PBN October 14, 2022

PBN SUMMIT RECAP

A GROWING WORKFORCE

emerging for legalized

cannabis

BY CLAUDIA CHIAPPA | Chiappa@PBN.com

CELIA

Kinneary entered Johnson & Wales University’s culinary program with a grand vision of opening her own bakery and brewery someday, but now those plans may be taking a slight detour.

The reason: cannabis.

This semester, the senior decided to take a course at JWU that’s part of the university’s new cannabis entrepreneurship program, and she’s been en thralled.

In recent weeks, Kinneary and her classmates have been donning lab coats and special eye protectors against ultraviolet grow lights as they raise cucum bers, tomatoes, lavender and arugula plants in a lab on the Providence campus.

The ultimate goal is to transfer the lessons to cultivating high-quality can nabis, which the university doesn’t have permission to grow yet.

Kinneary, who is close to earning a degree in sustainable food systems with a minor in craft brewing, is already looking to somehow add cannabis cultiva tion into her long-term bakery and brewery dreams.

CULTIVATION

PROCESS: Johnson & Wales University professors Magnus Thorsson, second from left, and Michael Budziszek speak with students Jaevaun Giragosian, left, and Ivan Polanco, right, at a grow lab on the Providence campus.

students

enrolled in

cannabis

and are

EVERYBODY’S

R.I. firm facing tidal wave of suits over hernia mesh

BY CHRISTOPHER ALLEN | Allen@PBN.com

AT FIRST, PAUL TREVINO’S hernia surgery was considered a success.

A polypropylene mesh made by the Rhode Island company Davol Inc., a C.R. Bard Inc. sub sidiary, was implanted in 2008 during a procedure in Hawaii, and it appeared to repair Trevino’s ailment.

FOCUS: LAW REVIEW

But by 2017, other medical complications had arisen. Trevi no and his lawyers say that over time the mesh burrowed into his intestinal tissue, leading to an additional 10 corrective surger ies, including a bowel resection, and 49 nights in the hospital.

ONE LAST THING

CYBERSECURITY SUMMIT RECAP

IT’S PERSONAL

FOCUS: LAW REVIEW

R.I. firm facing tidal wave of suits over hernia mesh

crisis putting eviction law in spotlight

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STARTERS

5Q: Rob Rock

Director of elections, Rhode Island

BY NANCY LAVIN | Lavin@PBN.com

1How is the state preparing for the upcoming general election?

Right now, our office is prepar ing paper ballots and disseminating important voter information. The R.I. Board of Elections is program ming and certifying the state’s voting equipment and conducting poll work er training. Local cities and towns are processing voter registrations, mailballot applications and identifying polling places and poll workers.

2

What do you see as the biggest successes of the primary?

The biggest success was the growing popularity of mail ballots and early voting. Over 30,000 voters cast their ballot ahead of primary day and we anticipate that number to grow in November. This makes Election Day operations smoother for local elections officials and alleviates lines at polling places.

3What lessons learned/challenges from the primary election will you seek to improve upon in the upcoming general election and how?

After the coding error that was identi fied on the Spanish screens of the ExpressVote accessible voting equip ment, it became clear that our office needed to work with the R.I. Board of Elections to make sure the infor mation presented on those screens is accurate. Our offices are working jointly to develop new procedures to proof the coding of the ExpressVote machines and conduct thorough logic and accuracy testing.

4How does the increasing preva lence of mail-in ballots and early voting change or compli cate the work of the state elections division?

The pandemic changed how many voters exercise their rights to vote. Many voters who had only ever voted on Election Day opted to vote by mail or early in 2020. As a result, our office had to develop new procedures to assist local cities and towns to verify mail-ballot applications and handle the influx of early voting. Technology like electronic poll books has made the shift less complicated and we are ready for a high voter turnout in November.

5Under new legislation, the secretary of state is also able to award a contract for electronic voting for certain groups, which has raised concerns from security and voting groups. What would you say to those who are concerned that this technology is too risky for voters and the state as a whole?

Trust in elections is paramount to our democracy. Voters should be reas sured knowing that many stakehold ers are working together to not only ensure voters have equitable access but that our systems meet the highest federal cybersecurity standards. n

PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Trust in elections is paramount to our democracy.

SOME UNRELATED STORIES on the food and dining beat share a common hospitality thread.

The signature month of autumn has become associated with the life-touching and ubiquitous disease of breast cancer. The outpouring of awareness and compassion that is visible everywhere the color pink is displayed has become more inclusive to extend a hand to all who live with the heartbreak and tragedy wherever it strikes.

Just as they do in so many other times of need, chefs and res taurateurs turn out and offer comfort from their kitch ens and hospitality at their tables.

Ten Prime Steak & Sushi in downtown Providence is par ticipating in Bakes For Breast Cancer again this October to help fund Dana Farber Can cer Institute research “one dessert at a time.”

DINING OUT | BRUCE NEWBURY

Sharing a common thread

cheesecake, featuring peach compote, oatmeal crumble, maple caramel and a gingersnap crust.

“This one hits close to home,” said Harrison Elkhay, president of Chow Fun Food Group in Providence, owner and operator of Ten Prime. “With Oc tober being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I think it is so important to shine a light on the continuous need for cancer research funding. After my father’s battle with cancer, I’m excited to give back to the cause with the help of my dedicated team and

to our customers every day with warmth, great service and wonder ful food. As we position ourselves to develop new Panera cafes and invest in a multiyear program of remodeling our existing cafes, we close by thank ing Newport for supporting us for so many years. It has been a pleasure to be a part of the Newport community.”

The closing of any restaurant, particularly one of long tenure, has an emotional toll. In the vast majority of cases, the restaurant is replaced by another that most often hires the employees from the former place, resulting in no “loss” from an accounting or fiscal perspective. However, those who patronized the restau rant have a real sense of loss. The place they visited regularly, and in many cases daily, is gone.

People are the main ingredient of hospitality.

Bakes for Breast Cancer is a national nonprofit organization. Restaurants and bakeries register for the organization’s events, com mitting to donate proceeds from the sale of a dessert or all desserts during a weeklong event. When one of the designated sweet treats is ordered from a participating establishment, the proceeds will benefit breast can cer research. There are participating restaurants, cafes, bakeries, chocolat iers, sweet shops and grocery stores taking part.

At Ten Prime Steak & Sushi, chef Brittany Muggle has created an autumn-inspired peach cobbler

loyal customers.”

In other restaurant news, Panera Bread and its Rhode Island franchisee Howley Bread Group have made the decision to close its Newport loca tion at Long Wharf Mall. Spokesman Luke Howley, in response to an email inquiry, said, “After nearly 20 years of serving our Newport customers, we have closed the cafe. It has been a great run, one for which we are very grateful. We are grateful for the hundreds of talented and caring managers, associates and bakers who over the past 20 years delivered the very best Panera Bread experience

Those of us who report on this aspect of our lives would do well to be aware of the ties many feel toward a place and its people. In our state, that extends to the proprietor who is likely to be a neighbor and whose name may be above the door. It will be of interest in this time of social media, in which anything can be reported without per spective or attribution, to take note of the recognition that people are the main ingredient of hospitality.

While there are aspects that might be advanced by technology, the es sence of service, whether it is how we take our coffee or the creation of a special treat that ends our meal on a memorable note, comes down to people. n

TREATS FOR A CAUSE: Ten Prime Steak & Sushi chef Brit tany Muggle has created a peach cobbler cheesecake as part of the Providence restaurant’s participa tion in Bakes for Breast Cancer in which the proceeds of dessert sales will support Dana Farber Cancer Institute research.

“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.

nonstop to

COURTESY TEN PRIME STEAK & SUSHI

and

Vintage clothing community

BY AMANDA GRAY | Contributing Writer

NEW MEXICO NATIVE Amelia Olsen traded the desert for the seaside and never looked back. While building a life in East Providence with her husband and two daughters, she was cu rating and selling vintage cloth ing online under the moniker Tall Tumbleweed Vintage

“I want fashion to be fun and accessible and not something that makes you feel bad about yourself, which is so often the case in this industry,” Olsen said.

After a decade of building a business online, Olsen decided to open a brick-and-mortar shop, lo cated off the East Bay Bike Path.

“I wanted somewhere that people could come to and leave feeling better than when they came in,” she said.

Since opening in April, Olsen has brought on two staff mem bers to meet growing demand.

“We provide accessible, wearable fashion in a space that fosters connection,” she said.

Olsen works with local artists and makers such as Figs and Ginger and the Atlantic Soap Co. LLC and is always looking for local brands to add to her roster of handpicked inventory.

The store is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Thurs day and on Sunday; from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and is closed on Monday. n

SPOTLIGHT

Exotic fish in demand

Outdoor pond installations available BY CLAUDIA CHIAPPA | Chiappa@PBN.com

ON A THURSDAY EVENING, you might find John Yglowski driving to the local airport and picking up 14 boxes. Not an unusual sight for an airport, but it’s the content of the boxes that might stun some travelers: hundreds of exotic fish, fresh off the plane from California and beyond.

It’s one of the several shipments Yglowski receives every month for his pet supplies store in North Providence: Sea Creature Aquarium, selling saltwater and freshwater fish, corals, fish supplies and out door pond fish. It’s a one-man show for Yglowski, who has thousands of fish in his store at times.

“It’s a lot of responsibilities to keep them alive,” Yglowski said.

Yglowski opened the store in 1991, but for the first five years it was a part-time gig, with Yglowski working as a car mechanic during the day and keeping his store open in the evenings. It wasn’t easy, Yglowski said. At times, he found himself driving to Connecticut at night to buy fish to sell. But the sac rifice was worth it, and he eventu ally quit his job as a mechanic and went full time with Sea Creature.

“It’s my own business,” Yglowski said. “I don’t have to listen to any body and that’s one good thing.”

And while many businesses suf fered at the height of the COVID-19

OWNER: John Yglowski

TYPE OF BUSINESS: Pet and supply store

pandemic, Yglowski’s business bloomed. With lockdowns keeping people in their houses and CO VID-19 relief checks boosting their pockets, Yglowski said it was a “re ally good time” for business.

But while things have since slowed down, Yglowski remains incredibly busy.

“It’s a big market,” Yglowski said. “This week I got the fish and sold them all in one night.”

He sells fish from all over the world, from Fiji and Hawaii to Indo nesia. But clients have their favorite and Yglowski has a Disney block buster to thank for it: clownfish and Pacific blue tang fish – the dynamic Nemo and Dory duo from the 2003 animated movie “Finding Nemo” –are his bestselling species.

The small, white-striped, orange fish sell for about $15 each – even though some species of clownfish can sell for up to $100, Yglowski said, adding he can sell up to 150 a month. His blue-and-black com panion, in comparison, sells for $80

LOCATION: 1455 Mineral Spring Ave., North Providence

EMPLOYEES: One

and up.

But selling fish and their supplies is not the only way Yglowski earns his revenue; he also travels around the state installing outdoor ponds for both private and commercial businesses. Every year, he builds three to four ponds, usually in the summertime, each averaging about $6,000. He often has the help of his nephew, the owner of landscaping company Razorz Edge Landscaping, working during weekends to keep the store open.

But even with the help, not all ponds are finished in a weekend. Three years ago, one outdoor pond took two months to complete.

The $68,000 pond – the most expensive project Yglowski ever worked on – consisted of two sepa rate ponds, a patio and a 4-foot-tall, 30-to-40-foot-long wall. The material alone cost Yglowski about $35,000.

It’s a passion that started when Yglowski was a child taking care of his family’s tanks and outdoor pond. He does not have tanks or a pond anymore, as he says there just isn’t enough time. And business has become tougher too, with rising prices just as any other industry, and competition from online stores.

But with more than 30 years in the business, Yglowski knows he can always rely on his loyal custom ers and good word-of-mouth.

YEAR FOUNDED: 1991

ANNUAL SALES: WND

ONE-MAN SHOW: John Yglowski is the owner and sole employee of Sea Creature Aquarium in North Providence, selling saltwater and freshwater fish and related supplies.

PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

FUN FASHION: Amelia Olsen, owner of Tall Tumbleweed Vintage in East Providence, says her clothing shop provides fun, accessible fashion.

PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Is

land a drain on downtown?

BY NANCY LAVIN | Lavin@PBN.com

SOME NEW PROJECTS on the former Interstate 195 land have heightened concerns about incentives that favor new devel opment in certain areas of Providence at the expense of other areas, particularly the city’s old financial district.

One example: Bank Rhode Island, which on Oct. 5 announced it was moving its headquarters out of the Turks Head Building into a new office included in a mixed-use project in Fox Point. Bank leaders say swapping out a few rented floors in a stately, 110-year-old skyscraper for a custombuilt office gives them flexibility, visibility and room to expand.

But what BankRI touted as the first new office headquarters built in over a decade quickly drew concern for the languishing financial district. The once-vibrant hub for financial servic es and law firms has emptied over the last decades as companies consolidate or move their headquarters to cheap er or more accessible locations.

The pandemic propelled the down town drain into high gear, with many companies still not returning to inoffice work more than two years later.

“Every renewal [of a lease] that comes up, companies are choosing smaller spaces,” said Michael Giut

tari, president of MG Commercial Real Estate Services Inc. “There is a lot of sublease space on the market because big companies are just giving up their space.”

The downtown financial district is a shell compared with his memories from the 1980s and 1990s, when build ings brimmed with office workers and executives gathered for lunches at the Turks Head Club.

Without the vibrancy, the incon veniences of downtown office space – lack of parking, higher prices per square foot – aren’t worth it to Giut tari, who also opted to move his busi ness to the Jewelry District.

Indeed, the 80 BankRI employees in the Turks Head Building over the last 15 years had to find and pay for park ing, said Mark J. Meiklejohn, BankRI CEO and president.

The company’s new headquarters comes with garage parking spots and twice as much office space, which will allow the bank to bring together administrative workers scattered in branches statewide and fit new hires.

“We’re staying committed to the city, and to downtown,” Meiklejohn said.

It’s just a matter of redefining what “downtown” means, according to Meiklejohn. Moving I-195 opened up a huge swath of land, which developers are taking advantage of to build apart ments, offices, laboratory space and even a new grocery store.

The evolution of downtown was only natural to Cliff Wood, executive director of The Providence Foundation Before the financial district was a

‘We’re staying committed to the city, and to downtown.’

MARK J. MEIKLEJOHN, BankRI CEO and president

business hub, it was mostly residen tial, he said.

But Wood didn’t think it was fair that in the I-195 district, developers can bypass City Council review for tax incentives. That’s not the case for downtown, where developers must endure a “rigorous, unpredictable and often lengthy review process” for the same agreement, Wood said.

Joseph Paolino Jr., former Provi dence mayor and managing partner of Paolino Properties LP, likened it to a Robin Hood scheme, “stealing” from one area of downtown to help another. Paolino worried how the Turks Head Building owners would fill BankRI’s 50,000-square-foot offices without something to sweeten the deal.

Waldorf Sultan GP LLC, the general partner of the Turks Head Building property ownership group, in a state ment said it was disappointed by the “mission” of the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission to “relocate key stone tenants from existing downtown properties.”

But Commission Chairman Robert Davis said that hasn’t been the case, noting that many of the projects and groups opening in the I-195 area were not “typical downtown occupants” –Trader Joe’s, the Cambridge Innovation Center and Brown University n

For her, Ageless Innovation much more than pet project

BY ANDY SMITH | Contributing Writer

was a combination of soccer, Hasbro Inc. and Bryant University that brought Meghan Gamboa to Rhode Island, where she now works as co-founder and senior vice president of marketing and retail sales for Ageless Innovation LLC in Paw tucket.

She mostly focused on the Ageless Innovation brand called Joy for All, which makes animatronic cats and dogs marketed as a way to bring comfort and companionship to the elderly without the fuss of owning a real pet. The Joy for All cat can purr, meow, close its eyes, open its mouth, turn its head and more. The dog barks, wags its tail and has a “heartbeat” you can feel.

Research has shown that Joy for All’s animals can help combat what has become an epidemic of loneliness among the el derly, which has been accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinically validated evidence also indicates positive effects for those suffering from dementia and Al zheimer’s disease.

“It’s not just a stuffed toy,” Gamboa said. “It’s important for us to have videos so people can see what they can do.”

Gamboa, 41, grew up in Pepperell, Mass., and attended Bryant because she

was offered a scholarship, based in part on her soccer skills. But what won her over about Bryant was the university’s internship program at Hasbro, the toy and entertainment giant based in Pawtucket.

“Hasbro seemed like it would be a fun place to work,” she said. “You’re dealing with iconic toys and brands you grew up with. It just sounded like fun – and it was.”

Gamboa started working at Hasbro while still attending Bryant, assigned to the company’s on-site testing center.

She was at Hasbro for 16 years, even tually reaching the level of senior direc tor of U.S. marketing for franchises and new brands, including My Little Pony and Littlest Pet Shop. One of her projects was FurReal Friends, a line of electronic robotic animals.

In 2015, Hasbro executive Ted Fischer noticed that some animatronic toys were being purchased for grandparents, and the company researched the phenomenon. Hasbro recruited people in their 70s and 80s, brought them to Hasbro’s Fun Lab, and watched them play with the toys.

Among other things, Gamboa says, seniors were looking for an enhanced level of realism in the toy pets. The cat whis kers had to be tapered; the animals should

NEW BREED OF COMPANION

SHIP: Meghan

Gamboa, Ageless Innovation LLC co-founder and senior vice presi dent, holds an animatronic cat at the company’s Pawtucket head quarters. The cats, dogs and birds produced by Ageless Inno vation have been shown to be beneficial for the mental health of the elderly.

have paw pads. While the dogs will respond to a voice by turning their heads and wagging their tales, cats do not because, well, they’re cats.

By 2018, Fischer bought the Joy for All brand from Hasbro in a friendly management spinoff and started Age less Innovation. A few members of the team at Hasbro who were responsible for Joy for All joined Fischer.

Gamboa had left Hasbro in 2017 to spend more time with her children, but then she heard from Fischer about this new opportunity. “I jumped right back in,” she said. “Best deci sion I ever made.”

The company now has nine em ployees, although Gamboa believes the company will be hiring more employees soon.

Gamboa’s duties now include bro kering agreements with retail outlets and managing relationships with retailers such as Amazon.com Inc., Walmart Inc., CVS Health Corp. and Walgreens Co.

The development continues on Joy for All’s offerings.

Besides a dog and cat, the company has developed an animatronic bird, the Walker Squawker, which attaches to a walker with a magnetic strip.

The product was the brainchild of a woman in her 90s who is the mother of one of Gamboa’s Hasbro colleagues. She used a walker herself and thought it would be nice to have something to remind her to use it. The bird – either a cardinal or a bluebird – sings as the walker is used.

Gamboa is keeping mum about fu ture upgrades to the animatronics but says her vision is that the company’s Joy for All products should always function primarily as pet companions for the elderly.

Could the animals talk? They could, Gamboa says, but that would run counter to the intention of the products.

“For me, it would feel insincere for them to talk as a cat or a dog,” she said. “It wouldn’t seem realistic if they talked.”

That adherence to realism has paid off so far. The company, which does not disclose revenue figures, sells products in more than 40 countries. Ageless Innovation has a warehouse in the United Kingdom to serve its European customers and another in the U.S.

The global reach of the company keeps Gamboa busy.

She wakes up to whatever’s hap pening in Europe, then checks in with the East Coast and follows the time zones to the West Coast. Like any executive, Gamboa has to worry about inflation, supply chain issues such as a shortage of cargo ships, and disruptions in China that could affect production.

At home, she has two children and her husband, Pablo, whom she met at Bryant. And of course, they have three cats and two dogs.

Gamboa says her work at Ageless Innovation is fulfilling.

“I hope to be doing this a lot longer,” she said. “We’re just at the beginning of the ways we can bring fun and joy and happiness to older adults.” n

PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

Most-read stories on PBN.com, Sept. 2022

1R.I. misses out on $1B in federal funding for eco nomic projects

POSTED ONLINE: SEPT. 2 Ambitions to jump-start the state’s biotech and blue econo mies with multimillions in fed eral funding were dashed after neither Rhode Island finalist was named as a winner of the Build Back Better Regional Challenge. Two groups with Rhode Island connections had been among the 61 finalists, one from the University of Rhode Island Foundation, and a multistate biotech coalition called BioConnects New England. bit.ly/3UYstXE

2

Corporate HQ, apartment project picked for vacant Fox Point land

POSTED ONLINE: SEPT. 21

Plans to develop vacant riverfront land with cor porate office headquarters and mixed-income apart ments advanced after the I-195 Redevelopment Dis trict Commission selected the preferred developer for the land known as Par cel 8 and 8A in Providence. The project by D+P Real Estate Inc. was one of two competing proposals for the riverfront real estate flanking the highway. bit.ly/3edoExq

3Developer ditches proposal for downtown Providence hotel, wants apart ments instead

POSTED ONLINE: SEPT. 21

The hotel part of the Hotel Hive project planned for downtown Providence is off the table. In its place, the developer, Jim Abdo, wants to turn the former Providence Journal building on Westminster Street into an apartment complex with retail and coworking space, and is asking the city for a new tax deal to do it. The request comes after several years of delays on the initial plan, which was a $39 million boutique hotel.

bit.ly/3Ce1dvS

4Winter electric rate hikes approved despite protest

POSTED ONLINE: SEPT. 23

The R.I. Public Utilities Commission voted 3-0 to allow Rhode Island Energy to charge higher winter electric rates beginning Oct. 1. The rate hikes drew concern from community advocates who warned of mass utility shutoffs and homelessness, with a small group of protestors temporarily stopping discussion during the meeting. bit.ly/3Eg2FAu

5Rubius to lay off about 70 R.I. employees, considering sale of Smithfield facility

POSTED ONLINE: SEPT. 13

Rubius Therapeutics Inc. plans to lay off 75% of its workforce, including about 70 of its 101 employees in Rhode Island, and is “exploring the sale of its manufacturing facility” in Smithfield. The Cam

6Brown ranks No. 13 nationally in U.S. News’ annual Best Colleges report; PC remains top regional university in North

POSTED ONLINE: SEPT. 12 bit.ly/3e5d9YR

7Brown University dropout sells design company for $20B in cash and stock

POSTED ONLINE: SEPT. 16 bit.ly/3RDdSOv

8

Raimondo calls for ‘a new blue economy’

POSTED ONLINE: SEPT. 21 bit.ly/3M8h0ki

9U.S. judge favors trucking industry over RhodeWorks tolls

POSTED ONLINE: SEPT. 21 bit.ly/3M8aqKL

10Crisafulli, head of Bally’s R.I. operations, to

AP

PHOTO/JACQUELYN MARTIN

BOLD BREAKFAST:

The Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce will hold its Bold in Busi ness breakfast at Bryant University in Smithfield on Oct. 20. COURTESY BRYANT UNIVERSITY

EDITOR’S CHOICE

Bryant to host NRI Chamber Bold in Business breakfast

THE NORTHERN RHODE ISLAND Chamber of Commerce will hold its Bold in Business breakfast event, hosted by Bryant University. Roxann Cooke, consumer bank regional director for JPMorgan Chase & Co., will be the guest speaker, sharing her leadership jour ney, failing forward moments and more. Breakfast will be served.

THURSDAY, OCT. 20, 8-9:30 A.M. $45/members; $60/nonmembers

Bryant University, Bello Grand Hall, 1150 Douglas Pike, Smithfield.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3xn2Eqd

Walking for animals

THE 2022 HEART & SOLE Walk for Animals will support the Potter League for Animals, a local animal welfare nonprofit. The event will have a dog walk, marketplace, food trucks, contests and special activities for dogs and children. Proceeds and sales during the event will benefit the Potter League.

SUNDAY, OCT. 16, 10 A.M. TO 2 P.M. Free Fort Adams State Park, 80 Fort Adams Drive, Newport.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3BSnC1A

Understanding cybersecurity

THE TAUNTON AREA Chamber of Commerce will hold a seminar on cybersecurity. Ryan Sarvia, senior systems engineer and team manager for Wright Technology Group, will provide an overview on current tech nology and how to defend yourself from falling victim to hackers. The seminar will be in person with an op tion to attend via Zoom.

TUESDAY, OCT. 18, 11 A.M. TO NOON. Free/members; $10/nonmembers

Taunton Area Chamber of Commerce, 170 Dean St., Taunton.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3SksDXv

Building new relationships

THE SOUTHERN RHODE ISLAND Chamber of Commerce will hold a Business After Hours networking event, hosted by Kingston Insurance Agency LLC and Sunset Farm. The event will offer local business profes sionals the opportunity to network and create new business relationships with one another. Walk-ins will be ac cepted, but preregistration is encour aged.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 19, 5-7 P.M. $5/members; $10/nonmembers Sunset Farm, 50 Point Judith Road, Narragansett.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3CkdzUA

Utilizing YouTube

THE TRI-TOWN CHAMBER of Com merce will hold a workshop titled “Us ing YouTube to Help Your Business Get Found.” The workshop will cover how businesses can use the online video platform, why keywords are important and where to use them, and will provide tips to help visitors have a great experience while visiting your YouTube channel.

FRIDAY, OCT. 21, 9-10 A.M. Free/members; $10/nonmembers Online.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3SmN722

Digital marketing

SCORE RHODE ISLAND will hold a workshop on understanding e-com merce and digital marketing, hosted by the Providence Public Library. The session will provide an overview of e-commerce platforms and how they are used, as well as an overview of the key social media platforms and how to develop a marketing strategy to leverage them to grow your busi ness.

SATURDAY, OCT. 22, 9:30 A.M. Free Providence Public Library, 150 Empire St., Providence.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3CfCqbQ

Engaging evening

THE NORTH KINGSTOWN Chamber of Commerce will hold a networking event as part of its Engaging Evening series, hosted by Union & Main. The event will promote building connec tions for businesspeople and entrepre neurs in a relaxed setting. Food and beverages will be served.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 26, 5:30-7:30 P.M. $10/members; $15/nonmembers Union & Main, 455 Main St., East Greenwich.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3BQ3a1b

Protecting businesses

MIKE VLACICH, the regional admin istrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration, SBA Rhode Island District Director Mark S. Hayward and Score Rhode Island cybersecurity expert Michael Monwuba will hold a virtual discussion on cybersecurity and how to keep businesses protected from attacks. A panel discussion will follow the presentation by Monwuba. THURSDAY, OCT. 27, NOON. Free Online.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3BVqeeY

Establishing connections

ONE SOUTHCOAST CHAMBER of Commerce will hold its monthly Business After Hours event, hosted by the Fall River Maritime Museum.

WHAT’S HAPPENING | FOR STARTERS

The event provides an opportunity for members and nonmembers to mingle and build business relationships in an informal, relaxed business setting. These networking mixers are held monthly in partnership with member businesses and attract business pro fessionals from many industries

UPCOMING PBN EVENT:

The 2022 Fall Health Care Summit will be held on Thursday, Oct. 27, from 9-11 a.m. at the Crowne Plaza Providence-Warwick in Warwick. For more information, visit PBN.com. For sponsorship opportunities, contact Advertising@PBN.com.

THURSDAY, OCT. 27, 5-7 P.M. Free/members; $25/nonmembers

Fall River Maritime Museum, 70 Water St., Fall River.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3U7JDSs

Interested in having your businessrelated event included in What’s Happening? Contact PBN Researcher James Bessette at (401) 680-4838 or Research@PBN.com.

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CANNABIS

“It’s becoming a booming industry and it’s im portant to understand it,” she said.

Booming indeed. Soon, nowhere will that be more true than in Rhode Island, where retail sales of recreational marijuana to adults is set to begin on Dec. 1, adding to an existing medical cannabis system in which more than 60 cultivators supply a half dozen dispensaries.

State officials say seven retail outlets will be ready to open come December and another two by April next year. Then, over the course of a year or so, approximately 30 licensed stores are expected to sprout up statewide – creating a new industry that the state estimates may reach up to $110 million in annual sales initially. Between July 2021 and June 2022, medical marijuana sales reached $77.5 million.

It’s hoped retail sales will ignite a new job mar ket, too.

That’s where people such as Kinneary come in, learning and honing a set of skills that may soon be in high demand.

About 2,000 people are employed by Rhode Is land’s cultivators, dispensaries and labs, according to Matthew Santacroce, chief of the Office of Can nabis Regulation at the R.I. Department of Business Regulation

But so far, there are no clear estimates on how many jobs will be created when the recreational cannabis industry gears up. But the numbers are sure to rise as cannabis-related businesses need to fill positions ranging from “budtenders” and culti vators to marketers and lab workers.

“We’re looking at a very, very healthy and exciting situation,” Santacroce told an audience of industry members at Providence Business News’ Business of Cannabis Summit last month.

BIG POTENTIAL

There’s no doubt that marijuana has become big business – and, in turn, a big job creator.

Nationwide, the cannabis industry supports more than 428,000 jobs, ac cording to a 2022 report by the industry website Leafly and Whitney Economics, which specializes in analyz ing financial data from the industry.

In fact, with more states moving toward legalization, the sector has posted an an nual job growth rate greater than 27% for the last five years, Leafly and Whitney found. In 2021, the report said, someone was hired for a cannabis-supported job about every two minutes of the workday.

And the types of jobs are wide-ranging and go beyond cultivators, extractors and retailers. Needs include security, accounting, mar keting, real estate, human resources, legal affairs and information technology.

In neighboring Massachusetts, where sales of recreational cannabis have been legal since 2016, the state says more than 27,200 people are em ployed by cannabis-related businesses, a job figure that has skyrocketed in recent years as the number of licensed agents has grown from 5,846 in 2019 to 21,190 in 2021. Meanwhile, cannabis sales in Mas sachusetts in 2021 reached $1.65 billion.

It’s no surprise that the demand for more workers hasn’t subsided, says Jeffrey P. Hayden, vice president of business and community ser

vice at Holyoke Community College in western Massachusetts.

To meet the need for entry-level employees in that region, the college launched the Cannabis Education Center in 2020 and consulted with indus try leaders to find out what skills were in demand. The center, founded by Hayden, now offers career tracks in cultivation, culinary, extraction and infu sion, and customer service.

“For the people who own this business, it is a business like any other,” Hayden said. “They’re looking for accountants, HR professionals, managers, people who can do harvest ing and packaging. When you look at it, it’s a great opportunity for people with limited skills, work experi ence and education to get into the industry from an entry level.”

Hayden figures Rhode Island will follow Massachu setts’ pattern of job growth in the first years of legaliza tion. Eventually, however, the focus in southern New England will shift and industry leaders may start grappling with market satu ration. In some states that pioneered the legalization of cannabis, such as Colorado and California, sales have plateaued and in some cases are declining.

“It’s hard to [pull] out a crystal ball and figure it out, but the reality is that right now in Massachusetts it’s in a growth mode and they’re looking for opportunities to fulfill their market,” Hayden said.

FLOWING BACK?

As of now, it’s been a bit of a struggle for culti vators in Rhode Island such as Mammoth Inc. in Warwick.

The company supplies its yield of chemical-free cannabis to the state dispensaries, but with only

16,000 Rhode Islanders permitted to buy marijuana for medical reasons – down from 19,400 in July 2021 – and many consumers flocking over the bor der to cannabis stores in Massachusetts, demand has slumped and deflated prices.

Spencer Blier, Mammoth founder and CEO, is eager for recreational sales to kick off in Decem ber, and he’s optimistic about the future – more dispensaries, more retail stores, and more canna bis needed. And with it, he hopes, rising prices.

State officials estimate there will be about 115,000 adult-use customers purchasing cannabis products in Rhode Island in the first year or two of recreational sales, with the average customer spending $1,100 annually.

“It will probably take about three months for people to really start flowing back,” Blier said. “It will be slow but it will really pick up. It depends on how well Rhode Island advertises that starting Dec. 1 anyone can walk into a store and buy can nabis products.”

Once that happens, Blier says, more jobs will follow.

Mammoth only has a few employees now, but Blier foresees adding another five once things pick up. “We’re hoping we’ll do well enough to put an expansion on the back of the building, build out some additional grow rooms, additional lab space,” Blier said.

Massachusetts-based Solar Therapeutics Inc. has even bigger hiring plans.

Solar was awarded a Rhode Island dispensary license by lottery a year ago and is preparing to open a facility in Warwick.

The company already has a 70,000-square-foot flagship facility in Somerset that includes cultiva tion, product manufacturing, corporate offices and a retail space, hosting about 175 workers spread among several departments. It has another loca tion in Seekonk and is in the process of opening a third in Dartmouth.

In Rhode Island, Solar will be purchasing can nabis from local cultivators for its 2,000-squarefoot Warwick dispensary and is expecting to fill about 35 positions in retail, security, logistics and “budtenders” – staff members who offer product suggestions to customers and answer questions.

FUTURE EXPANSION? Alyssa Kenyon works as a trimmer in the Mammoth Inc. cannabis cultivation facility in Warwick. Founder and CEO Spencer Blier hopes eventually to add grow rooms, lab space and employees after retail sales of recreational marijuana start in December. PBN PHOTO/MICHEAL SALERNO

‘There’s definitely going to be a need for betterqualified people.’

ROBERT CALKIN, Cannabis Career Institute CEO

CANNABIS

What qualifications is Solar looking for?

Derek Gould, director of marketing and communications at Solar, says the company wel comes newcomers to the industry, as long as they have a strong interest in the field. But more formal training can give candidates an edge, he adds.

“Whether it’s from an actual degree or focus from an accredited university or something online, any knowledge or skill set you can bring that’s more hyper-focused to the industry isn’t a bad thing,” Gould said.

CANNABIS CLASSES

As the industry grows, a more-refined set of skills will likely become sought out as the work force becomes more competitive and specialized, observers say.

“There’s definitely going to be a need for betterqualified people because it’ll be tougher to get a job because more people are going to be coming into the market,” said Robert Calkin, CEO of the Can nabis Career Institute, a California-based organiza tion that stages seminars and workshops nation wide. “So that’s another reason why you need to have some kind of experience or a way to beef up your resume or show that you’ve got some kind of knowledge of the industry.”

That might explain the number of educational programs cropping up around the U.S., marketed as a way for those breaking into the industry to stand out.

The Cannabis Career Institute has been around for over 10 years, preceding the legalization of cannabis in many states. Calkin says the program teaches participants how to find a job, how to network with leaders and how to open their own businesses.

With a rapidly changing cannabis industry, many workers constantly have to adjust to a new landscape, Calkin says. This is one of the big chal lenges that has surfaced with legalization.

“Some people had to figure out how to transition from the black market into the legal, licensed mar ket and then other people had to figure out how to transition from regular jobs into the cannabis industry,” said Calkin, who is planning to hold a daylong seminar in Rhode Island in December.

Beyond the institute, cannabis-geared educa tional programs at esteemed institutions have sprouted up in recent years, from certificates to degree programs.

The Johnson & Wales cannabis entrepreneur ship bachelor’s degree program was one of the first of its kind.

Launched last year by professors Michael Budziszek and Magnus Thorsson, the four-year program delves into the business side of the in dustry, as well as the cultivation side.

So far, a full capacity of 70 students have en tered the program, some looking to be cultivators, some chemists. Others want to own a business or

try marketing.

“We produce a really well-rounded student in this industry that can communicate to indi viduals within the industry and the profession,” Budziszek said. “Good communicators, good criti cal thinkers, scientists and businesspeople.”

In the lab, students haven’t been allowed to practice growing and extraction techniques on cannabis – at least not yet. JWU is seeking a license that will allow cannabis hemp to be grown in the lab by next semester.

The students are also learning how to control the plants’ genes by modifying the environmental epigenetics, how to practice safe extractions, the history of cannabis and how to market it.

“We are providing students the framework to operate their business, whatever they decide the business is,” Thorsson said.

The University of Rhode Island launched a cannabis studies minor this fall after its online certificate program touched off numerous inquiries from URI students already on campus. Courses are designed to help students – no mat ter their scientific background – learn about the chemical and pharmaceutical sides of the indus try.

“We have all the labs, we have the equipment that the industry uses to train the workforce,” said Navindra Seeram, professor and head of the Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences in URI’s College of Business. “So we can have a robust, viable workforce right here at the University of Rhode Island, training Rhode Islanders in a field that they can then go into and get jobs and be part of the economy.”

SPECIAL SKILL SETS

A large chunk of the existing cannabis work force is made up of professionals who pivoted into the business, transitioning from other sectors once the potential for growth in the industry became evident.

‘We’re really looking at ... pulling some of the scientists and professionals from [other] industries into this space.’

DR. JASON IANNUCCILLI, PureVita Labs LLC founder

“A lot of people don’t realize that something that they do now might be something they can do in the cannabis industry,” Calkin said. “They might be an accountant, an insurance agent, a real estate agent. And all they have to do is be come a green real estate agent.”

Case in point: Dr. Jason Iannuccilli.

A physician at Rhode Island Hospital and a fac ulty member at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School, he started to research the thera peutic effects of cannabis. That led him to found PureVita Labs LLC, a West Warwick lab that con ducts regulatory testing on marijuana products.

“I was at the pinnacle of my career; I was direc tor of the interventional oncology division at the Rhode Island Hospital and I saw an opportunity in this space where my medical skill set was needed,” Iannuccilli said.

Now Iannuccilli encourages other doctors to follow his lead. It’s rare to see physicians in the industry, he says, but the skills that make them succeed in the medical field are needed in this industry.

“We’re really looking at ... pulling some of the scientists and professionals from [other] indus tries into this space to really make it legitimate and improve it,” he said.

Right now, PuraVita – which has eight employ ees – is looking to hire a chemistry and microbiol ogy field analyst to collect samples of marijuana batches from cultivators and an analytical chemist to conduct testing at the lab. But a science back ground is not all that Iannuccilli and Andrew Aus tin, chief operating officer, look for in an employee. A connection to the industry and a passion for the product are important, too.

“We spend a lot of time carefully recruiting and screening our candidates and interviewing them before we make our final decision, specifically in our science space,” Austin said.

At Solar Therapeutics, Gould points to himself as an example of the strong pull of the industry for

some.

He worked for years in public relations, then shifted to operating Zen Blend Farms, a cannabis cultivation facility in Warwick that didn’t require the use of his marketing skills. He eventually decided to combine his two areas of expertise –marijuana and marketing – and signed on for his role at Solar.

“There’s so many ties to cannabis, you know from sports, from medicine, to fashion, to lifestyle, to art,” Gould said. “It’s really interesting, which was kind of the draw for me, is just how inter twined and in different segments of industries

cannabis really is.”

In a class called “Plant Cultivation I: Soil, Soil Substitutes, and Disease Management” at JWU, Celia Kinneary is feeling the draw of the industry and sees the same interest among her classmates as they work in the lab tending to tomato plants in special tents that allow the students to control air, humidity and temperature.

“Everything that’s taught in this class, whether you’re applying it to cannabis or other plants, you can use for absolutely any plant,” Kinneary said. “These technologies we’re learning are so important.” n

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QUALITY WORK: Analyst Byron Acevedo processes samples of cannabis from cultiva tion centers at the PureVita Labs LLC facility in Warwick. Observers expect the sector to need more personnel with a scientific background as the Rhode Island cannabis industry matures.

PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

‘I invested 100% in myself’

BY CLAUDIA CHIAPPA | Chiappa@PBN.com

(Editor’s note: This is the 26th installment in a monthly series speaking with minority business owners and leaders. Each will be asked their views on minority-business conditions in the state and for ways to improve those businesses’ chances for success.)

GARY WALLACE REMEMBERS that the song “Lose Yourself” by rapper Eminem was playing in the background when he made the decision that changed his life.

There was one particular line of the song that stood out: “You only get one shot, do not miss your chance.”

At the time in 2012, Wallace had been working as a tech nician in the printing business for more than 10 years, had traveled all over the world and built a strong reputation in the industry working for other companies. But when a former customer told him he was retiring and selling his printing machines, Wallace decided to make an offer.

He was going to start his own business.

“This was my one shot,” Wallace said. “I didn’t hesitate.”

It was a scary leap for Wallace, but looking back on it a decade later, it’s a decision he does not regret.

He has built the business, Hall of GraFX, into a busy print ing shop, bustling with clients and keeping Wallace work ing seven days a week.

Wallace, a Rhode Island native, had bounced from company to company, working in Manhattan, Toronto and Virginia since 1997. He was not only an expert at using printing machines, but he became an expert at installing, maintaining and fixing them. But while traveling the world was an adventure, Wallace loves being his own boss.

This was my one shot

He bought the equipment from his retiring customer for $12,000 and settled into a small space in a warehouse in Providence. At first, he juggled his day job while his print shop gained momen tum. A year later, his busi ness had grown enough to move to a larger space. And then on his daughter’s 11th birthday, Wallace was fired from his day job. He says it was the best day of his life.

“All of my fears are sitting in front of me, and I have no choice but to make it work,” Wallace said. “I have no more safety net.”

Still, Wallace struggled. He had to come to terms with an unreliable income, highly dependent on the number of cli ents visiting the shop and spreading the word of their good experience with Hall of GraFX. He also had to learn how to work by himself, taking care of every aspect of the shop.

“Owning a business is a lot different than just working,” Wallace said. “Now I have to be everything: the janitor, sales rep, customer service, maintenance, bill collector, hu man resources.”

While racism was never a direct issue for Wallace, he knew it could have been. Starting out with no loan and no real business plan, all he could do was invest in himself. So that’s what he did, and it paid off. It did not take long for Wallace’s business to blossom, which now barely leaves him any room for vacation days. He now regularly juggles creating decorations for several events, from colorful cardboard cutouts for children’s birthday parties to balloon arches for elaborate weddings.

But he’s not completely alone. His daughter and wife often lend a hand, and he regularly works with student interns from local high schools. This is his favorite part, Wallace says.

“It helps me feel like I’m giving back to the community and help students find something they can do when they grow up,” Wallace said. “I like watching people grow and learn.”

1Do you believe racism is keeping mi norities from starting businesses in the Ocean State, or succeeding when they do?

I believe racism doesn’t keep people from achieving their own destiny in R.I. I believe people are their own roadblock in life. Rac ism does exist everywhere, but it’s up to the individual to work the system to their advan tage. I created a business that suits everyone, so people have no choice but to look past my color because I do my best every day to create beautiful artwork.

sider this and be more helpful toward loaning money to potential successful startups. It’s a risk for all involved, but with no risk comes no fortune. Banks also get the benefit of knowing they helped a small business grow and they can use this in their own marketing to attract new customers. It’s a win-win for all.

4Are you aware of any minority-owned businesses that have been forced to turn somewhere other than a bank for a loan? Do you believe the state’s lending institutions generally treat minorities fairly?

2

How dependent do you think most minority-owned businesses are on the support of fellow minorities? Is that a sustainable business model?

Depending on the business, I will say that a lot of minorities are reluctant to shop with their own people. In my case, some people will come to me and compare me to a na tional company and tell me that they are cheaper than I am. I tell them, “Then why are you here?” They say, “Because I want to see if you can beat their price.” I tell them no, even if I can. It’s not fair how a small busi ness will be asked to adjust prices to satisfy a picky customer of their own culture. No one ever walks in to Stop & Shop or Walmart and questions any of the listed prices. Why should a small business have to?

3

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

R.I. should consider helping more people become self-employed based on the person themselves submitting a proper business plan and target market. More money comes out of the inner city weekly than most other communities. That’s why banks should con

When I started my business, I didn’t go to a bank for a loan. I had no business plan at all. I invested 100% in myself and took my own money and went for it with nothing at all. I feel that if someone can do that, it’s best. I feel that if I walked into a bank and told them I’m starting a grand format digital printing business they had no idea of, I would have been turned away and that’s based 100% on my skin color. I also feel that if a white person did the same thing, they would have a better chance at getting a loan.

5

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

I would tell them to write up a business plan and have someone proofread it. Then I would tell them to go to a small bank and see if they are willing to help. If not, I would then ask if they had an alternative plan to launch their business. If not, I would tell them to take whatever money they had and start small. I would definitely tell them to go at it alone.

I believe that having a partner will only in crease the chances of failure. Having a small business is not for everyone. n

I didn’t hesitate.

SEIZING THE MOMENT: After working as a technician in the printing business for more than a decade, Gary Wallace, owner of Hall of GraFX in Providence, jumped at the chance to start his own print shop when one of his customers decided to retire and Wallace purchased his printing equipment for $12,000.

PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

LAW REVIEW

Housing crisis putting eviction law in spotlight

BY NANCY LAVIN | Lavin@PBN.com

MOST

of Providence Mayor Jorge O. Elorza’s peers at Harvard Law School weren’t interested in eviction defense work.

The pay was low. Elorza, who worked in legal aid after graduating law school and later became a hous ing court judge, made $30,000 a year at his first job. And jobs were scarce, due in part to a lack of federal fund ing for the pro bono services.

“When you are in law school, you get recruited, wined and dined by fancy law firms,” Elorza said. “Evic tion defense is a much less-popular path.”

Not anymore. Housing law is gaining attention and appeal thanks to an influx of government aid and new attention on the importance of legal representation for low-income tenants facing eviction.

That includes Rhode Island, where Providence recently gave another $600,000 to an Eviction Help Desk program that started in Sixth District Court last year. The funding, through the city’s American Rescue Plan Act dollars, pays for legal aid attorneys to show up at the Garrahy Judicial Complex every morning to answer eviction-related questions and offer last-minute representation

to low-income tenants.

The extra funding is more criti cal now because the state’s rental assistance program has ended. Even before RentReliefRI stopped issu ing payments to eligible renters and landlords on Sept. 30, attorneys noticed eviction cases starting to creep up.

“We are already feeling it, with what we are seeing in the number of folks reaching out,” said Jen nifer Wood, executive director for the Rhode Island Center for Justice, which is partnering with Rhode Island Legal Services to staff the help desk.

In 2019, there were more than 27,100 eviction filings recorded in state courts. That was slashed nearly in half, to 16,200 cases, in 2020, and further reduced to 15,900 in 2021, ac cording to information from the R.I. Supreme Court.

Now that the pandemic eviction moratorium has ended and rent relief has run out, Steven Flores, director of the housing law center for Rhode Island Legal Services, ex pects filings will return to pre-pan demic levels. Skyrocketing rent and a tight housing market will make it harder for people to pay their rent,

LEGAL ASSISTANCE: Rhode Island Legal Services staff attorney Brian Furgal, Roger Williams University School of Law student Nicole Palmer, center, and RWU faculty member Eliza Vorengerg operate the Eviction Help Desk outside Sixth District Court at the Garrahy Judi cial Complex in Providence.

Flores says.

On a recent Wednesday morning, a middle-aged woman, who declined to be interviewed, cried silently, her tears lost amid the hubbub unfolding in the third-floor hallway of the Gar rahy Judicial Complex. Around her, clusters of worried-looking defen dants whispered in urgent, hushed tones while lawyers rifled through stacks of file folders, searching for answers to their questions.

The frantic scramble stands in stark contrast to the attorney rep resenting the landlords, who scrolls on his cellphone while he waits for hearings to start. Landlords almost always have lawyers in eviction cases, while tenants rarely do, which increases “exponentially” the chances of a tenant losing their home, Elorza said.

On a busy day, there might be more than two dozen cases scheduled for hearings. And the pair of attor neys behind the plexiglass-paneled help desk is not always enough to help everyone, Flores says.

Many of the tenants who come to the help desk have little to no paper work and don’t understand the chain of events that led them there. Add in raw emotions, and it can make it dif ficult for the attorneys to extract the facts needed to plead the case.

Sensitivity to the crisis that people are experiencing is just as important as legal knowledge and courtroom ex perience, says Suzanne HarringtonSteppen, associate director of pro bono programs and director of the summer public interest externship program at the Roger Williams Uni versity School of Law.

“It’s not social work; it’s not fluff; it’s an essential piece of creating rap port with your client,” she said. “If you cannot connect to clients in that five minutes in a hallway, you can’t get the facts and you can’t do your job as a lawyer.”

The help desk gave students a chance to learn that skill firsthand while fulfilling their mandatory probono hours. For some, it’s sparked an interest in eviction defense as a career, Harrington-Steppen says.

And unlike when Elorza and Har rington-Steppen were in law school, the funding and focus on legal aid for tenants means there are expected to be a lot more jobs to go around.

“There is a huge right-to-counsel movement in the U.S. right now for eviction, which is seen as the next civil rights type of work,” Harrington-Steppen said. “When you have a right-to-counsel movement, you need a lot of attorneys.”

The Providence ARPA funding will allow the help desk to continue at the District Court until fall 2023. But as the national right-to-counsel movement gains traction, Wood is hoping for more money to make the Providence program permanent and expand it statewide.

‘There is a huge right-to-counsel movement.’

SUZANNE HARRINGTON-STEPPEN, Roger Williams University School of Law

This means they likely will need more eviction defense attorneys, although she’s not sure how many.

“We are not staffed at the number we need to be,” Wood said. “I think there is going to be a big pipeline is sue nationally.” n

“He was very severely injured,” said attorney Jonathan Orent, who works out of the Providence office of Motley Rice LLC.

Trevino sued Davol and Bard, a subsidiary of Becton, Dickinson and Co., one of the largest medi cal device manufacturers in the world. In August, a Rhode Island jury sided with Trevino, a Hawaii resident, and awarded him $4.8 million. Bard is readying its appeal.

The implications of the jury decision go far beyond that one judgment.

The Trevino case may serve as a precedent for a tidal wave of additional lawsuits in federal and Rhode Island courts alleging the Davol mesh was not fit to be implanted in the human body.

The case was a test, what legal observers refer to as a “bellwether trial,” selected by a judge among the thousands to streamline the judicial process with a single deposition of the defendant. The individual claims now number more than 17,000 and continue to grow. Orent said he is field ing about 50 new claims a week. About 4,500 cases were settled out of court last year.

“[The Trevino] case was chosen so that ul timately the parties will find a way to reach a conclusion,” he said. “It was designed to give us information.”

According to claims made by plaintiffs in the thousands of civil lawsuits now making their way through the courts, Bard knowingly sold unsafe mesh implants, leading to further medical compli cations.

Becton Dickinson, a conglomerate with reve nues in the billions, employs 70,000 people world wide, including about 450 people in Rhode Island, according to the Providence Business News 2022 Book of Lists. BD acquired Bard in 2017.

Troy Kirkpatrick, Becton Dickinson vice presi dent of public relations, said in a statement that patient safety and product quality are top priori ties for the company, and expressed empathy for Trevino’s medical complications.

All implantable medical devices carry risks, as well as clinical benefits that can outweigh those risks, Kirkpatrick said.

“The company’s hernia mesh products have benefited thousands of patients over many years, and those patients have improved lives because of them,” Kirkpatrick said. “We intend to appeal this verdict.”

While many plaintiffs do not live in Rhode Island, many of the lawsuits have been filed in R.I. Superior Court because the facility that created the polypropylene mesh used in the hernia proce dures is located in Warwick. “A lot of the miscon duct we allege [relates] to the harms stemming from Rhode Island,” Orent said.

Bard is no stranger to civil litigation. In 2011, Bard reached a $184 million settlement with 2,600 plaintiffs who alleged they had been injured by a different hernia mesh called Composix Kugel, a product later recalled by the Food and Drug

Administration.

Bard also reached a settlement with multiple states in September 2020 related to its surgical mesh marketing. Rhode Island’s share of the settlement was $636,000, according to the R.I. Of fice of the Attorney General

The FDA, which regulates medical devices, did not respond to requests for comment. Under the current classification, hernia meshes do not require clinical testing before being brought to market.

Stricter regulation is needed, Orent said.

“This is a consequence of the regulatory structure,” he said. “The FDA isn’t a regulatory powerhouse when it comes to [medical] devices. These companies don’t need to prove that these devices are safe.”

Documents obtained during the pretrial discov ery process indicated that Davol acquired plastics through a third-party company called Red Oak after executives were warned by the plastics sup plier not to use the mesh for implants because of a resin in the design that might be unsafe.

Using Red Oak created a “diversion to hide the fact that the raw polypropylene resin would be crafted into mesh for use in the human body,” argued Orent in court filings.

Emails presented to the jury in Trevino’s law suit quote a message from a former Bard execu tive, warning the buyers to “keep the Bard name secret in discussions with the resin manufacturer and distributor. … In fact, I would advise purchas

ing the resin through a [third] party, not the resin supplier to avoid a supply issue once the medical application is discovered.”

Bard attorneys attempted to cast doubt on the claims.

“The typical defense we heard … [was Trevino] had comorbidities and certain lifestyle decisions that affected his injures,” Orent said. “Or that it was the doctor’s or the hospital’s fault. It was everyone’s fault but the defense.”

Meanwhile, the need for medical innovation must march along. And litigation can sometimes get in the way of this progress, said Dr. Charles Adams Jr., professor of surgery at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University Adams worries the publicity of these lawsuits can scare patients into thinking that all mesh hernia patches are dangerous.

“It’s one of the problems with the way we do things in the United States,” he said. “Some prod ucts are brought to market with not a lot of longterm data. We often don’t know what happens over time. And that can open the floodgates for all kinds of lawsuits. Meshes are now being maligned because there is money to be made.”

But the issue is extremely complex, he said.

“These choices need to be individualized,” he said. “Patients are willing to accept risk but want to be informed of that risk. The difference is the intentional cutting of corners. Unfortunately, it has taken a difficult problem and made it even worse.” n

COMPLEX CASE: Jonathan Orent, an attorney at Motley Rice LLC in Providence, is the lead attorney for a lawsuit involving a hernia mesh medical device that was created at a Becton, Dickinson and Co. subsidiary in Warwick.

PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

‘This is a consequence of the regulatory structure.’ JONATHAN ORENT, Motley Rice LLC attorney

TOP PRIVATE COMPANIES

Ranked by oldest companies:

1

BankNewport Year founded: 1819

2

FM Global Year founded: 1835

3

Butler Hospital Year founded: 1844

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

Oct. 28: Architectural Firms, MBA Programs; Nov. 11: Accounting Firms, Executive Compensation in Public Companies, Wealth Managers.

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.

FOOTNOTES

j

ConstructionCo. |

S.Dimeo,

Memorial Hospital | sturdymemorial.org AimeeB.Brewer,

R.I.02905

Park St. Attleboro,

R.I.02839

Formerly National Grid Rhode Island. National Grid on May 25 announced the sale of Narragansett Electric Co. to PPL Rhode Island Holdings LLC for $3.8 billion, and rebranded as Rhode Island Energy.

 Southcoast Health System includes Charlton Memorial Hospital, St. Luke’s Hospital, Tobey Hospital, Southcoast Physicians Group and Visiting Nurses Association.



Formerly known as Thielsch Engineering Inc.

 Information is from the 2020 fiscal year. Steward Saint Anne’s Hospital and Morton Hospital’s 2021 fiscal year data was not available.



Part of Care New England Health System, which includes Butler Hospital, Kent County Memorial Hospital, Women & Infants Hospital and Visiting Nurses Association of Care New England.

How employers can offer inclusive benefits for today’s families

How employers can offer inclusive benefits for today’s families

With only 19% of U.S. households comprising “traditional families,” employers must rethink how they deliver benefits to meet diverse family needs.

With only 19% of U.S. households comprising “traditional families,” employers must rethink how they deliver benefits to meet diverse family needs.

Today’s definition of family stretches well beyond the traditional makeup of mom, dad and the 2.5 kids. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey in 2019, married couples with children under 18 account for just 19% of households. These numbers show that non-traditional families, including single parents, LGBTQ+ parents and grandparents raising grandkids, are redefining what families look like.

Today’s definition of family stretches well beyond the traditional makeup of mom, dad and the 2.5 kids. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey in 2019, married couples with children under 18 account for just 19% of households. These numbers show that non-traditional families, including single parents, LGBTQ+ parents and grandparents raising grandkids, are redefining what families look like.

Employers want innovative health benefits that meet the moment

Employers want innovative health benefits that meet the moment

The ‘sandwich generation,’ which finds nearly one in five Americans providing care to adult family members, and the upheaval in childcare resources caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are also driving evolving family dynamics. In response, employers are seeking innovative health benefits solutions to address diverse needs and support employee well-being.

The ‘sandwich generation,’ which finds nearly one in five Americans providing care to adult family members, and the upheaval in childcare resources caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are also driving evolving family dynamics. In response, employers are seeking innovative health benefits solutions to address diverse needs and support employee well-being.

Broadening the range of family-friendly health benefits makes good business sense, especially in today’s tight labor market. WTW’s 2022 Global Benefits Attitudes Survey reports that nearly half of employees cite benefits as an important reason for joining a company—and 46% would be willing to forgo a bump in pay for enhanced health benefits.

Broadening the range of family-friendly health benefits makes good business sense, especially in today’s tight labor market. WTW’s 2022 Global Benefits Attitudes Survey reports that nearly half of employees cite benefits as an important reason for joining a company—and 46% would be willing to forgo a bump in pay for enhanced health benefits.

“The definition of family continues to evolve,” says Paul Bartosic, vice president of Rhode Island commercial accounts at Point32Health, the parent

“The definition of family continues to evolve,” says Paul Bartosic, vice president of Rhode Island commercial accounts at Point32Health, the parent

company of the combined Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. He notes that societal changes are requiring employers and their benefits partners—including health plans—to “rethink everything.” It’s important to know how to better meet the needs of employees by understanding the benefits they will value, and “connect in a deeper, more meaningful way.”

company of the combined Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. He notes that societal changes are requiring employers and their benefits partners—including health plans—to “rethink everything.” It’s important to know how to better meet the needs of employees by understanding the benefits they will value, and “connect in a deeper, more meaningful way.”

While remote work and flexible schedules grab the headlines, employers and their benefits advisors are thinking outside the box, as they expand benefits to meet diverse family needs.

While remote work and flexible schedules grab the headlines, employers and their benefits advisors are thinking outside the box, as they expand benefits to meet diverse family needs.

Prioritizing family-support benefits and resources

Prioritizing family-support benefits and resources

Family-planning support that encompasses all types of family journeys, including fertility, IVF, donor and gestational carriers, adoption and parental leave, has broad appeal for employees. Offering parenting resources and tools that support all employees— including singles and LGBTQ+ families—can be a powerful recruiting and retention tool. At the same time, this type of support can have a positive effect on employee health as well as overall health care costs. Caregiving support is another example of how non-traditional benefits can help strengthen employee loyalty and increase productivity. Eight in 10 employees with caregiving responsibilities say it has a negative impact on their productivity at work. Caregiving support is offered through the workplace, ranging from flexible

Family-planning support that encompasses all types of family journeys, including fertility, IVF, donor and gestational carriers, adoption and parental leave, has broad appeal for employees. Offering parenting resources and tools that support all employees— including singles and LGBTQ+ families—can be a powerful recruiting and retention tool. At the same time, this type of support can have a positive effect on employee health as well as overall health care costs. Caregiving support is another example of how non-traditional benefits can help strengthen employee loyalty and increase productivity. Eight in 10 employees with caregiving responsibilities say it has a negative impact on their productivity at work. Caregiving support is offered through the workplace, ranging from flexible

schedules and paid leave through employee assistance programs, child and elder care reimbursements and concierge caregiver resources. These significantly reduce the mental and emotional stress that comes with complex care decisions.

schedules and paid leave through employee assistance programs, child and elder care reimbursements and concierge caregiver resources. These significantly reduce the mental and emotional stress that comes with complex care decisions.

Financial support continues to be essential

Financial support continues to be essential

A recent study by plan decision support service MyHealthMath revealed that private health insurance covers approximately 40% of low-wage earners. Of this group of workers, 43% are likely to have children, and slightly more than half are the sole earners in their families or make major contributions to the family income. Plan decision support may help deter individuals from “over-insuring” and can be a valuable addition to an employee benefits package.

A recent study by plan decision support service MyHealthMath revealed that private health insurance covers approximately 40% of low-wage earners. Of this group of workers, 43% are likely to have children, and slightly more than half are the sole earners in their families or make major contributions to the family income. Plan decision support may help deter individuals from “over-insuring” and can be a valuable addition to an employee benefits package.

Adding a health savings account (HSA) to an employer’s benefits offering can also provide an essential financial savings component for growing and evolving families. HSAs pair with high-deductible health plans to allow employees to pay for qualified out-of-pocket health care expenses with pre-tax dollars. HSAs can be a valuable tool for employees because the balances roll over year-to-year, with unused funds serving as an investment vehicle for health care expenses during retirement.

Adding a health savings account (HSA) to an employer’s benefits offering can also provide an essential financial savings component for growing and evolving families. HSAs pair with high-deductible health plans to allow employees to pay for qualified out-of-pocket health care expenses with pre-tax dollars. HSAs can be a valuable tool for employees because the balances roll over year-to-year, with unused funds serving as an investment vehicle for health care expenses during retirement.

HSAs, however, are often underutilized because employees don’t always understand how the

HSAs, however, are often underutilized because employees don’t always understand how the

accounts work. Individualized plan decision support can help employees choose the most cost-effective health plan to fit the employee’s unique needs, and help explore whether an HSA is a good fit.

accounts work. Individualized plan decision support can help employees choose the most cost-effective health plan to fit the employee’s unique needs, and help explore whether an HSA is a good fit.

As the family unit continues to evolve, employers that prioritize expanded health benefits to meet diverse family needs will have a tangible advantage as they compete to attract and retain top talent. “When it comes to addressing the diverse needs of a company’s workforce, we take a consultative approach so we can bring customized, relevant solutions to the table,” says Bartosic.

As the family unit continues to evolve, employers that prioritize expanded health benefits to meet diverse family needs will have a tangible advantage as they compete to attract and retain top talent. “When it comes to addressing the diverse needs of a company’s workforce, we take a consultative approach so we can bring customized, relevant solutions to the table,” says Bartosic.

Learn more about how Tufts Health Plan, a Point32Health company, can help build inclusive benefits packages to support Rhode Island businesses and their workforce by visiting www.tuftshealthplan.com/ri-local.

Learn more about how Tufts Health Plan, a Point32Health company, can help build inclusive benefits packages to support Rhode Island businesses and their workforce by visiting www.tuftshealthplan.com/ri-local.

This article was first published in BenefitsPRO in Fall 2022.

This article was first published in BenefitsPRO in Fall 2022.

cm-law.com

BRIDGET L. MULLANEY Partner

Cameron & Mittleman LLP 401.331.5700 bmullaney@cm-law.com www.cm-law.com

YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY 16

YEARS WITH CURRENT FIRM 10

EDUCATION

Undergraduate Degree: Providence College Law Degree: Catholic University

BRIDGET IS A PARTNER in Trusts & Estates. She works with individuals, families and business owners helping them plan for the future and navigate through the process of losing a loved one. She is well versed in sophisticated estate planning to help clients with business succession, minimization of estate taxes, charitable giving, special needs planning and asset protection.

She has been recognized as a Super Lawyer Rising Star, Five Star Award Winner, PBN 2018 winner 40 Under Forty, and RI Monthly, Profession Excellence in the Law.

Bridget has been a lecturer for the RI Bar Association and is a contributing author for the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Publication “A Practical Guide to Estate Planning in Rhode Island.”

In addition, she has served on the Board of Directors for Inspiring Minds, Board of Trustees for St. Mary Academy – Bay View, Professional Advisory Counsel for the RI Foundation, and on the Board of Directors` for the RI Estate Planning Council.

MEAGHAN E. KELLY

Associate Cameron & Mittleman LLP 401.331.5700 mkelly@cm-law.com www.cm-law.com

YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY 13+

YEARS WITH CURRENT FIRM 4 EDUCATION

Undergraduate Degree: BAAS, Political Science, University of Delaware Law Degree : J.D., Roger Williams School of Law LL.M. Taxation, Boston University School of Law

MEAGHAN JOINED THE FIRM as an Associate in 2018. Her practice focuses on the areas of taxation, estate planning, probate and trust administration, business planning, and state and local administrative law. Prior to joining C&M, Meaghan served as the Chief of the Estate and Gift Tax Department at the RI Division of Taxation. She also served as liaison with various state and federal agencies, fostering joint investigations into alleged tax evasion, money laundering, false claims litigation, etc.

Meaghan received her Juris Doctor from Roger Williams University School of Law and her LL.M. in Taxation from Boston University School of Law. She was a member of the honors program and law review, serving on the editorial board as an Articles’ Editor and was the recipient of the C.A.L.I.

Excellence for the Future Award® in both International Law and Trial Advocacy. She is recognized as “Ones to Watch” by The Best Lawyers in America© 2022.

LYNN E. RILEY

Partner

Cameron & Mittleman LLP

401.331.5700 lriley@cm-law.com www.cm-law.com

YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY 26

YEARS WITH CURRENT FIRM 19

EDUCATION

Undergraduate Degree: B.S., Bentley University

Law Degree: J.D., Suffolk University Law School, Summa Cum Laude LL.M. Taxation, Boston University Law School

LYNN IS A PARTNER and Chairperson of the Firm’s estate planning group. Her practice focuses on advising individuals, business owners, professionals and families on wealth preservation, asset transfer, and charitable giving. Lynn also represents executors and trustees with respect to all aspects of administration of decedents’ estates and trusts. She works with attorneys in the Firm’s Litigation Group representing individual and corporate fiduciaries in probate, guardianship and trust proceedings.

She is former chairperson of the RI Bar Association CLE Committee, and member of the Rhode Island Probate and Trust Committee, and Elder law Committee. She is a member and former president of the Estate Planning Council of RI, as well as a member of the Professional Advisory Committee for the RI Foundation.

Lynn is a popular instructor at seminars and a contributing Author to “A Practical Guide to Probate Practice in Rhode Island.”

SALLY P. MCDONALD

Partner

Cameron & Mittleman LLP

401.331.5700 smcdonald@cm-law.com www.cm-law.com

YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY 12

YEARS WITH CURRENT FIRM 3

EDUCATION

Undergraduate Degree: Trinity College, with honors Law degree: Roger Williams University School of Law, cum laude

SALLY IS A PARTNER of the Firm and specializes in business litigation. She has extensive experience practicing in both State and Federal Courts, and has litigated a variety of matters.

Sally earned her Juris Doctorate Cum Laude, and was a member of her law school’s Honors Program and Law Review. She also clerked for Chief Justice Suttell of the Rhode Island Supreme Court.

Prior to joining Cameron & Mittleman, Sally was Managing Counsel of the Rhode Island Office of a Los Angeles-based law firm. In that role and others, she has participated in a number of high profile matters. She served as Lead Local Counsel for one of Rhode Island’s most well-known companies, and assisted in the representation of a NFL player in his case against the NFL.

Attorney McDonald has been named among The Best Lawyers in America© 2022, as well as a Super Lawyers.

VIVIAN M. KARIAN Associate Cameron & Mittleman LLP 401.331.5700 vkarian@cm-law.com www.cm-law.com

EDUCATION

Undergraduate Degree: B.A. Political Science, Quinnipiac University

Law Degree: J.D., Magna Cum Laude, Roger Williams University School of Law

VIVIAN IS AN ASSOCIATE in the Firm’s Trusts & Estates Department. Her practice focuses primarily in the areas of estate planning, estate administration, and guardianships.

Prior to joining the Firm as an Associate, Vivian worked as a Staff Attorney at the Catholic Charities of New Hampshire. In this role, Vivian practiced family-based immigration law and also represented victims of crime in their petitions for humanitarianbased immigration relief. Vivian’s proficiency in Spanish allowed her to reach marginalized communities and support their pathways to legal residency and citizenship.

Vivian received her Juris Doctor from Roger Williams University School of Law. She was the recipient of the C.A.L.I. Excellence for the Future Award® in Wills and Trusts, as well as in Contract Drafting and Transactional Lawyering. Vivian was also recognized for completing over 100 hours of pro bono legal service. She is licensed to practice law in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Vivian is a member of the Estate Planning Council of RI, the MA Bar Association, RI Bar Association, and the RI Women’s Bar Association.

MCINTYRE

DEBORAH M. TATE

Partner

McIntyre Tate LLP

401.351.7700

DTate@McIntyreTate.com www.McIntyreTate.com

YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY 41

YEARS WITH CURRENT ORGANIZATION 41 EDUCATION BBA Accounting, UMass Amherst

DEBORAH MILLER TATE is a partner with McIntyre Tate, LLP in Providence, focusing her practice on finding effective legal solutions for complicated matrimonial issues including divorce, child custody, child support and visitation rights as well as the preparation of Pre Marital and Post Nuptial Agreements.

Ms. Tate is co-editor of A Practical Guide to Divorce in Rhode Island, a go-to guide for attorneys, judges, accountants and mediators. She is a member of the R.I. Supreme Court’s Board of Bar Examiners.

Since 2007, Ms. Tate has annually been named a RI Super Lawyer. In 2019, she received the Hall of Fame Award for Excellence in the Law awarded by RI Lawyer’s Weekly.

& SMITH LLP | lewisbrisbois.com

LAUREN MOTOLA-DAVIS is the managing partner of Lewis Brisbois’ Providence office and a co-chair of the firm’s Workers’ Compensation Practice. She has decades of trial practice and civil litigation experience representing insurance companies, insureds, and self-insureds in a broad range of matters, including admiralty, employment discrimination, personal injury, and workers’ compensation matters. Additionally, Lauren has represented clients in the hospitality industry, including many well-known national restaurants, retail stores, and hotels.

Lauren is a certified Proctor in Admiralty, and the only woman with this designation in the state of Rhode Island. Earning this designation typically requires at least six years practicing in the federal court system and the recommendation of two existing Proctors in Admiralty to a peer review committee that then evaluates a variety of factors, including the applicant’s litigation experience, speaking engagements, publications, and contribution to the field of maritime law.

LAUREN MOTOLA-DAVIS

A highly respected member of the Rhode Island Bar, Lauren has repeatedly been recognized for her advocacy skills and leadership by local organizations. In 2019, Lauren was named the Legal Services Industry Leader by Providence Business News (PBN) at its annual Business Women Awards. In 2021, Lauren was again recognized by PBN through its Leaders & Achievers Award Program, which honors individuals for their longstanding commitment to the business community and a sustained demonstration of leading others, community service, and mentoring.

With an eye toward helping her clients avoid litigation, Lauren frequently provides education and training on relevant topics and presents seminars on admiralty law and workers’ compensation. Outside of her legal practice, Lauren sits on the board of Women’s Refugee Care, a refugee advocacy agency that acts as a center of support, exchange of resources, and preservation of culture for the African refugee community

Island.

EMMA D. BECKER Counsel

Day Pitney LLP

Private Client Department and Family Office Practice 401.283.1266 ebecker@daypitney.com www.daypitney.com

YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY 16

YEARS WITH CURRENT ORGANIZATION 1.5

EDUCATION Amherst College, A.B., cum laude; Fordham University School of Law, J.D.

DAY PITNEY COUNSEL Emma Becker works with families and individuals on issues and concerns related to preserving, enhancing and transferring family wealth. With sensitivity and attention to her client’s interests, Emma designs and drafts estate plans that minimize federal and state estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes, and maximize and protect the clients’ wealth for each subsequent generation. Emma also works creatively to help clients transfer wealth during life to minimize gift and estate taxes, using a range of strategies including grantor retained annuity trusts, charitable lead and charitable remainder trusts, and qualified personal residence trusts. In addition, Emma assists clients with the administration of estates and the probate process.

Emma is a Director at The Common Foundation, a nonprofit supporting the publication of a literary journal in partnership with Amherst College. She is admitted to practice in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. She is an active member of the Boston Bar Association and the Trusts and Estates Consortium.

With the merger, Day Pitney has nearly 300 attorneys, including nearly 80 dedicated trusts and estates lawyers, in 13 offices along the East Coast from Boston to Miami. The attorneys have hundreds of years of combined experience advising individuals and their families on the full spectrum of matters related to trusts and estates, and family offices. In addition, 15 attorneys are elected fellows of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), a group of peer-elected trust and estate attorneys across the United States and abroad with more than 10 years of experience in the active practice of probate and trust law or estate planning.

RENÉE A.R. EVANGELISTA

Partner and Providence Office Managing Partner Day Pitney LLP Private Client Department and Trusts and Estates Practice 401.283.1238 revangelista@daypitney.com www.daypitney.com

YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY: 31

YEARS WITH CURRENT ORGANIZATION: 1.5

EDUCATION Brown University, B.A.; New York University School of Law, J.D.

DAY PITNEY PARTNER Renée A.R. Evangelista provides individuals and families with sophisticated estate planning and uses estate settlement techniques to minimize gift, estate and income taxes, while ensuring that their property passes according to their wishes. She is a trustee of numerous private trusts and has routinely served as executor of client estates. She regularly appears in Superior Court, representing trustees and trust beneficiaries on accounting actions and trust reformations.

Renée is active within her community and has served on the boards for several organizations, including Providence Children’s Museum, Wheeler School of Providence, Finance Committee for the Women’s Sports Foundation, and International Tennis Hall of Fame, among others. Renée currently sits on the Edward and Virginia Routhier Foundation and the board of advisors for the Anthony Quinn Foundation.

Renée also serves as Providence Office Managing Partner for Day Pitney. She is admitted to practice in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut. She earned her B.A. from Brown University, and her J.D. from New York University School of Law.

With the merger, Day Pitney has nearly 300 attorneys, including nearly 80 dedicated trusts and estates lawyers, in 13 offices along the East Coast from Boston to Miami. The attorneys have hundreds of years of combined experience advising individuals and their families on the full spectrum of matters related to trusts and estates, and family offices. In addition, 15 attorneys are elected fellows of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), a group of peerelected trust and estate attorneys across the United States and abroad with more than 10 years of experience in the active practice of probate and trust law or estate planning.

MARASCO & NESSELBUSH | m-n-law.com

DONNA M. NESSELBUSH

Partner Marasco & Nesselbush 401.274.7400 DNesselbush@m-n-law.com www.m-n-law.com

EDUCATION

Undergraduate Degree: Brown University Law Degree: Suffolk University School Of Law, Cum Laude

DONNA NESSELBUSH is a co-founder of Marasco & Nesselbush, a firm dedicated to helping the injured and disabled. Throughout her career, Donna has been recognized for several professional achievements. In her role as the Executive Director of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence, she spearheaded several avant-garde initiatives in the courthouse as well as the State House. She is a member of the American and Rhode Island Associations for Justice, the first ‘Person of the Year’ to be included into the Pawtucket, Rhode Island Hall of Fame, and received the Ada Sawyer Award from the Rhode Island Women’s Bar Association for her work as a Rhode Island Senator to pass Rhode Island’s Marriage Equality Law. In May of this year, Donna was nationally recognized with the Eileen P. Sweeny Distinguished Service Award and was a Rhode Island State Senator from 20102020.

NICKLYN G. DOLPHIN

Associate Marasco & Nesselbush 401.274.7400

NDolphin@m-n-law.com www.m-n-law.com

YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY 11

YEARS WITH CURRENT ORGANIZATION 4

EDUCATION

Undergraduate Degree: Franklin & Marshall College, With Honors Law Degree: New England School Of Law

NICKLYN DOLPHIN is the managing associate attorney of the disability practice area at Marasco & Nesselbush. Nicki strives to help her clients and their families during difficult and vulnerable times, allowing them to focus on improving their health while she focuses on their legal matters. Her previous work experience with an indigent population resulted in experiences that made her cognizant of the difficulties facing individuals with limited means and the impact it can have on all aspects of an individual’s life. Her experience as the executive assistant for the chief of medicine and chief of nursing at Harvard University gave her a keen appreciation for the complications of our healthcare system and provided her with a crash course in medical jargon. Nicklyn graduated with honors from Franklin & Marshall College in 2004 and New England School of Law in 2011, where she finished in the top ten percent of her class and was an editor at the New England Law Review. She is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts.

JANE R. DUKET

Associate Marasco & Nesselbush 401.274.7400 JDuket@m-n-law.com www.m-n-law.com

YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY 11

YEARS WITH CURRENT ORGANIZATION 11

EDUCATION

Undergraduate Degree: Boston College Law Degree: Roger Williams University School Of Law, Cum Laude

JANE DUKET, an associate attorney with Marasco & Nesselbush, has dedicated her legal career to representing medical negligence victims and personal injury clients. Prior to joining Marasco & Nesselbush, Jane worked as a child advocate in the Boston area. She was recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2020 and 2021. Jane is admitted to practice law in the United States District Court, District of Rhode Island, and District of Massachusetts. She is a member of the Rhode Island Bar Association, the Rhode Island Association for Justice, and the Rhode Island Women’s Bar Association. During her time at Marasco & Nesselbush, Jane has advocated for her client’s needs, so they receive the best possible resolution, as seen in her most recent $7.27 million jury verdict for a client whose lifelong disabilities were caused by medical negligence.

LAUREN N. BIZIER

Associate Marasco & Nesselbush

401.274.7400

LBizier@m-n-law.com www.m-n-law.com

YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY 1

YEARS WITH CURRENT ORGANIZATION 1

EDUCATION

Undergraduate Degree: Roger Williams University, Cum Laude Law Degree: Roger Williams University School Of Law, Cum Laude

LAUREN BIZIER, an up-and-coming attorney, is an associate at Marasco & Nesselbush. She advocates for those who are injured and disabled, understanding how complex certain processes can be without legal representation. Lauren graduated cum laude from Roger Williams University with a double major in Legal Studies and Psychology, then cum laude from Roger Williams University School of Law. During law school, Lauren served as a Notes and Comments Editor for the Roger Williams University Law Review. Lauren’s comment discussing pending Title IX regulations was selected for publication in Volume 25 of the Roger Williams University Law Review. Additionally, she provided pro bono legal services by interning with Operation Stand Down Rhode Island, where she learned about Veteran’s Disability Law. She also participated in a pro bono program with Southcoast Fair Housing, where she worked on a project to increase awareness of fair housing rights. Lauren initially joined Marasco & Nesselbush as an intern and was inspired by the firm’s client-centered approach.

psh.com

ALICIA J. SAMOLIS Partner

Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP 401.861.8235 asamolis@psh.com psh.com/asamolis

YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY

YEARS WITH CURRENT ORGANIZATION

EDUCATION

Undergraduate Degree: Rhode Island College, B.A., Summa Cum Laude Law Degree: Roger Williams University School Of Law, J.D., Cum Laude

ALICIA IS THE CHAIR of the Firm’s Employment & Labor Practice. She advises businesses at all stages of the employment relationship, counseling employers on terminations, hiring, leaves, discipline, compensation, reductions in force, medical accommodation requests, mandatory arbitration agreements, policies, manager trainings, equal pay laws and new employment laws. On the litigation side, Alicia defends employers after they get sued by employees in state and federal courts, wage and hour agencies, and discrimination commissions.

Recently, Alicia has been an integral part of clients’ implementation a variety of strategies to retain and attract employees in the current labor shortage. Alicia has successfully guided employers through the liability minefields associated with the increasingly common employee fully and hybrid remote work schedules. Alicia also advises and litigates employee restrictive covenants on behalf of employers both defending against and seeking to enforce agreements containing nonpoach, nonsolicitation, and noncompete provisions. In addition to her work at PS&H, Alicia also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Rhode Island Historical Society.

AMY T. M. OAKLEY

Partner

Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP

401.861.8256 aoakley@psh.com psh.com/aoakley

YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY 16

YEARS WITH CURRENT ORGANIZATION 4

EDUCATION

Undergraduate Degree: University Of Rhode Island, B.A., Magna Cum Laude Law Degree: University Of Hawaii, William S. Richardson School Of Law, J.D.

AMY IS THE CHAIR of the Firm’s Commercial Finance Group. She has represented dozens of financial institutions in all types of commercial loan facilities with special emphasis on non-recourse debt, construction financing, secured borrowing base credits, bridge, mezzanine, and multi-lender financing. Closed deals include multistate fund portfolios, multi-family housing developments, shopping centers, and hotels in RI, MA, and throughout the country.

She is sought after for her niche tax credit practice and represents developers, investors, and lenders in complex federal and state tax credit transactions. Amy is well-versed in tax credit initiatives including historic, low-income housing, new markets, brownfields, film, energy efficiency, TIFs and Rebuild RI credits. She advises real estate developers on all matters from building the capital stack to sales, title, leasing, and tax stabilization.

Amy serves on the Board of Trustees for Preserve Rhode Island and is a member of IOTA II Class of Leadership Rhode Island. She is a past recipient of PBN’s 40 Under Forty and Lawyers Weekly 2021 Go-To Rhode Island Lawyer.

ALEXANDRA W. PEZZELLO Partner Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP 401.861.8219 apezzello@psh.com psh.com/apezzello

YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY 13

YEARS WITH CURRENT ORGANIZATION 12

EDUCATION

Undergraduate Degree: Gettysburg College, B.A., Magna Cum Laude Law Degree: Roger Williams University School Of Law, J.D., Summa Cum Laude

ALEX REPRESENTS LENDING institutions and borrowers in a variety of complex financial transactions, including asset based, commercial and industrial, construction, real estate, and mezzanine finance transactions. Clients also rely on her counsel with regard to commercial real estate transactions, local counsel representation in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, commercial leasing, corporate compliance, equity financing, and other real estate and business matters.

Following a clerkship on the Rhode Island Supreme Court in the chambers of Justice William P. Robinson III, Alex joined Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP in 2010, where she was also a summer associate in 2008.

In addition to her work at PS&H, Alex also serves on the United Way of Rhode Island’s Community Advisory Board, is Secretary of The Business Development Company of Rhode Island, and serves as Treasurer of the parent teacher group at her children’s elementary school.

ELIZABETH O. MANCHESTER

Partner

Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP 401.861.8271 emanchester@psh.com psh.com/emanchester

YEARS IN CURRENT INDUSTRY 17

YEARS WITH CURRENT ORGANIZATION 4

EDUCATION

Undergraduate Degree: Providence College, B.A., Magna Cum Laude Law Degree: Providence College, MBA Northeastern University School of Law, J.D.

ELIZABETH IS THE CHAIR of the Firm’s Nonprofit Practice. She represents tax-exempt entities, centered on compliance, formation, charitable gift planning issues, and best practices. She has extensive experience assisting institutions with the inception of planned giving programs, as well as, compliance issues, various corporate governance matters and maintenance of tax-exempt status.

Elizabeth also advises charitable institutions and institutions of higher learning about tax benefits available to donors, to assist in discussions with donors appropriately to advance the organization’s mission.

Elizabeth advises nonprofits regarding board education, training and advice on fiduciary obligations, compliance, donor representation, endowment fund management, finance, Form 990 and reporting issues, and governance, including bylaws and policies, joint ventures and affiliations, and litigation planning and prevention. In addition, she advises nonprofits regarding managing bequests and complex gifts for organizations, mergers and acquisitions, obtaining and maintaining tax exemptions, policies, political and lobbying restrictions and tax.

OCTOBER

PANEL 1

Health Care has always been a dynamic industry – from insurance changes to access difficulties to technological innovations. But never more so than in the past two years with the COVID-19 Pandemic and all the challenges that came with it.

PBN’s Fall Health Care Summit will include health care experts and business leaders who will bring attendees up to date on the latest news about the Covid pandemic, improving public health, affordability and accessibility and what is being done about the health care workforce shortage, among other topics.

PANEL 2

REGISTER NOW

presenting sponsors partner sponsors

LouAnne Giangreco, Senior Medical Director, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of RI

Dr. Sri Adusumalli, Senior Medical Director for Enterprise Virtual Care, CVS Health

Dr. Peter Hollmann, Chief Medical Officer, Brown Medicine Dr. Kirsten Anderson, Chief Medical Director, AETNA

Dr. Claire Levesque, Chief Medical Officer, Commercial Products, Point32 Health

Melissa Husband, Chief of Staff, Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island

Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, Inaugural Director, The Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health

Corey McCarty, General Manager, CCA Health Rhode Island

Patrick Tigue, RI Health Insurance Commissioner

Dr. Thomas Meehan, Program Director for the Center for Physician Assistant Studies Program, Johnson & Wales University

PBN SUMMIT | CYBERSECURITY

Best protection might come from thinking like hackers

BY JACQUELYN VOGHEL | Voghel@PBN.com

DESKTOP

computers left logged in over the weekend. Laptops and flash drives left unattended on desks. Sticky notes with email and system logins stuck to the walls of a cubicle.

They’re common sights in many workplaces, and likely don’t raise an eyebrow when encoun tered day to day. But office workers should rethink what may seem like a harmless convenience, said Eric M. Shorr, president of Secure Future Tech Solutions in Warwick.

“Accidental exposure happens all the time,” Shorr said. “People leave laptops in cars, trunks, on their desks, even. I’ve seen, from secure offices, people leave their laptops over the weekend, and they can go missing. … A laptop can go in a bag very quickly and it can be gone.”

And with that lost laptop, login or flash drive goes sensitive information that hackers can use to compromise companies and target other employees.

With cybercrime continuously on the rise, hackers can be anywhere, Shorr said. In Rhode Island alone, 1,115 people reported being victims of internet crimes in 2021, costing more than $13 mil lion, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. At the national level, the database has logged 2.6 million complaints over the past five years, totaling $18.8 billion in losses.

Eric Shorr and Lisa A. Shorr, vice president at Secure Tech Solutions, highlighted these statistics, common methods of cybercriminals and ways that companies and individuals can protect themselves

against cyberattacks in a “How to Think Like a Hacker” workshop during Providence Business News’ 10th annual Cybersecurity Summit on Oct. 6 at the Crowne Plaza Providence-Warwick

While the FBI statistics on cybercrimes may seem alarming, the highlighted statistics may only scratch the surface of the problem, Eric Shorr said.

These numbers “could realistically be double, triple, even greater,” as many victims of cyber crimes are afraid to report the incidents, fearing consequences and laws they would have to comply with, he said.

Cybercrimes can take a variety of forms, rang ing from attacks relying on trickery, such as phishing or “spoofing” emails posing as a trusted source, to complex ransomware attacks, where a hacker infects a computer with malicious software that encrypts data, then demands a ransom for the informa tion’s return. On average, hackers demanded around $570,000 for a ransomware payment in 2021, according to cybersecurity industry data.

While large corporations may come to mind as cyber crime targets, the Shorrs said, businesses of all sizes can fall victim to hackers.

In a real-life example, Lisa Shorr said, one employee at

an unspecified company received a spoofed email that appeared to come from a manager. The em ployee went ahead with instructions to purchase multiple CVS Health Corp. gift cards. That simple deception ultimately cost $1,200.

Employers should ensure their workers are educated on the existence of these scams, the Shorrs said, and other common methods such as phishing, where individuals are asked to give their login information to a hacker through a seemingly reputable site, sometimes accessed through an email link.

‘A laptop can go in a bag very quickly and it can be gone.’

ERIC M. SHORR, Secure Future Tech Solutions president

When in doubt, always verify a request through a human interaction with a trusted individual, she said, and take an extra moment to type in a web address, rather than following an email link.

“At the end of the day, pick up a phone and make a call, go directly to the website, log in properly,” she said. “Don’t touch any of these emails that come into your inbox.”

And individuals should have a healthy degree of doubt, she added.

“If you walk away with anything today, please walk away with a mindset of vigilance,” Lisa Shorr said. “I want everyone to be on the lookout for everything. Don’t just assume everything is OK.”

But even with this added vigilance, companies and individuals can still become victims of cyber crimes, the Shorrs said.

And if one employee is hacked, Eric Shorr said, act as if this breach extends to everyone in the company.

“Assume everyone is compromised,” he said. “Change the password for everyone, and imple ment, if you don’t have it already, two-factor authentication.”

This method, which prompts an employee to verify a log-in attempt through a second platform, such as an app or with a text message code, is a simple but powerful tool to curb hacking attempts, he added.

Companies should also reach out to their cyber insurance provider, he said, and report the crime. While many businesses are afraid to report cyber crimes, investigation methods have changed over the years, he said. While authorities used to con duct a criminal investigation, confiscate computers and bar companies from paying ransoms, busi nesses now have more options on how to proceed after a cyberattack.

And while the Shorrs broadly recommend not paying a ransom, resources are available for com panies that decide it’s a necessary step.

“It’s no one’s first choice to pay a ransom,” Eric Shorr said. “But if that’s what needs to happen, you can get help with that.” n

CRIMINAL MINDSET: Lisa A. Shorr, left, vice president at Secure Future Tech Solutions, and Eric M. Shorr, Secure Future Tech president, say cyber wrongdoers often take advantage of habits that office workers think are harmless.

In fending off attacks, prevention isn’t nearly enough

BY JACQUELYN VOGHEL | Voghel@PBN.com

WHILE COMMON SECURITY MEASURES can help companies and their employees avoid becoming victims of cybercrime, they aren’t foolproof, said Shakour A. Abuzneid, a profes sor of cybersecurity and networking and incoming program director at Roger Williams University

Even the experts aren’t immune, he said. Just two months ago, global technology and networking conglom erate Cisco Systems Inc. revealed that a ransomware attack had breached its cyber defenses.

“The companies that are helping us are getting hacked,” Abuzneid said.

In today’s increasingly connected world, strategies that seek to solely prevent cybercrimes are now out dated, said Abuzneid, speaking at Providence Business News’ 10th an nual Cybersecurity Summit, held on Oct. 6 at the Crowne Plaza ProvidenceWarwick

When approaching cybersecurity, “we have to have an active response to attacks – proactive,” Abuzneid said. “We have to move from defense to of fense. We have to attack [cybercrimes] ourselves.”

Part of the issue is that on average, it takes a company more than 200 days to identify a breach in its network, Abuzneid said, and 176 days to remedy that vulnerability.

“Even if we detect something, we can’t respond fast enough to stop that attack or breach,” Abuzneid said, “so prevention is not a solution, detection is not a solution by itself.”

And not only are there more hack

ers than ever, but they also have more avenues of attack.

In the past two to three decades, the rise of cloud computing and mobile devices has created an “internet of things,” where it’s not just phones that serve as hackable smart technol ogy.

Eventually, “everything will be connected to the internet,” Abuzneid said. “Look at this room: The chairs you’re sitting on will be connected, the door, the lights. … We’ll have bil lions, eventually trillions of devices connected to the internet.”

Meanwhile, there aren’t enough professionals to address rising cyber crime rates, Abuzneid said, noting a global shortage of at least 1.5 million cybersecurity professionals.

When industry leaders first real

‘Someone in your company is going to get phished.’

DOUG WHITE, Roger Williams University professor of cybersecurity

ized that common measures such as next-generation firewalls and antivi rus software cannot broadly prevent cyberattacks, they developed a strat egy known as “Defense in Depth,” which prioritizes various layers of de fense. But without carefully connect ing these layers, Abuzneid said, this approach still has many inadequacies.

“It’s time to declare defense in depth is not enough,” Abuzneid said.

“Some people say it’s dead. I’ll say it’s not enough. So, it’s time to look at the security as holistic security, promptly.”

And security event and incident management, another popular tool for managing cybersecurity, also does not suffice. SEIM technology detects less than 1% of attacks, Abuzneid said, because it was built for compliance reporting, rather than security.

Abuzneid advocates for an inter connected, holistic approach that involves measures such as identifying and protecting all devices connected to a network, a thorough understand ing of security needs, creating tests and data to monitor security needs, and creating a proactive protection strategy.

CYBERSECURITY

Abuzneid purposefully highlights protection, rather than prevention, and encouraged attendees to forget the word “prevention” altogether.

Also differing from the defense-in-depth ap proach, companies need to prioritize regular updates to their cyber defense strategy, Abuzneid said.

“It’s a continual process,” he added. “The mo ment we fix something, someone else will break it.”

Following Abuzneid’s opening remarks, attend ees had their choice of attending one of two concur rent workshops.

One panel included Jason Albuquerque, chief op erating officer at Envision Technology Advisors LLC; Doug White, professor of cybersecurity at Roger Williams University; and Linn Freedman, chair of data privacy and the cybersecurity team at Robin son & Cole LLP, and highlighted how prevention can help a company’s return on investment.

A second panel featured Eric M. Shorr, presi dent, and Lisa A. Shorr, vice president, at Secure Future Tech Solutions in Warwick, and taught at tendees how to “think like a hacker” while building their cyber defense strategies.

Panelists, including White, echoed Abuzneid’s idea that businesses need to prepare for when, not if, they fall victim to a cyberattack.

“Someone in your company is going to get phished,” White said, due to what he calls an “infi nite series.”

“You essentially have an infinite number of people trying to do this,” he said. “They have an infinite number of attempts to do this.”

Eventually, that means the hacker will find a vulnerable employee, White cautioned.

Panelists also advised on how breached compa nies should approach ransoms.

Businesses need to carefully consider the conse quences of paying a ransom, Freedman said.

“You need to understand what the risks are, and what the pros and cons are,” she said, adding that every ransomware attack she’s responded to on a client’s behalf in the past two years has involved ex filtration, meaning that companies are asked to pay a ransom not just to receive their stolen data back

from hackers but also for the hackers to destroy the data.

“They don’t. They sell it to other clients,” Freed man said. “Your data is not safe even if they give you a certificate of destruction. It’s not worth the paper.” n

CYBER SPECIALISTS: Roger Williams University professor of cybersecurity Doug White, middle, speaks dur ing a Q&A session at the end of Providence Business News’ 2022 Cybersecurity Summit at the Crowne Plaza Providence-Warwick on Oct. 6. At left is Linn F. Freedman, a certified information privacy professional and U.S. chair of data privacy and the cybersecurity team at Robinson & Cole LLP. At right is Shakour A. Abuz neid, a professor of cybersecurity and networking and incoming program director at RWU.

PBN PHOTO/MIKE SKORSKI

full-time local employees:

LIST RESEARCHED BY James Bessette

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FOOTNOTES

known as Carousel Industries of North America

known

Providence,

IT’S PERSONAL

Driscoll wins Big East award

ROBERT G. DRISCOLL JR., former Providence College vice president and director of athletics, was recently named by the Big East Conference as the 2022 John Thompson Jr. Award winner. The award recognizes signifi cant efforts within the Big East Conference to fight prejudice and discrimination and advance positive societal change. Driscoll served as PC’s athletic director for 21 years before retiring in June.

What does receiving the John Thompson Jr. Award mean to you?

I am really humbled by it. The fact that John Thompson was a Providence College Friar and probably one of the most successful basketball coaches [with Georgetown University] in the history of the game and just what he stood for, I’m very proud to be associated with his name. We decided about 10 years ago that we were going to be a leader in diversity, equity and inclusion. I’d like to think that we’ve made some progress. I’m glad that we got the honor, but it was a team honor. This is probably the nicest award I ever received.

In what ways did you help advance positive societal change at the college?

I was sitting with the women’s basketball team and most of them are women of color. I was asking what their experi ences were like, and they were not having that particularly positive experience on campus. It really broke my heart, so we decided to do a study, an evaluation of where we were relative to treating all of our student athletes with dig nity and respect. A lot of the findings from that study you would not necessarily be proud of. But, from there, three initiatives came out of it. One was to hire the first full-time diversity, equity and inclusion person that was part of my executive staff, and we accomplished that. Secondly, it was

to do ongoing [diversity] programs and make it part of our strategic plan and mission. From there, we just built it; we were the first to do that within the Big East.

What kind of a response did that receive on campus?

I think it was really embraced. [Former President The Rev. Brian J.] Shanley was 100% on board. [Current Presi dent The Rev. Kenneth R.] Sicard was on board. I think we impacted admissions and how we hired people, and how we treated people. We still have a long way to go, but that was the tipping point. It also was constantly diversifying the application pool and consciously going out and making sure recruiting and scholarships were also being given to people of color and underrepresented communities. Education is the power in the world, and a lot of people who come from similar backgrounds do not get that same opportunity.

Even though you are retired, do you still plan to help contin ue this initiative at PC?

I am continuing to work with members of my department in Providence, as well as people across campus. I have an executive coaching position that I created here and help ing other administrators in athletics. It is kind of my life’s purpose to continue to educate people to help them become better at what they do. n

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

BANKING

BankNewport is pleased to announce that Chief Credit Officer and Chief Risk Officer Paul A. Marchetti has been promoted to executive vice president. During his seven-year tenure at BankNewport, Marchetti has developed best-inclass Risk Management and Credit Risk programs. He also has oversight for BankNewport’s Community Development program and is a member of the Bank’s Executive Loan Committee. Marchetti received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Rhode Island and an MBA from Bryant University. He is a certified Chartered Financial Analyst, Anti Money Laundering Specialist, and is associated with the Center for Financial Professionals. He resides in Smithfield, Rhode Island.

BANKING

BankNewport is pleased to announce that Denise DiDonato has been named Vice President, Credit Administration Manager. DiDonato brings more than 30 years of banking, credit, commercial and small business lending experience to her new role, in which she is responsible for credit administration functions including reporting and analytics, collections, small business lending credit processes as well as maintaining and developing commercial vendor relationships. In 2014, DiDonato received the Rhode Island Small Business Administration Financial Champion Award for her efforts to assist RI small businesses realize their professional goals. She currently resides with her husband, Joseph DiDonato in Killingly, Connecticut.

BANKING

BankNewport is pleased to announce that David Ritacco has been named Vice President, Commercial Lending Officer. In his new role, he is responsible for maintaining and growing a multimillion-dollar portfolio while cultivating relationships with both existing and prospective clients using internal resources, networking strategies and third-party referrals. Ritacco is a board member for Volunteer New York, a committee chair for The March of Dimes’ “Signature Chef Auction”, a real estate group member for The March of Dimes, and a Real Estate Task Force Member for the Westchester County Association. A graduate of Ithaca College, Ritacco resides in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.

BANKING

BankNewport is pleased to announce that Ryan Camara has been named vice president, human resources manager, responsible for talent acquisition, as well as employee relations and benefits. Prior to his new position, Camara was recruitment and HRIS manager for the bank. Camara is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where he also earned an MBA with a focus on Organizational Leadership, and he holds a Senior Professional in Human Resources accreditation. He resides in Westport, MA.

ONCE A YOUNG MAN ASKED a great sage about the secret to success, so the sage invited the young man to meet him at the river the next morn ing. They walked into the water up to their necks, then the sage dunked the young man and held his head under water until he started to struggle.

When the young man surfaced, he took several deep breaths.

The sage asked him, “What did you desire most when you were underwa ter?”

“Air,” the man replied.

And the sage said: “That’s the secret to success. When you desire something as bad as you wanted air, you will get it. There is no other secret.”

Napoleon Hill, one of my favorite authors, said: “Desire is the starting point of all achievement. Not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating de sire which transcends everything.”

In his classic book “Think and Grow Rich,” Hill provides a six-step formula that explains exactly how to achieve your desires. Here are the steps, along with my input.

2. Determine exactly what you are prepared to offer in return for the thing you want.

3. Establish the exact date when you intend to have the thing you desire in your possession.

4. Develop a clear plan for mani festing your desire and put this plan into action immediately.

5. Create a clear statement that includes the exact amount of money or whatever it is you want, the time when you intend to have it, what you are giving in exchange, and your time and action plan for making it happen.

6. Read this written statement out loud twice a day, as you go to bed in the evening and as you get up in the morning. And most importantly, act as if it is already yours when you read your statement. Visualize it, feel it and believe that you have already manifested what you desire.

A coach or teacher can tell you what you need to do to accomplish something, but if the individual does

not have a burning desire to achieve it, great success will not be attained.

To lack desire means to lack a key ingredient to success. Many a talented individual failed because they lacked desire. Many victories have been snatched by the underdog because they wanted it more.

Your ultimate desire must be based on reason. You won’t become the queen of England without the requi site family ties or be the Super Bowl MVP when you can’t read the play book. Aspirations that are unrealistic get in the way of legitimate desires that are within your control.

Desire may start with a daydream, but it is so much more. The weeks, months or years of hard work may seem like a nightmare at times. Roadblocks and failures will test your mettle.

Desire could be Sir James Dyson’s middle name. He failed more than 5,000 times over 15 years in develop ing a prototype for his bestselling

bagless vacuum cleaner while invest ing his entire savings.

Viola Davis developed her love for acting in high school, but she didn’t get her big break until 2008 at age 43, when she landed a role in the movie “Doubt,” which garnered her first Oscar nomination, paving her way to success.

Stephen King’s first book, “Car rie,” was rejected 30 times, but he kept writing and now is regarded as one of the greatest living writers, with more than 60 novels to his credit.

Julia Child didn’t have a strong de sire for cooking until she was almost 40 and attended the world-famous Cor don Bleu cooking school. She worked tirelessly for nine years to get her first cookbook, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” published.

These people didn’t give up be cause they all wanted something “as bad as air.” My advice: Take a breath and jump right in. n

Mackay’s Moral: Desire is an inside job.

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.

RECENTLY I TRAVELED to southern coastal France, specifically Narbonne. It lies along the Mediterranean, one hour south of Montpelier and three hours north of Barcelona, Spain.

Narbonne is within the Occitanie region, which is one of the largest vineyard and wine-producing areas by surface area, yet it is often over shadowed by Champagne, Bordeaux and Burgundy. This southern region provides unique terroir, and rosé and red wines that are made mostly from the grapes grenache, syrah (known as shiraz in Australia), mourvedre and carignan. These grapes are not widely grown in other areas of Europe or the U.S., although some producers are ex perimenting and working with them.

On this trip, the 15-hour day’s itin erary was chock full of wine-learning activities that immersed us in the cul ture and cuisine of coastal southern France. The fare is similar to Rhode Island’s, full of shellfish, oysters and other seafood. The beef, like we have here from local farms, was also the ideal partner for the red wines of the region.

I felt worlds away from anything while on this trip, surrounded by mountainous vineyards and oceanic backdrops. As always, I came back

TO SAVOR | JESSICA NORRIS GRANATIERO

Savoring southern France

with more knowledge about southern France and why its wines shine.

As I always say, get out of your comfort zone and try something dif ferent. Enjoy these selections that highlight the grapes from different areas of southern France.

Gerard Bertrand Source of Joy rosé. It comes from organically farmed vineyards of schist and limestone. The grapes are picked by hand, which results in the careful attention to each bunch. A portion of the wine has ma tured in oak barrels to give it weight and roundness while not being heavy and still maintaining its acidity. Made from three grapes – grenache, syrah and cinsault, it displays a light pink hue and flavors of strawberry and cherry on the palate. It’s a great part ner for classic Mediterranean cuisine – stuffed grape leaves, artichoke and asparagus salad, shellfish and even tender, grilled meats. Under $25.

Gerard Bertrand Change sauvignon blanc. This sauvignon blanc comes from vineyards close to the coast. The oceanic cool breezes at night help the grapes maintain a nice, balanced acid ity. Therefore, the wine too displays the same. The flavor profile is full of bright pear and citrus notes, all backed by a crisp vibrancy. It is stain

IN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS:

The Gerard Bertrand winery in the Narbonne area of southern France handpicked the grapes for the Source of Joy rosé. COURTESY JESSICA NORRIS GRANATIERO

less steel fermented – without oak influence – and is 100% organic. Pair with local, raw oysters with mignon ette, lobster risotto or grilled sea bass. Under $20.

Chateau Maris Las Combes. Cha teau Maris is an organic and bio dynamic vineyard that sits inland

from the coast. This red is made from the grenache grape. It shows elegance and finesse but at the same time has power and great aging potential. The beautiful deep purple hue is evident when poured into the glass. The notes on the palate show blackberry, plum, black cherry, roasted coffee beans and chocolate mocha. One of the best food pairings is grilled lamb chops, along with roasted duck breast with a cherry sauce or filet mignon. Under $35.

Chataeau Maris rosé. This light pink wine is made from both grenache and syrah, organically grown. It shows us a vibrancy on the palate that marries well with cherry and raspberry notes. The nose displays rose floral notes. The wine is stainless steel fermented and gives us a refresh ing cleanness. It is best paired with shrimp cocktail or sautéed shrimp over black rice, roasted turkey with cranberry, or roasted chicken rubbed with tarragon atop red potatoes. Un der $20. 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.

Competition, delays could limit cannabis job growth

For years, growers and sellers participating in Rhode Island’s medical-marijuana program have been frustrated watching counterparts in Massachusetts and other states with legal recreational sales flourish.

Come December they’ll finally be able to fully tap into what is still a national growth industry. That’s when recreational sales to adults become legal in the state. As this week’s cover story reports, significant growth is expected, at least initially, with annual sales expected to climb about 40% in the first year or two.

Defense not enough in cybersecurity

CANNABIS CULTIVATOR: Mammoth Inc. is among the state’s cannabis cultivators hoping to expand once marijuana sales for recreational use become legal in December. Above, trimmer Alyssa Kenyon works in Mammoth’s War wick facility.

That is good news for sellers and growers al ready in the state’s medical program that are now ramping up for recreational sales.

But it is unclear how quickly job growth will follow statewide. There are now about 2,000 people employed in the Rhode Island industry. That number will grow with demand.

Initially, however, retail sales will be limited to nine stores expected to be ready to open by next April. It will be months and possibly much longer before many of the 30 or so more expected licensed stores are able to clear still-developing regulatory hurdles.

If most of the new shops can thrive in an increasingly competitive regional mar ketplace, then the local industry could grow rapidly.

Thankfully, Johnson & Wales University and the University of Rhode Island are among the schools not waiting to build a workforce pipeline.

JWU has 70 students in a four-year degree program that could produce the first wave of locally educated cultivators, marketers and lab workers needed to help the local industry flourish. n

As New England Patriots fans know, it’s not enough to have a good defense to consistently win. The same is true in the business world when it comes to cybersecurity, says Shakour A. Abuzneid, a profes sor of cybersecurity and networking and incoming program director at Roger Williams University.

He estimates it takes a company on average 200 days to identify a breach in its network and almost as long to eliminate the vulnerability.

“We have to move from defense to offense,” he said on Oct. 6 at PBN’s 10th annual Cybersecurity Summit. “We have to attack [cybercrimes] ourselves.”

Abuzneid and other speakers at the summit recom mend a team approach to combating cybercriminals. Make everyone on your staff part of an ongoing protection plan that includes constant system security testing and updates.

“It’s a continual process,” Abuzneid warned. “The moment we fix something, [a cybercriminal] will break it.” n

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OPINION

Name-calling could backfire in November

BETH L. FOSSEN GUEST COLUMN

Spending on political advertising is set ting records in the midterm elections. But evidence shows that negative messages might discourage voters from casting ballots altogether.

As the 2022 midterms get closer, political attacks in campaign ads are on the rise.

Last November, Rep. Paul Gosar shared an anime cartoon video showing him physi cally attacking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cor tez, a Democrat, and President Joe Biden.

That same month, Rep. Ilhan Omar called her Republican colleague Rep. Lauren Boe bert a buffoon and a bigot on Twitter. Even the official White House Twitter account has gotten in on the politically divisive action, making recent headlines when it snapped back in August at several Republican mem bers of Congress who criticized the Paycheck Protection Program – after they themselves had their loans forgiven.

Uncivil messages by politicians have become more common in the last decade. Political attacks are now a regular occur rence in an increasingly polarized political environment, encouraging voters to get mad and vote ahead of Election Day.

But that doesn’t mean these kinds of ad vertisements and personal attacks work.

I study political marketing and, as a former campaign manager and political consultant, have seen politicians use uncivil strategies firsthand with the hopes of getting themselves elected. My research suggests that highly polarized communications could be losing their persuasive power and can even backfire in the upcoming midterms, hurting a candidate’s chances.

My research shows that political ads and language do indeed put people in a negative mood. Even simply asking voters to think about politics is enough to get them angry. This negativity is amplified if an ad specifi cally attacks an opposing candidate.

There is also evidence that this anger

carries over to voting behavior. Data from the U.S. elections from 2000 to 2012 shows that negative political TV commercials make people less likely to vote for the attacked politician, but also make people less likely to vote in general.

Politicians tend to use less negative, polarizing advertising on social media compared with their advertising on TV, however. This might be because social media attracts a smaller, more-targeted audience, and perhaps candidates fear that these kinds of tactics could demobilize supporters.

There are a few factors that help explain why political campaigns and attacks on op ponents have become more toxic recently.

Voters may be getting tired of negative political communications.

First off, voters are more emotional and angrier than ever before. This emotion about politics has been linked to the normalcy of anger in our day-to-day lives and increased political competition.

Democrats and Republicans are also inter acting less and less. This social polarization comes as political identity is more important to voters than ever before. Being a Democrat or a Republican is a core part of who the voter is and shapes both their political deci sions and their nonpolitical ones.

Given these factors, conversations about politics are increasingly happening among people who already agree on political issues.

Politicians such as former President Don

Small businesses can be targeted, too

ald Trump and others seem to be leveraging the fact that they are preaching to the choir, so to speak, and are using more and more polarized language to attack the other side.

Whether language is polarized or not is a subjective question, but my research and the work of others have focused on how negative a political message is and how extreme the message is.

There is some evidence that voters may be getting tired of negative political commu nications flooding their screens.

Using data from the 2016 U.S. presidential election, my collaborators and I found that political ad messages that are more polarized hurt candidates in the polls and lead voters to talk less about the candidate.

Specifically, we find that voters prefer more centrist and more consistent messag ing in political ads, at least in the context of recent presidential elections. This research used text analysis methods, which allowed us to score each ad for how polarized the messaging was, as well as how consistent the messaging was for the candidate.

Polarized messages particularly hurt a candidate’s election chances if they are offbrand for the candidate – that is, for politi cians who are typically moderate, and then try to go extreme.

There’s a lot at stake in the upcoming midterm elections in November 2022, as every House seat and about one-third of the Senate seats are up for grabs. A recordsetting $8.9 billion in political ad spending is expected for this midterm election season.

If the dominant tone of this messaging is toxic, political campaigns run the risk of disengaging more and more voters. n

Beth L. Fossen is an assistant professor of marketing at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Distributed by The Associated Press.

EDDIE JENKINS GUEST COLUMN

In October, National Cybersecurity Awareness Month brings into focus three undisputable truths about the internet. One, it is an incredible resource that offers a uni verse of opportunities to connect, transact and be entertained, and learn. Two, pursu ing these activities comes with the risk of falling victim to digital delinquents who are intent on separating you from your personal information, privacy and money. Three, the methods are increasingly more sophisticated and persistent, so you must be even more de termined to thwart their efforts at every step.

The good news is that you don’t have to defend your digital realm on your own. Most internet services now offer tools that can detect and deter potential fraud and scams before you even know they’re happening. Today, internet safety is truly a team effort. You do your part on the homefront, and your provider protects you on the network. Together, you’re a substantial security force against online threats and schemes. But the fact remains that cybersecurity awareness isn’t just a one-month deal, because hackers never sleep.

Sixty percent of small businesses fold

within six months of a cyberattack, and you don’t want to be another statistic. That’s why getting serious about cybersecurity is impor tant in October and the other 11 months of the year.

Many small businesses are under the misconception that because they’re small, they don’t have anything worth stealing. The truth is that between login credentials that might be useful for getting into other accounts, personal information about your customers or employees, and your payroll, there is already a lot of value for any wouldbe attacker (without even getting into the specifics of your industry).

With more and more attacks leveled at small businesses, cybersecurity has come to the forefront. A single data breach can put your business out of commission, so it’s vitally important to take steps now to make sure that doesn’t happen. The important thing to remember is that cybersecurity doesn’t happen in isolation – you need your entire team to understand what’s at stake and what they can do about it to succeed.

• Use industry best practices for pass words to make sure you’re not an easy target.

n Commit to a device patching and up grading schedule, or get help.

n Improve your cybersecurity training to make sure your team is up to date.

n Consider getting help from a managed information technology services provider.

Even more simple than the steps above is simply maintaining vigilance. Creating a security system that is completely impervi ous to human engineering techniques might be close to impossible, but helping people know what to look for and what to do about it can greatly reduce your chances of getting caught out. When the average data breach costs a small business around $200,000, it’s worth it to take the time to train your em ployees to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Don’t just recognize Cybersecurity Aware ness Month – observe it by mobilizing your internet safety team and driving awareness among your teams. n

Eddie Jenkins is vice president of Cox Business in the Northeast. Cox Business is the commercial division of Cox Communications Inc.

ONE LAST THING

Brittany Riley

The Haven Collection Inc. founder and CEO

Brittany Riley opened The Haven Collection Inc. in 2019. The Middletownbased company has two family care centers in the town and one in New Jersey.

IFthere is one thing we can take away from the past three years of growing a startup through a pandemic, it is that the culture we built is what has allowed us to succeed despite the unprecedented challenges.

The single most important thing we have focused on, outside of building the next generation of child care, is ensuring that we have a committed team aligned with the company’s mission and values.

n Hire humans for their ability to add to the company culture. It is not a stretch to suggest that even the most tedious of tasks can be enjoyed when you work in a company full of people who feel supported in their own journeys and are aligned with the company’s mission.

n Offer a more flexible set of benefits. If you have employees who have just left college, offer mental health support to them as they make a transition into adulthood. If you have new or future parents, you should know that 95% of them would leave a job for one that offers child care benefits. Get ahead of that and attract and retain more dedicated and engaged employees by offering support, flexibility and care benefits.

n People are more aware of the finite nature of their time than ever before. Build a company people seek out because of its dedication to enhancing the work part of their work-life integration.

Bottom line? Do things differently and stop working from an organizational blueprint that is dusty and dated. Your team will thrive and so will your business as a result of your efforts. n

Culture sustains success

WINNER

ATOMICS

Biechele-Speziale

A patented solution to the archival data storage issue. Within the next few years, the way we store data will be forced to change. The research team at Atomics has unlocked a way to store data and information on molecules, something that has yet to exist before their discovery.

Eddie

Congratulations to the Audience Fan Favorite Winner

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Eddie Jenkins, Vice President of Cox Business

Dana Biechele-Speziale of Atomics