Bringing together Philadelphia’s rising and established leaders since 1933
We meet Wednesday evenings (not Sundays) for drinks and hors d'oeuvres (definitely not breakfast).
During our monthly meetings, Philadelphia’s leaders gather to learn from one another and share ideas to make the city soar. Speakers and panels address rising and pressing issues facing the city and region in a conversational atmosphere that encourages discussion and interaction.
Meetings are held at a rotating roster of venues: the Fitler Club, the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, and the Union League of Philadelphia.
Our speakers: Varied, accomplished and candid
Our programs feature speakers and panelists recruited from around Philadelphia and across the nation by our program chair, the veteran journalist Chris Satullo, who moderates the programs. We try to invite people who are at the cutting edge of developments in multiple sectors of Philadelphia’s public, cultural and economic life.
In recent years, we've had memorable guests such as Dr. Drew Weissman, the Penn Medicine researcher who played a key role in developing the COVID vaccine; Jerry Sweeney, CEO of Brandywine Realty Trust and mastermind of the Schuylkill Yards project; Ray Milora, head of workplace experience for Cisco Systems; medical ethicist Art Caplan; restaurateurs Marc Vetri, Michael Schulson and Ellen Yin; and a panel of three Barrymore Award-winning theater artists.
The Club's affairs are managed by a board of directors, all Club members appointed on a rotating basis. Club membership is offered upon a vote by the board, acting on nominations from members. The Club has approximately 210 members. All members are always welcome to nominate new members, suggest program ideas or speakers, and to share thoughts on how to make the Club more vibrant.
SBC’s origins trace back to the Great Depression.
The Sunday Breakfast Club had its origin in the Great Depression. During those dark days, the Permanent Committee on Unemployment of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce decided it should invite other business and civic leaders to take part in a series of meetings “to attempt an understanding of the economic happenings causing unemployment on such an enormous scale.”
The enlarged group was organized as a club and held its first formal meeting on March 12, 1933, in the midst of the banking crisis. Dr. Virgil Jordan, head of the National Industrial Conference Board, spoke on “The Challenge to Leadership.” An initial series of seven private breakfast meetings was held “every third Sunday morning (to permit thorough, unhurried discussion...) led by the best qualified speaker procurable.” The emphasis was on understanding as the first step in a search for solutions.
The decision to meet originally on Sunday mornings for breakfast gave the Club its name.
In September 1935, the meeting day and time were changed to dinner on the first Wednesday evening of the months of the program season. The Club’s name has (proudly) remained the same ever since.