ALUM-TO-ALUM CAREERCENTER EVENTS STAYCONNECTED ALUMNICOUNCIL NEWS MEMBERBENEFITS

Roland M. Boucher C.P.A. '72

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I initially attended Johnson & Wales School of Business from 1965 where I obtained my associates degree and completed my courses in January, 1968.  During that initial year, the total school enrollment was approximately 600 students and the school had only two buildings, 8 Abbott Park Place and Plantation’s Hall on the corner of Pine Street & Chestnut Street.  The only school activities involved the fraternities, sororities and the school basketball team.  While I was a full time student, I worked an average of 56 hours per week and held three part-time jobs to earn my way through college.  I was able to borrow $600 from the government education student loan program and I personally paid my own college expenses.  My father was a career Navy enlisted man and had left the family.  I had to take one trimester out of school because my mother was sick for nearly 9 months and I had to support the family and earn additional monies to pay my tuition.  During that summer and the fall trimester I worked an average of 96 hours per week to support my mother and two younger brothers and save for the winter trimester’s tuition and books.  I did desire to participate in the few events the college offered (dances three or four times a year) but they were on Friday and Saturday nights but I had to work those evenings (one of my jobs was in a grocery store).

I was married in 1969 and returned to Johnson & Wales College in 1970 (the year the State of Rhode Island granted J & W the right to offer a bachelor’s degree.  I attended the evening college.     During this period the J & W acquired Crown Hall which served as a dormitory and the classrooms were on the second & third floors.  During this period my daughter was born and I was working a full time job with a Certified Public accounting firm in the northern section of Rhode Island.  I had to balance my work schedule which required 52 - 55 hours during the tax season with my school and family obligations.  I graduated with honors in 1972.

Although my social activities with J & W may have been limited (in a social environment), many of my professors challenged us to strive for excellence.  Mr. Russell, a finance professor, made several statistical predictions about who would achieve A’s in his class.  He equated the efforts a student makes to pay for his or her education resulted in the same type of an effort a student places in their homework and studying habits.   He asked all his students (every class) how many hours each student worked during their normal school week.  He predicted that those students who worked more than 35 hours normally strived hard and received A’s, and those who worked between 20 and 35 hours normally received B’s, those worked more than one day a week but less that 20 hours usually received  C’s and those who did not work usually received C- or D’s and some would even drop out of the class before the semester ended.  His statistical analysis proved to be correct, at least for that particular class.

The professors brought a wealth of practical experience to the classrooms and taught us what we needed to achieve in the work place and not in academia.  The professors stressed that by setting a goal higher than what one thinks they can achieve, it stretches one to reach a higher goal in life.  The one statement several professors stressed during my tenure at J & W was “ I plan on teaching you only one main principle in the business process, that principle is to THINK and find a solution to the problem at hand, difficult problems only take a little longer to solve and require creativity and innovation.”   This insight in the sixties evolved into today’s “think out of the box” quotation.   Also, though interesting work related class presentations and by applying those principals to the work place, the J & W professors enabled me to attain my career goals when I applied them in my professional life.

Career accomplishments - Education:

I obtained my Associates in Business Administration (Accounting concentration) in 1968 from J & W School of Business and I graduated from Johnson & Wales College in 1972 receiving a Bachelors degree in business administration (accounting concentration) with honors.

I graduated from Bryant College in 1977 receiving a Masters degree in business administration (accounting and finance concentration) with honors (3.9 cum – 4.0 base). I attended Johnson & Wales sponsored Weaver School of Real Estate in 1968 and obtained my real estate brokers license in 1969.  I received my Certified Public Accountant certificate in 1974, where, in November, 1973 I passed all four parts of the CPA exam on my first attempt.  Only 2-3% of the candidates pass this exam at the first sitting.   I was Johnson & Wales College’s first student to ever pass this exam. After my Master’s degree I attended several post graduate courses in taxation and finance at Bryant College.

Career accomplishments - Professional experience.

I worked at two Certified Accounting firms from 1969 through 1980.  Raymond F. Murphy & Company during the first four years and Laventhol & Horwath (a national CPA firm).  I was involved with many larger clients, including publicly held corporations, in several industries (manufacturing, transportation, distribution, retail, real estate, construction, investments, and government and not-for-profit sectors. I was involved in auditing, taxation and financial reporting.  I was also involved in process design and implementation engagements.

I left my position as an Audit Supervisor to work for one of the Laventhol’s clients (Providence & Worcester Railroad) as an internal auditor.  I was promoted to assistant controller reporting to the Treasurer and director of real estate reporting to the Corporate Secretary.  Providence & Worcester Railroad Company is a publicly held transportations company with significant real estate holdings.  In was involved in all of the SEC & ICC reporting, tax reporting and compliance and management, rental and sale of their real estate holding.   I was involved in the spin-off of selected real estate holdings into a separate company (Capital Properties Inc.).  I designed and improved the financial accounting systems and budgeting process.  The railroad grew significantly through acquisitions of rail lines in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

I left the railroad to become Vice President of Finance for a startup data and telecommunications company who became master distributors of Motorola, Codex and several other leading edge products.  I enabled the company to grow four fold in just two years though innovative financing.  We purchased a warehouse, a Point-of-entry data software company and significant inventory to out distance the competition. 

In 1988 was offered a position as Controller with a large real estate developer in the Boston area, The Claremont Companies and within the year I was promoted to Chief Financial Officer.  The company owned in excess of $750 million of real estate involving more than 3000 units of residential housing,   2.2 million square feet of class a commercial office and retail space, a 688 unit suite hotel and a 110 foot luxury charter boat. We were involved in property management, real estate development and realty syndications; we had 44 entities, including corporations, S corporations, limited partnerships, trusts, foundations and limited liability companies.  During the seven years with this firm, the industry had undergone extreme hard economic times and while many developers went bankrupt, we survived the turbulent times through innovative financing and strategic business and tax planning.  We actually grew while other contracted. I managed all of the entities financial matters, banking relations, tax return preparations, financial reporting policies, procedures and compliance,  IT department, insurance and risk management matters of the company.

In 1995 I worked as a business consultant for Asset Protection Consultants, LP and was a Principal involved in obtaining financing for manufacturers and real estate developers.  In addition, I facilitate the strategic business planning sessions for a manufacturer to guide them through their first strategic business plan.  The plan was adopted and submitted to a bank which enabled the manufacturer to obtain nearly $10 million dollars in financing. This financing enabled them to significantly grow the company.

In 1997 I was approached to apply for a position with Cardi Corporation, a Heavy highway general contractor who had 28% of the Rhode Island market and also operated in nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut.  The company’s revenues totaled $42 million.  The heavy highway industry had just undergone extreme hardship and 70% of the contractors went out of business.  The company, as well as the remaining competitors, was struggling to keep afloat due to poor cash flow, lack of financing and low bonding capacity.  The company’s fleet and equipment was very aged and millions of dollars were spent annually on repairs which involved employing 12 full time mechanics.   The company had four affiliates and they were involved in the manufacturing and distribution of concrete, asphalt, sand and stone products.  The company’s major customers were the three states and municipal governments.  The company did little private construction jobs (less than 8% of revenues). I was the first Chief Financial Officer the company employed and previously, the only employed a controller and officer managers.

During my 10 years with the company, we grew the company by establishing proper fiscal policies and procedures, restructure the entities into workable units,  and negotiating higher bonding and finance limits, updating  our equipment and fleet thus resulting in increased productivity and profitability. Today, Cardi ranks number one in Rhode Island in the heavy highway industry with 75% of the road and bridge construction and 95% of the concrete sold for state projects.  Our combined revenues exceed $180 million, our bonding capacity increase from $100 million to $300 million, our operating and equipment lines of credit increases from $6 million to over $20 million, our liquidity went from a negative $2 million cash balance with payable out over 200 days to having over $24 million in cash investments with payable down to 57 days (we are not a 30 industry - we are a 70 day industry).  I was able to reduce our interest rate from prime plus 1 ¾ % to prime minus 1% on borrowings.  Our backlog of work has gone from $37 million to over $200 million dollars.  Banks and other financial institutions compete heavily for our business.

Career accomplishments - CIVIC AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:

 I have served on the board of directors of several not-for-profit groups and government entities.  I have been a member to the town council for 10 years, served as the council’s liaison to the water and sewer commission, planning board, zoning board and budget commission.  I was council president for a term. While a councilman, I served on the governing body of our local political party as well as on the re-election committee of northern Rhode Island for Senator Pell.

I have served on the board of directors of the Greater Woonsocket Chamber of Commerce for several years as a representative of the Providence & Worcester Railroad Company. I served as Thundermist District Commissioner of the Narragansett Council, Boy Scouts of America, for two years and the district services over 3,500 boys.

For nearly 30 years, I have served on the Board of Directors of NRI Community Services ( 4 years as president, over 20 years as treasurer, 15 years on the finance committee as chairman, and over 20 years on the realty board, half of those years as president).  When I first asked to serve on this board’s finance committee, they were experiencing a $250,000 deficit on an annual budget of $941,000.  The 12 year organization was on the verge of bankruptcy.  Through proper fiscal restraints, communications and processes, we were able to turn the situation around and grow. 

The term we used was that “we had to grow into our fixed overhead” by increasing revenues, contracts and services.  Today, the organization has an operating budget of over $18 million, employs over 200 employees, owns over $14 million in real estate to service our client housing and clinical needs.  

I have served on the board of directors of Life’s Mission Relief Organization during the years 1993 through 1997.  My wife (who is a nurse) and I along with nearly 100 unpaid volunteers made over 13 relief missions to Bosnia and Croatia during the wars in Yugoslavia.  We raised and brought over three ($3) million dollars in relief funds and supplies (humanitarian and medical) to refugees and displaced individuals.  We recruited and motivated doctors, dentist, nurses and other medical and other professionals to volunteer their time to assist these refugees.   I handled much of the logistics of procuring, transporting, warehousing donated medical and humanitarian supplies for our missions.  I went on five of the missions to Bosnia during the wars and was responsible for getting the medical personnel and supplies in and out of the war zone safely as well as the housing, transportation and feeding of the volunteers.  Although we encountered many difficult and adverse situations, we did not loose anyone nor did we loose any supplies (praise God).  Subsequent to these missions, I have been involved in assisting refugees from Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia and Kosovo resettle in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts and assist them in obtaining food, housing and household goods.

I have also been involved professionally in the Rhode Island Society of CPA’s, American Institute of CPA’s.  I have served on several committees of the R I CPA.

I have been guest speaker and lecturer with the Institute on Taxation and Public Policy speaking at engagements in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.  I have also served on panel discussion groups in New York.

I am currently serving as an elder in my church and will be serving as head elder.  I have recently asked to chair our church’s Mission group.  I have been a table leader and lecturer at RIMA Tres Dias men’s weekend and PGL (People of God’s Love) retreats. Tres Dias organization are Christian interdenominational group servicing Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. 

Career accomplishments - Awards and recognitions:

• I have received the following awards for my public and professional service.
• Johnson & Wales Distinguished Alumni Award
• State of Rhode Island Senate Citation for Community Service (twice)
• State of Rhode Island House Citation for Community Service (twice)
• Rhode Island Governor’s Citation for Community Service
• Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor Citation in recognition for Community Service
• Rhode Island Treasurer Citation in recognition for Community Service
• North Smithfield Town Council and Town Administrator Citations for public service.
• U. S. Senator Pell Community Service Citation
• U. S. Congressman St. Germain Citation for Community Service
• Northern Rhode Island Community Mental Health Center Distinguished Service Award
• Mental Health Center named, in my honor, scattered housing project corporation for my involvement in housing initiatives of the center.
• Eric Palazzo Community Service Award from the Rhode Island Council of Community Mental Health Organizations for innovative housing initiatives servicing to the mental health clients and organizations.

Career accomplishments and qualities to bring to the council.

My experience, technical abilities, skill sets and community service will enable me to be effective as Chair of the Advance Committee.  My political, civic and humanitarian involvements required our groups to raise significant funds to support our causes.  Our activities required us to be self sustaining and to live within our budgets.  In all cases, we exceeded our goals and expectations.

Working with diverse groups has enabled me to develop team-building skills which unite a group.    Focusing upon the tasks at hand and delegating and monitoring participants’ involvement has been leadership style which generates successful results.   I am goal driven and I display untiring zeal until we have achieved our goal. Defeat is not an option in my mind, the impossible just takes a little longer to achieve.   Through hard work, persistence, negotiations, focus, networking and constantly addressing issues and obstacles, one can eventually achieve one’s goals and objectives.  Obstacles can either become stumbling blocks or stepping stones.  It is a matter of attitude and belief in once ability.  I do not believe in luck, but in hard work. 

My professional background as a CPA and CFO; as a real estate broker; as a personal wealth and corporate advisor; as a political and public servant; as a fund raiser and as an individual who believes that God has given us many talents and “to he who has been given much, much is required in return” have given me the positive mental attitude and technical and organizational skills to accomplish and execute any task and achieve any goal set before us. 

Vision and goals for the council for the next two years.

The alumni association is capable of raising the awareness and visibility of the organization as well as J & W University.  This partnership with the University was created to enhance all alumni members and those how are or will attend the University.  One of the goals of Alumni Association should be to create a significant endowment for scholarships and to enhance the facilities, programs and retain the quality of the professors currently on staff as well as attract like visions staff and personnel to serve the University and its students (our customers).  I was able to convince one of my daughters who desired to become an accountant, that J & W University was the best University in New England.  My daughter graduated with honors from this University also.  I would like my grandchildren, and so forth, to benefit for the great educators I had had the opportunity to learn from.  By insuring the quality of the staff, the commonality of vision and personal dedication to the profession, the University can become the best University in the World dedicated to career enhancement of its students.  There is no greater feeling for a recent graduate when he or she lands their first job and is told that they did a great job with minimal on-the-job training.  This is a credit to the individual, the professors and the University.

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