2008

What's New: 2008

Fifth Flavors the Most Successful Yet

posted: December 1, 2008

Top chefs from Cambridge and Somerville gathered at The Charles Hotel on November 17 to serve selections from their autumn menus, all in support of CitySprouts, whose gardens at many Cambridge public schools inspire teachers, students, and families with a deep, hands-on connection to the food cycle, sustainable agriculture, and the natural environment. This is the fifth year that City Square has teamed up with the Boston area’s premier online dining guide, BostonChefs.com, to organize the Flavors of Fall fundraiser. We are so grateful to the clients, supplier-partners, and friends of City Square Associates who contributed to the great success of this year’s event; together we raised over $13,000 for CitySprouts—a record for our event!

As in the past, The Blue Room, Chez Henri, dante, Gargoyles, Harvest, Henrietta’s Table, Rialto, Sandrine’s, and Upstairs on the Square dished up delicious treats, both savory and sweet. But this year, Hungry Mother and Garden at the Cellar joined the epicurean ensemble. Drinks were poured by Jacob’s Creek Winery, Brooklyn Brewery, Noir, J.P. Licks, and San Pellegrino. The popular local Rollo Tomasi jazz band provided the entertainment

“It’s so perfect,” says CSA President Chris Schiavone, “that an event celebrating the bounty of the harvest benefits an organization like CitySprouts that’s doing so much to cultivate an interest in sustainable agriculture.” Proceeds from Flavors of Fall—more than $30,000 over the past four years—have helped women in crisis, families unable to afford legal and mental health counseling, parents with limited access to day care, and children who might not otherwise be exposed to the joys of bicycling. The Charles Hotel is a co-sponsor of the annual event.

Jane S. Hirschi, the Founding Director of CitySprouts was thrilled. “We are so excited that CitySprouts was chosen by BostonChefs.com this year. We want every public school to have a garden. Flavors of Fall means that we can offer outdoor classroom gardens to the last two elementary schools in Cambridge.” CitySprouts began in 2000, and now serves ten public schools in Cambridge, including most recently the Kennedy-Longfellow and the Tobin schools. Morse School Principal Pat Beggy says, “I have witnessed firsthand the tremendous impact that the garden has had on students from preschool through the eighth grade. It is rare to find one program that reaches such a diversity of students across so many grade levels.”

Growing our Team

Posted September 26, 2008

We’re delighted to announce that we have a new City Square Associate. Her name is Rachel Linthwaite, and she is our Research and Administrative Assistant. (As you may recall, Erich Wiernasz formerly served in that role, but earlier in the year, Erich was promoted to Research Manager—leaving the Assistant position open, and Erich effectively doing two jobs.)

Rachel studied at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY garnering a BA in Religious Studies with a concentration in modern evangelical Christianity. She also spent time at University College, Oxford through a study abroad program based in Bath, England. There she indulged her interests in history and English literature. She also spent time as an assistant to the associate director of Skidmore's Dean of Studies, helping with the daily maintenance of an office that primarily handled student academic advising and the oversight of various academic committees.

With a strong background and interest in the liberal arts, Rachel shares our decidedly humanities-focused approach to the practice of market research. Furthermore, with a summer-long tenure at Starbucks under her belt, she is confident in her ability to recognize consumer behavioral trends within a commercial setting and therefore deliver superior customer service, a skill set which will no doubt prove itself useful in her current position.

Having grown up on the north shore of Long Island, NY, Rachel seems to be adjusting well to this recent move north. And Erich, Vivian, Josh, and Chris are adjusting well to having a new colleague. Together, we look forward to serving our clients well and collaborating creatively with our suppliers.

News for a New Year: Erich Promoted, Karen Advances, Vivian Comes Home

posted January 7, 2008

As 2008 begins, CSA announced exciting news about its ever-evolving team.

Erich Wiernasz who joined us as a Research and Administrative Assistant 18 months ago has been promoted to the role of Research Manager. Since coming on board, Erich has shown himself a capable and eager student of marketing research as well as a master of all things logistical. Anyone who has had the pleasure of working with Erich on a difficult respondent recruit or some serious document editing will know why we’ve decided to expand the scope of his job description. In the coming months we’ll be looking to recruit a new entry-level person to our team to pick up the slack as Erich moves forward.

We were also pleased (and sad!) to learn that Karen Barone who has been part of the CSA family for several years, most recently as our lead Strategic Process Facilitator, has accepted a full-time position at Communispace, a leading developer of private online communities assembled on behalf of America’s top brands. Though we will miss her outstanding contributions to our work—not to mention her wit and energy—we couldn’t be more proud of her accomplishments.

Fortunately, just as Karen headed off for her new professional adventure, our old friend and past colleague Vivian Harris has rejoined our team as an adjunct Senior Research Consultant. Having led primary qualitative research in a wide range of areas from media and financial services to healthcare and education, Vivian has 20 years of experience in tactical and strategic marketing research. In addition to superior facilitation and analytic skills, Vivian brings substantial management expertise, having served most recently as the VP of Operations at a leading New England research firm.