Ken is an active entrepreneur and real estate developer in the Philadelphia area. He serves as President of Philly Office Retail, which has renovated and restored more than 300 vacant and deteriorated commercial and residential units in the Philadelphia region during the past 30 years. Philly Office Retail currently owns and manages more than 800,000 square feet of commercial and residential space in the Philadelphia region and has received four Preservation Alliance Awards for its adaptive reuse projects.

Ken founded and operated Cresheim Cottage Cafe from 1996 until 2004, Trolley Car Diner, Deli and Ice Cream Shoppe in Mt. Airy from 2000 until 2019 and Trolley Car Cafe, serving breakfast and lunch and hosting private events in East Falls since 2010.

Previously, Ken served as Chief of Staff for Philadelphia City Councilwoman Happy Fernandez from 1991-1995 and currently serves as President of the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation (PHDC), as a Mayoral appointee, and Chair of the Mt. Airy Business Improvement District which he co-founded in 2007. Ken is Founder of the Trolley Car Teacher’s Fund, which contributes $25,000/year in grants to public school teachers and Trolley Car Table Tennis Club, the only full-time table tennis club in the Philadelphia region. Ken was an Organizer/Board Member of Valley Green Bank for 8 years until it was sold to Univest Bank in January 2015.

Ken regularly lectures on subjects ranging from real estate development to entrepreneurship to social impact investing and taught a graduate level class, entitled “Empowering Communities Through Real Estate Development,” at University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government. In 2015, Ken founded Jumpstart Germantown, an award-winning community development program that works to revitalize the Germantown section of Philadelphia, and surrounding communities, by providing training, mentoring, networking and financial resources to local aspiring developers. Now with seven Programs throughout the City of Philadelphia, Jumpstart Philly has graduated more than 1,000 mentees from its training programs and made hundreds of loans to its participants.

In 2004, Ken was awarded the Business Leader of the Year Award by West Mt. Airy Neighbors, in 2005 was given the Community Service Award by the Center City Proprietors Association, in 2006 was named one of Philadelphia’s 101 Connectors by Leadership Philadelphia, in 2009 received the Distinguished Leadership Award by Community College of Philadelphia, in 2010 received the My Block, My Business Award by the Empowerment Group, in 2011 was awarded the Edgar Baker Community Service Award by East Mt. Airy Neighbors, the 2012 Retailer of the Year Award by the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and was honored by the Philadelphia Parks Alliance in 2013. In 2015, Ken received honors by the Waldorf School of Philadelphia, the Wissahickon Charter School and the Philadelphia Business Journal as “Do Gooder of the Year.” In 2018, Ken was honored by Mt. Airy USA and Historic Germantown as a community champion, by the Commonwealth Youth Choirs with its Founder’s Award, by SustainPHL with its Social Impact Award and by the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia with its ImpactPHL Award.

Ken’s mission is to revitalize neighborhoods by renovating vacant, deteriorated properties along Philadelphia’s commercial corridors. He believes that you can do well by doing good.

As President, Michael Markman oversees acquisitions, leasing, financing and development for BET Investments, a real estate management and development company that owns, manages, develops and leases shopping centers, office buildings and apartment complexes throughout the United States. Mr. Markman was formerly general counsel of a publicly traded New York Stock Exchange real estate investment trust (REIT) with over $500 million in assets where he managed all legal matters. He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and the Temple University School of Law and is member of the Pennsylvania Bar. He is a Commissioner in Abington Township, Pennsylvania, past chairman Abington Township Planning Commission, a member of the Board of Directors of the John A. Robbins Company and on the Board of Trustees at Ursinus College. Mr. Markman is a frequent speaker on industry topics and serves on the boards of various charitable groups.

Sean Edwards is the President of Rittenhouse Communications Group (RCG), a design build technology integrator for multi-family and hospitality sectors. RCG’s goal is to provide a single pane of glass redundant building technology solutions for a single asset, or a nationwide portfolio.

Joshua Broderson concentrates his practice on commercial and residential real estate and business matters. Josh counsels clients on all phases of real estate, including: Acquisitions and dispositions Lending Leasing Joint ventures Land use and development

Maria Sourbeer has made a career out of bridging the gap between her capabilities as an architect/developer and her responsibilities as a community member. She believes that a beautiful and well-designed space has a positive influence on a basic human level. She's carried this idea through from her experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer, to her current position as Executive Vice President of Development for Mosaic Development Partners.

At Mosaic, Maria leads the community development team, guiding development strategy and execution through construction completion and stabilization. She also serves as mentor and cross-collaborator for the team to ensure the highest standard of quality is continuously delivered on projects. Together with the Mosaic team, Maria finds creative ways to develop real estate and bring jobs, homes and commercial enterprise to challenged urban neighborhoods.

Maria has over 20 years of professional experience and continues to grow through her love of family, work and play. Outside of Mosaic, she dedicates volunteer efforts to the Community Design Collaborative, Norris Square Community Alliance, Impact Loan Fund and the South Philly Food Coop.

Lorraine Wilson-Drake is the Owner of Wilson-Drake Development, LLC, a company

that provides well designed, moderately priced apartments in the City of Philadelphia.

The company develops exclusively in neighborhoods that have higher levels of poverty

and disinvestment. The value proposition is an affordable apartment with good

amenities in a neighborhood that is undergoing change. Lorraine is extremely proud of

the niche she has carved out and the social impact of her developments. In addition to

providing quality housing, her developments have impacted crime and safety and

increased surrounding property values. Currently, she is developing 3 projects in the

Germantown section of Philadelphia.

Originally from San Francisco, Lorraine earned her Bachelor’s degree in Economics

from San Francisco State University. She also holds an M.A. in Journalism and an

M.B.A from Columbia University. Lorraine spent seventeen years in sales and

marketing in the television industry working for CBS, FOX Television Network, ESPN

and ABC Television Network. She also spent time in business development at the

Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, attracting companies and investment to Harlem.

Her last job before becoming an entrepreneur was Vice President of Sales at ABC

Television Network. She married and moved to Philadelphia in 2001. While searching

for a place to live in Philadelphia, she saw a gap in the housing market for moderately

priced apartments with good amenities. The concept of affordable luxury housing has

been extremely successful for Wilson-Drake and they have completed sixteen projects

since inception.

Lorraine lives in Cherry Hill, NJ with her husband and business partner Anthony Drake

and their son AJ. In her spare time she enjoys running races and completing triathlons.

Last year she completed both the Chicago and New York Marathons.