Career Pulse
HMC Names Lisa Wray-Schechterle Director of Community Benefits
HOLYOKE — Holyoke Medical Center has announced the appointment of Lisa Wray-Schechterle, as the hospital’s director of Community Benefits.
Wray-Schechterle holds both a master of Arts in Communication and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Western New England University. She serves as a marketing committee member for Girls Inc. of the Valley, a board member of the Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, and as an advisory board member for the Holyoke Community College School of Business.
“We are happy to welcome Lisa to our team,” said Spiros Hatiras, Holyoke Medical Center’s president and chief executive officer. “Her proven ability to build collaborative partnerships coupled with her knowledge of Holyoke and the many community based organizations we work with throughout the region, will enable her to successfully manage and expand our Community Benefits program.”
Holyoke Medical Center Community Benefits provides programs and services to improve health in communities and helps to increase access to health care. This is done to advance medical and health knowledge in the community and relieve or reduce the burden of government and other community efforts. Wray-Schechterle has succeeded Kathy Anderson as the director of the department, following Anderson’s retirement.
“I am excited to extend my knowledge and networking connections to help improve the health needs of the Pioneer Valley,” said Wray-Schechterle.
“As the hospital has just completed their 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment, I look forward to creating the next implementation strategy based on the feedback we received and expressed needs identified by the community.”
Kevin Conway Named SCP, CIDO at Baystate Health
Kevin Conway, whose IT expertise spans both domestic and global markets, has been named Senior Vice President & Chief Information & Digital Officer (SVP/CIDO) of Baystate Health.
Conway, a strategic executive with more than 25 years of success in executive leadership, strategic planning, and consulting within large academic multi-facility healthcare IT systems, most recently served as client executive for Tegria Services Group, overseeing the clinical and digital transformation initiative for Northern Ireland. In his role, he was responsible for strategic direction and leadership of Epic Solutions deployment as part of the overall digital health strategy for acute, community, mental health, and social care services. Previously, Conway held the role of Chief Information Officer at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) in Pittsburgh, Pa., where he managed all facets of IT operations of clinical and essential service departments at UPMC Presbyterian, UPMC Shadyside, and UPMC Mercy & UPMC Magee-Womens Hospitals. He also served as VP of IT Advisory Services, chief information officer, and director of IT at UPMC.
Conway received his BA in Business Administration Health Management Systems from Robert Morris University. In his new role at Baystate Health, Conway will be a key senior executive responsible for the health system’s information and technology systems. His work will include system interoperability and optimization of IT systems, transformation of business processes, human-centered design, enhancements of patient-centered technologies, and focused work on cyber and information security.
Matt Flink Named President of O’Connell Companies
James Sullivan, president of The O’Connell Companies Inc., announced that the board of directors has named Matt Flink president of Appleton Corporation.
Flink, who will be based in the firm’s Holyoke office, succeeds Paul Stelzer.
Prior to joining Appleton in 2012, Flink worked in the real estate development and construction industry in Colorado and Florida. He has developed management services accounts in the transportation industry, and coordinated projects for The O’Connell Companies real estate portfolio of multi-family and commercial assets.
“I am very excited to be named President of Appleton Corporation,” said Flink. “The culture of the company is based on our family-oriented core values and principles and our service delivery model is implemented across a diversified portfolio of management accounts. Our team is loaded with talent and energy, and I look forward to guiding the future strategic and management direction of the firm.” Appleton Corporation provides comprehensive property, facilities and asset management services, along with accounting and financial services, to managers and owners of commercial and residential properties in central New England.
UMass Chancellor Announces Retirement
UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy, under whose leadership the commonwealth’s flagship campus experienced a decade of unprecedented success and momentum, has announced that he will retire at the end of June 2023.
Subbaswamy arrived in Amherst in July 2012, and during his tenure the campus has excelled in a wide range of key areas, including attracting growing numbers of diverse, high-achieving students, steadily improving graduation rates, and conducting cutting-edge research with real-world impact.
“It has been a privilege to serve as chancellor of this great university,” said Subbaswamy. “I will forever treasure the support and friendship of the faculty, staff, students and alumni whom I’ve come to know over the past decade and am grateful for all that we have accomplished together. By channeling our revolutionary spirit, we have become one of the fastest rising top-tier public research universities in the country and I am confident that, in its next chapter, the University of Massachusetts Amherst will soar even higher.”
In the latest U.S. News & World Report Colleges Guide, UMass Amherst is ranked No. 26 among the 209 public universities included in the national survey. A rankings rise from No. 52 in 2010 marks a 26-step ascent, principally during Subbaswamy’s tenure.
Robert Manning, chair of the UMass Board of Trustees, has named UMass Trustee and UMass Amherst alumnus Victor Woodridge as chair of the search committee that will be appointed to identify candidates to be the next UMass Amherst chancellor. Under Subbaswamy’s leadership, the university has played a pivotal and unique role in educating the commonwealth. UMass Amherst alone enrolls more first-year students from Massachusetts than do the commonwealth’s top eight private universities combined. In addition, UMass Amherst awards more undergraduate STEM degrees than any other college or university in Massachusetts, public or private.
Meanwhile, the university’s research enterprise is driving innovative solutions to the world’s greatest challenges and boosting the state’s economy. In FY 2021, UMass Amherst totaled $213 million in research expenditures, and it ranked first among public universities in New England in National Science Foundation grant awards. UMass Amherst recently secured major investments in computer science, fueling the Massachusetts tech economy.
An $18 million naming gift will endow the Robert and Donna Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences. A state investment of $75 million — along with $30 million from the Amherst campus — will enhance and expand the college’s facilities, enabling accelerated enrollment growth. The university is also playing a lead role to help address the commonwealth’s pressing health care needs supported by the largest gift in UMass Amherst history to the Marieb College of Nursing. The $21.5 million naming gift from the Elaine Nicpon Marieb Charitable Foundation is advancing the university’s innovative nursing engineering center, and it is also providing support for student scholarships, an endowed professorship, and mentorship and research initiatives designed to further access, equity and excellence in nursing education.
Michael Elliott Named President at Amherst College
The Board of Trustees at Amherst College announced Wednesday that Michael Elliott, a 1992 graduate, has been named the next president of the institution.
He will succeed Carolyn ‘Biddy’ Martin, who announced last year that she would retire from the presidency but continue teaching at the college.
He is expected to begin work August 1. Elliott has been the chief academic and executive officer of Emory College of Arts and Science in Atlanta since 2016. He earned a doctorate in English and comparative literature at Columbia University in 1998. His bachelor’s degree from Amherst consisted of a dual major in Russian and English.
Bacon Wilson Announces Additions to Team
Bacon Wilson, P.C. announced that attorney Timothy M. Netkovick and attorney Jennifer R. Sharrow have joined the firm.
Netkovick is a member of Bacon Wilson’s Employment Law Practice Group.
He is licensed to practice in both Massachusetts and Connecticut and has significant experience in matters including employment and commercial litigation. He has been practicing law for 20 years, having earned his J.D. from Western New England College School of Law in 2002, and a B.S. magna cum laude from American International College in 1999. He was recognized as the School of Law Academic Scholarship Recipient during his time at Western New England, and an All-American Scholar in 1998 at American International. He will be working from Bacon Wilson’s Springfield location.
Sharrow is a member of Bacon Wilson’s Commercial Law Practice Group. She is licensed to practice in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. She has more than a decade of experience working in public service, with experience in federal programs where she focused on municipal, non-profit, and business development. She earned her J.D. in 2010 from the University of Connecticut School of Law and earned a B.A. summa cum laude from the University of New Hampshire in 2007.
She has volunteered her time by serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA with Habitat for Humanity from 2010 to 2011 and participated in multiple pro bono programs including the Women’s Bar Foundation Family Law Project and the Hampden County Bar Association Lawyer for the Day Program. Currently, she serves as the Legal Chair for the Shoshin Ryu Martial Arts Association and is a member of the Belchertown Zoning Board of Appeals. She will work from Bacon Wilson’s Springfield location. The firm also welcomed Alayna Anderson, as the marketing coordinator, who recently joined the firm at the Springfield location. She is a Cape Cod Native who since relocated to Springfield after earning her bachelor of Science degree in marketing as well as her master’s of Business Administration, both from Springfield College. She will work directly with Bacon Wilson’s Executive Director, Lisa Carpenter, on all aspects of managing the firm’s marketing and public relations for all five locations.
Insa Announces New Team Members
Insa, a grower and retailer of medical and adult-use cannabis in Massachusetts, announced the hiring of three new employees who will play key roles in helping propel the Company forward in the burgeoning cannabis industry:
• Michael Bird has been named chief people officer. Bird brings significant human resources experience to the team having worked in the field for almost 30 years. Bird started in Human Resources at the Yankee Candle Company as an Employment Recruiter in 1995 when the company was owned and operated by the founder, Mike Kittredge, had 700 employees, and operated 27 retail stores. As Yankee Candle grew, so did Bird’s career. He advanced to hold a variety of positions within HR at Yankee Candle, including serving as the HR director of North American Operations where he led a team of HR business partners serving all corporate functions, with more than 5,000 employees and 500 retail stores. He went on to join The East Coast Tile Group in 2017, a family owned and operated tile importing and multi-channel tile distributor as vice president of Human Resources.
• Nicole Constant joins as brand director. She brings more than 10 years of CPG experience to the rapidly growing cannabis industry. Prior to joining Insa, she was at Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., where she led innovation for the cooperative’s Foods Business Unit, which includes the Craisins brand. Prior to that, Constant led the new Accelerator team within Ocean Spray’s Innovation Hub. In this role, she took an entrepreneurial approach to building disruptive innovation from within.
She is a strong believer in the medical benefits of cannabis and the quality and craftsmanship of Insa’s product portfolio. In her new role, she will be leading brand expansion and development as well as strategic planning within new and existing markets; and
• Kate Nelson will hold the role of director of Digital Experience. In the newly created role, she will lead the creation of a full digital experience in-store and online that puts customers first and offers them seamless ways to make purchases, communicate with customer service, interact with the brand across social, SMS, email, benefit from Insa’s loyalty programs, and educate themselves on adult and medical-use cannabis products. She joins Insa from Vista Outdoor, a publicly traded company who owns over 40 outdoor and action sports brands, where she created loyalty programs and digital marketing strategies leveraged across their portfolio. Prior to Vista Outdoor, Nelson worked at DEG Digital, a digital marketing agency where she created digital marketing strategies for premier brands such as Walmart, PepsiCo Brands, and AMC Theaters.
“We are thrilled to welcome Nicole, Michael, and Kate to our team at Insa,” said Pete Gallagher, Insa co-founder. “They each have valuable expertise and deep knowledge in their respective areas. Their hard-work, insights, and problem-solving abilities will be critical in growing the Insa brand, helping the Company meet its objectives, and in helping bring high-quality cannabis to many more Insa customers.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Nicole, Michael, and Kate to our team at Insa,” said Pete Gallagher, Insa co-founder. “They each have valuable expertise and deep knowledge in their respective areas. Their hard-work, insights, and problem-solving abilities will be critical in growing the Insa brand, helping the Company meet its objectives, and in helping bring high-quality cannabis to many more Insa customers.”
