US Attorney Corrente and CVS CEO Ryan: two ‘regular guys’

Probing matters

December 5, 2007 5:34:00 PM

The closely watched ongoing investigation of state legislators, CVS and Blue Cross & BlueShield of Rhode Island ,stars Robert Clark Corrente as the focused US attorney and Tom Ryan as the more enigmatic CVS CEO. Both are driven, talented, and capable. Each is also described by those that know them as “regular nice guys.”

With a handful of convictions already recorded in the ongoing probe of corporations and State House influence-peddling, one-time CVS execs Carlos Ortiz and Jack Kramer await trial — with no court date yet set — for conspiracy and bribery charges brought by Corrente’s office. Ryan is described only as “cooperating fully” with the federal probe.

Corrente and Ryan share professional success, boundless energy, and a relentless determination. Both also seem to have a “hands-on” style.

Ryan is currently harder to know, thanks to how, citing the ongoing probe, a spokesman declines a request for an interview.

Asked if he would call himself patient, Corrente laughs the laugh of a man thinking, “I’m glad my wife isn’t answering that.” He says people who work closely with him might have their own opinions, but he sees himself as “more patient sometimes than others.” But he knows that time isn’t unlimited.

Corrente has debated post-9/11 civil liberties in public forums with ACLU lawyer Jerry Elmer, who says, “Bob’s clearly so smart,” and though the two men have some clashing views, Elmer adds, “Gracious is a good word to describe Bob.”

Law firm partner David Barricelli, who sat in the office next to Corrente at Hinkley, Allen & Snyder, observes, “You notice how focused he is. He works hard all the time.”

Interestingly, the same “regular guy” and “nice guy” descriptions are used by University of Rhode Island President Robert Carothers to describe Tom Ryan, whom he has known since 1991.

Ryan grew up in a working class family in New Jersey, having made drug store deliveries as a kid. The CVS CEO is driven and seldom takes a break. The Boston Globe told earlier this year of his going out to dinner in Manhattan and calling a Fifth Avenue CVS store manager because a store light was out.

I called Carothers (with whom I have been friends for 15 years; he was my boss when I taught at URI, hoping for a more personal look at Ryan). An alumnus of URI’s College of Pharmacy, Ryan donated millions to the university, got CVS to donate millions, and chairs the $100 million capital campaign.

Asked if he ever worries that the university could be embarrassed if the CVS probe blows up, Carothers prefers not to speculate.

He confirms that Ryan and former State president William V. Irons still regularly attend URI basketball games, sitting in the same row opposite former governor Lincoln Almond, a one-time US attorney himself.

Carothers notes that Ryan deals daily with the major issues typical of a big national company. He stresses that Ryan travels widely and is not necessarily focused on “what is happening in Rhode Island.”

Regarding Ryan’s $2.5 million personal gift to URI — which was made public just hours after Ortiz and Kramer were indicted — Carothers blames the university for the questionable timing, saying that Ryan made the gift long before the press release was issued.

Though he says he “thought about” the vacancy created by the stepping back of US District Court Judge Ernest Torres, Corrente is committed to doing as much as he can in his “time-limited” job — which, he notes, depends on the “political landscape.”

Corrente meets regularly with his staff and keeps his fingers on the pulse of the ongoing investigations.

Similarly, despite Ryan’s public silence, one can assume that a CEO who calls a manager about one store’s lighting probably doesn’t like being kept in the dark about more important matters.

Rhode Islanders, meanwhile, wait for the next installment in this drama starring two unlikely “regular guys.”