07/29/11 Holyoke - Republican Photo by Mark M.Murray - Sean R. Wandrei, a member of the young professionals society, shown here at his office at Meyers Brothers Kalicka in Holyoke.

SPRINGFIELD – Call it youthful exuberance or just plain old American pluck, Massachusetts young people are convinced that good times are right around the corner, according to survey results compiled by the MassINC polling group.

Forty percent of people ages 18 to 29 told pollsters that the next five years would bring “good times.” That’s compared with just 24 percent of their 30- to 44-year-old counterparts, 33 percent of those ages 45 to 59 and 31 percent of those age 60 plus.

Of course, 42 percent of those ages 18 to 29 predicted “widespread unemployment or depression.”

But that was the lowest percentage of any age group to take that dystopian an outlook.

Sixty-three percent of those ages 30 to 44 said there would be widespread unemployment, 55 percent of those ages 45 to 59 and 56 percent of those 60 plus took that negative view. The others either said they didn’t know or picked “mixed.”

When asked about business conditions In just the next year, 48 percent of those 18 to 29 said “good times” compared with 32 percent of those 30 to 44 years old, 33 percent of those 45 to 59 years old and just 28 percent of those 60 plus.

Boston-based MassINC, or Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth, does a statewide phone survey on economic issues every three months. This one, conducted back in April, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

“Overall it is just interesting to see that young people are feeling more optimistic than their older counterparts,” said Steven M. Koczela, president of the MassINC Polling Group. “They are coming out into a job market that is not welcoming them with open arms.”

A possible explanation is that the eldest person in that age demographic was just 19 years old when the terrorist attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. That means they have come of age in a much more uncertain world both economically and politically.

“There were some good years in there, but pretty much all they’ve known were bad times and they have made the best of it,” Koczela said.

He said the trend is important for the state because optimistic young people are the ones who will start new businesses and help grow the state’s economy.

At 37, Sean R. Wandrei is out of MassINC’s “young people” demographic. But he is the treasurer of the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield and he sees the optimism among young entrepreneurs every time the chapter’s hosts a get together.

“I really think there is this feeling out there that things are getting better,” he said. “And that’s what Young Professionals is for, to get younger people excited about the Pioneer Valley.”

A certified public accountant at Meyers Brothers Kalicka in Holyoke, Wandrei said he’s seen companies close or merge. But the ones that have survived the downturn thus far will likely stay in business.

“I don’t want to say thrive,” he said. “But they will be here in the future.”

But then, Wandrei looks at unemployment stats that have remained persistently high. Springfield’s unemployment was 12 percent June. That’s compared with 8.9 percent for Springfield and its surrounding towns included. Statewide unemployment was 7.8 percent in June, up from 7.4 percent in May. The national average, which is also seasonally adjusted, was 9.2 percent for June.

“You look at that and wonder if it is false optimism,” Wandrei said.

The MassINC poll also found that Western and Central Massachusetts residents were less optimistic about the economy regardless of age when compared with people who live in other regions of Massachusetts.

Only 22 percent of the Western and Central Massachusetts residents polled about the economy in five years said “good times” versus 23 percent for Southeast Massachusetts, 38 percent for the outer Boston suburbs and 37 percent for Boston and its inner suburbs.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Western Massachusetts is known for its great colleges and quality education however young professionals often leave the area in search for employment elsewhere.

They say many young people are attracted to schools like UMass Amherst and the Western New England College. The problem is that after they graduate, job opportunities in Boston, New York and other urban areas draw them away.

So young professional groups are brainstorming with lawmakers on ways to make Western Massachusetts a more attractive place to live and work.

“We can continue to stress innovation with the Holyoke computer center coming online and the technical high school data coming on. We can stress the tech sector,” said Jack Toner, director of the Springfield Young Professionals Society Board.

“We’re working on legislation with the gate way cities caucus, trying to come up with ideas to help cities such as Springfield and Holyoke and Chicopee and Westfield to help them with programs to retain businesses and actually attract businesses in Western Mass,” said Senator James Welch of West Springfield.

Young professionals add that public safety is also a concern. They want crime and poverty reduced to make Springfield a safer place to work and raise young families.

Sheraton Springfield
Monarch Place
December 31, 2010
8PM-2AM

The evening includes:

• Social Hour 8-9pm and an amazing full dinner
• Buffet 9-10pm – The Menu is available on the website: www.springfieldyps.com
• New Band this year called Hot House and DJ 10pm – 2am
• Photo Opportunity all night
• Champagne Toast at Midnight
• Complimentary Souvenir Champagne Glass
• Continental Breakfast after midnight
• Goody Bags stuffed with treats for each guest
• And MUCH more to be announced!

Tickets are On Sale NOW!
One ticket – $70
Two tickets – $130
One ticket and a room – $175 + tax
Two tickets and a room – $230 + tax

NO TICKETS WILL BE SOLD AT THE DOOR.
ALL TICKET SALES ARE FINAL.

There is limited reserved seating for larger groups of six or more. This is based on first come, first served.

For more details about this event, you can contact Jill Monson at jilmonson2828@gmail.com .

By JIM KINNEY – MassLive.com – Thursday October 11, 2009

SPRINGFIELD – The population of young college-educated professionals is growing very slowly in Massachusetts, according to a report issued by the New England Public Policy Center, part of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

And that slow growth could slow the growth of the region’s economy, warns the Boston Fed.

“You need people buying homes, you need people working and you need people with kids in the school system,” said Karen J. Buell, 27, who is Internet branch manger for PeoplesBank.

Buell is also vice president of Northampton Area Young Professionals, which along with a sister group, the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield, works to give young professionals opportunities to make business and social connections.

A video developed by Western Massachusetts Economic Development Corp. will showcase the area to out-of-market professionals who might be considering a move, says 39-year-old Jeffrey I. Fialky, incoming president of the Greater Springfield group.

A lawyer with the firm of Bacon Wilson, Fialky moved back to Springfield five years ago after a decade in eastern Massachusetts. Quality of life, including an abundance of outdoor recreation, should be the Pioneer Valley’s selling point, he says.

“My commute went from an hour each way to less than 10 minutes,” Fialky said.

He believes the region needs to do a better job of selling itself and the job opportunities that exist here. The video is one step in that process.

Buell said she moved to the region because her husband is from Westfield and was working locally. She wishes more people knew about the volunteer and community-service opportunities in the region.

“Here you can have an impact compared to a larger, urban area,” Buell said. “You won’t feel like such a small fish in an enormous pond.”

Heather Brome, senior policy analyst with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said there were 505,779 young professionals in Massachusetts in 2007, up just under 1.4 percent from the 498,803 counted in 2000. She didn’t have figures specific to Western Massachusetts.

Brome defined a young professional as someone between the ages of 25 and 39 with at least a bachelor’s degree but who is not currently enrolled in school. She used population estimates supplied by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Connecticut’s young professional population grew 0.245 percent from 224,887 in 2000 to 225,437 in 2007, Rhode Island’s grew 4.33 percent from 55,199 to 57,587, Maine’s grew 7.29 percent from 52,842 to 56,695 and Vermont’s grew 3.13 percent from 32,773 to 33,801.

In New Hampshire, which boasts low taxes, the population of young professionals grew 15 percent from 70,564 to 81,195.

Brome said one reason for slow growth is that with the baby boomer generation aging, young people simply make up a smaller and smaller segment of the population. Migration is also a factor.

“People are moving more than they used to,” Brome said. “And, this is an age when people want to go off.”

Brome said that 54.5 percent of the young professionals in Massachusetts were born in state while 21.9 percent were born elsewhere in the country and 23.6 percent were born abroad.

Excerpt from MassLive.com:

By ELIZABETH R. LaFOND – The Republican, Wednesday, February 18, 2009

AGAWAM – Certified public accountant Sean R. Wandrei, of Agawam, a tax manager at Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C., was recently named a member of the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield Board of Directors.

Wandrei will serve a two-year term as the organization’s treasurer, joining other YPS board members to lead the organization in its stated goals and mission, which is to engage, involve and educate the region’s young professionals through business and career development, volunteerism and philanthropy, and social and cultural opportunities.

“The YPS is gaining momentum with more and more individuals attending our events,” Wandrei said. “YPS brings professionals together to network, share ideas and to build our community in a positive way.”

YPS represents the region’s corporate, nonprofit and cultural interests by engaging a younger demographic in several distinct areas. The group holds various monthly events, including “Third Thursdays,” which is a social and business networking event held at various locations throughout the Pioneer Valley. The next Third Thursday event is from 5 to 8 p.m. Feb. 19 p.m. at Champions in Springfield. For information, visit http://www.springfieldyps.com/

YPS also holds “CEO Luncheons” that spotlight local business leaders sharing their experiences and tips on how to become successful.

Wandrei’s personal and professional experience matches the goals of YPS. He has 12 years of experience in public accounting, with an emphasis in taxation. A CPA since 2000, he received his bachelor’s degree from Bryant University and will receive his master of taxation degree from the University of Hartford next year.

He has been employed by Meyers Brothers Kalicka, PC since 2004. Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C. is the largest independently owned and operated CPA firm based in Western Massachusetts.

Excerpt from MassLive.com: Click here

SPRINGFIELD – They came streaming through the door by the dozens: lawyers, accountants, marketing executives, bankers, teachers and more.

Clearly hungry for their own kind, the first formal gathering of the Young Professionals Society of Greater Springfield in 2007 drew an unexpectedly enthusiastic response.

“We were a little apprehensive,” co-founder Kathleen M. Plante said of that first meeting. “We relied solely on guerrilla marketing to get the word out.”

But in retrospect, a flurry of emails, text messages and phone calls did the trick. Organizers hoped for a turnout of 30 or 40, but were met with about 200 comers to the group’s first gathering at the Keg Room on State Street, recalled Plante.

Nearly two years later, the nonprofit group formed primarily to attract and retain young talent to the region draws consistently big crowds to their monthly cocktail parties, CEO luncheons and charity benefits.

A similar group, the Northampton Area Young Professionals, is flourishing in Hampshire County where it was also launched two years ago to nurture the “next generation” of the region’s business community.

Springfield Young Professionals vice president, Jeffrey I. Fialky, a partner at downtown law firm Bacon & Wilson, said his group has 150 individual members, 10 corporate members and 900 on their e-mail list.

“It’s as if there was this huge need that nobody knew about,” Fialky said, describing its popularity.

Plante, director for development at Holyoke Catholic High School, said she first hatched the idea when she worked at the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield. A speaker who came to address that group noted that thousands of young people are educated here each year, but don’t stay after earning their diplomas.

“We’ve got 9,000 college kids in the region each year … but they don’t stick around,” Plante said. “We were trying to find a way to engage that demographic.”

The group’s Web site conveys a festive theme, featuring a collection of photos of cocktail-clutching members from various events and a motto of “Live. Work. Play. Stay.” But, Plante and Fialky said the mission of the group is much broader than hosting regular parties.

It attempts to serve four different functions: business networking, socializing, volunteerism and advancement of the arts, they said.

Under the social and business networking heading, Young Professionals hosts monthly “Third Thursdays” at various bars and restaurants around the city. It also schedules CEO luncheons for smaller groups of members, featuring business leaders from across the region. Members also participate in local charity and cultural events.

Fialky said the cultural arm of the group aims to bridge the gap between aging and upcoming patrons of the arts.

The Young Professionals Society hosted a successful event at City Stage recently and has scheduled for April 4 “George & Tonics.”The cleverly worded event will feature “Star Trek”‘s George Takei, along with maestro Kevin Rhodes, for an evening at the Springfield Symphony and, of course, cocktails to follow.

The group’s target demographic is professionals between 25 and 45, but no one is excluded. In fact, Brendan Ciecko, newly 21, is on the board of directors.

The Holyoke resident founded Ten Minute Media, a marketing and Web design company catering to major label recording artists such as Lenny Kravitz and Katy Perry, a the ripe age of 12 in his parents’ bedroom.

Ciecko said the group sews up all aspects of a happy existence for a young professional in the Pioneer Valley.

“You might have a great job, but if you’re not out enjoying the arts, and music and restaurants and social current of the region, what commitment will you really have here,” he said.

Excerpt from MassLive.com: Click here

By GEORGE O’BRIEN – BusinessWest February 2, 2009 Edition

Their contributions vary, from helping to improve the quality and diversity of the region’s workforce to providing books for local school libraries; from donating time, energy, and know-how to area nonprofit agencies to spearheading efforts to engage, involve, and educate the Valley’s young professionals. The common denominator is that these individuals are all making a difference in Western Mass. They’re not the only ones, certainly, but their stories reflect the work of countless others to make this a better region in which to live, work, and run a business.

The Young Professionals Society of Greater Springfield

Alyssa Carvalho described it as a “good problem to have.”

She was talking about April 14, and a scheduled ‘CEO Luncheon’ to be hosted by MassMutual Chairman and CEO Stuart Reese. The Young Professionals Society of Greater Springfield (YPS) started the luncheon series last year as another way to carry out its broad mission to “engage, involve, and educate” its members.

The problem? Well, seats to the monthly luncheons are limited in number, said Carvalho, the group’s current president and, during the day, membership manager for the Greater Springfield Conventon & Visitors Bureau. The typical count is 20 to 30, to ensure intimacy and the opportunity for one-on-one dioalogue, but Reese and MassMutual will likely find a way to accommodate many more than that. Still, not everyone will be able to go.

“And everyone will want to go,” she told BusinessWest, adding that she and other officers will have to contrive some method of determining which members will be able to circle that date on their calendars. As she said, that’s a good problem to have, and it’s a scenario that shows just how far this organization has come in two years.

From quasi-humble beginnings, YPS has grown to more than 200 members, expanded and diversified its program offerings, and garnered enough respect to prompt Reese to donate a few hours of his precious time to impart some “words of wisdom,” as Carvalho called them, to this young, diverse audience.

“We worked very hard to get him, and we’re thrilled that he would take the time to speak to our group and open it up to more people than we would normally have,” she said. “Our members are excited about the chance to be sitting in the same room with that caliber of speaker; the fact that he’s willing to do so speaks to the importance of our work — these are the emerging leaders in the community.”

This higher profile has earned YPS a place in this first class of Difference Makers, along with some sky-high expectations for the future — which Carvalho and other officers are determined to meet in what might be considered another good problem to have.

“We’ve done very well so far,” she said, “but we know we have to keep building, doing more in the community, and providing more value for our members.”

YPS got its start in Springfield in late 2006, when a small group of younger professionals — all graduates of the Leadership Institute, a partnership between the ACCGS and Western New England College to teach mid- and upper-level managers the skills needed to become effective leaders — conceptualized a group that could handle a number of assignments. They would range from giving people something to do to providing programs on professional development; from helping to educate members on the issues of the day to providing some reasons for young professionals to stay in the Pioneer Valley and become valuable contributors to its progress and livelihood.

The overriding goal, said Carvalho, is to help members “plant roots,” and develop lasting connections to the region and its business community.

While the group’s founders were ambitious and had lofty expectations, even they might be surprised by how quickly and profoundly the group has become a real force in the community. In addition to the 200 members, there are 900 ‘subscribers,’ those who have a connection to the group and attend some of its events.

Since its start, the organization — which takes a name similar to other groups in the region, including young-professional societies in Northampton, the Berkshires, and Hartford, but is different from these groups because it is independent — has been consistently adding programs, forming collaborative partnerships with other groups, and, in general, making its presence and influence felt.

It’s making a difference.

In addition to the CEO lunches, which have featured leaders and business owners ranging from ACCGS President Russell Denver to Springfield Falcons General Manager and co-owner Bruce Landon, the group has staged monthly networking events called Third Thursdays. It has become involved with the Division II college basketball tournament staged in Springfield each March, and last fall it partnered with Rock the Vote and other groups to encourage young people to register to vote and understand the issues involved with the presidential election.

YPS also conducted a number of events and programs to connect young people with the arts, promote mentoring, and facilitate efforts to give back to the community. It even created an award — the Young Professionals Society of Greater Springfield’s Excellence in Leadership Award — which is given to a graduate of the Leadership Institute who has distinguished him or herself through community involvement, civic leadership, and professional excellence. The first winner was Elizabeth Cordona, director of Gov. Patrick’s office in Springfield.

For 2009, the goal is simply to build on the momentum created over the past two years by continually looking for new ways to meet and expand the group’s mission, as expressed in one of its slogans: ‘live, work, play, and stay,’ said Carvalho, who told BusinessWest that her work as president has become what she called “a second full-time job.”

“I’m putting in maybe 30 or 40 hours a week toward this,” she said, adding quickly that other officers are logging similar time handling YPS affairs. “And I need to, because there’s so much happening and so much to do.”

Sounds like another one of those good problems to have.

Excerpt from Business West Online: Click here

The Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield (YPS) celebrated the New Year in style! Make a resolution for 2009 to get involved with your community and make connections through YPS. Visit www.springfieldyps.com for more information, opportunities to get involved and upcoming events. The next YPS event is a Third Thursday at Theodore’s in Springfield on Jan. 15 from 5 to 7 p.m. Cost is $5 for non-members.

Excerpt from TheReminder.com: Click here

Holyoke, MA – Brendan Ciecko, founder and President of Ten Minute Media, a creative interactive company, headquartered in Holyoke, MA, is featured on the cover of the October 2008 issue of Inc. Magazine. The cover feature entitled “Cool, Determined, Under 30,” describes Ten Minute Media as one of “America’s smartest new companies” and proclaims Ciecko as one entrepreneur to definitely keep your eyes open for.

The cover text highlights that “Katy Perry and Mick Jagger tapped Brendan Ciecko to make them look good.” Ciecko’s company is widely recognized for its premier website production for top names in the music and entertainment industry.

“Being recognized by Inc. Magazine is an unbelievable honor. Making it onto the cover is surreal – I hope this marks a new stage for Ten Minute Media” said Brendan Ciecko, founder of Ten Minute Media.

The article also mentions Ciecko’s investments in downtown Holyoke where the company is located. Since the feature will be seen by over one million readers, Ciecko hopes it will help promote Holyoke as an attractive location for entrepreneurial ventures, start-ups and other businesses.

The article can be found on page 98 of the October 2008 issue of Inc. Magazine (Click Here for Website Link)

About Ten Minute Media
Ten Minute Media is an award-winning creative services company that specializes in interactive design and development. Since its establishment in 2003, Ten Minute Media (www.tenminutemedia.com) has acquired an impressive and flourishing list of major clients including, Warner Brothers, Universal, SonyBMG, RCA, and Capitol Records. With such a striking repertoire, Ten Minute Media has been gaining the attention of the national press. In 2007 Ten Minute Media received PC Magazine’s Small Business Award for innovative use of technology. In addition Entrepreneur Magazine published an article about the company in a piece titled “Making it Big.”

About Inc. Magazine
Inc., the only major business magazine dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies, delivers solutions for today’s innovative company builders. Published 12 times a year, Inc helps its 1.5 million readers by providing hands-on tools and market-tested strategies for managing people, finances, sales, marketing and technology. Inc., a Mansueto Ventures LLC publication, inspires and informs, with cutting-edge coverage that reflects our readers’ energy, brashness and imagination.

Excerpt from Western Mass EDC website: Click here