Chafee quickly putting stamp on economic-development agency

Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee is moving quickly to put his stamp on the R.I. Economic Development Corporation, though at least one board member wants a clearer picture of the new governor’s economic-development strategy.
First, Chafee recently accepted the resignation of Alfred J. Verrecchia from the EDC board. Last week, he named replacements for Verrecchia and three other board members with expiring terms.
And there were other changes during his first meeting as EDC chairman Jan. 24. Chafee’s chief of staff, Patrick Rogers, took a seat at the board table, and longtime EDC legal counsel Robert Stolzman handed those reins to Providence lawyer David Gilden.
The tone of the monthly meeting shifted, too. While Executive Director Keith W. Stokes remained, the usual discussion on renewable energy and innovation tax credits gave way to talk of building on the state’s existing assets and helping Main Street businesses.
After the meeting, Karl Wadensten, president of manufacturer Vibco Inc., and an outspoken EDC board member, said he would like Chafee to add more details on his economic-development strategy – and how the EDC will afford initiatives such as helping small-business gain access to capital – at the next meeting, in February.
“I’m not sure if we’re on the same page,” Wadensten said. “I don’t know what the page is yet.”
What is clear is that Chafee plans to remain heavily involved in the EDC’s operations. “This governor will be playing a very hands-on, direct role,” said his spokesman, Michael Trainor.
Chafee was scheduled to take a walking tour of downtown Woonsocket last week to listen to the concerns of small-business owners. “He believes there’s no better way to get the pulse of the business community,” Trainor said.
And the four appointments to the board will be expected to hold matching beliefs, Trainor said.
Last week, Chafee appointed Helena Buonanno Foulkes, an executive vice president at CVS Caremark Corp., as vice chairwoman of the EDC board.
Also named to the board was information technology expert Jack Templin, co-founder of the Providence Geeks and RI Nexus; Providence developer Stanley Weiss, best known for founding the Hotel Providence; and Central Falls real estate developer and manager Jerauld Adams.
The appointments are subject to the review and consent of the Senate.
Chafee’s back-to-the-basics effort is no surprise. During the gubernatorial campaign last year, the independent candidate was critical of the EDC, particularly after it approved a $75 million taxpayer-backed loan guarantee for Curt Schilling’s video game company, 38 Studios Inc. With the state’s unemployment rate hovering above 11 percent, Chafee last week talked about stressing the fundamentals at the EDC. “We need to work on blocking and tackling and not Hail Mary passes,” he said.
Wadensten said the four appointments are crucial to Chafee’s economic-development strategy because “we’re the ambassadors for the business community.”
Wadensten said that he hoped the new administration’s board selections are “progressive people who also understand practicalities of the state.”
“I don’t want to see big swingers,” said Wadensten, whose term ends in 2014. “The big, home run ideas come around once in a blue moon.”
In 2009, an independent review of the EDC led to a scathing report on its efforts and a reshaping of what is now a 13-member board.
After a failed national search for a new executive director more than a year ago, former Gov. Donald L. Carcieri selected Stokes, then president of the Newport County Chamber of Commerce, to lead the agency.
Stokes has spent the last year restructuring the EDC.
While Chafee decided earlier this month to keep Stokes on for another year, he did not do the same for the three board members whose terms expire Feb. 1, FM Global CEO Shivan Subramaniam, Gilbane Inc., Vice Chairman Paul Choquette Jr. and Verizon Communications’ New England President Donna Cupelo.
Also, Chafee accepted the resignation of Verrecchia, who helped write the disparaging 2009 EDC report.
“The governor feels strongly that he should have his own team,” Trainor said.
Still, Chafee cited Verrecchia’s report – which called the EDC “fragmented, disjointed and without focus” – several times at last week’s EDC meeting, saying the agency needed to concentrate its efforts.
With that, Chafee laid out his new priorities for the EDC: a focus on building existing assets such as the Warwick Station Redevelopment District near T.F. Green Airport and assisting Main Street businesses in the state’s urban communities.
Projects such as the Warwick district – where the Interlink connects the airport to a newly opened commuter rail stop – and the relocation of Interstate 195 already have received funding from the federal government and are under way or complete, Chafee said at last week’s meeting. •