Daily Hampshire Gazette – Making news in business, May 16
SPRINGFIELD — Common Capital, the Springfield nonprofit loan fund and microlender, is expanding its capacity to serve local small businesses with two new staff hires. Sandy Mackovich has been hired as new director of lending, and Kelly Thadison as the newly created business navigator.
Mackovich was previously a senior analyst and sales operations manager for the Accion Opportunity Fund of San Jose, Calif., where she analyzed and underwrote commercial business loans for the nonprofit lender, focusing on underserved small businesses from low-income communities. At Common Capital, she will lead their award-winning lending program, recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration as the top microlender and Community Advantage lender in Massachusetts for several years running.
Thadison’s history with Common Capital is extensive. Thadison was a previous borrower who grew a successful salon business in Springfield and later used her own small business experience to join Common Capital as a business assistance program consultant. Now as business navigator, she will support prospective applicants, helping them with business planning, projections and applications.
Common Capital, a subsidiary of Way Finders, provides loans and no-cost technical assistance to small businesses in the four counties of western Massachusetts. Any small business in western Massachusetts that needs help accessing capital can reach out to Common Capital at 413-233-1680 or at commoncapitalma.org.
SOUTH HADLEY — Rocky’s Ace Hardware is inviting the community to its new spacious store and 2,000-foot garden center in the South Hadley Plaza at 501 Newton St.
“We’re really excited about this bright new space,” said Rocky’s Ace Hardware President Rocco Falcone. “The updated layout transforms the shopper experience, making it easier for customers to find what they’re looking for, and also get some fun new ideas along the way.”
A board-cutting ceremony scheduled for Friday at 2:30 p.m. is just part of the two-day, family-friendly opening event featuring live grilling with food samples, power tool demonstrations, raffles, giveaways and sales that run through Saturday.
The new store replaces Rocky’s previous location in the same plaza, offering a new and larger 10,000-square-foot building that includes an expanded sales floor, more room for paint, grilling, and outdoor power tool displays and garden center full of live plants, soil and supplies.
Rocky’s has been in continuous operation, under the same family ownership, since opening its first location in Springfield in 1926. From one store to now 50 locations throughout Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, Rocky’s has become one of the country’s largest Ace Hardware dealers.
NORTHAMPTON – Alexandra Mello of Northampton has joined Project Bread’s 2025 Council of Experts with Lived Experience.
Launched in 2023, the Council of Experts was founded to challenge exclusionary systems that perpetuate food insecurity by ensuring that those with lived experience of hunger inform and shape Project Bread’s decision-making, strategy and policy initiatives as trusted community leaders.
Mello will be among seven new council members who will bring their expertise to shape programs and policies that make it easier for others living in Massachusetts to access and afford food with dignity.
Through the 10-month program, Mello will be part of the nonprofit’s strategy development and anti-hunger advocacy while receiving training to strengthen her leadership skills, build expertise as a community leader and advocate.
Mello brings to the Council more than 20 years of experience in human and social services. As a member of the Hampshire County Food Policy Council, and its Community Story Archive Coordinator, she is a founding partner in creating the council that centers power sharing by integrating community members with lived experience with community partners from stakeholder agencies to affect program design and policy-making.
Mello, a single-parent, will represent western Massachusetts, strengthen her leadership skills, and help advance impactful anti-hunger policies across the state.
EASTHAMPTON — bankESB has hired two new professionals to strengthen financial strategy and digital engagement.
Brian Mathes was recently hired as vice president, ALM officer. Mathes will support all banks within the Hometown Financial Group family of banks, including, bankESB, bankHometown, North Shore Bank, and Abington Bank, a division of North Shore Bank, as well as Hometown Mortgage. He will be based at bankESB’s 36 Main St., Easthampton office as well as bankHometown’s 31 Sutton Ave., Oxford office.
Mathes, of Newtonville, has 25 years of banking experience. Before joining bankESB, he was vice president at Main Street Bank, and before that, vice president at State Street Corporation.
In his new role, he will be responsible for overseeing the bank’s asset liability management strategy, optimizing balance sheet performance, and supporting long-term financial planning and risk management. Mathes earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Tulane University, and a master’s degree in business administration from Boston University.
Corey Moquin has been appointed social media manager, based at bankESB’s 36 Main St., Easthampton office. Moquin, of South Hadley, earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from UMass Amherst. He joins the bank from Western Mass News where he was senior marketing producer.
In this new role, he will manage social media accounts for all of Hometown Financial Group.
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