AGE: 48 OCCUPATION: Chairman, Chicago Cubs

He may have owned the team for only two years, but this U. of C. grad’s swift moves show he’s serious about building a winner. He ponied up a club record $12 million for the draft last summer, brought in game-changing general manager Theo Epstein (No. 48) in October, and began orchestrating an ambitious (and controversial) Wrigleyville facelift by purchasing an adjacent McDonald’s lot. The next measure of his reach: whether he can secure state aid for the ballpark’s renovation.

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Photograph: Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune