Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - September 6, 2024

HOT

Gotta Love This Guy

Jonathan Gil is quickly building a shoe empire in Rhode Island — one with a mission.

Gil, who grew up in Providence, moved his repair shop “The Sneaker Sink” to Weybosset Street downtown earlier this year from Charles Street, and says business is booming. 

What started with buying used shoes online and cleaning up and reselling them has turned into rehabbing customers’ old shoes (and hats) — and a growing Instagram account with over 10,000 followers. 

Instead of just throwing away sneakers that can cost hundreds of dollars, people can bring their well-worn shoes to Gil, who, for a fraction of their original price, can work his magic and extend their life, saving both money and the environment.

And for the Providence schools grad who has always been interested in fashion, Gil is just as committed to giving back as he is to his growing "footprint."

“Anything’s possible if you put your mind to it. I experienced it. I didn’t graduate from college,” said Gil, who turned 33 earlier this year. “Anyone can start a business, as long as they’re driven and committed to consistency.”

Finding His Way

Gil, who grew up in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood of Providence, pursued a number of educational and employment avenues before launching his first business. 

“I went to like three different high schools. My main high school was The Met, where I graduated from. It was a really good experience. They taught me a lot, as far as internships,” said Gil.

“I’ve always been into fashion. What I tried to study was interior design but I figured it wasn’t really me. I went to college for a year, but I didn’t like it,” said Gil. “So I started working at Saks Fifth [Avenue]. I loved it, just being around clothing and brands. I wanted to see the different things they came up with because I didn’t go to school for fashion. That was really the only way I could ’see’ it.”

And soon after turning 25, Gil said he had a bit of a “quarter-life crisis.” 

READ MORE

HOT

Winner, Winner

Rhode Island native and Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla brought the Larry O'Brien Trophy to Rhode Island.

HOT

Beautiful Addition 

Architecture critic Will Morgan has a great review of a great addition to Providence:

Community MusicWorks Center at 1326 Westminster Street is inspirational architecture for an aspirational organization. To be dedicated on September 28, this stunning building by 3SIX0 Architecture, is the culmination of almost three decades of labor by CMW’s founder and artistic director, Sebastian Ruth. He began as a Brown undergraduate with a small grant and a vision of offering music classes and performances to Providence’s under-served neighborhoods. The success of MusicWorks’ teaching, mentoring, and general community uplift was recognized the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award in 2010.

Now, the organization’s new headquarters demonstrates a further commitment to the quality of life in Providence through its patronage of first-rate design.

READ MORE

HOT

One Rhode Islander Is in the Game

Last week, the NFL approved a new policy allowing private equity firms to buy their way into team ownership.

The approved private equity groups are comprised of mega-firms, except for one, which is small and was co-founded by Rhode Island native Jonathan Nelson.

Nelson, along with Paul Salem and Glenn Creamer, helped to establish Providence Equity as one of the country’s top investment firms in the early 2000s.

In 2022, Nelson announced the launch of Dynasty Equity, a sports-focused private equity fund. Nelson teamed up with Don Cornwell, who was then a partner at PJT Partners.

Now, Nelson and Cornwell's Dynasty are on the select list of firms getting the green light to invest in NFL franchises.

“NFL owners passed a new policy that will allow them to sell up to 10% of their teams to a select group of preapproved firms. It removes the last major hurdle to the flood of private capital sweeping through the sports landscape, which now has firms circling the college game and others amassing portfolios of pro franchises,” reported the Wall Street Journal.

READ MORE

HOT

Startups from the Hill

PitchBook, the proverbial Bible publication covering the venture capital market, ranks the top 100 universities producing the most startup founders.

“Great entrepreneurs can come from anywhere, but some universities have a truly exceptional track record of attracting and producing future founders.

PitchBook’s annual university rankings compare schools by tallying up the number of alumni entrepreneurs who have raised venture capital in the last decade,” writes PitchBook.

The rankings are powered by PitchBook data and are based on an analysis of nearly 167,000 VC-backed founders.

How Did Brown Score?

Brown finished 22nd overall, but seventh among the eight school Ivy League schools. Only Dartmouth ranked behind Brown. It ranked 34th.

In total, Brown produced 559 founders who created 520 companies and raised $26.5 billion in capital.

The Brown startups that have raised the most capital, according to PitchBook, are Northvolt $6.9 billion, Lyra Health $907 million, and Heyday $800 million.

HOT

Give Jack a Tip of the Hat

U.S. Senator Jack Reed condemned the behavior of those who hit Professor Nadia Ahmad in the head and ripped the banner out of her hand.  SEE VIDEO HERE

Reed, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told GoLocal Thursday, “Well, it's completely unacceptable. That's not the process of deliberation and consideration and collaboration which should be the essence of any convention." 

"This is the first I've become aware of it. She should pursue all her legal remedies. And with the evidence on her side...she prevails, and that will vindicate her," he added.

NOT

Bullies

An embarrassing event at best and criminal at worst.

Law professor Nadia Ahmad says members of the Laborers' International Union assaulted her at the DNC.

SEE THE FULL COVERAGE HERE.

Sorry guys I deleted my tweet bc these aren’t uncommitted delegates. Reposting the video here pic.twitter.com/NYTsi3eHDQ

— Akela Lacy (@akela_lacy) August 20, 2024

NOT

Cha-Ching - Living the Non-Profit Life

Brown University’s top seven administrators all made more than $1 million in a year, and five more were paid more than $800,000.

The data come from the university’s IRS 990 form for 2023.

The average compensation package for the top seven at the not-for-profit Ivy League institution is more than $1.4 million a year.

The highest-paid administrator was Jane Dietze, the Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, who received a total of $2,882,923.

Dietze topped Brown President Christina Paxson, who received $1,831,198.

This number does not include Paxson’s free housing at the university-owned mansion on Power Street, which is worth $4 million.

The third highest-paid Brown administrator was Joshua Kennedy, Deputy Chief Investment Officer, who received a compensation package of $1,285,053.

Peter Levine of the investment office scored nearly $1.1 million, for a total package of $1,099,714.

Pay for Performance?

And Brown’s Athletic Director, Grace Calhoun, is paid $1,064,933.

Brown’s sports program has been less than high-performing.

On the men’s side, the top programs — football, soccer, basketball, hockey, lacrosse, and baseball combined  — were the worst in the Ivy League. None of the teams had an overall winning record last year.

Women’s soccer has been stellar, but nearly all other major women’s sports — soccer, field hockey, basketball, hockey, lacrosse and softball — finished in the middle of the conference or worse.

Calhoun's $1 million plus package was more than $400,000 more than Providence College's Robert Driscoll's comp and nearly $700,000 higher than the AD at URI, Thorr Bjorn.

Other Million Dollar Administrators

Jack Elias, Brown’s Senior Vice President for Health Affairs, received $1,064,715.

Richard Locke, who left in January, received just under a million for a fraction of the year. The Brown's Provost received $979,393.

NOT

Ridiculous McKee Staged Signing Ceremonies

Governor Dan McKee and the media that covers it should be a tad embarrassed. Two months after the legislation was passed — and had already been signed into law— McKee does these endless ceremonial "signing ceremonies."

These are staged as the bills had to be signed within 6 days after passage (not including Sundays). Often, the media fails to report that this is simply a staged event.

WJAR reported on Tuesday:

"McKee signs law allowing voters to stay unaffiliated after voting in party primary:"

Gov. Dan McKee is set to sign a new law that allows voters to stay unaffiliated even after participating in a party primary.

Not true. He signed the legislation into law two months ago.

Silly government and poor journalism.