Key Executives (formerly C-Suite Spotlight) is pleased to announce The Top 25 CEOs of Rhode Island for 2023. Despite being the smallest state in the US, Rhode Island boasts a flourishing economy that encompasses key industries such as healthcare, education, manufacturing, and finance. As the highest authority in business, CEOs are making transformative decisions not only for their organizations but also for the state's economic health and prosperity. With industry giants like Hasbro, Textron, and CVS Health headquartered in Rhode Island, their profound impact often resonates on a global scale.
The notable CEOs featured on this year's list showcase a remarkable array of skills, from effective risk management and strategic innovation to a steadfast commitment to sustainability and societal impact. Each of their extensive experience and diverse backgrounds contribute to their ability to adeptly navigate challenges and seize opportunities, solidifying them as visionary leaders who play a pivotal role in shaping the success and resilience of their organizations in an ever-evolving business landscape.
Among this year’s awardees, Kevin Ethier stands out for his myriad responsibilities as the Founder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President of Innovative Enrollment Solutions, backed by extensive experience in both the engineering and insurance industries. Furthermore, since co-founding the company in 1992, Jeff Gardner of Carousel Industries has steered the company's growth through both organic means and eight strategic acquisitions, enjoying 23 consecutive years of profitable expansion. Meanwhile, Barrett Bready demonstrates exceptional dedication as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Nabsys, successfully raising $150 million for advancements in personalized medicine and genomic research.
We commend these individuals for their commitment to the organizations they serve. Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of The Top 25 CEOs of Rhode Island for 2023.
1. Karen S. Lynch
President and Chief Executive Officer, CVS Health
Karen S. Lynch is the President and Chief Executive Officer of CVS Health, the Fortune 10 leading health solutions company. They have a local presence, digital channels, and over 300,000 dedicated colleagues — including over 40,000 Physicians, Pharmacists, Nurses, and Nurse Practitioners. Lynch leads more than 300,000 colleagues who are passionate about delivering a superior healthcare experience for consumers by improving health outcomes, broadening access to care, and lowering costs.
Under her leadership, CVS Health touches the lives of more than 100 million people through its healthcare benefits and pharmacy benefits management businesses and presence in over 9,000 community health destinations across the US. As part of the company’s commitment to sustainability, Lynch has set bold goals to advance health equity and ensure a healthier planet for the people and communities CVS Health serves. She has over three decades of experience in the healthcare industry.
Before becoming President and CEO in 2021, Lynch was EVP of CVS Health and President of Aetna, where she was responsible for delivering consumer-centric, holistic healthcare to the millions of people Aetna serves. Before joining CVS Health, Lynch held executive positions at Cigna and Magellan Health, where she served as President. She began her career with Ernst & Young as a CPA. A graduate of Boston College and Boston University Questrom School of Business, Lynch was awarded an honorary Doctor of Commercial Science from the University of Hartford in 2022 and an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Becker College in 2015.
2. Tom Caffrey
Chief Executive Officer, Americas Publicis Resources
Tom Caffrey is the Chief Executive Officer of Americas Publicis Resources. Founded in 1926 by Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, Publicis Groupe is the second-largest communications group in the world today and a leader in marketing, communication, and digital business transformation. Caffrey is an accomplished CEO and serves as CIO with a distinguished 20+ year career and a solid reputation and passion for business transformation, innovation, and growth. He is adept at driving growth through strategic insights, technology awareness, leadership effectiveness, and operational efficiencies.
Caffrey’s industry expertise includes advertising, media and communications, lottery and gaming, high-volume commercial transaction processing, government procurement and relations, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, telecommunications, consulting, and professional services. Caffrey also has experience in M&As and operations integration. He has vast experience in running large global organizations, and he is directly responsible for an organization of 2000 persons operating in 56 countries and six continents.
Caffrey also serves on the Rhode Island Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel for Education. He belongs to numerous business, technical, and charitable organizations. He is also a member of the Master’s Advisory Board at Bryant University. Caffrey serves on the BoD of both Year Up and the Systems and Software Consortium. A graduate of St. Bonaventure University in New York, he is also a CPA with the Massachusetts Board of Accounting.
3. Chris Cocks
Chief Executive Officer, Hasbro
Chris Cocks has been the Chief Executive Officer of Hasbro since 2022, a leading toy and game company whose mission is to entertain and connect generations of fans through the wonder of storytelling and exhilaration of play. Hasbro is guided by its purpose to create joy and community for all people around the world, one game, one toy, one story at a time.
Before that, Cocks served as President and COO of Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming since 2021, and before that, he served as President of Wizards of the Coast since 2016 when he joined Hasbro from Microsoft. Cocks’s vision, skills, and experience, combined with his extensive omni-channel background and proven track record, make him uniquely positioned to unlock Hasbro’s future potential and drive supercharged growth across Hasbro’s brands.
Before Hasbro, Cocks had numerous brand management, digital marketing, technical, sales, and general management experiences at companies including Microsoft, Leapfrog, and Procter & Gamble, working on category-leading brands such as Xbox, Halo, Fable, Leapster, Actonel, MSN, and Windows. Cocks graduated from Harvard University with an undergraduate degree in English.
4. Malcolm Roberts
President and Chief Executive Officer, FM Global
Malcolm Roberts is the President and Chief Executive Officer of FM Global, one of the world’s largest commercial property insurers. For nearly 200 years, the world’s leading businesses have worked with FM Global to develop robust property insurance and engineering solutions that build resilience into every corner of their operations. Roberts is responsible for the strategic and operational direction of FM Global, which insures nearly $10.2 trillion in business property in over 130 countries.
Roberts joined the company in 1995 as a Loss Prevention Consultant in London after working as a chemical engineer. He previously was EVP with oversight of underwriting and reinsurance, engineering and research, client experience, marketing and sales, claims, strategy, and business enablement, as well as information services. Before that, he was SVP, Eastern Division Manager, in Massachusetts, where he oversaw all client relations, underwriting, engineering, processing, and administration for the division.
During his tenure, Roberts has also served as VP, Chemical Operations Manager, where he was responsible for ensuring the profit, growth, and servicing of all of FM Global’s insured locations within the chemical process industry, including producers of petrochemical, commodity, fine and specialty chemical products, alternative fuels, and pharmaceuticals. Earlier in his career, he was VP, Manager, Operations Engineering before becoming Operations VP, Branch Manager of Forest Products in FM Global’s Sweden office and then being named VP, Operations Manager at the Dallas Operations based in Texas. Roberts holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree with honors in chemical engineering from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.
5. Edmund (Ted) Shallcross III
President and Chief Executive Officer, Amica Mutual Insurance Company
Edmund (Ted) Shallcross III is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Amica Mutual Insurance Company, the longest-standing mutual insurer of automobiles in the US. A direct writer, the company also offers home, life, marine, and umbrella insurance, as well as annuities. Shallcross is a seasoned business and financial leader in both property/casualty and life insurance, with over 25 years of experience in the insurance and banking industries.
His specific areas of expertise include strategy, growth, distribution, planning, operations, accounting and finance, product development, and risk management. Shallcross joined the company in 2007 as a Senior Assistant VP in the Accounting Department. He subsequently became a VP of Amica Life and oversaw the organization’s financial and operational activities. He later served as SVP and GM of the Life Company, responsible for all business activities. Before joining Amica, Shallcross spent 12 years in KPMG’s P&C Insurance Practice, where Amica was one of his clients.
Shallcross holds a Master’s in Strategic Management from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. A cum laude graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, he also holds BS degrees in both economics and accounting. Shallcross is a Fellow of the Life Management Institute and a CPA, winning the Rhode Island Gold Medal Award and the KPMG Award for obtaining the highest score on the Rhode Island exam. He has also been recognized as a Providence Business News 40 Under Forty award winner for career and community accomplishments.
6. Eric Nyman
Chief Executive Officer, Vista Outdoor
Eric Nyman is the Chief Executive Officer of Vista Outdoor, the parent company of more than three dozen renowned brands that design, manufacture, and market sporting and outdoor products. Brands include Bushnell, CamelBak, Bushnell Golf, Foresight Sports, Fox Racing, Bell Helmets, Camp Chef, Giro, Simms Fishing, QuietKat, Stone Glacier, Federal Ammunition, Remington Ammunition, and more.
Nyman has over 30 years of experience in the consumer products industry. He most recently served as President and COO at Hasbro where he was responsible for all aspects of its business, including innovation, e-commerce, operations, media and marketing, strategic planning, and organizational culture and leadership. Before that, he served as Chief Consumer Officer and COO of Hasbro Consumer Products, President of Hasbro North America, and GM and SVP of Marketing.
Nyman’s time at Hasbro supported significant value creation driven by e-commerce and consumer direct transformation, integration of digital technology into traditional consumer products, media partnerships, and global brand building. Nyman graduated from Boston College Carroll School of Management with an MBA and from Virginia Wesleyan University with an undergraduate degree in liberal arts and sciences.
7. Jeff Gardner
Chief Executive Officer, Carousel Industries
Jeff Gardner is the Chief Executive Officer of Carousel Industries, a leading Cloud Communications Service Provider (CCSP) focused on transforming the customer and employee hybrid work experience for commercial, enterprise, and public sector organizations with over 5,000 customers throughout the US. Gardner is an established veteran of the communications and networking industries. He is a visionary with a proven track record of building Carousel through innovative growth plays, consistently staying one step ahead of the technology curve.
Since co-founding the company in 1992, he has transformed Carousel from cabling to the cloud – evolving the company from a thriving source of collaboration and network technologies to a holistic professional and managed services provider offering cloud-based solutions. Under Gardner’s leadership, Carousel has grown both organically and through eight strategic acquisitions, enjoying 23 consecutive years of profitable growth. Gardner graduated from Bryant University.
8. Stephen Traub
President and Chief Executive Officer, ProHealth Physicians
Stephen Traub began his professional career 28 years ago. Today, he is the President and Chief Executive Officer of ProHealth Physicians, Connecticut’s premier physician-led primary care organization. With over 90 locations, its family of doctors, clinicians, and practitioners care for 380,000+ people statewide. ProHealth is part of OptumCare, a leading national information and technology-enabled health services business that values and supports the community-based health care delivery model to keep their providers and their patients at the forefront of a better, more effective care delivery system.
Traub started his career in 1995 as a resident in emergency medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. From there, he went on to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Milton before eventually rising to Professor and Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs at Brown Emergency Medicine, his most recent position before joining ProHealth Physicians. Traub graduated from Stanford University School of Medicine with an MD and from Harvard University with an undergraduate degree in chemistry.
9. Paul O'Reilly
President and Chief Executive Officer, Newport Restaurant Group
Paul O'Reilly is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Newport Restaurant Group, a collection of restaurants and culinary expertise. O'Reilly is an experienced CEO with a demonstrated history of working in the hospitality industry. He is a strong business development professional skilled in Restaurant Management, Food & Beverage, Lodging, Business Strategy, Financial Analysis, M&A, and Event Management.
O'Reilly began his career at Newport Restaurant Group (NRG, formerly Newport Harbor Corporation or NHC) as a Marina Manager and has advanced through the organization over the last 25+ years. His experience includes two years as Director of Marketing, three years as GM of Castle Hill Inn, three years as Director of Business Development, and three years as EVP before his promotion to President and CEO in 2006. He has the unique insight of an entrepreneur who has successfully managed numerous multi-million-dollar hospitality development projects from inception to profitable businesses. O'Reilly graduated from Saint Michael's College with an undergraduate degree in economics.
10. John Montigny
President and Chief Executive Officer, Knape & Vogt Manufacturing Company
John Montigny is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Knape & Vogt Manufacturing Company. A privately held company headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Knape & Vogt is a global leader specializing in the design, manufacture, and distribution of functional hardware, office and healthcare ergonomics, and storage-related components for original equipment manufacturers, specialty distributors, hardware chains, and major home centers.
Montigny has a proven executive management track record with over 25 years of Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 global leadership experience in industrial products, utilities, business supplies and equipment, consumer products, and consumer sporting industries. Before Knape & Vogt, Montigny held C-level and executive management positions at Honeywell Industrial Safety – Americas, in addition to other Honeywell business units, where he successfully managed P&Ls of $150 million - $2 billion.
Over the course of his career, he also managed brands including Titleist, Ray-Ban, and Uvex from $50 million - $500 million for enterprises such as Sperian Protection, Fortune Brands, Bausch & Lomb, and General Electric. Montigny earned a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Massachusetts and dual master's degrees, including an MBA from Cornell University and a Master's in International Management from the Katholieke Universiteit in Belgium.
11. Blair Wills
President and Chief Executive Officer, StepStone Hospitality
Blair Wills is the President and Chief Executive Officer of StepStone Hospitality, a company that specializes in the management of full-service hotel and restaurant operations to deliver enhanced value to StepStone clients. The company provides a unique combination of strong, hands-on operations, world-class strategic asset management, and food and beverage expertise, maintaining a balanced focus between revenue enhancement, margin expansion, and guest satisfaction.
Wills was most recently a VP at Hotel Asset Value Enhancement, where he was responsible for the asset management of a portfolio that included Marriott, Hyatt, independent, and other luxury-branded hotels. He also oversaw numerous underwriting and due diligence assignments for client acquisitions, as well as additional consulting assignments.
Before joining hotelAVE, Wills was an analyst for The Plasencia Group, where he developed a proprietary hotel financial analysis model. Additionally, he spent time as a member of the Leisure, Lodging, and Gaming Equity research team at Deutsche Banc Alex Brown, where he was involved in extensive industry research and the development of industry reports. Wills is a graduate of the School of Hospitality Business at Michigan State University with an emphasis in Finance.
12. Betty Robson
President and Chief Executive Officer, JF Moran
A lifelong global trade professional, Betty Robson is the President and Chief Executive Officer of JF Moran, a national customs broker, freight forwarder, and worldwide logistics provider. She is a Licensed Customs Broker, Master Customs Specialist, Certified Global Business Professional, and an accredited Hofstede lecturer. A member of both the Massachusetts and Florida Bars, she is also admitted to practice in the US Court of International Trade.
Robson received her BA in Economics and Political Science from Boston College and her JD from Stetson University College of Law. Robson is a past President of both the Boston Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association and the Air Cargo Club of New England and is the Chairperson of the Rhode Island District Export Council. In a commitment to her goals of mentoring and supporting women in business, she is a member of the NRICC Women's Business Council and is a Founding Director of Women in World Trade New England. Robson also served as Chairperson of the Lincoln, RI School Committee.
13. Matthew Esler
Chief Executive Officer, Esler Companies
Matthew Esler is the Chief Executive Officer of Esler Companies, the holding company for a fleet of the top Renewal by Andersen (RbA) “affiliates” across the nation, as well as Telefluent, its Inside Sales and marketing ‘engine’ in Massachusetts. Esler is a lifelong searcher and learner, proud to have been an entrepreneur throughout his adult life.
Capital Promotions, a marketing promotions company, and his first customer-facing business helped shape his views on the importance of creating meaningful and enjoyable relationships with teammates and customers alike. On a parallel track, Esler pursued his passion for real estate with a focus on the commercial and hospitality spaces.
Esler earned his degrees in Communications and Economics from Geneseo State University, where he met his wife of 30 years, Kristen Esler. Together, they’ve raised three reasonably well-adjusted adults and joyfully lend a helping hand with their first grandchild.
14. Dana Paskalis
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Life Reset Labs
As the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Life Reset Labs, Dana Paskalis has a passion for creating transformational change that helps organizations and individuals achieve their goals and unlock their full potential. With over 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, she has a proven track record of leading and collaborating with diverse teams, delivering innovative solutions, and driving strategic growth.
With expertise in Medical Affairs and Clinical Development, Paskalis helps companies build out critical strategic roadmaps and operationalize these functions, leading to expedited clinical trial enrollment, publications, thought leader engagement, and ultimately achieving key corporate goals.
Previously, Paskalis was a VP of Scientific Engagement and Oncology at TG Therapeutics. Earlier in her career, she worked with Celgene as a Regional Medical Science Liaison. Paskalis earned an undergraduate degree in psychology from Rhode Island College.
15. Edward Schmults
Chief Executive Officer, StateHouse Holdings
Edward Schmults is the Chief Executive Officer of StateHouse Holdings, one of the oldest and most respected cannabis companies in California. Founded in 2006, its predecessor company, Harborside was awarded one of the first six medical cannabis licenses granted in the US. Schmults has over 30 years of experience in global branded consumer products, omnichannel retail, product development, finance, operations, IT, and green and socially responsible businesses.
Schmults held CEO roles at FAO Schwarz and Wild Things Gear and COO roles at Patagonia and Red Envelope, where product quality and customer experience drive the success of brands. In addition, Schmults has strong operational experience, having set up and improved warehouse, logistics, and technology infrastructure at five different companies. Since 2018, Schmults has utilized his extensive knowledge as the CEO of Calyx Peak Companies (CPC), where he set the company vision and direction in multiple states.
Schmults has spoken at numerous cannabis investor conferences and at MJBizCon, the industry's annual trade show. Schmults began his career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs & Company. Schmults is also on the board of Vera Bradley and the Board of Advisors of First Insight, a predictive data analytics company. He is a former Vice Chairman of the Board of REI, the large national outdoor retail company. Schmults holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics and Political Science from Yale University.
16. Daniel Gertrudes
Chief Executive Officer and Founder, GrowthLab Financial Services
With over 25 years of experience and as the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of GrowthLab Financial Services, Gertrudes is a pioneer and expert in the field of FaaS. GrowthLab is your FaaS partner that serves Founders and Management Teams with Financial Planning & Analysis, Bookkeeping, Accounting, Virtual CFO, Tax Advisory, and Workflow Automations. FaaS is a cloud-based solution that provides full-service accounting, FP&A, CFO support, and workflow automation to founders and management teams of startups, emerging growth companies, and companies in turnaround mode.
Gertrudes and his team leverages technology, processes, and their extensive financial and strategic expertise to help businesses with their financial management, accounting, and strategic planning functions, enabling them to focus on today's opportunities, not yesterday's problems. He aims to empower entrepreneurs and innovators with the financial tools and insights they need to succeed and grow.
Previously, Gertrudes was a Director of Asset Sales - Business and Portfolio Sales at Textron Financial. Earlier in his career, he worked with Textron in investor relations. Gertrudes earned an MS in finance from Bentley University and an undergraduate degree in international business and finance from Northeastern University.
17. Barrett Bready
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Nabsys
Barrett Bready is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Nabsys. The Nabsys mission is to advance the understanding of disease, increase diagnostic yield, and improve patient outcomes by enabling routine, accurate, cost-effective analysis of genomic structural variation. The company employs a growing interdisciplinary group of dedicated scientists, engineers, and other professionals committed to the advancement of genomic analysis. He has raised $150 million to realize a new way of analyzing DNA that uses proprietary solid-state electronic nano detectors to analyze very long molecules, with an initial focus on genomic structural variation.
Bready is passionate about the impact that advanced technology can have on the understanding of disease as well as on its diagnosis and treatment. He is an adjunct professor at Brown University, where he lectures on the rapidly evolving business of life sciences. He serves as a commissioner of the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission, a major land redevelopment initiative in downtown Providence, RI, with a focus on life sciences and other high-technology sectors.
He has received numerous awards, including in 2011, Rhode Island Innovator of the Year, and in 2018, a career achievement award from the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Bready graduated from the highly competitive Program in Liberal Medical Education at Brown University, where he received an MD and an ScB in Physics and won the undergraduate physics award (the Lindsay Prize) and the Galletti Prize for physics in medicine.
18. Dr. Brady Case
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Braver
Dr. Brady Case is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Braver, a tech-enabled mental health service startup designed to scale exposure therapy, the most effective evidence-based treatment for kids with anxiety and OCD. Braver's core innovation is the use of integrated teams of mobile exposure coaches supervised by psychologists. Dr. Case is a practicing child and adolescent psychiatrist and associate program director of the child and adolescent psychiatry residency training program at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
Previously, Dr. Case was the Medical Director of the Bradley Hospital Pediatric Anxiety Research Center and Director of the Bradley Health Services Research Program. He has expertise in the design and delivery of intensive, integrated pharmacological and psychosocial treatment of youth with severe, treatment-resistant anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, and related disorders, seeking care from across the US and abroad. Dr. Case has experience as a health services researcher, working within a state department of mental health with academic colleagues to examine patterns of mental health and substance use disorder and service use in complex sample epidemiologic and health care provider surveys and in large-scale public and private administrative claims.
He was also involved in the design of a large single-center comparative effectiveness trial at the Bradley Pediatric Anxiety Research Center to assess mobile exposure coach delivery of evidence-based treatment for young people with anxiety. Dr. Case graduated from Harvard Medical School with an MD and from Harvard University with an undergraduate degree in social studies.
19. Eric Cirignano
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Dialysis Technical Operations Expert - Bion
Eric Cirignano is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Dialysis Technical Operations Expert of Bion. After decades in the field, he launched the company to set a new standard for Dialysis Technical Operations excellence. His holistic vision for the future of kidney care is defined by bold digital transformation and collaborative dialysis patient care teams. To power that mission, Bion employs expert Field Service Biomeds and keeps them 100% focused on high-level technical and compliance work. Bion is committed to empowering the dialysis industry with education and opportunities to transform businesses, optimize communications, improve equipment reliability, and simplify compliance and documentation. They believe now is the time to modernize and to do it boldly.
Cirignano also founded HydroCare, a fresh breath of innovation to the optimization of medical-grade water purification systems. He is also the CEO and Founder of Operize, the first all-in-one maintenance management software developed by dialysis operations experts to simplify and optimize Technical Operations in the most complex healthcare settings.
20. Claude Milhouse
Chief Executive Officer, DevAccelerator and CareerDevs Computer Science Institute
Claude Milhouse is the Chief Executive Officer of DevAccelerator and CareerDevs Computer Science Institute, an institution that provides AI, machine learning, and data analytics education services. Milhouse has 17 years of experience, beginning his career in 2006.
Before joining DevAccelerator and CareerDevs Computer Science Institute, Milhouse was a co-founder and CTO at Common Connect App and prior to that, a founder at IntraCity Geeks. Earlier in his career, he worked with the Providence Downtown Merchants Association as a President. Milhouse graduated from Johnson & Wales University.
21. Tino Chow
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Giant Shoulders
Tino Chow is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Giant Shoulders, a brand strategy and design agency partnering with purpose-driven leaders to design a better future. Chow’s career led him from serving as an officer in the Singapore army to design school, a combination of experiences that showed him how a system for everything actually frees up your creative mind. While he was studying at the Rhode Island School of Design, he saw how design could be applied beyond aesthetics and become a tool to make the world better.
This unconventional path led to co-founding the Better World by Design conference, becoming a TED Fellow, and building high-performing teams and cultures in NYC and Silicon Valley. Along the way, Chow met incredible entrepreneurs with world-changing ideas. But great ideas by themselves are not enough. You can have a revolutionary innovation, but it doesn’t matter if nobody knows about it. That’s where Giant Shoulders comes in. Chow graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with an undergraduate degree in fine arts.
22. Derek Stein
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Adept Materials
Derek Stein is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Adept Materials, a company founded to make building more sustainable and comfortable. Buildings represent a significant portion of energy consumption, accounting for about 40% of the country’s primary energy use. Adept Materials aims to make deep cuts in energy use for heating and cooling by improving building envelopes without compromising durability, comfort, or affordability.
Stein invented the company’s core material technology at Brown University, where he is a Professor of Physics and Engineering. He previously conducted postdoctoral work at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. He holds a PhD in Applied Physics from Harvard University and a BSc in Physics from McGill University.
23. Kevin Ethier
Founder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, President, Innovative Enrollment Solutions
Kevin Ethier is the Founder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President of Innovative Enrollment Solutions, a company that provides safe and secure self-hosted, managed-hosted, and SaaS solutions to facilitate the enrollment of core benefits and supplemental health care coverage. Ethier is a distinguished senior executive and entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in the IT/IS and software engineering field.
He has wide-ranging experience in directing and coordinating all aspects of corporate development, including founding businesses, engineering operations, marketing, sales, finance, writing business plans used for IPOs, and strategic planning. He has proven leadership capabilities that have resulted in a consistent and substantial increase in revenue and profit, all while maintaining a high level of morale and teamwork. In the past, Ethier had tremendous success in the engineering industry, which included starting his own engineering and systems integration company, ESIC, which he grew to 65 employees.
Before this endeavor, Kevin held the position of COO and BoD for many engineering, IT, and ISP organizations, as well as software engineering organizations. In these positions, he had to focus on a multi-facet of responsibilities, including writing the technology sections of SB-2’s for companies' IPOs, migration of multiple disparate IS/IT organizations into one single, heterogeneous environment, consolidation of multiple physical facilities into one corporate headquarters, and more. Ethier graduated from Northeastern University with an MBA in information technology and an undergraduate degree in computer science.
24. Mark Bevington
Chief Executive Officer and Director of Purpose, Ninedot
Mark Bevington is the Chief Executive Officer and Director of Purpose of Ninedot, a branding agency helping clients make a positive change in the world. Working with technology start-ups and Fortune 500 corporations, Ninedot has grown organically to deliver branding solutions that empower companies to change the world. Based in Downtown Providence, the agency has been creating successful brands for over ten years. Bevington has 23 years of experience and began his career in 2000.
Before joining Ninedot, Bevington was President and Founder at AIGA RI, and before that, he was President and Owner at Markrichard Studios. Earlier in his career, he worked with Circle.com as a hybrid graphic designer. Bevington graduated from Syracuse University with an MA in advertising design and from the University at Buffalo with an undergraduate degree in communication design.
25. Matthew Wainwright
Chief Executive Officer, MCPlus
Matthew Wainwright began his professional career 38 years ago. Today, he is the Chief Executive Officer of MCPlus, a cybersecurity company that helps organizations leverage technology to conduct business securely and efficiently. Each business environment is unique and dynamic: they partner with clients to seamlessly integrate secure technology solutions into your organizational structure. They aim to become an extension of your team and foster growth.
Wainwright was a CIO at Middletown, Rhode Island. From there, he went on to CISO/CIO Support and Compliance Management before eventually rising to CRO at ZenPrivata, his recent position before joining MCPlus. Wainwright graduated from the University of Connecticut with an undergraduate degree in economics and geography.