ALL RIGHT, MAYBE “Hero” is A BIT MUCH: But last year at this time, we were wondering whether Doug Mastriano would be governor. (Seriously!) Now, not a day goes by without Shapiro at the center of conversation in the state. His robust efforts to reopen I-95 not only put him in the good graces of the entire Philly metro region; they dropped him into the national conversation as a potential presidential candidate down the road. GETTING RESULTS: Our new governor isn’t shying away from the spotlight, either, confronting major hot-button issues right away. In August, he signed the $45.5 billion state budget without the state-funded private-school voucher program that sparked controversy throughout negotiations in Harrisburg. And in September, he announced a new bulwark of democracy in our deeply divided state: automatic voter registration.
You’d be forgiven if, as last spring’s Democratic mayoral primary marched along, Cherelle Parker’s campaign slipped off your radar. Jeff Brown grabbed the early headlines, followed by Helen Gym. Rebecca Rhynhart had her moment in the sun, and even Amen Brown stole some spotlight (for the wrong reasons). But when the votes were tallied, Parker — methodically, assuredly — made history as she won the Democratic Party’s nomination for mayor. If elected, she’ll be not only the city’s 100th mayor, but the first woman to hold the position.
“She was prepared for every forum and could read the room as well as any candidate I have witnessed,” Larry Ceisler, longtime Philly political analyst and founder of Ceisler Media & Issue Advocacy, says of Parker’s performance during the primary. “She should strive to be as good a mayor as she was a candidate.”
Throughout her journey, the former state Representative and City Councilmember had to overcome campaign fund-raising hurdles, rhetoric that she wasn’t progressive enough (compared to her biggest challengers, Gym and Rhynhart), and the challenge of how to build momentum in spite of how polls/political commentators had defined her campaign. Now, on the precipice of taking office (provided she defeats Republican David Oh, who’s considered a huge long shot in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly seven to one), she must decide what kind of leader she wants to be — what kind of leader the city desperately needs her to be.
“The future of several Black generations, at this Trump inflection point, will be defined in the next four to eight years, and this requires new and innovative thinking,” former City Councilmember and mayoral candidate George Burrell says of Parker. “She must grow into a transformative leader, not a better politician.” — Ernest Owens
BOSS MAN: As the CEO of Comcast — Philly’s only Fortune 100 company (it’s 29th) — Roberts employs 11,000 people, 8,000 of whom are at the Center City campus, back in the office four days a week now. QUOTABLE: How influential is this guy? “What he’s done and where he’s done it — staying here — well … no one else is close,” says Stephen Starr (#23). POWER COUPLE: In February, Roberts landed Dan Hilferty (#19), former IBX honcho and the guy behind Philly’s winning FIFA 2026 bid, to run Comcast Spectacor. MAKING THAT PAPER: Roberts, the best-paid CEO in the region, earned $32.1 million in 2022. MAKING THE PAPERS: Negotiations for the likely sale of Comcast’s Hulu share to Disney — possibly worth as much as $40 billion to $60 billion — will unfold this month.
MOVE OVER, ROBERT MOSES: The leader of the Philadelphia Building Trades is the city’s biggest power broker — and one of the people to thank for the political ascension of Democratic mayoral nominee Cherelle Parker (#2). Not only did he help get Parker union support; he co-founded the new Black Leadership PAC to provide additional strength to ensure her victory. WHAT’S NEXT: It’s safe to say we can expect to see more of his influence in the years to come, especially since there are no signs that Johnny Doc’s making a comeback anytime soon. Look for Boyer to continue to exert his influence when it comes to the proposed Sixers arena.
HERE THEY COME: Since the real estate magnate became the Sixers’ co-owner in late 2022, the court he’s most focused on has been that of public opinion. His plan to build a $1.55 billion downtown arena has raised voices like none of the Sixers’ previous re-lo proposals have. “I really want to focus on creating life and vibrancy,” he says, in contrast to what he describes as the current “vastness of darkness” in Market East. STOMP YOUR FEET: Opposition from the neighboring Chinatown community has been fierce. Upcoming City Council public hearings for the required zoning are sure to be contentious. If the arena can’t get the votes it needs, it’s game over. CLAP YOUR HANDS? Meanwhile, our likely next mayor, Cherelle Parker (#2), won her primary with the support of the building trades, who are firmly pro-arena (and the union jobs needed to build it).
It’s been a year since Magill took the helm at Penn after stints at UVA and Stanford Law, not to mention clerking for Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s the sort of varied career our Ivy’s multi-talented founding father would have approved of most heartily. In her inaugural address, she referenced his famous kite feat and said she, too, hopes “to draw down the lightning”: “That same excitement and urgency to make the experiment, to unlock foundational discoveries and share knowledge — I’ve felt it all year long.”
To kick things off last fall, she initiated a strategic planning process in which she posed two guiding questions to the school community: “What does the world need from Penn?” and “How do we cultivate a community that will rise to that challenge?” Like last year’s winning football team, she intends to “plan boldly and play offense,” she says. But higher ed is at a crossroads, and Penn is just the sort of institution reformers have in their sights. She’ll have to navigate ongoing battles over MOVE remains held by the Penn Museum, legacy admissions, minority enrollment, and polarizing guest speakers, among other sensitive topics — not to mention controversy over whether college (Penn’s price tag this year is $85,000-plus) is worth the cost.
And then there are the calls for her dismissal and the multiple donors slamming their checkbooks shut over the university’s response to what they consider antisemitism on campus. (Other members of Penn’s board of trustees have affirmed their support for her and beleaguered board chairman Scott Bok.)
She’s not flinching from what lies ahead for the city’s biggest employer. “I was fascinated to learn that about a century ago, some people wanted Penn to relocate to Valley Forge,” she mentions. “Ultimately, the decision was made to stay — the absolute right decision. Being directly involved in and informed by our great city has always been Penn’s catalyst, and we’re in this together. Penn is of and for Philadelphia.” — Sandy Hingston
Update: On December 9th, after growing furor over her statements to a Congressional panel about campus antisemitism, Magill resigned from the presidency at Penn, though she’ll remain a professor there.
POINTS OF PRIDE: CHOP’s president and CEO helped usher in the new Center for Advanced Behavioral Healthcare in University City and expanded the Frontier Programs initiative, which funds cutting-edge research and therapies. (CHOP just treated its 500th CAR-T therapy patient thanks to the program.) NEXT UP: The Behavioral Health and Crisis Center, a 45,000-square-foot facility featuring 24/7 crisis response and two inpatient units for children, will open early next year. BY THE NUMBERS: In September, the Inquirer reported that Bell took home $7.7 million in 2021 — compensation that sat more than $2 million higher than the second-highest-paid Philly-area health system CEO.
SUPER INTENTIONS: Entering his second year as superintendent, Watlington has unveiled his highly anticipated five-year plan for the school district, which includes new English, math and science curricula and increased funding for school safety. BABY STEPS: Student and teacher attendance were up three and seven percent, respectively, in Watlington’s first year, and the number of dropouts decreased. REPORT CARD: “He’s been doing well,” says teachers union head Jerry Jordan (#56). “I’ve found him to be much more transparent than any superintendent we’ve had in a long time.” BIG CHALLENGE: “We’ll be dealing with asbestos for years in our school district,” Watlington says.
PHEW: Where do we begin with this guy? It seems like every other week there’s some story about Yass, so let’s start local and then get global. PHILADELPHIA: The Republican billionaire and Susquehanna International Group founder poured $750K into the Coalition for Safety and Equitable Growth super PAC — whose treasurer is developer Mo Rushdy (#94) — which subsequently used the money to run attack ads against mayoral candidate Helen Gym. PENNSYLVANIA: Over the summer, a million Yass Bucks headed to Dave McCormick, the Connecticut hedge funder who pretends to live in Pennsylvania so he can challenge Bob Casey for his Senate seat next fall. AND … THE WORLD! All told, Yass and his wife, Janine, donated $56 million during the 2022 election cycle, the fourth most in the country. In September, the Wall Street Journal revealed that Yass held a $21 billion stake in TikTok and has funneled $61 million to the Club for Growth — the PAC that rallied Republican opposition to a federal TikTok ban.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION: Spark Therapeutics groundbreaking $575 million gene therapy center on Drexel’s campus has, well, broken ground, another big step toward West Philly becoming the global health-sciences hub Fry has long envisioned. THAT SAID: “Ensuring that this growth translates into a better life for the citizens who live and work here is essential to sustaining this momentum,” Fry notes. PLAYBOOK: To Fry, that meansmore higher-ed institutions partnering with public schools to create better pathways to college and more learning partnerships with local businesses, so students can enter the new workforce upon graduation. Drexel is taking these steps “and willcontinue to build and find new opportunities to drive investment that reaches the communities that could benefit from it the most.”
BOLD MOVES: The University of Pennsylvania Health System CEO broke ranks with U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals list, criticizing the annual rankings for being outdated and neglecting alternative care spaces like outpatient centers and patients’ homes. BIGGER FOOTPRINT: Mahoney inked an agreement with the Department of Veteran Affairs that could help 100,000-plus vets across the region and was the architect behind HUP Cedar’s new community mental health hub and crisis response center in West Philly. TO COME: Penn Medicine will be developing a public-facing dashboard that “gives patients actionable information about what matters most to their specific health-care journeys,” Mahoney says.
POINT OF PRIDE: The Independence Health Group president and CEO has shown a well-documented passion for improving health equity. And his latest initiative — partnering with local organizations to form the Regional Coalition to Eliminate Race-Based Medicine — is helping eradicate racial disparities in medical testing standards. Then there’s the Advanced Network for Gene-Based Therapeutics, an IBX collab with Penn and CHOP that makes life-saving gene therapies easier for members to access. QUOTABLE: When asked about Highmark moving into Philly’s insurance market, Deavens said he isn’t stressing: “I firmly believe Independence is better positioned to provide health care and health insurance and health access to the people of Philadelphia than a company that’s based in Pittsburgh.” (Mic drop.) NEXT UP: Revamping invoices so they’re easier to understand, and reducing pharmacy costs. We’re down for that.
THE BIG RESET: By now, some of you have probably weighed in (with brickbats, quite likely) on the final version of SEPTA’s “Bus Revolution” map. The SEPTA general manager has enjoyed perusing all the comments riders made over three previous rounds of public outreach efforts, “even the ones that were a tough read.” This last round will help the agency implement the changes as smoothly as possible when they take effect starting next year. THE BIG IF: One reason for “Bus Revolution” is to allow SEPTA to do more with less as pandemic assistance funds run out. But Richards cautions that without help from Harrisburg, the agency could have even less to work with. QUOTABLE: “If we do not get the fiscal gap filled, we’re looking at dramatic service reductions” of as much as 30 percent, she says.
HO-HUM: Not a day goes by without Krasner in the middle of something — either by his own choice or someone else’s. The controversial district attorney has now spent more than a year clashing with Republicans in Harrisburg, who continue to waste millions in taxpayer dollars trying to impeach him. MEANWHILE: This hasn’t stopped Krasner from keeping busy at home, recently working alongside the FBI on a West Philly terrorism probe and reminding critics that they’re “stuck” with him after a bogus rumor circulated that he’d leave the DAO to work for the National Lawyers Guild.
We all know the broad strokes of Hurts’s influence: He’s the quarterback who’s played with a chip on his shoulder most of his career. From being benched halfway through a collegiate national championship game to transferring for his final year of eligibility to finishing second in the Heisman Trophy voting to blowing a circuit in Carson Wentz’s fragile ego when the Eagles selected him in the second round in the 2020 draft, Hurts’s path to the QB1 mountaintop has hardly been typical.
But that suits Philly just fine. That chip on his shoulder is why he never seems satisfied, even when the team wins handily. And that chip has been picked up by the Birds faithful, who now expect not only to win, but to win it all after last year’s near miss. It’s why the team inked Hurts to a $255 million contract over the winter. He’s the ultimate leader.
Beyond Hurts’s influence on the field, he’s finding ways to make waves off it, too. Our favorite Hurts story? The namesake cheesesteak — “The Jalen Special” — he designed for the menu of Elkins Park’s FoodChasers Kitchen has completely altered the trajectory of twin-sister owners Kala and Maya Johnstone. Before Hurts announced his sandwich at a presser, the Johnstones said, they went through about 10 pounds of steak a week. After that presser? One hundred pounds in three days. “He literally changed our lives, and he added value to us,” Kala told The Athletic in August. That’s influence. — Brian Howard
MAN OF THE PEOPLE: A few months back, we spotted the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation president at a Pennsport Civic Association meeting, not just pressing the flesh but engaging with neighbors’ concerns about the DRWC’s plans for Washington Avenue. It’s the kind of random Wednesday-night meeting you expect just a few underlings to attend — which is what makes Forkin so special. LATEST TRIUMPH: The deck park that will stretch over I-95 to Penn’s Landing is finally (finally!) underway. SIDE HUSTLE: He’s also a part-owner of the revitalized Joseph’s Pizza Parlor in the Northeast. Mangia!
STOCK: Rising. Pennsylvania’s first-ever woman Speaker of the House, the West Philly state Representative has taken the role by storm, helping the Democratic Party’s majority in the House advance legislation to boost the minimum wage for the first time since 2009 and advance bills to end LGBTQIA discrimination statewide. QUOTABLE: “Some mornings, I still pinch myself that my colleagues have entrusted me with the honor of serving in the state House’s highest position,” she wrote in an August op-ed for PennLive. YEAH, BUT: For how long? The statehouse is split almost exactly down the middle. Any retirements, scandals or surprises — like Allegheny County Rep Sara Innamorato’s resignation to run for county exec last spring — could make for restless nights for the majority leader.
If you happened to be watching the James Beard Awards live this past June, it would have been hard not to see a pattern developing. First, Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon of Kalaya (pictured left) won Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic. An hour later, Ellen Yin of High Street Hospitality (second from left) won Outstanding Restaurateur. Five minutes after that, Andrew Zimmern opened the envelope containing the winner for Outstanding Restaurant, smiled, and said, “Big night for this town.” Soon, Chad and Hanna Williams (center) and the staff of Friday Saturday Sunday walked across the stage to accept the foundation’s top award. (Oh, and Hop Sing Laundromat’s bartender-in-residence, Toby Maloney (right), took home a book award the night before.)
These aren’t just milestones in their careers; they’re milestones for Philadelphia. “I am so excited that the city is getting the recognition it long deserved,” says Chad Williams. “Philadelphia is now known to be one of the world’s most wonderful culinary destinations,” adds Suntaranon.
So now that they’ve won, is the work done? “What? No! It’s just a new chapter,” says Yin, who will continue empowering women in the industry through the Sisterly Love Collective’s new Cookbooks and Conversations series. In addition to the daily grind of running Kalaya, Suntaranon is releasing her first cookbook next year, while Maloney is researching his second book.
As for the Williamses? “We’re keeping our foot on the pedal,” says Hanna. — Kae Lani Palmisano
Fresh off orchestrating Philadelphia’s victorious 2026 World Cup bid last year, the former president and CEO of Independence Blue Cross took on a new role as top boss at Comcast Spectacor. “I’ve been drinking from a fire hose, but I also feel really good about bringing my style and my hopes for our culture to reality,” he says of heading the Comcast sports and entertainment subsidiary that owns, among other things, the Flyers and their home, the Wells Fargo Center.
The flow from that fire hose hasn’t let up; Hilferty entered his role in early 2023 as the Wells Fargo Center was undergoing a massive $400 million renovation and the 76ers began their controversial wall-to-wall campaign to move out of that South Philly home and build their own arena in Center City.
Now, in addition to serving as governor of the long-suffering NHL team, Hilferty needs to fend off high-profile rumors and misinformation and defend his vision of a sports complex where “there’s a level of traditional cooperation between the four major teams.” Despite David Adelman (#5) and Co. broadcasting their desire to break up with their landlord, Hilferty says he would “want nothing more than to build a partnership” with the Sixers, both in ownership of their shared home and to create a more vibrant stadium district.
For the South Jersey native and St. Joe’s alum, this is more than just business: “I’m a Philly guy, and I go to sleep happier or sad based on what [the teams] do. I feel like a fan in this whole thing.” — Laura Swartz
LATEST UNVEILING: Avira, the mixed-use office/retail/apartment tower that gives Schuylkill Yards its first residents. LESSONS LEARNED: Sweeney’s Brandywine Realty Trust used its experience building the FMC Tower, University City’s first “vertical neighborhood,” to refine and improve this second one. LOOKING OUTWARD: While Brandywine will continue to build out Schuylkill Yards, with life sciences playing a bigger role in its growth, Sweeney also wants to improve the city’s neighborhoods. “We have some great partnerships with a couple of community development corporations” in West and North Philly “that are well positioned to understand exactly what’s happening in their neighborhoods,” he says.
Cacchione gets that people — providers and patients alike — are fed up with a health-care system that has seen more turmoil than ever over the past three-plus years. So when he was appointed CEO of Jefferson Health last September, he made it his mission to be a leader who puts his ego aside — he used to bartend at the old Philadelphia Athletic Club at Broad and Vine, after all — in the never-ending juggling act of patients and profits.
In one year, he made notable strides for the region’s largest health system, launching an initiative for reducing patient-care disparities, welcoming Sidney Kimmel Medical College’s most diverse class ever, and raising $166 million from donors — the second-most-successful fund-raising year in the institution’s history.
But there have been growing pains. Inflation continues to drive up expenses and labor costs, which is likely why Jefferson Health laid off 400 workers — the majority in corporate and admin roles — this past July. Plus, the nursing shortage — it’s the largest segment of the health system’s workforce — still presents challenges. (Mitigation efforts include upping the university’s nursing-school enrollment and tapping into the Nurse Emeritus Program, which brings retired and experienced nurses back to bedsides.)
Cacchione’s sophomore year ushers in a milestone: Jefferson will celebrate its 200th anniversary in January, with year-long celebrations that are still TBA. In the spring, he’ll help open the Honickman Center, a state-of-the-art outpatient-care facility in Midtown Village. “This project is much more than a building,” he says. “It represents the future of care delivery moving more and more away from the traditional hospital environment … and will enhance the patient-care experience by centralizing many providers into one facility.” — Laura Brzyski
MODEL FRANCHISE: With the Flyers completely anonymous and the Sixers reverting to their familiar mode of self-implosion, Lurie has the Eagles looking like a bastion of stability. (Honorable mention goes to the Phils.) DEEP POCKETS: In April, the Birds signed quarterback Jalen Hurts (#15) to a then-record-breaking $255 million contract. Thanks for paying up, Jeff. ANNIVERSARY: This season marks Lurie’s 30th as owner. We can think of a highly fitting way to celebrate.
HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE: In March, Philly’s most prolific restaurateur debuted a Miami outpost of NYC hot spot Pastis with fellow James Beard winner Keith McNally; in May, he unveiled a menu for Amtrak’s Acela. In August, a revamped Pod in West Philly opened, while in September, it was D.C.’s El Presidente, an ode to Mexico City. BUT ESPECIALLY HERE: Right now, Starr’s got 19 Philly spots and employs some 4,000 Philadelphians. UP NEXT: Two more D.C. spots are in the works, plus one in Nashville and an Italian place in Rittenhouse’s Barnes & Noble space. PROUDEST ACHIEVEMENT: “I think Parc,” he says, “not simply because of how well it does, but because it gave life to that entire area. I’m proud of how many memories have been made there.”
When City Council President Darrell Clarke announced in February that he wouldn’t seek reelection, speculation immediately turned to his gavel — and who would pick it up the following January. The position, as molded by Clarke over the past two mayoral administrations, has slowly wrested power away from the Mayor’s Office and seated it within Council, a profound shift. The next City Council president will not only have to deal with Clarke’s long legislative shadow, but also herd a remarkably inexperienced body: Come January, at least 12 of its 17 members will have served one term or less.
Into that void steps a trio of Council’s most experienced Democrats, all from the centrist bloc of the party. (The ideological similarities between the three candidates mean the race will likely be decided on interpersonal grounds rather than political ones.) In just the past year, Mark Squilla’s (pictured right) role in Philadelphia politics has skyrocketed thanks to one project in his district: the proposed Sixers arena. (You may have read about that in #4, #5, #19, #27, #72, #73 and #76.) He’s seen as a quiet consensus-builder, as his efforts to navigate the opposing arena parties have shown. Majority leader Curtis Jones Jr. (pictured center) may lean on his business experience — he was previously the head of both the Minority Business Enterprise Council and the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corp. and told the Inquirer he views the president as “the CEO of Council.” Finally, there’s Kenyatta Johnson (pictured left), whose repeated legal troubles apparently haven’t tripped up his ambitions — he’s viewed as the front-runner for the role.
Then, in August, Northeast Philly Councilmember Mike Driscoll threw his hat in the ring. And Cindy Bass has also expressed interest. January can’t come soon enough. — Bradford Pearson
OLD MONEY WHO SPENDS LIKE NEW MONEY: A tobacco billionaire who cashed in to become the controlling owner of the Phillies, Middleton pushed the team over the luxury-tax threshold last year (and likely will again). LATEST INVESTMENT: When Phils brass identified Trea Turner as their free-agent target, Middleton gave the nod to spend the extra money to woo him into red pinstripes. WHEW: Fortunately for the Phillies, Turner rebounded from a dismal start that would have made his contract seem — hmm, how to put this lightly — catastrophic.
IN THE MIX: With the Democrats’ ascent to the majority in the Pennsylvania House, the profiles of Bradford (House majority leader, Montgomery County; pictured left) and Harris (Appropriations Committee chair, South Philly) have ascended, too. COMMON GROUND: In the wake of the groundbreaking school funding lawsuit decision in February, the duo have come together to fight for equitable provisioning for schools across the Commonwealth. QUOTABLE: “For too long, we have let these schools, and these communities that are to be served by these schools, be something less than the full constitutional requirement that we’re supposed to provide to every child,” Bradford said at a July rally on the steps of South Philadelphia High School.
“RARE AIR”: That’s how Reaves (pictured left) describes the heights to which the 76 Place project has raised Black-owned Mosaic Development Partners. The duo have also donned flak jackets to take on the arena’s critics. “We believe in the project,” says Smallwood-Lewis. “We think it’s the right thing for the city.” CULTURAL SENSITIVITY: That doesn’t mean Mosaic dismisses the concerns of Chinatown and other areas. “We work in neighborhoods that are worried about gentrification. They’re afraid of displacement, afraid of being treated in a way that they’re not being respected,” says Reaves. The key, he adds, is to come up with ways to enable Chinatown to benefit from the project while maintaining its cultural identity.
BIG DEAL: In June, the CEO of Navy Yard-based FS Investments took his firm global with a merger that doubled the value of the company’s managed assets, to $75 billion. MANY HATS: Forman is also co-founder of the private Fitler Club, co-founder (with his wife) of the philanthropic Forman Arts Initiative, and the brains behind the Equity Alliance nonprofit, which has lately been studying successful public/private partnerships in other cities as potential models for Philly. TEACH THE CHILDREN WELL: Another Forman brainchild, the nonprofit Philly Financial Scholars, is now in 19 Philly high schools, teaching kids financial literacy.
LATEST ACHIEVEMENT: As CEO of Visit Philly, Val has helped assemble a group of 11 local organizations committed to planning for the country’s semiquincentennial celebration in 2026. SPECIFICALLY: Val imagines opening and closing ceremonies in January and December, a major art festival, and a “children’s World’s Fair” to be held at the site of the 1876 Centennial in Fairmount Park. PRICE TAG: All told, this could cost $60 million. “It’s a huge number,” Val admits. Fortunately, a group of local foundations recently announced a $9 million grant fund for the 2026 event planners.
NEMESES: You don’t get to be the longtime head of one of the largest police unions in the country without making some serious enemies. His biggest? Larry Krasner (#14) — and, well, anybody even remotely progressive. QUOTABLE: “A pack of rabid animals” — that’s how McNesby, a proud MAGA man, once described a group of BLM protesters. Always good for a sound bite, offensive as they may be. (They usually are.) NEXT UP: Krasner comes up for reelection in May of 2025 — it will be here before you know it — and you had better believe McNesby will be putting all his money and might behind toppling his throne. (After this list went to press, McNesby announced he was leaving the FOP for a job with the state, so it looks like he’s the whole Commonwealth’s problem now!)
100 PERCENT RECYCLED: If “the greenest building is the one that’s already standing,” the Lubert-Adler partner/founders are super-green; all they do is find buildings in need of a remake — and remake them. LATEST ACHIEVEMENT: The Battery, which transformed a former PECO generating station in Fishtown into a mix of apartments, offices and hotel rooms. NEXT UP: The duo are now giving the Bellevue its second new lease on life, with a makeover that will refresh the shops, Sporting Club and Hyatt hotel and replace the offices with apartments.
NEXT ROUND: Renowned for visionary moves at venture capital firm First Round Capital (Square, Blue Apron, Mint, Roblox … ), Kopelman’s First Close Partners, which he co-founded in 2020, invests in VC funds owned by underrepresented managers, with an aim of uncovering hidden talent. HISTORIC FOCUS: He’s part of the team behind the Historic Fund, a philanthropically minded VC fund (with support from the Philadelphia Foundation) that aims to bolster the endowments of HBCUs. MEDIA MOGUL: Oh yeah, and as chairman of the board at the Inquirer, Kopelman has a portfolio as far-reaching as ever.
man of many hats: After serving three years as the state’s Secretary of Banking and Securities, Vague has returned in force to his venture capital gig at Gabriel Investments. His Delancey Place newsletter remains a must-read. And he’s on the boards at Penn, Fringe, the Fund for the School District of Philadelphia … OWE, MAN: With the July publication of Wall Street Journal best-seller The Paradox of Debt, Vague continues his push to bring what he calls “debt economics” — the study of debt’s role in the wealth gap — to the fore. ON TAP: Vague is prepping to launch a new venture with a to-be-announced name and D.C. partner to promote discourse on national policy issues.
HISTORIC TIES: The Haas clan’s commitment to advancing philanthropic projects in the region — via its William Penn Foundation — goes back more than seven decades. BIG YEAR: In July, Mayor Kenney presented the foundation (whose board chair, Kathy H. Christiano, is pictured above) with the Mayor’s Magis Award for its dedication to the greater good. BY THE NUMBERS: Recent accomplishments include expanding the Temple Education Scholars program through a three-year $875,000 grant; joining with the Barr Foundation and the Kresge Foundation to form a $13 million funding collaborative dedicated to addressing intersectional and systemic issues through art and culture; providing a $10 million grant to transform and conserve Philadelphia’s iconic FDR Park … shall we go on?
LATEST TRIUMPH: In the past, we’ve focused on Leaphart’s board seats (Lenfest Foundation, the Inquirer, Philadelphia Health Management Corporation …), but a new year brings a new title. In August, Leaphart was named Jefferson Health’s enterprise executive vice president and chief health equity and community impact officer, a new role made possible by a $15 million grant from Humana. JK, JK: We’re still gonna talk about his board seats: In July, he was confirmed as the newest member of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.
EMOTIONAL LEADER: For better or for worse, whatever becomes of the Eagles this season, they’re their GM’s creation. What’s that mean? Oh, just that the entire mental health and emotional stability of our city are on his shoulders. You think we’re exaggerating? God, we wish we were. STOCK: Talk to us in January. BY THE NUMBERS: Roseman came in at number one on Nfl.com’s ranking of league GMs this past spring — and that was before he stole Jalen Carter in the draft and D’Andre Swift from the Lions. WHAT’S AT STAKE: We’re thinking of moving to Seattle. New England. Dallas. Anywhere the fan base is more sane.
LATEST TRIUMPH: After he successfully navigated his Whole-Home Repairs bill through the state House last year, it’s now an official line item in Governor Shapiro’s budget — with $50 million behind it. The program, which helps Pennsylvanians repair, weatherize and adapt their homes, has drawn interest from lawmakers in 16 states. CULTURAL HERITAGE: In April, Saval, the first Asian American to serve in the Pennsylvania state Senate, successfully lobbied (alongside Republican Greg Rothman) to make Diwali a state holiday. Then, in September, he introduced a bill requiring that Asian American and Pacific Islander history be added to state school curricula.
JET-SETTER: He’s a representative of Philadelphia. He’s a representative of Israel. This year, Solomonov, the restaurateur behind Zahav, Laser Wolf, Federal Donuts and more, appeared on Netflix’s Somebody Feed Phil , then cooked in the White House, serving President Biden and his guests during American Jewish Heritage Month. All the while, he showed the country what Israeli cuisine and the Philadelphia dining scene could look like. QUOTABLE: “Representing Israel and being an ambassador for Israel is my life’s work, as is representing Philly. I think both places are often misunderstood and not appreciated to their fullest.”
“I still remember the way I felt the first time I saw Philadelphia,” says Gupta, who wasn’t born to city life, having grown up in rural Connecticut before going to college in small-town Maine. It wasn’t until 2003, when she came here for grad school at Penn and fell in love with the place, that her urban fate was sealed. “If you like cities,” she says, “there’s not a better place to live.”
This may not be a surprising sentiment from the next president and CEO of the Center City District, but it isn’t just the party line: Gupta has spent the past two decades working in Philly place-making — or, as she puts it, “creating ties between people and places as economic strategy.” Now she’s poised to take over the CCD in January, when founding president Paul Levy retires to a position on the board.
Levy — widely credited with reinventing downtown (“Twice!” Gupta says) — is no easy act to follow, but Gupta likes the advice one board member gave her: “Don’t think about this in terms of the shoes to fill; think about what your shoes are going to look like.” And at a critical post-pandemic bounce-back moment, “There are a lot of people who have perceptions about what things are like downtown and haven’t resumed pre-pandemic activity,” Gupta says, even as the population has grown. There’s ample room to think about what today’s Center City might want and need. (Think: studies about this new ecosystem, continued greening, the extension of the rail park, and more.)
Beyond the economic lens, Gupta sees a thriving Center City as a social necessity, too — a tool in our fights against the loneliness epidemic and climate change. “The heart of the city belongs to all of us,” she says. “It’s not just one neighborhood for some people: It’s an avenue of opportunity for everyone. That’s inspiring to me.” — Christine Speer Lejeune
If, sometime in 2035, you board a shiny new B-V Broad Street Line train at Cottman Avenue subway station, you’ll have Arzu to thank for it. After the planners at both the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission and SEPTA had all but buried the Roosevelt Boulevard subway, Arzu has unearthed it and put it firmly back on the region’s transportation agenda.
The Penn PhD of city planning student points out he couldn’t have done this on his own — “I had amazing people behind me” — and cites Ben She of the city’s Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability; Cameron Diaz of 5th Square; “and champions like State Rep Jared Solomon [D-Northeast Philadelphia] that made this coalition possible.” He also got a behind-the-scenes assist from one of his instructors: SEPTA general manager Leslie Richards (#13), who teaches a course Arzu took. “He is very self-motivated, very passionate, and he was all those things before I met him,” she says. “But he took good notes during that class, because he is doing everything the right way” to get the subway built.
The project will have a huge price tag — anywhere from $2 billion to $4 billion to complete. But Arzu says it will be worth every penny because of its projected high ridership and potential to promote redevelopment in the Northeast. He also paints it as a matter of transportation equity: “We have the money, which is being thrown only at concrete when we could be throwing it at people and investing in communities.” — Sandy Smith
NEMESES: Climate activists. After the Vanguard CEO pulled the company out of the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative — a worldwide coalition of 300-plus asset managers committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions — the knives came out. (It didn’t help that in 2022, the world’s second-largest asset manager refused to end new fossil-fuel investments.) The advocacy group Vanguard S.O.S. began running ads in the Philly region with an “If it’s bad for the environment, it’s bad for your retirement” tagline. QUOTABLE: Buckley was unmoved. “We cannot state that [environmental, social and governance] investing is better performance-wise than broad index-based investing,” he told the Financial Times , sort-of missing the point. MONEY TALKS: Still, Vanguard reported an all-time record for 401(k) participation over the past year.
SKYLINE SHAPER: This month, global legal behemoth Morgan Lewis — the 2,200-person, 32-office firm McKeon has helmed and grown since 2014 — is moving into its new 18-story headquarters at 2222 Market. A DIFFERENT MOLD: One of the very few women running AmLaw 100 firms (and hey, ML is the largest female-run firm in the world), McKeon also stands out as a Villanova Law grad — notable, offers one insider, “in a landscape as snobby about ed credentials as they come.”BIG BUSINESS: Reuters reported that 2022 was the firm’s best-ever showing for revenue — and the firm counts 80 percent of the Fortune 100 among its 11,000 clients.
GO BIG: As executive chairman/CEO of mega law firm Cozen O’Connor, Heller has focused on growth. In his 10 years at the helm, Cozen has seen significant expansions in head count, revenues and profits. GROW SMART: Heller’s made a point of expanding the firm’s ancillary businesses (lobbying, technology, subrogation) and fostering an entrepreneurial culture to safeguard against the whims of the economy. GO NORTH, EH: Cozen’s latest push has been into Canada, which, Heller says, “makes us a little unique as it relates to the Philadelphia legal market.”
BUT FOR HOW LONG? Blood, sweat, tears, an MVP trophy — what more does one man have to give before the Sixers give him the team he (and we) deserves? NEMESES: Count ’em on your fingers: Markelle Fultz. Ben Simmons. James Harden’s ego. Not to mention the Eastern Conference Semifinals. PRESCRIPTION: Nurse him along. C’mon, Coach!
OVERDUE: The ex-cop came into his rookie year as director of the Free Library of Philadelphia with a big caseload on his desk, from overseeing new construction and outreach initiatives to righting the ship after accusations of racist policies and staffing issues led to public outcry and boycotts by touring authors. PUT IT ON MY CARD: Two years later, the complaints have ceased, the library scored a big grant from Pew, and even bigger plans are in the works, including updates to older facilities, a new Children and Family Center, and expansion of the partnership with soon-to-be-neighbor the African American Museum. (Now if only they’d bring back that Hoopla app.)
CLASS ACT: When Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin and rapper Meek Mill founded REFORM Alliance in 2019, they weren’t just focused on changing the criminal justice system; they wanted to address systemic inequalities in marginalized communities, too. Their attempt at disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline has taken the form of multimillion-dollar scholarship funds (donated along with Kevin Hart) to private and parochial schools. IN SESSION: This past January, they donated another $7 million to 60 such schools. It’s a start, but critics have questioned why they haven’t directed their benevolence toward the Philly public schools that serve the majority of the kids they seek to help. JERSEY MIKE: At his day job, Rubin has spent the past year watching Fanatics get raked for canceled kelly green Eagles merch sales and quality-control issues.
KUDOS: The former City Councilmember ran one of the more amicable mayoral campaigns in recent history, remaining cool, calm and collected the entire time and only attacking the big dogs. WHAT’S NEXT: Despite his primary loss, there’s no denying the impact the über-wealthy Domb still has in Philly as a philanthropist, real estate mogul, and proud owner of some of the most expensive and expansive luxury condos in the city. Look for whatever he and Stephen Starr (#23) have planned for the old Barnes & Noble space. (To see what Domb’s fellow former mayoral candidates are up to, click here.)
BUILDING AND REBUILDING: Carl Dranoff 1.0 made Old City a residential neighborhood. Dranoff 2.0 brought hundreds of residents to South Broad Street and effected its transformation into the Avenue of the Arts. Now, he says, COVID has brought the city to another “inflection point,” and the Avenue of the Arts resident stands ready to remake the street he and Rendell made. GOING GREEN: While he does have plans for a fifth residential building on the Avenue, his first project will be making it greener; work should begin on trees and other plantings next year. (Oh, and filling up Arthaus, reportedly 85 percent unsold.)
UH … YOU SURE? When Lazer informed his boss, Mayor Jim Kenney, that he was throwing his hat in the ring for the honor of running the Philadelphia Parking Authority, Kenney was incredulous, calling the office a “potential cesspool.” NEVERTHELESS: Lazer took over the role last December and made an immediate impact, towing nearly 2,400 abandoned vehicles between February and late July. For the first time in, hmm, ever, the PPA is in the headlines for good reasons. QUOTABLE: Mayor Kenney: “When Charlie Manuel first came to manage the Phillies, I was like, ‘Who is this coconut?’ I mean, who was this guy? I didn’t understand. He turned out to be the greatest employee-personnel manager in history. That was his God-given skill: dealing with people. And Richie, I think he’s kinda like the Charlie Manuel of government and labor.”
NOT A NEPO BABY: Named president of Comcast a year ago, Cavanagh is the first non-Roberts to hold the position in the company’s 60-year history. NEW RESPONSIBILITIES: In addition to being president, Cavanagh was recently named head of NBCUniversal, which includes film, TV, the very-much-still-in-the-red streaming service Peacock, and theme parks. QUOTE COMCAST PR REALLY WANTED US TO USE: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Cavanagh’s former boss, once called him “an elite business athlete.”
“I’ve become a capital revolutionary,” Della Clark tells me on the phone from Miami, where she’s just landed to attend the L’Attitude conference because she’s hoping to score some face time with one of the keynote speakers, the CEO of a major U.S. bank. Clark is the longtime president of the Enterprise Center, the West Philly-based nonprofit that’s laser-focused on helping diverse small businesses get started and then keeping them rolling.
Take Donna Allie, whose 700-plus-employee commercial cleaning company, Team Clean, Clark advised some 30 years ago. Allie says Clark’s sage management advice — “You can’t lead the wagon if you’re in the wagon” — has stuck with her. But in those decades of incubation work, Clark noticed a few things about what she calls “low-wealth founders,” or entrepreneurs who don’t come from prosperous families. “Everyone comes in with a loan or very small grant” for those businesses, she says, “but they do not come with investment capital.”
To address this, in 2022 Clark helped launch Innovate Capital Growth Fund, a for-profit entity working to raise $50 million to $75 million with the goal of pumping cold, hard seed funding into the coffers of diverse founders with three specific qualities: growth IQ, emotional stamina, and the ability to manage multiple revenue streams. The capital market “is a white-dominated industry that only sees risk when they look at minorities. They will throw up all kinds of roadblocks,” says Clark. “I’m going to crack the safe.” — Brian Howard
STOCK: Rising. Well, she had nowhere to go but up. Suda stepped into her role as director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art last year during a bitter three-week strike and promptly caught flak for staying on the sidelines during negotiations. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: The museum was back in the news in June, when pay raises promised during last fall’s negotiations failed to materialize in workers’ bank accounts. Both sides pointed fingers. BUT BACK TO THE ART: In February, the Museum announced the creation of the Brind Center for African and African Diasporic Art — one step in advancing the Equity Agenda put in place following the upheaval of the past few years.
FOCUS: Gilmore Richardson proves that addressing the practical needs of everyday Philadelphians can triumph over feisty rhetoric and polarizing politics. LATEST WIN: Recently, she’s getting praised for passing legislation to increase contributions to the city’s “rainy-day fund,” expanding paid parental leave for city workers from four weeks to six, and continuing her environmental-justice advocacy — reaffirming that Black millennials in office can exceed expectations.
MONEY TALKS: It was October 2021, and Bryce Harper should have been happy — he’d just put up Babe/Bonds-type stats on his way to another MVP award — but there he was on a Zoom presser, saying you can’t just buy championships. WAIT: This from a guy who signed a $330 million contract to play for a team that would soon breach the luxury-tax barrier? BRYCE IS RIGHT: Free agents aren’t enough. Great teams need young dudes, bench bros and everyday guys. Management listened, overhauling its bullpen and farm system and ushering homegrown talent into the lineup. Now, despite the injuries, there’s the potential for bedlam at the Bank every fall.
BY THE NUMBERS: Thomas was the highest vote-getter in the highly contested City Council at-large primary this spring. That’s an even bigger deal when you consider the rest of his progressive cohorts: Mayoral hopeful Helen Gym and City Council at-large candidates Seth Anderson-Oberman and Amanda McIllmurray all lost. SPECIAL SAUCE: What sets Thomas apart is the Black millennial’s ability to focus on practical issues (such as considering the needs of the business community within the city budget) while also taking on tougher battles (such as demanding more police accountability at traffic stops).
LATEST TRIUMPH: Under Jordan’s leadership, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers gained the Paraprofessional Pathways Program in recent contract negotiations, allowing paraprofessionals a way to return to college and become teachers in the school district at no cost. SPEAKING OF NEGOTIATION … In a year of major labor moves — education included — everyone’s mind is on the word strike . For now, Jordan says, the focus is on gearing up for the process of collecting contract proposals from union members before their contract expires in August next year. NEMESIS: Underfunding. In the wake of the February ruling in the Commonwealth’s school funding trial, Jordan sees hope for additional state fund appropriations to Philadelphia schools. A plan from the Basic Education Funding Commission is due to the governor this month.
WHO? Pictured above, left to right: campaign manager Sinceré Harris, senior adviser Aren Platt, and a core team of advisers including William Dunbar, Tonyelle Cook-Artis and Obra Kernodle IV were the dream team behind Parker’s historic primary win. SPEED BUMPS: Their pathway to victory was stacked with hurdles ranging from campaign fund-raising challenges to broadening Parker’s reach as a citywide candidate. UH-OH: In September, Platt was caught trying to slow-roll interview requests from journalists Denise Clay-Murray and Lawrence McGlynn when the pair were accidentally copied on an email intended for communications director John Dolan. Not a great foot to get off on before you’re even elected.
CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT: The South Philly resident won the Pulitzer last year — quite a feat, considering that the play in question hadn’t yet seen a live audience thanks to the pandemic. SEE FOR YOURSELF: You can catch that production (Fat Ham, a very, very loose adaptation of Hamlet ) for yourself at the Wilma Theater, where it opens on November 24th. BRAIN DRAIN? One looming question is just how long Philly can hold on to Ijames before his work takes him to Hollywood, which came a-calling once he landed that coveted prize. He says he wants to stay here but isn’t sure what the future holds.
NAME RECOGNITION: In 2021, with American school-board politics at a fever pitch, the Bucks County venture capitalist made headlines for spending $500K backing (mostly conservative) small-town PA school-board candidates committed to keeping schools open during COVID. PAC MAN: This past September, he says, his PAC Back to School PA gave out about $50K to races across PA; meanwhile, his Bucks Families for Leadership PAC has supported the Republican slate of candidates in this month’s contentious Central Bucks school-board race — a slate that includes his wife, Aarati.OUCH: In July, Martino’s Bankroll Club — the much-hyped $25 million Center City sports-betting bar — went under after just five months.
In a city where gun violence and its carnage are so crushingly ubiquitous, even the great tragedies (and aren’t they all?) risk fading into the deadening thrum of everyday news: Shooting here; shooting there.
But every single story is an account of its own and worthy of telling, says Inky reporter Ellie Rushing (pictured second from left), who writes often and memorably of Philadelphians affected by gun violence. “And no act of gun violence in this city should be seen as ordinary.”
This — telling the human stories that cut through headlines, giving them shape and soul and meaning for a whole city of people — isn’t just Rushing’s raison d’être. It’s also part of the mission of the Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting, the nonprofit founded by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jim MacMillan (left) in 2020 to explore how storytelling — ethical, empathetic, impactful storytelling about gun violence — could grow public support for life-saving policies and even shrink the violence. One important aspect of this work, according to PCGVR research director and Temple trauma surgeon Jessica Beard (right), is framing our incidents of gun violence not as singular episodes of crime, but as the public-health crisis they constitute — an epidemic with real human cost, but also with real causes and real solutions.
This is part and parcel of the writing that’s coming these days from Pulitzer finalist Mensah M. Dean (second from right), whom you likely know from the quarter-century he spent working for the Inquirer and the Daily News. He reports on the “longer view” — trends, ideas, causes, promising interventions — of Philly’s gun issue for the national gun violence reporting site The Trace. So why this beat, why these stories, why now? Dean will tell you — same as Rushing, actually — that he feels compelled to fight against any normalization of this violence that’s stolen so much from so many, particularly from young Black men. “It’s not normal. It can’t be normal. We have to convince the powers that be and the people that we can do better. Because this is life-and-death,” he says. “Life-and-death.” — Christine Speer Lejeune
When Orlando Rendon was growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, Nelson Playground was off-limits. So were the handball courts of Parque de Colores and the open grass of Norris Square. Maybe his parents would let him spend an hour at one of them, but it was always “Be home when the sun starts to dip.”
That experience — or, technically, lack of experience — colors Rendon’s work as the city’s newest Parks & Recreation commissioner. It’s a job that, without exaggeration, touches every corner of the city: 191 community centers, more than 1,400 athletic fields and courts, 400-plus neighborhood parks, golf courses, computer centers, summer camps. And it’s one that, as the city continues to dig its way out of its most violent era in decades, requires a leader who understands the needs of the people.
Rendon views his role not just as making sure the department has as many spaces open and available as possible, or even that they all have high-quality programming. That programming has to be relevant: A pottery class might be right for one center, whereas an xBox tournament — “Get it on on the screen, not in the street,” Rendon says — draws a bigger crowd elsewhere.
And maybe it’s not at a gym or rec center, but a roving program, one that hits parks and neighborhoods without a Friends group or advisory council to program the space. A hopscotch or jump-rope tournament that gives kids a safe space even for a few hours? Whatever it takes. “We just … we got to get it done,” Rendon says. “And that’s the attitude: We got to get it done. Because what’s at stake is crucial. It’s people’s lives.” — Bradford Pearson
LATEST TRIUMPH: For years, the dynamic duo of Friedlich (left) and Mooring has been making waves within the city’s media ecosystem through their work at the Lenfest Institute for Journalism. But “Every Voice, Every Vote” — the coalition they helped form of 50-plus local community and media organizations committed to informing voters during this year’s mayoral and City Council races — showed a redoubled commitment to democracy. The group hosted more than 200 forums and gatherings to engage the public. HELP, PLEASE: We hope the group’s long-standing support of the Philadelphia Inquirer continues — a strong newspaper begets a strong city.
REAL TALK: “This is the most challenging environment I’ve seen in my three-plus decades working in health care, further amplified for a health system featuring the de facto public hospital in the largest U.S. city without a public hospital.” CHA-CHING : The president and CEO of Temple Health — along with Redeemer Health and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine — acquired Chestnut Hill Hospital back in January, resulting in a net income for the Northwest Philly hospital for the first time in eight years. TURNING POINTS: Temple averted a major strike via a new contract, part of which makes its nurses the highest-paid in the Commonwealth. Young also helped turn the former Cancer Treatment Center of America in Juniata Park into an outpatient women’s health center.
TENURE TRACK: The coming year marks a decade for Generals at the helm of Community College of Philadelphia, the city’s sole fully public institution of higher learning. DO-GOODING: His tenure’s been marked by service to the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, the Economy League, the Free Library, and the Urban Affairs Coalition, to name a few. MISSION: “Student success” regardless of income, background and challenges, he says. He guided CCP through the labyrinth of the pandemic and has championed a plan to make its opportunities free to all comers. Talk about a man of the people!
LATEST TRIUMPH(S): The upcoming 12th anniversary of Streets Dept, a partnership with Mural Arts that will have seen him curating art projects at the Oval and LOVE Park, teaching a class on street art at the Barnes, presenting a panel series at Paradigm Gallery and a new podcast with WHYY on artists of the public sphere, and starring in a profile of the Fishtown native by the New York Times . “And that’s just scratching the surface,” Benner says. PONY UP, PHILLY: “There are a lot of artists who want to work in Philadelphia, who want to have opportunities in Philadelphia, who want to work on projects. It’s just a funding issue,” he explains. “If Philly wants to be an art city, we need to put our money where our mouth is, and the people in all the positions of power need to support it.”
LATEST TRIUMPH: Under CEO Golderer’s (pictured left) direction, United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey launched a new Partnership Grant Program that offers $50,000 in unrestricted funds per year for two years to nearly 100 Philadelphia organizations. KEEP HOPE ALIVE: In 2020, City Council released its Poverty Action Plan, centered on United Way’s anti-poverty initiative The Promise and its lofty goal to lift thousands above the poverty line by 2024. Then COVID hit. Nowadays, only $20 million of a needed $100 million has been invested, though Banks, executive director of The Promise, maintains hope that something good will shake loose in the upcoming mid-year budget transfer.
RÉSUMÉ: Schulson isn’t afraid to take ambitious leaps. Whether he’s creating an eclectic theme, like cocktail bar/bowling alley Harp & Crown, or breathing new life into an old-school notion (like his modern steakhouse, Alpen Rose), his 13 concepts leave an impression. STRIKEOUT: Despite the caviar-topped latkes and house-made pastrami, Samuel’s closed a year after opening. It’ll soon be replaced by Bar Lesieur. QUOTABLE: To Schulson, that’s okay. “There’s no such thing as a failure as long as you’re learning from it,” he says, paraphrasing Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Mentality.
GREEN THUMB: As Parks & Rec commissioner for the past seven years, Lovell has had a hand in public-space renovations through the Rebuild initiative, along with dreaming up master plans for FDR Park, the Cobbs Creek golf course and the Parkway. NEW ROLE, NEW GOAL: In July, Lovell was named CEO of the Philadelphia Visitor Center, headquartered in Independence National Historical Park. “For some reason, we feel no ownership over this park — it’s sort of the tourist park,” Lovell says. “There’s a huge opportunity to reconnect Philadelphians to our national park.” EXPANSION: The Visitor Center recently opened a new outpost next to the Rocky statue.
LEAN AND MEAN: After an early career sprint of big horror blockbusters — The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, etc. — box offices cooled, and people started riffing on all those surprise endings. PLOT TWIST: The Bucks-based director regrouped, slashed the budget, and started making smaller, scarier movies that match the modern Blumhouse/A24 era, like The Visit, Knock at the Cabin, and the gruesome/bonkers Old (about a beach that makes you old). NOW: His off-speed B-movie storytelling isn’t for everyone, but the hometown anti-Hollywood hero is in the black and out for blood again.
OUT OF THE CLOUDS: Cameron took over as president and CEO at the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia last summer after more than three decades working in aviation, starting as an Air Force officer. PAST LIVES: Last year, Philly voters approved the creation of a stand-alone Department of Aviation — a move Cameron pushed for when she served as CEO of Philadelphia International Airport. BRASS IN POCKET: One of the Chamber’s long-held desires — reducing the city’s wage tax and Business Income Receipts Tax — finally came to pass with this year’s city budget. The drop wasn’t as much as the Chamber advocated for, but hey, it’s something.
STOCK: Trending down. One year into his role as leader of the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee, the ambitious state Senator has had to make tough decisions (laying off critical staff and cutting contracts) to keep the party chugging along before November’s election. A less-than-rosy Politico story in September painted a grim portrait of the party’s outlook. “We’ve done things a little differently, and I know that may have ruffled some feathers with sort of the national chatterbox class,” Street told the pub. “They weren’t exactly excited about my candidacy for chair for a lot of reasons.” Yikes. OUTLOOK: Nonetheless, the Commonwealth’s first Black state party chair is confident that more electoral victories are coming in 2024.
TO THE MAT: From the moment the 76ers announced their arena plans, a neighborhood with a long history of intrusive developments united in opposition. “Because Chinatown has been assaulted so many times, we have so much experience fighting this stuff,” says Debbie Wei, co-founder of Asian Americans United (pictured here, right, with Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation head John Chin). “We go to the mat as a community because we don’t have a choice.” Hers is just one group in the Save Chinatown Coalition, which is defending the neighborhood along with Chin’s PCDC and The Chinatown Coalition to Oppose the Arena. CITYWIDE STRUGGLE: The Sixers’ outreach hasn’t quelled concerns, and a June march of thousands protesting the arena — including activists from West Philly fending off their own development woes — demonstrated that the issue reaches beyond Chinatown. City Council will have to contend with vocal public opposition when it considers the project this session.
IN THE NEWS: The CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce of Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Delaware has been in the headlines all year, whether it was when the Chamber came out in support of the proposed Sixers arena (specifically the “additional avenues of opportunity” it would bring to the Black business community) or when the group hosted the first national Black business expo. LATEST TRIUMPH: In September, she stood alongside Governor Shapiro (#1) as he announced an executive order directing state agencies to help Black businesses get more state contracts.
SLINGS AND ARROWS: The president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce continues to lead her organization and its businesses out of the pandemic. Something that’s top of mind for those businesses? Crime. A recent survey by the Diverse Chambers Coalition of Philadelphia found that addressing it was the top priority for improving business prospects in the city. POLITICAL prowess: Last winter, Rodriguez was one of 300 Pennsylvanians named to Governor Shapiro’s transition team, sitting on the business development subcommittee.
When we told the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania — i.e., the top federal law enforcement official in the eight-county region — that she was on this list, she scoffed. “If anything, I’m trying to avoid being associated with the idea of ‘influential,’” Romero said. “I’m not worried about rubbing elbows. I’m not worried about the next job. I’m just here to do the important work I’ve been called to do.”
But being influential isn’t all about rubbing elbows, schmoozing and gladhanding. Sometimes, just doing your job can be hugely influential, as is the case with Romero, whose office is heavily focused on public-safety issues, like the scourge of carjackings that have blanketed the city in recent years.
“I live in Philly,” says Romero. “I’ve had my home broken into. I’ve had my friend’s car stolen from in front of my house. I talk to people all the time who don’t feel safe going to work, in part because of all the carjackings on the news.”
When Romero, who worked in the Philly office for 16 years, rose to the top job in June 2022 amid a record-setting crime wave, she made history herself. While most U.S. Attorneys are men (and predominantly white men), Romero is the first woman to hold the office in Philadelphia. Not only that: She’s also the first woman of color and the first LGBTQIA person to have the job here.
But Romero seems unconcerned with all these firsts. “What I’m concerned about is making the city feel safe,” she insists. “I have an obligation to do so.” — Victor Fiorillo
BRAND AMBASSADOR: Brownstein Group — Marc is CEO — is a hydra of advertising, PR and online marketing. They’re the brains behind those “No Jingles or Mascots” spots, and their Red Thread PR arm reps the Sixers in the arena battle. FIRM FOOTING: He’s preparing to launch Poster Child, an L.A.-based influencer marketing division headed up by son James, with several big names (Peloton, Universal Studios) already on board.
STILL BULLISH: The CEO of Parkway Corporation — which has increasingly shifted its focus from just parking to real estate development; see the proposed 28-story tower at 21st and Ludlow — says Philly has “an amazing amount to offer its future citizens.”
SHOCKING DEVELOPMENT: The head of the state’s most powerful and politically connected union — Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — had to fight to keep his position this spring following a challenge from Johnny Doc-backed Todd Nielson (after Doc handpicked Lynch less than two years earlier). Politics!
WATCH ME FOR THE CHANGES: The Orchestra/Kimmel CEO has emphasized a more inclusive outlook befitting the city’s world-renowned cover band, putting more Black composers on the bill, giving tickets to schoolkids, and championing the org’s podcast about the intersection of activism and music.
A NEW ERA: Under Ramos’s leadership, the Philadelphia Foundation has become a key civic and philanthropic partner for the region’s most vital efforts, especially during the pandemic. Last November, the foundation helped establish the Civic Coalition to Save Lives, an intervention-focused project placing civic leaders at the table of gun violence prevention. “I’m bullish on Philadelphia’s future,” Ramos says. “Our biggest challenges and opportunities can’t be solved with sound bites and silos.”
POWER MOVE: James is both the first female and the first person of color to serve as dean of Penn’s Wharton School of Business, and as colleges and universities face more and more scrutiny, she’s sure to call on her area of academic expertise: crisis management.
IN THE WEEDS: This year, Martinez has done more collaborations than ever before, bringing her iconic barbacoa to tables from New York City to Washington, D.C., all while continuing to advocate for immigration reform.
MONEY TALKS: Comcast’s chief diversity officer has reshaped the role, which is entrusted with the $100 million the company has pledged to fight injustice and inequality. “What a lot of people don’t understand is that equity is not just for some people,” Wilson-Scott told the Aspen Ideas Festival in June. “Equity — when you’re doing it intentionally, when you’re doing it well — benefits everybody.”
DREAMING BIG: When the Yowie hotel founder and creative director says she hopes to “expand beyond its walls,” she doesn’t mean with locations in other cities. She wants the playful but thoughtful new space to be a first stop for visitors in Philly — and to honor South Street. “Shannon holds a level of care for this community that’s rare,” says Everett Abitbol, a partner in the project.
STOCK: Mellowing out? Since exiting Spark, the co-founder and former CEO is not only still engaged in advising biotech companies (board seats include Prime Medicine and Chroma Medicine, plus a just-announced appointment at CHOP); he seems to have the ear of Josh Shapiro (#1) on economic and business affairs as well.
NEMESIS: The charismatic Philadelphia Orchestra conductor, who, thankfully, just extended his contract through 2030, would like you all to silence your damn cell phones. Please.
BY THE NUMBERS: Sure, she’s sold a lot of albums. But the Gladwyne gal has also sold a lot of her Patti’s Good Life sweet potato pies and other food products — $200 million last year alone. Thanksgiving is just around the corner.
STOCK: Falling. 13th and Chestnut, Broad and Walnut, 2nd and South … shall we keep going? Wawa and its CEO have largely abandoned their footprints in Center City while continuing to expand across the South and Midwest. Even the flagship store next to Independence Mall is a shell of its grand opening just five years ago. We’re pulling for you, Wawa — but are you pulling for us?
FORE! Hughes raised eyebrows earlier in the year when he teased a run for mayor before ultimately deciding to stay on the sidelines. That gave the state Senator and Democratic Appropriations chair time to secure $4.3 million for the restoration of the city’s Cobbs Creek Golf Club, one of the first integrated golf courses in the country. “This city needs this, projects like this, and more,” Hughes said at the groundbreaking.
MAKING ROOM AT THE TOP: If “affordable workforce housing” is the flavor of the month, the Post Brothers brothers say their amenity-rich luxury developments actually help preserve it: “By building more housing at the upper end of the market, we reduce the pressure on the existing stock,” says Mike (pictured left).
CAMPAIGN SLOGAN: If the 2020 election was any indication, the new CEO of the Committee of Seventy is sure to have her hands full in the upcoming year. “The thing that I really want to focus on creating and growing is bringing people closer to their government and creating a revolution in citizenship,” she told us after she ascended to the role in June.
CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT: The queen of Philly radio continues to be the voice of the city, serving as a calming presence in a turbulent time. In April, she became the first woman radio host to be inducted into the Philadelphia Music Alliance’s Walk of Fame.
ALL ABOUT LOVE: Once “merely” the proprietress of Fishtown’s well-curated, widely beloved Harriett’s Bookshop, Cook has expanded her empowering empire with a sister shop in Collingswood and book/art events and installations everywhere from to Trinidad to Paris. Un mémoire est en route.
HOUSING WITHIN REACH: The Riverwards Group founder, and now VP of the Building Industry Association, has his sights on building more housing for the “missing middle,” calling it “a market that’s always been underserved” and for which “bottomless demand” exists.
QUOTABLE: The Alterra co-founder and past president of the Building Industry Association has as his goal “figuring out how we grow the city in a way where more people are able to take advantage of the spoils and not just have them accrue to the upper echelon.”
BY THE NUMBERS: It’s been eight years since urban developer Scout transformed the Bok Building from a vacant trade school to a hub for makers, nonprofits, dreamers. “We want people to feel they can experiment,” says managing partner Scannapieco. Today, Bok’s at full capacity, with 600-plus folks working there and 200,000 annual visitors. “Bok was a ghost town,” says the Garces Foundation’s Robin Morris, a tenant since 2016. “She’s given it life.”
VICTORY LAPS: June (CAR-T cell therapy), Karikó and Weissman (mRNA that fueled COVID vaccines), and High (the first FDA approval of a gene therapy for an inherited disease) have been earning well-deserved laurels. High nabbed the Jerry Mandell Award for Translational Science from the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy in 2022. Karikó and Weissman this summer won a little something called the Nobel Prize in Medicine and collected $3 million 2022 Breakthrough Prizes for Life Sciences awards. Tabbed for the same Breakthrough honor in 2024? Their Penn colleague June.
STOCK: Rising. In this “ripe” political environment (read: new mayor, fresh Council), the whip-smart director of the eight-year-old Philadelphia 3.0 PAC is poised to expand its reach: In addition to backing reform candidates/policy, expect more advocacy for growth strategy and issues like, say, infrastructure. VIBES: “Reasonably good,” she says. “There’s just a general tone and tenor of optimism in Philly. We’re not in a doomerist moment.”
STOCK: Rising. Just a sophomore at Swarthmore, Duncan has already made a name for himself in Philly politics as a part-time policy adviser in City Council who has written more than 80 pieces of legislation. That controversial ski-mask ban that landed in Council last spring? Duncan’s work.
WHAT GOES AROUND … As co-founders of Circular Philadelphia, Esposito (pictured right) and Wittchen are driving policy proposals and educational initiatives aimed at making the city’s economy less wasteful and more … re-useful. … COMES AROUND: Their start-up, Circa Technologies, is developing a point-of-sale platform meant to foster resale.
GROWTH MODEL: The Recovery Centers of America founder and MLP Ventures head continues to lure some of the life sciences’ biggest names to his Discovery Labs campus in King of Prussia; Spark Therapeutics added a suburban footprint there in the spring.
THE ART OF THE LOAN: The Barnes Foundation recently won the right to lend out pieces from its coveted collection — a “rather conservative” move, per the New York Times , that will nonetheless raise the museum’s standing, says director Collins. The decision has many critics, including one who says the Parkway institution is “continuing to nibble away at what remains of Dr. Barnes’s carcass.” Sir, you are being gross.
PUFF, PUFF, PASS: In 2021, the GoPuff co-CEOs sat near the top of this list (number 16; riding high during the pandemic). Last year, they tumbled (#69; layoffs, a scuttled IPO). Now, after three waves of layoffs in the past 18 months, we have to ask: Is the NoLibs-based delivery company even going to survive?
RECORD SCRATCH: Live Nation’s regional president is the guy who produces some of Philly’s biggest concert spectacles. But one of his primary brainchilds (brainchildren?), Made in America, made national headlines for all the wrong reasons this year: It failed to happen. Supposedly, it will return in 2024. Time will tell.
EYES ARE SMILING: As ranking member of the U.S. House Budget Committee, Boyle has a front-and-center view of the dysfunction that led to the federal budget impasse this fall. Despite that, the Northeast native made waves from here to Donegal this summer when he said he “wouldn’t rule out” a future run for president.
STOCK: Rising. This viral duo — between them, they have 5.8 million followers on Instagram alone — have made a name for themselves in Philly and beyond with their breakout podcast Million Dollaz Worth of Game. Last year, they signed a deal with Barstool Sports worth — according to Wallo — “tens of millions of dollars.” Not bad for two kids from North Philly.
Get out the vote: As senior principal at Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies, Hill has applied his deep campaign experience — he was statewide political director for Governor Tom Wolf’s reelection campaign and deputy political director for Hilary Clinton’s Pennsylvania operation — toward the successful Parker mayoral campaign.
STOCK: Rising. Once the superintendent of the Lower Merion and Reading school districts, he’s on the statewide stage now as Josh Shapiro’s (#1) Secretary of Education, charged with overseeing the revolution in our state’s school funding process. Godspeed.
BUILDING BLOCKS: The peripatetic changemaker continues his juggling act, serving as founding partner and chief strategist at the Growth Collective, which works to cultivate a pipeline of Black real estate developers and generate wealth for marginalized communities, alongside his role as principal at Smith & Roller.
THERE’S THE DOOR: We thought the Wharton grad was, you know, one of us, until the private-equity guru and “Process” point man went and bought the — booooo! — Washington “Commanders,” or whatever they’re called these days. Now? Dead to us.
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY: Love or hate it, URBN has boho-chic retail on lock. This parent company to Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters and others saw Q2 net sales of a record $1.27 billion. Its rentable-attire platform got a huge subscriber boost. It just launched a gently used clothing concept. It opened another Terrain wedding venue in Doylestown this summer — one more feather in CEO Hayne’s cap.
BUILDING BLOCKS: As president of the University City District since 2009, Bergheiser has had a front-row seat to the neighborhood’s explosive growth. (In 2022 alone, it saw $366 million in new real estate projects.) “The future is ours for the taking,” Bergheiser wrote in the group’s annual State Of report. How to balance that growth without marginalizing long-term residents, though, is another issue.
BIG VISION: The co-founder and chief business officer for King of Prussia’s Center for Breakthrough Medicines is building the infrastructure and investment vital to supporting the region’s cell-therapy boom. HOLISTIC VIEW: Beyond the science, she sees biotech as a way to lift the region, bringing a ton of good-paying manufacturing and lab jobs that can help build generational wealth.
GOING STRONG: After two-plus decades in journalism, the Main Line-based MSNBC host is relevant as ever, wading thoughtfully into some of America’s murkiest issues, from police reform to book banning (see: his Banned Book Club podcast) to Trump’s criminal charges, detailed in his new book The Trump Indictments.
MOVING ON, BUT NOT OUT: The former Firstrust bank head handed the CEO reins to Timothy Abell last year but remains executive chairman and sole stockholder. Between his part ownership of the Eagles and overseeing the Green Family Foundation, we doubt he’ll be content with a leisurely retirement.
ON THE COME-UP: The rapper/community organizer/multi-hyphenate spent 2023 as the Mann Center’s first community artist-in-residence, working with the venue to educate young musicians. “Chill’s work focuses on providing our young people with quality out-of-school time that gives them the opportunity to gain experience in both the creative and business sides of the music industry,” City Councilman Isaiah Thomas (#55) said while introducing a resolution honoring Moody in the chamber this September.
LATEST TRIUMPH: After being shot 11 times, the Young Chances Foundation founder has become one of the city’s leading anti-gun-violence visionaries. His nonprofit supports impacted residents, bringing essential resources — summer camps, after-school programs, free goods, mutual-aid programs — to the community.
STOCK: Rising. One of just 52 women running Fortune 500 companies, the Huntingdon Valley native took the helm at Lincoln Financial Group last year after spending 10 years as its chief investment officer. And the company just celebrated 20 years of stadium naming rights — surely a moment of pride for the lifelong Eagles fan.
SOUP TO NUTS: Under Clouse’s leadership, Campbell Soup Co. has been in expansion mode, announcing a deal for Sovos Brands — home to Rao’s sauces and Noosa yogurt — for a tasty $2.7 billion back in August. (The deal’s expected to close next year.) The company’s also investing $50 million in its Camden headquarters in an effort to consolidate its nationwide workforce, bringing home 330 jobs.
BETTING ON CENTER CITY: As a board member of the Central Philadelphia Development Corporation, the Pearl Properties CEO seeks to keep Center City filled with residents and businesses. One business he’ll have to replace: the Bankroll restaurant-betting parlor-general debacle in the former Boyd Theater lobby, which Pearl owns. (The theater’s auditorium became the Harper, Pearl’s signature high-rise apartment tower.)
CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT: With his huge Lucky Snake arcade and, most recently, his even huger indoor waterpark — both inside his Showboat Hotel — the megadeveloper has singlehandedly done what many have only dreamed of doing: turned Atlantic City into a family-friendly year-round destination.
SPLICE AS NICE: Wherry, director of Penn’s Institute for Immunology, is one of the lead scientists with fellow Penn docs Junwei Shi, Rahul Kohli and Shelley Berger on a gentler, quicker version of the CRISPR genome-editing technology. Though the tech is “several years away” from use in humans, Wherry’s working at founding a company to take it from the lab to the market.
BUYING IN: The CEO of Freedom Mortgage Corporation bought a 16 percent share in the Phils this year after agreeing with John Middleton on a shared goal: to win, not to make money.
JUMPSTART EVERYWHERE: The bootcamp for novice developers that Weinstein launched in Germantown in 2015 has spread citywide, with its overwhelmingly Black, brown and female legions of developers pouring more than $47 million into underinvested city neighborhoods. He’s now spreading the program beyond Pennsylvania with 15 new Jumpstart programs in states from New Jersey to Florida to Indiana.
LATEST TRIUMPH: This self-described “pastor of the ’hood” has a reputation for having the ear of both the streets and the Mayor’s Office with his unique approach to confronting the gun violence crisis that continues to plague the city.
LOOKING FOR A PARTNER: The head of PMC Property Group, one of the city’s biggest landlords, has been pushing Center City’s center of gravity west toward the Schuylkill with projects like Logan Square’s Riverwalk. What he’d like to see going forward is a City Hall that fosters growth by working with developers.
LATHER, RINSE, REPEAT: Now that he’s made homeowners out of the tenants who moved into his affordable rehabbed houses, the Steinbridge Group head plans to buy more houses in low-to-moderate-income neighborhoods and repeat the cycle.
BY THE NUMBERS: King of Prussia-based Morgan Properties — led by Mitchell Morgan (who chairs Temple University’s board of trustees) and his sons Jonathan and Jason — is now the third-largest apartment company in the U.S., with more than 94,000 units spread across the Philly ’burbs and South Jersey. Its closest competitor in Pennsylvania? A paltry 48K.
CENTER STAGE: Mr. Kelly Green stormed our hearts with that fantastic Christmas album, warmed them with the good works of his (Be)Philly Foundation, dressed us up as Underdogs, and sealed the deal when he signed on for one more year. Oh, did we mention the documentary?
CHAMPING AT THE BIT: The West Philly national polo champ and proud Work to Ride alum, now a financial analyst, organized the first Philadelphia Polo Classic in Fairmount Park last year to pay it forward. Though this year’s classic was felled by the weather, he’s keeping the momentum going.
BROTHERLY LOVE: In welcoming migrants and asylum seekers to Philly — nearly 1,000 of whom were part of Texas governor Greg Abbott’s brutal busing stunt this past year — groups like HIAS PA (whose executive director Cathryn Miller-Wilson is pictured above), the New Sanctuary Movement, Nationalities Service Center, and many more are an inspirational reminder to Philadelphia of our own tempest-tossed origins. And our humanity.
FAMILY MAN: There are few things that influence our daily lives more than our meals. And chances are, if you’re here, hungry and hoagie-curious, that meal will include one of the Dietz & Watson CEO’s products. He and his siblings are the third generation to run the Northeast-based brand, and the fourth generation is waiting in the wings.
KICK-START: When fans descend on Philadelphia for the 2026 World Cup, we’ll have this duo, who co-founded and run Wilmington’s Buccini/Pollin Group with David Pollin, to thank, in part. They laid the groundwork by launching the Philadelphia Union and building the team’s stadium on the Chester waterfront.
WORKING ORDER: Joe and his team keep a ridiculously large chunk of the city’s movers and shakers in top condition, whether via physical training or injury rehabilitation. From business titans (Brian Roberts (#3), David Adelman (#5)) to chefs (Garces, Vetri) to actors (Stallone, Michael B. Jordan), the photo wall at Zarett Rehab and Fitness is a who’s who of influential folks in this town.
STOCK: Rising. The executive chairman of 107-year-old Govberg Jewelers isn’t much of a watch collector. He has a handful, but he’d rather his clients have the tickers in Govberg’s local inventory and that of sister-concept WatchBox, the global go-to for pre-owned luxury timepieces. “We’re at the forefront of collectible timepieces becoming an industry standard,” he says.
PIPELINE BUILDER: A man of many hats — i.e., too many board positions to list — the DiverseForce founder and CEO implements DEI solutions in some of the toughest industries in the city. His firm helps organizations “harness the power of diversity” — something we could all use right now.
FOLLOW THE MONEY: In her roles at Goldman Sachs (head of philanthropy engagement and legacy planning), the Surdna Foundation (board chair at one of the oldest and largest family foundations), the Young Presidents’ Organization (chair of the Philadelphia chapter), and the Center for High Impact Philanthropy (senior fellow), Bryn Mawr’s Cote-Ackah has a hand in steering funds to important causes and influences philanthropy at the highest levels.
BY THE NUMBERS: Literally. If you want to know how the commercial real estate market here is doing, Gilchrist is the person to turn to. First at JLL and now as EVP at Newmark, she consistently churns out the most accurate and informative data on the city’s office, retail and industrial real estate.
DEINDUSTRIALIZING: As less and less industrial land remains to be redeveloped, the new head of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation — and Philly native — says the agency has shifted its focus to small-business development. And its biggest upcoming redevelopment project, the next phase of the Navy Yard, even includes residential.
POWER MOVES: If you’re wondering how Comcast operates politically throughout the city and beyond, this dynamic duo has the answers. Singer (pictured right) and Perkins — SVPs of political engagement and external and government affairs, respectively — are behind the strategic partnerships and government machinations shaping the city’s biggest corporation.
NEXT UP: When she follows her “authentic talents,” the founder and CEO of sustainable-style brand Grant BLVD and shoppable museum Blk Ivy Thrift says, the work gets easier. She’s on the move, with a new title (Fitler Club’s first VP of social impact), a 2024 collaboration (an effort to teach formerly incarcerated women how to sew, then pay them a living wage), and a book on the way.
EXPANSION PLANS: The new St. Joseph’s president — the first woman to lead the university — has her eyes set on continuing to grow the school’s footprint. After overseeing its merger with the University of the Sciences, she turned even further westward … to Lancaster. In January, Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences will become part of the university, filling SJU’s long-held desire to bring a nursing program to Hawk Hill.
LATEST TRIUMPH: A longtime political mover and shaker, the director of the Philadelphia office of the lobbying firm Pugliese Associates also leads the city’s Black Women’s Leadership Council, which helped Cherelle Parker (#2) secure her Democratic primary victory back in May.
STOCK: Rising. The sole-employee-turned-CEO of the New Pennsylvania Project provided invaluable work pushing for voter accessibility in marginalized Philly zip codes. And as co-chair of Why Courts Matter, she avidly educates others on diversifying courts throughout the Commonwealth.
NEXT UP … MAYBE: As a serious Democratic contender in 2024’s Attorney General race, Bradford-Grey, with her “holistic” vision for public safety and criminal justice reform — shaped by years as a chief defender in Philly and Montco — could define our state, city and rights for years to come. Also? If elected, she’d be this state’s first Black AG.
BACK ON TOP: After a few election cycles full of progressive and Working Family momentum, the city’s Democratic Party establishment celebrated big wins this year, namely Parker’s at the top of the ticket. YES, BUT: After Brady warned city Dems not to aid Working Family campaigns, Governor Shapiro (#1) thumbed his nose and endorsed WFP City Councilmember Kendra Brooks for reelection.
LATEST TRIUMPH: The Urban Affairs Coalition CEO took home this year’s Philadelphia Award, the 102-year-old prize bestowed on a Philadelphian who “acted and served on behalf of the best interests of the community,” for her unending efforts to reduce gun violence in the city.
GROWTH MODEL: After selling $124 million worth of real estate over the past two years, the University City Science Center CEO is shifting its priorities from property to innovation, bringing health-care tech to market and helping companies scale right in West Philly.
LATEST TRIUMPH: When Hudson first came on as chief defender of the Defender Association of Philadelphia, reducing attrition was the name of the game. Since then, shifting the goalposts to funding has resulted in great overall success: In her first year, the association snagged a $5.8 million budget increase, and a year later, it notched a further $7.7 million. QUOTABLE: “My priorities going forward will be to continue to raise our budget so that we can hopefully finally achieve parity with our district attorney counterparts.”
NOW WE’RE COOKING WITH GAS: Under Brown’s leadership, Philabundance has doubled both its staff and the amount of food it distributed; the food-purchasing budget has quadrupled, and weekly visitors to its food banks have increased from 90,000 to 135,000. BEEF: The P word — poverty (and pessimism). Having seats on the boards of the Philadelphia Health Partnership, the city’s Office of Community Empowerment & Opportunity Oversight, the Independence Foundation, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia can’t hurt, though.
