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Power Moves: These leaders are chairing the City’s new ‘pathways to reform’ committee

The racial equity-minded group includes some notable names in local tech and entrepreneurship. Plus, new leadership at Jornaya, Inspira Health and Neuronetics.

Center City at night. (Photo by Flickr user Michael Righi, under a Creative Commons license)

Power Moves is a column where we chart the comings and goings of talent across the region. Got a new hire, new gig or promotion? Email us: philly@technical.ly.


This week, the City of Philadelphia announced that it had made progress on a steering committee created last month to develop an agenda for “pathways to reform,” including reimagining public safety and advancing racial justice. The committee was formed June 4 in the wake of citywide protests against police brutality and the killing of George Floyd.

The committee, staffed by senior City leadership, aims to “advise, inform, connect and work to eliminate race-based disparities in Philadelphia communities and promote racial and social justice across institutions,” the City said. The internal work group that supports the committee is co-chaired by Deputy Mayor Cynthia Figueroa, City Solicitor Marcel Pratt, and Acting Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer Nefertiri Sickout.

See the full list of members on the City’s website. Other notable names include Independence Blue Cross Foundation President Lorina Marshall Blake, Philadelphia Works President and CEO Patrick Clancy, Coded by Kids founder and CEO Sylvester Mobley, and Urban Affairs Coalition President and CEO Sharmain Matlock Turner.

“Over the last several weeks, this group has helped me better understand how governments at all levels continue to disenfranchise Black and Brown Philadelphians,” said Mayor Jim Kenney in a statement on Monday. “The battle for racial equity is underway, and I’m confident that this group will help us achieve it.”

After six meetings, the committee has laid out four priorities — public safety, economy, community engagement, and reconciliation and health — for its first phase of work. It plans to adopt and implement a comprehensive police reform agenda, review the City budget and help small businesses, work with the City and community partners on conversations that address structural racism and inequality, and address the racial and economic disparities within the COVID-19 crisis.

“If our local government is to have any meaningful success in addressing racial inequities and injustice, it cannot invoke self-reliant, siloed approaches to problem-solving,” Pratt said. “I am excited to work with so many extraordinary civic, business, community, and religious leaders who have committed themselves to working side-by-side with City officials while holding our government accountable.”

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Data-as-a-service company Jornaya, with its HQ in Conshohocken, announced last week that it had named Rich Smith as its chief marketing officer. Smith brings more than 25 years of experience in marketing to his new role and was most recently partner and CMO at Chief Outsiders, a provider of fractional chief marketing officers. He’s also held CMO roles at Ditech, AIG Bank and Recovery Centers of America.

“Jornaya is the only company who can tell CMOs and marketers when their customers and prospects start shopping for their products, without sharing any personally identifiable information,” Smith said in a statement. “Current Jornaya customers understand the power of these offerings to grow their business, and I’m excited to help more companies and their customers experience this value.”

Jornaya’s Rich Smith. (Courtesy photo)

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Charitable nonprofit health care organization Inspira Health, which is based in Mullica Hill, New Jersey, has hired Amy Mansue as its next president and CEO, effective Sept. 1.

Mansue will succeed John DiAngelo, who announced his intention to retire in January, following a 20-year tenure with the organization. She currently serves as EVP and chief experience officer of RWJBarnabas, an academic health care system in New Jersey.

“The board and I are confident that Amy is the right person to build on our momentum,” DiAngelo said in a statement. “She is a seasoned leader with significant experience working in health care, operating efficiently at scale and delivering value to our patients and our communities. Inspira is lucky to have her as its next CEO.”

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And Neuronetics Inc., a Malvern-based biotech company which develops non-invasive treatments for depression and other chronic psychiatric and neurological disorders based upon neuromodulation technology, announced last week that it has a new CEO.

Keith Sullivan, who was most recently president and chief commercial officer of California-based Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc. was appointment as president and CEO, the Philadelphia Biz Journal reported. He’s held roles at a number of biotech and medical companies, and replaces Christopher Thatcher, who stepped down as CEO in March after more than six years as the company’s medical technology developer.

“Mental health is so important, and the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront the debilitating impact of depression on individuals and society as a whole,” Sullivan said in a statement. “It is a privilege to join a company with the critically important mission of renewing lives by transforming neurohealth.”

Companies: Jornaya / City of Philadelphia
Series: Power Moves
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