Office Profile: Easthampton
Walking into Nonotuck Resource Associates’ Ferry Street office in Easthampton, you might not be impressed at first (except by the view of Mount Tom!). On the far wall, you’ll see Nonotuck’s familiar logo—symbolizing an embrace—with our mission statement displayed close by. Vice President of Information Technology (and Easthampton resident) Paul Laprade is probably working in the office space closest to the door on the left.
Vice President of Quality Enhancement, Central/Western MA Grayson Fleischner might be taking in a meeting in the building’s spacious conference room.
While Grayson and Paul are working in person, Director of Marketing Joshua Murray and Marketing content specialist Justus Perry are meeting virtually and discussing edits to a video whose script was sharpened by AI.
Technology Support Specialist Joshua Gustafson might be resolving a help desk ticket submitted virtually. Vice President for Information Technologies Ron Barnes—based in Rhode Island—might be working via TEAMS with AI & Data Analytics Manager Rob Bowen on a suite of custom AI tools designed to support staff across the organization—initiatives that help enhance care, produce more mission-aligned content, and provide easy access to organizational knowledge and training.
As the home base for our IT department, the Easthampton office has also become a hub for Nonotuck’s growing AI initiative. All three Nonotuck departments that are represented in the office—IT, Marketing, and Quality Enhancement—rely heavily on AI to complete their work. The result—in Easthampton and in every Nonotuck location throughout Massachusetts— is a more efficient staff better able to carry out Nonotuck’s mission of providing support for people with disabilities, as well as those who support them.
The hiring of Rob Bowen this summer represented an explicit embrace of AI in Nonotuck’s work.
Rob says he was attracted to “the opportunity to apply cutting-edge AI and data
automation in service of our mission to help people with disabilities to live their best lives” when applying for the job, adding: “Nonotuck’s emphasis on values of authenticity, mutual love and respect, interdependence, and vulnerability is important to me personally and vital to the well-being of our communities.”
“Rob’s hiring represents our belief that innovation and compassion can—and must—coexist,” said George H. Fleischner, CEO and President. “His work helps us harness AI not as a replacement for human connection, but as a tool that empowers our staff to spend more time building meaningful relationships with the people we support.”