McKee Moving to Bring Stefan Pryor Back— Third Time in RI Government

McKee Moving to Bring Stefan Pryor Back— Third Time in RI Government

GoLocal has confirmed that Governor Dan McKee is finalizing a plan to bring Stefan Pryor back.

Pryor previously served as Secretary of Commerce under both Governors Gina Raimondo and McKee, and then, after a failed run in the 2022 Democratic primary for General Treasurer, Pryor returned as McKee’s Secretary of Housing. The deal is expected to be completed this week.

Pryor will come back as Secretary of Commerce. Jim Bennett, who has been serving as the “interim” Secretary since Liz Tanner announced her “resignation” in June. 

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During McKee’s four years in office, he will have had four different heads of Commerce Corporation — Pryor, Tanner, Bennett, and Pryor again. 

Bennett will be named to a new position at Commerce, titled Chief Executive Officer. Ironically, it was Bennett who brought McKee his biggest economic development win by recruiting Organogenesis.

Under McKee and Tanner, Commerce experienced a near-endless stream of top staffers leaving the agency.

Pryor, in his first go around at Commerce, is credited with bringing in GE, Johnson & Johnson, and some other high-profile companies.

 

 

Housing

His tenure at Housing was somewhat controversial. The agency was highly criticized during Pryor’s tenure for its failure to get housing projects developed. Despite hundreds of millions of dollars in federal and state funds being available, the flow of dollars was slow.

Further, the pallet housing project launched by Pryor was months late and ran over budget.

The total cost of the Echo Village pallet housing project in Providence was approximately $4.6 million. This final figure represents a cost overrun of about $1.3 million above the original budget,

Pryor resigned in June of 2024.

He later announced he had joined a Texas-based firm.

He joined Palm Venture Studios, a Texas-based venture capital firm.

Founded in 2021, Palm Venture Studios is a Family office based in Austin. The firm specializes in turnaround capital for early-stage startups. The firm partners with leaders whose startups are stuck, and it provides the critical funding and strategic support needed to help their businesses succeed, according to PitchBook.

Pryor said when leaving his position at Housing, “Serving this State for nearly a decade has been an enormous honor. When I accepted Governor McKee’s invitation to serve as Housing Secretary, we discussed my doing the job for a year in order to start up the new Housing Department and catalyze needed housing activity. Almost a year and a half later, I reflect with pride on the accomplishments of our Housing team and its partners.”

"But the work is far from done – continuing commitment and investment are required. And while I transition now to a position in the private sector, I hope to continue contributing to Rhode Island’s progress in meaningful ways going forward," Pryor added. He did not disclose his next position.

Pryor is a graduate of Yale and Yale Law School, and has held top positions in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut before coming to Rhode Island under Raimondo.

Besides serving as the top economic development officer for Governors Gina Raimondo and Dan McKee, he worked in a key economic development job for Republicans George Pataki and New York City Mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg (the billionaire Bloomberg who later became an independent and ran for President as a Democrat).

Pryor served as head of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation — the agency rebuilding the area of the World Trade Center attack.

This story was first published 8/4/25 6:36 PM.