David Thornburgh is a nationally recognized “civic entrepreneur” who, in the course of his career, has launched a series of innovative high impact initiatives to tackle tough community problems.
He was named President and CEO of the Committee of Seventy, the Philadelphia-based good government group, in November, 2014. Founded in 1904, Seventy has long been a champion for a better political process, better government, and engaged and informed citizens, in Philadelphia and in Pennsylvania. Among its many accomplishments, Seventy was instrumental in enacting campaign contribution limits and a powerful Board of Ethics—among the toughest in the nation--in Philadelphia after the “pay to play” scandals came to light in 2007.
Thornburgh came to Seventy from the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government, where he had served as Executive Director since 2008. While at Fels he doubled applications to the program, launched an innovative hybrid Executive MPA program and, during Fels’ 75th Anniversary campaign in 2012 quadrupled alumni giving and carried out 12 public programs that attracted over 1,200 alumni and political and community leaders. He also created a national Public Policy Challenge student competition in partnership with Governing magazine that drew teams from 12 top universities. Read David's full bio here.
