George W. Gephart Jr.
George W. Gephart, Jr., serves as President & CEO of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. The Academy is an historical force on Philadelphias cultural boulevard and the oldest science research institution in the Americas.
George brings close to 30 years of demonstrated business, finance, and nonprofit leadership experience to the Academy, just as the institution is poised to begin planning for its bicentennial year in 2012. While leading the Academy, George continues a commitment to the Main Line Health System, an integrated health care system located in suburban Philadelphia, as chairman of its governing board. One of the regions largest employers, Main Line Health is a constituent member of the Jefferson Health System, on whose board George also serves.
George has served in leadership positions on a number of regional environmental, health care, and cultural governing boards, including The Curtis Institute of Music, The Nature Conservancy, Natural Lands Trust, The Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra (now the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia) and White Williams Scholars.
He earned a bachelors degree in English from Yale University (1975) and a masters of business administration from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1979. Following Wharton, George worked with Scudder Stevens & Clark in New York City from 1979 to 1984. He then spent 20 years with 1838 Investment Advisors of Philadelphia, where he oversaw the companys equity investment process, and managed the portfolios of major nonprofit organizations and other clients. He was a senior managing director of the firm.
Outside of his professional career, George is an avid naturalist, birder, and outdoorsman with a keen interest in the environment and the natural sciences. His wife, Elizabeth Pooh Gephart, is also active in community service, and the author of Philadelphia with Children, a guidebook of childrens attractions and events in the region, in which the Academy is named. The Gephart family also includes three grown daughters, Nolie, Nanny, and Libby. They have lived in Newtown Square since 1983.