Panel of business leaders will scrutinize city

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Nutter last week unveiled a seven-member panelk of private-sector leaders that will work with the city to identify opportunities to cut costs and improve Efforts are already under way by the Privatde SectorOutreach Board, which was launched in the fall through a joint effort of the city and the . The city’s financial crisis has increased the urgency of the boards and their network of volunteers to step to the platw and provide their expertise where saidJudith M.
von Seldeneck, who serves as Although their work will cover a broad spectrum of includingthe city’s tax criminal justice system and health costs, the most immediate task will be findinvg efficiencies and more cost-effective means for the city to said von Seldeneck, chairwoman and CEO of of “The private sector has been through this; time and companies have gone through downsizing,” von Seldeneck “It’s something they know how to do, they have shareholderds all on their necks and they have to be able to show succesxs in a timely fashion.
” Philadelphia has alread y identified projects where private sectot help is wanted; all that remains is matching outsider talent to their needs, von Seldeneck “What we are doing is meeting with teamsx that have been established by the administratiom to get the details, understand the then we assess the companies that have agreer to volunteer talent,” von Seldeneck said. “Governmen is so big, it’s like turning the Queebn Mary, it’s going to take a lot of efforrt and a lotof people. The good news is there’zs a good attitude at all levels. … You have a reallyh good platform to build on and we just need to get some successesehere soon.
” It’s that marriage of thos e outside of city government workintg with those within it that will changr the city for the said Dan Gallagher, former president of the Philadelphiz Chapter of the Society for Human Resource In answer to Nutter’s call, SHRM is rolling out a publicd affairs initiative in the next couplwe of months that will provide a pool of talent into whicyh the city can tap. Participantd would remain on the payrolls of thei r firms whileproviding part-time or full-timee assistance to the city as they have in other efforts, said He doesn’t expect the economy to hinder the effort which alreadgy has garnered commitments from a few organizations.
“It’s definitely but I think it’s even more challenginy right now for companies to potentiallyggive money. I think this creates a creative way to give additionalo resources tothe city,” Gallagher Long-term goals include the establishment of an academt to provide ongoing city leadership training and development, Gallagher The University of Pennsylvania Fels Institute of Government has been discussin g the possibility with the city over the last few but plans may be stalled by the curreny crisis, said David Thornburgh, executive director of the Fels “The city budget situation obviouslyg throws a wrench in the but we are trying to explord creative ways with the city to pay for but we are just sort of at the beginninh of that conversation,” Thornburgh said.
“The caveatg is that private-sector firms are under their own stressa rightnow too.” Accountiny firm KPMG and Comcast are among the companies activelg supporting the efforts, said Gallagher, who is executive directo r of organization development for . “We are lookingt to build innovation by takingy internal resources that know how the city tickss andexternal resources, which are experts, and partnerintg the two to create optimization,” Gallagher said.
In addition to von the Private Sector OutreachgBoard includes: Rosemary Turner, vice president and chiefv operating officer of UPS Metro Philadelphis District; Daniel Fitzpatrick, president and CEO, Citizens Bank Easterm PA, NJ, DE; Ann Weaver Hart, president of ; Michaepl Pearson, president of ; J. William Mills III, regional presiden of , and Harolxd L. Yoh III, chairman and CEO of Day &