Greylock Federal Names New CFO, Vice President

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Michael Stoddard

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Greylock Federal Credit Union has named Michael Stoddard as senior vice president and chief financial officer beginning April 1.

"We are pleased to have a person with Mike's experience joining the Greylock family,"
Greylock President Marilyn L. Sperling said. "With his strong background in finance and strategy he will be an asset to our management team as Greylock continues its community mission of improving the financial lives of families in Berkshire County."

Stoddard earned a bachelor of science in business administration from Franklin Pierce College. He has spent his 30-year career at two financial institutions: Concord Savings Bank in Concord, New Hampshire and Maine Bank & Trust in Portland, Maine (acquired by People's United Bank in 2008). He has held many leadership roles including chief financial officer and head of retail & small business banking.

Stoddard brings experience to his new position including developing financial strategy, directing asset and liability management, budgeting and overseeing regulatory interactions. He has served in numerous banking industry and community service positions including the Maine Bankers Association legislative committee and with United Way of Greater Portland as a board member and 2010 annual campaign chairman.

Stoddard is married and has two grown sons.

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State Fire Marshal: New Tracking Tool Identifies 50 Lithium-Ion Battery Fires

STOW, Mass. — The Massachusetts Department of Fire Services' new tool for tracking lithium-ion battery fires has helped to identify 50 such incidents in the past six months, more than double the annual average detected by a national fire data reporting system, said State Fire Marshal Jon M. Davine.
 
The Department of Fire Services launched its Lithium-Ion Battery Fire Investigative Checklist on Oct. 13, 2023. It immediately went into use by the State Police Fire & Explosion Investigation Unit assigned to the State Fire Marshal's office, and local fire departments were urged to adopt it as well. 
 
Developed by the DFS Fire Safety Division, the checklist can be used by fire investigators to gather basic information about fires in which lithium-ion batteries played a part. That information is then entered into a database to identify patterns and trends.
 
"We knew anecdotally that lithium-ion batteries were involved in more fires than the existing data suggested," said State Fire Marshal Davine. "In just the past six months, investigators using this simple checklist have revealed many more incidents than we've seen in prior years."
 
Prior to the checklist, the state's fire service relied on battery fire data reported to the Massachusetts Fire Incident Reporting System (MFIRS), a state-level tool that mirrors and feeds into the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS). NFIRS tracks battery fires but does not specifically gather data on the types of batteries involved. Some fields do not require the detailed information that Massachusetts officials were seeking, and some fires may be coded according to the type of device involved rather than the type of battery. Moreover, MFIRS reports sometimes take weeks or months to be completed and uploaded.
 
"Investigators using the Lithium-Ion Battery Fire Checklist are getting us better data faster," said State Fire Marshal Davine. "The tool is helpful, but the people using it are the key to its success."
 
From 2019 to 2023, an average of 19.4 lithium-ion battery fires per year were reported to MFIRS – less than half the number identified by investigators using the checklist over the past six months. The increase since last fall could be due to the growing number of consumer devices powered by these batteries, increased attention by local fire investigators, or other factors, State Fire Marshal Davine said. For example, fires that started with another item but impinged upon a battery-powered device, causing it to go into thermal runaway, might not be categorized as a battery fire in MFIRS or NFIRS.
 
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