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Brad Keywell

Age: 44

Occupation: Cofounder and managing partner, Lightbank; cofounder, Groupon

The brain behind Chicago Ideas Week and the $200 million venture capital fund Lightbank continues to make connections and bet big on tech startups. In November, he introduced the Warehouse, a coworking space at Lightbank HQ that now houses 10 companies (and charges as little as $300 a month). “It’s turned out to be very helpful to people,” Keywell explains, “and it helps us [as tech investors] be even more connected.” Keywell’s influence is also felt at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, where he and Eric Lefkofsky (No. 9) teach a popular class called Building Internet Startups.