Saturday, August 29, 2026

TOPICS

PBN 40th Anniversary

MOVING IN: 
Construction worker Fabiola Roman installs drywall at a new Bank Rhode Island branch in Newport in 2023. The bank is now called Beacon Bank. Several smaller banks expanded their branch networks in Rhode Island over the last five years, while bigger financial institutions shuttered some of their branches. 
PBN FILE PHOTO/DAVID HANSEN

Banks adjust as borrowing costs climb

In early 2022, Rhode Island’s banks were still operating in an environment defined by abundant liquidity and historically low interest rates. COVID-19 pandemic-era stimulus programs...
BACK AT IT: 
An Orsted A/S vessel is docked to one of the massive wind turbines off the coast of Rhode Island. Work on the turbines was delayed because of Trump administration orders, but it has resumed after the courts stepped in. 
AP FILE PHOTO/JOSHUA A. BICKEL

Offshore wind sector hits turbulence

State officials and labor leaders geared up for years in preparation for the promise of the offshore wind industry – thousands would need to...
A DIFFERENT CLASSROOM: Douglas S. Alexander, director of the Institute for Cybersecurity & Emerging Technologies at Rhode Island College, speaks with RIC senior Miled Kalbourji in the institute’s cyber range classroom in 2025. 
COURTESY RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE

R.I. higher-ed institutions reshaping talent pipelines

Educational institutions have come around to the idea that there is more than one kind of classroom, as students learn both on campus and...
TIGHT GRIP: Joe Depena, owner and fitness manager at VP Fitness on Dorrance Street in Providence, works with his ­client, Alice Negrao, of Providence, in 2018. 
PBN FILE 
PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Fit for expansion

VP Fitness (Published Sept. 7, 2018) YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2011 TYPE OF BUSINESS: Fitness club THEN: OWNER: Joe Depena LOCATION: 10 Dorrance St., Suite 200, Providence EMPLOYEES: 28 ANNUAL SALES: $1.3 million NOW: OWNER: Joe...
Bruce Van Saun

Driving Forces: Bruce Van Saun

Bruce Van Saun Citizens Financial Group Inc. chairman and CEO The clear-eyed leader of the largest Rhode Island-based bank told weary state business leaders what they...
Karl Wadensten

Driving Forces: Karl Wadensten

Karl Wadensten VIBCO Inc. president; R.I. Commerce Corp. board member A LOT HAS changed at the R.I. Commerce Corp. over the years, including leadership, staff members,...
Marc B. Parlange

Why everyone benefits from a strong knowledge economy

Over the past 40 years, Rhode Island’s economy – like the nation’s – has been reshaped by global forces, rapid technological change and the...
Kristen Adamo

Driving Forces: Kristen Adamo

Kristen Adamo Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau CEO and president KRISTEN ADAMO is a hospitality sector dynamo who led the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors...
Iftikhar Ahmad

Driving Forces: Iftikhar Ahmad

Iftikhar Ahmad R.I. Airport Corp. CEO and president IN SOME WAYS, running Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport in the last five years has been a...
Brian Britson

Driving Forces: Brian Britson

Brian Britson Amgen Rhode Island vice president of operations SINCE JOINING Amgen Rhode Island as vice president of operations in August 2020, Brian Britson has guided...
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