32 // Founder and president of
Gauthier Glass *
From: West Pullman and Lynwood
Lives in: Hyde Park
Send Harold an e-mail

Gauthier is the only child of a retired CPS teacher and a CTA maintenance manager, and he admits the strength and support of his parents shaped who he is today: a small-business owner, a high-school track coach, a coordinator of the Chicago Marathon and Shamrock Shuffle, and, until 2009, the marketing and event manager for the city’s 2016 Olympic bid.

So where do you find the time to date—or sleep? “I’m learning the importance of making the time. I’ve got a lot of great things going on, but I don’t always have people to share that with.”

Would you be willing to give something up or move for a relationship? “I would. The whole idea of being loved by somebody somewhere, that’s the most important part. You can always find a job.”

On growing up an only child: “It was always ‘The world is my oyster.’ Whatever I wanted to try or do, my folks would let me do it. I wanted to try hockey, so when we lived in the city, my parents dug out mounds of snow in the backyard, poured water in it, and tried to make an ice rink. They were always super-supportive.”

On his former political aspirations: “I had this whole grandiose plan. I was student body vice president and student president my junior and senior years in college. I was always, like, the politician. So I thought, I’m going to work for the city, then be an alderman, and then I’ll be mayor one day. And then I worked for the city, and that dream was extinguished very quickly.”

On competing glass companies: “It’s nuts. Everyone and his mother does it. Right now, with the economy, a lot of companies have fallen out of the fray, and big companies are now going after smaller projects, and smaller companies are going after larger projects. The market is becoming very mixed and swirled together.” —N.O.