Carl E. Dranoff, Dr. Amy Gutmann, and Benjamin Persofsky Elected to the Board of Trustees of The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts

(Philadelphia, November 6, 2025)—The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts is pleased to announce the election of three new members to its Board of Trustees: Carl E. Dranoff, president and founder of Dranoff Properties; Dr. Amy Gutmann, award–winning scholar, diplomat, and university leader; and Benjamin Persofsky, head of the Brown Brothers Harriman Center for Family Business.  

“We are thrilled to welcome Carl, Amy, and Ben to the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts family,” said Board Chair Ralph Muller. “These three individuals have deep community ties and share a passion for our organization and its mission. I am eager to work with them as they bring diverse perspectives, expertise, and insight to strengthen our work going forward.” 

Carl E. Dranoff, president and founder of Dranoff Properties, is widely recognized for transforming urban landscapes through luxury residential development. He has developed 1.4 million square feet of prime real estate valued at over $1 billion with projects ranging from iconic skyscrapers to adaptive reuse and mixed-use developments. Drexel University cited Dranoff as “a nationally recognized civic leader and entrepreneur … whose work has brought a renewed sense of history to Philadelphia and urban Americans throughout the country.” In Philadelphia, his work transformed neighborhoods like Old City, University City, Fitler Square, Franklintown, and South Broad Street. The most desirable condo high-rises in Center City, including Symphony House, One Riverside, 10 Rittenhouse, One Liberty Place, and Arthaus, are projects by Dranoff, and he is credited with sparking residential growth with iconic projects along Camden’s Waterfront, in Ardmore’s business district, and in Newark, NJ’s downtown. The Avenue of the Arts best showcases Dranoff’s bold vision through projects such as Symphony House, 777 South Broad, SouthStar Lofts, the 47-story Arthaus across from the Kimmel Center, and the upcoming 914 S. Broad Street. Together, they offer over 500 luxury residences, parking, and ground-floor retail and food-and-beverage spaces, transforming a cultural corridor into one of Philadelphia’s most vibrant and desirable new neighborhoods and paving the way for significant growth. A dedicated supporter of the performing arts, Dranoff built the Suzanne Roberts Theatre at Symphony House, as well as World Café Live and the WXPN studios in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania. He also developed One Theatre Square, Newark, NJ’s first residential high-rise in 50 years, in collaboration with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, which helped catalyze Newark’s downtown revitalization. Dranoff holds an MBA from Harvard University and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Drexel, which also awarded him an honorary doctorate. His honors include Developer of the Year (Pennsylvania Builders Association), Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, and the James Biddle Award for Lifetime Achievement in Historic Preservation. He serves on the board of Avenue of the Arts, Inc., leading its $100 million street renewal project, and on Mayor Cherelle Parker’s Market Street East Task Force. Philadelphia magazine has included Dranoff on “The Most Influential Philadelphians" list, and he has been featured in national, regional, and trade press, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Fortune.

Dr. Amy Gutmann is an award-winning scholar, diplomat, and university leader whose career spans academia, government, and global engagement. She was the eighth and longest-serving president of the University of Pennsylvania (2004–22), where she led transformative growth in access, innovation, and global impact. Under her leadership, Penn’s endowment quintupled to $20 billion. Recognized internationally for her thought leadership on democracy, Gutmann has authored or edited 17 influential books and lectured worldwide. After her distinguished service as president of the University of Pennsylvania, she served as U.S. Ambassador to Germany from 2022 to 2024, where she strengthened the U.S.–German alliance across diplomacy, security, and economic cooperation. Named by Fortune as one of the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders,” she is a first-generation college graduate who holds both a B.S. and Ph.D. from Harvard University and a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics. She has been awarded seven honorary degrees from leading institutions including Columbia University, Princeton University, Johns Hopkins University, and Penn, and she has been honored with both the William Penn Award by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and the Gold Medal of the Pennsylvania Society. 

Benjamin Persofsky is head of the Brown Brothers Harriman Center for Family Business, which advises some of the world’s largest business-owning families on the complex dynamics at the intersection of ownership, family, and wealth. His work focuses on owner strategy, succession planning, governance, next-generation development, and conflict resolution. Prior to joining BBH, he held several leadership roles at M&T Bank across consumer and commercial banking. Active in philanthropy, Persofsky served as the chairman of Elevate215 and as a volunteer pilot with Angel Flight East. He previously also served as board treasurer for Federation Early Learning Services, and was a board member of the Philadelphia Citizen and the Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Council. He earned an A.B. in Economics and Business from Lafayette College and studied at the University of Oxford as a visiting student concentrating on organizational behavior and developmental economics. Persofsky is a jazz-trained saxophonist who has played for over 35 years across a variety of musical genres.