60 Gail Boudreaux Age: 53 Occupation: CEO, UnitedHealthcare This Lake Forest resident sits atop a $114 billion company, one that grabs 16 percent market share in Illinois. In 2013, some 45 million Americans—including 1.2 million insured Illinoisans—depended on the decisions made by this former basketball All-American. Photo: Courtesy Of United Healthcare
61 Linda Johnson Rice Age: 55 Occupation: Chairman, Johnson Publishing Company Under the shrewd leadership of this media mogul, JPC, with CEO Desirée Rogers as its face, put the venerable Ebony brand out there in meaningful ways: In 2013, it created an Ebony store inside Macy’s in New York and set up a White House summit … Read more
62 Martha Lavey Age: 56 Occupation: Artistic director, Steppenwolf Theatre Company If Steppenwolf embodies what’s best about Chicago’s theatre scene—fearlessness and social consciousness—then credit Lavey, its leader since 1995. She also transformed the company into a booming business. In March, Steppenwolf started its renovation of the building next door, expanding its already sizable footprint on Halsted … Read more
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
