4. John Fry

School Swapper

Has there ever been a worse year to be a university president? In the wake of nationwide campus unrest over the war in Gaza, university leaders have had to reckon with everything from made-for-TV congressional hearings featuring accusations of antisemitism to blowback for calling in riot police on peaceful student protestors. Sometimes a president hasn’t even made it through the entire cycle. Penn president Liz Magill failed the hearing test, which produced her resignation and interim president Larry Jameson (#21), who then brought in the cops. Half of the Ivy League’s presidents have resigned in the past year.

But this is about John Fry. And what is notable about Fry is the way he has managed — despite also calling police to remove an encampment on his Drexel campus — to emerge with his reputation more or less intact. Now Fry is making a big move: After 14 years at Drexel, he’s set to become the president of Temple University on November 1st.

Fry’s record is no secret. As executive vice president of Penn in the late ’90s, he helped oversee the school’s neighborhood improvement plan that transformed (and yes, gentrified) University City. At Drexel, he presided over a major reputational boost, not to mention the $3.5 billion Schuylkill Yards development that has produced glittering towers and new life sciences labs.

Where Fry goes, change follows. If the trend holds, by the time Fry is done at Temple, Philly’s public university and its North Philly neighborhood could look a lot different. Fry does not seem inclined to waste any time. “Being able to get off to a fast start is really important,” he says.

7. Leslie Richards

SEPTA Driver

When Richards started her job as SEPTA’s CEO and GM in January 2020, she had a list of projects to tackle in her first 100 days, among them a new bus network; clearer and more helpful directional signage; a move toward more frequent service; and a project reimagining Regional Rail frequency, stations, and fares.

And then, well … you know this story. COVID-19. A ridership crisis. Now a funding gap so big that a hiring freeze and fare increases barely ding it, so dire that in a September letter to the editor in the Inky, Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce president Chellie Cameron (#69) implored the state lawmakers who’ll finalize the budget at year’s end to understand that the “future of our state and regional economy hangs in the balance.”

What you might not know, though, is that amid all of this, Richards has been ticking things off her list. There’s the new bus network, for one. There will soon be a new no-charge policy for transfers within two hours; brand-new, sparkly trolley cars and station upgrades; new, modern subway cars; and a “wayfinding” project that’s putting more seamless, intuitive signage and directionals all around the system. And they just finalized a draft of the Reimagining Regional Rail project.

“I’m excited about the programs we’re moving forward,” Richards says — so excited, she adds, “that sometimes people think I’ve lost my mind.”

She has not. Visit Philly prez Angela Val (#19) puts it thusly: Richards simply understands how “her focus on improving public transit directly supports our economy and the daily lives of everyone who lives, works, or visits here.”

Meanwhile, Richards says she’s pleased with how many movers and shakers across sectors are also talking about this, how the transportation industry and commonwealth are having conversations about funding they haven’t had before. “That makes me optimistic,” she says, though not blindly so. For this moment, Richards paraphrases a hero of hers, Madeleine Albright: “I’m an optimist — but an optimist who worries a lot.”

(On October 24 Richards announced she’d be stepping down from her role as CEO and GM, effective November 29.)

14. Kevin Bethel

Transformative Chief

Taking over as the city’s police commissioner following the tumultuous tenure of Danielle Outlaw wasn’t an easy task for Bethel, a veteran police officer who previously served as the school district’s chief of school safety. But within months, he’s turned around the public’s perception of safety in the city, as major changes under his leadership are already showing noticeable improvements.

Philly is currently experiencing its lowest homicide and nonfatal shooting numbers in nearly a decade. (These rates are falling nationwide, but it’s been especially precipitous here, where gun violence has dropped more than it has in any of the other 49 most populous U.S. cities.) Bethel says this is based on the implementation of a data-driven approach that focuses on innovative policing strategies, community partnerships, and strong leadership.

“To be clear, there’s much more work to do, as one homicide is too many, but I think we’d all much rather have our statistics trending in the direction they are now,” Bethel says. “I have to give a lot of credit to the men and women of the department, who work tirelessly every day, as well as to Mayor Cherelle Parker (#1), whose leadership and trust in me has been instrumental in moving these efforts forward.”

His boss would agree.

“Aside from being, in my opinion, the best police commissioner in the country, he knows that strengthening police and community relations is essential to improving policing,” Parker says, adding that Bethel has “both the professional and lived experience to do the job right.”

As Bethel says, there’s work still to be done. The department’s clearing of Kensington received mixed reviews, and our 911 response — or should we say nonresponse — is slowly climbing out of the toilet thanks to increased funding from the Parker administration. And, to be fair, Bethel’s only had the job for 10 months.

“He is setting the tone in this city and the police department of making Philadelphia safer for every resident, in every neighborhood, every day,” Parker says.

17. John Middleton

The Crowd Pleaser

Fans know that sports teams tend to endure phases when they’re rebuilding and then, if rebuilt well, enjoy phases when they’re competing for a title. It’s largely a boom-and-bust cycle.

And these are indeed boom times for the Phillies, with an All-Star core in place for the foreseeable future and an owner who’s committed to the audacious idea that his team can — no, should — win every single year. When Middleton, the CEO and managing partner of the team’s leadership group, lured legendary exec Dave Dombrowski to Philly to run the show in 2020, he did so, he says, with this simple plea: “I said, Dave, you know this boom-to-bust cycle that a lot of teams have and that the Phillies, frankly, have had a lot worse than some other teams? It’s just got to stop. And he said, Yeah, I agree with you. And I said, So, all I want you to do is win now and win later.”

It’s a tall order, though the Phillies have assembled a roster full of stars in their prime and a farm system laden with high-upside prospects. History suggests that perpetual competitiveness is rare, maybe even impossible, but that doesn’t faze Middleton. “My father once told me, ‘Your goals are unachievable.’ I said, ‘Yeah, but if I fall short of an unachievable goal, I’m probably going to do better than if I set an achievable goal.’” It’s the kind of mindset that can permeate an organization and, as the last few years have shown, a whole city.

19. Angela Val

Billboard Wizard

You’re driving on I-76 along the river as traffic inevitably slows. You sneak a glance across the water over to the skyline, a moment of architectural stress relief. And then you see it, at the spot where 76 meets the Vine Street Expressway: the single best billboard in the city.

Since purchasing the billboard a year ago, Visit Philadelphia, the city’s tourism marketing agency, has swapped the display seven times. “We decided on that billboard to only talk about good news and great things that happen in Philadelphia,” says Visit Philly CEO Angela Val. There are no rules for how long a message should remain displayed, only one fundamental question: Is it billboard-worthy? When Jason Kelce retired? Clearly billboard-worthy. “Jason Kelce, consider this a placeholder for your statue,” the billboard declared a few days later. When a group of kids from Central became world champions? Swapped again: “Beep, boop. Yo! Central High School, winner of the FIRST Robotics world championship.”

In a world of increasingly convoluted digital marketing tools, Val has hit on something with the analog: A billboard in the right place, with the right message, can still get people’s attention. Val plans to use the billboard as part of a pride campaign — one that’s aimed not at Visit Philly’s standard tourist targets but at locals — ahead of the year of celebrations for America’s 250th birthday in 2026.

“Now that we have an administration that is addressing some of the core quality-of-life issues, people don’t need to just hear the numbers,” Val says. “They have to feel it, have to feel the place is getting better and that this is a place they want to be.” If not the Schuylkill Expressway, then at least Philadelphia.

28. Dean Adler and Ira Lubert

The Reclusive Reusers

A city as rich in old buildings as Philadelphia should have many people working to repurpose them after they no longer perform their original functions. And it does: Carl Dranoff (#52) got his start transforming old buildings into new residences, and PMC Property Group’s Ron Caplan (#130) makes a habit of this as well. But the co-founders of Lubert-Adler are the masters of the art of recycling buildings. (Caplan and Lubert-Adler went in together on remaking the former auto fabrication plant at 2400 Market Street that both Aramark and Lubert-Adler call home.)

The duo is known for being media-shy. In general, they prefer to share their insights with fellow investors while letting their work speak to the public for itself. And it does make a statement: Their most recent completed work, the Battery (pictured), not only transformed a former PECO generating station into apartments, offices, a hotel, and an event space but also won a 2024 Grand Jury Award from the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia. Their current remake, which adds residences to the hotel/office/retail mix at the Bellevue, will no doubt be a strong contender for next year’s awards.

But this year has also brought unwanted attention. A Camden project Lubert invested in a decade ago is at the center of a racketeering indictment against South Jersey political boss George Norcross. Lubert himself hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing, but per the Inquirer he may be asked to testify at the trial — if it happens: In September, Norcross’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the charges.

Perhaps it’s not surprising that a firm that’s invested in 767 properties from coast to coast finds itself entangled, on occasion, in the sordid affairs of others.

31. Sasha Suda

The Curator

Sasha Suda believes the Philadelphia Museum of Art has had a very good year. Granted, almost any year would look rosy compared to the outset of Suda’s tenure as CEO of the PMA, when her very first day on the job in late 2022 coincided with the start of a strike that threatened to jeopardize the museum’s marquee Matisse exhibition. (After two years of bargaining, the museum reached a contract agreement with the union two days before the exhibition opened. Despite the agreement, Halcyone Schiller, the union’s president, says Suda “has practically no relationship with the union.”)

Union tensions notwithstanding, this year, Suda is happy to point out, the PMA has been making some significant tweaks to its programming structure. “Typically how our model works is we do major exhibitions, and then we have these peaks and valleys,” she says. The museum’s recent Mary Cassatt exhibition was an undeniable peak. “We’ve had reviews in every major newspaper; the great art critics have come to see that show,” Suda says. But during what once would have been a subsequent valley period, Suda and the museum have partnered with local artists to curate Friday nights at the museum, displaying their work and drawing in new visitors. “It feels like we’re starting to do what our ambition is, which is to make the PMA a place where communities across the city feel reflected,” she says. “We’ve been throwing the doors as wide open as we can.”

34. The Philanthropists

Philly’s Funders

Money, as they say, makes the world go ’round — and in Philly, that money often comes from the William Penn Foundation, the $2.2 billion family foundation established by chemical manufacturing magnate Otto Haas and still run by his family. For almost 80 years now, the Haas fortune has supported, grown, floated, or outright launched countless — countless! — pieces of and people in this city, from Center City’s Rail Park expansion to FIFA-related construction to the Committee of Seventy, to name three of the 100-plus grant recipients from this year alone.

The big news this year — aside from the $24 million the foundation dedicated to Philly’s public spaces and arts and culture organizations — is a shift in the funding model. First, the behemoth is widening its traditional focus, creating more space to invest in workforce development and democracy and civic initiatives. Second, they’ve tweaked their application process, hoping to encourage easier access.

“We’re trying a lot of new things, guided by a set of core values and informed by community voice,” says board chair Kathy Christiano (above, right). “Our hope is that our new priorities and new process opens the door for more organizations. We may not get it all right, but we are committed to listening, learning, and improving, and are excited about that journey.”

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Foundation — whose raison d’être similarly involves giving money away in the name of a better Philadelphia — doesn’t have the same heft, exactly (the community foundation’s assets are valued at just shy of $600 million). But like William Penn, its philanthropic partnerships have had decades of impact across the city. (Think: the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, resident-led economic development through the Regional Foundation, impact investing through the Visions Fund.) Under president and CEO Pedro Ramos (above, left), the foundation has doubled assets and nearly tripled grants, but also, intriguingly, grown a reputation for a real civic voice and leadership. To wit? Ramos recently played an active role in the hiring of longtime Drexel president John Fry (#4) to lead Temple.

43. Michael Newmuis

2026 Czar

It’s probably not a great sign for the Semiquincentennial that before we go any further, we need to define what the Semiquincentennial is: the 250th anniversary of American independence.

One reason you may not have heard much about 2026 planning is because most of it so far has been, well, scattershot: There’s a national nonprofit tasked by the federal government with organizing the overall celebration, there are the statewide offshoots of that national organization, and there’s a completely independent local nonprofit that has taken it upon itself to plan things for Philadelphia.

And then there is Newmuis, a city official in the mayor’s office whom Cherelle Parker (#1) appointed in February. The idea of having a 2026 czar (official title: “2026 director”) came about during mayoral transition planning. “One of the things we all agreed on was the city needed to have a point person that was overseeing 2026,” says Visit Philly CEO Angela Val (#19). Previously, 2026 planning had essentially been a side gig for a bunch of people busy with other jobs. “We needed someone who was going to wake up every morning and think about this,” Val says.

So far, the 2026 headliner events — the World Cup, the MLB All-Star game — haven’t been planned by the city. Newmuis is hoping for a major New Year’s Eve celebration that will rival New York’s as we enter 2026. He also wants to ensure that 2026 is a boon to the city’s commercial corridors and catapults neighborhoods that are “on the brink of being tourism-ready” to being bona fide destinations. In the best-case scenario, that’s what 2026 will be about: a chance to use a nice round number on the calendar to make lasting improvements and investments in the city.

47. Jason and Kylie Kelce

The Royals

We’re well established as a monarchy-free zone, but if Philly had a royal couple there’s only one pair who could occupy the throne. He’s the beer-guzzling, larger-than-life prom king with a Hall of Fame career behind him and a broadcasting career taking off. Yeah, Jason doesn’t wash his feet or his hair, rarely wears underwear and tells the world about it on his mega-popular podcast, and drives a Cybertruck, but he does it all with a heart of gold and bare-chested rizz.

She’s the relatively camera-shy field hockey coach and champion for worthy causes, like the Eagles Autism Foundation. A benevolent queen. There’s a temptation to call Kylie the beauty to his beast, but she’s a tough-as-nails athlete too, with the Philly roots to match. She was a fan of the Eagles long before she married one.

They are adorable, and adorable together, and they use their spotlight to rep us well.

Furthermore, often in partnership with Prince Travis, the Kelces have built an empire, a diversified portfolio of dealings and doings to build the Kelce brand. All hail.

56. Ken Lawrence

Railroad Warrior

There are a lot of boards in this town. Tourism boards, nonprofit boards, museum boards, maybe even boards for boards. And lots of them are full of well-intentioned, philanthropy-minded members who may know very little about the institutions on whose boards they sit.

This is not the case for Ken Lawrence. Born in Chester County, raised in Montgomery County, and educated at Temple, he’s ridden the rails and buses of the SEPTA system his entire life. So when longtime SEPTA board chair Pasquale “Pat” Deon announced he was stepping down, Lawrence was a natural choice to take over. He’s the first Democrat and the first Black person to chair the board, and with massive funding gaps, public perception issues, and reliability concerns, he’s got his work cut out for him. But the seasoned pol — he was a Montgomery County commissioner for seven years — has a pitch for Harrisburg.

“Southeastern PA is the economic driver for the state, so supporting public transportation here, supporting the economy and SEPTA, supports the entire economy of Pennsylvania,” Lawrence says. “SEPTA is also a major vendor. You know, we have billions of dollars in procurement throughout the state, buying local from the state whenever we can. So I think supporting SEPTA is supporting the state, not just the southeast.”

On top of, you know, helping to run one of the largest transit agencies in America, Lawrence also somehow has a day job. He’s a senior VP of corporate affairs at Highmark Blue Shield, the Pittsburgh-based insurer that’s trying to cut into Independence Blue Cross’s stranglehold in the region. A Philly guy through and through, it’s been an adjustment: “I think this is the first time in my life that I haven’t had IBX for my insurance.”

57. John Chin

Neighborhood Protector

When, over the summer, we interviewed longtime Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation executive director John Chin — he’s basically the mayor of Chinatown — for the pages of this magazine, there was still hope in the hearts and minds of many of the opponents of the proposed Sixers arena that said arena wouldn’t be built.

This was before the city released impact studies showing that the Sixers arena could essentially destroy the tight-knit, historic neighborhood, estimating that more than 50 percent of businesses in Chinatown would “experience net-negative economic benefit,” while fewer than 20 percent of businesses would see positive benefits. (The other 30 percent? “Varied benefits and eventually … positive or negative.” Doesn’t sound promising.) This was also before Mayor Parker (#1) announced in September that she had reached a “historic agreement” with arena developers, all but sealing the deal, and later doubled down on her apparent belief that the arena is divinely ordained.

Now Chin has to pivot from a how-do-we-stop-this-from-happening stance to a what-do-we-do-now-that-it’s-happening position, with the smart money on the Sixers playing immediately adjacent to his community as early as the fall of 2031 — seven short years away.

The businesses and residents of Chinatown are looking for a protector — they don’t want Philadelphia’s Chinatown to suffer the fate of Washington, D.C.’s nearly nonexistent Chinatown, which pales in comparison to what it was before developers built an arena there — and the mission statement of Chin’s group is to “preserve, protect, and promote Chinatown.”

On a brighter note, the Chinatown Stitch project that Chin has been wanting for so long is moving forward. The project will partially cap the ugly disgrace of the Vine Street Expressway, which currently divides the neighborhood, with parks and other recreation. And Chin is hard at work on determining whether it’s viable to move the commercial center of Chinatown from tiny, narrow Race Street to the much wider and more easily developable Vine.

60. The Olympians

Gold Diggers

Our fair city made its mark on the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, with an Avengers-worthy assemblage of area athletes representing not only the United States, but Egypt, Canada, Bermuda, Australia, and more. Some of them grew up around here; some went to school here; all of them did us proud. Most important, they inspired a generation of kids to say, “Huh, maybe I’d like to be a fencer too.”

North Philly-born Kahleah Copper (above, bottom row left) was clutch in the American women’s basketball team’s gold-clinching game. In rowing, Drexel alum Justin Best (above, top row left) and Chesco’s Nick Mead (above, bottom row middle) were part of a four-man team that eked out a victory against the Kiwis in a photo finish. Philly native and Friends Select alum Maia Weintraub (above, bottom row right) foiled her fencing opponents and took home the gold.

When it came to picking a team, Sixers star Joel Embiid (#70) had options. He could have played for Cameroon, where he was born, but they didn’t make the tournament. He could have played for France, where he’s a naturalized citizen. But Embiid — who’s lived in the U.S. since he was 16, and who became an American citizen in 2022 — opted to play for Team USA. This did not go over well with the French, who booed him at every victory on the way to the top spot on the podium. Désolés, les Français.

Soccer midfielder Paxten Aaronson (alum of the increasingly impressive Philadelphia Union Academy), field hockey player Karlie Kisha (a coach at Villanova), Penn discus throwers Sam Mattis (above, top row right) and Ashley Anumba (who competed for USA and Nigeria, respectively) … the list goes on and on. We are a city of champions. Never forget that.

62. Lauren Cristella

Trusted Messenger

There’s one word in Cristella’s X bio that comes before everything else. Before her role at the Committee of Seventy, the nonpartisan better government group she runs; before her former role at the League of Women Voters; hell, even before mom. It’s enthusiast.

Spend any time with Cristella and you’ll see why. Whether it’s C70’s We Vote program, an upcoming democracy summit during the country’s 250th birthday celebration in 2026, or this year’s election being “free, fair, safe, and secure,” her passion for democracy infuses every conversation.

“Our approach is to connect the dots and say, ‘It’s voting and,’” Cristella says. “It’s voting and knowing who your councilperson is, and contacting them, and being connected to your community development corporation, your civic association, your school, the schools in your area before you have kids, or even if you don’t have kids, right? And we’re trying to connect those dots for people and make it as easy and accessible as possible.”

C70 achieves that in a cornucopia of ways. It’s the “How Philly Works” city government guide — which, we admit, we use here at Philly Mag from time to time — which has become so popular at city libraries and rec centers that the city of Pittsburgh has asked the group to create one for the Steel City as well. It’s hiring Spanish-speaking educators to work with organizations in North Philly. It’s translating all their work into at least Spanish and Mandarin. It’s putting a full-time staffer on youth civic education. And it’s having the people to do it: Since Cristella became president and CEO in June 2023, she’s doubled the full-time staff.

All these things, Cristella believes, build a foundation for a better-educated, more politically active city. As the birthplace of American democracy, why would we accept anything else?

67. Tierra Whack

Surreal-est Surrealist

Don’t look now, but Whack is the most exciting new voice in music. Again. Back in 2018, music nerds spread the word like whooping cough: You gotta hear this mixtape. It’s pop, it’s rap. It’s playful, it’s catchy, it’s delightfully weird. Each song has a video. Each song is just a minute long. Who does that — just walks away from a killer hook like that? Whack World (15 songs, 14 minutes, 58 seconds) scored the North Philly artiste a profile in the New Yorker, an A from rock critic to the gods Robert Christgau, and countless comparisons to Missy Elliott.

But that was a mixtape. And six years ago. So allow Whack to reintroduce herself. World Wide Whack, released in March on Interscope, is her first studio record, her second rookie card, and maybe the album of the year.

Compared to Whack World, World Wide Whack is deeper, darker, more twisted, more worried. Even when the music is daring and mischievous, there are strains of depression and discomfort in the lyrics. Several songs break the two-minute barrier, but it feels more luxurious than indulgent. Her idiosyncrasies have room to breathe. World Wide Whack comes with its own slew of videos, including a masterfully surreal trilogy directed by Philly artist Alex Da Corte. In “27 Club,” circus and high school imagery intertwine while Whack sings about suicide in lullaby tones. In “Two Night,” she floats among Philadelphia skyscrapers as a runaway parade balloon.

She name-checks Boyz II Men and Apollo Creed. She brought the Phanatic to her Tiny Desk Concert. She’s forever Philly.

68. Donna Bullock

Renaissance Public Servant

After nearly a decade serving as a Pennsylvania state representative, Bullock made a surprising move in assuming leadership of Project HOME, becoming the nonprofit’s first CEO after its beloved co-founder Sister Mary Scullion. But Bullock’s work in Harrisburg illustrates why she will be perfect in this new role.

As majority chair of the state House Children and Youth Committee, she championed legislation that provided families with support, instead of simply criminalizing them. She made legislative efforts to modernize the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutrition program, providing resources for children and youth experiencing homelessness. And at a time when housing stability and scarcity have made their way all the way up to presidential platforms, there’s no more important time to lead Project HOME.

“I am helping Philadelphia by empowering others — other leaders, interns, voters — and now in my new role, individuals and families experiencing homelessness,” Bullock says on making the transition. “As our city braces to address the complex challenges of homelessness, I hope to lean into Project HOME’s legacy of compassion, activism, inclusion, and empowerment.” While such a professional pivot might appear challenging to some, Bullock’s former colleagues in Harrisburg know she’s up to the job.

“Donna pours her whole self into everything she does. She’s a great listener and empathizes with the people she serves,” says Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton (#15). “Now at Project HOME, she can dedicate her efforts to helping our region tackle one of its most serious challenges: housing affordability.”