PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Technology Council announced on July 29 that its Workforce Development programs will now be directed by a new team including Katherine A. O’Dea, who joined RITEC in the role of Director of Workforce Development, and JoAnn Johnson, who will be the Manager of Education Partnerships.
The new team will take over for outgoing RITEC Director of Workforce Development Louis Soares, who has recently accepted a Hassenfeld Family Fellowship in Public Service to study at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
“We are fortunate to be in a position to be able to act decisively by quickly adding two highly respected professionals to carry on the expanded activities of the RITEC workforce development mission,” said Jack Sommer, RITEC executive director.
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,…
Learn More
O’Dea worked most recently as chief operating officer of the Nantucket Conservation Foundation. Previously, she was vice president at Business for Social Responsibility in San Fransisco, and served as executive director, chief operating officer and director of professional development at the International Society of Logistics in Maryland.
JoAnn Johnson has served as director of Tech Corps Rhode Island for six years. She has worked with 78 local area schools providing information technology education services in a variety of ways. Tech Corps Rhode Island is part of a national nonprofit organization dedicated to integrating technology into grade school and high school teaching and learning.
Memorial Hospital takes
leap in sinus surgery
PAWTUCKET – Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island became the first hospital in the state to equip its ear, nose and throat specialists with a state-of-the-art, image-guided system designed to pinpoint accuracy and minimize sinus surgery complications.
The operating room at Memorial is now equipped with the InstaTrak System, technology developed by Visualization Technology Inc. With it, the surgeon can see areas of the patient’s sinuses and skull anatomy that cannot be seen with conventional technology.
”This technology is a nice backup to surgical acumen,” said Martin Papazian, MD, chief of Otolaryngology at Memorial. “Many times, even with normal anatomy, diseases such as polyps may not allow a clear views of the sinus passages because of bleeding. This device provides a three-dimensional view.”
That visual enhancement is important for surgeons working in a small area adjacent to the patient’s optic nerve, skull base and carotid artery.
”Even though the complications from sinus surgery are rare, they can be significant, including published reports of spinal fluid leaks and vision loss,” Papazian said. “Memorial’s investment in the $150,000 InstaTrak System provides a ‘huge safety benefit’ to the hundreds of patients treated here each year for such problems as chronic sinusitis, nasal polyps and chronic sinus headaches.”
It also provides an important link to the future. Most teaching programs are using an image guiding system to teach new doctors how to perform sinus surgery, Papazian said.
APC’s 2nd-quarter profit
falls 15 percent, sales drop
WEST KINGSTON – American Power Conversion Corp., the West Kingston- based company which makes devices to protect electronic equipment from power surges, said its second-quarter profit fell 15 percent as sales declined.
Net income fell to $29.6 million, or 15 cents a share, from $34.8 million, or 18 cents, a year earlier, the company said in a release distributed by PR Newswire. Sales fell 13 percent to $308.2 million from $356 million.
American Power said in March that it was cutting about 1,000 jobs, or 17 percent of its work force, and merging factories, as slowing sales of personal computers and other electronic products lessened demand for its products.
Software Alliance applauds
trade promotion authority
WASHINGTON – The Business Software Alliance applauded the Senate last week for passing Trade Promotion Authority legislation.
“We are very pleased that Congress has, after years of debate, finally voted to give the president the power he needs to knock down trade barriers for American companies,” said Robert Holleyman, president and CEO of BSA. “Today’s vote will help American companies gain access to new markets in real time, which is critical for reviving our sluggish economy.
“This legislation is particularly important to the high-tech sector, which already this year has lost 243,000 jobs and nearly 40 percent of its market value,” Holleyman said. “TPA will help America’s high-tech industry turn the tide and benefit the U.S. economy, its work force and its trading partners for generations to come.”
The Business Software Alliance is a national organization dedicated to promoting a safe and legal online world. The BSA is the voice of the world’s software and Internet industry before governments and with consumers in the international marketplace.
(Compiled from news reports and releases).
