Starting when I was about six years old, I would go with my father to the bank to help him translate. A skilled terrazzo floor worker who immigrated from Italy in his 30s, he didn’t speak much English, and people weren’t always kind. But he never let that stop him. The early lesson I learned from him — that determination, hard work, and the willingness to act matter as much as ability — has been a guidepost throughout my life, as the first in my family to go to college, and now as president of Holy Family University.

This same belief in the power of opportunity frames my perspective on Southeastern Pennsylvania’s economy. When the Brookings Institution released a market assessment of our region this summer , the findings were sobering: Over the past decade, we missed out on nearly 188,0

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