Newsmakers
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Military housing went from job to vocation after 9/11
John Picerne was raised on the real estate business in the third-generation Picerne Real Estate Group. But the further he went in the family business, the less comfortable he became with the boom-and-bust cycles of residential housing. Craving a more stable slice of the market, Picerne ventured into military housing, particularly building apartments on Army bases, and broke off the independent Picerne Military Housing in 2005. more
Death of a firm can breathe life into others at auction
SJ Corio Co. President Salvatore Corio Jr. has been running liquidation auctions in Rhode Island since 1983, so when he took on the 38 Studios LLC bankruptcy sale, he knew he was in for a big job. With over 2,000 lots on the block, selling everything in one session while maximizing returns for taxpayers would take speed and endurance. Over a nearly uninterrupted 10 hours of bidding, the auction recovered $650,000 for the state as Corio mixed his trademark blend of rapid-fire humor with salesmanship. More than once, he asked for a bid of $75 million, the amount of the 38 Studios loan guarantee. more

By Patrick Anderson
PBN Staff Writer | 11/26/12

Effort to better ‘connect’ city lands in Copenhagen
Andy Cutler, founder of Cutler & Co., has spent the past two years and plenty of his own money working on an initiative that aims to connect Providence with other smaller cities around the world. Drawn to the similarities between Providence and Copenhagen, he selected the Danish city as the first focus of Smaller Cities Unite!, an initiative designed to link Rhode Island’s capital with other cities that have populations of 1.5 million or less, and that share commonalities such as student engagement, economic development, policy, entrepreneurship and arts and culture. After months of forging virtual connections with residents of Copenhagen and trying to build local support, Cutler recently traveled to the city. He spent 11 days there discussing ways to form lasting connections between the two cities. more

By Lindsay Lorenz
PBN Researcher | 4/15/13

Market warming for storing energy to be used as heat
Providence-based VCharge Inc. coined the term “transactive load” to describe a concept company founders believe will change the world. It’s the idea that end users of electricity can save money by determining when they buy power, taking advantage of the pre-dawn hours when demand is low and generators are pumping out far more energy than needed. To take advantage of this concept, VCharge is developing smart-grid applications, such as its Smartbricks for electric thermal-storage systems, that could potentially balance supply and demand on the electric grid and pave the way for alternative energy. Jessica Millar is VCharge’s founder and chief security officer. more

By Patrick Anderson
PBN Staff Writer | 11/5/12

More trees, less pavement would make city more livable
Gary Cloutier is a Rhode Island native who returned to the Ocean State on May 14 as executive director for Groundwork Providence, a nonprofit dedicated to the greening and cleaning of the metropolitan Providence area through several initiatives. more
Greed abounds, but there’s more to Wall Street story
Growing up a distant cousin of Kurt Vonnegut and going to Harvard didn’t make him a novelist, but 15 years immersed in the cut-throat culture of Wall Street drove Norb Vonnegut to the pen. The stock broker turned writer, who worked at Kidder, Peabody in Providence 20 years ago, is now settled in Rhode Island and just released his third novel, “The Trust.” The thriller is about a network of financial criminals involved in adult entertainment who hide behind the Catholic Church and infiltrate a wealthy family. more
Minority-owned companies not getting share of contracts
When Lisa Ranglin helped announce the creation of the Rhode Island Black Business Association in October 2011, she said there was a serious need for a central advocacy program for small businesses owned by minorities and females in Rhode Island. more

By Rebecca Keister
PBN Staff Writer | 12/3/12

State can make it safer, easier for firms to take risks
Saul Kaplan isn’t about to get “Netflixed.” That’s the term he uses to describe a business’ inability to anticipate change and, worse, failure to reinvent itself for future success, referencing what happened to the Blockbuster franchise when Netflix came along with a new business model for the same product. more
Brown students’ experiences spawn backpack-cover idea
Brown University senior David Emanuel garnered some attention for a student business called Lock’d when he won first place in the statewide Elevator Pitch competition at Johnson & Wales University’s Harborside Campus in Providence on Dec. 5. more

By Rhonda Miller
PBN Staff Writer | 2/11/13

Redirecting state funding can spur economic development
Since finishing fourth in a 2010 bid for governor, Sympatico Software Systems President and Moderate Party founder Ken Block has remained an active presence in the Rhode Island political arena. This year, Block is working with fellow business leaders in the Smaller Business Association of New England to develop and promote an economic-policy plan for the state. The plan, which Block and other SBANE members are pitching to elected officials this winter, calls for a series of economic-development and education reforms to spur growth. The SBANE plan would redirect state English-as-a-second-language funding to economic development, investigate use patterns in unemployment insurance, potentially eliminate the state temporary-disability insurance program and exempt new investments in Rhode Island companies from capital gains tax. The education ideas include increasing instructional time, reducing teacher absence and moving the start of teacher contracts away from the beginning of the school year. more

By Patrick Anderson
PBN Staff Writer | 1/7/13

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