Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | May 11, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 5 B R I E FS Bay State Savings Bank appoints new CFO Bay State Savings Bank has appointed Worcester resident Seth Pitts as its new CFO and senior vice president. Pitts joins Worcester-based Bay State Savings Bank from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., where he served as a financial institution risk examiner for its division of risk management supervision. He was previously an area lending specialist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's rural development office. He holds a master's degree in finance from UMass Boston and is a certified fraud examiner by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Bay State's previous CFO was Francis Dauphinais. He now holds that position at Clark University. Berlin restauranteur owner charged with COVID-19 stimulus fraud e owner of the Berlin restaurant where the movie "Knives Out" was filmed is among the first two people in the country to face charges for filing fraudulent coronavirus relief loan applications through the Small Business Administration, the Department of Justice announced on May 5. David Staveley, 52, of Andover, as well as David Butziger, 51, of Warwick R.I., were charged with conspiracy to make false statements to influence the SBA and conspiracy to commit bank fraud, according to the DOJ. Staveley is accused of requesting over $438,500 to cover payroll for dozens of employees across three restaurants, including On the Trax in Berlin, which reportedly closed before the coronavirus pandemic and had no employees. Ashland biomanufacturer moving to Milford Ashland biomanufacturing firm Boston Bioproducts will move to Milford following its purchase of a $5.65 million facility at 425 Fortune Blvd. e new facility is a 113,000-square- foot flex/industrial building. e sale closed on April 29. Boston Bioproducts was founded in 1995 by a group of scientists from Harvard Medical School in Boston and provides bio reagents and buffers to research labs. UMass Medical School furloughs100 UMass Medical School in Worcester furloughed about 100 employees for possibly up to six months, according to a memo from its leadership to employees Medical insurance for furloughed employees will be maintained for the duration of their furlough, according to the memo. e school has about 6,000 employees and faculty members. 95K Mass. businesses received PPP loans e U.S. Small Business Administration awarded $4.36 billion to 48,768 Massachusetts businesses during the Paycheck Protection Program's second round of $320 billion in national funding. Nationally, the SBA approved 2.2 million loans totaling $175 billion from that second round. e program provides loans of up to $10 million to businesses and nonprofits with fewer than 500 employees with a portion eligible for forgiveness if businesses use the money to keep people employed. Combined with what Bay State businesses received in the first $349 billion round of national funding, which ran out in 13 days, more than 95,000 Massachusetts organizations received PPP loans totaling $14.8 billion. Worcester Walmart closed after employees test positive Worcester city officials ordered the Walmart Supercenter store at 25 Tobias Boland Way to be temporarily closed for a week in late April aer 23 employees tested positive for coronavirus. e Worcester health department conducted an inspection of the store and found staff was not wearing face masks as required by a city order. e store reopened on May 5 aer a thorough cleaning and face masks and gloves were provided to all employees. Extensive testing found 81 employees had COVID-19. Hilton building 100-room hotel in Franklin A Home2 Suites, part of the Hilton hotel company, is coming to Franklin with 100 rooms just off I-495. e four-story hotel is being built next to a Hampton Inn on Union Street. It will include an indoor pool and several function rooms, but no restaurant or bar. e hotel is slated to open in the spring of 2021, according to Hilton. Seth Pitts, CFO, Bay State Savings Bank FletcherTilton.com | 508.459.8000 W O R C E S T E R | F R A M I N G H A M | B O S T O N C A P E C O D | P R O V I D E N C E SPECIAL NEEDS AND ELDER LAW PLANNING FOR CPAs & CFP PROFESSIONALS® – WEBINAR TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2020 | 8:30–11:30 a.m. 3.0 CE Credits | $75 Speakers: Frederick Misilo, Jr., Esq., Michael Lahti, Esq. & Theresa Varnet Registration closes at 5:00 pm Monday, May 11 TAX PROCEDURE FOR CPAs – WEBINAR WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 2020 | 8:30–11:30 a.m. 3.0 CE Credits | $75 Speaker: Michael Duffy, Esq. SOPHISTICATED ESTATE PLANNING FOR CPAs, FINANCIAL ADVISORS, & CFP PROFESSIONALS® Speakers: Dennis Gorman, Esq, Dani Ruran, Esq., Michael Duffy, Esq., & Collin Weiss, Esq. TWO DATES: THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2020 | 1:00–5:00 p.m. 4.0 CE Credits | $100 Location*: The Beechwood Hotel, Worcester MA THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2020 | 8:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. 4.0 CE Credits | $100 Location*: Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center, Framingham MA REGISTRATION For all seminars, see seminar descriptions and register online at FletcherTilton.com/seminars-events. All registrants must be registered and prepaid 72 hours prior to seminar start. *All seminars thru June 30, 2020 will be offered as live webinars. If it also becomes possible to hold them in a face-to-face setting, registrants will be given the option of attending via webinar or in-person. • I N T E G R I T Y • LE AD E R S H I P • E X C E L L E N C E Since 1822 Professional Seminar/Webinar Series * Continued on Page 6

• Cover