Mayor Cherelle Parker fills 10 key roles, including officials who will oversee DEI, immigrant affairs and behavioral health
Some of the positions have been vacant for as little as one week — such as the city’s chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, who was fired last week — and as long as 16 months.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker on Wednesday announced appointments to 10 top posts in her administration, filling positions that have been vacant for as little as one week — such as the city’s chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer, who was fired last week — and as long as 16 months.
Parker named Kehinde “Kenny” Solanke as the next commissioner of the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services, or DBHIDS, which manages city services for Philadelphians struggling with substance abuse and mental health and receives most of the federal funding directed to the city. Solanke’s role had not been filled on a permanent basis since March 2024, two months after Parker took office.
“I step into this role with humility, a sense of urgency, and deep commitment to the people of this city,” said Solanke, who will play a key role in Parker’s efforts to address the opioid crisis in Kensington and other neighborhoods. “The city is invested in a broad wellness ecosystem that recognizes how behavioral health connects to safety, housing, and opportunity, and aims to give people a chance to heal, to recover, to thrive, and to belong.”
Solanke has worked for 26 years for Community Behavioral Health, the city-contracted nonprofit that coordinates Medicaid coverage for behavioral health services in Philadelphia, and most recently served as senior director of operations, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Solanke’s first day with the city is Sept. 2, and her salary will be $236,000.
Parker also announced Wednesday that Donna Jackson Stephans will serve as interim chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer, making $180,000 per year.
She replaces Brandee Anderson, who held the job for less than a year before she and Tyrell Brown, the city’s director of LGBTQ affairs, were both fired last week. Their terminations followed an inspector general investigation into their handling of a “semi-nude” photo that a top-ranking administration official, deputy chief of staff Christopher Dailey, sent to Brown on a cruising app.
Parker’s office has declined to comment on the incident, citing the city’s confidentiality policy regarding personnel matters.
Anderson spoke out against the city’s treatment of her, saying in an interview with The Inquirer last week that she was terminated “unjustly” and questioning the Parker administration’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Parker on Wednesday defended her approach to DEI issues, asking viewers to “take a look around” at the top officials in her administration, including her three top aides, who are all Black women.
“I don’t think any credible individual can seriously doubt our ironclad commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion,” she said.
The administration is working “expeditiously” to fill the LGBTQ affairs position, Parker spokesperson Joe Grace said. In the meantime, Chief Deputy Mayor Vanessa Garrett-Harley is overseeing the role’s responsibilities, he said.
Immigrant affairs amid ‘uncertainty’
In another long-awaited appointment, Parker named Charlie Elison as director of the Philadelphia Office of Immigrant Affairs.
The post had been vacant since Amy Eusebio, who was appointed during former Mayor Jim Kenney’s tenure, resigned days after President Donald Trump took office in January.
A South Philadelphia native and resident, Elison most recently held a communications role at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and previously worked for the Federal Emergency Management Administration’s Philadelphia office.
Elison started with USCIS in 2023, during President Joe Biden’s administration, and stepped down three weeks ago, he said. Elison has a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in public health from Temple University, as well as a certificate in Spanish from a Chilean university that he earned while studying abroad, he said.
Elison is an operations sergeant major with the National Guard and has served in the military for 23 years.
He started with the city on July 7, and his salary is $135,000.
Amid workplace raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Trump’s threats to cut funds to “sanctuary cities,” including Philadelphia, Parker has said she is committed to maintaining the city’s immigrant-friendly policies while avoiding taking a combative approach that could attract Trump’s ire.
Immigrant advocates have called on her to be more vocal amid Trump’s crackdown. Elison appears to be on board with the mayor’s approach.
“The city is on the best possible course currently,” Elison said in a brief interview when asked what tone the city should take regarding immigration in the Trump era.
» READ MORE: Philly Mayor Cherelle L. Parker is among the Democrats trying to coexist with Trump
Neither Parker nor Elison mentioned Trump by name during Wednesday’s news conference.
“There is uncertainty now in the air. People don’t know what to expect from their government,“ Parker said. ”Your city is here to keep you safe and to safeguard your basic rights.”
In his prepared remarks, Elison discussed how immigrant communities benefit Philadelphia, but did not address the federal crackdown on illegal immigration.
“The positive contributions of immigrants are evident in every neighborhood of our city,” Elison said.
Additional appointments
Some of the appointments Parker announced Tuesday were previously known.
Renee Chenault-Fattah, a former NBC 10 anchor and attorney, is the new executive director of the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission, the city’s civil rights agency.
Parker appointed Elizabeth Lankenau as director of the Philadelphia Office of Sustainability, a role she had previously occupied on an interim basis.
Leah Uko, who was formerly a reporter with NBC 10, was appointed as press secretary and deputy communications director. Parker named Cydney Irving-Dasent as the Philadelphia Office of Children and Families’ chief of children and family support services.
Greg Philips is the new chief operating officer of Philadelphia International Airport, Nicole Morris is the deputy director of the office of human resources, and Mark Dodds is deputy director in the department of housing and community development.
One position that was not announced Wednesday was the director of the labor department, which enforces worker protection laws for all Philadelphians and helps manage the city’s own workforce.
When she took office last year, Parker tapped Perritti DiVirgilio to lead the agency. After DiVirgilio’s retirement, Parker named Christopher Godfrey director of labor earlier this year, according to Chief Deputy Mayor Sinceré Harris.
Godfrey was with the city during the eight-day municipal workers strike in early July, as well as during the administration’s contract negotiations with District Councils 33 and 47 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
But Parker never publicly announced his appointment, and Harris said Godfrey has since stepped down “due to personal family reasons.” The administration is conducting a national search to replace him, she said.