Tagged: economic development

Saul Kaplan, founder and head of the Business Innovation Factory, and a former director of the state Economic Development Corporation, joins the panel to discuss struggles at the EDC, the outlook for gun-related legislation, municipal finance woes in Woonsocket and more.

There’s more turmoil at the top of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation as two more board members have stepped down.

EDC board members Jack Templin and Cheryl Watkins Snead have tendered their resignations, leaving just seven members on a 13 member board.  Templin is quitting halfway through a four year term to focus on his business interests. Watkins Snead is finishing up a three year term.

Remaining EDC board member Karl Wadensten says he’s sad to see them go but sees opportunity in the chance to appoint new members.

In the latest setback for the state Economic Development Corporation, Governor Lincoln Chafee's choice to lead the agency, William J. Parsons, has asked that his nomination we withdrawn due to a " recent serious health issue." Chafee has accepted the request by Parson, whose tenure with the EDC goes almost to the agency's inception.

Via news release:

Another week passes with the usual palaver  from the Rhode Island political and business elite on economic development. RIPR political  analyst Scott MacKay says its time for some changes in the way Rhode Islanders view our state and ourselves.