I currently serve as Treasurer of QVNA and have been an engaged member of the Queen Village community for the past four and a half years. My deep appreciation for this neighborhood is rooted in its rich history and distinctive charm. As a certified public accountant (CPA) with over a decade of experience, I specialize in assurance and related services for nonprofit organizations. I am passionate about applying my professional expertise to strengthen the community and support the nonprofits that shape its culture. I look forward to continuing my service on the board and contributing meaningfully to the vitality of Queen Village.

After moving around the northeast United States for the past decade in pursuit of educational and training opportunities, my partner, Rachel, and I relocated to Queen Village in early 2023, and we could not feel more at home. A New York explant, I originally came to Philly in 2019 and settled in Graduate Hospital to begin residency training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Now a cardiology fellow, I am so thrilled to come home every night to a vibrant community of the arts, great food, and amazing neighbors. I am running for a director position at QVNA because I am passionate about neighborhood beautification, safety, and bolstering local businesses. I hope to help this amazing team leverage public, private and municipal resources to continue to strengthen the Village's appeal to the city at large, while preserving its history and character.

I have been a resident of Queen Village since 2020 enjoying all this wonderful community has to offer along with my wife and two kids who attend Meredith elementary school.

I’m running to be a QVNA board director to contribute my passion and abilities to the betterment of our community. I’m particularly interested in investing in our sense of community by working with public and commercial interests along with each of you to facilitate communal events that appeal to various constituencies, in supporting communal and commercial spaces that bring us together as neighbors, and in partnering with the broader Philadelphia community, including elected representatives and government officials, to ensure our interests receive maximal attention, Lastly, I’d like to work to ensure that the neighborhood’s schools and other educational organizations take full advantage of the talents our children possess to maximize their potential as they grow. I’m interested in promoting all of this while ensuring the Village’s continued safety, which is fundamental to the enjoyment of our community.

I currently work as an Associate Director in commercial operations for Boehringer Ingelheim and have spent my career serving and working in the life sciences industry. I graduated from MIT with a degree in Management Science and have served in a number of non-profit roles including president of the MIT Club of the Delaware Valley, president of the Textile Flats Condominium Association in Old City, and vice-chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Philadelphia. I’ve also served as an educational counselor interviewing local student applicants to MIT. I look forward to serving all of you as we work together in the betterment of this wonderful community we call home.

I am a design educator and higher education leader and currently work for Drexel University managing a PhD program. I am also a textile artist, gardener, can-do home renovator, auction aficionado, and architect by training. I lived in Philadelphia in the 1980s and returned to the city to serve as provost at the University of the Arts. In 2018, we moved to Queen Village to live in a great neighborhood and are surrounded by friendly neighbors. I look forward to working together to support our vibrant and diverse community. I enjoy working in teams to achieve shared goals and have served on several nonprofit and professional boards.

Philadelphia has been my home for over 13 years. And as a proud homeowner in Queen Village for the past eight years, I am committed to our community. I am a real estate developer by profession and build residential apartments, as well as commercial and life science spaces. I went to grad school at Penn, and I knew then that I would end up in this city forever. I think we have so much potential in every neighborhood here. When not at work, I am often exploring Philly on my bike. I am on a mission to amp up our city's biking scene, pushing for more bike lanes and safer cycling options for all of us. I am excited to run for the QVNA board and look forward to working together! 

I have lived in Queen Village since 2004 in several locations, and I am eager serve the neighborhood in a way I have not before. I have benefited from the activism of the QVNA, and now I want to be part of it. Local governance is essential to living in a thriving democratic society.

I value the neighborhood's mix of residential, retail, and community institutions and hope to do what I can to help all of them thrive. I look forward to talking with neighbors about their concerns and exploring what options are available to us to help this community grow and thrive.

Professionally, I am a history professor (at the University of Delaware), specializing in modern US history. One of the things this means is that I also have deep historical perspective on Philadelphia and a commitment to robust urban engagement.

Rich Villa has been a resident of Queen Village for over 19 years. Originally from Lakewood, NJ, he attended the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania. After a few years in Society Hill, Rich and his wife settled into a 1790s rowhouse and have been slowly renovating it ever since. He is a partner at the local architecture firm Ambit Architecture and has completed designs for numerous neighborhood buildings, such as Bridget Foy’s, Mustard Greens, Bloomsday Café, the Flatiron Building at 5th Street & Passyunk Avenue, and the new Jim’s Steaks.

JULIET WHELAN is an architect based in Queen Village. She finds deep satisfaction in both design creativity and client service. Her design work explores the juncture of utility and artistry. As a dedicated service-provider she listens intently to her clients and inventively iterates solutions to improve their properties. She would bring her collaborative spirit and design flair to her service on the Queen Village board.