Leadership Team

David W. Brown is Executive Director of the Civic Coalition to Save Lives – a broad cross-sector effort bringing more than 100 businesses, philanthropic and civic organizations together to partner with the City of Philadelphia and community-based organizations focused on intervention to address the issue of gun violence. At Temple, he is the Assistant Dean for Community and Communication for the Klein College of Media and Communication. Before joining Temple, he served as executive director of the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children—a nonprofit focused on child literacy by opening and operating previously closed public elementary school libraries. He also previously served as General Manager for 900 AM WURD, Pennsylvania’s only Black-owned talk radio station. He is also founder of CommonSoul Communications, a nonprofit that provides strategic marketing services to other Philadelphia nonprofits, and has run or owned five advertising and public relations agencies over the course of his career. Brown has helped guide the strategic direction for nonprofit and other mission-focused organizations throughout his more than 40-year career. He is known for his ability to bring together diverse groups, a quality that is vital for leading an organization composed of business leaders, civic organizations, and community groups. His leadership style, characterized by inclusivity and collaboration, will help unite stakeholders around the common goal of reducing gun violence. A graduate of Duquesne University—where he majored in Journalism—Brown is also a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now Palmer Theological Seminary), where he earned a master’s degree in Theology with a focus on Public Policy. An ordained reverend in the United Methodist Church, Brown was named a “Champion of Change” by the Obama Administration for his work in faith, private and public communities. He serves part-time as a member of a ministry staff working in urban communities, and he is the author of Freedom Drawn from Within, which examines the historic role that African Americans have played in the formation of the modern United Methodist church. Brown is a past Pennsylvania Communication Association Speaker of the Year and was inducted into the Public Relations Hall of Fame by the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA), the oldest independent public relations organization in the country. He is the only living African American male practitioner in the Hall. He has been 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 also the 2016 recipient of the Public Relations Society of America’s David Ferguson Award for Outstanding Contributions Education and is the first African American to be honored as such. Additionally, he received the 2016 Ofield Dukes Educator Award, conferred by the National Black Public Relations Society. Brown also has the distinction of being the only person to have served as both president of PRSA’s Philadelphia chapter and the Philadelphia Advertising Club.

In 2023, Estelle Richman left retirement to serve as the founding Executive Director for the Civic Coalition to Save Lives. She was also named Special Advisor to the Managing Director on Gun Violence Intervention by then Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, serving as the City’s single point of coordination and accountability for evidence-based gun violence intervention programs. After helping select her successor, Rev. David Brown, in October 2024, Estelle returned to retirement and is engaged with the Coalition as a volunteer member of the steering committee. During her tenure, the Coalition mobilized over $1.5 million in grants to fund vital intervention work, partnering with City and community-based organizations that engage directly with those at the highest risk of shooting or being shot. It has educated more than 1,200 stakeholders about how and why intervention is key to reducing gun violence in the near term, creating a broad and collaborative network of individuals and organizations committed to its cause. Estelle was also instrumental in launching the Gun Violence Intervention and Coordination Center (GVICC). The Coalition created the GVICC, a 501c3 organization, to support the coordination of services among existing evidence-based community violence intervention (CVI) and hospital violence intervention programs (HVIP), working in partnership with City agencies. Estelle spent her career, spanning four decades, transforming government systems through creative and innovative public-private solutions. Her expertise has been key to engaging with the many community-based organizations that have been committed to intervention work for decades, as well as implementing long-term, sustainable efforts to reduce gun violence. She retired as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for health and human services issues in 2013. While at HUD, she held the positions of Chief Operating Officer and Acting Deputy Secretary. As COO, she worked with staff to develop a HUDstat process that regularly reviewed outcomes and set tangible goals for all major departments. As Acting Deputy Secretary, she focused on the scope of authority of the regional offices and the integration of budgets. As liaison for health and human services, she managed relationships with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Veteran Affairs (VA), Department of Justice (DOJ) and other partners within the Federal Government. She also contributed expertise to the efforts underway to break down internal agency silos. Governor Ed Rendell appointed Estelle Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, an umbrella agency that includes Medicaid, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services; Child Welfare long-term living, Developmental Program, Early Childhood Services, and Income Maintenance. During these years, the focus of the Department was the integration of services, expansion of managed care – behavioral and physical, cost containment, and establishment of pay for performance. She served the City of Philadelphia in a variety of roles, including Managing Director, Director of Social Services, Commissioner of Public Health and Deputy Commissioner for Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services Estelle received her master’s degree from Cleveland State University and has Honorary Doctorate degrees from Alvernia University, Drexel University, and Temple University. She serves on several local and national boards and participates in task forces and other civic activities.

Sharmain Matlock-Turner is the CEO of the Urban Affairs Coalition. She began her tenure in March 1999 with the special distinction of being the first woman to lead the Coalition. The Urban Affairs Coalition, formerly GPUAC, unites government, business, neighborhoods, and individual initiative to improve the quality of life in the region, build wealth in urban communities, and solve emerging issues. In partnership with a diverse Board of Directors, made up of business, nonprofit and community leaders, Ms. Matlock-Turner and her team of managers and nearly 450 employees create partnerships and build consensus to help families reduce poverty and reach the middle class. The organization’s efforts are focused in four areas: improving life chances for youth and young adults; building wealth in low-income communities; forging strategic partnerships and strengthening the nonprofit sector through fiscal sponsorship. The organization has successfully managed more than $1B in public and private funds over its 50+ year history. Ms. Matlock-Turner is co-founder and chair emeritus of the 24-year-old West Oak Lane Charter School. In addition, she serves on the following boards and committees: Deputy Chair of The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia; Peirce College Board of Trustees; PECO Board of Directors; Entrepreneur Works Board of Directors; Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors; Philadelphia Equity Alliance Board of Directors; Uplift Solutions Board of Directors; Philadelphia Council for College and Career Success; Read by 4th Board of Directors; United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey Board; Impact 100 Philadelphia; Summer Youth Employment Cabinet, Civic Coalition to Save Lives Advisory Board; IBC Regional Advisory Board; Black Nonprofit Chief Executives of Philadelphia Advisory Board; City & State Pennsylvania Advisory Board; Foundations Inc. National Advisory Board; Children First Advisory Council; Philadelphia Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Committee; African American Leadership Forum Advisory Board of Directors; Philadelphia Civil Service Commission Nominating Panel; Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia; Regional Strategy and Leadership Committee; Public Citizens for Children and Youth Advisory Council; PropelPHL Advisory Council Committee; The Philadelphia Foundation’s On the Table Steering Committee; SEPTA Reimagining Regional Rail Stakeholder Advisory Committee; Thomas Jefferson Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) Committee; Pyramid Club Board of Governors; Regional Advisory Board & Consumer and Business Affairs Committee; Keystone Health Education Committee. Ms. Matlock-Turner is a founding member of the National Network of Fiscal Sponsors. She was appointed by Gov. Wolf to serve on the PA Redistricting Reform Commission, and the Census 2020 Complete Count Commission. She formerly served as co-chair for Philadelphia City Council’s Special Commission on Poverty Reduction & Prevention. She co-chaired the Draw the Lines PA East Steering Committee. Matlock-Turner co-authored the ‘Reflecting Forward: Philadelphia-based Black Leaders’ Recommendations for Regional Funders‘ and the ‘PAALF Research Report on African American Non-profit Organizations in Philadelphia‘ reports. Ms. Matlock-Turner has received numerous awards including the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Diversity and Inclusion Award and the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Most Admired CEO Award. She is often asked to speak to local, regional, and national organizations. She is a regular guest commentator on 6abc’s public affairs television program, Inside Story. Ms. Matlock-Turner holds a BS degree in Education from Temple University. In 2005, she was one of three Philadelphia nonprofit leaders selected to receive a scholarship to the Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management. In 2014 she received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Peirce College. She is a Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute for Government. She is a Philadelphia resident and is married to Anthony “Tony” Turner with two grown daughters, Ayanna Matlock and Naima Fleming, and is the grandmother of Joshua Matlock Hale.

Pedro A. Ramos is president and CEO of the Philadelphia Foundation, one of the first community foundations in the nation. Pedro has spent his career guiding organizations through critical inflection points and redefining how those organizations support and communicate with the communities they serve. He is a collaborative leader with a proven track record of forging next-level partnerships in his roles serving and leading legal, business, government and nonprofit organizations in the region. Pedro joined the Philadelphia Foundation in August 2015 charged with developing and implementing a bold vision for the organization’s new century of service in the Greater Philadelphia Region. His unwavering focus on fostering growth, leadership and impact has created some of the most powerful and important initiatives in the Philadelphia Foundation’s century-old history. Under Pedro’s leadership, the Philadelphia Foundation has raised over $500 million, grown its assets over 100 percent, and launched large-scale initiatives, including the Regional Foundation, the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, PHL COVID-19 Fund, Key to Community Centennial Initiatives, Key Skills Hub/Catchafire partnership, On the Table Philly, and the PhilaImpact Fund collaboration. Pedro has been active in the City’s Pathways to Reconciliation Steering Committee and its Police Reform Subcommittee and continues to serve on the Blue Ribbon Commission on Pennsylvania’s Election Security. Pedro’s lifelong passion for affecting positive change in the Greater Philadelphia region is rooted in the lifetime he’s spent living and working in Philadelphia communities. He has served at the highest level of appointed government leadership in Philadelphia, including the City Solicitor, the Managing Director, the President of the Board of Education and the Chairman of the School Reform Commission. As a nonprofit executive, he served as Vice President & Chief of Staff to the President at the University of Pennsylvania, where his portfolio included coordination of Penn’s neighborhood initiatives and strategy. In 2016, he co-chaired the private-public review of Philadelphia’s emergency preparedness and led the design and creation of the City’s current professional emergency preparedness and response organization. Throughout his career, Pedro has served on fiduciary and advisory boards in the government, business, and social sectors.  He currently serves on the boards of CFLeads, the Philadelphia Award, the Executive Committee of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, FS Energy and Power Fund, and Independence Health Group. An Eisenhower Fellow since 2000, Pedro also serves on the Eisenhower Fellowships Board of Trustees and its Executive Committee.  He previously served on two public company boards (FS Investment Corporation and Amerigas) until each completed a successful merger. Prior to the Philadelphia Foundation, Pedro practiced law for nearly two decades, working as a partner in Philadelphia-based national law firms and focusing on tax-exempt entities, public-private initiatives and compliance. He’s a proud graduate of Central High School and holds a Bachelor of Arts in urban studies from the University of Pennsylvania, a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Drexel University.

Shawn brings more than 10 years of leadership experience at the Foundation to his role as Executive Director. Prior to his appointment as Executive Director, he was the founding program director for the Creative Communities program and managed National Initiatives for the Foundation, seeking to expand philanthropy in the region and share the Foundation’s learnings with others focused on similar issues nationwide. As part of the Foundation’s 2012 strategic planning process, Shawn led the creation of the Great Public Spaces grantmaking strategy. Through this work the Foundation sought to expand access to high quality public spaces that engage, connect, and serve communities in Philadelphia and Camden. As part of this work Shawn led the formation of a partnership with the Knight Foundation to pilot a new national initiative – Reimagining the Civic Commons – in Philadelphia, which has now been replicated in Akron, Camden, Cincinnati, Chicago, Detroit, Lexington, Macon, Memphis, Miami, Minneapolis, and San Jose. He also developed the Foundation’s two largest grants in its history, a $25 million grant in support of the Free Library’s 21 Century Libraries Initiative and a $100 million commitment to support the City of Philadelphia’s Rebuilding Community Infrastructure (“Rebuild”) initiative, which will transform the city’s libraries, parks and recreation centers. Previously, Shawn initiated and oversaw the Foundation’s Central Delaware Riverfront Initiative, which engaged over 4,000 Philadelphians in 150 meetings and led to the creation of a new waterfront management organization, a new master plan, updated zoning ordinances, and the construction of a series of early-action capital projects, including Race Street Pier Park, Washington Avenue Pier Park, Pier 68 Recreation Pier and the new Central Delaware Riverfront Trail — all intended to model the central tenet of the Central Delaware Civic Vision, which is to promote waterfront public access as an organizing principle for riverfront redevelopment. The Foundation is also supporting the centerpiece project of the Central Delaware initiative: the construction of a new, $329 million, 11-acre park lid over I-95 that will reconnect the city’s historic district to the riverfront. In addition to Foundation leadership, Shawn has been involved in a number of citywide and regional civic initiatives, including serving on the Mayor’s Historic Preservation Task Force; organizing the Foundation’s $70M contribution to pandemic relief; and co-founding the Civic Coalition to Save Lives, a 100-organization citywide coalition of civic, community, faith-based, and business leaders focused on reducing gun violence in Philadelphia. Shawn received his graduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his undergraduate degree from Temple University. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, an International Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners, and is a licensed Professional Planner in the State of New Jersey. Shawn serves on the board of the Central Philadelphia Development Corporation and is a member of the Haddonfield Borough Planning Board.

Michael Innocenzo is responsible for leadership of PECO’s overall performance associated with service reliability, customer satisfaction, financial management, and regulatory and external affairs. Based in Philadelphia, PECO is Pennsylvania’s largest electric and natural gas utility. The company’s 2,900 employees are dedicated to the safe and reliable delivery of electricity and natural gas as well as enhanced energy management conservation, environmental stewardship, and community assistance. A subsidiary of Exelon Corporation, the nation’s largest energy delivery company, PECO serves 1.7 million electric and more than 548,000 natural gas customers in southeastern Pennsylvania. Exelon is headquartered in Chicago and trades on Nasdaq under the ticker EXC. Throughout his tenure with the company, Innocenzo has served in a wide range of operational leadership roles of increasing responsibility prior to assuming the CEO role, including Chief Operating Officer. Innocenzo has a deep understanding of the industry’s inner workings and expertise in energy management, smart grid, power generation and distribution, process improvement, and project management. He has served as Board Chair of The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia since 2022. In 2021, he was honored as a Most Admired CEO by Philadelphia Business Journal. Innocenzo serves on the boards of the Philadelphia Free Library, the Philadelphia Police Athletic League (PAL), the Franklin Institute, the American Gas Association, and the Electric Power Research Institute. He is also a member of the Satell Institute and has advisory roles with Drexel University and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. ​ Innocenzo holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Widener University and an MBA from Villanova University.

David Muhammad is a leader in the fields of criminal justice, violence prevention, and youth development. Mr. Muhammad is the Executive Director of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR). NICJR works to reduce incarceration and violence, improve the outcomes of system-involved youth and adults, and increase the capacity and expertise of the organizations that serve these individuals. Through NICJR, David provides leadership and technical assistance to the Gun Violence Reduction Strategies in the cities across the country, including Oakland, CA; Indianapolis, IN; and Washington, DC. David helped lead a partnership of organizations and technical assistance providers that achieved a 50% reduction in shootings and homicides in Oakland. David was the main author of NICJR’s report on Oakland’s Successful Gun Violence Reduction Strategy. David has worked to implement positive youth development into youth justice systems around the country and was the primary author of NICJR’s seminal report, A Positive Youth Justice System. For three years, David was extensively involved in developing a detailed reform plan for the Los Angeles County Probation Department, the largest probation department in the country. He also served as the technical assistance provider for the Sierra Health Foundation’s Positive Youth Justice Initiative, providing training and consulting to several California probation departments. Mr. Muhammad has been the federal court appointed monitor overseeing reforms in the Illinois juvenile justice system in the MH v. Monreal Consent Decree. Mr. Muhammad is also the federal monitor in the Morales Settlement Agreement, which requires the Illinois Parole Review Board and the Illinois Department of Corrections to reform its parole system. David is also a member of the Antelope Valley Monitoring Team which is charged with monitoring the Los Angeles Sherriff’s Department’s implementation of a federal Settlement Agreement. The former Chief Probation Officer of the Alameda County (California) Probation Department, David was responsible for overseeing 20,000 people on probation, a staff of 600, and a $90 million budget. In 2010, David was named the Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Probation in New York City, the second largest Probation Department in the country, where he was responsible for overseeing 35,000 people on probation and a staff of 900. David served as the Chief of Committed Services for Washington, DC’s, Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS). His responsibilities at DYRS included 300 staff, a $42 million annual budget, a juvenile institution, and 900 youth committed to his department’s care. In 2013, Mr. Muhammad was the first Executive Director of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC) in Los Angeles. ARC has grown to become one of the largest and most prominent service providers and policy advocacy organizations for the formerly incarcerated in California. While Executive Director of The Mentoring Center in Oakland, Ca., David was contracted by the City of Richmond, CA to help design the Office of Neighborhood Safety, which has since been credited for bringing significant reductions in violence to the city. As a graduate of Howard University’s School of Communications, David also has an extensive journalism career. David also completed a course on “Systems Dynamics for Senior Managers” at the MIT Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, MA. In August of 2008, David completed a certificate program on Juvenile Justice Multi-System Integration at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute.