Page 49 - BusinessWest July 24, 2023

COMPANY NOTEBOOK>>
Thunderbirds Recognized
for Record-setting Season
SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Thunderbirds were recognized for hitting milestone thresholds across a variety of business categories during the American Hockey League’s team business meetings in Tuc- son, Ariz. The annual event features representatives from all 32 member clubs for sessions discussing best practices and innovative ideas across multiple departments. On the heels of another record-setting year for the Thunderbirds business that saw new reg- ular-season records in attendance per game (6,162), sellout games (15, including every Saturday from Dec. 30 onward), season-ticket members, and group-sales revenue, the team’s ticket sales department achieved a number of milestones for a second straight season. Among them were 600 new full-season equivalents (FSE), a metric that tracks full-season and partial-sea- son ticket sales. The department also saw a greater than 85% renewal rate among its full-season ticket members. Individual game ticket sales also provided the Thunderbirds with two more threshold recogni- tions, as the business saw a greater than 15% increase in both FSE revenue per game and group ticket rev- enue per game. In what was also a record-setting year for the club’s corporate sales department, that area of the business was recognized for also seeing
a greater than 85% renewal rate in corporate cash accounts en route to a single-season record in cor- porate revenue. The Thunderbirds also had a prolific season in the Springfield community, with more than 250 appearances by mascot Boomer and team play- ers combined, ranging from youth hockey practice sessions to charitable affairs like the Rays of Hope walk, annual Teddy Bear Toss deliveries, and corpo- rate partnership events.
National Grid Awards $800,000 to Eight Chambers of Commerce
NORTHAMPTON — National Grid announced it will donate $800,000 to eight chambers of commerce in Massachusetts to support local small businesses. The Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce has been named one of the recipients of a $100,000 award. Other chambers receiving the funds include the Cape Cod Chamber, Merrimack Valley Chamber, North Central Chamber of Leominster, North Shore Chamber, OneSouthCoast Chamber, South Shore Chamber, and Waltham Chamber. Each chamber will receive $100,000, which they will then dis- tribute in grants of $1,000 to National Grid small- business customers with fewer than 150 employees. The Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce looks forward to distributing these grant awards
to give local small business community a boost during the coming months. This pledge follows a similar donation by National Grid in January, when the company distributed $1 million to four small- business organizations to help with energy bills. The Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, the Retailers Assoc. of Massachusetts, the Massachu- setts Restaurant Assoc., and the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce each received $250,000 to distribute to their small business members.
Lee Bank Foundation Distributes $50,000 in Grant Funding Round
LEE — Lee Bank Foundation awarded $50,000 to 12 Berkshire area organizations for its second round of 2023 community funding. Recipients were awarded grants ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 to support
BusinessWest
their local programming. The following organiza- tions received funding from Lee Bank Foundation: Becket Athenaeum, Berkshire Bounty, Berkshire Center for Justice, Berkshire Children’s Chorus, Berkshire Community Diaper Project, Berkshire County Arc, Berkshire South Regional Community Center, Community Access to the Arts, Elizabeth Freeman Center, Greenagers, Mass Audubon Pleas- ant Valley, and Roots Rising. The deadline to apply for the next round of 2023 foundation funding is Sept. 1. To be considered for grant awards, appli- cants must be a (501)(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The foundation is focused on funding programs that work to bridge income and opportunity gaps in the region. Funding requests should reflect one or more of Lee Bank Foundation’s primary focus areas: education and literacy; food security and nutri- tion; economic growth and development; health and human services; or mentorship, internship, and school-to-work initiatives.
Mandati Jewelers Opens at Holyoke Mall
HOLYOKE — Family-owned Mandati Jewelers celebrated its grand opening at Holyoke Mall on June 28 on the shopping center’s lower level near Center Court. The 2,423-square-foot space is the custom jeweler’s first Massachusetts location. Man- dati specializes in certified diamonds, watch and timepiece brands, necklaces, charms, and other fine jewelry. The store is offering 30% to 50% off gold and diamonds and 25% off watches through July 31. The New York jeweler’s custom jewelry clientele includes Buffalo Bills defensive end Carlos “Boogie” Basham Jr. and rappers Conway the Machine, West- side Gunn, and Benny the Butcher. Holyoke Mall is Mandati’s fourth store and joins locations in Albany, Buffalo, and Syracuse.
The Dowd Agencies Supports
Area Charities as Part of
125th-anniversary Celebration
HOLYOKE — The Dowd Insurance Agencies, LLC, a leading insurance provider serving New Eng- land since 1898, has donated a total of $3,250 to five charities since the beginning of the year as
it celebrates its 125th anniversary. Charities were determined by polling employees. So far in 2023, the Dowd Agencies donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants wishes for children diag- nosed with critical illnesses; Community Music School of Springfield, which provides arts education to local students; Therapeutic Equestrian Center in Holyoke, which provides horseback riding to chil- dren and adults with disabilities; Shriners Children’s, which provides critical medical care to children; and Homework House Inc., in Holyoke, which provides free tutoring and mentoring for children living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The Dowd Agencies will continue to donate to charities selected by its employees throughout the remainder of the year.
Liberty Bank Supports Nonprofits
MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — David Glidden, president and CEO of Liberty Bank and president of the Lib- erty Bank Foundation, announced that the founda- tion recently awarded five nonprofits with $5,000 each in recognition of the bank’s 198th birthday. As part of Liberty’s birthday celebration on May 4, the team came up with a creative idea to provide ‘birthday gifts’ in the aggregate amount of $25,000
to five community organizations on behalf of the Liberty Bank Foundation. Liberty teammates had the opportunity to vote on their favorite charity from
a list of three nonprofits in each of the regions the bank serves: Central North, Central South, Eastern, Western, and Massachusetts. Based on the final vote count, the following five nonprofits received
a $5,000 donation from the Liberty Bank Founda- tion: House of Heroes (Hamden, Conn.), the Boys and Girls Club of Lower Naugatuck Valley, Middle- sex Habitat for Humanity, New London Commu- nity Meal Center, and the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.
Smith Brothers Insurance Acquires Rawson & Sons
NORTHAMPTON — Smith Brothers Insurance,
with an office on Main Street in Northampton, has acquired Rawson & Sons Insurance Group, an inde- pendent insurance agency located in Worcester. The acquisition expands the Smith Brothers Insur- ance footprint in Massachusetts, with Rawson & Sons maintaining a local presence while leveraging the resources of Smith Brothers Insurance, one
of the nation’s top 100 independent brokers. Rich Rawson, founder of Rawson & Sons, will stay fully engaged in business development, sales, and cli- ent service, alongside the same team of insurance professionals. All Rawson & Sons team members will be joining Smith Brothers. Smith Brothers Insur- ance has more than 200 team members in locations across Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York.
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Anthony Worden, president and CEO of Greenfield
Cooperative Bank and its parent company, Green- field Bancorp MHC, announced that the following actions were taken at the company’s 118th annual meeting on June 20. Darci Brown and Jeffrey Col- lura were re-elected as corporators of Greenfield Bancorp MHC, while new candidates Khama Ennis, Jennifer Ewers, Matthew Sheehy, Terri Mitchell, and Brandon Lively were elected as corporators of Greenfield Bancorp MHC. Nancy Fournier, JoAnne Finck, and Peter Whalen were re-elected to three year terms as directors of the bank and Greenfield Bancorp MHC, while Catherine Coleman was elect- ed to a three-year term as a director of the bank and Greenfield Bancorp MHC.
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Linda Thompson, President of Westfield State Uni-
versity, has joined the board of trustees at Goddard House Assisted Living in Brookline. Prior to her role as president of Westfield State University, Thompson held the role of dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at UMass Boston. She has an exten- sive background in healthcare leadership and public policy. In Baltimore City, Md., she served as director of Occupational Medicine and Safety and developed programs and policies to promote the health of the city workforce, including the implementation of poli- cies for HIV prevention and substance use and abuse. At the state level in Maryland, she served as special secretary of Children, Youth and Families, where she developed programs and policies to improve quality of care for vulnerable populations of children.