Making News in Business, Dec. 2

Keiter Corporation launches rebrand

FLORENCE — After more than 10 years in business, Keiter Corporation has rebranded, unifying its four divisions under the Keiter umbrella and updating the company’s look to reflect recent growth and transformation.

Keiter Builders, the commercial and industrial division of the company; Keiter Homes, offering residential construction; Hatfield Construction, providing site work; and Keiter Properties, the real estate arm; are now all under one Keiter umbrella at keiter.com, a new site developed by Brigade, a branding and design agency in Hadley, as part of a long-term collaboration.

Founded in 2010, Keiter is a family-owned construction services company working with clients on residential, commercial, industrial and institutional projects of all sizes. Scott Keiter, founder and owner, said the brand update was a long time coming.

Jill Keiter, director of finance and administration, sees the brand update as a stake in the ground, announcing the arrival of a bigger, broader, more focused and streamlined Keiter.

Brigade developed a new look and feel for Keiter, including an update to the suite of Keiter logos and a new website that was created to cap the project.

SPRINGFIELD — Laura Bundesen, an artist-entrepreneur of Huntington, is exhibiting and selling her mixed-media brain artwork at a one-of-a-kind, neuro-themed pop-up shop at ReevX Labs in Springfield through Dec. 4.

Bundesen is one of 10 entrepreneurs chosen for the inaugural experience at the community hub at 270 Bridge St., which is funded by Berkshire Bank and supported by Valley Venture Mentors. She is excited to have the opportunity to use the space for her solo display and sale.

Her neuro-art pop-up shop, which opened Nov. 29, is open Dec. 2-3 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Dec. 4 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Community members are invited.

Bundesen calls herself a “neuro-artist,” and said her work, which ranges from $14 enamel lapel pins to $3,600 embroidered paintings, especially resonates with people with neurological disorders, their loved ones, and with scientists, neurologists, psychologists and others in health care.

At the heart of most of Bundesen’s work is painstaking hand embroidery. A canvas might feature a whimsical rendering of a brain, in handiwork at the center, with paint on a work’s periphery. Each piece is unique and colorful and offers what Bundesen calls “fantastical, imaginary brains.”

Bundesen’s work includes mixed media originals, prints, earrings, coloring books, and brain-shaped lapel pins. A large selection is available at the pop-up shop for in-person shopping.

HCC Jump Start program earns national recognition

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Community College has been named a finalist for a national Bellwether Award in recognition of Jump Start, the college’s job training and placement program for people who receive public assistance.

HCC was one of 10 U.S. colleges selected as a finalist by the Bellwether College Consortium in its Workforce Development category, which identifies strategic alliances that promote community and economic development. Bellwether finalists represent leading community colleges whose programs and practices are considered outstanding and innovative.

The Bellwether Awards are widely regarded as one of the nation’s most competitive and prestigious recognitions for community colleges.

HCC was the only community college in Massachusetts selected as a 2022 Bellwether finalist. This is the second year in a row HCC has been named a Bellwether finalist. HCC’s “Together HCC” fundraising and social media campaign was selected as a finalist for 2021.

For more than 20 years, HCC’s Jump Start program has offered workforce training for jobs as culinary workers, nursing assistants, pharmacy technicians, customer service representatives, preschool workers, production technicians, and bus and truck drivers.

Belt Technologies to be featured on Bloomberg’s ‘World’s Greatest’

AGAWAM — Belt Technologies Inc., a manufacturer of custom metal belt conveyor solutions for more than 50 years, will be featured on an upcoming episode of “World’s Greatest” on Bloomberg Television. The episode, which was filmed at Belt’s Agawam headquarters, will first air Saturday, Dec. 4, at 3:30 p.m., and again on Saturday, Dec. 11, also at 3:30 p.m.

“World’s Greatest” brings people, places and companies into the spotlight. Created by How2Media Productions in Boynton Beach, Florida, the program, currently in its 15th season, helps audiences connect with and understand the companies behind products people use every day.

Over the past five decades, Belt’s PureSteel products have provided customers with a more effective solution for applications ranging from industrial automation and robotics to food processing, medical and cleanroom applications and more.