ThinkFest Features Philly’s Brightest Thinkers

Good morning, Philadelphia and happy National Nachos Day. Here’s what you need to know today:

It’s ThinkFest today! Join Philly Mag on the Drexel campus, or watch the livestream at PhillyMag.com/ThinkFest.

Quick show of hands: Is Philadelphia moving in the right direction? In the wrong direction? In circles? Broadly speaking, that’s the question we’ll be asking today as Philly Mag presents ThinkFest 2015, our fourth annual ideas conference. This is a one-day event featuring some of the most powerful, intriguing and entertaining people in Philly and beyond — from politicos like Governor Tom Wolf and Mayor Michael Nutter to creative forces like Jennifer Weiner, Buzz Bissinger and Abbi Jacobson. If you didn’t get your tickets already — they’re not being sold at the door — you can watch the live streaming video here at PhillyMag.com.

• 9 a.m. From Broad Street to Broad City: Lessons from the New World of Entertainment
Abbi Jacobson and Jennifer Weiner

• 9:30 a.m. Shaking Up The System: Rethinking How We Solve Social Problems
Farah Jimenez with welcome from the Dean of Drexel’s LeBow College of Business

• 10 a.m. From Entrepreneur to CEO: My Greatest Adventure Yet
Todd Carmichael with performance from FringeArts

• 10:25 a.m. 15-minute break

• 10:40 a.m. Designing for Care: Transforming How Health Care Services Are Delivered*
Ben Kehl and Chris Finlay (*Sponsored content)

• 10:50 a.m. Solving The City’s Jobs Crisis: Smart Steps to Keep Philly Growing
Jerry Sweeney with introduction from Saul Ewing

• 11:15 a.m. Tales from the Crypt: What Caitlyn Jenner, Friday Night Lights and Ed Rendell Have in Common
Buzz Bissinger and Tom McGrath

• 11:45 a.m. The Gentrification Wars: Can Philly Have Urbanism and Equality?
Inga Saffron, Jay McCalla, Beth McConnell and Calvin Gladney with performance from FringeArts

• 12:20 p.m. Lunch

• 12:55 p.m. Made in Philadelphia: How the City of Firsts Continues to Innovate
Sam Schwartz

• 1:20 p.m. From DNA to FDA: Reversing Blindness
Dr. Jean Bennett

• 1:30 p.m. Fast and Effective: Combining Innovation with Emergency Medicine*
Einstein Healthcare Network’s Melissa Kohn, MD  (*Sponsored)

• 1:35 p.m. The Business of Diversity: The Hidden Secret to Supercharging Philly’s Tech Scene
Brigitte Daniel

• 2 p.m. Building a 21st Century State: Innovation in Schools, Jobs and the Economy
Governor Tom Wolf with introduction from Wells Fargo

• 2:35 p.m. 15-minute break

• 2:50 p.m. Philly’s Digital Storytellers: Impact and Engagement for a New Generation
Emma Fried-Cassorla, Cory J. Popp and Conrad Benner

• 3:15 p.m. It Came from Wharton: Tales from a Successful Startup
Neil Blumenthal and Leigh Gallagher

• 3:45 p.m. The Next Philadephia: What I’ve Learned and Where We’re Headed
Mayor Michael Nutter and Patrick Kerkstra

• 4:15 p.m. Happy Hour

In other news…

Jim Kenney’s transition team is a Who’s Who of Philadelphians.

Philly Mag’s Holly Otterbein reports: Democratic State Rep. Dwight Evans and former human services commissioner Alba Martinez are the co-chairs. Also on the team? South Philadelphia High School principal Otis Hackney, Philadelphia NOW president Nina Ahmad, Philadelphia AFL-CIO president Pat Eiding, Local 98 counsel Tara Chupka, Temple Law School dean Joanne Epps, civil rights attorney David Rudovsky, Brandywine Realty Trust president Jerry Sweeney, and Public Citizens For Children and Youth chief Donna Cooper.

And there’s a whole lot more where that came from. Kenney’s transition team is 169 people deep. 169! That’s huge. Though we’re admittedly still poring over that massive list of names, Kenney’s transition team appears diverse in terms of race, gender and expertise. That’s notable because some in the political class have been quietly wondering if Kenney’s senior team in City Hall will be as diverse as his campaign has promised it would be. Kenney won May’s primary election on the strength of one of the broadest and most diverse coalitions in the city’s recent political history.

Kathleen Kane has told a judge that there were no leaks in the Jerry Sandusky case.

“Attorney General Kathleen Kane told a judge (Thursday) that she had no evidence state prosecutors or another judge leaked to the media grand jury secrets involving convicted pedophile Jerry Sandusky, and did not mean to imply they did in a press statement she made last week,” the Morning Call reports. Cane had been called to testify because a judge believed she had alleged such a leak in a late-October press release from her office. The result of Kane’s testimony? The judge denied a request from Sandusky’s lawyer seeking evidence of such leaks.

Chris Christie has been deemed unready for prime time in the next Republican presidential debate.

Newsweek reports: “Eight Republican presidential candidates will participate in Fox Business’ prime-time debate next Tuesday, but New Jersey Governor Chris Christie did not qualify for the main event, the network said on Thursday. … Christie had been on the main stage for the first three televised Republican debates.” To get into the main debate, Fox said candidates need to be polling at 2.5 percent or better. Christie didn’t make the cut.

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