CEOs You Should Know Providence

Hosted by News Radio 920 (WHJJ-AM)

Business

Website RSS feed

Episodes

Latest episode

Mar 2026

Language

About the show

CEOs You Should Know is iHeartMedia Providence's showcase of businesses that drive New England's regional economy. Hear from key business leaders who contribute to the vibrant and growing community.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

March 9, 202626 min

Interview with Emilio DiSpirito- DiSpirito Real Estate

Emilio DiSpirito is a Co-Owner and License Partner of Engel & Völkers Oceanside, a luxury real estate brokerage with two locations in Rhode Island. Alongside his business partner, Joe Fazio, Emilio leads a high-performance organization built on specialization and scale.Emilio oversees all sales strategy, marketing, brand positioning, and talent attraction, while Joe leads operations and infrastructure—creating a brokerage model designed to deliver an elevated level of service for both clients and advisors. Their team is supported by a full-service backend, allowing advisors to focus exclusively on client experience and results.In addition to leading the brokerage, Emilio runs the number one medium-sized real estate team in Rhode Island, ranked by RealTrends for multiple years. He is consistently ranked among the top real estate teams globally within Engel & Völkers and is in the top 1% of real estate sales professionals worldwide. Emilio is an elite Private Office Advisor, a REALM Global affiliate, and a consistent top producer regionally within BNI.Beyond brokerage leadership, Emilio is an active real estate investor, home builder, and property flipper, giving him an operator-level perspective that allows him to guide advisors and clients at every juncture. He is also the host of the nationally syndicated The Wealth Architect Podcast on iHeartRadio, where he interviews top performers across real estate, business, and entrepreneurship with a focus on wealth creation, leadership, and long-term strategy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

January 26, 202621 min

CEOs You Should Know - John Kelly - Meeting Street

President and CEO, John Kelly discusses the accomplishments at Meeting Street and the upcoming Telethone, Jan. 31, 2026.John M. Kelly, President & Chief Executive Officer: John has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Meeting Street since 1998 and served as a member of its Board of Trustees from 1990 to 1997. Prior to accepting the position of President at Meeting Street, he was General Counsel for Cornish Associates, L.P., a real estate development company headquartered in Providence. In that role, he also served as the lead staff person for the Coalition for Community Development, a community organization formed to implement the revitalization of downtown Providence. Before joining Cornish Associates in 1995, John was a partner with the law firm of Tillinghast, Collins & Graham in Providence. John is the former chair of The Highlander Charter School, The Providence Revolving Fund, The Genesis Center and the Providence Zoning Board of Review, the former Vice Chair of the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission, and a former member of the Board of Park Commissioners for the City of Providence. He currently serves on the Board of the Rhode Island Public Health Institute and is a member of the Rhode Island Foundation’s Blue Ribbon Commission for RI public schools. A Pittsfield, Massachusetts native, John received his bachelor's degree in government from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and his law degree from Boston College Law School.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

December 18, 202526 min

Alka Oaks Co-CEO's

Host Chris Ryan speaks with Co-CEO's Monica Rekhan and Charles Gay of Alka Oaks.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

December 8, 202526 min

CEOs You Should Know - Linda Goler Blount - Community Catalyst

Linda Goler Blount, MPH Bio Linda Goler Blount, MPH, is the President and CEO of Community Catalyst, a national organization dedicated to building the power of people to create a health system rooted in race equity and health justice. A nationally recognized leader in public health, race equity, and systems change, Linda brings more than 25 years of experience across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. She most recently served as President and CEO of the Black Women’s Health Imperative (BWHI)—the only national organization solely focused on the health and wellness of Black women and girls. During her tenure at BWHI, Linda led the organization through a period of significant growth and strategic impact. Under her leadership, BWHI advanced bold policy advocacy, launched evidence-based programs, and developed partnerships that elevated Black women’s health on the national stage—including a landmark collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That effort advanced BWHI’s mission to build the power of Black women to take control of their health and advocate for policies that support their well-being, while also shaping national standards for equitable, community-informed care. Prior to BWHI, Linda held senior leadership roles at the CDC, the American Cancer Society, and in the private sector, where she applied community-based research methodologies to address chronic disease prevention and health disparities at scale. She was a lead contributor to IndexUS, the first data set focused on the health of Black women using an asset-based approach—centered on studying healthy Black women rather than only illness or disease, and was named to Forbes’ 50 Over 50: Impact list for her leadership in public health. Throughout her career, Linda has been a steadfast advocate for solutions that center the lived experiences of those most harmed by health inequities. Her leadership is rooted in the belief that health is a right, and that people—especially those historically excluded from the health system—should be at the center of shaping the policies and practices that impact their lives. She holds a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering and Operations Research from Eastern Michigan University.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

August 5, 20254 min

CEOs You Should Know - Darren Jodoin, CEO & President, PMC Media Group

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

July 31, 202517 min

CEOs You Should Know - David McCready, President & CEO, Southcoast Health

David McCready is president and chief executive officer of Southcoast Health. Southcoast Health serves communities across southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island as the largest provider of primary and specialty care in the region. The not-for-profit, charitable system includes three acute care hospitals – Charlton Memorial in Fall River, St. Luke’s in New Bedford (a Level II Trauma Center), and Tobey in Wareham – as well as a network of over 900 physicians, hospitalists, and midlevel practitioners.David joined Southcoast in October 2023 from Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital where he served as president for 5 years. In addition, David served for 18 years as a member of the leadership team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, including as senior vice president of a variety of clinical and non-clinical departments including inpatient services, surgical and procedural services, ambulatory operations, imaging, real estate, facilities/engineering, and all support services. David served as an instructor in the Master of Clinical Service Operations program at Harvard Medical School from 2019 to 2022.With a strong operations, strategy and finance background and focus, David served as a finance project leader for Partners HealthCare System before becoming the executive administrator and then vice chair for administration and finance for the 1,200-faculty member Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.In addition to his extensive hospital-based experience, David currently serves on the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Associations (MHA)‘s Board of Trustees and is an at-large policy delegate for the American Hospital Association’s New England region. He held leadership roles at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield earlier in his career. He attended the University of Pittsburgh where he earned his BS, MBA, and MHA, and trained as a William H. Ford Fellow for Healthcare Administration from 1994-1996.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

July 7, 20256 min

Harmony With Food CEO - Meg Marie O'Rourke

Harmony With Food's Mission:Providing proactive health insights. Functional Medical Nutrition Therapy provides insights via proactive testing: microbiome, food sensitivities, micronutrients etc.Shifting from reactive to proactive health care. Bridging the gap between traditional healthcare and modern personalized health care, treating the whole person.Promoting preventative proactive health.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

July 7, 202526 min

CEOs You Should Know - Dr. Chad Walding, NativePath

In 2010, I received a call from the hospital that would alter the course of my entire life. The nurse on the other end of the line said bluntly: “You need to stop telling my patients about nutrition.”I was a Home Health Physical Therapist at the time and had just discovered the vast world of nutrition. More specifically, I discovered how poor nutrition was linked to many of the health issues my patients were dealing with. So of course, I started telling them about it… I explained how gluten and dairy were big inflammatory foods. How sugar plays a role in things like high blood pressure, inflammation, and chronic disease. How toxic oils like canola and sunflower oil result in inflamed, calcified arteries. So when I received that life-altering call, I knew I had to do something more...So it began…In addition to the nutrition seminars that my wife and I were already hosting, I began researching whole-food nutrition products that would make people feel better. That’s when I stumbled upon this thing called collagen…And on that day—June 6, 2017—NativePath was born.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

June 10, 20259 min

CEOs You Should Know - Nicole Pineault, RI Blood Center

Nicole Pineault has worked at RIBC for over 20 years specializing in donor recruitment. Her roles have included Marketing Assistant, Account Manager, Marrow Donor Recruiter, Recruitment Supervisor for RIBC’s National Marrow Donor Program, and Mobile Blood Drive Recruitment Manager. She was promoted to Director of Donor Resources in 2015 and became the Director of RIBC’s National Marrow Donor Program in 2018. Nicole received the ADRP Rolf Kovenetsky Recruitment Leader of the Year Award in 2019. In 2024, she was promoted to Executive Director of Blood Operations. Nicole holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations from the University of Rhode Island. A member of the ADRP Executive Committee and past participant of the Patient Services Committee of the RI Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Nicole says, “I can’t think of a better way to spend my time than helping to ensure that patients receive the life-saving blood they need when they need it. The donors, patient families, drive sponsors, and coordinators I’ve been blessed to work with over the years have enriched my life in so many ways. I’ve learned important lessons like, tell the people you love that you love them…and cherish life’s simple pleasures.”Nicole lives in North Kingstown, RI, with her husband, Lt. Col. Dennis Pineault, and their two children, Caleb and Aubrey.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 12, 202515 min

CEOs You Should Know - Aaron Robinson, South County Health

Aaron Robinson currently serves as President and CEO of South County Health, Rhode Island’s only independent health system. South County Health is the only Double 5 Star CMS rated hospital in the Northeast and known for its market leading quality and orthopedic program. He brings with him more than 20 years of diverse and progressive health care leadership experience in health systems and community hospitals.Aaron joined South County Health from Florida, where he served as CEO of three Community Hospitals and also System Service Line Executive for Heart & Vascular services at Health First. Located in Rockledge, FL, Health First is a $2 billion fully Integrated Delivery Network of hospitals, a multi-specialty medical group, post-acute & wellness services, and a health plan.A native Midwesterner, Aaron began his leadership career at SSM Health Care, an $8 billion multi-hospital system headquartered in St. Louis. Initially leading operations in SSM’s large and growing multi-site rehabilitation business and ultimately serving the system in service line development and hospital operations as VP of Operations for SSM’s 410 bed St. Joseph Health Center.Aaron holds an MBA from Lindenwood University in St. Louis and a BS in Physical Therapy from the University of Missouri-Columbia. His early background as a practicing physical therapist has helped direct him as a leader to build programs and services that transform and improve care for patients. He has served on numerous community and industry boards.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.