63 Grant Achatz Age: 39 Occupation: Chef-owner, Alinea, Aviary, Next The frenzy over his various groundbreaking local projects has subsided, but 2014 could witness the next explosion: The city’s best-known chef hopes to open another restaurant here this year, and he has two cookbooks in the works. Most tantalizing, Achatz and business partner Nick Kokonas are … Read more
64 John Cullerton Age: 65 Occupation: President, Illinois Senate Cullerton doesn’t get the same attention as his House counterpart, Speaker Madigan (No. 2). Still, it was Cullerton’s counsel that insiders say ultimately led to the speaker’s change of heart on marriage equality, and it was his alternative pension plan that forced Madigan to draft his own. … Read more
65 James Reynolds Jr. Age: 59 Occupation: Chairman and CEO, Loop Capital Markets Loop Capital won big by comanaging February 2013’s $2.2 billion IPO for the former Pfizer subsidiary Zoetis. But it was getting picked to cochair Rahm’s new Chicago Public Safety Action Committee that burnished Reynolds’s personal star. The Englewood-raised investment banker already has helped … Read more
66 Matt Hynes Age: 42 Occupation: Director, Office of Legislative Counsel and Government Affairs, City of Chicago Few on City Hall’s fifth floor have as much face time with Rahm (No. 1) as Hynes. As the mayor’s top lobbyist, he is tasked with turning Rahm’s policy agenda into reality—from ordinances in the City Council to pension … Read more
67 Byron Trott Age: 55 Occupation: Founder, chairman, and CEO, BDT Capital Partners Trott’s private equity firm is right up there with the biggest in Chicago, including Madison Dearborn Partners and GTCR. But it’s this Winnetka resident’s deep social capital that extends his clout. Trott has worked closely with Groupon’s Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky and … Read more
68 Robert Falls Age: 59 Occupation: Artistic director, Goodman Theatre Still provocative after 28 years at the helm of Chicago’s most prominent theatre (in last year’s acclaimed production of Measure for Measure, he killed off a character who wasn’t supposed to die), Falls has audiences eating out of his hand. Last season, the shows on the … Read more
69 Dan Webb Age: 68 Occupation: Chairman, Winston & Strawn This former U.S. attorney remains the go-to litigator for white-collar defendants across the land. As the special prosecutor, Webb won a major victory in January when a judge refused to dismiss the manslaughter case against Richard Vanecko, the nephew of former mayor Richard M. Daley. (Vanecko … Read more
70 Michelle Boone Age: 52 Occupation: Commissioner, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, City of Chicago The mayor’s culture czar helped the Taste of Chicago turn a profit in 2013—for the first time in six years—and moved the Chicago Jazz Festival from the Petrillo Music Shell to Millennium Park, a leap in elegance and acoustics. … Read more
71 James Heckman Age: 69 Occupation: Professor of economics, University of Chicago Last year, President Obama announced the White House’s support of universal pre-K. Then the new mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, ran on an identical idea. And Hillary Clinton, likely the 2016 Democratic nominee for president, recently launched an initiative for early childhood … Read more
72 Greg Goldner Age: 44 Occupation: CEO, Resolute Consulting Goldner took a bit of a hit in 2013 when City Hall cut ties with his client Redflex Traffic Systems, the city’s red-light camera provider, after a bribery scandal. Nevertheless, the longtime Democratic operative and CEO of the public affairs powerhouse Resolute Consulting remains an influential mayoral … Read more
