SPRINGFIELD — Brand development firm Six-Point Creative has added Allie Egan-Sherry to its creative department, where she will serve as senior copywriter.
Egan-Sherry joined Six-Point in June and assumes responsibility for a wide range of writing and editing projects, from developing brand voice to social media messaging. She comes to Six-Point from Merriam-Webster in Springfield, where she was online marketing coordinator and managed the writing and production of many materials, including the company’s Word of the Day email newsletter.
Egan-Sherry has also worked for the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce and Universal Health & Fitness, where she was assistant manager and marketing coordinator. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication and culture from Clark University. She is a lifelong resident of Northampton.
EASTHAMPTON — Hometown Financial Group Inc., the holding company for bankESB, Easthampton, and bankHometown, Oxford, and Pilgrim Bancshares Inc., have jointly announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement in which Hometown Financial Group Inc. will acquire Pilgrim Bancshares Inc.
Pilgrim Bancshares is the parent company of Pilgrim Bank, a $263 million Massachusetts-chartered cooperative bank with branches located in the Massachusetts communities of Cohasset and Marion.
Under the terms of the agreement, shareholders of Pilgrim Bancshares will receive $23 in cash per share. The total transaction value is approximately $53.9 million. The merger consideration represents an estimated 151 percent of Pilgrim Bancshares tangible book value as of March 31, 2018. The transaction is expected to close early in the first quarter of 2019.
Hometown Financial Group will maintain Pilgrim Bank as a separate banking subsidiary and does not expect to close any Pilgrim Bank branch offices in connection with the transaction.
BOSTON — Citizens Bank and necn are accepting applications for the first Champions in Action of 2019, this time in the youth leadership category. The Champions in Action program provides financial, volunteer and public relations support to nonprofits.
Nonprofit organizations or partnerships delivering Youth Leadership programming are invited to apply for the Champions award to be announced in January 2019. Applications can be completed online at http://www.citizensbank.com/community/champions and must be submitted by Aug. 17 at 5 p.m.
AMHERST — Stephen Harris, professor in the department of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has been awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Research Chair in Arts and Social Sciences for North America through Fulbright Canada. Harris will spend the 2018-19 academic year at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario.
Working in the area of natural language processing, Harris will spend his Fulbright year developing computer tools to investigate literary language and form in the earliest stages of the English language. When he returns to UMass Amherst in 2019, he will offer a course on data science for the humanities.
Harris specializes in Old English, medieval Latin poetry, early medieval Christianity and historical linguistics. A graduate of Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Harris holds an master’s degree from the University of Ottawa and a doctorate from Loyola University Chicago.
NORTHAMPTON — Marin Goldstein has been tapped to lead electricity and renewable energy programs at HCG as director of energy operations, sales and innovation. In his new role, he will oversee Hampshire Power, Hampshire Renewables and HCG’s Renewable Energy Credit brokerage program.
Marin brings with him over 10 years of management experience in both business and nonprofit sectors. He also currently serves on the energy committee for the city of Easthampton, formerly as chairman.
Marin comes to HCG after three years in operations management and solar advocacy at Trinity Solar.
Prior to that, he managed public education campaigns on renewable energy and energy efficiency, and developed community partnerships across Western Massachusetts, at the Center for EcoTechnology.
In addition to expanding Hampshire Power, Marin will run the Hampshire Renewables net metering program, which offers 15 percent savings to electricity customers in western Massachusetts.
He will also grow the renewable energy credit brokerage service, which currently manages over $9.7 million worth of energy credits behalf of over 1,500 local renewable energy system owners.