Chester County

With an ideal location, a diversified economy and an enviable education and healthcare landscape, Chester County has positioned itself as an attractive destination to live, work and raise a family. Its resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and a government that understands the importance of protecting local businesses has only bolstered its reputation.

Growing stronger:

Chester County is ready-made to meet the challenges of the new normal

With an abundance of wide-open spaces, a highlyrated education sector and a sought-after quality of life, Chester County is on the rise. A plum location and a diversified economy that helped the county stave off the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic have positioned Chester County as a nationally recognized destination to live, work and raise a family.

Its key virtue has been most evident during the pandemic in particular, giving the county a unique opportunity to face the new normal head-on. When the world began to place greater importance on living spaces, the county stood out as one deeply rooted in open space. About 142,000 acres, or 29% of its land area, is preserved. For many, this affords a desirable quality of life that is now crucial when selecting a place to live, which is why the county continues to experience one of the highest rates of net in-migration in the state.

With good access to award-winning top public and private schools, thriving urban centers and recreational events, the county also is attracting a younger population, which positions it well for future growth. Projections are for the county’s estimated 2019 population of 524,989 to grow by another 137,294 residents to 662,283 by 2045, making Chester County among the fastest-growing counties in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Located within a short commute to both Philadelphia and Wilmington, the county offers road and rail proximity to New York and Washington, D.C. For this reason, a high proportion of residents work in professional occupations with a high median income of almost $100,000 – far above the U.S. median by approximately $31,000. But the county itself also provides solid employment opportunities, with an equal number of people commuting both into and out of Chester County.

Median home values in Chester County climbed to $375,000 in 2020, which exceeds the U.S. average of $217,500 as well as the state average of $180,200.

The county also remained resilient throughout the pandemic. Economically, Chester County has been rated within the highest Triple-A classification by the three main ratings agencies, Moody’s, Fitch and S&P Global, for the last 12 years. This was reaffirmed in December. The accolade places it in the top 2% of counties in the United States and allows the county to access debt at lower interest rates due to its financial strengths. ( )

Targeting tech

Environment is ripe for technology growth but training local talent is a necessity

Marian Moskowitz

Commissioners’ Chair – Chester County

In which sectors would you like to see more growth in Chester County? I would like to see more technology growth in Chester County; we’re ripe for it. We have very close relationships with our universities. West Chester, Immaculata and Lincoln University are in our backyard. We have other universities, community colleges and STEM schools throughout the county. One struggle is getting local talent trained for technology jobs. We’re thrilled that Mphasis has chosen Chester County to reside in. They are taking 1,000 employees from Vanguard and instead of taking those jobs out of the county, they’ll be setting up a permanent residence here. Those are the kind of things that help us build the future right, while still keeping our agricultural community, which is really important to us.

Aside from COVID, what are the prevalent challenges you would like to see addressed? We would like to help municipalities with their stormwater management plans. We have a great comprehensive plan called Landscapes3, which stipulates our goals for things such as our open space, stormwater management, where we want to see the County grow and prosper. It’s going to be a year of repairing, restructuring and resolve. We are looking forward to the day when residents can feel good again, go out and visit shops, visit restaurants and see the beauty that Chester County has to offer. Everyone has struggled during the pandemic. Two key areas that we need to focus more resources on is drug and alcohol abuse and the mental health sector. We have to work on drug and alcohol abuse because that has become even more rampant during this time, given the despair and depression that people are feeling. What is your general outlook for Chester County? First and foremost is the county budget. We’re focusing on zero-based budgeting for next year and outcome budgeting after that. We’re exploring those options because we do function differently. The end game for the Chester County government is that each department will function more efficiently. Economic development is also key. We’ve been working nonstop on transportation needs in the county and its overall improvement. One way we have started this initiative is by seeking to get trains and more diverse public transportation to the county seat, as well as the outskirts of the county. We recently partnered with Urban Outfitters, PennDot, the Governor’s Office and the Transportation Management Association of Chester County (TMACC) to get jobs to Coatesville where transportation has been a struggle.

Brenda Allen

President Lincoln University

What were some highlights or major takeaways for the university in 2020?

We’ve learned so much. The key takeaway for us is that we need to be nimble and flexible to make necessary adjustments. We also need to make sure we have priorities that guide those decisions. Those priorities for last year were ensuring we protected our sta and students. Another was maintaining continuity within our education. In June, when we reopened for the academic year, we made adjustments for the entire year.

What are the main differentiators that set LU apart from the competition?

As the first HBCU, we have a legacy of investing primarily in African American students, although we do have some racial diversity. We are a liberal arts institution, so we are small, and our goal is to o er our students the option to study any area that is of interest to them. For us, content is just a part of the education and we use this as a vehicle for honing the important skills required in the world of work. We focus on communication skills, problem solving, critical thinking and other skills that we build into our degree programs. The more I read about employer data, they are looking for those soft skills and do not tend to care what a potential employee’s major was.

What changes do you expect in the education sector from the Biden administration?

We’ve begun to see more interest in HBCUs and minority institutions over the last decade. I’m anticipating even more investment as this administration talks about social justice, including disparities. Much of the disparity we see along racial lines correlates to education, so it’s critical to make sure people of color have access to education. Many health disparities are based on the fact that people do not have access to knowledge on nutrition. We just received a $20 million gift from McKenzie Scott, which is a record, and we are seeing more and more of this recently.

Chester County has a rich historical legacy, with a variety of o erings including the historic Hibernia Mansion.

( ) History Chester County was founded in 1682 by William Penn and played a vital role in many of the important battles of the revolutionary war, including the Battle of Brandywine, Battle of the Clouds and the Paoli Massacre. The first railroad was established through Chester County’s Great Valley, creating one of the first industrial corridors and commuter rail lines to urban jobs. The neighborhoods surrounding the Main Line remain among the most prestigious areas in the midAtlantic area thanks to this early development.

The county has strong connections to Quakers and is home to a number of historical Quaker buildings and meeting houses. Kennett Square was an integral cog in the Underground Railroad, with dozens of Underground Railroad stations within an eight-mile radius of the borough. The Kennett Underground Railroad Center (KURC) was formed in 1998 to protect this heritage and abolitionist culture. Chester County’s historical growth is also rooted in its long-held status as an agricultural powerhouse. Not only does the county have mushrooms, Christmas tree nurseries, forestry, viticulture, orchards and vegetables but it also has strengths in crops, dairy, swine, poultry and egg production. It is also one of the most densely populated equine areas in the country.

Economy Chester County is home to 15,529 businesses that employ around 310,000 people, representing around 3.8% of Pennsylvania’s total jobs. Healthcare and social assistance provided around 15% of jobs in 2018, followed by retail at 11%, professional and technical services with 10% and finance and insurance at 8%. The majority of Chester County establishments are small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs), with over 10,500 small businesses employing between two and nine people, while 16 businesses have 1,000 or more employees. From 2000 to 2018, Chester County saw significant job growth of over 20%, outpacing the national average and the state average. As of 2019, investment management firm The Vanguard Group was the largest employer, followed by home shopping channel QVC, the County of Chester and Chester County Hospital.

Chester County’s GDP exceeded $45 million in 2019, which is more than double the $21 million recorded in 2001, according to St. Louis Federal Reserve data. As of 2018, the largest contributing industries to Chester County’s GDP were information, at 14%, professional, scientific and technical services, which provided 13%, real estate, contributing 12% and finance and insurance, with 10%. Manufacturing also provided 10% of GDP. Paul Redman

President & CEO Longwood Gardens

What is Longwood’s role in the community?

Longwood’s role is as a community and cultural hub, a place for people to come, gather, be together, be inspired by nature and learn. We’re truly one of the finest horticultural display gardens in the world. The importance of Longwood and its indispensability was a rmed over this past year. When things were shut down, people couldn’t access places for families to gather. People couldn’t go to restaurants, museums, and so forth. Longwood has served as an outdoor space that is safe and beautiful. It has served as a community gathering place that is safe for families to connect. Longwood serves as an anchor in the beautiful oasis that Chester County is.

What is Longwood’s impact on the local economy? Prior to the pandemic, we were on track in 2020 to have one of our most successful and highly attended years ever. We were on track to have 1.6 million visitors. We have a $67 million operating budget and we’re getting ready to embark upon a $250 million capital expansion. Through our ongoing operations, our budget and with the indirect and ancillary impact that we’re having, we help to generate and support 2,600 jobs in the region, and we put $276 million back into the economy annually. That’s just our operations. The $250 million project alone is going to generate another 2,230 jobs, and it will put another $214 back into the community.

How is Longwood involved in education?

We were the first public garden in the world to deliver live, synchronous K-12 education programs. For eight years now, we’ve been doing the virtual learning that became so important when schools shut down. We were able to pivot and activate that entire platform on an entirely new level. That outreach is free. These programs are not only helping students achieve the science, technology, engineering, math and arts curriculum requirements they need, but are also serving as an introduction to careers working with plants.

Peter Urscheler

Mayor – Borough of Phoenixville

Phoenixville as a community has weathered the pandemic storm. Although not fully out of it, we’re one of the few communities that has never had an interruption in meal service to our students, nor to our senior citizens. We started monitoring COVID in December 2019. Although we’re a borough and have a smaller governmental organization, we actually started monitoring this in conjunction with our hospital, superintendent and o ce of emergency management. In March, we implemented everything very quickly. We were blown away by the level of cooperation in our community from our nonprofit and business partners, and really just everyone in our community.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Chester County government’s operating budget for 2021 dipped just slightly, with $513.2 million budgeted for expenditures in 2021 compared with almost $553 million in 2020. The county has also seen an increase in its capital investment program to $91 million from $73 million in 2020, targeting open space preservation, community revitalization, development of parks and trails and investment in libraries.

COVID challenges The County is one of just six in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that has its own Health Department, which was crucial in its response to the pandemic and the public health support it brought to residents, businesses, education partners and all other community organizations. The Health Department also supported neighboring Delaware County in its response to COVID-19.

When COVID-19 hit Pennsylvania, the Chester County government was quick to implement its “Continuity of Operations” plan, ensuring essential services remained, while many county services continued remotely. The County-owned long-term care facility, youth center and prison enacted swift mitigation measures, taking guidance from the County’s health department officials. The County followed the state’s stay-at-home order and additional lock-down measures, and the Commissioners came together with the County’s economic development and business leaders to provide support to business owners and organizations that were immediately impacted by the lockdown.

In April, the Chester County Commissioners announced the formation of a COVID-19 Business Task Force, whose aim was to support county businesses and the economy in the short, medium, and eventually long-term. One month later, the County launched “Restore Chester County,” a comprehensive online toolkit offering guidance to individuals and businesses throughout the COVID-19 reopening process. Several webinars were held on the platform, including employment and training opportunities, mortgage and rent relief updates and ways to navigate the reopening process. Phase one of the economic recovery plan focused on short-term strategies for 21 key industry sectors using feedback from industry leaders. Phase two encompassed a more long-term recovery and evaluating how businesses could rebound from the effects of the pandemic.

Throughout the rest of 2020, the County Commissioners made available a range of funding that

Chester County’s 2021 operating budget dipped just slightly from 2020, to $513 million from $553 million

benefited businesses, organizations and individuals across Chester County. As early as June, grants of up to $25,000 were awarded to 248 Chester County small businesses through the Main Street Preservation Grant Program, with a total of $5 million awarded. During the second funding round in February 2021, a further $10 million was awarded to 333 small businesses in grants ranging between $20,000 and $49,500. The Commissioners also provided $3.5 million in pandemic relief to nonprofits through the Restore Chester County Nonprofit Innovation & Resiliency Fund, and $15 million was provided to alleviate the burden of childcare during the pandemic. In September, $1.8 million was provided in CARES Act funding to prevent evictions and provide rental assistance, with payment made within 48 hours of documentation being submitted.

The $10 million Public School Grant Program, which went to all the public-school districts in Chester County, allowed the schools within the 12 districts to comply with COVID-19 public health measures. Ninety-eight businesses received zero-interest loans through the PA COVID-19 Working Capital Access Program (CWCA) with over $7 million allocated to small businesses in the county. Seedcopa also assisted six partner banks in processing 557 applications to the Paycheck Protection Program and Seedcopa also approved loan deferrals for all borrowers.

Throughout the pandemic, Chester County has continued to focus on community revitalization. In September five Chester County urban centers received more than $2.3 million in grants from Chester County’s Community Revitalization Program (CRP) and a further $5.6 million was invested in October, primarily on three new affordable housing developments. Since 2002, the Chester County Commissioners have awarded more than $70 million in funding for urban center improvements and upgrades, which include Chester County’s 15 boroughs and the City of Coatesville. By leveraging these investments, including water and sewer system upgrades, stormwater management, roadway improvements and streetscaping, the urban centers are able to accommodate future growth and see a rise in home values.

The county is not only supporting the community monetarily but also through public policy measures. In July, the county expanded virtual services for jobseekers and businesses. Given the disruption of the pandemic on the job market, the PA CareerLink Chester County Site opened for limited on-site services, including use of the Computer Resource ( ) Joel Frank

Chairman & Managing Partner Lamb McErlane, PC Attorneys at Law

What lessons did you take away from 2020?

2020 was actually our best year ever despite all of the impediments and roadblocks. Understandably, there were certain departments that were down, such as personal injury and criminal. However, other departments, such as litigation and employment, were o the charts. We were fortunate to continue to grow and it was a very productive year overall. We were even able to successfully consummate a merger with a fiveattorney Newtown Square firm. We think that there will be an uptick in work in 2021 with the pent-up demand when clients and the business community get up and running at full speed again.

How do you continue to differentiate your firm in a crowded marketplace?

We clearly are a unique suburban practice with a diverse client base, ranging from mom and pop shops and startups to Fortune 100 companies. We’re the largest firm headquartered in Chester County, with 42 lawyers. We can legitimately hold ourselves out as a full-service firm. The only primary practice areas that we do not delve into are intellectual property and immigration law. We’re also deeply integrated into the community, participating on numerous charitable, philanthropic, business and governmental boards across the county and in the region overall. Giving back to the community is an important part of being a lawyer, both financially and perhaps more importantly with one’s time.

What is your near-term outlook?

We remain highly optimistic and upbeat. Our pipeline is strong, especially in the litigation and M&A practices. We try to be conservative in our projections because we’re still uncertain about what is going to ultimately happen with the virus and the vaccine. I’m happy to say that despite the mandated COVID-19 protocols, we were able to pay everyone their full salary on the normal schedule and even provide significant bonuses at the end of the year as well.

®oundtable:

Goals and opportunities

Chester County leaders provide their outlook for 2021, discussing their priorities and goals and where the opportunities lie.

Josh Maxwell

Commissioner Chester County

What have been some recent initiatives to boost the Chester County community? We’ve created an ethics policy and a diversity and inclusion board for our County government. We have over 2,000 employees, and we want to make sure we’re providing opportunities across all backgrounds. We’ve also been providing corporate relief grants. We’re up to $15 million in grants to businesses along with $15 million for childcare to ensure parents can get to work despite restricted daycare space. We’ve also been investing in a ordable housing, creating six more a ordable housing projects throughout the county. This includes $1.2 million for a ordable housing in the center of the County.

What are your top priorities for the near term? We’re always pushing to become a stronger, more e cient government and searching for ways to reinvent what we do. We’re also looking to further improve our already solid financial situation, specifically our budget process. We want to make sure we’re utilizing taxpayer dollars in the most e cient and e ective ways possible. One aspect of this is looking at the space we need for our county government in a transforming work environment. A lot of our buildings were built decades ago and many were designed thinking people would be spending 40 hours a week in the o ce. With the new work environment as a result of the pandemic, we need to reevaluate our space needs to ensure we’re most e ciently using taxpayer dollars. This is the year we’re going to open up the budget and start looking at every dollar, making sure it’s being invested wisely.

Michelle Kichline

Commissioner Chester County

What role will inter-institutional and business cooperation play in the post-pandemic landscape? Chester County enjoys a long-standing tradition of collaboration, with a track record of public-private partnerships. We also have a robust nonprofit sector. Moving forward, it will be more important than ever to establish cooperation mechanisms among the di erent stakeholders that push our economy and community forward. We are looking to partner with small local businesses, whose successes will attract other businesses to set up shop here. Our COVID-19 Business Task Force is called upon to play a major role in that e ort. Parallel to our robust financial services and biopharma sectors, Chester County has been a launching pad for several information and technology companies, coupled with intellectual-property firms. In 2018, we o cially launched a program called Venture Chesco, in which we partnered with Ben Franklin Technology Partners to fund venture startups and small businesses as long as they locate and grow in Chester County. In turn, this fosters the intellectual capital of young, small businesses, which are critical to us.

What are Chester County’s top priorities in 2021? Our top priority, in collaboration with our health department, is to ensure the health and success of our residents. Protection from the virus is certainly critical, but so is the health of our businesses. We’re putting tremendous e ort into “Restore Chester County” and our COVID-19 Business Task Force. We will continue to implement the same prudent fiscal management that we always have. We remain optimistic.

Susan Hamley

Executive Director Chester County Conference & Visitors Bureau

What have been the biggest takeaways for Chester County Conference & Visitors Bureau this past year? I think one of the most significant takeaways is the old adage, “no man is an island.” I’ve always been an advocate for collaboration but this environment proved the absolute necessity of it. Our regional destination marketing organizations in Chester, Bucks, Delaware and Montgomery counties and Philadelphia, including the airport and the convention center, brainstormed recovery strategies together from the very start of the pandemic. As a side benefit, I think we also lifted each other up when we didn’t know exactly what we were facing. Together, we have greater impact and reach and a louder voice in the marketplace. Plus, we can be more e cient.

How are you working to help the tourism sector rebound from the pandemc? We do know from research that leisure is going to drive tourism. We are 100% funded by a lodging room tax, so we’re pragmatic in how we spend those reduced dollars. We’re conserving in 1Q21 to be prepared for a more robust recovery when visitors are listening more and ready to travel. In the last part of 2020, we were awarded a block grant from the Chester County Commissioners’ o ce. With that, we did a multipronged campaign. One was hyper-local, supporting our restaurants and other small businesses. The second campaign was Magical Moments Await, centered on our biggest draw – Longwood Gardens – but inspiring future visitors with our full o ering of Chester County gems they can experience here.

Brian O’Leary

Executive Director Chester County Planning Commission

What would you identify as the county’s primary challenges for 2021? Fully recovering from the pandemic will be the county’s primary challenge in 2021, including getting people vaccinated. Urban centers will be a continuing focus for us, specifically assisting downtowns and distressed businesses. Many of our downtowns are vibrant restaurant destinations, such as West Chester, Phoenixville, Kennett Square and Malvern. In 2020, a number of those communities worked with PennDot to close streets and expand outdoor dining, which was critical during the pandemic. The county is continuing to provide grants to these small businesses. Having a strong workforce remains critical for the county’s overall economy. It will continue to be so as we have a great, highly educated workforce, but some businesses are having trouble getting the workers they need with the correct training. The county’s Workforce Investment Board helps with this training.

What are the Planning Commission’s 2021 priorities? We will be taking more of an economic focus during this year. First, we will redo our analysis of the county economy and update it. We also want to identify redevelopment opportunities and provide guidance on how places can be redeveloped. On the housing front, which is critical for economic development, we want to have housing that is attractive and fits in, is a ordably priced, in the right location, aging friendly, and adaptable. During the year, we’re going to be looking closely at missing middle housing to see how we can get more of those assets.

Gary Smith

President & CEO – Chester County Economic Development Council

There is optimism in the market as people are starting to see an increasing proportion of the population getting vaccinated. We remain completely engaged in helping the most fragile parts of our economy, those businesses that have been very much negatively impacted by the pandemic. The base of the recovery e orts is built into the design of Restore Chester County and the 21 industry clusters, which include some exciting opportunities. The good news is that Chester County has some very strong economic indicators: it is the 10th-wealthiest county in the country; has the fastest-growing and highest median income in Pennsylvania, and we are a Triple A-rated county that has enjoyed good management over the years. Though these factors have historically been economic pluses, we are also aware that there are pockets of need in any community that need to be addressed.

( ) Center and on-site educational assessments. Chester County also launched the Simple Ask: Wear a Mask Campaign to support local businesses by providing signage, social media toolkits, branded masks and other PPE items. The County Commissioners launched a social media and marketing campaign as well as offering grants totaling $150,000 to eligible chambers of commerce, to allow them to support local businesses in the effort.

Infrastructure projects Over the last year or so, several major infrastructure projects, focused on road, rail and public transit have been completed in Chester County. At the end of 2019, SEPTA, Amtrak and state and local officials announced the completion of the Paoli Station Accessibility Improvements Project, a $48 million plan to improve operations. Station enhancements made by Amtrak included a new platform, new elevators and a pedestrian overpass. Shortly after, the county celebrated the completion by PennDOT of the final phase of the US202 improvement project, including rehabilitation of two bridges over Amtrak rail lines in West Whiteland and East Whiteland townships. And at the beginning of 2020, SEPTA inaugurated the newly modernized Exton Station on the Paoli/Thorndale Regional Line. The funding was received from Transportation Bill 89 signed into law in 2013 by then-Gov. Tom Corbett and improvements included new high-level platforms, covered bicycle parking, extension of the parking lot, installation of a stormwater management system and platform lighting and signage upgrades.

Significant improvements in Coatesville – Chester County’s only city – can be seen in the new train station initiative, with investment coming from Amtrak, a commitment to extend train service to the city by SEPTA, and $1 million in funding provided by the County Commissioners for a parking garage adjacent to the station. The US-422 between Chester and Montgomery counties is also undergoing several improvements, which include Schuylkill River crossings, rail crossings and improvements to facilitate multimodal transport. PennDOT is also designing projects to reconstruct US-1, with construction bids expected to open in 2023 through 80% federal and 20% state funding. A series of improvements are in the design stage for the US-30 to upgrade the Coatesville-Downingtown bypass.

At the start of 2020, SEPTA innuagurated the modernized Exton Station

Chester County is extremely active in land preservation, and for this reason, it boasts 142,000 acres of permanently protected land — nearly 30% of the county’s land area. As entertainment facilities closed during the pandemic, and many viable activities that comply with social distancing focus around the outdoors, Chester County was, and remains, wellpositioned with its extensive network of parks, trails and green areas. The Chester Valley Trail is 14.7 miles in length with over 13.5 miles open for use within Chester County. The county is actively working on an extension that would see the trail run an extra seven miles to the west into Downingtown. Montgomery County is also constructing an extension of the trail to the east into Norristown to provide a connection to the Schuylkill River Trail. When the Schuylkill River trail is completed in Chester County, it will run parallel to the river for 10 miles from Phoenixville to Pottstown. Right now, 5.75 miles of trail are open in Chester County.

Key sectors Chester County has several key sectors that contribute to its economy. Namely, Life Sciences, Information Technology, Entrepreneurship & Management, Agriculture, Tourism & Entertainment, Banking & Finance, Manufacturing, Education and Healthcare.

The county is once again seeing growth in the Life Sciences sector, which includes biotechnology and pharmaceutical research, development, manufacturing and distribution firms, after employment declines in prior years. Chester County is home to 7,114 life sciences employees. The county’s location quotient of 3.16, coupled with the burgeoning Route 202 high tech corridor, means it is often at the top of the list for companies looking to locate lab space in the region. Some of the life science focused companies that currently call Chester County home include Life Sciences Pennsylvania, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and West Pharmaceutical Services.

Named the Top Tech Hub in Pennsylvania, there are a high concentration of technology companies settled in Chester County. As a result, Information Technology has been a key economic driver. Total employment in the IT industry in Chester County is 13,629 as of 2018 and the location quotient is 1.77. This allows the county to compete nationally to attract technology companies. Bentley Systems, QVC, and Infosys are a few of the technology-focused companies that have a significant

presence in the county. Software publishing is also experiencing massive growth, more than doubling its number of jobs to 2,303 from 2015 to 2018.

Entrepreneurial spirit is extremely high in Chester County and Management roles account for around 4% of jobs in the county, employing 9,134 people. The location quotient of 2.27 exceeds any other nearby Pennsylvania County as well as the Pennsylvania average of 1.3. The average annual wage provided by these professions is $178,554, well above the national and even the Chester County average.

With its rich history of farming and swathes of protected land, it is no surprise Agriculture is one of the top industries in the county. With temperate climates and rich, fertile soil, the county remains in second place of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties in terms of value of agricultural products sold. Over half of the mushrooms produced in the United States are grown in Chester County. Agriculture and food production is one of the biggest job creators, providing over 10,000 jobs in 2018.

While one of the major industries to suffer under the COVID-19 pandemic, as of 2018, Tourism & Entertainment was among the most buoyant economic sectors in Chester County. Philadelphia, as a convention and tourism and entertainment hub, leads the region in this sector with 77,000 jobs but Chester County has seen huge growth with 24,809 jobs as of 2018. Major attractions and historical sites include Longwood Gardens, the Brandywine Battlefield, the Paoli Battlefield, the Valley Forge National Historical Park and St. Peter’s Village. It is also host to the Devon Horse Show.

With many of the major Banking and Finance institutions having set up roots in Philadelphia as one of the country’s financial centers, the overspill has created over 23,000 jobs in Chester County. Some of the prominent financial institutions with a presence in the county include Citadel Credit Union, TD Bank, PNC Bank, De Lage Landen Financial Services and US Investment Corp. The location quotient of 1.83 is high compared to the national average and it outpaces neighboring counties. Investment management firm Vanguard is Chester County’s largest employer, and is the home of the company’s world headquarters, in this segment with over 8,000 employees.

The original home of the nation’s iron industry, Chester County has retained much of its early Manufacturing expertise. Providing around 18,900 jobs pre-COVID, due to negative manufacturing trends countrywide pre-pandemic the sector has experienced some contraction.

Feeding into all this economic growth is Chester County’s top-ranked Education offering. The county is home to a range of prestigious educational institutions. Its 12 public school districts contain 60 elementary schools, 19 middle schools and 17 high schools. Some

Chester County ranks second in Pennsylvania in value of agricultural products sold

Doug Claffey

Founder – Energage

For all of us, 2020 is a year we were happy to say goodbye to. But 2021 is starting strong, and I see us back on a growth path. In terms of our focus, which is helping companies generate employee engagement, we’re going to continue to press on to achieve our purpose of making the world a better place to work together. Our silver lining is seeing the e ects of what we do, whether it’s giving employees a voice, sharing data that helps leaders improve the employee experience, or recognizing people-first organizations through our annual and quarterly awards,

Hubert Ho

Chief Operating Officer – 8BioMed

As a venture company in biotech, we have to be agile and flexible. COVID triggered some uncertainties and di culties, forcing us to slow down. But we took this opportunity to launch our 8HUB incubator to make use of our surplus resources and reserved space. The decision was timely as we noticed that other venture companies were looking at adjusting their plans to become COVID-resilient, therefore creating demand, and we are in the position to meet their needs. Furthermore, this pandemic-triggered slowdown also presented us the opportunity to re-evaluate our plan as we switched gears. Thanks to our 8HUB incubator initiatives, we started to connect to a greater variety of companies in the area, allowing us the opportunity to identify valuable synergy potentials and collaboration partnerships despite the physical limitations. This demonstrates not only that a crisis could evolve into opportunities but also the dynamic environment and resourcefulness the region o ers.

of the public schools in the county are nationally recognized, award-winning schools, one of which is the Downtown STEM Academy. There are 95 private, early childhood education schools, 20 private high schools, 18 charter and online schools, three technical college high school campuses and six colleges and universities. Notable higher education institutions include Lincoln University, Cheyney University, West Chester University, Immaculata University and Penn State Great Valley. The sector employed 12,689 people pre-COVID.

One of the most critical sectors in the last year, the healthcare industry is also the largest employer in Chester County with almost 29,000 employees, and there are many opportunities for the county to capitalize on its geographical proximity to the metropolitan area. National and industrial trends are also supporting growth in the sector.

Looking ahead Chester County’s economy is diversified among a number of key industries. As a result of the pandemic, the county’s economic growth was disrupted but it was largely insulated from large-scale damage by its strong economy and a local government that understands the importance of protecting local businesses.

Restore Chester County has provided a lifeline to the community in terms of grants, training and support during the pandemic. And the county’s VISTA 2025 economic development strategy includes both the public and private sectors in the long-term growth of Chester County so that it continues to be an attractive place to live for its residents.

Not only this, but emphasis is being placed on longterm economic strategies related to climate change and diversity and inclusion. In February 2021, the Chester County Planning Commission, in partnership with the Chester County Environmental and Energy Advisory Board, held a virtual public meeting on the county’s Climate Action Plan, and a draft plan has since been made available. The Chester County Commissioners and the Chester County Economic Development Council are also taking steps to focus on diversity, inclusion and equity within county government and the county’s business community.

While challenges remain, in particular as the pandemic continues, Chester County is a bright spot in the region, focusing on its economic diversity to ensure it remains a leading destination for individuals and companies.

Capital Analytics would like to thank Chester County for its contributions in compiling this chapter. To learn more, visit its website at:

www.chesco.org

Banking & Finance:

2020 was an unprecedented year for banking, and Philadelphia’s financial institutions are set to emerge with stronger frameworks for a more proactive approach to business, while adapting the lessons learned from the pandemic. The disruption in the industry also drove home the benefits of fintech and technology adoption to weather any future storms.

Branching out:

Lenders and other financial firms have learned to adopt, adapt, pivot and change. The results speak volumes

New York City long ago edged Philadelphia from its first-place standing as a U.S. financial center but Greater Philadelphia still has the edge over many other jurisdictions. The region has a large, educated population, favorable tax rates, prestigious educational institutions, a wide array of safe neighborhoods and proximity to other major financial hubs in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.

While the pandemic put up many challenges for the industry, including the daunting rollout of the Payment Protection Program (PPP) loans, it also sparked an unprecedented opportunity to adopt new technologies and forced a closer relationship between traditional institutions and the emerging fintech segment.

Landscape According to data from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, in the third quarter of 2020, small banks in the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware saw their assets increase almost 25% on the year, with a similar growth rate for loans. Total deposits were up over 17% to $155.3 billion. In the Greater Philadelphia region, the 10 largest credit unions saw a 10% growth in total assets and a 15.6% increase in loans.

Although profitability fell among small tri-state banks, commercial and industrial lending growth of almost 140% drove performance. Crucially, the nonperforming loan ratio remained small and steady, while the U.S. economy is set to pick up by spring 2021, according to the chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group.

The attractiveness of Philadelphia as a banking hub can be seen by two of New York City’s biggest real estate firms doubling down on commitments to the city at the end of 2020. The Durst Organization will build a $2.2 billion, 3.5-million-square-foot mixeduse development at Penn’s Landing and Silverstein Properties acquired the $451.6 million BNY Mellon Bank Tower, as well as investing $56 million in the development of 3.0 University Place. “The Philadelphia advantage lies in being sandwiched between New York and D.C. It’s easy to get anywhere and it’s a large market,” Gene S. Godick CEO and founder of G-Squared Partners, LLC, told Invest:. “It does come with its caveats, such as its tax policy with a high wage tax, as well as an unusual business ( )

Positive outlook

Investment in technology and across the board helps position lender for growth

Jeff Schweitzer

President & CEO – Univest Financial Corporation

What have been some major highlights for Univest, notwithstanding the pandemic? We entered the year poised to start taking advantage of all the technology investments that we made. We were excited to start to leverage that as we continue to expand our footprint further west and north, gaining market share in the city and the surrounding suburbs. While we are a commercial bank predominantly, we still have many consumer customers that we value. We invest in a great deal of technology on the consumer side and we are really starting to leverage that and become more efficient as an organization while improving our customer experience.

Which services have seen the most demand? Eliminating the pandemic, we were seeing good opportunities across all lines of business. I would say that the commercial bank was probably growing the fastest. We’ve invested a lot in wealth management through a partnership with Black Diamond on their app. This helped to get digital capabilities to our wealth management customers. We’ve really been making investments all across the board in all lines of business. I would say that mortgage banking has also been doing extremely well, given lower interest rates and customers starting to want to leave the city and buy homes in the suburbs. This year, the fastest-growing has been mortgage banking but our commercial banking capabilities have been keeping up with the pandemic and the downturn of the economy.

What is your outlook for Univest and the commercial banking industry in the next 12-18 months? I think our outlook at Univest is really positive. We’re in good markets in southeastern and central Pennsylvania with a diversified business model that should position us well for the future. With respect to commercial banking, we have strong pipelines and a strong team to serve our customers and prospects. I think from a lending perspective everyone is trying to figure out the future economic recovery so credit is important. You want to make sure the companies that you are lending to are surviving but I’m pretty optimistic for the business development side of things. The whole industry has put up a lot of money toward loan losses. Everyone knows loan losses are going to be coming.

Overall, the banking industry is very well capitalized. The government stimulus has masked a lot of the problems that are probably out there. Obviously hospitality is going to suffer in some respects. Overall, I’m optimistic of where we are headed with the big wild card being how long it’s going to take for a vaccine to be effective.

( ) tax structure that needs to be dealt with. Its school district struggles as well. The Philadelphia suburbs, however, are great places to raise a family. We do not have extreme weather. It tends to be on the lower end of costs of living compared to New York and there are a lot of great colleges and universities in the area. Philadelphia needs to figure out how to retain that talent, which has been a discussion for the last 30 years. We probably could use more venture funds and other things that enable investing in early stage companies.”

With the advent of fintech and online banking, banking institutions also are looking at their branch strategies. An example is Univest Financial. The bank said in October that it would close 20% of its retail branches through the consolidation of 15 branches in Bucks and Montgomery County. At the same time, it announced plans to open 13 branches in strategic markets, including Philadelphia. The decision was based on deposit data, the bank said.

According to Philadelphia Business Journal research, the Top 5 banks in Philadelphia (June 30, 2020) according to deposits in the market were TD Bank ($186.78 billion), Capital One ($169.17 billion),

The rollout of PPP loans forced many traditional bank branches to explore closer relationships with emerging fintech companies.

Wells Fargo Bank ($44.31 billion), PNC Bank ($34.18 billion) and Bank of America ($26.42 billion).

A number of banks are also headquartered in the city, including AmeriServ Financial, Bank of Pennsylvania, Fidelity Trust and Second Bank of the United States. Philadelphia-based PNC Financial Services is set to acquire the U.S. assets of Spanish bank BBVA, which will make it the largest regional bank in terms of assets under management in the United States. PNC also stands as an example of the success banks had in 2020, as they participated in the Payment Protection Program loans, which saw regional and community banks benefit at the expense of the bigger players. PNC reported a year-over-year increase in net profit in the fourth quarter of 2020 to $1.46 billion. Deposits increased sequentially by 3% to $359.4 billion with strong growth in both the commercial and consumer segments.

And there could be another banking body to add to the ranks soon. A study commissioned by the city of Philadelphia released its findings in October, recommending the creation of a public bank that would allow for direct loans from the city government to small businesses. A feasibility study was carried out by HR&A Advisors to evaluate how the city could open banking mobility to those traditionally overlooked by the system. The study estimated a lending gap of at Rodger Levenson

Chairman, President & CEO WSFS Bank

What have the last 12 months been like for WSFS in the Philadelphia region?

In March of 2019, we closed the acquisition of Beneficial Bank, which was a huge milestone for us. It marked our significant entry into the Philadelphia border region. This was followed by a well-done, award-winning marketing campaign that introduced the WSFS brand to the community in a thought-provoking way, sharing our nickname, which was really consistent with the way that Philadelphians view banks and where it is very hard to di erentiate yourself. We married all that with Beneficial and what they brought to the community. We waited until six months after the close to do the systems and branding conversion because we thought it was important to allow ourselves some time to get customers, associates and the community acclimated to our name and become familiar with us.

How involved is the bank in federal aid initiatives such as the PPP?

When the dust settles from this program, we will have processed just about 5,000 loans and just a little bit under a billion dollars. At the end of the day, that’s almost a billion dollars that we put into the regional economy.

What role will the bank, and the sector in general, play in reactivating the economy?

I think the banking community is really doing everything possible to support our customers and get them through this really di cult stage to bridge them into what hopefully will be the opening up and recovery in the second half of the year. As things move forward and we open up our ability to continue to support those customers with additional lending requests, among others, we are going to do everything we can to support them and the community. We moved $3 million into the WSFS Foundation, which supports nonprofits in the region, and we did that because so many of those nonprofits are struggling right now. I think that is the beauty of the community banking model.

least $840 million for small businesses that were either rejected for a loan or were discouraged from applying. The potential city bank could use $255 million in municipal deposits to provide small-business loans at an interest rate of 1.42-1.46%.

COVID-19 As the eighth-largest U.S. metro economy, Philadelphia hosts five Fortune 1000 companies and generates a gross metropolitan product of $490 billion. More than 2,000 ultra-wealthy individuals live in Philadelphia and the impacts of COVID-19 have caused more and more people to evaluate how their assets are managed and handed down. The largest wealth manager in Philadelphia is Delaware Management Business Trust, with $2 trillion in assets under management (AUM), followed by Brandywine Global, which has $67 billion in AUM. Aberdeen, Logan Circle Partners and AJO

round out the Top 5 with a collective $123 billion in AUM. And there are more and more wealth managers arriving in Philadelphia amid the expanding demand. UBS’ Wealth Management team recently hired two new advisers for its Philadelphia operations to manage around $1.7 billion in client assets.

COVID has not only changed the demand for wealth management but it has also ramped up appetite for M&A activity. As of Dec. 21, 2020, there were 106 bank merger or acquisition announcements, four of which were in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, compared with 15 in 2019. But as 2020 closed out and 2021 began, PNC Financial acknowledged a flurry of new consolidation activity, leading to speculation that there will be a “turbocharged” deal pipeline as the pandemic slows. PNC identified community banks and those with $1 billion or less in assets as the most likely candidates willing to sell.

We probably could use more venture funds and other things that enable investing in early-stage companies.

Gene Godick, CEO & Founder G-Squared Partners, LLC Jeane Vidoni

President & CEO Penn Community Bank

What role does Penn Community Bank play in the Philadelphia and Bucks County community?

In the five years since the unification of two longstanding mutual banks to create Penn Community Bank, we’ve truly become a powerhouse in the financial services space – we are the largest independent mutual bank in eastern Pennsylvania and have over $2.5 billion in assets. As a mutual bank, we have no outside investors and we are not publicly traded, which gives us the opportunity for longer-term decisionmaking and to be an integral part of the communities we serve. Combine that with the ability we have to recruit talent and this has allowed us to grow and compete with the largest financial institutions in the area. As a community-first bank we believe in being a catalyst for growth in the markets we serve. Beyond meeting consumer and business banking, lending, and investment needs, we donate 5% of our net income to community organizations and nonprofits that benefit our customers and neighborhoods.

How do you see the Bucks County region emerging from the pandemic?

As the chair of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council (CDIAC) I have access to some of the most up-todate details and economic projections in the nation. We know that in our market, we deal with a lot of small businesses, non-chain restaurants and a robust tourism industry. It is very important for us to help guide those segments to the other side of this with a targeted response – both private and public. Some of that might be grants, lending products, community response e orts and leveraging the best ideas from a wide group of leaders. While I think in the long term there is cause for optimism, we’re looking at a seriously transformative moment for the economy in the short term. Regardless of our response, our No. 1 goal needs to be always keeping people at the center of what we are doing.

Philadelphia banks worked diligently throughout the pandemic to help clients capitalize on PPP loans and refinancing opportunities.

The pandemic has also presented many new challenges and question marks over the future of bank branches. With banks being urged to curtail branch access to hold the spread of COVID-19 at bay, many are questioning whether they need to offer branch access at all. As the need to limit face to face interaction becomes more urgent, there has been a surge in online banking, telephone banking and even drive-through branches.

In 2020, PNC Financial announced it would go ahead with the closure of 160 branches over the course of the year, with at least one of those located in Philadelphia. The bank justified its decision by clarifying that 77% of consumers used nonteller channels for the majority of their transactions in the final quarter of the year, while 66% of total deposits were made through ATM and mobile channels. Bancorp also announced the closure of two of its branches in the region.

Diversity and inclusion Branch closures, while they make more business sense for banking chains, can have a knock-on effect on financial literacy rates and can often impact lowerincome populations more than middle- and upperincome demographics. The pandemic has exposed several challenges to universal financial literacy, according to Forbes magazine. A U.S. Financial Literacy and Education Commission study published in December showed that just a third of adults were able to answer at least four out of five questions on fundamental financial matters, such as mortgages, interest rates and inflation. Over 20% of Americans reported they did not know who they could turn to with a question about finance. In Pennsylvania, there is no requirement for high schools to offer courses in financial literacy and there is no standardized testing on the matter.

In Philadelphia, a 2019 investigation by the Philadelphia Business Journal found that only 5% of the city’s bank or credit union branches were located in lowincome minority neighborhoods. The underbanked population of Philadelphia at that time was the highest of any major U.S. city at 35% and the race gap exists, the study found. Only 3.9% of white residents were

unbanked, compared with 19% of people of color. Citizens Bank has the highest number of branches in low-income neighborhoods, followed by Wells Fargo and TD Bank. According to FDIC, the unbanked population has dropped to 5%, although around 25% of Americans are estimated to use alternative institutions rather than banks for loans and savings accounts. The HR&A Advisors study says that, even with low interest rates, a public bank could create money for the city due to its ability to attract and incentivize private investment.

Investopedia says that, much like all of the nation’s older institutions, banks have a role to play in a racist past. But now, Black-owned banks have emerged to provide greater financial access to those minority communities. A Minority Deposit Institution (MDI) is an institution that is 51% minority owned or one whose board has a majority of the minority population. In Pennsylvania, there are three such institutions: OneUnited Bank, United Bank of Philadelphia and Hill District Federal Credit Union.

PPP Loans As COVID-19 threatened to decimate the U.S. economy, the federal government’s rollout of the PPP loan program through the Small Business Administration (SBA) was warmly welcomed by the small businesses it was intended to help. But for Philadelphia’s banking system, the rollout required rapid introspection to evaluate the technology, platforms and staff availability to handle the inevitable deluge of applications. On April 3, the $669 billion program was rolled out, with guidance provided to lenders from federal officials on the eve of the program going live. On April 5, Philadelphia’s largest bank by assets, Wells Fargo, announced it had exhausted its $10 billion lending capacity, and ( )

FDIC says the unbanked population has dropped to 5% but 25% of Americans use alternative institutions

Susanne Svizeny

Greater Philadelphia Regional President OceanFirst Bank, N.A.

Which service lines have seen the most demand in the Philadelphia area in the last year?

With the bustling Philadelphia real estate market over the past few years, we’ve been successful in growing our commercial real estate relationships, while also building relationships with commercial and industrial business owners. Philadelphia is a diverse community full of businesses that are ideal to partner with OceanFirst for their banking services. We’ve really experienced great success and momentum in new business since Philadelphia companies appreciate that our team at OceanFirst both understands the market and has strong connectivity to the business community. We also worked throughout the pandemic to support businesses with the Paycheck Protection Program, providing access to this important resource quickly for both customers and potential customers.

What do you see for the banking sector in the Philadelphia region in the next few years?

Credit and risk management are very important to the banking sector and with the current crisis, we need to ensure we support our customers while also managing credit risk. OceanFirst Bank continues to lend as well as support our customers with PPP and debt relief. OceanFirst Bank has prepared for short- and longer- term economic outcomes with a solid financial position.

To what extent is banking consolidation healthy for the banking sector?

Competition and choices are always beneficial for the customer. However, investment in technology will become essential for banks to compete e ectively, and those organizations that are not doing this will have to consider other alternatives. OceanFirst has complimented our organic growth with the acquisition of other strong banks allowing us to continue to grow our organization, while also investing in our service and product o erings in line with customer’s evolving banking expectations.

Fintech is here

Fintech isn’t the future; it’s the present and has helped Bryn Mawr sucessfully navigate many of the pandemic’s challenges

How do you see the interaction between banks and fintech companies developing? It’s pretty much here; this is the future; we are living it, and fintech is a critical part of what we do. We are in the throes of the single-largest technology project this bank has ever undertaken. Quite honestly, we were lucky to start the process last year because it served us very well going into the SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) process early on. Technology allowed us to be a real leader in that area.

Fintech is now part of our everyday life, part of our regular examinations by regulators, by our auditors, everybody understands that this is it. It certainly has changed the dynamics of banking. There are people in banking who still think that everything will go back to the way it was prior to the pandemic, but I don’t think it was “the way it was” even before the pandemic crisis. The demise of the traditional retail network was obvious. We just went through six months of proving that you don’t need an open branch to continue to do business. Drive-throughs are more than sufficient for those who don’t understand the technology, with appointments for very technical services.

What is the main tech project that BMT is working on? It’s a fintech project in the bank space called “nCino,” which was a commercial lending platform when they started. It allowed for a better customer experience, and it created a great deal of efficiency on the banking side. We looked at it five years ago, when it first came out, and it was so new. I don’t think the bank had embraced the use of technology the way it does today and there was a bit of reluctance to believe that anything could be better than a spreadsheet and a calculator. We went to a more traditional solution at that time.

Now, nCino has large banks on it. I believe Bank of America and Citibank are using some nCino technology. We decided when we were looking at it to create efficiencies to move to a more remote and much more efficient environment that it was the appropriate platform. We also decided to be the pilot bank for nCino to launch online and mobile deposit account openings, so you don’t need to come into the bank to sign a card, show ID, and those typically in-person requirements.

That’s what really allowed us to excel during the PPP program in two ways: first, because we were one of a few local banks that accepted PPP loans from nonBMT clients, and every one of these loans required a deposit account to be able to deposit the money, and second, we built a PPP loan application in nCino that allowed the origination of over 1,800 loans in a small window, and we did that with nCino.

Frank Leto

President & CEO – Bryn Mawr Bank Corp.

( ) the first $349 billion was exhausted within 13 days as business owners scrambled to secure aid. The second $320 billion round began on April 27. TD Bank became the largest PPP lender in Philadelphia with 12,789 PPP loans. Focus was then switched to the forgiveness side of the program.

“Working with the SBA, we were able to get a lot of loans out the door in a very short period. As an example, we usually process about 30 loans a month but we did 300 in about six weeks,” said Charles Crawford Chairman & CEO of Hyperion Bank, in an interview with Invest:. “What we are finding now is that it was a little easier to give out the money than it is to go through the process of forgiveness. We’ll work through it with our customers. We are having that dialogue with many of our small-business clients.”

After a further federal stimulus agreement was made in Congress in December, banks were in a much better position to deal with the PPP process. But two Philadelphia-based banks — Bryn Mawr Trust Co. and Sharon Bank — told the Philadelphia Business Journal that they would not participate in the program, while others were unsure whether they would take part until further clarification had been released. The new round of loans would be much more targeted to smaller businesses, with eligibility restricted to those with 300 employees or less and payouts restricted to $2 million.

One of the biggest concerns is that, like the first PPP round, many regional banks may choose to cater to only their own customers, and even Wells Fargo has placed this restriction on its applicants. The SBA has said that applications from community financial institutions will be exclusively accepted for at least

Due to the rapid digital transformation stemming from the challenges of the pandemic, there are many questions surrounding the future of brick and mortar banking branches.

the first two days, with a goal of targeting businesses owned by people of color, veterans, women and those in underserved geographies.

Data from the first round of stimulus showed that 11 of Philadelphia’s smaller higher education institutions received $23.7 million in funding, which was crucial to avoid layoffs and furloughs. All in, about 50% of Philadelphia’s small businesses were awarded funds, with $1.5 billion going to 16,000 businesses. But many argue that there were fundamental flaws in the system. Controversy surrounded the fact that around $110 million in aid went to the legal industry, which is capable of working remotely. A report also showed that the aid was not targeted enough to the industries that were really suffering, such as restaurants and hospitality. Black and Latino business owners also reported that just 10% had received the amounts ( ) Rory Ritrievi

President & CEO Mid Penn Bank

What will be the function of physical bank space going forward?

Mid Penn Bank is reimagining all of its delivery channels, including its physical space, to better serve all of our customer’s rapidly evolving needs. We believe that many of our customers still want to visit and interact with experienced bankers for their account opening and transactional needs. We also want to be present, visible and with convenient access in the communities in which we operate. That likely will mean a “hub and spoke” concept of establishing a main physical hub within each community that is in a very convenient location and where any and every customer can come and do whatever they need to do and with the assistance of specialists. Surrounding that hub in various parts of the same market would be limited service facilities that would allow access to transactional service and of course, to cash. In each of those facilities, we will deliver the very best of technology to make each visit purposeful and e cient for the customers.

How did demand for the bank’s services shift over the past year?

We had an incredible level of demand for our services in 2020. As the pandemic raged on, we were able to deliver $1.2 billion of new commercial, consumer and residential loans, not including the $630 million of Paycheck Protection Loans we originated. To do that, we made a total of 6,000 new loans in 2020. That is an average of 16 new loans a day for every day of the year! Our deposit production was equally as impressive. Even with our retail lobbies being closed for the majority of the year, we opened more accounts than ever before and grew our deposit base by almost 30%. Lastly, we had a great year in trust and wealth management growth with relationship development on the bank side and in our newly formed MPB Financial, which is a nonbank subsidiary that focuses on specialized trusts, wealth management and insurance for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals.

®oundtable:

Fintech and digital impact

There is little doubt that technology played a significant role in helping people through the pandemic. Banking and financial leaders discuss the impact from fintech and digital trends.

Michael Carbone

Regional President, Metro PA/NJ TD Bank

How are customers adapting to the digital developments in banking? We’ve learned that customers are adaptable. An increasing number of customers have been using digital banking, either through their mobile phone, computer or any other smart device. However, there is still a base of customers who want more of a person-to-person experience. In the beginning of the pandemic, our drive-throughs were extremely crowded since people were stopping by just to cash a check or make a deposit. Customers have since adjusted to using more digital means. We’ve also focused on o ering customized solutions and services to our customers as their needs change.

How did the TD Ready Commitment positively impact local communities in 2020? The intent of the TD Ready Commitment is to make a positive impact in the communities we serve. Of course, there are a number of areas in which we could help across the country. For us, it is about making a meaningful commitment in financial security, having a vibrant planet, connected communities and better health. We want people to be positively impacted not only toda, but to also provide the infrastructure for relevant organizations to experience long-term growth, especially in the development of children and financial literacy. We have a tremendous crisis in this country around financial literacy and it’s important to continue to make people comfortable about how to manage their money. We are hopeful that the TD Ready Commitment will have a positive, durable impact.

Angela Moultrie

Executive Vice President & Region President, Penn/ Central NJ Santander Bank

What are some of Santander’s programs to promote financial literacy? The issue of financial literacy can really span a number of di erent areas. We try to meet the customer — or whomever we are o ering the service to – where they are. It can be as little as the basics of banking – how do I balance my checkbook and save for my future? – or it can be as much as how one utilizes or takes advantage of credit. We also seek to educate and provide financial advice on home ownership, retirement, long-term savings, and short-term savings. It’s essential to meet the client where they are. We’re also looking for opportunities to help small businesses.

What trends have you observed during the past year? Foremost is digital transformation and providing accessibility. During the pandemic, people have not been out and about in a normal way, so o ering digital and online banking services has been important and where we have seen our largest area of growth. People needed the service, and we were ready and equipped to help. I think we have done a fine job serving our customers’ needs. We’re also seeing that consumers and businesses have needed help with receiving sound financial advice and establishing long-term and emergency, savings plans. These have been important areas of focus for our customers. As part of our commitment to o ering competitive products and services, we are launching Santander Private Client. The program aims to provide our clients exceptional treatment and personalized service that supports their everyday needs, long-term goals and lifetime aspirations.

Bryan McCullough

Philadelphia Market Director Banking Chase

Do you see the relationship between fintech and banks deepening with the pandemic? We’re always striving to provide clients with convenience because we want clients to bank the way they want to bank. That is key. A lot of our enhanced ATMs really can take care of about 70% or so of the transactions that people come inside a branch for. That’s there. But there is also a percentage of clients who love to put their eyes on people. They like that feel, that experience. That’s what we’re trying to do; a merging, not a separation, of technology on one side and a personal touch on the other.

During this pandemic, there are understandably some clients who want to take care of their banking from home. The breadth of what we are o ering right now on our chase.com platform and our Chase app is expansive, from direct deposits, depositing checks, to setting up bill payments and doing transfers. Literally, you can bank from your phone. Of course that’s helpful and convenient anytime, but even more so now.

What banking trends are you keeping an eye on? For us, it’s not so much about trends but more continuing to focus on financial literacy. What can we do to empower our customers when you realize that most Americans don’t have $400 saved up for a rainy day? What can we do to change that? We can talk to them about automatic savings and other little tricks of the trade. Our Credit Journey platform is amazing for helping to educate clients on credit, on what they can do. So, it’s really more about what we can do to take care of our clients over the long term versus current trends. How have your technology clients performed throughout the pandemic? Our business is focused primarily on software and fintech. We also cover hardware, internet/e-commerce and clean tech. On the whole, the entire tech ecosystem performed very well. Our two main industries, software and fintech, have done very well as of late. Although the ecosystem took a pause early in the second quarter as our venture capital counterparts and our customers tried to figure out how they were going to work their way through COVID-19, it has rebounded very quickly. Our clients in the travel and leisure industry were negatively impacted during the pandemic, but a lot of sectors experienced phenomenal growth. Because we provide support to their operations via our systems and o erings, we experienced the same lift. The VCs were there to support their portfolio companies and the portfolio companies hunkered down early, to preserve cash flow.

What characteristics should tech companies look for in a bank? Tech companies should find a bank that can be a resource and grow with them. It’s important to work with someone who understands their business and challenges, especially in a pandemic environment where their challenges are changing almost daily. This space is changing every day, and there are a lot of disruptors out there. You want bankers who are on top of that and can provide a consultative relationship. The other piece that is important is that you want to be banking with an entity that’s scalable. Yes, many banks have good products but as you grow, you want a bank that can grow with you.

Tom Harper

Executive Vice President & Head of Technology Banking Wells Fargo Commercial Banking

( ) they had requested. There was also controversy over the fact that bank directors and shareholders holding up to 30% stakes in the bank could apply for PPP funding at that very same bank.

Data from July showed that the most dominant banks in the Philadelphia region – including Wells Fargo and Bank of America – did not allocate the proportionate amount of PPP loans to their market share. TD Bank allocated the most loans by far at 14.4% of the total, while Citizens Bank was second with 8.9% and PNC third with 7.2%. Twenty lenders approved at least 1,000 loans, 16 of which were local banks.

As of Jan. 13, the SBA had forgiven 1.1 million PPP loans amounting to $100 billion. About 80% of loans under $50,000 that sought forgiveness had received it and the December stimulus came with a drastic simplification of the forgiveness process. Now, banks are calling for more targeted PPP allocations as the third round rolls out. After the Philadelphia Department of Public Health ordered indoor dining, gyms, museums, libraries, youth centers, community centers and school sports to shut down and announced limits on gatherings, bankers called for “common sense stimulus reforms” that help those industries most affected by restrictions.

Regulations The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia is responsible for financial institution supervision across the Third Federal Reserve District. Fintech globally made great strides in 2020 due to the COVID-19 tailwinds forcing remote banking access, but with this progress also came regulations that struggled to keep up.

Fintech and its regulation have been at the center

Until the 1850s, Philadelphia was long considered the financial capital of the nation.

of the discussion among Philadelphia Federal Bank regulators for many years. According to the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS), “regulation should enable market competition and innovation but operate consistent with strong consumer protections.” While traditional models for products such as mortgages or money transfers can be applied to fintech, there are some gaps that still need to be addressed. The sheer number of nonbanks alone created the need for regulatory efficiency, the CSBS says. And while digitalization can improve access to credit and can provide more transparent credit decisions, there is also the risk that digitalization could create more marginalization among the haves and the have nots within the banking sector.

And often when the regulation lags, the competition suffers. In the United States, payment processing Chris Martin

Chairman & CEO Provident Bank

How did Provident Bank finish 2020?

It was an interesting year, one of the most di cult for the banking industry in recent times. With so many heartstrings being pulled at the same time, including the pandemic and its political backdrop, social unrest, to name a few, it was a challenging environment. When we started 2020, we had all the aspirations for great things to come. In early March, at the beginning of the COVID-19 spread, we announced a merger and a week earlier we had launched our new online and mobile banking solutions to provide enhanced digital banking capabilities. Despite the challenges, we were able to complete the merger and finalize our system integration on schedule in November.

What is your take on the Payment Protection Program (PPP) loans rollout?

Our company has been around since 1839 and from the beginning, we’ve been conservative in the way we approach things. To help meet the overwhelming response, we collaborated with our marketing team on an in-house solution, where we developed an online portal for our clients to apply. The day after the launch, we had over $450 million in applications. We’re looking at the next batch of PPP loans coming in as the SBA is not equipped to process this kind of volume in forgiveness proceedings.

How did COVID-19 modify your technology and fintech strategy?

Technology is definitely an integral part of this business. Forty-four percent of our bank’s expense this year will be on technology. Going forward, it boils down to refining our digital strategy and understanding the right balance between our digital channels and our branch environment. We are partnering with fintech solutions to add to our client service o erings. Banks our size traditionally rely on legacy, o -the-shelf systems. We are planning to get unbolted from them. That is where we anticipate fintech solutions will help.

12 Philadelphia fintech players made Technical.ly’s list of companies worth keeping an eye on

startups have been forced to circumvent regulation by partnering with federally insured traditional banks, which then demand fees for the services. Fintech companies are now seeking a national banking charter that would allow them to accept federal insured consumer deposits without the involvement of banks. Hard lobbying by banks and fears over industry heavyweights Amazon and Facebook monopolizing online payments have been blamed for the country’s slow adoption of this crucial fintech regulation.

Competitive advantage But despite regulatory hurdles, fintech is moving faster and faster to revolutionize the world of banking and payments. The use of big data and AI also allows traditional banks to move faster and lower their costs of credit assessment and monitoring, potentially generating savings that are then passed on to

Founded in 1790, Philadelphia is home to the oldest stock exchange in the United States.

customers. Costs are also reduced by paper-free billing and statements and the lower need for hardware and infrastructure beyond a customer’s smartphone. Hyperion’s Crawford said the two sides, traditional banks and fintech, are increasingly integrated. “The pandemic is only accelerating it further, and the SBA program is a good example. Because they are not banks on their own, some fintechs, like Kabbage, worked with banks to be able to process a greater volume in a faster way. For us, it has really enhanced our model.”

In Philadelphia, 12 fintech players made Technical. ly’s list of companies worth keeping an eye on. Radnorbased eMoney Advisor provides data analytics for wealth management, while CardConnect is a payment processing company that recently listed on the Nasdaq. Moven is a spending tracker and BizEquity offers businesses online valuations. Other companies to watch are Chaikin Analytics, Perpay, AlphaPoint, WorthFM, WealthHub, Safeguard Scientifics, Ben Franklin Technology Partners and Wharton FinTech. PowerPay, an app that enables contractors to offer financing plans to customers, also found its business boosted by the COVID-19 pandemic as home improvements hit the roof. And everyone is embracing the new world: a recent survey by DealCloud Dealmaker Pulse showed that just 2% of respondents said they felt technology was hindering their firm during COVID.

Mortgages One major economic indicator and an important barometer for the banking and financial sector is the state of the housing industry and, more specifically, mortgages. At the beginning of the pandemic and over the summer, legislators enacted a freeze on ( )

Steve Meyer

Executive Vice President & Head of Global Wealth Management Services – SEI

With SEI celebrating over 50 years in business, we’ve been through business cycles, market euphoria and financial meltdowns, but 2020 was unparalleled. The way we responded to the pandemic is definitely our No. 1 success story. The fact that we were able to go fully remote on March 17 in terms of our global workforce and didn’t miss a beat is a testament to our commitment to our business and the dedication of our workforce. We’ve always been a vibrant and agile company with a strong culture. What the past year proved to me — more than anything else — is that we have a resilient, adaptable, persistent and deeply committed workforce.

Chris Bickel

Senior Vice President & Main Line Market Leader Centric Bank

Building on our 2020 growth, Centric Bank is well-positioned in the Philadelphia market to continue strengthening our small business customers and provide capital to a new wave of entrepreneurs. We responded to every PPP loan customer with personal, focused attention. That’s our We Revolve Around You promise, and it continues into 2021 and beyond. Our plans include expanding our footprint further into New Jersey, another ideal marketplace with a robust small business presence.

Philadelphia and other major metro areas are facing the fallout from the pandemic, which was most acute in urban centers. We need to try and get the population re-engaged. Citizens is very active in helping minority businesses grow and thrive. We provide capital, resources and volunteers to help grow those businesses to help generate jobs so we can support a diverse economy that spurs growth. As a bank, our job is to connect people and ensure the economic environment is beneficial for everyone and civic engagement is a huge part of this. Dan Fitzpatrick

President, Mid-Atlantic Region & Head National Industry Verticals, Citizens

Jordan Space

President, Eastern PA Region S&T Bank

We would like to return from crisis management to a growth situation. We had payment deferral programs and Payment Protection Program (PPP) loans in 2020, which took attention from our core business. In the short term, we want to continue to give our clients the attention and services they need and get ahead of the next round of PPP loans. One of the things the industry is keeping an eye on is margin compression so revenue channels can be increased and expanded.

Tompkins had record earnings in 2019 and our return on equity continues to be in the top quartile of community banks in the country. We plan to sustain this level of performance and expand our services by taking a holistic approach in 2021. We recognize the need to continue to diversify our cross-sale e orts through our banking, insurance and wealth management businesses. Our credit quality was solid prior to the pandemic and we feel we can continue to support our customers while also being mindful of taking appropriate credit risks. As always, we are committed to staying engaged with our customers, and we truly believe we’re all in this together. As we come out the other side of this pandemic, Tompkins VIST Bank’s success will be built upon our abilities to assist in our customers’ success. Jim Whitton

Senior Vice President/ Regional Market Leader Greater Philadelphia Area Tompkins VIST Bank

Bernie Shields

Regional President, Philadelphia & South Jersey M&T Bank

The first building and loan association was founded in Philadelphia.

( ) foreclosures and evictions, which stopped those whose incomes were affected by the pandemic from becoming homeless. But there was criticism that the measure kicked the can down the road as delinquencies and arrears gathered in the background. In June, the US CMBS delinquency rate registered its largest month-over-month increase in at least 16 years. Loan delinquencies were up to 3.59% in June from 1.46% a month earlier, with new delinquencies of $10.8 billion. Fitch Ratings at the time expected delinquency rates to increase, peaking at between 8.25% and 8.75% by the end of September. In Philadelphia, up to $2.7 billion in commercial mortgages were being monitored for potential default as of June, up 74% from March.

But on the other side of the coin, new home sales were booming in Philadelphia. New Yorkers began leaving the city in droves, mainly to the mid-Atlantic region but those who still sought the big city lifestyle also moved to Philadelphia. According to RENTCafe, new arrivals in the city during 2020 had a median age of 28. Although new inventory coming online outpaced inmigration, both rental and sales activity held up well, although rents fell by around 0.6%. One explanation is that the region recovered around 56% of the jobs lost in March, and another is that 31% of people expect to return to the office at least part-time when the pandemic is over. And while rents decreased slightly, the median sale price of homes in Philadelphia was as high as $249,900 in June and median days on the market was down 15.9% on the year to 37.

What challenges has the current situation brought to the real estate banking sector?

M&T is heavily concentrated in commercial real estate. Relative to our peers, we have a greater proportion of our loan book focused in commercial real estate, largely concentrated within our footprint, which is the mid-Atlantic region to the Northeast – from Virginia up the coast to New York City and Boston. We have every kind of asset in the class, including hotels and retail where there is significant stress. Other segments, like industrial and residential, are super strong. For-sale real estate is o the charts and multifamily rentals continue to be good. In all of these asset classes, the majority of our clients can survive challenging economic circumstances. In our view, the situation will probably create some opportunities for our clients as time moves forward. We expect to be there to support them.

What steps has the bank taken to bolster its strategy through technology and fintech?

We have a great focus on it, and part of that is our branch footprint. Every year, we look at our delivery and execution to see if we have the right properties or outlets for what our clients want and need. The reinvestment at this point is aimed more at electronic delivery and execution, although we remain committed to our branch network and to being user friendly for our communities.

We believe integrating fintech in what we are doing is a way to do that. There’s something like 4,500 banks left in the country, and that number is likely to continue to shrink. There are around 7,000 fintech companies. But just being in fintech does not guarantee survival. M&T Bank has an advantage in its history of delivering quality products and serving our communities in a regulated industry. While there will be fewer banks in the future, those that are well-run and layer in the appropriate levels of financial technology are the ones that are going to survive and thrive.

Bob Falese

Senior Managing Director – Berkadia

Rent collection for every landlord has been at the top of the list, regardless of the asset class. The fiscal stimulus has helped quite a bit, certainly on the apartment side. Today, rent collection has held up to more than 85% of projected rent, which is amazing. There is a high degree of uncertainty as to what next year will look like when the federal stimulus abates and if the pandemic persists. Restrictions at this point next year are a concern. However, there is so much capital in the marketplace looking to absorb yield, which means people are constantly looking for new opportunities. Transactions are absolutely getting done, albeit looking at a slight discount.

Freedom Mortgage, which generated $8 billion in originations in May, $11 billion in June and around $12.5 billion in July, said it will hire 1,000 new full-time employees in Philadelphia alone to deal with growing demand. Across all of 2019, the company’s originations were just $50 billion. Record low interest rates in 2020 had buyers flocking to take advantage of repricings, with 70-80% of volumes for the company coming from refinancing.

Insurance The insurance market is also growing, adapting and being disrupted alongside banking. Property and casualty insurance was given a complete overhaul as claim trends changed dramatically. Globally, property and casualty insurance represent $1.6 trillion in premiums, which is around one-third of the total insurance industry. Based on risk management, the insurance sector was irrevocably changed by a pandemic nobody saw coming. Now, pandemicrelated disruptions are written into insurance policies and businesses have had to tread murky waters over whether or not they can make claims over lockdownrelated losses.

Still, growth and consolidation continue across Philadelphia’s insurance sector. Insurance brokerage and risk management firm Risk Strategies acquired Securitas Insurance Partners in September to add expertise in acquisition risk and insurance. And in January, Philadelphia Insurance Companies acquired World Wide Specialty Programs (WWSP), a $100 million staffing insurance business. Philadelphia’s insurance firms, like many others around the world, are increasingly seeing the need to diversify into areas outside their traditional expertise so they can be prepared for the next unprecedented global event.

Looking ahead As Philadelphia’s banking industry emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no doubt that change is here. PPP loans and forgiveness claims will continue to dominate the sector for at least 2021 and there can be no going back from the disruption caused by fintech.

The focus for banking institutions should be to keep up with the latest technologies and ensure they can provide their customers the security that goes alongside a digital footprint. The sector is also set to evaluate its physical footprint as more financial operations can be carried out digitally and so consolidation is likely to remain a talking point. With a new administration also comes the risk of new regulation and rule changes. 2020 was unprecedented for banking but Philadelphia’s institutions are sure to emerge with stronger frameworks, taking a proactive approach to adapt to the lessons learned in the last year.

Globally, property and casualty insurance represent 1.6 trillion in premiums

Healthcare

& Life Sciences:

The healthcare industry has a long history in Philadelphia but it has never been as prominent as now. Life sciences are on the rise, with educational institutions and medical research positioning the region as an integral hub. The pandemic, however, has strained the sector, highlighting deficiencies and pointing to the need for changes.

Battle-tested:

The pandemic turned the healthcare system upside down. It could emerge stronger as a result

Ever since Philadelphia became home to Pennsylvania Hospital, the first hospital in the British North Colonies, the healthcare industry in Greater Philadelphia has been a major contributor to the region’s identity and growth. In recent years, a fast-establishing life sciences and “eds and meds” hub is buttressing that identity and instilling renewed vigor in the region.

With several healthcare giants headquartered here, healthcare is by far the single, largest employer in the city. GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Wyeth, Merck, GE Healthcare, Johnson & Johnson and Siemens Medical Solutions are just some of the large pharmaceutical companies with operations in the region, and the metropolitan area is also home to the first school of pharmacy in the country.

Pre-COVID landscape Philadelphia is the sixth-largest city in the United States with an estimated population of almost 1.6 million in 2019. The 20-34 demographic is the city’s largest and continues to grow. Just over 40% of the population in the city is Black, 34% is white, around 15% is Hispanic and 7.5% is Asian. In 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 14,187 Philadelphia residents died, with the leading causes of mortality being heart disease, cancer and drug overdoses. Black residents had a higher age-adjusted mortality than the Philadelphia average, at 968 per 100,000 of the population compared with the citywide average of 818.2. Asian females have the highest life expectancy at 88.2, while Black males have the lowest at 68.7.

From 2010 to 2019, rates of hypertension and diabetes in adults remained relatively stable, while adult obesity rates dropped slightly in Pennsylvania. The Black population had higher cases of hypertension and diabetes than any other ethnic group, while the Black and Hispanic populations combined had the highest obesity rate. And chronic conditions in Philadelphia were relatively well treated. Between 2020 and 2019 asthma hospitalization among children under 18 dropped dramatically from 94.6 per 10,000 to just 41.1. Prevalence of obesity in children also slightly declined in the last decade. Both cancer incidence and cancer mortality have been steadily dropping since 2010.

The availability of primary healthcare providers in Philadelphia has improved in recent years although a government report identifies several ( )

Propeling care

Innovation, strategic partnerships and keeping a finger on the pulse of community needs will propel the healthcare system

Gregory Deavens

President & CEO – Independence Health Group

In what areas did the pandemic shine a light and how has independence Health responded? The pandemic brought to light the issue of health inequities and broader inequities. We have begun to mine our data to validate and identify inequities that we see in the delivery of healthcare. We’ve had a focus on that as we moved through 2020 and now into 2021. We’re working with a number of organizations to address some of those. Late last year, we launched a partnership with The Philadelphia Tribune called Our Community. Our Health. that is laser-focused on the high levels of diabetes, obesity and heart disease in the African-American community. This whole effort is intended to provide information and education around those particular disease states but also to provide access to nutritional resources that will help people change their diets. For our senior population, we recently partnered with an organization called Signify Health that is looking to break down some of the traditional barriers to accessing clinical and social care and improving health outcomes for seniors.

What innovation strategies has Independence deployed to optimize the member’s experience? One of the concerns that we know our members and customers had at the outset of the pandemic was obtaining access to testing and treatment resources, as well as the associated cost burden. One of the first things we did was make sure that our members would not face out-of-pocket costs for testing or treatment. We also recognized, based on Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations relative to limiting the spread, that there would be a need for individuals to access their providers through telemedicine. We waived the normal cost-sharing associated with telemedicine services, either through your primary care physician or through a vendor that we use for remote access. What is your outlook for healthcare moving forward? I think you’re going to continue to see significant innovation in terms of how healthcare is delivered, not only in this community but nationally. Going forward, we believe there will be a national trend in care migrating from inpatient settings to outpatient community settings, ultimately into the home. I also think you’re going to start to see more advancements in terms of remote monitoring capabilities. We’re excited about the innovation that we think is going to continue. We are extremely fortunate to be in an area with such tremendous and prominent health systems but also individual practitioners who I think are on the leading edge of some of the innovation that’s taking place in healthcare today.

Carol Irvine

CEO Abramson Senior Care

How are you meeting the growing and changing demands for senior care?

There are two functions to that. Before, I used to look at an individual and think about how they fit into one of our systems. Now, it’s a mixture of funding streams and preferences. Their preference and their needs define what’s right for them. We ask, can we match their preference and fulfillment of their needs by a funding stream? Then I look at how they fit into an individual service, whether it’s one of Abramson Senior Care services or another out in the community. Instead of being so committed to filling a slot in a silo, we really look at it di erently.

What policy adjustments or other changes are you keeping a close eye on?

No. 1, the state is going to face challenges after the pandemic and there isn’t enough money. Is there going to be even more of a push for a reimbursement change of moving people from a nursing home environment to home and community-based services? Will there be a push from the managed care companies regarding how to support those individuals more and more creatively with innovation? The future of senior care is integration. Most certainly in our case, it is managed by a care management function that matches technology and service provision and recognizes the entire individual. It’s playing a role to wrap services in a care plan that really supports them. If you do that e ectively, you will yield a reduction in hospitalizations and a delay in any kind of institutionalizations. We’ve seen it in our experience and we have the data to prove it. It’s really what role managed Medicaid will play in the community and how it will be appropriately funded. All of our government and private pay is really going to be influenced by this. We’re going to see a challenge and a pressure on Medicare: will we see reductions in Medicare or even flat funding? Any time there’s economic pressure, there’s also a real opportunity to innovate.

Philadelphia was the home of the first established hospital in the United States.

( ) areas in the northeast, southwest and parts of South Philadelphia that have lower access to primary care. One in five adults reported no access to a primary care physician. Hospitalization for ambulatory caresensitive conditions such as asthma and diabetes has been steadily reducing, which speaks to the strength of the region’s primary and preventive care facilities. However, as of 2016, the rate began to climb again, reaching 1,556.5 per 100,000 of the population in 2018.

The COVID effect Despite the region’s healthcare strengths, the COVID-19 pandemic sent shockwaves through the system, just like everywhere in the world. During the first wave, COVID-19 cases surged initially to over 3,000 cases per week, hitting long-term care facilities particularly hard. Cases tailed off with the shelter in place orders, reaching just over 500 cases per week as of the end of September. But the second wave brought case numbers back up, climbing to over 7,000 per week in December before tapering off again as the new year began. By race, Black residents were hit the hardest, accounting

for 54.5% of cases. This can be somewhat explained by the larger Black population but the numbers remain disproportional. Despite accounting for just 8.9% of COVID cases, the Hispanic population saw one of the highest mortality rates at 127 per 100,000 people.

The healthcare workforce in Philadelphia also was not immune to the effects of COVID-19. Many of the region’s non-essential healthcare workers, especially those in non-urgent care facilities, were laid off or furloughed during the pandemic. Due to the large population of healthcare workers, high unemployment among the sector would be detrimental to the region as a whole. The education and health services industry accounted for 17.2% of total initial unemployment claims in the spring. Hospital systems are also in cash preservation mode, having eliminated elective surgeries for at least part of the year. The University of Pennsylvania Health System projected a loss of $450 million from March to June 2020.

Notable 2020 expansions Despite the grim numbers, some players in the healthcare system were able to continue along a growth path. During the onset of the pandemic, hospital systems understandably put big-budget expansion and M&A activity on hold, which inevitably will have an affect on the pipeline for at least the next year. But toward the end of 2020 and early 2021, activity came back to life. As early as June 2020, Jefferson Health’s CEO announced plans to build a multimillion-dollar ambulatory care center in Center City due to a steady increase in outpatient surgery and ambulatory care demand. The center is slated to be the most innovative, providing all services, with the exception of acute intensive care.

At that point, Jefferson was already moving ahead with plans to build a $300-350 million biomedical research building at 9th and Locust. And in December, the final phase of the Jefferson Cherry Hill $250 million campus transformation was completed. Initiated five years previously, the center has 90 private in-patient rooms, a 14-bed critical care unit and a 16-bed intermediate care unit. The system’s campus in Washington Township is expected to complete its own ( )

Bill Green

CEO Homestead Smart Health Plans

We were excited about sales for 2020 and in March-April, we had to focus our attention fully on pivoting toward making our operations as e cient as possible. We focused on the implementation of several new technologies, providing much more auto-adjudication. As sales slowed, we could take a breath to figure out how to automate many more processes, eliminate manual and paper-based processes. We had great success doing that in 2020. The beauty of it is that as the business comes in throughout 2021-22, we are so much more e cient in every single aspect of what we do. We’re looking forward to getting back out there. We enjoy meeting our customers, groups and brokers in person, going to conferences and speaking about what we do. We’re going to try to double down on that and spend a whole lot more time on the road to make up for the inability to do that.

One of the silver linings in terms of lessons learned is the adoption of virtual care and telemedicine. For us, simplicity, a ordability and access to our members have always been some of the most critical values we can deliver. The rapid adoption and the transformation that several providers were willing to take with us to be able to support their patients was remarkable. We are excited about what we are seeing now in terms of the enthusiasm among consumers and patients who have tried virtual or telemedicine in some capacity, enjoyed it and we expect will continue to use those types of services.We’re starting to tip the scale, unlocking opportunities for consumers to trust seeing their physician and prevent themselves from making that extra trip.

Remy Richman

Vice President, Strategic Programs Aetna

Dan Tropeano

CEO UnitedHealthcare of Pennsylvania & Delaware

A big way to help companies mitigate insurance costs for their employees is to leverage technology like virtual means of care and services. We traditionally have tried to drive people to the virtual world for the first point of care in these smaller groups. That could be something as simple as going on the internet to find the closest doctor instead of picking up the phone and calling a service center. We have all heard about telehealth and virtual visits and trying to drive people toward that technology. We’re now trying to drive people to leverage technology in home care through monitoring them virtually. We’re still in the beginning of some of that but the advancements are coming quickly and we’re really starting to implement some of that at-home monitoring more aggressively.

( ) $222 million expansion this summer – a sevenstory, 240,000-square-foot, 90-room patient pavilion.

In January 2021, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia received a $2.5 million donation, which it earmarked for the emergency department in its new inpatient hospital in King of Prussia. The new hospital, expected to be operational this year, features 52 inpatient beds, a 20-bay emergency department, a four-room operating suite, transitional care facilities for chronic complex breathing patients and specializations in orthopaedics, plastic surgery and ENT, among others.

The local and state governments also recognize the value of the healthcare industry for the region’s ecosystem. In January, seven Philadelphia hospitals and health systems received $5.5 million in state funding through the Pennsylvania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program. The discretionary fund is intended to promote economic activity. Fox Chase Cancer Center received $1.5 million for an intensive care unit upgrade, Doylestown Hospital received $1 million for a women’s diagnostics center and Moss Rehab was awarded $1 million to renovate its brain injury center.

Gov. Tom Wolf also announced he would allocate over $4.8 million in Direct Care Worker Training Grants amid the increased demand for essential health services. A partnership of the District 1199C Training & Upgrading Fund, SEIU HealthCare PA Education & Training Fund, and the Pennsylvania Health Care Association (PHCA) was awarded $2 million, $1.2 million was given to Center for Independent Living of Central PA, $1.2 million was awarded to Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit and Penn Asian Senior Services received $407,000. The funds will be used for a variety of purposes centered around training of frontline and triage workers.

Employment Pre-COVID, Philadelphia’s healthcare workforce was one of the highest concentrated in the country at 12.7%, outpacing even New York City at 11.9%. The healthcare industry in Greater Philadelphia provided around 365,670 jobs. The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania estimates that the region’s hospital systems alone account for $17.9 billion in direct economic impact. The healthcare workforce in Philadelphia has been growing, having added an average of 9,000 jobs per year since 1990. The majority of healthcare workers are employed as Home Health and Personal Care Aides and are paid an average salary of $25,510. Health Technologists and Technicians Thomas Garvin

President & CEO Waverly Heights, Ltd

How has demand for retirement communities shifted over the course of the pandemic?

Demand is going to continue to be extremely strong. Every one of our independent living units is either reserved or occupied. Seniors will look at these communities, also referred to as lifeplan communities, as a residence of choice. They will be looked at in many respects as a safe space. It’s too early to take a victory lap, but we’re getting close to the finish line on COVID-19. With all our residents vaccinated and a significant portion of our employees vaccinated, we hope that when we are on the tail end of this pandemic, we can look back and say we were able to protect these 370 residents from harm and promote a quality lifestyle. There’s no better lifestyle for seniors than to be at a place like this where you’re having your healthcare needs met, your social needs met, and where you can be engaged and involved in living like you always have been, contributing the talents that you certainly still have to the organization as a whole. Add to this all the various amenities, programs, activities and amazing dining, and you will find a lifestyle to be desired.

What steps did you take to cater to the mental health of your enclosed residents during the pandemic?

Their mental health and psychological well-being were sizable issues that we wanted to address from the beginning. The most important element initially was to implement something we called Reassurance Calls. Our marketing team spearheaded this initiative, converting their responsibilities along with our Life Enrichment Coordinator to make reassurance calls every single day. There was a touch point on every resident who lives here at Waverly Heights by someone making a reassurance call. Sometimes it was just a casual conversation; other times it was for them to be able to vent about how they were feeling or just talk about the emotions that they were going through. That was critical to helping people’s mental well-being stay strong.

While the future of traditional o ce space remains an unknown, medical focused space has stayed in high demand.

make up 6,870 jobs and are paid an average of $60,285. The third-largest category is Nurse Practitioners, who make an average of $109,450.

But the pandemic upended employment in the healthcare sector. Sudden high unemployment rates in an otherwise growing sector are sure to be problematic when normality resumes. Lack of demand in certain areas, including elective surgeries, has piled the pressure on frontline medical staff such as emergency doctors and nurses. Not only this, but a huge pipeline has built up as elective surgeries have been canceled or pushed back, setting the stage for the perfect storm for higher than ever medical staffing demands.

And it wasn’t just the rank and file who felt the sting of the pandemic’s blow. By December, CEO turnover in Philadelphia’s healthcare industry had soared. Independence Blue Cross, Temple University Health System, Inspira Health and Crozer Health all had new CEOs. In an unexpected turn of events, even doctors were forced to quit their practices, or the city, in light of the stress caused by the pandemic. As the crisis deepened, thousands of medical practices closed. As of July, 8% of doctors reported closing their offices in the preceding months, equal to around 16,000 practices. Another 4% said they planned to shutter within the next year. Dennis Pfleiger

President St.Luke’s Quakertown –Upper Bucks Campuses

How does St. Luke’s set itself apart from the competition in the region?

St. Luke’s University Health Network consists of 12 hospitals across two states and 350 outpatient centers. Our primary di erentiator across our entire network is that we can go into any market and bring that community a high-quality, low-cost provider of healthcare with great access, including telehealth visits. Fully rounded out healthcare is critical. When you enter our facilities, you know you are getting the best in healthcare. We are proud to see that several of our campuses are on the IBM Watson Health 100 Top Hospital list every year. We are excited to provide that commitment to quality. Without the latter and great patient service, you really cannot di erentiate yourself from everybody else.

What are St. Luke’s plans for growth?

We are still within our first phase of growth. When we opened in December 2019, we built a 40-bed hospital, with 10 beds for critical care and 30 medical surgical beds. We rapidly realized we were not going to be able to keep up with the demand on this campus once we opened. In August 2020, we received all of our o cial letters from the state and opened an additional 20 beds on the second floor for our inpatient growth. We have additional land available on this property so we have room to grow on this campus to meet the future needs of the community. We have plans for our Quakertown campus to move further into behavioral health and expand services there.

What are your fastest-growing areas of service?

We have seen dramatic growth across every area, which is fantastic. What has really resonated with people in our community is that we are here to be a part of it. We support a wide array of causes within the community, we help by being an integral part of it and we want people to think of St. Luke’s whenever they think about healthcare.

Donald Mueller

CEO St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children

What were the main milestones of 2020 and how did you navigate the challenges of COVID?

I had the opportunity to interview for the job of CEO right as the COVID-19 pandemic began. Trying to assimilate has been di erent in a COVID-19 world but we are blessed to have Drexel and Tower Health to help resurrect us from bankruptcy. The year has been challenging in many respects and COVID has certainly been a big issue. The social unrest and injustice issues have also been top of mind in Philadelphia. I think this also underscores the resilience of a place like St. Christopher’s where we’re not only emerging from bankruptcy, but we’re also trying to reinforce community resources. We’re active in the conversations around social inequity as well as the COVID testing e orts.

What are your projections and goals for the hospital?

We are a ected in a di erent way by COVID. We had to stop some of our elective surgeries when the numbers were high but we have now resumed those. We’ve seen a decrease in the number of illnesses children usually present during the winter. For example, in January, we saw only three RSV cases when normally the hospital would be full of children with respiratory illness. We’re learning that masking and social distancing really works to prevent the spread of viruses. Additionally, many children are not participating in sports, so our orthopedic consultations are down. Children’s hospitals of the future may look di erent but we need to ensure we are here to take care of the essential services. We’re looking at developing a sustainable model without the same volumes we are used to seeing.

St. Christopher’s is the 11th-largest funded Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education (CHGME) program in the country so we play a huge role in educating the healthcare community focusing on the pediatric population. Going through an experience like COVID-19 made us focus on providing a safe learning experience while also keeping our patients safe.

Philadelphia’s has one of the largest and fastest growing life science industries in the world.

The pressure from the pandemic also caused some nurses to demand better working conditions at the risk of striking. Over 2,500 nurses represented by the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP) threatened to strike in November, while 1,400 employees at Crozer Health negotiated new labor contracts with the health system in December.

Despite the turmoil, growth is on the horizon. Going forward, the Greater Philadelphia Economy League says a rebooted health system will be needed in Philadelphia after its flaws were exposed by COVID-19. Job creation will be driven by adoption of new technologies such as telemedicine, increased demand for personalized care treatment, increased funding for public health programs and a rethink of employerprovided health benefits, it says. One of the companies

Dan Bradley

President, Select Medical Outpatient Division – Novacare

There is a palatable need for physical therapy services. Our Recovery and Reconditioning program will continue to grow as more people test positive for COVID, deal with lingering e ects and try to return to a sense of normalcy. Technology will continue to be in play and we’ll continue our focus on the opioid crisis. Unfortunately, it did not go away with COVID-19. That was an important mission of ours going into 2020: finding ways to impact and reduce its ripple e ects. Physical therapy definitely has a place to help reduce chronic pain which can lead to opioid dependencies. We need to promote the benefits of physical therapy over opioids.

positioned to provide more than 40,000 jobs is Carbon Health, the self-styled Starbucks of healthcare, which plans to open 1,500 clinics in more than 50 regions, including Philadelphia, by 2025.

Policy updates Health policy across the United States in 2020 has been largely shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic. As more and more people shied away from accessing the emergency room, the need for telehealth and telemedicine became greater and with that, policy had to evolve. The use of technology in healthcare has almost been seen as a taboo in the past but the pandemic made everyone more aware of its usefulness. Seeing this, Jefferson Health partnered with venture capital fund General Catalyst to launch a digital health company to transform medicine in Philadelphia. Buoyed by the pandemic, the company aims to organize care online.

Rapid policy decisions were also required for the vaccine rollout, with the city prioritizing seniors over 75, essential workers and those with high-risk health conditions such as diabetes, chronic kidney disease, cancer and organ transplant recipients.

Throughout 2020 there was never a sharper focus on existing healthcare policy as more people began to question if the current system really fit the needs of the population. Health insurance was one of the key areas that were examined. According to a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the trend in the United States of employer-provided healthcare cover fell apart during the pandemic when record numbers ( )

Strong together

Pandemic highlights the strength of expanding the collaboration circle rather than making it smaller

How can the healthcare industry improve its status as a major growth driver in Philadelphia? We need to start to take advantage of the entire region. Other regions such as Boston and the Research Triangle in North Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area are much better at expanding their circle instead of making the circle smaller. We saw it during the pandemic: Together, we are stronger.

During the pandemic outbreak, we got together every week with the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Main Line Health. This amount of interaction has not happened since at least 2013, and we need to continue to work together for innovation and to advocate for the underserved. How is Je erson Health working to the benefit of public health? We do so in two ways. First, we started the Philadelphia Collaborative for Health Equity, working with nonprofit Esperanza and the Latinx community, the AfricanAmerican community, and the Southeast Asian community. Our mission is to truly improve lives for all of the communities we serve. Second, we went allin with healthcare at any address, shifting the locus of healthcare to the home. We started the first and largest all-specialty, all-Jefferson telehealth program in 2013, investing $35 million. The initiative truly paid off during this pandemic, when we moved from 50 telehealth calls a day to 3,500 a day. We’re expanding the idea of “connected care” through a partnership with General Catalyst out of Silicon Valley. We’re embedding engineers from Silicon Valley into our ecosystem and vice versa. We’re looking deeply into how Jefferson starts at home and the hospital becomes the ultimate place you look to for care, not the first.

How will Philadelphia’s healthcare landscape change post-COVID-19? The lessons learned from the outbreak open the door to being better prepared for the next one. I believe we should think about a pandemic in 2030 and imagine what would make that 2030 pandemic a blip instead of a crisis. It will take a new appreciation of the tools of connected care. It will take digital inclusion, so that every small business could operate even in a lockdown, and every family could provide virtual education. And we will need much greater coordination between the federal government, the states, the cities and private industry. The pandemic made clear that we need much tighter public-private partnerships, including creative partnerships across industry sectors.

Stephen Klasko

President – Thomas Jefferson University CEO – Jefferson Health

Philadelphia has its own state-based insurance marketplace, known as Pennie.com.

( ) began filing for unemployment. It is estimated that around half of Philadelphians have employer cover. There were significant concerns that current policy paves the way for prohibitive testing and treatment costs, which would in turn discourage people from seeking treatment and prolong the pandemic. The CARES Act provided a Band-Aid solution by requiring all private plans to cover COVID testing and vaccines and many insurers waived cost-sharing payments. Still, the authors say further policies are needed as the crisis continues.

Health insurance Philadelphia’s health insurance market has been becoming more comprehensive over the years and the rate of uninsured has plummeted since 2010, from 14.9% to 7.4% in 2018. Medicaid enrollment was up to 649,301 in 2019 from 496,086 in 2009, with a noticeable pick-up in 2014 after the rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As of 2021, Pennsylvania has its own ACA exchange, known as Pennie, as well as a new reinsurance program. Enrollment for plans is a month longer than normal and insurers reported an average year on year rate decrease of 3.3%. In 2020, year on year enrollment decreased to 333,000 and as of December 2020, with only one month left to buy 2021 plans, around 320,000 had enrolled. In the individual

Perspectives – Innovation in care

Jennifer Davis

Senior Vice President and Executive Director – American Heart Association A couple of years ago, we launched our STEM Go Red initiative to engage high-school girls to take a seat around the table as we solve problems related to cardiovascular disease. As a science-based organization, we have a stake in more women and more girls going into STEM careers.

Samuel Menaged

Founder & President – The Renfrew Center Prior to the pandemic we were o ering some telehealth programming, but with the onset of COVID-19, we shifted all Day Treatment and Intensive Outpatient Programming at all 17 non-residential sites to a virtual platform. Since the pandemic began, the number of telehealth visits for all disorders has increased by 4,000%, and one-third of those were related to mental health.

Burton Piper

CEO – Roxborough Memorial Hospital We’ve seen an enhancement of protocols over the past year. We’ve been using data to determine policy and improve processes. Additionally, we have a flash meeting every morning at 9 a.m. In this meeting, all leadership are briefed on things that are happening that day. That communication tool is very helpful. It makes leadership aware of operational matters.

Kapila Ratnam

General Partner – NewSpring The first computer ever, ENIAC, was built at the University of Pennsylvania’s engineering department. We have so much technology talent in this area and there’s a lot happening both in healthcare technology and healthcare delivery in the pharmaceutical biotech industry; there’s a lot happening here in gene therapy too, particularly with innovation coming out of our academic institutions.

Edgar Vesga

President & CEO – Philadelphia International Medicine Before the next emergency strikes, we need to prepare our healthcare systems to sustain any challenges we may face, including but not limited to integrating innovative technologies and solutions. In the future, we could have a physician from Philadelphia perform remote surgeries in other countries to ensure all patients across the globe have access to care even during times of great uncertainty.

Pre-pandemic, the healthcare industry in Greater Philadelphia provided around 365,670 jobs.

market, significant rate decreases were seen in 2021, with Capital Advantage Assurance cover dropping 14.3%, Geisinger Quality Options cover down 13.6% and the Geisinger Health Plan dipping 11.3%.

At the outset of 2021, with a new federal administration in the White House, one of the first policy issues in the crosshairs is sure to be the ACA. With President Joe Biden taking office, legislation related to ACA enacted in the last four years is expected to be drastically rolled back. Biden is expected to reinstate market funding for the ACA, bolster the healthcare. gov website, expand the annual enrollment period and reinforce consumer protections. The Biden administration is also expected to roll back short-term health plans, which were launched by the previous administration. Association health plans, which have been able to exclude or penalize policyholders on the basis of gender, age and certain other factors, are also expected to come under scrutiny.

The expansion of Medicaid is expected to regain momentum after four years of obstacles. When it was expanded in 2015, Medicaid in Pennsylvania bridged the poverty gap of those with incomes below 100% of the poverty level, which covered an estimated 281,290 people. Past CMS guidance allows states to tie Medicaid eligibility to work requirements and cap funding, and this is something the Biden government is expected to address. In Pennsylvania, Gov. Wolf vetoed the passing of the controversial work requirement bill in 2018. The president can tweak the Medicaid managed care rule for 2020, which relaxed network adequacy, beneficiary protections and quality oversight.

Public health Public health often falls by the wayside for many administrations but the pandemic sharpened the focus on behavioral and mental health issues as Philadelphians were forced to stay indoors. According to the Philadelphia government’s 2020 Health of the City report, diagnosed depressive orders in adults is worsening, as is suicide ideation and suicide attempts in teens. Frequent mental stress among adults is unchanged but low-income populations were found to have worse outcomes. The Chinese Immigrant Family Wellness Program, Tabadul and The Intercultural Wellness Program are three Philadelphia groups reaching out to those with mental health issues in the immigrant community to partially address this disparity.

There was no change in opioid-related deaths, at 53.5 per 100,000 of the population, with worse outcomes witnessed among non-Hispanic white males. This rate has been steadily climbing since 2010 when it was just

18.6. Overdose ER visits have fallen off slightly after a peak in 2018 at 6,446, although in 2019 the number was still high at 5,457. In January, Philadelphia health officials warned that fentanyl was being mixed with many more drug types based on testing of people who died of drug overdose. In the first nine months of 2020, fentanyl-related deaths among methamphetamine users were up 350%.

While social and economic determinants can go a long way to shaping health outcomes within communities, there are still many inequalities present within healthcare, and this has been underlined by the pandemic. While the elderly in long-term care facilities represent just 1% of the population, they represent over 50% of Pennsylvania’s COVID deaths. African Americans and the Latino population are also more likely to contract the virus and die from it than white counterparts. Even testing showed disparity, according to the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium. Testing sites were primarily set up in white, affluent areas, with reduced availability in the poorer, Black communities. Efforts to make testing more inclusive have been implemented, including a mobile testing unit rolled out by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.

Michael Young

President and CEO Temple University Health System (TUHS)

Pre-COVID-19, what were your fastest-growing areas in terms of healthcare?

The fastest-growing area was the emergency department because of the Hahnemann closure. The next biggest growth was within our high-end pulmonary hypertension program, which started around three years ago and is now the second-largest in the country. In Philadelphia, we have one of the largest and best heart failure and pulmonary hypertension programs, and for the third year in a row, we are the largest lung transplant program in the country. In those very highend services, we have seen tremendous growth.

What opportunities are emerging from the COVID-19 crisis?

I think the biggest theme is telehealth. Prior to COVID-19, for every 100 scheduled o ce visits, 22 people failed to show up. With telehealth, this number falls to three. A lot of our patients are transportation challenged. When public transport services slowed down, that had a significant impact. Our conversations with physicians in China also reinforced the value of sharing information. In just the two weeks between when New York hit its critical point and cases began really increasing here, we had already learned from the experiences of those on the ground in Wuhan. Another thing we have learned is the value of clinical trials. We had a number of clinical trials, including the remdesivir study, meaning we could adjust treatment in real time based on the sharing of data. I think COVID-19 has taught us that working in teams adds great value to medicine.

What is your outlook for the hospital?

I think we will be one of the few hospitals in the United States to have a good financial year. Our focus is getting back to the processes that were running on March 19, of e cient quality care, capital replacement, infrastructure investment and program growth. Our priorities will be merging the old and new teams to maintain our momentum in our performance rankings.

In the first nine months of 2020, fentanyl-related deaths among methamphetamine users in Philadelphia was up 350%

One perhaps surprising development is that telehealth and health technology have made healthcare more inclusive for millions, according to Healthline. The fact that patients do not need to attend in-person appointments has appealed to the demographics that can be more stigmatized, including women, Black and brown communities and the LGBTQIA+ community. But on the flip side, telemedicine is only accessible to those with access to smartphones and computers and is only recommended for those with good health literacy. Still, services such as FOLX, which specializes in queer and trans health, have emerged to bridge the gap between healthcare professionals and more marginalized communities.

Although telehealth is expected to continue and eventually become a staple of modern healthcare, the challenges are real, especially for older generations and those with limited means to take full advantage. “There’s a generational gap in adapting to virtual visits and telemedicine; it’s been more of a struggle for baby boomers and I can attest to that since I’m one of them,” said James Woodward, president and CEO of Trinity Health Mid Atlantic, in an interview with Invest:. “The other challenge we are facing as a mission-based institution with a special concern for the disadvantaged and most vulnerable is that a large portion of our patients do not have easy access to technology. In many of our service areas we are not seeing high utilization of telemedicine. Due to the barriers to access the technology required for telemedicine, the trend toward technological medicine has the potential to be inequitable in our patients’ communities. In other service areas, the

Alex Vaccaro

President – Rothman Orthopaedic Institute

We have learned through big data what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to value-based healthcare. We have three goals: decrease variation, decrease cost and decrease waste. We do that through our registries and data acquisitions, research we do and the papers we publish. We collect multiple outcomes in orthopaedic care and we have used this to create treatment pathways, which we have then used to expand into new markets. Our platform is based on the pillars of research, teaching, innovation and clinical excellence and we want to bring that to Florida. Our activities in our key markets have allowed us to extend our care to new markets.

population may not experience barriers to technology due to higher median incomes and education levels. In these areas, utilization of telemedicine has been extremely high and growing.”

BioTech and life sciences Among the region’s strongest factors is its eds and meds bulwark. Philadelphia has more than 100 colleges and universities, offices of 80% of all national pharmaceutical and biotech companies and more than 2,000 medical technology companies. But the city set itself apart in life sciences and biotech with the construction of University City, a multi-use megaproject spanning millions of square feet that serves as an incubator for research. University City has generated billions of dollars in growth through its discoveries and innovations in biotech, robotics and medicine and in 2019, a record number of patents were issued to companies in the mini city. In the same year, R&D investment reached $1.85 billion, with almost half of the $1.43 billion awarded by Pennsylvania NIH going to University City occupants. CBRE ranked Philadelphia the seventh top and fifthfastest-growing life science cluster in the country thanks to University City.

In 2020, Philadelphia saw $1.47 billion in venture capital deals and life sciences provided additional support to the real estate industry. Over $530 million was invested in Philadelphia drug developers and medical device companies during the year. Notably, Immunocore raised $130 million in March, Immvax raised $112 million in July, Larimer Therapeutics raised $80 million in May, SwanBio raised $52 million in April and Palvella Therapeutics raised ( )

The telemedicine industry saw extreme growth throughout 2020 and is expected to continue to capitalize on this growth in 2021.

®oundtable: Life sciences

The life sciences segment has been on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19. Sector leaders discuss the challenges and opportunities of the past while also looking ahead.

John Crowley

Chairman & CEO Amicus Therapeutics

How did direct and indirect challenges presented by the pandemic reveal opportunities? It was just about a year ago when we in the science community had first sequenced the DNA for the COVID-19 virus. To have gone from that to approved vaccines and now vaccinating millions of people in less than a year start to finish, in a process that usually takes seven to 10 years – the industry reinvented the entire model for drug development. Fast science can be good science. The other element was time. It was a race against time as much as it was a race against nature. When I think about what we do with rare diseases, that’s the mindset we bring to every program. We need great science and the ability to get it to everyone who needs it in the world, as quickly as humanly possible. You look at the regulators: the FDA completely changed its model in response to COVID. Whether it’s changed regulatory paradigms to address inequality, a changed mindset, how we direct resources, a lot of new biostatistics tools as well; all of that is the next generation of drug development.

What is an example of your work’s impact? We had one approved precision medicine for a rare disease known as Fabry Disease. It was vitally important throughout COVID in 2020 that we were able to ensure the supply of that medicine and integrity of the supply chain, and to make sure around the world, in the now three dozen countries where the medicine is approved, that patients in need had access to that medicine. I’m proud that we’ve been able to do that. We were able to get this medicine to 1,400 people with this rare disease.

John Grady

Senior Vice President, Northeast Region Executive Wexford Science & Technology

What were some of the takeaways from 2020 that can be applied going forward? The big innovation for us, like a lot of people, was adapting to a remote environment. Real estate in particular is a heavily in-person business and when we’re working on a lease transaction or a construction project, there is enormous value in that connection. As a company, we were not adopting technology on a large scale so in March we had to find a way to create a balance where we could stay in front of clients and also drive complicated transactions through to completion. Going forward, I think we will continue to use some of this because these virtual platforms certainly have some value. All our projects will have a mix of in-person and virtual components going forward.

What design changes are now going into your spaces? There are some COVID-specific features that are front of mind, a lot of which revolve around remote access and touchless entry and is software-driven. We are ensuring we have that technology. We build purpose-built lab buildings with really robust infrastructure. They have high floor-load capacities, high ceilings and significant air change frequency at seven times an hour. We are using the highest filtration that is more consistent with a hospital than an o ce environment. This is why it’s so di cult to convert an o ce building into a lab building. At 1 uCity, we decided to make some additional upgrades to our building systems, including incorporating 100% outside air. Going forward, we will always be looking at the most functional, healthy buildings we can bring to the market.

Eric Green

President & CEO West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.

What shifts in demand have resulted from the pandemic? The core business has continued to do quite well. The demand that has been put on us to respond to the vaccines and various therapeutics required to combat COVID has been significant. We increased our capital investments in our sites and we’ve added close to 1,000 team members over the last 12 months, both full-time and temporary jobs. Several of our 25 manufacturing plants, located around the world, have been operating 24/7. Concerning our core business, we expect demand for injectable medicines will continue to rise due to an aging population and increasing chronic disease rates.

How important is purpose in creating high-quality products? We are incredibly proud to play such a vital role in making a di erence to the millions of patients around the world. Our team produces about 40 billion components a year at our facilities. When you ask our team members in our manufacturing operations how we ensure the highest level of quality that is needed for the products we provide, they always say, “Every one of these components has a patient’s name on it.”

Purpose is pronounced and known in the hallways of West Pharmaceutical. Purpose is enabling our ability to support patient health and fuel a brighter future with product innovations. For seven out of 10 injectable medicines that are used on any given day, we’re a part of that. With that comes a tremendous amount of responsibility but also significant pride. How are you involved in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic? Our organization has four distinct business units, including devices, vaccines, therapeutics and contract development and manufacturing (CDMO). The latter has the ability to partner with pharmaceutical or biotech companies with services to support all stages of drug development through commercialization across a network of nine facilities. Over the last year Emergent has been working around the clock to fulfil our role in combating the COVID-19 pandemic by utilizing our expertise in the public health threat space. We’ve provided our (CDMO) services to advance COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutic candidates. We’re working together with CDMO collaborators for large-scale drug substance manufacturing for COVID-19 vaccines. We are also researching and developing two of our own therapeutics to tackle the pandemic.

What is your outlook for the near term? With all the COVID-19-related developments, I believe there’s going to be a greater emphasis on vaccines and proactive therapeutics that perhaps can help fight viruses through natural, biological means or manmade. Emergent is in a unique position to be a leader in that space in terms of public health threats, not only through developing our own in-house therapeutics but also through our contract development manufacturing organization, as well as collaborations with other pharma and biotech innovators. There is also a broad and robust internal pipeline of products we have across various therapeutic areas, which is progressing steadily.

Eric Karas

Vice President and General Manager, North America Commercial Emergent BioSolutions

Wellness focus

Burnout among healthcare workers is a national conversation

Ken Levitan

Interim President & CEO – Einstein Healthcare Network

How important has telehealth become within the health sector, given its rapid rise during the pandemic? We were a relative early adopter and already had a nascent telehealth program in place before the pandemic, in areas like our obstetrics program. When the pandemic hit, we had to rapidly set up two platforms to be able to reach our patients. We went from doing about 50 telehealth visits per week to around 5,000. We created a task force within two weeks and with a team of 10 people, we had the platforms set up.

We also set up a new website to allow scheduling and produced the relevant marketing materials to advertise those services. We think going forward that 15-25% of our visits will be virtual visits. How has the hospital system as a whole been addressing physician burnout? This is a conversation happening at hospitals throughout the country. Burnout is not just limited to physicians. The length of the pandemic response and the overwhelming stress took a toll on all those involved. We have been thinking a lot about the repercussions from the stress that the pandemic has placed on all of our physicians, nurses and other frontline staff. Because of our low reimbursement from government payers, we know we need to manage costs, but that can’t be at the expense of the wellbeing of the Einstein care team. As an industry, we’ve been focusing on wellness and trying to provide as many outlets as possible for our staff. We set up quiet areas for staff to be able to go and decompress. We will always need to consider this issue and ensure we are striking the right balance.

What are the main goals and priorities for the network in the next year? Our first focus is the merger with Jefferson Health and carrying out the right steps to make it the most efficient process possible. The second focus is stability. During a merger there can be a certain amount of uncertainty. We want to be able to communicate our dedication to our employees and the community. The third focus is diversity, equity and inclusion. The events of the summer really brought into focus our need to be more mindful and direct in our actions. This organization was founded to care for those who were unable to receive care elsewhere and we have always been focused on caring for as many people as we could reach. We’re taking an inward look to evaluate how we can be more focused on these issues.

There are 22 nursing schools and seven medical schools located within Philadelphia.

( ) $45 million in May. Life sciences has generated pharma as an industry has not done a good job of job growth, and approvals and onshoring were sped communicating the opportunity for employment up dramatically thanks to the sector. But the region in all different types of disciplines and all different is running out of space for specialist labs, with spaces functional areas.” in University City leasing for a Molineaux points out that premium. University City is also getting Historically, neither a Ph.D. or an MD is required to work in pharma. There involved with the community, pharma as an are technical and trade jobs; legal, having launched a new workforce regulatory, public relations; and development program with the industry has not many jobs that only require a high proceeds from a $250,000 federal grant. The Building an Under- done a good job school diploma or a certificate. “Those are opportunities for standing of Lab Basics course is designed to train underemployed of communicating reemployment of people who are displaced from other industries,” and unemployed adults to prepare them for a career in biotech. the opportunity for Molineaux told Invest:. “We are running a program called Tell Me

Christopher Molineaux, pres- employment... About Your Job. It’s a 30-minute ident and CEO of Life Sciences Pennsylvania, believes that Christopher Molineaux President & CEO, Life Sciences Pennsylvania program that airs every other week where life sciences employees of more people need to be aware of all different levels, and in many the opportunities the sector provides. “What is often different disciplines, appear on a live program online overlooked about the life sciences industry is that and talk about what they do for a living. The idea with there are so many different types of jobs. Historically, this particular program is to get in front of students

who may or may not be in a scientific curriculum and students from underrepresented populations. We want them to see that there are people who look just like they do and have similar backgrounds as they experienced, who are successfully employed in the life sciences.

Health research One of the factors that make Philadelphia such a healthcare hub is its sterling educational institutions. Since 2009, “eds and meds” jobs have accounted for 30,800 of the 55,100 jobs added in the city, according to the University of Pennsylvania’s Healthcare and Higher Education report. According to the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development Survey, combined research spending at Drexel, Temple, Jefferson and Penn totaled $1.79 billion in 2016, up from $1.34 billion in 2015. And Jefferson is set to raise the bar with its new Master of Public Health, a course with a syllabus that is in line with the 10 Essential Public Health Services framework established by the CDC.

It is no surprise that several cutting-edge studies have come out of Philadelphia’s educational and research institutions. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Penn founded the Center for Research on Coronavirus and Other Emerging Pathogens and is carrying out several active coronavirus trials, including on masks, blood donation and T-cell response to vaccination. Temple’s research centers around antispike SARS-Cov-2 monclonal antibodies, as well as other studies that look at repurposing existing medication to treat the virus.

And the private sector is not holding back.

The first medical school in the United States was established in Philadelphia, and the region has since become a mecca for medical students.

Philadelphia-based oncology leader Imvax published in early 2021 Phase 1b clinical trial results for a study of patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma in Clinical Cancer Research. Work done in Philadelphia is also at the forefront of the technology being used to fight COVID-19. Most notably, two of the most promising COVID-19 vaccines, developed by Moderna and Pfizer, rely on mRNA technology, which was developed by Penn professors in 2005. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says mRNA technology may one day lead to single vaccines that treat multiple diseases.

Looking ahead Despite the health sector’s large contribution to Philadelphia’s gross metropolitan product, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed some issues related to public health and disparities that will be hard to ignore going forward. The Greater Philadelphia Economy League says the aftermath could be a chance for the city to pivot in another direction, embracing telemedicine, personalized care, public health programming and addressing health insurance gaps.

The city is already taking steps toward democratizing healthcare access and costs as it seeks to end surprise medical billing that is commonplace when hospitals outsource testing to out of network labs without the knowledge of the policyholder. But there is more to be done, especially given the large proportion of people who lost jobs or became sick due to the pandemic. And while states should continue to focus on these issues, the complexity of the system demands federal intervention too, says the New England Medical Journal.

Frank Ingari

CEO – Tandigm Health

If we ever doubted it, the last year has shown us that human health is not just about bacteria and viruses. It is about the whole person. It has been long known that of two people with strongly similar morphology — disease state, age and weight and so on — the one under tremendous financial stress is way more likely to go to the hospital than the one who is not under financial stress. COVID has had the impact of spotlighting the social di erences in terms of Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) — poverty, multigenerational lack of education, race. The system has wound up highlighting disparities in equity in healthcare.

Education:

The pandemic is proving to be the education system’s ultimate test. Universities, colleges, vocational centers and elementary and high schools alike reeled from pandemic’s effects, but as the dust settled, there emerged the opportunity to take action and address the sector’s deficiencies.

Long-term blueprint:

Delivering on the promise of a quality education, secure jobs and prosperous careers

From universities to K-12, educational systems across the country had never seen anything like it: a global pandemic forcing students, faculty and staff to shelter in place. But students still needed to learn and these institutions still needed to teach, to deliver lessons, to educate.

The disruption in the sector has been unlike few others but seemingly overnight, educators pivoted and adapted for the safety of faculty, staff and students alike. Suddenly, even the most prestigious schools were delivering their courses online, with many making the transition in record time, and the impossible quickly became possible.

At the same time, the pivot to remote learning put a spotlight on enrollment, a key revenue source for many institutions, but also on inequities in the system as schools discovered that many students did not have the technology required for distance learning.

The result has been a transformation of the educational system. Through alliances and synergies between its stakeholders, Philadelphia’s education system is set to come out the other end strengthened and more determined than ever to deliver on the promise of the next generation for quality education, secure jobs and prosperous careers. “For a place like Arcadia and across all of higher education, there is an opportunity for us to reset and reimagine how we do our work,” Ajay Nair, president of Arcadia University, told Invest:. “Our mission to serve our stakeholders in the liberal arts environment is something we should stay true to, but how we go about delivering to those stakeholders needs to change. I’m optimistic in part because this is something that is required, but also because of the increase in partnership. We will see more innovation because we will be working side by side with some unlikely partners who see the world in different ways.”

Landscape Besides having to deal with securing the health and safety of faculty, staff and students and navigating a fastpaced online learning migration while maintaining a value proposition in the digital world to keep students enticed and engaged, Greater Philadelphia’s higher education institutions also had to deal with the impact of decreased enrollments. The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s Fall 2020 estimates found nationwide enrollment declined 2.5% compared to fall 2019, most notably in ( )

Challenges

Among the top challenges for education is the gap between what future jobs will require and the number of people available to fill them

Christopher Fiorentino

President – West Chester University

What is the biggest challenge for higher education? This is a world where the areas in which jobs are growing are areas that require some kind of higher education credential. It’s critically important for the well-being of citizens and economic growth that higher education is able to effectively prepare students for the opportunities out there. There are great opportunities for people who have the preparation but the gap between the jobs that are on the horizon that require a college degree or other post-high school certificate and the number of people available to fill those jobs who don’t have the necessary credentials is a big problem. That’s going to be one of the biggest challenges that higher education faces in the coming decade.

What makes West Chester University a great university? We have a couple things in our favor. The town of West Chester is an incredible place and a college town, and we have a beautiful campus. When you have a beautiful campus, in a beautiful town, in a place like Chester County, it’s easy for us to attract good talent. We have incredible faculty. We’re more of a teachingfocused institution in comparison to the large universities that are focused more on research, so at West Chester University we have excellent, passionate professors. For virtually every program that can receive an external accreditation, we have achieved that validation of excellence. We have very good retention and graduation rates but we’re still always looking at how we can do better.

How has the pandemic a ected the university’s use of technology? At the undergraduate level, we were a traditional face-to-face university. We had a few online classes but we didn’t have any undergraduate programs that you could take start to finish online. However, the pandemic has prompted our faculty to embrace technology even more. Although they’re not interested in teaching strictly online, we expect more and more of our faculty to implement new technology tools, such as videos and group chats, even when they’re face-toface.

We outfitted all 200-plus of our classrooms with technology that allows for students to join class from remote locations, and the professor can see the students on a screen. We didn’t use this that much in the past year because most of the faculty weren’t actually on campus but going forward, that technology is there and we have that opportunity. We’re going to see a richness of technological tools being utilized by faculty.

Opportunity

Pandemic challenges highlight need to rapidly adjust to a changing environment

What lessons did you learn from 2020? We’ve learned that challenges can be turned into opportunities and equally as important, you have to make lemonade out of lemons. With the unprecedented time in which we live, we’ve had to adjust rapidly to a changing environment, and we were successful in navigating the challenging landscape of COVID-19. Our enrollment ended up being 624 students for the fall semester, which was slightly above our 2019 enrollment. Prior to the pandemic, our projections for 2020 were for a 5 to 20% increase in enrollment. We are looking forward to recapturing many of the students who had paid deposits but decided to take a gap year.

To what do you attribute the school’s enrollment increase?

Aaron Walton

President – Cheyney University of Pennsylvania

A lot of it has to do with the communities in which some of our students reside. In more of the socioeconomically disadvantaged communities, which many of our students are part of, their environments are challenging from a social perspective, as well as from an educational perspective. We’ve been able to create a nurturing environment in the school because of our relatively smaller size. There is a trust of administration and faculty that you can’t find in some of the larger institutions.

What does the near term look like for Cheyney University and higher education in general? When we look at the dynamics of what is happening in the national arena as well as the regional and local levels in parallel to our school environments, they all have intersections where they impact each other. The greater focus, particularly in the next 12 months as we try to come out of the pandemic and we look at the economic issues that we face in this country, needs to be on economic and racial disparities, specifically tackling the challenges faced by underrepresented groups and under-resourced communities. We’ve got a sizable economic disparity in this country. It affects everybody.

The model of delivering education in the way we have for the last 50 years is changing dramatically with various emerging modalities. We’re never going to go back to where we used to be. I don’t think we should try to go back. We now need to assess what modalities are out there that will impact a wide range of students. There are a lot of skill gaps that have been highlighted during the pandemic in some areas and we need to upscale a lot of the population. This was one of the major takeaways from the Philadelphia Regional Recharge and Recovery Task Force, which I served along with 160 other business, civic and educational leaders in the Philadelphia area.

( ) the public two-year sector. This segment accounts for seven out of 10 postsecondary students. Eleven states, including Pennsylvania, posted undergraduate losses that outstripped the national average, coming in at 9.2%.

The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) is exploring the avenue of combining the operations of some of its 14 public four-year universities to breathe air into its institution’s financial lungs and alleviate the impact of falling enrollment. Moreover, COVID-19 has shed some light on how the wealth gap among higher education institutions places well-funded schools such as the University of Pennsylvania in a more comfortable position to weather the storm compared to school’s like La Salle University, which was in the middle of a five-year turnaround involving salary, benefits, services and utilities reductions to the tune of $7 million when the pandemic hit. Academia has had to resort to outsidethe-box thinking, including applying for CARES Act financial aid, seeking strategic partnerships with the business community and with other institutions, renewing accreditation certificates and bolstering online education platforms.

Moreover, in the context of social unrest rooted in cases of police brutality that spread across the country in the summer of 2020, Philadelphia’s higher education sector is answering the call for equity and inclusion. In August 2020, a group of PASSHE students provided recommendations to foster equity amid academic institutions, focusing on five fronts: regular analysis of bias complaints to pinpoint repeat offenders; supporting more organizations affiliated with students of color; hiring more faculty and staff of color, including mental health counselors; teaching anti-racism on campus and within communities; and expanding diversity efforts.

In January 2021, PASSHE Head Daniel Greenstein reaffirmed his commitment to combating racism on campus, recognizing he had yet to analyze how the system had developed a long-standing bias that generated inequity. Temple University is among those leading the charge with a $1 million initiative announced in September 2020 to help combat racism in society. Reinvesting in Temple’s Department of Africology and African American Studies, prioritizing recruitment and retention of faculty and staff of color, investing in anti-racism training and deploying a bridge program for North Philadelphia youth are among the primary initiatives.

In the early stages of the pandemic, Philadelphia’s higher education institutions focused their efforts on cost-cutting to alleviate the impact of COVID-

In Philadelphia, colleges and universities refunded over $240 million to students because of COVID-19

Philadelphia is a premier location for higher education, contributing to the region’s large and highly skilled talent pool.

fueled uncertainty and empty campuses. In Philadelphia alone, colleges and universities ended up refunding more than $240 million to students as a reimbursement for room and board costs. Added to that, schools had to invest considerable resources to bolster their online learning capacity, not only for all courses and programs but also to ensure each and every student had the necessary tools for seamless remote learning. Temple, Drexel and the University of Pennsylvania faced student lawsuits relating to tuition refunds given the contrast between on-site and online education.

Notwithstanding the difficulties, the region’s universities and colleges are eyeing the spring 2021 semester, with strict adherence to CDC-recommended protocols, coupled with a mixture of in-person, online and hybrid classes adapted to each institution’s curriculum.

Philadelphia School District leaders have reported that since closing mid-March, local revenue dipped by $60 million while a $38 million shortfall looms for 2021. Remote learning, staff and supply costs are expected to amount to $1 billion by 2025. Moreover, Philadelphia’s higher education institutions reported 15,570 full- time international students in 2019, amounting to a total $990 million in revenue. With the combination of the Trump administration’s immigration policies and COVID-19, that precious resource was at risk and institutions relying heavily on student immigration faced difficulties to compensate that hit on their balance sheet.

In terms of program demand, in 2019, out of the 50 top-paying undergraduate degree programs in Greater Philadelphia, nursing enrolled 6,252 students, while

Remote learning, staff and supply costs in Philadelphia are expected to total $1 billion by 2025

the second-most in-demand program, computer and information sciences, totaled 520 students. Aggregating totals for computer science and computer engineering programs, computer-related students in Philadelphia totaled 872. These numbers come as no surprise considering the Education and Health Services is Philadelphia’s top employer with 659,800 professionals out of a total 2.8 million nonfarm workers. Moreover, Philadelphia ranked sixth among the U.S. Life Sciences Ecosystems as per JLL’s 2020 ranking.

The challenges and successes, of course, were not limited to higher education. Schools in the K-12 and early childhood education spheres also needed to pivot. Many remained closed at the start of 2021 amid safety concerns. Even among these schools, the move toward online became a necessity as the pandemic unfolded. “In response to COVID-19, our team at The Malvern School developed virtual education modules. These modules enable us to deliver learning experiences digitally, better support and stay connected with families who made a conscious choice or need to temporarily keep their child at home,” Kristen Waterfield, founder and CEO of ( ) Margo DelliCarpini

Chancellor Penn State Abington

How does Penn State Abington contribute to economic development of the local community?

About a third of our students come from Philadelphia. It’s one of our main pathways into Abington. We’re contributing to the economy in a number of ways, through education and creating a talent pipeline. One of the things that I’m very committed to is enhancing and deepening our partnerships with our community and economic partners in ways that are mutually beneficial, that address employment needs in the region, that close the skills gap, and that really connect our faculty and students to our economic partners in the Greater Philadelphia area. We want to build the capacity in our own communities to address our own needs.

I’m very committed to high quality classroom-tocareer and co-curricular opportunities for students so that what happens in the classroom is complementary to high-quality experiences outside of the classroom, that really enhance learning and make those connections.

How are you supporting and addressing diversity and inclusion on your campus?

That’s one of my primary areas of focus. One of Penn State Abington’s strategic goals is to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for all. I’m working on is a landscape analysis of what is happening on campus to support our students, faculty and sta . How are we collectively as a campus being accountable and responsible for these initiatives? We have the O ce of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for students. We’ve got sta and faculty support. I’m really looking into integrating that and aligning that. We have an obligation in higher education to be leaders. Penn State Abington has the most diverse student body of any campus at Pennsylvania State University. We have an opportunity to be leaders in what an inclusive, equitable and mutually respectful campus environment looks like. Part of that, and part of my commitment, is that we also critically look at our practices and policies and be able to say, let’s change this because it’s putting up a barrier.

Student focus

Outreach, online events and opportunities prove pivotal in bolstering enrollment

What is Neumann University’s strategy to increase enrollment? We have an exceptional ability to be incredibly student focused. I have never been part of an environment where the faculty and staff are so attentive to student needs. We did a calling campaign in the middle of the pandemic in April to check in on all our students. We reached out to 100% of our undergraduates and over half responded to those efforts. We were able to recruit dozens of volunteers from the faculty to do that. We also asked our students and faculty about their learning preferences. We did not impose any rules, but rather gave our students and staff choices. This speaks to the culture of the institution. Our admissions team also adapted very quickly to the pandemic, creating dozens of online events and opportunities for prospective students to interact with current students and faculty.

How is the university working to reduce educational costs for its students? We really looked at the resources that were being provided by the CARES Act to higher education. Each institution has the ability to decide where to distribute those resources, subject to some requirements. Every eligible student received some financial support and the most needy received a little more. We did that over the course of several months as students dealt with the pandemic. We fully refunded any student who left the residence halls on a prorated basis. If anyone had prepurchased meal plans, that money was also refunded. We lowered summer tuition and did not raise tuition for the 2020-21 academic year to do what we could to help support our students.

In the age of virtual learning, how are you building programs to unite students and promote diversity and inclusion? We are a very diverse campus, and we have a set of values that speak directly to this. At the top of our value structure is care and compassion for other people. Our diversity council is focusing on key areas to help our campus advance inclusion and equity in appropriate ways. Our president’s advisory council is made up of minority alumni who are helping to guide us in key areas, including job placement, career development and mentorship. Historically, students of color fall behind in job opportunities, even with the same qualifications. We also have diversity-certified courses, which we have had in place for a few years, prior to last summer’s racial tensions. For instance, we have a course on African American Leader in Business, focused on those who have impacted the business community.

Chris Domes

President – Neumann University

( ) The Malvern School, told Invest:. “Right now, these virtual efforts are primarily centered around the pandemic, but they create new opportunities for the future, too. For example, we have a lot of international families who have extended family come to visit. They keep their child home to have that experience with their grandparents for weeks or months at a time. Virtual programs would allow them to jump into a classroom and continue to be a part of the learning experience.”

Higher education Philadelphia is home to 15 universities that in aggregate provide education to 126,216 students. The University of Pennsylvania is the oldest, having been founded in 1740. Even prior to the pandemic, student debt in the United States had become a lasting burden that is hindering people’s ability to purchase a home or finance their own children’s higher education aspirations. In 2020, student loan debt averaged $37,500 and as per Investopedia, 54% of the American student population resorts to debt to finance their education. Collectively, student debt totals $1.6 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. “The student debt crisis was getting a lot of attention even before the pandemic, and it was having an effect on students’ decision-making,” said Deborah Diamond, president of Campus Philly, in an interview with Invest:. “State-affiliated schools were becoming much more popular because of affordability, while private and nonprofit schools with high tuition fees were taking a hit. Schools that were struggling prior to the pandemic will probably see conditions because of events this year. The wage premium for a college degree is still extremely high, meaning that investing in a college education yields a strong return in what graduates earn with a degree.”

With COVID-19 and the advent of generalized online education, higher education institutions need to sharpen their edge more than ever in the digital landscape, showcasing an attractive return on investment for their students. Online learning is acting as the great equalizer as it leans heavily toward the added value of the content of education when the “college experience” factor has been removed. That is with the added caveat of finding ways of keeping students engaged in an interactive digital learning platform and training faculty and staff to use the median properly.

Philadelphia has the fourth-largest media market in the nation, supported by many IT and tech programs at local colleges and universities.

For graduates in the COVID-19 era, the job market remains uncertain in the pandemic’s wake. On one hand, new job opportunities are emerging that were not necessarily in demand pre-COVID, on the other hand, remote working has complicated the onboarding process and the development of a corporate culture. It is not all bleak for recent graduates, however, as remote work has also unlocked opportunities for jobs at companies that do not necessarily have a footprint in the local market. Drexel University met this moment by transferring its iconic co-op program to the remote landscape. Compared to the 98% of students who were hired after finishing the original program, 87% of students in the remote co-op found jobs.

Philadelphia is also looking to provide the tools to either re-skill or upskill the talent that was impacted by the pandemic and either lost their employment or have just graduated and are actively looking for a job. Professional services corporation Accenture joined the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, Philadelphia Works and Graduate! Philadelphia to launch the Philadelphia Skills Forward Initiative in December 2020. The primary aim of the initiative is to help workers affected by the pandemic to attain new skills as the bedrock toward resilient careers. Through entrepreneurship, health tech and IT, the initiative looks to train more than 5,000 people in an 18-month period.

Just as technology was instrumental in the online learning transition to address the pandemic, its myriad applications are paving the way toward the future of education, which academia needs to capitalize on. One such example is Modern Mouth, a 3D education platform founded in 2020 focused on providing anatomical and scientific 3D models that educators can integrate into their courses. The platform could be extended toward chiropractic, nursing, dental assisting and dental hygiene education purposes.

The technological revolution also demands an equally ambitious curricular update. Artificial intelligence, data analytics, machine learning, automation and cybersecurity are but a few of the avenues higher education is called upon to program for the future of work. St. Joseph’s University, for example, is taking higher education sports to another level with the launch of an esports class and club. The nascent esports industry is well on its way to becoming a global behemoth as it is expected to surpass $1.5 billion in value by 2023. A $50 million, next-generation esports Fusion Arena is scheduled

to be inaugurated in Philadelphia before the end of 2021, courtesy of Comcast Spectacor and The Cordish Companies.

Workforce preparation In December 2020, Philadelphia Works reported that as a result of COVID-19 and the ensuing economic crisis, more than 233,000 newly unemployed Philadelphians had filed initial claims for unemployment compensation with the state of Pennsylvania. The figure represents 30% of the city’s labor force. To address this issue, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry has deployed a strategy that encompasses High Priority Occupations (HPO). The latter are job categories that are in demand among employers, with evolving skill needs and familysustaining wages. The organization also offers career services including five different employment sections to further fuel that effort: job openings; free career preparatory workshops; coaching for youth and young adults to land their first job; career coaches and career pathways.

The explosion of e-commerce during the pandemic also has fostered strong demand for logistics talent and Philadelphia Works is taking notice. In November 2020, it announced another initiative directed at indemand logistics jobs, in partnership with Prologis and Jobs for the Future. Prologis’ online warehousing and distribution program offers self-paced, 30- to 45-minute courses that can be taken on any device and is accessible for adults of all ages and most education levels. The target for this initiative is to train 800 unemployed workers so they can join the ranks of the transportation, distribution and logistics sectors.

At the state level, Pennsylvania launched PAsmart, a digital platform that connects people to employers, upskill and re-skill initiatives, training and apprenticeship opportunities, education offerings and the possibility for people to retrace their career path. The state’s proportion of people with a bachelor’s degree or better education levels is 31%. In contrast, PAsmart estimates that by 2026, there will be close to 600,000 job openings in Pennsylvania, 9% of which will be STEM-related. Knowing this, PAsmart reflects Pennsylvania’s urgent ambition to increase the number of active Pennsylvanians with a certificate or degree to 60% by 2025. ( )

®oundtable:

Business schools

Business schools are adapting curriculums and bridging gaps in edcuation. Educational leaders discuss their role and outlooks for the segment.

Joseph DiAngelo

Dean St. Joseph’s University – Haub School of Business

How important is the increased emphasis on STEM curriculum to higher education in Philadelphia? Philadelphia has 88 colleges within 25 miles. It is the largest concentration in the US. Boston has more students because of the capacity of some of its universities but it only concentrates 75 institutions in the same space. STEM is becoming increasingly relevant in higher education here. Our data analytics program is already STEM-certified. We are also launching a master’s in professional accountancy, which will also be STEMcertified. It is meant to help international students when they come over because they can stay an extra year or two if they have a degree from a STEM program.

What educational gaps are you working to address? We are working on programs in neurodiversity together with the Kennedy Center Autism Project. We have a Center for Autism here. Many major companies, such as Lincoln Financial, JP Morgan, SAP and AmerisourceBergen, to name a few, are hiring employees who are on the autism spectrum. We are training managers on how to work with such employees. .

What direction will higher education take going forward? It’s not going to happen right away but it will change dramatically. For faculty members, for example, it’s important to present their research at academic conferences so people hear about it. For universities, that can be a budgetary strain. Shifting those conferences to a virtual format can ease the inherent financial burden of such presentations.

Paul Jensen

Provost Drexel University

The Drexel Solutions Institute connects organizations and the university. How does this benefit students and faculty? We are building the infrastructure to better engage with students and faculty in this partnership with industry. We just launched our first cohort of Provost’s Solutions Fellows. These are faculty from across the university in all di erent disciplines who have an interest in working with industry either through research and/or teaching. One of the critical responsibilities of the fellows is to act as ambassadors in connecting other Drexel faculty with external partners. In the next year, we’ll be focused on increasing projects through the Solutions Institute and integrating them with our education and research programs.

What is your outlook for the education sector in Philadelphia? I think the outlook is strong because Philadelphia is still known as an eds and meds city. One of the benefits of being in higher education is that we have the ability to pivot to remote delivery when necessary, and this is not the case with other industries. We’ve been fortunate in that we have been able to continue, albeit in a di erent format. This is a crisis that is accelerating the pace of change in many ways. It is driving innovation in ways that were inevitable but that are unfolding even more rapidly.

As a university, we have the near-term priority of navigating through this pandemic. This is a historic time for our nation in terms of social justice and addressing challenges of institutional racism and our focus on that will continue. How is the School of Business addressing gaps in the traditional higher education system? We are continuously working with industry through our advisory boards and corporate partners to gain feedback and insights as to their changing needs. We then can communicate this to our students and adapt and even change the curriculum when necessary so that we meet the needs of both our students and the professions they hope to join upon graduation. Our new, required sophomore year professionalism and career development course was placed into the curriculum just as students are preparing to interview for internships. Sometimes, I see young people are a little lost and many of our freshmen will come in as “undecided business” in terms of which discipline they want to study. It is helpful to expose students to opportunities that will help them find their direction.

How has the past year reshaped your goals? Our faculty and sta have used this time of disruption as an opportunity to discuss with our students the need to be agile business learners, as well as to focus on the sectors where the pandemic has spurred tremendous growth. Our Center for Entrepreneurship has been a leader in this discussion and reframing of an economic outlook. An example is that students in the center which works with a local vodka brand helped with the strategy to temporarily repurpose equipment and alcohol stocks to create a hand sanitizer that was distributed to the local healthcare community. I think for entrepreneurs who can e ectively use analytics, there are opportunities to reimagine business and relationships.

MarySheila McDonald

Dean La Salle University School of Business

Charles Cairns.

Annenberg Dean, College of Medicine Senior Vice President Medical Affairs Drexel University

How would you characterize the new campus the college has opened in West Reading?

It’s such an exciting opportunity for us. This campus is truly going to be both groundbreaking and evolutionary. Reading Hospital is such a well-established hospital, the largest hospital between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and it has really grown rapidly to fill the needs of that population. It is complementary to our other campuses in Philadelphia and around the country. We will have an opportunity to not only integrate into a world-class hospital, and Reading Hospital has been named one of the Top 50 teaching hospitals in the United States, but also to interact with the population of Reading and surrounding counties. The facility itself is world-class.

How did your healthcare tracker app evolve?

Prior to the pandemic, we had been working on how to better reach out to communities to engage people who haven’t been traditionally involved in clinical trials, so we had to figure out a way to have a connection to those communities, how to obtain information accurately and e ectively and also, how to provide feedback of value to those communities in order to enhance enrollment into clinical trials, as well expanding the diversity of populations in clinical trials. We had started a conversation with our partner organization, My Own Med, on how to better incorporate under-represented communities into clinical trials of respiratory virus infections in late January of 2020 when it became obvious that the pandemic was taking o . We worked to create an information system that would use the lessons learned in the clinical trials app and start to apply that first to situational awareness of the pandemic, and better understanding of the impact of the virus, symptom tracking and prioritizing those for testing. It has allowed us to get a comprehensive situational view of what’s happening on campus, how it is spreading, who’s infected, where they are and how we can intervene. It also gives us a portal to facilitate testing and to provide for trusted healthcare information about COVID.

Philadelphia has the second-largest university population in the United States.

( ) On the Philadelphia corporate side, there are a couple of initiatives to propel the city toward the top-tier of technology. In a joint effort between the Philadelphia STEM Equity Collective and global healthcare heavyweight GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), $10 million will be contributed over the next 10 years to higher education programs to help students fulfil their STEM career ambitions.

The nonprofit front is also seeing significant activity toward innovation and disruption. Thanks to a $250,000 federal grant, Philadelphia’s University City Science Center will be expanding its “Building an Understanding of Lab Basics (BULB)” program. Its first iteration gathered 10 participants with a GED or high school diploma to train them for careers in the biotech industry at no cost.

Emphasis on trades A joint report between the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and Autodesk published in August 2019 found that 80% of contractors across the United States find it difficult to find the talent to fill their craft positions, which make up the lion’s share of the industry’s workforce.

In Philadelphia, the General Building Contractors Association (GBCA) is taking the lead to solve the problem. Since as early as 2015, the GBCA has worked full steam ahead to bring a bevy of partners to the table to assist in that effort — local schools, youth groups, hands-on training, classroom training, work-ready skills training and boots-on-the-ground recruitment. There are also programs in place that are designed for a long-standing and successful career in the construction trade. These programs include the ACE Mentor Program of Greater Philadelphia; the Mercy Career & Technical High School’s seven career and technical education (CTE) programs; and YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School’s building trades track. The group Women in Non-Traditional Careers (WINC) also is helping ensure that women have an opportunity in the male-dominated trades. The organization found that fewer than 10 percent of women go into these nontraditional employment paths and make a career out of them.

Remote learning As higher education institutions pivoted to remote learning, the process unveiled that close to 14,700 ( ) John Swartley

Associate Vice Provost for Research Managing Director Penn Center for Innovation University of Pennsylvania

Why is PCI important for the community?

PCI was formally launched in mid-2014, but it was at least five years in the planning. Prior to PCI, we were a more traditional center for technology transfer that focused mostly on patenting and licensing, as well as supporting a growing number of Penn startups. Those are all critically important core activities that help protect and advance Penn technologies toward partnerships and business deals with the private sector. But we also realized that continuing to focus solely on patenting and licensing was not going to be enough because the translational needs of our population of innovators at Penn are far more diverse, and we needed to be able to facilitate access to a broader range of commercial support activities such as more development partnerships and R&D alliances. We knew that to do that the university needed to be a better facilitator of the interaction between the faculty and the private sector and we channeled that objective through the formation and launch of PCI. We recognize that the university is a powerful player within our ecosystem and we take that role very seriously. If we can become better at attracting partners that want to co-develop projects and business opportunities that will in turn result in downstream investments in further research and innovations, as well as businesses and employees that situate themselves in greater Philadelphia, that becomes a truly virtuous cycle.

What is your outlook for PCI and the life sciences sector in Philadelphia?

We will continue to maintain our commitment to making these productive connections between our stakeholders on both sides of our partnerships for both established sectors and newcomers alike. One of our key priorities is making sure that my team and I remain as flexible as possible in continuing to support our existing programs, but to also be able to pivot quickly and nurture new ideas and business opportunities as they arise.

®oundtable:

Community colleges

Community colleges play a fundamental role in communities. Here, leaders discusses the importance of local talent, the role of diversity and inclusion and navigating revenue challenges.

Victoria Bastecki-Perez

President Montgomery County Community College

How important is it to keep talent in the local area? The need to keep talent within the Montco Family has never been more apparent. When we look at our own workforce and the needs in terms of our continued recruitment, hiring, and retaining top-notch talent, we do so while aiming to be the best in class in higher education. Keeping it local is very important.

Investing in MCCC is not only an investment in our students, but it also is an investment in the future and the viability and social mobility of individuals within the county, region, and Commonwealth. Ninety-eight percent of our graduates continue to live and work in the region, generating an additional $232.5 million in state and local taxes throughout their careers, according to a 2018 economic impact study. Through student spending, payroll, and day-to-day operations, MCCC supports over 9,100 jobs in the region, and MCCC provides an 11% return on investment for state and local taxpayers.

We’ve always had strong relationships with our K-12 partners and especially with high schools in the area with our dual enrollment program. We service between 1,5001,700 high-school students through these programs. Through the pandemic, we were seeing that some of our partner high schools were finding it challenging to o er certain advanced placement courses. As they were transferring to remote learning, we were able to help them by o ering our online courses to high school students at a special rate. If these students are interested in accessing even more courses, they can continue on their pathway to earn a certificate or an associate’s degree for employment and/or transfer.

L. Joy Gates Black

President Delaware County Community College

What role are diversity and inclusion playing in the school’s development? Even prior to my arrival, Delaware County Community College has had, for many years, an Institutional Diversity Committee focused on creating greater awareness of the rich diversity that exists within the institution. In November 2019, we hired the college’s first chief diversity, equity and inclusion o cer, and she hit the ground running. That has been a game changer in many ways at the college. It really complemented the work that was already taking place.

Fast forward to 2020 and the coronavirus pandemic, add to that the civil unrest that gripped our communities, and our nation reached a tipping point. That civil unrest was the culmination of what I and so many people of color have experienced for so long, the cruel reality of the disparity in equity and social justice in this country. After the tragic killing of George Floyd, the college commissioned a white paper on the creation of a Center for Equity and Social Justice. It is housed under our O ce of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. It was the missing piece to the puzzle in terms of providing the tools to our students to be e ective in their communities. We created the Center for Equity and Social Justice with an external focus, engaging the broader community and having di cult but necessary conversations. We launched a series of free, community-centered discussions that we call “Dialogues for Diversity” and held our first, virtual dialogue in July 2020 on community policing, with several speakers, including a police o cer, a police chief and an attorney.

Donald Guy Generals

President Community College of Philadelphia

How will the school navigate the lost revenues from the pandemic? Community colleges have been hardest hit by enrollment declines during the pandemic. Enrollment was down about 14% in the fall semester, and our spring enrollment is down about 18%. The CARES Act did not cover the revenues we lost from tuition, so we continue to come up with creative ways to navigate lost revenues. We were fortunate to see an increase in out-of-county enrollment, which really helped to mitigate our revenue losses. We’re putting extra resources into marketing and recruiting and we’re taking a conservative approach to costs.

We’re also fortunate that the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II (HEERF II) authorized by the Coronavirus Responses and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 (CRRSAA) includes allocations for our kinds of organizations. Regardless of the outcome, we will not increase tuition costs.

I think virtual learning is one of the best things to come out of this scenario. We will never return to a scenario where we are only providing face-to-face learning. Teachers are now pushing boundaries and those who previously did not think they were able to teach certain courses online are finding they are able to do so.

There is historical data showing that community colleges have an inverse relationship with the economy, so we will be needed when people begin to seek skills development. I think in a year from now our enrollment will be booming and we need to prepare ourselves for that. How is the college committed to making education more accessible to di erent demographics? Many of the grants we have are for workforce development purposes. The county has been highly supportive of our workforce program and we recently received another grant for it. Almost all students who go through our metalworks and industrial maintenance programs do so tuition-free thanks to these grants. There are other grants for which we’re working with the Bucks County Career Link and our Workforce Development Board. We have a grant to help in-school youth and a second one for outof-school youth — individuals 16 to 24 years old who are neither engaged in education nor employed. We assist them in getting a GED if needed, training and help get them on a path to a career. We also have a grant with the National Science Foundation to help students transition from our workforce program to our engineering program.

What is your outlook for Bucks Community College and the education sector? The college is in a really good place. We are financially solid. We are not in danger of going under. We believe higher education in general to be in a good place. For several schools, it has been more challenging than it has been for us, mainly for residential schools. We do think that as we begin to enter the recovery, both two-and four-year schools and workforce training will all play a significant role in what this new economy looks like. Technology is called to play a more significant role in education. Jobs will be di erent too. How we all respond to that is not only a challenge but also exciting. Our overall outlook is bright.

Stephanie Shanblatt

President Bucks County Community College

Marilyn Wells

Chancellor Penn State – Brandywine

In what ways you are supporting and addressing equal opportunity on your campus?

It is important to underscore that Penn State - Brandywine is the most diverse of all the Penn State campuses, with over 40% U.S. students of color. About 70% of our students receive federal financial aid or scholarships, and we have a significant presence of first-generation students. Over the years the campus has had a variety of committees related to things like diversity and veterans. This year, we elevated those and established Chancellor’s Commissions on Equity by Design. We have five of those. We are addressing accessibility and disabilities, empowering women, veteran and military students, gender identities and sexual orientation, and racial and ethnic justice. We’ve elevated those from committees to Chancellor’s Commissions with very specific charges, looking to base their work o of data, tapping into national and Penn State resources.

Another significant change is that in the past, those committees were largely composed of faculty. This year, every one of those committees is populated by faculty, sta and students from all areas of the campus.

What is in Penn State - Brandywine’s pipeline for this year?

In 2021, we will launch our new Penn State - Brandywine Strategic Plan with three grand goals – grow our student population; foster diversity, equity, and inclusion; and increase our visibility. I’m equally excited about Penn State Brandywine’s expanding influence in job creation and economic growth. Our plans are ambitious. We’re looking forward to the ribbon-cutting, hopefully this summer, of our new community makerspace in Downtown Lansdowne. Also in our pipeline is a new social entrepreneurship lab on our modern campus, partnerships to support Brown and Black business ownership, innovation and entrepreneurship experiences for youth and adults, and many other “future of work” initiatives. ( ) students lacked a computer and more than 21,500 did not have an internet connection on hand, laying bare a profound digital divide. Philadelphia is preparing a two-fold strategy to address it. On one hand, the city is partnering with Verizon for a complete revamp of its public computer centers. The partnership will inject $50,000 into the Philadelphia Fund for Leadership, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which in turn will provide funds and guidance to minority entrepreneurs and innovators in Philadelphia. As a result of COVID-19, the local government put in place a program through which any family with a public school student that does not have internet access can get it for free through June 2022.

In January 2021, the city also launched a Request for Proposal (RFP) to be able to count the number of households without internet connectivity or showcasing unstable, low-bandwidth capacity. The idea behind the RFP is to provide the city with the capacity to gauge its progress in closing the digital gap. Paired to the PHLConnectED initiative, Philadelphia is demonstrating its commitment over the long-term, and not just as COVID-19 subsides, to solving the digital diving.

Another critical aspect to do so is infrastructure. In May 2020, Philadelphia’s Digital Literacy Alliance (DLA) confirmed it would be granting $90,000 to three organizations — Community Learning Center; ExCITe Center at Drexel University and SEAMAAC — to create “digital navigator” positions to assist people in a variety of ways,ranging from free internet service to providing digital literacy training.

K-12 While Philadelphia school leaders have expressed their confidence that schools will open at a reduced capacity for the 2021 school year, unknowns and concerns remain as the school district tried to reopen twice – once in September then again in November – throughout 2020 for 30,000 students to return to school, from kindergarten to third grade. A reopening plan was being drafted in 2021 while the inequalities in higher education also became evident among K-12 institutions.

What is more, remote learning at the K-12 level raised the concern of enhanced cyberbullying in online classrooms. Tech-company L1ght identified that during the pandemic, there has been a 70% increase in hate speech and a 40% increase in online toxicity between students in online platforms.

Added to the challenge of going remote, the Philadelphia School Partnership released a report in January 2021 that analyzed the last three years

of enrollment, student achievement and growth in Philadelphia’s schools that cater to the education of close to 140,000 children, ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade in public schools and city charters. It found that six out of 10 of these kids still attend lowperforming schools. The report could act as a prelude for necessary systemic change to provide the skilled workforce of the future.

Looking ahead Philadelphia has all hands on deck to ensure its education system meets the demand of the future in terms of preparing the next generation of talent trained to cater to the needs of disruptive, technological and top-tier companies. The city is in catch-up mode and so is its educational system as it continued to reel from the pandemic in early 2021. The lessons learned through this experience will prove critical to laying the foundation of Philadelphia’s higher education system of tomorrow.

Ronald Matthews, president of Eastern University, believes the region is well-positioned to deliver on its promise. “Large urban areas are magnets for young adults,” he told Invest:. “Philadelphia is distinctive because it represents the best of a large city and a smaller town. Philadelphia has more institutions of higher learning than any other city in the world. There are 99 colleges and universities in this city alone. Diverse neighborhoods within a large urban metropolis provide amazing educational opportunities and unmatched resources including libraries, museums, performing arts, renowned hospitals and medical services, cutting-edge pharmaceutical industries, and a wide variety of employment opportunities.”

Philadelphia is consistently ranked as one of the best cities in the United States for STEM education.

Program analysis

Market research, continuous analysis help shape curriculum updates

What updates are being made to your curriculum to remain competitive? We are constantly looking at what programs fit best with us. That’s how we decided on the physician assistant studies program 10 years ago as well as occupational therapy, speech-language pathology and blindness and low vision studies. Our main theme is rehabilitation. That’s how we like to think of the programs we provide.

We recently conducted a market analysis, looking at what the next program should be. Based on our research, we’ve decided on orthotics and prosthetics. What we’ve found is that there’s only 13 schools in the country that do this. I was surprised at that. The other thing that surprised me is that it is a profession for craftsmen that basically evolved into a master’s level profession. Around 75% of providers in the segment are over 55 years old. That creates a requirement and an opportunity for an educational institution like ours. We already have the approval from our board, we have hired a consultant to move forward and we are planning on launching it in the fall of 2021.

What sets the university apart from others that o er similar programs across the country? If you compare optometry, as an example, these are standardized programs, for the most part, because students have to go before the national board and take national exams, so they come out pretty much with the same skill set. What’s the differentiator? The value we bring to the entire educational process. We expose all of our students to clinical experiences much earlier in their training than other programs. We have also developed the nation’s only three-year optometry program not requiring an MD or Ph.D. and are about to launch a three-year doctor of audiology program.

How did the university handle the COVID-19 pandemic to keep classes going? There are challenges, but I need to thank my rock star faculty again, because they made the pivot from a faceto-face didactic style to online courses over a weekend. It was remarkable. We actually pivoted our school before Gov. Wolf told us to. My faculty took about three days and worked through it. We were lucky because we’ve been investing in new technology for several years and now that investment is paying off. We had a head start in this regard as we have been offering online programs for over two decades. We had some challenges on the student side because many students, although we think of them as a digital generation, had difficulty making the switch to online learning. We’ve worked through much of this but it took some time.

Mike Mittelman

President – Salus University