David Thornburgh, Professor of Practice with Temple’s Master of Public Policy program, was recently named in City & State PA’s 2023 Impact 75. 

Over the course of his career, Thornburgh has created innovative high-impact economic and civic initiatives, including Philadelphia’s Enterprise Center, Graduate! Philadelphia, and Campus Philly. He is currently a senior advisor to the Committee of Seventy, where he formerly served as President & CEO and co-created their Draw the Lines initiative to fight partisan gerrymandering. He currently chairs the Ballot PA campaign, which he co-founded to allow independent voters to participate in primary elections. In addition to teaching in Temple’s MPP program, Thornburgh also launched a national public policy student competition during his time teaching at Penn’s Fels Institute of Government.

Thornburgh leads the MPP program’s capstone course, the Public Policy Project, supporting his fellow instructors and soliciting high-quality projects from the clients with whom MPP students work throughout the duration of the semester-long project. Thornburgh’s impact on the MPP program also extends into thoughtful career advising for current MPP students and alumni.