Meet Denis O'Brien

On July 16, 2024, Richard Greenawalt, chair of Drexel’s Board of Trustees, announced Denis O’Brien, a trustee and a deeply engaged, collaborative, and visionary leader in the Philadelphia region, as Drexel’s interim president. He will serve as Drexel’s interim president until a new president is appointed.

Denis O’Brien, a 1987 MBA graduate of Drexel’s Bennett S. LeBow College of Business, has been a member of Drexel’s Board of Trustees for two decades. He has headed high-performing institutions in the Philadelphia region for more than 30 years. Most recently he served as Senior Executive Vice President of Exelon and CEO of Exelon Utilities, where he led the nation’s largest family of electric and natural gas distribution companies. He guided transformation of the company from two, independently managed utilities to an integrated, six-utility enterprise. Prior to that he was the president and CEO of PECO Energy, one of the nation’s most profitable and highest-performing utility companies.

O’Brien has served on numerous boards, including tenures as the chair of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, the Electric Power Research Institute, and the Pennsylvania Business Roundtable. He also served as a director at the Franklin Institute. He currently serves on the board of Independence Health Group.

In recognition of his many accomplishments, he has received honors and awards including being named Drexel’s 2009 Business Leader of the Year and elected to the Drexel 100, which recognizes the University’s top graduates. In 2019, he was the recipient of the William Penn Award, the highest honor presented to a business or civic leader in Greater Philadelphia.