The guest speakers at House Speaker Gordon Fox’s big economic conference next week are drawn heavily from the government and nonprofit sectors, with few representatives from private companies.

The agenda released late Friday lists 16 guest speakers, only five of them from private companies. And of those five, one is a former candidate for governor (​Ken Block) and two are government officials as members of the R.I. Economic Development Corporation board (Cheryl Snead and Karl Wadensten).

The two other speakers from private firms work for companies that are headquartered in Massachusetts: John Sheets Jr. from Natick-based Boston Scientific and Gary Ezovski, who sold his firm Lincoln Environmental to Woburn-based ATC Group Services back in 2007.

Speaker Fox said the summit is designed so lawmakers can “listen to key people in the trenches,” but the list doesn’t include any Rhode Island business owners or startup executives without ties to government. (Hopefully House members will supplement the summit by watching episodes of Executive Suite.) As for the Senate, Teresa Paiva Weed will lay out her recommendations for improving the economy in a report on Tuesday.

The full agenda for the House summit is posted after the jump.

1 p.m. Welcome by Speaker Fox and greetings
1:10 p.m. – 1:50 p.m. Small Business Challenges and Recommendations
Panelists:
Ken Block, founder and president, Simpatico Software Systems, Inc. and Cross Alert Systems, Inc., Moderate Party gubernatorial candidate 2010
Cheryl Snead, president and CEO of Banneker Industries Inc.
Gary Ezovski, founder of Lincoln Environmental, Inc.; former member, Board of Trustees, Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council
Karl Wadensten, president, VIBCO, Inc.; member, R.I. Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors
1:50 p.m. – 2:10 p.m. Q&A

2:20 p.m. – 3:10 p.m. Workforce Development Gaps and Opportunities
Ray DiPasquale, president, Community College of Rhode Island
Nancy Carriuolo, president, Rhode Island College
David Dooley, president, University of Rhode Island
Rick Brooks, executive director, Governor’s Workforce Board
George Nee, president, Rhode Island AFL-CIO
3:10 p.m. – 3:40 p.m. Q&A

3:40 p.m. – 4:10 p.m. Local/Regional Experiences, Successes and Solutions
Gregory Bialecki, Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development
Catherine Smith, Commissioner, Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development
Leslie W. Taito, Director of Regulatory Reform, Rhode Island Office of Management and Budget
4:10 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Q&A

4:40 p.m. – 5:20 p.m. Rebranding
Martha Sheridan, president and CEO, Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau
John Bowen, Chancellor, Johnson & Wales University
John W. Sheets Jr., senior vice president, corporate research, Boston Scientific Corporation.
Neil Steinberg, president and CEO, Rhode Island Foundation
5:20 p.m. – 5:40 p.m. Q&A
5:45 p.m. Wrap up – Speaker Fox

An earlier version of the House’s agenda said Ezovski was still on the RIPEC board; he is not.