Harvey Hurdle Jr., executive director of the Philadelphia Bar Association.

Harvey Hurdle Jr. has spent more than 20 years leading nonprofit and for-profit companies, but his new role heading the Philadelphia Bar Association will be the first time he is leading an organization specifically serving the legal community.

According to Hurdle, that was a personal and intentional decision.

“I told the members of the search committee in my process that I really value our legal institutions, because the ability to marry my husband and adopt my son were obtained by very smart lawyers and brave judges,” he said. “I'm very excited about this job.”

Hurdle, who is set to start at the bar association on Jan. 1, was most recently CEO of Leap Strategy in Philadelphia, a company he founded that provided strategic and operational planning for nonprofits and small companies. Before that he was CEO of the health care consulting firm Sellers Dorsey, and also served as COO of the Human Rights Campaign, which, according to its website, is the largest national organization aimed at advancing the rights of LGBTQ persons.

According to Hurdle, he plans to first do a “listening tour” with bar members to get a sense of their needs and what issues he should focus on during his tenure. However, he said that, more generally, he hopes to buttress the bar's mission of increasing access to justice for those who can't afford it, adapting its services to better help attorneys to meet the needs of the changing legal market, and advocating for the rule of law.

“Respect for the rule of law is under attack, and the bar association is a voice to speak out against that,” he said.

Philadelphia Bar Chancellor Mary F. Platt said in a statement announcing Hurdle as the new executive director that the bar has a “proud mission of serving the legal community and the public by promoting justice, professional excellence and respect for the rule of law.”

“The association's leadership and staff look forward to working with Hurdle because of his passion for the association's mission; his financial, managerial and operational skills and experience; his business acumen; and his strong interpersonal and communication skills,” Platt said.

Incoming bar association Chancellor Rochelle Fedullo, who will begin leading the organization beginning in 2019, also said she looks forward to working with Hurdle.

“Hurdle's exceptional talents, experience, energy and passion for our mission will be tremendous assets to our association,” Fedullo said.

Hurdle takes over the executive director role after Mark Tarasiewicz announced he was leaving over the summer. Tarasiewicz had been with the bar association for more than two decades, and had served as executive director starting in January 2014. Tarasiewicz has since become the executive director of administration for Spector Gadon & Rosen.

Hurdle also thanked the association's staff and members of the leadership committee, and said he was looking forward to working closely with everyone.

Although his tenure with the Philadelphia Bar Association will mark the first time working for an organization dedicated strictly to attorneys, he said he often worked closely with the legal community, having frequently dealt with corporate counsels at the companies he led and having worked closely with lawyers at the Human Rights Campaign who helped draft legislation.

Hurdle is a native of Delaware County, and has lived in the Center City neighborhood of Philadelphia for more than 30 years, he said. He is also a Penn State graduate, and earned his masters of business administration at Temple University.