AGE: 64 OCCUPATION: Chairman and CEO, McCaffery Interests

McCaffery controls development of the last big unused chunk of Chicago’s lakefront—589 acres, which includes a swath that housed U.S. Steel’s South Works until 1992—and with it the thousands of jobs and contracts needed to get the planned $4 billion mini city on its feet.

RELATED: Most Powerful Ex-Chicagoans | Power Couples | Power Siblings | Up-and-Comers | Poll: Which Powerful Chicagoan Would You Call Back First? | Quiz: Do You Know Chicago’s Power Players? | Back to all 100

Photograph: Laura Brown Photography