AXiA Charitable Fund donates to nonprofits

AXiA Insurance Services, through its Charitable Fund, recently supported two nonprofit organizations in the Pioneer Valley, with a combined donation total of $32,500.

The recipients included Look Memorial Park in Florence, and Hope for Youth and Families Foundation in Springfield.

As an annual Look Park Community Partner, the gift was directed to park upkeep and provision of staffed activities, available to all who attend the grounds. Additionally, this includes subsidized access for day and season passes to low-income families.

Hope for Youth and Families Foundation allocated their donation to some of its summer programming, assisting disadvantaged youth participants in career and college exploration programs to promote their future, successful sustainability.

Since its establishment in 2022, The AXiA Charitable Fund, based in West Springfield, has supported 15 nonprofits in the communities it serves.

Edward Jones adds financial advisor

NORTHAMPTON — Edward Jones Financial Advisor Laura Townes has hired a new financial advisor Jennifer Ewers to join her office in Northampton.

The branch office is located at 6 Market St.

Edward Jones is a leading financial services firm in the U.S. and through its affiliate in Canada.

UMass food scientist wins life sciences prize

AMHERST — University of Massachusetts food scientist Lynne McLandsborough has won the 2024 Mahoney Life Sciences Prize for her research that offers a solution to a sticky sanitation and food safety dilemma hounding the peanut butter and chocolate industries.

McLandsborough is in talks with Mars, the world’s largest chocolate manufacturer, and J.M. Smucker, the owner of Jif peanut butter, to test her novel “dry” sanitation method in peanut butter and chocolate pilot plant facilities, and she has filed a patent application on the innovation.

McLandsborough, who, in addition to her role as professor, also serves as the interim associate vice chancellor for research and engagement and interim director of the Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (CAFE).

Her lab’s discovery holds promise to make sanitizing facilities processing low-moisture foods more efficient while improving food safety and reducing bacterial illness outbreaks.

Richard Mahoney, former CEO and chairman of Monsanto, established the Mahoney Life Sciences Prize in 2018 with his brothers, Robert and William. The Mahoney brothers received their chemistry degrees from UMass Amherst and went on to become leaders in their own industries. They have served as high-level alumni advisers to UMass Amherst and as mentors to students.

The annual competition seeks scientists in the College of Natural Sciences who are engaged in high-impact life sciences research that addresses a significant challenge and advances collaboration between researchers and industry. Following a review by an expert panel of life-science-industry scientists and executives, the $25,000 prize is awarded to one faculty member who is the principal author of peer-reviewed research that meets the goals of the Mahoney Life Sciences Prize.

Two GSB mortgage lenders recognized

Greenfield Savings Bank mortgage officers Misty Lyons and Katya Krasnova have been recognized as “2023 Top Loan Originators” in western Massachusetts by Banker & Tradesman, a financial industry publication that tracks banking and real-estate activity in Massachusetts.

Lyons has been recognized as the Number 3 Top Loan Originator by dollar volume. She joined the bank in 2019 and works out of the GSB Amherst office at 6 University Drive and covers all of Hampshire County.

Krasnova is the Number 4 Top Loan Originator by number of loans. Katya joined the bank in 2016, covers Franklin County and works out of the GSB Greenfield office at 400 Main St.

In 2023, Greenfield Savings Bank was also the Number One Purchase Mortgage Lender in Hampshire County and, for the 22nd year in row, was the Number One Mortgage Lender in Franklin County, according to Bankers & Tradesmen.

HCC welcomes first VP of people, culture and equity

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Community College recently welcomed Marlowe Washington as its first vice president of people, culture and equity.

In this executive-level position, Washington serves as a strategic partner to President George Timmons, the HCC Cabinet, and all campus constituencies to advance culture, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Washington comes to HCC following his work as the inaugural senior diversity officer at St. John Fisher University in Rochester, New York, where he oversaw the continuation of the university’s efforts supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Washington recently moved to Springfield, but maintains a residence in Rochester, where he is pastor of the Agape Fellowship United Methodist Church.

He started his position at HCC on Monday, July 8.

In his role, Washington will oversee the Human Resources department, Title IX (federal prohibition against sex and gender discrimination), the college’s Affirmative Action officer and interim executive director of diversity, equity, and inclusion.