Nick Inglis is the president of the Information Coalition and co-founder of the Information Governance Conference, held annually in Providence. Inglis answers PBN’s questions about the ad-hoc group he assembled with the executives of Providence-based tech companies EpiVax Inc., NuLabel Technologies Inc. and Virgin Pulse to support Gov. Gina M. Raimondo’s Rhode Island Promise scholarship initiative.
PBN: What difference does it make for tech companies to have access to a local talent pool, instead of drawing talent from out of state?
INGLIS: For some states, this wouldn’t be a significant issue because drawing talent from out of state would largely mean that individuals are relocating to their state. For Rhode Island, our land size and proximity to other states work against us in this regard as it’s possible to draw talent from other states without the need for individual relocation to Rhode Island. We’re filling positions with workers from out of state (that could be filled with Rhode Islanders) while sending productive tax dollars across our borders to Massachusetts and Connecticut.
While it’s important that the jobs in Rhode Island be filled with someone from any state for the benefit of our companies, the economic impact for our state is greatest when we have Rhode Island companies hiring Rhode Island workers, as we’re able to keep those payroll and tax dollars flowing within the state instead of out of the state.
PBN: How have you seen the national perception of Rhode Island as a place to do business evolve over the last few years, and how do you see RI Promise affecting that?
INGLIS: I started the Information Governance Conference with one of my business partners, and for our first two years (2014 and 2015) we held the event in Hartford, Conn. So, while I live here in Providence, from a business perspective, my team is among those who have both contributed to and taken advantage of Rhode Island’s improved perception when we moved our event here last year.
We did initially face some pushback, but after holding the event here at the Rhode Island Convention Center (I can’t speak highly enough about the team there) and featuring so much of what Rhode Island has to offer, those doubts have completely vanished among our attendees, sponsors and partners.
From our hotels to our restaurants, from our unique nightlife (Boombox inside of the Dean Hotel was a huge hit) to our conference’s gift bags that we filled with all-local products – Yacht Club soda, Glee Gum, Del’s Lemonade mix, Virginia & Spanish Peanut Co. treats, and a big bag of fresh Nettie’s Kettle Corn – we bet big on Rhode Island and Rhode Island delivered.
When we announced that we would return to Providence and the R.I. Convention Center, the news was met with praise and excitement from our attendees who were looking forward to returning to Rhode Island.
Rhode Island has a strong story to tell and we were easily able to change any remaining negative perceptions of our state among our attendees (who come from all over the world) by simply giving them the opportunity to see Rhode Island from our new vantage point – Rhode Island did the work of selling itself.
The Rhode Island comeback story is strong, spreading quickly, and we’re happy to be both contributors to and beneficiaries of that story by bringing an estimated quarter-million dollars in spending into the local economy last year through our event.
PBN: How would you respond to critics of RI Promise who say the state should focus on improving K-12 education instead of sponsoring free college tuition?
INGLIS: I am dismayed that some folks are so willing to discount the hard work and incremental progress we’re making in K-12 education in our state in order to make a convoluted argument against improving college access. Our Education Commissioner, Ken Wagner, came to Rhode Island with a solid track record of success from his time as a part of the team leading New York’s education system, but he just took the reigns in 2015 and K-12 improvements, as we’ve seen in neighboring Massachusetts, take time (along with sustained investment).
On the investment side, K-12 funding is already seeing a significant increase in this year’s proposed budget. We committed to full-time kindergarten for every Rhode Island child just under two years ago and we’re seeing positive signs of K-12 improvement in this year’s Rhode Island KIDS COUNT Factbook. All of this should be applauded.
At the same time, the KIDS COUNT Factbook also points to Rhode Island having the lowest college completion rate in New England and that only 29 percent of low-income Rhode Island students complete college within six years. Why are we setting two important education issues against one another?
We shouldn’t be looking at this as an either/or argument. We must continue to make progress on K-12 education and we must do more to improve college access in the state.
I’d like to make the exact opposite argument than the premise that some are putting forward. High schoolers in Rhode Island who never conceived of college being a possibility for them can look forward to a college education after high school with RI Promise. This can serve as an incentive toward better results in K-12 education since the results will have new meaning for college enrollment. Instead of seeing their education come to an end and losing momentum as they grow nearer to high school completion, students can look, with hope, toward the promise of college – no matter their socioeconomic background.
This is visible in data when we look at the annual R.I. Department of Education survey – nearly 90 percent of Rhode Island high schoolers want to go to college, but only 65 percent actually go to college, cost being the largest contributing factor to this gap. Eliminating this gap can have the additional benefit of improving our K-12 education results, simply through changing the mindset of our students.
PBN: Do you think RI Promise should require the students who receive scholarships to remain in the state for a certain period after graduation, [such as] the similar proposal recently passed in New York?
INGLIS: There are those that speak to Rhode Island’s “brain drain” of graduates that leave our state, but often do so without looking at the factors on why that brain drain exists – a lack of jobs and a historic unwillingness of companies to relocate to Rhode Island. I’d also note that many who forcefully push the Rhode Island “brain drain” narrative also dramatically overstate the issue by including the attendees of Rhode Island’s private colleges and universities in their statistics (a larger percentage of whom are from out of state to begin with).
Companies use a variety of factors to evaluate whether a state is worthy of relocation, primary among those factors is the workforce’s education level. Currently, under 40 percent of Rhode Islanders have associate degrees or higher. We need to break this cycle – RI Promise will do that. By increasing our rate of degree attainment, we can attract more companies and create more jobs. We’ve already started to see this momentum with GE Digital, Virgin Pulse, eMoney Advisors and others. Now we need to justify the momentum going forward by expanding upon our ongoing workforce-development efforts.
While we improve our education rates and ability to attract new businesses, a “can’t leave” work restriction would be punitive to graduates and unfortunately, in this regard, we’re not New York. We don’t have the same scale, nor do we have the varying regional economic areas like New York state does, and that’s a serious problem for a “can’t leave” restriction.
In New York state, the option exists for internal relocation to alternate economic centers. There is relocation between New York City, Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany and many other cities in New York, and that provides additional employment opportunities for residents of that state – all within the confines of New York. Sadly, Rhode Island can’t offer anything like that to our graduates. We’re essentially a city-state with an array of suburbs when placed in comparison with New York state. An effort to shift our education rate and, in turn, our economy, is going to take time. A “can’t leave” restriction would be really bad policy – both for the state and our graduates. Some may leave, but for the much larger number of those that stay, let’s do what we can to make sure they’re educated and enriching our economy.
PBN: What are your next steps for this ad-hoc group and your plans to garner support in the tech community for the RI Promise initiative?
INGLIS: I run a consulting firm and research group focused on improving how companies manage their information by day, so when I started pulling this ad-hoc group together, it was with the goal of simply understanding how other local technology leaders felt about Governor Raimondo’s RI Promise proposal.
When I realized that, like myself, other leaders [such as] Rajiv Kumar of Virgin Pulse, Anne De Groot of EpiVax and Max B. Winograd of NuLabel Technologies were all also incredibly supportive, I wanted us to join together to share that unheard narrative with our state – that this proposal is both important and necessary to tech companies.
Now we’re working on determining how we can sustain the momentum, add additional leaders to the group that have come forward in support since our initial announcement, and move the General Assembly toward passage of the RI Promise proposal.
We may look to additional advocacy issues in the future, but for now we’re focused on seeing that RI Promise becomes a part of Rhode Island’s commitment to changing our workforce for the benefit of every individual and every company in the state.
Kaylen Auer is a PBN contributing writer.
