Progress Noted

Alan Greenberger is an architect with a unique career that has taken him from traditional architectural practice and teaching to leadership in public service and academia.  During his 51-year career, he has led the design of notable projects and municipal agencies, served on boards of cultural and civic organizations, influenced generations of students and, for these efforts, received national, state and local awards from his professional colleagues including the Pennsylvania American Institute of Architects 2023 Medal of Distinction, the organization’s highest individual honor.

As the Vice President of Real Estate and Facilities for Drexel University, he was responsible for providing strategic master planning, general management, and professional direction for all of the University's buildings and properties.  He also managed Drexel’s critical external real estate and development-related partnerships. He assumed this role in 2021, during the height of the pandemic and retired in 2025.

Prior to that, he joined Drexel as a full-time faculty member in spring 2016. In 2017, he was made Head of the Department of Architecture, Design and Urbanism. In that position, he oversaw the expansion of legacy programs in architecture and interior design as well as the creation of new graduate programs in research and urban strategy.  During his tenure, he continued to teach in architecture and urban strategy.

Before coming to Drexel, Greenberger served in former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter's administration as Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Director of Commerce, as well as executive director and then chair of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Under Greenberger's leadership, the city rewrote the Philadelphia Zoning Code and initiated a five-year long comprehensive plan, entitled Philadelphia 2035. Both initiatives were the first of their kind for the city in over 50 years, receiving the American Planning Association's National Excellence Award for a City Planning Agency in 2016.

Greenberger's office also launched multiple programs to attract and support a burgeoning entrepreneurial community, attracted new, technology and venture capital firms to Philadelphia, and expanded business opportunities for small, minority- and women-owned businesses throughout the city. In recognition of his efforts on behalf of Philadelphia, the national American Institute of Architects honored Greenberger with its 2017 Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture.

For 34 years prior to joining the Nutter administration, Greenberger was a practicing architect with Mitchell/Giurgola Architects and its successor, MGA Partners, where he was the principal architect for award-winning projects for institutions of higher learning and cultural programs.  Key projects include the Department of State’s National Foreign Affairs Training Center, the West Chester University School of Music and Performing Arts Center, the Lehigh University Linderman Library, the Salvation Army Kroc Corps Community Center in Philadelphia, the Mann Center for the Performing Arts Campus, and master plans for the Fairmount Park Centennial District and for Temple University.