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Caprio was sworn in as General Treasurer of Rhode Island on January 2, 2007. First and foremost Frank wants the Treasurer's office to be the most user friendly office in state government. As Frank likes to say, “The customer comes first” and the office interacts with over a hundred thousand Rhode Islanders on a regular basis. Technology will play a major role in the operation of Treasurer Caprio's administration. One new project will be to make all state spending available to the public online. He will also work to grow the CollegeBoundfund®, a tax-free college savings fund the State of Rhode Island sponsors. He will also begin a total review of the State's employee pension fund which is beginning to feel the impact of the retirements of the “babyboom” generation.
Caprio attended public schools in Narragansett, Rhode Island. He later graduated from Bishop Hendricken High School in 1984, where he was a Providence Journal All-State Football and Baseball player. He earned a degree in economics from Harvard University in 1988. While at Harvard, Caprio was captain of the Harvard baseball team. He was an All-Eastern League outfielder in 1988, and an All-Ivy League defensive back on the championship Harvard football team in 1987 . He was also able to meet and play against Roger Clemens in a 1987 exhibition game. Caprio earned a J.D. at Suffolk University Law School in 1991 and passed the bar exams in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Caprio’s focus as a lawyer was corporate, tax and finance matters. He represented a range of clients throughout his legal career, from local businesses to multinational corporations. He has also worked as an in-house counsel at Cookson Group plc, a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange. At Cookson, Caprio was responsible for many of its acquisitions and divestitures in North America.
Caprio began his political career while a senior at Harvard, when he was 21 years old. For his political debut, he was elected a Delegate from Rhode Island’s Congressional District 2; he attended the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta as a Delegate in 1988.
In 1990 at 24, while still attending law school, Caprio was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives for District 14 ( Providence ). He served two terms as a state representative, traveling by train between classes in Boston each morning and legislative sessions in Providence each afternoon.
Caprio was elected to the state senate in 1994 and served there until 2007 when he was sworn in as Rhode Island's General Treasurer. Caprio chaired the Senate Finance Committee in 2001-2002. As chair of the Finance Committee, Caprio saved an annual $5 million affordable housing program from being cut by the governor in 2001. He then proposed and implemented a plan to expand the $5 million to $10 million through an affordable housing bond. In 2006, he co-sponsored a bill to increase the annual $10 million bond to a $50 million affordable housing fund. With Caprio's support the statewide ballot question passed in 2006 creating the housing fund.
Caprio also led the debate on phasing out the state capital gains tax, which would allow Rhode Islanders to have the nation’s lowest tax rate on their stock and real estate profits. This tax change became law and will became effective in 2007.
In an attempt to convert Rhode Island’s government to a more modern political system, Caprio also advocated the passage of the stalled Separation of Powers amendment in 2002. As a result of his outspoken advocacy regarding the issue, the former Senate leadership removed him from his post as Chair of the powerful Senate Finance Committee; those individuals, however, were themselves removed from office in 2003. The amendment then passed the legislature and went on the state ballot in 2004; Rhode Island voters made it a law with nearly 80% approval. Caprio was also named to chair the Senate Commerce, Housing, and Municipal Government Committee in 2004.
Frank T. Caprio is married to Gabriella (DiGiacinto) Caprio and he has two children, Ashley and Frank II. . He is the eldest child of Joyce and Judge Frank Caprio, and he is the brother of Rhode Island State Representative David Caprio, John Caprio, Marissa Caprio-Pesce and Paul Caprio