David A. Caprio, executive director of Children’s Friend & Service, the Providence-based nonprofit that attends to the needs of at-risk children and their families, is not an ordinary accountant. You know the type, someone who has a plan and a place for everything and does not like surprises.
Caprio’s career began innocently enough, when, after earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Bryant College (now University), he joined Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket as a staff accountant. He rose through the ranks, was given ever-increasing responsibilities, until he became the institution’s assistant controller, at which point he jumped to Children’s Friend to become finance director.
In much the same way, Caprio began an inexorable climb to become executive director. He earned an MBA from Providence College along the way, and when Lennette Azzi-Lessing left the organization, he became executive director in January 2007. From that moment on, he has been challenged not only to provide leadership and direction to his staff, but to advocate in the halls of government and across the state for Rhode Island’s most vulnerable.
His success within Children’s Friend’s offices is reflected in it being chosen one of Rhode Island’s Best Places To Work earlier this year by Providence Business News and the Best Companies Group.
His achievements outside can be measured by the 17,513 children and families who were served in 2008 by Children’s Friend, a record for the 175-year-old nonprofit.
In his letter to the Children’s Friend community earlier this year, Caprio said “what an amazing impact we are having through our work together. Because of you, the future for vulnerable children in Rhode Island is brighter.”
Turns out he is modest, too. •
