Five-figure bonuses given to top staff at RI Convention Center Authority venues

Katherine Gregg, The Providence Journal
·4 min read
The Rhode Island Convention Center, one of three properties heavily subsidized by taxpayers, overseen by the RICC Authority and managed by a private company whose top staff members have collected five-figure end-of-year bonuses.
The Rhode Island Convention Center, one of three properties heavily subsidized by taxpayers, overseen by the RICC Authority and managed by a private company whose top staff members have collected five-figure end-of-year bonuses.

PROVIDENCE – For the second year in a row, the private company that manages operations for the heavily taxpayer-subsidized Rhode Island Convention Center Authority has awarded "retention bonuses" of up to $41,497 to top staff.

The $41,497 end-of-year bonus went to General Manager Larry Lepore.

His employer, state contractor ASM Global, awarded him the bonus on top of his salary, last pegged by the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority at $191,231 a year. A year earlier, the company gave him a $39,885 bonus and a pay raise.

Five other top-tier ASM Global employees under contract to work for the convention center authority – including the directors of sales, security, ticketing, operations and food and beverage – got bonuses ranging from $8,460 to $11,074.

Daniel McConaghy, the authority's executive director, told The Journal that the board chaired by Bernard Buonanno, father of 2022 gubernatorial candidate Helena Foulkes, was apprised of the bonuses but was not required to vote on them.

Why were the bonuses given out?

After a year of legal wrangling and resistance, the convention center authority and ASM provided their pay roster to The Journal in April 2021 under orders from the attorney general.

For a look inside the Convention Center:First-ever peek at RI Convention Center payroll shows deep union ties

Asked the rationale for the latest round of bonuses, McConaghy said: "Under the incentive plan, certain ASM Global executives at the venues are eligible for bonuses based on achievement of quantitative and qualitative performance objectives ...[and] approved by multiple ASM Global senior executives."

He did not elaborate on the yardsticks used to determine who among the 800-plus workers on the payroll got a bonus and how big it would be.

The Amica Mutual Pavilion, formerly known as the Dunkin' Donuts Center, another of the properties heavily subsidized by taxpayers, overseen by the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority and managed by a private company that has paid sizeable bonuses to top staff members for the second year in a row.
The Amica Mutual Pavilion, formerly known as the Dunkin' Donuts Center, another of the properties heavily subsidized by taxpayers, overseen by the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority and managed by a private company that has paid sizeable bonuses to top staff members for the second year in a row.

Who received a bonus?

Others receiving the end-of-year bonuses included the director of food and beverage, Kathleen Masino ($11,074); the director of sales, Cheryl Cohen ($11,041); the director of operations, Chris Spolidoro ($9,765); the director of security, Robert Lauro ($9,922); and the box office director, Susan Catanzaro ($8,460).

The bonus received by Masino, the wife of Laborers' International Union of North America Vice President and Assistant New England Regional Manager Vincent R. Masino, came on top of a $102,066 salary, according to the last salary rundown by the convention center.

The bonuses awarded a year ago came after an extended period in which the state was paying $960,000 a month out of federal coronavirus relief dollars to lease the Convention Center and the Dunkin' Donuts Center – now the Amica Mutual Pavilion – for COVID-19 testing, vaccination and the conversion of the convention center into a "surge" hospital.

Although normal convention center activities were suspended during most of this period, McConaughy said those bonuses recognized "overall outstanding employee performance during the pandemic," along with promotions, increased levels of responsibility and previously frozen raises.

"These individuals all fully accepted new and different roles supporting the facilities which served as the state’s largest and primary response to the pandemic," the company said.

"For the 2022 Fiscal Year, no ASM Global employees received pay raises," McConaghy told The Journal last week in response to inquiries.

The convention center authority and its management companies oversee operations for the convention center, the Amica Mutual Pavilion next door and the Veterans Memorial Auditorium, with ASM Global as manager of the first two and Professional Facilities Management as manager of the auditorium.

The Rhode Island Convention Center, here viewed from the west, was the site of a COVID-19 field hospital set up by the state in 2020 to ease the caseload of the state's hospital networks.
The Rhode Island Convention Center, here viewed from the west, was the site of a COVID-19 field hospital set up by the state in 2020 to ease the caseload of the state's hospital networks.

Under an agreement that goes back to Nov. 1, 1991, the state is responsible for making "lease payments in an amount sufficient to pay the operating expenses and debt service of the authority that are not met by revenue generated by the authority."

The budget for the year that ended on June 30, 2022 included $22.9 million in state revenue for debt service. That taxpayer subsidy is up this year, as explained this way in a Senate Fiscal Office analysis of the budget:

"Due to the prolonged closure caused by the pandemic, the authority is unable to generate revenue from the venues, requiring the state to include $24.7 million in general revenue in the FY2023 budget. This reflects an increase of $1.8 million from the previous fiscal year."

In addition, the current-year state budget includes $5 million from State Fiscal Recovery funds and at least $16.3 million from a state capital-improvement fund for renovations to the three venues administered by the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority, according to the Senate analysis.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Top-level RI Convention Center staff get bonuses of up to $41,497