PHILADELPHIA – Mayor Jim Kenney today announced the retirement of Chief Integrity Officer Ellen Mattleman Kaplan from City government.
“I am grateful to Ellen for her dedicated service to the City of Philadelphia, its employees, and taxpayers,” said Mayor Jim Kenney. “Since the start of our administration, Ellen has led our efforts to put in place policies that support a more ethical, accessible, and honest government that Philadelphians can trust. Ellen’s extensive years of experience and knowledge of government ethics, policy, and transparency have played a key role in her many accomplishments as Chief Integrity Officer and in the success of our administration.”
Ellen Mattleman Kaplan began her position as Chief Integrity Officer at the start of the Kenney administration in January 2016. Accomplishments under her leadership include:
- Strengthening rules within the Executive Branch on the acceptance of gifts and outside employment;
- Participating in the creation of Mayoral Executive Orders on Whistleblower Protections and Sexual Harassment Prevention in City government;
- Spearheading the Records Department’s online posting of Financial Disclosure Statements of top-level Executive Branch employees and members of key Boards and Commissions that exercise significant powers of City government;
- Training and advising hundreds of City employees, outside vendors, and members of the public on compliance with the City’s ethics rules; and
- Playing a pivotal role in revisions to the City’s pay-to-play law to ease compliance by City vendors, including local and minority businesses.
Before joining the Mayor’s Office, Kaplan served as Vice President and Policy Director at the government watchdog organization Committee of Seventy; as Managing Director of Public Policy and Communications at Greater Philadelphia First, a regional business and civic leadership organization; as Issues Director for Sam Katz’s 1999 Mayoral Campaign; as Associate Director for Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, a statewide, non-partisan judicial reform group; and as a Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney.
“It has been a true honor and privilege to promote the Kenney administration’s commitment to integrity, transparency, and accountability in the day-to-day operations of the Executive Branch,” said Chief Integrity Officer Ellen Mattleman Kaplan. “Having an office dedicated to preventing wrongdoing before it occurs helps to avoid the corrosive impact misconduct has on citizens’ trust in the employees who serve them. I am proud to have worked alongside thousands of City employees who understand that our obligation, first and foremost, is the best interest of the public.”
Kaplan’s retirement will officially go into effect once the Mayor appoints a new Chief Integrity Officer. The position description and application for interested candidates can be found here.
Official headshot available here