Phila. leaders are major players on Wolf transition team

Gov.-elect Tom Wolf named his transition team Thursday, filling more than half of the slots with prominent leaders from the Philadelphia region.

Drexel University president John A. Fry will chair the governor-elect's transition team. The vice chair will be Jim Brown, chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.).

"I'm honored to chair the Transition Steering Committee and work with so many outstanding leaders," Fry said in a statement.

Before taking the helm at Drexel in 2010, Fry was president of Franklin and Marshall College and executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania.

Brown was a longtime professor at Villanova and founder of SCP Partners, a venture capital firm in Wayne.

Mary Soderberg, a budget secretary under Gov. Ed Rendell and executive director of the House Democratic Appropriations Committee from 1992 to 2003, will lead Wolf's Budget Deficit and Fiscal Stabilization Task Force. Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro will serve as vice chair.

Denise Smyler, a former assistant district attorney and chief counsel to Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Neal, will be legal counsel for the transition team.

The advisory roles do not require them to quit their jobs.