Leslie Smallwood-Lewis

Leslie Smallwood-Lewis is chief operating officer and cofounder of Mosaic Development Partners. Mosaic is a Philadelphia-based, minority-certified, commercial real estate development and project management company.

Mosaic primarily focuses on the ground-up development and adaptive reuse of commercial properties in underserved urban communities. Since 2012, Mosaic and its partners have secured and invested more than $500 million in Philadelphia neighborhoods, which has led to the creation of hundreds of construction jobs and other full-time positions, the elimination of more than 1 million square feet of blight, and additional investment in those communities and in BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) businesses. In 2020, Mosaic was awarded the rights to codevelop the Philadelphia Navy Yard, a 20-year, mixed-use redevelopment.

Smallwood-Lewis previously worked at the Goldenberg Group, a real estate development firm, where she rose to the position of senior vice president of development. While there, she led the development of a $50 million, 342,000-square-foot shopping center in West Philadelphia. She also spearheaded a program with community support that successfully acquired and relocated private residences. Before joining the Goldenberg Group, Smallwood-Lewis practiced civil defense law at a Philadelphia firm.

Smallwood-Lewis earned a law degree from Villanova University’s Charles Widger School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Brown University.