Crain's Chicago Business

NOTABLES: These HR and DEI leaders are launching people-first programs. PAGE 25

AIRPORTS: When flight monitors track who and where you are. PAGE 4

CHICAGOBUSINESS.COM | August 8, 2022 | $3.50

IS MAG MILE TEARDOWN TERRITORY?

With a 29% vacancy rate on North Michigan Avenue, a wrecking ball might help some landlords on the shopping strip salvage their investment

PHOTOS BY JOHN R. BOEHM

BY ALBY GALLUN Stuck with big and mostly empty retail buildings on North Michigan Avenue, some landlords could have a way out: tearing them down and going vertical.

After a devastating pandemic and surge in violent crime nearby, owning a low-rise storefront on Chicago’s premier shopping strip isn’t the sure bet it once was. The growing e-commerce threat won’t make the recovery any easier for property owners trying to fill vacant brick-and-mortar space.

The severe slump has claimed multiple casualties on the Magnificent Mile, including a four-story building across from Water Tower Place that’s completely empty after Japanese clothing chain Uniqlo left last August. A couple of blocks south, a four-story building at 717 N. Michigan Ave. is more than 80% vacant, with just one tenant on a short-term lease.

But owners of struggling Mag Mile retail properties may be able to salvage their investment by razing the buildings to make way for new towers—or selling them to a high-rise developer. Developing a ­tower with hundreds of apartments or hotel See MAG MILE on Page 33

CRAIN’S LIST

THE TOP 25 ORGANIZATIONS on this year’s list of Chicago’s Largest Foundations paid $2.78 billion in combined grants in 2021, a 52.3% increase from 2020. In general, these foundations gave their largest grants to beneficiaries that address inequities in wealth, housing, food and access to other basic resources in vulnerable communities. The John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Chicago’s largest, increased its grants by 15.73% from 2020. Under President John Palfrey, MacArthur is focusing on homelessness. The foundation gave the single-largest grant of the year, a $100 million donation to Community Solutions, a group working to reduce homelessness. See the full list on Page 8.

ANDREW COLLINGS

Chicago’s Largest Foundations

MacArthur Foundation President John Palfrey

NEWSPAPER l VOL. 45, NO. 31 l COPYRIGHT 2022 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. l ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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EDITORIAL

JOE CAHILL

Here’s a chance for ­Illinois to sharpen its competitive edge. PAGE 10

An ­economic downturn ­imperils worker-­ friendly ­policies.

PAGE 3

8/5/22 4:02 PM

GREG HINZ ON POLITICS

Downtown is a neighborhood, too, mayor

Y

mayor knows this truth. But the lure of cash and making a PR splash—combined with her own litigious nature that treats anyone who’s not 100% with her as an enemy to be destroyed—results in an imperious style that is not neighborhood-friendly.

Consider: Two weeks after being asked, the city and park district still haven’t released key details about the NASCAR deal, such as how many streets and how much of the park will be closed to public access for how long.

Or, though they’ve given some details, how much money local government can expect to get in exchange for turning over public property to private users.

Lightfoot argues that the NASCAR deal will be worth it. Maybe it will. But downtown residents and voters everywhere deserve to see the specifics, all of them, because former Mayor Rahm Emanuel rejected a proposed NASCAR deal a few years ago on grounds that it wouldn’t be worth the hassle and impact, multiple inside sources tell me.

Similar questions exist about the new Lolla deal.

It’s been widely reported that negotiations over a new contract stalled over whether the music festival would be IT’S NOT A MONEY PIT THAT WILL protected against big hike in JUST HAVE TO SUCK IT UP FOR THE another the city’s entertainment tax, a tax GREATER GOOD. which already has soared from 4% to 9% of ticket income since the town Chicago. I’m sympalast long-term contract with thetic. She needs tax reveLolla went into effect. So nue to run her government, what’s the truth? and a city hospitality and All the city will say is that tourism business that’s still it “has no plans to raise recovering from COVID-19 costs” on Lolla producer C3 needs the spending and the and that “the new contract free national advertisement will keep a provision in that Lolla and NASCAR the current Lollapalooza constitute. contract that allows C3 to But at the same time, terminate the contract with downtown Chicago has sufficient notice and with a steadily morphed since fee.” But I hear that fee may Lolla first arrived 17 years be only $250,000 and the noago into a neighborhood, a tice period a year. The city so place where roughly 250,000 far won’t elaborate on that real people live and shop leaky statement. and recreate. And while Nor has the city told alderthat neighborhood has its men much, never mind their unique aspects, it deserves constituents. I understand to be treated with respect why. A mayor on the move, and have its needs met like be they named Emanuel or any neighborhood. It’s not a Lightfoot, can find aldermen money pit that will just have to be a pain in the butt. But to suck it up for the greater that’s democracy. good, be it for LollapalooNeighborhoods deserve za, NASCAR or the mayor’s respect—all neighborhoods. casino.

I wish City Hall would keep Although she doesn’t that in mind. show it much, I suspect the ou can see the remnants of Lollapalooza from my window here on the 32nd floor of the Prudential Building. The grass is a bit brown, but the stages are almost gone. Also unfortunately gone are the people, because for the first time in quite awhile it frankly was invigorating to see downtown Chicago busy and filled to something resembling its pre-pandemic self.

You also can see something else looking out the window: Residential high-rises, dozens of them, framing Grant and Millennium parks and spilling onto neighboring streets.

Buildings that will soon be joined by others, and which collectively are home to tens of thousands of residents.

That’s the context of the debate as Mayor Lori Lightfoot ever so slowly releases details of the new 10-year renewal deal she just struck with the Lolla folks and of the parallel pact she cut with NASCAR to have stock cars thundering through the park, down Michigan Avenue and up DuSable Lake Shore Drive.

Lightfoot sees green, the kind you put in your wallet, when she looks at the park that’s the center of down-

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Loop office tower owner looks to capitalize on Google effect Developer John Buck is putting a LaSalle Street office tower up for sale, testing whether the corridor will attract investors now that the tech giant is planting its flag in the Loop

BY DANNY ECKER How badly do investors want to own office buildings in the Loop now that Google is coming to LaSalle Street? John Buck is about to find out.

The veteran Chicago developer has hired the Chicago office of brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle to market the 38-story office building at 33 N. LaSalle St., according to people familiar with the listing.

The vintage art deco property is just more than a block south of the James R. Thompson Center, which Google plans to buy to serve what could be thousands of new employees over the next few years.

It’s the first major Loop office building to hit the market since Google’s July 27 announcement, which could help re-establish LaSalle Street as a compelling corporate destination after many big companies decamped for newer buildings and trendier locations like the West Loop and Fulton Market District.

Before Google made its splash, investors had largely soured on the prospect of buying outmoded office buildings in the heart of the city amid record-high vacancy and many companies cutting back on space with the rise of remote work.

Recent interest rate hikes have made it even more expensive to finance an acquisition. Buck’s offering will test whether Google’s impending arrival—and the collection of other companies that may follow it to the Loop in the future—have cast a better light on Loop office towers.

There is no asking price for the 403,000-square-foot building at

COSTAR GROUP

2 AUGUST 8, 2022 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

33 N. LaSalle St. the southeast corner of LaSalle and Washington streets, and JLL brokers couldn’t be reached for comment. A Buck venture bought the tower out of distress in 2014 for $32.8 million, when the building was 40% vacant. After completing a series of renovations and new leases, Buck refinanced the property in 2017 with a $58.4 million mortgage, according to Cook County property records.

OCCUPANCY

The building is now about 75% leased today, according to a source familiar with the property. But against the backdrop of high vacancy, rising property taxes and weak office demand, people familiar with the building’s financial information said it may not fetch bids that are higher than the debt. That would put Buck in the tricky spot of being underwater, meaning the property is worth less than the loan tied to it.

It’s unclear when the mortgage is due to mature. Spokesmen for Buck its lender on the building, a venture of Aareal Capital, de-

clined to comment.

Other comparable office buildings nearby that have changed hands in the past year also suggest the pricing on Buck’s property could be close to the debt, though those deals happened before Google entered the picture.

A Mexican investor earlier this year paid about $83 million, or roughly $170 per square foot, for the 28-story office building at 225 W. Washington St. just two blocks west of Buck’s building. Kitty corner from 33 N. LaSalle, Michigan real estate investor Farbman Group paid $100 per square foot last fall for the 25-story office building at 100 N. LaSalle St. Owners of other vintage office buildings along LaSalle Street have been stung by financial distress during the pandemic. The owner of the 1.3 million-square-foot tower 135 S. LaSalle St. surrendered the property to its lender after Bank of America vacated the building with its move to a new namesake building on Wacker Drive. Separately, the owner of BMO Harris Bank’s longtime Chicago office at 115 S. LaSalle St. handed the keys to its lender as BMO relocated to a new tower next to Union Station, though the state of Illinois recently took title to the building as part of a larger deal for Google to renovate and potentially buy the Thompson Center.

The largest tenant at 33 N. LaSalle St. is co-working provider CommonGrounds Workplace with just under 31,000 square feet, according to real estate information company CoStar Group, which first reported the building was for sale.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE

WINTRUST SAILING TEAM ON FINISHING 1ST PLACE IN THEIR CLASS AT THE RACE TO MACKINAC!

A special thanks to the Chicago Yacht Club for another successful event!

CHICAGO’S BANK®

PHOTO CREDIT: ©2022 CYCRTM - STEPHEN R CLOUTIER

8/5/22 2:56 PM

CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • AUGUST 8, 2022 3

JOE CAHILL ON BUSINESS

A downturn imperils worker-friendly policies

FX

A

Jeremy Allen White plays Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto in FX’s Chicago-based show “The Bear.”

‘The Bear’: How a real Italian beef restaurateur feels about it These are some of the things Joe Buonavolanto III of Buona Beef says the hit FX show got right—and wrong—about Chicago restaurants I BY JACK GRIEVE

I

t’s been called the show of the summer, and it’s all about Chicago restaurants.

FX’s “The Bear” follows world-renowned chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, who returns from the fine dining world to take control of his late brother’s Italian beef shop.

The fictional comedy-drama has made waves on social media and among critics over how accurately it depicts restaurant work and the city of Chicago.

“Years ago, that’s how a lot of the original Italian beef stands See THE BEAR on Page 35

ONE OF THE MOST COMPELLING ASPECTS OF THE SHOW IS THE CHAOS IN THE KITCHEN OF THE ORIGINAL BEEF OF CHICAGOLAND.

How likely is a COVID rebound for people taking Paxlovid?

Even some patients using the antiviral treatment experience a return of symptoms or positive tests, but infectious disease doctors say the drug is doing its job

DEMAND FOR TALENT

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BLOOMBERG

BY JON ASPLUND Infectious disease experts in Chicago say that Paxlovid, the antiviral drug being given to some COVID-19 patients soon after they catch the virus, is doing what it is designed to do and then some, even if a portion of patients, like President Joe Biden, end up seeing a recurrence of positive tests or symptoms.

Some COVID patients, both those prescribed Paxlovid and those who do not use the antiviral, may see a viral load rebound, in which they test negative then later test positive, and sometimes patients also see symptoms return, which isn’t uncommon in viral infections, said Dr. Jonathan Martin, an infectious disease physician with Cook County Health.

President Joe Biden has had a recurrence of positive tests.

Paxlovid was granted emergency use authorization by the FDA in 2021 for use in patients at high risk for severe complications for COVID-19. Clinical trials of the Pfizer drug showed it is

most effective when given during the first few days of infection.

Martin said that the risk of rebound on Paxlovid is See PAXLOVID on Page 35

recession will test the cultural awakening that many corporations professed to experience during what’s been called the Great Resignation.

As bargaining power shifted from employers to employees to the greatest extent in modern memory, companies found themselves in the unfamiliar position of having to compete for the workers they needed to achieve their financial objectives. Even more perplexing, they discovered that higher salaries alone wouldn’t necessarily win the war for talent.

Sure, workers expected pay hikes. But many also wanted things that a lot of companies hadn’t felt obliged to provide in the past: like a better working experience and greater professional fulfillment.

Suddenly, hiring managers were the ones who had to ace job interviews. They had to answer probing questions about company culture, corporate values and other topics they were accustomed to dispatching with a few canned phrases from the organizational mission statement.

Current workers, meanwhile, served notice that they would no longer put up with long-standing abuses of corporate life, like bullying bosses, unreasonable demands on their time and a lack of transparency. Rather than merely commiserating with co-workers over these conditions, they quit in large numbers, moving on to what they hoped would be more congenial pastures.

Nothing epitomized the growing sense of empowerment among workers like the remote-work trend triggered by the pandemic.

For many, working from home changed “work-life balance” from an empty corporate catchphrase to an everyday reality.

The factor that made all this possible was the powerful economic rebound that followed the sharp but brief downturn early in the pandemic. Demand for talent surged as companies scrambled to handle a flood of new business.

Desperate to fill openings, companies tried to present themselves as the right kind of workplace. As Crain’s New York Business reports, many are vowing to purge traditional markers of a “toxic culture,” such as disrespect in the office, shady ethics and cutthroat internal competition. Along with liberal work-from-home policies, they’re offering workers a greater sense of mission, more openness and a voice in company decisions, while trumpeting commitments to causes like diversity and sustainability.

Is this a real transformation of the corporate soul? Or just a pack-

age of platitudes meant to address short-term conditions in hiring markets?

We may soon find out. Many economic indicators point to a looming recession that could wash away workers’ newfound leverage with employers. A slowing economy inevitably would tilt the supply-demand balance in labor markets back toward employers.

With revenue declining and profits at risk, executives under pressure to hit earnings targets may revert to an earlier attitude toward employees. Rather than regarding workers as value-creating assets essential to corporate growth, C-suites may come to view them as costs encumbering the bottom line.

GETTING CHILLY

Evidence of such a shift is emerging. Layoffs are rippling through the tech sector, which until recently couldn’t hire fast enough.

Workers who avoid the ax may feel a change in the corporate climate. The Wall Street Journal reports some execs are ditching the warm fuzzies for tough talk.

According to the Journal, Google parent Alphabet’s CEO Sundar Pichai warned employees that company productivity is out of line with staffing levels. Channeling his inner Jack Welch, a senior executive at Facebook owner Meta told managers to single out low performers for dismissal, the Journal reports.

Most telling about the future direction of corporate culture will be the fate of remote work, the most cherished feature of today’s corporate glasnost. Truth be told, many if not most CEOs dislike work-from-home. Many already are salivating over the possible return of job insecurity, believing it will give them the leverage to order workers back to the office.

The next few months will reveal how far companies can go in curtailing or eliminating remote work. Much will depend on the depth and duration of an economic downturn. The deeper and longer, the less likely work-fromhome policies will survive, at least in their current form. As profit pressures grow, CEOs will become more likely to act on their belief that productivity rises when everyone works in the same place.

If remote work falls, corporate support for other liberal workplace policies is likely to fade as well. Executives should think carefully before going down that path, a course that will damage their credibility in hiring markets.

Maybe that won’t matter much in a weak job market, but companies will miss that credibility if workers ever get the upper hand again.

8/5/22 3:19 PM

4 AUGUST 8, 2022 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

When the flight board knows who you are

Delta is ‘already looking at other airports’ for installing its new Parallel Reality technology, which piloted in Detroit this summer

Even the man behind the technology knows it sounds too futuristic to believe: 100 airport passengers staring at the same flight display board seeing only their own itineraries. No phones, no smart glasses, no QR codes.

“Instead of a list of 100 flights, you see only your own flight information,” said Albert Ng, CEO of Misapplied Sciences.

For Delta Air Lines passengers traveling through Detroit Metro Airport this summer, that technology—dubbed “Parallel Reality”—is the new reality.

Delta first partnered with Ng’s Pasadena, Calif.-based tech company in 2020 to reimagine the flight information display board. The idea was to simplify travel with personalized airport signage tied to your ticket, allowing passengers to identify flight information without

sengers entering the terminal after passing through security have been greeted with kiosks where they can opt in for Parallel Reality with a boarding pass or Digital ID, another new Delta program that identifies travelers using facial recognition rather than a driver’s license.

EXPANSION

It’s possible the technology may come to Chicago as Delta sees the program expanding to other airports soon.

“It’s getting very good customer feedback, so we’re already looking at other airports and other locations that we can take the technology to,” said Greg Forbes, Delta’s managing director of airport experience. “We’ve gotten a lot of interest from airports and (the Transportation Security Administration) about security checkpoints where phones aren’t allowed. If you think about it, when you arrive from an international flight there’s “INSTEAD OF A LIST OF 100 FLIGHTS, all sorts of complicated segmenYOU SEE ONLY YOUR OWN FLIGHT tation—first-time visitor, U.S. citizen, INFORMATION.” all these things.”

Albert Ng, CEO of Misapplied Sciences Once a passenger scans in, a massive screen hangslowing down—technology that ing from the ceiling greets them could eventually be replicated by name. Also displayed is their in parking garages and at the flight number, destination, departure time, assigned gate, how gate.

“I think the reason more long it takes to walk there and a people don’t use the aggregate message recognizing any Delta flight information displays like membership status.

What makes the board special we have now is that you have to stop, stand there and interpret is that a nearby stranger can’t it,” Ng said. “But imagine if you see any of the passenger’s incan get that information while formation. They would see only a generic image of an airplane moving at walking speed.”

For the past month, Delta pas- or, if they’re opted in, their own

JACK GRIEVE / CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

BY JACK GRIEVE

The new Parallel Reality experience at Detroit Metro Airport displays personalized flight information for passengers. Up to 100 people can look at the same screen at the same time, all seeing different displays. flight information.

That’s thanks to cameras hanging from the ceiling that register a passenger’s location when they scan in. As they move through the terminal, the cameras track their location. As they approach the magic board, it emits multiview pixels of different colors in thousands of directions, displaying each passenger’s flight information in a way that only they can see.

The user experience is seamless, according to Ng: “You just look at it naturally and intuitively and experience it.”

Once a passenger moves away

from the board, it erases their information and the screen returns to a generic image.

OPTIONAL

For now, the program remains opt-in only, and customers can still use their phones or the traditional display boards to find their flights.

“We still have concerns that not everyone is ready to have their personal information up on a big board, so we wanted to make it a deliberate action for customers to engage and not just assume,” said Forbes. “It’s not a limitation of the technol-

ogy; this is just our comfort level being respectful of privacy and customer choice.”

Ng sees the technology extending beyond the airport.

“It’s useful for any public environment where you have many people looking for different things, having different preferences, looking for different information or language or directions,” he said. “We’re looking forward to introducing this not only for airports but places like shopping malls, train stations, stadiums, theme parks, hotels, resorts, casinos, even cruise ships.”

Sterling Bay plans timber apartment building in Lincoln Park Although the use of mass timber framing for tall buildings is gaining traction in other parts of the country, the practice has been slow to catch on here

BY ALBY GALLUN Chicago developer Sterling Bay plans to build what could be the city’s tallest mass timber building constructed since the Great Chicago Fire, a nine-story, 130-unit apartment building in Lincoln Park, just north of its Lincoln Yards megadevelopment.

Since the skyscraper era began in the 1880s, developers have relied on steel and concrete structures for tall buildings, but the use of wood framing is gaining traction as developers try to differentiate their projects and embrace sustainability. The practice, however, has yet to catch on in the Chicago area, where a few tall wood buildings have been proposed in recent years, but not built.

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Sterling Bay wants to be the tallest with its proposed project at 2100 N. Southport Ave, designed by Chicago-based Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture. The developer, which still needs City Council approval for the building, aims to break ground early next year.

“Over 150 years after the Great Chicago Fire, and with the help of incredible technologies, Sterling Bay is reintroducing Chicago to large-scale timber construction, setting a new standard for future-forward development in our city,” Sterling Bay CEO Andy Gloor said in a statement. “Mass timber buildings are safe, sustainable, and beautiful, and we are excited to lead Chicago’s real estate community in working with this

innovative building material at 2100 N. Southport.”

Developers have proposed and built mass timber buildings around the country: As of June, 1,502 mass timber projects had been in construction or were in the design phase in all 50 states, according to WoodWorks, an industry group. That includes one up the road in Milwaukee, rising 25 stories and 284 feet, the world’s tallest mass timber project so far.

OTHER PLANS

In Illinois, Houston-based Hines has proposed woodframed office buildings on Goose Island in Chicago and in Oak Brook, but the developer hasn’t broken ground on either project. Chicago-based Perkins

A rendering of the building Sterling Bay plans at 2100 N. Southport Ave. & Will also released a conceptual design for an 80-story wood tower on the South Branch of the Chicago River, but there are no plans to build it.

Hartshorne Plunkard also designed a smaller mass timber structure that was constructed

in the Fulton Market District—a five-story, 42,000-square-foot office building at 1040 W. Fulton—but the Sterling Bay building would be four stories taller.

The Chicago Tribune earlier reported the plans for 2100 N. Southport.

8/5/22 2:56 PM

SEEING THE ISSUES

LEADING REAL CHANGE IN ECONOMIC PROGRESS, WORKFORCE READINESS

AND EQUITABLE OPPORTUNITY

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6 AUGUST 8, 2022 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

Wirtz family selling Evanston apartment buildings

BY ALBY GALLUN The Wirtz family is cashing out of Evanston, selling its entire 164-unit vintage apartment portfolio in the north suburb to a Chicago investor amid a seller’s market for rental housing.

Wirtz Residential has reached a deal to sell its five buildings in southeast Evanston to North Park Ventures for $35.3 million, or about $215,000 per unit, according to county property records and CrowdStreet, a crowdfunding platform hired to seek investors for the deal.

The Wirtz family has owned the Evanston portfolio buildings for decades—more than 90 years, according to CrowdStreet—and hadn’t bought or sold many properties in its local portfolio over the years. Now overseen by Rocky Wirtz, chairman of the Chicago Blackhawks, the family’s real estate business includes apartments on Chicago’s North Side, the United Center, and a vintage office tower at Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive.

More recently, however, the family has been shrinking its Chicago holdings. In 2020 and 2021, for in-

stance, Wirtz sold several apartment buildings on the North Side, including a 75-unit property at 2617-2625 W. Gunnison St. in Lincoln Square and an 81-unit building at 1209 W. Sherwin Ave. in Rogers Park.

“We are continually managing our real estate investment portfolio,” a Wirtz spokesman says in a statement. “We are also investing heavily in our core vintage Lake Shore Drive properties in Lakeview. The recent property sales are part of an overall strategy to divest some of our assets where it makes sense, while reinvesting in others and bringing new projects on line at the same time.”

With investors paying up for suburban apartments these days, the family is selling at a good time. High occupancies and rising rents have boosted property incomes and values, allowing many suburban landlords to sell their properties for hefty gains. The Wirtz portfolio also offers a rare opportunity for an investor to buy a lot of apartments in Evanston in one transaction, rather than on a piecemeal basis.

“Evanston has been the primary beneficiary of the challenges the

residents of the city of Chicago have been facing, including the lack of affordability, public safety concerns and uncertainty around the city’s financial stability,” CrowdStreet says in marketing materials for the Evanston offering on its website.

“Evanston offers residents an urban living experience with excellent walkability that many Chicago residents seek out at an attractive cost of living compared to the downtown market.”

A North Park executive declined to comment, saying it was premature to discuss the transaction because it hadn’t closed yet.

North Park is acquiring: A 41-unit building at 605-617 Hinman Ave. A 40-unit building at 800-810 Michigan Ave. A 26-unit building at 910-916 Judson Ave. An 18-unit property at 929-935 Michigan Ave. A 39-unit property at 1000-1010 Hinman Ave. Including money spent on renovations, the firm plans to invest a total of $42.2 million in the properties,

LUXURY HOME OF THE WEEK Advertising Section

COSTAR GROUP

The $35.3 million transaction represents an exit from Evanston for the Wirtzes, who have sold several buildings on Chicago’s North Side in recent years

1000-1010 Hinman Ave. which were built around 1930, according to CrowdStreet. North Park plans to invest about $1.1 million in equity in the buildings and raise $10.0 million through CrowdStreet, borrowing about $31.1 million to finance the rest of the project, the website says.

As a crowdfunding platform, the Austin, Texas-based firm raises small amounts of money from individual investors to finance real estate acquisitions and developments.

The minimum investment for the North Park deal is $25,000. CrowdStreet has set a fundraising deadline of Aug. 31.

North Park plans to own the properties for three years, with a projected internal rate of return of 23.7%, according to CrowdStreet.

North Park specializes in multifamily properties that need renovation. The firm has acquired more than 1,100 apartments mostly in the Chicago area.

Investors buy nearly 1,300 apartments in Chicago suburbs The sales show that investors remain enthusiastic about suburban apartments even amid rising interest rates

BY ALBY GALLUN Nearly 1,300 apartments in the Chicago suburbs have changed hands in two deals, highlighting the continued strength of the suburban multifamily investment market.

In the bigger transaction, Morgan Properties, a King of Prussia, Pa.-based landlord, said it has acquired three properties totaling 1,003 units in Schaumburg, Palatine and Elgin.

In Northbrook, San Francisco-based FPA Multifamily paid $97 million for Tapestry Glenview, a 290-unit property next to Interstate 294, according to a deed recorded with Cook County.

The sales show that investors remain enthusiastic about suburban apartments even amid rising interest rates, recent disruptions to financial markets and worries about a potential recession. One reason suburban apartments remain popular: Occupancies are still high, and rents continue to rise. The median net suburban apartment rent rose to a record $1.87 per square foot in the first quarter, up 17% from a year earlier, according to Integra Realty Resources.

Rising rents have pushed up property incomes and values,

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allowing many landlords to sell their properties for big gains. Connor Group, the Ohio investor that sold Tapestry to FPA, paid $81.4 million for the property at 2550 Waterview Drive in 2017, meaning Tapestry appreciated 19% over about five years.

Connor and FPA representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

Morgan Properties acquired the properties in Schaumburg, Elgin and Palatine from Norfolk, Vabased Harbor Group International.

Morgan Properties did not disclose a price for the properties, and the transactions had not been recorded with Cook and Kane counties.

Morgan Properties acquired: The Lakes of Schaumburg, a 428unit complex at 801 Belinder Lane.

Blackhawk Apartments, a 371unit property at 926 Congdon Ave. in Elgin.

The Gates of Deer Grove, a 204-unit property at 1576 N. King Edward Court in Palatine.

A Morgan Properties representative did not return a call. A Harbor Group spokesman declined to comment, citing a confidentiality agreement preventing him from discussing the transaction.

8/5/22 2:57 PM

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CRAIN’S EVENT RECAP

Why Behavioral Health Support is Critical for a Future-Ready Workforce

Local execs address how to help strengthen emotional wellbeing in the workplace causing more rift between the workers and the company? Billows shared a plan Seyfarth Shaw will soon be launching called Mental Health First Aid Response Training.

This program aims to train certain employees to deal with mental health emergencies in the office. A pilot session received an overwhelming response, and a second pilot session will be scheduled soon.

Business leaders across industries discuss how they prioritize workforce wellbeing.

R

esearch shows a strong correlation between worker productivity and mental wellbeing. Rising stress levels among workers can hurt the company bottom line too.

Over the last several years, employees have faced a number of obstacles.

They experienced a stressful transition as they moved from office to virtual work. While the change has had some benefits, employees face new challenges as companies ask them to return to the office, at least part-time.

Employees may feel unprepared to change their newly adopted routines and may also have a strong sense of disconnection from the office environment.

A group of Chicago’s top business executives and a mental health professional recently gathered for a business breakfast, sponsored by Cigna, to address why behavioral health is critical for a future-ready workforce. The discussion included suggestions and program ideas to help support the mental health of employees.

The thought-provoking, salon-style conversation was led by Crain’s Chicago Business’ Publisher and Executive Editor, Jim Kirk.

“Obviously, today’s discussion about mental health is top of the mind for every employer or employee, especially coming out of the pandemic,” Kirk said, adding that companies want to help their workers to stay healthy to ensure a more productive workforce.

Many factors are contributing to rising mental health concerns in today’s workforce. While each situation is unique, overall, employees across companies and industries feel “burned out.”

Prior to the pandemic, worker stress levels were reported to be just

P007_CCB_20220808.indd 7

above 30%. But now that number is much higher. “The healthcare world was stressed even before

Gail Smith, MS, LMFT, Behavioral Clinical Strategy Team Lead at Cigna emphasized the importance of companies investing in the resources and programs necessary to support their workers. Cigna provides mental health education and training for employers to offer to their managers to support the workforce. Smith also recommended an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) as a great resource for companies. EAPs are not only beneficial for employees but also

needs to be the culture.” She thinks these programs will not function well unless the environment of the office shifts to allow people to be more willing to open up.

Participants agreed on several best practices to improve the work environment.

• Appoint peer leaders to be available for sensitive conversations. Having leaders in the company share their personal experiences can be one of the most effective ways in reducing the stigma related to discussing mental health within the workplace.

• Allocate more personal time for employees. Encouraging workers to use their time off and in some cases offering more PTO, can give employees the opportunity to relax and destress, participants said.

Employees should not be made to

“We are treating wellbeing like a strategy, instead we need to incorporate it into our company’s culture.”

-Andrea Clifford, Director of Employee Health and Wellbeing at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago this (pandemic),” John Erwin, MD, Chair of Medicine at Northshore University Health Systems said.

“That burnout rate has increased in many specialties to about 65-70% since the pandemic.”

The executives agreed that deteriorating mental health among employees can likewise affect the manager’s ability to delegate tasks and set goals.

PROGRAMS FOR MENTAL HEALTH RESPONSE Amid rising worker anxiety, companies are leveraging innovative programs and employment benefits to address the emotional well-being of their workforce. Employees, especially millennials, also expect employers to provide more mental health resources. Younger workers are open to behavioral care and coaching, which can be an important incentive for job applicants. The use of virtual health apps and telehealth visits are now more widespread.

A concern raised during the discussion was the difficulty to reach out to the workers because of potential legal boundaries. “It has not been a lack of interest or commitment of wanting to help, but rather how best to do so,” noted Tracy Billows, Co-Managing Partner from Seyfarth Shaw LLP. How can employers help without

provide a great return on investment for the company.

CREATING A SUPPORTIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT As companies expand mental health programs to meet the current needs, panelists discussed how companies will address workplace needs in the future. “I think the problem is that we are trying to treat wellbeing like a benefit, or a strategy,” Andrea Clifford, Director of Employee Health & Well Being at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital said. “It

feel embarrassed to take time off for their mental health. The participants agreed it’s time to break the stigma of taking “too much time off.”

• Provide clear communication and transparency. Focus on clear communication between managers and employees. Mental health can be difficult for people to talk about. Participants cautioned about overcommunicating which can stress some workers. Participants suggest breaking up large chunks of messages into digestible snippets. Likewise, messages

relating to sensitive or potentially emotionally-charged topics are best communicated in a clear methodical way to ensure everyone receives the message. It’s important for executives to find a sweet spot on how and when to communicate with workers. Companies should also be transparent about sharing corporate news and key announcements to help build an environment where workers know what to expect.

Additionally, the leaders noted that including DEI and providing tools around mindfulness and resilience will foster a culture of psychological safety.

As we look ahead, the executives noted that a focus on improving mental health and connectivity between employees will ensure a more productive workforce. Smith added, “Employees rely on their employer for behavioral health resources. Implementing creative strategies into wellness plans can provide the work-life balance needed for workplace success.”

ATTENDEES: Katie Bell, VP, Talent Acquisition, Cresco Labs Tracy Billows, Partner, Co-Office Managing Partner, Co-Chair Labor & Employment, Seyfarth Shaw Andrea Clifford, RN, BSN, Director of Employee Health and Wellbeing, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago John Erwin, MD, Department Chair, NorthShore University HealthSystem Cara Halladay, VP HR Business Partners, Spaulding Ridge Marron Kilworth, VP, Director of Operations, Related Midwest Catherine Dimou, MD, Midwest Market Medical Executive, Cigna Gail Smith, MS, LMFT, Behavioral Clinical Strategy Team Lead, Cigna Jim Kirk, Group Publisher, Executive Editor, Crain’s Chicago Business

Katie Bell from Cresco Labs shares key steps along their journey to prioritize and help strengthen employee wellbeing.

8/4/22 1:15 PM

8 AUGUST 8, 2022 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

CRAIN'S LIST FOUNDATIONS Ranked by 2021 assets.

JOHN D. & CATHERINE T. MACARTHUR FOUNDATION 140 S. Dearborn St., Suite 1200, Chicago 60603; MacFound.org

John Palfrey President

$9,419.5 $8,222.4

$360.6 $311.5

Private independent foundation

✔

✔

2

2

THE CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST 33 S. State St., Suite 750, Chicago 60603; CCT.org

Andrea Sáenz Interim president, CEO

$4,784.3 $3,717.6

$1,457.4 $613.6

Community foundation

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

3

3

JEWISH UNITED FUND/JEWISH FEDERATION OF CHICAGO 30 S. Wells St., Chicago 60606; JUF.org

Lonnie Nasatir President

$2,715.0 $2,268.2

$268.0 $242.4

Federated fund

✔

✔

✔

✔

4

4

ROBERT R. MCCORMICK FOUNDATION 205 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 4300, Chicago 60601; McCormickFoundation.org

Timothy P. Knight President, CEO

$2,179.1 $1,966.6

$46.4 $75.0

Public foundation

✔

John Hewko CEO, general secretary

$1,437.2 $1,264.2

$339.0 $313.5

Public foundation

✔

Ellen S. Alberding President

$1,402.1 $1,250.8

$64.9 $45.0

Private independent foundation

James W. O'Kelley III Director

$833.0 $646.7

$25.5 $21.3

Charitable trust

5 6 7 8

NR ROTARY FOUNDATION OF ROTARY INTERNATIONAL 1560 Sherman Ave., Evanston 60201; Rotary.org 5

JOYCE FOUNDATION 321 N. Clark St., Suite 1500, Chicago 60654; JoyceFdn.org

NR ELKS NATIONAL FOUNDATION INC. 2750 N. Lakeview Ave., Chicago 60614; Elks.org

✔

✔

✔

✔ $25.0; Second Harvest Food

91

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔ $44.2; Jewish Federations of

339

✔

✔

✔

✔

$2.6; United Way-McCormick Partnership for Strong Neighborhoods Inc.

128

✔

✔

✔

$35.5; UNICEF - Pakistan for polio eradication

271

✔

✔

$5.0; Chicago Public Media

25

$2.4; Elks National Veterans Service Commission

19

✔

$1.0; Ohio State University

19

✔

$0.4; Barbican Centre Trust; Grey Art Gallery NYU 1

15

✔

✔

✔ ✔

✔

✔

✔

6

SPENCER FOUNDATION 625 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1600, Chicago 60611; Spencer.org

Na'ilah Suad Nasir President

$656.8 $672.7

$24.7 $21.1

Private independent foundation

9

7

TERRA FOUNDATION FOR AMERICAN ART 120 E. Erie St., Chicago 60611; TerraAmericanArt.org

Sharon Corwin President, CEO

$635.0 $595.0

$12.0 $7.0

Private independent foundation

✔

10

8

POLK BROS. FOUNDATION 20 W. Kinzie St., Suite 1110, Chicago 60654; PolkBrosFdn.org

Gillian Darlow CEO

$498.8 $418.8

$33.1 $24.5

Private independent foundation

✔

11

9

STEANS FAMILY FOUNDATION 50 E. Washington St., Suite 410, Chicago 60602; SteansFamilyFoundation.org

Patricia Ford Executive director

$395.0 $330.0

$10.0 $7.3

Private independent foundation

12

10 WALDER FOUNDATION 5215 Old Orchard Road, Suite 1050, Skokie 60077; WalderFoundation.org

Elizabeth Walder President, executive director

$263.4 $262.2

$25.3 $27.5

Private independent foundation

✔

✔

13

12 GAYLORD AND DOROTHY DONNELLEY FOUNDATION 35 E. Wacker Drive, Suite 2600, Chicago 60601; GDDF.org

David Farren Executive director

$223.5 $201.4

$8.2 $7.2

Private independent foundation

✔

✔

14

11 IRVING HARRIS FOUNDATION 191 N. Wacker Drive, Suite 1500, Chicago 60606; IrvingHarrisFdn.org

Phyllis Glink Executive director

$220.5 $216.7

$20.3 $20.2

Private independent foundation

✔

✔

15

14 LLOYD A. FRY FOUNDATION 120 S. LaSalle St., Suite 1950, Chicago 60603; FryFoundation.org

Unmi Song President

$220.3 $179.5

$8.8 $8.7

Private independent foundation

✔

16

13 COLEMAN FOUNDATION INC. 651 W. Washington Blvd., Suite 306, Chicago 60661; ColemanFoundation.org

Shelley A. Davis President, CEO

$207.0 $190.5

$7.1 $11.7

Private independent foundation

17

19 MICHAEL REESE HEALTH TRUST 1707 N. Randall Road, Suite 200, Elgin 60123; WeAreMichaelReese.org

Gayla Brockman President, CEO

$183.8 $145.0

$9.5 $7.0

Public foundation

18

15 PRINCE CHARITABLE TRUSTS 140 S. Dearborn St., Suite 1400, Chicago 60603; PrinceTrusts.org

Charles C. Twichell Executive director

$173.7 $167.3

$6.1 $5.7

Charitable trust

19

16 ILLINOIS CHILDREN'S HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION 1200 Jorie Blvd., Oak Brook 60523; ILCHF.org

Heather H. Alderman $172.3 President $163.3

$11.5 $13.0

Private independent foundation

20

17 GRAND VICTORIA FOUNDATION 230 W. Monroe St., Suite 2530, Chicago 60606; GrandVictoriaFDN.org

Sharon Bush President

$167.1 $151.9

$6.5 $6.5

Private independent foundation

21

18 RRF FOUNDATION FOR AGING 8765 W. Higgins Road, Suite 430, Chicago 60631; RRF.org

Mary B. O'Donnell President

$164.5 $149.1

$7.6 $6.3

Private independent foundation

22

21 HEALTHY COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION 19 Riverside Road, Suite 6, Riverside 60546; HCFdn.org

Maria S. Pesqueira President

$144.7 $133.4

$8.1 $8.7

Private independent foundation

23

20 THE BRINSON FOUNDATION 737 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1850, Chicago 60611; BrinsonFoundation.org

Christy Uchida President

$142.2 $131.2

$5.4 $4.8

Private independent foundation

24

24 THE DUPAGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION 3000 Woodcreek Drive, Suite 310, Downers Grove 60515-5408; DupageFoundation.org

David M. McGowan President, CEO

$139.7 $97.4

$6.7 $9.3

Community foundation

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

25

23 COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE FOX RIVER VALLEY 111 W. Downer Place, Suite 312, Aurora 60506; CFFRV.org

Julie Christman President, CEO

$129.4 $114.3

$5.9 $5.0

Community foundation

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔ ✔

✔

173

Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana; Bowie State University Foundation 1 North America

✔

✔

✔

✔ $0.5; Center for Housing and

13

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

$0.5; Lawndale Christian Development Corp.

14

Health; Navy Pier 1

✔ $1.5; Hebrew Theological

✔

College

10

$0.2; National Forest Foundation 10

✔

✔

✔ ✔

✔ ✔ ✔

✔

✔

$0.5; Harris Theater for Music and Dance

15

✔

$0.3; The Barack Obama Foundation

7

✔

$0.5; Chicago Community Foundation

6

✔

✔

✔

$100.0; Community Solutions

✔

✔

✔

LARGEST GRANT IN 2021 (MILLIONS); BENEFICIARY

FULL-TIME LOCAL EMPLOYEES 12/31/2021

✔

✔

✔

LEGAL AID

✔

EMPLOYMENT

✔

EDUCATION

✔

ECON. DEV./ PUBLIC POLICY

HUMAN SERVICES

1

TOP FOUNDATION OFFICIAL

TOTAL GRANTS PAID (MILLIONS) 2021; 2020 FOUNDATION TYPE

HEALTH

CIVIC/COMMUNITY

1

2021 RANK FOUNDATION

ASSETS (MILLIONS) 2021; 2020

DISASTER RELIEF

ARTS AND CULTURE

GIVING AREAS

✔

✔

$0.7; Acclivus Inc.

9

✔

✔

$0.2; Piedmont Environmental Council

5

✔

✔

$0.5; SWOP (Southwest Organizing Project) 2

4

✔

$0.4; Hamilton Wings

9

✔

✔

✔ $0.4; Center for Medicare

8

✔

✔

✔ ✔

✔

✔

Advocacy; Medicare Rights Center; Pension Rights Center 1 $0.3; The Chicago Community Trust; Latino Policy Forum; Michael Reese Health Trust; Forefront 1

10

$0.6; Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Observatories Instrumentation Program; UCLA Galactic Center Group 1

4

$0.5; Turning Point USA

11

✔ $0.4; AMITA Health Foundation

6

Research by Sophie Rodgers (sophie.rodgers@crain.com) | Includes foundations headquartered in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake (Ill.), Lake (Ind.), McHenry and Will counties. NA: Not available. NOTES: 1. Each beneficiary received the grant

amount. 2. A $500,000 grant over 3 years.

Want 42 foundations in Excel format? Become a Data Member: ChicagoBusiness.com/Data-Lists

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10 AUGUST 8, 2022 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

com ican publ

EDITORIAL

Sharpening Illinois’ competitive edge The Byron nuclear plant

EXELON

Reliable and affordable power has long been one of Illinois’ most important advantages on the economic-development front. Action over the weekend on Capitol Hill should make it a bit easier for the state to maintain its reputation for dependable electricity—and to make our energy mix here even greener. That is, if our elected officials and the companies dedicated to delivering power in Illinois stay on the same page and take full advantage of the subsidies and incentives built into federal legislation crafted by U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer. Their measure would provide nearly $370 billion in new spending on energy projects, most of which are designed to reduce greenhouse emissions nationwide.

The centerpiece of the Manchin-Schumer climate bill is a long-debated production tax credit for nuclear power plants. As Crain’s Steve Daniels explained in a July 29 news analysis, these subsidies will likely benefit states that need to build up their nuclear infrastructure. Illinois produces the most atomic power in the nation, and for the better part of the last decade the owner of the facilities has occasionally threatened to shutter reactors, claiming insufficient revenue. But energy prices are high now for the first time in well over a decade, so there’s no threat of closures here in Illinois now. In addition, the state has moved twice to subsidize the nukes, now owned by Baltimore-based Constellation Energy, and keep them open.

Even so, the federal legislation still does provide a nugget of good news for customers of Chicago’s Commonwealth Edison, which relies heavily on nuclear power to serve its customers. When the Manchin-Schumer measure is enact-

ed, federal taxpayers will contribute to launching more clean energy projects in Illinois. That will help defray the costs built into Illinois’ landmark Climate & Equitable Jobs Act, a law adopted last year that raised electricity rates across the state

to finance wind and solar development, promote equity in energy investment and push other initiatives aimed at eliminating carbon-emitting power-generation sources.

As Daniels explained in his analysis, the federal proposal would also provide longterm tax credits for development of solar and wind power. That would make such new projects in Illinois cheaper to build and would allow the ratepayer subsidies now paid to help finance those projects to go farther. Previously, Congress had only extended existing credits for new renewable power projects for short periods, and usually only as they were about to expire.

The industry complained that it’s difficult to plan and obtain financing when there’s so much uncertainty about tax provisions that can account for a third of a project’s costs. So this new provision should provide the stability needed to make wind, solar and potentially other types of green power a much larger slice of Illinois’ energy mix.

With fully functional and well-run nuclear power plants as the backbone of Illinois’ electrical infrastructure, plus the prospect of adding wind, solar and even geothermal plants to the picture, Illinois can sidestep the brownouts and extended grid failures that have plagued states such as Texas and California. Safe, reliable and carbon-neutral electricity can help keep Illinois competitive—and keep the lights on.

YOUR VIEW

Building coalitions to bring care in the community

T

are critical to consider. Yet he COVID-19 pandemic more important than who put a spotlight on the asks these questions is who is disparities in healthempowered to answer them. care delivery and outcomes We’ve learned the best way for traditionally underserved to understand problems in and vulnerable communities. healthcare delivery—and to But those of us who have dedwork toward solving them—is icated our careers to equity in to ask community members. medicine did not need a genWe hear from residents on erational public health crisis to the city’s South Side that they know that the current healthdon’t want to leave their own care ecosystems are broken— communities for services. at the national and local levels, Brenda Battle is senior and especially for community- vice president for com- They don’t want to wait six months for a doctor’s appointbased providers. munity health transment and find themselves in While it’s easy to say the formation and chief the emergency department healthcare system isn’t work- diversity, equity and for acute care during that ing, particularly in places like inclusion officer at wait. They want direct access Chicago’s South Side, it’s more UChicago Medicine. to specialty care in locations difficult to confront the sys- She leads the system’s that are convenient for them. temic challenges that tradi- work with the South Everyone, regardless of tionally and continually create Side Healthy Commuability to pay, deserves these barriers to care for patients. nity Organization. fundamental services and But it can be done.

Questions like, “What does a well- functions from healthcare providers. But functioning healthcare system look like?” what can healthcare leaders do to make and, “Are the gaps in healthcare only in this a reality?

The answer is for larger, well-resourced traditionally underserved communities?”

hospitals and health systems to partner with community hospitals and federally qualified health centers within the same ecosystem, as well as for health-focused community leaders and communitybased organizations to build coalitions that can create the future of medicine for patients and providers.

COLLECTIVE STRENGTH

UChicago Medicine is one of 13 members of the South Side Health Transformation Project, which in 2021 launched the South Side Healthy Community Organization model, leading to the establishment of a 501(c)(3) organization. Through collaborative partnerships and with funding from the state of Illinois, the SSHCO is leveraging its collective strength, in the community and in medicine, to transform healthcare throughout Chicago’s South Side.

SSCHO developed a care delivery model that creates better access to care for patients, prevents and treats chronic diseases at scale within communities disproportionately affected by them, and connects people to resources addressing social determinants of health. The organization

Write us: Crain’s welcomes responses from readers. Letters should be as brief as possible and may be edited. Send letters to Crain’s Chicago Business, 130 E. Randolph St., Suite 3200, Chicago, IL 60601, or email us at letters@chicagobusiness.com.

Please include your full name, the city from which you’re writing and a phone number for fact-checking purposes.

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is navigating the traditional hurdles of mismatched electronic health records and other technology gaps to build a health system that allows every clinic, health center, community hospital and large academic hospital within our coalition to truly talk to each other.

Already, we’re relying on the strength of coalition members in training community health workers and taking into account the feedback we received at multiple town halls run by community representatives.

The initiative’s goal is to increase access to care in places left behind by our imbalanced health system, to prevent more community hospitals from shuttering, and to preserve and expand service lines in critical areas, including obstetrics and gynecology, that have in recent years fallen away and worsened health outcomes in our communities.

We want every patient, regardless of ZIP code, to get access to the care they want and need, in their community and at their convenience. Doing this will not only improve health outcomes, but will improve attitudes around and confidence in healthcare within underserved

Sound off: Send a column for the Opinion page to editor@ chicagobusiness.com. Please include a phone number for verification purposes, and limit submissions to 425 words or fewer.

8/5/22 2:57 PM

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CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • AUGUST 8, 2022 11

YOUR VIEW Continued communities, which could lead to significant improvements in the city’s overall public health.

UNIFIED GOAL

While these changes are right for patients, they’re also right for hospitals and health systems. Rightsizing the healthcare ecosystem in the community creates an economic balance that works for every institution serving it, including more affluent hospitals and less-resourced safety-net hospitals.

Our coalition didn’t happen without challenges for the leaders of each institution involved. What would be the cost to each of us? Could 13 different organizations work together and agree upon a care model design? Would we cooperate with

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

each other? Would the community participate in a system that linked care across our respective institutions?

For leaders who want to consider a similar approach, it’s important to look at where the participating organizations align. For our coalition, what we all have in common is a unified goal to reduce health inequities and chronic disease disparities. By putting this “true north” in perspective, we have ventured forward together to fundamentally transform health in our communities.

We agreed that if well-resourced health systems do not invest in community health, patients will get sicker and more skeptical.

And an imbalanced healthcare system will become unsustainable. We have a moral and fiscal obligation to rightsize the system and serve every patient where they are.

Firms should step up to support this crucial civic interest

S

erious staff shortages continue to plague hospitals, nursing homes, government and private industries more than two years into the pandemic. Polling places in June’s Illinois primary election were also woefully understaffed.

More than ever, it is vital for private-sector employers to become engaged in civic affairs.

Corporate sponsorships in the public’s interest have grown, along with their financial campaign contributions directed toward achieving their private interests. Businesses could have a greater civic impact if they allowed employees paid time off to serve on

Election Day as non-partisan election judges.

Our election judges get non-partisan, in-person training and are crucial for fair and efficient elections. In times when corporations are strategizing how to retain and recruit employees, a paid time off policy to serve on Election Day demonstrates a corporate commitment to civic participation.

The general election in November is not far away. Businesses should step up and support employees who wish to contribute to their communities.

ANDREA RAILA Chicago

CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

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8/5/22 2:57 PM

12 AUGUST 8, 2022 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

YOUR VIEW

Abbott Labs’ slow walk to ‘sorry’ CEO Robert Ford apologized for Abbott Laboratories’ role in a nationwide shortage of baby formula.

It just took time to get there. Here’s how he should have handled it.

S

EMPATHY

Abbott missed an opportunity when Ford didn’t show empathy from the start.

One of the first rules of crisis communications is to quickly take responsibility—and apologize, when appropriate—especially when the crisis involves a company’s core function, like product safety.

“Speed signals sincerity and dispels the idea that executives feel uncertainty or ambiguity about their responsibility,” professors Maurice Schweitzer, Alison Wood Brooks and Adam Galinsky wrote in a 2015 article in the Harvard Business Review.

“It’s crucial for the CEO to personally convey sorrow, responsibility and empathy early on if the crisis involves the brand’s core stated values, such as the health of babies,” said Nick Lanyi, an affiliate consultant with Ragan Consulting Group who specializes in crisis communications.

In a statement responding to written questions, an Abbott spokesman seemingly downplayed the importance of the public apology that Ford eventually made.

“We sometimes communicate with our customers and the public through mass media, but especially on sensitive topics, we also value our direct communication with parents, caregivers and health care providers,” the statement reads. “Those sincere expressions of regret and empathy took the form of thousands of phone calls and one-on-one conversations with parents” and others.

The company also expressed those sentiments through “videos and social media updates, congressional testimony, interactions with reporters” and other meth-

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WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

ome of the thorniest questions professional communicators face are posed by a corporate apology.

Among the five Ws, consider the “who” and “when” in the apology by Abbott Laboratories Chairman and CEO Robert Ford for his company’s role in a nationwide shortage of infant formula. He expressed his regret in May, three months after parents started scrambling to feed their babies following a product recall and shutdown of a key Abbott plant due to safety concerns.

“We’re sorry to every family we’ve let down since our voluntary recall exacerbated our nation’s baby formula shortage,” he wrote in an opinion piece in The Washington Tom Corfman is Post published May 21. an attorney and The carefully craftsenior consultant with Ragan Con- ed apology was widely picked up by other news sulting Group. media. However, by that time, the shortage and Abbott had become nearly synonymous. The North Chicagobased medical products company also faced criticism by members of Congress and questions about when its executive knew about safety lapses at its Michigan plant near the Indiana border. Persistent inquiries about the Food & Drug Administration’s fumbled response helped feed stories about the shortage and Abbott’s role in in it.

Abbott Labs CEO Robert Ford ods, according to the statement. You can read Abbott’s full statement below.

Abbott, with 2021 revenue of about $43 billion, is understandably reluctant to apologize for its safety procedures or the need for the recall. No connection has been established between a bacterial contamination of its products and the illnesses of five infants as of June 23, 2022, including three deaths.

Yet, Ford waited months to ask for forgiveness for the one thing he would apologize for, and eventually did: Abbott’s role in causing the nationwide shortage of formula.

TESTING CORPORATE FUNCTIONS

Abbott reopened the facility on June 4, only to close it in the middle of the month because of flood and storm damage. It restarted production July 1.

Product recalls test the skills of many corporate functions, from manufacturing and logistics to leadership and legal. But accurate and sensitive communications to all stakeholders can minimize damage to a brand and sometimes even burnish a company’s reputation.

Ford, 47, has been CEO since March 2020, when he replaced longtime chief executive Miles White. He replaced White as chairman barely two months before the recall. But Ford is no newcomer to Abbott, which he joined in 1996, working his way up to become president and chief operating officer in 2018.

Here’s a timeline of Abbott’s response: Feb. 17: At the recommendation of the FDA, the company announces a “voluntary recall” while defending the company’s safety procedures. Abbott shuts down its Sturgis, Mich., plant.

Toward the end of a 600-plus-word statement, an executive vice president is quoted as saying, “We deeply regret the concern and inconvenience this situation will cause parents, caregivers and health care professionals.”

By then, there had been three cases— including one death—possibly linked to formula contaminated by Cronobacter bacteria, which causes a rare but often fatal infection, according to the FDA. There was an additional case of Salmonella contamination, which caused illness.

Even though news reports about the scarcity of formula began surfacing in late January, the release did not acknowledge it. The shortage wasn’t hard to predict.

Abbott reportedly controlled 40% of the formula market before the recall.

In the statement, Abbott says: “We did not know in February for how long the plant would be shut down.”

Feb. 28: The FDA announces a second death possibly related to Cronobacter, bringing the total number of cases to five. The recall is expanded. “Our heartfelt sympathies are with all the families affected,” a company spokeswoman tells The Wall Street Journal. The similar

sentiment was expressed in other news reports and in the recall notice, which adds that the cause of the infection had not been determined.

March 22: Abbott addresses the formula shortage for the first time on its blog about the recall.

Without offering an apology, the company says, “We know that millions of parents and caregivers around the world count on our formulas to feed their babies and children and we are doing everything possible to address this situation.”

April 15: In a blog post about the company’s efforts to increase supply, Abbott says, “We know that our recent recall caused additional stress and anxiety in an already challenging situation of a global supply shortage.”

May 11: Abbott acknowledges the four cases of Cronobacter bacteria, including two infants who “tragically passed away,” in a lengthy blog post about the lack of connection between Abbott’s formula and those cases. The post uses a line later picked up by Ford’s opinion piece: “We know the recall has worsened an already existing industry-wide infant formula shortage in the U.S. and we’ve been seeing and hearing the stress and despair of parents who are facing empty shelves. We deeply regret the situation . . . “ May 21: Ford’s piece is published in the Post, the hometown newspaper of Congress and the FDA. “Our apology in the Washington Post was important for parents, caregivers, health care providers and policymakers to hear— but by no means was it the first or only apology we issued,” the statement says.

In his piece, Ford offers some wellworded expressions of empathy, acceptance of responsibility and promises to make changes, including: After denying any link between his prod-

ucts and the reported deaths and illnesses, he adds: “The FDA’s investigation did discover bacteria in our plant that we will not tolerate. I have high expectations of this company and we fell short of them.”

A shortage of a specialized formula

for infants with digestion problems has required that many babies get a doctor’s attention, he says, adding, “I will not mince words—this is tragic and heartbreaking, and it is consuming my thoughts and those of my colleagues.”

“We are making significant investments

to ensure this never happens again.”

“These steps we’re taking won’t end the

struggles of families today. Some solutions will take weeks, others will take longer, but we will not rest until it is done. I will not rest.

I want everyone to trust us to do what is right and I know that must be earned back.”

May 25: An Abbott senior vice president testifies before a panel of the House Committee on Energy & Commerce, saying, “All of us at Abbott regret the stress that this shortage has caused for parents.”

After reading the apology, you’re left with only one question: What took so long?

8/5/22 2:55 PM

CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • AUGUST 8, 2022 13

YOUR VIEW

Chicago’s snack bar wars: May the cleanest label win

SPAIN, SPAIN & VARNET P.C.

M

higher in protein than typical Clif Bars ondelez International’s $2.9 and loved by core customers, but Clif billion purchase of Clif Bar, chose to discontinue it. With a brand reannounced last month, burfresh and Mondelez marketing prowess, nishes Chicago’s status as it could be just the kind of product that the epicenter of the $20 billion global consumers want. snack bar business.

But, as competitor Kellogg has shown, It also raises the stakes for the Chicagothere are pitfalls to be avoided when takbased food industry giant in a product ing over companies that have established a category that is already crowded with better-for-you image with consumers. both big players and emerging brands, RxBar experienced significant growth, competing for consumers who are increasingly demanding better-for-people, better- Jim Slama is managing particularly in conventional channels, after it was absorbed into Kellogg. Yet within a for-the-planet ingredients, even in their director of Naturally year of the purchase, the entire RxBar leadbetween-meal treats.

Chicago, an associership team left the company and were The arms race in snack bars started ation of the natural replaced by Kellogg insiders. The division when Kellogg spent $600 million in 2017 products industry also faced a very expensive national recall. to acquire Chicago-based RxBar. Monde- in the region, and lez made a smaller splash in 2019 when founder of Good Food RxBar sales have slowed significantly in recent years, and attempts to expand into it acquired Perfect Bar, a refrigerated, Catalyst, a Chicago other categories such as nut butters and nutrient-dense, organic bar that has expe- based nonprofit. cereal have not been home runs. rienced rapid growth since the takeover.

Kellogg also rankled some locals recently when it Chicago’s Mars Wrigley upped the ante significantly removed the RxBar logo from the facade of the River in 2020 with its $5 billion acquisition of Kind.

While these heavyweights duke it out, the North building at Hubbard and Wells that was its Chicago region has also spawned several innova- home. That building is now adorned by the Kellogg’s tive contenders with specific appeals to health-and- logo, and it houses the national headquarters of Kellogg’s rebranded snack division, which has been wellness shoppers.

GoMacro, based in southern Wisconsin with a spun off and moved to Chicago.

These problems, though, pale by comparison with Chicago office, has been rapidly growing its certified perhaps the biggest blunder among natural products organic bar business.

Jimmy! Protein Bars (Chicago) has pioneered acquisitions by Big Food. It was also one of the first. In 2000 Kellogg acquired Kashi, which had developed a Keto-focused bars. strong brand identity as a natural and organic cereal Blake’s Seed Based snacks (Chicago) are primarily company. In its early days under Kellogg’s wing, Kashi made from fruit and seeds.

Made Good, producer of a line of organic granola continued to operate in California, grew their cereal and vegetable bars, has its U.S. headquarters in the market share dramatically and quickly added other successful product lines to capitalize on the strong Chicago region.

Kashi brand. As sales grew, Kashi became an anchor of Vital Proteins, one of Chicago’s biggest natural products success stories, just launched a line Kellogg’s natural and organic business.

But Kashi unraveled a decade ago after new corpoof protein and collagen bars in partnership with actor Jennifer Aniston, a longtime fan who is the rate leadership backed off Kashi’s product integrity and started using more nonorganic and GMO ingredients. company’s chief creative officer.

Upon Mondelez’s completion of its newest pur- It was sued by multiple states for using GMO and other chase, its portfolio will expand to include Clif Bar non-natural ingredients in their products, and these and its Luna Bar brand, which targets women. These cases were eventually settled for millions of dollars.

This controversy alienated customers, retailers products come with strong brand assets in the fight for today’s choosy consumers. (Vital Proteins CEO and other partners. Kashi, which had been relocated Tracey Halama is on Naturally Chicago’s board. from California to Battle Creek, Mich., in early 2013, Brigette Wolf, Mondelez’s vice president and global lost major market share and ended up returning to California as a stand-alone company by late 2014. head of snack futures, is about to join.)

Clif grew to be a category leader by targeting ath- But not before the fiasco was summed up with a cauletes with higher-calorie energy bars. Most of its tionary, vastly used slogan for Big Food companies ingredients are organic and they have strong social wading into the natural products industry for acquivalues around green energy and women’s issues. sitions: Don’t get Kashied!

Clif Bar itself was party to a little “my ingredients Clif Kids, aimed at younger eaters, is a growing segare better than yours” dust-up in 2019. Clif Bar took ment for the company.

Bill Weiland is CEO of Barrington-based Presence out a full-page ad in The New York Times to chalMarketing, the largest natural and organic food bro- lenge Kind’s owner Daniel Lubetzky to go organic, ker in the country, and has been leading the charge citing the ecological and health benefits of organic to build natural food brands nationally for more food. Kind shot back, citing Clif’s much higher than three decades. According to Weiland, Mon- sugar/carbohydrate content, driven by organic rice delez has an opportunity to grow Clif’s dominance syrup, and it touted the superiority of Kind’s nutwith its strong base of consumers who are passion- based, higher-protein bars. Clif, not to be outdone, ate about their health and the ecological benefits of pointed out that Kind’s primary sweetener, glucose syrup, is likely made from GMO corn. organic production.

Kind has seen the fastest growth in the entire cate“They can marry organic with higher-protein options that use lower-carbohydrate ingredients, gory by focusing on lower-sugar alternatives that are including greatly reduced sugars, to capitalize on higher in protein. After the Mars acquisition, Kind modern consumer preferences,” says Weiland, maintained its New York City office, and founder whose company grew big by launching and helping Lubetzky and most of his management team have reto build companies such as Vital Proteins, Simple mained in place. (Lubetzky serves as executive chairman of Kind.) Clif has announced that it plans to stay Mills, Clif Bar and hundreds of others.

He adds: “They should also consider creating a in its California headquarters for at least two years after line of products that focus on ingredients sourced the merger with Mondelez is consummated.

Mondelez has a great innovation team, and I bethrough regenerative farming operations, as these producers have minimal environmental impact lieve they are too smart to get Kashied. But a comand create a vibrant ecosystem replete with carbon pany whose signature product is Oreo cookies will sequestration. There is a huge segment of consumers face a certain amount of skepticism from good-food who will go out of their way to purchase value-added consumers concerning its intentions for Clif Bar. At Naturally Chicago, we’ll be closely watching the products that are also climate friendly.”

One way to do that would be to resurrect Kit’s dynamic and growing snack bar category—and may Organic Fruit & Nut Bar. It was lower in sugar and the cleanest label win.

P013_CCB_20220808.indd 13

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16 AUGUST 8, 2022 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT

City adds twist to Invest South/West approach Planning officials have reconfigured their process to spur development in blighted corridors, with sites in Woodlawn and East Garfield Park being their newest targets ambitious, larger assemblage of properties than the individCity planning officials are ual sites targeted under Invest hunting for developers and ar- South/West. And instead of chitects to transform a pair of asking developers to work with high-profile corridors on the designers to fine-tune ideas beSouth and West sides, tweaking fore pitching them, planning an approach it has taken with officials are instead shortlisting Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Invest two groups: Developers that can provide examples showing they South/West initiative.

The Department of Planning could pull off such projects, and & Development recently issued architects with a track record two requests for qualifications proving they could design them. to redevelop a collection of Once those pools are finalized, properties: one group of city- members of each can choose owned sites around the CTA who they want to work with to Green Line Kedzie Station in present project ideas to the city East Garfield Park and anoth- and community that could be er series of parcels along 63rd selected to move forward.

The framework is meant to Street in Woodlawn.

It’s similar to the Invest lower the barriers to entry for South/West strategy employed real estate developers and inover the past two years, in which vestors in South and West Side planning officials laid out their neighborhoods, a focal point of the planning department unTHE TWO NEW SITES ARE CLOSE TO der the Lightfoot administration.

AREAS OF SUBSTANTIAL INVESTMENT City officials have sought ways to inBUT ARE WHOLLY UNPROVEN AS duce new affordCOMMERCIAL CORRIDORS THEMSELVES. able housing and commercial projvision for redeveloping blight- ects in areas of the city that few ed commercial corridors in 10 developers will touch because South and West Side neighbor- of their history with disinvesthoods, offered up a menu of ment, poverty and population public incentives available to loss.

Planning Commissioner make them happen, then solicited bids from developers to Maurice Cox said the revised tactic was born out of feedback bring them to life.

The new RFQs take a different from developers that bid on Intack. Each focuses on a more vest South/West projects over

BY DANNY ECKER

the past couple of years and lamented the time and money they had to put into proposals that weren’t selected to move forward.

RESOURCES

Under the new approach, developers “know they’re in the running and they can allocate the resources they need to win the commission,” Cox said.

“This allows the development team to know who they’re competing against and show up with their A game,” Cox said.

The RFQ process also brings neighborhood residents into the discussion earlier. Once developers and design firms from the shortlisted pools team up, the planning department will host workshop sessions for them to gather more input from the community before spending their resources on pre-development work like architectural renderings and engineering studies.

Planning officials ran into pushback with Invest South/ West projects from some residents who had a different vision for what was needed on a block.

In Auburn Gresham, the winning bidders to redevelop a property along 79th Street with affordable housing ran into resistance from vocal residents who wanted to see more commercial development on the site.

The East Garfield Park and Woodlawn sites are far differ-

A rendering of structures that could help boost economic activity near the CTA Green Line Kedzie Station. ent from the Invest South/West properties, which were mostly single, vacant parcels on blocks that were already established as neighborhood commercial corridors. The two new sites are close to areas of substantial investment but are wholly unproven as commercial corridors themselves. Cox envisions them becoming what he dubs “15-minute neighborhoods,” or mixed-use developments that provide retail, dining and neighborhood amenities within a 15-minute walk of residents’ homes.

“This is a demonstration that we can create a neighborhood main street that we know makes living in a neighborhood worthwhile,” Cox said.

DEVELOPMENT PATH

The Kedzie CTA station is next to the Hatchery, a food and beverage business incubator, and 2 miles west of the United Center and in the path of development that has surged west from the Fulton Market District and the West Loop.

The bids will target three sites along Kedzie, one of which is

north of the station and two of which are south.

In Woodlawn, the RFQ includes a series of properties on either side of 63rd Street that are less than a mile from the future Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park. The RFQ envisions as many as six buildings being developed on the vacant sites.

Both sites are in existing tax-increment financing districts that are going through a process to be renewed for another 12 years after their impending expiration dates. TIF money and low-income housing tax credits are among the incentives the city is promoting as available options to help developers finance projects.

Responses to the RFQs are due by Sept. 14, according to a planning department spokesman. Cox said he aims to announce by the end of the year the development-design teams selected to move forward with projects on the sites.

The planning department is hosting pre-development information sessions on Aug. 15 for the Woodlawn RFQ and Aug. 16 for the East Garfield Park RFQ.

Amid worries that inflation elsewhere is taking a bite out of weed, Lollapalooza proves a reliable performer

BY JOHN PLETZ Lollapalooza delivered another summer pick-me-up to marijuana shops downtown.

PharmaCann and Cresco Labs report record sales at their River North stores during the four-day music festival that ended July 31. David Chiovetti, chief commercial officer of PharmaCann, which operates a store near Clark and Superior streets, said sales were up “double digits over last year. More people came in, and people spent more.”

The cannabis industry is wrestling with slumping weed prices and worries that inflation might cause customers to spend less or trade down to less-expensive products.

Cresco Labs said overall sales at its Sunnyside retail store at 436

P016_CCB_20220808.indd 16

N. Clark St. were up from a year ago, and it posted record volume.

“The cost per product was down a little from last year’s prices, but we made up for it with more transactions and more products per transaction, making it a winning festival weekend,” spokesman Jason Erkes said.

‘SOLID WEEKEND’

At Dispensary 33, which operates a store in the West Loop at 1152 W. Randolph St. and another on the North Side, a spokeswoman said, “we had a good increase in new customers. It was a solid weekend at both stores.”

Lolla has proven to be a reliable performer for marijuana shops. The boost is even more welcome this year. Cannabis stocks have been in a slump, with many down 50% or more for the

year, compared to a 14% decline for the S&P 500.

Research firm Cowen recently cut its forecast for U.S. growth by about half, expecting sales to climb 6% this year. The steepest declines are in older, less-regulated markets, such as California and Colorado, where prices have been declining amid rising supplies.

Illinois and Michigan, which are newer markets, are still growing. “Though price deflation has been a feature in these markets, the positive growth reflects the benefits of better foot traffic and volume purchases, which has offset the revenue growth headwind from negative price/mix,” Cowen analysts said in a research note.

Illinois, which has relatively few stores and hasn’t yet seen many new growers begin harvesting product, has the highest wholesale pot prices in the nation, according to research firm Cannabis Benchmarks. Mari-

PATRICK T. FALLON/BLOOMBERG

Lolla gives downtown pot shops a sales jolt

The cannabis industry is wrestling with slumping weed prices and concern about inflation. juana sells for about $3,400 per pound in Illinois. That’s down from about $4,100 in October, but it’s still triple the national average of $1,047 per pound.

Overall, Illinois’ cannabis sales have slipped 2% in each of

the past two months and have been hovering near $4.2 million per day. The state is hoping for a pickup as newly licensed stores begin to open, but a noticeable impact might not come until next year.

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18 AUGUST 8, 2022 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

A complaint says the defendants ‘repeatedly reassured investors’ that the jetliner was safe after they allegedly knew better

BY STEVEN R. STRAHLER Institutional money managers are suing Boeing and its former CEO Dennis Muilenburg for investment losses they suffered after relying on allegedly “false and misleading” statements by the defendants over the safety of the company’s 737 Max 8, which was involved in two fatal crashes.

Gregory Smith, Boeing’s former chief financial officer who served as interim CEO after Muilenburg resigned in late

the plaintiffs suffered “significant” losses without specifying an amount. Boeing and Muilenburg did not return messages seeking comment. Smith could not be reached. No attorneys for the defendants are identified in court documents.

SOFTWARE FIX

Following the crashes that killed 346 passengers and crew, Boeing in early 2021 agreed to pay $2.5 billion in to resolve a Department of Justice charge alleging a conspiracy to defraud the FAA’s evaluation of the airplane—a settlement THE 737 MAX IS AN UPGRADED that has been challenged families of victims.

MODEL OF THE WORKHORSE 737. byThe 737 Max was an upgraded model of the 2019, is also a defendant in the workhorse 737 that used larger lawsuit filed July 25 in federal engines to add efficiencies in court here on behalf of Nuveen an effort to compete with rival Global Investment Funds, TIAA- Airbus. But the change affectCREF Funds and their affiliates. ed the plane’s aerodynamics, The complaint says that and critics charged that Boeing

P018_CCB_20220808.indd 18

opted for a cheap fix and didn’t fully inform pilots about it.

“Rather than fix the aerodynamics through structural changes to the airplane—which would have been time consuming, expensive, and prevented the 737 MAX from being quickly certified as a remodeled version of one of Boeing’s other airplanes—Boeing added a Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) to the airplane’s flight control software,” the suit says.

When Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea in October 2018, killing all 189 aboard, “the cause of the crash was a mystery to everyone except (the) defendants,” the complaint says, citing “serious qualify and safety concerns” raised by a whistleblower over “schedule pressure” put on employees.

“Nevertheless, over the next five months, defendants repeatedly reassured investors that the 737 MAX was safe,” the lawsuit alleges. “Defendants also cast aspersions on the Lion Air pilots and told flight crews that they could deactivate MCAS by simply following ‘existing procedures’

BLOOMBERG

Boeing, former CEO sued over losses associated with 737 Max

Critics charged that Boeing opted for a cheap fix to the 737 Max and didn’t fully inform pilots. set forth in the 737 MAX’s flight manual. But MCAS was neither described in the 737 MAX’s flight manual nor had it ever been used on one of Boeing’s commercial airplanes before.”

PROBE

When Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed in March 2019, killing 157, the 737 Max was grounded by regulators, and the Securities & Exchange Commission launched a probe into Boeing’s disclosures to in-

vestors.

Muilenberg is now CEO of blank-check company New Vista Acquisition, which raised $240 million in a 2020 initial public offering but has yet to acquire any holdings in its target aerospace and defense sectors.

Smith retired from Boeing in July 2021 after 10 years as CFO. In January, Crain’s reported that he and his wife, Denise Matthews-Smith, sold their Winnetka home for a little over $4 million.

8/4/22 3:25 PM

CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • AUGUST 8, 2022 19

Ebony, Jet photo archive heading to Smithsonian

BY ALLY MAROTTI Johnson Publishing’s historic Ebony and Jet magazine photo archive is heading to the Smithsonian, with a portion staying in Chicago.

The fate of the 4 million-photo archive has been up in the air for years, as Johnson Publishing— once the largest Black-owned company in America—declined and eventually declared bankruptcy. At one point, Mellody Hobson, co-CEO of Chicago-based Ariel Investments, and her husband, filmmaker George Lucas, stepped in, concerned about the safety of the collection.

In July 2019, a group of foundations paid $30 million to buy the archive at an auction of assets connected to the bankruptcy filing. The group included the Ford Foundation, the J. Paul Getty Trust, the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The archive has been housed in Chicago since the purchase.

The group announced July 28 that it had transferred ownership of the collection to the Smithso-

nian National Museum of African American History & Culture— where it will be physically housed in Washington, D.C.—and to the Getty Research Institute, a program of the Getty Trust. Parts of the archive pertaining to Chicago’s history will stay in town permanently, The group is looking for an organization or institution to house or display the photos in Chicago.

PROCESSING

Work is already underway to process and digitize the photos, paid for with $30 million from the Getty Trust. Portions of the archive are expected to be accessible to the public as that process continues.

The archives include more than 3 million photo negatives, 983,000 photos, 166,000 contact sheets and 9,000 audio and visual recordings. They represent the most comprehensive visual documentation of Black life in the early 20th century, from World War II through the civil rights movement, and on through the 1990s.

Johnson Publishing was founded during the Jim Crow era in 1942

by John and Eunice Johnson. The

archive includes photos of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Billie Holiday, Maya Angelou, Rosa Parks and thousands of poets, athletes, politicians and everyday people.

“The Johnson Publishing Company Archive captures both the iconic and everyday experience of Black life in 20th century America,” Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden said in a news release announcing the ownership transfer. She is leading an advisory board making recommendations about the archive. “The conservation and digitization of these materials will benefit countless scholars, professionals, and everyday Americans who will be able to access and explore this extraordinary archive,” she said.

After John Johnson died in 2005, Johnson Publishing went into decline. The company, which was headquartered in Chicago, sold its Ebony and Jet publishing operations in 2016 but kept the

CLASSIC FILM, PRINCE CAMPBELL/FLICKR

Johnson Publishing’s historic archive of 4 million photos is heading to Washington, D.C., with parts pertaining to Chicago’s history staying here

photo archive and its Fashion Fair cosmetics business. Then-Chairman Linda Johnson Rice—John Johnson’s daughter—tried to sell the archives several times to no avail before the company filed for a Chapter 7 liquidation in 2019.

Hobson and Lucas came into the equation through their San Francisco-based Capital Holdings V firm. The firm tried to take possession of the collection because it was used as collateral for a $12 million loan they made to Johnson Publishing in 2015, which had been in default for several years. Their main concern was with the safety of the collec-

tion, and they supported the selling of the archive and donation to a museum, Crain’s previously reported.

The iconic cosmetics brand was created in 1973 and sold skin, hair and fragrance products for Black women. A group that included Desiree Rogers, former White House social secretary under President Barack Obama and former CEO of Johnson Publishing, bought Fashion Fair out of bankruptcy for $1.85 million in fall of 2019. Former NBA player Ulysses “Junior” Bridgeman bought Ebony and Jet for $14 million in late 2020.

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20 AUGUST 8, 2022 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

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U of I gets grant to start First Amendment clinic

With freedom of expression under attack, the law school dean says cases will ‘span the ideological spectrum’

BY STEVEN R. STRAHLER The University of Illinois College of Law is establishing a First Amendment clinic to take on freedom-of-expression cases and train lawyers in the subject, under a grant from a foundation founded by a former CBS president.

The college already has about half a dozen such clinics, in areas like immigration law, veterans rights and trademark law, where a practicing lawyer teaching at the law school serves as director, according to Vikram Amar, the school’s dean.

The First Amendment clinic will enroll its first students—about six to 10—in fall 2023 and, besides hiring a director, will appoint a recent graduate as an assistant, he said.

The New York-based Stanton Foundation says it has funded 11 First Amendment clinics, with another in the works. It pays out $305,000 per year over five years, plus up to $15,000 for website upgrades and another $5,000 for event costs to each recipient.

Amar said his school didn’t apply for the grant; the foundation approached it, he said.

“There was an implicit competition,” Amar said. “I think it helped that the dean—that’s me—has a background in constitutional law and has written about free speech.”

Stephen Kidder, a Boston lawyer speaking for the foundation, said, “The University of Illinois College of Law really does have a commitment to First Amendment law.”

While the separate University of Illinois Chicago School of Law isn’t involved, students enrolled at the Champaign-Urbana campus have opportunities in their third and final year to take classes in Chicago, where some clinic courses are held, Amar said.

Another grant recipient, Southern Methodist University’s law school, listed areas its clinic would cover, including: Freedom of Information Act

requests; motions to quash subpoenas directed to journalists; issues related to the right to photograph police officers and other government officials in public; pre-publication review of news articles; representation of witnesses in defamation cases; motions to obtain access to court records; challenges to gag orders; and motions to open courtrooms or to televise proceedings.

“We’re going to run the gamut,” said Amar. “Freedom of speech is a diverse area of the law.”

‘TRUE CHAMPION’

The Stanton Foundation lists about $150 million in net assets and $10.7 million in grants during 2019 in a report to the Internal Revenue Service required of nonprofit organizations. Duke, Yale and Cornell universities are among its First Amendment clinic grantees; the foundation’s other main concerns are animal care and nuclear politics and security.

Frank Stanton, a Michigan native who died at 98 in 2006, was president of CBS during the formative years of television broadcasting and helped shape its development. In 1960, he was among network executives who persuaded Congress to waive an equal-time provision that paved the way for the first televised presidential debates.

“Frank Stanton was a true champion of the First Amendment,” Newton Minow, former Federal Communications Commission chairman, wrote in an email. “I dedicated my book about the presidential debates to his memory.”

In a politically polarized era, Amar said clinic cases will “span the ideological spectrum”—”which illustrates the transcendent quality of free speech.”

“I lament the fact that civics education of young people today has not really done a great job in explaining how important free speech is to democracy.”

8/4/22 3:43 PM

CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • AUGUST 8, 2022 21

Good news and bad for customers of ComEd rivals

SATURDAY, SEPT. 24 SOLDIER FIELD

Those whose power came from another supplier paid about $10 more per month in the year ended May 31 than they would have with the utility. But that’s down from about $18 a month the previous year.

BY STEVE DANIELS The average household buying electricity from a firm other than Commonwealth Edison paid about $10 more per month over the past year than it would have with ComEd. That counts for good news in the controversial business of persuading residential customers to switch from ComEd. In the prior-year period, which ran from June 1, 2020, to May 31, 2021, the average household customer of a non-utility supplier paid $18 more per month than it would have with ComEd. The update is in the Illinois Commerce Commission’s annual report on the retail power markets in the state. The year ended May 31 marks the eighth straight year that households buying from a supplier other than ComEd paid considerably more for their electricity.

In total, residential customers of retailers paid $112 million more than they would have with ComEd. The average ComEd customer pays about $85 a month for electricity.

MARKET SHARE

CRACKDOWN

The state cracked down on sketchy bait-and-switch marketing tactics routinely employed by some suppliers in the so-called HEAT Act, enacted in 2019. Among other things, the law bars firms from automatically renewing customers after their contracts expire if they don’t charge a firm price over the course of the pact. Many suppliers before the law would entice customers with low teaser rates and then dramatically increase the prices after three months.

That could account for why suppliers are struggling to attract new customers to replace the ones who’ve left. Also an important factor has been the COVID-19 pandemic, which for about a year barred sales reps for marketers from going door to door.

The recent spike in wholesale power prices is likely to change the dynamic for retailers. With market prices for energy unusually low over most of the past decade, consumers generally weren’t searching for savings. Instead, they had to be sold.

Now, as with other industries, consumers may well become more price-sensitive and hunt for deals.

That could be an opportunity for the retail industry, as well as a challenge for state enforcement personnel charged with keeping the industry’s marketing tactics honest.

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Perhaps not surprisingly, the consistent industry record of charging far more than the utility does for power has resulted in falling market share. In the year ended May 31, a little over 500,000 households in ComEd’s territory had signed up on their own with a retail supplier, down from about 536,000 the year before, according to the ICC report.

That still amounts to about 14% of ComEd’s residential customers.

“The value proposition for certain customers is flexible contract terms and fixed-price certainty, green power options, and energy savings products that competitive retail electric suppliers offer, but the utility does not,” said Kevin Wright, president of the Illinois Competitive Energy Association, which represents suppliers. “Price is one of many factors consumers weigh in making

their electric supply decision.”

Overall, more than 747,000 households were customers of non-utility suppliers as of May. The other 211,000 or so are signed up via contracts negotiated by their municipalities. Once a popular policy choice for suburbs in the area, contracting with suppliers on behalf of residents and small businesses is much less so now as savings have been hard to achieve. Over the past year, the number of residential customers served by retailers fell 20% overall.

Join friends, family, and thousands of fellow walkers at the Midwest’s largest ALS gathering.

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8/4/22 3:37 PM

22 AUGUST 8, 2022 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

NorthShore to settle COVID vax mandate suit The Christian law firm representing employees says NorthShore University HealthSystem will pay $10.3M over denial of religious exemptions for COVID shots NorthShore University HealthSystem has agreed to a settlement of more than $10.3 million in an employees’ lawsuit that alleged the Evanston-based system unlawfully denied religious exemptions to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, according to the law firm representing employees.

Conservative Christian law firm Liberty Counsel said the settlement was the first of its kind for health care workers fighting COVID vaccine mandates. The settlement, on behalf of more than 500 current and former employees, must be approved by a federal judge.

NorthShore will pay $10,337,500, the statement said. Without admitting wrongdoing, NorthShore acknowledged in an emailed statement that it would change its vaccine policy throughout the new NorthShore–Edward-Elmhurst Health, accommodate team members with approved exemptions and may bring back employees who were fired.

“We continue to support system-wide, evidence-based vaccination requirements for everyone who works at NorthShore–Edward-Elmhurst and thank our team members for helping to keep our communities safe,” NorthShore said in the statement. “The settlement reflects implementa-

tion of a new system-wide vaccine policy which will include accommodation for team members with approved exemptions, including former employees who are rehired.”

The settlement agreement states that “NorthShore estimates that approximately 523 team members requested and were denied religious exemption and/or accommodation to its vaccine policy requiring COVID-19 vaccination between July 1, 2021, and January 1, 2022.”

ALLEGATIONS

Liberty Counsel said the employees “were victims of religious discrimination, and who were punished for their religious beliefs against taking an injection associated with aborted fetal cells.”

Although some vaccine research may have used aborted fetal cell lines in development, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has stated that the COVID vaccines do not contain fetal cell tissues.

And the Catholic Church also came out in favor of the use of COVID-19 vaccines, saying “it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process.”

The issue began in October 2021 when the law firm sent a demand

NORTHSHORE

BY JON ASPLUND

Without admitting wrongdoing, NorthShore acknowledged that it would change its vaccine policy. letter to NorthShore to accept religious exemptions on behalf of the original plaintiffs, then filed suit.

NorthShore will change its policy and provide religious accommodations in every position across its numerous facilities, the Liberty Counsel statement said.

TERMS

Employees of NorthShore who were denied religious exemptions will have an opportunity to comment, object, request to opt out or submit a claim form for payment out of the settlement fund, Liberty

Counsel said in the statement.

Employees who were fired because of their religious refusal of the COVID shots will be eligible for rehire if they apply within 90 days of final settlement approval by the court, and they will retain their previous seniority level, Liberty Counsel said.

Employees who were fired or resigned because of their religious refusal of a COVID shot will receive about $25,000 each, and employees who were forced to accept a COVID shot against their religious beliefs to keep their jobs will re-

ceive about $3,000 each, Liberty Counsel said in the statement.

“The original 13 health care workers who are lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit will receive an additional approximate payment of $20,000 each for their important role in bringing this lawsuit and representing the class of NorthShore health care workers,” Liberty Counsel said.

Liberty Counsel said in the statement that it will receive 20% of the settlement sum, or about $2.06 million, for attorneys fees and costs.

State Farm again hits auto customers with price hike This one, for 8.4%, may be the insurer’s largest one-time auto rate increase ever in Illinois

BY STEVE DANIELS For the third time this year, State Farm is raising auto rates in Illinois—an 8.4% increase that may be the insurance giant’s steepest ever one-time price hike in its home state.

Bloomington-based State Farm joins other major auto insurers in dramatically increasing rates, making it more difficult for drivers here to keep the costs of owning and maintaining their cars from soaring.

This latest increase will hike the average annual premium by nearly $70, or almost $6 per month, according to a filing with the Illinois Department of Insurance.

State Farm’s three increases combined this year total more than 16% and will have raised premiums for roughly a third of drivers in the state by an average of about $127 annually. The latest increase takes effect Sept. 13.

A State Farm spokeswoman had no immediate comment.

Northbrook-based Allstate, the

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second-largest auto insurer in Illinois after State Farm, recently filed to hike average rates by 16%.

Two double-digit Allstate increases this year add up to nearly 30%, or $520 annually.

Want to save money with Geico, as the Chevy Chase, Md.based company so frequently advertises? It will be a lot more difficult after Geico’s 17% average rate hike takes effect Aug. 19.

Multiple increases by Geico within the past year will have jacked up policyholders’ premiums by an average of about $470 annually. Geico is the fourth-largest insurer of Illinois drivers.

SOARING COSTS

Auto insurers are struggling to keep up with the costs of settling claims. A steep rise in used-car prices is the primary cause.

But the unprecedented pace of the rate hikes has state regulators pushing back. The Illinois Department of Insurance in a letter asked State Farm to justify the latest increase with detailed data.

State Farm responded but

made clear it thought regulators were overstepping their bounds.

“In the spirit of cooperation, State Farm is willingly providing the requested information outside of the department’s review under more specific investigatory authority granted in the Illinois Insurance Code, but does not waive any future right to maintain or argue that the department has limited authority to: (1) require confidential, trade secret or privileged information related to rating and/or (2) require insurers to create information/documents not already available to be filed with a rate filing, or otherwise file information outside of the items required to be included with a rate filing under the above cited regulation,” the company wrote July 28.

State lawmakers are pushing for legislation to give regulators more authority to demand information from insurers on their profits from drivers and to make it public. Unlike most other states, Illinois regulators have virtually no authority over insurers’ rates.

With State Farm and Allstate headquartered in Illinois, efforts in the past to give regulators

State Farm’s three increases combined this year total more than 16%. more power over pricing have gone nowhere.

EARLIER CUTS

State Farm’s latest increase will more than erase the 14% rate cut the company gave policyholders in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold and driving levels plummeted. That rate cut—far deeper than other major auto insurers provided— has strengthened State Farm’s already-commanding position in

the Illinois market.

Since mid-2020, State Farm’s number of auto policies in the state has risen 6%—to just over 3 million, according to the filing. Over the same period, auto policy numbers from Geico and Ohio-based Progressive have fallen. Both Geico and Progressive for years leading up to the pandemic had gained market share in Illinois at the expense of Allstate and State Farm, among others.

8/4/22 3:33 PM

B R E A KFAST

Sustainability

Crain’s Senior Reporter Ally Marotti sits down with McDonald’s Chief Sustainability Officer Jenny McColloch in an exclusive conversation about the fast-food giant’s global sustainability efforts and thoughts on best practices for businesses and policy decisionmakers.

SPEAKER Jenny McColloch Chief Sustainability Officer McDonald’s Corp.

MODERATOR Ally Marotti Reporter Crain’s Chicago Business

Wednesday, August 24, 2022 | 7:30 - 9:45 am | The Chicago Club | 81 E Van Buren St

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8/2/22 11:02 AM

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Advertising Section To place your listing, visit www.chicagobusiness.com/peoplemoves or, for more information, contact Debora Stein at 917.226.5470 / dstein@crain.com

ACCOUNTING / CONSULTING

ARCHITECTURE / DESIGN

EDUCATION

INVESTMENT BANKING

LAW

Baker Tilly US, LLP, Chicago

Gensler, Chicago

TCS Education System, Chicago

Livingstone, Chicago

Pedersen & Houpt, Chicago

Baker Tilly, leading advisory, tax and assurance firm, welcomes David Perzov and Rocco Rinaldi. David Perzov joins as an assurance partner on the real estate Perzov team with more than 14 years of experience.

Throughout his career, David has assisted real estate companies of all sizes and stages within the business lifecycle, specializing in audit, internal controls, technical accounting, valuation and Rinaldi capital market activity.

Rocco Rinaldi, audit partner, is an experienced addition to the manufacturing and distribution team.

He brings two decades of client service, people development and technical accounting experience specific to the M&D market. He specializes in servicing privately owned domestic and multinational companies.

Mark M. Nelson, AIA, joins Gensler as a Senior Design Manager. With 30+ years of experience in design leadership and construction project management, Mark has developed and directed design and construction teams for projects spanning verticals, including workplace, repositioning, mixed use, education, sciences, broadcast & media, and critical facilities. Mark brings knowledge and expertise in relation to project design, budgeting, and scheduling which will aid in the success of client projects.

John Springer, MBA, has entered a new role as Chief Financial Officer with TCS Education System, a nonprofit system that leverages collaboration and strategic partnerships to advance institutional sustainability, student success, and community impact.

With more than 25 years of industry and consulting experience and as a former senior leader at American Intercontinental University and SIRVA, Springer will bring valuable expertise in finance, operations, and strategic leadership to the role.

Livingstone welcomes Adam Green as a Director in its Special Situations practice.

Adam joins the firm from Lazard, where he was a Vice President in the Restructuring & Capital Solutions Group. Adam has over 10 years of experience advising management teams and boards of directors in a variety of distressed situations and transaction types.

Ryan Young has joined Pedersen & Houpt as the leader of the firm’s Employment Law Practice. He focuses his practice on counseling and defending employers in a wide range of employment matters, including: 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1981, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and their state equivalents. Ryan also advises in-house counsel, HR professionals, and management on a variety of everyday operational issues.

ARCHITECTURE / LIGHTING G|R|E|C Architects, Chicago Nageshwar Rao joins GREC as an associate, bringing with him an architectural career that spans over 17 years.

Nageshwar has been responsible for the design and development Rao of a diverse body of work from large to midscale hospitality, highrise and multi-family residential towers, to mixed-use developments, healthcare, and singlefamily homes.

José Navarrete Navarrete transitioned to GREC as a project architect, bringing with him eight years of architectural design and construction experience. His past work includes high-end single-family homes in Mexico and interior design for hospitality projects. José completed his bachelor’s degree from Instituto Tecnologico de Queretaro and a master’s degree in BIM Management from the University of Barcelona.

ARCHITECTURE / DESIGN MKSK, Inc., Chicago MKSK is an EmployeeOwned company of Planners, Urban Designers and Landscape Architects, who are passionate about the interaction between Weidl people and place.

MKSK announces Senior Associate, Brett Weidl, PLA, ASLA, LEED AP as the MKSK Chicago Studio leader and the relocation of Associate, Donald Zellefrow, AICP to its newly established Chicago location. MKSK Zellefrow has 110 dedicated professionals in eight states. MKSK approaches planning and design with a clear understanding that each place is unique and has economic, social, environmental, historical, and cultural influences which should be explored through thoughtful, equitable, and innovative planning and design.

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ARTS / ENTERTAINMENT Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Chicago Merrillyn J. Kosier has been appointed Board Chair for the Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance. A member of the Theater’s Board of Trustees since 2006, Kosier is an experienced board member and financial executive with nearly four decades of strategic leadership at some of the most distinguished firms in the asset management industry, most recently as Executive Vice President of Ariel Investments.

ENGINEERING / CONSTRUCTION Milhouse Engineering and Construction, Inc., Chicago Fred Owens has elevated to Chief Engineer at Milhouse Engineering and Construction, Inc. Since joining Milhouse in 2018, Fred has demonstrated technical talents in a variety of disciplines and extreme dedication to the success of the organization. Fred is a licensed Structural Engineer, a licensed Professional Engineer and is LEED AP BD-C certified with over 25 years of diverse experience coupled with being highly skilled at delivering creative solutions to clients’ challenges.

LAW Levin Schreder & Carey, Chicago Levin Schreder & Carey congratulates Elizabeth A. McKillip on her equity partnership admission.

Elizabeth is a member of the firm’s Trust and Estate Controversy Resolution Group and focuses her practice on representing corporate fiduciaries and individuals in complex trust and estate litigation and representing owners in family business and closely-held business disputes.

LAW

BANKING First Bank Chicago, Highland Park

EXECUTIVE SEARCH

Mayer Brown, Chicago

First Bank Chicago, one of the top five privately held banks in Chicagoland, is pleased to welcome Kim Couture as Assistant Vice President, Business Banking. Kim is responsible for supporting our expansion strategy by providing a wide range of banking solutions to meet the needs of our small business and non-profit clients in addition to growing client and prospect relationships. Kim comes to us from U.S. Bank and brings over 6 years of banking experience.

Comhar Partners, Chicago

Mayer Brown appoints Debra Bogo-Ernst as managing partner of the Chicago office. She is the third consecutive female leader of the firm’s largest office. Ms. Bogo-Ernst serves as co-leader of Mayer Brown’s national Consumer & Class Actions practice. She represents national and multinational corporations in a range of business sectors, with particular emphasis on the defense of commercial and consumer-based litigation and enforcement actions in the financial services and insurance industries.

CONSULTING

Comhar Partners, a recognized national leader in retained executive search and professional recruiting, has announced the addition of Peter Meder to their team. As Managing Director, Meder will focus on industrial, healthcare, and professional services practice areas. With over 30 years of experience in senior-level executive search, Meder helps clients make critical decisions regarding leadership within their organization.

INVESTMENT BANKING

INSIGHT2PROFIT, Chicago

Brown Gibbons Lang & Company, Chicago

Carl Will was recently appointed as the new CEO for INSIGHT2PROFIT, one of the largest, fastestgrowing companies in the price and profitability consulting space. Will’s primary goals as CEO will be two-fold; helping clients seize profit growth through pricing expertise and tailored tech-enabled solutions and building talented and energized teams that drive impact. Will joins the company following a long career in C-suite management, most recently with Sunrise Windows & Doors.

Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL), a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Jones-Pritchard to Managing Director within its Consumer investment banking team. Mark has more than 20 years of experience in the Consumer industry, with middle market transaction experience in the outdoor & active lifestyle, experiential, and eCommerce sectors.

LAW Neal & McDevitt, LLC, Northfield Neal & McDevitt, LLC is pleased to announce that Evan D. Brown has joined the firm as a partner. Evan comes to the firm with over twenty years of experience negotiating technology transactions and advising in trademark, copyright and domain name matters. Evan joins an unsurpassed team of trademark and advertising law professionals serving clients around the globe.

NON-PROFIT Anderson Humane, South Elgin Anderson Humane, a leading animal welfare organization in the western suburbs for the past 50 years, is pleased to welcome Stephen Carr and Jeff Robey to Carr their leadership team.

As Chief Development Officer, Stephen Carr oversees all philanthropic revenue channels and a $40 million capital campaign. Carr has been raising funds for philanthropies for more than two decades, most Robey recently at The Salvation Army and American Cancer Society.

As Chief Engagement Officer, Jeff Robey is responsible for all marketing and educational efforts.

Robey brings more than 25 years of marketing and communications experience, most recently as the Director of Strategy for The Salvation Army Metropolitan Division.

PUBLIC RELATIONS Reputation Partners, LLC, Chicago Reputation Partners, LLC, a national strategic communications and public relations firm, welcomes Amy Littleton as president. A respected and award-winning PR industry leader, Littleton brings a wealth of experience in business and consumer marketing communications and brand activation. Amy has worked with clients in insurance, financial services, professional services and consumer products, among others.

To order frames or plaques of profiles contact Lauren Melesio at lmelesio@crain.com or 212-210-0707

8/3/22 8:19 AM

2022

CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • AUGUST 8, 2022 25

EXECUTIVES IN EXECUTIVES IN HR HR AND ANDDIVERSITY, DIVERSITY,EQUITY AND INCLUSION Searching for an executive with a full plate? Look no further than the human resources department. Pandemic-induced calls for hybrid and remote EQUITY AND INCLUSION work, demands for social and racial justice in the workplace, and the need for more robust health and wellness plans have kept HR leaders busy and then some over the past few years. (And that’s in addition to managing payroll, recruiting and hiring, and overall keeping the people ship on an even keel.) Women tech accelerators, pipelines for diverse talent, techniques to avoid unconscious bias in the workplace, diversity dashboards and talent-management plans built around mentor-style relationships are just a sampling of the people-first programs these leaders have launched to meet today’s HR challenges. Everyone can learn from their creativity and drive.—Lisa Bertagnoli JESSICA ADAMS

ROD ADAMS

FELIPA AGUIRRE

Vice president, human resources Brad’s Deals

Principal, PwC U.S. and Mexico talent acquisition and onboarding leader PwC

Senior vice president, talent management Wintrust

Jessica Adams leads the HR resourcemanagement team and all aspects of employee relations. She’s in charge of researching and developing performance appraisal, metrics and incentive programs and runs several key programs for company growth, including the diversity recruiting and event-planning task forces. She championed the certification of Brad’s Deals as carbon neutral and created its Women Tech Accelerator, which has run for five years and supported 15 women-led startups. Since Adams implemented a recruiting task force, 45% of new hires have been nonwhite candidates, almost 30% identify as non-straight and 50% identify as female. She also helped create a DEI report designed to transparently share progress and hold the company accountable.

Rod Adams leads a team of more than 500 staff that hires more than 20,000 employees annually. Recently he helped refresh the Access Your Potential program, PwC’s $125 million commitment to provide Black and Latino college students access to digital- and career-readiness training.

In the past eight years, he increased PwC’s engagement with historically Black colleges and universities, broadening relationships to 35 from seven, and continued its collaboration with Hispanic-serving institutions.

The Start internship program for high-performing college sophomores and juniors has increased 51%, from to 998 interns in 2021 from 455 in 2015. Adams is on the board of The Posse Foundation-Chicago and is a Daniel Burnham Fellow for Leadership Greater Chicago.

Felipa Aguirre provides strategic HR support, including leadership development, talent acquisition and employee engagement, for Wintrust’s mortgage division and first insurance areas, representing 1,600 employees. Challenged by low interest rates in the mortgage industry in recent years, she developed a multipronged strategy that successfully recruited more than 200 employees, achieving the lowest turnover rates in the last five years and resulting in improved employee engagement rates. In partnership with the mortgage CEO, she developed a holistic diversity and inclusion strategy that set meaningful milestones to improve customer experience, culture and employee representation. Aguirre has been offered a seat on the board of Family Focus, which is being finalized, and also holds SHRM-SCP certification.

NORISSA BAILEY

KEIANA BARRETT

KATIE BELL

Senior vice president for people and culture Art Institute of Chicago

Director, diversity and strategic development Sterling Bay

Vice president of human resources–talent acquisition Cresco Labs

Norissa Bailey manages the strategies and processes related to inclusion, belonging and engagement; training, mentoring, professional development, and performance management and evaluation; and recruiting, hiring, onboarding and retention. Recently she cultivated a new team, People & Culture, to improve the employee experience, advance equity work and foster a supportive museum culture. She also launched organizationwide anti-racism training sessions for staff along with manager-specific sessions for leaders.

Bailey holds a Senior Professional in Human Resources certification and is affiliated with the Society for Human Resource Management, Chicago Women in Philanthropy, Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and Jack & Jill of America. In July, she joined the board of Enrich Chicago.

Architect of Sterling Bay’s DEI blueprint and value system, Keiana Barrett is also lead contributor to its environmental, social and governance strategy and co-designer of its business cultivation framework, targeting MWBE construction and professional services firms. She created the inaugural Sterling Bay inclusion committee, designed to foster cultural consciousness and fair hiring, retention and advancement policies; a supplier diversity program; a partnership with historically Black colleges and universities to create a more diverse talent pipeline in construction and commercial real estate; and authored Sterling Bay’s first Diversity in Action catalog of milestones. She serves as the social activism chair for Jack & Jill of America and is a Kenwood High School Local School Council member.

Katie Bell oversees staffing across the organization, managing a team of recruiters, managers and coordinators and leading the rapid hiring of more than 2,500 employees. She partners with Learning & Development to create hiring manager trainings centered on best practices in everything from job-description creation to avoiding unconscious-bias interviewing techniques. She standardized the recruiting process to eliminate bias, nepotism and favoritism, shaping a workforce that’s 63% minorities and women.

She helped align levels and titles with an emphasis on fair and consistent pay bands and worked to change the image of what a cannabis professional looks like, ensuring that locations reflect the diversity of the communities Cresco serves.

OLA BOLTON

CHRISTINA BRODZIK

MARYAM BROWN

Global ethnicity inclusion and diversity lead Accenture

Principal Deloitte Consulting

Director of people and culture Milhouse Engineering & Construction

Ola Bolton is a strategic thought leader focused on creating a culture of equality and accelerating the pace of change in the workplace. She has more than three decades with Accenture (she began as a high school work-study student) with experience in talent acquisition, leadership development and employee engagement. She is helping to drive Accenture’s global DEI efforts for the overall workforce across the U.S., U.K. and South Africa. By 2025, the U.S. goals are a workforce with 12% African American/Black colleagues and 13% Hispanic American/Latinx colleagues. Bolton serves on the board of Genesys Works Chicago, providing pathways to high school students in underserved communities. She is also a member of Jack & Jill of America.

Christina Brodzik is the national leader of Deloitte’s DEI client service practice, working across industries to advance outcomes in workforces and the marketplace. Among recent accomplishments, she collaborated on the launch of an enterprisewide DEI client service offering, facilitated 14 workshops to train more than 500 Deloitte leaders on DEI, launched the Chief DEI Officer Forum at Deloitte University for 100 executives and initiated a Deloitte DEI professional alumni network. She is a member of Deloitte’s Black Action Council, a certified facilitator for its Inclusive Leadership Experience and chief diversity and inclusion officer at its Executive Transition Lab. Brodzik has co-authored several works, including “Support Your Black Workforce, Now.”

Maryam Brown is responsible for defining the people and culture strategy across Milhouse’s family of companies, both domestically and internationally.

She oversees organizational strategies, total compensation programs, talent management and retention strategies, change management, culture strategy, employer branding and internships. Under her tenure, the organization has more than doubled its workforces in the last three years. Brown implemented Milhouse University as an internal program focused on creating a continuous-education environment through workshops, in-person sessions and on-demand courses designed by subject matter experts. Recently named to the board of Milhouse Construction, she’s served for nine years as a board member of the Chicago Foundation for Education.

METHODOLOGY: The individuals featured did not pay to be included. Their profiles were written from the nomination materials submitted. This list is not comprehensive. It includes only individuals for whom nominations were submitted and accepted after a review by editors. To qualify for the list, nominees must be based in the Chicago area, have at least 10 years in their field, serve in a leadership role and demonstrate the ability to affect HR and diversity and inclusion at their organizations. They must also show leadership outside of their organization, via involvement in civic or professional organizations.

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8/5/22 3:29 PM

26 AUGUST 8, 2022 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

OMAR BROWN

LOTUS BUCKNER

JASMINE CARLSON

VIKKI CARUSO

TANJIA COLEMAN

LIZ

Senior vice president, people and culture officer Big Ten Conference

Vice president, people and culture Chowbus

Director of human resources Weber Grill Restaurants

Executive vice president of people Clearcover

Chie Guar

Lotus Buckner is the senior leader responsible for creating a data-driven diversity, equity and inclusion and talent acquisition strategy, as well as the employee reward, retention and recognition programs. She ensures that the format compensation program is equitable, conducts pulse surveys with team members on a regular basis and produced the first-ever People & Culture annual report. She also has supported new programs and partnerships for underserved communities within the food delivery platform’s workforce. The founder and CEO of LB Talent Solutions, Buckner has been a DEI presenter at Illinois Diversity Council events (having previously served as education committee chair) and serves on the board of the Literacy Network.

Jasmine Carlson is responsible for employee-related activities such as onboarding, worker’s comp issues, employee anniversaries, employee relations and employee benefits. With 17 years of experience with Weber Grill, she managed the challenges of COVID restrictions for all locations, devised solutions for staffing shortages, updated the training program to online cloud-based platforms, and created and hosted team-building events. A graduate of Illinois State University, she completed her Human Resources Management Certification from Harper College in December 2021. Carlson also moved the company’s payroll to a cloud-based online system that enables employees to access needed information, such as taxes and benefits, more efficiently. She is a Schaumburg Business Association Ambassador.

Vikki Caruso is the strategic leader of human resources and talent acquisition functions. As part of the senior executive team, she has built her department up from one recruiter and office manager to a team of 12 to support of Clearcover’s growth over the past three years.

Under her leadership, the company has implemented mental health workshops and access to a clinical therapist for all employees; its product and technology organization has doubled in size; and the Equity Diversity & Inclusion Council has scaled up by securing an executive sponsor, implementing employee resource groups and offering companywide education sessions for Black History, Autism Awareness and Women’s History months.

President Reimagine Organization Development

SAMIR DESAI

WILLIAM FARWIG

MARLO GAAL

FALGUNI GANDHI

ELLEN GARIPPO

Vice president of talent management and organization development NorthShore University HealthSystem

Senior vice president and senior director, associate relations Lockton

Chief talent officer Ariel Investments

Senior vice president and head of HR consulting–technology Northern Trust

Vice president, director of human resources Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices

Falguni Gandhi is the senior HR leader supporting the chief information officer, his leadership team and a global workforce of more than 2,000 partners. She led all HR activities as 2,000 partners transitioned to remote work across the globe and has helped execute a significant talent growth strategy, replacing outside contractors with employees and bringing critical skills in-house. This includes hiring nearly 1,000 technologists in India, where Falguni previously helped establish Northern Trust’s operating center for non-IT employees. She co-founded the nonprofit Association for the Advancement of Indian Immigrants in America, served on the Chicago board of Indus Women Leaders and has engaged in pro bono work through the Taproot Foundation.

Ellen Garippo is responsible for more than 100 employees in 25 offices throughout the Chicago area and New Buffalo, Mich., handling hirings, benefits packages, training requirements and performance reviews. Over the course of her career, she has overseen five acquisitions; established protocols for employee work during the COVID-19 pandemic; and created the CXC Customer Experience, a program that’s trained every employee in the company on providing exemplary client service. The company also conducts training for employees on unconscious bias and inclusive language completion. In 2021, it conducted a Diversity and Inclusion pulse survey (achieving a 93.1% response rate) as the foundation for its 2022 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion action plan and activities.

Omar Brown leads all human capital efforts for the conference staff, including talent acquisition, professional development and performance management.

He also drives DEI initiatives throughout the conference, such as the Equality Coalition and the Advisory Commission, composed of Black former student-athletes tasked with identifying injustices that current student-athletes are experiencing and working toward solutions. He leads the Big Life Series, which will take student-athletes and administrators to Selma and Montgomery, Ala., to explore race relations and social justice. He led the creation of an LGBTQ+ working group to develop initiatives for member institutions. Brown is an adjunct professor at Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business and recently was appointed to the NorthShore University HealthSystem board.

Samir Desai has led multiple initiatives, including an innovative Leadership Development program for physician and administrative leaders, a digital learning capability, the reinvention of performance management, and partnering with physician and operations leaders on an engagement model built on continuous listening. He is a leader in bringing cultures together amidst a merger between NorthShore and Edward-Elmhurst Health and helped establish two of NorthShore’s first identity-based affinity groups: TrueNorth, for LGBTQ+ employees, and the Black Leadership Forum. Desai serves on the board of Genesys Works Chicago, a nonprofit for economically disadvantaged high school students that, through 2020, has served 745 students with an 88% college enrollment rate.

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William Farwig leads the organization’s corporate culture and associate relations functions, having been promoted into an expanded role that also gives him a broad reach into DEI initiatives. Recently, he created and deployed two major initiatives: an affinity/resource group called Lockton Empowered Associate Network and a panel of “Integrity Advocates” who serve all associates as a safe place for reporting workplace issues. Farwig also has launched an in-person anti-harassment training program for all people managers and deployed an online vendor to provide information to all associates.

He recently achieved the Society of Human Resource Management’s “Senior Certified Professional” designation. He volunteers with LGBT veterans on resume building and job searching.

Marlo Gaal is responsible for developing a human capital strategy that aligns and supports Ariel’s business objectives, managing all elements of HR, executive development, talent acquisition, organizational effectiveness and DEI & Belonging. She has enhanced DEI initiatives to include mentoring partnerships with organizations that focus on women, people of color and other groups underrepresented in the leadership pipeline. This includes fostering partnerships with the U.S. 30% Club, Chief and the Impact Leadership Development Program with the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Chicago Urban League. She’s also evolved the HR function with a proactive, interactive approach, involving employees via pulse surveys, one-on-one meetings and small group settings, and regular all-staff meetings.

Dr. Tanjia Coleman provides customized solutions in three main verticals: Executive Coaching; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging; and Leadership Development.

Certified as a woman-owned business enterprise, Reimagine Organization Development serves clients such as Bloomberg, UniteUs, Panera Bread and Wendy’s.

Dr. Coleman recently launched Executive Women of Command, which develops women’s leadership programs. Formerly chief human resources officer for Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, she has received an 1871 scholarship and a CDW technology grant. Currently, Dr. Coleman serves on Benedictine University’s LEADS board and holds adjunct faculty positions with National Louis University and Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business, where she is a founding member of its DEI Leadership Institute Certification Program.

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CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • AUGUST 8, 2022 27

LIZZIE GARNER

TOM GIMBEL

SHELLY GREEN

MARK HANDS

MICHELLE HERNDON

Chief people officer Guaranteed Rate

Founder and CEO LaSalle Network

Tom Gimbel is responsible for employee engagement and culture, strategic planning, the development of executive leadership and the implementation of the organization’s vision. LaSalle Network didn’t conduct any layoffs during the pandemic and achieved all-time highs in revenue.

LaSalle Network gives employees up to five days of paid time off to volunteer and holds special events, such as the 10 Days of Giving Initiative. The leadership team includes a high number of women executives who joined as entry-level employees and rose through the ranks under Gimbel’s mentorship. He is on the boards of Start Early, which supports high-quality early learning for children in poverty, the American Staffing Association and Lurie Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Director of supplier diversity and associate Office of Minorities and Women Inclusion director Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Director of diversity and community Boka Restaurant Group

Lizzie Garner oversees HR and employee relations and creates training programs. She developed a centralized knowledge base, creating an efficient process for new hires and employees, while leading onboarding from two major mergers, supporting a nationwide integration and helping to scale the company’s overall workforce by 125% during the past 18 months.

She created the Guaranteed Rate Resource Center, the National Support Center and the New Employee Support Team. Garner also leads companywide webinars and leadership retreats for Guaranteed Rate’s Organization of Women, which has more than 3,300 members. She expanded Guaranteed Rate’s DEI program (recruiting a DEI manager) and other employee resource groups, including Leadership, Equality & Development and Proud.

Vice president and chief human resource officer UGN

Shelly Green oversees UGN’s HR platform companywide (more than 1,200 employees at seven plants and offices), managing business partnerships, talent management, diversity, employee relations and recruiting. Faced with a competitive market and labor shortages, she worked with the team to establish a Weekend Warrior Program for those wanting to work only on a part-time basis.

She also led the development of a retention-bonus program and recently developed a new internal action plan (under review by leadership) to prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion. Green is on the boards of the Human Resources Management Association of Chicago and the Career Transitions Center of Chicago, where she serves as board secretary.

Mark Hands directs FRB of Chicago business units in the sourcing of minority- and women-owned business enterprise suppliers to meet operational needs and collaborates with advocacy groups to provide technical assistance to M/WBE suppliers. He assists the bank’s Office of Minorities & Women Inclusion director in directing programs and initiatives throughout the system. Hands developed the bank’s supplier diversity initiative, Business Smart Week, which convenes experts to provide diverse small businesses (more than 2,200 attendees since 2013) with tools to better manage their businesses. In April, he started the Buy Diverse Challenge at the bank, which asks employees throughout the Seventh Federal Reserve District to spend money with diverse businesses.

Michelle Herndon’s focus is on improving recruiting efforts to hire more people of color and in the LGBTQ+ community. The first person to hold this position at Boka, she leads the diversity committee and works on issues of biases, as well as initiatives such as transgender education and pronoun usage in the workplace. She assists with developing professional organizations to lead employee sensitivity training and collaborates with the HR team on policies and practices. She guides conflictresolution meetings between diverse groups, leads companywide monthly-giving initiatives focused on diverse and inclusive organizations, and created a relationship with the Ezekiel Taylor Foundation to assist in scholarships for young Black men to attend college.

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28 AUGUST 8, 2022 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

KEVIN IRVINE

KELLY JACKSON

CHERYL JOHNSON

JEANETTE JOHNSON

RICH JOHNSON

ALY

Senior talent acquisition consultant, individuals with disabilities Rush University Medical Center

Vice president, people and culture BP

Chief human resources officer Paylocity

Senior vice president, people Insureon

Kelly Jackson is responsible for the delivery of the people and culture strategic capability priorities with BP. This entails defining the P&C career narrative, developing a refreshed approach to how BP fills roles and staffs projects, supporting learning and development initiatives, and creating a connected P&C community. She was selected to be a part of the recently launched Leadership Inclusion for Talent program, an accelerated pathway to support Black senior-level talent. She’s also part of the Black Extended Leadership Team and leads its mentorship subcommittee. Jackson is an active member of HR²: Her Rise, Her Way, a mentorship organization that supports and connects Black female chief human resources officers.

The first CHRO at Paylocity, Cheryl Johnson oversees strategies for culture, client training and employment brand. She has hired Paylocity’s first chief diversity officer and is working on the company’s first environmental, social and corporate governance report. She led COVID-safe actions to take the entire workforce remote and by various efforts, including building partnerships with historically Black colleges and universities, helped the company increase underrepresented minority hires by 19.2% and increased the rate of Black hires by 56%. Her Learning & Development and DEI teams have created more than 30 DEI courses, modules and instructional kits, including a three-part video series on unconscious bias.

Johnson also heads Paylocity’s corporate social responsibility strategy, which includes programs dedicated to sustainability and community giving.

Jeanette Johnson leads all peoplerelated activities at Insureon, including talent acquisition, organizational development and performance management programs. Key recent accomplishments include facilitating change management for the company to successfully adopt a virtual-first workplace, building a culture of community, and leading two employee-led volunteer teams that enabled enhanced culture and diversity and inclusion strategies. She also serves as president of Chicago Society for Human Resource Management, where with other board members she helped transition educational and networking events to a virtual environment, educated the HR community on how to lead during a racial crisis, and in 2020 helped produce a series of one-hour sessions to give business leaders of color a place to share lived experiences.

Vice president, global leadership development Spaulding Ridge

Senio man inclu US Fo

Kevin Irvine developed and implemented Rush’s strategy to recruit disabled job seekers, co-chairs Rush’s Americans with Disabilities Act task force and leads disability inclusion initiatives that impact patients, visitors, employees, faculty and students.

He also facilitates its Disabilities Employee Resource Group, guided it through a successful transition to virtual meetings in 2020 and facilitated webinars featuring DERG members. After leading an effort to revamp Rush’s careers website to feature employees with disabilities, the percentage of applicants self-identifying as having a disability jumped to 4.8% in 2021 from 3.1% in the beginning of 2020, a 55% increase. Irvine also facilitated Rush’s commitment to the HireTransNOW campaign to support transgender and gender nonconforming job seekers.

CARLA MADELEINE KUPE Gender and racial equity program director YWCA Metropolitan Chicago

Carla Madeleine Kupe oversees YWCA Metropolitan Chicago’s DEI strategy for both internal operations and external engagement with clients and stakeholders. She helped build Inclusion Chicago, the YWCA’s DEI consulting program, designing a comprehensive suite of workshops centered on identity exploration and racial justice.

Internally, Kupe collaborates with program leaders to build inclusion across a large organization, delivering workshops to internal stakeholders, including the board of directors and the Ambassadors Council, as well as one-on-one leadership coaching with members of the executive team. She co-leads programming for the Racial Justice League, which is composed of individuals and organizations advancing racial justice in their communities through specific, tangible actions.

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Rich Johnson oversees talent acquisition and development as well as DEI efforts. A member of the firm’s executive leadership team, he is responsible for initiatives ranging from career pathing, retention and onboarding to executive coaching, community service and companywide diversity training. He created a dashboard to track representation, retention and promotions by gender and diversity; launched a new learning management system that integrates current training and development initiatives into a system for tracking individual and companywide learning; and expanded DEI and community service efforts globally. Johnson is a co-founder of Spark Ventures, a nonprofit that directs resources to partners around the world to provide health care, education and jobs.

DOMINICE LAPORTE

DIANE LEEMING

WIL LEWIS

MARLON LUTFIYYA

Vice president of human resources Northwest Community Healthcare

Vice president, organizational development and talent acquisition Zebra Technologies

Global chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer Experian

Director of talent and diversity Neal Gerber & Eisenberg

Diane Leeming leads a team of 55 HR employees and contractors that manages the sourcing, hiring, development and retention of talent across 54 countries. She implemented a simplified, comprehensive talent-review process for Zebra, resulting in increased focus on critical roles and deeper bench strength. Her team led a pilot program this year for high-potential, diverse employees that features investment in coaching, sponsorship, mentoring and development, as well as a tool called Build Your Board of Advisors.

Leeming is co-executive sponsor of the company’s inclusion network, Zebras of African Descent, and is a member of its Women’s Inclusion Network. She’s an adjunct faculty member at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

Among recent activities, Wil Lewis’s team launched Inclusion Forward—Experian Empowering Opportunities, which focuses on credit education, homeownership and entrepreneurship.

The program is designed to facilitate solutions for consumers who might not have fair access to financial tools and services and includes partnerships with nonprofits serving underrepresented communities.

The team is also spearheading Experian’s DEI focus on its corporate website as well as its 2022 Global DEI report, the company’s framework for aligning its DEI commitments to its business.

Lewis also led the integration of Diversity Action Plans for all of the CEO’s direct reports to ensure accountability and a focus on inclusion across the organization.

Dominice LaPorte manages a team of 29 that includes the organizational development and learning, internal communications, DEI and well-being, and compensation and benefits functions.

Through a pandemic, vaccine mandate, staffing shortages and a merger, her team partnered with operations with creative talent sourcing, streamlined interviewing, fast-track onboarding, stay interviews, resignation-recovery conversations and compensation adjustments. During the surge, nonclinical leaders volunteered to strip beds, collect garbage, restock supplies and answer calls as part of the organization’s Give Back to the Bedside initiative.

LaPorte is certified in the Prosci change-management protocol, is a Roosevelt University advisory board member, serves on the Kenneth Young Center board and volunteers with No One Dies Alone.

Marlon Lutfiyya oversees operations of the professional recruitment and development department, directing attorney recruitment, development and performance management. He helps oversee the firm’s wellness, pro bono and DEI initiatives, as well as all aspects of the firm’s Summer Associate

Program, through which the firm hires law students for entry-level attorney positions. Recently elected to the board of the National Association for Law Placement, Lutfiyya developed a sponsorship initiative that helps attorneys from underrepresented groups advance to senior levels and, under his leadership, the firm has been Mansfield Rule certified

by Diversity Lab since 2018 for meeting targets for law firms (at least 30% diverse candidates for each open position). He’s active with the Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals.

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CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • AUGUST 8, 2022 29

ALYSON MARGULIES

SHANNON MCGHEE

VALERIE MERCER

LESLIE MINIER

TRACIE MORRIS

p

Senior vice president of talent management and diversity and inclusion US Foods

Director of community impact and engagement mHUB

Senior director of human resources Ada S. McKinley Community Services

Corporate partner and chief diversity partner Katten Muchin Rosenman

as

Alyson Margulies is responsible for end-to-end talent management, including succession planning, learning and development, culture and engagement and assessments.

She fostered the continued growth of US Foods’ first employee resource groups, expanding them in 2021 beyond the corporate office to the field; there are now nine groups with 2,100 members. She also created and implemented the Learning Partner program, a DEIbased talent-management plan that creates mentor-style relationships between a high-performing diverse leader and a senior associate. She also developed the company’s first publicly reported diverse-leadership representation goal along with additional diversity metrics to enable transparency and accountability. US Foods filled 39% of new or open leadership roles by women or people of color in 2021.

Shannon McGhee focuses on setting DEI goals, serving on external groups to advance DEI across the tech and manufacturing ecosystems, and overseeing the integration of data to measure mHUB’s effectiveness in driving equitable access to entrepreneurship. She has led the design and fundraising effort for the Catalyze initiative, mHUB’s strategy to reduce structural barriers to entrepreneurship for women and people of color. To date, mHUB has $1 million in five-year commitments and is scaling to its $8.6 million goal. McGhee has led the implementation of pilots for the pre-accelerator programs underneath this initiative that currently support 21 underrepresented innovators, 86% of which are women and 76% are people of color.

Valerie Mercer leads the HR team at Ada S. McKinley, which serves more than 7,000 people annually at 70 program sites in three states.

She implemented an agencywide HR information system and new payroll system, created employee incentives to refer job candidates who represent diverse communities and trained 226 new staff to include minorities, veterans and employees with disabilities. Mercer guides the Employment & Community Support Services program and led HR efforts through McKinley’s merger with a small nonprofit, Healthy Families Chicago. As an independent consultant for St. Sabina Church, she developed a six-month job-readiness training program for Auburn-Gresham residents with an 88% success rate.

Leslie Minier is a member of the firm’s diversity committee and advises Katten on business development opportunities; consults with firm management on diversity goals and strategies; leverages external relationships focused on advancing diversity; leads the firm’s client partnerships to achieve mutual diversity-related goals; and supports diverse attorneys in their career-advancing endeavors. She spearheaded Katten’s participation in Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Rule program (at least 30% diverse candidates for each open role) since its inception by creating pipelines for women and people of color, and in 2021, helped it achieve Rule 4.0 Certification Plus status. Minier is a longtime partner in Katten’s corporate practice.

U.S. chief human resources officer and chief inclusion officer, North America BMO Financial Group

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Tracie Morris oversees the strategic and operational governance for HR priorities in the United States and North America, including regulatory agencies, and U.S. mergers and acquisitions. She leads the U.S. focus on DEI and, under her leadership, BMO outpaced growth targets for gender equity and people of color, doubling Black representation in senior leadership in the first year. She launched a new sponsorship program focused on diverse, high potentials at the senior- and mid-management levels. She also partnered with Northwestern, offering employees private, on-demand virtual access to a professional in the Northwestern Therapeutic Center as well as day care options, e-learning support for kids, and immediate action for domestic and child care concerns.

The University of Chicago is committed to business diversity and making a strong, lasting contribution to Chicago’s economic health.

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Under the leadership of Nadia Quarles, named by Crain’s as a 2022 Notable Executive in HR and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, UChicago’s efforts have been recognized as a model for advancing business diversity.

Through our influential Professional Services Symposium over the past 14 years, UChicago leaders have engaged with more than 350 minority- and women-owned businesses, resulting in contracts with more than 100 firms totaling nearly $200 million.

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NADIA M. QUARLES, ESQ. Assistant Vice President for Business Diversity

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30 AUGUST 8, 2022 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

MELISSA MOUNCE

MAUREEN O’DONNELL

ERNESTO PALOMO

MARY PERSON

NADIA QUARLES

GIB

Managing director, leadership talent and diversity GTCR

Chief human resources officer Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County

Partner and co-chair of Locke Lord’s diversity and inclusion committee Locke Lord

Senior vice president, public-private initiatives Clayco

Assistant vice president for business diversity University of Chicago

Chie Avio

Melissa Mounce is a member of GTCR’s ESG-DEI Steering Committee and co-leads the DEI Council and Professional Women’s network. She leads the cohort of GTCR portfolio company chief human resources officers and is responsible for managing board composition.

At GTCR, 79% of its 34 portfolio companies (as of March 31, 2022) have at least one diverse board member and 47% have two or more. She co-designed GTCR’s DEI Learning Journey, which uses curated training and virtual reality tools, and implemented the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge across the portfolio. In 2020, Mounce and two other women private-equity professionals created the Private Equity Network of Operating Women to develop a platform to share best practices.

Maureen O’Donnell was named CHRO of an organization that was beset with human resource issues and, most notably, was in need of hiring. Over the past 18 months, O’Donnell— who manages everything from recruitment, selection and collective bargaining to training—led an HR team that hired more than 160 new employees and promoted more than 100 current employees. The federal compliance administrator overseeing Shakman compliance has issued three reports to the court since she took office, all of them positive about compliance efforts and the team’s collaborative approach. O’Donnell has served in various roles on her local school council. She also is a board member of Mercy Hospital Foundation.

Ernesto Palomo co-leads activities focusing on recruitment, retention and equal-advancement opportunities. His leadership has enabled Locke Lord’s adoption of multiple initiatives. The firm is pursuing Mansfield Rule 5.0 Certification and has achieved a 100% rating on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index for the sixth consecutive year. In 2019, Palomo led a Locke Lord team in an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of LatinoJustice PRLDEF and 15 other organizations advocating against a citizenship question on the census. He also provided pro bono support in a case challenging New Mexico’s inadequate public-school funding. He is treasurer of the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms.

Using her real estate development, design, construction and planning expertise in community and economic development, Mary Person provides executive-level leadership in proactive, strategic approaches that facilitate DEI. In particular, she is working to enhance equity within the industry through the implementation of the nonprofit Construction Career Development Initiative in Chicago, which brings diversity to the design and construction industry by providing exposure, mentorship and career development opportunities to minority/underrepresented and underemployed individuals. Person is a board member for Revolution Workshop, which trains minority men and women ages 18 to 36 in the hard and soft skills they’ll need in the construction and woodworking industries. The program has a 70% success rate.

Nadia Quarles advises UChicago leadership on partnering with civic and business leaders, alumni and elected officials to create inclusive business diversity opportunities.

She created the university’s annual Professional Services Symposium to connect local and national

HOLLY RUDNICK

ANDY SANTOS

STEPHAN SCHOLL

EMILIE SCHOUTEN

NICOLE SKALUBA

Vice president, human resources Leopardo

Director, people and culture SpotHero

CEO Alight Solutions

Senior vice president Coeur Mining

Vice president, talent and culture physIQ

Holly Rudnick is responsible for Leopardo’s employee experience over the entire lifecycle, from recruiting to retirement, overseeing a diverse team of HR veterans. In addition to leading the company through its COVID-19 response, she created the company’s DEI Steering Committee and action plans; she also serves on the ESG Steering Committee, heading up the Social initiatives, and the Technology and Process improvement Steering Committee. She brought recruiting in-house; implemented an applicant tracking system; and introduced LinkedIn Learning, Learnit Cohorts and talent reviews. Over the years Rudnick has volunteered with the Special Olympics Illinois, United Way, Feed My Starving Children and Habitat for Humanity, as well as Teen Tech Center and Junior Achievement.

Andy Santos leads various functions at SpotHero, including DEI, learning and development, and employee engagement programs.

After he implemented employee Net Promoter Score and culture assessments to measure inclusion, SpotHero emerged as a more diverse company, with increased representation of people of color (to 47% in 2022 from 27% in 2020) and women (to 37% in 2022 from 34% in 2020). Santos has been a mentor for TechGYRLS—which raises girls’ confidence in the areas of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics— and also helps veterans through the National Able Network. As a chapter head of Out in Tech, he leads various DEI programs supporting the LGBTQ+ community.

Stephan Scholl uses his background as a technologist to help Alight’s clients make meaningful advances in equity around benefits, affecting the health, wealth and well-being of more than 30 million-plus employees. Following the events from summer 2020, Scholl brought a new chief diversity and inclusion officer to the company, established colleague-led communities to improve inclusion and launched a social action committee to evaluate societal events to which the company may want to respond. He serves on the boards of Avaya and 1010data, and for the last six years has served on the board of Bishop’s College School in Quebec. He is a member of the Fortune CEO Initiative.

Emilie Schouten has oversight of the company’s global workforce of 2,100 employees. Her responsibilities include the execution of the company’s culture survey and action plans, leadership of Coeur Heroes (a recruitment and mentorship program for military personnel) and advancement of the company’s DEI efforts. She implemented a virtual platform to connect with broader talent pools through virtual career fairs and forums, including the National Society of Black Engineers and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.

Coeur’s corporate workforce has been transformed from less than 8% diverse in 2013 to greater than 60% in 2020. Schouten launched a mental health wellness solution for employees and their families as part of the company’s 2022 benefits.

Nicole Skaluba’s responsibilities include talent acquisition, performance engagement, compensation, DEI and organizational development. At physIQ, she has begun building out the department, establishing onboarding and communication processes and relaunching the DEI committee.

Over the last 18 months, she launched the DEI roadmap at her previous organization, managed COVID oversight and created a leadership program as well as a new performance-management framework. Skaluba’s work on the Chicago SHRM board has focused on increasing representation from minority groups, including people of color and LGTBQ+, by 25% to 44% and offering a Leading Through a Racial Crisis series and a six-part DEI Learning Journey series in 2021.

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minority- and women-owned professional services firms (legal, money management, financial services, communications, IT, HR and architecture/engineering) to decision makers. Bringing firms to the table in this way has generated more than $185 million of spend with more than 100 professional services businesses. Over the past 13 years, Quarles has influenced the university in the hiring of 26 law firms and 27 asset-management firms, all minority- and women-owned, making its endowment one of the most diverse in the country.

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CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • AUGUST 8, 2022 31

GIBSON SMITH

ROXANA SOPALA

GINA WALTON

ROB WILSON

JILL WROBEL

Chief people officer Avionos

Managing director, head of commercial banking human resources JPMorgan Chase Commercial Bank

Vice president, diversity & inclusion; graduate medical education associate designated institutional official; attending physiatrist, physical medicine and rehabilitation Sinai Chicago

CEO Employco USA

Chief human resources officer Brunswick

As founder of Employco USA, a national HR outsourcing firm, Rob Wilson oversees its corporate strategy, HR practice and expansion to international markets.

Over the past 18 months, he’s led Employco in assisting clients on reopening workplace locations, using COVID best practices and addressing hybrid work environments. The company has also created extensive DEI training programs for clients. During the pandemic, he hosted 40 webinars on topics such as the Paycheck Protection Program, employee tax retention credit and DEI training. Wilson is involved in many organizations, including YPO (he is a mid-America region board area officer and Personal Network Council board member) and the Executives’ Club of Chicago.

Jill Wrobel is responsible for all aspects of the human-resource function for Brunswick’s 18,500 global employees as well as its talent and organizational effectiveness agenda.

She has invested in DEI training programs for all global employees and, under her leadership, hired key personnel in support of DEI talent sourcing and program management. She also supported the formation of five employee resource groups as well as a new monthly enterprisewide DEI newsletter. Prior to Brunswick, she spent eight years in a variety of executive-level HR resource positions within Walgreens Boots Alliance, where she played a key role in many of the company’s global M&A transactions. Wrobel is on the board of the Melanoma Research Foundation.

Gibson Smith, a co-founder of Avionos, manages hiring and retention for the organization, which has grown to 180 people since 2014. He developed a DEI program, career progression and mentorship programs, and crossteam groups to foster employee collaboration.

Since launching Avionos’ Colombia office in 2020, the team grew 100%. In 2021, Gibson led the integration of global employees following the acquisition of ObjectWave. He is on the board of Mustard Seed Chicago, a recovery center for individuals with alcohol and drug addictions, and the Redtwist Theatre in Uptown. He’s a sponsor of the Avionos Women’s Leadership Network and Avionos’ D&I initiative VOICE (vision, opportunity, inclusion, collateral, equality).

down

Roxana Sopala oversees HR strategy and works closely with the bank’s operating committee to ensure that strategic people priorities are aligned with business needs. She leads a team of HR business advisers, talent acquisition professionals and learning, development and DEI specialists. Recently she oversaw the team responsible for bringing to life a three-part manager workshop series that informed commercial banking managers worldwide on how to lead inclusively and cultivate talent.

A native of Cuba, Sopala serves as an HR sponsor and board member of Adelante Illinois, the firm’s business resource group for Hispanic/Latino employees, is executive sponsor of its Hispanic Leadership Forum and is a member of the Chicago Inclusion Action Committee.

In 2021, Sinai Chicago recruited Dr. Gina Walton to work with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois through a grant that would encourage health equity. As a result of Dr. Walton’s efforts, along with the department of Graduate Medical Education at Sinai Chicago, more than half of the residency programs in 2022 welcomed between 35%-50% more minority new residents who are underrepresented in medicine, half of which are Spanish speaking. Dr. Walton graduated from the UIC College of Medicine, did a preliminary year of internal medicine at Tulane University School of Medicine and completed her residency training at Harvard Medical School in physical medicine and rehabilitation. She’s worked in private practice, at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and at the veterans affairs medical center in Nashville.

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32 AUGUST 8, 2022 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

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A one-two punch for some of Chicago’s poorest residents

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Rising prices and food deserts hit low-income Chicagoans especially hard CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

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With inflation weighing heavily on every aspect of life, from paying the rent to filling up the gas tank, for many the pain is most acute at the supermarket checkout. And some low-income Chicagoans are caught in a vise of rising prices combined with a lack of nearby grocery stores.

According to U.S. Census data, as of April 2020, 17.3% of Chicagoans were living below the poverty line, set at $26,500 for a family of four. The Consumer Price Index showed that last month in the Chicago area, overall food prices increased 11.2% year over year.

The data also showed that prices at grocery stores in Chicago saw an even bigger increase: up 13.5% from last year, compared with the national average increase of 12.2%.

Recent grocery stores closures in food deserts—areas with less accessibility to healthy food options—have made the economic impact more severe.

On June 12, the Auburn Gresham neighborhood was taken by surprise when the Aldi grocery store at 7627 S. Ashland Ave. closed because of crime and poor sales. The neighborhood lost a Save-A-Lot on 79th and Halsted streets in February. In April, the Englewood Whole Foods 832 W. 63rd St. announced it was closing after six years.

“It’s definitely impacted a lot of folks, especially the working-class folks and the folks who may not have subsidies to get food . . . who normally pay cash,” said Asiaha Butler, CEO of the Resident Association of Greater Englewood, who said inflation has caused skyrocketing prices even at Aldi, known for discount and often housebrand groceries.

According to Butler, RAGE has been in conversation with the developer of the Englewood Whole Foods about the possibility of

another grocery store occupying the space.

Meantime, food pantries are being called on to fill the gaps. The Greater Chicago Food Depository is seeing the impact of the rising food prices as the number of people it serves has shot up. The food bank served 10% more households in April 2022 than in April 2021, an increase attributed to household budgetary pressure.

“In fiscal year 2022, we spent $35 million on food purchasing alone. That’s a 55% increase compared to what was spent in fiscal year 2021 and more than triple what was spent in fiscal year 2020,” Man-Yee Lee, a Greater Chicago Food Depository spokeswoman, said in an email.

SUPPLY CHAIN PRESSURES

Scott Irwin, a professor at the College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign, said food price inflation is a result largely of increases in wages, fuel and transportation costs and pressure from other phases of the supply chain.

“Roughly speaking, about only 15% of the retail price of food, on average, in the U.S. is due to the underlying cost of the food ingredients like corn and wheat,” he said. “The rest of it is transportation, processing, marketing and everything that goes into running a grocery store.”

Grocery stores are part of the latest round of city community development grants. Retail grocery platform Yellow Banana, an Ohio-based company that operates under the Save-A-Lot name, was selected for a $13.5 million grant and will take over and reopen the recently closed Auburn Gresham Save-A-Lot site, along with taking over five others stores on the South and West sides.

Money also is being granted for a grocery story under the Wilson el stop on the North Side.

Michael Nance, co-founder of

Yellow Banana, said costs from suppliers have gone up but the company is working hard to keep prices affordable. Although prices have risen, for the chain they have not increased at the same rate as total inflation—around 9% for the year ended in June—on key categories of meat, dairy and produce.

“We do a comp check every week on staple items our customers need to keep their families healthy and full, including milk, eggs, bananas, vegetable oil, butter, tuna fish and sugar, and price them below competitors,” Nance said.

In the up-and-coming Near North Side neighborhood of Cabrini-Green, grocery store closures aren’t a reality, but the pricing out of longtime residents is.

That’s where Chicago Lights Urban Farm is working to provide education, career opportunities and access to fresh and locally grown food. Its fresh market voucher program, which grew out of helping people during the pandemic, allows low-income residents to receive free produce.

Deja Stout, associate director at Chicago Lights Urban Farm, said she has seen an increase in the amount of food residents are ordering, which has led the organization to take delivery orders over the phone to aid more residents as needed.

“Communities like Auburn Gresham and Englewood, these are moderate- to low-income markets and inflation and less options for groceries negatively impacts us all,” said Butler of the Resident Association of Greater Englewood. “Not just our community, it also negatively impacts the city of Chicago in general.”

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, food prices are predicted to increase between 8.5% and 9.5% this year, with overall grocery store prices forecast to increase as much as 11%.

8/5/22 2:36 PM

CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • AUGUST 8, 2022 33

More vertical construction could help struggling Mag Mile retail property owners MAG MILE from Page 1 rooms—or both—could make sense given the sorry state of the North Michigan Avenue retail market, allowing property owners to diversify into stronger sectors.

After all, the Mag Mile is still some of the best real estate in the country.

“The way to maximize the value is to create that verticality,” says retail broker Greg Kirsch, executive managing director at Chicagobased Cushman & Wakefield.

Don’t expect to see tall towers sprouting up and down North Michigan Avenue in the coming months. Only about four or five low-slung buildings with high vacancies are logical teardown candidates today. After decades of development, high-rises already stand on many properties along the boulevard.

But more vertical construction could make sense as the Mag Mile tries to adapt in the post-pandemic, e-commerce era. After the loss of several big retailers, including Macy’s, Gap and Uniqlo, about 28.8% of store space in the 3.2 million-squarefoot shopping district is vacant, up from 26% last year and 15% in 2019, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

SOLUTIONS

Several low-rise retail buildings on North Michigan Avenue could emerge as high-rise redevelopment candidates as their owners weigh their options amid the weakest Mag Mile retail market in memory.

CHESTNUT STREET

840 N. Michigan 830 N. Michigan

PEARSON STREET

building across from Water Tower Place. Same goes for the building next door, at 840 N. Michigan. Swedish apparel chain H&M plans to close its four-story, 60,000-square-foot store in the building and find a smaller space nearby, leaving the property with just one tenant, Verizon, which occupies about 27,000 square feet.

The properties were worth a lot many years ago, when the market was stronger. The 117,000-square-foot Uniqlo building sold for $166 million in 2013, while a New York investor paid $144 million in 2014 for an 88% stake in 840 N. Michigan.

But they’re worth a lot less today, with so much empty space in a depressed market. That’s one reason they’re both logical redevelopment candidates. A developer might pay more today for either building—or even both of them—than they’re worth in their current state for the opportunity to raze them and build a mixed-use tower on the block. A future tower would almost certainly include retail space at its base, just less of it.

Dr.

CHICAGO AVENUE

SUPERIOR STREET

717 N. Michigan MICHIGAN AVENUE

P033_CCB_20220808.indd 33

w VERTICAL OPPORTUNITIES

RUSH STREET

In another bad sign, the owners of Water Tower Place and Shops at North Bridge relinquished the Mag Mile malls to their lenders earlier this year, indicating the properties had lost so much value that they weren’t even worth the debt owed on them.

The boulevard has taken some steps in the right direction. Concepts including It’Sugar, Foxtrot, the Museum of Ice Cream and Aritzia have leased space on North Michigan Avenue in the past year.

But the shopping district, which extends from the Chicago River north to Oak Street, can’t count on retailers alone to fuel its comeback. In March, a panel formed by the Urban Land Institute released a 31-page report with recommendations on how to restore North Michigan Avenue’s vibrancy. Solutions included crime-control measures and new physical features, like a pedestrian bridge stretching to Oak Street Beach. Others see promise in filling empty retail space with experiential attractions, like “Prince: The Immersive Experience,” a show running at North Bridge.

The North Michigan Avenue market might also benefit by shrinking. The district has too much retail space, especially in buildings with multiple floors, Kirsch says. Retailers today are a lot choosier, favoring smaller, more-visible spaces on the ground floor. Space on the second floor or above is much harder to lease than it was.

“There’s almost zero demand for multilevel flagship retail,” Kirsch says.

That’s a problem at 830 N. Michigan, the empty four-story

After the loss of several big retailers, including Macy’s, Gap and Uniqlo, about 28.8% of store space in the shopping district is currently vacant.

HURON STREET

663-669 N. Michigan

ERIE STREET

ONTARIO STREET

RESIDENTIAL

600 N. Michigan E OHIO ST.

The retail vacancy rate for the Magnificent Mile, already elevated before the pandemic, has soared over the past three years.

30% 20

22.0%

10 0

12.0% 4.2%

3.6%

5.3%

2015

2016

2017

Sources: Crain’s reporting, Cushman & Wakefield

2018

26.0%

28.8%

15.0%

2019

2020

2021

2022

The owner of 830 N. Michigan, New York-based Brookfield Property Partners, has put the property up for sale, so it’s possible a developer could buy it with a plan to build a high-rise there.

A Brookfield spokeswoman declined to comment. Executives at White Plains, N.Y.-based Acadia Realty Trust, which owns 840 N. Michigan, did not respond to requests for comment.

Though the North Michigan Avenue retail market is struggling and the condominium market is soft, the downtown hotel market is recovering from the pandemic, and the Mag Mile is a popular tourist destination. A joint ven-

ture including Chicago developer Michael Reschke recently broke ground on a 388-room hotel at 150 E. Ontario St., just east of Michigan Avenue.

The downtown apartment market, meanwhile, is booming. The Mag Mile is a strong residential location, says Ron DeVries, senior managing director in the Chicago office of Integra Realty Resources, an appraisal and consulting firm.

“Everyone knows where Michigan Avenue is, so there’s some cachet with the address,” he says.

“The boulevard is a really wide street, so it creates good spacing for views.”

But Chicago developer Jim Letchinger isn’t so sure. He thinks living on North Michigan Avenue has lost some of its appeal as the West Loop and other places have emerged as residential neighborhoods.

“The 25-year-olds, the 30-yearolds, they don’t want to be there,” he says. “I think it’s an uphill battle.”

It’s also unclear whether a developer could obtain zoning from the city to build a high-rise on a Michigan Avenue site. A tower would need to have an entrance on a side street to limit traffic congestion on the boulevard, developers say. And a big project couldn’t move forward without the blessing of local Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd. He didn’t return multiple phone calls.

OTHER PROSPECTS

Other high-rise development prospects include 717 N. Michigan, which is also owned by Acadia. The 61,600-square-foot building emptied out last year when the Disney Store closed, but candy retailer It’Sugar recently signed a short-term lease for the 11,400-square-foot Disney space. Acadia has courted high-rise developers for the property in the past but never reached a deal.

The next block south, a group of storefronts including the current Nike store, at 669 N. Michigan, and former Apple store, at 679 N. Michigan, also have redevelopment potential. Another prospect down the road: A big building at the northwest corner of Michigan and Ohio Street leased to retailers including Under Armour, Ann Taylor and Levi’s. Representatives of the properties didn’t respond to requests for comment.

High-rise living on North Michigan Avenue is nothing new, says Chicago architect Tom Kerwin, founding principal of bKL Architecture. In recent years, bKL has designed two apartment towers—Mila and Millie on Michigan—built on former retail properties on the street south of the river. Other towers with residential space—including One Magnificent Mile and 875 North Michigan Avenue, the former John Hancock Center— have been on the Mag Mile for decades.

“There’s already a huge precedent,” Kerwin says.

8/5/22 3:25 PM

34 AUGUST 8, 2022 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

Giant gas-fired power plant in Joliet closing next year

BY STEVE DANIELS A Joliet power station that has operated for five decades will close next year, the latest sign of tightening electricity supplies as the state’s landmark climate law takes effect.

Houston-based NRG Energy late last month notified regional grid manager PJM Interconnection of its decision. The three units, the oldest of which has been operating for 63 years with the other two in service for 57 and 56 years, served most of that time as coal burners. NRG converted the station to natural gas only six years ago.

Joliet operates mainly during high-demand periods and can generate up to 1,381 megawatts, making it one of the largest gasfired plants in the state, with enough juice to power about 1.5 million homes. Forty-seven workers at the station will lose their jobs, with cuts beginning in June of next year and continuing through the end of 2023, an NRG spokesman said.

The closure of Joliet also nearly completes NRG’s exit from

the northern Illinois powergeneration market. The company has closed coal-fired plants in Chicago, Waukegan and Romeoville. All that’s left are small gas-fired units that operate only during high-demand periods at the old Fisk power-plant site in Chicago and in Waukegan, spokesman David Schrader said.

AUCTION RESULTS

The company made the call on Joliet after a recent auction of power generators serving PJM’s multistate region produced one of the lowest prices in years charged to ratepayers in return for plant operators’ promise to produce during peak demand periods of the year. That capacity price of $34.13 per megawatt-day was less than half the $68.96 ratepayers are shelling out now in their electric bills.

“We filed the retirement notice following the recent PJM capacity auction results and the units are no longer economic,” Schrader said in an email.

NRG will try to find jobs at other power plants around the country for affected workers

who are interested, he said.

The company recorded impairment losses of $155 million on Joliet closure, according to a Securities & Exchange Commission filing. The noncash writedown is an indicator of how the plant’s prospects suddenly worsened.

Joliet’s retirement is a surprise, since NRG invested within the last decade to convert it to gas from dirtier coal. The Climate & Equitable Jobs Act, signed into law nearly a year ago

by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, requires all power plants running on fossil fuels to close within the next 23 years. Under the law, Joliet and some other plants must shutter by 2030.

In addition, while the cost of natural gas has increased substantially over the past year, so have the wholesale power prices that Joliet fetches when it runs. But the falloff in capacity prices, which are paid to power plants whether they run or not, apparently was so steep that the high wholesale prices weren’t enough to offset.

Unless NRG opted not to bid in

GOOGLR

The three units have operated for more than five decades, for most of that time burning coal. Converted to gas just six years ago, their closure is a surprise.

NRG’s Joliet generating station the recent PJM capacity auction, which seems unlikely, Joliet’s offer must have been too high and so wasn’t among the facilities to qualify for the lower payment. If it had qualified, it wouldn’t have been allowed to close.

NEW FACILITY

The loss of that juice almost immediately will be replaced by a new 1,250-megawatt gas plant now under construction in Morris. That facility, being developed by Silver Spring, Md.-based Competitive Power Ventures, is located very near the Dresden nuclear power plant, which owner Constellation Energy Group was set to close last year until

ratepayer subsidies included in CEJA stabilized its finances.

That means even with this unexpected closure, power supplies in the Chicago area should be adequate over the next several years. That’s in contrast to downstate Illinois, where the grid manager for that region has warned of the potential for summer brownouts in the next few years without more plants, including fossil facilities CEJA makes impossible to finance, according to the industry.

But what’s clear from Joliet is that predicting the future at this volatile and transitional moment for the power industry is impossible.

2022

BLACK LEADERS AND EXECUTIVES Crain’s Notable Black Leaders and Executives program will recognize black leaders in the Chicago area who have demonstrated the ability to advance their industries, places of work, and communities.

NOMINATE NOW! Deadline is Friday, August 19 Nominate at

ChicagoBusiness.com/BlackLeaders

P034_CCB_20220808.indd 34

8/5/22 2:34 PM

CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • AUGUST 8, 2022 35

How accurate is FX’s hit show ‘The Bear’? An owner of Buona Beef weighs in. operated,” said Joe Buonavolanto III of Buona Beef, a family-owned Italian beef chain that was founded in 1981 and now has 26 locations across the Chicago area.

These are some of the things Buonavolanto says the show got right—and wrong—about Chicago restaurants.

‘Dysfunctional love’ One of the most compelling aspects of the show is the chaos in the kitchen of The Original Beef of Chicagoland. There’s yelling and cursing and fighting as chefs race frantically around the restaurant.

“I would say that can be seen in a Chicago kitchen,” said Buonavolanto, acknowledging the chaos that can go on behind the scenes. “However, I think it’s very amplified.”

“The stuff that we experience is dysfunctional love,” he said, adding that the reality in his kitchens is much more tame than that shown in the show. “Whichever restaurant you go into of ours, you see a very uniform way of how the restaurant looks, how our staff looks, how they treat you—and obviously the beef sandwich you get every single time.”

Tradition vs. change Some of the biggest tensions in the show center around Carmy and Sydney’s push for change at the restaurant. Whether it be the new online ordering system or a different way of preparing the beef, there’s a constant resistance from some of the old-tim-

ers against the changes.

“In the show, the sous chef comes in and she tries to put in different policies and procedures, and she’s trying to communicate it to the staff,” recounts Buonavolanto.

According to Buonavolanto, the incorporation of those kinds of changes is crucial to success in a real-world restaurant. “You do see some resistance to change once in a while,” he said. “But the strength of what we do is getting people to buy into that change and showing them why it’s a positive impact for the restaurant and themselves.”

The beef Italian beef is a staple of the Chicago culinary scene, and some locals can be very particular about the way it’s prepared.

And while Buonavolanto did not take issue with the way The Original Beef prepares its sandwiches, he did say the show’s preparation is a bit different from Buona’s.

“The flavor profile for ours is a little different than what was depicted in the show,” he said.

“The way we make our Italian beef is we roast it in pans and the gravy comes right off of the meat we’re cooking. And that’s pretty reflective of a natural cooking style, and most of the creators of the original Italian beef did it that way. What I saw on the show was a separate gravy that was being made with definitely some different things from what we do.”

The energy One thing Buonavolanto says the show got spot on: the excite-

FX

THE BEAR from Page 3

The fictional comedy-drama “The Bear” has made waves on social media and among critics over how accurately it depicts restaurant work and the city of Chicago. ment for serving the guests.

“There’s nothing like that excitement when you’re ready to have a great day and your whole staff is in gear to serve the guests,” he said. “You want to make sure everything is perfect, and they definitely got that right.”

The adrenaline depicted in the show also resonated with Buonavolanto. “Watching the clock . . . OK, we’re opening up in 20 minutes, we gotta get the kitchen line ready,” he said, relating to a reoccurring scene in the show. “They definitely got the fast-paced aura of the restaurant.

Definitely the highs and lows of

the day-in, day-out of running a restaurant, of dealing with vendors and all that stuff.”

Restaurant grades In the second episode of the show, a surprise health department inspection derails The Original Beef staff when the restaurant is given a devastating C grade.

Those familiar with the Chicago Department of Public Health know that the city does not issue letter grades. Instead, the city simply determines if an establishment has passed or failed the assessment.

And while health department inspections are certainly something restaurants deal with, Buonavolanto says there’s less worry about failing health code violations in his restaurants.

“Some of the challenges they observed in the first couple episodes I haven’t really seen much, with the cleanliness stuff and needing repairs and all that,” he said. “I would doubt that there’s a lot of that going on in other restaurants.”

So what does motivate Buonavolanto and the Buona crew to keep clean? “We do it because we take pride in it.”

How likely is a COVID rebound for people who are being treated with Paxlovid?

COVID patients who have not taken Paxlovid may be at even relatively low. A National Insti- more risk for rebound than those tutes of Health-funded study treated with the drug. The study from December 2021 to May of untreated patients, funded by 2022 of California patients who the National Institute of Allergy & were treated with Paxlovid found Infectious Diseases, has yet to be viral load rebound in 3.5% of pa- peer-reviewed, Martin said.

The study found that 12% of 568 tients and symptom rebound in patients who received a placejust 2.3%, he said. bo instead of Paxlovid experienced viral re“THE THING TO REMEMBER bound. Twenty-seven percent of placeboABOUT PAXLOVID IS THAT THE receiving patients saw HOSPITALIZATION RATE WITH IT IS their symptoms rebound after reporting VERY LOW, LESS THAN 1%.” that their symptoms had initially improved.

Dr. Jonathan Martin, an infectious disease And 10% of the 568 paphysician at Cook County Health tients had symptoms return after symptoms Patients not taking Paxlovid had gone away completely.

Martin said the study indicates may be seeing even more cases of rebounds, Martin said. In a that rebounding may occur with pre-print study, posted Aug. 2 on or without Paxlovid, so patients health care study server medRxiv. at high risk for severe complicaorg, researchers at several hospi- tions should still take the drug.

“The thing to remember about tals around the nation found that PAXLOVID from Page 3

Paxlovid,” Martin said, “is that the hospitalization rate with it is very low, less than 1%.”

HOW TO CONTACT CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS EDITORIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312-649-5200 CUSTOMER SERVICE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877-812-1590 ADVERTISING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312-649-5492

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STUDY NEEDED

Just how the rebounds work for people on Paxlovid is something that will require more laboratory-based study, said Dr. Richard Novak, head of infectious disease at the University of Illinois Chicago.

“But I think there’s probably some residual virus present that is able to return to reproducing the virus in patients’ cells,” he said. “If you think about how Paxlovid works, it works toward the end of the viral life cycle, once the virus is already in cells . . . by stopping the virus from copying and producing new virus. That’s what viruses do. That’s really their only purpose, to replicate themselves.”

“Viruses, they’re at the borderline of living things. They’re like little machines, parasites that use living cells’ mechanisms to repli-

cate,” Novak said. “Paxlovid and other antivirals work by throwing a wrench into the cogs of the mechanism. And sometimes, if you pull that wrench back out, the process can begin all over again.”

Dr. Emily Landon, who leads University of Chicago Medicine’s infection control and prevention efforts, estimates that in the real-world setting, rebounds with Paxlovid might even be as high as 10%, depending on how the drug is being used.

“We really don’t know who is likely to have a rebound, but the benefits of the drug go beyond simply keeping the most at-risk out of the hospital; the upside is you’re going to feel better with it,” she said.

The key to staying safe coming out of a COVID-19 infection, having used Paxlovid or not, is simple, Landon said.

You’ve heard it before: “Follow the guidelines.” The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

says to quarantine for five days, then wear a mask when around others for days six through 10, Landon said.

“That means 100% masking, not taking it off with co-workers at lunch or when you need a break,” she said.

While people are getting more lax about masking and distancing, COVID is not going away, and case numbers are still rising sharply, she said. The city of Chicago remains at the high-risk community level, with a seven-day average of 205 new cases per 100,000 population as of July 29. The CDC guideline for dropping to medium risk is fewer than 200 cases per 100,000.

“So if you think you’re powering through and going about your business, you’re putting others at risk. I want this virus to be less of a burden,” Landon said. “And the way we make the burden lessen is by giving the virus the respect that it deserves.”

Vol. 45, No. 31 – Crain’s Chicago Business (ISSN 0149-6956) is published weekly, except for the first week of July and the last week of December, at 130 E. Randolph St., Suite 3200, Chicago, IL 60601. $3.50 a copy, $169 a year. Outside the United States, add $50 a year for surface mail. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, Ill. Postmaster: Send address changes to Crain’s Chicago Business, PO Box 433282, Palm Coast, FL 32143-9688. Four weeks’ notice required for change of address. © Entire contents copyright 2022 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved.

8/5/22 3:20 PM

HELP US MEET THE ONGOING HUNGER CRISIS. The need for food remains high. The rising cost of groceries ties puts more of our neighbors at risk of and other necessities hunger. Together, we can help the families who need us.

And we can take on the root causes of hunger, investing in oviding job training, and bringing food local partners, providing and hope to our neighbors.

Even if you’ve ve already given, please give again. chicagosfoodbank.org/givenow bank.org/givenow

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