Big Y has announced several promotions:
Easthampton: Lynda A. Broadhurst, supply and packaging buyer, Store Support Center.
Feeding Hills: Matthew C. Chapman, grocery sales manager, Big Y Supermarket.
Hampden: Emily L. Zeno, customer service manager, Big Y Supermarket.
Hatfield: Anita R. Giroux, director of IT infrastructure, Store Support Center.
Lee: Samuel B. Donkor, produce/floral sales manager, Big Y Supermarket
Ludlow: Angela Odell, employee services representative, Big Y Supermarket.
Palmer: Andrea M. Martins, bakery sales manager, Big Y Supermarket.
West Springfield: George H. Read Jr., deli/kitchen manager, Big Y Supermarket.
Westfield: Colleen A. Brenzel, deli sales manager, Big Y Supermarket.
Westfield: Jennifer R. O’Neill, owners representative/construction, Store Support Center.
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Teach Western Mass, a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the educator workforce in Western Massachusetts, announces that Founding Executive Director Pema Latshang stepped down from her role at the end of April.
Latshang launched TWM in 2016. TWM launched and expanded its flagship teacher residency program, placing more than 200 educators in Springfield and Holyoke classrooms.
Latshang and her team also launched several initiatives, including The Teach Western Mass Residency; The Black, Latine, and Educators of Color (BLEC) Fellowship; TWM’s AmeriCorps Professional Corps; partnerships with American International College, Smith College and Generation Teach; The Certified Teachers Program and the Graduate Fellowship.
TWM’s Board of Directors has engaged Amherst-based The Financial Development Agency to guide the leadership transition. In the interim, longtime TWM leaders Julie Anderson and Lisa Doherty (deputy director of programs) will continue leading the organization.
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West Springfield resident Lynn McCarthy has been appointed to the board of directors of the Irish Cultural Center of Western New England.
McCarthy recently retired from her full-time job at Effectv, the advertising arm of Comcast. She has worked part time for the town of West Springfield Recreation, teaching yoga and aerobics for many years. She also now also teaches at the West Springfield Senior Center, along with some bartending duties at the Tatham Social Club.
McCarthy is a board member of the St. Patrick’s Parade Committee and was the West Springfield Parade marshal in 2016. She is a past member of the Recreation and Conservation commissions and a past Town Meeting member. She was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from West Springfield High School in 1989, and the Recreation Award from Park and Rec in 2011.McCarthy has also been active as a local program coordinator for the West Springfield Special Olympics Program for over 25 years, running four 4 basketball teams, two softball teams, 2 flag football teams and a cheering squad. She was inducted into the Special Olympics Massachusetts Hall of Fame in June 2023.
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GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc., a consulting firm providing geotechnical, environmental, ecological, water and construction management services, has named longtime Springfield city official Patrick F. Sullivan as senior consultant and liaison to municipalities.
Sullivan served most recently as Springfield’s executive director of parks, buildings and recreation management, where he oversaw all the city’s parks and municipal and school buildings, totaling more than 5 million square feet and led more than $500 million in capital projects. During a 37-year career with the city, Sullivan also oversaw more than $1 billion in school construction and renovation work and secured more than $400 million in park grants and in-kind project support.
At GZA, Sullivan’s position will include advising municipalities on a wide range of building and landscape construction and renovation projects, developing master plans and open space plans, providing guidance in securing state and federal grants, developing renewable energy and “green industry” projects, and more.
Sullivan earned his Bachelor Science degree in plant and soil science from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and an associate’s degree in arboriculture and park management from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture.
