Honors
The 2025 City & State 40 In Their Forties
Meet the primetime players innovating, leading and succeeding across the state.
Natalie Ahwesh, Hagir Elsheikh & state Rep. Tarik Khan Eric Forberger
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In conversations with this year’s City & State 40 In Their 40s honorees, the word “balance” came up again and again. Work and family, entrepreneurship and philanthropy, staying home or moving for opportunity: They’re complex challenges for professionals in the fullest decade of life, when competing priorities test limits – but also spur innovation in fields ranging from gaming and health care to lobbying and construction. If the forties are a balancing act, these Pennsylvanians are managing it with admirable agility.
Natalie Ahwesh
Barely 40, Natalie Ahwesh is already racking up wins in her second career: As the chief of Humane Action PA, the former Pittsburgh math teacher has passed laws banning circus animal performances and products made from force-fed animals.
Last year, her efforts yielded a statewide measure that includes companion animals in abuse protection orders, meaning domestic violence survivors no longer have to choose between leaving an abusive situation and leaving their pets behind.
“We’re thrilled about that,” says Ahwesh, who planned to celebrate by visiting her 60th country.
Diving into new challenges is on brand for the world traveler, who was a longtime volunteer at Human Action Pittsburgh before a 2022 grant created her full-time role (she also directs state affairs for Animal Wellness Action). This year, she is championing a measure to ban mass balloon releases, which are already prohibited in other states for creating litter and choking hazards for birds and marine animals.
With degrees in math from the University of Pittsburgh and George Washington University, Ahwesh makes an outsized impact with HAP’s $300,000 budget. She’s guiding the third cohort of the organization's paid youth steering committee, a high school program that cultivates the next generation of animal advocates.
That approach comes naturally to Ahwesh, who still considers herself a teacher. “Most of what we do as an organization is education,” she explains, “trying to show people the interconnection between animal welfare, human welfare and other social issues.”
Alex Baloga
It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to sample the commonwealth’s pretzels, whoopee pies and other treats. “You can't lose your passion for snacks,” deadpans Alex Baloga, summarizing his role as chief of the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association. “You’ve gotta keep that fire burning.”
At 41, Baloga confesses, he’s more likely to watch what he eats – and to prioritize feeding others. Expanding access to healthy food is one of the signature priorities of his dozen-year tenure at PFMA, which has lobbied to support SNAP and WIC and has led efforts to grow the food-donation pipeline.
The Harrisburg native grew up on a steady diet of pretzels, CNN and C-SPAN – excellent preparation for a career in food advocacy. After studying political science at West Virginia University, he worked for the U.S. Senate before transitioning to lobbying.
Within a few years, Baloga achieved a longtime PFMA goal: putting alcohol in the long-dry aisles of Pennsylvania grocery stores. “That was one of the priorities the association was founded on in 1952 – emphasizing consumer choice and convenience,” he notes.
Baloga has also thrown the organization's support behind gaming legislation – members include the commonwealth’s largest lottery retailers – and workforce development (the most recent conference spotlighted neurodiversity).
He knows his advocacy is not only bettering his home state, but also fortifying the community his family will inherit. “My eldest is now at the same school my wife and I attended,” Baloga notes. “There's been a lot of full-circle moments these last 10 years.”
Michael Bettinger
Growing up in Montgomery County, “the community college was always part of my life,” says Michael Bettinger.
Eight years ago, it became his career. As government and external relations chief for Montgomery County Community College, Bettinger, 41, has led some of its most visible initiatives. He organized the county's first COVID-19 mass vaccination site, as well as FEMA’s disaster recovery base after Hurricane Ida and logistics around President Joe Biden's 2024 visit. Such undertakings “required a lot of coordination with different government agencies, and ultimately, we provided a lot of assistance for the community,” he notes.
Bettinger’s effectiveness stems in large part from his institutional knowledge of government, honed over a decade working in the state legislature. He’d been drawn to politics by interests in history – his West Chester University major – and national debates over the 2004 presidential election and the Iraq War.
But at some point, “it was time to focus on something more specific,” he explains. “On the government side, there's a lot that comes at you, and it's tough to focus on one thing.” Having discovered an aptitude for fundraising, Bettinger applied his know-how to securing funding for MCCC’s Challenger Learning Center at Montco Pottstown and for capital projects.
At a community college, “everyone gathers around that mission of providing opportunity and access,” he reflects. “You can have a real direct effect on someone's life – watching a person gain not just an education, but also confidence. And it’s a collective effort: Everyone's rowing on the same boat.”
Ashley Boop
At a recent concert near Harrisburg, Ashley Boop was bopping along to a band she’d loved since childhood when it hit her: “Every aspect of this tour – what you see, and behind the scenes – is all Pennsylvania companies.’
As a senior consultant at GSL Government Consulting & GSL Touring, Boop handles logistics for live events clients – and works on the state tax incentives that make artists likelier to perform locally. “Artists will say, ‘We weren't going to do a show in whatever city in Pennsylvania, but we’re coming because we want to be a part of this tax credit program,’” she says.
Boop specializes in communications, grant writing and economic development – a portfolio whose variety keeps her excited. She has particular expertise in facilitating state grants for capital developments: “It's really fun to watch a project start as an idea and then become a full-blown building and business, bringing and keeping jobs in the state.”
Raised in Central Pennsylvania, Boop led communications for state-level campaigns and was the political director for former state Senate Majority Whip Ryan Aument before joining GSL in 2022. She is also a member of the Republican State Committee and the executive director of the Building a Stronger Pennsylvania PAC.
And she still has to pinch herself at the concerts she helps make possible. “I couldn't have imagined as a kid somebody telling me, ‘Eventually, you're going to see behind-the-scenes tours and watch rehearsals,’” Boop relates. “When I take a step back and look at what I'm doing, it’s really pretty cool.”
Shamaine Daniels
For the past several months, Shamaine Daniels has been trying out meal services, trying to find food that appeals to both her and her 4-year-old daughter. “I hate cooking,” she admits with a laugh.
Daniels doesn’t have time for it, anyhow: In addition to being a mom, the 45-year-old is finishing her third term on Harrisburg City Council and starting a new, full-time role as Pennsylvania state director for CASA, a national progressive advocacy organization.
Until recently, she also had a solo immigration law practice and taught in the women's studies and political science departments at New Jersey City University. She has long been involved in political campaigns and issue advocacy, particularly in areas such as immigration and the protection of vulnerable populations.
Born in Venezuela, Daniels emigrated to Philadelphia with her family at the age of 13. Driven to combat the inequalities she’d seen growing up, she studied political science and hoped to be a diplomat. When her lack of citizenship at the time made that impossible, she earned degrees in women’s studies and law from the University of Cincinnati.
Still, Daniels realized that to effect real change, “I needed to make the laws, not just enforce them.” So she became the first Latina elected to Harrisburg City Council, where she helped modernize the city’s zoning and championed affordable housing and anti-discrimination measures.
Before joining CASA, “my life was split three ways: attorney, educator and politics,” reflects Daniels. Her new role, she says, “gives me the opportunity to combine all of those things.”
Jim Davis
Jim Davis got hooked on the excitement of lobbying early. “Policies change not only every year, but every day,” notes Davis, now executive vice president and the Pennsylvania state director at Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies. “What we're dealing with in 2025 is different than 2015 – and certainly in 2005.”
Case in point is one of Davis’ specialty areas, cannabis, a field that did not exist when he began his career in the 1990s. He has represented the Marijuana Policy Project since 2014, when it began as a coalition of mothers of epilepsy patients focused on legalizing medical marijuana in Pennsylvania.
Davis grew up outside Scranton and, after graduating from Duquesne University, went to work for then-state Senate Minority Leader Bob Mellow. He has led public affairs for Walmart and Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania; at Cozen O’Connor, he leads bipartisan lobbying efforts in Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
He also chairs the Glenburn Township Board of Supervisors, which has given him a new perspective on the officials he lobbies. “It’s a challenge when you’re in the grocery store, and somebody wants to talk to you about stormwater runoff,” he explains. “And that happens at a larger level as you get higher up. So I have a different appreciation for the people I work with – and I think they look at me differently too, because they understand that I was willing to do the same thing they did – to give back as well.”
Joseph DeFelice
It takes grit to lead Republicans in Philadelphia, a city where Democrats hold a 7-to-1 registration advantage.
But Joseph DeFelice learned that trait early. After all, he was the Republican son of a Teamsters Democrat, a teenage decision he laughingly says was made “more to rebel” than anything else.
Certainly all those qualities helped propel DeFelice, 47, to his latest role: Last January, President Donald Trump tapped him to oversee field offices for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he also serves as the mid-Atlantic regional administrator.
"I started literally at the bottom rung of local politics," reflects DeFelice, who likes to remind today's young people that “there is opportunity out there.” His passion for politics was ignited in 1991, when, at 13, he was drawn into former mayor Frank Rizzo’s comeback triumph in the GOP mayoral primary (Rizzo died during the campaign).
An assistant committeeman by age 18, DeFelice later became a ward leader, then executive director and chair of the Philadelphia GOP, where he helped galvanize support for Trump in his native Northeast during the 2016 election cycle.
Along the way, DeFelice also taught law at his alma maters, Widener and LaSalle universities; he also practiced law and was a Philadelphia-based regional administrator for HUD.
What he loves about his new role “is you can really help people,” DeFelice says. Running a Northeast Philadelphia civic association was satisfying, “but this gives me an opportunity to (help) on a much larger scale.”
Todd Dolbin
Like so many people in their 40s, Todd Dolbin has a new appreciation for his hometown – in his case, State College, which he left after his Penn State graduation. “Once you have kids, you start realizing, this is actually a really cool place to live,” laughs Dolbin, 45 and the father of two. “You’ve got the outdoors and hiking and nature – and if you want activity, you have football weekends.”
Dolbin’s perspective was shaped by stints in Singapore (study abroad), rural Japan (post-college years teaching English) and Baltimore County, Maryland, where he launched a career in public-sector economic development. “I fell in love with understanding the way different municipalities work, the amenities they have for citizens,” he says, citing Asia’s seamless transportation systems as an eye-opener.
A few years ago, Dolbin jumped at the chance to lead economic development for the Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County, bringing his global perspective to his home region. He masterminded the county’s first strategic plan in decades, spearheaded Centre’s Economic Development Council, held a summit to address affordable housing and tripled job fair participation numbers by partnering with Pennsylvania CareerLink.
Steering collaboration between local employers and Penn State’s career office, Dolbin is thinking partly about his own two young children – and how to keep the next generation close to home, a case he’s in an ideal position to make. “If students here have internships and they like their job and the area,” he says, “there's a high likelihood we could retain some of this talent.”
Emily Dowdall
Emily Dowdall’s passion for cities stems from her Philadelphia childhood – and has never waned.
“There were lots of news stories talking about the problems – disinvestment, population loss,” recalls Dowdall, 44. “But I saw the value in my neighborhood. I figured out pretty early that I wanted to study cities – and how to make them work.”
For the past decade, Dowdall has applied what she’s learned to her hometown at the Reinvestment Fund, the nonprofit where she heads policy solutions. Her specialty is orchestrating partnerships to tackle urban challenges like affordable housing.
Dowdall’s team recently furnished the City of Philadelphia with data that will help define goals for Mayor Cherelle Parker’s housing program. A few years ago, Dowdall collected eviction data and spearheaded efforts to build the city’s eviction diversion initiative.
After majoring in urban studies at New York University, Dowdall got a practical education working for then-New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. “I learned the potential for what makes local government work and how data was driving policies, and that’s informed my whole career since,” she says.
Now Dowdall, who holds a master’s in urban planning from Penn, loves sharing her passion for her work and her city with her two young children. “It's so important to pass on what it means to actually look forward to going to work every day…And living in the city, I've helped instill in them a curiosity about our surroundings here in Philadelphia.”
Erin Drummond
Shortly after Erin Drummond’s first child was born nine years ago, she was asked to describe herself in a single word. “Nurturing,” the new mom responded reflexively. But the follow-up question, posed by a colleague, gave her pause: Would people in all aspects of her life describe her that way?
“That moment in that hallway really caused a shift in how I approached my job,” said Drummond, now 45 and the mother of two. A counselor by training, she has devoted her life to human services at the organization now known as Woods System of Care, which provides services to more than 50,000 individuals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey with disabilities, autism and mental health challenges.
Drummond’s other major perspective shift occurred three years ago, when she was treated for breast cancer. “I’m much better able to prioritize things and have a work life balance now,” she says, “which I really try to instill upon everybody around me – thinking about the things that really matter.”
As senior vice president of human relations and strategic leadership, the Poconos native has expanded employee education, securing major grants for professional development and championing Woods’ subsidized employee higher-education program.
“We've had people in their 30s and 40s who started with our associate cohort, and now have a master's degree,” she says. “To give them the supports and watch them thrive, it’s wonderful.”
Brian Ebersole
Health policy, medical education and entrepreneurship: Brian Ebersole’s two decades of experience in these areas come together in his latest role, heading academic affairs for The Wright Centers for Community Health & Graduate Medical Education.
Ebersole once thought he’d be a physician himself. He instead oversees physician training, developing residency programs to meet the demand for high-need specialties – and doing it at federally qualified health centers, a pioneering aspect of Wright’s medical education.
“It's that entrepreneurial spirit that I love – creating new things,” says Ebersole. “Even in my time at the government, it was always in those new spaces – the legislative work of developing newborn screening programs, or developing the hotline when gambling started in Pennsylvania.
“If you're really going to change healthcare, you need to teach the doctors to do things differently.” At the Wright Center, Ebersole applied his experience at Wright, at Geisinger and with a health startup to oversee a curriculum redesign.
Raised in Central Pennsylvania, he studied politics at Ursinus College, then gained experience in health policy by working in several state departments. At the Governor's Office of Health Care Reform, he led the creation of a first-in-the-nation family medicine training model.
“Public health is an opportunity to really look at not just an individual,” says Ebersole, “but really thinking about: How do you redesign the system to be better for everyone?”
Hagir Elsheikh
Many women who’ve been sexually assaulted and beaten by violent extremists, then suffered domestic abuse, wouldn’t feel comfortable speaking about it.
But Hagir Elsheikh, a Sudanese-American human rights activist, uses her difficult past to connect with thousands of people across Pennsylvania and beyond. “I talk openly so people know how to reach out,” says Elsheikh, a public speaker whose online platform, Hagir Network, includes a YouTube channel. “The show is to provide resources – and tell women what they can do.”
Now 48, Elsheikh grew up the youngest of 10 children in Khartoum, where her activist father was arrested for forming Sudan’s first medical union. “I learned beyond my age about social injustice, and how one person can truly make a difference,” says Elsheikh, who was persecuted for her own youthful activism.
She settled in Mechanicsburg as a refugee in 2001, studying nursing and starting a staffing agency for healthcare workers while raising three children on her own. She has since launched two nonprofits: Kareem’s Mission, inspired by her youngest son’s autism journey, and Tomorrow’s Smile, combating domestic violence.
“From the moment I opened my mouth, you get harassment, you get called names,” she says. But Elsheikh says it’s worth it to help the desperate women who call from around the world, seeking support. “I'm not a superwoman. I am just like anybody else,” she adds, “but I'm determined not to let my circumstances dictate my future. And not to leave this world without doing everything in my power to make it better.”
Feben Habte
When Feben Habte started at Moravia Health, its founder, Frank Igwe, had recently launched home health services in Philadelphia. A decade later, Habte serves as chief administrative officer for a fast-growing company that has expanded throughout 21 states – on its way, she says, to 50 – and achieved best-in-class accreditation by The Joint Commission.
“I just saw an opportunity, and I jumped for it,” explains Habte of her tenure with Moravia. “I saw this as a way to be a part of something that gives back to the community I live in.”
That idea has special resonance for Habte, who was born in Sudan and emigrated with her family to Pennsylvania at a very young age. “Seeing my parents’ hard work, their struggle to make a good life for me and my siblings, pushed me to make them proud,” she says.
Her multicultural perspective sparked a curiosity about how governments shape societies, prompting Habte to study political science at Rosemont College. That background has informed her work managing Moravia’s day-to-day operations – a role that has required constant adaptation as the CAO has handled the licensing that has enabled the company's multistate expansion.
At 43, Habte is now motivated less by making her parents proud – and more by serving as a role model for her two teenage daughters. “With them, I see my place in the world through different eyes,” she says. “I’m just grateful for the company, for Frank – and the place I'm in now.”
Maura Hesdon
In a construction industry dominated by men, Maura Hesdon has been deconstructing the proverbial glass ceiling.
For the past decade, she has led major building projects as general manager of Philadelphia’s Shoemaker Construction Company. Earlier this year, she became chair of The General Building Contractors Association, a highly influential three-county organization whose activities span training, advocacy and benefits funds.
And in 2027, Hesdon, 48, will be the first woman president of the 301-year-old Carpenters Company of the City and County of Philadelphia, America’s oldest trade guild, which only admitted women in the 1990s.
“My mom was CEO of a hospital, so I grew up with that example,” says Hesdon of her feminist inspiration. Being good with her hands and her father’s household-repairs assistant, it never occurred to Hesdon not to go into construction.
The Bucks County native joined Shoemaker during college, and over a quarter-century has supervised projects worth in excess of $1 billion – including downtown’s Fashion District, schools like the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts and adaptive reuses of historic structures.
In 2009, Hesdon co-founded MyWIC, a summer camp that introduces school-aged girls to careers in the construction trade. Dozens of graduates later, Hesdon now meets former campers in project sites throughout Philadelphia.
“Giving back to the industry and the community has been part of my story from the very beginning,” reflects Hesdon, who raised two grown daughters with that same sense of possibility. “It's great we're finally making an impact – and it takes time and determination. It certainly doesn't happen overnight.”
Nikki Jones
When Nikki Jones was growing up outside Harrisburg, she’d often look at the state buildings where her parents worked and think about her own future. “I remember going over there thinking, ‘I could be retiring from here 30 years from now,’” she recalls.
Now 46 and an associate with the lobbying outfit Malady & Wooten, Jones has made her own career and government – both inside and outside the state Capitol. An attorney and lobbyist, she specializes in the energy and utility space, having worked on much of the significant legislation in that fast-evolving sector over the past two decades.
Jones studied political science at Penn State, the first in her family to attend college. On her first day of work at the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, she met her husband, the other enduring relationship to come out of state politics. As legal counsel for the House Democrats, Jones drafted myriad bills around issues like electric rate caps, energy efficiency standards, alternative energy and the managing the state’s aging infrastructure.
It was all excellent preparation for PPL, the utility where she directed public and regulatory affairs for a decade. Now, “I’m seeing a lot of those issues from early in my career coming back around – coming full circle,” she says.
What’s changed for Jones is a fuller schedule nowadays, with her two children’s sports and music events. “I make sure to have that work-life balance,” she says. “And not to miss concerts.”
Tarik Khan
Most days, state Rep. Tarik Khan crusades for Democratic priorities in Harrisburg. But on Fridays, Khan trades his suit for scrubs and sees patients at a mental-health clinic – his weekly refresher course on Pennsylvanians’ immediate concerns, from Medicaid to housing.
Khan’s inspiration for both medical and political activism was his own parents. “I grew up seeing how badass nurses were – just focused on getting things accomplished,” recalls the native Philadelphian of his nurse mother. Just as important was the work ethic instilled by his Pakistani immigrant father, which probably has something to do with Khan’s dual careers.
At the bedside or the Capitol, Khan uses skills honed as a college theater major. “You have to connect with people – and if you're not doing that, you're losing the audience,” he says. “It's critical, especially with the chaos coming from Washington, that we're able to communicate what elected officials stand for – what is important.”
Khan’s activism blossomed before his first election: His COVID-19 vaccine distribution initiative inspired an Emmy-winning documentary film, and he led the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association while earning his nursing doctorate. In office, he’s passed bills expanding health coverage for first responders and addressing food insecurity in the commonwealth.
He may not always do it in scrubs, but Khan knows he emulates the can-do spirit of the nurses he admired as a child. “Maturity has given me that perspective that it's not about trying to score points,” he says. “It's about actually getting things done.”
Rich Lazer
South Philadelphia is legendary for its opera-intensity parking drama, so it seems fitting that the city’s parking chief, Rich Lazer, is a native of that district (his bête noire: people who park on sidewalks.)
He brings a lifetime of street- and city-level experience to the leadership of the Philadelphia Parking Authority, a formerly scandal-plagued agency that he is busily modernizing. Only 40, Lazer has been involved in grassroots politics since middle school, when he got to know community leader and now-City Councilmember Mark Squilla while playing basketball at a South Philly playground.
By his late teens, Lazer was interning for another neighborhood figure, then-Councilmember Jim Kenney, who became his political mentor. Lazer worked for Kenney after college, helped the future mayor get elected – and later, as Kenney’s deputy mayor, created the city’s first-ever Office of Labor.
But it was his early work in constituent services that shaped the community-level mindset Lazer brings to the PPA. “That's where you interact with the members of the public on everyday issues, helping them deal with the bureaucracies of government,” notes Lazer.
With Kenney, Lazer also worked with the PPA, SEPTA and the Port of Philadelphia, so he came to the authority with priorities in mind. At the PPA, he has introduced technology reinforcing safety and accountability – like loading-zone “smart” enforcement, cameras on SEPTA buses and digitized curb signage.
“The authority, to me, was always fascinating,” he notes, “because it touches so many different aspects of life in the city.”
Stephanie Lutz
Except for a brief stint in Southern New Jersey, as CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Atlantic City, social impact leader Stephanie Lutz has spent her entire career in Pennsylvania.
At Deloitte, where she is a senior manager, the state is actually a client. “The breadth of Deloitte is really serving the breadth of the commonwealth,” says Lutz, who at 46 is now raising two daughters in Philadelphia.
After earning social work degrees at the University of Pittsburgh and Temple (she recently added an MBA), Lutz began her career with the Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation. Moving to Harrisburg, she designed programs integrating family services for the state Department of Human Services.
Back in Philly, she tackled workforce initiatives with JEVS Human Services before joining Deloitte’s Government & Public Services Division in 2023, where she applies her business insights to initiatives at the intersection of human service and workforce development.
“We focus on everything from tech and housing to healthcare, and we do everything from policy and strategy to technology development and implementation,” explains Lutz. A highlight is Deloitte’s partnership with the nonprofit Philadelphia Works: “It's wonderful to work with an organization that has such a deep impact on the Philadelphia region.”
At mid-career, Lutz finds satisfaction in mentoring Deloitte’s junior consultants – and serving as a role model for her daughters. “Because of my work at Deloitte, they're following in my footsteps of social policy and helping others,” reflects Lutz. “As a female professional, I've been mentored by incredible leaders in Philadelphia – and it's my duty and my commitment to do the same.”
Heather Major
When Heather Major graduated from Penn State with a degree in health policy and administration, “I remember telling my dean that I was never going to work for a health insurance company,” she says.
“And the irony of my story is that I've only worked for one health insurance company – Independence.” When she first arrived, she was surprised to meet colleagues with 20-year tenures, “but now I get it,” said Major, a 21-year company veteran.
Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, she was inspired by watching her grandmother serve on the local hospital auxiliary board. Today, Major makes a similar impact as the inaugural executive director of the Independence Blue Cross Foundation – which, by its 15th anniversary next year, will have distributed $100 million to local nonprofits.
Major also spearheaded the foundation's efforts to strengthen the region’s healthcare workforce through its collaborations – with 65 federally qualified health centers and with 20 institutions of higher education, which support 6,500 student nurses through nursing workforce training partnerships.
“We designed the nation's only program for student veterans to earn a first degree in nursing,” notes Major. “It’s a tremendous honor, as the daughter and granddaughter of veterans – and having had parents who are nontraditional adult learners.”
Becoming a mom at age 42 only deepened that sense of intergenerational responsibility. “My son is my reminder that you can make more money, but you can't make more time,” Major says. “And to do the best that I can – in all of my identities.”
Sherri Martin
Twenty years into a career advocating for the commonwealth’s realtors, Sherri Martin speaks with the kind of enthusiasm you’d expect from a profession that styles its name in capital letters.
“Last year, real estate contributed over $160 billion to the state’s economy,” says Martin, the chief advocacy officer for PA Realtors, the state’s industry group. “But one of the things that makes real estate so unique – and what I love about it – is that it's also so important to you and me, our families and friends.”
Now 43, Martin became a homeowner herself in the years since she first championed the profession – as government affairs director for the Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors, a position she held for a decade.
The South-Central Pennsylvania native was always fascinated by politics, which she studied at Lebanon Valley College before early roles with a statewide professional association, a lobbying and legal firm and a state gubernatorial campaign.
Her policy effectiveness was evident in 2022, when Martin helped secure a tax incentive for commercial real estate in the state’s fiscal code, improving Pennsylvania's competitiveness by bringing its tax burden into line with the other 49 states.
And at last June’s annual member advocacy day, she rallied some 225 members to the state Capitol to push for legislation strengthening the industry’s licensing requirements. “To see all of that come together across six weeks,” she says, “I was just very, very proud.”
Leeanna McKibben
Leeanna McKibben grew up on a rural farm in Central Pennsylvania, came to Pittsburgh to study nursing – and ended up building a quarter-century career at UPMC. “I wanted to be able to serve communities and make an impact,” says the 45-year old.
That she has certainly done. Named #1 Woman Leader in Pittsburgh for 2024 by Women We Admire, McKibben is the inaugural chief of staff and vice chancellor at the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences and vice dean at its School of Medicine. For nearly two decades, she has also taught nursing at her alma mater, Chatham University (her doctorate in health care administration is from Capella University).
As an executive at UPMC, McKibben guided nearly $2 billion in capital projects and helped the institution rack up numerous recognitions for care quality and innovation. “Working in an administrative capacity, you have that ability to make a larger impact, at either a hospital or an entire system level,” she says.
Her years as a clinician continue to guide her priorities, however – and in particular, her role with the American Heart Association, whose Pittsburgh chapter she currently chairs. A former cardiac critical care nurse, “I found joy in caring for my patients,” she says, “but I also saw an opportunity to impact their outcomes in a more preventative manner.”
Now that she’s a mother, McKibben has an additional responsibility: “I'm really proud that I can set an example as a female executive in a healthcare, research and scientific capacity.”
Crishtbel Mora
Established as a journalist in her homeland, Venezuela-born Crishtbel Mora had no intention of emigrating. “I had a solid career; I was well known," recalls Mora, now 41.
But the political and economic crisis that enveloped her nation made staying impossible for Mora. "It was a brutal censorship at every level – we had no editorial independence whatsoever," she recalls. Seeking stability for herself and her young daughter, she applied for asylum and, in 2015, joined her mother and sisters in the United States, settling first in Houston.
A decade later, Mora is thriving in her adopted country: As a multimedia journalist at Telemundo 62 in Philadelphia, she has won two mid-Atlantic Emmy awards, for her sensitive portrayals of transgender youth in Pensacola and a Philadelphia Latino muralist.
America's Latino community has been her touchstone and inspiration. " The Hispanic community here has enormous cultural richness and diversity," notes the journalist. "They’ve opened their arms, and I’ve learned so much."
That learning curve was steep – not only the idioms and nonverbal communication styles of distinct Hispanic cultures, but also the independent, tech-savvy role of the American multimedia journalist. "I learned along the way that it's possible to reinvent oneself at any age," she says.
When neighbors recognize her on the street in Philadelphia, Mora feels proud that she’s earned their trust “for telling stories in a thoughtful and human-centered way,” she says. Despite her own accomplishments, "my favorite stories will always be those that celebrate the achievements of others."
Joe Murzyn
Joe Murzyn really enjoys his day-to-day work as a government relations professional at One+ Strategies. “I love the variety of subject matter,” he says, “not just legislation, but also helping clients with access and grant dollars and doing business here in the commonwealth.”
He also spent a decade working with former Gov. Tom Corbett. “I really loved that work, and still think fondly of it and miss that time,” he says.
It’s fair to say that Murzyn, 43, just really loves government. By high school in Western Pennsylvania, he was involved with school board races. At Duquesne University, he studied political science while interning with local politicians, which led to serving as Pennsylvania political director for Corbett’s attorney general campaign.
Later, as the governor’s deputy secretary for legislative affairs, Murzyn worked on criminal justice and transportation funding. “That ultimately helped my lobbying career, because it required bipartisan support to get done – a deep group of relationships across party lines,” he says.
Recruited by Wojdak, Murzyn represented Pennsylvania’s State Troopers and Corrections Officers associations. More recently, he has worked on tax legislation favorable to the state’s burgeoning data centers – “the first sales tax exemption in a number of years, and those exemptions are very difficult to achieve” – and represented an industry coalition to pass state legislation around autonomous vehicles.
“I never really had the D.C. bug,” he reflects. “I never wanted to be a federal lobbyist. Pennsylvania government and politics has always been what I've been most interested in.”
Mike O’Bryan
Michael O’Bryan began his career performing, first as a teen actor in Hartford, Connecticut, and then as a jazz musician.
It’s been years since O’Bryan stepped onto a stage, but he views his career evolution as a natural extension of his values. “It is the performance of our humanity,” explains O’Bryan, who founded and runs Humanature, a talent and organizational consultancy. “Whether it's arts, education or urban development, it's all human investment. To quote Shakespeare, the whole world’s our stage.”
O’Bryan’s motivation stems in part from his low-income childhood. His mother had grown up in foster care, a trauma-by-proxy that prompted O’Bryan, years later, to earn a certificate in childhood trauma studies.
He came to Philadelphia to study jazz vocals and piano at the now-defunct University of the Arts. But a post-college stint working with the homeless shifted O’Bryan’s priorities, leading to roles in arts education and youth development.
He has since taught career preparation at the Curtis Institute of Music and city planning at the University of Pennsylvania. Last year, he founded The Wealth + Work Futures Lab at Drexel, which he calls “a next-gen think tank” focused on asset building for historically excluded populations.
“Having experienced the fortunate side of a lot of people investing in me, helping me become the man that I am today,” O’Bryan says, “I feel this need to make sure that I'm contributing to the lives of other young people.”
Stephanie Perry
Pennsylvania’s Broadband Development Authority might not be the most obvious place to find a social worker. “But I have this philosophy that social work is everywhere,” says Stephanie Perry, the authority’s workforce and digital program specialist.
As the commonwealth labors to expand digital opportunity across its mostly rural 67 counties, Perry oversees the critical element of human capital – working with state agencies and employers to identify areas of workforce deficit and opportunity, and building programs around those needs.
The Philadelphia native, 45, began her career at the state Department of Labor & Industry’s Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, engaging young and disabled Pennsylvanians about career pathways. In a series of state roles, Perry led efforts to advance digital equity across the state’s workforce – most notably with SkillUp PA, an online job training platform. Her team was recently honored with the Governor's Award of Excellence for its work on digital accessibility.
Ever the role model – nowadays, most importantly, to her two young sons – Perry continues to skill herself up: Last year, she graduated with a doctorate in social work from Capella University. But as satisfying as that was, “sometimes I say my GED is what I'm most proud of,” says Perry, who also founded the consultancy Crown Innovative Solutions.
“I can't stress this enough: I was a product of a workforce system. I graduated from Job Corps with my GED,” she adds. “And that became the foundation of everything else that I have.”
Jordan Rambo
You might wonder what has kept Jordan Rambo, 47, at one company – Accenture – for the 25 years since college graduation. “As an organization, we've tackled some of the hardest problems on our planet,” explains Rambo, who loves a challenge. “And we get to work with some incredible people to do that.”
In Rambo’s case, the biggest issue has been the multi-decade global transition to clean energy, which he works on as a member of Accenture’s utilities industry team. He is also the managing partner for both the company and its Philadelphia office, coordinating employee engagement and community outreach. A particular highlight, he says, is guiding Accenture’s four-year-old Philadelphia-area apprenticeship program, which aims to expand opportunities for local talent.
Grew up outside Philadelphia, studied finance at the University of Delaware – but it was an internship at J.P. Morgan that drew Rambo into consulting, and a campus Accenture recruiter sealed the deal.
Twenty-five years in, Rambo is thinking about the legacy he’ll leave. He recently joined the boards of two Philadelphia organizations that promote economic mobility, and is doubling down on his own mentorship at Accenture.
“Part of it is developing the next generation of talent, for others to have that 25-year-plus career,” he says. “And part of it is giving youth access to the art of the possible – so they see someone like myself and envision a path towards being a Black managing director within a Fortune 100 organization.”
Carrie Reese
There was a moment when Carrie Elliott Reese, a sommelier and events coordinator, considered being a stay-at-home parent. “Then I realized, that's not what I'm built for. I'm more of a doer,” reflects the 42-year-old. “I need a creative outlet.”
Reese balances responsibilities by involving her two school-age children in her hospitality work; in addition to overseeing education and events for the Pennsylvania Homecare Association, she finds that creative outlet in her wine consultancy and her recently opened events space.
“I’ll have my kids do things as simple as setting tables, helping garnish dishes,” said Reese, who studied culinary arts and entrepreneurship at Johnson & Wales University, “Incorporating my kids into the growth of our business, they've been able to see what that work ethic looks like.”
A Central Pennsylvania native, Reese decided on hospitality after considering what she could do every day “and not hate it,” she recalls. “And thought: cooking.” After earning her culinary degree from Johnson & Wales University, she coordinated beverage programs for casinos and hotels.
At the PHA, which she joined earlier this year, Reese coordinates a range of in-person and virtual events, including some 80 webinars a year and a 700-person annual conference and Capitol advocacy day. “It's incredible to see what caregivers do,” she says, “and to help not only give them the credentialing that they need, but also the networking opportunities so they can effectively advocate.”
Jennifer Riley
It was only a couple of decades ago, but when Jennifer Riley began her lobbying and communications, “we were barely using email. We were fax press releases,” marvels the senior vice president at Triad Strategies. “Now we're using AI.”
Change is the only constant in Riley’s profession, and she thrives on it. A specialist in issue advocacy – especially around healthcare, education and energy – Riley, 46, also serves as the state director for Marsy’s Law for PA and directs Patients Come First PA, advocating for victims' and patients’ rights at the state and federal levels.
Growing up in Harrisburg, Riley, now 46, was drawn to politics while following the news of a world in transition. “I remember the end of the Cold War, how it shaped the next decade, then the Gulf War,” she says. “Change is sometimes good, but makes people very uncomfortable.”
After studying political science University of Pittsburgh, Riley spent 20 years at the Bravo Group, leading public affairs and serving as managing director. She’s drawn to issue advocacy because “it tends to be longer term – issues are a bigger lift, and require more of a team effort.”
Marsy’s Law has been the most meaningful of those issues, says Riley, who is proud of her work pushing to include crime victims’ rights in the state constitution. “It was a multi-year effort,” she recalls. “I was really humbled to be a part of that movement – being a voice for crime victims that don't have a voice, and starting this conversation about their rights.”
Elizabeth Rosentel
There was nothing Elizabeth Rosentel encountered over 20 years in the Pennsylvania legislature that she wasn’t prepared for by a childhood as one of four children in a politically engaged Scranton-area family.
“Growing up, I saw that it was perfectly fine and normal for people to have different opinions – and to discuss things civilly,” recalls Rosentel, a senior advisor at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney. “I never struggled with working with the other side of the aisle – because I grew up with both sides. And to this day, I’m confident that by listening and talking, you can reach consensus.”
Energy is Rosentel’s specialty: As the longtime executive director of the House Consumer Affairs Committee, she was responsible for utility matters and worked on numerous significant energy-related policies. She is particularly proud of having helped create the Broadband Development Authority to expand internet access during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rosentel studied politics and communications at the University of Pittsburgh and earned an MPA from Penn State during her House tenure. A few years ago, she made the move to private-sector advocacy.
Working on both sides of the legislative process has given Rosentel new respect for the formalities of discussion and compromise. The same might be said of parenting: Her children are 10 and 14, and with Rosentel’s spouse in the policy sphere, the news is always on in their Hampton Township home. “It's important to have everybody part of the conversation,” she notes. “Negotiation is really the key.”
Jasmine Sessoms
Jasmine Sessoms wasn’t even born in 1968. But the spirit of that year nevertheless inspired her enough that she named her political organization the 1968 Collective.
“1968 is the year that changed America,” says Sessoms, noting that her political hero, former U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm, was the first black woman elected to Congress that year. “And I want my firm to effect change – for our clients’ trajectories, their companies, their culture.”
Under the 1968 umbrella are Firm 1968, a political fundraising and strategic consultancy, and Center 1968, which trains Black women to run for office and recently launched the Barbara Jordan Fellowship, a 12-week policy program. Among the women whose careers Sessoms has championed are Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and City Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson, Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton and then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Sessoms’ civic engagement dates to her South Philadelphia childhood, when her educator parents took her regularly to the polls (a practice she repeats with her own daughters, ages 8 and 11).
After graduating from Morgan State University, Sessoms returned to Philadelphia and worked for the Community College of Philadelphia and The Fund for Philadelphia. She also founded She Can Win, a nonprofit that has trained over 1,000 women to run for office.
“1968 is the only Black woman-led fundraising firm in the state of Pennsylvania, which is insane,” Sessoms says. “For me, it’s about making sure that people have access … opening doors, and giving people the tools to do what's really important.”
Jim Shupe
For Jim Shupe, becoming president of Steamfitters Local 420 earlier this year was a particularly significant milestone. He is a first-generation union member in a field where family connections are especially important: “You need to meet as many people as you possibly can, because you never know when you're going to need a job.”
Fortunately, despite an evident talent for relationships, Shupe, 43, has never needed a new job. His entire 24-year career has been with Herman Goldner at Merck Pharmaceutical in Montgomery County, which he joined fresh off his apprenticeship and where he is now site superintendent.
That same year, Shupe was appointed to his first committee position, the initial rung on his political career. (He also currently chairs both Northeast Philadelphia’s 66th Ward and the Merck Contractor/Trades Safety Council.)
As a teen, Shupe decided college wasn’t for him, and followed the advice of his girlfriend’s (now wife’s) father, a plumber, to try the trades. With Local 420, he has served on the Executive Board and represented the union as a delegate at Pennsylvania and national labor conventions.
A fixture at picket lines and phone banks, Shupe has been at the forefront of a movement to expand labor’s political engagement beyond relationships with local officials. “Today, we're engaging with end users, with construction managers, with engineers – the industry as a whole,” he notes. “Twenty-plus years ago, that never happened.”
Safety and technology have also transformed the profession. But one thing, he notes, has remained constant: “I’ve always tried to lead by example.”
Carrie Peace Simmons
Justice, equity and impact: Those are the guiding principles for Carrie Peace Simmons, for whom public service with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission is more than simply a job.
“When sorting out for goods and services, we want to make sure that the people's money stays within the community – that they'll meet the needs of the commission … and support civil rights and social justice,” she says. “I call it shopping with a purpose.”
Purpose has always driven Simmons, a New Jersey native who had earned her Certified Nursing Assistant license by the time she graduated from high school graduation (she now holds multiple degrees in business).
“I've always been a numbers person,” says Simmons. “Numbers have always told a story for me. Coming to the commonwealth granted me the opportunity to combine all of my backgrounds, and with impact.”
As an executive procurement specialist, Simmons manages a $12 million budget, ensuring resources reach communities that need them most – and was recognized with the commission’s Executive Director’s Excellence Award in 2022. She’s also an alumna of Harrisburg’s MLK Jr. Leadership Development Program, a former treasurer of the International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies and a Silver Member of the NAACP – and was recently accepted into the Harvard Kennedy School's Executive Education program.
And Simmons keeps her nursing and accounting skills up-to-date – just in case. “Those credentials are very important to me,” she says. “Whether with numbers or taking care of someone hands-on – as long as I can, I’ll serve the community in any capacity.”
Darren Smith
Over his years in government relations, attorney Darren Smith has found satisfaction in the way longstanding client relationships have evolved from transactional to trusting. "When they start relying on you for insight, or strategic advice – I find that rewarding," says Smith, a vice president for government affairs at Wojdak Government Affairs.
Those long-term relationships – and the results they yield – are what have kept the 43-year-old in politics all these years. Currently, Smith specializes in highly regulated industries like alcoholic beverages and gaming – “industries where clients appreciate the nuance, and my legal background is helpful” – as well as securing state funding and procurement, especially for IT companies.
Smith grew up in Lebanon County, where his family was involved in local politics. Early positions in the Pennsylvania legislature inspired him to earn a law degree from and to practice at Dilworth Paxson.
“But the siren song of this game kept calling me back,” he says of politics (Smith remains of counsel at the law firm of Lamb McErlane). “As much as I enjoyed the intellectual exercise of practicing law, I did not enjoy marking my professional life in 10-minute increments.”
In his decade at Wojdak, Smith has particularly enjoyed facilitating economic development projects like DaVinci, a science center in downtown Allentown for which he secured critical state funding. “Legislative victories can be incremental,” he explains. “Economic development projects are fun because you can point to something and say, ‘I helped get that done.’”
Meg Snead
After a decade in Denver's nonprofit sector and another in state government, former Pennsylvania Human Services Secretary Meg Snead recently founded MCS Strategies, a consultancy that – drawing on her background in Medicaid and nonprofits – helps mission-driven organizations navigate Harrisburg.
It’s a break from the commute for this mother of two – and quite a change from the Harrisburg bureaucracy, now that “I’m a one-woman show,” she laughs. She has relished bringing her insights to fighting for Medicaid reimbursement on behalf of several community health worker organizations. And after rallying support for disabled children via Easter Seals of Southeastern PA, Snead is joining the organization’s board.
As much as anything, Snead, 46, is happy to be putting down roots in Ardmore, near the Main Line community where she grew up. In college at the University of South Carolina, the Northeastern Democrat got a cold-shower immersion in Southern politics during the era when the Confederate flag flew over Columbia’s state Capitol.
Her eyes were further opened, this time to extreme poverty, while studying abroad in Quito, Ecuador. Later, her political campaign work across several Southern states and her nonprofit years cemented Snead’s commitment to causes like Medicaid and solving homelessness.
Over eight years in the administration of former Gov. Tom Wolf, she led DHS strategy around the COVID-19 pandemic and worked on substance abuse and mental health. “Everything that department does is what makes me tick on the inside,” she said. As does her current role, on the other side of Capitol affairs: “All things come full circle.”
Bill Thomas
As an undergraduate political science major at the University of Charleston, Bill Thomas used to gaze across the Kanawha River at West Virginia’s gleaming Capitol building. “That's why I went there – the state Capitol is right across the riverbank,” recalls the 47-year-old.
A political junkie since his Long Island boyhood, Thomas briefly considered law school, but was drawn to legislation’s nuts-and-bolts impact: Lobbying offers “the most you can do in the legal sense without a law degree.”
After years working as a contract lobbyist for McNees, Thomas recently became vice president of government relations at the Harrisburg firm. He has long cultivated a clientele in the gaming industry, a specialty since his days working at the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, including as director of the House Gaming Oversight Committee.
Thomas authored a landmark 2017 sports betting expansion bill, helped launch the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Esports Association, and has chaired the Pennsylvania Esports Coalition. He is also proud of his work on revitalization efforts for downtown Reading.
At home in Harrisburg, Thomas used to enjoy playing games himself, “but when I started having children, those days ended,” laughs the father of three, now a fixture at youth sports matches.
Parenthood has also given Thomas new perspective on gaming – especially as his eldest heads off to college. “I believe in regulating gaming 100,000%, and my kids know it,” he says. “They’ll point out unregulated machines when we’re at a restaurant – and they have to tell me not to lose my mind.”
Leigh Ann Urban
Over the past year, Leigh Ann Urban, the mid-Atlantic communications and communications director for Veolia North America, has had a new companion at civic and cultural events: her baby daughter, Sadie. "That's what my dad did – took me to all the events he was involved in," she recalls of former Camp Hill Mayor Stephen Urban, who raised her as a single father. "And that's what I want for Sadie – to be a part of everything that I do."
At 42, Urban is approaching the age her father was when he died suddenly of a heart attack at 48. She credits her father with inspiring her own community-oriented career, which has spanned the public and private sectors (she is a former councilmember for the Borough of Marysville).
Urban is especially proud of her role helping to kickstart Harrisburg’s renaissance over a decade as marketing director for the city’s Downtown Improvement District, where she helped launch Harrisburg Restaurant Week. “I loved that opportunity to be a true servant leader, promoting the city and all of its assets,” she says.
Urban also served as spokesperson for Lower Paxton Township before joining Veolia, where she draws on her experience creating Marysville’s Stormwater Authority. “It’s providing a vital resource – water to the community,” she notes of her current role. “For me, it's always been about residents – about service to other people, and making sure that they have access to things.”
Jeff Vermeulen
When Jeff Vermeulen looks around York College of Pennsylvania, he takes pride in the initiatives he’s helped build that have transformed the region: the Knowledge Park research and innovation hub, the J.D. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship – a startup incubator – and York’s Center for Community Engagement.
Now chief of staff and vice president for community engagement, Vermeulen, 49, landed in York 15 years ago and to lead the J.D. Brown Center, creating a largely self-sustaining 10,000-square-foot business incubator that has nurtured a concentration of science and technology startups. That provided momentum for Knowledge Park, which launched last year with $6 million in state dollars that Vermeulen helped secure: “It has become this virtuous cycle.”
As a Temple student, the Delaware County native discovered a love of community development policy during a Congressional internship and, after graduation, leading government relations and serving as president for the County Chamber of Commerce.
“From those early days, I’ve been proud to be associated with organizations that mean so much to the communities that they exist in,” he says.
York, in turn, has been “a fantastic community” to raise his own family. “Cloud-based software companies could be anywhere in the world, but they’ve chosen to stay … because they can build world-class software right here, with our engineering talent,” he says. “For my son (a York senior) and thousands of future professionals, we’re creating a pipeline to the next generation of leaders here in our community.”
Nicholas Wachinski
Nick Wachinski was a young lawyer when, one day, he got a phone call from a client “who had an issue that could not be resolved in the courtroom,” Wachinski recalls. “It had to be brought to a more legislative conclusion.”
That experience drew the attorney into government relations – and a parallel career was born. In addition to his longtime legal practice, Wachinski is currently a partner in the lobbying firm of ERG Partners, where his specialties include criminal justice, health care, and insurance-related matters. He is particularly proud of the work he has done on health insurance reform efforts around prior authorization and disease biomarker testing.
The Lehigh Valley native grew up inspired by politically active grandparents on both sides of his family; after earning a business degree from Slippery Rock University, he pursued a law degree at Widener University. With wide-ranging interests, Wachinski is happy to have landed at a firm as versatile as he is. “All the things we do – court rules, litigation, regulations, policy development – being able to move across those lines has been very fulfilling,” he says.
As is the time he spends with his two teenagers at the Capitol. “When I was younger, I was just trying to build a successful voice,” he says. “Now, it's trying to continue that successful voice for our clients – and balancing that with spending time with my kids and building a legacy and an opportunity for them.”
Malcolm Yates
Malcolm Yates’ advocacy career was powerfully shaped by two people. One was his younger brother, whose West Philadelphia shooting death at age five spurred Yates’ later work on gun violence. The other was a fellow Philadelphian, then-state Representative and current City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, who advised Yates a dozen years ago to devote his energy to full-time advocacy.
“He said, ‘It makes more sense to dedicate all your time to where you live,’” recalls Yates. “I thought: If I take all this energy and dedicate it to that space, let’s see what can happen.”
The gamble paid off for Yates, 44, who left a job at Comcast for full-time civic work – and knows he’s made an impact.
When Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon won election to Congress in 2018, he helped expand her office’s footprint in his adopted home turf, Delaware County, smoothing the way for critical constituent services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Later, as head of government relations for Philadelphia’s Public Health Management Corporation, he raised the profile and influence – and crucially, grant funding – of its grassroots work on gun violence.
Earlier this year, Yate brought his diverse talents to MAVEN, a Philadelphia-based government relations consultancy, where he serves as the managing partner. It’s his first executive role, and he’s ready.
“Having the breadth of the entire system … it’s been really exciting,” he says. “My goal is to build a large, reputable organization which, when it comes to community engagement and getting the job done, is synonymous with that.”
Chris Young
At 44 and in his second career – as CEO of Camfred, a construction company – Chris Young is hitting his professional stride.
And with children ages 6 and 10, he’s figured out how to pace that stride to the obligations of fatherhood. “We started the company because we had families, and we wanted to be able to be there for baseball games,” says Young. “And I coach, so it’s hard to miss them.”
Originally from New Jersey, Young studied computer and electrical engineering at Rutgers University and had a successful career in management consulting. But when his first child was born, he took time off – and realized he needed a change. “I thought, What can I do without being on the road four days a week, and still make a decent living? That was the genesis of it.”
Drawing on experience investing in real estate development, in 2018, he and a business partner launched Camfred (an amalgam of their sons’ names, Cameron and Fred). Young now oversees $100 million in active projects and revenue that is on track to double over last year. It’s also rewarding to literally build his adopted hometown of Philadelphia, with clients he has personal connections to (including the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where his son is a patient).
And this past year, Young participated in Mayor Cherelle Parker's business roundtables – giving him “a literal seat at the table in conversations around how we can actually make meaningful change to the city of Philadelphia,” he says.
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