Frank Giordano, Philly POPS CEO, Receives Inquirer's Emerging Icon Award

The Philadelphia Inquirer has launched a new award program called the Industry ICON AWARDS and the leader recognized for Arts and Education is Frank Giordano, President and CEO of The Philly POPS, the official orchestra of Pennsylvania.

He was selected unanimously by an independent judging panel of experts of their fields. All the winners were nominated by readers through an open nomination process on Philly.com. The winners were chosen based on both their business acumen and their contributions to the community. Giordano was chosen for this honor because his work exemplified the business success and community engagement that will be highlighted for recognition at the inaugural Industry Icons Awards event on November 16.

Announced on October 25, 2016 by Terrance C.Z. Egger, publisher and CEO of Philadelphia Media Network; Stan Wischnowski, Executive Editor of PMN; and Bill Marimow, editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, a selection of six "Emerging Icons" will be recognized at the Industry Icon Awards event on Wednesday evening, November 16, 2016, at Vie on North Broad Street.

Giordano, a resident of Moorestown, New Jersey, has long been involved in community leadership, civic activities and business success. As President and CEO of The Philly POPS, the largest standalone POPS orchestra in America, he created a for-profit strategy at a struggling non-profit. He's taken the POPS into unchartered waters with a bright future in a record period of time. Since joining the POPS in 2011, Giordano has led the organization to unprecedented success in ticket sales, contributed revenue, community engagement and programming. While Frank is still President and CEO of Atlantic Trailer Leasing Corporation, he has seamlessly gone from the trailer business to show business and become a role model for bringing entrepreneurial management to the arts.

Giordano's fellow Emerging Icon Winners are: Finance: Daniel Fitzpatrick, Citizens Bank; Legal: Joni Berner, Esq., Berner Klaw & Watson LLP; Education and Medicine: Dr. David Jaspan, Einstein Healthcare Network; Real Estate: Carl Dranoff of Dranoff Properties; and, Technology: Dr. Nathan Relles, Softerware, Inc.

In addition to these Emerging Icons, the Industry Icon Awards event will include the induction of the inaugural class of the Philadelphia Business Hall of Fame, presented by The Inquirer. As announced previously, those honorees are: John C. ("Jack") Bogle, founder and former chairman and CEO, The Vanguard Group, JoAnne Epps, provost and executive vice president, Temple University, Joseph Neubauer, former CEO, Aramark Corporation, Brian L. Roberts, chairman and CEO, Comcast Corporation, and Ed Snider, former chairman, Comcast Spectacor, and founder, Philadelphia Flyers (posthumously).

Tickets to the Industry Icon Awards event are available at www.philly.com/iconawards.

About The Philly POPS

The Philly POPS, the largest standalone pops orchestra in the United States, delights audiences with the inspired performance of American popular music. The POPS celebrates this distinctive musical heritage through an expanding repertoire of innovative concert presentations and a robust set of educational and engagement initiatives.

Now in its 38th season, the official POPS orchestra of Pennsylvania serves a consistently growing audience of over 100,000 annually. Music Director Michael Krajewski and the 65-piece Philly POPS orchestra keeps listeners tapping their toes to an impressive repertoire of songs from American traditions of music up through today's chart toppers.

Outside the concert hall, Salute Series performances - including POPS on Independence on July 3 and the I'll Be Home for Christmas: A Salute to the Military and First Responders - celebrate the American tradition of service around important national holidays; POPS in Schools enhances music education for Philadelphia School District students; and POPS Outside brings POPS music to local communities.

The Philly POPS performs as a founding resident company of The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and at venues throughout the mid-Atlantic region. For more information, visit www.phillypops.org.

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