United Bank is one of "Two Small Banks with Big Appeal," according to financial publication Barron's. Barron's, published by Wall Street Journal Owner Dow Jones & Co., has actually written favorably about West Springfield-based United once before, said Richard B. Collins, president and CEO of United Bank.
These figures, compiled in a report from the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, were released by the Massachusetts Workforce Professional Association. CareerPoint worked with 675 businesses last year, assisting them with fulfilling their workforce needs, including job postings and referrals, prescreening candidates, job fairs, labor market information and incumbent worker trainings. The One Stop Career Centers worked with almost 12,000 businesses last year, and 70 percent of these businesses were return customers.
Hampden Bancorp, parent company of Hampden Bank, reported this week $3 million in net income for the quarter ending June 30, the same amount recorded in the same time period a year before.
Business confidence rose in July, crossing into optimistic territory after a dull June, according to a new survey by Associated Industries of Massachusetts.
Business confidence rose 3.6 points in July to 52.5 points on a 100-point scale where 50 is considered neutral, according to a news release from Associated Industries, a statewide business group. Survey results were released Tuesday.
Western Massachusetts Electric Co. is partnering with the Atlanta-based company Allconnect, launching the Allconnect Move Advisor Service program.
The goal is to give customers a simple, convenient place to go when they’re signing up for multiple services at a new address. At the same time, Allconnect provides the opportunity to find the best deals by comparing services and prices.
Smith & Wesson wants its voice, and the voices of its 1,500 employees, heard as the state Legislature considers new gun control legislation in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school shootings. Smith & Wesson is committed to safety, James Debney, president and CEO, said Thursday in an interview. But he suggests making school buildings safer, improving the background check process for handgun purchasers and including more mental health information in the application. Smith & Wesson also wants to make the process of getting a Massachusetts license to carry a weapon consistent statewide and not dependent on individual police departments.
Fallon Community Health Plan recently opened a new senior care facility, Summit ElderCare, in the North Medical District at 101 Wason Ave. Fallon said it is the first to bring what it calls a nationally-recognized model of care to the Western Massachusetts region. Summit ElderCare is a community-based alternative to nursing home care for older adults who want to avoid moving into a nursing home.
Aziza Holloway-Abdegeo used to sell buildings; now she builds them. The economy put a damper on Holloway-Abdegeo's career selling real estate. But, a pre-apprenticeship training program called Community Works helped get her foot in the door as a union apprentice carpenter. As an apprentice she's helped build the $114-million Roger L. Putnam Vocational-Technical Academy and work on the $43.4 million renovation and expansion of Forest Park Middle School.
Sovereign Bank, N.A., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Santander Holdings USA and one of the 25 largest retail banks in the United States by deposits, announced plans to market itself under the Santander brand and legally change its name to Santander Bank.
Yankee Candle Co.'s private-equity owners are reportedly considering an IPO, or an initial public offering, a move that would once again make the candle maker a public company. Madison Dearborn Partners is working with Bank of America and Morgan Stanley on the offering, Bloomberg News reported Thursday citing unnamed sources.
Westfield Financial, Inc., the holding company for Westfield Bank, reported net income of $1.6 million, or 8 cents per diluted share, for the quarter ended June 30, compared to $974,000, or 4 cents per diluted share, for the quarter ended June 30, 2012.
The federal government is kicking in $8.7 million toward $20 million in runway improvements and other work in at Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport. U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, announced that he'll visit the airport Monday morning to announce the funds, which come from aircraft fuels taxes collected and then distributed by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The funds will come from a $600,000 grant from the federal Economic Development Administration to Common Capital, the Scibelli Enterprise Center , and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. The funds and services are available to businesses in Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, and Berkshire counties severely impacted by natural disasters in 2011, including tropical storm Irene and the tornadoes that severely damaged areas of Springfield, West Springfield, Westfield, and Monson.
Easthampton Savings Bank faces stiff competition and, like all banks, is challenged by low interest rates, but Matthew S. Sosik, the bank’s new president, says he sees a lot of potential.
When Mestek Inc. president R. Bruce Dewey has to send sales staff or engineers to Europe, just getting them to an airport that truly lives up to the name "international" is the first order of business. "We have drivers who take people to Boston or to New York City," Dewey said, explaining how international business is important for Mestek, a maker of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment. "We have also had a lot of luck flying people out of Dulles (in Washington, D.C), but then you have to first fly them to Washington."
Blake and his brother Curtis L. Blake founded the chain in Springfield’s Pine Point neighborhood in 1935. Their parents loaned them $500 and the sold ice cream at a nickle a cone making $27.60 the first day Today, Friendly's makes 24 million gallons of ice cream a year at its Wilbraham plant and has $1.5 million a day in sales. The company has 7,000 employees including 200 at the headquarters and another 200 in the adjacent manufacturing plant. Friendly's has about 60 employees at a distribution center in Chicopee.
Baystate Medical Center is the third-best hospital in Massachusetts, according to new U.S. News & World Report “Best Hospitals” ranking released Tuesday. That’s up from fifth-best Massachusetts hospital in the publication’s rankings last year. “What it means is that Baystate Medical Center has one of the highest quality rating in the county and it is one of the safest hospitals in the country as far as avoiding a serious medical mistake, said Dr. Evan M. Benjamin, senior vice president for health care quality at Baystate.
Chamber Executive Director Jeffrey S. Ciuffreda said Thursday's announcement is a clarification of an early chamber decision to back the concept of a Springfield casino. The chamber took that position before the city chose MGM Resorts International as its entry into the Western Massachusetts casino derby.
The Board of Directors of Valley Health Systems and Holyoke Medical Center announced Tuesday that Spiros Hatiras will become the next president and chief executive officer of Holyoke Medical Center and its affiliates.
'We've always thought that the strength of our community is its diversity,' said Eric J. Gouvin, professor and newly appointed dean of the Western New England law school. 'It would be great if the face of the profession would look a lot more like the faces in that room.'
Fourteen percent of the jobs in Greater Springfield are in the health-care industry, placing the Pioneer Valley among the top 20 metropolitan areas nationally in terms of the share of employment made up by health-care jobs. The numbers are from a Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program MetroMonitor report on health care and its importance in the economies of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the nation.
Employees at Sealed Air Corp. in Holyoke will get quicker at switching their manufacturing equipment from a run of one product to another with the help of $47,310 in workforce training grants from the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development . "It's Lean Manufacturing. There are just a ton of little things you can do to get quicker and more efficient, said Pamela Nielsen, manager of the plant on Homestead Avenue.
The $500,000 announced Monday is part of $6 million in federal and state money awarded to Westmass Development Corp. and Ludlow Mills since Westmass bought the 170-acre site from out-of-town owners in 2011 for $6 million in money borrowed from a consortium of local banks. But that $6 million, most of which went to street and utility improvements as well as other cleanups, has already leveraged $60 million in private investments. Westmass Development Corp. is a regional not-for-profit industrial and business developer.
Work has begun renovating the undergraduate admissions offices at American International College, part of $2.5 million worth of construction planned for the school this summer, according to the college.
