What Ajay Raju Wants To Change About Philadelphia

Dilworth Paxson CEO and co-chairman Ajay Raju is not only one of Philadelphia's brightest legal minds but the new face of community leadership.

Having climbed to the top of Philadelphia law, Ajay Raju now also finds himself atop the city's most prominent civic and philanthropic ventures.

Sitting at a small table inside Parc on a breezy late fall afternoon, Ajay Raju looks every bit the part one has come to expect from the 44-year-old lawyer and newly minted thought leader of Philadelphia. Dressed in one of his requisite tailored suits and sporting his meticulously coiffed tuft of black hair, Raju speaks in hearty conversational gulps about his love for the city, his visions for a better future, and yes, even about the juxtaposition of his appearance and ambitions.

"The tomatoes that get thrown at me, I earn them," says Raju, who was recently appointed CEO and cochairman of powerhouse law firm Dilworth Paxson after nearly a decade spent climbing the ranks at Reed Smith. "[But] the majority of serious people doing serious things don't obsess over running out of hair gel."

Since taking on his new role at Dilworth in January, Raju has made a conscious decision to leverage his corporate achievements and embrace his flamboyant public persona in order to aggressively effect social and economic change in Philadelphia. "I've come out of the shadows recently because I think I have a brand and I should be putting that brand to use," he says.

The view of City Hall from Raju's office helps him keep his goals for the city in mind. Read more here.

By Nick Diulio  | People