A gathering of some of Job lot’s many URI alumni employees (and owners) at the company’s corporate office in North Kingstown, R.I. Front row seated on the floor: Sean Maher, Nini Blunnie, Rachael Hindle; second row seated on the couch: Adam Sykes, Kayla Paulino, Kathleen DaSilva, Sharon Lu, Madeline Dombi, Curtis Corl; third row standing: Samuel Campanella, Gianni Martira, Sean Patrick McKiernan, Don Sanita, Steve Aronow, Marc Perlman, John Conforti, Harry Oakley, Alyssa Fleming, Elizabeth Blank, Richard Llanos, Samuel Donabedian, Lynn Hall; fourth row standing: Doug Smith, Bjorn Carlsson

Ocean State Job Lot is a Rhode Island institution. Its retail stores sell everything from maple syrup to gardening gloves to stand-up paddleboards. But the company is also known for its philanthropy and for being a good employer. And there are a lot of URI folks helping to manage the whole enterprise.

At first glance, the North Kingstown office of Marc Perlman ’69 looks like it could belong to any CEO.

Spacious desk covered with papers. Check. Panoramic view of the company’s sprawling property. Check. Slew of awards on a corner shelf. Check.

But look closely and you’ll notice some differences. There’s a bag of birdseed leaning against an open box of hair dryers, across from a pile of blue and white ski pants. A box of neon green gloves is stashed under the desk, and a bright orange puffy jacket is perched on a pile of cardboard boxes in the corner (for next season, Perlman says).

It’s all merch that treasure-hunting shoppers might find at Ocean State Job Lot, Rhode Island’s behemoth of brand-name products at closeout prices and, with 153 stores across the Northeast, clearly not your typical retail chain.

Perlman, an engineering major, his brother, Alan, and friend Roy Dubs ’73, launched Job Lot in 1977 after coming of age in the 1960s. Co-owner Steve Aronow ’68 joined the following year. “It was an incredible time—the Stones, Vietnam, but no social media,” Perlman says.

He’s no fan of the latter; too time-consuming, he says. What Perlman does appreciate is the company’s URI internship connection. “We think our time is valuable, so we don’t like to waste it. When we find partners that are enthusiastic and competent, why the heck wouldn’t we embrace them?”

CFO and co-owner John Conforti ’77, in casual pants and a loose-fitting shirt, exudes a laid-back demeanor that mirrors Job Lot’s approachable brand. A URI alumnus, he shares a deep-rooted connection to the University and its community. “I grew up with URI fever. I felt honored to go there,” he says.

Conforti nods to the ongoing relationship with his alma mater, including Job Lot’s Free Seed Program. Since 2005, millions of seed packages have been donated to public events, educational workshops, and URI’s Master Gardeners, who give them out at farmers markets. And in 2024, URI’s campus police received 50 of Job Lot’s Buy-Give-Get coats to distribute to the campus’s Center for Military and Veteran Education. “Job Lot’s values are the ones I embrace,” he says.

Conforti’s been at Job Lot since 1987 and joined URI’s College of Business Advisory Board in 2010. Conforti also oversees a partnership with the College of Business one-year M.B.A. program capstone consulting project, in which M.B.A. students work as consultants with corporate partners. Students who work with Job Lot have consulted on topics ranging from philanthropic engagement to becoming an employer of choice—a company that people want to work for.

“It was joining the advisory board that changed my perception of the importance of a partnership between Job Lot and URI,” he says.

This relationship is important to the College of Business, says Dean Sean Edmund Rogers. “Job Lot has participated in our master’s and undergraduate programs by hosting student project teams, collaborating with faculty to solve real-world problems, and having their employees serve as guest speakers in our classes,” he says. “They hire our students for jobs and internships every year.”

Stats from chief marketing officer Curtis Corl ’90, M.B.A. ’94, bear that out. Some 38 URI alumni work in the corporate office, and since Job Lot debuted its summer internship program in 2016, one-third of the 91 students who’ve finished have been URI students. Several have moved on to full-time jobs at Job Lot, Corl says.

Case in point: Rachael Hindle ’19, a communications and psychology major who remembers shopping for boogie boards at Job Lot with her parents. She was hired as an intern and never turned back. “I loved the company culture. When I graduated from URI, there was a front desk opening. They said, ‘If you take it, we can see if something comes up more in line with your career interests in the future.’” In less than a year, she was hired by the marketing department.

In five years, Hindle’s moved up to senior communications specialist. “When you find a company you like,” she says, “you don’t want to leave.”

—Sarah Francis

The Fold features organizations and companies where URI alumni flock. If that sounds like your workplace and you’d like to be featured, please let us know. Email urimag@uri.edu and tell us about the place you work and the URI alumni who work there.