Governor Carcieri, RIEDC, Rhode Island Commodores Partner to Bolster Economic Development Effort
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September 30, 2008 | Print this page | Share This | Email this page
Seven Massachusetts Companies Participate in First of a Regional Dinner Series
The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC) kicked off the next phase of its Opportunity: Rhode Island regional attraction campaign with a dinner event in Boston on September 23 with senior representatives from seven Massachusetts-based informational technology and digital media companies. The dinner, co-hosted by Governor Donald L. Carcieri, RIEDC and the Rhode Island Commodores is the first in a series of dinners to take place this fall as part of a regional attraction campaign aimed at identifying expansion and relocation opportunities in the financial services, information technology and digital media, and health and life sciences sectors.
The events are designed to open up new channels of communication between Rhode Island’s economic development team and senior private sector leadership at top regional companies. The first dinner included candid conversations about industry trends, the challenges of growing operations in the Northeast and progress Rhode Island has made in repositioning itself for growth in target high wage industries.
Participants in this first dinner included senior executives from Microsoft, Aspect Software, Endeca, Avaya, Nuance Communications, CambridgeSoft Corporation and BBN Technologies.
Rhode Island participants included Governor Carcieri; RIEDC executive director Saul Kaplan; RIEDC director of business development Katharine Flynn; Donna Cupelo, Region President – Verizon New England; Tim Hebert, CEO, Atrion Networking Corporation; and Stuart Freiman, business development manager, info-tech and digital media, RIEDC. Michael Colapietro, CEO of Inquest Technologies, also participated. Inquest is relocating their growing IT business from Massachusetts to Rhode Island in October 2008.
“These events offer us an opportunity to reach out to leaders in the region and bring visibility to the many good things happening in our state,” says Governor Donald L. Carcieri. “Rhode Island can compete on our strengths and take advantage of our place in the Northeast knowledge corridor to create more high-wage jobs and grow an economy that creates greater prosperity for all of the state’s citizens. It was a valuable experience for all of us to participate in an open and candid conversation about what companies need to grow in the Northeast and what Rhode Island can do to be a part of that growth.”
Funding for the event is provided by the Rhode Island Commodores, a privately funded coalition of business and civic leaders committed to supporting economic development programs in Rhode Island. No Rhode Island tax dollars will be used for this activity.
“Our Economic Growth Plan centers on job growth in target industry sectors that pay higher wages and provide workers with good opportunities to move from lower paying entry-level positions to higher-wage positions,” says RIEDC executive director Saul Kaplan. “Rhode Island has significant strength and momentum in the financial services, information technology and digital media, and health and life sciences sectors. Building on this foundation through a regional attraction effort enables us to strategically invest limited resources in areas where opportunities for success are highest.”
The dinners follow a two-month direct mail and call campaign that identified target companies that may have a strategic interest in relocating to Rhode Island. More than 1,500 companies were contacted in support of this effort. The direct mail component of the campaign recently received an “excellent” award from the Northeastern Economic Developers Association. The awards were issues at NEDA’s 2008 annual meeting in New York.
“We are pleased to support the RIEDC’s Opportunity: Rhode Island campaign and this series of regional events,” says Donna Cupelo, who leads the Rhode Island Commodores. “It is important that we continue to seek out attraction opportunities that bring new business and new jobs into the state. This first event set a positive and productive tone for our conversations with regional leaders in the info tech industry. I think everyone who participated learned a lot about the challenges growing IT companies face and what Rhode Island can do to become even more competitive in attracting new business to the state.”
The Rhode Island Commodores have pledged $30,000 in support of the campaign.
Six dinners are planned for this phase of the campaign. The next dinner will take place in Cambridge, Mass. with a gathering of executives from the area of health and life sciences companies.
