Springfield Technical Community College has named a cyber range manager for the Springfield Cybersecurity Center of Excellence at Springfield Union Station. The college has hired Gene M. Kingsley, of Chicopee, who will be responsible for a host of facility operations.
Supported by local, state and federal funding, the center is scheduled to open in 2024 and will serve as a regional center for Western Massachusetts and beyond. The CCE is a collaboration between STCC, the Springfield Redevelopment Authority and CyberTrust Massachusetts.
The 6,000-square-foot CCE will include a cyber range, which is a simulated training environment, and a security operations center, which is envisioned as a support for Massachusetts municipalities to detect cybersecurity events in real time and respond quickly. Students who train at the CCE could move into paid internships or employment where they would work with professionals to confront cybersecurity threats, which is a growing global problem.
Kingsley’s experience includes managing information security at Reliant Medical Group and being director of the Security Operations Center at the University of Massachusetts. He holds a Master of Science degree in communications and information management from the Graduate School at Bay Path College and a Master of Business Administration from the Isenberg School of Management at UMass.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Westfield State College (now Westfield State University) and an associate degree from Holyoke Community College.
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Garvey Communication Associates Inc. (GCAi) in Springfield has appointed Nathan Dion as digital public relations analyst. Dion is an experienced video producer and is already telling local stories with GCAi’s new vlogging camera.
A resident of Westfield, Dion is a graduate of Westfield State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in communication with a dual concentration in media arts and analysis and public relations. He also minored in graphic design.
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Florence Hearing Health Care, a private audiology clinic, welcomed Dr. Christine Kelley as a member of its team.
Kelley earned her doctoral degree in audiology from Washington University in St. Louis. As a student, she was one of a handful chosen to be a presenter at the student research forum in 2009 at the American Academy of Audiology annual convention. She completed her fourth year at New York Eye and Ear in New York City. Kelley, originally from Long Island, and has lived in Western Massachusetts since 2010. Kelley holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech, Language, and Hearing Association.
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Mary Dunn, a lifelong resident of the Pioneer Valley, has joined ServiceNet in Springfield, a nonprofit human service agency, as chief human resources officer.
Born and raised in Holyoke, Dunn earned her bachelor’s degree in political science at Wheaton College.
Dunn worked for seven years at the Center for Human Development in Springfield, where she oversaw the agency’s workers’ comp, short-term disability and other benefit programs. While at CHD, she also enrolled in law school at what was then Western New England College, earning a law degree. She served in human resources roles at Emmanuel College, Springfield College and for 11 years at Baystate Health.
After she left Baystate in 2020 to care for her parents through the first year of the pandemic, Dunn worked briefly for a law firm but found herself missing human resources.
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Square One’s Vice President of Family Services Melissa Blissett has been named advisory board chair of the Springfield College School of Social Work. Her appointment follows the passing of long-time social worker and social services advocate Dora Robinson.
Blissett earned her Master of Social Work degree from Springfield College in 2015. As a student, she served on both the Advisory Board and the Student Organization for the School of Social Work. She currently serves as an adjunct professor.
A native of Springfield, Blissett joined Square One in 2014 as a supervisor in the agency’s Healthy Families and Supervised Visitation programs. In 2017, she went to work as a child and family law division social worker for the Committee for Public Council Services in Springfield. In 2018, she returned to Square One as assistant vice president of family services and in 2021, she was promoted to vice president.
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Maureen Buxton, of Chicopee, has been appointed to business specialist, assistant branch manager, at Westfield Bank. She will be based at the branch at 1342 Liberty St. in Springfield.
For the past 31 years she has worked in the banking industry, holding multiple roles in local community banks and credit unions including branch manager and mortgage loan officer positions. Buxton holds a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Westfield State University.
Buxton serves as a chairperson on the Chicopee Parks and Rec Commission and Chicopee Athletic Hall of Fame Committee and is treasurer for the Cigars4Soldiers Committee and a member of the Holyoke St Patrick’s Parade Road Race Committee.
In 2013, Buxton received the president’s award at a local community bank, recognizing her outstanding performance and customer service. The following year, she received the Paul Harris Honoree award from the Rotary Club of Chicopee.
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