrepreneurial muscles, and a position that gives her the time and opportunity to be ‘out in the community,’ in every aspect of that phrase. And it has allowed her to take both her career and her civic endeavors to a bigger stage.

When asked what a typical day is like for her, she said there is no such thing. Each day is different. But each one is filled with conversations — phone calls, e-mails, texts, and some old-fashioned, face-to-face meetings. And only some of them have to do with banking.

“They pertain to connection, encouragement, engagement, assistance, and more,” she explained. “I serve on five boards, and there are probably five boards that I do other things for. So a lot of my conversations are with community members, and nonprofits in particular.

“These nonprofits have a real piece of my heart because I believe that, if you focus on and encourage and support the nonprofits, then more of the people who need help in this world and this region will get the help they need, because they are the helpers,” she went on,” she went on. “The nonprofits, first and foremost, are the ones that are doing the professional helping in a day, so if you want to do something and you don’t feel you have the time or whatever, support a nonprofit — that’s the easiest way to ensure that you’re creating some impact for the people who need it most.”

Brewster has certainly lived by these words, assisting nonprofits in many ways, especially through leadership as board member and with the all-important task of fundraising, which is always critical, but particularly during COVID, when the need is greater and many nonprofits have been hurt financially.

As she does so, she said she draws inspiration from others who, like her, balance work, family, and giving back, and somehow find the time and energy for all three. She mentioned Monte Belmonte, the host and program director at WHMP radio, the creator of Monte’s March, and a Difference Maker himself in 2020.

“He has a job at the radio station that he gets paid for, but then he has this other thing that he doesn’t get paid for — it’s his heart desire, it’s his calling, it’s how he uses his day job to be more and do more, to make a larger stage, to make a greater impact for a call to action,” Brewster said. “I have some people in my life who I’ve looked to for guidance on how to live and how to make a greater social impact with the talents that we have, because we all have these spheres of influence, whether it’s connections, or an employer, or social awareness.

“We all have these superpowers that we have to tap into in order to do greater good, in order to make a difference,” she went on. “And people think, ‘oh, I don’t have anything, I don’t have the time, I don’t have the resources.’ But we do. We all do. We all have connections, we have have these superpowers. We just have to use them.”

 

The Last Word

When asked to list her superpowers, she mentioned ‘connectivity,’ ‘engagement,’ ‘compassion,’ ‘awareness,’ and even ‘caretaking,’ and she traces them to when her mother got sick and after she died.

“For me, I’m acutely aware of sorrow and pain and hardship and loss, and what that means to being a whole self and a whole person — how you show up and how other people show up,” she explained. “It’s impacted the way I serve the community and serve on boards.”

Brewster serves in a way that enables those fundraisers to carry on that work they do and provide the many kinds of help that are needed.

“There’s an old saying … “you only get one life to live, and if you do it right, one is enough,’” she said in conclusion.

She has certainly done it right, and because of that, she has earned her place as a Difference Maker.

 

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

BusinessTalk with Tara Brewster, Vice President of Business Development for Greenfield Savings Bank

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Business Talk Podcast Special Coverage

We are excited to announce that BusinessWest, in partnership with Living Local, has launched a new podcast series, BusinessTalk. Each episode will feature in-depth interviews and discussions with local industry leaders, providing thoughtful perspectives on the Western Massachuetts economy and the many business ventures that keep it running during these challenging times.

Episode 74: August 9, 2021

George O’Brien talks with Tara Brewster, Vice President of Business Development for Greenfield Savings Bank

Tara Brewster

BusinessWest Editor George O’Brien has a lively discussion with Tara Brewster, Vice President of Business Development for Greenfield Savings Bank and one of five finalists for BusinessWest’s coveted 40 Under Forty Alumni Achievement Award. The two talk about her work, but especially her involvement in the community, her latest assignment as radio talk host, and her life as a self-described “recovering entrepreneur.” It’s must listening so join us on BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest in partnership with Living Local.

 

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Tara Brewster

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Tara Brewster
Alumni Achievement Award

Vice President of Business Development, Greenfield Savings Bank

Tara Brewster

Tara Brewster

Tara Brewster likes to refer to herself as a “recovering entrepreneur.”

She uses that phrase to describe everything from how she can’t fully unplug while on vacation (which she was when talking with BusinessWest) to life in general after she and partner Candace Connors sold the clothing store they created, Jackson & Connor, in 2013.

She has spent the years since … well, recovering from a thoroughly enjoyable time running her own business and essentially deciding what comes next for someone with entrepreneurial energy still to be tapped and a deep commitment to serving the community.

Actually, many things have ‘come next,’ from some work in consulting to her current assignment as vice president of Business Development for Greenfield Savings Bank (GSB); from a wide range of work within the community, especially in Hampshire County, to something new and completely different — her own radio show.

Indeed, Brewster recently succeeded Ira Bryck as the host of the weekly Western Mass. Business Show on WHMP. She started only a few months ago and admits to still being in the process of learning the ropes and becoming comfortable behind the mic.

“I’m still kind of shaking off the jitters and the ‘how am I going to craft my voice,’” she told BusinessWest. “And I’m still figuring out what I can ask and how deep I can go, all those things. I’m still learning, and it’s been a lot of fun.”

Meanwhile, she was already quite comfortable with getting involved in the community, but has only become more so in recent years, donating her time and talents to agencies and causes ranging from the Hampshire Regional YMCA to the Downtown Northampton Assoc. (DNA) to the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce. But more on that, and how the sum of her work has made her a finalist for the Alumni Achievement Award, later.

First, we flash back to when Brewster sold Jackson & Connor — a difficult time, as she described it, because she really didn’t know what to do with herself and fill the void created by selling the business that had been her passion — or one of them, anyway.

“I was like, ‘this was my whole identity; what am I going to do now?’” she said, adding that she worked as a consultant for the Vann Group (which helped her sell the business), and later did some work for the Springfield Business Improvement District and CityStage. Through those assignments, she reconnected with her former loan officer from Greenfield Savings Bank, who took her to lunch, at which Brewster did a lot of ‘complaining’ (her word) about being a consultant and how different it was from the retail world she was in.

She remembers saying, “‘after a decade of being entrepreneurial and making my own economy, I think I’m ready to go back to being an employee — but no two days can be the same; it has to be entrepreneurial, I’ve got to have freedom, and I have to be out and about in the community and making an impact.’”

All of which is serendipity, because that loan officer was essentially there to encourage her to apply for a position in business development at GSB, a job that offered essentially everything she just said she needed.

Overall, her job at the bank, which began in late 2016, has allowed her to take her work within the community to an even higher plane, one that recently earned her the Kay Sheehan Spirit of the Community Award, presented by the Community United Way of Hampshire County.

That involvement, which includes work with the YMCA, DNA, MassHire, Double Edge Theatre, Pathlight, Safe Passage, the chamber, and many other groups, was put into its proper perspective by Bryck, who not only gave Brewster the keys to the radio show he handled for more than a decade, but nominated her for the Alumni Achievement Award.

“Tara exemplifies for many what commitment and giving back looks like,” he wrote. “Western Mass. is fortunate to have Tara continuing to improve our backyard. She is a person for whom each day is a blessing, and she shows her appreciation, and uses her position, in ways that help fellow humans.

“I know a lot of people who see Tara as an inspiring leader,” he went on. “They are lit by her fire, and they become better people by seeing her compassion and action. She embodies sincerity and is brilliant at luring others into the river that she flows with.”

Brewster, a member of the 40 Under Forty class of 2009, summed it up this way: “To work for a community bank in Western Massachusetts is just a gift, especially for someone who is a true philanthropist at heart, someone who really sees the jeweled web of a region and understands that everything happens because of connections, everything happens because you make asks, everything happens because you see others before you see yourself.”

As for the radio show, she sees it as an extension of her work in business — and in the community — and she has committed herself to using the show to give a platform to those who need to tell their story.

“I try to focus on people in the community who need to be highlighted and aren’t necessarily highlighted,” she explained. “I have a real bent in my heart toward nonprofits, so I try to bring them on so they can talk about themselves. Also, people of color. COVID really took off my rose-colored glasses and put on some pretty intense eyeglasses from which I now view a lot of the work that I do, how we are in the community, how we treat each other, and who has the mic.”

Her work sharing the airwaves is just the latest installment of ‘what comes next’ for this recovering entrepreneur, a list that now also includes being a finalist for the 40 Under Forty Alumni Achievement Award.

 

—George O’Brien