Karl Wadensten - Page 8 of 10 - Providence Business News

GA wants to jump-start investment in small businesses but new fund...

Cover Story 10/18/2019

A messy debate has been unfolding in the halls of political power in Rhode Island over how the state should help small businesses with...

TARIFF IMPACTS: Rhode Island Manufacturers Association Executive Director David Chenevert said the impact of tariffs and the slowing of the world economy has affected businesses differently in Rhode Island. Manufacturers focused on the aerospace or medical-industry markets are doing fine, he said, because defense spending has increased and the medical industry is growing. Companies producing products for the automotive industry, however, are seeing an impact because auto sales are down nationally.  / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

U.S. trade war with China has brought pain, uncertainty

Cover Story 10/04/2019

The initial tariffs imposed in 2018 on imports from China didn’t affect Cooley Group, a Pawtucket-based company that manufactures an array of engineered materials,...

VIBCO Vibrators GR-1600 Pothole Packer

Manufacturing 10/02/2019

THE STORY: Ever since Karl Wadensten’s father founded VIBCO Vibrators in 1962, the company has been helping industrial and construction clients improve their results...

DRAMATIC CHANGE: Tom McGinn, captain and president, and Kristin Stone are co-owners of Providence Riverboat. After the company joined the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau, it shifted its business model from cocktail cruises to catering to the tourism industry and nearly tripled its revenue in the first year, Stone said.  / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Tourism: In search of coordination

Cover Story 07/26/2019

The Providence Riverboat Co. once served primarily local customers. Its boats would take groups out on the Providence River for cocktail cruises, leaving from...

SEN. WILLIAM CONLEY, pictured wearing a gray suite, was a key proponent for creating a Small Business Development Fund as part of the fiscal 2020 state budget. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

General Assembly approves its own business incentive program

Financial Services 06/28/2019

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island lawmakers have inserted a new business incentive program into the state budget that would create a fund for private capital...

Rebuild Rhode Island could get tighter spending restrictions

Government 06/20/2019

PROVIDENCE – Rebuild Rhode Island, a signature economic-development incentive of Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, could be curtailed under the 2020 state budget, with tighter...

NOT SATISFIED: Karl Wadensten, president and CEO of VIBCO in Richmond, said he is not satisfied with the North American Free Trade Agreement or the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement because both are designed for each country’s best interest, rather than unifying North America in a three-way partnership.  / PBN FILE PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

R.I. manufacturers differ on USMCA regulations

Focus 06/14/2019

With ratification of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement dragging on longer than expected, Rhode Island manufacturers’ outlook on the proposed deal is mixed. Some say the...