When Epstein arrived in Chicago five years ago, he could have walked on Lake Michigan. By 2014, fans hissed that maybe he wasn’t the savior after all. Then came 2015: the first division title in 12 years and a playoff dismantling of the hated Cards. Now, after more big signings in the off-season (five-tool outfielder … Read more
The Force is definitely with Lucas. He’s worth billions. He’s got a powerful, glamorous wife (No. 18). A new baby. And an old baby, Star Wars, that was, of course, just reinvigorated by director J.J. Abrams and smashed box-office records around the world. (Lucas consulted on the film.) New interest in the Star Wars series … Read more
Bluhm has struggled with union headaches lately, and his upscale Rivers Casino in Des Plaines ended a four-year growth streak last year. But it’s still the most profitable casino in Illinois. And Bluhm shows no signs of slowing down: The art lover was recently elected a board cochair of New York’s prestigious Whitney Museum of … Read more
The past year can’t have been much fun for Rosenfeld, thanks to pressure from major investors Nelson Peltz and William Ackman that led to intense cost cutting. But it paid off: Mondelez stock rose 23 percent in 2015, handily beating both its industry peers and the S&P 500. Her next tasks are to goose growth … Read more
Leave it to Gates to steal the show during the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial last summer. Despite a star-studded roster of 150 architects from around the world—David Adjaye and Steven Holl included—Gates was the talk of the town, thanks to the opening of his $4.5 million Stony Island Arts Bank ([[[see page 48]]]), by far … Read more
Dillon’s three years at the helm of the Bolingbrook-based retailer have been a thing of beauty. Ulta’s current 860 stores? Dillon wants 1,200. Ulta has hired more than 5,300 people to staff the hundreds of stores she’s already opened. Among her fans: Starbucks, which recently asked her to join its board.
Now in his fourth term, Durbin is the second-longest-serving U.S. senator in Illinois history. The liberal lion enters 2016 with a few choice items on his bucket list—stricter gun control as well as immigration, criminal justice, and higher-ed reforms—and plenty of fire in his belly. Many political oddsmakers bet on the Democrats recapturing the Senate … Read more
The Cook County Democrats’ No. 2 chieftain—a “tweedy independent with sensible shoes,” as the Tribune’s John Kass once described her—more powerful than Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel? Right now, absolutely. Long known as a workhorse and policy wonk who appeals to lakefront liberal types, Preckwinkle recently unleashed her Machiavellian side. While much of Rahm’s credibility and … Read more
Mansueto speaks softly but makes very big things happen. He has already revolutionized the way investors get information (Morningstar), showered largess on his alma mater (funding for U. of C.’s library), and kept business magazines going strong (Fast Company and Inc.). Now the Indiana native is brainstorming with other big-shot biz leaders about creating a … Read more
After undergoing her final round of chemotherapy for the brain cancer that ended her mayoral bid in 2014, she’s baaack! And feistier than ever, taking aim at Rahm, Rauner, and CPS head Forrest Claypool ([[[No. 32]]]), who she says knows “nothing about education.” Lewis’s powerful union voted in December to authorize another strike after contract … Read more
