The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Litchfield Bancorp’s Budny, Dickinson promoted
LITCHFIELD — Litchfield Bancorp recently announced the promotions of Mickie-Ann Budny and Susan Dickinson to vice president.
Budny started with Litchfield Bancorp in 1989 as a Customer Service Representative. After leaving in 1994, she returned in 2013 as branch manager in the main office with more than 25 years of experience as assistant vice president, regional manager and mortgage specialist. Budny was also recently installed as the president of the Litchfield Morris Rotary Club and is a community leader in Northwest Connecticut.
Dickinson started with Litchfield Bancorp in 2004 and has more than 34 years of banking experience. She is a graduate of the Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce Leadership Program, as well as the Connecticut School of Finance and Management. Much of her time is spent volunteering in the local community. She was awarded the Rotary Club’s Paul Harris Fellow Award in 2013. Since her employment with Litchfield Bancorp, the Lakeville Branch has more than doubled in asset size.
In regards to these promotions, Paul McLaughlin, EVP & COO of Litchfield Bancorp, said, “I have had the honor and privilege of working with Mickie and Susan over the years. They are reliable, loyal, hardworking and tremendously knowledgeable. They exemplify everything Litchfield Bancorp stands for.”
VNS appoints Paulette Sementilli
BRIDGEPORT — Visiting Nurse Services of Connecticut, the leading not-for-profit home healthcare and hospice provider for residents of Fairfield, New Haven and Litchfield counties, has announced the appointment of Paulette Sementilli, RN, MS as the agency’s Director of Customer Relations and Care Transitions. In her new role, Sementilli will manage VNS’ referral and admission processes and serve as VNS’ primary liaison with referral partners including acute and long term care providers, physician practices and Accountable Care Organizations. Paulette will also coordinate the activities of VNS’ team of hospital and community based transitional care coordinators.
Sementilli joined VNS in 2010 after working in the Burn Unit at Bridgeport Hospital. Recently, she managed VNS’ Telehealth program and was responsible for expanding the program to all four of VNS’ branch offices and achieving an average daily census of 125 patients on service. A Business Management graduate of Providence College, she earned a nursing degree from Bridgeport Hospital School of Nursing and was awarded an MS in Nursing (2014) by Sacred Heart University.
In announcing the appointment, Ann Olson, RN, BSN, MBA, President and CEO of VNS, said that Paulette’s prior experience as an acute care and home-health nurse will be instrumental in supporting care transitions, particularly from the hospital setting to home health. According to Olson, “With Paulette’s accomplishments as team leader and program manager, I am confident she will provide the vison and leadership that will be responsive to the needs of our referral partners as we continue to coordinate care to improve patient outcomes while reducing the incidence of re-hospitalization.”
Sementilli will manage VNS’ Intake, transitional care coordinators and referral partner communication activities for the agency’s clinically staffed offices in Bridgeport, Trumbull, Oxford and Torrington and can be contacted at 203330-9198 and by email at psementilli@vsnct.org.
Berkshire Taconic announces launch of ACloserLook.Net
Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation recently announced the launch of ACloserLook.net, an easy-to-navigate, interactive web resource providing current data, resident perspectives and multimedia stories on the four-county region Berkshire Taconic serves.
A digital companion to the foundation's print report of the same name, ACloserLook.net features:
An interactive map with at-a-glance profiles of 67 towns; Berkshire, Columbia, northern Dutchess and northwest Litchfield counties; and the BTCF region overall. The data is organized by topic: population, jobs, education, incomes and poverty, and housing. The map also shows public school enrollment data for 30-plus districts.
Dozens of data visualizations using graphs, charts and maps to bring five themes into focus: jobs and the economy, demographic transition, youth and the future workforce, deepening inequality, and assets and infrastructure.
Multimedia stories that illustrate these themes through the lives of local residents.
Results from the foundation's resident survey, with responses available by age, income and education level.
A downloadable PDF of Berkshire Taconic's Plan for the Future, which outlines three new priority areas where the foundation believes philanthropy can make a difference.
Designed to build community knowledge and inspire critical thinking about the region's future, ACloserLook.net will be regularly refreshed with new data and stories.
Learn more at www.berkshiretaconic.org
Jones, Seward join foundation board
WATERBURY — Connecticut Community Foundation’s members have elected Brian M. Jones of Southbury and Stephen Seward of Roxbury to three-year terms on the Foundation’s Board of Trustees. Jones and Seward will join a board composed of local residents from across 21 towns in the Foundation’s service area in Greater Waterbury and the Litchfield Hills.
The trustees lead the Foundation in its mission to create rewarding lives and thriving
communities in the region—through stewardship of charitable funds created by donors and through grantmaking to nonprofit organizations tackling pressing community issues.
Douglas Johnson, chair of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, said, “The talents, wisdom and energies of members of the Board of Trustees have navigated Connecticut Community Foundation though 95 years of change and renewal in Greater Waterbury and the Litchfield Hills. Brian Jones and Stephen Seward, with their enormous commitments to community service and to the region, will be extraordinary assets as we look to the future.”
Brian M. Jones has lived in Southbury since 1978. For the past 29 years, he has managed a specialized, highly-credentialed and experienced financial planning, investment and insurance practice, The Jones Financial Group at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company in Southbury, serving clients in over 25 states. He is active professionally and civically. Currently, Jones serves as chairman of Stewardship, the United Church of Christ Southbury; Board of Directors, St. Mary's Hospital Foundation; and chairman for past 20 years, Southbury Celebration (an annual community food, music and fireworks event). He has been an active firefighter/ engineer for 35 years with the Southbury Volunteer Firemen’s Association. Jones earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Connecticut, and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®), Certified in Long Term Care (CLTC®), and has numerous investment and insurance licenses.
Stephen Seward, a Roxbury resident since 2003, has been a consultant in the nonprofit sector for over 35 years. He began his career at the Foundation Center as a reference book editor and the manager of a nationwide technical assistance program for nonprofit organizations. Seward then joined the John O’Donnell Company where he eventually became the firm’s executive vice president, with clients in human services, arts and culture and international education. More recently, he has been the principal fundraiser for The Nature Conservancy’s New York City office; vice president for development at Andrus, a Westchesterbased program in mental health and special education; and executive director of the Scarsdale Schools Foundation.
Michael Giardina and Doug Johnson of Cheshire and Kathy Taylor of Waterbury were also re-elected to serve second three-year terms on the Foundation’s Board of Trustees. Edith Reynolds, Elner Morrell and Dan Caron each are departing the board after completing six years of outstanding service.
The foundation’s entire Board of Trustees, including their bios, can be viewed at www.conncf.org/board.
Society awarded grant to complete a risk assessment plan
KENT — A $4,999 grant to the Kent Historical Society was awarded by Connecticut Humanities to put the Kent Historical Society’s existing emergency and disaster plan on a sounder footing.
“We had a good start on emergency and disaster planning,” said Curator Marge Smith. “Several years ago, we took part in a 3-part disaster planning and response workshop presented by the CT State Library and Conservation ConneCTion.
During the exercise on emergency response and collection triage a mock flood event was staged. As part of this workshop we received training and assistance in using ‘dPlan Lite’ from the Northeast Document Conservation Center. We made excellent progress toward completing this plan, but found it difficult to update as often as is needed.”
With the grant funding, the society hired professional risk assessment consultant, Kathy Craughwell-Varda, to lead the board and staff in a simplified multi-step process to assess the society’s holdings and create an emergency response plan. Ms. Craughwell Varda submitted a detailed report of the findings, which she then reviewed with the board and staff. A paper Pocket Response Plan was created for the society’s first responders to carry with them at all times in case of a disaster such as tornado, fire or flood. The report also detailed other such risks as staff time, collections storage space and smaller issues such as insufficient fire extinguishers and smoke alarms.
Completion of all the recommended steps and changes will take time, but the society is well on its way. “We are, as always, grateful to CT Humanities for their awareness of the needs of small heritage nonprofits, and their willingness to fund activities that meet those needs,” said Smith. They have been active partners in our forward progress since 2005 when they funded our first strategic plan.”
Connecticut Humanities, a nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, supports cultural and historic organizations that tell the state’s stories, build community and enrich lives.
For information about the exhibit, call 860-9274587 or visit www.kenthistoricalsociety