All Entries in the "Interviews & Profiles" Category
It’s A New Year! Resolutions from Rhode Island Business Leaders…
Arthur Yatsko
2016 President, Rhode Island Association of REALTORS®
My New Year’s resolution is to help make the RI Association of Realtors an even greater asset to our members and the communities they serve. We can accomplish that by promoting the importance of housing as an economic driver and by helping to facilitate an environment in which all Rhode Islanders can meet their housing goals. By embracing the National Association of Realtors recently adopted Commitment to Excellence, our state association can be an impactful vehicle for positive change.
Gina Raimondo
Rhode Island Governor 
My New Year’s Resolution is to continue to expand opportunities so everyone can make it in Rhode Island. I will be working hard in 2016 to see that all Rhode Islanders have opportunity by building skills, creating jobs and innovating in government. We all have a role to play in Rhode Island’s comeback. Together, we are rebuilding our state’s middle class. We have momentum – it’s working. A happy and healthy New Year to all Rhode Islanders!
Maria Gemma
Executive Director, Gloria Gemma Cancer Research Foundation 
The team of the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation is excited to enter 2016 with an ambitious vision of providing even more breast cancer education and resources to the many diverse communities of Rhode Island. In a state where 1 in 6 women will be touched by breast cancer, many individuals and families need a support structure to help them navigate through turbulent time in their lives.
All About Internships
By Lynne Finnegan
Lynne Finnegan from The College of Business at the University of Rhode Island gives us an in-depth scoop on internships for interns and businesses looking to receive interns. Highlighted are reasons why students should do an internship and why businesses should share their knowledge with interns.
What are the benefits of an internship?
√ Educational Experience
√ Future job opportunities
• Internships provide work experience to students and recent graduates.
• An internship provides the opportunity to gain hands on work experience within the student’s field of interest.
• Employers see interns as prospective employees and many finish their internship and continue working with the company in a part time or full time capacity.
• Internships can help you decide if this is the right career for you.
• Internships are generally short-term, so you can test your future career without committing and find out if it is a career that will satisfy you.
• Internship are great ways to meet people and develop your professional network. An internship allows you to meet people that might help you land a job later on and give you the contacts in the industry you’re trying to break into. Also, internships can help you develop professional reference with in your industry.
• Internships are a great place to apply classroom knowledge in a real-world setting.
• Internships are a great way to build your confidence and professionalism. It is also a great way to build your resume so you are more marketable.
What are some of the benefits for a business to hire interns?
• Internships allow the company to see if a good fit with the company. The company can hire a well-trained person at the end of the internship.
What can a company learn from students?
Internships provide employers fresh innovative business solutions. Tell us about the process for assigning students to an internship. Do you follow a specific strategy? Students search for an internship just like a full-time job search. How do you best prepare your students for internships? Students in the College of Business take a required one credit career class to prepare them for the internship search and job search. They develop the tools that they need for applying and the interview process. An example of this would be a resume and cover letter, the skills that they need for interviewing and searching for an internship. The also participate in various career events though out the semester. This is all of the same tools that they will need for the full time job search after graduation.
Do you recommend specific ways for business to attract great interns?
Follow the academic cycle for the college (fall, spring, and summer terms) and start your process early, this would be posting and interviewing. Students are looking for experiences about a semester ahead of when they need to be doing the experience. They are also looking to work their academic schedule around an experience or vice versa. One of the more significant advantages to providing internships is the opportunity to select and develop your future talent. You have the opportunity to evaluate and screen potential employees prior to making a full-time position offer, which leads to financial savings.
North Central Chamber Names New Executive Director
JOHNSTON, RI – Jaime Dufresne, of Scituate, director of marketing for The Children’s Workshop, has been named executive director of the North Central Chamber of Commerce, which is based in Johnston and serves the communities of Johnston, North Providence, Smithfield, Scituate, Foster and Glocester.
Dufresne succeeds Deborah J. Ramos, who has served as executive director since 2009 and has resigned to take a position as administrative assistant to Michael G. Leonardo, CFS, and certified funds spet with Ameriprise Financial in Warwick.
Dufresne will begin her job at the Chamber on June 1.
She grew up in Warwick and is a graduate of LaSalle Academy, in Providence, and Emerson College, in Boston, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in integrated marketing. She has been director of marketing for The Children’s Workshop since 2012.
The Children’s Workshop, founded in Lincoln, offers learning programs and day care at 19 locations in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
“My vision for my first year as executive director of the Chamber is to grow our membership and help our members earn a return on the investment they make in the Chamber,” Dufresne says.
“I want the Chamber to be more visible in the community in dynamic and engaging ways. I hope to use fresh content and events to attract young entrepreneurs and professionals.”
Looking back on her six years as executive director, Ramos said, “I hope I can be remembered for bringing business people together, building relationships, building their businesses and perhaps helping to build friendships.
“I feel my greatest accomplishment may have been keeping the Chamber alive, the membership connected and the value of the Chamber growing during a time that has been very difficult for small businesses.”
The North Central Chamber was formed in 1982. Its annual events include a golf tournament in July, the Apple Festival at Johnston War Memorial Park in September, which attracts thousands of families and community residents, and a scholarship program that has given thousands of dollars to students graduating from high schools in the communities served by the Chamber.
For more information about the Chamber, call (401) 349-4674 or visit ncrichamber.com
Proving Kevin O’Leary Wrong: RI Startup BedJet’s Success Since Appearing on ‘Shark Tank’
Recently, Rhode Islander Mark Aramli made an appearance on ABC’s hit show Shark Tank to offer investors a chance to partner with his company, BedJet.
BedJet is an air-driven climate control machine for your bed. A small motor is used to send hot or cool air under the covers of your bed so that you can sleep at the temperature you find comfortable. If you and your spouse like to sleep at different temperatures, they also offer a Dual Zone system that allows you to set separate temperatures. You can even set the system to blow cool air in the morning to wake you up!
So how did Aramli come up with the idea for BedJet? Aramli said he had been thinking about the idea for over 12 years, and finally decided to act on it when his mother was stuck in bed for a couple of weeks after having surgery. His mother lives in a 100-year-old drafty house, so he said they had difficulty keeping her perfectly comfortable. They tried electric blankets, space heaters, and heating pads, but everything was too hot or too cold or left too many wires in her bed.
At that moment, Aramli said he realized he needed to bring his idea to life, and he certainly had the experience required to set off on the right foot. Aramli had been working in the startup industry for years as a consultant, helping companies create new products and bring their businesses to the marketplace. He also worked on space suit climate control for astronauts as an engineer at NASA, which facilitated the design process of BedJet.
According to Aramli, the hardest part of starting up his company was finding the money to open his company and still support himself. “I had to spend every penny of my life savings, borrow every penny that I could, and still work a full-time job along the way. It was a huge gamble, and if the business failed, I would’ve had a mountain of debt,” said Aramli.
Luckily, many people were willing to help BedJet get its start. Aramli created a Kickstarter campaign and was able to raise almost $60,000 to fund his company. The Kickstarter campaign was also the reason BedJet was offered the chance to appear on Shark Tank. Producers had found the campaign and reached out to Aramli to see if he would be interested in applying to the show. Aramli applied and flew out to California to present his business plan to the investors.
Unfortunately, the investors didn’t make an offer. Aramli says it’s because they didn’t know enough about the industry: “It’s really important to be pitching your product in front of investors who understand your product and market, and it was clear the sharks didn’t understand the mattress or sleep industry.”
Aramli might have walked away from Shark Tank without an investment, but since the show was filmed six months ago, he has proven that he didn’t need one to pave a pathway to success. During the filming of Shark Tank, BedJet was pre-production, but now the company is beginning to roll out their product to some of the biggest brands in the country, including Mattress Firm, the #1 largest mattress retailer in North America, Brookstone, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Berkshire Hathaway Furniture Group, which is the parent company of local furniture company Jordan’s Furniture.
“Sales on the website are fantastic…Six months after filming, our valuation is probably five times what it was in front of the sharks,” said Aramli. “I’m pretty confident we are on track to be the Shark Tank losers that laugh all the way to the bank.”
As a consultant to startups and a startup founder, Aramli has a lot of advice to offer entrepreneurs. His number one piece of advice? Put off using other people’s money for as long as you can. “The further you can go and the more progress you can demonstrate, it’s less of the company you have to give away for money,” said Aramli.
Aramli said it was a blessing that they didn’t give away a big piece of their company to the sharks when they were pre-production because now they are worth so much more. He says the company looks forward to making a profit this year and will be hiring in-state at its Newport headquarters.
