NoteWorthy is your weekly news roundup of happenings, movers and shakers, and community events in the Merrimack Valley.

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AROUND THE VALLEY

UMass Lowell Honors Outstanding Alumni at Event

Eight distinguished graduates of UMass Lowell were presented with University Alumni Awards at a ceremony on April 20. The honorees were selected from graduates of each of the university’s six schools and colleges, as well as its athletics program.

The 2017 University Alumni Award recipients are:

Norm Bazin ’90, ’94 (College of Education), who is in his sixth season as head coach of the UMass Lowell River Hawks men’s ice hockey team. He has led the team to several firsts: two Hockey East regular-season championships and three tournament championships, as well as an appearance in the NCAA Division I Frozen Four.

Lorna Boucher ’86 (Manning School of Business), a Lowell native who now lives in New York, where she is the chief marketing officer of Instinet, a global financial securities company. As a student, Boucher worked part time at her parents’ diner while earning her degree in marketing and international management.

Robert Bushong ’67 (Athletics), the founder of Bushong Industrials Inc. and a resident of Bluffton, S.C., who traces his love of sports back to his days playing baseball at what was then Lowell Tech., which inspired him to create a scholarship for student-athletes in the name of his former coach, Jim Stone.

James Costos ’85 (College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences), who grew up in Lowell and was the first in his family to graduate from college when he received his degree in political science from UMass Lowell. Costos went on to a successful career as an international leader in the entertainment and retail industries, most notably with HBO and Tod’s.

William C. Geary III ’80 (Francis College of Engineering), an Andover resident who is a patent and trademark attorney with Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., in Boston. Geary grew up in Lowell and originally came to UML to study biology and chemistry, which led him to major in plastics engineering. Geary also served as captain of the swim team and met his wife, Kathleen, a fellow student, while at the university.

Emmanuel Lamour ’05, ’16 (Young Alumnus honoree), a Canton resident who is a program manager with Raytheon overseeing teams around the world. Lamour was hired by Raytheon shortly before he graduated with his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and has earned his MBA while working there.

Russell LeClaire ’67, ’74 (Kennedy College of Sciences), a Plano, Texas resident who is the retired vice president of development of CA Technologies. LeClaire, who earned bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in physics at UMass Lowell, worked as a staff physicist at a university in Florida before taking a position in computer systems with Texas Instruments that was the start of a 40-year career with the company.

Jerry St. Peter ’89 (College of Health Sciences), the vice president and head of ophthalmic business with Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. and a resident of Plano, Texas. A Lowell native, he majored in health education at UMass Lowell and began his career in pharmaceutical sales, working his way up to executive management and corporate leadership positions in the industry, most recently at Sun Pharmaceuticals.

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UMass Lowell Institutes Heart & Soul Award In Honor Of Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union’s Michelle Silveira

University of Massachusetts Lowell’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council recently established the Heart & Soul Award in honor of Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union’s Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Michelle Silveira. The naming of the Michelle Silveira Heart & Soul Award recognizes her commitment to community involvement and passion for volunteerism, while honoring UMass Lowell student athletes who demonstrate the same passion for giving back.

Silveira, a 30-year Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union employee, is a graduate of UMass Lowell with a degree in business management. She sits on several local boards including Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union’s We Share A Common Thread Foundation, the Lowell Festival Foundation, the Power of Flowers Project and the Greater Lowell YMCA. She also participates in several committees including the UMass Lowell Financial Wellness Committee, the UMass Lowell Peer to Peer Advising Subcommittee, the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Lowell Golf Committee and the New England Patriots Alumni Football for YOU Camp Committee.

“I am privileged and honored that the UMass Lowell Student-Athlete Advisory Council has thought highly enough of my history of community service to name the Heart & Soul award after me,” said Silveira. “It is both humbling and satisfying to know that student athletes think as highly of community involvement as we at Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union do,” she added.

At a ceremony on April 25, Silveira presented the first-ever Heart & Soul Award to Joe Conti, a member of the Men’s Soccer Team. Conti is a junior pursuing a degree in business administration. SAAC Vice President Georgia Cowderoy says that although he mostly works behind the scenes and never likes to gloat about his input in the program, Conti is always the first SAAC member to volunteer whenever help is needed with any event or other activity the Council is involved with.

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Element Care and Lowell CHC Celebrate Khmer New Year

Element Care recently hosted nearly 100 people at its PACE Center in Lowell, for a Khmer New Year celebration. The event was co-sponsored with Lowell Community Health Center.

To kick off the event, Element Care CEO Bob Wakefield addressed the audience, providing a little background on the New Year festivities and offering a welcome to everyone in attendance. Bob was followed by Susan West Levine, CEO of Lowell Community Health Center, with a welcome for the audience on behalf of LCHC.

The highlights of the event were the percussion ensemble and four different dance performances by the Lowell Community Charter Public School.

 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence Appoints Alumnus as Director of Digital Arts

Lawrence resident Adrian Ayala, an alumnus of the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence, has been appointed as the organization’s new director of digital arts. Ayala, who was a member from ages 6 to 18, said he was “practically born and raised at the club.”

“I went there every single day,” he said. “It was my second home.”

Ayala graduated from Lawrence High School in 2012 and attended Middlesex Community College. He has worked part-time at the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence since 2012. In his new role, Ayala says he is committed to encouraging youth members to develop skills in the digital arts as a creative outlet for personal and potentially professional development.

The range of digital media includes graphic design, video production, music composition, coding, web design, an anime club, and a new ScratchX group that creates interactive video games. A team of club kids recently began building their own computers, and Ayala plans to introduce movie-making — which he enjoyed most when he was a youth member.

Five at Lowell Community Health Center Advance to New Positions

Karen Myers has been promoted from associate director of development to director of grants and foundation relations. Myers joined the health center in June 2015. Over the past two years, she has submitted numerous grants raising funds for vital health center programs, operating support and the Building Bridges capital campaign. She will continue to identify grant funding and work with program managers to create compelling grant requests. Myers also leads the Research Ethics Committee, spearheading creation of a process to assure that all research projects at the health center align with our mission and benefit our patients and staff. In her new role, she will serve as second in command in the Development & Communications Department.

 

Karen Peugh has been promoted to the role of senior director of clinical systems and support. Peugh has worked at the health center for 15 years and has been responsible for development and expansion of HIV and STI screening, treatment and prevention services. In this new role, she will be responsible for overseeing the quality and process improvement programs. She will also develop systems to support operational efficiencies and quality improvement. Peugh will be responsible for Joint Commission and the PCMH program as well as assisting with the implementation of systems to support the ACO development. She will also be responsible for grant management for clinical services.

 

After working with the National Park Service for the past 22 months, Linda Sou returns to Lowell CHC, where she previously served as director of the Teen BLOCK program. In her new role as senior director of strategy and innovation, Sou will design, direct and manage processes for innovation and strategy development that lead to new growth and innovative opportunities for the organization.

 

 

Daniella DeOliveira has assumed the role of nurse manager for adult medicine. In her new role, DeOliveira will be responsible for directing day to day clinical operations, staff development and clinical education. She will work collaboratively with the charge nurse and clinical lead in establishing evidence based standards of care and clinical quality standards. DeOliveira has worked at the health center for four years and holds a master’s degree in nursing with a concentration in public health nursing.

 

 

Date Kouy has assumed the role of interim information technology manager. Kouy previously held the position of help desk supervisor. He will be assisting the chief information officer in managing day-to-day IT operations and work with the information systems staff to ensure that the electronic health record system is appropriately supported.

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Jennifer Matthews has been appointed as the new executive director and community leader of L’Arche Boston North. L’Arche Boston North provides homes where people with and without intellectual disabilities live and work together as peers, creating inclusive communities of faith and friendship. The agency has been located in Haverhill since 1983 and serves 17 adults with intellectual disabilities. Matthews has served as Program Coordinator for L’Arche Boston North for the past ten years. She is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts and is a candidate for an M.S.W. from Salem State University in 2019. She begins her new position on July 1. Swanna Champlin, the current executive director, will be retiring from her position in June.

 

Andy Neary has joined Captivated Health as national advisor partner manager. He will focus on growing the company’s nationwide footprint by working directly with advisors whose clients can benefit from Captivated Health’s program. Captivated Health is a product of Borislow Insurance, founded in Methuen in 1982. Neary is a national healthcare strategist who has 15 years of experience using innovative strategies that help employers manage the impact of the rising costs of their health care plans. He is a former professional pitcher with the Milwaukee Brewers.