Rebecca Rhynhart: Navigating the Great Recession as Treasurer and Eradicating Corruption as City Controller
In January 2018, Rebecca Rynhart was sworn in as the first woman City Controller in Philadelphia history. Before that, she served as Mayor Kenney’s Chief Administration Officer, and during the Nutter administration, she served as Treasurer and then Budget Director.
In this episode, you’ll hear how Rebecca initially worked in Finance on Wall Street. After years of seeing governments being taken advantage of by the private sector, she quit - and took a huge pay cut - to enter public service. That decision to leave Bear Sterns in the spring of 2008 turned out to be pretty lucky, as the entire firm collapsed 3 weeks later.
She would become Treasurer of Philadelphia at the height of the Great Recession. And, as you’ll hear, she had to make some tough calls to get the city through it.
Eventually, she craved the ability to affect more change for Philadelphia. So, she ran for office, and took on an incumbent. Despite heavy odds, she won, and is one year into her term as City Controller.
After listening to this episode, check out this week's episode of the Streets Dept Podcast with Conrad Benner - they also featured Controller Rynhart this week and talked more about what the Controller's office has done since she's been elected.
Support Philly Who?
Venmo: @podphillywho,
Start with These Episodes
Kevin Negandhi: The First Indian-American to Anchor ESPN's Sportscent…
Kevin Neghandi was watching a basketball game on TV when he was 15 years old. The announcers mentioned that one of the players was studying broadcasting, and that would one day be the player's career. Kevin's mind was blown. ...
Councilmember Kendra Brooks: The First Minority Party At-Large Victor…
After serving families with disabilities at Easterseals for 17 years, state budget cuts left Kendra Brooks without a job. While she searched for a new one, she became a parent leader of her children's public school in the nei...
Sharon Pinkenson: The Wardrobe Stylist Who Brought Hollywood to Philly
Over two decades ago, one wardrobe stylist had an ambitious dream to see her beloved hometown become the movie metropolis she always knew it could be. Now, after more than $5 billion of economic impact to the southeastern Pen...
Bruce Warren: How a Kitchen Chef Became Philly's Music Man
Bruce Warren is assistant general manager for programming of WXPN in Philadelphia and is Executive Producer of World Cafe distributed by National Public Radio (NPR). He’s been working for public radio as a DJ and manager for ...
Madeline Bell: How an Overnight Pediatric Nurse Became CEO of CHOP
Madeline Bell is the President & CEO of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The Children’s Hospital-- more commonly known as CHOP-- receives more than 1 million visits every year. And Madeline is the one making many of t...
Michael Nutter: The 98th Mayor of Philadelphia
Michael Nutter served as the 98th Mayor of Philadelphia from 2008 through 2015. Before that, he had been a Member of City Council since 1992. When Nutter decided to run for mayor, the odds were stacked against his campaign. T...
Rakia Reynolds: Helping Serena Williams & Other Celebrities Share The…
Rakia Reynolds is the Founder & CEO of Skai Blue Media, a public relations agency that's worked with clients such as Serena Williams, Ashley Graham, and M. Night Shyamalan. In the mid 2000s Rakia was a TV producer whose life …
Connor Barwin: The NFL Linebacker Rejuvenating Philly Public Parks
Connor Barwin is an NFL Linebacker who has played for the Houston Texans, LA Rams, New York Giants, and Philadelphia Eagles. In 2014, he lead the NFL in sacks, and was selected to the Pro Bowl. Connor played for the …
Julian Brodsky: The Creation of Comcast
Julian Brodsky is the original CFO of Comcast, and a Philadelphia native. He and Daniel Aaron were the partners of Comcast Founder Ralph Roberts, and the three began the company in 1963 with the mission of providing cable tel...
Sarah Schwab: The Story of GRITTY!
Sarah Schwab is the Senior Director of Marketing for the Philadelphia Flyers. As the Director of Marketing, Sarah oversees the team’s branding, promotional, and media initiatives. Recently, her team was tasked with a huge und...
Mike Solomonov & Steve Cook: The Chefs Behind Zahav, Federal Donuts, …
Mike Solomonov and Steve Cook are the chefs behind Cooknsolo, a collection of restaurants including Zahav, Federal Donuts, The Rooster, Dizengoff, Goldie, and Abe Fisher. At the time of this interview, Cook and Solo had toget...
Tony Luke, Jr. Part 2: The Rise and Fall of a Cheesesteak Empire
Tony Luke, Jr. is a cofounder of Tony Luke's, a cheesesteak franchise with multiple locations. He's also an actor, TV personality, musician, and an anti-addiction-stigma activist. In this Part 2 of a 2-episode series, you’ll ...
Rebecca Rhynhart: Navigating the Great Recession as Treasurer and Era…
In January 2018, Rebecca Rynhart was sworn in as the first woman City Controller in Philadelphia history. Before that, she served as Mayor Kenney’s Chief Administration Officer, and during the Nutter administration, she serve...
Jane Golden: Making Philly a Public Art Gallery through MuralArts
Jane is the Executive Director of Mural Arts Philadelphia, the nation’s largest public art program that employs over 300 artists annually . Over that past 30 years, Jane has lead Mural Arts to become an internationally-renown...
Josh Kopelman: Founder of First Round Capital & Early Investor in Ube…
Josh Kopelman has been an active entrepreneur and investor in the Internet industry since its commercialization. In 1992, while he was a student at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Josh co-founded Infonau...
Governor Ed Rendell: Rescuing Philly from Bankruptcy as Mayor
Governor Ed Rendell is a lawyer, author, and politician. From 1992 until 2000, he served as the Mayor of Philadelphia. Shortly after that, in 2001, he was elected 45th Governor of Pennsylvania, and would go on to serve two te...
Judy Wicks: Pioneering Farm-to-Table at White Dog Cafe
Judy Wicks is the founder of the White Dog Cafe, a restaurant in University City that she started in the first floor of her house in 1983. What started as a muffin shop quickly grew into a renowned 200-seat restaurant …
William Tyrone Toms: Giving Resources to Every Creator at REC Philly
William Tyrone Toms is the Founder and Head of Strategy at REC Philly, a creative agency and incubator for local artists and creative entrepreneurs. In this episode, you’ll hear how Will and his cofounder, Dave Silver, would ...
Yasmine Mustafa: Undocumented Refugee Turned Social Entrepreneur & CEO
Yasmine Mustafa is a social entrepreneur fueled by a passion to leverage technology for good. She's the CEO of ROAR for Good, a certified B-corp aimed at reducing assaults against women using smart safety wearables and empath...
Todd Carmichael Part 1: Creating La Colombe & Almost Dying in Antarct…
Todd Carmichael (IG: @todd_carmichael) is the Cofounder and CEO of La Colombe Coffee Roasters. He and his cofounder JP Iberti started the first La Colombe Cafe in Rittenhouse in 1994, and today it has 30 locations nationwide....
Erica Atwood: Social Justice Thought Leader
Erica Atwood (@ericainphilly) is currently the CEO of First Degree Consulting, LLC. Erica has served as the interim executive director of the Philadelphia Police Advisory Commission, which is the city's police civilian oversi...
Bon Ku, MD, MPP: The Designer of Health
Bon Ku, M.D. (@BonKu) is the Assistant Dean for Health and Design and an Associate Professor at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. He is the founder and director of JeffDESIGN, a first-of-its-ki...
Fran Dunphy: NCAA Men’s Basketball Coach, Big 5 Legend
Fran Dunphy has been the Head Coach of Temple University's Men's Basketball team since 2006. Before that, he served as the head coach of Penn's basketball team for 16 years. He's got an M.B.A. from Villanova, and he was a …
Chill Moody: HipHop Artist, Philly Music Ambassador, The Reason We Ha…
Chill Moody (@chillmoody) is a HipHop artist, entrepreneur, and activist. Born and raised in West Philadelphia, he started by making beats in his parents' basements and quickly rose to the top of the Philly hip hop scene. He ...