GE executives welcomed in R.I., new tech center lauded

GOV. GINA M. Raimondo and Jeffrey S. Bornstein, GE chief financial officer, are shown at a press conference on Monday. General Electric Co. plans to open a new technology center in Providence; it plans to employ 100 individuals to start. / PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO
GOV. GINA M. Raimondo and Jeffrey S. Bornstein, GE chief financial officer, are shown at a press conference on Monday. General Electric Co. plans to open a new technology center in Providence; it plans to employ 100 individuals to start. / PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

PROVIDENCE – In the wake of last week’s announcement that the General Electric Co. would open a new technology center in Providence, city, state and congressional officials on Monday gathered at the Statehouse to welcome company executives to the state.
“We are on your team,” Gov. Gina M. Raimondo told Jeffrey S. Bornstein, GE chief financial officer, and Chris Drumgoole, chief technology officer of GE Digital, a burgeoning tech division of the international conglomerate that will open a location in Providence.
“Here in Rhode Island … we want you to be successful. We want you to think that you’re a partner and we want you to know that we will move quickly and responsibly for your needs the same way we do for every company,” Raimondo added.
GE last week announced it would immediately start hiring 100 new jobs. The company could be eligible for about $5.6 million in state incentives along with a tax-stabilization agreement with the city, although Mayor Jorge O. Elorza said GE hasn’t yet applied for the local incentive.
Bornstein said that during the last year – in which the company announced plans to move its corporate headquarters from Connecticut to Boston – there hasn’t been another state that has “done a better job of putting their best foot forward” than Rhode Island.
He called Raimondo “absolutely unequivocally relentless,” which evoked laughter from a packed State Room on Smith Hill. Raimondo, who’s largely designed her political agenda around economic development, has been actively trying to recruit outside business to the state.
Rhode Island’s strengths, Bornstein added, included its strong talent pool, the relatively low cost of living compared with the high-quality of life and the market’s proximity between New York City and the company’s new headquarters in Boston.

Bornstein also lauded the federal delegation for its interest in growing jobs in the state.
U.S. Sen. Jack F. Reed, who spoke along with the other four members of the Rhode Island congressional delegation, thanked the company for choosing Rhode Island, adding that it would likely have an impact on how other outside businesses would look at the state.
“We know that with GE here others will follow because when GE makes a decision to go someplace it will be looked at closely, copied, emulated and so this is the beginning not just of GE’s presence here, but I think the presence of many other national companies,” Reed said.
GE has already reached out to the University of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island School of Design in search of possible new hires and Drumgoole said the company plans to work with other educational institutions in the state. Hiring has already begun, he added, saying that the average salary for GE Digital employees will exceed $100,000 per year.
The company did not reveal where it plans to open the new GE Digital location in the city, or when it will open.
The company is committed to hiring 100 new jobs – which would make it eligible for state incentives – and while it would like to expand its local workforce in the future, Bornstein says that will largely depend on whether GE Digital can effectively scale and if the appropriate talent is available.
“We honestly believe that with the culmination of software, artificial intelligence, robotics, advanced manufacturing – all of these things – are going to be the a part of what we’re going to develop,” Bornstein said. “And a piece of that puzzle is going to be here in Rhode Island.”

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3 COMMENTS

  1. One point – they are coming to Providence…not “Rhode Island”.
    Major cities attract major corporations. They have no interest in being in a suburb.

    Go Providence!

  2. One point – they are coming to Providence…not “Rhode Island”.
    Major cities attract major corporations. They have no interest in being in a suburb.

    Go Providence!