Board & Staff

Chris founded the RI Small Business Coalition during the height of the pandemic in 2020, offering a solution to many small businesses that did not have a voice. It led to tens of millions of grants getting released to local small businesses, and continued to advocate, fight, and support our community. He is a small business owner himself, as the Founder & CEO of Trailblaze Marketing, an AI-powered marketing firm, and host of the AI Wave Podcast. In addition to that, he is the Vice President on the Board of Millennial RI and involved in local startup communities. Outside of his professional life, his passion is spending time with his 2 year old son Cayden and wife Megan.

• Wife of 30 years • Mother of an Amazing 15 year old young man • Small Business owner of Executive Cuts for 18 years • Soon to be Author • Governors Workforce Board • Strategic Investments Committee • Youth Career Pathways Advisory Committee • RI Department of Health Hairdressers Board • District Wide Advisory Council • Parent Advisory Council • Classical Parent Ambassador • School Improvement Team for Classical

Hugo is Owner of The Event Factory and has served on the board since 2020.

David Dadekian has been called “RI’s unofficial Food Laureate” by Philip Eil of the Providence Phoenix, “mastermind of the food news website and event-organizing operation, Eat Drink RI, who seems to know every chef, restaurant, farm stand, and manufactured food product within state lines.” Dadekian created Eat Drink RI (EDRI) in 2010 and over the past thirteen years eatdrinkri.com has grown to be one of the top media, marketing and event production companies in the region for all things culinary. Dadekian is the host of the “RI Small Business Live Forum” and Cox YurView’s “The Rhode to Recovery” video interview series. Dadekian also works as PR Director, Cooking Instructor and Special Events Coordinator at Blackbird Farm in Smithfield. Dadekian serves on the boards of ecoRI News, Eating with the Ecosystem and the RI Small Business Coalition. He lives in Coventry with his wife Brenda and their two daughters.

Mark S. Deion is the President and owner of DEION ASSOCIATES & STRATEGIES, INC. He has 45+ years of experience dealing with a vast array of businesses and related issues. Whether it be financial or strategic planning, operational review and oversight, CEO services or crisis management, Mr. Deion brings a full range of business expertise to the client engagement. His client portfolio covers a vast array of industry types and sizes with annual revenues from 200K - 40MM. He has also provided consultant services to start-ups and pre-ventures. His extensive range of alliances with various other professionals ensures that client needs are definitively addressed. While working towards business development in the US with various client companies, Mr. Deion has worked extensively with many government agencies such as the US Small Business Administration, the US Department of Commerce, the US Securities & Exchange Commission. His direct activities were key to garnering Congressional support for the US SBA and their loan and technical assistance programs. He communicates frequently with members of Congress and other US Government agencies to promote business development initiatives. Many of the educational programs which he has developed have been used by government agencies, colleges, universities and trade organizations. He was elected as a delegate to the 1995 White House Conference on Small Business and authored one of the top 20 recommendations in support of the US SBA. He has lectured at various colleges and universities teaching various small business topics including small business management and crisis management for turn-around tactics. While working with various business development initiatives including access to capital, fair lending practices, and the creation of programs to foster business training and development in numerous venues, Mr. Deion also works extensively with legislative reform regarding: healthcare, prescription drug costs, minority and women-owned businesses, taxation, and international trade. He can frequently be found in Washington, D.C. advocating for many of these initiatives. Mr. Deion’s expertise was used to facilitate the creation of a business development center in Belarus of the Former Soviet Union, and he has consulted with various private enterprises and government agencies in countries of the Former Soviet Union including Ukraine, Latvia and Russia. He was appointed to the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission by US SBA Administrator Philip Lader during the Clinton Administration. He has been the recipient of various awards and recognitions and has been quoted and published in various local and national publications. He has served on various Boards of non-profits and business-related organizations and continues to serve on a variety of Boards to further positive economic development in numerous venues.

Hung Nguyen is a dedicated small business owner and entrepreneur based in Cranston, RI. With over ten years of experience in the service industry, he has cultivated a deep understanding of professional nail care and is committed to delivering exceptional services to his community. Hung's educational background includes a degree in Health Management and Business Studies from Providence College, where he honed the skills and knowledge essential for his professional journey. He furthered his education with a Master of Social Work from Boston University and went on to work for the Department of Children and Families in Massachusetts. Hung's passion for helping others continued as he served as an Assistant Program Director and Mental Health Clinician at UMass Community Healthlink. He later pursued a Doctor of Nursing Practice at UMass Medical School Graduate School of Nursing, earning a certificate of completion for Registered Nurse before leaving the program to begin his entrepreneurship. In 2019, Hung and his wife co-founded Cosmo Beauty Group, LLC, and acquired Cosmo Nails in Cranston, RI. This venture marked the beginning of their small business journey, as they transformed traditional service delivery into a modern, professional experience, earning recognition and praise from the local community and beyond. As a small business owner, Hung understands the importance of supporting fellow entrepreneurs. He navigated the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the temporary closure of his business, by staying up-to-date with changing regulations, seeking resources for small businesses, and prioritizing continuous education for himself and his team. Outside of work, Hung cherishes time spent with his family and enjoys exploring new destinations through travel.

Kaitlyn grew up predominately in Rhode Island, but her love affair with food first began in her Grandfather's kitchen in upstate NY, breaking down steaks and bathing everything in butter in his private kitchen he built outside the home so her grandmother wouldn't "bother him." Roberts completed her formal culinary education in 2006 at Apicius Culinary Institute in Florence, Italy after receiving a B.A. in English and Communications from Wofford College, in South Carolina. She continued to work with Apicius, cooking for the James Beard House in 2007. Roberts holds an advanced degree from London's Wine & Spirits Education Trust Program and staged with executive Chef Deb Morgan Bennett of Kripalu in the Bershires in 2012. Roberts continues to lead luxury, culinary and wine tours for groups of curios foodies annually, back to Italy with her friend and business partner, Jessica Granatiero. Roberts founded Easy Entertaining Inc. in 2006 at the age of 23, and has grown the company organically into a seven figure revenue earning company with an emphasis on family first, and a diverse workforce, focused on placing women and people of color and diverse backgrounds in positions of leadership. Today the company has over 45 employees, all of whom, Kait would describe as family. In 2012, she took her ownership of her first event venue, The Cafe at Easy Entertaining Inc. In 2019, she took control of her second, the Atrium of Rising Sun Mills. Kait is a mom to twin two year old's, Madelyn & Myles, and resides with her husband Jameson, in Barrington, RI. They enjoy making sushi, wood fired pizza, paddle boarding, beach hikes, and drinking wine... lots of wine.

Stephan Rodriguez is an experienced civic and economic development leader with a background in mobilizing cross-sector partnerships to drive social change and innovation. His background spans advocacy, philanthropy, nonprofit leadership, and business development, with deep expertise in advancing systems change through collaboration, coalition-building, and community engagement. He has held roles with non-profit organizations such as the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, where he served as Alumni Manager and liaison to Babson College. A proud AmeriCorps alum, Stephan began his career with City Year, where he helped launch the organization’s site in Miami. He remains an active member of the Rhode Island community, working to build innovative partnerships that expand economic opportunity across the state.

Ivelisse Sabater is co-owner, COO/CFO of Sabater Laboratory for Psychological Innovations Inc alongside her husband, Julio Sabater PhD. For the past 8 years, committed to offering the highest level of quality psychological care, offering mental health and behavioral services for children, adolescents, families, and adults in English and Spanish. ●She is also co-founder and president of the SabaterLAB Foundation where she enjoys teaching skills to small business owner colleagues, executive board members, supervising high school interns, training staff, and learning valuable lessons from the lived experiences shared by the many people that she kindly serves. ●Ivelisse is an experienced educator by trade, and with more than 15 years in the field, she has been vastly recognized for her outstanding leadership roles, which reflect in her innate ability to motivate teamwork results that exceed expectations each time. Being determined has placed Ivelisse as principal recipient for grants, scholarships, and stipends, all which have served to fund many school projects and initiatives. ●She is well liked and respected among faculty, staff, parents, and students being consistently approached for guidance and support to assist with school issues, including issues that are related to students’ mental health. ●Ivelisse is wholeheartedly invested in our vision, leading with a strong commitment in serving uniquely diverse communities as a priority for SabaterLAB Foundation. ●Through accessible, equitable, and inclusive efforts to serve she eradicates existent disparities of partnerships, funding, programs, integrative services, and resources. ●Together with her husband, she is dedicated to advocate knowing that similar services are not always what we want or need them to be to genuinely help and understand communities and people of color. ●Ivelisse has earned a bachelor’s degree in Modern Languages from Rhode Island College. She also has completed graduate coursework in marriage and family counseling in trauma at Wladen University. She is currently completing a Master’s degree in Special Education at Worcester State University. More recently, she completed a Doctor of Theology degree from Dayspring Theology University. ●She has been married to her loving husband of 25 years Dr. Julio Sabater, and they have two daughters ages 24 and 18.

Dr. Julio E. Sabater is a Black Puerto Rican man, who is a Rhode Island licensed clinical psychologist, with more than 25 years of experience working in clinical, school, community, and faith-based settings in the field of mental and behavioral health, with a specialty in trauma care, psychological assessment, and clinical training. ●Alongside his wife Ivelisse Sabater, he is committed to offering high quality bilingual psychological services to uniquely diverse individuals, and providing racial, cultural, and linguistic diverse clinical training experiences and mentorship, as co-owners of Sabater Laboratory for Psychological Innovations Inc (SabaterLAB), a mental health clinic in Main Street Pawtucket since 2015. ●Dr. Sabater’s active participation as board chairman, board member, advocate, and national instructor attest to his heavily invested committment in underserved communities. ●As co-founder, vice president, and board chairman of the SabaterLAB Foundation, Dr. Sabater is determined to establishing partnerships to implement intentional strategies to reduce stigmatized views around mental health and help-seeking within our communities of Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and unserved populations. ●He is a Founding Board Director for The Black Block Community Foundation in the Black Block Cultural District in the Downtown area of the City of Pawtucket. ●Dr. Sabater is also involved in efforts to implement mental health care within faith-based organizations in the state. ●He is well known for being an advocate and proponent for accessible, equitable, and inclusive approaches to directly impact the workplace, education, health, knowledge production, and training. ●Dr. Sabater has worked in various organizations which include Worcester Public Schools, The Providence Center, Providence Public Schools District, University of Massachusetts Memorial Health Care Community Healthlink, and Children’s Friend. ●Dr. Sabater has been invited as panelist on trauma care, professional psychologist training, and mental health workforce pipeline obstacles. He served on the taskforce group on Trauma-Informed Schools at the state level, and provided individual and organizational representation in support of the National Community Mental Wellnes & Resilience Act. ●Dr. Sabater is a recipient of the Team Chaning: Minds Initiative, a national response to young men and teens of color, which included a scholarship for training and certification as a national Mental Health First Aid instructor. ●Dr. Sabater holds a Ph.D. degree in combined school/counseling psychology and a master’s degree in counseling psychology, both from Northeastern University. More recently, he completed a Doctor of Theology degree from Dayspring Theology University. ●He has been married to his loving wife Ivelisse for almost 25 years, and they have two daughters ages 24 and 18.

Rick Simone is a graduate Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. Rick's Bachelor's Degree in Marketing has given him access to many incredible opportunities throughout his career that have brought him to where he is today. Rick has gained title and recognition as the Deputy Director of the Providence Tourism Council and has been a co-owner of restaurants in Providence and Newport Rhode Island. He previously owned and served as President of Bella Consulting and Events an Experiential Marketing agency in Providence RI, that was acquired by Alex and Ani. Today Rick is the President of EGN Consulting an agency specializing in Marketing, Public Relations, Government Relations, and Event Production. EGN, counts Nonprofits, hospitality group’s restaurants and other business as its clients. Rick and his agency serve as the Managing Director of the Rhode Island Small Business Coalition, President of the Federal Hill Commerce Association, where the largest grouping of restaurants in Rhode Island reside. Rick has also been named one of the top 500 event planners in North America by Biz Bash. Ricks has served in many board and charitable works positions to give back to the Rhode Island community. Currently he serves as past Chairman of Junior Achievement of Rhode Island, a Director on the board for Women and Infants Hospital Quality Care committee and as a Director on the board for the Providence Tourism Council. His passions are traveling and all things wine.