1. What are the biggest challenges facing both the Newport County and statewide business community? One of our biggest challenges is the ability to attract and retain the workforce across all levels of career and sectors of our economy in the Greater Newport region. We have a tremendous quality of life and thriving business community in our area, but we have a housing affordability and inventory problem. The recent surge in high-value owner-occupied units and a drop in lower-value renter-occupied units, coupled with a decline in working-age population, is resulting in an increased reliance on the workforce commuting into the region, which raises sustainability risks.
2. What do you hope to accomplish as the newest member of the R.I. Commerce Corp. board of directors? Issues I’m hopeful to be working on that I think will make a difference in improving our overall business climate and economic outcomes include education and workforce, talent attraction, housing, infrastructure, technical assistance for small businesses, and retention and attraction programs.
3. Can you talk about the U.S Chamber Foundation Education and Workforce Fellowship Program you were selected for? The program aims to equip business professionals and Chamber execs with data and information related to the importance of education and workforce development programs, along with some strategies to implement policies in our own region and states to support the nation’s future workforce. We have begun learning about the significance of early childhood education, its impact on the workforce and some statewide efforts around the country to address some of these problems.
4. In your travels, when asked about Newport or the state in general, how do you pitch it? It’s not difficult to pitch Newport – the quality of place is second to none and thanks to our partners at Discover Newport, our international brand is highly regarded and on many a bucket list. However, I love being able to not only talk about the amazing attractions, restaurants and geography we have here, but also about our budding blue tech sector.
5. What more can state government can do to boost the private sector? My suggestions are to focus on infrastructure needs to enable economic development like transportation, housing, education and utilities; make it easier to do business in the state, not harder; incentivize rather than mandate or penalize; be responsive.
