Marco Island
How do Rhode Island’s top executives spend their vacations?
Several have routines and traditions, while others try something new each time. The only rule, it seems, is to try to take their minds off their businesses.
Charlie Francis, president and partner of CB Richard Ellis, Rhode Island, said his mental state during vacation is "total relaxation, mind on what business?"
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
Francis has been going to Bermuda for the last 12 years during the last weeks of March. He and his wife stay at a beach club on the water that abuts a Port Royal Golf Course.
"True splendor," he said. "Pricey place, but worth it."
Pricey for Francis is about $290 per day, on what he refers to as a "modified American plan," which includes breakfast and dinner.
David Gilden, a managing partner at the Providence law firm Partridge Snow & Hahn, has also established a routine for his destinations. His wife and two teenagers go to Marco Island in Florida on the kids’ April vacation, Quebec City for a ski vacation in the winter, Aruba during the other times of the year and every other summer they go to Europe.
Gilden said keeping his mind off business can be difficult, especially if a client has needs while he is away.
"We have a great support system and my partners are very good at stepping in to help, but I’ve spent some time sitting on a chair on the beach negotiating deals," he said.
The roughest part about that, said Gilden, is the "pressure from the family to shut the cell phone off."
Dan Sullivan, Jr., president and CEO of Collette Travel in Pawtucket, has an even tougher time getting away from work since his business involves making sure others have pleasant vacations. He said he takes his business with him on vacation all the time, and sometimes he even takes his vacation with him to work.
"I wouldn’t say it’s one big vacation, because there’s actually a lot of work," he said.
"But I do a lot of traveling for business. I went to Australia with a sales team in December and we’re doing something with a cruise to Bermuda in July," he said. "I mix business and pleasure quite a bit. I check out restaurants and hotels. It’s more like a passion than work."
Sheldon Sollosy, president of Providence search firm Manpower, stays in touch with his office when he’s on vacation, but it’s a lot easier than when he started his business 48 years ago.
"I used to have to make appointments for when I would call," he said. "It’s a whole lot easier with faxes and e-mail now."
Sollosy has been taking vacations to Israel since 1968. He said he wasn’t able to go this past year, but he is a little nervous about his next trip.
"I used to say that I could walk around Jerusalem at midnight, but I couldn’t walk around my office on Weybosset Street at midnight," he said. "I can’t say that anymore."
