PROVIDENCE, R.I. – May 9, 2012 – Adriana Dawson has been appointed state director for the Rhode Island Small Business Development Center at Johnson & Wales University. Dawson had been serving as interim director of the RISBDC since September 2011.
“We interviewed many strong applicants from the region and throughout the country,” said Jeffrey Senese, Ph.D., vice president of Academic Affairs at JWU. “Adriana was our top choice because of the wealth of experience she brings to this position and her deep ties in the small business community. Her leadership and success in bringing our faculty and students together to work with local businesses and organizations has greatly enhanced the educational experience at the university.”
“I am honored to be given the opportunity to lead the RI Small Business Development Center and continue to serve the small businesses of this state in this new capacity,” said Dawson. “I look forward to working with our network partners, the RI SBA District Office and our host institution, Johnson & Wales University, to fully align our RISBDC resources and generate the kind of economic impact that will continue to assist RI with its recovery efforts.”
Dawson previously served as the associate state director and a regional director at the SBDC at JWU. Before the RISBDC came to JWU in 2006, she was the assistant state director when the center was located at Bryant University. Adriana is a board member of the International Charter School and the Rhode Island Latino Policy Institute and is active with the Providence Economic Development Partnership Loan Committee. She was awarded the national state star award at the SBDC national conference in 2011 and was named SBDC State Star for Rhode Island in 2003. In 2008, she was recognized as the business person of the year by the Rhode Island Latino Civic Fund and a recipient of the Providence Business News 40 Under Forty award. Dawson earned a Master of Arts in Management Communication from Emerson College and a Bachelor of Science in Communications Studies, with concentrations in organizational communication and business administration, from Northeastern University.
The RISBDC (http://www.risbdc.org/ ) provides entrepreneurs and small business owners with resources to help them create, transform and grow their businesses. It promotes entrepreneurship and strengthens small business in Rhode Island by providing broad-based, high-quality, “no fee” one-on-one counseling and low-cost group educational services. It is a vehicle for connecting university, government, banking, private sector and other community-based resources to support small businesses and to promote economic development. The primary recipients of RISBDC services are existing businesses. Certain specific services, particularly educational programs, also are offered to start-up businesses. These services are provided directly by experts and JWU faculty/student teams in a variety of business disciplines at a network of offices throughout Rhode Island.
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