​By Dan McGowan

Michael Doyle, the founder of RDW Group – one Rhode Island’s largest public relations firms – is retiring, WPRI.com has learned.

“It was a great ride, and it will be difficult to step away from a life that has been a beloved passion of mine for so long,” Doyle said in a statement. “Also, it’s gratifying to know that I’m leaving the agency in very capable hands. It has been a pleasure to work alongside an incredibly talented staff and with a wide range of clients to produce award-winning work throughout the years.”

Doyle was chief of staff to former Gov. Ed DiPrete, who served from 1985 to 1991. Doyle’s brother Daniel has been ensnared in controversy due to financial problems at his nonprofit Institute for International Sport.

James Malachowski, RDW’s chief operating officer, has been promoted to chairman and Jim Pontarelli will remain president, the company said.

RDW has consulted on the Providence Place Mall project, the rebranding of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, the expansions of T.F. Green Airport and the Central Landfill. Last year, RDW led the referendum campaign to expand table gaming at Twin River.

Dan McGowan ( dmcgowan@wpri.com ) covers politics and the city of Providence for WPRI.com. Follow him on Twitter: @danmcgowan

By Shaun Towne and Ted Nesi

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and his fiancée were wed on Saturday in a surprise ceremony, his spokesman said.

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Marra Restaurant Group founder Stephen P. Marra has died, WPRI.com has learned.

Marra’s passing was confirmed by the Rhode Island Hospitality and Tourism Association, where he was a former chairman and member of the executive committee. Dale Venturini, the association’s president and CEO, was not immediately available for comment.

Marra’s company, formerly the Pinelli Marra Restaurant Group, filed for receivership last December. Its stable of restaurants includes Twist on Angell and Waterplace in Providence, The Grille on Main in East Greenwich, Cucina Twist in South Kingstown, Cucina in North Smithfield and Twist in Warwick.

Marra’s father and brother are reportedly preparing to buy the company as it exits receivership.

Update: The Projo’s Tom Morgan has more details.

He visited the Jamestown Historical Society this month, The Jamestown Press reports:

The speaker for the evening was Eugene Lee, who has won three Tony Awards for his production design work on Broadway. He has also won an Emmy Award for his television work on “Saturday Night Live,” where he has worked for 37 years.

Lee, who has a home in Jamestown, is currently the resident designer for Trinity Rep in Providence. He has a Master of Fine Arts from the Yale Drama School and a bachelor’s degree from both the Art Institute of Chicago and Carnegie Mellon University. Currently he is an adjunct professor at Brown University and has three honorary Ph.Ds.

Less than a year after he left The Providence Journal for Roll Call, Steve Peoples is on the move again.

Peoples is departing the Capitol Hill paper to join The Associated Press as a Northeast regional political reporter, according to a memo from Roll Call’s managing editor, Scott Montgomery, that was obtained by FishbowlDC. He’ll be based out of Boston.

“Although his time here was short, his name will forever be linked with Santorum’s ‘Google Problem’ and the story he wrote assessing it,” Montgomery said, according to FishbowlDC. (If you missed that immortal piece last February, check it out here.)

Peoples – who’s also been moonlighting recently as GoLocalProv’s Washington correspondent – confirmed the news in a tweet this afternoon. “Excited to be joining AP’s 2012 team,” he wrote. “I’ll miss the wonderful people at RC, but can’t imagine a better place to be this cycle.”

Saul Kaplan, who ran the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation for two and a half years under Governor Carcieri, is writing his first book.

Kaplan’s working title is ”The Business Model Innovation Factory: How to Stay Relevant While the World is Changing.” He signed a contract with publisher John Wiley & Sons to write the book after a senior editor there approached him with the idea.

The title will ring a bell for those who’ve followed Kaplan’s career – he’s also founder of the Business Innovation Factory, a seven-year-old Providence-based nonprofit that promotes new approaches in areas like health care, education and energy. It may be best-known for hosting the annual BIF conference.

“I have been speaking and writing about business-model innovation and the need for all leaders to do [research and development] for new business models to stay relevant in the 21st Century for some time,” Kaplan told WPRI.com in an e-mail.

Writing comes naturally to Kaplan – his output includes columns for Harvard Business Review and BusinessWeek, a blog called “It’s Saul Connected” and a steady stream of tweets. He plans to write the book over the next five months, with publication set for the spring of 2012.

“I am excited to tackle the challenge of writing a book, which is one of my bucket list items!” Kaplan added.

For more on Kaplan and BIF, check out this PBN story I wrote about the group back in 2009.

Update: Wiley senior editor Richard Narramore sent along an e-mail explaining why he decided to make Kaplan a published author:

Saul was recommended to me by another bestselling Wiley author, as a leading thinker on the topic of business models. I learned that he is the organizer of a prestigious conference I had heard about – the “Business Innovation Factory” summit, held annually in Rhode Island. Saul started this conference seven years ago, to bring together nationally and internationally known innovators and thought leaders to discuss the cutting edge of business, design, health care, and other interesting topics. I knew Saul’s book would grow out of this dialogue around thought leaders in innovation, so it would likely be fascinating and important.

I bet you’ll be able to buy Saul’s book at next year’s BIF-8 conference, too.

(photo: Saul Kaplan)

Brian Moynihan, who took over as Bank of America’s president and CEO last January, is giving the keynote speech at tonight’s annual meeting of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce.

How did little old Rhode Island snag an appearance by the head of the largest bank (by assets) in the United States? It probably helped that Moynihan has deep roots here in the state, as I wrote for PBN when he was picked a year ago:

Moynihan graduated in 1981 from Brown, where he majored in history, co-captained the rugby team and met his future wife, Susan E. Berry, according to The Boston Globe. Moynihan was one of the four largest donors who helped pay for construction of Brown’s new rugby field on Elmgrove Avenue, which was dedicated in 2004.

After receiving his law degree from the University of Notre Dame, Moynihan returned to Providence and worked for nine years at the law firm Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP, which was then Edwards & Angell LLP, according to The Wall Street Journal. He is a former chairman of the Travelers Aid Society of Rhode Island and Providence Haitian Project Inc.

While at Edwards & Angell, Moynihan began doing work for Fleet Financial Group Inc., and in 1993 he left Edwards & Angell to join FleetBoston as deputy general counsel.

“It’s a horrible feeling to know I will be leaving the firm,” Moynihan said at the time, according to Duncan Johnson, a partner who was Moynihan’s first boss and mentor and who shared his recollection with The Wall Street Journal. “But I have very strong ambitions to rise high in the ranks of Fleet.”

Moynihan stayed with Bank of America after it purchased Fleet in 2004. His positions at Bank of America have included general counsel, head of global wealth management and consumer bank chief.

William Hatfield, who runs Bank of America’s Rhode Island operations, is chairman of the Providence Chamber’s board, too, and Moynihan’s old firm Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge is one of the big sponsors of tonight’s Chamber dinner.

Bonus fact: Tom Ryan, who is retiring next year after a long run as Woonsocket-based CVS Caremark’s CEO, was on Bank of America’s board until earlier this year and served on the committee that picked Moynihan.

James Franco (via Wikipedia)

The actor James Franco – the bad guy in the “Spider-Man” movies – is headed to the Rhode Island School of Design this fall to study art. That is, when he’s not two hours away working on his Ph.D. at Yale, The New York Times reports:

James Franco … is at 32 a famous actor and celebrity movie star of considerable self-made means. But he also has an interest in art dating back to childhood. He studied painting in high school and has apparently at times considered being an artist.

These ambitions have perhaps been diminished by Mr. Franco’s determined multitasking, which has received quite a bit of attention in the press.

He has combined a movie career with activities as a screenwriter, director and producer, simultaneously attending graduate school in writing, filmmaking and poetry at four separate schools. A book of his short stories is due out this fall, at which point he will begin work on a doctorate in literature at Yale and also study at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Between him and Emma Watson, College Hill is going to be a hot spot for celebrity sightings.

(hat tip to the AP’s Michelle Smith)

My colleague Karen Adams just announced she’s going to retire from the anchor chair at the end of this year. (I won’t say how old I was when she started anchoring the 6 p.m. news here, but suffice to say I grew up watching her.) Although we’ve only worked together for a little while, I can already say she’s a lovely lady who will be missed here in the newsroom.

There will be lots of tributes to Karen’s long career between now and her last broadcast on Dec. 30 – she started out in TV during Walter Cronkite’s CBS heyday, and is leaving in an era when two of the three major network anchors are women.

But for today, I thought it would be fun to take a look back using that modern marvel YouTube. Here are some vintage videos of Karen and WPRI through the years.

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