One-hundred forty-three area business professionals, members of the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, met on September 11 in the spacious new lodge at Catamount Mountain Resort for the group’s 15th annual Business Person of the Year (BPOY) award ceremony.

The guest MC was Berkshires State Representative Smitty Pignatelli who performed one of his last ceremonies as an elected official. He has announced his retirement from state government service.

Representatives from dozens of leading companies in South County were on hand to honor Sandisfield’s Liana Toscanini of the Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires as the 2024 BPOY.

This year twelve individuals of about fifty nominated by the public made it to the final selection stage. Nominees, who are typically entrepreneurial, were judged by an independent committee according to several criteria within each of three categories of excellence, “Personal Qualities,” “Managerial Skills,” and “Contribution to the Southern Berkshires.”

Liana is only the third woman to win the award and only the second from the nonprofit sector, a critical component of the Berkshire economy. According to the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network, there are about 1,200 registered nonprofit organizations in Berkshire County, the second highest number of nonprofits per capita in the Commonwealth. While these nonprofits range widely in size from a hospital or venue like Tanglewood to a local historical society, 75 per cent are considered “small,” with annual revenue under $500,000. Moreover, nonprofits account for 25 per cent of total County employment. In this measure Berkshire (Mass.) ranks 27th among almost 3,250 counties or equivalents in the U. S.

Liana Toscanini with Rep. Pignatelli at the 2024 Southern Berkshire County Chamber of Commerce Business Person of the Year award ceremony.
(Photo Chelsea Proulx Photography)

The Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires is an umbrella organization that supports individual nonprofits of all types. Through trainings, publications, networking events, advocacy, research and more, NPC helps nonprofits connect to resources and each other, pursue professional development and grow and thrive. Since founding in 2016 in Great Barrington, the NPC has grown to about 200 member-clients out of an estimated 400 hundred relevant entities. The NPC model may be unique in the United States.

Accolades for Liana’s contributions to community betterment and indirectly to the local economy came from Chamber board president, Sierra Watson and 2023 BPOY award winner, Chuck Leach, CEO of Lee Bank. Rep. Pignatelli’s characteristically on-point, good natured and always hilarious observations about Liana followed. (Apparently he was uninformed that this event was supposed to only be serious and dignified, not a roast).

As a long-time friend and colleague of the recipient, this writer was asked to tell the assembly about her remarkable record of volunteering and civic leadership in Sandisfield starting with her arrival in town in 1996, and the back story about the inception of her organization, the NPC, eight years ago.

To her chagrin, comments also included certain never-beforerevealed aspects of her personality which came as a surprise to the amused audience. Traditionally, BPOY awardees do not depart this event unscathed and this mirthful evening with a disco theme was no exception.

Betsy Andrus, Chamber executive director told the Times, “This was a fun, feel good evening honoring Liana Toscanini as our 2024 Business Person of the Year. With such an amazing career and her tireless energy to create and grow the NPC this recognition was well deserved and long overdue.”