Senior Advisors

Saul Behar

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Saul Behar is a senior executive and strategic advisor with deep cross-functional expertise in legal, real estate, fundraising, external relations, and corporate governance matters, and with a passion for tech- based economic development and inclusive growth.

Most recently, Saul served as General Counsel and Senior Vice President, Strategic Initiatives at the University City Science Center in Philadelphia. Established in 1963 as the nation’s first urban science research park, the Science Center is Philadelphia’s premier catalyst of entrepreneurial activity, healthcare innovation, and economic growth. Working alongside industry partners and leading research and academic institutions across the globe, the Science Center has supported over 1,000 early-stage companies.

During Saul’s 15-year tenure at the Science Center, he was responsible for all legal and corporate governance matters and led the organization’s initiatives in STEM education and workforce development. Earlier, he also led all activities in fundraising (public and private) and government and community relations.

Prior to joining the Science Center, he was a partner at Wolf Block LLP in Philadelphia. Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Provident Senior Living Trust, a privately owned real estate investment trust based in Princeton, New Jersey that owned 68 senior housing facilities in 19 states. Before joining Provident, Saul served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Keystone Property Trust, an NYSE-listed real estate investment trust headquartered in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania that focused on industrial real estate. Both Provident and Keystone were highly successful firms that were acquired by the leading companies in their industry sectors.

In 2023 he was appointed Board Chair of Reinvestment Fund (RF), a mission-driven community development financial institution (CDFI) headquartered in Philadelphia, with offices in Baltimore and Atlanta. Since its inception in 1985, RF has provided over $2.4 billion in financing to strengthen neighborhoods, scale social enterprises, and build resilient communities across the nation. Saul joined the RF board in 2016 and has served as Chair of the Audit Committee and as a member of the Loan Review Committee.

Saul also serves on the boards of PolicyMap, a spatial data mapping and analytics company; RF Impact Advisers, a state-registered investment adviser; and The Village of Arts and Humanities, a nonprofit that provides arts-based opportunities for self-expression and personal success that engage youth and their families, revitalize physical space, and preserve Black heritage. Additionally, Saul is a current board member (and former Board Chair) of the Lower Merion Township Scholarship Fund.

Karine Blanc

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Karine Blanc is an experienced real estate executive and thought leader focused on building stronger, more inclusive communities. She is founder and CEO of Avenue Fouchard Advisors, a real estate development advisory firm based in Philadelphia. Her areas of expertise include real estate development, capital markets, housing, and social impact.

Ms. Blanc currently serves on Urban Land Institute’s Advisory Board in Philadelphia and serves as Chair of the Small Scale and Impact Development Council. She also currently serves as an adjunct professor at Temple University in the Fox School of Business Real Estate Department.

Karine graduated from Rutgers University with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a minor in political science. She also holds a master’s degree in economics from Rutgers University.

David W. Brown

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David W. Brown has owned or managed several advertising/public relations firms throughout his 40+ career in Philadelphia. His most successful venture was BrownPartners, – which operated nearly a decade in this market – became one of the most decorated minority-owned ad agencies in the history of Philadelphia’s advertising industry. The company won almost every award in the field including three Pepperpots from the Philadelphia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA); a Gold Addy from the Philadelphia Advertising Club; and a Mosaic Award from the American Advertising Federation.

Brown has the distinction of being the only person to have served over his career as both the President of the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) Philadelphia chapter and the Philadelphia Advertising Club. He is also the only living African American inducted into the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) Hall of Fame. With the Ad Club’s Movers and Shakers Pinnacle Award, Brown is the only African American to be selected for Hall of Fame honors by both Philadelphia’s largest advertising and public relations organizations.

He is a past recipient of PRSA’s National David Ferguson Award for Outstanding Contributions Education and is the first African American to be so honored. He is also the recipient of the Ofield Dukes Educator Award conferred by the National Black Public Relations Society (NBPRS) recognizing the best African Americans in the public relations industry that are making positive contributions in the community. It was named after the legendary African American practitioner who worked with music icon Stevie Wonder to make Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday. Professor Brown is the first Philadelphia practitioner to be selected.

He serves as Founder/Managing Director of CommonSoul Communications – a non-profit that provides strategic marketing services to other mission-focused organizations – with a particular focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). He led a team of professionals working with the Philadelphia Inquirer in its efforts to become an anti-racist institution. He has also worked with Resolve Philly – which seeks to challenge Philadelphia’s media industry to be more equitable, collaborative, and based in community voices and solutions.

Brown was named a “Champion of Change” by the Obama Administration for his communications work around empowering non-profits to make a difference in the communities they serve. He has the distinction of being recognized for his service to the community as a recipient of the Harris Wofford Active Citizenship Award – given to one Philadelphian or organization a year by the Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service Committee which operates the largest single day of service in the country. Brown is the Assistant Dean of Community and Communication at Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication where he has pursued level work in the Ph.D. Media and Communication program. An ordained Reverend in the United Methodist Church where he serves as a part-time member of the ministry staff at First Church of Media, Brown is a frequent contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer and WHYY in which he has been featured extensively on a range of urban issues.

Carol de Fries

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Carol de Fries is an expert at building successful strategic partnerships for economic and civic growth, with more than 15 years of experience in business development, finance, government relations, philanthropy, higher education and economic and workforce development.

Most recently, she served as the Community College of Philadelphia’s (CCP) Vice President of Workforce and Economic Innovation, where she positioned the College as a key asset to Philadelphia’s efforts to grow and expand its economy. She created the strategic vision and implementation plan to expand the form and the function of the College’s workforce development, continuing education, career readiness, job training and job creation programs by establishing partnerships with local businesses and the institution.

During her tenure, Ms. de Fries secured and generated over $30M in revenue, grants, and public funding to support the division’s mission; grew program offerings by 176%; achieved over 70% minority and women-owned business participation in Power Up; and pioneered the College and Philadelphia’s state-of-the-art Career and Advanced Technology Center.

Ms. de Fries’ previous roles in Philadelphia include Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for the City’s economic development agency Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC); Executive Director of the Office of Government and Community Affairs for the University of Pennsylvania (Penn); and Special Assistant to the Director of Commerce for the City of Philadelphia. Before moving to Philadelphia, Ms. de Fries was a federal Procurement Administrator for a DC-based international firm negotiating the purchase and shipment of goods for USAID projects across the world. Ms. de Fries holds a Masters in Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Georgetown University.

As a civic leader, she helped found Campus Philly, a 501(c)3 organization aimed at retaining the region’s college population and created and launched Power Up Your Business Program at CCP. She serves as the Secretary of Philadelphia250, and is on the boards of the Center City Business Association, and Philadelphia Life Sciences Advisory Board. She recently was honored as a 2022 “Women of Distinction” by the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Guy Michael Thigpen

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Guy Michael Thigpen is a highly accomplished Researcher and Analytics Executive with a distinguished career in the fields of process management, training and development, and program implementation. He currently resides in Philadelphia, PA, where he serves as the Senior Modeler in the Office of Property Assessment at the Philadelphia Department of Finance. In this role, Mr. Thigpen is responsible for modeling property assessed value for nearly 600,000 properties in Philadelphia using multivariate regression models. Additionally, he directs the city fellows program consisting of 12 graduate and undergraduate students and graduates who enhance the work of the City of Philadelphia Office of Property Assessment in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania.

Guy is an expert in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), complex problem-solving, data science, and teaching. He has significant experience in designing and leading research projects on topics related to organizational management. He has also conducted quantitative and qualitative data analysis using various statistical software, including SPSS and ArcGIS. Prior to his current role, he served as the Director of Analytics at the Philadelphia Land Bank and as the Assistant Director of Geospatial Services at the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority. At both organizations, he directed all analytic activities related to landholding agencies in Philadelphia, tasked with analyzing and coordinating the enterprise development of spatial tools to improve citywide GIS policy.

Mr. Thigpen has also taught as an adjunct professor in the Real Estate Master’s Program at Thomas Jefferson University, where he developed curriculum, syllabus, and course content for two graduate courses. He has mentored master’s degree students in their research projects and conducted in-person, hybrid, and virtual classes for graduate students.

Guy is a candidate for a Doctor of Management in Strategic Leadership- Complex Problem Solutions from Thomas Jefferson University. He holds a Master of Philosophy in the Department of Organizational Dynamics from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Urban Spatial Analytics from the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Science in Social Policy and Planning from The London School of Economics, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Throughout his career, Guy has received numerous honors and awards, including the Faculty Award for Master of Philosophy thesis from the Department of Organization Dynamics at the University of Pennsylvania and a Merit Scholarship for the Master of Urban Spatial Analysis at the University of Pennsylvania. He has also served as a judge for the Midterm Review at the Harvard School of Design and as a representative for the Graduate Student League at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, Guy was a board member of Harlem Landmarks, a 501c3 organization that promotes the preservation of historic buildings in Harlem, New York.

Anne Bovaird Nevins

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Anne Bovaird Nevins is a senior economic and community development executive with nearly two decades of experience in the field. Anne currently serves as Director of Economic Development with Accelerator for America (AFA), a national nonprofit organization that finds and develops solutions to drive equitable economic and community development and shares them with cities to create national change from the ground up. Accelerator for America is led by an Advisory Council comprising mayors, corporate and non-profit executives, and labor leaders from across the U.S.

Prior to joining AFA, Anne served as President of PIDC, Philadelphia’s official economic development corporation, founded by the City and Chamber of Commerce more than 60 years ago with the mission to spur investment, support business growth, and foster developments that create jobs, revitalize neighborhoods, and drive inclusive growth to every corner of Philadelphia. Anne held a variety of leadership roles over 16 years with the organization, including leading PIDC throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anne’s leadership was integral to Philadelphia’s efforts to respond to the pandemic, restart the economic momentum of the city, and position Philadelphia to recharge and reimagine the city’s economic future. Under her leadership, PIDC deployed over $71 million in COVID-19 relief to more than 5,200 small businesses – serving more businesses over these past two years than the organization had in the prior 40 years. Over 65% of the COVID-19 small business relief dollars through PIDC were delivered to minority-owned enterprises.

Anne also ensured that PIDC advanced critical, long-term priorities to drive equitable and inclusive economic growth in Philadelphia. During her tenure, PIDC invested more than $32 million in 16 commercial and mixed-use projects led by developers of color throughout Philadelphia. Anne also oversaw the selection of Ensemble/Mosaic as the new development partner for 109 acres at the Navy Yard, which will deliver $2.5 billion of investment, more than 4.5 million square feet of commercial and retail development, more than 4,000 units of residential development, and represents an unprecedented commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Under Anne’s leadership, PIDC recently announced the search for a new development partner for the Lower Schuylkill Biotech Campus to develop 40 riverfront acres in Southwest Philadelphia that will catalyze inclusive economic growth.

Anne has served as co-chair of the Racism and Economic Development Committee of the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), co-managed Philadelphia’s Amazon HQ2 bid, and created PIDC and Urban Land Institute (ULI) Philadelphia’s partnership on the future of work and its impact on industrial and commercial land.

From 1999 to 2001, Anne served in the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs, which is responsible for coordination between the President and all cabinet agencies. She then joined the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and managed the logistical and hospitality arrangements for all U.S. dignitaries attending the Olympics. Anne then managed corporate sponsorships for the Kimmel Center, the regional performing arts center in Philadelphia. She next served as Director of Development for Historic Philadelphia, Inc. and raised substantial funds to renovate Franklin Square, an 8-acre urban park in the center of Philadelphia’s historic district. Anne has a Masters in Business Administration from the Wharton School and a Bachelors Degree in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives with her family in the Tampa, FL region.