March 6, 2019
Kevin Pink ’09, left, recently joined Ben Lamb ’07, right, at 1Berkshire, a county-wide organization focused on economic development and promotion of the Berkshire region.
MCLA alumni not only form lasting friendships—they often work together to impact the region. Recently, Kevin Pink ’09 joined Ben Lamb ’07 at 1Berkshire, a county-wide organization focused on economic development and promotion of the Berkshire region as a preferred place to visit, to live, and to grow a business.
There, Lamb is director of economic development, and Pink now serves as the organization’s economic development coordinator.
As MCLA students, Lamb and Pink were involved in a dynamic breadth of activities that fostered their capacity to create meaningful relationships and collaborations for a common cause.
“The liberal arts experience, and the ability to get fully immersed in the MCLA community, opened doors of introspection, relationship building, and applied theory to practice that isn’t always possible in other academic settings,” Lamb explained. “MCLA further ingrained a love and passion for the Berkshires that has persisted and grown through our work in the region.”
Their projects at 1Berkshire include working with entrepreneurs and businesses, creating meaningful job pipelines for both youth and adults, and focusing on business retention and expansion programming.
With the soon-to-come launch of the Berkshire Blueprint (an action plan for cooperative regional initiatives that outlines a clear, well-articulated focus on prioritized business issue areas) Lamb, Pink, and 1Berkshire are excited to be major players in the facilitation of work outlined in the Blueprint. This work will continue for years to come and will engage a wide variety of partner organizations so all may collectively own the future prosperity of the Berkshires.
“The connections made with faculty, staff, community members fellow students, and now alumni have been incredibly valuable in our work,” Lamb said. “The same people involved in the college spheres of influence are many of the same meaningful stakeholders in the surrounding communities and the region as a whole. Additionally, with the strong role that MCLA plays in the regional economic ecosystem, the work is intimately tied to our passion for the College as alumni, and the region as Berkshire-loving residents.”
