Fry is an innovative, strategic and nationally lauded higher education leader who has served higher education for his entire professional life. Through his roles as a consultant, board member, chief operating officer and chief executive, he has acquired a deep and broad understanding of the challenges of leading a major educational institution.
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As president of Drexel University, Fry transformed the university into a private research university with a strong public purpose—an institution that harnesses both its long-established and emerging strengths to serve its students, its neighborhood, its city and the nation.
John elevated Drexel’s global presence through academic and research partnerships, major NIH and NSF research programs, and hubs for collaboration. Under Fry’s leadership, Drexel forged a series of academic and research partnerships to enhance Drexel’s global connections in China, Turkey, Israel, Brazil, Chile, India and South Korea.
In 2011, Fry negotiated a historic affiliation between Drexel and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia to promote discovery, learning and civic engagement in the natural and environmental sciences and further enhance Philadelphia’s reputation as a leader in scientific research and education. In 2013, Drexel established the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship to integrate entrepreneurial learning into the curriculum. In 2019, Fry was named to the Fulbright Specialist Program by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and World Learning and served as Fulbright specialist to Italy in 2023. His residency was spent working with education leaders at the Politecnico di Milano (Polimi) to identify collaborative opportunities for innovation and economic development.
In 2023, Fry oversaw a merger between Drexel and Salus University, thereby strengthening Drexel’s place as a leader in preparing future interprofessional health sciences practitioners by adding renowned Salus graduate degree programs such as optometry, audiology, blindness and low vision studies, speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, and orthotics and prosthetics.
Under his leadership, Drexel set a national example for the successful execution of public-private partnerships and has become a powerful force for economic development and advancing access to healthcare in the Greater Philadelphia region. Fry created the Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships, a resource center that connects Drexel with community residents, and the PECO-Drexel Education Collaborative supporting local schools, and has supported the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation, which focuses on equitable advancement strategies for cities. In 2019, Drexel and Tower Health acquired St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, thereby ensuring that St. Christopher’s will remain a source of health and healing, medical education and research, and jobs and economic benefit for its North Philadelphia neighborhood and the broader region. With the creation of Drexel Ventures in 2019, he spurred faculty and student involvement in Schuylkill Yards, a $3.5 billion mixed-use development on campus real estate.
Fry came to Drexel from Franklin and Marshall College, where he served as president from 2002 to 2010 and was instrumental in the college’s academic growth, campus and neighborhood development, and improved finances. He raised the college’s national profile and brought renewed confidence to the institution. During his tenure, the quality of the student body improved dramatically as did the student-faculty ratio. He added more faculty lines, oversaw an updated curriculum and made a long-term commitment to increase financial aid. Fry forged new partnerships with the city and neighbors, improving the surrounding business district and neighborhoods.
Fry served a three-year term ending in March 2017 as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education, representing fellow U.S. university presidents in the nation’s most influential higher education association. He was appointed to the boards of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association as well as the Kresge Foundation, which invests more than $160 million annually to foster economic and social change.
Previously, Fry was named to the Wistar Institute, which conducts biomedical research in the fields of cancer, immunology and infectious diseases, and the board of the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America, part of the White House’s National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. He also serves on the board of Lafayette College.
He was the founding chair of the University City District and served in that capacity for five years. He served two years as chair of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, concluding his tenure in October 2018.
In January 2020, Fry was appointed to the board of directors of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank. Fry formerly served as chair of the NCAA Division III Presidents Council and chair of U.S. Squash, the national governing body for the sport. He was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Commission and co-chaired the transition team of Governor-elect Edward Rendell of Pennsylvania. In 2014, Fry chaired the transition team of then Pennsylvania Governor-elect Tom Wolf.
A native of Brooklyn, New York, Fry graduated from Lafayette College and earned a master’s degree in business administration from the New York University Stern School of Business. Fry and his wife Cara, an art historian, have three children: Mia, an attorney; Nat, an entrepreneur and woodworker; and Phoebe, a videographer and musician.
