Original article written by Hilary Danailova for City & State Pennsylvania on 27 October 2025
Pennsylvania’s thriving political, entrepreneurial and social landscape bears the powerful imprint of its senior leaders – professionals who have devoted decades of their careers to improving everything from medicine to education, finance to social services. This year’s 50 Over 50 honorees exemplify the achievements that have pushed the state forward: They’ve built our cities’ skylines, broadened access to college and healthcare and tackled challenges ranging from the environment to post-industrial economies. And they’re not done yet.
Lori Brennan, Executive Director
The Nature Conservancy, Pennsylvania and Delaware
Lori Brennan / SammyJo Photography
Lori Brennan is advancing bold strategies to achieve The Nature Conservancy’s ambitious 2030 goals. As executive director for Pennsylvania and Delaware for the storied environmental organization, she is leading the region’s efforts to address urgent challenges related to climate change and biodiversity loss, protect landscapes and restore freshwater ecosystems.
Brennan first joined The Nature Conservancy as a marketing specialist, building the organization’s first-ever communications and public relations program. (She has a communications degree from West Virginia University, and later did graduate work in environmental education at Arcadia University.)
Over the following two decades, she established herself as a nonprofit leader in the Philadelphia area, raising more than $20 million for regional and national organizations, including Philadelphia’s University City District and Academy of Natural Sciences, which she served in a series of economic development roles.
She was most recently a senior director at CCS Fundraising, one of the world’s leading fundraising companies specializing in nonprofits, where she secured critical funding for organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and Jefferson Health.
