Cart 0

Making Rhode Island Stronger: Transforming Individuals, Organizations, and Communities with Renzo Arteta and Abigail Burnep

Headshots of Renzo Arteta and Abigail Burnep

“When folks know their strengths and they feel like they can bring their talents to work every day…they’re more productive, they’re happier, and that ultimately leads to a higher performing team.” -Abigail Burnep

Renzo Arteta and Abigail Burnep are a part of the team at Leadership Rhode Island (LRI), a nationally recognized community leadership development organization whose mission is to engage and connect people through shared experiences that positively transform individuals, organizations, and communities. In 2014, LRI launched its Make RI Stronger program, a multi-year initiative to dramatically improve Rhode Island through strengths-based training and education. To date, Make RI Stronger has helped more than 650 leaders from over 250 organizations discover their personal strengths. Renzo Arteta, a 2017 graduate of the University of Rhode Island, is LRI’s Training Administrator. Abigail Burnep, a 2011 graduate of Providence College, serves as the Director of Operations & Strategic Initiatives.

Renzo’s Top 5: Restorative, Input, Adaptability, Learner, Connectedness

Abby’s Top 5: Achiever, Learner, Input, Developer, Relater


In this episode, we discuss:

  • What Leadership Rhode Island does and how it utilizes the CliftonStrengths Assessment
  • The impact the Make RI Stronger campaign has had since its inception in 2014
  • The team of CliftonStrengths trained coaches that work with LRI’s clients
  • How LRI frames CliftonStrengths as a value proposition to those who may be unfamiliar with the tool
  • What Renzo and Abby are most excited about for LRI

In 2013, the State of the American Workplace report indicated that Rhode Island had the highest percentage of ‘actively disengaged’ workers in the entire country. The LRI team has taken the challenge of improving this metric head-on and, over the past decade, has made a huge impact on individuals and organizations across The Ocean State. As Renzo and Abby look ahead to what is next for LRI, they are excited to apply CiftonStrengths to what people are facing now in a post-COVID work environment and to strengthen the connection among CliftonStrengths and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. The work that Renzo, Abby, and the LRI team are doing to transform individuals and organizations through CliftonStrengths is inspirational. Thank you for the work that you do!

Connect with the guests:

If you found this episode valuable, please share it with a friend or colleague.

Subscribe and help out the show:

Buy a StrengthsMug:

StrengthsMugs is officially licensed by Gallup, Inc to sell CliftonStrengths® products. Gallup®, CliftonStrengths® and the 34 theme names of CliftonStrengths® are trademarks of Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved. To learn more about CliftonStrengths®, please visit http://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths.



Older Post Newer Post