PBN July 8, 2022

PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS

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JULY 8-21, 2022

SPOTLIGHT

Watch Hill sales surging

EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS | 6

Shoemaking allows Kurd to connect to his culture | 16

YOUR SOURCE FOR BUSINESS NEWS IN SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND | VOL. 37, NO. 5 | $5

FOCUS: COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

Shortage of industrial sites has R.I. taking steps to help

BY TIM NORTON | Contributing Writer

WHEN IT COMES to available industrial sites in Rhode Island, the list is rather short.

State commerce officials say the vacancy rate is running at about 2% for properties ready for industrial uses, ranging from warehousing to manufacturing.

In response, the state has launched Rhode Island Ready, a $40 million economic development initiative designed to help property owners prepare sites to host new industrial c­ ompanies or expand

STATE OF INNOVATION R.I.’s ecosystem for entrepreneurs shows resilience

SEE INDUSTRIAL PAGE 18

ONE LAST THING

BY JACQUELYN VOGHEL | Voghel@PBN.com

FOR

the developers of Pointz, a navigation app geared toward safer routes for cyclists, Rhode Island offered a wealth of mentoring and networking opportunities, with accelerators, pitch contests and Brown University’s entrepreneurship center helping the startup on the path to an official launch earlier this year.

It was finding capital that they thought was going to be a big hurdle.

“It’s not a hotbed located here, like in Boston or the [San Francisco] Bay Area,” said Maggie Bachenberg, CEO and co-founder of Pointz Mobility Inc. Turns out that securing a round of pre-seed funding wasn’t as difficult as she feared.

Oregon-based private equity firm Rogue Venture Partners discovered Pointz at the Rhode Island Startup Week, held for the first time last fall, and the young company soon became Rogue’s first investment in Rhode Island, the amount of which was undisclosed.

ADVANTAGEOUS LOCATION: Maggie Bachenberg, CEO and cofounder of Pointz Mobility Inc. in Providence, which developed the Pointz navigation app geared toward safer routes for cyclists, says finding funding for the startup was much easier than expected thanks to Rhode Island’s entrepreneurship environment with plenty of resources and limited competition.

PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

SEE RESILIENCY

Alexa Trembly Find your niche | 35

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CONTENTS

PBN

COVER STORY STATE OF INNOVATION

R.I.’s ecosystem for entrepreneurs shows resilience.......... 1

FOR STARTERS

400 Westminster St. Providence, RI 02903

Trending: Most-read stories on PBN.com, June 2022.......3 5Q: Joneigh Khaldun............................................................4 Dining Out: Family dining on high seas..............................5 Spotlight: The Watch Hill Group LLC................................. 6 Something New: Teddy’s Candy Bar and More LLC......... 6 Hot Topic: Could end of Roe give R.I. a boost?..................7 Business Women: Haverhill’s jewelry has emotional significance......................................................... 8 Another Look: R.I. must OK sale of casino properties..... 9 What’s Happening...............................................................10 Everybody’s Business: Shoemaking allows Kurd to connect to his culture.................................................... 16

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IT’S PERSONAL People in the News............................................................ 29 Mackay’s Moral.................................................................. 29 To Savor: Jessica Norris Granatiero................................. 30 Guest Column: Franc Jeffrey............................................. 30 Editorials and Opinion....................................................... 33 One Last Thing: Alexa Trembly......................................... 35

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5Q | 4

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Shortage of industrial sites has R.I. taking steps to help

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The state has launched Rhode Island Ready, a $40 million initiative to help property owners prepare sites to host new industrial companies or expand existing sites........................................................ 1

EDITORIAL

Locals divided about plans for Microfibres site

Editor@PBN.com | Fax: 401-274-0670

BUSINESS WOMEN | 8

The former Microfibres Inc. fabrics factory in Pawtucket is poised for redevelopment, but locals are divided about a proposed distribution facility at the site by JK Equities Inc............................................. 19

Editor: Michael Mello 680-4820 | Mello@PBN.com Managing Editor: William Hamilton 680-4826 | Hamilton@PBN.com

Lists

Rhode Island Commercial Real Estate Leases – Office................................................................... 20 Bristol County, Mass., Commercial Real Estate Leases – Office................................................................... 20 Rhode Island Commercial Real Estate Leases – Retail................................................................... 22 Bristol County, Mass., Commercial Real Estate Leases – Retail................................................................... 22 Rhode Island Commercial Real Estate Leases – Industrial............................................................. 23 Bristol County, Mass., Commercial Real Estate Leases – Industrial............................................................. 23

Web Editor: Chip LeClerc, 680-4886 | LeClerc@PBN.com Copy Editor: Matt Bower, 680-4824 | Bower@PBN.com Special Projects Editor/Researcher: James Bessette 680-4838 | Bessette@PBN.com

FOCUS: COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE | 19

Manufacturers.....................................................................24

(EDUCATION, NONPROFITS)

Staff Writers: Claudia Chiappa 680-4830 | Chiappa@PBN.com (HEALTH CARE, GOVERNMENT, REAL ESTATE/DEVELOPMENT)

Nancy Lavin 680-4822 | Lavin@PBN.com

THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COMPANIES 401 Tech Bridge

(CITY GOVERNMENT, ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT, FINANCIAL SERVICES)

12

Intus Care Inc.

14

Rhode Island School of Design

14

A.T. Cross Co. LLC

8

JK Equities Inc.

19

Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport

18

Bally’s Corp.

9

LeachGarner Inc.

Bally’s Tiverton Casino & Hotel

9

MassChallenge

12

RIHub

8

R.I. Commerce Corp.

12, 18, 21 12

Bristol County Savings Bank

29

MindImmune Therapeutics Inc.

12

R.I. Lottery

9

Bristol County Savings Charitable Foundation

29

Morton Hospital

29

Roger Williams University

7

Narragansett Council of the Boy Scouts of America

Slater Technology Fund

12

12

29

Social Enterprise Greenhouse

12

12

Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind

14

Teddy’s Candy Bar and More LLC

6

29

Pointz Mobility Inc.

The Watch Hill Group LLC

6

CRAVEInfused LLC

12

Providence Streets Coalition

Edesia Inc.

18

Pyramid Associates LLC

Brown University Business Innovation Factory Cherrystone Angel Group LLC Children’s Advocacy Center of Bristol County

Haverhill Leach Inc. Innovation Studio Rhode Island International Game Technology PLC

1

8 14 9

1

Quonset Development Corp.

19

Tigris Handmade

16

9

Twin River Casino

9

18

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

RevUp Capital

12

University of Rhode Island

Rhode Island Black Business Association

14

Winfield Realty Inc.

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FOR STARTERS

TRENDING

Most-read stories on PBN.com, June 2022

1

PBN announces 2022 40 Under Forty honorees POSTED ONLINE: JUNE 10 Forty young professionals have been chosen as the winners of Providence Business News’ 18th annual 40 Under Forty program.

The winners work in a variety of sectors, including nonprofit, education, construction, manufacturing, finance, government and health care. bit.ly/3ukT4Cz

2

Bally’s to sell R.I. casino properties for $1B in lease-back deal POSTED ONLINE: JUNE 28 Bally’s Corp. has agreed to sell the properties and buildings of Twin River Casino in Lincoln and Bally’s Tiverton Casino & Hotel in Tiverton to Gaming & Leisure Properties Inc. for $1 billion in a lease-back deal, in which it continues to own, control and manage all gaming operations at the facilities. The sale requires state approval. bit.ly/3AeP3n3

PBN FILE PHOTO/DAVE HANSEN

3

Can R.I. weather the exit of so many leaders?

POSTED ONLINE: JUNE 3 A wave of recent retirement and resignation announcements from top executives leaves Rhode Island facing a potential leadership gap in some of its most important industries. The exodus of major players suggests a top-level “brain drain” that could hamper the state’s climb out of the pandemic. bit.ly/3I7mvhc

6

McDonald leaving R.I. Department of Health July 29 POSTED ONLINE: JUNE 2 bit.ly/3ujcIyZ

PBN FILE PHOTO/MIKE SKORSKI

4

I-195 commission hears dueling proposals for vacant Fox Point properties POSTED ONLINE: JUNE 22 Two competing projects, a proposed 10-story tower of luxury, owneroccupied condos and a proposed financial service firm’s new corporate headquarters, were recently presented as redevelopment proposals to the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission for two vacant Fox Point properties in Providence. bit.ly/3NC9PA6 COURTESY I-195 REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMISSION

5

69 organizations recognized as PBN’s Best Places to Work in festive atmosphere POSTED ONLINE: JUNE 9 Approximately 650 people attended the 17th annual Providence Business News Best Places to Work awards program, which was held in person for the first time since 2019, at the Crowne Plaza Providence-Warwick on June 8. bit.ly/3nstBU5

7

Providence College soaring to new heights after basketball success POSTED ONLINE: JUNE 29 bit.ly/3yw83w3

8

Seven Stars Bakery agrees to recognize union POSTED ONLINE: JUNE 20 bit.ly/3I8NMQh

9

R.I. Supreme Court rules in favor of Fane Tower project POSTED ONLINE: JUNE 23 bit.ly/3OX57xI

10

DBR Director Tanner named new R.I. commerce

secretary POSTED ONLINE: JUNE 27 bit.ly/3bwunfQ

PBN FILE PHOTO/MIKE SKORSKI

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www.pbn.com | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | JULY 8-21, 2022 | 3

FOR STARTERS

5Q: Dr. Joneigh Khaldun Vice president and chief health equity officer, CVS Health Corp.

BY MARC LAROCQUE | Contributing Writer

1

What has your time been like as the first chief health equity officer for CVS? The last eight months have been really exciting. … My role is to look across the entire company and develop and implement strategies that help ensure the members, clients and communities we serve have the greatest opportunity to be as healthy as possible. That means looking internally at our own structures, processes and policies, but also looking at how we show up in communities and particularly how we are advancing improved health outcomes for the most underserved.

2

What steps need to be taken to ensure that culturally competent care delivery is provided through CVS? A critical step for us is to not approach health equity as a series of programs but as a way of doing business. We think of health equity in the way we engage our over 300,000 colleagues, advancing a diverse and inclusive workforce and making sure our colleagues have the skills and tools to integrate health equity into their daily work.

3 COURTESY CVS HEALTH CORP.

What kind of programs are needed to improve access to health care for historically marginalized communities and address social determinants of health?

We need to genuinely engage with communities to understand what their specific needs are and work

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with them to develop interventions and programs that meet those needs.

It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach.

Through our Health Zones initiative, we provide concentrated local investments designed to reduce health disparities and advance health equity in historically underserved communities across the country by addressing key social determinants of health.

4

As someone who’s been involved in the industry for many years, have you seen implicit bias play out in health care?

As a practicing physician, I can tell you that implicit bias does exist in our health care system. … There is evidence that suggests implicit bias plays into health care outcomes related to pain management, trauma care, interventions for cardiac care and other health areas.

5

How impactful could it be to improve diversity among health care providers?

Evidence shows that when health care providers look like the communities that they serve or have similar experiences, it creates better health outcomes. For that reason, we are looking very closely at the diversity of our provider networks. n

We are looking very closely at the diversity of our provider networks.

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FOR STARTERS DINING OUT | BRUCE NEWBURY

Family dining on high seas THE CHEFS COMPETITION at the Newport Charter Yacht Show was a week of hugs and reunions among the crowds.

The brokers, agents, captains and other professionals in the charter yacht industry who came from all over the world had a common focus: facilitating exquisite vacations aboard crewed luxury yachts – yachts, both motor and sail, that range in length from 66 to 164 feet.

Of course, the issues of the real world were at the forefront, with staffing and supply chain problems near the top of the list for both vendors and those seeking to invest in such an experience.

The traditional friendly competitions were held over the course of the weeklong event from June 20-23 in the newly named Safe Harbor Newport Shipyard. There were five contests pitting crews against each other for prizes and bragging rights.

The crew sizes depended on the yacht size. The “smallest” vessels would sail with a crew of as few as five, while the larger yachts have numbers of specialized personnel rivaling the highest levels of service at the most luxurious landlocked resort.

The seven chefs who competed cooked from a “mystery basket” with 15 ingredients provided by specialty purveyor Shoreside Support, a Floridabased service business seeking to expand to Newport. The charter yacht niche appears to have a pipeline between Rhode Island and Florida, with many yachts, crew and vendors dividing their time between luxury destinations in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where they spend the winter, and in Newport during the summer.

Mystery basket ingredients – revealed to the judges, which included myself, as the competition was getting underway – included waygu beef cheeks, halibut cheeks, razor clams and Petrossian caviar.

The osetra caviar is a good example of how the contest pivoted on a fine point, keeping in mind the object was to create an adult and a child’s ver-

EXOTIC INGREDIENTS: Chef Brittany Garcia pre­ pares her Bolivian tamales during the Chefs Competition at the Newport Charter Yacht Show in June.

COURTESY ADAM HIMBER PHOTOGRAPHY

sion of a dinner entree.

There are no “kids’ menus” with chicken fingers, etc., on board these luxury yachts. The chefs are expected to be at the top of their game no matter the age or sophistication of their guests.

The plates served during the competition ranged in theme and elements from an elevated

fish and chips; a “pizza” that was based on a cornmeal dough, somewhat like a tortilla; and an actual taco. Some chefs gave the kids more beef with a larger portion of wagyu and left off the caviar or other adult touches such as a port reduction. Other memorable adornments included a corn salsa and rhubarb jam that one judge described as the “best thing ever.” Judging criteria was based 40% on taste, 30% on presentation and 10% on originality.

That was not difficult to do with exotic ingredients such as spruce tips, as in a Christmas tree.

One chef smoked hers and added it as an aroma.

The remaining percentages were accounted for through attention to dietary restrictions and using all ingredients in the mystery basket.

All three of the winners created gluten-free dishes.

In third place was chef Brittany Garcia from yacht QTR with her Bolivian tamales and Alfredo tacos for the kids. She was the one who did a tableside presentation of smoking her dish with the spruce tips.

In second place was chef Stephanie Sykora from yacht Freedom with a Southern low country take on fish and grits. Sykora created the rhubarb jam on her “kids’ plate” with a yacht-made tartar sauce with sophisticated fish and chips.

The first-place winner was chef Alex Flannery from yacht TCB. He created a Taco Tuesday entree – an elevated version with a ceviche of razor clams and roasted corn artichoke chipotle, and a kids’ quesadilla starring the waygu beef. The judges agreed in their appreciation of his concept and the way he tied together the adult and child’s version.

Prizes included sponsor gift certificates and merchandise. n Dining Out With Bruce Newbury is broadcast locally on WADK 101.1 FM and 1540 AM and on radio throughout New England. Contact Bruce at bruce@brucenewbury.com.

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FOR STARTERS SOMETHING NEW

SPOTLIGHT

ROUND TWO: Kim Nunes, who used to own a candy store in East Providence 20 years ago, opened Teddy’s Candy Bar and More LLC in Barrington in May. PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Candy shop owner ready for 2nd act

BY NANCY LAVIN | Lavin@PBN.com

KIM NUNES HAS mixed feelings about dessert.

Having recently opened Teddy’s Candy Bar and More LLC, Nunes spent the last few months surrounded by pounds of fudge and packages of sprinkle-topped confections as she readied her Barrington storefront for its May opening.

“Sometimes I want to try everything, and other times I am like, ‘Oh my God, no,’ ” Nunes said.

Teddy’s, which is named for Nunes’ late father, Teddy Borges, is her second act as a sweets shop owner. Twenty years separate her latest venture from her first experience owning a candy store in a nowdemolished Riverside storefront in East Providence. Despite the time lapse, the mainstays of the sugar world remain mostly the same, Nunes said.

One major change: packaging is a must. The clear containers of pay-by-the-pound penny candies have lost their luster in a more germ-focused, post-pandemic world.

Also new are the host of gluten-free, vegan and other allergen- and diet-friendly offerings, as well as specialty dog treats in a nod to the booming pet industry.

Teddy’s welcomes walk-in customers Tuesday-Saturday and takes call-ahead orders for special events. n

NATURAL FIT: Brenda Mottola, owner of The Watch Hill Group LLC, which sells hospitality products from manufacturers to local restaurants, hotels and other hospitality customers, in her Westerly showroom.

PBN PHOTO/ELIZABETH GRAHAM

Watch Hill sales surging Hospitality product seller also provides items to hospitals WHEN BRENDA MOTTOLA goes out to eat, she isn’t only interested in what’s on her plate.

She’s also looking for what’s underneath it – specifically, the label.

BY NANCY LAVIN | Lavin@PBN.com

closed their doors, her business continued to grow thanks to renovation projects by big-name clients such as Ocean House. She hired two more sales representatives to keep up with the increasing demand.

“We did better than just survive,” Mottola said.

Watch Hill Group also provides furniture and linens to hospitals, nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, all of which were busier than ever during the pandemic.

The return to dining out and hotel stays has, in fact, proven more challenging than the temporary shutdown. Supply chain bottlenecks and shipping delays mean products are hard to come by, and even harder to deliver in a reasonable time frame.

Outdoor table umbrellas, for example, won’t be ready until September – too late for the restaurants and hotels that want them for the summer season.

Mottola still feels on edge given these mounting problems, but her anxieties have eased knowing her company is not the only one up against them.

“I feel like we’re going to push through,” she said. “Consumers really just want to get back out there again.” n

Often, she’ll recognize the name as a brand whose products she sells through her company, The Watch Hill Group LLC. Dishware is a staple in the Westerly-based company’s lineup of hospitality industry products, which it sells from manufacturers to local restaurants, hotels and other hospitality customers. Other products in its repertoire range from imported German smokers to patio table umbrellas and wobblefree table stands.

Mottola has carefully cultivated the line of high-end products, choosing designs – and companies – that fit the aesthetic and quality she wants for her brand.

Since launching the business with her husband and co-founder, Jeremy Mottola, in 2017, Watch Hill Group has made a name for itself as a regional leader in the industry, partnering with more than two dozen global manufacturing brands to sell their products to five-star restaurants and luxury hotels.

Mottola, a Rhode Island native who got her start working for her

family’s real estate business, easily transitioned from selling houses to buffetware, thanks in part to her husband’s 20-year career in hospitality sales.

“Just being around him, by osmosis I learned a lot,” she said.

Sales was a “natural fit” for her outgoing personality, while her eye for design made choosing which brands and products to represent a fun, rather than burdensome, experience.

“It’s kind of like walking around Home Goods and seeing something that catches your eye,” she said.

That both she and her husband came from families who ran their own businesses gave them realistic expectations about the not-so-glamorous parts of starting a company.

Indeed, the pair launched their operation from the kitchen counter of their Westerly home, making calls with their two sons underfoot.

They opened an office across from the town train station last year.

When COVID-19 hit, Mottola braced herself for the worst. But even as restaurants and hotels

OWNER: Brenda Mottola

LOCATION: 5 Railroad Ave., Westerly

YEAR FOUNDED: 2017

EMPLOYEES: Six

ANNUAL REVENUE: WND

TYPE OF BUSINESS: Hospitality product sales

6 | JULY 8-21, 2022 | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | www.pbn.com

FOR STARTERS HOT TOPIC

Could end of Roe give R.I. a boost?

BY JACQUELYN VOGHEL | Voghel@PBN.com

WITH THE U.S. SUPREME COURT overturning Roe v. Wade, some observers say the contentious decision could make Rhode Island and other states in the Northeast with abortion protections more attractive to companies and skilled workers looking to move.

But others note that any migration would depend on whether workers and companies see the state as affordable and business-friendly.

The Ocean State’s existing reproductive-rights law “suggests that this is a more attractive state, a work environment for talented professionals, and a great place to work that supports women and their families,” said Susan McTiernan, dean of the Roger Williams University School of Business and associate professor of management. “That’s a pretty powerful message for women who have choices about where they want to live, and where they want to work.”

But other factors, such as a high cost of living in Rhode Island, may deter people from moving to the state despite its protections on abortion access, a local economist says.

States often upheld as having strong abortion-rights protections in place, such as Rhode Island, Massachusetts and California, “are not inexpensive,” said Leonard Lardaro, a professor of economics at the University of Rhode Island. “And all those states with the lowest cost of living are the ones that are banning abortion.

“That’s the real challenge,” he said.

“As far as individuals moving out of necessity and pure fear of retribution legally, that could be enough to tip the balance.”

But factors such as the state’s business climate could deter employers from coming to the Ocean State if they look to move or expand, Lardaro says.

“I don’t look for firms rushing to come here, even if they like some elements of [the state], because our business climate isn’t up to spec,” Lardaro said. “And during this whole crisis, our elected officials have done painfully little with our business climate … Rhode Island is first in, last out of national economic weakness.”

Still, Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker sees an opening. He said recently that the Bay State might actively encourage employers in states that have banned abortion to move to Massachusetts, calling this potential workforce shift a “big opportunity here for Massachusetts to encourage some employers to either come here or expand their footprint here, as we are a state that takes

[access to abortion] seriously.”

Gov. Daniel J. McKee has not said that Rhode Island will follow Baker’s lead, but a spokesperson for the governor, Alana O’Hare, said that McKee “would welcome individuals and employers who want to relocate to Rhode Island and live in a state that protects a woman’s right to choose.”

McKee has recently faced criticism for not enforcing insurance coverage on abortions through state and Medicaid plans, but he has also taken steps to protect those who come here from out of state to seek an abortion.

On July 5, McKee signed an executive order establishing legal protections for individuals who come to Rhode Island seeking reproductive health services, as some fear that individuals crossing state lines may face retribution in their home states.

The measure also protects Rhode Island-based providers who perform reproductive health care services for out-of-state individuals. It will ensure they don’t lose their professional licenses or have out-of-state charges brought against them. n

‘That’s a pretty powerful message for women who have choices about where they want to live.’

SUSAN MCTIERNAN, Roger Williams University School of Business dean and associate professor of management

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FOR STARTERS | BUSINESS WOMEN

Haverhill’s jewelry has emotional significance

BY MARY LHOWE | Contributing Writer

HAVERHILL

Leach works with her husband in her second self-made business from a waterfront maker space in Warren, creating goods for an appreciative, growing client base.

Leach’s eponymous-named business, Haverhill Leach Inc., creates jewelry, products she calls “a delight to the senses.”

Leach’s product line and promotional theme have hit on an inspired sweet spot. Haverhill Leach’s jewelry line is mostly composed of delicate, yellow-gold or white-gold chains that bear gemstones corresponding to birth months. She estimates gross annual sales at $10 million.

Working through Haverhill’s website, customers create bespoke rings, bracelets and necklaces bearing the birthstones of family members. It is a gift idea for mothers or any women who want to remember and honor family members via their jewelry.

“It is the one piece of jewelry that many of our customers claim they never take off,” Leach said. “The pieces are understated and timeless; they go with anything in the wardrobe.”

Because customers design the jewelry using family birthstones, the rings and necklaces bear extra emotional significance.

“We have heard many beautiful stories” from customers, Leach said.

The business, founded in 2013, employs about 30 to 50 people, depending on the season. They design, cast, clean, set and polish chains and stones from a big waterfront space in Warren with giant windows looking out onto the Warren River, a finger of Narragansett Bay. When they first rented the space, Leach and her husband and co-owner, Andrej Strojin, broke through a solid wall to create the waterfront window, welcoming light and beauty into the workspace. The couple lives right across the water from the shop, in Barrington, with their 12- and 13-year-old children.

Leach’s genetic connection to jewelry goes back to 1899, when her great-grandfather founded the jewelry company Leach and Garner in Attleboro, later renamed LeachGarner Inc. The business made gold beads, posts, wires and even the tubing for Providence-based A.T. Cross Co. LLC pens. Her grandfather and father both

FAMILY JEWELS: Haverhill Leach, founder, owner and designer at Haverhill Leach Inc. in Warren, says the jewelry her company designs using birth month gemstones makes for a great gift idea for women who want to remember and honor family members.

PBN PHOTO/ RUPERT WHITELEY

‘We want to keep people motivated and to keep jewelry-making in Rhode Island.’

HAVERHILL LEACH, Haverhill Leach Inc. founder, owner and designer 8 | JULY 8-21, 2022 | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | www.pbn.com

worked in the business, which her father later sold.

In fact, Leach said when she was in her teens, her father starred in a popular jewelry-selling segment on QVC called “Eterna Gold.” She remembers watching her dad’s compelling sales performances on TV, as well as the jewelry samples that her father would bring home for reactions and evaluation from his wife and daughter.

“He was cute and very charismatic,” Leach said.

Leach grew up in Attleboro but attended school at Wheeler School in Providence. After she graduated from Syracuse University, she worked for a while in Manhattan, N.Y., and then moved to California, where she founded and worked at a swimsuit design and manufacturing business, selling swimsuits to major retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Anthropologie.

A decade or so into the 2000s, Leach decided to return to Rhode Island. She and her husband, who had skills in business management, cooked up and executed the idea that led to the Haverhill Leach Inc. company.

At first, Leach said she was designing bolder and chunkier “statement” jewelry pieces made from silver. She sold her work at trunk shows across the country, and gradually came to see and understand what styles appealed to people. Herself a busy working mother with young kids, she modified her designs toward jewelry that was lighter, more comfortable and easier to wear at all times. She moved into gold because she didn’t like to see her pieces get tarnished.

In addition to the company’s twolevel space in Warren, where workers design and construct the jewelry, as well as do inspection, shipping, customer service and product development, the company has offices in Slovenia, the native home of Leach’s husband. The European office conducts digital marketing and created and continually refines the company’s website.

In Warren, Leach and her managers also have created an in-house school, of sorts, to help workers enhance their skills and move up the line of skill and sophistication in creating the jewelry. Leach said the idea for accelerated training began in the busy Christmas season, when frontline workers who cut the raw chain learned to work so fast that they ended up with time on their hands.

They were open to learning and growing in the craft, so classes were developed to teach people moreadvanced skills, such as cleaning, setting stones and polishing.

Leach invested in new microscopes, jeweler benches and a TV with a live feed to do the training.

A master jeweler on the staff said he wanted to export his knowledge to a new generation of jewelry-makers.

“Let me teach these people,” he told Leach.

“We have a lovely team of people; very positive, very good vibe,” Leach said. “We want to keep people motivated and to keep jewelry-making in Rhode Island.” n

PBN.COM | ANOTHER LOOK State must OK sale of casino properties

BY PBN STAFF

Editor’s note: A version of this story was first published on PBN.com on June 30.

PROVIDENCE – Bally’s Corp. must get the state’s approval of its planned sale of the property and buildings of Twin River Casino in Lincoln and Bally’s Tiverton Casino & Hotel in Tiverton for $1 billion, according to a spokesman for the R.I. ­Lottery.

“Under state law, any sale of the casino buildings and any potential purchasing entity are subject to regulatory review and approval by the state,” said Paul Grimaldi, Lottery spokesman.

“Beyond that, we have no further comment on the Bally’s announcement.”

The locally based casino company on June 28 announced it has agreed to sell the two casino properties to Gaming & Leisure Properties Inc. for $1 billion. Under the deal, Bally’s would lease back both Rhode Island properties and continue to own, control and manage all the gaming operations of the facilities.

Bally’s says the deal is subject to regulatory review and won’t affect its local operations, but it did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the approval process.

Clyde Barrow, a gambling industry analyst and general manager of Westport-based gaming consulting firm Pyramid Associates LLC, said casinos selling and leasing back properties has become more commonplace in the industry.

“This doesn’t change the day-to-day operation of the [Rhode Island casinos] one bit,” Barrow said.

“More and more casinos are doing this to monetize their properties. This deal should not affect the contract Bally’s has with the state because they are

CHANGING HANDS? Bally’s Corp. is looking to sell the properties and buildings of Twin River Casino in Lincoln and Bally’s Tiverton Casino & Hotel in Tiverton for $1 billion and lease them back from a new owner.

PBN FILE PHOTO/DAVE HANSEN

still in control of the casino operation. This is just a real estate transaction on Bally’s end and doesn’t affect the business.”

Bally’s struck a similar deal with Gaming & Leisure Properties on April 4. Bally’s sold its casino properties and buildings at Bally’s Quad Cities in

Rock Island, Ill., and Bally’s Black Hawk in Black Hawk, Col., to Gaming & Leisure Properties for $150 million as part of a lease-back agreement.

The Rhode Island lease would be tied into its master lease with Gaming & Leisure Properties.

Bally’s would pay an incremental rent of $76.3 million over 15 years for properties that include Twin River, Tiverton, Bally’s Dover Casino Resort, Bally’s Evansville Casino & Hotel, Bally’s Quad Cities Casino & Hotel and Bally’s Black Hawk Casinos.

What makes Bally’s deal for its Rhode Island properties potentially different than other casino property sales and lease-backs is how intertwined Bally’s operations are with the state.

The company has a 20-year deal with the state to operate legal gambling in a partnership with International Game Technology PLC. As part of the deal with the state, the company agreed to add 30 senior management positions in Rhode Island in addition to the 1,200 full-time jobs it is already required to maintain. Bally’s has about 1,800 employees in Rhode Island.

And most of the state’s annual gambling revenue comes from Bally’s two Rhode Island casinos, amounting to $209 million in fiscal 2021.

Bally’s has also launched a 50,000-square-foot casino expansion in Lincoln that will cost $100 million.

The $1 billion that Bally’s is set to receive from the transaction would likely go toward funding the company’s expansion, as well as a $190 million stock repurchase plan. Bally’s has been rapidly expanding its gambling holdings and recently was given the go-ahead to build a $1.7 billion casino in Chicago. n

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FOR STARTERS | WHAT’S HAPPENING BUSINESS SAVVY: The Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual Excellence in Business Awards on July 19 at the Hotel Viking in Newport.

PBN FILE PHOTO/ STEPHANIE ALVAREZ EWENS

EDITOR’S CHOICE

Greater Newport Chamber to hold annual Excellence in Business Awards THE GREATER NEWPORT Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual Excellence in Business Awards, hosted by Hotel Viking. The event will recognize local businesses and their efforts within the community. Breakfast will be served. Mike Melillo, co-founder and CEO of The Wanderlust Group, will be the event’s keynote speaker.

TUESDAY, JULY 19, 8:30-10 A.M. $55/members; $65/nonmembers Hotel Viking, 1 Bellevue Ave., Newport.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3bhRMBv

Hi Rhode Island, We’re Happy To Be Here!

Get to know us at RIEnergy.com/Hi

Being social THE RHODE ISLAND MANUFACTURERS Association will host its inaugural Summer Social. The event will be a networking-focused gathering, allowing attendees to mingle, enjoy a seafood dinner and take part in yard games. Appetizers will also be offered.

TUESDAY, JULY 12, 4 P.M. $135 Kempenaar’s Clambake Club, 323 Valley Road, Middletown.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3bIXqwY

Real estate talk THE TRI-TOWN CHAMBER of Commerce will hold a Real Estate Industry Round Table discussion on all aspects of real estate with other industry professionals.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2-3 P.M. Free Online.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3xkOkxC

Sailing away ONE SOUTHCOAST Chamber of Commerce will hold a Business After Hours networking event, hosted by Cuttyhunk Ferry Co. The event will include chances to meet and build professional relationships with one another while taking a leisurely sail around the New Bedford waters.

THURSDAY, JULY 14, 4:30-7 P.M. $30 Cuttyhuck Ferry Co., 66 State Pier, New Bedford.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3O6xn0I

Drink up!

THE SOUTHERN RHODE ISLAND Young Professionals, part of the Southern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce, will hold its annual Statewide Social, hosted by Whalers Brewing Co. LLC. The group provides young professionals under the age of 40 with networking opportunities.

THURSDAY, JULY 14, 6-8 P.M. $5 Whalers Brewing Co. LLC, 1174 Kingstown Road, South Kingstown.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3tpYWu2 10 | JULY 8-21, 2022 | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | www.pbn.com

WHAT’S HAPPENING | FOR STARTERS Getting attention Exploring THE TRI-TOWN Chamber of Commerce will hold a workshop titled “Us- resources ing Facebook and Instagram Stories.”

The workshop will offer tips on how to use the social media networks’ stories and how to use effective calls to action to get people’s attention with those specific channels. Business owners, entrepreneurs, marketing managers, marketing directors, social media managers, recruiters and executive directors should attend.

FRIDAY, JULY 15, 9-10 A.M. Free/members; $10/nonmembers Online.

Online.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3xLWG1k

THE CENTER FOR WOMEN & Enterprise will hold a workshop to help entrepreneurs understand programs and services offered by the U.S. Small Business Administration that can help a business grow. Topics to be discussed are the SBA Resource Partner Network, access to capital, loans for emergency preparedness and disaster assistance, and assistance on international trade and exporting.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, NOON TO 1 P.M. Free

Community assistance SUNRISE FOREVER INC., a local nonprofit that helps provide opportunities for quality education to children in Liberia and Rhode Island, will hold its sixth annual dinner and benevolence event. The annual event celebrates the organization’s commitment to building a healthy community by

providing educational supplies and resources to youths and families.

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 6:30 P.M. $50 Providence Marriott Downtown, 1 Orms St., Providence.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3xmzC9r UPCOMING PBN EVENT: The 2022 40 Under Forty Awards Program will be held on Thursday, July 21, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Aldrich Mansion in Warwick. For more information, visit PBN.com.

For sponsorship opportunities, contact Advertising@PBN.com.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3O17BL6

Match play!

THE NEWPORT INTERNATIONAL POLO Series will hold its sixth annual All Charity Day benefit match. The event will showcase outdoor polo action. All ticket sales will support the Women’s Resource Center’s mission, programs and clients.

SUNDAY, JULY 17, 3 P.M. $20 Newport International Polo Grounds, 250 Linden Lane, Portsmouth.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3xyuikw

On stage THE SOUTHERN RHODE ISLAND Chamber of Commerce will hold a Business After Hours networking event, hosted by The Contemporary Theater Company. The event will allow local professionals and businesspeople to meet and gather in a relaxed setting. Walk-ins will be accepted, but preregistration is encouraged.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 5-7 P.M. $5/members; $10/nonmembers The Contemporary Theater Company, 327 Main St., South Kingstown.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3HJSRP2

Raising funds THE SIXTH ANNUAL Rolling for Homes will feature Jeeps and motorcycles coming together to help support Habitat for Humanity West Bay and Northern Rhode Island Inc. building a duplex in Burrillville.

Last year, the event raised more than $50,000 for the organization. Lunch will be offered and T-shirts will be sold separately to support the cause.

SATURDAY, JULY 23, 9 A.M. TO 5 P.M. $20/ride only; $35/ride with lunch Elks Lodge No. 2359, 326 Farnum Pike, Smithfield.

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INNOVATION RESILIENCY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“It’s a small place, but you can get the attention of people who can be really helpful,” Bachenberg said. “Things like that you maybe wouldn’t get in a bigger city, where there’s more ventures, more competition for the spotlight.”

Bachenberg’s experience launching Pointz highlights a pathway that innovation leaders and entrepreneurs have noted in Rhode Island: while many continue to see funding capabilities as a limitation on the area’s growth as an innovation hub, the state’s entrepreneurship environment has demonstrated resiliency throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the crisis, more startup services have been added and more entrepreneurs are launching companies and putting down roots in the Ocean State, according to data compiled by RIHub, a nonprofit startup support organization based in Providence.

Even the recent closures of a state office and an industry group dedicated to the technology sector – the R.I. Office of Innovation and the Tech Collective respectively – hasn’t slowed things down, those in the entrepreneur community say.

RIHub says it was tracking 316 local startups in 2021, up from 177 in 2020. It also had 472 entrepreneurs in its database in 2021 – information the organization has collected through some form of direct interaction with the companies.

“We’re on the ground every day, working hand in hand with Rhode Island’s high-tech startups,” said Annette Tonti, RIHub managing director. “It’s a great moment for companies starting here to stay here, and not having to move to Boston or New York, or some other place, because we’re making sure you get what you need here.”

EXPANDING SERVICES: Annette Tonti, left, managing director at RIHub, talks with Mia Nolan, center, program director, and Leia McDonnell, program coordinator, at RIHub’s new center at Innovate Newport.

PBN PHOTO/DAVID HANSEN

established in 2005 by Providence entrepreneur Saul Kaplan, pivoted in 2019 from a focus on advising entrepreneurs to self-initiated projects.

Another former Rhode Island startup accelerator, Betaspring LLC, which once gained national recognition for its programming, evolved to its current iteration called RevUp Capital to focus on companies that had reached the next step in generating revenue.

And one source that played a role in funding ventures, Point Judith Capital – a private venture MISSING ZEAL capital firm co-founded by former Gov. Gina M. That wasn’t the case years ago.

Raimondo before she ran for office – moved to BosIn the early 2000s, high-growth startups were ton in 2012 and has since rebranded as PJC. beginning to spark excitement around the counBut a growing base of incubator services has try, says Thorne Sparkman, longtime managing freed investment funds such as Slater to fill a director of the Slater Technology Fund, the state’s resource gap at the next level of startup growth, largest venture capital fund. But true launch pads Sparkman says. Earlier this year, Slater also for these ventures were confined to select pockets launched an offshoot, RightHill Ventures, to focus of the U.S., and Rhode Island wasn’t one of them. on university-driven innovators.

“Most of that crazy, revolutionary entrepreSlater still works closely with incubators, but neurial zeal was happening in Silicon Valley, and a “we’re freed up to focus a little more on the investlittle bit in Boston,” Sparkman said. ment side, and what happens to a company after “There were certainly individuals doing that investment,” Sparkman said. sort of thing in Rhode Island, but there was not a The fund is also making larger investments Cherrystone Angel Group [LLC]. There was not a – sometimes 10 times larger than what it could Point Judith Capital,” he said, referring to two veninvest in its early days – such as a recent $1.5 ture capital firms that million contribution later formed in Rhode

by RightHill Ventures Island. “And there was to Mind­Immune Therajust barely the beginning peutics Inc., a University of the Slater Technology of Rhode Island-based Fund.” drug discovery comNumerous startup pany working to develop incubators have also immune-system-based sprung up since those treatments for central early days, Sparkman nervous system diseases. says, such as RIHub, Innovation leadSocial Enterprise Greeners credit Raimondo’s house, 401 Tech Bridge, background as a venture MassChallenge, and capitalist as another facBrown University’s tor that fueled entrepreBreakthrough Lab and neurial growth in Rhode Nelson Center for EntreIsland. preneurship.

Raimondo-era Still, there have been programming included bumps in the road. the establishment of Some organizations RIHub in 2019 through have shifted services the state’s Innovation away from startups in Campus program. The MAGGIE BACHENBERG, Pointz the past decade: the Busistartup service draws Mobility Inc. co-founder and CEO ness Innovation Factory, funding from IBM,

‘It’s a small place, but you can get the attention of people who can be really helpful.’

12 | JULY 8-21, 2022 | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | www.pbn.com

Brown University, the University of Rhode Island, and R.I. Commerce Corp., in addition to “soft” support from startup accelerator MassChallenge.

Tonti also credits Raimondo with bringing the Cambridge Innovation Center and MassChallenge to Rhode Island.

“It actually put a special focus on innovation and entrepreneurship in Rhode Island that hadn’t been here before,” Tonti said.

Raimondo established the R.I. Office of Innovation in 2016. The office closed quietly after she became U.S. commerce secretary last year.

When reached for comment, former Office of Innovation Director Daniela Fairchild said the office had always been intended to be temporary, and that some of its programs, such as library technology improvement service Studio Rhode, live on independently or through other organizations.

Tonti was untroubled by the closure. She says the office served a different constituency than the startups that work with RIHub. And she feels the support for innovative businesses hasn’t wavered among state officials.

Other innovation organizations weren’t able to overcome pandemic-related hardships. The Tech Collective, a longstanding nonprofit providing networking and training opportunities for the state’s technology community, shuttered at the end of 2021, citing the effects of the coronavirus crisis.

Like Tonti, Sparkman says he doesn’t see the shutdowns as limiting entrepreneurship.

The collective “had a little bit of innovation in it, but it was more of an industry organization for tech people,” Sparkman said.

And he hadn’t even noticed the closure of the R.I. Office of Innovation. There is still “tons of architecture waiting for entrepreneurs,” he said.

Zara Ayanna Salmon has been a beneficiary of that architecture.

Salmon launched a hemp-based cosmetics and cooking company called CRAVEInfused LLC in 2019 with assistance from Social Enterprise Greenhouse before moving to Connecticut in the early days of the pandemic.

Based near New Haven, Salmon enrolled in early-business programs and landed a microgrant, but she found many opportunities were only available to college students, such as those enrolled at Yale University.

Since relocating back to the Ocean State last fall, “I’m feeling like the opportunities are coming CONTINUES ON PAGE 14

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www.pbn.com | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | JULY 8-21, 2022 | 13

INNOVATION CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

to me,” Salmon said, noting assistance from the Social Enterprise Greenhouse incubator and the Rhode Island Black Business Association. “I’m not having to seek them out.

“People in Providence and Rhode Island share resources,” she added. “A lot of entrepreneurs are in the same place, working at the same time … we know the struggle.”

DESIRABLE CLUSTER While the pandemic struck not long after RIHub’s launch, the organization’s growth hasn’t been stunted, Tonti says.

RIHub has been expanding services to meet the growing number of startups and, in April, opened a full-service center in Newport to increase access for innovative businesses on Aquidneck Island and in southern Rhode Island.

The number of startups working with RIHub has grown 25% to 30% year over year, Tonti says.

And 80 entrepreneurs are currently enrolled in RIHub’s mentoring service pairing startups with leading industry professionals at no cost.

Staffing and funding have yet to grow with this uptick in activity, Tonti says, but the organization is in the process of applying for grants and connecting with potential sponsors.

The Cambridge Innovation Center’s Providence site, which houses RIHub’s original location, has also experienced growth throughout the pandemic: the 3-year-old building in the I-195 redevelopment district hosts 145 startups, including 500 individuals, doubling in occupants since prior to the pandemic, says CIC founder and CEO Tim Rowe.

This growth has made Providence the fastestgrowing CIC center out of the organization’s nine locations around the world, Rowe notes. And no companies in the CIC have left Rhode Island for another state since the start of the pandemic, he adds.

“We are seeing lots of companies move in, and we are not really seeing companies move from Rhode Island to elsewhere,” Rowe said.

This growth is “dramatic,” he added. “It’s not just a bit better than other [CIC] sites,” which span from its Cambridge, Mass., headquarters to Tokyo.

Several factors may work into that trend, he says: businesses tend to naturally build up in clusters over the years, with one or two companies sometimes setting up in a location and drawing others in their industry.

Rowe has observed this among offshore wind companies at CIC Providence, which now hosts 20 startups from this sector. This movement likely started with Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind, which moved into the CIC building in March 2020, he says.

The later companies are “not necessarily choosing Providence – they’re choosing the best space for an offshore wind company,” Rowe said, “and

‘I’m feeling like the opportunities are coming to me.’

ZARA AYANNA SALMON, CRAVEInfused LLC founder

UNIQUE RECIPE: Zara Ayanna Salmon, founder of CRAVEInfused LLC , with her hemp-infused candles and body butter products.

PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

right now, that’s this cluster in Providence.”

The Ocean State also has its own draws, he adds, such as a lower cost of living compared with Boston while still offering academic and cultural attractions.

“Rhode Island is providing really good value right now in a world where location is more flexible,” Rowe said. “You can be hybrid or remote.

You can have a really nice life in Rhode Island at a cost that’s much lower than in some other cities.”

And while other venture capital funding sources in Rhode Island are limited, the shift to virtual meetings has facilitated connections from farther away – a development Sparkman also highlights.

Sparkman once heard a fellow board member in one of his organizations say that no one will ever invest $100,000 in a startup without shaking the entrepreneur’s hand.

“That’s turned out to be wrong,” Sparkman said recently.

‘FLYWHEEL ECONOMY’

The founders of Intus Care Inc., a Providence startup that uses data technology to identify health risks in seniors and assist elderly care facilities in improving outcomes, agree that a lack of funding can be a high hurdle for innovators in Rhode Island.

But co-founder and CEO Robbie Felton and co-founder Evan Jackson, both Brown University

STAYING PUT: Chief Operating Officer Evan Jackson, left, and Chief Technology Officer Alex Rothberg, co-founders of Intus Care Inc. in Providence, a health care analytics startup focused on improving elderly care organizations, say they have no intentions of moving their headquarters to a larger startup hub.

PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

14 | JULY 8-21, 2022 | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | www.pbn.com

graduates, have no intentions of moving their headquarters to a larger startup hub.

They found ways to bridge the funding shortage through resources such as Brown’s Breakthrough Lab summer accelerator and the Rhode Island School of Design, which helped connect the team with artists to develop an attractive and usable interface.

“Rhode Island is a wonderful place to work, and people really enjoy working here, and that’s why we want to keep a large presence and footprint here,” Jackson said.

“Also, we want to be part of the solution,” Jackson added. “We understand Rome wasn’t built in one day, and [we want to] get involved to support local entrepreneurs so more businesses can feel comfortable to stay here in Rhode Island.”

Even without a move to Boston, many startups eventually have to shift their attention to larger innovation hubs for funding and other growth opportunities, says Ashley Medeiros, vice president of program strategy and partnerships at Innovation Studio Rhode Island, an organization providing small-business assistance and workspace for entrepreneurs.

“A lot do have to look to Boston if they really want to scale and find capital, and sometimes it’s easier if you’re based there,” Medeiros said.

But Innovation Studio, which began in Boston, is expanding its Rhode Island services. A recent effort, the organization’s “Biz Bodega” initiative, aims to provide office space and resources in underserved areas, with the first of these spaces launched in the Olneyville section of Providence in April.

Tonti also acknowledges that while available resources help entrepreneurs grow and remain in Rhode Island, “it comes down to them being able to get investments here.

“You create a flywheel economy where there are enough startups to keep high-tech employers here, and excited about being here,” she said.

“And then investors, as well.”

Bachenberg, CEO of Pointz, also acknowledges that staying in Providence means working within a smaller network. But like Jackson, she wants to be one of the startups that fuels the city’s entrepreneurial vitality.

“I think there are a lot of resources available in Rhode Island, but it’s an up-and-coming ecosystem,” Bachenberg said. “It’s small, but it’s becoming more and more established as more ventures stick around.” n

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to legalize recreational marijuana in Rhode Island and retail sales set to begin December 1st, PBN’s 2022 Business of Cannabis Summit will feature panel discussions with various experts, business executives and community leaders.

• What can we expect for impact/ growth in this sector in RI for local businesses and the local economy?

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MATTHEW SANTACROCE Chief, Office of Cannabis Regulation, Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation

www.pbn.com | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | JULY 8-21, 2022 | 15

EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS Shoemaking allows Kurd to connect to his culture

BY CLAUDIA CHIAPPA | Chiappa@PBN.com

(Editor’s note: This is the 23rd installment in a monthly series speaking with minority business owners and leaders. Each is asked their views on minority-business conditions in the state and for ways to improve those businesses’ chances for ­success.)

FEELING OUT OF PLACE is nothing new for Selahattin Sep. As a Kurdish man living in southeast Turkey, Sep grew up facing racism and ethnic discrimination. And when he moved to the U.S. in 2017, he struggled with a bewildering immigration process, a nearly insurmountable language barrier and the dizzying feeling that comes with uprooting a family and settling in a strange land.

It wasn’t much easier when he began looking to open a business. He didn’t know the process, the rules or even where to start.

Still, he has made a go of it. With big aspirations and $450 in his pocket in 2019, Sep opened Tigris Handmade in Bristol, a business crafting traditional footwear called the Yemeni shoe that has been worn for centuries in parts of Turkey, Syria and Yemen.

It’s been quite the journey.

Since he was a child, Sep has turned to art for solace, teaching himself how to paint and later pursuing an advanced degree in fine art. His life changed when he met his wife, a Rhode Island native, in 2015 while both worked for a nonprofit in Turkey. Two years later, they moved to his wife’s hometown of Bristol.

While not without struggles, Sep says he’s found Bristol welcoming.

“People like to talk; people like to listen,” Sep said. “This turned me into a storyteller: I can tell something about Kurdish people, about me and my culture.”

The business world wasn’t as welcoming initially.

Sep says he wished there were more accessible resources for minority groups to help them as they take their first steps in entrepreneurship. And there needs to be more solidarity.

“We have to help each other,” Sep said.

In a first attempt at launching a business, Sep and his wife, Amanda, opened an art gallery on High Street in 2017, bringing artwork from 33 artists from around the world.

The gallery struggled to turn a profit, and they eventually sold it.

Soon he had a new idea – bring some of his culture to his new home by sharing one of his family’s oldest traditions: shoemaking.

Tigris Handmade was born, with Sep using $450 to buy materials and design a digital storefront.

Sep uses the traditional techniques that have been in his family for more than 700 years, calling his products “healthy shoes” because they’re created entirely by hand with ethically sourced leather and without the use of chemicals or glue.

“I want to make sustainable, good business,” Sep said.

“Because shoes and our feet are so important. Our feet carry all of our body.”

The shoes struck a chord with customers when Sep set up a table at the Bristol Farmers Market.

“In our first market, we sold 30 shoes,” Sep said. “This gave us big hope.”

From there, the business has grown slowly but steadily.

Sep collaborates with his family in Turkey, traveling to the country to acquire materials and dye the leather in local tanneries, which still use an ancient dying technique using a wood barrel that is natural and creates unique colors each time. The shoes sell for about $140 a pair.

His traditional methods make the shoes more expensive to produce, but he doesn’t care. His priorities are authenticity, cultural ties and family. In fact, the business is named after Sep’s oldest son, Azad Tigris, reflecting Sep’s desire for his son to maintain an attachment to the Kurd culture.

At the same time, Sep maintains his affinity with art through the business.

“What we are doing is basically artwork,” Sep said. “This is the identity of our family.”

Selahattin Sep Tigris Handmade owner

BEST FOOT FORWARD: Selahattin Sep regularly sets up a table at the Bristol Farmers Market, displaying products from his business, Tigris Handmade.

PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

1

Do you believe racism is keeping minorities from starting businesses in the Ocean State or succeeding when they do?

I do believe racism affects the success of businesses that could be very valuable to communities throughout the state. As a Kurd, I can say that I am less exposed to racism in the United States than in my own country. I have been running my business in Bristol for the last three years and I have established very good relationships. They became supporters and friends. But there were many difficulties I experienced while establishing this business. The economic situation, not knowing the environment, not knowing the system and most importantly the language problem gave me a very difficult time. And it was one of the biggest risks for my business to start with a product that was previously unknown and belonged to a different culture.

2

How dependent is your business on the support of other minority groups?

Is that a sustainable business model?

We produce a cultural shoe with a family tradition. We continue our comfortable and completely natural products by adhering to the 700-year-old construction technique. The entire product is chemical-free and a sustainable fashion product, which is desired by many. Yes, this is traditional to my culture, but the uniqueness and quality of our product attracts a diverse group of people. We have customers of all ages, genders and colors, and we are very happy about that.

3

4

Have you had to turn somewhere other than a bank for a loan? Do you believe the state’s lending institutions generally treat minorities fairly?

I think this is one of the biggest problems. It can be difficult for an immigrant who has just arrived in the country and just started some things to reach a sufficient credit score. So we had to make a start rather than imagine. Due to financial insufficiency, we tried to focus on online sales instead of stores. We got our first supplies with $450 from the sale of a painting by a close friend. She said to keep the money until you make it. We progressed very slowly but with a dedication to quality.

What we are doing is basically 5 artwork.

What one thing could Rhode Island do to boost the odds for minority-owned business success?

Like the cultural differences, the way of per-

16 | JULY 8-21, 2022 | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | www.pbn.com

ceiving the system also varies. Not knowing the business system pushes immigrants like myself to a difficult path. If we compare it to a sports match, we start three points behind someone who was born in the United States and knows the system. Organizations that support and assist minority groups in this regard and ensure that they are accessible will be a life jacket for those trying to establish new ­businesses.

If another minority entrepreneur asked you where they could turn to for support for their business, where would you direct them?

Information is the biggest support for starting a business. It is very important to establish a network of people around you and to share experiences of success and failure. It is very important to do research constantly and ask many questions. If necessary, training may be required. Although the lack of a similar model of my work limited my resources, time and experiences helped me to create my own source of knowledge. Everyone needs to create their own web of relationships with other business ­owners. n

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HOLLY FERRARA Greenwood Credit Union senior vice president and chief lending officer

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www.pbn.com | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | JULY 8-21, 2022 | 17

FOCUS | COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE INDUSTRIAL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

­ xisting sites, with the ultimate goal of bringing e more jobs and tax revenue.

The program, unveiled in January, builds upon a similar site-readiness initiative at the Quonset Business Park that officials there have credited with helping to create more than 3,500 jobs and sparked about $682 million in private investment over the last decade.

With that success in mind, R.I. Commerce Corp. has tasked the Quonset Development Corp. to oversee the Rhode Island Ready program, which has already received 22 applications from property owners looking for assistance in getting industrial sites pad-ready or expanding sites that are already operating.

“There has been a steady stream of interest from all over the state,” said Chelsea Siefert, Quonset Development Corp.’s director of planning and development and Rhode Island Ready program manager. “Our funding can bridge some funding gaps.”

Rhode Island Ready is being funded through a bond issue approved by voters statewide in March 2021.

So far, five properties have already been cleared by the QDC to receive up to $200,000 each in technical assistance, which could include full-site engineering and environmental reviews needed to receive permits to make improvements.

Those sites include a 13-acre industrial parcel at 1307 Hartford Ave. in Johnston, which is currently the location of a demolition and wrecking business. The applicants, Valentino Tirocchi and Winfield Realty Inc., are looking to get the site padready for another industrial use, although Siefert said there is no potential tenant yet.

Another recent approval: a project at 1 Moshassuck St. in Pawtucket that would convert the former Microfibres Inc. factory into a modern distribution center.

Siefert says the goal of Rhode Island Ready is to “activate” unused or underused properties so they are creating jobs and tax revenue.

“That’s what we’re hoping to get from the program,” she said.

So far, Rhode Island Ready applicants include a cluster of five properties around Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport in Warwick, four at Quonset Point in North Kingstown, and three each in Pawtucket, East Providence and Cranston.

Not every applicant can qualify.

A qualified site for the initiative must be at least 10 acres or have the capacity to support a 100,000-square-foot building, and must already be zoned for industrial or support offshore wind development. It must also lie within a mile of a state highway. Applicants are also required to provide a letter of support from the local municipality and submit a zoning certificate and pay a $1,500 application fee.

Siefert says one of the 22 applicants has been rejected, a proposal related to a self-storage busi-

SITE VISIT: Chelsea Seifert, who manages the Rhode Island Ready economic development initiative, stops

by Edesia Inc. in the Quonset Business Park in North Kingstown. Edesia has qualified for technical assistance through Rhode Island Ready to expand its manufacturing facility. Seifert is also the planning and development director at Quonset Development Corp.

PBN PHOTO/ELIZABETH GRAHAM

ness in the Olneyville section of Providence. The application was not tied to an industrial use and had limited economic benefit.

While applicants can initially seek up to $200,000 in technical assistance, those who receive approval can then seek capital investment from Rhode Island Ready for site improvements.

None of the applicants have reached the stage of applying for capital investment, but Siefert says it has been estimated that Rhode Island Ready will expend about $10 million on administration and technical assistance and another $30 million on capital investment.

Assessments on the economic benefits of each project will be conducted before funding is distributed, and there will be guarantees in place to ensure the properties will be dedicated to industrial uses.

“We want to make sure we’re investing appropriately to activate these sites,” Siefert said.

Executives at Edesia Inc. in North Kingstown saw an opportunity to apply for the Rhode Island Ready assistance, as they planned an expansion.

Edesia, a maker of food products for customers such as UNICEF that ship goods overseas to feed malnourished children, is looking to construct a

100,000-square-foot addition to its 83,000-squarefoot, high-tech manufacturing facility at the Quonset Business Park.

The company is also looking to add a rail spur that would allow some raw materials to be delivered to the factory by train instead of truck, cutting transportation costs and the operation’s carbon footprint.

The Quonset Development Corp. board has already approved the facility for the Rhode Island Ready program and up to $200,000 will be available to help pay for the permitting process.

“It could not have come at a better time,” said Thomas Stehl, deputy director at Edesia. “We had been exploring an expansion and Rhode Island Ready has primed the pump.”

Aside from the economic development benefits of additional jobs and tax revenue, Stehl said the expansion is needed on a humanitarian level, allowing Edesia to feed an additional 25 million at-risk children globally over the next decade.

“The help offered by Rhode Island Ready to Edesia Nutrition will allow millions of people to avoid starvation and to regain their health,” he said. “We work with nongovernmental agencies ... to deliver to 60 countries around the world.” n

‘There has been a steady stream of interest from all over the state.’

CHELSEA SIEFERT, Rhode Island Ready program manager and Quonset Development Corp. director of planning and development 18 | JULY 8-21, 2022 | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | www.pbn.com

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE | FOCUS Locals divided about plans for Microfibres site

Our Commercial Real Estate experience builds real value into every project.

BY JACQUELYN VOGHEL | Voghel@PBN.com

FOR THE FIRST TIME since Microfibres Inc. went out of business in 2016, the former fabrics factory at 1 Moshassuck St. in Pawtucket appears poised for redevelopment, with demolition underway to prepare for a 160,000-square-foot distribution facility.

But while supporters of the project, which has preliminary plan approval, say it will bolster the city’s revenue and add new jobs, some residents in Pawtucket and nearby Providence fear the economic opportunity will come at the cost of heavy truck traffic that could endanger pedestrians and cyclists, and that a proposal by the developer, JK Equities Inc., to acquire an abutting athletic field will take away from the neighborhood’s limited recreational spaces.

JK Equities envisions a “last-mile distribution center” at a 3.5-acre site that will include a warehouse and direct-to-customer shipping operations, according to the company’s website.

Workers are on-site already, tearing down the 194,000-square-foot brick factory that was built in 1940, according to Pawtucket city records.

The new building – dubbed the Blackstone Distribution Center – will feature up to 41 loading docks, 32-foot ceilings, and a 45-foot radius area for trucks to turn around.

Jordan Karlik, JK Equities cofounder, declined to provide further comment.

Plans for the site, which is located less than a mile from the Providence border, has stirred controversy in both cities.

Pawtucket City Councilman Clovis C. Gregor, who represents the neighborhood where the former Microfibres site is located, agrees the industrial property is in dire need of a new use, but he says the developer’s effort to purchase and rezone the athletic field, called Morley Field, threatens to eliminate the neighborhood’s recreational space.

“My feeling is that the kids in the Fifth District deserve the same rights and opportunities to green space, recreational space and opportunities as kids their age in the other districts,” Gregor said.

The field was also partially funded by the National Park Service, which protects its status as a public green space. To sell the property for commercial uses, the city must replace

‘I know people have concerns regarding noise, traffic.’

CLOVIS C. GREGOR, Pawtucket city councilman the field with a recreational area of at least the same size and in the same neighborhood.

The city has agreed to sell the 5-acre field to JK Equities for $550,000 if it can meet these conditions, but Gregor has his doubts this can happen. “This district where the park is located doesn’t have a lot of space that you can turn into a replacement site,” he said.

Morley Field has other problems.

The city, which still owns the 94 Moshassuck St. property, last month discovered “volatile organic compounds” in the field. The developer will be responsible for removing these compounds if the deal goes through, according to city spokesperson Emily Rizzo.

The proposal has also raised alarm in Providence, where some say increased truck traffic would work against plans to redesign nearby North Main Street to increase safety for pedestrians and cyclists and bolster public transit.

“Big trucks like that have much bigger blind spots,” said Liza Burkin, lead organizer of Providence Streets Coalition, which lobbies for safer street designs. “It’s just incompat-

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6/2/2022 12:03:28 |PM 19 BUSINESS NEWS | JULY 8-21, 2022

RHODEISLAND ISLANDCOMMERCIAL COMMERCIALREAL REALESTATE ESTATE LEASES - OFFICE FOCUS ||RHODE (rankedbybysquare squarefootage) footage) (ranked Address

Square footage

Lessee

Lessor

Broker

Lease signed

100 Highland Corporate Drive, Cumberland

30,028

CVS Pharmacy

JDS Lot 1 LLC

Hayes & Sherry

June 2021

172 Service Ave., 2nd Floor, Warwick

26,457

Kent County Memorial Hospital

Service Ave Realty LLC

CBRE Inc.

July 2021

1 Financial Plaza, Providence

25,850

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Financing LLC

JFR Global Investments

CBRE Inc.

Nov. 2021

88 Silva Lane, Middletown

23,087

Purvis Systems Inc.

Brookwood Properties Subsidiary LLC

CBRE Inc.

Nov. 2021

965 Waterman Ave., East Providence

20,714

Actega North America Technologies Inc.

Lincoln Business Center LLC

CBRE Inc.

April 2021

475 Kilvert St., Warwick

20,088

United HealthCare Services

Albany Road-Warwick LLC

Hayes & Sherry

April 2021

50 Jordan St., East Providence

17,020

Summit Settlement Services LLC

DFH Management Corp.

CBRE Inc., Beau Box Commercial Real Estate

May 2021

301 Metro Center Blvd., Warwick

15,896

DXC MS LLC

Cambridge Capital LLC

CBRE Inc.

Feb. 2021

225 Carolina Ave., Providence

15,876

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.

225 Providence LLC

CBRE Inc.

Dec. 2021

Hayes & Sherry

June 2021

120 Centerville Road, Warwick

13,268

South County Health

Community Healthcare Trust Inc.

10 Dorrance St., Providence

12,878

RGN Providence LLC

Orson & Brusini Ltd.

MG Commercial, CBRE Inc.

April 2021

3 Davol Square, Providence

12,209

Commonwealth Care Alliance

LS Davol Square LLC

Hayes & Sherry

Dec. 2021

76 Hammarlund Way, Middletown

12,000

Lockheed Martin Corp.

Brookwood Properties Subsidiary LLC

CBRE Inc., Capstone Properties

April 2021

151 Broadway, Providence

11,500

Empire School

151 Broadway Associates

Olympus Group Real Estate

July 2021

233 Richmond St., Providence

11,000

G-Form LLC

Brown University

Hayes & Sherry, CBRE Inc.

Dec. 2021

475 Kilvert St., Warwick

10,742

Bally's Corp.

Albany Road-Warwick LLC

Hayes & Sherry

Sept. 2021

6 Blackstone Valley, Lincoln

10,120

Montrose

Albany Road, 6 Blackstone

Capstone Properties

July 2021

6 Wake Robin Road, Lincoln

9,024

Academy for Little Children

James Chelo Real Estate

Hayes & Sherry, MG Commercial

Dec. 2021

1598 South County Trail, East Greenwich

8,500

Velocity Clinical Research

1598 South County Trail LLC

Hayes & Sherry, Keller Williams Realty

Feb. 2021

475 Kilvert St., Warwick

7,923

Enstar

Albany Road-Warwick LLC

Hayes & Sherry, MG Commercial

Jan. 2021

CLOSER LOOK

Total office square footage leased:

314,180 LIST RESEARCHED BY James Bessette NEED A COPY? To purchase a copy of this list, call (401) 273-2201 or visit PBN.com/lists for more information.

UPCOMING LISTS July 22: Colleges & Universities; Engineering Firms; Aug. 5: Catering Companies; Highway Projects; Meeting and Convention Facilities.

WANT TO JOIN? For more information about participating in PBN’s Top Lists, or to make additions or corrections, call (401) 680-4838 or write to Research@PBN.com.

FOCUS | BRISTOL FOCUS COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE | BRISTOL COUNTY,COUNTY, MASS., MASS., COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LEASESLEASES - OFFICE- OFFICE (ranked (rankedbybysquare squarefootage) footage) Address

Square footage

Lessee

Lessor

Broker

Lease signed

CLOSER LOOK

505 Collins St., Attleboro

202,863

Lacerta Group

PPF Iindustrial 505 Collins

CBRE Inc.

Nov. 2021

111 Forbes Blvd., Mansfield

41,606

NN Life Sciences Design

ARE-MA Region No. 36 LLC

CBRE Inc., Newmark Inc.

Oct. 2021

Total office square footage leased:

111 Forbes Blvd., Mansfield

16,674

NN Life Sciences Design

ARE-MA Region No. 36 LLC

CBRE Inc., Newmark Inc.

Oct. 2021

295,304

49 State Road, Suites 102-105, Dartmouth

12,426

Southcoast Physicians Group

Albany Road-49 State LLC

Hayes & Sherry

Sept. 2021

LIST RESEARCHED BY James Bessette

49 State Road, Suites 202-205, Dartmouth

7,195

Southcoast Physicians Group

Albany Road-49 State LLC

Hayes & Sherry

Sept. 2021

120 Forbes Blvd., Mansfield

5,267

Pentec Health Inc.

QS Forbes Boulevard

CBRE Inc., McCall

July 2021

5 Hampshire St., Mansfield

4,346

Behavioral Health Practice Services LLC c/o Lifestance Health Inc.

SNH Medical Office Properties Trust c/o The RMR Group LLC

CBRE Inc., SVN Parson Commercial

June 2021

20 Alice W. Agnew Drive, North Attleboro

2,622

Envision Bank

SKT Properties LLC

CBRE Inc., Savills Inc.

Nov. 2021

49 State Road, Dartmouth

2,305

Southcoast Physicians Group

Albany Road-49 State LLC

Hayes & Sherry

March 2021

20 | JULY 8-21, 2022 | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | www.pbn.com

NEED A COPY? To purchase a copy of this list, call (401) 273-2201 or visit PBN.com/lists for more information.

UPCOMING LISTS July 22: Colleges & Universities; Engineering Firms; Aug. 5: Catering Companies; Highway Projects; Meeting and Convention Facilities.

WANT TO JOIN? For more information about participating in PBN’s Top Lists, or to make additions or corrections, call (401) 680-4838 or write to Research@PBN.com.

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CLEARING THE WAY: Workers remove debris from the demolished Microfibres factory at 1 Moshassuck St. in Pawtucket. The developer, JK Equities Inc., plans to build a modern distribution facility in its place.

PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19

ible with a vision of North Main that involves more cycling, walking and public transit use.

“And [it] will definitely send more air pollution into the neighborhood around it,” Burkin added.

Timothy Rondeau, a Providence Planning Department spokesperson, declined to comment on the development’s potential cross-border effects.

An online petition created by Providence City Council Ward 3 candidate Bradly VanDerStad had over 260 signatures in opposition to the distribution center, as of June 29.

But others, including the R.I. Commerce Corp., see the economic opportunity. In December 2020, the agency granted a $3.75 million tax credit to JK Equities under the Rebuild Rhode Island program.

JK Equities has also been approved for the Rhode Island Ready program, in which the state provides up to $200,000 in technical assistance to get qualified industrial-zoned sites ready for use.

“Rhode Island faces a significant lack of vacant industrial space, hampering economic development in that sector,” said Adam Isaacs-Falbel, a policy and special projects analyst at R.I. Commerce.

With the state’s vacancy rates for modern industrial buildings at a historic low – 1% to 2%, according to the New England Real Estate Journal – the distribution center “will help to

ease that strain in a great location in Pawtucket,” he said.

The project will also “bring activity to a long-vacant site” while contributing to an increased tax base for Pawtucket, and to revenue and gross domestic product for the state, Isaacs-Falbel says.

Pawtucket officials say they expect the facility to create more than 100 jobs.

Rizzo says a traffic-impact analysis was completed in March 2021 for the area around Moshassuck Street.

That study proposed updates such as off-peak hour delivery, signal intersection redesigns, and was also sent to Providence officials, Rizzo says.

Gregor says he hopes those recommendations can alleviate potential problems.

“I know some people have concerns regarding noise, traffic, the potential for that,” he said. “We also have the benefit of economic development in the area, which is always a good thing. But it shouldn’t be at the expense of the children of the district.”

While Gregor opposes the developer’s attempt to acquire Morley Field, he says the former Microfibres site has been in urgent need of redevelopment.

“The property is a complete eyesore,” Gregor said. “I can’t wait for this place to be done.” n

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PROVIDENCE | BOSTON | SOUTHCOAST | psh.com www.pbn.com | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | JULY 8-21, 2022 | 21

RHODEISLAND ISLANDCOMMERCIAL COMMERCIALREAL REALESTATE ESTATE LEASES - RETAIL FOCUS ||RHODE (ranked (rankedbybysquare squarefootage) footage) Address

Square footage

Lessee

Lessor

Broker

Lease signed

CLOSER LOOK

30 Village Square Drive, South Kingstown

22,736

South County Cinema

SCC Investments LLC

Hayes & Sherry

Oct. 2021

1011 Cranston St., Cranston

14,957

Dollar Tree

Just Family Corp.

Hayes & Sherry

July 2021

Total retail square footage leased:

650 Branch Ave., Providence

7,215

Crazy Crab

Branch Avenue Plaza LLC

Hayes & Sherry

Aug. 2021

11 Dorrance St., Providence

6,324

Norwich Inn & Spa

AJ Capital Partners

Hayes & Sherry

June 2021

1400 Oaklawn Ave., Cranston

5,101

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island

Turtle Bay Partners

Hayes & Sherry, MG Commercial

March 2021

100 Higginson Ave., Lincoln

4,944

Unicorn Ink LLC

Abrava Way Inc.

MG Commercial

Feb. 2021

2000 Mendon Road, Cumberland

4,175

Rumford Pet Center Inc.

524 Commonwealth Ave. Inc.

MG Commercial

Jan. 2021

883 Waterman Ave., East Providence

3,600

Anish Patel

Regan Engineering

MG Commercial

July 2021

549 Charles St., Providence

3,594

Daily Stop Mart

WCP Associates

Hayes & Sherry, Capstone Properties

Feb. 2021

1000 Division St., East Greenwich

3,500

JPMorgan Chase Bank

East Greenwich Square LLC

Hayes & Sherry

March 2021

438 Putnam Pike, Smithfield

3,500

JPMorgan Chase Bank

Jan Co. Central Inc.

Hayes & Sherry

April 2021

1171 Pontiac Ave., Cranston

3,500

JPMorgan Chase Bank

Jan Co. Central Inc.

Hayes & Sherry

April 2021

1302 Atwood Ave., Johnston

3,500

Jeffrey Paquette

Will Realty LLC

Sweeney Real Estate & Appraisal

Sept. 2021

70 Centerville Road, Warwick

3,070

PCX Warwick 2 LLC

Jan Co. Central Inc.

Sweeney Real Estate & Appraisal, MG Commercial

May 2021

1458 Park Ave., Cranston

3,000

LA Baily's

RDB Properties LLC

Capstone Properties

April 2021

567 South County Trail, Exeter

3,000

Mischeif Managed Mayhem

Oak Harbor Village LLC

MG Commercial

May 2021

1 Lambert Lind Highway, Warwick

2,765

Oaklawn Family Dental Inc.

TBP Cranston LLC

MG Commercial

March 2021

271 Thayer St., Providence

2,696

Bank of America Corp.

Farview Inc.

Hayes & Sherry

Aug. 2021

1000 Division St., East Greenwich

2,646

NRT NE LLC (Coldwell Banker)

Edens

MG Commercial

July 2021

1302 Atwood Ave., Johnston

2,500

Atwood Pharmacy Inc.

Will Realty LLC

Sweeney Real Estate & Appraisal

May 2021

1375 Mineral Spring Ave., North Providence

2,500

Family Dollar

Opal Plaza Associates

Olympus Group Real Estate

March 2021

11-15 Point St., Providence

2,158

Ceviches by Divino

GMH Capital Partners

Hayes & Sherry

May 2021

32 Custom House St., Providence

1,723

Coffee Connection

HM Ventures Group 7 LLC

MG Commercial

Jan. 2021

1998 Mineral Spring Ave., North Providence

1,650

Ebenezer Tax & Services

Jeff-Anthony Properties Inc.

MG Commercial

Oct. 2021

114,354 LIST RESEARCHED BY James Bessette NEED A COPY? To purchase a copy of this list, call (401) 273-2201 or visit PBN.com/lists for more information.

UPCOMING LISTS July 22: Colleges & Universities; Engineering Firms; Aug. 5: Catering Companies; Highway Projects; Meeting and Convention Facilities.

WANT TO JOIN? For more information about participating in PBN’s Top Lists, or to make additions or corrections, call (401) 680-4838 or write to Research@PBN.com.

FOCUS | FOCUS COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE | BRISTOLBRISTOL COUNTY,COUNTY, MASS., MASS., COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LEASESLEASES - RETAIL- RETAIL (ranked by square footage) (ranked by square footage) Address

Square footage

Lessee

Lessor

Broker

Lease signed

CLOSER LOOK

April 2021

Total retail square footage leased:

400 Rhode Island Ave., Fall River

15,000

Biomat USA Inc.

Lykos Properties LLC

CBRE Inc., Hayes & Sherry

1320 South Washington St., North Attleboro

9,375

Holland Brands NA LLC

John E. Case III

MG Commercial

Jan. 2021

430 William S. Canning Blvd., Fall River

2,500

Santander Bank N.A.

CEA SouthCoast LLC c/o The Stonewood Cos. Inc.

CBRE Inc.

June 2021

68 Washington St., Attleboro

440 Mt. Pleasant St., New Bedford

2,400

2,300

Baja Tex Mex

Santander Bank N.A.

22 | JULY 8-21, 2022 | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | www.pbn.com

Cerrone Limited Partnership

PSNB Realty LLC

Hayes & Sherry

CBRE Inc.

March 2021

Sept. 2021

31,575 LIST RESEARCHED BY James Bessette NEED A COPY? To purchase a copy of this list, call (401) 273-2201 or visit PBN.com/lists for more information.

| RHODE ISLAND COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LEASES - INDUSTRIAL FOCUS FOCUS | RHODE ISLAND COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LEASES - INDUSTRIAL (ranked by square footage) (ranked by square footage)

Address

Square footage

Lessee

Lessor

Broker

Lease signed

CLOSER LOOK

110 Graham Drive, North Smithfield

138,000

Silgan Dispensing Systems

Tarus Investment Holdings LLC

Hayes & Sherry

Sept. 2021

10 Briggs Drive, Exeter

129,164

Briggs Drive Associates LLC

Alex and Ani LLC

CBRE Inc.

Aug. 2021

Total industrial square footage leased:

1600 Division Road, West Warwick

92,726

Brewers Supply Group Inc.

Brookwood Financial Partners

Hayes & Sherry

March 2021

100 Higginson Ave., Lincoln

83,500

R.I. Department of Administration

Abrava Way Inc.

MG Commercial

Feb. 2021

55 Pawtucket Ave., East Providence

64,252

Multi Wall Packaging

Double R Five LLC

CBRE Inc.

April 2021

55 Colorado Ave., Warwick

47,890

Wood Pro Inc.

Jan Co. Central Inc.

Sweeney Real Estate & Appraisal, CBRE Inc.

July 2021

60 Delta Drive, Pawtucket

46,400

Aspen Aerogels Rhode Island LLC

Gamma Realty LLC

MG Commercial, Newmark Inc.

June 2021

1 Ann & Hope Way, Cumberland

45,000

Reeb Millwork Corp. of New England Inc.

Ann & Hope Inc.

MG Commercial

Aug. 2021

400 Division St., Pawtucket

43,550

FedEx Freight

55 Delta Drive LLC

Hayes & Sherry

May 2021

360 Narragansett Park Drive, East Providence

42,000

Nexans Americable

360 Narragansett Owner LLC

Hayes & Sherry, Equity Real Estate

Feb. 2021

200 Frenchtown Road, North Kingstown

41,290

Dryvit Corp.

Equity Industrial

CBRE Inc.

Nov. 2021

50 Taylor Drive, East Providence

41,229

Multi Wall Packaging

Double R Eight LLC

CBRE Inc.

April 2021

22 Patton Road, East Providence

39,292

Multi Wall Packaging

Patton Road Associates

CBRE Inc.

April 2021

195 Dupont Drive, Providence

29,099

Alpha Portfolio LLC

D & D Properties LLC

MG Commercial

March 2021

1600 Division Road, West Warwick

27,120

Hydroponics To You

Brookwood Financial Partners

Hayes & Sherry, MG Commercial

Aug. 2021

910,512 LIST RESEARCHED BY James Bessette NEED A COPY? To purchase a copy of this list, call (401) 273-2201 or visit PBN.com/lists for more information.

UPCOMING LISTS July 22: Colleges & Universities; Engineering Firms; Aug. 5: Catering Companies; Highway Projects; Meeting and Convention Facilities.

WANT TO JOIN? For more information about participating in PBN’s Top Lists, or to make additions or corrections, call (401) 680-4838 or write to Research@PBN.com.

FOCUS | BRISTOL COUNTY, MASS., COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LEASES | BRISTOL COUNTY, MASS., COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LEASES - INDUSTRIAL FOCUS INDUSTRIAL (ranked by square footage) (ranked by square footage)

Address

Square Footage

Lessee

Lessor

Broker

Lease signed

145 Plymouth St., Mansfield

104,625

Rexel USA Inc.

SCG 145 Plymouth Street LLC

CBRE Inc.

April 2021

40 Leonard St., Norton

100,000

Home Depot

Leonard Street B7 Owner

CBRE Inc.

May 2021

81 Commerce Drive, Fall River

90,000

Whirlpool Corp.

81-56 BCLP Commerce Owner LLC

CBRE Inc.

Aug. 2021

155 Myles Standish Blvd., Taunton

67,631

National Delivery Systems Inc.

ADG 155 Myles Standish

CBRE Inc., Jones Lang Lasalle

Aug. 2021

19 Leonard St., Norton

60,400

Tosca Services LLC

Leonard Street B5 Owner LLC

CBRE Inc.

April 2021

44 Cabot Blvd., Mansfield

60,000

Walgreen Eastern Co.

44 Cabot Blvd Development

CBRE Inc., Jones Lang Lasalle

Nov. 2021

15 Leonard St., Norton

47,343

Wayfair LLC

Leonard Street B5 Owner

CBRE Inc.

July 2021

19 Leonard St., Norton

47,343

Wayfair LLC

Leonard Street B5 Owner

CBRE Inc.

July 2021

145 Plymouth St., Mansfield

46,500

xpedited svcs

Stockbridge

CBRE Inc.

April 2021

10 Commerce Way, Norton

37,052

Wayfair LLC

Leonard Street B4 Owner LLC

CBRE Inc.

Jan. 2021

15 Currant Road, Fall River

27,784

Verizon New England Inc.

Almeida Investments LLC c/o Aubin Corp.

CBRE Inc., Aubin Realty

Nov. 2021

120 Forbes Blvd., Mansfield

24,823

Smith & Nephew Inc.

QS Forbes Boulevard

CBRE Inc.

March 2021

15 Ridge Hill Road, Freetown

24,000

Unimed-Midwest Inc.

Nassonet Corp.

MG Commercial, Collins Commercial

Sept. 2021

76 George Leven Drive, North Attleboro

21,862

SRS Distribution Inc.

76 George Leven Drive LLC

CBRE Inc.

Jan. 2021

95-127 West Rodney French Blvd., New Bedford

13,855

HandUp USA

Kilburn Mill at Clark's Cove

Hayes & Sherry

Nov. 2021

CLOSER LOOK

Total industrial square footage leased:

773,218 LIST RESEARCHED BY James Bessette NEED A COPY? To purchase a copy of this list, call (401) 273-2201 or visit PBN.com/lists for more information.

UPCOMING LISTS July 22: Colleges & Universities; Engineering Firms; Aug. 5: Catering Companies; Highway Projects; Meeting and Convention Facilities.

WANT TO JOIN? For more information about participating in PBN’s Top Lists, or to make additions or corrections, call (401) 680-4838 or write to Research@PBN.com.

www.pbn.com | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | JULY 8-21, 2022 | 23

| FOCUS MANUFACTURERS(ranked (ranked by number of local employees) FOCUS | MANUFACTURERS by number of local employees) CLOSER LOOK

Company | Website 1 CEO/President

Address Phone

No. of local employees

Products

1 2021: 1

General Dynamics Electric Boat | gdeb.com Phebe Novakovic, chairman and CEO; Kevin M. Graney, president

165 Dillabur Ave. North Kingstown, R.I. 02852 (401) 268-2300

5,438

Design, construction and life cycle support of submarines for the U.S. Navy

2 2021: 3

Blount Fine Foods Corp. | blountfinefoods.com Todd Blount

630 Currant Road Fall River, Mass. 02720 (774) 888-1325

1,200

Manufacturing and marketing of gourmet soups and sides, and meals

3 2021: 2

Raytheon IDS | raytheon.com Thomas Kennedy, chairman and CEO, Raytheon Co.; Wesley Kremer, president, IDS

1847 West Main Road Portsmouth, R.I. 02871 (401) 842-5438

1,039

Electronic and weapons systems integrator for the U.S. Navy and international navies

2022 rank

4 2021: 4 5

2021: 5

5

2021: NL

7

2021: NL

Amgen Inc. | amgen.com Robert Bradway, chairman and CEO; Brian Britson, Rhode Island site vice president of operations

40 Technology Way West Greenwich, R.I. 02817 (401) 392-1200

970

Developer and manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals

Sensata Technologies Inc. | sensata.com Jeffrey Cote

529 Pleasant St. Attleboro, Mass. 02703 (508) 236-3800

900

Custom-engineered sensors and controls, including Airpax, DeltaTech, Dimensions, Klixon, Qinex, Schrader and Sensor-NITE

General Dynamics Mission Systems | gdmissionsystems.com Chris Brady, president

400 John Quincy Adams Road Taunton, Mass. 02780 (508) 880-4000

900

Technology integrator and original equipment manufacturer with deep domain expertise in ground, sea, air, space and cyberspace

Charcuterie Artisans | charcuterie.com Chris Bowler, CEO

1000 Daniele Drive Burrillville, R.I. 02839 (401) 568-6228

700

Food products

Total local employees:

19,070 LIST RESEARCHED BY James Bessette NEED A COPY? To purchase a copy of this list, call (401) 273-2201 or visit PBN.com/lists for more information.

UPCOMING LISTS July 22: Colleges & Universities; Engineering Firms; Aug. 5: Catering Companies; Highway Projects; Meeting and Convention Facilities.

WANT TO JOIN? For more information about participating in PBN’s Top Lists, or to make additions or corrections, call (401) 680-4838 or write to Research@PBN.com.

NL = Not listed last year.

8 2021: 9

Tiffany & Co. | Tiffany.com Michael Bergkoetter, divisional vice president, jewelry supply

300 Maple Ridge Drive Cumberland, R.I. 02864 (401) 288-0100

600

Bracelets, charms, engagement rings, home accessories, necklaces, NFL Vince Lombardi Trophy, watches

9 2021: 8

Toray Plastics (America) Inc. | toraytpa.com Akihiro Nikkaku, CEO, president and chief operating officer, Toray Industries Inc.; Michael Brandmeier, CEO and president, Toray Plastics (America) Inc.

50 Belver Ave. North Kingstown, R.I. 02852 (401) 294-4511

582

Polyester and polypropylene film manufacturing

Teknor Apex Co. | teknorapex.com Jonathan D. Fain, chairman and CEO; Suresh Swaminathan, president

505 Central Ave. Pawtucket, R.I. 02861 (401) 725-8000

525

Taco Inc. 2 | tacocomfort.com John Hazen White Jr., owner and executive chairman; Cheryl Merchant, CEO

1160 Cranston St. Cranston, R.I. 02920 (401) 942-8000

500

Circulators, controls, pumps and valves for HVAC systems

Becton, Dickinson and Co. 3 | bd.com Kevin Kelly, president, BD Surgery

100 Crossings Blvd.

Warwick, R.I. 02886 (800) 556-6275

450

Medical technology

2021: 12

SEACORP LLC 4 | seacorp.com David Cadorette, president

62 Johnnycake Hill Middletown, R.I. 02842 (401) 847-2260

400

Systems and software engineering, program and financial management, research and development

14 2021: 15

Worthington Industries 5 | amtrol.com Mike Giannantonio, general manager

1400 Division Road West Warwick, R.I. 02893 (401) 884-6300

396

HVAC: Extrols, Therm-x-Trols, pressure-rated cylinders; water systems: well-water systems, water treatment

15

Bradford Soap Works Inc. | bradfordsoap.com Stuart Benton

200 Providence St. West Warwick, R.I. 02893 (401) 821-2141

375

Bar soap and other solid cleansing products, including shampoos/conditioners, shave and shower poufs

16

AstroNova Inc. | astronovainc.com Gregory Woods

600 East Greenwich Ave. West Warwick, R.I. 02893 (401) 828-4000

350

Manufacturer of associated software and consumables, data-acquisition systems, specialty printers

17

KVH Industries Inc. | kvh.com Brent C. Bruun, CEO

50 Enterprise Center Middletown, R.I. 02842 (401) 847-3327

275

Mobile satellite communications, TV antenna systems, precision navigation products for defense and commercial applications

2021: 25

18

Ahead LLC | aheadweb.com Anne Broholm, CEO

270 Samuel Barnet Blvd.

New Bedford, Mass. 02745 (508) 985-9898

238

Branded golf apparel, headwear and accessories

19 2021: 23

Finlays Americas | finlays.net Charley Snell, CEO

10 Blackstone Valley Place and 81 Ocean State Drive Lincoln and North Kingstown, R.I. 02865 and 02852 (401) 333-3300

232

Coffee, syrups, coffee extracts, tea extracts, coffee on demand

20

Tanury Industries | tanury.com Michael Akkaoui

6 New England Way Lincoln, R.I. 02865 (401) 333-9400

220

Electroplating, PVD and Cerakote coatings

10

2021: 11

11

2021: 10

12

2021: 14

13

2021: 17

2021: 17

2021: 19

2021: NL

1 Companies listed have manufacturing facilities located in Rhode Island and/or Bristol County, Mass.

2 Also known as Taco Comfort Solutions.

3 Also known as BD. 4 Formerly known as Systems Engineering Associates Corp.

5 Formerly known as Amtrol Inc.

24 | JULY 8-21, 2022 | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | www.pbn.com

FOOTNOTES j Companies listed have manufacturing facilities located in Rhode Island and/ or Bristol County, Mass.  Also known as Taco Comfort Solutions.  Also known as BD.

Custom compounder of advanced polymer materials

 Formerly known as Systems Engineering Associates Corp.  Formerly known as Amtrol Inc.

| FOCUS MANUFACTURERS(ranked (ranked by number of local employees) FOCUS | MANUFACTURERS by number of local employees) CLOSER LOOK

Company | Website 1 CEO/President

Address Phone

No. of local employees

Products

21 2021: 31

John Matouk & Co. | matouk.com George Matouk Jr., CEO

925 Airport Road Fall River, Mass. 02720 (508) 997-3444

218

Fine bed and bath linens

22 2021: NL

Natco Home Group | natcohome.com Michael Litner, president

155 Brookside Ave. West Warwick, R.I. 02893 (401) 828-0300

200

Manufacturing and importing of home textiles and flooring

23 2021: 35

Nye Lubricants Inc. | nyelubricants.com George Mock, president

12 Howland Road Fairhaven, Mass. 02719 (508) 996-6721

190

Innovation, formulation and manufacture of specialty lubricants

23 2021: 33

Ximedica 2 | ximedica.com David W. Lockhorn, CEO

55 Dupont Drive Providence, R.I. 02907 (401) 330-3163

190

Product-development services for medical device and health care companies

Hope Global | hopeglobal.com Marcelino De Santiago, president and chief operating officer

50 Martin St. Cumberland, R.I. 02864 (401) 753-7800

185

Manufacturer of automotive, apparel and industrial products

2022 rank

25

2021: 30

Just missed the list:

1 (tie)

Aidance Scientific Inc. No. of employees: 56

1 (tie)

RIDCO Casting Co. No. of employees: 56

3

Amerisewn/Desmark Industries Inc. No. of employees: 49

LIST RESEARCHED BY James Bessette

26 2021: 33 27

2021: 27

28

2021: 37

Mahr Inc. | metrology.mahr.com/en-us Bryan Orr, vice president of sales Americas, executive director for Mahr Inc.; John Robinson, chief fnancial officer

1139 Eddy St. Providence, R.I. 02905 (401) 784-3100

182

Dimensional metrology equipment and gauges; provides calibration and contract measurement services

International Packaging Corp. | interpak.com John Kilmartin, owner and CEO

517 Mineral Spring Ave. Pawtucket, R.I. 02860 (401) 724-1600

175

Manufacturer and distributor of custom-made branded presentation boxes

Nelipak Healthcare Packaging | nelipak.com Roger Prevot, chairman; Pat Chamblis, CEO and president

21 Amflex Drive Cranston, R.I. 02921 (401) 946-2699

150

Medical trays and pharmaceutical packaging

NEED A COPY? To purchase a copy of this list, call (401) 273-2201 or visit PBN.com/lists for more information.

UPCOMING LISTS July 22: Colleges & Universities; Engineering Firms; Aug. 5: Catering Companies; Highway Projects; Meeting and Convention Facilities.

2021: NL

28

WaterRower | waterrower.com Peter King, CEO

520 Metacom Ave. Warren, R.I. 02885 (401) 247-7742

150

Indoor rowing fitness machines

30

WANT TO JOIN? For more information about participating in PBN’s Top Lists, or to make additions or corrections, call (401) 680-4838 or write to Research@PBN.com.

Cooley Group | cooleygroup.com Daniel Dwight

350 Esten Ave. Pawtucket, R.I. 02860 (401) 724-9000

135

Manufacturer of coated fabrics and polymer membranes

NL = Not listed last year.

Electronic contract manufacturing services provider specializing in box build, final assembly, industrial control panels, and cable and wire harness assembly

FOOTNOTES j Companies listed have manufacturing facilities located in Rhode Island and/ or Bristol County, Mass.

2021: 29

31

2021: NL

32

Federal Electronics Inc. | federalelec.com Ed Evangelista, co-owner and president

75 Stamp Farm Road Cranston, R.I. 02921 (401) 944-6200

130

 Ximedica was acquired by North Carolina-based Veranex in 2021.

Contech Medical | contechmedical.com Raymond Byrnes, CEO; Christopher Byrnes, president

99 Hartford Ave. Providence, R.I. 02909 (401) 351-4890

110

Medical-device manufacturer

33 2021: NL

Edesia Inc. | edesianutrition.org Navyn Salem, founder and CEO; Maria Kasparian, executive director; Ron Yanku, plant operations manager

550 Romano Vineyard Way North Kingstown, R.I. 02852 (401) 272-5521

106

Plumpy'Doz, Plumpy'Nut, Plumpy'Sup, Nutributter

34 2021: NL

Ferguson Perforating and Wire | fergusonperf.com Jim Cardillo, executive vice president and general manager

130 Ernest St. Providence, R.I. 02905 (401) 941-8876

101

Perforation of materials, including aluminum, brass, cold rolled, galvinized, Inconel, stainless and titanium; comes in coil, sheets or completely fabricated parts

Rubius Therapeutics Inc. | rubiustx.com Pablo J. Cagnoni, CEO

100 Technology Way Smithfield, R.I. 02917 (401) 642-5801

101

Biopharmaceutical manufacturer

2021: 38

Swarovski Optik North America Ltd. | swarovskioptik.com Albert Wannenmacher

2 Slater Road Cranston, R.I. 02920 (800) 289-4900

100

Crystal accessories, home decor items, jewelry and optics

36

VIBCO Inc. | vibco.com Karl Wadensten

75 Stilson Road Richmond, R.I. 02898 (401) 539-2392

100

Industrial and concrete vibrators, plate compactors, vibratory rollers

2021: NL

Hanna Instruments Inc. | hannainst.com Martino Nardo, CEO and president; David Minsk, president, Hanna Instruments USA

270 George Washington Highway Smithfield, R.I. 02917 (800) 426-6287

92

Manufacturer of precision instruments, including meters, testers, electrodes and solutions

2021: NL

39

Admiral Packaging Inc. | admiralpkg.com Harley Frank, president

10 Admiral St. Providence, R.I. 02908 (401) 274-7000

85

Manufacturing food, industrial and medical packaging

40

Poyant Signs | poyantsigns.com Richard Poyant, president

125 Samuel Barnet Blvd.

New Bedford, Mass. 02745 (508) 995-1777

60

Custom sign and branding design/build/install

2021: NL

34

2021: 26

36

2021: 38

38

2021: NL

1 Companies listed have manufacturing facilities located in Rhode Island and/or Bristol County, Mass.

2 Ximedica was acquired by North Carolina-based Veranex in 2021.

www.pbn.com | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | JULY 8-21, 2022 | 25

SPONSORED CONTENT

NOTABLE WOMEN IN MANUFACTURING & TECHNOLOGY

POLARIS MEP | PolarisMEP.org KATHIE MAHONEY leads Polaris MEP’s team in its support of Rhode Island’s manufacturers. In her words she helps clients “with their top lines, bottom lines and pipelines.” Kathie has worked with manufacturers around new England for more than two decades, improving operational efficiencies, solving workforce challenges and implementing innovative solutions that lead to growth.

While the Center Director for sister-agency MassMEP, Kathie was given the first-ever “Manufacturing Champion Award” by the Worcester Business Journal. The newspaper recognized her achievements driving business transformations and helping more young workers find pathways to good paying industry jobs.

KATHIE MAHONEY

Center Director, Polaris MEP 508.523.5498 kmahoney@polarismep.org www.polarismep.org YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY: 23 YEARS WITH CURRENT ORGANIZATION: 2 EDUCATION

Bachelors in Business Administration, Assumption College Masters of Science in Professional Communication, Clark University Graduate of the NIST Emerging Leaders Program

Kathie helped launch the Massachusetts Chapter of Women in Manufacturing and is a member of the MEP National Network Center Leadership team. Since moving to Rhode Island in 2020, she has shared her expertise with early stage manufacturers as a volunteer with RIHub’s Venture Mentoring Service and MassChallenge.

Industry leaders, legislators and state economic development partners rely on Kathie for her insights.

“Kathie Mahoney hit the ground running and has built a dynamic, customer-oriented team that thoroughly understands the challenges and opportunities of Rhode Island’s manufacturing community. With her leadership, the team’s work at Mearthane Products Corporation was both transformative and practical at the same time.”

Peter Kaczmarek, President, Mearthane Products Corporation

TACO COMFORT SOLUTIONS | tacocomfort.com CHERYL HAS SPENT 37+ YEARS in manufacturing. She has held leadership positions with industry giants like GM, Mazda, Ford and Lear Corporation and led teams in the U.S., Mexico, Canada and throughout Europe and Asia. Cheryl spent 19 years as the President and CEO of Hope Global, a manufacturing company with over 2,000 employees and operations in the U.S., Mexico, Czech Republic, China and Brazil. During that period, Hope Global grew five times in revenue and became a Tier II leader in the Automotive Industry.

In 2019, Cheryl joined Taco as President of Taco Family of Companies, North America. In March of 2020, Cheryl became CEO to Taco Family of Companies Global operations. Taco, a third-generation, family-owned company based in Cranston, RI, engineers and manufactures high-efficiency heating, cooling, and air quality comfort systems. Taco has sales and manufacturing locations in the United States, Canada, Italy, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, and Vietnam.

CHERYL MERCHANT

CEO, Taco Comfort Solutions 401.942.8000 www.tacocomfort.com YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY: 37 YEARS WITH CURRENT ORGANIZATION: 3 EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science, Business Administration Minors in Computers, Mathematics, and Spanish Alma College

Cheryl has received numerous awards over her career that include Providence Business News Rhode Island Leadership Award (2001, 2014), New England Business Woman of the Year (2014), Outstanding Mentor of the Year PBN (2016), Crain’s Women in Manufacturing of the Year (2018), Trailblazer in Business / Cheryl Watkins Snead Award (2018), Rhode Island Manufacturers Association Al Lubrano Leadership Award (2022), and Providence Business News Business Women Award – Career Achievement (2022). She holds two Honorary Doctorates from New England Institute of Technology for Humane Letters and Bryant University for Business.

Her Board work includes being a Trustee (Secretary and Chair of Student Affairs 2012 – 2022) for Bryant University, Board of Governors for the RI Hospital Foundation (2019) and The Advisory Board to University of Rhode Island (2016 – Present).

26 | JULY 8-21, 2022 | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | www.pbn.com

SPONSORED CONTENT

AMGEN | amgen.com AMGEN | amgen.com KATIE PARKS KATIE PARKS

Quality Quality Assurance Assurance Director, Director, Amgen Amgen 401.871.5500 401.871.5500 Quality Assurance Director, Amgen pkatie@amgen.com pkatie@amgen.com 401.871.5500 www.amgen.com www.amgen.com pkatie@amgen.com www.amgen.com YEARS YEARS IN IN CURRENT CURRENT INDUSTRY INDUSTRY 20 YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY YEARS YEARS WITH WITH CURRENT CURRENT 20 ORGANIZATION YEARSORGANIZATION WITH CURRENT 16 ORGANIZATION 16 EDUCATION EDUCATION Bachelor of ScienceEDUCATION in Cellular

and Bachelor of Molecular Science in Biology, Cellular Tulane University and Molecular Biology, Tulane University

KATIE PARKS (she/her/hers), currently serves as a Director of QualityPARKS Assurance at Amgen’s currently West Greenwich manufacturing KATIE (she/her/hers), serves as a Director of facility. She startedat her career at Amgen in 2006manufacturing in the Quality Quality Assurance Amgen’s West Greenwich Control She laboratories, taking onatvarious of increasing facility. started her career Amgenroles in 2006 in the Quality responsibility both in West Greenwich and at Amgen’s Singapore Control laboratories, taking on various roles of increasing facility. In Quality was key inat advancing responsibility bothControl, in West Katie Greenwich and Amgen’sthe Singapore commercialization efforts of Amgen’s product pipeline.

She is facility.

In Quality Control, Katie was key in advancing the experienced in laboratory method transfer and validation commercialization effortsdesign, of Amgen’s product pipeline.

She is and analytical to support phasestransfer of commercial experienced in testing laboratory design,all method and validation manufacturing, from raw materials final of product. and analytical testing to support all to phases commercial manufacturing, from raw materials to final product.

In her current role within Quality Assurance, she is responsible

forher ensuring products andAssurance, medicinesshe manufactured at In currentthat rolethe within Quality is responsible the ensuring facility meet quality standardsmanufactured to realize Amgen’s for thatestablished the products and medicines at mission to serve Katie is an standards effective leader focused on the facility meet patients. established quality to realize Amgen’s developing and mentoring teams, collaborating with her peers mission to serve patients. Katie is an effective leader focused onto deliver highand quality results teams, and driving a culture of inclusion andto developing mentoring collaborating with her peers belonging. deliver high quality results and driving a culture of inclusion and belonging.

JULIE MATTHEW JULIE MATTHEW

Director Director Manufacturing, Manufacturing, Amgen Amgen 401.412.2192 401.412.2192 Director Manufacturing, Amgen jumatthe@amgen.com jumatthe@amgen.com 401.412.2192 www.amgen.com www.amgen.com jumatthe@amgen.com www.amgen.com YEARS YEARS IN IN CURRENT CURRENT INDUSTRY INDUSTRY 16 YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY YEARS YEARS WITH WITH CURRENT CURRENT 16 ORGANIZATION YEARSORGANIZATION WITH CURRENT 13 ORGANIZATION 13 EDUCATION EDUCATION Master of Science in Chemical EDUCATION

Engineering, MIT Master of Science in Chemical MIT Master of BusinessEngineering, Administration, Sloan School of Management, MIT Master of Business Administration, Sloan School of Management, MIT

JULIE MATTHEW (she/her/hers), is a Manufacturing Director JULIE MATTHEW is a Manufacturing Director at Amgen in West(she/her/hers), Greenwich, RI where her team is responsible at in West Greenwich, RI where heroperations team is responsible forAmgen solutions preparation and cell culture generating for solutions preparation and cell culture operations generating therapeutic proteins to treat grievous illness. Since 2009 Julie has therapeutic proteins grievous illness.

SinceDevelopment, 2009 Julie has held a variety of rolesto attreat Amgen spanning Process held a variety of roles at Amgen spanning Puerto ProcessRico, Development, Quality, and Manufacturing in California, and at Quality, and Manufacturing in California, Puerto Rico, and at home in New England. Through this diverse set of experiences home in New England.

Through diverse set of experiences Julie has cultivated a passion forthis operations leadership, building Julieempowering has cultivated a passion for operations leadership, buildingto and teams to deliver on our critical commitments and empowering teams to deliver on our critical commitments to patients around the world. patients around the world.

Outside of work, Julie enjoys spending time with her husband and Outside Julie enjoys spending time with her husband two sonsofaswork, well as ballroom and country western dancing andand two sons asaspiring well as scientists, ballroom and countryand western dancing mentoring engineers, leaders in K-12and as mentoring aspiring scientists, engineers, and leaders in K-12 as well as university and professional settings. well as university and professional settings.

NOTABLE WOMEN IN MANUFACTURING & TECHNOLOGY

JENNIFER KAPADIA JENNIFER KAPADIA

Sr. Sr. Manager Manager Quality Quality Control, Control, Amgen Amgen 401.304.4308 401.304.4308 Sr. Manager Quality Control, Amgen jfoisy@amgen.com jfoisy@amgen.com 401.304.4308 www.amgen.com www.amgen.com jfoisy@amgen.com www.amgen.com YEARS INDUSTRY YEARS IN IN CURRENT CURRENT INDUSTRY

19 YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY 19 YEARS YEARS WITH WITH CURRENT CURRENT ORGANIZATION YEARSORGANIZATION WITH CURRENT 19 ORGANIZATION 19 EDUCATION EDUCATION Bachelor of ScienceEDUCATION in Exercise

Physiology and Bachelor ofHuman ScienceMovement, in Exercise HeartMovement, University Physiology Sacred and Human Sacred Heart University

JEN KAPADIA (she/her/hers), joined Amgen Rhode Island (ARI) JEN KAPADIA (she/her/hers), joined Amgen Rhodeher Island (ARI) in 2003 as a Manufacturing Operator.

Throughout career, Jen in 2003 as a Manufacturing Operator.

Throughout her career, Jen held a variety of positions within the Manufacturing organization held a variety of positions within the Lifecycle Manufacturing organization including Investigations and Product Management including Investigations and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). During her time in PLM, she supported the New Product (PLM).

Duringfor herseveral time inmolecules.

PLM, she supported the New Product Introductions In 2017, Jen transitioned to a Introductions forPLM several molecules.

In 2017,Reintroductions.

Jen transitioned to a Manager for the team leading Product Manager forjoined the PLM teamControl leading as Product Reintroductions.

In 2020, Jen Quality a Manager where she led the In 2020, Jen joined Quality Control as atesting.

Manager where she led the Wet Chemistry group for raw material Jen was recently Wet Chemistry group for raw material testing. was recently promoted to Senior Manager, where she will beJen responsible for promoted Seniorof Manager, where she will Amgen be responsible CentralizedtoTesting Raw Materials for the networkfor and Centralized Testing Raw for the Amgen network will be a member ofof the ARIMaterials Quality Control Leadership Team.and will be a member of the ARI Quality Control Leadership Team.

Jen is a champion for Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging. She has Jen is a champion Inclusion Belonging.

She has recently taken on for theDiversity, co-lead role for the&ARI Women Empowered recently taken on the co-lead roleOutside for the ARI Women To Be Exceptional (WE2) chapter. of work, Jen Empowered is a mother To Be Exceptional (WE2) chapter. Outside of work, Jen is a mother to two daughters and a part-time dance instructor. to two daughters and a part-time dance instructor.

CARRIE MORSE CARRIE MORSE

Director Director Supply Supply Chain, Chain, Amgen Amgen 781.491.4658 781.491.4658 Director Supply Chain, Amgen troester@amgen.com troester@amgen.com 781.491.4658 www.amgen.com www.amgen.com troester@amgen.com YEARS INDUSTRY www.amgen.com YEARS IN IN CURRENT CURRENT INDUSTRY

20 YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY YEARS 20 YEARS WITH WITH CURRENT CURRENT ORGANIZATION YEARSORGANIZATION WITH CURRENT ORGANIZATION7 7 EDUCATION EDUCATION Bachelor of Science in Chemical EDUCATION

Engineering | Management Minor, Bachelor of Science in Chemical Worcester Polytechnic Institute Engineering | Management Minor, Master of Business Administration, Worcester Polytechnic Institute University of Colorado at Boulder Master of Business Administration, University of Colorado at Boulder

CARRIE MORSE (she/her/hers), MBA, PMP is a servant leader CARRIE (she/her/hers), MBA, PMP is a servant leader with oneMORSE of Amgen’s largest global biologic manufacturing sites, with one of Amgen’s largest global biologic manufacturing sites, Amgen Rhode Island (ARI). In her role as Director Supply Chain, Amgen Rhode Island (ARI).

In her role as who Director Chain, she leads a dedicated and talented team haveSupply overcome she leads arelated dedicated talented whochallenges, have overcome pandemic rawand material andteam logistics enabling pandemic related raw material and challenges, enabling ARI to exceed production targets forlogistics critical biologic medicines.

ARI to exceed production targets forefforts critical medicines.

In previous Amgen roles, Carrie led tobiologic help Amgen expand In previous Amgen roles, Carrie ledSupply effortsChain to help Amgen into the China market; and led the restart of expand the into theWoburn China market; led the Supply Chain restart of the Amgen (AWM)and facility.

Amgen Woburn (AWM) facility.

Carrie is a board member for Junior Achievement of Rhode Island, Carrie is afor board for Junior Achievement of Rhode a mentor the member Amgen IGNITE mentorship program, and aIsland, a mentor for the Amgen IGNITE mentorship program, and a sponsor for the ARI ABLE (Ability Bettered Through Leadership sponsor for the employee ARI ABLE (Ability Through Leadership and Education) resourceBettered group. She is passionate about and Education) employee resource group.

She is passionate about creating diverse high performing teams and making novel drugs creating high performing teams making survivor. novel drugs availablediverse for patients, as her mother is aand melanoma available for patients, as her mother is a melanoma survivor. www.pbn.com | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | JULY 8-21, 2022 | 27

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TERRY HAS LED Brave River’s Application Development Division for the last eight years. She was promoted to Vice President in 2017 and was the first non-founder to assume an executive position at the firm.

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TRICIA IS A HANDS-ON IT LEADER with a 25+ year success record growing and transforming organizations, aligning technology with business strategy, and driving innovation to reach new levels of growth.

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In addition to her internal management responsibilities, Terry has been the lead consultant and project manager for one of the firm’s largest clients. Under her leadership and direction, the client’s application, a municipal payment system, has been continually enhanced, and now supports online transactions for over 800,000 registered users.

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As a strategic partner to our clients, she right-sizes their technology/ security investments to bring meaningful value, identifying cost savings when possible, and proposing emerging technologies to create operational efficiencies. Her primary objective is to enable client success by ensuring their technology is constantly aligned with their business goals. Tricia is consistently focused on creating a positive client experience, managing initiatives to deliver exceptional IT support and strategy.

Keep up with PBN’s 2022 roundup of the leaders making a difference throughout Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts.

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IT’S PERSONAL Roberts earns Good Scout Award MICHELE ROBERTS, executive vice president and chief marketing and community relations officer for Bristol County Savings Bank, was recently honored by the Narragansett Council of the Boy Scouts of America with the council’s Good Scout Award. The award is given to a community leader who embodies the virtues of a “good Scout,” someone who seeks to help others in need without a need for recognition.

How did you first become involved with the Narragansett Council?

Growing up in Canada, I was a Brownie and a Girl Guide, but my first involvement with the Scouts was with the former Annawon Council (now merged into the Narragansett Council). Early on in my career with Bristol County Savings Bank, I was asked to manage the invitations and RSVPs for Annawon Council’s annual gala. Shortly after, we formed the Bristol County Savings Charitable Foundation in 1996 and Annawon Council was one of our early recipients – receiving funding for their Scoutreach/Urban Outreach Program.

In what way did you help the Narragansett Council this year?

As chief community relations officer for Bristol County Savings Bank and clerk of our charitable foundation, each year I meet with the council to discuss their resource needs. This current year, and for the past several years, we have provided $30,000 in funding to the council in support of their Urban Outreach Program and luncheon, their Supporting Scouting Breakfasts and their golf tournament. … From a personal perspective, my husband and I also financially contribute to the Narragansett Council, as we feel their programs provide valuable tools for kids to help them throughout their lives.

What, if any, other nonprofits/community initiatives did you assist with this past year?

From a volunteer perspective, I also currently serve on several boards, including the Children’s Advocacy Center of Bristol County, Meeting Street School in Providence and Dartmouth, Morton Hospital in Taunton, UNITE Taunton Task Force and the Leduc Center for Civic Engagement at [the University of Massachusetts] Dartmouth. In addition, I’ve had the opportunity to volunteer at several community events this year to distribute food and basic essentials to families across our region, as well as work with various school districts to assist them in providing much-needed resources to students as they continue to work hard to provide quality education despite the challenges still being felt as a result of the pandemic.

What plans do you have to help the community going forward?

I plan to continue to work hard and use my resources and connections, both personally and professionally, to provide assistance for our community partners and those in need of their services, as well as work hard to be part of the solution around creating more equity throughout our region. At the bank, we will continue to increase our levels of financial and volunteer support and continue our outreach efforts to ensure we understand community needs and find solutions to help. n

MACKAY’S MORAL | HARVEY MACKAY

‘Time is a fixed income’ WHY IS IT THAT THE PEOPLE who make the worst use of their time are the same ones who complain that there is never enough time?

The late management guru Peter Drucker, often called the “father of modern management,” said, “Time is the scarcest resource, and unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed.”

I agree with author and salesman Percy Whiting, who said: “Time is a fixed income, and as with any income, the real problem facing us is how to work successfully with our daily allotment. Plan each day down to the moment because once time is wasted, you can never get it back.”

I’m a big believer in preparation to save time. Whether I was selling for our envelope manufacturing company or meeting a colleague for a volunteer project, I made sure the people I was calling on were available. Otherwise, it’s a waste of time for both parties.

You don’t ever want to be like the salesman who was having the biggest sales day of his life in a little clothing store. The more he talked, the more a certain customer ordered. The salesman left thinking he

was a superstar until he phoned in his order.

When the sales manager heard the name of the customer, he burst into laughter. The boss asked, “Did you check the credit book?”

The salesman’s bubble burst. No wonder they had been eager to order from him. His “great” customer never paid his bills. It was a wasted day and a costly lesson.

As my friend Jim Rohn said, “Days are expensive. When you spend a day, you have one less day to spend. Make sure you spend each one wisely.”

If you feel like you are always trying to beat the clock, it’s time to evaluate where your time actually goes. We like to think we are experts at multitasking, but that generally means diverting attention from one project to another. When you are juggling several projects, organization is critical.

Here’s what I recommend: Start with a priority list and establish what needs to be accomplished before you can turn your attention elsewhere. Plan your day/week/ month according to how much time you need to allot to each item. I also schedule a slot for other distractions, phone calls, emails and such.

Do your research so you are prepared to see the project through.

How much help will you need? What resources are available or necessary? What can you delegate? What deadlines do you need to meet?

Just remember: Time is the one resource that you cannot buy or replace. It’s yours to use however you choose. Choose well.

This silly story illustrates why we need to make every minute count.

One morning, a lazy man asked the king, “Why does everyone say that I can’t do anything on time?”

The king answered, “Let’s make a

Time is the one resource that you cannot buy or replace.

deal. Before sunset, you come to my treasury and collect as much gold and pearls as you can. They will all be yours.”

The man rushed home to his wife.

He explained everything, and his wife said, “Go and get the gold and gems now. Time is gold for you.”

The lazy man sat down and said, “I can’t go now. Give me lunch first.”

After having lunch, he decided to take a short nap but instead slept for two hours. Then, late in the afternoon, he picked a few bags and went toward the king’s treasury. On the way, he felt hot, so he sat down under a tree to rest and ended up sleeping for another five hours. When he finally reached the palace, it was already sunset, and the palace gates had been shut. He lost the golden chance to get rich just because he didn’t know the value of time.

Mackay’s Moral: You are the only one who can waste your time. n 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.

www.pbn.com | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | JULY 8-21, 2022 | 29

IT’S PERSONAL TO SAVOR | JESSICA NORRIS GRANATIERO

3 lesser-known delights NORTHERN ITALY is filled with a beautiful and diverse landscape of vineyards, wines and the families who make them. Earlier this year, as the world began to ease from the pandemic, I journeyed there again, reuniting with winemaking families and delighting in their wines. It invigorated my love for the mélange of white wines from that region.

The summer season is the perfect time to enjoy these lesser-known Italian whites. The popularity grows in the U.S. as the wines become more readily available outside of Italy.

Northern Italian whites are ideal partners for traditional summer fare – seafood and fresh vegetables. The top three whites include Gavi, Lugana and Derthona, unique and indigenous to the regions where they are grown.

Gavi. Gavi is a region that sits in the southeastern part of Piedmont, Italy, about 60 miles south of the historic capital city, Turin.

Gavi is the name of the white wine from this region of the same name. It is made from the cortese grape. Lovers of unoaked chardonnay might just gravitate toward Gavi. Villa Sparina

Gavi offers medium weight, without being heavy, and a tropical fruit freshness. Gavi is typically stainless steel fermented, though you can find some that have been oak-aging and offer a fuller, rounder style of wine.

Derthona. It is an enigma to many who live outside of Piedmont, unless one is an Italian wine aficionado. Derthona, an ancient name of the town of Tortona, is made from the white grape timarosso, an almost extinct grape variety until about three decades ago.

It is still not made by many producers. However, one who is investing in timarosso is Borgogno.

Owned by the Farinetti family, who founded Eataly, Borgogno is one of the oldest wineries in existence. Dating back to the late 1700s, it sits directly in the middle of the tiny village of Barolo, flanked by enotecas, wine stores and small local shops where you can buy local meats, cheeses, fruit spreads and, of course, freshly made Grissini.

Borgogno’s winery, with some of the original cement-tank cellars, captivates visitors at every turn.

Borgogno’s Derthona reminds me of the wines Chablis or chenin blanc.

STANDING TALL: These Italian white wines don’t draw much attention usually, but they pair very well with summertime fare.

COURTESY JESSICA NORRIS GRANATIERO

It has a bright minerality with a medium body and notes of apricots, apple and citrus fruits. It is a great partner for meaty fish such as swordfish, salmon or tuna. Derthona can age also like a good chardonnay, developing a honey quality with time, and is reminiscent of a French Burgundy.

Lugana. The small region of Lugana

sits just south of the famed Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy and most known for many celebrity sightings.

With its picturesque rolling hills, Lugana stretches across the borders of the regions of Lombardy and the Veneto, home to the city of Verona.

Because of how Lugana snuggles in below Lake Garda, it benefits from the cool breezes coming across the lake and the region’s rocky, pebbly soils.

Lugana wine is known for its bright mineral tones and fresh floral style. For those lovers of sauvignon blanc-style wines, Ca’dei Frati I Frati Lugana, made from the turbiana grape, would be a great alternative.

It provides a light-medium weight, prominent notes of almonds, peaches and yellow apple backed by a refreshing acidity. It marries well with oysters, sardines, scallops or cold white bean dishes with sauerkraut and ham. n

Jessica Granatiero is the founder of The Savory Grape, a wine, beer and spirits shop in East Greenwich. She can be reached through her website, www.jessicagranatiero.com.

GUEST COLUMN | FRANC JEFFREY

Ready to take flight FUELED BY VACCINATIONS and a population looking to break away from government-imposed restrictions, corporate travel is on the upswing, thanks to what American Express Global Business Travel Executive Vice President David Reimer termed the “omicron hangover.”

In an article headlined “As U.S. business travel gets busy in 2022, expect higher costs,” Business Travel News says, “As the omicron variant wanes in North America, companies get back to their offices, and mask mandates and other restrictions are lifted … business travel is poised for a comeback.”

Here’s what I see going forward.

A return to face-to-face meetings.

After two years of Zoom calls with 25, 50, 100 faces on a screen, companies have realized the need to conduct business in person. A strong handshake and an after-hours drink will once again be the mainstay in doing business. “Business travel is about relationships, and you can’t build relationships through videoconferencing applications,” said United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby.

A meeting and a massage. The

need to combine a business trip with some type of leisure activity – known as “bleisure” – will increase. The workforce is becoming younger and vaccinated, and a recent survey by National Geographic indicated that 90% of millennial travelers “just wanna have fun.”

Lodging alternatives. The hotel, once a mainstay of corporate travel, is now sharing the attention of travelers, who are often opting for short-term rentals listed on web-based platforms to create a more “at-home” feeling. A survey by American Express indicated that over 70% of millennial corporate travelers stayed in a vacation rental during business trips.

Self-booking. Armed with smartphones, millennial travelers also are more inclined to self-book with online tools a fingertip away. However, as problems arise, companies will continue to rely on corporate travel management companies to provide access

to their online booking tools in order to prevent problems as emergencies arise, such as canceled flights.

Increased tech. Mobile technology accounts for 39% of hotel bookings and 22% of airfare bookings, and as phone technology is refined, those numbers will likely rise. What international travelers will see in the future is less time in airport lines thanks to facial recognition technology, and fingerprint and retinal scanning. When it comes to travel delays, the ability to keep travelers updated immediately via their phones is a godsend. Business travelers enjoy online check-ins and the ability to access their hotel room via smartphone.

Business travel as a perk. If the ability exists to combine the enrichment that comes with travel with the professional advancement that comes with business travel, then you have the best of all worlds. According

Travel can help improve confidence and interpersonal relationship skills.

30 | JULY 8-21, 2022 | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | www.pbn.com

to the Global Business Travel Association, employees who travel often feel more empowered and engaged.

Travel can help improve confidence and interpersonal relationship skills.

Many uncertainties still loom for the travel industry, from the war in Ukraine to the emergence of more COVID-19 variants, which could impede corporate travel’s full return to pre-pandemic heights. Fortunately, the fear for many Americans to travel abroad has dissipated, whereas the U.S. no longer requires testing upon reentry to the country via air travel.

The world is an ever-changing place, and businesses need to be able to jump back on as the businesstravel carousel starts to rev up. Be smart and use the time to think about travel policies, habits and problematic travel matters that you now have time to address. Corporate travel is the bedrock of deal-making, and it will be imperative in resuscitating many businesses as we start to emerge from this C ­ OVID-19 malaise. n Franc Jeffrey is CEO of EQ Travel, with offices in Boston and the United Kingdom.

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OPINION EDITORIALS

Startup resilience a hopeful sign for post-pandemic economy

INVESTED: An Oregon-based private equity firm has invested in Providence’s Pointz Mobility Inc., which has developed a navigation app for cyclists. Pictured is Pointz CEO Maggie Bachenberg.

PBN FILE PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

Like most economic sectors, Rhode Island’s startup community has felt the sting of the pandemic. But outweighing the setbacks is a resiliency that is sparking growth and a sense that the local ecosystem is finding its financial footing.

The state’s universities and small size, which allows easy access to both workers and leadership, have always been assets to businesses. For startups, however, lack of investment funding and inconsistent support services have often limited opportunities.

But as this week’s cover story reports, support services are growing and funding, while still a challenge, is more available than it’s ever been.

RIHub, a nonprofit startup support service, says the number of businesses it is working with grew more than 25% last year from 2020.

And more telling, the Cambridge Innovation Center’s Providence location is the fastest growing of nine such CIC sites around the world. It is home to 145 startups and 500 workers – double the occupants before the pandemic.

Twenty of the startups are offshore wind companies, which offers hope the state may yet see tangible economic benefits from being home to the nation’s first offshore wind farm.

Whether many of those or other startups stay here as they grow remains in question, with the state still in the shadow of Boston and New York for funding and employment networks.

But the growth of virtual meetings gives the state more of a fighting chance to draw outside funding to help its successful entrepreneurs stay and grow here. n

Read even MORE business news on PBN.com

CNE protects jobs but for how long?

Care New England Health System’s leaders say they’ve finally found a set of financial projections they think can help keep the state’s second-biggest hospital group independent.

It’s a stunning reversal from years of failed efforts to merge with a partner due to worsening finances that have plagued many hospital groups across the country, Care New England lost $35.1 million in the first six months of fiscal 2022, which ended on March 31.

But on July 5 its board of directors voted to stay independent. The following day CNE said it will count on improved Medicaid reimbursement rates recently approved by lawmakers and more support from “clinical and operating partners.”

Unfortunately, CNE did not immediately respond to requests for more information. It’s unlikely that improved reimbursement rates are enough of a game-changer to fix the system’s long-term financial challenges.

They may, however, help preserve jobs and services in the short term and buy CNE leaders yet more time to find a sustainable long-term plan. n

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No: 63% Yes: 38%

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Will Rhode Island’s legal protections for abortion be good for the state’s economy?

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•Y es, it will help to keep companies here and lure new ones from states banning or limiting abortion •N o, abortion is a social issue that doesn’t significantly affect the economy • I’m not sure To vote, go to PBN.com and follow the link on the home page

www.pbn.com | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | JULY 8-21, 2022 | 33

OPINION OPINION

Most corporations quiet on Roe v. Wade ALESSANDRO PIAZZA GUEST COLUMN

Corporate America – once known for carefully avoiding public stances on hot-button issues – has, in recent years, become increasingly outspoken on a host of thorny topics, from gay rights to the war in Ukraine. That makes its relative silence in the face of the end of federal abortion rights all the more deafening.

Over two-thirds of companies in the Fortune 500 are publicly committed to supporting LGBTQ rights, and many were early backers of marriage equality before the public embraced it. In the weeks after Vladimir Putin sent his armies into Ukraine, hundreds of companies suspended or ceased operations in Russia in an unprecedented reaction to geopolitical aggression. And in the aftermath of the passage of a 2021 Georgia law seen as curtailing voting rights, dozens of companies spoke forcefully against the legislation.

But so far, only three dozen or so companies have taken a public stance on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, mostly to declare their support for workers seeking an abortion. While a few openly criticized the Supreme Court’s June 24, 2022, decision, the vast majority did not.

I have examined both the emergence of corporate activism on sociopolitical issues and the fraught history of abortion provision in the United States, which has been contested ever since elective abortion became legal nationwide in 1973.

The big question is: Why is corporate America being so timid this time around?

Across America, corporate activism has

been on the rise.

Whereas most companies once subscribed to conservative economist Milton Friedman’s famous quip that the “only social responsibility of business is to increase its profits,” corporations are increasingly expected to take public stances on a host of thorny issues.

And so it was strange to see so little reaction after a Supreme Court decision that amounted to a sea change in reproductive health for the entire country. Within the next month, it is estimated that over 30 million women will lose access to the procedure. Companies that did speak out mostly sought to reassure their employees that they would cover necessary travel and in some cases abortion procedures but did not explicitly criticize the decision.

The most basic explanation for the relative silence is that not all social issues are alike. Some enjoy such overwhelming levels of public support that speaking out is obviously the “right thing to do.”

And in some cases, speaking out about a given issue might not be perceived as appropriate at all. A 2018 survey found that while most Americans appreciate it when CEOs – and corporations more generally – speak out on workplace-relevant issues such as sexual harassment and equal pay, they take a dim view of their doing so on topics such as gun control or abortion.

Just as important, though, is the fact that in choosing to wade into contentious societal debates, companies are exposing themselves to risk. As a result, companies have often approached social issues by initially

There are perils in wading too deeply into polarizing societal debates.

taking only tentative steps aimed at internal constituents such as employees.

In some of my ongoing research with Rice University colleagues, I’m finding that companies tend to frame their stances on social issues narrowly when they are not settled matters. Once they are settled, however, and controversy abates, companies often shift to full-fledged advocacy.

As one of the first examples of widespread corporate activism, the fight over LGBTQ rights likely led corporations to believe that customers and the general public would reward bold action and principled stances.

Hence, in the years since, we’ve seen increasingly activist positions from companies – and many stories trumpeting them.

For a possibly chastened corporate America, there are perils in wading too deeply into polarizing societal debates.

This appears evident from the corporate stances toward abortion rights that have played out since Roe v. Wade fell. Companies once again focused their responses on protecting their employees first and foremost, without offering criticism of the ruling or supporting a push for new legislation.

That said, I’m convinced there is probably no going back to the days when companies stood on the sidelines, eyeing their profit margins and little else.

It is a brave new world out there for corporate activism, and I predict that striking the right balance will become increasingly tough. Getting it wrong might mean not just angry employees or customers but also legal challenges, for example for companies that have pledged to help workers seeking an abortion. n Alessandro Piazza is an assistant professor of strategic management at Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University.

Distributed by The Associated Press.

The price of tampering with free markets

THOMAS TZITZOURIS GUEST COLUMN

When you mess with Mother Nature, she tends to mess back. Rampant inflation is just the latest example of what should now be common knowledge: We will never create an economic system better than free markets.

Ignoring this sage wisdom, Americans have gone on a two-decade purge of the free market’s safety valves by ushering in a surge in regulatory policies that punish industries such as banking and energy production, artificially low interest rates designed to facilitate massive budget deficits, and tax policy that has seen the effective tax rates for many middle-income Americans rise to 50%, with a combined tax rate well above 50% for some small-business owners.

The result of this economic Frankenstein is inflation that’s now at a 40-year high, unemployment that has become more volatile over the last three business cycles and wealth inequality that’s now worse than before the tinkering began in the late 1990s.

Rhode Islanders, as usual, have seen the worst of this policy experiment. Mike Sten-

house, CEO of the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, recently penned a piece on why energy bottlenecks in Rhode Island are persistent, are likely to worsen and are completely government-induced.

The same is true of labor market rigidity, higher-than-average transportation costs

We will never create an economic system better than free markets.

34 | JULY 8-21, 2022 | PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS | www.pbn.com

and the relatively high cost of capital in the Ocean State, all of which worsen inflation for locals.

Now Rhode Islanders, like all Americans, are forced to deal with the side effects of high inflation, and many options will be proposed as solutions. But citizens should keep this in mind – the hangover from excessive government control is not going to be cured with more government controls.

Rather, inflation will be painful to beat back, and doing so will require less government influence in the economy, more free-market solutions, higher interest rates, higher unemployment and, in the next decade, more volatile business cycles and financial markets. Any solution short of this is simply the same type of free-lunch politics from central planning advocates that got us here in the first place. n Thomas Tzitzouris is director at New York City-based Strategas Research Partners. He lives in Rhode Island.

ONE LAST THING WHENEVER

an industry starts to feel out of touch with its consumers, be it due to a competitor or from a pandemic, it’s an invitation to challenge the status quo and bring a fresh approach to old business models.

The bookselling industry is no different. For the past three decades, indie bookstores have been under siege by corporate chains and e-commerce retailers. For that reason, when Twenty Stories was founded, we were decidedly not a general-interest bookstore.

While many traditional book retailers carry thousands of titles and order heavily from publisher frontlists, we keep our inventory concise. Every month, we curate a 20-book list that focuses on amplifying the best of contemporary literature, as well as innovative voices that might otherwise get lost in the bookstacks.

Because of this, every book in our shop is personally recommended.

These are my tips for standing out and bringing a new perspective to old business models: n Create your own algorithm: Our book

curations are our algorithm, and we adapt it monthly to make it feel as relevant and personalized to our community as possible. It’s important to amplify that individuality within your own business and let your customers know you’re personalizing the experience for them. n Embrace the niche: As a small business, we are nimble and can serve our communities more effectively because we are our community. Find your niche and embrace it. n Authenticity is everything: It’s important to share your story often and transparently.

Socially conscious consumers like to know where their money is going, and sharing your story helps them understand what and who they’re supporting. n

Alexa Trembly Twenty Stories co-owner Alexa Trembly and partner Emory Harkins co-founded the indie bookstore Twenty Stories in 2017, and earlier this year the pair founded cocktail bar Glou.

Both businesses are in Providence.

Find your niche PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

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