Joseph M. Torsella -- President and CEO, National Constitution Center
Joseph M. Torsella served as President and CEO of the National Constitution Center from 1997 through December 2003 and was the driving force behind its concept, construction, and opening as a new tourism anchor on Independence Mall. He returned in June 2006 to further secure and advance the museum’s place as one of America’s most vital and dynamic institutions.
In 2004, Torsella founded 743 Ventures LLC, a private equity and strategic consulting firm. He also serves as volunteer board Co-Chair of Philadelphia 2016, the bi-partisan regional group that is leading the effort to bring the Olympics to Philadelphia.
Torsella ran for a seat in the United States Congress in 2004.
From January 1992 until September 1993, Torsella served as Deputy Mayor for Policy and Planning of the City of Philadelphia under then Mayor (now Governor of Pennsylvania) Edward G. Rendell. Believed to be the youngest Deputy Mayor in the City’s history, Torsella headed the Policy Unit of the Mayor's Office. The office helped formulate many of the initiatives that led the City’s nationally-acclaimed financial recovery, hailed by the New York Times as “the most stunning turnaround” in American municipal history.
Torsella graduated Phi Beta Kappa with an honors degree in economics and history from the University of Pennsylvania. As a Rhodes Scholar, he did graduate work in American history at New College, Oxford.
Torsella has written widely on historical and contemporary issues, including published work in the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, the Miami Herald, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Torsella is active in community and public affairs. He is a director of Admiral Merchants Motor Freight and a trustee of several non-profits, including Young Scholars Charter School, Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, and Historic Philadelphia, Inc. His wife, Carolyn Short Torsella, is a partner at the ReedSmith law firm. They live with their four children in Flourtown, Pennsylvania.
ceo@constitutioncenter.org