Giovanni D. Cicione practiced as a corporate attorney with a large Rhode Island firm from 2001 to 2006 and served as legal counsel to the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC) from 1998 to 2001, handling general corporate matters for that agency. Mr. Cicione is licensed to practice in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Mr. Cicione has experience negotiating complex real estate and M&A (merger and acquisitions) transactions, managing all aspects of deals including finance, due diligence, strategic planning, tax analysis, and government relations. He has worked on negotiations and transactions with companies ranging from small venture backed "start-ups" to members of the Fortune 100.

Mr. Cicione has overseen State business development incentive negotiations, coordinated taxable and tax-exempt bond transactions, and led successful lobbying efforts to modernize the State's tax structures and create a regulatory environment for alternative insurance markets. Additionally, Mr. Cicione led the early RIEDC efforts on brownfields redevelopment and historic revitalization.

Mr. Cicione is a 1996 graduate of the Boston University School of Law, where he edited the journal Commentaries and was treasurer of the school's chapter of the Federalist Society. He received his undergraduate degree in Philosophy from George Mason University in Fairfax , Virginia. While an undergraduate he was a public policy research assistant at the Cato Institute in Washington , DC and president of the George Mason University Philosophy Club.

Mr. Cicione is a trustee of the Rhode Island chapter of the Nature Conservancy, and a past member of the University of Rhode Island College of Continuing Education Advisory Board, and the City of Cranston Community Development Block Grant Commission.  Mr. Cicione is active with the Rhode Island Bar Association Committee for Lawyers in the Arts and represents a number of local non-profit arts organizations. He speaks frequently on economic development issues, including tax and regulatory policy, and environmental aspects of redevelopment and real estate transactions.