BusinessWest

When Experience Counts, This Firm Is a Lock

[...] our guards are set in their schedules and shifts, we have supervisors on site, and sometimes that will be me. Because of historic problems in contract security, Bierowka said that many larger companies have decided to go internal.

An Open Door

[...] she likes to say that yoga found her, not the other way around. First was her deepening interest in yoga, as she filled her sudden free time with intensive trainings. Soon after, Charkoudian moved to Springfield because it was more affordable than living in the Boston area, and came to realize that the city's downtown had no yoga studios.

Taking a Starring Role

The photos are an effective icebreaker and conversation piece, he continued, adding that patients will point out their favorites, ask about those they don't recognize (Frobe, early cast members from Mission Impossible, and the Thunderbirds team are on that list), make suggestions for possible additions (although Schonholz hasn't added any in a while), and even ask how much some are worth. Schonholz will also find time to give tours of Mercy's facility to others planning to open breast-care c...

Exit Interview

[...] he continued, SPHS administrators are called upon to honor the mission of the Sisters of Providence, which, in some cases, requires making decisions that are not bottom-line-friendly, such as the transitioning of Providence Hospital to a behavioral-health facility, and the dosing of the residential component at Brightside for Families and Children. While meeting those needs within the community, the SPHS, under McCorkle's leadership, is effectively positioning itself for the future of ...

Quite Contrary

Instead of strictly regimented staff, the 'elder assistant' who works in a house is a CNA who provides direct care, laundry, cooking, and housekeeping. Since its opening last summer, Mary's Meadow--now completely occupied--has brought plenty of excitement to the Sisters of Providence campus, Caritas said.

Getting a Good Rep

Eco Rep was the means he saw to that end Started at Tufts University in 2001, the organization is a peer-to-peer environmental-education program, in the broadest sense, looking at sustainability--the concepts of ecological awareness, responsibility, and conservation in society--on college campuses. While other student groups have their sights on making a difference in environmental responsibility, Stoffel and Brown sat down with BusinessWest recently to show just how the university as a rese...

Bringing It All Back Home

Hagopian and others on the committee say that, despite the richness and diversity of the region's manufacturing sector--the showcase of which is one of the conference's goals--many manufacturers and supply-chain members are not aware of all that is produced in the Springfield-Hartford corridor. The conference, slated for Sept. 23 at the MassMutual Center, will focus on six manufacturing niches: plastics and advanced materials, precision machining, paper and packaging, electronics, 'green'/cl...

Helping Springfield Create That 'Cool Factor'

[...] she called ahead to say that she and some friends were heading to Miami for spring break, and wanted to know if Plotkin (then a student at Florida International University) and his roommates would put them up for the week--a request that was met with great enthusiasm. [...] we get there--until we get to the point where the college graduates say they want to live here--we're not going to be a great city.

It's All About Maintaining Proper Balance

[...] the pastoral landscape in Hadley is one of the draws that business people and townsfolk enjoy. People who want to run a home-based business can take advantage of the town's home-occupation bylaw, which allows people to operate a small business from their home with a special permit, Neyhart said, adding that whether the business falls within the law depends of the number of employees and the amount of traffic it generates.

Here's the Pitch

Yet, like all community banks, FSB still tries to strike a balance between that customer base and those who have been in the community a long time and respond to the bank's deep roots. "Since 1873, Florence Savings Bank has been the same bank, same name, basically the same location," Burr said, adding that this history has been a selling point over the last decade or two, a time of mergers, acquisitions, and general turmoil in the financial sector.

Going with the Grain

NuCedar is a story that touches many bases: manufacturing, because Loper has done some pioneering to get his products to market in terms of innovation and waste-reduction efforts; entrepreneurship--there were some sizable risks with this startup; 'green building,' because of the environmentally friendly aspects to this product; and even marketing, for the ways Loper has been able to put his products in the spotlight--some through creativity and others through determination and simply having a...

Helping Businesses Get with the Program

Najamy says many businesses don't have a centralized database of information, a situation that can inhibit growth and productivity and result in duplication of efforts or missed opportunities. The end result is that, when a customer calls, everything the salesperson needs to know, including their contact information and all of the caller's history with the company, can be accessed with a few clicks of a computer mouse.

Umass Takes Big Steps to Expand Its Footprint

In August 2009, after perhaps a year of round-table discussions, the chancellor said, in effect, that it was time to stop talking and stop doing. [...] Mullin has been busy blueprinting and executing several initiatives that cover one or more of five basic goals, he said.

Forging Ahead

"Research shows that 67% of companies that are incubated succeed, while for those that are not, it's less than half," she said. [...] a part of her job description will be work to convince entrepreneurs looking for space to grow to look for an incubator and not simply square footage in an office building. [...] STCC lost its $530,000 state subsidy for the center--which paid for staff and operating costs--in the wake of massive budget cuts across the public college system stemming from the e...

The 'Partnership Business'

NTS still has many in its portfolio, but its bread and butter has always been small to medium-sized businesses with 100 or fewer employees. [...] it is this market that Bates has essentially been hired to penetrate in the Greater Springfield area, where NTS has always had a presence--it has handled work for several enterprise businesses over the years--but not a large share of the market. Since arriving late last year, Bates, working closely with Kelly, has expended considerable time and en...