![Michelle Boone](/wp-content/archive/Chicago-Magazine/March-2014/chicago-most-powerful/michelle-boone-300.jpg)
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Michelle Boone
Age: 52
Occupation: Commissioner, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, City of Chicago
The mayor’s culture czar helped the Taste of Chicago turn a profit in 2013—for the first time in six years—and moved the Chicago Jazz Festival from the Petrillo Music Shell to Millennium Park, a leap in elegance and acoustics. Overseeing a $34.1 million budget, she’s aiming for another hit in October with the city’s inaugural Great Chicago Fire Festival.