Visitors / Employees
Matt Bergheiser, President, University City District
Matt Bergheiser serves as President of University City District (UCD), a partnership of anchor institutions, business leaders and community groups that invests in the vitality of a 2.5 square mile area of Philadelphia. Since joining UCD in 2009, Matt has shaped collaborative efforts to: undertake $7 million in civic infrastructure and public space investments; launch the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative, a nationally-acclaimed workforce intermediary that has generated over $75 million in wages for formerly long-term unemployed Philadelphians; create Project Rehab to renovate 120 formerly abandoned housing units, unlocking $21 million of real estate market value; start Green City Works, a profitable, full-service landscaping social venture that employs residents with barriers to employers to maintain more than 1.5 million square feet of green space; and double the organization’s operating and capital budget.
Previously, as Program Director for the Philadelphia regional office of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Matt managed a $6 million annual grant-making budget and directed major investments in public space projects and new approaches to college completion and economic opportunity. As Executive Director of the Trenton Downtown Association for five years, he led commercial revitalization efforts in Trenton, NJ. And Matt also served as Executive Vice President of The Enterprise Center, a nationally-recognized entrepreneurial accelerator in Philadelphia.
Matt is board chair of the Barra Foundation and chair emeritus of the Community College of Philadelphia, an associate degree-granting institution that serves 30,000 students annually. He is a co-founder of the Job Opportunity Investment Network, which has helped 1,800 Philadelphians obtain employment over a decade. He received a BA from Princeton University, and earned his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
