Griggs among 29 nationwide to receive Jazz Journalists Association recognition

NORTHAMPTON—Northampton Jazz Festival Board President Ruth Griggs has been named a Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalists Association in its 25th annual recognition of “activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz” across the United States.

Griggs has led the Northampton Jazz Festival since 2017, when she reformed the festival board, reinstated its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and planned the first festival since 2015, which took place in 2018 at various venues throughout downtown Northampton. 

The Jazz Journalists Association, convened in 1987, is a nonprofit organization with 250 international members that provides creative and educational resources to individuals that forward the great American art form known as jazz. The association offers events, podcasts, webinars, promotional and educational resources, and master classes to musicians, promoters, educators, broadcasters, journalists, photographers and writers in the genre of jazz. 

Since 2001, the Jazz Journalists Association has identified and hailed individuals from local jazz communities across America who go beyond their basic responsibilities to sustain and expand on musical activities. The association believes Jazz Heroes are essential to the health of the overall jazz ecosystem and supports local efforts to celebrate them. The 2025 Jazz Heroes campaign is concurrent with the 30th Annual Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards for jazz musicians. 

Griggs, of Northampton, was also named a Difference Maker by BusinessWest in 2022 for her decades-long career as a marketing strategist and her leadership of the Northampton Jazz Festival, which has become a respected organization, attracting thousands to downtown Northampton each September.

A virtual gala celebrating the 29 Jazz Heroes of 2025 will be held on April 17, and an in-person presentation of Griggs’ Jazz Hero certificate will be held locally at a later date.

Past association award winners in the greater Connecticut River Valley region include Tom Reney, host of NEPM’s Jazz a la Mode, who received the Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Award for Career Excellence in Broadcasting in 2019, and Eugene Uman and Elsa Borrero, director and co-director of the Vermont Jazz Center, named Jazz Heroes in 2024. More about this year’s Jazz Heroes can be found at: news.jazzjournalists.org/29-jazz-heroes-across-north-america/

Said Griggs, “I am honored and humbled to stand alongside this impressive group of national Jazz Heroes—many of whom are my own heroes for all they do ‘to preserve and perpetuate this great American art form,’ to quote Max Roach.”

The Northampton Jazz Festival is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation founded in 2011 and is funded by local businesses, organizations, foundations and individuals which makes it possible to provide free live music to the general public. The Festival is September 26 and 27, with several other jazz events planned in May, June and September. For more information about the Northampton Jazz Festival, visit northamptonjazzfest.org or email info@northamptonjazzfest.org.

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GILFORD—Patrick’s has been voted the 2024 Best Burger in the Lakes Region in New Hampshire Magazine’s Best of NH Poll. 

Over 17,000 people voted, and Patrick’s half-pound Angus burger has topped the charts. The perfect ratio of Angus short rib, beef brisket and chuck is grilled to order on the flat-top grill, sealing in those delicious flavors and juices. The patty is typically nestled in a buttery brioche bun and is infinitely customizable. 

“Our burgers are large, flavorful and consistently delicious,” said Executive Chef Rick Morten.

The most popular is Patrick’s All-American Burger, topped with melted American cheese, crispy hickory smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, house-made pickles and roasted garlic aioli on a grilled brioche bun. 

While those classic burger combinations are staples on Patrick’s diverse menu, Morten loves to get creative and experiment with unique flavors from around the world. His recent creation—the Thai Burger— layered with house-smoked pork belly, house-made Thai cucumbers, pickled red onions and Sriracha aioli —sold out fast on the daily specials menu.

Morten is proud of staff who made winning this award possible. “We have a great team in the kitchen. Our staff have been working here a long time. That provides passion and consistency our guests can count on,” Morten said.

General Manager Megan Page is thankful to all of the restaurant’s satisfied guests who cast their vote. “We take pride in every dish we serve,” Page said. “This is a big win for our kitchen, and we are grateful to everyone who tasted our burgers and loved them enough to vote.”

For more information on Patrick’s or to take a peek at the menu, visit patrickspub.com.

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It Takes a Village, Dr. Martin Wohl, and Greenfield Savings Bank celebrated

NORTHAMPTON—United Way of the Franklin and Hampshire Region held its annual meeting online last week, offering two awards in partnership with the Daily Hampshire Gazette and three awards from the United Way alone.

The United Way’s Kay Sheehan Spirit of the Community Award was presented to It Takes a Village, a nonprofit in Huntington. The Community Champion Award went to Dr. Martin Wohl, a dentist from Northampton who is a longtime global and local activist and advocate, and Greenfield Savings Bank was named the 2022 Workplace Champion.

In conjunction with the Daily Hampshire Gazette, United Way honored Robin Bialecki, executive director of the Easthampton Community Center, as the 2022 Person of the Year, and Lilly Fellows, of Orange, was named the Young Community Leader.

“Our annual meeting is always a wonderful opportunity for us to express gratitude to our partner agencies, donors, volunteers, and the community at large, and we are honored to also be able to present awards to activists in the community who offer so much support and ask for nothing in return,” said Geoff Naunheim, United Way’s interim executive director.

Before offering the awards during the lunchtime Zoom meeting, outgoing Executive Director John Bidwell gave a brief overview of the year in review, and Naunheim offered a look ahead.

Bidwell talked about the highlights and efficiencies of the recent merger between the Franklin and Hampshire county United Ways and said the increased need brought on the agency by the pandemic may be beginning to ease. “That doesn’t mean our work is done,” he said. “Agencies continue to face shortages and continue to scramble to find donations, items, and volunteers. The needs have not abated.”

Naunheim gave an overview of upcoming fundraising campaigns and recognitions.

Claire Higgins, executive director of Community Action Pioneer Valley, presented the Kay Sheehan Spirit of the Community Award to It Takes a Village, a United Way partner agency that encourages and supports parents and caregivers in developing their own postpartum networks, decreasing the isolation that is common in rural areas, and improving connection to communities.

The agency also provides family resource kits containing safety supplies and information, provides families with specialized car seat loans for premature infants, and it operates a Home Visit Program and The Village Closet in Huntington, this year’s winner of the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network’s Nonprofit Excellence Award in the Small Nonprofit category. 

In the past two years, largely due to the pandemic, It Takes a Village saw a dramatic increase in need as families ran into COVID-19-related challenges due to missed work and lack of childcare.

“The school site housing The Village Closet program in Cummington was shut down,” Higgins said. “Within a matter of days, they transformed the program into a delivery-only model that focused on their most high-risk families. The first month of this new model resulted in over 80 deliveries to homebound and hospitalized clients. That number was double the total number of deliveries in 2019.”

The Community Champion Award, presented to a local individual or group that contributes to the United Way mission and creates positive, lasting change in Franklin and/or Hampshire counties, was presented to Dr. Martin Wohl by his daughter, Dr. Carina Wohl. 

Carina told meeting attendees that her father’s long history of service began in Washington, DC, in 1975, when he co-founded the Georgetown University School of Dentistry Children’s Dental Education Program. Two years later, Marty Wohl was commissioned as the founding dental director for the National Health Service Corps at Hope Medical-Dental Center in Estancia, New Mexico, where he worked for three years.

In 1981, Wohl and his wife, Marisa Labozetta, moved to the Valley, and Wohl was the founding dental director of the Worthington Health Center, which became the Hilltown Community Health Center. Later, Marty started the Wohl Family Dentistry in Northampton.

Wohl has led dental missions in Ecuador, served as adjunct clinical instructor and consultant for six years at the Dental Hygiene and Sciences Department of Springfield Technical Community College, led the Valley District Dental Society as chair, and he has been involved for two decades with United Way’s dental campaign.

“It is no surprise that Dad’s community support extends to other local organizations,” Carina Wohl said. “He is co-founder and endowment chair of the Northampton Education Foundation Endowment. He advises Grow Food Northampton, Center for New Americans, and Abundance Farm as well as a member of Local Roots Care, a giving group especially concerning sustainable food supply. In 2007, Wohl was given the Northampton Community Enrichment Award.”

Molly Mead, a United Way board member, presented the Workplace Champion award for running an exemplary United Way workplace campaign to Greenfield Savings Bank.

A longtime supporter of United Way, Greenfield Savings Bank has continually placed employees on United Way boards and committees and donated over $600,000 in the past decade. 

The bank made a generous gift of $10,000 to match the first 100 donors of $100 in June for the United Way’s 2022 $100,000 in Our 100th Year Campaign.

“These gifts are crucial, but giving back to the community is much more than cutting checks for Greenfield Savings Bank,” Mead said. “The bank shows up. It is common to see bank staff at events across the community. They are visible. They ask questions. They listen. They help.”

To learn more about United Way of the Franklin & Hampshire Region, its partners and mission, visit uw-fh.org.

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Event scheduled for March 10 at Look Memorial Park

FLORENCE—When parents believe their child is headed down the wrong path, they often panic. That’s why it’s essential to have organizations like the CARE Coalition of West Springfield. As a nonprofit focused on the prevention of youth substance abuse, staff there can answer questions, provide recommendations, and tell parents where to get help.

Since the organization was founded in 2014, it’s gathered data on youth drug access, drug use, and established ways to decrease risk factors and help young people make healthy choices.

For the first time this year, the coalition will receive a $1,232 grant from Florence Bank through its Customers’ Choice Community Grants Program during the 18th annual event Tuesday, March 10 at the Garden House at Look Park from 5 to 7 p.m.   

This year, 57 nonprofits will receive an award as Florence Bank tops the $1.2 million mark in grants it’s presented to community organizations over nearly two decades.

“We’re extremely honored to have been chosen by the customers of Florence Bank to receive the funds,” said Nikki Lewis, the coordinator at CARE Coalition. “We feel this is the start of an incredible partnership with Florence Bank. We are always looking to enhance community relationships. This is an incredible opportunity.”

The Customers’ Choice Community Grants Program is an annual offering founded in 2002, through which Florence Bank customers are invited to vote for their favorite local nonprofit in hopes it will receive a share of grant funding. 

To qualify for a community grant, organizations must receive at least 50 votes. In 2019, over 11,000 votes were cast, and 57 nonprofits will accept a grant award at the celebratory event, with the total amount to be presented at $100,000.

Ten organizations that received between 40 and 49 votes were also invited to attend to be in a drawing for one additional $500 award. 

Florence Bank’s former president and outgoing CEO, John Heaps Jr., who will retire in May, will be there alongside Florence Bank’s new president, Kevin Day. 

This year, the grant program tops the $1.2 million mark in terms of grants made to community nonprofits over almost two decades. “It will be an especially memorable night for me,” Heaps said. “My late wife, Jane, suggested this program, and I will be proud to attend my last awards event. It is always tremendously rewarding to meet the people behind the organizations and to hear firsthand about the good work they are doing in our communities.”

Day, who has attended the event for the past 11 years, is thrilled to preside over his first Customers’ Choice ceremony as president. “I look forward to the event every year,” he said. “I value the program’s contribution to the community, and I’m committed to its continuation and growth.” 

Lewis said her organization has several specific efforts that the grant funds could support, such as studying where youths are accessing drugs and alcohol; providing educational programs like panel discussions and developing presentations on trends and resources for parents. 

“It’s important that our efforts are community driven,” Lewis said, adding that the community will have a voice in determining the direction the coalition goes. “We want to take time to hear from the community, look at data and see what’s most appropriate for our community at this time.”

Lewis said she and the CARE Coalition first learned about Florence Bank when the bank opened the first branch in Hampden County, in West Springfield, several years ago. Coalition staff learned later about the Customers’ Choice program and actively took part. 

“The work we’ve seen Florence Bank doing in the community is really powerful and makes a strong difference,” she said. “We’re extremely grateful to have the bank here in Hampden County as one of our community partners.”

The following organizations received more than 50 customer votes and will receive an award at the event: Dakin Humane Society, Cancer Connection, Friends of the Williamsburg Libraries, Northampton Survival Center, Friends of Forbes Library, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County, Amherst Survival Center, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, Friends of Lilly Library, Our Lady of the Hills Parish, Williamsburg Firefighter Association, New Hingham Elementary School Parent-Teacher Organization, Northampton High School Parent-Teacher Organization, BARC, Inc., Northampton Senior Center, Grow Food Northampton, Safe Passage, The Friends of Northampton Legion Baseball, MANNA Soup Kitchen, Kestrel Land Trust, Northampton Community Music Center, Hospice of the Fisher Home, Children First Enterprises, Inc., Community Action Pioneer Valley, Easthampton Elementary Schools Parent-Teacher Organization, Belchertown Firefighters Association, Jackson Street School Parent-Teacher Organization, Granby Senior Center, Bright Spot Therapy Dogs, Northampton Neighbors, Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School, Belchertown Police K-9 Unit, Historic Northampton, RK Finn Ryan Road School, Friends of M.N. Spear Memorial Library, Friends of Clapp Memorial Library, Easthampton Community Center, Edward Hopkins Educational Foundation, It Takes a Village, Amherst Regional Public Schools Parent Guardian Organization, Tapestry Health Systems, Cub Scout Pack 705 (Chesterfield), Mass Audubon’s Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuaries, Whole Children, Hitchcock Center for the Environment, Belchertown Band Boosters, Williamsburg Grange #225, Smith Vocational & Agricultural High School Parent-Teacher Organization, Riverside Industries, Inc., Pelham Elementary Parent-Teacher Organization, Emily Williston Memorial Library, Belchertown Public Schools, Cooley Dickinson VNA & Hospice, Amherst Neighbors, Granby Preservation Society, The Hartsbrook School.

The Customers’ Choice Community Grants program is a year-long initiative. Customers’ of the bank can vote via paper ballots at each bank branch location or online at https://www.florencebank.com/vote. 

Florence Bank has branches in Amherst, Belchertown, Easthampton, Granby, Hadley, Northampton, Williamsburg, West Springfield, and Springfield, and it is headquartered in Florence. 

Florence Bank is a mutually-owned savings bank chartered in 1873. Currently, the bank serves the Pioneer Valley through 11 full-service branch locations in Florence, Northampton, Easthampton, Williamsburg, Amherst, Hadley, Belchertown, Granby, West Springfield, and Springfield. Additionally, they offer 26 ATMs and a wide range of financial services including investment management through FSB Financial Group (FSBFG) to consumers and businesses.  Florence Bank is consistently voted best local bank by the readers of the Valley Advocate and the Daily Hampshire Gazette.  

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Third Party Lender of the Year honor acknowledges bank’s support of small businesses

FLORENCE—Florence Bank was recently recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) as the Western Massachusetts Third Party Lender of the Year for loans the bank administers to small businesses in the area.

Michael A. Davey and Erin Couture, both vice presidents / commercial loan officers with the bank, accepted the award on Nov. 8 at an event held during SBA’s Annual Meeting at Clark University in Worcester.

Davey explained that third party loans, called SBA 504 loans, are offered by the bank in collaboration with Certified Development Corporations such as Granite State Development Corporation, Bay Colony Development Corporation, and BDC Capital / CDC New England. 

“The SBA recognizes that small business owners sometimes have more difficulty getting traditional real estate financing, yet owning their own real estate is essential to growth,” said Michael J. Lynch, senior vice president / senior commercial loan officer. “Having real estate assets gives small business owners more of a stake in the community and allows them to build equity. The community gets the benefit of additional jobs, business growth, and tax revenues from a growing small business.”

Davey said the program allows small business owners who might be lacking the traditional 20 percent down payment to purchase business property with only 10 percent down. “It also reduces the bank’s exposure to risk,” he added.

“The 504 loan program supports the growth of small businesses,” he added. “It allows Florence Bank to help promote entrepreneurs and overall economic growth in the region. Small businesses are critical to our local economy.”

Florence Bank has branches in Amherst, Belchertown, Easthampton, Granby, Hadley, Northampton, Williamsburg, West Springfield, and Springfield, and it is headquartered in Florence. 

Florence Bank is a mutually-owned savings bank chartered in 1873. Currently, the bank serves the Pioneer Valley through 11 full-service branch locations in Florence, Northampton, Easthampton, Williamsburg, Amherst, Hadley, Belchertown, Granby, West Springfield, and a new branch located on Allen Street in Springfield. Additionally, they offer 26 ATMs and a wide range of financial services including investment management through FSB Financial Group (FSBFG) to consumers and businesses.  Florence Bank is consistently voted best local bank by the readers of the Valley Advocate and the Daily Hampshire Gazette. 

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FLORENCE—Florence Bank recently announced that Justin LaMontagne of Belchertown and Jennifer Halpin of Easthampton were named the recipients of its 2019 President’s Award.

The President’s Award is a tradition established by the bank in 1995, affording employees opportunities to nominate their peers for this prestigious award that recognizes outstanding performance, customer service and overall contribution to Florence Bank.  LaMontagne and Halpin were nominated by numerous colleagues at Florence Bank.

LaMontagne is an information technology specialist at the main headquarters and has been with Florence Bank for two years. He is a graduate of Branford Hall Career Institute and the New England Institute of Art.

Halpin is the employee relationship manager at the main headquarters and has been with Florence Bank for four years. Halpin received her associate degree in business administration from Berkshire Community College and received a bachelor’s degree in management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

John F. Heaps, Jr., president and CEO of Florence Bank said, “Jennifer and Justin showcase how hard work and determination truly pay off. Their peers have praised their dedication, enthusiasm and the impressive skill-set they bring to their respective jobs each day.”

About Florence Bank

Florence Bank is a mutually-owned savings bank chartered in 1873. Currently, the bank serves the Pioneer Valley through 11 full-service branch locations in Florence, Northampton, Easthampton, Williamsburg, Amherst, Hadley, Belchertown, Granby, West Springfield and a new branch located on Allen Street in Springfield. Additionally, it offers 28 ATMs and a wide range of financial services including investment management through FSB Financial Group (FSBFG) to consumers and businesses.  Florence Bank is consistently voted best local bank by the readers of the Valley Advocate and the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

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FLORENCE—Florence Bank recently announced that Bruce Holley of Northampton and Kimberly Jennison of Florence have been named recipients of the President’s Club Award for 2019.

The President’s Club program affords employees opportunities to nominate their peers for the honor, which recognizes superior performance, customer service, and overall contribution to Florence Bank.  

Holley, an ebanking technology specialist in the main office’s eBanking Department, joined Florence Bank in 2015 and has 20 years of technology experience. Holley is a Springfield Technical Community College graduate and serves his community as a member of the Board of Directors for the Therapeutic Equestrian Center of Holyoke.

Jennison, a customer service specialist in the main office’s Customer Service Center, joined Florence Bank in 2014 and has nine years of banking experience.

John F. Heaps, Jr., president and CEO of Florence Bank, said, “Kim and Bruce have been reliable assets to our organization since day one. Their energy is boundless, and their ability to encourage their teams is admirable. Bruce and Kim are the consummate employees to be named to the President’s Club.”

About Florence Bank

Florence Bank is a mutually-owned savings bank chartered in 1873. Currently, the bank serves the Pioneer Valley through 11 full-service branch locations in Florence, Northampton, Easthampton, Williamsburg, Amherst, Hadley, Belchertown, Granby, West Springfield and a new branch located on Allen Street in Springfield. Additionally, the bank offers 28 ATMs and a wide range of financial services including investment management through FSB Financial Group (FSBFG) to consumers and businesses.  Florence Bank is consistently voted best local bank by the readers of the Valley Advocate and the Daily Hampshire Gazette.  

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Award to be received in Washington, D.C., on April 26

NORTHAMPTON—Resident Deb “Debin” Bruce, who has worked for the National Transportation Safety Board since 1996, received the organization’s highest award during a ceremony on Thursday, April 26 in the NTSB board room at L’Enfant Plaza in Washington, D.C.

The Chairman’s Award, an annual achievement presented to an NTSB staff member, is a career award recognizing Bruce’s more than two decades of service in transportation safety, during which she has investigated and made recommendations on high-profile aviation, marine and highway crashes.

Career highlights have included investigating a fatal Tesla crash in Florida in May 2016; exploring the shortcomings of vehicle automation and offering safety enhancements.

“I’m very proud of joining the other noteworthy people in history who have earned the Chairman’s Award by leaving their mark on transportation safety,” Bruce said.

Bruce is a human factors engineer for the NTSB; she studies the interface between humans and the technology they use, whether that technology is automated or manual. Her specialty is in studying human error, deducing how humans misuse technology and how that technology could be adapted for enhanced safety.

“Safety recommendations are the dollars and cents of my work,” Bruce explained.

Some of Bruce’s insights have resulted in crucial industry change. Her recommendation to put rudders on jet skis to increase control changed the vehicles’ design approach more than a decade ago. She was also instrumental in: enacting a requirement that all new commercial buses, manufactured after 2016, have seat belts; and in enacting regulations making it illegal for commercial truck drivers to use their hand-held cell phones on the road.

Currently, Bruce is keenly focused on pedestrian safety, including the risks regarding automated vehicles. She recently was involved in the launch of a team to investigate a March 18 pedestrian fatality involving a self-driving Uber car in Tempe, Arizona.

First hired by the NTSB in 1996 in the Research and Engineering Office, Bruce worked in Washington, D.C. She was promoted to run the Safety Studies Division in 2000, and in 2006, she became one of the first federal employees from that office to telecommute when she moved to Northampton and began working here remotely.

Bruce’s work involves accepting assignments to investigate calamities through the NTSB’s Office of Highway Safety, and these often involve extensive travel.

“Our role is to take crashes of national interest, and conduct thorough and independent investigations of those events,” Bruce said of the NTSB. “I go out with a team under one of two assignments: either as investigator in charge, leading the different staff specialists to collect evidence; or as a project manager watching the on-scene evidence collection with the future assignment to write the report that culminates the project.”

“We study an unsafe event to make recommendations to keep the same situation from happening again,” she explained.

Much of the NTSB’s focus in the past five years has been on automated vehicles that have evolved from having cruise control that monitors speed, to adaptive cruise control that allows a car to slow to meet the speed of the vehicle in front of it, to more modern features that allow a car to stay in its own lane or stop on its own.

The May 2016 Tesla crash was the first known fatality involving vehicle automation, and Bruce was assigned to be the investigator in charge as well as the project manager responsible for writing the report. The accident, in which a Tesla drove under an 18-wheel vehicle, was caused in part by the Tesla driver’s inattention due to overreliance on the Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer lane-keeping systems.

“The ultimate hope is that automated vehicles will take human error out of the equation,” Bruce said. “Human error is the overwhelming cause of crashes, and automation is the safety approach that people think will solve traffic problems. If we don’t turn our back on automation over the next decade, I think it can, but it could be very messy between now and then. In 2018, we need to limit automated operations to the conditions they were designed.”

The safety board has a 50-year history of working in aviation safety that Bruce describes as a clear success. But today, Bruce said transportation safety must focus on highway travel, where there are approximately 37,000 deaths per year nationwide compared to a few hundred in aviation.

Bruce is originally from Hopkinsville, Kentucky. She earned an associate’s degree in science at Hopkinsville Community College, a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Western Kentucky University, a master’s degree in communications from the University of Kentucky, and a master’s and doctorate in human factors engineering from George Mason University.

Her career began in Washington, D.C., working for the National Aeronautics and Space Association performing technical communications work, such as writing conference proceedings and producing technical brochures for satellites. She was a Federal Aviation Administration contractor for about 10 years, working on air traffic control training projects before returning to college studies that would become the basis for her work at NTSB.

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FLORENCE—Florence Bank announced recently that Teresa Wurszt, of Chicopee, was named to the President’s Club for 2018.

The honor recognizes superior performance, customer service and overall contribution to Florence Bank.  

Wurszt, an assistant commercial loan administration manager in the main office in Florence, joined Florence Bank in 2015. With nearly 20 years of banking experience, she was praised by her colleagues for her knowledge, collaboration and dedicated work ethic.

John F. Heaps, Jr., President and CEO of Florence Bank said, “We are lucky to have Teresa on the Florence Bank team. Her commitment to the bank is admirable, and her positive attitude and ability to motivate others is inspiring. Teresa is a perfect fit for the esteemed President’s Club.”

About Florence Bank

Florence Bank is a mutually-owned savings bank chartered in 1873. Currently, the Bank serves the Pioneer Valley through 9 full-service branch locations in Florence, Northampton, Easthampton, Williamsburg, Amherst, Hadley, Belchertown and Granby as well as through 27 ATMs and a new full-service Banking Center in West Springfield.  Florence Bank offers a wide range of financial services including investment management through FSB Financial Group (FSBFG) to consumers and businesses.  Florence Bank is consistently voted best local bank by the readers of the Valley Advocate and the Daily Hampshire Gazette.  John F. Heaps Jr. is the Bank’s President and Chief Executive Officer. Main headquarters are at 85 Main Street, Florence, MA 01062. For additional information about the Bank or its services please visit www.florencebank.com or call 413.586.1300.

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FLORENCE—Florence Bank announced recently that Dean Brown, of Florence, was named to the President’s Club for 2018.

The honor recognizes superior performance, customer service and overall contribution to Florence Bank.  

Brown, a card operations specialist in the Operations Department in the main branch in Florence, began work at Florence Bank in 2008.

John F. Heaps, Jr., President and CEO of Florence Bank said, “For 10 years, Dean has been a reliable asset to our organization.  His energy is boundless and his ability to encourage others is admirable. Dean is the consummate employee to be named to the President’s Club.”

About Florence Bank

Florence Bank is a mutually-owned savings bank chartered in 1873. Currently, the Bank serves the Pioneer Valley through nine full-service branch locations in Florence, Northampton, Easthampton, Williamsburg, Amherst, Hadley, Belchertown and Granby as well as through 27 ATMs and a new full-service Banking Center in West Springfield.  Florence Bank offers a wide range of financial services including investment management through FSB Financial Group (FSBFG) to consumers and businesses.  Florence Bank is consistently voted best local bank by the readers of the Valley Advocate and the Daily Hampshire Gazette.  John F. Heaps Jr. is the Bank’s President and Chief Executive Officer. Main headquarters are at 85 Main Street, Florence, MA 01062. For additional information about the Bank or its services please visit www.florencebank.com or call 413.586.1300.

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