Brett Mandel
"I have lived in Philadelphia all my life, but I never felt I had the ability to make a difference, until now. Your organization has shown me that even the smallest candle can burn bright in the dark."
Philadelphia Forward's work has not just changed the terms of debate. Our efforts created positive results. Thanks to legislation passed by City Council and signed into law by the Mayor in July 2004, the city will now dramatically reduce the Wage Tax over the next decade, bringing it below 3.0 percent by 2015 (saving the average worker more than $3,000 over the next decade while attracting and retaining jobs in Philadelphia) to a level where it will no longer represent an insurmountable barrier to growth. Additional legislation has deepened reductions for to the job-killing Business Privilege Tax. The push for ethics reform resulted in a change to the City Charter to prohibit major campaign contributors from receiving no-bid contracts from City Hall and a subsequent Charter change that established an independent Board of Ethics to maintain integrity in city government.
Previously, Brett served as Director, Financial and Policy Analysis, in the City of Philadelphia Office of the Controller where he managed the efforts of the Financial and Policy Analysis Unit and oversaw consideration of a wide variety of issue areas relating to municipal governance, budgetary policy, and city government operations. Brett received his B.A. from Hamilton College, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude, and his M.G.A. from the Fels Center of Government of the University of Pennsylvania.
Brett is the author of Is This Heaven? The Magic of the Field of Dreams (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002) a book that brings readers along on the continuing pilgrimage to the Field of Dreams Movie Site where life imitates art and everyday people find redemption and reconciliation in an Iowa cornfield. He is also the primary co-author of the City Controller's Office book, Philadelphia: A New Urban Direction (Saint Joseph's University Press, 1999), a vision of Philadelphia's likely future without change and a comprehensive plan designed to make Philadelphia a preferred place to live, work, and visit. The book received the National Association of Local Government Auditors Special Project Award for 1999. Another book, Minor Players, Major Dreams, (University of Nebraska Press, 1997) was written from Brett's perspective as an author, signed to a minor league baseball player's contract to tell the inside story of minor league life.
In 2006, Brett was selected as one of the Philadelphia region's top 101 "connectors"
by the LEADERSHIP Philadelphia Connector Project, and one of the Philadelphia Business Journal "40 Under 40."
Brett is a product of the Philadelphia public schools (Northeast High School graduate), an active weekend athlete, and a passionate sports fan. A lifelong Philadelphia resident, Brett serves as Commissioner of the Greater Philadelphia Men's Adult Baseball League and as a Board Member for the Smith Memorial Playground and Playhouse. He is active in numerous community organizations. Brett lives in the Fitler Square neighborhood of Philadelphia with his wife, Laura Weinbaum, daughters Rose Mandel Weinbaum and Ariel Mandel Weinbaum, and son Sidney Weinbaum Mandel.
