More than 100 invited governmental, business, labor and non-profit leaders came together at the Penn’s Landing Hyatt for a day of information and discussion sessions on the theme “Building a Stronger Regional Economy: How Public Pension Funding Challenges and Energy Development Opportunities Will Affect Our Future.”

The Jan. 18 symposium was the first to be hosted by Temple’s Center on Regional Politics (CORP). Elected officials presiding or participating as panelists included Reps. Bob Brady and Patrick Meehan, Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley, State Sen. Dominic Pileggi and Montgomery County Chair Josh Shapiro. Attendees heard presentations by Kil Huh and David Draine, public finance and pension experts from the Pew Center on the States, and from Philip Verleger, a leading expert on energy markets and senior visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute of International Economics (pdf.) (You will need Adobe Acrobat, or Acrobat Reader to access this file.)

Also on hand was Patrick Kerkstra, a writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Magazine, whose case history on how the Schuylkill and Delaware River refineries were saved (pdf.) (You will need Adobe Acrobat, or Acrobat Reader to access this file.) was published at the symposium. Kerkstra led a lively discussion among a panel of political, business and labor leaders involved in the effort.

Temple News Coverage of the event.