To all those Ocean State nattering nabobs of negativism, Rhode Island is chock full of success stories.
In the annual Fastest-Growing & Innovative Companies awards program the region’s most dynamic companies in four revenue categories, as well as some of the most innovative enterprises around, are profiled and celebrated (the gala event was held at Newport’s Rosecliff last week). Included in this week’s edition of PBN is the special section identifying those companies and the reasons they made the lists.
The fastest-growing winners represent a vibrant cross-section of the state’s economy, from a more than century-old manufacturer, Hope Global, to an Internet retailer all of 3 years old, Yagoozon, to one of the hottest brands in the country, Alex and Ani.
The innovators include the expected high-tech, information technology and bioscience ventures, but they also include an insurer with roots back into the 19th century, FM Global, and an architectural practice that has turned a nearly 200-year-old shopping mall into a model adaptation for the urban century, Northeast Collaborative Architects.
Another one of the winners, The Rhode Island Foundation, has taken on the task of telling the state just how many good things are happening here, in our backyard. It’s a story that loyal readers of PBN have known for years. •