Mayor Michael Nutter, Renée Lewis Glover to Receive Penn IUR Urban Leadership Awards

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – March 19, 2015 – The Penn Institute for Urban Research (Penn IUR) is proud to announce the recipients of its 11^th annual Urban Leadership Awards, which recognize leaders who are guiding cities toward a sustainable and vibrant future. The 2015 awardees are Michael A. Nutter, Mayor, City of Philadelphia and Renée Lewis Glover, Chair, Board of Directors, Habitat for Humanity International, and Former President and CEO, Atlanta Housing Authority. Penn IUR will honor the work of these exceptional leaders on April 9th at its 11^th annual Urban Leadership Forum.

Michael A. Nutter, who was reelected to second term as Mayor of Philadelphia in 2011, has led the city with innovative policies focused on key issues such as economic growth and development, revitalizing and greening the city’s spaces, and community policing. “I want to thank the Penn Institute for Urban Research for honoring me with the 11^th annual Urban Leadership Award. This award reaffirms that Philadelphia has been on an upward trajectory of innovative growth,” said Mayor Nutter. “The progress this city has made in recent years is tremendous, from an increased population to a surge in business developments and revitalized public spaces all across our city. These transformations highlight that Philadelphia has come a long way and will be a city on the rise for years to come.”   

Renée Lewis Glover was CEO of the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) from 1994 though 2013, and during her tenure transformed the organization from a chronically-troubled housing authority on the verge of receivership to a high-performing and diversified real estate organization with a public mission and purpose. “I am honored to be the recipient of the prestigious Penn IUR Urban Leadership Award because it recognizes the important work I lead in Atlanta building economically, racially and culturally diverse communities,” said Glover. “As an important component of this work, we implemented programs that helped restore the dignity and change the mindset of thousands of low-income families so that they were empowered to use their God-given human potential to achieve their version of the American Dream. I believe if these strategies are locally adapted and executed with integrity and a belief in the universal humanity of all human beings, they can lead to reconciliation and social justice, and restoration of hope.”

Penn IUR’s Urban Leadership Awards recognize the power that individuals can have in shaping cities throughout the United States and around the world. “This year’s Urban Leadership Awardees exemplify true urban visionaries and the transformative effects such leaders can have on the very fabric of the cities in which they work,” says Egbert Perry, Penn IUR Advisory Board Chair, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Integral Group and Chairman of Fannie Mae. “Mayor Nutter’s work in Philadelphia and Renée Lewis Glover’s work in Atlanta have been integral in positioning both cities for ongoing success in the 21^st century.”

About the 2015 Awardees

Michael A. Nutter was re-elected in 2011 to his second term as Mayor of Philadelphia. He has set an aggressive agenda for America’s fifth largest city – devising the City’s innovative school reform strategy, vowing to strengthen community policing through Philly Rising, a unique partnership between vulnerable neighborhoods and the City, and continuing to implement the nationally recognized GreenWorks Philadelphia initiative that is helping to make the City of Philadelphia become the greenest city in America. Since taking office in January 2008, Michael Nutter has vigorously managed city government through the worst recession since the Great Depression by maintaining core services and reducing the City’s spending – most notably closing a $2.4 billion gap in Philadelphia’s five year plan without compromising a single police officer, fire fighter, sanitation, or health center worker. Born in Philadelphia and educated at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Michael Nutter has been committed to public service since his youth in West Philadelphia. He served almost 15 years on the Philadelphia City Council, earning the reputation of a reformer, before his election as Mayor of Philadelphia.

Renée Lewis Glover joined the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) as CEO in 1994 and pioneered master-planned, mixed-use, mixed-income residential development where all socio-economic profiles live together in an amenity-rich community. Glover stepped down as CEO in 2013 having transformed AHA from a chronically-troubled housing authority on the verge of receivership to a high-performing and diversified real estate organization with a public mission and purpose. Her model is used as the redevelopment blueprint by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and has improved housing, public schools, transit access and economic development opportunities. Glover’s many honors include CEO of the Year Award from the Atlanta Business League; one of Atlanta’s Defining Women (Atlanta History Center); Public Official of the Year (Governing Magazine) and one of the top ten American women in government (Center for American Women and Politics, Ford Foundation and the Council for Excellence in Government). Glover is on the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta; Chair of Habitat for Humanity International; a member of the Bipartisan Policy Center Housing Commission and served on the Millennial Housing Commission. Prior to joining AHA, she was a corporate finance attorney with degrees from Boston, Yale and Fisk Universities.

About the Penn IUR Urban Leadership Award

Since 2005, Penn IUR has recognized innovators in urban affairs through the Urban Leadership Award. Past recipients include: Martin O’Malley, Governor of Maryland, Sister Mary Scullion and Joan Dawson McConnon, co-founders of Project HOME Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT and former Mayor of Barcelona, Spain; Yael Lehmann, Executive Director of The Food Trust; Ridwan Kamil, Founder and Principal of Urbane Indonesia; Derek R.B. Douglas, Vice President for Civic Engagement, University of Chicago and former Special Assistant to President Barack Obama, White House Domestic Policy Council; Paul Levy, President and CEO, Philadelphia’s Center City District; Lily Yeh, Global Artist and Founder, Barefoot Artists; Raphael Bostic, Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; Jane Golden, Executive Director, City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program; Shirley Franklin, Mayor, City of Atlanta, GA; Parris Glendening, President, Smart Growth Leadership Institute, and former Governor, Maryland; Bruce Katz, Vice President and Founding Director of the Metropolitan Policy Program, The Brookings Institution; William Hudnut III, Senior Fellow Emeritus, Urban Land Institute, and former Mayor, Indianapolis, IN; Joseph P. Riley, Jr., Mayor, City of Charleston, SC; and Donna Shalala, President, University of Miami and former Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

About Penn IUR

The Penn Institute for Urban Research (Penn IUR) is dedicated to advancing cross-disciplinary urban-focused research, instruction, and civic engagement on issues relevant to cities around the world. As the global population becomes increasingly urban, understanding cities is vital to informed decision-making and public policy at the local, national, and international levels. Penn IUR focuses on research that informs the sustainable and inclusive twenty-first-century city. By providing a forum for collaborative scholarship and instruction at Penn and beyond, Penn IUR stimulates research and engages with urban practitioners and policymakers to inform urban policy.

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