Business is all about who you know — and who those people know, too.
Our annual RealLIST Connectors list highlights the must-know people in the ecosystem who can help push your career forward, make a networking connection or simply meet like-minded people. After our original list came out in 2020, we added connectors to the community in 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021.
We curate the list by asking our community for nominations and reviewing past reporting. From there, we send the nominees a survey to fill out, asking about their community involvement and what they’re passionate about, before narrowing it down to 20 honorees.
The 2026 awardees include investors, meetup organizers, AI enthusiasts and more — all working to add to the collaboration that they say makes Philly’s innovation ecosystem special.
Keep reading to meet the 2026 RealLIST Connectors in Philadelphia, listed in alphabetical order.
Know someone who’d be great for this list? You can submit nominations for RealLIST Startups, Connectors and Innovators all year round.
Don’t see the info above? View it in a new tab.
