WHILE WORKING IN Boston in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Gareth Conners identified a gap in the automation market for smaller performance venues – at the time, most moving stage technology was targeted toward large-scale productions, such as Broadway and Las Vegas shows.
“I was like, if you could come up with a more modular,
SEE CREATIVE CONNERS PAGE 14
WIRE WORK: Kathryn Davis is an automation technician at Creative Conners Inc. in Warren, a manufacturer
nursing assistant Johnbray Brown, moving into a workforce-rate unit in the renovated Paragon Mill in Providence’s Olneyville neighborhood was a hard-won victory spanning two years, countless inquiries and numerous apartment viewings packed with others in a similar situation.
Brown looked into more places than she can recall, ultimately submitting well over 20 applications, she says – a time-consuming and expensive process.
“Sometimes you wouldn’t get a response, or when you viewed a [home], it was you against so many people at open houses,” Brown said. “You would pay the [application] fee and still wouldn’t get a response or just get a response saying you didn’t get the apartment. So it was a lot of money spent.”
And that was after Brown found housing within her price range –a formidable task in itself.
Brown had already lived in Providence, where she works in a hospital, but after having a child, she needed an apartment with more space.
SEE SHORTAGE PAGE 12
OPEN SPACE: Meliza Urquhart, community manager at Paragon Mill in Providence, shows one of the new units offered at “workforce” rates for people who earn between 80% and 120% of the area’s median income. Demand in that slice of the housing market is far beyond the supply.
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1What are your priorities for Providence as the city’s new director of planning?
I see our work in the Planning Department as key drivers for development in our city, creating new spaces for businesses and our fastest-growing industries, as well as improving the quality of our local housing stock so that people of all income levels can afford to make Providence their home.
2What next steps do you envision for the currently paused “urban trail” network from former Mayor Jorge O. Elorza’s administration?
I have already begun working with the administration to review the state of Providence’s Urban Trail Network – where there are gaps, what parts of the network are the most used or underutilized, and overall, how we can improve the quality of connections between Providence’s neighborhoods. 3
What role will the city’s business community play in how you implement planning decisions, and how do you balance these opinions against input from other community groups and residents?
Mayor [Brett P.] Smiley and I believe that a robust planning and community process, as well as a healthy and vibrant business environment, benefits the city as a whole. When making decisions, it is critically important to us both that we have strong lines of communication with all stakeholders as we work toward a common goal.
4Do you see a place for transit-oriented development projects in Providence, and if so, are there any specific areas you have in mind for potential development?
Good transit infrastructure anywhere warrants increased TOD initiatives.
I am excited about Providence’s prospects of coordinating transit-oriented development with RIPTA [R.I. Public Transit Authority], as they advance plans for a new downtown transit hub, study the feasibility of highcapacity transit and implement the Rhode Island Transit Master Plan.
5In what other ways does your previous experience inform your plans for Providence?
From small, intimate, infill opportunities to large, complex projects with regional impact, my experience has shown me that all scales of planning and development require thorough deliberation and attention to detail. Providence’s neighborhoods are full of energy, creativity and opportunity. I am eager to start working with our communities and stakeholders to build upon Providence’s strengths and achieve its aspirations. n
NAVIGATING THE TWISTS, turns and cork-pulls of the state’s liquor regulations as they pertain to serving drinks by the glass to accompany food is a complicated exercise and always has been.
The accompaniment of wine or spirits enhances dining. For whatever reason, the simple act of pouring from a bottle of wine, or even opening a beer, must go through a thicket of regulations. And believe it or not, it is not only a Rhode Island situation. The liquor laws of every state are anything but simple.
Take the idea of BYOB. “Bring your own bottle” had a moment back before the pandemic. There was a circuit of restaurants that did not have liquor licenses. The restaurateur let it be known that patrons could bring in their own alcoholic beverage to enjoy. This brought a clandestine air to the experience. It was as if there was a shared secret that only those at the tables were in on. Add to this the perception of smuggling in a bottle of wine just purchased from the nearby liquor store was putting one over “on the state,” and going out to dinner became an adventure.
The fact is the state never had BYOB restaurants on its radar. The R.I. Department of Business Regulation does not consider BYOBs subject to any state liquor licensing
requirements if the restaurant is not selling alcoholic beverages. The only exception to this is that, quoting from state law, “an establishment whose retail liquor license has been revoked cannot thereafter operate on a BYOB basis.”
In wine connoisseur circles, there is another aspect to this. Fans, hobbyists and collectors enjoy showing off their knowledge by bringing a prized bottle or two to a restaurant that already serves alcohol. Talk about tricky. How does this work? Any venue’s bottom line depends on the wider profit margin from the sale of wine or spirits by the drink. There is overhead expense to serve drinks, as there is food – glass washing, labor for service, rent or mortgage, etc. The custom at the restaurateur’s discretion is to allow outside beverages but with a so-called “corkage” fee. Very few restaurants in our area offer this custom. It is not listed on menus, wine lists or websites. We found a scant number that would even discuss it.
Jo’s American Bistro in Newport allows it at a fee of $25 a bottle with the stipulation that the wine cannot be on the restaurant’s wine list. The now-closed north had the following explanation on its website: “We cook food and pour drinks that go in a lot of different directions,
with combinations that may be untraditional, but hopefully are always delicious. Corkage fee is $15 per bottle of wine/six pack of beer/per bottle of large format beer.”
In thinking beyond the cork, what about patrons bringing in other items? Many restaurants charge a “cakeage” fee for a booked function such as a birthday party in which the guests bring in their own cake or dessert. This is where at least one local restaurateur draws the line.
Richard Sardella, whose iconic Italian restaurant Sardella’s this month celebrated its 43rd anniversary, said for liability reasons the restaurant doesn’t allow patrons to bring in wine or desserts. The famed ristorante on Memorial Boulevard is well known and has been honored with numerous “best of” awards for functions of all sizes. It is not uncommon for a party organizer to ask about a celebratory cake, in which case Sardella’s refers the guest to a local bakery with which it has a working relationship. n
Dining Out With Bruce Newbury, syndicated weekly on radio, can be heard in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and Indiana. Contact Bruce at bruce@brucenewbury.com.
It was as if there was a shared secret that only those at the tables were in on.NO BYOB: While some restaurants allow patrons to bring in their own wine or desserts, often for a fee, Italian restaurant Sardella’s in Newport doesn’t allow the practice for liability reasons.
IN TODAY’S hyper-connected world, a lack of online recruitment options in any industry seems unimaginable.
But this was the void discovered by Phillipe Perut, CEO and co-founder of Coboaters. Boat owners said there were no trustworthy forums available to find help. Experienced crew members had similar issues regarding their next adventure. Many were still perusing notice boards at the nearby yacht club.
“When I was younger, if we wanted to sail, we would walk the dock and ask around,” Perut said. “Here is a tool you can use as your sailing network.”
Working out of his home office in Warwick, the French-born entrepreneur, who moved to the United States in 2013, set out to solve the problem. Launched in March, the company has amassed more than 1,500 members and 300 boat owners.
Coboaters.com, the company’s website, runs on membership subscriptions and includes a robust vetting and rating system. Members upload certifications and answer questions about their work experience. Boat owners create profiles.
And there is no third-party advertising.
“I’d rather ask for a light fee than have to deal with advertisers,” Perut said. “My only focus is on getting people the right crew at the right time. That’s the differentiator.” n
THOUGH CONFINED to a power wheelchair, Kraig Mitchell perceives the world from on high, zooming up to the clouds and back down through open doors.
Far from a fleeting hobby, he even gets paid to do it.
Living with muscular dystrophy, the Cranston resident who founded Drone Ability Inc. in 2019 never thought his passion for drones and quadcopters could eventually pay the bills. It was only a diverting activity that allowed him to go places, albeit remotely, that were inconceivable to someone in his position only a few years before.
It was in a Las Vegas Radio Shack in 2014 where he first encountered a drone, small and rudimentary by current standards.
Mitchell had been an avid athlete throughout his teens and 20s. But one by one the activities he enjoyed in his youth – baseball and billiards among them – were taken away.
For a while, he satisfied a thirst for action by racing cars, the love of which he credits for his transition to flying drones.
“I’ve always needed to do something,” he said. “And it was like all that stuff came back. The freedom and independence.”
The business he now runs full time began with a single gig for a real estate agent who needed some impressive footage of a property he had listed. Mitchell’s end-product
OWNER: Kraig Mitchell
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Drone photo and video services
was a success.
Later, on a job for a sports facility, Mitchell gave his client a Hitchcockian tour of the entire building with a freestyle drone, starting outside and then leading the viewer inside.
“I did it in one take,” he said. “No cuts, no breaks.”
Adding the new drones to his repertoire, equipped with virtual reality goggles that allow the user to experience the images in real time, was when things began to take off.
A chance encounter with a fellow drone enthusiast who had received a referral from Mitchell connected him to Sue Babin, project director for the R.I. Developmental Disabilities Council’s Self Employment Project, in turn leading to Mitchell enrolling in business development classes and later receiving a grant to purchase computer equipment.
The eight-week course helped sharpen his business acumen, Mitchell said, not only with bookkeeping and marketing but also honing his “elevator pitch.”
Meanwhile, the jobs have increased, but Mitchell is still laboring to break even. Revenues have increased as newly satisfied customers spread by word of mouth. He had
LOCATION: 43 Overland Ave., Cranston
EMPLOYEES: Two
to take on some debt, but “money makes money,” he said.
“I’m right there. Soon we will be turning [from red] to black,” he said. “It’s taken a little longer than I thought. I’m keeping it slow and steady.”
In addition to weddings, aerial property flyovers and hard-to-reach equipment inspections, another service in growing demand is footage capturing the progress of construction sites, which has become Mitchell’s favorite. He once livestreamed a Johnston worksite to a financier in Florida.
“It’s fun watching things come together,” he said.
Mitchell credits his partner and caretaker, Alaina, with helping him build his enterprise. After many years, they now see profitability on the horizon.
And Mitchell has more ideas to keep him busy, such as expanding Drone Ability to providing elderly clients gazes at the sorts of vistas he experiences every day.
And then there is his 15-year-old son who lives with his mother in Seattle and is planning a trip back east this summer.
“I can show him what’s possible,” Mitchell said. “How [drones] can change your narrative and perspective. I may not be able to walk with you, but I can take you on a virtual ride.” n
YEAR FOUNDED: 2019
ANNUAL REVENUE: WND
THE AMOUNT OF MONEY owed by the state’s top income tax delinquents has grown 50% in the last five years to $65.2 million, which is raising questions for some about the effectiveness of Rhode Island’s effort to collect those back taxes.
The R.I. Division of Taxation publishes running lists of the top 100 businesses and top 100 individuals who owe the most income taxes in a bid to publicly shame scofflaws to pay up.
Owing more than $102,000 can get taxpayers put on the list.
But an overview of the top-tier tax delinquents shows that many people owe much more. That includes former Alex and Ani LLC CEO Giovanni Feroce, who the state says owes $1.23 million. No. 12 on the list is former boxing champion Vinny Paz, whose tax balance has risen from $332,000 in 2018 to $416,000 in 2023.
The amount owed by the top 100 individuals alone has nearly doubled since 2018, from $23.6 million to $42.5 million.
Consequences for owing can range from not being allowed to renew sales permits, refund offsets, and driver’s license blocks, among other restrictions, according to R.I. Tax Administrator Neena Savage.
But with amounts of back taxes growing and the same names of the biggest scofflaws clogging up the list for years, should Rhode Island be looking at alternatives to bring in money owed?
Yes, says Thomas Quinn, a Providence tax attorney and managing partner at McLaughlinQuinn LLC Quinn, who worked at the IRS for more than a decade before going into private practice, says he has represented clients who found themselves on the infamous delinquency list. While certain clients “are very concerned from a publicity standpoint and want to resolve the mat-
ter,” said Quinn, “for others, it’s less impactful.”
One of the steps he suggests the state should take is to consider allowing debtors to enter into installment agreements more easily. Often, the state’s opening offer is a 50% down payment, he says.
“One of the difficult things dealing with the division is they look at how much they want to collect versus client’s financial wherewithal,” Quinn said. “If that’s impossible to pay, what can they do? It becomes difficult to negotiate when the dollar amounts are that high.”
He also says amnesties can be effective.
“You can’t just forgive them, or nobody would pay,” Quinn said. “But leaving them on the books [for years] doesn’t make a lot of sense either.”
Indeed, the state has offered tax amnesty programs in the past to push delinquent taxpayers into settling up. Typically, amnesty would reduce
the accrued interest rate by 25% and waive all criminal and civil penalties.
The last one was held in 2017. But Savage says there are no plans for amnesty programs in the near future. State officials have tried other changes.
The statute was amended in 2011 to allow for the publication of the top 100 delinquent businesses. That list includes seven now-defunct companies that owe more than $1 million, with the Attleboro-based S & P Temporary Help Services Inc. leading the way at $5.29 million.
In 2021, the R.I. Department of Revenue sought to expand the public list of delinquents to individuals who owed more than $25,000 to make the list “less stagnant” and have more recent debtors posted. The proposal wasn’t included in Gov. Daniel J. McKee’s fiscal 2023 budget request.
Instead, McKee proposed to cut the interest rate on delinquent taxes, touted as a business-friendly move. It was approved by the General Assembly. The change from an 18% rate to 12% went into effect in January this year and brings the rate in line with Connecticut.
Meanwhile, the tax division is in the process of reviewing both delinquency lists, and updates will be published in the next few weeks. n
Pablo Rodriguez has been trying to bridge gaps in health care his whole life.
Born in Puerto Rico, he came to the United States for medical school and became a health care leader in Rhode Island, his home for the past nearly 40 years. Working with patients and, in particularly, non-English-speaking patients, Rodriguez started noticing one common theme.
“What I found throughout my career is the difficulties that patients have with the health care system,” Rodriguez said. “People were having a very difficult time getting the right care at the right place.”
According to census data, over 22% of Rhode Islanders speak a language other than English at home, with 12.7% speaking Spanish. This often can create a whole new set of barriers when accessing health care, which in turn can have negative impacts on health outcomes.
He has seen this in many forms: from patients that have no idea what surgery they underwent to patients with medication to take and no clue what the instructions are. Some of these obstacles were caused by language barriers, but it goes beyond simple translations, he says. It’s about health literacy.
While bridging cultural, language and educational gaps between populations is always important, it is particularly urgent for Latinos, who are reported as having the lowest health literacy among all racial and ethnic groups.
This is why Rodriguez has made it his mission to spread information and help Latinos in Rhode Island improve their health literacy: first, through his career as a radio host, founding Latino Public Radio, the state’s first public radio station in Spanish, and then founding Nuestra Salud Productions LLC, a production company for a health-related radio show he hosts on Latina 100.3 FM. But soon he realized the radio was not enough, as its scope was too limited.
This became particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, when misinformation started spreading vastly through the internet and social media. Studies show that Latinos were 57% more likely to use social media as a primary source of information for COVID-19.
“I realized, I need to expand and make this into [a] local site. Because people don’t know where to find the information. They get it on Whatsapp, on Instagram, on YouTube. And we
have to compete in the same arena,” Rodriguez said.
From his long-running radio show, Rodriguez expanded his reach. In March, he launched a website associated with the radio show, called Nuestra Salud, the first Spanish-language health website in Rhode Island. On the website, he includes episodes of his podcasts, YouTube videos, and pages of content to help people find the health-related answers they need.
“People just basically need the opportunity to find the right information in an easily, accessible way,” he said. “You can actually change the lives of people.”
A social venture company, Nuestra Salud Productions is funded by sponsors, including Commonwealth Care Alliance Health Rhode Island and Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, and donates half of its profit to Clinica Esperanza/Hope Clinic, where Rodriguez is vice chairperson.
Rodriguez is not the only one in the Ocean State trying to address language and cultural barriers in health care. The Rhode Island School of Design recently launched a website to help non-English speakers communicate their pain to providers.
“Say Your Pain: The Universal Pain Translator,” produced in collaboration with Seattle-based global creative agency WongDoody, allows people to translate words describing pain in three languages – Spanish, Ukrainian and Mandarin Chinese.
RIGHT: Dr. Pablo Rodriguez, owner of Nuestra Salud Productions LLC, says he launched a health care-related radio show and website geared toward Spanishspeaking people to help them find the right care at the right place.
“The health care system is designed around English, but we’re a multicultural society, so people are coming into health care spaces with different languages,” said Justin W. Cook, founding director of the Center for Complexity at RISD. “But it’s not just languages; it’s the kind of idioms we use to describe things like pain.”
The website translates specific words indicating various types of pain, such as “burning,” “searing,” “dull” and “piercing” to allow those using it to be as specific as possible when expressing themselves. It is mostly meant to be used in emergency settings whenever a human translator is unavailable. It also uses design and images to help convey visualizations of pain, to make understanding across cultures easier.
Cook said they decided to start with ways to express pain because it is “something we all experience.”
But this is just a starting point for what he hopes will be a much larger project: in the future they would like to add levels of intensity, to help people communicate on a numerical scale how intense the pain is.
“It can be quite dangerous to not speak the language of your care providers,” Cook said.
And like Rodriguez, he agrees that translating words is not enough to guarantee equivalent care. Because of the complexity of cultures and of everchanging language, solutions need to also be complex.
“We make a big assumption when we say having a translator on the phone will lead to equivalent care,” Cook said. “It’s the complexity we’re interested in.” n
‘It can be quite dangerous to not speak the language of your care providers.’
JUSTIN W. COOK, Rhode Island School of Design Center for Complexity founding director
Honor
BY CHRISTOPHER ALLEN | Allen@PBN.com
(Editor’s note: A version of this story was first published on PBN.com on April 24.)
PROVIDENCE – The U.S. Supreme Court on April 24 declined to take up a petition by 21 fossil fuel companies seeking to move a case filed against them by former R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin to federal court, paving the way for a trial in R.I. Superior Court.
First filed in 2018 by Kilmartin, the action made Rhode Island the first state to bring forth a climate change lawsuit against the 21 major fossil fuel companies, including Chevron Corp., Shell Oil Products Co. and Exxon Mobil Corp., alleging repeated violations of the state’s Environmental Rights Act that adversely harmed Rhode Island’s public resources.
The April 24 decision rejecting the arguments in favor of federal authority marks the third setback for the fossil fuel companies since 2022. In May, the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the lawsuit should be remanded to state court. This was followed by another ruling by the same court denying a petition for a panel review of the May decision.
State courts are widely considered by legal experts to be more favorable to plaintiffs. The oil companies have sought to force state and local governments to pursue lawsuits alleging climate damage in federal court, arguing their claims are preempted by federal law.
In a statement on April 24, R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Neronha said these companies “undertook a decadeslong campaign of deceit in refuting the scientific knowledge generally accepted at the time… [And] failed in their duty to prevent reasonably foreseeable harm that
could result from the ordinary use of their products,” including rising sea levels and other damage to public resources.
Neronha said the lawsuit was originally filed in state court “because that is the traditional and proper forum to hold corporations accountable for deceiving and failing to warn consumers about their products’ dangerous impacts.”
The lawsuit seeks a monetary judgment holding the companies liable for “knowingly concealing” that its products led to environmental damage.
“After decades of climate change deception by the fossil fuel defendants, and now nearly half a decade of delay tactics in our lawsuit to hold them accountable for it, our residents, workers, businesses, and taxpayers are ready for their day in court,” Neronha said. “Now that the Supreme Court has affirmed the decisions of dozens of federal judges across the country, it is time to prepare for trial.”
The ruling follows a 2022 multimillion-dollar settlement between the state of Rhode Island and Shell, Sunoco LP and Citgo Petroleum Corp. after a seven-year legal battle over contamination from the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, which is banned under state law but is still found in groundwater throughout the state, according to the R.I. Office of the Attorney General.
A hearing on the pending lawsuit had previously been scheduled for May 24 before R.I. Superior Court Judge William E. Carnes Jr. in Newport County. However, Neronha spokesperson Brian Hodge said that in light of the ruling, a new hearing will be determined later. n
Memorial Day Issue:
Friday, May 26, 2023
Reservation Deadline: May 17, 2023
PBN will include a full page next to the Veteran Employers List in the Veterans in the Workforce Focus Section. This 4-color page will be filled with company logos saluting these veteran employers. This is an excellent opportunity to utilize a small portion of your advertising or recruiting dollars to show your support of Veterans in our state.
BACK TO R.I.: The U.S. Supreme Court declined a petition by 21 major fossil fuel companies seeking to move a pending state lawsuit to federal court. Pictured is R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Neronha.
MEETING LEADERS: The Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce and the Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce Coalition will hold a legislative meetand-greet reception on May 10 at the R.I. Statehouse.
THE NORTHERN RHODE ISLAND Chamber of Commerce and the Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce Coalition will hold a legislative meet-and-greet reception. The event will allow local business leaders to meet with elected officials to establish relationships, grow their network and connect with decision-makers on important issues facing the business community. Beverages and hors d’oeuvres will be offered.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 4:30-6:30 P.M. $30/members; $40/nonmembers
R.I. Statehouse, 82 Smith St., Providence.
INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3lRwVuB
THE NORTHERN RHODE ISLAND Chamber of Commerce will hold a Networking Coffee Hour event, hosted by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rhode Island, as part of the Chamber’s “Welcome Wednesday” series. The event will invite local business professionals to meet and build connections with one another in a relaxed setting. Coffee and pastries will be provided.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 8-9 A.M. Free Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rhode Island, 188 Valley St., Suite 125, Providence.
INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3TQQ907
ONE SOUTHCOAST CHAMBER of Commerce will hold the 2023 State of the City Luncheon, featuring New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell. Mitchell will deliver a speech outlining the current situation with the city in multiple aspects, including the business climate. Lunch will also be served.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 11:30 A.M. TO 1:30 P.M. $50
New Bedford High School, 230 Hathaway Blvd., New Bedford.
INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3G1kIdJ
THE CENTRAL RHODE ISLAND Chamber of Commerce will hold a workshop titled “Big Changes for Your Retirement: SECURE Act and SECURE Act 2.0.” The workshop, led by certified financial planner Jeff Massey, president of Massey and Associates Inc., will offer an understanding of the SECURE Act of 2019 and the recent enactment of the SECURE Act 2.0 and its new established provisions that will affect most Americans who are saving for retirement. Massey will explain the impacts for those close to retirement versus those with time to plan.
FRIDAY, MAY 5, 9-10 A.M. Free Massey and Associates Inc., 250F Centerville Road, Warwick.
INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/40Pd8Ln
THE GREATER PROVIDENCE Chamber of Commerce will hold a workshop titled “The Networking
Interested in having your businessrelated event included in What’s Happening? Contact PBN Researcher James Bessette at (401) 680-4838 or Research@PBN.com.
PARTNER SPONSOR
Mindset: Enhance Your Marketing Skill Set.” Chamber President Laurie White will lead the discussion on what type of marketing works for a businesses and what some of the marketing pain points are. The event also will cover how organizations can enhance their brand awareness to drive engagement among their customers, prospects and potential partners.
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 8:30-9:30 A.M. Free Online.
INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/40b10nz
THE SOUTH EASTERN ECONOMIC Development Corp. will hold a workshop, sponsored by Rockland Trust, aimed at helping entrepreneurs understand the fundamentals of owning a business. Information on how to get started, where and how to get financing, writing a business plan and basic marketing will be presented. Attendees will also be provided with a free business plan guide and other materials.
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 10 A.M. Free Online.
ONE SOUTHCOAST CHAMBER of Commerce, the Southeastern Massachusetts Business Network and the Business Alliance Networking Group will bring back the “One SouthCoast Business Builders Breakfast” morning networking series. This event provides members, guests and friends an early-morning opportunity to increase your access to leads, build your book of business and to foster meaningful professional relationships. Attendees are encouraged to bring business cards. A breakfast buffet will be offered.
THURSDAY, MAY 11, 8:30-10:30 A.M.
$15
Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School, 251 Stonehaven Road, Fall River.
INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/40MjNpk
THE SOUTHERN RHODE ISLAND Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual Chamber Choice Awards
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 5-9 P.M. $65 Theatre By The Sea, 364 Cards Pond Road, South Kingstown.
INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/40NBZ1M
COLLEGE VISIONS will hold its annual Spring Celebration. The annual fundraiser supporting the educational nonprofit will have music and food in an outdoor setting.
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 6-8 P.M. $25 Casino at Roger Williams Park, 1000 Elmwood Ave., Providence.
INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3mBGU7U
HOUSING NETWORK of Rhode Island will hold its annual meeting. The event will celebrate the organization’s accomplishments while continuing its work to expand the state’s supply of affordable homes. The event will also recognize seven individuals and institutions for their efforts in supporting
MONDAY, JUNE 5, 5-7:30 P.M. $60
Providence G, 100 Dorrance St., Providence.
INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3JXkS7a
SCORE RHODE ISLAND will hold a virtual open house in which business owners can ask Score volunteers about starting a business, validating a business idea, how to solve current problems and if mentoring is right for you.
FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 4 P.M. Free Online.
INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3KfuThk
UPCOMING PBN EVENT: The 2023 Business Women Awards will be held on Thursday, May 25, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Providence Marriott Downtown. For more information, visit PBN.com. For sponsorship opportunities,
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
She found herself on the hunt for a home with many other middle-income workers – health care professionals, teachers, public employees and the like – people she and others feel have been largely left out of the discussions on addressing Rhode Island’s housing shortage.
But now those middle earners looking for an affordable place to live are becoming difficult to ignore, particularly at a time when many companies are struggling to hire mid-level employees in a tight job market. Businesses are finding that the shortage of housing at a modest monthly cost is a big hurdle in recruiting and retaining workers.
The problem has at least one Rhode Island manufacturer contemplating constructing “tiny homes” on company property, a plan that harkens back to the 19th-century factory-owned villages that dotted Rhode Island’s landscape.
Certainly, the concept of “missing middle” housing isn’t new. But the response to a more urgent call for more workforce housing is relatively recent, says James Comer, deputy executive director at the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Cor p., a quasi-public agency otherwise known as R.I. Housing.
“It’s something that has not necessarily had [as much] attention over the years as the higher and lower income end of the spectrum,” he said.
Rhode Island officials are just now trying to get a better handle on the state’s workforce housing stock and how much is needed. A lot of that work hasn’t happened yet.
The R.I. Office of Housing and Community Development, established in 2022 by Gov. Daniel J. McKee, does not have a tally for the overall number of workforce units available or approved for construction in Rhode Island, says R.I. Secretary of Housing Stefan Pryor, who stepped into the role in February following the resignation of the office’s first leader, Josh Saal.
If all goes as planned, that will change soon, according to Pryor. The OHCD “will be compiling data of every slice of the market,” including workforce units, in the comprehensive housing report legislators tasked the office with developing at its creation, Pryor told PBN.
Not that things have been at a complete standstill statewide.
R.I. Housing established the Workforce Housing Innovation Challenge in 2019 and has since doled out $12.8 million to developers who promised to set aside units in their projects for middle-income workers – in other words, Rhode Islanders earning between 80% and 120% of the area’s median income. That’s $55,150-$82,680 for a single person or $78,750-$118,200 for a family of four, according to the agency.
The developments include the Industrial Trust Co. Building, Studley Building and Case Mead Building in downtown Providence, a building on Parcel 6 in the 195 Redevelopment District, the Strive Lofts at Atwells and Harris avenues in Providence, and the Arctic Mill in West Warwick.
In all, the projects will include 221 workforce housing units out of 780 total. And Pryor says his department will be working with R.I. Housing to determine whether the Workforce Housing Innovation Challenge will provide more funding.
Still, there’s a long way to go in closing the housing gap, observers say, and there are many residents with little time to wait for an affordable place to live.
Brown suspects that she avoided much of the competition for workforce housing at Paragon Mill by applying last May, just as the development started accepting applicants. Later on, many did not have success in finding homes, as available units evaporated.
The developer started allowing tenants to move in at the beginning of December, and by February, the complex was 92% occupied, including 49 of the mill’s 57 workforce-rate units. The mill has a total of 101 residential units.
One-bedroom apartment listings at Paragon range from $939 to $1,525 per month, $1,112-$2,175 for a two-bedroom apartment, and $1,270-$2,315 for a three-bedroom unit.
“Demand has been off the charts,” said Dave Vos, project manager for the Paragon Mill, which was redeveloped by the Wisconsin-based Alexander Co. for $35 million. “We made our focus leasing the affordable units first and getting those filled, but certainly, the demand for workforce housing is equally as high.”
Supply, meanwhile, is nowhere near adequate.
It’s no secret that Rhode Island is experiencing a severe housing shortage. And while the Ocean State isn’t alone in grappling with this problem, data shows that Rhode Island lags well behind the rest of the U.S. in correcting it.
In September, Providence nonprofit ONE Neighborhood Builders, drawing from U.S. Census statistics, concluded that Rhode Island ranks last in the nation for single-family building permits issued per capita in 2021, at just 1.27 new housing developments per 1,000 residents.
This finding has echoed across various organizations and studies: On April 24, the Rhode Island Foundation released a 183-page report and action plan on the state’s housing crisis, which found that Rhode Island needs to build another 24,000 affordable housing units to meet demand. In 2021, the state added just 1,150 units, the report said.
Some blame the complicated permitting processes that can differ greatly among Rhode Island’s 39 cities and towns.
At the same time, the state’s single-year housing costs increased at their highest rate since a 2001-
2004 surge, according to a 2022 Housing Fact Book published by HousingWorks RI at Roger Williams University. In 2021, the median price for a singlefamily home rose 14% to $365,000.
Now almost 70% of jobs in state-designated “high-growth sectors” don’t pay enough to support average housing expenses, the report said.
The national average for a “housing wage” – the estimate of the hourly wage a full-time worker must earn to afford a modest rental home – is $24.32 an hour, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. In Rhode Island, the housing wage is $34.06, according to HousingWorks RI.
Employers are noticing the workforce housing difficulties.
In a survey released by the Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce in late 2022, about 65% of 60 businesses surveyed in Newport and Bristol counties said that a continuing struggle to find and retain workers remains a cause for anxiety. A major contributor to the problem is a lack of workforce housing available for rent or purchase, the respondents said.
On Aquidneck Island, which has a higher median cost of living, more workers are commuting from southeastern Massachusetts or elsewhere in Rhode Island. Although the region has added nearly 3,200 workers since 2019, nearly half of them drive in daily from outside Aquidneck Island, says Erin Donovan Boyle, Chamber executive director. That’s largely because of increasing home costs, fewer available rental units and wages that can’t keep pace, she says.
In the past five years, the median home price in the Greater Newport area, which includes Newport and Bristol counties, increased by 44%, according to a Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce study. And wages haven’t kept up with this trend:
Manufacturing sector wages grew by 37%, food service by 35%, and science, technology and health care by just 15%.
Meanwhile, property owners seeking bigger profits have converted more houses and apartments to short-term vacation rentals with the growth of online platforms such as Airbnb Inc. and VRBO.
Employees at the Haven Collection Inc., a child care, coworking and fitness space in Middletown, have been feeling the impact of surging prices, says Haven co-founder Brittany Riley.
The business pays employees $9 above the average industry wage, in addition to providing full benefits, Riley says. Still, some employees are driving in from as far as New Bedford – a roughly 40-minute commute before rush-hour traffic – to live in cheaper housing.
“It’s nearly impossible for someone to actually live on Aquidneck Island without making, easily, a six-figure income,” Riley said. Finding an affordable, year-round rental “is a needle in the haystack at this point on the island.”
One of Haven’s clients, a real estate agent, has started volunteering her services as an informal perk, Riley says, which has helped some employees through the arduous housing search process.
“That’s not a long-term solution, though,” Riley said.
Employers in other areas of the state are going through a similar struggle.
Karl Wadensten, CEO and president of the manufacturer VIBCO Inc. in rural Richmond, describes the housing situation for many of his 100 employees as “dire.”
“I hear it from my people here all the time,” said Wadensten, who is a longtime R.I. Commerce Corp. board member. “They’re all struggling to find places that are affordable, places that are clean, places that are safe.”
Wadensten lays some of the blame on the bureaucracy, red tape and long, drawn-out processes that are too slow to keep up with the growing urgency of housing needs.
Because of that, Wadensten has investigated lessconventional approaches to assist his workers. That includes a proposal for on-site, company-funded units that would allow VIBCO employees to make affordable rent payments that contribute to 401(k) accounts as well.
Wadensten says the proposal seemed to appeal to McKee and General Assembly leaders last year. But since that time, the proposal has gone nowhere at the state level, though he continues to pursue it. He initially planned on duplex-style housing units but is now working with a company in western Massachusetts to order “tiny house” units.
Wadensten is still working out how the permitting process would apply to such units, but even just cutting back on construction time would make a big impact, he says.
“If I build traditional houses, that takes four to five months,” Wadensten said. The tiny houses, he hopes, would speed up the process and lead to more units for the same price.
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi says he sees potential in the concept, calling Wadensten’s efforts “great ideas.” But the speaker says it has a way to go before it can be implemented at a wider level.
“I appreciate Karl’s passion and I share his vision, but it’s great to have an idea, another thing to implement it,” he told PBN. “I encourage Karl to bring those ideas to the low and moderate [income] commission, as well as the land use commission.”
Many housing advocates see the significance in the $250 million allocation toward housing production that was included in the state’s fiscal 2023 budget, including $100 million set aside for creating more affordable housing.
But funding is only part of the equation, observers agree.
Scott Wolf, executive director of Grow Smart Rhode Island, says investing in the state’s housing
stock requires what he calls the “four C’s”: cash, capacity, creativity and coordination.
While the fiscal 2023 budget makes a major cash contribution toward housing development, the state in many ways lacks action on the other three components, Wolf says.
The state’s lack of workforce housing also stems from red tape, and from local zoning laws that often prohibit certain types of development and discourage developers from trying to work with cities and towns.
Permitting and financing play the most prominent roles in getting a housing development completed, says Frank Spinella, president of the Newport-based FJS Associates Ltd. consulting and project development firm.
Spinella has witnessed these obstacles in his work with the nonprofit East Bay Community Development Corp., which owns and manages about 340 apartments in Bristol, Warren and Barrington.
Palmer Pointe, a 13-building complex of townhouses with 46 units – most of them affordable housing – that opened in 2019 in Barrington, remained on the drawing board for about five years due to permitting, legal and financing barriers, Spinella says – and that was with support from local officials, an advantage not all developments have.
“The town had approved [the development] and had been very supportive, but the neighbors appealed it, so we had to wait through the Superior Court process,” Spinella said.
The EBCDC also needed funding from R.I. Housing to proceed, Spinella says, but competition is fierce. R.I. Housing gets 10 or 12 applications per year for affordable housing grants and typically
awards three or four.
“If you don’t get funded the first time, you have to wait a whole other year,” Spinella said. “So that’s two years right there in permitting.”
With the $250 million allocated in the $13.6 billion state budget this fiscal year, Shekarchi has led the charge to lower regulatory barriers that developers face, as well as improve affordability for tenants.
This legislative session, the Warwick Democrat unveiled a package of 14 bills intended to streamline the housing permitting process and incentivize developers to create affordable units.
Among those proposals are bills that would standardize permitting processes across municipalities; remove components of multistep hearing and appeals processes; eliminate rental application fees for tenants; and establish a transit-oriented development pilot program to promote high-density development around train and bus hubs.
Another bill in the package extends the Special Legislative Commission to Study Rhode Island’s Low and Moderate Income Housing Act for another two years. Also extended would be the term of the Special Legislative Commission to Study the Entire Area of Land Use, Preservation, Development, Housing, Environment and Regulation.
None of the bills include initiatives specifically targeted at the 80%-120% area median income earners that the state generally considers its workforce population. But Shekarchi says many measures, including those encouraging transit-oriented developments and adaptive reuse, pair naturally with the middle housing concept.
Meanwhile, cities and towns have a vital role to play in increasing workforce and affordable housing supply, Shekarchi says, but few have stepped up to the plate. For example, he says, the fiscal 2023 budget allocates $10 million to various housing authorities to dedicate toward increasing low-income housing stock. But so far, “no one has come forward to claim that $10 million, or a portion of it, to create more low-income housing,” Shekarchi said.
State Rep. June Speakman, who chairs the Special Commission to Study the Low and Moderate Income Housing Act, echoes a need to investigate beyond financial barriers for developers.
“We have $250 million to build housing, and that’s wonderful,” said the Bristol Democrat. “And for people who have been in this business for a long time, it’s more than they’ve had in a long time. But it’s not just about money.”
Municipalities aren’t always limiting developers with arbitrary red tape, Speakman says, noting that some regulations are in place to protect environmental areas and ensure safe infrastructure.
“It does require a fairly deep dive into the whole pattern of development in Rhode Island,” Speakman said, adding that she didn’t believe the commission would have all the answers by the end of the legislative session.
Meanwhile, the pipeline is still filled with potential workforce housing projects.
R.I. Housing has already received numerous applications for new construction and adaptive renovation projects that collectively seek more than the $20 million in federal dollars that’s available now to build on what’s been done through the workforce housing challenge, Comer says.
And while funding hasn’t been enough to solve the issue, Comer says that the workforce housing challenge demonstrated that landlords and developers are “willing to restrict the rents they get for those [workforce units],” in return for initial funding.
“They see the value in getting some upfront capital to build the project in the first place,” Comer said. In return, R.I. Housing gets a 30-year deed restriction.
“We called it a challenge to see if there was proof of concept,” he said. “And that’s what happened. It’s what led us to push for [the $20 million]” for a new middle-income program. n
‘It was you against so many people at open houses.’
JOHNBRAY BROWN, Paragon Mill resident
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12
economical automation system, I think it would be well received,” Conners recalled.
But one person who wasn’t fond of the idea was his then-boss, who Conners said wanted nothing to do with the concept.
So, in 2004, Conners took out a second mortgage on his house and set out to start the business on his own, originally running the operation out of his basement and giving himself six months to make a profit.
That business became Creative Conners Inc., which Conners built big enough to occupy a 10,000-square-foot manufacturing space at 84 Cutler St. in Warren.
As Conners had hypothesized, there was a market for his concept and not much competition. He hit his profitability goal in just over five months, and nearly 20 years later, the company now serves theater companies throughout the U.S., with its technology powering performances ranging from student and regional theater productions, Broadway musicals, corporate launch stages and The Weeknd’s 2021 Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Tucked away in a quiet corner not far from downtown Warren, the manufacturer serves a niche but expansive audience, designing, coding and constructing around 100 different products for moving stage sets.
Conners’ interest in theater dates back to his teenage years, when he worked on a stage crew for his high school productions in Chicago. This interest continued through college, and after graduation he spent about eight years working for the automation department at a Boston theater.
“The thing I always loved doing was automation because it’s a great blend of the art side of theater and the highly technical aspect of engineering,” Conners said. “Doing automated machinery, writing a lot of code and then developing electronics is always fun.”
Like the audience it serves, the company tends to attract a niche type of worker, Conners says.
“There are a lot of folks like myself who were just kind of theater nerds,” he said. “We went to school for theater and got art degrees. But then we have some folks who also studied mechanical engineering, or electrical engineering, or computer science.
“The best folks that we find are folks who have studied a traditional engineering discipline, but then either minored in theater or were part of the theater club,” he continued. “The hard thing to do is kind of blend all that technical expertise with the kind of kookiness of working with artists.”
In the company’s early years, Conners primarily worked with universitybased theaters, then expanded to serve regional theaters as well.
Creative Conners continued on an impressive growth trajectory for much of its existence, Conners said. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
While nearly every industry suffered, theaters underwent some of the longest, most complete shutdowns. The first warning signs came from overseas in late 2019,
when customers in South Korea and Germany shut down and requested refunds. Soon, clients in the U.S. were calling in with the same request, and the business was losing money with no end in sight.
“It was brutal,” Conners said. “It was pretty much illegal for most of our customers to operate, so everything shut down.”
With that halting, Creative Conners lost around 70% of its revenue in 2020, and about half of its staff.
The business experimented with other types of manufacturing as it attempted to tread water, including machine work for other companies and producing personal protective equipment. But nothing provided the financial boost the business needed, and by the end of 2020, Conners feared the business was beyond salvage.
“By January 2021, it looked like that was just it,” Conners said. “There was no work, there was no way to patch it over. We were just kind of done.”
The manufacturer’s fortunes turned when a large corporate customer decided to undertake a multimillion-dollar renovation of its on-campus theater, which the company used for product launch events.
“That basically
buoyed the entire company until the fall of 2021,” Conners said, “which, by that point, our customers were coming back and starting to do shows again.”
The company hasn’t completely rebounded to 2019 levels, Conners says, but it is back to its 2018 revenue levels and 19 employees, compared with the approximately 25-person staff it had prior to COVID-19. Fourteen of those employees work in Warren, with another five based in New York City and Los Angeles.
Today, Creative Conners remains one of the few companies providing smaller theaters with automation technology, Conners says, but its customer base is almost evenly split between these local and regional venues and large theater companies.
Going forward, the manufacturer hopes to expand into the live music touring sphere, which it has touched on in the past for clients, including The Eagles, Imagine Dragons, Rhianna and Eminem. Conners also plans to install morepermanent fixtures in theaters, and to advance the company’s subscription-based inventory and management software offered to customers.
And while widespread recession anxieties have gripped many businesses, Conners remains optimistic that the manufacturing operation is well poised to weather this potential economic downturn.
“People have been so cooped up in their houses for the past several years that the demand for live entertainment is very, very strong,” Conners said. “We are busier than we’ve been in years, and seemingly with no end in sight, fingers crossed. So, we’re going really strong.” n
‘We are busier than we’ve been in years, and seemingly with no end in sight.’
GARETH CONNERS, Creative Conners Inc. ownerCLOSER LOOK: Creative Conners Inc. owner and CEO Gareth Conners, right, inspects a piece of equipment with automation technician Stephen “Bo” Bogev at the manufacturer’s Warren facility. PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS
realistic, complex responses.
While some educators recoil from ChatGPT, others are encouraging educators to embrace it.
Among the ChatGPT proponents is Stephen Atlas, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Rhode Island’s College of Business. Atlas sees so much potential in the software that he co-wrote an opensource book on its ethical usage in the classroom.
His co-author? ChatGPT, as credited in the book’s opening acknowledgments.
The digital book, “ChatGPT for Higher Education and Professional Development: A Guide to Conversational AI,” has been downloaded almost 4,000 times since Atlas published it in early February. He used ChatGPT’s GPT-3 software to generate portions of the text, which he then reviewed and edited into its final, 134page form.
Atlas says ChatGPT has helped him to overcome challenges in tasks that had slowed him down for years – particularly, keeping up with his email inbox, which he always found daunting.
WHENMonica Linden, a senior lecturer of neuroscience at Brown University, enlisted ChatGPT to write a portion of a class syllabus, there was some appeal in using software to make writing the syllabus easier, Linden says.
But Linden hoped her students would read the portion of the syllabus generated by artificial intelligence and notice how it differed from the rest of the text, which Linden wrote on her own.
“I knew [an AI program] would write it in a way that didn’t sound like the rest of my syllabus, so it points out one of the weaknesses of ChatGPT,” Linden said. “It writes in a bit of a stereotypical way … [and] might not sound like your voice.”
The ChatGPT text, for instance, comes across as “a little repetitive and sometimes more broad than I would like,” she told her students in a note following the AI-generated statements. “You can also probably tell that it’s not in the same voice as the rest of the syllabus.”
Then, she emphasizes in bold text, “WORK IN THIS COURSE SHOULD BE IN YOUR VOICE!”
That doesn’t mean Linden is barring her students from using the software. As she also tells students in the syllabus – or rather, ChatGPT tells students based on
her prompts – students “can input a topic or a writing prompt into ChatGPT and use the output to generate ideas and to understand different perspectives on the topic,” provided they cite their use of the AI, or they may use it for proofreading purposes.
Whether instructors love it or hate it, there’s no ignoring AI software. Since ChatGPT launched as a prototype in late 2022, conversations surrounding AI have been nearly ubiquitous across industries. The chatbot-style software attempts to emulate human-created text, with controversial results.
While many fields speculate on how the software could evolve and impact the workplace, those in higher education have another concern: how students are using it, and whether it’s ethical and conducive to learning.
Some educators have begun to make use of GPTZero, software intended to detect ChatGPT usage. And Turnitin.com, a giant in plagiarism-checking software, recently launched its own ChatGPTdetecting software, claiming the program can detect AI usage with 98% accuracy.
But as quickly as this software comes out, ChatGPT continues to evolve. In March, OpenAI, a research laboratory that created ChatGPT, launched its GPT-4, which it claims can better understand subtlety in language and produce more
BLURRED LINES: Monica Linden, a senior lecturer of neuroscience at Brown University, doesn’t bar the use of ChatGPT by her students outright but says they can use the artificial intelligence program to generate ideas and develop different perspectives on topics.
PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
“For years in my career, staring at the blank page was a source of stress for me,” Atlas said. “And then emails would pile up as I had to respond.”
When he began to use AI to help draft his emails, with disclosure of this usage included, “I was amazed at how much more fruitful emails would become,” Atlas said. “Technology actually helped me to present as more human in communications,” and for the first time, he completely cleared his inbox.
Since his initial success in using the software for emails, Atlas says he’s also found ChatGPT useful in summarizing ideas and fleshing out prompts into complete concepts. Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology supports this thinking, Atlas says, noting a study showing that using the software allowed participants to spend less time in the drafting stage with ideas and more time forming ideas and revising.
Rather than attempting to ban the software completely, Atlas thinks educators should encourage its ethical use with proper citations.
While not averse to the software, Linden’s outlook on its potential isn’t quite as glowing. Some educators are concerned that the software can or will develop to perform basic but essential skills – if AI eventually evolves to perform computer science coding, for example, students could hypothetically use the software for this purpose and miss out on foundational programming skills.
“If we want students to be able to develop the skill to write their own code, they need ChatGPT to not be able to do that for them,” Linden said.
Ultimately, she maintains an optimistic outlook on students’ intentions.
“I hope it becomes something that helps students grow, rather than impedes their growth because they’re using it for nefarious reasons,” Linden said. “I think that supporting them in learning how to use it effectively is really important.” n
‘Technology actually helped me to present as more human in communications.’
STEPHEN ATLAS, University of Rhode Island marketing professor
ORIGINAL TEAK, FOUR COATS OF HAND-APPLIED MARINE VARNISH, AND THE KIND OF PERSONALIZED CARE AND ATTENTION THAT YOU'LL FIND WITH OUR BANKING.
EVERY YEAR DURING National Small Business Week (NSBW), the U.S. Small Business Administration recognizes the achievements of our nation’s 33 million small businesses and innovative startups. National Small Business Week is a time for us to highlight the impact of outstanding entrepreneurs, small business owners, and others who support entrepreneurship across the country. Starting a business is a hallmark of the American Dream. This is the perfect time for new business starts. Over the past two years, America has had a recordbreaking 10.5 million people apply to start businesses nationally and 332,000 across New England.
The businesses we are recognizing this year are wellestablished businesses with a long record of success. They not only contribute greatly to their local communities, but they are drivers of the national economy as a whole. Small businesses like these are the reason we emerged from the pandemic stronger, and they are leading the way for our new businesses.
I am especially proud of the achievements of this year’s Rhode Island Small Business Week Award Winners. These
business owners demonstrate the hard work, drive, and determination of entrepreneurs across Rhode Island and the nation. They have proven their staying power. They are our job creators and give back to their communities through their businesses and on their own time. And perhaps most importantly, they inspire others to strike out on their own and start businesses as well.
These entrepreneurs have faced uncertainty, disruptions, and hardships on an unprecedented scale. Yet, they have overcome these challenges and achieved hard-won successes, innovating, and creating to find new ways to serve customers, support workers and sustain our communities.
I am happy to recognize these small business giants and their impact on our economy and our communities.
Congratulations to the SBA Rhode Island Small Business Week Award Winners!
Sincerely,
Mike Vlacich New England Regional Administrator U.S. Small Business Administration
SPRINGTIME TRULY IS my favorite time of year, especially here in Rhode Island. We’ve emerged from another cold – albeit less snowy than usual – winter, trees are budding, temperatures are rising, and everyone’s spirits are lifted. It also means we get to celebrate our 2023 Small Business Week award winners at our annual “Salute to Small Business” awards luncheon. This year we will take the opportunity to celebrate thirteen small businesses and advocates who have persevered, thrived and shown that they truly are the best of what the Ocean State has to offer.
The theme for this year’s National Small Business Week is once again “Building a Better America through Entrepreneurship,” and I firmly believe that the small business ecosystem in Rhode Island leads the way nationally in combining quality and abundance of resources, services provided to assist entrepreneurs, and the resiliency and strength of the businesses in the state. All of our awardees have either utilized programs under the SBA umbrella such as technical assistance from our SBA-funded resource partners (the Rhode Island Small Business Development Center, SCORE RI, the Center for Women & Enterprise, and the Veterans Business Outreach Center), SBA guaranteed loans to help them grow their companies, or COVID relief programs such as PPP and COVID EIDL loans.
For almost 30 years we have held this annual event to celebrate our state’s outstanding entrepreneurs, and it would not be possible without the assistance from tremendous partners like our co-sponsor the Rhode Island Society of Certified Public Accountants and its President, Melissa Travis. I would also like to thank the Providence Business News for helping share these remarkable stories, and ensuring these amazing people get the recognition they so rightfully deserve.
Sincerely,
Mark S. Hayward SBA District Director
RISCPA/RI BUSINESS FORUM is honored to once again partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration, Rhode Island District Office for the 2023 Salute to Small Business. This year’s winners are the very definition of indomitable courage and resilience, representing the quintessential spirit of the American dream.
Small business is the cornerstone of the Rhode Island economy, playing a critical role in job creation and strengthening our communities. The tenacity and resilience they show daily in the face of adversity is a wonderful reminder that challenge is inevitable, defeat is optional.
Many of us have had the good fortune to work closely with the honorees; the stories of the challenges they had to overcome is nothing short of remarkable. Persistence and perseverance are at the core of who they are and the common thread each possess. This is a proud moment for everyone who knows these esteemed individuals - this is not just another accomplishment, but an important milestone in their history.
A very special thank you to U.S. Small Business Administration District Director Mark S. Hayward and his team for their fierce commitment to Rhode Island’s business community. I cannot overstate the importance of the work they do to encourage growth and development of Rhode Island’s small businesses. Whether it’s getting a new venture started, breaking ground on a new addition or expanding a product line, SBA’s guaranteed bank loans offer unprecedented access to capital working with lenders. The resources, programs and unwavering support they provide, along with the assistance of the SBA resource partners, positions them for the very success we commemorate today.
On behalf of RISCPA/RI Business Forum’s board of directors, members and our business partners, congratulations to all the 2023 award winners; we are thrilled to be a part of this very special celebration.
Melissa Travis President/CEO RI Society of CPAs/RI Business Forum
RHODE ISLAND SMALL BUSINESS PERSON OF THE YEAR 6
Craig Pickell
Owner, President & CEO, Bullard Abrasives, Inc.
RHODE ISLAND AND NEW ENGLAND SMALL BUSINESS MANUFACTURER 8
Loubnen Sukkar
Owner, The Backyard Food Company, LLC
RHODE ISLAND AND NEW ENGLAND WOMAN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS 9
Ellen (Wright) Puccetti, Jennifer Ann (Wright) Roberts, and Elizabeth (Wright) Dulude
Co-Owners, Wright’s Dairy Farm, Inc.
RHODE ISLAND EXPORTER OF THE YEAR 10
Ellis Waldman Owner, Walco Electric Company
RHODE ISLAND
MINORITY-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS 11
Tony Phouaykoumpha
Owner, Latte Love Coffee House, LLC
RHODE ISLAND
VETERAN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS 12
Christopher Mishoe
Owner, Bravo Brewing Company, LLC
HOMEBASED SMALL BUSINESS OF THE YEAR 12
Gloria Chacón President & Owner, Green View Tree Service, LLC
RHODE ISLAND
JEFFERY BUTLAND
FAMILY-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS OF THE YEAR 11
Debbie Martitz
Owner, Hope Cleaners
RHODE ISLAND
MICROENTERPRISE OF THE YEAR ....................14
Miriam Ross, Esq.
Owner/Partner, Miriam Ross & Associates, LLC
RHODE ISLAND
YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR ....................15
Vincent Pezzullo
Owner & President, My Cousin Vinny’s Rentals, LLC
RHODE ISLAND
FINANCIAL SERVICES CHAMPION OF THE YEAR 16
Jonathan W. Richmond BankNewport
RHODE ISLAND
DISTRICT DIRECTOR AWARD 16
Melody Weeks
Executive Vice President, Rhode Island Commerce Corporation
RHODE ISLAND
JOSEPH G.E. KNIGHT AWARD FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL EXCELLENCE 18
Dr. Kristina McAteer, MD, FACEP
Owner & Medical Director, Oceanside Medical
At Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, the health and well-being of both our members and the businesses we serve are at the heart of everything we do. Using the strength of our resources and those of Point32Health, our parent company with Tufts Health Plan, we are breaking down barriers and breaking new ground – including here in Rhode Island. It’s how our members get access to the care they need, and our clients get the personal attention and service they rely on. We’re here to help navigate the way to better health for everyone in the communities and businesses we serve, big and small.
“SINCE 1927, we have been helping pros master the daily grind,” its website says. No, we’re not talking about coffee –although Warwick resident Craig Pickell, the owner, President and CEO of Bullard Abrasives, Inc. in Lincoln, does enjoy the beverage.
In business for 96 years, Bullard designs, manufactures, and markets grinding, cutting, and finishing abrasive products for use on portable power tools employed in the metalworking and construction industries. From shipbuilding to pipeline construction, automotive to aircraft, its products are designed to exceed the performance expectations of those who rely on abrasive products to do their jobs. Bullard products are proudly “Made in the United States” from the finest materials available to ensure the highest productivity, performance, and safety that today’s technology can provide.
Before coming to Bullard, Craig, a graduate of Babson College, already had a storied career in the abrasives industry, including leading the turnaround of a Canadian company involved in the grinding wheel industry. As President of that company, he rebuilt the organization, created a winning team, and led that business to more than triple its revenue. In 2000, Craig acquired an interest in Bullard. As President & CEO, he led a complete rebuilding of an aged manufacturing company – in six years, his team reinvented manufacturing, the business relocated, and its revenue doubled. Understanding that manufacturing plays a significant role in the success of the United States economy and believing that American companies should work hand-in-hand to build better products, Bullard makes it a priority to partner with domestic suppliers for the high-quality materials it needs to produce its abrasive wheels.
Like other manufacturers, COVID-19 hit Bullard hard. Because of financial assistance through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Bullard was able to keep on his staff of 82 employees. Still, sales continue to be adversely affected by COVID, and Bullard teams continue to work to regain its prior revenue level. Craig also stepped up and helped
CRAIG PICKELL Owner, President & CEO, Bullard Abrasives, Inc.
other local companies navigate the uncertainties of the pandemic and as companies emerged from it, becoming a go-to figure for small business manufacturers around the state.
Bullard continues to give back to its community through corporate and personal charitable giving. The company’s giving is focused on children and those most in need. Craig’s personal giving is broad-based, and he also volunteers his time on a regular basis. Craig is currently the Chairman of the RI Manufacturing Association, a Passport member of The Rhode Island 100 Club, an Advisory Member for the Steel Yard Arts Center, and Treasurer of The
Courthouse Center for the Arts.
“As Craig has said, Bullard’s philosophy is simple: it provides quality that is second to none, innovation that is ahead of its time, and a total commitment to customer satisfaction. In short, it believes in American manufacturing and keeping its customers happy,” said Mark S. Hayward, the SBA’s RI District Director. “Craig also believes in his staff, not only genuinely welcoming their suggestions, but actually implementing them. The SBA is truly excited to recognize Craig as its 2023 RI Small Business Person of the Year,” Director Hayward concluded.
‘Bullard’s philosophy is simple: it provides quality that is second to none, innovation that is ahead of its time, and a total commitment to customer satisfaction. ‘
– MARK S. HAYWARD, SBA RI District DirectorVarious wheels manufactured by Bullard Abrasives. Bullard Abrasives building in Lincoln.
From florist shops to foodie hot spots and every small business in between, managing operating costs can mean the difference between profit and loss. That’s why we offer a no-cost assessment. Similar to our home assessments, we fi nd ways to reduce electric and gas usage, lower costs and weatherize your small business for year-round comfort—so you can grow your profi ts. We’ll even pay up to 90% of weatherization costs.
We want to help your small business grow by paying up to 90% of weatherization costs.
EIGHT YEARS AGO, Loubnen Sukkar and his friend Matt McClelland were dads starting a condiment business that grew out of their backyard gardens – hence, the name Backyard Food Company (BYFC). Today, Louby is the CEO of the 3-employee, Warwick-based business.
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Louby immigrated to the United States with his family at age 2. With the Venezuelan economy failing and its government embroiled in turmoil, Louby’s parents wanted to raise their children in a safe country. Louby learned from a young age the value of hard work and determination as he watched his parents rebuild their lives in America. While earning an accounting degree from URI, he worked to help his parents grow a series of pizza restaurants across Rhode Island and Massachusetts. He purchased those business from his family in 2000, and still owns them today. Louby began his accounting career focused on the manufacturing sector and, in so doing, he gained a strong understanding of best manufacturing practices and financial reporting as well as managerial and cost accounting.
BYFC is a manufacturer and wholesaler of shelf-stable specialty food products made in small batches from simple, minimally processed ingredients. The result is a fresh, homemade taste that offers high value to specialty consumers in a fast-growing market segment. The business makes 31 products – including salsa, BBQ sauce, applesauce, relish, pickles, and jams – that are available in over 1200 retail stores on the eastern seaboard, with a large concentration in the northeast. Its products can be found in Whole Foods, Dave’s Fresh Marketplace, Stop
& Shop, Market Basket, and many more large markets, in addition to many independents across New England.
BYFC also develops custom formulations for companies such as Smashburger, Brother’s Markets, and Whole Foods, and has collaborated with breweries including Downeast Cider House and Night Shift Brewing. Although online orders account for a fraction of its sales, the potential to reach new customers through targeted marketing has become an increased focus.
BYFC has realized tremendous growth
since picking up its first account – the University Heights Whole Foods in Providence – in late 2014. Manufacturing capacity has grown from 240 units a day to over 25,000 units as the principals transitioned out of the kitchen and used co-manufacturers that specialize in different areas such as viscous liquids with particulates, applesauce, and pickles. By realizing economies of scale, taking advantage of gaps in supply, and benefitting from increased consumer spending created by COVID and inflation, BYFC’s gross sales have tripled in the last 4 years. Its product development, new key retailers, e-commerce, and same store sales continue to outpace the industry average, putting it on a 75+% growth trend for 2023.
The business sought advice and knowledge at every turn, listening to and learning from key players within the industry as well as successful people on the outside. Louby credits that team of advisors with BYFC’s ability to grow and meet the challenges the pandemic brought. In early 2021 Louby connected with Amit Basnet, the Director, Central Region, of the RI Small Business Development Center (SBDC), an SBA grantee, to discuss BYFC’s growth strategy. Soon, the business was selected to participate in the Edward Lowe Foundation’s System for Integrated Growth® (SIG) program sponsored by the SBDC. The SIG® program helps secondstage business owners accelerate growth over 12 weeks of comprehensive engagements. Having participated in two rounds of SIG® engagements in 2021 and 2022, BYFC is now poised for scaling up nationally in retail
markets as well as online.
During COVID-19, BYFC changed its perspective and pivoted by securing massive quantities of ingredients and scheduling heavy productions on high volume products. It reformulated its highest volume products. These efforts resulted in better quality products, consistent means to procure ingredients, and lower costs. “Pivot, Pivot, and Pivot ” was and is Louby and his team’s mantra to tackle the pandemic and its aftermath. In doing so, they have turned obstacles into opportunities to gain market share, increase brand awareness, and enhance relationships with key distributors and retailers.
BYFC’s products have attracted local and regional acclaim and numerous awards. They have been featured in Bon Appétit, Today, RI Monthly, WPRI, and ProJo, to name a few and, in May 2022, the company was awarded Whole Foods Market Supplier of the Year for the North Atlantic Region.
“The Backyard Food Company’s growth story is indeed impressive,” said Mark S. Hayward, the SBA RI District Director. “Its ability to pivot and thrive in a low-margin, high-volume business that is not tailored for a small company to succeed and to do so during a pandemic and a period of high inflation is extraordinary. To use a food analogy, the BYFC has been able to squeeze every last drop of juice out of the orange at every step along the way by constantly innovating, pushing the limits of its capabilities, and learning. It truly deserves to be the 2023 Rhode Island and New England Small Business Manufacturer of the Year,” he added.
WRIGHT’S DAIRY FARM in North Smithfield is udder-ly legend-dairy! Currently co-owned and operated by Ellen Puccetti, Jennifer Roberts, and Elizabeth Dulude, Wright’s is a 100-year-old, 4th generation landmark known to countless of us who call Rhode Island home.
For those (few) of you who aren’t familiar with Wright’s Dairy Farm & Bakery, here’s a brief description, though nothing beats the experience of a visit. Wright’s began selling milk directly to the public in 1914. In the 1970s, it stopped delivering milk to customers and opened its first retail store and bakery, accepting payment on the honors system. When customers started to demand fat-free milk, what was Wright’s to do with all that cream? It was added to its already-delicious baked goods, and Clarie’s Classics was born (check out that history on their website!).
About 10 years ago, Wright’s started making ice cream, which for the last four years has been sold from two vintage Streamline trailers, one located on the farm and the other located seasonally in Warren. Last year Wright’s opened its newest location, Wright’s Creamery, at the Farm Fresh Rhode Island building on Sims Ave. in Providence; the Creamery is Wright’s hub for year-round ice cream production, as well as other products, and is its first counter service venture. Today 90% of Wright’s milk is sold through its retail store, wholesale, and creamery, or made into bakery products.
In addition to product growth, this award-winning business has grown in every other meaningful business metric. For example, over the last 20 years, its square footage for retail and production tripled. Net sales increased by almost 40% over the last 3 years, and employee headcount doubled in the last four years. Wright’s sustained growth is indeed impressive!
This success did not come easily. Running a business has many challenges. In Wright’s case, Ellen, Jennifer, and Elizabeth daily face the challenges of being a farm in a residential area, out of the loop of the agriculture support system – not to mention the responsibility for the care and health of 140 animals, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, 365
days a year, with no holidays, no vacations, no days off. The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges, but with assistance the business was able to pivot and thrive. As an essential business, Wright’s was not forced to shut down, yet there were restrictions on customers in the store. Long committed to customer service, Wright’s pivoted to 100% car hop service. Within one month it created new systems, bought new technology, trained and troubleshot
this technology, and worked daily to perfect the new process. Wright’s was also able to take advantage of COVID-19 funding programs – specifically, the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program, and the Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP). Because of PPP, the business did not have to lay off anyone during that time.
The business actively and frequently gives back to its community. Wright’s has pledged money, product, gift cards, and discounts to a myriad of local organizations, including the Museum of Work & Culture, Habitat for Humanity, the Town of North Smithfield, the Rhode Island and North Smithfield Food Banks, and local soup kitchens. Ellen also volunteers with Habit for Humanity and serves on Farm Credit East’s Customer Service Council.
“Wright’s Dairy Farm is a genuine American success story,” said Mark S. Hayward, the SBA’s Rhode Island District Director. “From its humble beginnings more than a century ago, this womanowned business has demonstrated remarkable staying power, steady growth in employees, strong financials, innovativeness in its products and their delivery, creative responses to adversity, and generosity in it contributions to the community.
The SBA is proud to award Wright’s Dairy Farm its 2023 Rhode Island and New England Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year awards,” he added.
Ellen, Jennifer, and Elizabeth each has a daughter who is actively working in the business, and the co-owners are looking forward to them as next-generation owners. We’re also going to keep an eye on these young women’s business moooves!
IT IS INDEED A BIG WORLD, filled with opportunity – just ask Ellis Waldman, the owner, President & CEO of Walco Electric Company located on Allens Avenue in Providence. Walco opened its doors in 1931, manufacturing and selling radio antenna kits. Today, it is a 70-employee, diversified high-technology company that specializes in optimizing rotating electro-mechanical apparatus and automated process equipment. With over 90 years of experience, it has become one of the largest automation engineering and industrial service companies in the country, currently comprised of two business groups: Automation and Controls, and Industrial Power Systems, including Rail Transportation.
Ellis has served as Walco’s President & CEO for over 45 years. He has a B.S. degree (Accounting) from Boston University and an MBA from Columbia University (Finance and Human Resources). Under Ellis’ leadership, as the region and the bustling port of Providence grew, so did Walco, eventually becoming one of the largest electrical apparatus service facilities in the northeast – repairing hoists and cranes, air compressors, welders, and pumps, as well as motors and generators. During that time span, Walco also developed one of the largest maintenance machine shops in the Northeast, a large electrical contracting business, and an
electronic motor control group.
About 12 years ago, Ellis decided to start exporting. More than 95% of the world’s consumers are outside the United States, so entering new global markets was a shrewd decision that has led to considerable growth at Walco, including jobs within the Automations group. Walco has had the opportunity to build relationships with international customers and vendors, resulting in the expansion of its resource network. While it exports to numerous countries, Walco’s two largest international customer bases are Mexico and Brazil. Its office in Mexico – close to the metals processing industry, one of the target industries for Walco’s Automation and Control group – gives Walco better access to both countries, allowing it to get products to customers quicker than if it operated exclusively out of the Rhode Island facility.
Walco has been creative – and effective – in this new world of international trade. In terms of a creative overseas marketing strategy, Walco has discovered that providing technical training (both in-country and remotely) has been a valuable way to advertise its services and products within foreign markets. To resolve export-related problems, Walco has worked closely with customers and transfer agents to avoid border crossing delays. It has also taken steps to become educated in various border documentation processes in order to ensure rapid delivery of its products and services. Dedicated to promoting the benefits of exporting within the manufacturing and automations communities,
Walco has also been candid in discussions with other companies in those communities.
The constant supply chain delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic caused disruption at Walco over the past few years. The business was also able to weather that storm with financial assistance from the SBA – specifically, the COVID-19 funding programs (the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program, and the Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP)) as well as the SBA’s traditional loan programs.
Ellis is deeply involved in his community and generous in his support of it. He has served in a number of positions in varied organizations, including: Temple Beth-El in Providence, as a Board member for more than 10 years, Executive Committee member for over six years, its current Treasurer, and its former Vice-President; The Phyllis Siperstein Tamarisk Assisted Living Residence in Warwick, as a founding board member; Jewish Collaborative Services, as a past board member; the now-defunct Jewish Home for the Aged, as past President; and the Rhode Island Business Group on Health, as a member for eight years and as past board member; and the Providence Working Waterfront Alliance, as a member.
His service extends to the business and industry community as well. He currently serves on the Executive Board of the Rhode Island Manufacturing Association (RIMA), where he has been a member for over 15 years and a Board member for 10 years. He is also a past International President of the Electrical Apparatus Service Association (EASA).
“For the past four decades, Ellis Waldman has embodied the best qualities of a small business owner,” said Mark S. Hayward, the SBA’s Rhode Island District Director. “During that time, he has deftly guided Walco through shifting economic landscapes and, with more than 95% of the world’s customers located outside the United States, Ellis had the foresight to grow his business by entering the global marketplace. We are delighted to name Walco Electric as the 2023 Rhode Island Small Business Exporter of the Year,” he added.
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To create and support a diverse and inclusive state government culture that values and reflects the changing demographics of Rhode Island by advancing equitable and fair opportunities for all Rhode Island Citizens to be employed by and/or do business with the State of Rhode Island
DID YOU KNOW THAT America’s first coffeehouse was established in Boston in 1676? Three hundred forty two years later, Tony Phouaykoumpha of Scituate opened Latte Love Coffee House on Comstock Parkway in Cranston. It was December 2018, and everything was heading in the right direction for Tony and his business. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, many scaled back, but Tony wasn’t about to let a global pandemic get in the way of his dreams. So, in the midst of the pandemic, while everyone else was shutting down, Tony was ramping up and opening a second location in Johnston.
Tony learned the essence of hard work, struggle, perseverance, and work ethic at an early age. Born in a refugee camp in Laos, his parents relocated to the United States in 1990, when Tony was 7, to give him and his sister a shot at the American Dream. He has always admired his parents’ hard work, zeal, integrity, and strong work ethic. At 14 years old he picked up his first job at a restaurant to help his parents with bills, and he never looked back. He worked for the same restaurant for 23 years in varying capacities and learned a lot about the restaurant business -- the dos, the don’ts, and everything in between! Then the entrepreneurial bug bit him!
Wanting to expand his talents and do more in life, Tony established Latte Love with the help of his wife, Elizabeth. Latte Love is a rustic-modern inspired coffee shop with an artistic ambience, serving a variety of fresh baked goods, freshly brewed to the bean coffee, and deliciously handcrafted breakfast and lunch sandwiches. The ingredients are always fresh, and service always comes with a smile. Its coffee is 100% organic and fair-trade from around the world, locally roasted and proudly caffeinating Rhode Islanders.
Tony understood early on the need for professional business planning support, so he connected with the RI Small Business Development Center (SBDC), an SBA grantee.
Tony worked with Amit Basnet, the SBDC’s Central Region Director, who guided Latte Love throughout its steady rise, from early market research and due diligence to the current business plan, which Tony has masterfully executed. Latte
Love experienced steady growth of 15-20% yearly, during a pandemic; it now has 35 employees, and sales more than doubled in four years. Tony recently bought the property across the street from the Cranston location, and he continues to work closely with Amit to build a bigger and better Latte Love at that location.
He is grateful for the SBA’s assistance in the business’ success – everything from the SBDC’s wise counsel to the COVID-19 funding programs (the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program, and the Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP)) to the SBA’s traditional loan programs that provided a small working capital line of credit as well as the means to purchase and renovate Latte Love’s locations.
A big supporter of his community, Tony has contributed to over 10 sport clubs, over 15 charitable fundraisers, churches, St. Jude’s, cancer survivors, and the military. To support frontline workers, at the height of the pandemic Latte Love donated coffee and baked goods to a local nursing facility. Last Thanksgiving it gave away 50 turkeys to families in need. In fact, since opening its doors, Latte Love has not turned down one charity asking for help. Its good works were recognized in early 2022 when Latte Love received a coveted award from the U.S. Postal Service, Customer Relations for its commitment to the community. The award took the shape of a framed special stamp collection of real espresso-themed “Forever” stamps – the very drinks that Tony crafts with “love” every day for his cherished customers.
“In many ways, the road to Latte Love Coffee House mirrors Tony and his family’s personal story: challenging but rewarding,” said Mark S. Hayward, the SBA’s RI District Director. “Tony’s journey should inspire every entrepreneur, and we at the SBA are proud to have been able to assist him in numerous ways and at various points in his business’s lifecycle. He is a role model for so many, and we are proud to name Latte Love as the 2023 Rhode Island Minority-Owned Small Business of the Year,” he added.
Ellen (Wright) Puccetti
Jennifer Ann (Wright) Roberts
Elizabeth (Wright) Dulude Co-Owners
BRAVO BREWING COMPANY, located in Pascoag, is the premier craft beer tap room in Northern Rhode Island, crafting many fine ales and lagers, including traditional old-world beers and new American craft styles. Its owner, Christopher Mishoe, spent 6 years in the Air Force serving in an Engineering Installations unit out of South Portland, Maine after graduating from Williams College.
He received many accolades and awards during his service, including Airman of the Year for his entire unit. Chris deployed multiple times and served during Operation Enduring Freedom, performing duties in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Upon returning home, Chris moved to Rhode Island and began work in various fields, but he eventually decided it was time to make his dream of running a brewery a reality. He founded Bravo Brewing Company in 2019, and it has been his passion ever since.
As a decorated veteran, Chris understands the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin’s adage that “if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Chris knew he needed a plan that would drive business success. He began by consulting with Dennis McCarthy of the RI Small Business Development Center, an SBA grantee. Dennis helped Chris form an initial business plan and budget, critical to a business’ launch.
Bravo Brewing has been open for business over three years and now has five employees. In its first year, it – like so many other businesses – had to deal with all the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic presented to most businesses. Bravo had just one employee its first year and added an additional employee to help with operating during the shutdowns and mandates. Growth was slow that first year. The second year of operation, three more employees were brought onboard to staff the bar and help with production. Since then, sales have increased, as have the number of new visitors. While Year 3 brought additional growth in sales, the new challenges of unprecedented inflation have proven incredibly difficult. Chris has
been able to weather these storms and fulfill his dream thanks to assistance from a number of COVID-19 funding programs, including the Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP), the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) and the SBA’s
Today, Bravo Brewing operates a small canning line and is planning to supply the outside market with cans and kegs of its products. The welcoming tap room – with its fully operational bar where visitors can try its products in a fun atmosphere while spending time with friends – is its main source of income. Since its opening Bravo Brewing has expanded twice, most recently by adding an additional 1,000 sq. feet and a kitchen to eventually provide food service to its patrons.
Bravo Brewing is above all committed to community and being authentic and neighborly through its local-first and inclusive approach. It gives back in many ways. Each year it contributes 1% of all sales to Homes for Our Troops, a non-profit charity based in Taunton, MA that builds adapted homes for severely injured post 9-11 veterans, a cause Chris strongly believes in. It also brewed a collaboration beer with its local Fireman’s Club and donated a percentage of proceeds to them, which monies were used around town for scholarships, assistance to families, and events for local schools. Bravo Brewing has also hosted fundraisers for local sports teams, donating a percentage of sales from a particular night to help the local teams raise money for uniforms, travel, etc.
“Starting a business during the pandemic was not for the faint of heart,” said Mark S. Hayward, SBA’s Rhode Island District Director. “In recognition of Chris’s service to our country as a veteran, his incredible work ethic and can-do attitude that pulled his business through the pandemic, and his desire to bring something new to an area of our state that has been struggling economically, the SBA is pleased to name Bravo Brewing Company as the 2023 Rhode Island Veteran-Owned Small Business of the Year,” he added.
AS THE CHINESE PROVERB INSTRUCTS, “the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” Gloria Chacón, the President and Owner of Green View Tree Service of Johnston, says “amen” to that!
Originally from Guatemala, Gloria Chacón comes from a family of strong, business-savvy women, so it’s no surprise she followed in their footsteps and opened Green View Tree Service in 2017, while she was completing her bachelor’s degree. As her business started to grow, she saw its potential and quickly switched her degree focus, earning an MBA with a concentration in HR management. Gloria achieved all of this while raising her children and running her business from their home.
As a fully equipped, licensed, and insured business, Green View Tree’s residential and commercial services include tree trimming and tree removal (scheduled and emergency), landscaping, snow removal/snow plowing, hydro-seeding, lawn maintenance, planting, and tree risk assessments. Green View Tree is also a family-owned business, and Gloria is herself a RI-licensed arborist.
The business has grown steadily since its start. From 2017 to 2021, gross sales increased nearly fivefold, and the employee/contractor count grew from 1 to 8. Still, Green View was not immune to the economic uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gloria received expert, individualized business counseling from Manuel Batlle, the Assistant State Director of the Rhode Island Small Business Development Center, an SBA grantee. With Manuel’s help, Green View was able to take advantage of pandemic funding programs: specifically, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which allowed the business to remain open and operating during the pandemic; and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program and its Supplemental Targeted Advance. This capital, along with the expert assistance on
government contracting that Gloria received from the RI Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), allowed Green View not only to stay in business but to bid on – and win – a big municipal contract; Gloria is proud that it was the first time a minority woman was awarded such a project by the City of Providence. In other words, Green View not only survived; it thrived!
Trees are not just Gloria’s business; they are her passion. Yes, her business offers “A Tree for a Tree” program through which the business will plant a tree at a customer’s property for each tree it cuts down, at no additional cost to the customer. Green View Tree also looks for opportunities to give back to the community in ways that care for the environment and foster its future. For example, last year it partnered with the Providence Neighborhood Planting Program to celebrate Arbor Day with students at the Juanita Sanchez Educational Complex; at this event, Green View Tree donated hundreds of fruits and vegetables seeds. On Easter 2022, Green View Tree donated multiple bicycles and scooters to Providence City Councilwoman Carmen Castillo and gave a speech about the importance of trees for our environment. Gloria LOVES trees and cares deeply for the environment!
“Because of Green View Tree Service’s staying power and steady growth, its resilience during the pandemic, its desire to positively impact its community, and its commitment to fostering environmental care in our youth, we are thrilled to recognize Green View Tree Service as the 2023 Rhode Island Homebased Business of the Year,” said Mark S. Hayward, SBA Rhode Island District Director.
YOU COULD SAY that Hope Cleaners, one of the oldest businesses in East Providence, is the “Cheers” of dry cleaners – a friendly neighborhood dry cleaner where Debbie Martitz knows your name and how you want your clothes laundered and pressed – and where she’s glad you came. Serving the community for over 90 years, this landmark family-owned business has been passed down for three generations: from Debbie’s grandparents to her parents to Debbie herself.
Debbie’s grandparents, Warren and Heather Luther, started the business in Riverside Square in 1932, and it has continually operated and served the community since then. The Luthers purchased the current 409 Warren Avenue location from the Gasbarros, who had operated one of the first Gasbarro Liquor stores there. In the 1970s Debbie’s parents took over ownership of Hope Cleaners and, when they wanted to retire in 2005, Debbie purchased it from them. Debbie has run the full-service business by herself since then.
Debbie’s journey began when she was a young girl, never thinking that one day she would be a successful small business owner. At the age of 11, after school and on Saturdays, Debbie began working for her grandparents, who then owned the business. When she was 16, her parents would leave the business in the summer, and she would run it while they were gone – taking in and tagging the clothes to be cleaned, pressing garments, and related tasks.
There have been sacrifices and challenges along the way, but nothing has deterred Debbie from carrying on the family business. She has sacrificed time with her own family to do so, and she has pivoted and adapted as
DEBBIE MARTITZ Owner, Hope Cleaners
WALDMAN President and CEO Walco Electric Company
the industry changed, including becoming green. There has been joy as well: Debbie cherishes the friendships developed with her loyal customers, whom she looks forward to seeing every day; they truly have become family. Like her parents before her, giving back to the community is extremely important to Debbie, as she donates to people in need clothes that, for whatever reason, have not been picked up after a year.
We all know what happened when the COVID-19 pandemic hit: many of us didn’t go into work anymore, so we didn’t go to the dry cleaner as often, if at all. With the help of pandemic funding programs – specifically, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program – Debbie was able to weather the pandemic storm and come out the other side even stronger.
“In recognition of Hope Cleaners’ impressive staying power for three generations over 90 years, as well as Debbie’s extraordinary customer service, the SBA is pleased to name Hope Cleaners as the 2023 Rhode Island Family-Owned Small Business of the Year,” said Mark S. Hayward, SBA’s Rhode Island District Director.
ATTORNEY MIRIAM ROSS is a juggernaut of support to small businesses and an indefatigable champion of social justice and parity in Rhode Island.
A Providence resident, business attorney, business advocate, and community leader, Miriam has extensive experience in business and corporate law. After 25 years of working as an attorney for Fortune 100 companies, Miriam decided to “go out on her own.” She attended workshops and trainings offered by the Center for Women & Enterprise (CWE), an SBA grantee, and also received one-on-one startup business counseling from the then CWE-RI director. With CWE’s assistance and guidance, Miriam opened her own law firm in 2004, hanging out her “shingle” before she even had a single client. Back then the “shingle” was on her home, but two years later it moved to an office in the Wayland Square area of Providence, where it has been ever since.
Miriam’s 2-lawyer business-focused, private law practice provides creative and practical legal advice and business solutions to smaller businesses, women, minorities, and entrepreneurs. As a trusted legal advisor, Miriam has helped dozens upon dozens of clients in a broad spectrum of industries, including manufacturing, distribution, bakery and wholesale food distribution, entertainment, web design and development, software development, construction, craft brewery and distilled spirits, and other service sectors.
Miriam truly lives by her belief that small businesses are the backbone of a healthy economy and are what allows communities to thrive. Miriam is an exceptional supporter of the SBA. From 2007 to 2021, Miriam served as one of seven Committee Chairs of the Rhode Island Small Business Economic Summit, hosted by the SBA’s Rhode Island District Office. She spent many hours meeting with the committee chairs designing each year’s summit, as well as developing specific proposals for legislative and/or regulatory action and General Assembly consideration.
In 2012 she received the SBA’s New England and Rhode
Island Woman in Business Champion of the Year award. In addition to advising local small minority-owned and women-owned businesses as they seek traditional SBA financing, Miriam has more recently guided many clients through the process of obtaining COVID-19-related Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and complying with their credit terms.
An active and involved leader in the legal community, Miriam served on the Continuing Legal Education (CLE), Business Organization, and Annual Meeting Committees of the Rhode Island Bar Association for over a dozen years, serving as Chair of the CLE Committee from 2016-2020. She is also committed to the learning and growth of those choosing to enter the law. Miriam is the Director of the Roger Williams University (RWU) Small Business Legal Services Group, which provides business legal services, assistance, training, and education at no or low-cost to minority business enterprises in Rhode Island. She has also been an Adjunct Law Professor at the RWU School of Law for more than a decade, teaching Regulatory Compliance, Election Law, and Law & Popular Culture.
Miriam is similarly tireless in her volunteer community work, where her efforts are legion. For example, she has regularly volunteered her time with business organizations, public libraries, and community organizations, including the SBA, the Center for Women & Enterprise, and the Bryant University-Chafee Center for International Business, leading workshops and freely sharing her wide-ranging experience and knowledge. Currently, Miriam is on the board and serves as Vice President of the Rhode Island-Israel Collaborative (RIIC), a nonprofit organization that fosters trade, business, and academic exchange between Rhode Island and Israel. During the pandemic, Miriam was a principal chair of a joint
project of RIIC and the RI Hispanic Chamber, through which local Rhode Island college students created websites for RI Hispanic businesses without a web presence using WIX, an Israeli company and world leader in website creation.
“I have known Miriam for decades, and I can say with certainty that small businesses in our state do not have a more driven and tenacious advocate than she,” said Mark S. Hayward, the SBA Rhode Island District Director. “Not a week goes by that Miriam is not fielding calls from and offering pro-bono legal advice to business owners about forming, operating, or managing a business,” he added. “Miriam is a role model, confidant, and a mentor to the women of Rhode Island who own and manage small businesses, not just advising them but educating and advocating for them as well. I am delighted to recognize her and her law firm as the 2023 Rhode Island Microenterprise of the Year and to thank her for her many contributions to our small businesses and community,” Director Hayward concluded.
WHAT WERE YOU DOING when you were 16 years old? Vinny Pezzullo was busy in his home garage – not jamming with a band but starting a business – My Cousin Vinny’s Rentals. He now runs the business from a warehouse located on Atwood Avenue in Johnston. And, as a well-known DJ opening for local and national country artists across New England, he now has music in his life!
Almost 13 years ago, Vinny bought his first bounce house for $600; as of 2021, his business was the largest inflatable rental company in Rhode Island. It rents everything you need for an event, including inflatables, tents, tables, chairs, concessions, and much more throughout the entire State of Rhode Island. The business has operated at a 30% increase in sales yearly, which has allowed it to purchase additional trucks and equipment and, thereby, provide more job opportunities.
Gatherings ceased during the COVID-19 pandemic –not a good state of affairs for a business that relies on gatherings. With the help of a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan and another one from CommerceRI, Vinny’s business was able to hang on until the gathering restrictions were eased and, ultimately, lifted.
Vinnyå worked tirelessly to ensure his company would not only survive but grow during and after the pandemic. His efforts led him to sign a deal with one of the area’s largest and most popular radio stations to be their official choice
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for party rentals. Additionally, Vinny has increased efforts to work with local school departments and local businesses to ensure that he is their first call when they need a party rental. It is the relentless hustle that has helped Vinny grow his business to where it is today.
Bringing joy and putting a smile on everyone’s face, having a good time with family and friends – this is what matters to Vinny. He is very proud to support his community, including the local police and fire departments. The business also puts together its own fundraisers; for example, in 2018, its Bounce for Funds raised over $7,000 to send a child with disabilities to Disney with her service dog.
“Vinny had the initiative, enthusiasm, and resourcefulness at a very young age to do what few have done at 16 years old: start and grow a successful business from the ground up,” said Mark S. Hayward, the SBA’s Rhode Island District Director. “We are thrilled to recognize Vinny as the 2023 RI Young Entrepreneur of the Year,” he added.
OFTEN IN LIFE it comes down to doing the right thing: by others, our families, our friends, and our local community. “Doing the right thing” is the mantra that BankNewport’s Jon Richmond lives and works by. It is always at the forefront of his work with clients in his primary territory of Portsmouth, Middletown, and Newport.
As a lifelong Rhode Islander, Jon has always understood the importance of personal relationships in a state where everyone and everything is so close by. Six years ago, when the opportunity arose for him to join the commercial lending team at BankNewport, Jon knew this was his chance to make a significant impact in the local community. The bank’s personal approach to working with customers and Jon’s personal philosophy of doing right by others were a match made in heaven, and he hasn’t looked back.
Knowing that the state is resource-rich when it comes to small business assistance, Jon has leveraged working relationships with the Rhode Island Small Business Development Center (RISBDC) and the Rhode Island Hospitality Association (RIHA) to ensure his customers received the assistance they need in addition to the capital Jon was providing. With such a large part of the state’s economy tied to hospitality and tourism, especially in the territory Jon focuses on, leveraging these resources is just another way Jon does right by his customers.
As a current resident of Bristol, Jon has been able to see firsthand how big a player small business is in the state
just by walking up and down Main Street in his hometown. Knowing that every business owner in the area is someone’s friend, neighbor, or family member makes it even easier to see how much those he works with appreciate his personal touch. Because of his ability to connect with people on a personal level, local small businesses have trusted Jon to help them start, grow, and succeed. During the COVID 19 pandemic, those same customers trusted Jon to help them navigate the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), knowing that he would do right by them and see them through the crisis. In the Ocean State, it seems as though everybody knows everybody, and it is safe to say that Jon – with his customer-centric philosophy and commitment –should be on every local small business owner’s list.
“Jon’s contributions and desire to help our small businesses in some of our state’s most critical industries as they emerge from the financial challenges brought on by the pandemic are extraordinary,” said Mark S. Hayward, the SBA Rhode Island District Director. “We are pleased to recognize Jon as our 2023 Financial Services Champion of the Year,” he added.
THEY SAY THAT “a rising tide lifts all boats.” In Rhode Island, there is an individual who is exactly that type of “force of nature” when it comes to making the tide rise for local businesses. Since coming to Rhode Island in 2015, Melody Weeks, Executive Vice President at Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, has been one of the hardest working individuals and biggest advocates for small businesses who is unfamiliar to many. While Melody prefers to stay out of the limelight, the magnitude of her work is something that cannot and should not be overlooked.
Melody joined the RI Apex Accelerator (then the RI Procurement Assistance Center or RIPTAC) in 2015 as a business counselor, after spending two years with the Maine PTAC. Soon after arriving in the Ocean State, she became the Program Manager, counselling and training businesses in all aspects of federal, state, and local procurement while simultaneously running the federally-funded program on the administrative and managerial sides. Her work and her team’s work has helped bring hundreds of millions of dollars to Rhode Island companies and is vital to the continued growth of the state’s (and nation’s) economy.
To put some of this into perspective, in 2022 alone, Melody and her team assisted 375 clients through more than 1,500 hours of counseling. This work helped those clients receive 6,385 contracts across those three governmental levels, worth more than $529.8 million, and helped create or retain 9,500+ jobs in the state.
While Melody may prefer not to receive accolades and public admiration for her work, that work’s impact is impossible to ignore, and people across the country have taken notice. Most notably, her work with the Department of the Navy has become a blueprint for Apex Accelerators and procurement experts around the country. Melody has
been called upon several times to make presentations at national conferences on the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and her work in that area. Her presentations to SBIR contracting officers around the country have helped bolster the use of the program and, thus, give more small businesses more opportunities to participate in it. It is safe to say that Melody’s work does not just meet professional and industry standards: it sets those standards.
“Melody has been a tremendous advocate, resource, and partner to the small business community and our office since arriving in Rhode Island,” said Mark S. Hayward, SBA Rhode Island District Director. “It is high time that she receive the attention she deserves for her work, and I can think of nobody better or more deserving of this award,” he continued.
With all the work she does, it may be tough to figure out when (or if) Melody finds time to sleep. Although, it does make sense that she may be up late many nights working to help her clients and the Rhode Island economy grow, seeing as she seems to be the other force of nature, alongside the moon, that is responsible for the tides rising.
MELODY WEEKS Executive Vice President, Rhode Island Commerce Corporation
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DR. KRISTINA MCATEER’S Oceanside Medical in Warwick began its journey as Oceanside Aesthetics and Wellness in November 2018. The idea for a novel approach to health, aesthetics, and lifestyle was borne out of Kristina’s experiences as an emergency medical physician who saw the precarious and chaotic state of health care. Oceanside’s motto “look good, feel good, perform well” encapsulates her view that a holistic approach, treating the body inside and out, should be taken to elevate a patient’s health and life satisfaction.
Oceanside started simply. When its doors opened, its offerings were limited to basic injectable services such as neuromodulators (Botox) and fillers. Very quickly, Dr. McAteer’s vision of a non-traditional med spa began to blossom, and she expanded her health and wellness offeringsaccordingly.
To that end, she has been indefatigable in her evaluation of technology being introduced to the aesthetics and wellness space. For instance, she was Rhode Island’s first partner with BTL, a globally recognized leader in non-invasive
aesthetic medical devices. Dr. McAteer’s introduction of EmSculpt, a non-invasive body sculpting technology, initially positioned her as a market leader in southeastern New England and led her practice to be deemed a BTL Academic Center – a space for other providers to learn from an experienced practitioner. EmSculpt is the first aesthetic device to build muscle and provide body contouring without surgery. Through high-intensity electromagnetic therapy, one can develop muscle and lose fat, resulting in a sculpted look that offers benefits for function and lowers the risk of injury. The EmSculpt procedure is currently FDA-cleared to treat the abdomen, buttocks, arms, calves, and thighs.
As Oceanside grew, Dr. McAteer expanded her suite of offerings to that of a full-service health, aesthetics, and wellness center. The business added treatments including hormone therapy, skin laxity treatments, hair restoration, skin restoration, vitamin infusions, and comprehensive medical weight loss and nutrition programs.
As with most business sectors, the COVID pandemic was a significant challenge for the aesthetics space. As a board-certified emergency medical physician, Dr. McAteer immediately recognized the challenge to her one-year-old business and attempted to limit the impact of temporarily closing her doors. Through careful research, and with the mentorship offered by SCORE and the SBA, she was able to keep the “fiscal boat” afloat during the first three months of the pandemic. With the assistance offered by the SBA’s PPP and EIDL programs, Dr. McAteer was able to support her employees during this time as well as strengthen the infrastructure of Oceanside. Eventually, she was able to re-open Oceanside with strict protocols in place to ensure patient safety and ensure outstanding service. A key organizational
strategy during this time was to regard the pandemic as an existential threat to the business itself and to work diligently to ensure that, when normal operating conditions returned, Oceanside would be able to pick up where it left off in March 2020.
After the initial months of the pandemic and business started to reopen, Oceanside began to truly blossom as Dr. McAteer expanded the footprint and moved the business from a modest four-treatment room space to a nine-room luxury model that moved the patient experience from that of the traditional sterile environment to warm and welcoming. Additionally, Dr. McAteer expanded into southern Rhode Island with a three-treatment room office in Richmond that serves patients throughout Washington County. This second location is located within The Preserve Sporting Club’s OH! Spa.
Oceanside Medical’s most recent expansion includes the addition of a primary care office located in Warwick, RI. With this addition, Dr. McAteer’s vision of serving our community in a holistic way is nearing completion. Also, with the expansion of Oceanside’s physical space and offerings, its need for additional staff has grown. When it first opened its doors, Oceanside employed one nurse three days a week, and one part-time office attendant. As 2023 begins, Oceanside now employs a team of ten medical professionals and support staff.
While busy as ever, Dr. McAteer has not forgotten to give back to the community around her. An environmental advocate, she has chosen to give her time as a board member and major financial supporter to the Greenwich Bay Sailing Association, a junior sailing program based out of East Greenwich, Rhode Island whose mission is to teach kids and teenagers sailing and to be positive and active stewards of the environment. She has also recognized how important the housing crisis is in our country and is a regular donor to Foster Forward (East Providence, RI) and House of Hope (Warwick, RI). She has also been a financial supporter of the “Adam Vinatieri Clays for Charity” event held annually at The Preserve (Richmond, RI).
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EVEN IF YOU HAVEN’T TRIED artificial intelligence tools that can write essays and poems or conjure new images on command, chances are the companies that make or sell your household products are already starting to do so.
Mattel Inc. has put the AI image generator DALL-E to work by having it come up with ideas for new Hot Wheels toy cars.
Ocean State Job Lot Inc., the North Kingstown-based retailer, has deployed it for data analytics and is looking at bringing on IronClad, a state-ofthe-art AI contract management tool.
Used-vehicle seller CarMax is summarizing thousands of customer reviews with the same “generative” AI technology that powers the popular chatbot ChatGPT.
Meanwhile, Snapchat is bringing a chatbot to its messaging service. And the grocery delivery company Instacart is integrating ChatGPT to answer customers’ food questions.
The Coca-Cola Co. plans to use generative AI to help create new marketing content. And while the company hasn’t detailed exactly how it plans to deploy the technology, the move reflects the growing pressure on businesses to harness tools that many of their employees and consumers are already trying on their own.
“We need to embrace those risks intelligently, experiment, build on those experiments, drive scale,” said Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey in a recent video announcing a partnership with startup OpenAI – maker of both DALL-E and ChatGPT –through an alliance led by the consulting firm Bain. “But not taking those risks is a hopeless point of view to start from.”
AI experts warn that businesses should carefully consider potential harms to customers, society and their own reputations before rushing to embrace ChatGPT and similar products in the workplace.
“I want people to think deeply before deploying this technology,” said Claire Leibowicz of The Partnership on AI, a nonprofit group founded and sponsored by the major tech providers that recently released a set of recommendations for companies producing AI-generated synthetic imagery, audio and other media. “They should play around and tinker, but we should also think, what purpose are these tools serving in the first place?”
Some companies have been experimenting with AI for a while. Mattel revealed its use of OpenAI’s image generator in October as a client of Microsoft Corp., which has a partnership with OpenAI that enables it to integrate its technology into Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.
At Pawtucket-based Hasbro Inc., “we are exploring AI and all the opportunities it represents,” said Brian Chapman, president of design and development.
It wasn’t until the Nov. 30 release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, a free public tool, that widespread inter-
est in generative AI tools began seeping into workplaces and executive suites.
John Conforti, chief financial officer at Ocean State Job Lot, says his company has fully embraced AI.
“Whether you’re in retail, business, government, or education, if you don’t start using AI, you’re going to lose your competitive edge,” Conforti said. “It’s a learning journey for everyone and we’re trying to pick up the best tools available.”
Ocean State Job Lot, he says, does not have a formal AI strategy. But Ironclad, the AI contract management tool, makes a lot of sense for the company, he says.
“We do a lot of negotiations for store locations, and we own a lot of property, so we have many tenant leases,” Conforti said. “We’re not looking to replace our legal team, but Ironclad could augment the team’s skills and make it more efficient.”
Ocean State also uses AI to analyze consumer data and is in the process of implementing a nextgeneration business intelligence tool called Domo.
“Domo will extract data for questions and answers,” said the company’s chief information officer, Hisham Aharon. “We can embed it into our analytics.”
There is reason for caution, however. While text generators can make the process of writing emails, presentations and marketing pitches faster and easier, they also have a tendency to confidently present misinformation as fact. Image generators trained on a huge trove of digital art and photography have
raised copyright concerns from the original creators of those works.
Forrester analyst Rowan Curran says the tools should speed up some office tasks – much like previous innovations such as word processors and spell checkers – rather than putting people out of work, as some fear.
“Ultimately it’s part of the workflow,” Curran said. “It’s not like we’re talking about having a large language model just generate an entire marketing campaign and have that launch without expert senior marketers and all kinds of other controls.”
Public awareness fueled growing competition between cloud computing providers Microsoft, Amazon.com Inc. and Google LLC, which sell their services to big organizations and have the massive computing power needed to train and operate AI models.
Amazon has taken a more muted tone, but makes its ambitions clear through its partnerships – most recently an expanded collaboration between its cloud computing division AWS and the startup Hugging Face, maker of a ChatGPT rival called Bloom.
Hugging Face decided to double down on its Amazon partnership after seeing the explosion of demand for generative AI products, says Clement Delangue, the startup’s co-founder and CEO. But Delangue contrasts his approach with competitors such as OpenAI, which doesn’t disclose its code and datasets.
Hugging Face hosts a platform that allows developers to share open-source AI models. That transparency is “really important because that’s the way for regulators, for example, to understand these models and be able to regulate,” he said.
It is also a way for “underrepresented people to understand where the biases can be [and] how the models have been trained,” so that the bias can be mitigated, Delangue said. n
PBN Staff Writer Sam Wood contributed to this report.
‘If you don’t start using AI, you’re going to lose your competitive edge.’
JOHN CONFORTI, Ocean State Job Lot Inc. chief financial officer
AMGEN’S 2027 ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY PLAN, also known as “The Road to Net Zero,” features ambitious targets on carbon emissions, water conservation and waste reductions. This is Amgen’s third Environmental Sustainability Plan since 2008, and the keystone of the plan is a commitment to achieving carbon neutrality in Amgen’s operations by 2027. The plan also includes goals to reduce water use by 40% and waste disposal by 75%. Amgen has embarked on a sustainability plan that is paved with innovation, efficiency and renewable energy.
JOIN US FOR A CONVERSATION with Jim Rawley, Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability Manager and Jeff Houle, Director of Engineering at Amgen about their ongoing efforts and progress in helping to realize Amgen’s 2027 sustainability goals.
What do you see as the key trends for sustainability in 2023?
[J. Houle] At a macro level in 2023 many manufacturers, Amgen included, will continue to influence their suppliers to reduce their emissions (Scope 3 Emissions). Without looking at the total end to end supply chain, it’s tough to make a meaningful difference. At a micro level at Amgen Rhode Island, we are continuing to advance water, carbon, and waste projects to meet our 2027 goals. Specifically, we are excited to be investing in a feasibility study to further water reclamation at the site.
[J. Rawley] I see the following key trends for 2023: Waste elimination efforts will be key because of the price pressures in waste transportation and landfill fees. The landfill fees in Rhode Island have risen dramatically over the last two years and do not show any signs of slowing down. There will also be increased pressure on vendors and suppliers to reduce packaging waste. This waste is a large part of our waste stream and is delivered to our sites daily.
What are the short-term sustainability goals for Amgen? Longer term?
[J. Rawley] Amgen seeks to be the leader amongst our peers in Environmental Sustainability. Our short-term goals are to reduce our environmental footprint by continually pursuing waste, energy, carbon, and water reductions. Amgen’s 2027 goal is to reduce water by 40%, reduce waste disposal by 75% and become carbon neutral.
[J. Houle] In addition to meeting the sustainability goals that Jim mentioned, Amgen is also implementing sustainability into the design of new buildings and systems. We are building two U.S. based plants that are being designed and built with sustainability at the forefront.
How is the current economy (i.e., high interest rates) affecting Amgen’s ability to achieve your sustainability goals?
[J. Rawley] The current economy is not affecting Amgen’s ability to achieve our sustainability goals. Amgen’s commitment is strong and unwavering. Amgen has committed to making the company carbon neutral by 2027, including a 40% reduction in water use and a 75% reduction in
waste disposal, based on our 2019 baseline.
[J. Houle] It’s made it harder but it hasn’t changed our commitment. When it comes to prioritizing projects, we always look at cost vs. impact. That will never change. And the reality is, many of the sustainability projects we execute have real return on investments. Especially when you consider the volatility of energy prices over the last 18 months; executing these projects isn’t just the right thing for the environment, it’s the right thing for the business. What are some examples of successful sustainability efforts at the company?
[J. Houle] Within my function, Facilities and Engineering, we’ve executed hundreds of sustainability projects that have collectively driven year over year improved sustainability performance. In one example, we implemented a fault detection and diagnosis program that monitors our utility systems throughout many sites across our manufacturing network. This was piloted at Amgen RI. It was extremely successful as it identifies faults and then prioritizes them for staff based on the amount of energy being wasted by the fault. An example fault would be a preheat valve leaking on an air handler. Before this program, this would likely go months, if not years before being detected. A second example project is the implementation of an automated daily demand response process that automatically adjusts set points to reduce our load during peak demand in the summer. In both cases we have used technology and data to reduce our environmental footprint.
[J. Rawley] Having vendors reuse our plastic pallets to reduce wood pallets; having landscape vendor utilize mulching mowers on lawn areas; recycling plastics into reusable materials, picnic tables and park benches made from our plastics.
What is the employee level of engagement in sustainability efforts? Are there particular employee sustainability groups or initiatives? In-person or online forums? Shared best practices among locations or employee groups?
[J. Houle] Within my function, employee engagement is extremely high. We participate in network environmental sustainability teams, internal functional teams, and cross functional teams at the site. Many other functions, like Quality Control or Process Development, have their own sustainability teams as well where they share ideas with their same functions from across the Amgen network.
How do the sustainability practices vary/ remain the same across Amgen’s locations?
[J. Rawley] All Amgen locations utilize a Global Environmental Tracking System (GETS) to track and share efforts at all the sites. Each site can view projects that are being worked on at each site and encourages sites to work together. Once a project is identified as a best practice, the sites are encouraged to work on instituting that project at their site. In addition, Amgen celebrates Earth Day, America Recycles Day, and the annual Nature Conservancy’s Coastal clean-up. Employee resource groups participate in sustainability efforts. Sustainability is included in every level of management.
[J. Houle] Our corporate strategy for the 2027 sustainability goals are the same for each site. Additionally, our corporate sustainability teams do a nice job of sharing best practices across the network. Many of our sites have different technologies and are at different points in our sustainability journeys, but when there is a best practice that can be implemented at another site, it usually is.
opioid crisis.
While New York has authorized the facilities at the municipal level, Rhode Island’s harm reduction center will be the first state-regulated resource of its kind in the U.S., Daley Ndoye says.
The facilities have attracted opposition in some communities. In California, for example, Gov. Gavin Newsom last year vetoed a bill that would allow safe injection sites in the state, citing a need for more planning.
But Daley Ndoye and other harm reduction advocates point to the existing overdose prevention centers in New York and outside of the U.S. as evidence that the concept saves lives.
In New York City, 613 individuals visited the centers nearly 6,000 times in their first two months of operation, according to a report by the Journal of the American Medical Association Network. Staff members responded to 125 possible overdoses in that time, and so far no one has died at the centers.
Overdoses in Rhode Island have surged in recent years. Confirmed accidental drug overdoses in the Ocean State rose from 308 in 2019 to 435 in 2021, according to R.I. Department of Health data.
Providence’s West End, behavioral health care agency CODAC Inc. serves one of the city’s hardest-hit neighborhoods in the opioid crisis. From 2016 to 2018, between 13 and 17 people died of overdoses in this area while emergency medical services responded to 98 to 133 overdose-related calls.
These numbers, compiled by the Rhode Island Public Health Institute, qualify the neighborhood as one of Providence’s three “overdose hot spots,” along with downtown and Olneyville.
But as overdose numbers rise in the West End and throughout the state, Project Weber/RENEW, a nonprofit offering harm reduction and recovery resources to people with substance use disorders, plans to bring a first-of-its-kind facility to the neighborhood: Project Weber, with CODAC as its clinical partner, is working to establish Rhode Island’s first harm reduction center in early 2024.
Harm reduction centers, also known as safe injection sites or overdose prevention centers, provide a supervised space for people to use illegal drugs, with trained staff on-site to provide medical assistance in the event of an overdose.
The harm reduction center has long been in the works at Project Weber/RENEW, says Executive Director Colleen Daley Ndoye.
“The overdose crisis in Rhode Island
is taking away our family members, our friends and our loved ones,” Daley Ndoye said. With the center’s planned opening at 349 Huntington Ave., she said, “the goal is that people’s lives will be saved.”
Getting to this point has involved a lengthy legislative process and funding search. In July 2021, Rhode Island became the first state in the U.S. to legalize harm reduction centers, with legislation authorizing a pilot program originally approved to run through March 2024.
New York City opened two centers in December 2021.
Meanwhile, in Rhode Island it has taken nearly two years to develop a concrete proposal and the pilot program deadline has been extended to March 2026. And although the R.I. Executive Office of Health and Human Services has approved Project Weber/RENEW and CODAC for funding, no finished applications have made it to the R.I. Department of Health as of late April, said spokesperson Joseph Wendelken.
But securing funding from the EOHHS marks one of the most prominent steps forward. The harm reduction center’s allocation will draw from Rhode Island’s January 2022 national settlement with three major opioid distributors, which allocated $90 million to fund state and local efforts to combat the
SAFETY FIRST: Dennis Bailer, left, overdose prevention program director at Project Weber/ RENEW, and Izzie Irizarry, lead case manager, assemble safe injection kits at the agency’s South Providence dropin center. Project Weber/RENEW and CODAC Inc. are scheduled to open a harm reduction site in early 2024.
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
In rolling out Rhode Island’s pilot program, the Brown Universitybased People, Place and Health Collective will collaborate with the New York University public health experts who operate the existing centers to conduct “a rigorous and comprehensive evaluation” of the upcoming center and its outcomes, said People, Place and Health Collective Executive Director Brandon Marshall.
Organizers see potential in the CODAC site for several reasons: in addition to bringing harm reduction services to a critically impacted neighborhood, “it’s currently being operated at a site serving folks who have substance use disorders,” Daley Ndoye said. “It’s a known site, it’s been open for decades, and it is in an overdose hot spot – that’s incredibly important, so it will have an impact on that direct area.”
Additionally, Daley Ndoye says, it has no direct residential neighbors who could raise objections.
Marshall also said the site makes “a lot of public health sense,” adding that the existing CODAC clinic means that the facility is already equipped to provide harm reduction and recovery services.
The extended pilot program, approved in late March, will provide essential time for the Project Weber/ RENEW and CODAC facility’s launch and evaluation, Marshall says, and he’s optimistic it will leave time for other applicants to open centers as well.
“The regulations allow for different types of overdose prevention centers, such as mobile facilities, for example,” Marshall said. “So I think it would be possible for other organizations to go through the regulatory and municipal process in that timeline.
“If and when another organization opens another overdose prevention center in Rhode Island,” he said, “we will be ready to evaluate it.” n
‘The goal is that people’s lives will be saved.’ COLLEEN DALEY NDOYE, Project Weber/RENEW executive director
FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS, grabbing an over-thecounter or laboratory COVID-19 test has been easy, relatively quick and entirely free. But soon, some Rhode Islanders will have to start paying out of pocket for their tests.
That’s because after three years in a state of emergency, both the Rhode Island and the federal COVID-19 health emergencies are set to end on May 11, paving the way for the postCOVID reality – at least, from a legal point of view.
And while health leaders remind the public that COVID-19 will not disappear with the end of the state of emergency, the milestone will not go unnoticed. Since its adoption in March 2020, the emergency has ensured that state and private health insurers covered all costs related to the virus, from testing and treatments to vaccines.
Some of this is bound to change. Insurers in the state are choosing how to handle the end of the emergencies, and it’s bound to create some confusion.
But officials are clear: these changes will not affect vaccines or treatments.
“Vaccines are still widely accessible through the state and the state has no plans to decrease the amount of vaccines,” said Dr. Philip Chan, consultant medical director at the
R.I. Department of Health, infectious disease doctor at Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital, and professor at Brown University “Vaccines are also widely available through pharmacies.”
Similarly, the COVID-19 treatment will continue to be accessible to the public at no cost, thanks to the federally purchased doses, said Kristine Campagna, director of community health and equity at the R.I. Department of Health, at Providence Business News’ latest Health Care Summit on April 6.
The one place people might see some changes is COVID-19 testing, which Campagna said will get “complicated.”
Complicated indeed.
Private insurers in the state will soon be able to choose whether to continue offering COVID-19 testing –both laboratory and over the counter –at no cost, or whether to start sharing costs with its members.
Blue Cr oss & Blue Shield of Rhode Island said its coverage of COVID-19-related costs will vary based on the plan. On top of this, employers will be able to opt out of certain benefits when giving insurance to their employees, adding another layer of uncertainty.
Starting May 12, Blue Cross will only cover the cost of over-thecounter, at-home and laboratory COVID-19 tests if they are medically necessary and prescribed by a health care provider. Similarly, coverage of COVID-19 treatments will revert to a plan’s standard benefits on May 12.
Blue Cross is the state’s largest health insurer by membership. It covers about 383,074 people and has 17,346 people directly insured, according to the Providence Business News 2023 Book of Lists.
“All Rhode Islanders should have access to high-quality, affordable health care no matter who they are or where they live, and whether or not a pandemic is ongoing,” Richard Salit, public relations manager for Blue Cross, said in a statement via email.
“BCBSRI is committed to ensuring Rhode Islanders continue to have access to the coverage and care they need when the PHE [public health emergency] ends on May 11.”
Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, which covers about 220,830 people in the state, will
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Our lawyers have particular focus in the areas of mergers, acquisitions, affiliations and joint venture structuring. We provide counsel in areas of health information technology contracting and corporate governance issues. Additionally, we handle fraud and abuse compliance and antitrust compliance.
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‘All Rhode Islanders should have access to high-quality, affordable health care.’
RICHARD SALIT, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island public relations manager
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21
continue to offer full coverage for in-network testing, treatment and vaccines to all of its members regardless of plan, even after the end of the federal public health emergency, said Elizabeth McClaine, vice president for commercial and Medicaid product management. This choice was made to avoid any “potential confusion for members and administrative burden for providers.” McClaine said that Neighborhood may evaluate possible changes when it prepares for its annual enrollment cycle at the end of the year.
Tufts Health Plan, a Point32Health Services Inc. company, said it will no longer cover over-the-counter COVID-19 tests for its commercial members. It will continue to cover COVID-19 tests, treatments and services ordered by a provider, but commercial plan members will start sharing costs for these services after the end of the statedeclared public health emergency.
UnitedHealthCare of New England Inc., which insures about 180,000 people in Rhode Island, could not be reached for comment.
Private insurers in the state are regulated by the R.I. Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner Cory King, acting health insurance commissioner, said his office has been in touch with insurance carriers to coordinate the transition.
“We are instructing them concern-
ing their ongoing obligations and our expectations that any changes to the companies’ policies and procedures, including those related to coverage, payment, billing, referral and prior authorization, are communicated to providers and consumers clearly and efficiently,” King said.
One thing that will not change is the availability of telemedicine, which has risen to popularity during the pandemic. King confirmed that insurers are required to continue providing coverage for “medically necessary and clinically appropriate services delivered via telephoneaudio-only communications.” This means that services offered via telemedicine will be charged at the same – or lower – rates as the services provided in person.
Many of these changes will not apply to people insured through Medicaid. The state confirmed that they will continue to have access to tests, both over the counter and with a provider, through Sept. 30, 2024. This is due to a federal regulation by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which is requiring states to continue covering COVID-19 testing and treatment for Medicaid members through September 2024.
The R.I. Department of Health has posted some guidelines on its website to help people navigate the upcoming changes. According to RIDOH, people who are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or who have been exposed
can still get a free test at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Increasing Community Access to Testing site, where insurance is not
required. People will also be able to continue requesting free at-home COVID-19 tests from the federal government while supplies last. n
CLOSER LOOK
Total staff: 17,583
LIST RESEARCHED BY James Bessette
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To purchase a copy of this list, call (401) 273-2201 or visit PBN.com/lists for more information.
UPCOMING LISTS May 12: Rhode Island’s Largest SBA Loans, Rhode Island SBA Lenders; May 26: Intellectual Property Lawyers, Veteran Employers.
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FOOTNOTES
j Lifespan Corp. includes Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital, Newport Hospital, Rhode Island Hospital/Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Coastal Medical Inc. and The Miriam Hospital.
Advanced Radiology Inc. and Open MRI of New England Inc. were incorporated on June 4, 1999, and are owned by Dr. Roman Klufas.
Pendleton Bradley Hospital 2 | bradleyhospital.org
1 Represents the increase or decrease in unrestricted net assets.
2 Part of Lifespan Corp., which includes Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital, Newport Hospital, Rhode Island Hospital/Hasbro Children's Hospital and The Miriam Hospital. Rhode Island Hospital is the oldest affiliate within Lifespan.
3 Southcoast Health System includes Charlton Memorial Hospital, St. Luke's Hospital, Tobey Hospital, Southcoast Physicians Group and Visiting Nurses Association.
4 Part of Care New England Health System, which includes Butler Hospital, Kent County Memorial Hospital, Women & Infants Hospital and Visiting Nurses Association of Care New England.
5 Also known as Kent Hospital. Part of Care New England Health System, which includes Butler Hospital, Kent County Memorial Hospital, Women & Infants Hospital and Visiting Nurses Association of Care New England.
Ranked by 2022 admissions: 1
Rhode Island Hospital/Hasbro Children’s Hospital
2022 admissions: 132,540
2
The Miriam Hospital
2022 admissions: 69,254
3
Kent County Memorial Hospital
2022 admissions: 59,985
LIST RESEARCHED BY James Bessette
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To purchase a copy of this list, call (401) 273-2201 or visit PBN.com/lists for more information.
UPCOMING LISTS
May 12: Rhode Island’s Largest SBA Loans, Rhode Island SBA Lenders; May 26: Intellectual Property Lawyers, Veteran Employers.
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For more information about participating in PBN’s Top Lists, or to make additions or corrections, call (401) 6804838 or write to Research@ PBN.com.
FOOTNOTES
j Represents the increase or decrease in unrestricted net assets.
Part of Lifespan Corp., which includes Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital, Newport Hospital, Rhode Island Hospital/Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Coastal Medical Inc. and The Miriam Hospital. Rhode Island Hospital is the oldest affiliate within Lifespan.
Southcoast Health System includes Charlton Memorial Hospital, St. Luke’s Hospital, Tobey Hospital, Southcoast Physicians Group and Visiting Nurses Association.
Part of Care New England Health System, which includes Butler Hospital, Kent County Memorial Hospital, Women & Infants Hospital and Visiting Nurses Association of Care New England.
Also known as Kent Hospital. Part of Care New England Health System, which includes Butler Hospital, Kent County Memorial Hospital, Women & Infants Hospital and Visiting Nurses Association of Care New England.
BRIAN P. STERN, associate justice of the R.I. Superior Court, was elected chairperson of the Roger Williams University School of Law board of directors on Feb. 3. He has served as a Superior Court judge since 2009, presiding over the state business calendar, as well as civil and criminal jury trials. Before becoming a judge, Stern held various state government positions, including as a former gubernatorial chief of staff, executive director of the R.I. Department of Administration and deputy chief of legal services for the R.I. Department of Business Regulation
What are your goals for RWU Law?
My overall goals are to ensure that the school continues providing an exceptional legal education to its students and strengthening its reputation. … First, I will work to attract and retain the best faculty members and provide them with the resources and support they need to excel in their roles. Second, I will prioritize developing innovative academic programs and initiatives with other [RWU] schools … that will prepare students for the changing demands of the legal profession. Finally, I will foster strong partnerships with law firms, government agencies and other organizations to provide students with valuable practical experience and job opportunities.
RWU Law is celebrating 30 years as a law school this year. How meaningful is this milestone?
Celebrating 30 years is a significant milestone for RWU Law, Rhode Island’s only law school. It marks the school’s continued commitment to legal education, social justice and community engagement. This achievement reflects the dedication of the school’s faculty, staff and students, and highlights the university’s investment in legal education and its impact on the local and global community.
RWU Law is also launching the Center for Race and the Law this year. In what ways will the center support diversity and inclusion in the legal sector? This center represents a critical step toward promoting diversity and inclusion in the legal sector. It will provide a platform for meaningful discussions and advocacy for diversity, equity and inclusion. It will also promote research and scholarship in race and the law, elevating important issues that may have been overlooked or underrepresented in the past. The center will also be a resource for the practicing legal community, providing education and training.
What initiatives is RWU Law looking to introduce to increase the legal sector workforce?
We are working on several initiatives. One is the expansion of RWU Law’s business law clinic activities to provide greater service to Rhode Island’s small businesses and entrepreneurs, and to further enrich our students’ learning opportunities. Another initiative is the expansion of our summer stipend program, which provides financial support to students in nonpaying public interest internships. These internships provide valuable training and enhance career prospects, and we must ensure that our students can afford these opportunities. n
Moses Brown School is pleased to announce that David Smallwood will become its next chief financial officer, effective May 1, 2023.
Smallwood was selected following a national search led by new Head of School, Katie Titus, who begins on July 1, 2023. A financial leader in the education sector, Smallwood has held roles with progressive responsibilities at Harvard Medical School for over twenty years, culminating in a two-year appointment as interim CFO amid the pandemic. At HMS, he has served as executive director of finance, director of financial planning and analysis, and in accounting, analyst, and budget management positions.
Adler Pollock & Sheehan is proud to welcome Jacqueline A. Crockwell to the firm’s litigation group. Jacqueline handles complex multi-party litigation matters for clients throughout New England. Her practice focuses on product liability, toxic tort, premises liability and complex environmental litigation, including successfully defending talc and asbestos claims.
Before joining AP&S, Jacqueline practiced at a civil litigation firm where she specialized in defending product liability and toxic tort claims. Jacqueline is a graduate of Salve Regina University and Roger Williams University School of Law.
LAW
Pannone Lopes Devereaux & O’Gara LLC is pleased to announce that Trust and Estate Attorney David P. Craven, Esq. has joined the firm as Partner and member of its Estate and Trust Planning, Administration and Litigation Team. Craven provides clients with sophisticated estate planning, estate administration and litigation, wealth preservation and business succession planning. His experience includes wills, trusts and estates and probate administration/litigation, criminal and civil litigation, elder law, and corporate and business law. He is a former Rhode Island State Prosecutor who worked for five years in the Attorneys General’s Office before launching a private practice.
MALVERN, PA –William J. Hunt
Jr., CPCU, ARM, AINS, CPIA has been awarded the professional insurance designation Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU®) by The Institutes. The CPCU designation is conferred on persons who complete eight rigorous courses and examinations and all CPCUs are required to maintain and to improve their professional knowledge, skills, and competence through their commitment to The Institutes’ CPCU Code of Professional Conduct. Hunt is the President of Shove Insurance, Inc. in Pawtucket, RI. He grew up in Portsmouth, RI, graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 2006, and now lives with his wife and two sons in Warren, RI.
For additional information or to submit a Standard People on the Move listing, go to PBN.com/pbnconnect.
For a Featured listing, contact your account manager or Advertising@PBN.com | 401.680.4800
A YOUNG COLLEGE GRADUATE, determined to find a position with a reputable company, began seeking interviews. Although she faced continual rejection, she persevered. One busy personnel manager, flooded with applications, suggested the hopeful applicant check back in 10 years.
“No problem,” said the young woman. “Would a morning or afternoon interview work best for you?”
This young woman had what I call the three D’s: desire, determination and dedication. Desire is sometimes more important than talent. She knew what she wanted and was not going to get sidetracked. People with desire work harder, are obsessed with their goals and are driven by an intense thirst to be better. There are few shortcuts in life.
Only the truly dedicated people ever come close to attaining their goals. They won’t let anyone or anything interfere with what they truly desire. Success starts with the desire to achieve something.
“To win, you have to have the talent and desire – but desire is first,” said golfing legend Sam Snead. Along with Snead, I had the privilege of playing in the St. Paul Open tournament back when I was playing college golf
for the University of Minnesota.
Gary Player, another golfing legend that played in the same tournament, said: “To succeed in life, one must have determination and must be prepared to suffer during the process.”
Desire alone is not enough. To lack desire is to lack a key ingredient to success. Many talented individuals failed because they lacked desire. Many victories have been snatched by the underdog because he or she wanted it more. So, if you desire intensely and you act upon it, then everything stands within your reach. Dedication is the key that unlocks doors to great opportunities.
I like to say that if you don’t climb the mountain, you can’t see the view.
Baseball great Willie Mays said: “In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated to your chosen sport. You must also be prepared to work hard and be willing to accept constructive criticism. Without a total 100% dedication, you won’t be able to do this.”
Katharine Hepburn always wanted to be a movie star, although the road to her dream was filled with obstacles. She was fired from several stage roles, criticized for talking too fast and having a raspy voice, considered ornery and difficult to work with, and judged to be too skinny and masculine.
Undeterred by an insulting press, she sought the help of a voice and drama coach, who tutored her through several theater roles until she received great reviews, which led to a movie contract and stardom.
Civil rights leader Vernon Jordan said people constantly advised him to lower his sights, but he said, “The more people tried to discourage me, the more determined I got.” Fortunately for determined people such as Jordan and Hepburn, discouragement spurred them on to greater things. They, like other determined people, possessed the stamina and courage to pursue their ambitions despite criticism, ridicule and unfavorable
circumstances.
Astronaut Scott Carpenter was constantly in trouble as a young boy. While recuperating after a near-fatal car accident, he dedicated himself to turning his life around and later became the second American to orbit the Earth.
You may never be an awardwinning actress, an astronaut, a civic leader or a sports icon, but you can succeed at your dream if you follow their examples and never give up.
At 211 degrees, water is hot. One slight change – one more degree – and it boils, changing into steam. And steam can power a locomotive. That minor change of one more degree makes all the difference. That one extra degree in business and in life separates the good from the great. It’s your life. You are responsible for your results. Never be afraid to turn up the heat. n
Mackay’s Moral: The best angle to approach a problem is the try-angle.
Harvey Mackay is the author of the New York Times bestseller “Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.” He can be reached through his website, www.harveymackay.com.
If you don’t climb the mountain, you can’t see the view.
(Editor’s note: This is the ninth installment of a monthly column on the growing number of cyberthreats facing businesses of all sizes and what they can do about it. A version of this column was first published on PBN.com on April 20.)
The barrier to entry that businesses face in obtaining cyber liability coverage has continuously and significantly grown over the last couple of years. Many insurance providers are now mandating that customers undergo more-thorough risk assessments, prior to even offering coverage.
Even for existing customers, the bar has been raised for cyber coverage. Business leaders are now challenged to maintain affordable coverage. I have seen many organizations denied cyber liability insurance over the past year. As part of the risk evaluation, businesses may be required to undergo regular security audits, adjust security controls and even invest in new security tools or hardware.
There’s also the potential for gaps in coverage. Insurance policies can be
extremely complex, and businesses may not fully comprehend what they are protected against. On top of that, some policies may have exclusions for specific types of cyberattacks. It’s important for leaders to carefully review their policies and work with their provider to ensure they have adequate coverage for their unique business risks.
Because cybersecurity risks and threats are constantly evolving, insurers have no choice but to require businesses to meet industry best practices and standards. While this will only help move organizations toward a more-resilient posture, these mandates can also be extremely challenging for small and midsize businesses, which may not have the staff, budget or resources to maintain the latest best practices.
By prioritizing cybersecurity and cyber-risk management, company leaders can protect their organizations and stakeholders from potentially catastrophic consequences. These best practices and strategies will also help you to overcome many of the challenges associated with cyber li-
ability insurance.
Implementing a comprehensive cyber-risk management program will help identify and assess cyber risks, develop plans to mitigate those risks, and find ways to respond effectively in a cyberattack. This will also help minimize the financial impact of a successful attack.
By regularly assessing and updating cybersecurity controls and practices, businesses can see how they measure up to standards and best practices. Conducting regular cybersecurity audits helps businesses identify vulnerabilities, gaps in their programs and assess their overall cyber risk.
Having a corporate culture that embraces cybersecurity as a shared responsibility is critical for the success of your program. Having a structured cyber awareness program can support the development of a culture of security and educate personnel on how to identify and respond to cyberthreats. Not only does this help to reduce the risk of a successful cyberattack but also aids in the business’s ability to obtain and maintain coverage.
As cybersecurity regulations evolve, business leaders must stay abreast of the latest requirements not only to be adherent but in many instances to maintain coverage. By working with providers, leaders can stay informed about regulatory changes and make certain that they are meeting the necessary requirements.
Most of all, it is critical to work with skilled partners.
Having an experienced insurance broker who focuses on cyber resilience and understands the landscape will help your business navigate the complicated world of cyber liability insurance. Couple that with a strong cybersecurity partner who can assist your organization in assessing risk, build and execute remediation plans, and provide industry expertise on building a strong cybersecurity program will bolster your business resilience and minimize risks.
Next month: The White House national cybersecurity strategy. n
Jason Albuquerque is the chief operating officer of Pawtucket-based Envision Technology Advisors LLC. You can reach him through www.envisionsuccess.net.
U.S. REP. Marjorie Taylor Greene drew raised eyebrows when she suggested on Presidents Day that the United States pursue a “national divorce.”
“The last thing I ever want to see in America is a civil war. Everyone I know would never want that – but it’s going that direction,” Taylor Greene said in a follow-up interview. “Everyone I talk to is fed up with being bullied by the left, abused by the left and disrespected by the left.”
It seems safe to say that most leftleaning people would be puzzled by these accusations. And Taylor Greene certainly didn’t indicate that she understands the left’s perspective on the causes of U.S. political conflict.
It’s intuitive that misunderstandings and hostility often go hand in hand.
And yet people don’t usually think that their own emotions can be downright wrong, the way their positions on a factual issue can be incorrect. Is it possible for a feeling to be a mistake?
I am a behavioral economist who studies biases in belief formation, and in my forthcoming book, “Undue Hate,” I argue that, for a variety of reasons, we indeed tend to excessively
dislike people we disagree with.
Suppose Jane, a Democrat, overestimates the likelihood her Republican neighbor Joe takes bad actions or has bad opinions – by whatever Jane considers “bad.” These beliefs likely contribute to Jane’s negative feelings toward Joe. If so, since these beliefs are mistaken, then Jane would dislike Joe more than she should.
In fact, people in general have a tendency to make this mistake when disagreeing with others for many reasons. I call this tendency “affective polarization bias.”
To look for evidence of this bias, I review studies of the accuracy of people’s beliefs about opinions held by members of the other political party.
I also examine the accuracy of beliefs about the selfishness of choices by people in the other party.
My research shows that people are consistently too pessimistic about their partisan counterparts. On both sides, people tend to overestimate the other side’s extremism, hostil-
ity, interest in political violence and selfishness.
The concept of undue dislike is intuitive for most people.
The media environment – specifically the proliferation of cable and online news, as well as social media – is a common explanation for the growth in political hostility and has likely also led to growth in undue dislike.
These days, people spend more time talking to others who are likeminded about politics, in addition to getting more like-minded news.
Although people don’t believe everything they hear, they do err toward credulity, especially when encountering information they wish to believe is true
In the U.S., strengthened partisan identity has been on the rise because of the merging of partisan identities with other identities –such as someone’s cultural or ethnic background. This has also increased people’s motivation to hold beliefs
demonizing the opposition.
What’s more, there are several other important causes of undue dislike toward our rivals stemming from fundamental cognitive errors.
Overconfidence and naive realism – thinking our tastes are objective truths – make us overestimate the chance that those who disagree with us on just about anything are doing something wrong. As a result, we overestimate the other side’s poor judgment and bad motives.
“False consensus” can make us overestimate how much others actually agree with us. This in turn makes us too skeptical of the sincerity of people who express different viewpoints
The good news is that mistakes can be corrected. We can undo hate. Research efforts are underway to better understand these mistakes and correct them.
America may need a bipartisan, top-down effort to have a shot at significantly decreasing unwarranted hatred in the short run. n
Daniel F. Stone is an associate professor of economics at Bowdoin College. Distributed by The Associated Press.
NO TIME TO WASTE:
VIBCO Inc. CEO and President Karl Wadensten isn’t waiting for state leaders to solve Rhode Island’s workforce housing shortage. He’s looking to build so-called “tiny homes” on the campus of his Richmond business that can be rented to workers.
COURTESY KARL WADENSTEN
Could so-called “tiny homes” help solve Rhode Island’s affordable housing shortage? One business owner, VIBCO Inc. CEO and President Karl Wadensten, thinks so. He’s looking to build small, easy-to-construct rental housing units for employees he says are struggling like so many others to find affordable housing.
He’s tried to get state leaders interested in such unconventional housing solutions for years with little success. One reason is that there isn’t the same urgency at the state level to create more workforce housing as there is for single-family homes and housing for the homeless.
That has to change. Rhode Island has many housing needs, but economic growth is not sustainable in communities when workers can’t afford or find places where they want to live.
The state has provided some funding to boost workforce housing and developers are interested. But R.I. Secretary of Housing Stefan Pryor acknowledged in this week’s cover story the state needs to gather more data on this segment of the housing market.
To his credit, Mr. Wadensten isn’t waiting. He says small housing units can be built faster and cheaper on VIBCO’s Richmond campus than traditional housing. His idea includes using rent payments as part of employees’ retirement savings.
More tiny homes may not be the answer to a statewide housing crisis that has been decades in the making. But they could help one visionary business owner create affordable housing for his employees.
And if Mr. Wadensten can prove the concept, other employers will take notice. n
The state’s top 200 tax delinquents owe a combined $65.2 million, which is 50% more than it was five years ago.
Many of the names on the list have been there for years. Clearly, penalties and restrictions now in place aren’t working or being enforced.
With a looming recession on the heels of a multiyear pandemic, however, this is not the time for the state to simply increase penalties. Instead, the state needs to be more creative with incentives for those willing to settle their debts.
One answer is to make it easier for debtors to afford installment payments, says Thomas Quinn, a Providence tax attorney.
For the first time since 2017, the state should also offer tax amnesty on a portion of the accrued debt and waive criminal and civil penalties. This would help ease some willing businesses and individuals off the delinquency lists and allow the state to collect some of the debt. And if debtors still don’t respond? Then step up enforcement of existing penalties to force them off the lists. n
EXECUTIVE POLL
Have you begun attending networking events again with the pandemic subsiding?
Yes: 100%
No: 0%
I’ve attended networking events remotely through the pandemic: 0%
What networking events do you participate in? (Select multiple)
Trade shows/conventions: 100%
Casual networking: 100%
Luncheons: 100%
Awards events: 80%
Other: 20%
0%
How often do you attend networking events?
Weekly: 60%
Monthly: 40%
Sporadically: 0%
Once per year: 0%
I do not attend networking events: 0%
Have you built strong business connections through networking?
Yes: 100%
No: 0%
I do not attend networking events: 0%
PBN.COM POLL
Is Gov. McKee’s proposed $20M municipal grant program for road and bridge repairs enough to make a difference for drivers?
APRIL 14-20
No, much more is needed to fix R.I.’s terrible roads 67%
Yes, it’s just the right incentive for local communities 22%
I’m not sure 11%
THIS WEEK’S POLL: Is the state doing enough to collect on the $65.2 million it is owed by its top 200 tax delinquents?
• Yes, more fines and penalties won’t get people to pay faster
• Yes, businesses need more time to deal with pandemic fallout
• No, the state is too soft on the biggest debtors
• No, the state needs to offer tax amnesty to long-term delinquents
• I’m not sure
To vote, go to PBN.com and follow the link on the home page
Marking the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration announced another round of sanctions “to further degrade Russia’s economy and diminish its ability to wage war against Ukraine.” Yet, extensive trade and financial sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies have not deterred Russia. Are sanctions effective at all?
The earliest example of economic sanctions – the Megarian decree – dates back to ancient Greece in 432 B.C. To penalize Megarians for trespassing the sacred meadow, General Pericles of Athens imposed a trade blockade and banned them from using Athenian harbors. Fast forward to 1806, Napoleon imposed a continental blockade against British trade. And more recently, the U.S. imposed economic sanctions on the former USSR, Cuba, South Africa, North Korea, Iraq, Iran and Venezuela with a mixed record of success.
Proponents of sanctions argue that restricting trade could trigger popular discontent in the targeted country and put pressure on the government to reverse some foreign policies. Apartheid-era South Africa is a good example. In the 1980s, economic, cultural and military embargoes imposed on South Africa by a broad multilateral coalition eventually led to the collapse of the apartheid regime. In 2010, the Obama administration’s sanctions on Iran, in collaboration with the European Union, opened doors to negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program.
As a reasonable option between inaction and a military conflict, sanctions are also used by politicians to demonstrate toughness domestically to their constituents. The public may demand them, too. Human rights activists in the U.S. have asked for sanctions against China for treatment of Uyghurs and Tibetans, against Hungary for democratic backsliding and against Israel for its treatment of Palestinians.
Opponents argue that trade sanctions rarely work and could be counterproductive. About sanctions’ efficacy, there are a variety of estimates ranging from 5% to 33% and one can always point to some spectacular failures of economic sanctions. Decadeslong sanctions against Cuba have yet to topple the regime there. A broad set of sanctions against Russia since 2014 did not deter President Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine last year and the Russian policy is even more aggressive today. Recent trade and technological sanctions against China have not generated any substantial concessions, either.
On the contrary, sanctions may generate unintended consequences. For example, in response to the Western sanctions in 2014, Russia has initiated the “Fortress Russia” campaign to improve self-sufficiency and become less vulnerable to outside pressure. Russian countersanctions aimed at imported Western food products have benefited domestic farmers and reduced the share of Russian food imports from 33% to 2%. In 2015, the Russian agriculture minister said,
“We are thankful to our European and American partners, who made us look at agriculture from a new angle and helped us find new reserves and potential.”
Although intended to punish ruling elites, sanctions often impart more costs on ordinary people. The trade embargo in the 1990s against Saddam’s Iraq after the invasion of Kuwait contributed toward 500,000 infant mortalities in Iraq while having no impact on Saddam.
Sanctions may even inflict self-harm. President Thomas Jefferson’s Embargo Act of 1807, against Britain and France for harassing American ships, hurt the U.S. economy more than the target nations. Later in the early 1940s, the U.S. oil embargo on Japan triggered the Pearl Harbor attack. Finally, the Western embargo on Russian oil and gas in 2022 is cited as a driver of higher inflation, which imposed significant costs on American consumers.
As part of an economic statecraft strategy, sanctions are most effective when imposed by a broad multilateral coalition against a target nation that has a strong middle class independent from the state. Sanctions work better in the long run for containment purposes rather than inducing changes of behaviors. It is also important that policymakers set specific goals to achieve with the sanctions and their effectiveness should be assessed periodically.
As a tool in the foreign policy arsenal, sanctions should be used sparingly and smartly. Otherwise, they carry the risk of alienating allies, hurting average citizens rather than the elites and shifting global trade away from the U.S. dollar. n
Koray Özpolat is a professor of supply chain management at the University of Rhode Island and a graduate student of political science at URI.
The modern banking structure has been around for at least 700 years. And banks have been failing for 700 years.
From 1980 until the early 1990s, over 1,000 banks failed in the U.S. The simple reason why bank failures have been so persistent for so many centuries is that banks aren’t safe; not the way 21st-century Americans want them to be.
THOMAS TZITZOURIS
GUEST COLUMN
Lending to businesses and families is, by its nature, risky. Borrowing money from depositors to lend to others makes it even riskier. That’s what banks do, and no amount of regulation can ever make banks “safe” the way Americans want them to be.
But at some point in the early 21st century, Americans decided that they wanted their banks to be fortresses of safety that
take no risks, and yet somehow still serve the needs of the community.
That’s not possible.
A truly safe bank is not a bank at all, but rather is a money warehouse. At a minimum, the difference between a money warehouse and a bank is that a bank pays you interest for your deposits, whereas a warehouse charges you to keep your deposits safe. No exceptions. Furthermore, banks make loans, warehouses don’t.
So why then do politicians continue to dangle the carrot of “safer banks through stricter regulation” in front of Americans, when they know that history has shown that no amount of regulation can stop bank failures? Why do politicians promise a banking system that’s as safe as a network of govern-
ment-protected money warehouses, while telling Americans that they can still expect to receive typical banking services such as interest on deposits and personal loans?
The answer is because the political motives behind banking regulations never were about making banking safer for Americans.
They were always about making the financial sector more disposable to government. Americans were slow to recognize this in 2010, when new regulations were put in place promising to make the banking system safe forever.
My hope is that in 2023, Americans won’t make the same mistake again of believing that the path to safety is via greater government control of our entrepreneurial system. n
Sanctions often impart more costs on ordinary people.
No amount of regulation can ever make banks ‘safe’ the way Americans want them to be.
Brett Luy Rhode Island FC president
Brett Luy in November was named president of the newly formed Rhode Island FC. He previously served as the United Soccer League’s executive vice president.
ASwe build the RIFC organization, we are facing many of the same challenges that more-traditional startups face. We’re building a team from the ground up. We’re establishing a brand, and we’re identifying our target market.
Over the last several weeks, we’ve hired top talent with decades of experience in the soccer business.
I believe the cliché that culture eats strategy for breakfast. As we build our club, culture is at the center of everything. We’re hiring good people with real experiences and following a strategy that puts fans and supporters at the center of every decision we make. No matter the field, business leaders must take the time to identify their version of a fanbase and build an authentic culture to bring them into the company’s growth and evolution.
For us, this has meant active listening and engagement, especially as we build roots with a local community. Our growth strategy is dependent upon authentic community connections, which is why our early marketing has focused almost exclusively on grassroots outreach.
Startups and other innovative businesses can learn a great deal by looking at the business models soccer clubs have embraced in North America and across the globe.
By building company cultures that are authentically reflective of the communities and markets you serve, you have an opportunity to create a bond with your customers that lasts for years. n
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MAY
25, 2023
FOLLOWED
celebrate THE 2023 WINNERS networking AT AQUA
INDUSTRY LEADERS
Creative
JUDITH LYNN STILLMAN
Rhode Island College artist in-residence and professor of music
Financial
YAHAIRA “JAY” PLACENCIA Bank of America Corp. senior vice president and private client advisor
Legal Services
KAREN GRANDE
Locke Lorde LLP partner
Health Care
DEBRA REAKES
Coastal Medical Physicians director of quality
Professional
JUDITH CHACE
Mott & Chace Sotheby’s International Realty owner and broker
Social Services/
Nonprofit
NINA PANDE
Skills for Rhode Island’s Future executive director
Technical
KELLY MENDELL MIKEL Inc. president
PAULA IACONO
CharterCare Foundation executive director
Outstanding Mentor
MARIANNE MONTE
Shawmut Design & Construction chief people officer
LISTED ALPHABETICALLY
DAWN APAJEE, City Personnel Inc. owner
MARY BLUE, Farmacy Herbs LLC founder and owner
MEGHAN GAMBOA, Ageless Innovation LLC co-founder and senior vice president
KRISTEN GOSSLER, American Trophy and Supply Inc. president
MARISA HEAD, Marisa’s Skin Care LLC owner
HAVERHILL LEACH, Haverhill Leach Inc. founder, owner and designer
JO LEE, PopUp Rhody, founder
SHIRLEY MOORE, Be Moore Interpreting LLC owner
ENITH MORILLO, Cadoret Global Inc. principal consultant
MILENA PAGAN, Rebelle Artisan Bagels LLC and Little Sister LLC owner
Creative
ALLY MALONEY WINZER
Maloney Interiors principal
Financial
ELIZABETH DESAUTEL
JPMorgan & Chase Co. vice president
Legal Services
ELIZABETH MANCHESTER
Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP partner
Health Care
RACHEL BEST
Small Steps Therapy LLC clinical director and speech language pathologist
Professional
AMANDA LANGLAIS
Falvey Insurance Group marketing manager
Social Services/
Nonprofit
ANGELYNE COOPER-BAILEY
Cranston Municipal Court associate judge R.I. Department of Labor and Training legal counsel
Technical ALISON WICKS
Despite the difficult circumstances brought about by the pandemic, geopolitical conflict, and economic turbulence, your unwavering dedication, innovation, and leadership have had a significant positive impact on Rhode Island.
As we look ahead, your agility and adaptability in the face of evolving business trends will continue to drive growth and success in your respective industries. That’s why KPMG is honored to recognize all of the distinguished Providence Business News’ C-Suite Award recipients for continually leading by example and serving as an inspiration to others.
NO ONE RISES to the C-suite without help.
For Brown Medicine CEO Ann M. Kashmanian, this year’s Career Achiever, getting help from mentors and passing it on fueled her rise and development as a leader.
“People need to feel someone’s interested in their development,” she said.
Former Newport Hospital President Arthur Sampson and Dr. Louis P. Rice, Brown University’s chair of medicine, were both influential in her career path and development as a leader charged with helping others grow and succeed.
Sampson showed her the importance of having a vision beyond meeting day-to-day challenges and the importance for a hospital administrator to build relationships with physicians.
And Rice’s vision for leading Brown Medicine – and belief that senior managers there work for the doctors – also rubbed off on her. When Rice stepped aside, Kashmanian took over as CEO.
Mentors have similarly played a major role for many of this year’s other award winners, including Geralyn Hashway. She’s McGuinness Media & Marketing’s director of accounts and operations and this year’s Rising Star.
Megan McGuinness, the marketing agency’s owner, helped her believe in her value in a way that inspired her to achieve. It’s an approach she carries forward in the onboarding of new hires and engagement of long-standing employees.
Read on for more examples of leaders learning from others and passing it on.
Returning for the eighth year as presenting sponsor is KPMG LLP. We thank them for their support.
COVER PHOTO BY DAVID HANSEN
Michael Mello Editor
IF IT TAKES A VILLAGE to raise a child, it takes equally committed supporters to mentor a career. As East Providence-based Brown Medicine’s CEO since 2018, Ann M. Kashmanian leads one of the state’s largest multispecialty medical groups with more than 200 doctors, as well as several patient care offices around Rhode Island. If you’ve visited a specialist – an endocrinologist for example, a gastroenterologist, or an infectious disease expert – chances are you’ve seen a Brown Medicine physician.
Having a mentor – and being one – is important in climbing the management ladder, Kashmanian says.
“You look for someone to help steer you. It’s crucial in becoming a leader that you have a team that you’re building,” she said. “People need to feel someone’s interested in their development.”
Kashmanian nods to her first Lifespan Corp. job, as Newport Hospital’s treasurer and chief financial officer, as pivotal in illustrating this belief. Arthur Sampson, hospital president at the time, was a mentor to Kashmanian. “He had a vision about health care and great relationships with physicians,” she said. “I respected how he interacted with people.”
She says Dr. Louis P. Rice, Brown University’s chair of medicine, has also been influential. Kashmanian says Rice’s vision for Brown Medicine and his attitude toward senior management is that “we work for the doctors.”
Like many top professionals, Kashmanian, a Lincoln native, explored a slew of interests
as an undergrad. She majored in art history at the College of the Holy Cross. Her parents believed in a liberal arts education, she says, which helped her become a good writer.
Always intrigued by numbers, Kashmanian also took economics classes. The deal was sealed when she realized she could do both, and graduated from Northeastern University with an MBA and a Master of Science in accounting.
Kashmanian began her career at KPMG LLP, an accounting firm where many of her clients were hospitals. It’s a complicated field, and hospital accounting strategies are challenging, she says.
“I was drawn to the industry because of their mission-driven purpose. I felt I could contribute,” Kashmanian said.
After holding top-level financial positions at Lifespan, Kashmanian was named Brown Medicine’s chief financial officer in 2016. When Rice stepped aside two years later, she became CEO, leading the group’s mission –
providing high-level care, advancing medical knowledge and science, and developing medical cures. “It became clear that her talents in operations were as prodigious as her talents in finance,” Rice said.
Since then, the medical group has opened an endoscopy facility in East Providence, expanded services and locations to Smithfield and East Greenwich, and offered a same-day respiratory clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 didn’t change how she does her job because her role as an administrator is in supporting the group’s physicians, she says. It did change how the doctors interact with patients, however, shifting to telemedicine quickly because of a good administrative and information technology team, she says.
Staffing levels at Brown Medicine have climbed from 541 in 2020 to 611 in 2022, in part because of an increased number of providers, Kashmanian says. Gross revenue, on the other hand, has fluctuated between $94.4 million in 2020, $98.7 million in 2021 and $91 million in 2022.
Brown Medicine was helped by the Coronavirus AId, Relief and Economic Security Act, which allowed the organization to stay open even as revenue from patient visits dropped during the pandemic, a decline that affected its bottom line, she says. Expansion plans will help address this, including a clinic to treat irritable bowel disease, and a lung institute, in partnership with Rhode Island Hospital.
With workdays starting as early as 7 a.m., Kashmanian does yoga and enjoys walking. It clears her head, she says. She also credits her husband, John, for being a big supporter.
“He’s always encouraged me to have faith in my abilities to take on more challenges and responsibility,” she said. And most challenging of all? “Being open to new ideas, having a good team, and following the mission. That’s why I enjoy coming to work every day,” she said. n
‘You look for someone to help steer you. It’s crucial in becoming a leader.’
ANN M. KASHMANIAN Brown Medicine CEOCEO Ann M. Kashmanian says having a mentor, as well as being one, is important to climb the management ladder.
PUBLIC COMPANY:
Thomas will be saying farewell to those people soon. The outgoing Hasbro Inc. executive vice president and chief financial officer is retiring after 25 years with the Pawtucket-based toy maker.
Gina Goetter, who was CFO for motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson Inc., has been named Hasbro’s new CFO. Thomas now will take on an advisory role because it’s important to her to make sure Goetter has the best information available about the company and is prepared to succeed.
“I want to make the transition as easy as possible for [Goetter], as well as the employees of the company,” Thomas said. “Being a leader in an organization, you want to make sure that the team and the organization has the smoothest transition possible.”
When Thomas became CFO of Hasbro in 2009, she assumed not just the technical aspects of the role but also the internal leadership and external public-facing roles. She was ranked as one of the Leisure Sector’s Top CFOs by Institutional Investor Magazine, as voted on by the buy-and-sell-side community, on multiple occasions.
Along with her CFO role, Thomas has also contributed to Hasbro’s growth. She led the company’s information technology department and supported the implementation of statutory accounting principles, the company’s enterprise financial reporting system, and other platforms to advance and streamline finance operations.
“IT is incredibly important whether it’s technology in your product or it’s just the technology used to support your company,” Thomas said. “It is very important to have data and information to provide to your team as they are thinking about what is the next new product that we want to design.”
According to her colleagues, one of the most important aspects of Thomas’ leadership is that she takes the time to know her Hasbro team members as people, not just as employees. Colleagues appreciated that Thomas helped employees do their best work and gave them a reason to believe in her as their leader. She also believed in her team.
Thomas listened to what her colleagues had to say and took all views into consideration when making decisions at the company.
Early on in Thomas’ tenure, a team member held an event for investors. Management initially supported it but questioned its value. The event ultimately went forward, and it was successful. Following the event, Thomas sent her team an Edible Arrangement with a note that read: “Thank you for knowing what we needed, even when we all didn’t realize it.”
“The work is great, but the people are great too. Knowing who their families are and what interests them enriches me. I often find that you’ll find someone who has this amazing hobby that I know nothing about, I get to learn some-
thing new when I talk to them. But I also learn about what interests them,” Thomas said. “And as a leader, when you can tap into the interests of people, you are often picturing what their next role could be and how you develop them, so it’s good for them and its good for the company as well.”
Thomas has also contributed to Hasbro’s growth as a female leader and mentor to women across the global organization. She led Hasbro’s finance team, which is traditionally thought of as a male-dominated field, with strength and poise. Thomas has also built a team of senior leaders who are predominantly women. Thanks to Thomas, Hasbro is on its way to meeting its 2025 goal for female leadership across the company.
Thomas, in reflecting on her quarter century with the worldwide toy maker, said that she had learned something every day on the job.
“I have not been bored once in 25 years. I’m fortunate,” Thomas said. “I am at a great company, with great brands. I am very fortunate.” n
DEBORAH A. THOMAS HAS A STRONG BELIEF: “It’s the people that you meet in life that makes life interesting.”
‘I have not been bored once in 25 years. I’m fortunate.’
DEBORAH A. THOMAS
Hasbro Inc. executive vice president and chief financial officerENDING ON A HIGH NOTE: Deborah A. Thomas, Hasbro Inc.’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, is retiring after 25 years with the Pawtucket-based toy maker. PBN PHOTO/DAVID HANSEN
[ DEBORAH A. THOMAS ] Hasbro Inc. | Executive vice president and chief financial officer
LaVine took a job in a small community bank outside New York City. The bank offered an old-school management training program, in which employees work in all aspects of the business to learn how it operates.
“As part of rotation, they had recently acquired [an] investment management firm. I knew I liked math and finance and the idea of investing,” said LaVine, co-founder, chief financial officer and chief strategy officer of Marstone Inc., a Providence-based digital wealth management company. “I went there on day one and just fell in love with the investing universe.”
LaVine managed money for individuals and institutions for several years and then decided to go to business school at the University of Virginia. He was halfway through graduate school when Margaret J. Hartigan, a financial adviser at Merrill Lynch, called. She had a thought on how to demystify finance for investors, and LaVine said he immediately loved that idea.
When LaVine completed his MBA, he joined Hartigan and Robert Stone to launch Marstone Inc. in 2014. The company’s mission is to enhance financial literacy, deepen financial inclusion and humanize finance.
Marstone provides digital wealth management technology to community banks, credit unions and other partners, dramatically reducing the cost of providing these services to their customers and as a result opening investing to a wider variety of clients, LaVine says.
Marstone’s minimum account size is $500. Prior to that minimum, balances needed at some institutions could range from $50,000 to $100,000, LaVine says. By changing the minimum balance, banks now serve the vast majority of customers, not just the top 1% or 5%, LaVine says.
“It’s a tremendous financial inclusion, financial wellness concept,” LaVine said. “We’re able to dramatically lower the account size necessary to work with an institution.”
Last year, LaVine also spearheaded a new business line called Marstone@ Work. This business line is a digital product that companies can offer to their employees as a financial wellness tool. Companies who implement
Marstone@Work use Marstone’s technology to offer workers fee-free digital advice.
“The ability to say we are helping our team and not just the top 1, 5 or 10% of the team is really demonstrably important to organizations,” LaVine said. “I’m really proud of it.”
In the community, LaVine has served as a mentor for the Fresh Air Fund, which works with at-risk high school students to remain engaged in education and prepare for college. He is also a member of the CFA Institute, a national nonprofit organization that promotes new ideas and industry issues related to the investment community.
Nisha Cordero, chief people officer and general counsel at Marstone, says LaVine has always played a role in thinking about the company strategically, where it should be in the market relative to other
competitors, and how Marstone can continue to build upon its mission of financial literacy and inclusivity.
“He’s a great communicator, collaborator and always been approachable and open to ideas,” Cordero said. “Chris has been committed and focused since inception of the company. He has a lot of empathy.”
Empathy, LaVine says, is incredibly important to any role, especially in a financial type role that deals with uncertainty. LaVine says he has realized that uncertainty creates confusion and concern for some individuals.
For example, a canceled meeting may alarm an employee who doesn’t know the reason for the change in plans. LaVine says it’s important to be sympathetic to that and remember people may not have all the information you do.
One major piece LaVine is working on at Marstone now is explaining the “why” behind any request to make sure people in the business realm really understand the ‘why,’ ” he said. “This allows them to be much more strategic themselves.
“We will continue to get more focused on making sure once people are in the boat, we are all rowing in the same direction and we all know why we are going in that direction as well,” LaVine said. n
‘We will continue … making sure once people are in the boat, we are all rowing in the same direction.’
CHRISTOPHER
D. LAVINE Marstone Inc. co-founder, chief financial officer and chief strategic officer
CONGRATULATIONS to our Executive Director Meghan Grady on Your C-Suite Award!
Chief Marketing Officer Rhode Island Commerce 2023 PBN C-Suite Honoree
Serving as Chief Marketing Officer of Rhode Island Commerce, Anika Kimble-Huntley works every day to shine a bright spotlight on everything that makes the Ocean State a premier place to live, work and play.
Congratulations to Anika and all of this year’s Providence Business News C-Suite honorees. Thank you all you do on behalf of our home state. Commerceri.com
We congratulate all of this year’s well-deserving winners.
rimeals.org
JON GIAMPIETRO Executive Vice President,North America and Vietnam Operations
During your 18 years of service with Taco Comfort Solutions, you have demonstrated outstanding commitment to excellence and unwavering dedication to ensure our company’s long-term growth and success. We appreciate all that you do, and are so proud to announce your promotion to Executive Vice President, North America and Vietnam Operations.
We congratulate you and all the Providence Business News C-Suite Award recipients!
WHEN RESUSCITECH INC. PLANNED to launch its CPR certification app, the Providence-based technology company decided to take a different approach when presenting the new tool to the public.
“To deliver an innovative product, we needed to innovate our marketing strategy,” said Brian Morley, ResusciTech’s chief marketing officer.
Morley has been a leader in product development, marketing, strategy and commercialization for more than 20 years, primarily in the medical device industry. ResusciTech hired him as a marketing consultant in 2020 and he was quickly elevated to his current role as chief marketing officer in 2021.
ResusciTech has seen significant benefits with Morley leading the company’s marketing efforts. Under Morley’s guidance, the company has gone from zero to $300,000 in revenue and expects to reach the $3 million revenue mark within the next three years.
Instead of focusing on sales, Morley builds strategic partnerships. Collaborators try the product, see how it addresses their needs and incorporate it into their own systems. One of Morley’s out-of-the-box ideas was the company’s donation of 1,000 CPR training certificates in response to the collapse of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin due to cardiac arrest during an NFL game last season. ResusciTech’s
leadership team saw what a critical role CPR training played in saving Hamlin’s life.
Through this outreach, the company provided training opportunities to coaches, teachers, parents and students, increasing the safety and wellness in the community while introducing its product to a new market.
“We try to be part of something bigger by offering a solution, not [just] selling a product,” Morley said. “Once they try it, they love it and they love the relationship we’ve built.”
ResusciTech’s client base, mainly in the fitness space, includes American Council on Exercise, Anytime Fitness, Yoga Alliance, National Association of Youth Sports, Positive Coaching Alliance and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Philadelphia.
“The fitness industry is quick to adopt new technology,” Morley said. “They’re more innovative. Everyone from personal trainers to instructors to front-desk staff needs CPR training and the app is the perfect way to deliver consistent certification across the board.”
Rather than targeting individual users, Morley took a vertical approach by focusing on large groups such as the California-based
ESCALATING QUICKLY: ResusciTech Inc. Chief Marketing Officer Brian Morley helped the company increase its revenue from zero to $300,000 in a short time period, and expects the company to reach the $3 million revenue mark within three years.
ACE, one of the leading organizations in personal trainer certification with more than 90,000 members. ResusciTech’s app was added to ACE’s personal training certification course so that everyone participating in the program could choose it as their tool.
The CPR certification model allows users to earn their credentials anytime, anywhere in 90 minutes, using only their smartphone. ResusciTech’s vision is to provide people with the best, most intuitive and easily accessible tools for training and emergency response.
“Now that we’ve established a fully mobilized CPR training device, we can build out new modules in other areas such as first aid, [automated external defibrillators] and even overdose prevention,” Morley said.
Developed by Brown University engineering undergraduates Abigail Kohler and Greg Fine, the app provides training by using smartphone-based feedback technology that evaluates performance and issues certification to successful students.
With more than 20 million people certified in CPR, the team brought Morley on board to figure out the best way to market the product to get it to the public.
“Every package requires CPR certification,” Morley said. “Through our channel partnership with ACE, we were able to make the app part of the package to provide virtual options for their members.”
In the app’s first year of use, ResusciTech saw a 20% adoption rate by new users. That was achieved with little money spent on marketing, which is unusual for a new product launch.
Morley continues to focus his marketing attention on the fitness industry. He regularly has conversations with organizations such as the YMCA. But the app could be applied to many fields and sectors, including health care, emergency response and education.
“We’ll continue to scale up within fitness as we explore other avenues [such as] athletics, private clubs and K-12 education,” Morley said. “We’ll leverage everything we’ve learned to move into the next vertical space.” n
‘We try to be part of something bigger by offering a solution, not [just] selling a product.’
BRIAN MORLEY
ResusciTech Inc. chief marketing officerPBN PHOTO/ELIZABETH GRAHAM
When space becomes available in buildings owned by the Providence-based real estate firm, Friedman goes into overdrive – sometimes literally. Along with working the phones and sending emails to potential clients and tenants, Friedman frequently gets into his vehicle to drive across the Ocean State, from Providence to Cranston to Barrington and Newport, to visit properties and field inquiries from the public.
Such a work ethic that Friedman provides is needed for the firm to stay ahead in a highly competitive local real estate market.
“Michael demonstrates every day how valuable he is to this company with his commitment to ensuring our buildings, apartments and office space are full,” said Joseph R. Paolino Jr., managing partner of the firm. “Michael makes it his priority to ensure the public is aware of our open space. He remains ahead of the curve by ensuring we reach a wide range of potential clients and tenants.”
Paolino Properties is a fourth-generation, family-owned and -operated real estate investment, development and management company with an annual revenue of $50 million. It is one of the largest family-owned commercial real estate companies in New England, managing more than 40 properties totaling 3 million square feet.
The challenge of real estate at this level is what drives Friedman to succeed. “Each deal is very unique,” he said. “We put all these heads together to figure it out. It’s like solving a puzzle.”
Friedman joined the firm two years ago with more than two decades of experience in real estate sales and investment. His priority is filling the open space within retail, commercial, residential and hospitality properties.
Understanding trends in the local market is an invaluable asset that Friedman brings to the job.
“The Providence market has undergone major change in the past two to three years,” Friedman said. “There has been a transformation away from corporate toward
more residential use. People want to move downtown where they can experience the coffee shops and restaurants and entertainment.”
The six-story Studley building on Weybosset Street in Providence is one example of an office space being repurposed as living quarters. Its 65 units are a mix of studio and one-bedroom apartments that provide immediate access to all that downtown has to offer.
There has also been a resurgence in retail space within the state. Friedman said that many merchants are returning to more-traditional locations so they can put their brand in front of customers who want access to products they can touch and feel.
“They realize that there is a value to the customer interaction of an in-person experience. It gives them legitimacy in the market,” Friedman said. “And we’re here to help them find the right space to do that.”
Friedman’s success can
be attributed to the relationships he builds with potential and existing tenants from downtown Providence to Newport. Along with finding and maintaining tenants, Friedman has also been instrumental in acquiring and selling multimillion-dollar properties. He has played a key role in diversifying the firm’s portfolio to ensure continued growth and success, often offering a fresh idea or new approach to each unique deal.
“There is no one-sized solution for these complicated real estate transactions,” Friedman said.
In the last four years, digital marketing has become an essential tool for successful Realtors at every level. Friedman ensures that Paolino Properties has an active presence on sites such as Crexi and LoopNet, the commercial industry’s version of Zillow.
“For a 100-year-old company, we are using technology to assist in marketing and with transactions,” Friedman said. “At the same time, we know there is a value to having a physical sign that people see and respond to.”
Friedman’s engagement extends into the community where he currently serves as treasurer of Grow Smart Rhode Island and participates as an active member of the Rotary Club of Metro Providence. n
‘He remains ahead of the curve by ensuring we reach a wide range of potential clients and tenants.’
JOSEPH R. PAOLINO JR. Paolino Properties LP managing partner
FROM THE TIME he was very young, Bruce Berard has always enjoyed the challenge of building and leading a team. That desire to create something and see it grow has remained with him to this day.
Today, as vice president and chief operating officer of Stanley Tree Service Inc. in Smithfield, Berard has led the 100% employee-owned company to significant growth and expansion, as well as making employees feel like family.
“Many employees know everyone’s name and share stories of the days when they worked in the field,” Berard said. “You are not a number here. Leadership truly cares about each employee and that will never change. The culture at Stanley Tree Service is family and health first, everything else second.”
Berard served with the U.S. Army as an infantry soldier. He received an honorable medical discharge from the Army in 2006 due to a knee injury. After his military service, Berard sought a new career path to provide for his family.
He eventually started a small landscaping business, serving just a handful of clients at
first. The business grew quickly and within two years, Berard’s customer list had swelled to more than 100.
Then the Great Recession hit in 2008. The economic crunch forced Berard to shutter his business and take a foreman role with Stanley.
After briefly working for National Grid, Berard returned to Stanley as a general manager at the request of company founder and CEO Stanley Zuba to help “take the business to the next level,” Berard said. Berard has led several internal changes at Stanley. Among them was reworking the company’s organizational structure in an effort to eliminate duplicated efforts, maximize productivity and reallocate responsibilities.
Additionally, Stanley’s outdated estimating software was replaced. The company is finalizing the rollout of a Stanley Tree App specific to employees that will provide a central location for all company information, news and events.
In 2022, Stanley unveiled Tri State Power Equipment, a new branch developed to both provide better service to Stanley’s internal and external customers in the outdoor power equipment and arborist supply space.
Berard, who was directly involved with Tri State from its pitch as a conceptual business right on through to its launch, views the business as a natural progression for Stanley.
Julian Emerich, Stanley’s director of marketing and purchasing, who has worked with Berard since 2018, says Berard offers a refreshing style of leadership. He says Berard floats around visiting every division, speaking with employees and constantly listening to their ideas.
“He even recently gave up his office so a new hire could have a comfortable place to work while our office addition is being built,” Emerich said. “His belief in his team and philosophy of leveraging employees’ strengths in every capacity creates an environment where growth and success is contagious.”
Since Berard’s return to the company, Stanley has grown exponentially – and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Emerich said the company was almost half its size before Berard returned. Doubling Stanley’s revenue and employee count in such a short window of time is something Berard took pride in, Emerich said.
“This explosive growth also translates into added financial stability for every employee’s future now that we are employee owned, something Bruce has been a proponent of since day one,” Emerich said.
Not one who seeks out recognition and praise, Berard admits his pride in what he and the Stanley team have accomplished so far.
GOING NEXT LEVEL: Bruce Berard, Stanley Tree Service Inc.’s vice president and chief operating officer, helped double the company’s revenue and employee count.
“Some people say I am a workaholic, but I truly love being challenged and overcoming the adversity of someone saying, ‘You can’t,’ ” Berard said. “Seeing where Stanley Tree Service is now as a company compared to where it was when I returned is beyond rewarding. I continue to push forward, encouraging my team to seek out new [opportunities] and better themselves daily.” n
‘Some people say I am a workaholic, but I truly love being challenged.’
BRUCE BERARD
Stanley Tree Service Inc. vice president and chief operating officer
A global health crisis. Other employee-related matters. Many aspects of a professional setting can change in a blink of an eye.
It is part of Roxanne Nelson’s daily life at Falvey Insurance Group as the North Kingstown-based insurance agency’s chief people officer. But even with regularly confronting those challenges, Nelson says she finds it “deeply rewarding” to watch employees grow both as people and in their careers.
One of many employees who rose through the ranks at the agency, Nelson joined Falvey Insurance 23 years ago as a secretary. She held other positions and is now in the C-suite at the agency. That, according to Chief Operating Officer Jack Falvey, was due to “her ability to quickly learn things, keep things organized and work with people.
“From modernizing our [human resources] department to recruiting and retaining talent during the pandemic, Roxanne has never shied away from a challenge,” Falvey said. “She helped create our company culture from the beginning.”
A few years ago, Nelson and fellow agency executives created several committees, focusing on diversity and inclusion, volunteerism and philanthropy, and wellness. Nelson also served as a founding member of the agency’s activities committee. Committee participation, she says, reinforces collaboration and employee engagement.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Nelson says Falvey Insurance’s information technology department and her team created a plan to allow for remote work. Once everyone was working from home, managing that process became the focus of Nelson’s team, she says.
“Managing and recruiting was a whole different scenario than we’d ever experienced before … we learned how to hold onto our culture even though we’re not together,” Nelson said.
Monthly happy hours, holiday events and spirit weeks – all on Zoom – kept employees motivated and connected at the time. In late 2021, Falvey Insurance adopted a highly flexible hybrid work model, which continues to this day.
Falvey Insurance currently employs 128 people
locally. It is a managing general agent specializing in solutions for cargo, supply chain logistics and transportation insurance, and supplemental products through its wholesale division.
The agency has been growing recently. Nelson attributes the 50% increase in employees between 2020 and 2022 to new and expanded business lines, as underwriting, claims, developers and administrative staff were added. Even with that growth, the agency is still hiring, Nelson says, and Falvey Insurance recruits both college graduates with an interest in insurance and experienced professionals who are seeking new opportunities.
“We’re a very niche market … we are looking for their skills and abilities, though not necessarily within our particular line of insurance,” Nelson said. Falvey Insurance also experienced a 62% growth in revenue between 2020 and 2022, according to company data.
Nelson says the agency has seen a drop-off in talent choosing to make insur-
ance their career within the last five years. To address that industrywide decline, Nelson initiated an internship program three years ago.
To date, the agency hired two interns from its program and has seen other interns pursue careers with other insurance companies. Falvey Insurance’s employee turnover rate averages roughly 3% to 5%, in contrast to the industry’s average of 9% to 12%.
“About 25% of our employees have been here for 10 years or more … and many have grown in their careers,” said Nelson, who created an onboarding process that allows employees to start working with their teams on their first day of work.
Falvey says the onboarding process highlights the agency’s value and culture, while ensuring the new hires are motivated when they join their teams.
“Roxanne has ensured [that] new employees are set up to win,” Falvey said.
Within the community, Nelson is a volunteer with the Rhode Island State Grange and the Washington County Ponoma Grange, which sponsors the annual Washington County Fair. Nelson is also an avid traveler, and has some potential destinations mapped out.
“I have a goal to see all seven continents,” she said. “I have Asia, South America and Antarctica left on my bucket list.” n
‘Roxanne has ensured [that] new employees are set up to win.’
JACK FALVEY Falvey Insurance Group chief operating officer
IT IS SAID that there are those who look at the proverbial glass half full, and those who look at it half empty. Jon Giampietro, Taco Inc.’s senior vice president of operations, is recognized by his colleagues as a “glass half full” person. That positive mindset shows throughout his work as a business leader.
“I believe enthusiasm is contagious,” Giampietro said. “There are many challenges in life and the jobs we all do. Approaching those work challenges with enthusiasm and optimism encourages those around us to ‘dig’ into the problem with enthusiasm and drive towards results.”
In his position at the large Cranston-based manufacturing company, also known as Taco Comfort Solutions, Giampietro brings enthusiasm to all of his work. Recently, most of his leadership has been focused on helping manage Taco’s five-year facility master plans for the company’s North American and Vietnam operations, as well as the security task force and risk mitigation teams. Giampietro says the plans allow each facility to identify their constraint to growth in advance of it coming to fruition.
“This allows us to launch continuous improvement activities in the short term to move the constraint out and get more return on investment on our Taco physical assets,” he
said. “It also allows us to plan for building expansion, building acquisition, or lease renewal well in advance.”
Giampietro, who has been with Taco for 18 years, has worked to develop his leadership and management skills. Through that experience – which includes Giampietro starting out as a supply chain manager and later leading the valves and accessories business unit – he’s had the opportunity to learn all about Taco and the manufacturing industry.
“I had great mentors at that time that
encouraged me to learn the whole business. I took the opportunity to learn and develop the supply chain and really understand it,” he said. “This knowledge allowed me to learn the cost side of the business and focus on cost reductions and work with engineering and product management to drive cost but not value out of our products.”
Giampietro thus far at Taco has had to work through challenges, in particular leading the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic. Giampietro says there was no playbook to deal with the challenges that were brought forth by the worldwide health crisis. Risk assessment was something the company needed to do daily, he said.
While Taco had constantly heard across the market that all manufacturers were struggling, the company struggled less and performed at a higher level through that time, Giampietro says.
“Our supply chain team worked so hard during those times to leverage relationships and knowledge, our operations folks pivoted daily to where we had components, and our sales team gave honest and frequent feedback to our customers,” he said.
True to his positive attitude, Giampietro says the most rewarding aspects of his work at Taco are driving results and helping others be successful in obtaining solid results.
“I enjoy being in a position to influence decisions that give folks an opportunity to advance based on their prior performance,” he said.
Moving forward, Giampietro has his sights set on helping Taco expand its international reach. The company, he says, has nine facilities around the globe and is working with many strong people from North America, Europe and Vietnam.
Ultimately, it is Giampietro’s fellow Taco employees that make his time at the company full of positive experiences. He says he has worked with many talented employees over the years at Taco. He describes his co-workers as “selfless in their approach and have given back to others’ careers as much as their own … [who] inspired me and ... [have] shaped me as a professional.”
“I really enjoy giving employees opportunities to grow professionally. Rewarding people for their hard work and willingness to take on new and challenging responsibilities is the fun part of the job,” Giampietro said. n
INFLUENCER: Helping fellow employees achieve the best they can be is what helps drive Taco Inc. Senior Vice President of Operations Jon Giampietro.
‘I believe enthusiasm is contagious.’
JON GIAMPIETRO
Taco Inc.
senior vice president of operations
THERE HAVE BEEN a lot of changes in the pharmacy profession since E. Paul Larrat, the University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy’s dean, was a student there in the 1980s.
The days of the mom-and-pop pharmacy on street corners are mostly gone, as the industry has been taken over by big chains such as Walgreens Co. and Woonsocket-based CVS Health Corp. Drugs have become more numerous and complex, with rising costs becoming a concern.
But some things have not changed about the industry or its goals.
“Our goal is to create knowledgeable and empathetic pharmacists,” Larrat said. “We go out of our way to encourage professional leadership and involvement in the community. It’s the leadership skills that set them apart.”
Larrat, 63, was born in Philadelphia but has lived in Rhode Island since he was a small child. Like many pharmacists, the profession runs in his family – an aunt, an uncle and a cousin all owned pharmacies. His mother was a chemist.
“I knew what [profession] I was getting into,” Larrat said.
With that background, URI’s pharmacy school was a natural fit, Larrat says, and he’s been based in the state ever since. He earned a bachelor’s degree, MBA and a Master of Science from URI, and a doctorate in epidemiology and biostatistics from Brown University.
Although he has been a URI faculty member since 1992, Larrat has also done some interesting work off campus. In 2004, he was appointed as a faculty fellow for NASA, and worked studying the risks of volatile organic compounds – gases such as benzene and formaldehyde – on humans and plants during extended space travel.
Larrat says he always wanted to be an astronaut, and this was as close as he was going to get.
In 2010-11, Larrat worked in Washington, D.C., as a health policy fellow for Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. “It was a great opportunity to see how health policy is developed,” Larrat said.
URI graduates about 120 pharmacy students each year. Some of them still
work in retail pharmacies, although Larrat –the pharmacy college’s dean since 2013 – says career pathways have broadened since he was a student. Many URI pharmacy grads now go to hospitals, universities, research settings, large medical practices and corporations. Larrat notes that most of the people working behind the counters at retail pharmacies are pharmacy techs, not pharmacists.
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, pharmacists now give immunizations and, in limited cases, can prescribe medication. “COVID-19 was a major turning point for us in some ways, as we saw pharmacists assuming new roles,” Larrat said.
Education in URI’s sixyear pharmacy program has become more hands-on, Larrat says. Sometimes the school will recruit people to come in and pose as patients. Students also practice their skills on $80,000 “mannequins” that can stick out their tongues, move their eyes and even
“die” if subject to a particularly severe drug interaction.
Larrat has also seen a gender shift at his school. When he was a student, he says, about two-thirds of his colleagues were male. Now about two-thirds of URI’s pharmacy students are female.
Larrat has also contributed research on the relationship between cocaine use and HIV infection, the development of special care units for Alzheimer’s patients, and pharmacy management in a state correctional system. URI has formed a partnership with the state to help manage pharmaceutical costs at the R.I. Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston.
Kerry LaPlante, who chairs URI’s department of pharmacy practice, says Larrat has been an effective leader who knows what it takes to train other effective leaders.
“He has the vision and the focus to create the next generation,” she said.
But Larrat plans to retire as dean at the end of the year after a decade and return to teaching.
“The school needs some new ideas and new energy,” he said. “But I still love the job and being with students on a daily basis. That’s very energizing for me.” n
‘Our goal is to create knowledgeable and empathetic pharmacists.’
E. PAUL LARRAT
University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy dean
Newport, Jason Gomez is responsible for shepherding the research and technology that scientists and engineers are creating for use within the U.S. Navy.
The warfare center has approximately 3,600 scientists and engineers working on sonar, weapons, and range technology, or “what the Navy needs for its mission,” Gomez said. The Newport division, one of the warfare center’s two divisions, is focused on research, development, testing, evaluating, engineering and fleet support for submarine warfare systems and other structures dealing with underwater warfare.
Gomez first began working for NUWC in 1992 after graduating from Syracuse University and became chief technology officer three years ago. He knows the center does not have enough people and is intimately involved with increasing the workforce by expanding the research base into universities. The warfare center also searches for specific skills during expansion, along with hiring a small number of people per year.
Gomez often communicates and collaborates with universities and businesses to learn what initiatives they are working on. He also oversees NUWC’s summer programs for students, which regularly see between 4,000 to 5,000 students joining the team for a period. “They can see where they fit,” he said.
Gomez has also enabled scientists and engineers he works with to publish their results. Over the past three years Gomez has been in his current role with NUWC, scientists have internally published more than 500 articles, with more than 100 published in journals. Engineers have had 110 patent applications and 44 patents were issued.
Dawn Vaillancourt, the warfare center’s business director, feels that communication is one of Gomez’s best qualities, as he easily relates to researchers and has discussions with leadership. Gomez is integral in the science and technology community, she said.
“Under his leadership as Division Newport’s chief technology officer, Jason has been instrumental in strengthening our science and technology posture both internally
Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport chief technology
and externally,” Vaillancourt said. Vaillancourt says Gomez has led efforts across the organization to align NUWC’s science and technology portfolio with technology focus areas that address current and future fleet needs, and has built relationships and collaborative partnerships across government, industry and academia. Gomez also helps the division strengthen science and technology communications, and to reward and recognize science and technology accomplishments such as patents and technology transitions, she said. Gomez also gives other people opportunities to add input but he ultimately decides what direction to take, Vaillancourt said. The center performs a variety of work with sonar, underwater acoustics and underwater vehicles. Teams are also working on research to keep combat systems protected from cyberattacks, Gomez said.
“You get to use your capabilities to provide to
sailors and perform a meaningful mission,” Gomez said about working for the Navy. “These are 18- to 20-year-old kids trying to protect our country. It’s important.”
The technology that Gomez oversees is out in the fleet, including technology that has been added to weapons.
“Some of my stuff is out there,” Gomez said, adding, “the environment is more than just me. A person’s research grows bigger than when they started. It’s rewarding.”
In addition to his work for the Navy, Gomez also served on East Greenwich’s planning board for nine years. The group, which oversees any possible development within the town, needed technical people to serve and Gomez volunteered.
“It was fun to see how the town’s developing and what developers were doing,” he said.
Along with his degree in aerospace engineering from Syracuse, Gomez earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Rhode Island. Gomez believes he has become more patient over time as a leader with NUWC.
“I don’t have a leadership style,” he said. “There are a thousand different things, and no one style. Someone needs you to be a leader in a certain way at a certain time. You become what people need at that moment.” n
‘Someone needs you to be a leader in a certain way at a certain time. You become what people need at that moment.’
JASON GOMEZ
officerBUILDING THE FUTURE: Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport Chief Technology Officer Jason Gomez oversees summer programs at the base for students to understand the technology aspect of its operation. COURTESY NAVAL UNDERSEA WARFARE CENTER DIVISION NEWPORT
A MARKETER
TRANSCONTINENTAL CAREER began with toy maker Hasbro Inc., jumped west to casino gaming and landed back in Rhode Island is hitting the jackpot with the state.
Since Anika Kimble-Huntley became R.I. Commerce Corp.’s latest chief marketing officer in September 2021, Rhode Island’s quasi-public tourism and economic-development arm has increased the number of email addresses in VisitRhodeIsland.com’s database by 400%, through in-person and online promotions.
R.I. Commerce, with Kimble-Huntley’s marketing savvy, almost doubled national media impressions, from 3.2 billion in 2021 to 6.2 billion last year, for tourism and business attraction to the Ocean State. Plus, R.I. Commerce partnered with the R.I. Airport Corp. to market Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport’s flight service in key demographic areas, including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Denver, Detroit, Philadelphia and Chicago, while promoting drive vacations to the Ocean State in Virginia and West Virginia.
With plans to lure the top 1% of the world’s wealthy to the state through luxury travel, Kimble-Huntley is only just getting started.
“She has a perspective of consumer marketing that none of [her predecessors] have brought to the table,” R.I. Commerce Director of International Tourism and Group Sales
Mark Brodeur said. “The fact that she also is African American means she has a much better understanding of that demographic and making sure our marketing is seeking to integrate all ethnic groups.”
Kimble-Huntley began her career at Hasbro in 1997 as a temporary employee, filling in during a co-worker’s maternity leave. Having graduated from Simmons University’s intensive 11-month MBA program, Kimble-Huntley made her mark. In February 1998, Hasbro hired the Las Vegas native permanently to help the company strengthen its position in overseas markets.
“If you can imagine, we were hedging the U.S. dollar against the European currencies,” she said. “Our role was to make sure we were, basically, taking advantage of any foreign exchange gains while we could.”
That was before the euro. Back then, there were almost as many different currencies as countries in Europe. “Excel,” to most people, was nothing more than a Webster’s dictionary entry, between “exceedingly” and “excellence,” not the end-all, be-all numbers-crunching spreadsheet software.
STATE ATTRACTION: Since becoming R.I. Commerce Corp.’s chief marketing officer, Anika Kimble-Huntley has increased the number of email addresses in VisitRhodeIsland.com’s database by 400%, through in-person and online promotions.
“People say, ‘You did what?’ ” Kimble-Huntley said. “What used to take me a week to verify manually and create a hedge position, now just takes the press of a button. … It gave me the confidence to do anything anyone threw at me.”
Over the next four years, Kimble-Huntley climbed the international company’s ladder before spring-boarding into the casino-gaming industry’s marketing realm in her hometown. In Las Vegas, she quickly rose from marketing associate to manager to director before earning an executive office position as marketing vice president for a Windsor, Ontario-based venue in Canada, across the Detroit River from downtown Detroit.
It was the first of four separate marketing vice president positions that she held with casino-gaming venues in West Virginia, Ohio and Nevada before launching her company, Marketing Mix One LLC, in June 2016 in Las Vegas. By December 2017, she was back in the executive suite as a national marketing vice president. She helped launch Massachusetts’ first resort casino in metro Springfield – MGM Grand Springfield.
Her last stop before coming home to her husband’s native Rhode Island was Sacramento, Calif., where Kimble-Huntley served as marketing vice president for Hard Rock International Inc.’s properties.
“I’ve moved and been in different positions a lot,” she said. “And about 98% of the moves were because I was referred or promoted.”
Kimble-Huntley also serves as a Community College of Rhode Island Foundation trustee and an occasional instructor at College Unbound, which aims to help adult learners overcome barriers to attending college.
Whether it’s been delighting children with toys, connecting people with pleasantly memorable experiences at hotels and other venues, or attracting people to Rhode Island, Kimble-Huntley’s career has been all about helping people have fun.
“That’s a common thread between Hasbro, gaming and tourism – it’s all entertainment,” she said. “The actual industries themselves are entertainment.” n
‘That’s a common thread between Hasbro, gaming and tourism – it’s all entertainment.’
ANIKA KIMBLE-HUNTLEY
R.I. Commerce Corp. chief marketing officer
PBN PHOTO/ELIZABETH GRAHAM
NONPROFIT/SOCIAL SERVICE AGENCY: [ MEGHAN GRADY ]
Meals on Wheels of Rhode Island | Executive director
Rhode Island – the state’s history, its culture and, most importantly, its people.
Since accepting the role of Meals on Wheels of Rhode Island’s executive director in 2019, Grady has relied on both her personal and professional experiences to lead the Providence-based organization.
Meals on Wheels, the state’s only nonprofit home-delivered meal program, has now served elderly and vulnerable residents in the state more than 20 million meals to date. Meals were still delivered at a high level during the COVID-19 pandemic. Grady says the organization provided as many as 4,000 meals a day, up from a pre-pandemic service level of about 1,200 meals per day.
“Our response demonstrated the strength of our model and the important role we play in the community,” Grady said. “Our team and volunteers were delivery heroes to many seniors who found themselves homebound for the first time and ensured they had access to nutritious food, safety checks and opportunities for socialization.”
A lifelong Rhode Island resident, Grady has always sought ways to provide support and to give back. In her own life, she worked closely with her family to support her grandparents in their later years. Grady says she always knew she wanted to spend her career impacting the lives of others in a positive way.
“I had experience with my family trying to balance my grandparents’ safety and nutritional needs with their desire to age in place, so I also understood the important role that Meals on Wheels can play in an older adult’s life,” Grady said.
Meals on Wheels is now delivering an average of 1,300 meals per day statewide by leveraging its More Than a Meal model. That model provides a meal that meets onethird of a senior’s dietary requirement and includes a safety-assuring wellness check and social visit.
Last year, Grady helped the organization launch additional programming that expanded the More Than a Meal model to other vulnerable populations by providing home-delivered meals to pregnant women and shelf-stable
food deliveries to people who can’t access the traditional food pantry network.
Grady and the organization’s board of directors recently devised and adopted a 2025 strategic plan in November called Planning for Our Next 20 Million Meals. The plan features a series of targets that focus on innovating the organization’s More Than a Meal model, sustaining and growing its home-delivered meal and congregate dining programs, and building capacity to respond to the anticipated demands of the aging population.
Last year, Meals on Wheels began a pilot project, funded by Point32 Foundation in partnership with Women & Infants Hospital, to serve meals to pregnant and postpartum women and their families. To date, more than 38 women and their families have received nearly 5,000 meals.
Additionally, Grady oversaw the launch of the
organization’s Culturally Responsive Meal Program as part of a continuing effort to help clients remain connected to their communities. Along with the organization’s traditional menu offerings, clients may now choose to receive food from Latin-, Asian-, kosher-, and heart-friendly-inspired menus.
Rebecca Keister, Meals on Wheels’ external affairs and mission advancement director, says Grady’s heart belongs to Rhode Island,as well as the work she does and her desire to make the state a better place for everyone, especially the organization’s clients. Keister recalled Grady often repeated the advice that her father gave her that “hard work pays off.” Grady took that to heart, Keister says.
“Her can-do attitude and charismatic personality set a strong tone that has permeated throughout the organization,” Keister said. “Since her arrival, Meals on Wheels is a stronger, more unified organization internally and has experienced an enhanced spirit of community involvement throughout the state of Rhode Island. Meghan has a vision for Meals on Wheels of Rhode Island and the wherewithal to turn that vision into reality. Because she leads by example, never shying away from getting ‘into’ the work, she is trusted and respected.” n
‘Because she leads by example, never shying away from getting ‘into’ the work, she is trusted and respected.’
REBECCA KEISTER
Meals on Wheels of Rhode Island external affairs and mission advancement director
She had worked for jewelry maker Alex & Ani LLC for six years, but McGuinness Media & Marketing in Warwick caught her eye in 2019. Hashway subsequently sent Megan McGuinness, the marketing agency’s owner, an email asking if she could introduce herself to McGuinness.
“I sent Megan an email saying, ‘I know you don’t have any positions, but I’d love to just come in for an informational interview to learn about your company,’ ” Hashway said. “It was a fairly small team at the time – they probably had five or six employees. And I really felt like I could bring something to the company.”
Her persistence paid off. Hashway, 33, was soon hired as the agency’s first associate account director. About two years into her employment, Hashway spoke up about the possibility of a promotion. The agency was rapidly hiring and expanding its client base, and she wanted to take on more responsibility. Recognizing her contributions, McGuinness Media promoted Hashway to her current role as director of accounts and operations.
Hashway, who grew up in East Greenwich and studied public relations and journalism at Suffolk University, soon began leading dayto-day client service, managing co-workers and developing systems and processes to help the business grow. She also took a lead role in helping the agency adapt to the upheaval associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hashway says she feels empowered and supported by her mentor and boss, McGuiness, which has helped her grow. “Megan makes it a point to let me know how much she values me,” she said. “And that makes me just want to work harder.”
On the leadership side, Hashway plays a large role in interviewing and hiring candidates, as well as keeping the agency’s 20 employees engaged in their roles. One of her favorite aspects of her job is thinking of ways to make McGuiness Media a great place to work. For Employee Appreciation Day, for example, she created custom cards that listed every employee’s positive qualities, as identified and shared by their colleagues.
Another project involved creating an internal company newsletter to keep everyone notified of developments such as new clients and internal promotions.
“Coming back from the pandemic and operating under a hybrid model, we’ve been working really hard to enhance our company culture,” she said. “Coming out of COVID-19
was really difficult for so many companies, and we lost people due to the fact that we were coming back to the office.”
Hashway’s role at the agency also includes an array of internal- and external-facing responsibilities, from onboarding new employees to serving as a point person for its nearly 50 clients, including Bally’s Corp. and HarborOne Bank. In her role working with clients, Hashway helped HarborOne Bank facilitate a spokesperson contract with New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones.
“Again, as I do, I just cold emailed with agents, started a relationship and worked with them to negotiate a contract,” Hashway said. “That was huge for us as an agency. And of course, it was huge for the bank.”
McGuinness describes Hashway as her “right-hand person” at the company.
“I vet all company decisions and opportunities through [Hashway] and more times than not, we end up coming to a decision together,” McGuinness said. Shortly before Hashway joined the agency, at a time when she was feeling a little lost, she became a certified life coach. While she’s not currently pursuing that as a full-time career, Hashway carries the ideas conveyed in the training with her into her work at McGuinness Media.
“I did the certification at a time when I really needed a life coach in my own life, so I became one,” Hashway said. “Once I started here, that kind of fell to the wayside in terms of how much time I could dedicate to working with clients, but helping others achieve their goals is still something I really love and value.” n
‘I really felt like I could bring something to the company.’
GERALYN HASHWAY
McGuinness Media & Marketing director of accounts and operations
