RealLIST Connectors 2025: These 20 people keep the Philly tech community thriving
Each year, we select a slate of informative, connective Philadelphians who are engaged with the tech community as our RealLIST Connectors. Last year's feature highlighted 20 standouts, building on our lists from 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2020.
We curate the candidates by asking our community for nominations and combing through the past year of reporting. We sent those nominees a survey to gather more information about each person's involvement in the Philly tech scene and to hear their personal philosophies on collaboration.
New this year, we included people from Delaware, since the region is part of the Greater Philadelphia ecosystem.
The final list includes 20 people from a range of sectors, including education, venture capital, city government and workforce development. These people are working to create a more inclusive and collaborative environment, with the shared goal of seeing Philadelphia thrive.
Scroll down to meet the 2025 cohort of RealLIST Connectors, listed in alphabetical order.
Can't see the info above? View it in a new tab.
Methodology: To build RealLIST Connectors, Technical.ly's editorial team assesses factors including current role, volunteer experience, participation in community programming, lasting impact on the region and more. We ask each connector candidate to complete a survey to help us understand and verify these factors, and we only include people that have responded.
Sarah Huffman is a 2022-2024 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Technical.ly
18-07-2025
- Technical.ly
Pittsburgh weekly roundup: Skild opens San Francisco office; Ansys acquisition complete; Forge AI Pitch Challenge
This week in Pittsburgh, the data center gold rush, advice from angel investors on raising capital and more. Read on for weekly roundup of top news in the region. 📰 News Incubator: What else to know • What happens when a data center comes to town? PA's Dorrance Township doesn't want to find out. With real estate developers sniffing around for potential, this rural community is setting up protections before applications start rolling in. [ ] • Skild AI is expanding to San Francisco, a controversial move in the Pittsburgh startup scene. When Abridge announced its intention for a similar move in March, it sparked a debate about why the local talent scene isn't enough for these hypergrowth firms. [ Pittsburgh Biz Times / ] • Synopsys finally completed its $35 billion acquisition of Cannonsburg-based Ansys, after more than a year checking all the legal boxes. [ Synopsys / ] • Protestors surrounded the Energy and Innovation Summit, as Pittsburghers spoke up against Carnegie Mellon University's decision to host President Donald Trump and the impact of AI development on climate change. [ / Pittsburgh City Paper / WESA] • Apply by Aug. 8 for a chance to be recognized as one of the region's top AI startups — and win $50,000 — at the Forge AI Pitch Challenge. [ AI Horizons ] • People aren't moving for jobs, but instead to places they want to live and then finding jobs there, Chris Wink writes in his latest column. In Pittsburgh, telling its unique stories of relative cost of living and quirky culture can be the thing that pulls talent in. [ ] • It just got easier for union workers to report employer violations. Allegheny County launched the confidential Right to Organize Incident Report Form to document the errs, but you should still file a formal complaint, too. [ Allegheny County ] • ICYMI: Catch up on the top takeaways from local startup CEOs Shiv Rao, John Thornton, Jake Loosararian and more at the AI Horizons kickoff event earlier this week. [ Pittsburgh Slack channel ] • If your startup exit strategies rely on M&A, start by finding the right advisor to guide you through it. Here are 10 tips to sift through the candidates. [ ] 🗓️ On the Calendar • Fix your gaming keyboard and get back to gameplay at a $25 electronics repair class hosted by Hackers Guild PGH on July 19. [ Sign up ] • Get access to 3D printers at Prototype PGH at a training session for beginners on July 19. The event costs $10 to attend, but no one will be turned away due to lack of funds. [ Register ] • Level up your woodworking skills at HackPGH's picture frame design class. The July 20 event costs $185 and is recommended for folks with beginner woodworking knowledge. [ Attend ] • Head to the University of Pittsburgh for JuliaCon from July 22 to 25. Prices vary, but for an additional fee, you can attend a Pirates game with fellow enthusiasts of the coding language. [ Get tickets ] • Learn how to access your Bitcoin on the Solana blockchain, followed by a Federal Galley hangout, with BitDevs Pittsburgh on July 23. [ More info ] • Brush up on your sketching skills and meet new people at Ascender's Pictionary Happy Hour on July 24. [ Details here ] • Procrastinate on your latest project by catching up with friends or finally make time for that deadline you've been putting off at Avenu: Meyran's coworking summer Fridays on July 25. [ Learn more ]
Technical.ly
09-07-2025
- Technical.ly
Technical.ly expands to cover all of Maryland's innovation economy
first expansion was to Baltimore, both because we saw the startup and tech ecosystem growing and because I didn't own a car and the trains ran frequently there from where I lived. Over the next 14 years, we would hold our first team retreat in Ocean City, the newsroom fridge would be perpetually stocked with Natty Boh and several of our longest tenured teammates would be Marylanders. Our Baltimore coverage, and later our DC coverage, would often overlap many of the two dozen Maryland counties. But the identity was first and foremost with those major cities. Today that changes as we grow our regional coverage. Thanks to Report for America, our lead ecosystem sponsor TEDCO and several other contributors, is now reporting across Maryland. Led by longtime editor Sameer Rao, with the help of brand new lead Maryland reporter Maria Eberhart, alongside lead reporter Kaela Roeder, now has a three-person, full-time, dedicated news team covering high-growth entrepreneurship, jobs of the future and tech's civic impact — from digital equity to the effects of AI policy. We'll supplement this with thoughtful guest commentary and our growing creator strategy. The newsroom is open to story ideas, including suggestions about the people who represent this innovation economy, the programs and companies they're building and how the larger trends that affect this work are playing out locally (keep sending pitches to baltimore@ And as part of the Baltimore News Collaborative, we also regularly partner with other local news organizations. Fresh research helps us demonstrate that our work matters. 'ecosystem storytelling' results in more follow-on coverage of these topics (including other local media, and national and industry) and contributes to a better connected and faster-growing economy. Storytelling isn't an output of a healthier economy, it's an input. Within our statewide coverage, our stories will still tilt toward Baltimore, where we're helped by the financial support of the Abell Foundation and the Deutsch Foundation, while support from the Howard County Economic Development Authority will underscore coverage of that region, an economic engine and home to the Maryland Innovation Center. In today's media environment, we can no longer assume good work will lead to good storytelling and the attention that follows. We need your help. To support our expanded Maryland coverage, read more about our services here. Our financial partners are ensuring their region's innovation story is told. Make sure yours is, too.
Technical.ly
03-07-2025
- Technical.ly
Baltimore weekly roundup: The ‘tech tax,' explained; cannabis incubator moves; use AI without losing your soul
This week marks the start of Maryland's new 3% tax on certain tech services, and our guide breaks down everything you need to know about it. Plus, learn about the principles that can help you bring humanness into your AI use. Scroll down for more news from throughout the Baltimore region 📰 News Incubator: What to know • Members of various meetups and tech scene builders came together last weekend for the first Tech Unity Cookout. [ Code Collective ] • Starting next week, will be getting another reporter in Maryland. Maria Eberhart is a Report for America corps member and Baltimore County native who will focus on digital equity issues throughout the state. [ ] • Students in Johns Hopkins University's mechanical engineering program spent the last school year creating a machine that adds braille text into a mix of materials, from can labels to glossy mailers. Corresponding software links the machine with a braille word processor and Photoshop. [ Johns Hopkins ] • Gov. Wes Moore announced that the state will search for another site to house a novel incubator for over 100 cannabis businesses. Maryland has already committed $7 million to the project and members of the community surrounding the previously identified Catonsville site worried about its local impact. [ Governor's Office / Baltimore Banner ] • A satellite campus for the University of Maryland's business school will move from the UM BioPark (which is, transparently, a client) to a site in Baltimore Peninsula. Principals behind the development, formerly known as Port Covington, have made many overtures to local businesses. [ Baltimore Biz Journal / ] • State Delegate Marlon Amprey confirmed that an outside investigator concluded its evaluation of workplace misconduct complaints against Chad Williams, the executive director of the West North Avenue Development Authority. Former colleagues accused Williams, who was previously convicted of domestic violence, of actions including stalking and sexual harassment. [ Baltimore Beat ] • Finding the right cofounder takes communication, vision alignment and letting the other person channel their strengths. [ ] • Maryland joined two more lawsuits halting federal actions, including one to prevent the Department of Health and Human Services from giving Homeland Security 'unfettered access' to Medicaid beneficiaries' personal health data. [ Maryland Matters ] • Baltimore Children and Youth Fund launched an online education platform last month where those interested in grassroots youth-focused work can learn relevant skills. [ BCYF / WMAR ] 🗓️ On the Calendar • Impact Hub Baltimore hosts a grief- and hope-focused workshop on July 8 for people dealing with federal changes. [ Details here ] • Legal and HR experts will help entrepreneurs understand when and how to seek out the right providers during a workshop on July 17. [ Details here ]
