Kopelman, Seven Others Named to Inky Parent Board

Gerry Lenfest just gave a big nod to the local startup community.

Philadelphia Media Network, the parent company of the Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com, has named eight new board members — and the most intriguing has got to be Josh Kopelman.

Sure, the co-founder of First Round Capital fits the criteria of being wealthy and successful like the other board members, but perhaps Lenfest hopes Kopelman will bring a certain “cool factor” and innovative thinking to the organization. Kopelman had the good sense to invest in Uber, Square and TaskRabbit and is now seen as royalty in the tech/venture capital world. He’s likely the company’s first board member that goes to work at a co-working space wearing sneakers.

Here’s a list of other board members:

Terry Egger – former publisher of the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who led the drive to bring next year’s Republican National Convention to Cleveland.

David Haas – Rohm & Haas heir and board member of the William Penn Foundation.

Stephen J. Harmelin – partner and vice chairman of the executive committee of law firm Dilworth Paxson.

Lisa Kabnick – a lawyer at Reed Smith.

David Schizer – professor of law and economics at Columbia Law School.

Richard Worley – founder of Permit Capital and chair of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association.

Keith Leaphart – owner of Replica Global