Page 13 - BusinessWest January 9, 2023

Talking the Talk
Roundtable Panelists Note Opportunities, Challenges for Year Ahead
“We really
track consumer sentiment, and what we’re expecting is a really soft Q1, but then when Q2, Q3, and Q4 hit, we’re expecting that consumer sentiment will increase slightly, and that we’re going to have some sort of recovery come the back half of the year.”
As part of its annual Economic Outlook, BusinessWest put together a roundtable of area business leaders
to discuss the issues facing the region and its busi- ness community and the outlook for the year ahead. The panel represents several sectors of the economy, and both small and large businesses. It includes: Harry Dumay, president of Elms College in Chicopee; John Falcone, director of Merchandising for Rocky’s Ace Hardware; Spiros Hatiras, presi- dent and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center; Susan Kasa, president of Boulevard Machine in Westfield; Tanzania Cannon-Eckerle, an attorney with the Royal Law Firm and co-owner of Brew Practitio- ners; and Tom Senecal, president and CEO of PeoplesBank. They were candid and, overall, cautiously optimistic in their answers to a series of questions about the economy and what comes next.
BusinessWest: What is your outlook for 2023?
Kasa: “We’re excited for 2023; we’ve really seen an uptick in mili- tary and defense work, so we’re really excited about where our year is going to go.”
Senecal: “Increased business confidence is the biggest thing,
I think, with all the negative press we hear on the economy. Increased confidence is big, and in my industry, and with the people we do business with, lower interest rates will have a sig- nificant, positive impact on our environment.”
Cannon-Eckerle: “We’re excited about some of the fallout that we got legally from COVID; it has started to settle down a little
Susan Kasa says the war in Ukraine, while bringing hardship to many, has helped the fortunes of her company, Boulevard Machine, which specializes in work for the defense, military, and aviation industries.
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