52 Lisa Madigan Age: 47 Occupation: Attorney General, State of Illinois The governorship was supposed to be hers for the taking. But after a summer of waffling and apparent conflict with her father, the speaker of the Illinois House (No. 2), Madigan bowed out in July. That didn’t sit well with her funders, who donated … Read more
53 Frederick Waddell Age: 60 Occupation: Chairman and CEO, Northern Trust The chief of Chicago’s largest hometown bank isn’t one to sit back and relax: Over the past year and a half, he has met with more than 1,800 managers, who oversee 14,800 employees worldwide, in offices as far away as Riyadh and Frankfurt. In … Read more
54 Barbara Byrd-Bennett Age: 63 Occupation: CEO, Chicago Public Schools Presiding over the biggest public school closure in Chicago’s history, Byrd-Bennett gained a measure of respect from education reform onlookers for at least standing firm on the decision to rip off the Band-Aid in order to close the $1 billion gap in the CPS budget. … Read more
56 Martin Nesbitt Age: 51 Occupation: Cofounder, Vistria Group This trusted Obama pal is the guy who introduced the future president to Penny Pritzker, Nesbitt’s longtime partner in a lucrative parking business and a key fundraiser in 2008. Now this entrepreneur and venture capitalist will vet locations for the Obama library, a multimillion-dollar project that’s long … Read more
57 Robert Zimmer Age: 66 Occupation: President, University of Chicago The rebirth of Hyde Park owes a lot to the empire-building instincts of Zimmer, who last year committed $1.5 billion to a raft of new construction and cut the ribbon on a 240-bed hospital. However, in January, Moody’s and the S&P lowered their outlooks on U. … Read more
58 Bob Mariano Age: 64 Occupation: Chairman and CEO, Roundy’s This energetic grocery store exec went from a meat slicer at Dominick’s to president of the chain. Today, he’s the CEO of Roundy’s, a Milwaukee-based conglomerate no one here had heard of until 2010, when Mariano entered the Chicago market with his namesake chain of grocery … Read more
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
