Several Penn affiliates made Philadelphia Magazine’s annual list of the Top 150 Most Influential Philadelphians, including Interim President Larry Jameson and Penn Medicine CEO Kevin Mahoney.
Other honorees included the Nemirovsky Family Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science Vijay Kumar, Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Carl June, Penn Board of Trustees member Richard Vague, and Penn alumni and Olympic discus throwers Sam Mattis and Ashley Anumba. The top two spots on the list were taken by Philadelphia Mayor and 2016 Fels Institute of Government graduate Cherelle Parker and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, an ex officio member of Penn’s Board of Trustees.
Jameson ranked No. 21 on the magazine’s list less than a year after his appointment as Penn’s interim president. The magazine called him Penn’s “steadying hand” after the turmoil surrounding Liz Magill’s resignation last December.
“Larry has stepped up like he was born for [Penn’s presidency],” Vague, who was listed in the No. 27 spot, told Philadelphia Magazine.
The magazine also cited the recent creation of Penn’s Office of Religious and Ethnic Inclusion as part of the reason for Jameson’s ranking.
Mahoney, who was slotted No. 9, marked the highest-ranked current Penn affiliate on the list. Philadelphia Magazine called Mahoney a “health network hub” and cited the impending expansion of Penn Med to Doylestown and Montgomeryville as the rationale behind the Penn Med CEO’s spot on the list. The magazine also recognized the work of Penn Med researchers like Carl June, who ranked No. 96 on the list.
2016 Wharton graduate Sam Mattis and 2021 College graduate Ashley Anumba shared the list’s No. 60 spot, along with several other Olympians from Philadelphia who competed in Paris. Mattis and Anumba, who are discus throwers, competed for Teams USA and Nigeria respectively.
The magazine called 2024 “The Year of the Shift,” citing the frequent changes in Philadelphia as the theme for this year’s list.
“When we assemble this list every year, we look for people who are responsible for these big shifts, these moves that make other Philadelphians sit up and take notice,” the magazine wrote. “You may not know (all) their names yet — but their influence? It’s all around you.”
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