PROVIDENCE – Gov. Donald L. Carcieri signed legislation Thursday that reconstitutes the R.I. Economic Development Corporation’s (EDC) board and provides the next agency’s executive director with a three-year term.
Under the law, the EDC board will expand its membership by four, from nine to 13. The governor will serve as chair and appoint the other 12 members.
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In addition, the law includes new requirements that the board members reflect the “geographic diversity of the state,” and that one member represent higher education.
The law also clears the way for Carcieri to offer the next EDC director a three-year contract, rather than having the individual leave when Carcieri’s term ends in January 2011. Carcieri said the longer contract will attract better candidates.
A search committee has spent months searching for someone to replace former EDC chief Saul Kaplan, whose tenure ended abruptly last December when he left to lead the nonprofit Business Innovation Factory full time. Since Kaplan’s departure, J. Michael Saul, the EDC’s deputy director, has served as the agency’s interim director.
The committee started with a pool of more than a dozen candidates and has interviewed about six in recent months, Alfred J. Verrecchia, the head of the search committee and former CEO of Hasbro Inc., told Providence Business News last week.
Verrecchia confirmed that one of the finalists is Ionna T. Morfessis, an economic-development official from Arizona. Verrecchia declined to identify the other finalist.
Saul, the interim director, did not apply for the job, although Verrecchia said he encouraged Saul to do so. Carcieri administration officials have said the appointment of a new director has been on hold as the legislation made its way through the General Assembly.
Additional information is available at riedc.com.
