Peter C. Dorsey, Jr. Appointed President of Business Development Company of Rhode Island, Succeeding Garrett B. Hunter, Who Retires After 20 Years

New Board Chairman and Vice Chairman Elected

PROVIDENCE -- (Aug. 12, 2009) -- The board of directors of the Business Development Company of Rhode Island (BDCRI), the state’s pre-eminent provider of gap financing to established and emerging businesses, today announced that Peter C. Dorsey, Jr. has been named president of the company.

The appointment was made in connection with the planned retirement of Garrett B. Hunter, who served as BDCRI president since 1989.

Stephen P. Higginbotham, senior vice president at Citizens Bank and a long-term member of the board, was elected chairman. In addition, Douglas E. Scala, chief financial officer at The Hudson Companies in Providence, was elected vice chairman.

“Peter Dorsey has the business and financial skills and experience that are the cornerstone of successful lending, and a finely honed understanding of the regional business market that will help guide the BDCRI,” said Higginbotham. “We look forward to working with him as the BDCRI continues to help local companies grow.”

Higginbotham took over from Raymond F. Murphy, Jr., principal with Providence-based Sullivan & Company, who served in that post for the last 20 years. Murphy’s leadership helped revitalize the BDCRI and was instrumental in attracting new capital, enhancing the company’s lending capacity.

Speaking for the board, Higginbotham lauded Hunter for his “decades of dedicated commitment to the business community.”

He added, “Garrett’s wealth of knowledge and his ability to work with other lenders, accountants, lawyers, and business owners often proved to be the key in developing the right financial solution. As a result, he helped hundreds of companies prosper, and in the process helped Rhode Island prosper”

In addition to leading the BDCRI, Hunter founded the Cherrystone Angel Group, Rhode Island’s first formal angel investment group, and the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition, the leading community-based business plan competition in New England.

Dorsey, who joined the BDCRI in 1995, has three decades of financing and investing experience. Prior to being named president, he served as senior vice president, managing the company’s loan and investment portfolio and directing the company’s new business underwriting activities. Dorsey has structured more than 100 mezzanine debt packages, asset-based lines of credit, and SBA 7a term loans.

As a managing director of the Cherrystone Angel Group, Dorsey supports the organization’s steering and due diligence committees.

He earned a B.A. degree in economics from Bucknell University and an MBA from the University of Rhode Island.

About the Business Development Company of Rhode Island

The Business Development Company of Rhode Island (www.bdcri.com), a non-bank lender established in 1953 and based in Providence, provides direct and gap financing to companies in Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut that need funding for working capital, product development, fixed asset purchases, and business acquisition.

Member banks of the BDCRI include Bank of America, BankNewport, Bank Rhode Island, Centreville Bank, Citizens Bank, Coastway, Home Loan and Investment Bank, FSB, Sovereign Bank New England, The Washington Trust Company, and Webster Bank, N.A.