19 Who Made a Difference in RI in 2019
GoLocalProv News Team
19 Who Made a Difference in RI in 2019
These are the individuals who innovated, transformed, and even blundered a bit, making an impact along the way.
These 19 fueled the economy, they created things, and they transformed Rhode Island. Over the years GoLocal has identified more than 140 who helped to change the state.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“Each year, we look back and identify those people that in little, simple actions -- or big bold steps -- changed Rhode Island,” said Kate Nagle, GoLocal News Editor.
“Sadly this year, one of those who changed Rhode Island was recently killed. We recognized Julie Lynn Cardinal when we wrote, 'At the beginning of 2016, women were still not allowed to be full members of the Westerly Yacht Club. And one woman - Julie Lynn Cardinal — with a very public pronouncement after a vote upheld the males-only policy, helped to change that,'" said Nagle.
“We loved meeting her and reporting on her," said Nagle."We are heartbroken by her passing."
SEE THE FULL LIST OF 2019 BELOW
SLIDESHOW: 19 Who Made a Difference in RI in 2019
Hillary Levey Friedman, RINOW
Hilary Levey Friedman, the President of RI NOW, had a big win in 2019 — as big a win as any advocate has ever had at the Rhode Island State House.
Levey Friedman was not alone in gaining passage of strong reproductive rights legislation, but she was the critical player.
The legislative power structure of the state of Rhode Island is dominated by Catholic men who are opposed to abortion.
READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE
Lynn Singleton, PPAC
Most years Lynn Singleton and his team at Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC) bring Broadway and other performances to Rhode Island to delight tens of thousands. This year was not any year.
He bet the proverbial ranch by bringing Hamilton to Providence - literally.
If you were downtown Providence during the run of Hamilton at about 6:00 p.m., you would have seen crowds of literally thousands each night, reveling in anticipation of seeing Hamilton. And at 10:30 p.m. each night, social media was flooded with photos and praise.
READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE
Jennifer Lawrence, Actress
Jennifer Lawrence's Newport wedding was the biggest story not just on celebrity websites -- it was featured prominently by at least a dozen of the top fifteen news websites nationally and globally.
It was the biggest wedding in Newport since JFK and Jacqueline Bouvier tied the knot.
Coverage of Carolyn Rafaelian's recently renovated Belcourt of Newport was front and center in the media frenzy of the biggest celebrity event of the season.
The public relations value to Newport, of having the world follow the star-studded wedding of an A-list actress, who could have gotten married absolutely anywhere?
READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE
Photo: CC: Mingle MediaTV derivative work: Tabercil (talk)
Nicole Romano, Jewelry Designer
Nicole Romano is a designer, businesswoman and fearless.
Stack up the accomplishments. She is everywhere. From fashion week in NYC to appearing on GoLocal LIVE to developing new designs, Romano is a whirlwind of creative energy.
A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, Romano forged ahead by launching her own multidimensional brand with the encouragement and mentoring of Nicole Miller and legendary Sex & the City stylist, Patricia Field.
While her showroom is in New York, Romano manufactures all of her jewelry in Rhode Island. One of her most recent collection, "Jacaranda," debuted on HSN with great success.
Gabriel Aofolajuwonlo, High Soccer Goalie
Sometimes it is the little things the can mean so much -- spontaneous and so simple.
Gabriel Aofolajuwonlo, a freshman at St. Patrick Academy in Providence, allowed a player at Narragansett High School with special needs to score a goal at the end of a tied game — which ensured that Narragansett won.
Aaron Auslander is a seasoned soccer coach, who only just last year joined St. Patrick’s to help guide a newly formed club that did not often have enough players to field a team, practiced in a small field — not a soccer pitch — at a church adjacent to the school, and struggled to find teams willing to scrimmage them.
READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE
Sophia Loren and Al Saccoccia, Movie Star and Driver
It was a story that was made for Hollywood -- it's our own little Cinema Paradiso.
Cranston resident Al Saccoccia was only supposed to drive Sophia Loren for a few days in Providence, when she came to Rhode Island for "An Evening with Sophia Loren" at the Convention Center in November.
A week and a half later, Saccoccia found himself having chauffeured the iconic actress down to New York, around the city, and then to Washington D.C., all at her request.
READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE
Vincent Mor, Brown University
A few decades of hard work have paid off.
In 2019, Dr. Vincent Mor, Professor of Health Services, Policy & Practice at the Brown University School of Public Health, and University and Boston-based Hebrew SeniorLife (HSL) were awarded a five-year, $53.4 million grant to lead a nationwide effort to improve healthcare and quality of life for those living with Alzheimer’s disease.
“I’m collaborating with a longtime colleague of mine — Susan Mitchell [at Hebrew SeniorLife], she is a physician epidemiologist, and her clinical work for years has been focusing on people with dementia, receiving long-term care services, and she’s been part of several of my grants in the past,” said Mor in an interview on GoLocal LIVE.
READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE
Zachary Levesque, Northpointe
There are three levels of high energy — frenetic energy, supercharged energy, and the Zach Levesque kind of energy.
Levesque is "that business" leader who seems like he is everywhere all the time. He heads Northpointe Bank in Providence and has been in the mortgage industry for over fifteen years — good times and, bad.
He is on the legislative board for RIMBA, the board for the young professionals network of Rhode Island, and served on numerous boards for the greater Providence board of realtors and the Kent Washington Association of Realtors.
Eric Zuena, ZDS
Eric Zuena is the hottest architect in Rhode Island. He is in the middle of nearly every major project in the state.
His firm ZDS was the lead on the Case-Meade apartments downtown, the Homewood Suites at the foot of College Hill, 229 Waterman and Mare restaurant, 1290 Westminster apartments, the proposed Smart Hotel project near Thayer Street, the restoration of the old, old Providence Journal building downtown, and the now-being-developed Beatrice Hotel.
Phil Kydd, RIDOT
Phil Kydd was behind the November announcement by U.S. Senator Jack Reed of $8,040,000 in federal funding for the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority to build new hubs at the University of Rhode Island and the Community College of Rhode Island's Knight Campus.
And Kydd's role was instrumental.
“This is good news for URI, CCRI, and everyone who uses RIPTA. This federal investment will help RIPTA build new facilities and provide reliable service to and from URI and CCRI. It will literally make higher education opportunities more accessible for Rhode Islanders,” said Reed.
Currently, URI and CCRI serve nearly 35,000 students a year and generate nearly 1 million RIPTA trips, roughly 6 percent of RIPTA’s annual ridership.
Setting up other people comes naturally for former URI basketball star and Hall of Famer Kydd, who was arguably the greatest 6th-man in the program’s history.
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Jeffrey Epstein and Ira Magaziner, Deceased Sexual Predator and Clinton Foundation
One of Rhode Island's most prominent people continues to refuse to answer questions about his relationship with sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.
A GoLocal review of thousands of documents relating to Epstein finds close links to Rhode Island’s Ira Magaziner. Magaziner is the father of Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner, who is considered to be a likely Democratic candidate for Governor of Rhode Island in 2022.
Despite more than a dozen calls and emails, Magaziner has refused to answer questions about his relationship and flights with Epstein.
The senior Magaziner is a close friend and adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton and presently leads the Clinton Health Access Initiative.
READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE
Peter Marino, Neighborhood Health Plan
Neighborhood Health Plan is a 25-year-old overnight success.
Peter Marino is not the only reason, but in healthcare today when your organization does not ram into the proverbial rocks, then you are a pretty good leader.
And Marino is a pretty great leader.
He started his tenure at Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island in 2014 and as CEO, he oversees all aspects of the health plan.
In his previous careers, he was Director of the Rhode Island Office of Management and Budget. And before that he was the Rhode Island Senate Fiscal Advisor, Director of Research and Policy for the Providence-based RDW Group, and Director of Policy and Municipal Affairs for the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC).
Jamie Donnelly-Taylor and Steven O’Donnell: Formerly RISP
The Rhode Island State Police's Steven O'Donnell met a 13-year-old Jamie Donnelly-Taylor and quickly became a mentor to him. They bonded through youth and high school lacrosse. O'Donnell has been the varsity lacrosse coach at La Salle Academy for nearly two decades.
O'Donnell helped Donnelly-Taylor join the State Police. The two are now inextricably linked.
Donnelly-Taylor and O'Donnell were involved in a series of incidents that have, in part, changed the State Police forever.
3 High Schoolers Who Took On Bailey’s Beach Club, Rogers High School
It was an epic battle between three local Newport kids who were trying to make a little extra money by starting Viking Hot Dogs and the management of Bailey's Beach Club, one of America's most exclusive and all-white resorts.
On one side was Viking Hot Dog cart, which was started by Will Farley, Kayleigh Mosher and Peyton Gardner. The three are all juniors at Rogers High School and each of them had second jobs.
On the other side was Bailey’s Beach Club, whose members include the Vanderbilt, Astor, and Whitehouse families -- some of the wealthiest and most influential in America's history.
Dr. Carla Moreira, Warren Alpert Medical School
Dr. Carla Moreira is the ultimate Rhode Island success story.
She is the Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University, Chief of Vascular Surgery at the Providence VA Medical Center, and attending vascular surgeon at Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital.
Did we mention she also helps to organize community events, like the Capeverdian American Community Development of RI’s Health and Wellness Fair.
READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE
Jorge Elorza, Mayor of Providence
Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza helped bring national attention to Providence. Unfortunately, not much of it was very good.
From the takeover of the Providence Schools, high profile club-related murders, to the state stripping the city’s powers over the 195 lands — it was a difficult year for the second-term mayor of the capital city. He added insult to injury as in the midst of negotiations on the city's budget, Elorza headed to Hawaii for a conference.
The Wall Street Journal has named Providence “an education horror show — a case study in public school failure and lack of accountability.”
This is yet another national hammering of the capital city and the failed education system.
The Wall Street Journal editorial wrote, “No surprise, then, that only 5% of Providence eighth-graders on average scored proficient in math in the 2015 through 2017 school years. That compares to 21.3% in Newark, N.J., where students have similar socioeconomic backgrounds. Low-income students in Worcester, Mass., not far away, were twice as proficient as those in Providence.”
Gordie Ernst, Tennis Coach
Gordie Ernst is one of the greatest high school sports legends in Rhode Island’s history. Now, he is facing multiple federal charges as part of the college admission case.
In March, a federal corruption case named URI Tennis Coach Ernst and nearly 50 other people, including Hollywood stars, wealthy business leaders and coaches at top American universities, with paying or accepting bribes to admit student applicants.
Ernst had previously been the tennis coach at Georgetown University where it is believed the violations occurred. He was both the men's and women's coach and gave lessons to President Barack Obama's family.
READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE
Hope Hopkins, MassChallenge RI
Hope Hopkins is the program director of MassChallenge in Rhode Island which is located at the new Wexford Innovation Center.
This year, 24 startups competed in Rhode Island’s MassChallenge accelerator program.
The companies ranged from the training regiment created by former convict Coss Marte which has been featured in the reality show “The Real Housewives of New York City” to goTeff which is a company using Teff—a super-food from Ethiopia which will be marketed in the United States and create a market for Ethiopian farmers.
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Peter Snyder, University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island is in the midst of a transformation and building boom. And one of the architects is Vice President for Research and Economic Development Peter Snyder
He says external investments at the University translate into economic development for the state. He ought to know as he is helping to transform URI.
"Huge things have been happening at URI, whether it’s been in bio, with the new engineering center, and massive — I mean literally hundreds of millions of dollars -- of infrastructure that now litter the campus," said Snyder.
Snyder, a distinguished professor and neuroscience researcher, prominent health systems manager and member of the University’s Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, was named to the position of vice president for Research and Economic Development and professor of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Science in 2018.
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