“Help Wanted” sign remains posted at the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, the quasi state agency that has been operating without a permanent director since early January. The search has been on since John Swen resigned during the first week of 2000, the result of both political and public fallout from his admission that he and members of his staff had used state credit cards inappropriately.
To date, the committee charged with finding a replacement for Swen has received about 100 resumes for the position that is chiefly responsible for assisting existing businesses and luring new ones to Rhode Island. The post pays about $100,000.
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Lisa Pelosi, Gov. Lincoln Almond’s director of communications, said the original timetable for filling the position – 90 days – remains intact.
Shortly after Swen’s resignation, Almond tapped M. Paul Sams, general manager of the state Water Resources Board, to head the EDC on a temporary basis. Sams said he is not a candidate for the position on a full-time basis, primarily because it would remove him from the state’s retirement system. Sams has worked for the state for more than 14 years.
Sams said he and the governor agreed that his tenure would run between 60 and 90 days. To date, he said, it has been a satisfying stint.
“We have done a lot of good things,” Sams said. “The corrections that needed to be made, have been made.”
Sams said it has been especially satisfying to reach out to the smallest of the state’s small businesses. In recent weeks, for example, the EDC has provided loans to truck drivers who have seen their businesses threatened by record-breaking fuel oil costs.
“That’s been a good thing,” he said.
In his brief tenure at the EDC, Sams has impressed both co-workers and people outside of the agency. Sams is a personable sort with a knack for communicating. He does not carry a cell phone – or a beeper.
“I don’t like to be tethered to anything,” he said.
At least one member of the EDC’s board of directors wishes that Sams were a candidate for the post on a permanent basis.
State Rep. Melvoid Benson, a Democrat from North Kingstown and a member of the EDC’s board of directors, said there has been “a lot of positive change under his direction.” Benson said Sams has been especially open to listening to the concerns of constituents in her district with regard to the development of the former Navy base at Quonset Point/Davisville.
”You just can’t say enough good things about the job he has done” she said. “Sams is doing such a good job, I wish there were a way he could stay.”
But Sams said he must put his family – and his financial security — first.
”As it is structured now, there is no way I could do it,” he said.
Keith Stokes, executive director of the Newport County Chamber of Commerce and also a member of the EDC’s board of directors, is part of committee searching for a new director. Stokes said the committee is purposely taking its time.
”We want to make sure that the man or woman we recommend to the governor has a strong business background and can work closely with government,” Stokes said. “That’s a special person.”
Stokes said the search committee should recommend a candidate for the post to the governor by next month or in early May. Almond must present his choice for the cabinet position to the Senate Judiciary Committee for approval.
Whether the EDC executive director post should go to a local person with first-hand knowledge of the state’s economic climate or to someone with a proven record from another state is a matter of opinion.
Joseph R. Paolino, Jr., a real estate developer who has served as both Mayor of Providence (1984 to 1991) and executive director of the EDC (1991 to 1994), believes the agency’s next executive director should be someone with deep ties to Rhode Island’s economic landscape.
“I’ve always been suspect of nationwide searches,” said Paolino. “There are a number of people here who could do the job. We live in a state, where if you come from out of state, everyone thinks you are an expert.”
Paolino said it would take someone from out of state several months to learn the players and by the time they did, it would not be long before a new administration was moving into place. Paolino credited the EDC with making some real strides in recent years. To keep that momentum going, he said, it might make sense to tap into the experience of a retired local executive.
The former mayor of the capital city even has some suggestions – pointing out that Dick Oster, formerly of Cookson America, and Herb Cummings, formerly of Citizens Bank, would both be excellent choices.
Whether it is a local person, or not, Paolino said the new head of the EDC must be a good administrator, with “a vision as to the kind of legislation that needs to be passed and a sense for how to bring new companies here.” He or she, said Paolino, will also need to have sensitivity to the improving – but always fragile – relationship between the business and labor camps in Rhode Island.
Paolino said he tends to lean more toward the value of experience.
”A young gun is not going to stay here – they are going to use us as a stepping stone,” said Paolino.
Rep. Aram Garabedian, an Independent from Cranston who would like to see the General Assembly establish an economic development committee, said the new head at EDC need not be a local person, but should be someone that can demonstrate enthusiasm and a knack for building jobs.
“We need a person to implement a lot of things that they have cooking over there,” said Garabedian. “When you look at Rhode Island – a lot of states are beating the heck out of us. We need someone with the drive to get us our fair share of business that is developing in the Northeast.”
Garabedian said the new executive director would also need to “take us down the road of developing Quonset Point.”
Finding just the right person, said Garabedian, presents a challenge. People with the kind of qualifications the state is looking for, he said, “often have a longer life in the private sector.”
They also enjoy stock options and other potentially lucrative benefits, said Garabedian.
Because such a search can be trying, Garabedian likes the idea of opening it up to candidates from across the country. Often, he said, you discover a talented “local” person that you haven’t seen or heard from in a while.
“There’s nothing better than bringing someone home who has gained experience – and now wants to come back to Rhode Island,” said Garabedian.
